//------------------------------// // Twilight, Fluttershy and Spike, Part 1 // Story: Sunset's Extradimensional Tourist Agency // by Emperor //------------------------------// “So you all know what to expect, right? We've made sure she's not around, too, right?" "Yes Twilight, Pinkie's long gone. The receptionist at the train station verified she left earlier to visit her sister Maud." "Good, good, I don't want Pinkie around throwing a Welcome to Ponyville party until we get people who won't be freaked out by her. Oh, I hope I’ve left enough time for the Starswirl the Bearded museum on the itinerary!” “Erm, Twilight?” “Yes Twilight, we know. You’ve only gone through the checklist five times today!” “You don’t understand! If we take too much time and they go back through the portal later than planned, they might oversleep once they get home and that would mean they’d miss school!” “Um, excuse me…” “Well, what happens if somebody comes through the portal and they remain a human? What then, Twilight?” “Er, Twili-“ The speaker stopped short, seeing a few stray hairs in the Princess’s mane defy gravity and start poking upwards, and glared at the other creature in the room. “Don’t set her off, or I swear, I’ll do it Spike!” Spike swallowed, a visible gulp showing for a split second as his throat bulged. He didn’t want to be subjected to The Stare. “Ehehe. What then? It’d be rude to send them back, but they’d be so huge compared to us, and I don’t know what to doooooo!” Fluttershy and Spike both turned to glance at Twilight Sparkle, who was beginning to crone on a mad song, wings spread out and beginning to gnaw on one hoof. The two looked back at each other, and began to take counteraction. Or at least, they would have, until the mirror that Twilight had set up shimmered, and out came Sunset Shimmer in pony form. “Oh Twilight!” Sunset wailed, her mane somehow looking even worse than Twilight’s. “It’s horrible back there I tell you, absolut- what in God’s name happened to you, Twilight?!” “God?” Fluttershy asked. “Sorry, human thing, think like Celestia but more hands-off and usually thought to be male,” Sunset said, her attention diverted from the purple Princess Pony whose perplexing prosaic perditions was prodigiously powerful enough to peel paper off the palace walls. Let it be said that Twilight Sparkle should never be allowed to compose poetry. “You must be Fluttershy, right?” “Um…yes…” Fluttershy said, hiding behind her mane. She had only once caught a glimpse of Sunset Shimmer, and it had hardly left the best impression. The yellow-furred unicorn had been running through the halls of the Crystal Palace at night with a cloak on, the Element of Magic in her grasp. Even though she was reformed, she still found herself scared. “Oh, sorry,” Sunset chuckled nervously, “It’s a little weird for me to know who you are, I guess? But you do look amazingly like my Fluttershy, even down to the mannerisms and shyness and, and there I go again.” A yelp interrupted the awkward conversation before it had a chance to reach an awkwardness singularity that would herald the end of ponykind. “SPIKE!” Twilight Sparkle yelled, mane and body fur drenched in water, “What was that for?!” If one was to listen carefully, they could hear her molars grinding together. “You were doing it again,” Spike said, setting down a bucket he had had to the side filled with water just in case. He sighed, “Remember Twilight, you’re a Princess now, you can’t get into a panic in front of other ponies, especially not like that.” “Uh…wow,” Sunset said, wondering how things would have turned out if she had known Twilight was so neurotic back when she was the alpha bitch of Canterlot High School. She probably would have chosen her words more carefully when confronting the girl until she was a bundle of nerves prone to being set off at the slightest spark. With those words, Twilight finally noticed Sunset Shimmer’s presence. “You’re here!” She said, moving quicker than Fluttershy or Spike had thought possible of her, as she pounced at Sunset, hugging her. “And you’re a pony again, too!” Sunset wriggled her nose. She had forgotten what wet horse smelled like. It was a smell maybe only Applejack or Fluttershy could love. “Well, well, it’s too bad we're not allowed cameras, or else this would be perfect for blackmail.” In a sense, it was a good thing that she was buried under Princess Twilight Sparkle, because as surprised as she was at that moment, Sunset suspected she would have been airborne in a way that would make most Pegasi envious. “Now now Spike, that’s not very nice,” said the next visitor through the portal, and Sunset craned her head around to verify her theory was true. Sunset sighed a breath of relief. The Human Fluttershy had become a pony on stepping through the portal and into Equestria. She looked somewhat different from Equestria’s Fluttershy, based off what she had briefly seen so far, a little bit shorter and younger looking, and a different mane style, but still. Fluttershy was a pony, and Sunset wouldn’t have to refund everybody’s money. Well, it was hardly extortion, much as she wished to. Too much and if Princess Celestia heard about it, she might call off the deal, and then Sunset wouldn't have an excuse to come back to her first home. "Why did you have to teach Spike how to use a computer anyways," Sunset grumbled softly to herself so the Twilight from Crystal Prep wouldn't hear. “This is really weird,” Said Science Twilight, lifting up a hoof and examining it. “Sunset said we could do this, so let’s see,” She said, attempting to shift weight to her back hooves and stand up on her hind legs, only to trip backwards, “Woah!” “Watch it Twilight!” Said the human world’s Spike, now changed into a dragon, as he caught her before her head slammed against the floor. Looking back and forth between the two Spikes, Sunset noted the formerly canine Spike was over a good foot taller than the native Spike. Dogs had a shorter lifespan than dragons by several magnitudes, so canine Spike was undoubtedly older in relativistic terms, which translated over past the portal. “This is still so trippy,” Equestria’s Spike said, crossing his arms. “So that’s what I’ll look like in a few years, eh? Rarity won’t know what hit her.” Princess Twilight rolled her eyes as she extracted herself from Sunset’s limbs, “Sure, Casanova.” Turning her attention to her dimensional opposite, who had sat down on the floor on her plot, desperate for sweet sweet stability, she said, “So, uh, other me, how you’ve been?” Slowly looking her over, she noted that, as expected, Science Twilight was only a unicorn and not an alicorn. “Just f-f-fine,” The unicorn Twilight said, teeth chattering at her near-date with the crystal floor. Taking a couple of deep breaths, she calmed down, and started talking again, “Lemon Zest actually convinced me to go out to a concert. Some of the things they can do with synesthesia is so trippy, but ugh, too many drug-pushers there! Shiny would kidnap me and lock me in a nuclear bunker to keep me safe if he ever knew about that,” Wrinkling her nose, she looked around the room, eyes wide at the sheer amounts of crystal. Galloping over to an open window, she peered out at the town of Ponyville from up high. “So this is Equestria. I saw brief glimpses of it through the portals at the Friendship Games, but being here is something else!” “Told you so,” Sunset butted into the conversation, looking smug. It would have made a better impression if it weren’t for her messy hair. Thankfully for her, though the mirror portal was used for travelling dimensions, it could still be used as a reflective surface, and exercising magical muscles through deliberate will that instinctive use of had faded over time, her horn glowed a soft gold as she straightened out her mane and body fur with magic. For good measure, she wringed out the small amounts of water Princess Twilight had gotten on her. “What did you tell her, anyways?” Alicorn Twilight asked, eyebrows furled as she investigated every inch of her counterpart, surveying her in the name of magical research. Sunset thanked her lucky graces she had brought along Science Twilight, because her Fluttershy would have been a nervous wreck by now if Twilight had decided to inspect her instead. “You did tell her we don’t eat meat here, right?” Sunset rolled her eyes. “That, and all sorts of things. I even set up a mandatory lecture for people to attend before I would allow them to come to Equestria.” Her eyes widened as she began to flashback, and she started shaking just like Crystal Prep’s Twilight. “Speaking of which, all the students at Canterlot and Crystal Prep are crazy!” “Er, we weren’t that ba-“ “That’s not a very nice thing to say, Sunset!” Princess Twilight scolded her friend, though she had vague memories of saying something similar a long time ago. “Whatever do you mean by that?” The bright-coloured unicorn managed to stop trembling long enough to say, “Do you remember when I estimated I’d get a few dozen people interested in coming over?” A nod of the head prodded her to continue. “Well, I might have been a liiiiittle conservative in my estimates, and since so many people attended, I had to run more than one lecture.” “How many?” Princess Twilight’s tone was flat. “Just about everyone came out!” Sunset hollered, letting her nerves loose in a comical mirror of what Princess Twilight had been going through before anybody had come through the portal. “Most of the teachers, basically all the students, even some of the alumni who were around for the Fall Formal and Battle of the Bands came! Even most of Crystal Prep showed up. I asked people why they showed up, I thought most of them wanted to be able to learn a little bit of magic or be able to fly, and some of them did, but most of them just wanted to experience what it’d be like to be magical fricking ponies!” Princess Twilight looked to her counterpart, only to receive a ‘It’s your responsibility now’ look that was universal even when accounting for the change from a primate form to that of an equine. Sighing, she went over and grasped Sunset in her hooves again. “Sunset, it’s OK,” Twilight said, attempting to calm her friend down even as she was mentally rescheduling all her weekends for the next year to deal with the influx of human-ponies. “They probably just think the idea sounds neat, and for most of them it would be a sort of exotic vacation, like if we were to go to Prance or the Griffon Kingdom.” Secretly, she kept the thought to herself that some of them would probably turn out to be griffons or zebras or even minotaurs. That was a bridge to be crossed later, however. Sunset choked out a sob, then got a control on her emotions. “Thanks Twilight,” She sniffled a bit, “I just, I had memories of how I was treated in the school before the Sirens came, and I didn’t want to disappoint people and have them hate me again. Kind of silly of me, wouldn’t you say?” Princess Twilight just pet Sunset a bit, all while Science Twilight looked on, a little bit envious of the friendship the two of them shared, one she was only beginning to develop with her classmates at Crystal Prep, and also a little bit embarrassed to see such an intimate scene. Then the Princess' eyes wandered, and caught sight of Spike and his counterpart. Sighing, she turned back to the two unicorns. "OK, this is going to get confusing quick if we don't clear this up right away. We can't leave with two Twilights, two Spikes and two Fluttershys. We might have an idea of who we're referring to each time, but I don't want somepony on the street wandering why you're getting called Twilight." "So a different name then?" The other Twilight asked. "How about, um, Sparks?" "Yeah, no." Princess Twilight shot that idea down quickly. "Even a name close to that would be suspicious. I have a spell ready that will change the colouration of your fur and hair, and I'm thinking something darker would do for you. How about, hmm...Midnight?" The other Twilight froze for a second before beginning to tremble, and Sunset's eyes widened. As the brightly-coloured mare moved to comfort her fellow visitor, Twilight was quick to apologise. "Sorry, sorry, sorry!...Was it something I said?" "Yes," Sunset bluntly said as the unicorn Twilight slowly began to calm down under her steady hooves. "That name has a certain meaning for her already, one she doesn't respond well to. Maybe...Moonlight would be better?" "Of course, of course!" Twilight bobbed her head, happy to agree with Sunset. As much as she had come out of her shell over the last few years (much like Spike had done so literally), it also had brought out her inner empath. It hurt her to realise she had hurt another pony, however unintentional. Moondancer was enough of a lesson for a lifetime. “Oh! You don’t have a Cutie Mark?” All attempts at further conversation on the science and magic nerds’ side of the room was halted, as three heads turned around over, looking past where the smaller native Spike was attempting to get the elder Spike to continue standing on two legs into dropping down on all fours, where the two Fluttershys were. “Uh, no. Sunset did tell us what they were, though. What does yours mean?” “It means I have a special connection with animals, and can talk to them.” “Wow,” The younger Fluttershy said wistfully, sitting down, head resting on her front hooves. “Talk to them like they say words, or that you just have a deeper understanding of their feelings?” “Both,” Said Equestria’s Fluttershy, doting on her doppelganger. It wasn’t very often she was able to talk with somepony whom had the same interests as her. That it was herself, just from a different dimension didn't really matter much. "Twilight tells me you volunteered at an animal shelter, is that true?" The temporarily-equine Fluttershy nodded, similarly happen to have find someone of like heart. "Well, I think Twilight wanted to take you three on a tour. I hope we can stop by my place, I take care of many animals here." "That would be wonderful!" “Well,” Sunset Shimmer said to Princess Twilight,  turning their attention away from the two Fluttershys as they both looked over and noted  Twilight of Crystal Prep, now Moonlight, also lacked a Cutie Mark, “That’s interesting, I guess.” The two of them looked at one another again, and both came to the same conclusion. “RESEARCH!” The two cried in unison. Moonlight slowly backed into a wall. Walking backwards on four hooves came quick when dire times called for it, and she began to regret ever leaving the safe confines of her laboratory in Crystal Prep. Spike, the ever-so-faithful assistant of Princess Twilight Sparkle, and secretly an undercover agent raised, educated, trained and given orders by Princess Celestia to do everything possible to make sure Twilight Sparkle never succumbed to some of her more neurotic impulses, failing only once over an incident with a doll, held his finger up as his new dragon friend was asking another question about this wide wide world of Equestria. Pulling out a checklist, he defused the crisis in process as he went through the items on the list, “Introduce one another, check. Take a tour of Ponyville, oh Twilight, we’ll be late if we don’t leave in the next thirty seconds!” It may have not been enough for Sunset Shimmer, but it was sufficient to stop Princess Twilight in her tracks. And as much as Sunset would deny it with a red face, where Princess Twilight Sparkle went, Sunset Shimmer followed. “Oh my,” Said the younger Fluttershy, as they turned the bend of the road. As the result of a cosmetic spell that Princess Twilight had pulled out, this Fluttershy was now coloured in a rich tone of red that Princess Twilight had matched rather close to her friend Applejack’s big brother. Twilight had wanted to call her 'Butterfly', but Sunset had nixed it as sounding too close to Fluttershy's name, as well as Fluttershy's own Cutie Mark literally being three butterflies. As a compromise, they had come to the name of Monarch. It would be very difficult to mistake Monarch for Fluttershy when coupled with the different heights, apparent age, cheekbone depth and general muscle tone of the two. “It’s a lovely cottage you have there.” “Why thank you! I just know you’ll love meeting some of the animals I have here. I know you said you had an Angel Bunny, I wasn’t too surprised after hearing your Twilight had a dog named Spike,” Said the elder Fluttershy. Normally she was rather withdrawn when it came to meeting new ponies, but when the pony you were meeting was you from another dimension, you really didn’t have to worry too much about it, right? Sometimes, Fluttershy’s logic was just a little weird. Probably from living next to the Everfree Forest, where who knows what kind of plants that have psychedelic compounds in could be growing. Bless her little pony heart. “These are really good!” Spike said, trotting by his master-turned pony on all fours as he chomped on a ruby. “They taste a lot like sugar!” “And how would you know what sugar tastes like, mister?” Moonlight interrogated him, still finding it weird that she was eye level with him for once. “As far as I recall, I never gave you anything with sugar in it. It’ll rot your teeth and gums, you know!” “Aw, come on Twi-er, Moonlight,” Spike whined, as he used the name the group had decided to give the human world’s Twilight to avoid confusion and also assure nobody who overheard them might actually take a closer look at Moonlight. The recolour spell the Princess had given her wasn’t quite as much a change as Monarch had gone through, getting rid of the streaks of pink in her mane for a uniform purple, and darkening the shade of her coat to a more fascinating midnight bluish-purple. Although her clothes had disappeared through the portal (and Sunset had thought of that, and kept a spare change of clothing in the event they were somehow all naked coming back to their own world), she had kept her glasses. With that, her younger body and being just a unicorn, it was possible to tell a family resemblance between the two Twilights, but only with some scrutiny. It had taken her several minutes to calm down from her freak out once she realised that she was practically naked. Even though Sunset Shimmer had told everybody at the audience about the portal and its strange adherence to the clothing customs of each world, it still didn’t feel like a possibility until it had actually happened. “Don’t ‘come on’ me, Klaus!” Although Sunset had vetoed Twilight's names for her and Monarch before coming up with better names, nobody had thought of one for her dog-turned dragon. After contemplating it for a little, Moonlight had been a rather fitting name for herself, as she was moonlighting from her regular studies to do advanced studies on magic. Picking a random feature on a canine body, she had come up with a name for her Spikey-wikey that sounded close to ‘claw’. With a vicious grin, Moonlight realised exactly what to do, “You know, now that you can think and talk on a sapient level, it means I can teach you all the joys of proper hygiene and help you brush your teeth!” Klaus yelped, standing up on his hind legs again as Spike did normally, “I’ll be good, I’ll be good! Lemon Zest gave me a couple of pieces of candy when she was picking you up for the concert!” He confessed. Moonlight grinded her teeth, finding the extra molars of an equine mouth rather useful for accomplishing that. She would be having words with Lemon Zest over her choice of ideal food for a dog alright. “Then that’s alright, Klaus. Just, sugar can be bad for you. It tastes good, but it can hurt your body.” “Eh, he’ll be fine,” Spike said walking side by side with them, as he ate his own emerald, saving the prized baby blue sapphire of his collection for last. “Dragons regrow their teeth.” "Not...helping..." Moonlight grit her teeth even harder. Over to the other side of the motley crew, Sunset Shimmer and Princess Twilight Sparkle were speaking quietly with one another. “So you got Pinkie Pie out of Ponyville?” Sunset asked. “Smart idea.” “Yes. I didn’t really know your Pinkie for all too long, but the Pinkie here will throw a party at the drop of a hat. Monarch would have been terrified to be exposed to Equestria like that.” Sunset rolled her eyes at the use of aliases for the two humans and canine that had accompanied her to Equestria as they walked over the short bridge, steadily getting used to the cantering pace on four hooves that had once been the only type of walking she was familiar with. “I suppose. One of her animals died in the shelter, so it’s a good thing this happened when it did. See? She looks right at home there.” As soon as Fluttershy and Monarch had come in to the front of the cottage, the former had been introducing the latter to many of her animals. A white-furred bunny familiar to all from both dimensions had hopped up and, with a little bit of prodding from Fluttershy, jumped into her red-furred counterparts’ legs, where he was now enjoying a good deal of pampering. “I remember that day,” Moonlight said as she trotted over, placing herself next to Twilight. None of the three realised the unintentional irony of Moonlight sitting next to Twilight next to Sunset. “Sour Sweet was actually nice for the whole day after learning that. Huh, I wonder what she thinks about Equestria.” The three started eavesdropping on what wasn’t exactly a private scene. “Oh my, that three-headed dog sounds really interesting. I certainly wouldn’t mind having one at home to play with.” “On second thought,” Moonlight said, raising a hoof to adjust her glasses and cursing her inexperience with the less nimble limb endings, “Perhaps we should take that tour through Ponyville next.” “Yes, we wouldn’t want to end up with Flutt-, er Monarch bringing home a Cerberus. The first thing it’d probably do is to break our new statue. Er, no offense,” Sunset rubbed her head as she looked over at Moonlight. Inside though, she was thinking, Yes! Finally I get to do that to someone else! Moonlight rolled her eyes. “None taken.”