//------------------------------// // Twilight Sparkle // Story: Bloom Filter // by ferret //------------------------------// There she was, that strange purple girl. She didn’t have any sort of school clothes on, just some kind of white looking longcoat, slim fitting purple pants and a drab olive shirt underneath her coat. Her hair looked kind of ragged; crudely cut was the very best you could say about it, yet it was dark purple with that blue and magenta stripe through it. Apple Bloom wasn’t sure why she was so terrified of seeing this girl a second time, but heck if it wasn’t true! She was gonna yell, and get all in her face with all those teeth and stuff! The feelings were just so strong; Apple Bloom found herself trembling, from her very poor hiding place behind the legs of her sister, Applejack. “Apple Bloom! What the hay’s the matter?” Applejack declared, turning back to look down at her cowering sister. “It’s her again!” Apple Bloom said, pointing an accusing hoof at the really angry scary giant lady. The fact that every girl in the world was a giant lady to Apple Bloom, and she was currently hiding from her behind the legs of a giant lady didn’t really register. “This is my friend,” Sunset Shimmer said, in an irritated tone, looking down to Apple Bloom with an unsettled expression. “My friend, Twilight Sparkle. She didn’t mean to scare you, and she couldn’t—” “I wanted to apologize!” Twilight interrupted abruptly, tense, with her fists clenched at her sides. Instead of snapping angrily at her, Sunset just glanced Twilight’s way and remained silent. “I’m sorry Apple Bloom,” Twilight said, in a more relaxed, sympathetic tone, with a sad smile. “It was wrong of me to yell at you, and I should have reacted more maturely.” It started, if nothing else, to get through Apple Bloom’s haze, and she managed to squeak out, “Y’ain’t gonna yell at me no more?” Twilight knelt down on the ground beside the car then, saying, “I just want to talk to you, and apologize for what I did that night, and in general. I think I might know a few things you’d find very useful, so I’m just here to tell you about them. Don’t worry. I promise I would never, ever do anything to hurt you.” And oddly enough, Apple Bloom still felt too scared to approach her. But Apple Bloom shoved her feelings down and did anyway, because it didn’t make a lick of sense. She wasn’t a baby! This girl was being perfectly reasonable, even if back when she was shouting her down, this girl did give Apple Bloom a face of big scary sharp canines. As Apple Bloom inched forward, the purple girl held out her hand approachably, and Apple Bloom took a cautious sniff. Lemon scented soap, and sort of a musk like Rarity, but with more wait— Apple Bloom abruptly sat down on her butt, forgetting all about the purple girl, and used her two front hooves to palpate her nose, crossing her eyes to stare at it in confusion. Twilight wisely backed up, before asking, “Did I do something wrong? Do I smell bad? Oh please don’t tell me I smell bad!” “Ah’m not a dog!” Apple Bloom said in frustration, planting her forehooves to block the sight of her unclothed belly, and looking aside dispiritedly. “Ah’m not...” “Um... yes?” Twilight said, in a totally befuddled voice. Probably goggling down at her, like Apple Bloom was some kind of crazy pony. Apple Bloom sighed, looking at Twilight with a “did you seriously not get that” look. “Ah just like, smelled your hand straight out of a barn like,” Apple Bloom said bitterly, “But ah ain’t an animal, ah’m a girl! Ah just... never mind.” She looked away again. There was a thoughtful pause before Twilight said, “We’re all animals, you know.” “Yeah, but ah mean like a dumb animal,” Apple Bloom grumped, unplacated. “I know how you feel, but you’re not acting dumb,” Twilight urged her emphatically. “You’re finding yourself doing strange things, that you never would have thought of doing before, but it’s just normal for what you are. The same thing happened to me, when I turned into a human. Unless you think humans are dumb animals, too?” “You...” Apple Bloom had to look up at the girl in shock, “You used ta be like... Sunset did? A pony?” Twilight smiled at her, and then more nervously up at Applejack, who had a surprisingly hostile expression for Apple Bloom’s liking. “How many a’you human ponies are there?” Applejack asked suspiciously. “And what else ain’t you tellin’ us?” “It’s logically impossible for me to tell you something I am not telling you,” Twilight stated, with a disapproving frown. “I think you mean what else have I not been telling you in the past.” Applejack started to nod, and shake her head, and sort of said, “Ye-uh... that’s right. That’s what ah said!” She was pretty shaken by that though, and Twilight pressed her advantage, saying, “Secrets aren’t going to help us any more at this point. I should have come forward a long time ago, in fact, but you have to understand it’s... I really want to tell you everything I know, but can we... um... go inside first?” Apple Bloom looked between the two girls, Applejack and this purpled one, and up at the chilly snowy sky. She then saved her sister the trouble of collecting her wits, by jumping to her hooves and exclaiming, “OK, ah’ll go put on a pot a’ tea!” Apple Bloom hoped her leaving would defuse any protective impulses, and leave Applejack obliged to make the others follow. Her hopes were met thankfully, as she barely got into the kitchen to beg Granny to put on a pot a’ tea before Twilight, followed by Sunset and Applejack came through the door, Apple Bloom’s two pony friends lagging behind as they came in more slowly and unsteadily. Applejack held the door for them then closed out the outside chill. Twilight hadn’t even got her tea before Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were all clustered around her legs. Twilight might have been able to answer them, if the three curious fillies hadn’t been peppering her with questions all at once. “Why am I a ponhy?” Scootaloo whined irately. “Were you a unicorn, thoo?” Sweetie asked half twined under Twilight’s legs. “Why were ya yelling at me?” Apple Bloom asked very seriously, not flippant questions like the other two, nudging Twilight in the knee to prompt her to answer. “Why don’ I have feazzers yet?” Scootaloo asked, rearing up against Twilight’s thigh. “How hdo you do magzic?” Sweetie asked bumping sideways against the back of Twilight’s legs. “Can ya’ write with your mouth?” Apple Bloom asked, right about when Twilight finally toppled over, like a very awkward and ungainly tree, who still wasn’t used to walking on two legs. Sweetie stuck her head out from under Twilight’s legs, crawling out saying, “...oopsz.” “Give the girl some space, you three!” came Rarity’s admonishment, the snowy white girl kneeling down, and helping Twilight to sit up. “Twilight, dear, are you alright?” “I’m fine, Rarity,” Twilight said rubbing the back of her head. “I...” Then she looked at Rarity in a different way, saying in something of a lost voice, “You are just like her... I even suspected... the first time, I thought they had followed me somehow, my friends that is. Which you are, um... like.” “I em... resemble one of your ...friends?” Rarity asked uneasily. Twilight blushed, saying with a dry hint of despair, “Right, you don’t know anymore.” She clenched her hands in her lap, saying, “Ohh, this is so wrong in so many ways. She is my friend. You should be my friend, but this flour rotting time spiral just ruined that.” “In any case...” Rarity said uneasily to Twilight, “Let’s get you settled down somewhere more comfortable.” Apple Bloom soon could hardly remember why she was even scared about this skinny looking awkward girl. Twilight had been nothing but courteous since she arrived, downright sweet really, and it wasn’t long before Apple Bloom was seated beside her at the kitchen table, just like two buddies chatting with each other. Twilight didn’t think it was weird Apple Bloom was a pony; she didn’t even treat her like she was any different from any other girl. It made sense, of course, with Sunset and Twilight’s wild story about being ponies changed into humans. If Twilight had been a pony, she’d have no reason to treat Apple Bloom like an animal. Apple Bloom just knew that portal she came through had to have the answers to this. If it was working, it’d change her human, and if it didn’t change her human, then Apple Bloom could study it piece by piece, until she found the part of it that can. But for now, with that darn portal on the fritz, it was just nice to talk to someone who had not even the slightest doubt that you were a person inside. There was no hesitation or awkwardness in Twilight Sparkle’s voice, no flicker of fear or confusion in her eyes to be found. It was... nice, compared to how some of the other girls got freaked out every time Apple Bloom opened her mouth and revealed, once again, that yes, she was a talking pony. Twilight was treating Apple Bloom kind of like a little kid though. That sort of got on her nerves. Twilight, along with Sunset sat with Apple Bloom at the round dining table, in a vague triangle of people, two humans and one little pony. The little yellow apple pony Apple Bloom was up on her booster seat, and the other two were sitting in chairs, as is normal for human beings, happily ignoring the pleasant smelling cups of tea set before them, to discuss. The back door was cracked open just a bit, to let in the breeze and rare sunlight this time of year. Outside, Applejack was attempting to corral Scootaloo, who wanted to take advantage of the momentary break in the weather, for the important task of running around heedlessly. That is to say, falling around heedlessly. Sweetie wanted to stick around the table, but Rarity said that the two girls had come to speak with Apple Bloom alone, for some reason, and that they’d three of them get a chance to talk, once Twilight had properly apologized. That left Apple Bloom a bit on the spot, but she put on a brave face, and answered Twilight’s questions solo, as best as she could, while trying to field her own. “So you thought ah was the other Apple Bloom?” Apple Bloom asked the purple girl, cautiously aghast. “On some level, yes,” Twilight said. “You look just about the same, like two flowers from the same bed. But that’s just how the erm... special mirror works, so I should have never have yelled at you.” “Mirror?” Apple Bloom said confusedly, “What mirror we talking about?” “Oh, it’s like a mirror you can walk through!” Twilight said with an exaggerated smile. “You just point your hooves at it, and dive right in. And then with a woosh, you’re a human instead of a pony. Isn’t that neat?” “Y’mean the portal to the other universe, right?” Apple Bloom said in an unsatisfied tone. “It ain’t a mirror, is it? You were all trying to go through a solid stone wall, down by that horse statue. Does it turn reflective or something?” “Em... no,” Twilight said uncertainly. “It um... the stone becomes... pushy throughy, so you can just walk through it, and on the other side is another world!” Apple Bloom sounded out the word ‘pushy throughy’ and then said, “Y’mean permeable? Ah think that’s the word?” “You seem... unusually well read for a high school freshman,” the flame haired girl said, giving not Apple Bloom, but Twilight a scathing look. Twilight eeped and shrank back at Sunset’s gaze, mumbling, “Oh, right... Freshman...” “Ah try to keep up with mah English at least,” Apple Bloom said carefully, eyeing Sunset. Somehow Sunset held a note of disinterest, despite being the one asking about this, as if she already knew the answer. “Ah ain’t gonna fail, no matter how mad Ms. Harshvoice thinks ah am at talking.” “Or at least—” Apple Bloom’s determination slipped as she looked aside, saying, “Ah wasn’t gonna fail.” Twilight looked at both Apple Bloom and Sunset, before settling on Apple Bloom and admitting, “Yes, Apple Bloom. Permeable is the right word. Traversible might be more appropriate, because of the um... really hard math and numbers involved.” “Try me,” Apple Bloom said irately, “Ah already studied Algebra, an’ ah was gonna pass Geometry.” “Oh, well um...” Twilight looked at her nervously. “So you know the um... hypotenuse of a right triangle?” “Y’mean the square root of A squared plus B squared?” Apple Bloom said, with a smug smirk. “Well, um... the... our worlds you can think of, like... you can think of the two portals like rings, attached at 90 degree angles. Like this, see?” Twilight demonstrated with her fingers, making woo noises until Apple Bloom snapped out, “Just tell me already!” “T-the nascent effect of the temporal lock on your world causes its portal to rotate relative to our own,” Twilight said bluntly, “And it’s like a... a gear with a special tooth that um...” “You’re saying it’s like two gears with holes that align,” Apple Bloom stated for her. “More like a gear and a screw,” she said reflexively. “I–I mean, your time spiral pulls your side of the portal along with it, so as it cycles around, the grooves to the two worlds only align once every loop. Otherwise there’s no way through the gears, and no portal there at all. But it also pulls your world... backward in time since the portal is bidirectionally time fixed.” “So that’s the reason it opens the same time every year?” Apple Bloom asked. “It’s just... a gear pulling up a screw that aligns once per turn?” “That’s right!” Twilight said, “And my theory... a theory is a special guess, that I’m really really sure of—” “Ah know what a theory is, Twilight,” Apple Bloom said in a hurt tone. “Sorry, sorry!” Twilight said. “My theory is that it didn’t appear this year because, with the time spiral broken, it’s like the threads on the screw have vanished. The um... special grooves are two sides to the same s-surface. You know what surface means, right?” Apple Bloom thunked her forehead on the table in exasperation. “Right, right sorry,” Twilight apologized again. “I keep forgetting how old you really are.” “How old do you think ah am?” Apple Bloom asked vexedly. She rapidly didn’t want to hear the answer though, because here was someone who really could confirm it for her, and Apple Bloom didn’t want it confirmed. Not that! She wasn’t... that! Twilight’s reaction made it pretty dang obvious though. Twilight winced at first, and kind of twiddled her thumbs. “To be honest, you don’t look much different from the Apple Bloom in my universe, and I don’t think she’d be any older than 14 or 15 by now.” Apple Bloom froze, then lifted her head. “So, ah look normal for a 14 year old uhm... pony, then?” “Yeah let’s go with that...” Twilight said with a sheepish smile. “Sorry, I really shouldn’t assume—you just look so adorable I mean, um.” And now she was blushing and staring at her hands held clenched in her lap for some reason. Apple Bloom probably should have been able to remember what that meant better, when you do that with your hands. “Well, maybe it’s an effect of being human,” Apple Bloom speculated, “But ah ain’t a baby, even if ah have that effect on you, so please try not to act like ah’m one?” Twilight frowned, but agreed, saying seriously, “I’ll do my best, Apple Bloom.” Apple Bloom reluctantly nodded. Best she was going to get, at any rate. “So uh, ah am not the other Apple Bloom,” she reiterated, “An’ she’s on the other side of this portal, that ain’t opening anymore?” “Yeah, it—” Twilight sighed. “It doesn’t make any sense, because it really is one portal. The two sides are the same side, just you’re in a subverted timeline, except for approximately three days in November. Last... week, in fact. But if the time screw is unthreaded, then it should simply rotate back around, like magnets. The only thing keeping the portal closed at all was the time loop.” “Either way,” Apple Bloom stated grimly, “Ah guess you’re stuck as a human, an’ wanna change back into a pony?” Twilight squirmed with her hands folded before her, saying with a meaningful delay, “...yes. I have nothing against your species. It’s just... well... not me. I miss the ground under my hooves, and the simple pleasure of levitating a daisy and daffodil sandwich, and actually being able to eat it of course. Your skin is just... thin! I don’t know how to describe it adequately. You understand though, don’t you? It feels like you have the wrong skin?” Apple Bloom wanted to shake her head at that. She felt just fine, in fact. But, shouldn’t she feel wrong like this? She should have felt that way, right? “Ah feel fine actually, Twilight,” she admitted nervously. “No skin problems or nothin’. Just feels normal by now.” “Fascinating!” Twilight responded, without missing a beat. “Perhaps pony skin is objectively more comfortable than human skin! Or perhaps you’re unusually resilient towards transformations. Oh I am so glad I can finally... er, that is, heh heh.” “What Twi is trying to say,” Sunset said for the blushing princess gone girl, “Is she’s been trying to get permission to drag a human across the mirror for 3 years now, to see if it’s an asymmetric experience.” “I would never do this to you!” Twilight added hastily gesturing at Apple Bloom’s predicament. “The portal was only a consideration because it could be easily, and quickly reversed! In theory, that is. There was a slight possibility that a human would transform into something other than a pony, or even into an antimagic cascade immediately upon arrival. Hard to say, since your world has the lowest baseline magic levels of any we’ve encountered so far, and the time loop just devours any that comes out of it.” “Well that’s funny, because ah can do lotsa magic stuff,” Apple Bloom said skeptically. Twilight was uncertain at that. “Earth ponies are... special,” she said. “You claim you can do magic... stuff,” “An’ ah cain!” Apple Bloom insisted. “But you probably have had a hard time explaining it, or repeating your experiments,” Twilight continued without pause. “Earth pony magic is the most mysterious of all, because well... you don’t have a horn, and you don’t have wings.” “So Scoots does have magic wings?” Apple Bloom asked, though she pretty much knew the answer. “Ponies are magic,” Twilight explained, but seemed dissatisfied with that. “No, life is magic. Magic is... it’s the manipulation of reality, to conform with the will. Not using existing mechanisms to enact your will, but changing the underlying mechanic, so it better suits your continued existence. Having wings or a horn does not make you necessarily more magical, it just makes your magic easier to... observe. And measure.” “Can I magick up shome wings?” Scootaloo cut in, toddling up to them like she knew how to walk. She blinked and shook her head. “I mean, shome feathers? Theshe thingsh look weird.” She looked over a proto-wing with no lack of dismay. Applejack jogged up behind her, hands extended, with an apologetic expression to the three of them. “It’s fine. Twilight already said sorry,” Apple Bloom told her sis, “We were talking about Scoots anyways, so she has a right to know.” “Well alrighty then,” Applejack said giving Twilight a look, “Why’s Scootaloo as fresh as a chick outta her egg when it comes to wing feathers?” Actually all three of them turned to look at Twilight, expectantly. Barring Sunset, who just looked relieved at not having to answer. “Well, this is just a hypothesis,” Twilight said reluctantly, “And there’s no ethical experiment I can think of to verify it, but pegasus feathers are very magical. Extremely magical. And, well, unlike a unicorn’s horn, they’re not permanent fixtures. So you’ll lose a pinion now and again, for others to grow and take their place, as a normal pegasus that is. It might just be that the transformation spell didn’t include flight feathers because there was less magic involved. I did mention that your world has been measured to have very low amounts of available magic.” Scootaloo blinked at her. “She said feathers are magic,” Apple Bloom clarified. “So you can’t grow them from magic, only from scratch.” “But my horn is magzic,” Sweetie Belle said in confusion. Rarity was tagging along behind her hesitantly, while Sweetie determinedly hobbled forward, with slight course corrections from her sister. “Why izhn’ that growing from scra’sh?” Apple Bloom shook her head, confounded. Sunset was the one to speak up saying down to Sweetie, “It should be impossible to turn into a pony at all. There was no incantation, no spell, no sense to it whatsoever. Whatever powerful magic created a unicorn horn from scratch didn’t create feathers, and that just seems arbitrary. It doesn’t make sense, but there you go.” Sunset frowned and held a hand out as if to touch Sweetie’s horn, but carefully avoided doing so. “Unicorn horns grow for your entire life,” she said. “They’re kind of like hooves in that sense. But they grow very slowly, and if damaged, they can grow back in odd ways, heal crooked and such. A cracked horn needs medical treatment in order to heal without complications. Feathers on the other hand grow quickly, and are frequently shedded, so if I was trying to cut corners with this... impossibly powerful transformation spell, I’d certainly go for the feathers before I did anything to a unicorn’s horn.” Sweetie’s ears were flat at that, and she tried to look at her horn, saying, “T-that sounds rearly badh. It can rearry c-crack?” “It’s the hardest structure in your body, Sweetie Belle,” Twilight explained, squatting down with Sunset. “Almost unheard of to damage one. Just take care of yourself in general, and your horn should be fine.” Sweetie nodded at that, looking at Scootaloo and saying, “So, me wishout a horn woul’ be like her wizhout a whole wingh, but with her wing, zhe feathersh still nee’ to grow back?” “Exactly!” Twilight said cheerfully, shifting over to face Scootaloo again. “So unless there is something very wrong, your feathers should grow in naturally just fine,” Twilight said assuringly to Scootaloo. “Don’t bite the pinfeathers, and make sure you oil your pinions regularly, and they should practically take care of themselves.” Scootaloo hung her head, “Why I always gotta be the weird one,” she muttered dispiritedly. “Hey I have masgic echoes in my brain,” Sweetie said resentfully, “So that’s gotta count for shome weirldness.” “Magic echoes in your brain?” Sunset cut in, giving Sweetie an honestly intrigued look. Sweetie blushed at that. “Oh, I dunno, i’s jus’ a guess,” she said meekly. “I jus’ never had a horn, sho now that I do it keeps... you know, echoing. Like something flowing through it or... around it or something.” “That is weird,” Sunset said in concern, “It’s not like you’d be picking up ambient magic levels at your age, not with how low they are in this world.” “This is low amounts of magic?” Apple Bloom interrupted, waving her non-human pony hoof in Sunset’s face. At Sunset’s blank stare she had to clarify, “Ah ain’t wavin’ a human hand in front a ya.” Sunset didn’t answer then, but just looked at the hoof and frowned. Then she turned to look at Sweetie again, saying with purpose, “Sweetie, have you noticed a direction they’re coming from? The magic echoes? They’re stronger, when you’re facing a certain way?” Sweetie shook her head. “It’s jus’ random, maybe just imagining it. It is in my brain ahfter hall.” “Er, I thought you said it was in your horn?” Sunset asked, eyeing Sweetie uncertainly. “There’s a differensh?” Sweetie asked innocently, blinking at Sunset. Sunset raised an eyebrow at that, saying, “You do realize that your horn is outside of your brain, right?” “Yeah, but it’s pointing right a’ it!” Sweetie protested, poking the thing nervously with her hoof tip. Sunset looked like she was going to say something snide, but stopped then and looked away thoughtfully, saying, “Huh, I never thought about it that way.” “Well, you know what they say about unicorns and mental instability,” Twilight quipped to her wryly. “Don’t be tribalist,” Sunset said with an eye roll. “Hey, unicorns can make fun of themselves all they want!” Twilight said in mock indignance. “You’re supposed to be above those things,” Sunset countered smoothly, “Because you’re not exactly a unicorn anymore, are you princess?” Twilight reacted oddly to the jab, just blushing and going quiet and looking down at the table in front of her, but before Apple Bloom could ask, there was a crashing sound of something falling over in the living room. “Scootaloo—!” Applejack shouted in frustration, charging over that way. Rarity looked between the living room and Sweetie with a wince. With a sympathetic grimace, Sweetie sat on her haunches, freeing up a front leg to wave Rarity off amenably so Sweetie’s Sister too could join the war against Scootaloo’s refusal to acknowledge her lack of coordination. That left Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, Sunset, and Twilight together. And Granny and Cheerilee were both either cooking, or duking it out in the kitchen, from the sounds of it. Mac was upstairs, away from the noise and hubbub. “Well ah’d help you to a seat,” Apple Bloom said down to the little candy colored unicorn on the floor, “But y’probably should wait until you figured out climbing first.” “No, it’s okhay,” Sweetie said pensively. “I jus’ wanted to ask, what does this horn do?” She blushed and turned to the other two girls, saying, “I mean, I wanted thoo ask you because you two were um... you were unicornth I guess? “uni—...” Sweetie crossed her eyes, and went silent, trying to get her tongue in order. “Unicorns?” Sunset laughed, “Forget unicorns. We studied at the best university in Canterlot!” Twilight gave Sunset a misapproving look, and got up from her seat and knelt down to Sweetie, telling the little unicorn, “What we’re trying to say is, it might take a long time, many lessons and a lot of practice, but I think we can help you out. Whether we’re unicorns or not, we received the best education Equestria has to offer, so if anyone can get your horn to work, it’s going to be either Sunset Shimmer, or Twilight Sparkle!” Sweetie didn’t seem placated at that. “It shoundzs hard,” Sweetie said grumpily, looking away from Twilight. “Why can’ I have...” she lifted a hoof, “Why not just have magic hoovbes, like Apple Bloom?” “Oh, you do,” Twilight said to the little white unicorn, in surprise. “Hoofiwork is something every pony can learn to do. Granted earth ponies are better at it generally, but you’re not crippled or anything, Sweetie.” “So what can ah do, that a unicorn or a pegasus couldn’t?” Apple Bloom interjected, somewhat upset that she seemed to be getting the short end of the pony stick. “Nopony knows,” Sunset said to her in a spooky mysterious tone, drawing Apple Bloom’s attention, and ...waggling her fingers. When Apple Bloom didn’t smile, Sunset stopped waggling, and said more seriously, “Earth pony magic is one of the least studied pony magics, and not from lack of trying. With no focus for your magic, it shouldn’t let you do anything at all, but there are stories of bizarre and unexplainable phenomenon, things appearing and disappearing without so much as a poof, impossible confluences of events, and the only thing at the center of it all was an earth pony, with not one cloud nor twinkle to give anypony any idea what the heck just happened.” Apple Bloom stared at her, wheels turning in her head trying to imagine that, then slumped responded glumly, “Ah don’t know if I want to magic at all, then. That sounds freaking creepy.” “Is not sho bad, at leasht your life gets to be interesting!” Sweetie squeaked cheerfully up to Apple Bloom. “There are some measured phenomenon,” Twilight suggested, standing up straight, with another acidic look at the doomsaying Sunset, who folded her fingers demurely. Twilight smiled and explained, “One aspect to earth pony magic for instance, is soil fertility and crop growth.” “Ah have magic poop?” Apple Bloom blurted out, aghast. Sunset snorted. Twilight...tried not to. “That’s... no, that would not be magic,” she said with careful restraint to suppress any snickers. “What I mean is, that anything you grow will likely grow very well, measurably better than either Sweetie Belle or Scootaloo could produce. In fact, my friend Applejack—” Twilight got a pained look on her face. “My... friend Applejack,” she continued less eagerly, sitting back in her chair at the kitchen table, “From my world, had a trick where she’d put a seed in a clump of soil, and she could make it sprout, right there in her hooves. That’s a bit... much for most earth ponies, but she’s a pretty special mare.” “There’s really a pony, for every one of us?” Sweetie asked in wonder. “Yep!” Twilight agreed cheerfully, “Well, except for us,” she indicated Sunset and herself. At Sweetie’s uncertain look, Sunset clairified, “There’s a pony on our side, for each and every one of you, but there isn’t one of you, for every pony over there. Many ponies have no counterpart. There are just a lot more pon—people in our world. It’s a whole kingdom, and you just have a city here. And there are a lot of missing ponies here, too. Humans, I mean. It’s confusing.” “What am ah like over there?” Apple Bloom asked Sunset, curiously. Sunset thinned her lips at the question. She said with slumped shoulders, “I haven’t been to Equestria in... a while. I haven’t really had a chance to get to know ponies for a very long time.” “How long, exactly?” Apple Bloom asked, frowning at the odd choice of words. “Next question,” Sunset said, with shaded eyes. “Well alright,” Apple Bloom murmured uneasily, “So you cain’t tell me nothing about the other me?” “I can’t, but Twilight can,” Sunset said, looking at the purple girl. “She came over recently, thanks to a stupid idea I had, that’s... a long story. And she’s been living in the closest analog of your city for quite some time.” “Well, what am I like?” Apple Bloom asked turning to Twilight eagerly. “Am ah an adult already in pony years? What am ah studying? Are mah friends moving out, or can we live together in pony land?” Twilight blinked at Apple Bloom and said bemusedly, “Wow, the sheer amount of differences between your world and mine in that sentence alone, I don’t even know where to start! She’s not studying... anything in particular but again, Equestrian education doesn’t really parallel this crazy system. For most ponies, their studies are a secondary thing to their occupation.” “So what’s her occupation?” Apple Bloom persisted. “She’s a... eh... student?” Twilight said with a nervous smile. Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow. Because she totally still had those. “Okay, is she also a Freshman in high school?” she asked kind of worried they’d say she was in kindergarden or something. “There isn’t any concept like a high school, I’m afraid,” Twilight answered soberly, “Beyond primary school, there are higher institutions that some ponies attend, but she certainly isn’t there yet.” “Okay, then,” Apple Bloom said uneasily, “But what’s she like?” “She’s one of the sweetest little fillies you’d ever meet,” Twilight said fondly, “She and her friends get up to such adventures, they’re often the talk of the town!” “Me too?” Sweetie asked, definitely looking like she was feeling left out of the conversation down there. Apple Bloom considered joining her. “I getta go on adhvenstures too?” Sweetie clarified in excitement. “All three of you, yes,” Twilight smiled at her. “It isn’t always a good thing though,” she added with a wry grin. “One time you dealt with a little bullying problem, not by working with your teachers and parents, but by blowing up the harvest parade!” “Oh no!” Sweetie exclaimed in honest distress, “Did anybo’y get hurt?” “Well, my friend Pinkie Pie’s float was completely destroyed, but she just laughed it off,” Twilight said distantly, “Pinkie can find something wonderful in just about anything, even total disasters! She’s not as anxious or stressed as your Pinkie Pie, well at least not normally, so it really gives her a chance to be the most wonderful friend.” “Pinkie Pie and Applejack?” Apple Bloom put in, “Who else are you friends with over there, Twilight?” “Mostly the counterpart to Sunset’s friends,” Twilight answered smoothly, “Them and I didn’t meet under the best of circumstances, but those 5 friends are very special, no matter what world it is. I was so lucky for the six of us to have such a connection together. When your sister saved me that fateful night, I really saw a side to her that... I just, I miss... I’m sorry.” “What?” Apple Bloom asked in confusion. “So they’re special?” “I’m sorry,” was all Twilight would say and she looked awful sad... was she even crying? “Next question,” beside her, Sunset said dangerously. “Ah sympathize, but y’all aren’t being very forthcoming,” Apple Bloom said resentfully. “If’n I didn’t have hooves on mah feet, I’d say you were just about downright crazy!” Sweetie interjected, stating admonishingly up to Apple Bloom, “Sunset Shimmer is Applejack’s friend, so we can trust her. You think Applejack would be friends with a crazy person?” Apple Bloom looked away from Sweetie in acquiescence, but mumbled under her breath, “Well we are friends with Diamond Tiara,” “That wasn’t nice!” Sweetie exclaimed in outrage. Apple Bloom bugged out, looking down at Sweetie again, then realized, “Oh yeah, freaky ears right. You know ah don’t mean it.” “She’s not crazy,” Sweetie insisted petulantly. Apple Bloom just rolled her eyes. “Look...” Sunset said, putting her fingertips on her brow, “Do you know what a time loop is?” “Ah guess so?” Apple Bloom tried to say, but Sunset Shimmer interrupted her with a very bad imitation of her “Ah guess so?” “Did you just...?” Sunset Shimmer said before Apple Bloom could say anything. Apple Bloom froze and shouted, “Stop doin’ that!” wait no, Sunset said it before she could. “Stop copyin’ me!” Sunset Shimmer said. Apple Bloom blushed hard, trying frantically to think of something she wouldn’t be able to predict. She opened her mouth, “Hippopo—aww, skip it!!” Sunset Shimmer shouted gleefully. “Aaargh!” Apple Bloom yelled in exasperation. Sunset didn’t pre-emptively match that, though. Instead Sunset said, “Suffice to say, I’ve told you you were in a time loop before. We’re all acting a little crazy. If you think Diamond Tiara is the crazy one, maybe you should take a more critical look at your own situation.” Apple Bloom stared at her a while, then said in a smaller voice looking at Sunset with solemn new respect, “It’s really that bad, huh?” Sunset glanced down at those words, but said, “No, it’s not that bad. I just led you to say something you’ve said before. I’ve only tried telling your family about the time loop thirty-seven times, depending. After the first few, I was pretty much just messing around. You always pick the word hippopotamus, and Applejack picks hornswaggling when I do it to her.” Apple Bloom really didn’t know what to say to that. Sweetie did pipe up though, saying with worry, “How mush time do we have left?” Sunset looked down at Sweetie, saying, “Everything resets at the beginning of the school year, on September 7th. But uhm... it probably won’t happen this time.” Twilight shook her head at Sunset, saying, “Oh, we are most certain that the time spiral has been entirely undone. While possible that another loop might be put in place, some unknowable time in the future, this one certainly has shown hard evidence of being cleared.” “What evidence?” Apple Bloom asked tilting her head at the purple girl. Twilight seemed hesitant to answer, though. “Certain arcanosensitive dyes do exist in this world,” Twilight ventured. “We haven’t been able to measure the temporal magic directly, since obviously when we come to this world, our horns go away. But I could show you the photography... we have most of our relevant findings in Rarity’s automobile. “Magic you see,” Twilight went on, “Has a distinctive effect on the electromagnetic spectrum, seen sometimes as distortion or colors, or sparkling energies. The low levels here would only produce x-ray spectra or higher though, and very rarely. When there is a time loop, slow exposure photography specifically tuned to that range can in theory pick up the coreolized entubation of the physiosomata.” Apple Bloom looked at her blankly. “Smaller words, please?” she asked, in dissatisfaction. “Oh I’m sorry,” Twilight blushed, “What I mean is, there is a kind of light that we cannot even see, did you know that? But there are magic picture devices that can. You have to use those ‘cameras’ which take the pictures, next to living things like your friends or your family. You are very special for being alive, you see. That means the um... around you is a very special area, that—” “Never mind, ah liked the bigger words better,” Apple Bloom grumbled, her face against the table, again. “I guess the point is,” Sunset cut in, “That we don’t know, but we have a very good idea. Between that and the prophecy—” “What prophecy?” Apple Bloom zipped her head up, suddenly attentive. Sunset winced. “It’s not exactly... more like a riddle, really. There are some... things in this world that don’t quite reset,” Sunset explained. “It’s really not obvious, but fragments in various um... books in your library, who have some pages that wear out, and on neighboring pages have a cipher that, when translated basically says that you’re in a time loop, and you need to dream of the golden apple to end it.” “They refer to it as the dream of Eris though,” Twilight offered. “And only rarely refer to it being gold, and an apple. But there’s not much else to go on really. How to exactly dream this sort of thing isn’t obvious.” With wide eyes down on the floor, Sweetie’s bright tones exclaimed unbelievingly, “How di’ you find out something lihke that?” Sunset cut off any answer from Twilight, by just telling Sweetie, “It’s a long story,” and folding her fingers. Sweetie Belle looked up at her, undeterred. It was a long story, it turns out, and surprisingly unsatisfying. Suffice to say, when you’re repeating the same year for decades, you find ways to occupy your time. Scootaloo ended up dragging of Sweetie Belle to play while the two former ponies talked with Apple Bloom about some other things too. But really, there was only one really pressing question Apple Bloom had. She just wasn’t sure she wanted this Sunset girl to hear it. So, with no more questions to ask, and getting fiercely jealous of the distant laughter of her friends, Apple Bloom said, “Sorry Sunset, but can ah talk to Twilight in private for a sec?” Sunset looked at Apple Bloom with a surprisingly serious frown, but then shrugged and said, “No problem, but I can’t promise she won’t tell me all about it anyway.” “I can keep a secret!” Twilight said hotly. “If you do, then I’m sure there’s a good reason to keep it,” Sunset sighed, standing up from the table. “I’ll be over uh... coaching those two if I can help at all.” Apple Bloom jumped down from her chair too though, instead of just asking the question, saying, “C’mon, Twilight, we can walk through the woods a bit. Ah’m tired of sitting all around.” Twilight glanced at her friend, but Sunset was already on her way out to the kitchen, just raising her hand, fingers up, without turning around. Apple Bloom was pretty sure that meant go ahead, if she remembered right. “Okay Apple Bloom,” Twilight acquiesced, standing up from her seat. Apple Bloom cantered over to the front door, looking back at Twilight saying, “C’mon Twilight, ah’ll show you over to the cattle pastures!” The day was crisp and cool once the girl and pony walked outside. There was not much weather in the air, maybe a handful of flakes drifting down. Promise of more on the way that night. Apple Bloom trotted quickly alongside the longer lopes of the legged girl. Soon, nothing but the trees surrounded them, bare branches stretching up to the sky. The farm house was less visible by-and-by, as they walked along the edge of the pasture. Apple Bloom wisely didn’t lead them over that broad open expanse, on account of the shallow, untrammeled snow, that could still be concealing surprises left by the cattle previously this year. “You really have a lovely farm,” Twilight remarked, looking around wistfully. “It sure reminds me a lot more of home than living in the city.” “That so?” Apple Bloom asked. “So, there ain’t cities where you come from?” And then she mentally smacked herself. Of course there wouldn’t be cities. Ponies didn’t even have hands to build them with. “Oh yes, there are cities,” Twilight said agreeably, making Apple Bloom look up at her with extreme skepticism. But Twilight went blithely on, saying, “Some cities would even resemble your own, with certain notable exceptions. We don’t have cement for instance, so you’ll see more cobble and brickwork.” “Ponies can lay bricks?” Apple Bloom neighed in astonishment. Then, her mood dimmed again with realization, and she added, “Oh yeah, like unicorn magic like you said, right.” “Actually it’s mostly earth pony cities that use brick construction,” Twilight offered, once again making Apple Bloom look at her incredulously. “Unicorns tend to use meldstone—that is—magically infused granite, which responds to their horn field. It’s a lot more... well, I’m biased because I was raised in Canterlot, which was melded directly out of the mountain it is er, mounted on.” Apple Bloom looked at Twilight, then looked forward. “Ah have so many questions,” she grumbled, “But there’s just one ah needed t’ask you.” They reached one of the old fallen logs the Apple family hadn’t cleared out and chopped for firewood yet. Apple Bloom jumped up on in, and turning around, tapped its surface with her hoof encouragingly. When Twilight didn’t get it, Apple Bloom said, “We can take a break here.” Twilight nodded agreeably, and sat herself down on the log, the white coat she wore bunching underneath her slim, purple pants. Apple Bloom felt a flash of uncomfort, remembering she was naked again, but this Twilight really was a pony, so she’d understand right? Um... “Do ponies wear clothes?” Apple Bloom asked nervously. Then she added, “That ain’t the question. Ah mean, ah’m just ...curious.” “It really depends on the altitude, Apple Bloom,” Twilight said, giving Apple Bloom a thoughtful look. “Clothing is more common in some of the colder cities, especially in the frozen north, but for most ponies it’s just something for special occasions.” Apple Bloom bit her lip then, and turned away. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to know the answer, now. Ponies do wear clothes, so did that mean should she? Maybe it was better that she just innocently pretend to be an ordinary Earthling pony, and let Twilight keep her thoughts to herself. If Twilight wanted to say Apple Bloom should be wearing clothes, like a decent pony would in her world, then she could very well say it without Apple Bloom asking about it. Apple Bloom didn’t really want to ask at all, at least not until she was more decent with some clothing on, just to be safe. Besides, she had a more important question. Turning towards the girl on the fallen log, Apple Bloom hesitated, lifted a hoof, then just blurted out, “Are you the dream princess?” Bloom winced in hindsight, flicking her tail at herself in irritation. “You’re obviously not,” Apple Bloom corrected herself, before Twilight could speak. “She didn’t even know what humans were,” Apple Bloom explained, “Or much of anything, for that matter. But she looks and sounds just like you, except pony! Do you know her, or something? Is she trapped across the portal? She’s stuck in an enchanted sleep or some like, an’ doesn’t know what’s going on.” Twilight looked like she was about to answer, but then frowned and put her closed fingers underneath her chin, for... some reason. What was that gesture to mean, again? “We should be getting back,” Twilight said cryptically to Apple Bloom. “I’ll tell you... I have a hypothesis but I’ll tell you what I know on the way back, if that’s any help.” The silent boughs above them swayed in the slight breeze, the sky overhead, a uniform, steady grey. As they walked back beneath the trees, the tall girl spoke to Apple Bloom, who was clipclumping quickly right along alongside her. Twilight said to Apple Bloom, “I am a princess, back home. You know that, right?” “Yeah,” Apple Bloom said provisionally, “That’s why ah’m wondering, that maybe you’re like, know of her or something?” Apple Bloom wasn’t sure what she was asking really. It just had to mean something, that Twilight was here, and it was just like talking to the dream princess, except awake, and she’s just a girl. Thankfully Twilight continued to explain, so Apple Bloom just stayed in confused silence, happily turning an ear to Twilight as they walked along, listening attentively. “I’m not the princess of dreams,” Twilight said, critically, “I am the princess of Friendship. Ponies have been... becoming more social over the recent centuries, and my position reflects that truth, at least I think so. But there is a princess who watches over dreams. Her name is Luna.” Apple Bloom stumbled at that, looking at Twilight incredulously, “Our vice principal is royalty?” she asked skeptically. “But she’s so ...low key!” “Not as low key as me, this time,” Twilight countered with a chuckle. “If you notice, the principal roles here are parallel to the princess roles over there, even if... bizarrely insulting. Both Luna and Celestia are princesses in my world. Princess Celestia is the princess of the Day, and Princess Luna is princess of the Night.” “Ah see,” Apple Bloom said thoughtfully, watching her hoofsteps carefully this time so she wouldn’t stumble again. “Princess Luna has domain over dreams,” Twilight continued, “Of the darkness and things that hide in it. She’s very low key, you might say. Low key or not though, she is who you would see in your dreams. Imagine a pony like Vice Principal Luna, except tall and s—well she already is tall and slender as a human, but with a deep blue coat of fur, and the marking of crescent moons on her hindquarters, graceful wings to either side of her, and a long, powerful horn. Her hair is always full and flowing, and filled with the same beautiful stars that grace her night sky.” “Yeah, it was just like that!” Apple Bloom cut in excitedly, “Except uh... you.” “Tell me more?” Twilight asked hopefully. “You met this ‘princess’ in your dreams, I’m told?” “Well yeah,” Apple Bloom said easily, “The princess was kinda sitting there staring off into a uh, book or something, an’ some nightmare was chasing me, an’ we sorta ran into each other. She’s been looking for ponies for a long time. But ah wanted to ask you about her, because she didn’t look like Vice Principal Luna. Ah mean, yes she has the mane fulla stars and all, but she‘s lots more purple than the vice principal. Really purple. An’ she had the sunset in her mane, just like you see right around um... twilight.” “That’s—” Twilight started to say, but Apple Bloom continued to speak urgently. “And she sounded just like you! She was thinking that she just made it up. She wanted to wake up real bad, and when ah told her about you, so maybe she just turned herself to look like you, as a fantasy. It is a dream after all. But I didn’t tell her what you sounded like. Ah didn’t even know until the Fall Formal!” “Alright, well here’s my hypothesis,” Twilight said quickly, adopting a grim expression as the farm house slowly eased back into view among the trees. Apple Bloom shut up then, to let the lavender lady speak her mind. “Everypony—everyone here has a duplicate pony back in my world,” Twilight explained. “But someponies don’t have a duplicate at all. It’s odd really: many ponies from Ponyville can be found as humans here, but not from say, Manehatten or Trottingham,” “Are all your cities named after horse puns?” Apple Bloom asked, with a raised eyebrow. “Em... no,” Twilight stated frankly, “There is Hollow Shades, for instance and Dodge City.” “Ah think there’s a Dodge City on this side,” Apple Bloom mused trying to recall her geography. “There are a lot of crazy parallels,” Twilight admitted. “Sort of comes with the territory, this being a parallel universe. Technically a subcontextual derivation, not strictly parallel. Incidentally, verse might be a more appropriate term, as uni-verse is by definition everything unified into one, but not many people or ponies are well versed in the science of theoretical poetry.” Apple Bloom had stopped trotting before they entered the open area, watching Twilight walking ahead of her before the yard to the farm house, and she called forward to Twilight urgently, “Sorry, wait a sec. Ah was interrupting you. What was that ‘bout parallel ponies, specifically?” Twilight walked back to her, regarding the little pony. The girl shivered as a chill wind darted through her hair. Apple Bloom noticed Twilight’s biological reaction, but hardly noticed any chill herself, and she was buck naked! She found her thoughts on ponies and clothing again. How cold did it have to get, before she’d have to wear clothing all the time? “Many ponies have no duplicate here,” Twilight said evenly, bringing Apple Bloom back to the topic at hand. “Sunset doesn’t have one. It was pretty obvious I don’t have one. But Pinkie Pie said something... in one iteration, she said that I had a twin sister, who lives in the city. She never said it again, even when provoked. She doesn’t... Pinkie Pie is... special.” “Y-yeah it’s pretty obvious, she’s like, psychic or something,” Apple Bloom mentioned, glancing over her shoulder to make sure Pinkie Pie hadn’t been there all along. “So, you don’t mean...?” “Yes, I think there may be a human version of me after all,” Twilight confided to Apple Bloom intensely, “And she’s only capable of communicating to you, through your dreams.” “Ohhh,” Apple Bloom said in understanding. “Huh,” she added, rubbing a pastern on her chin in thought. “Wait a sec!” Apple Bloom exclaimed with a sudden realization. “You mean to tell me that they’re all called pegasus?”