//------------------------------//
// This Strange New World 
// Story: (Mis)taken Identity 
// by MythrilMoth 
//------------------------------//

"Princess Celestia doesn't like me very much, does she?"

At dawn, Princess Celestia had absconded with Sunset Shimmer for a private breakfast. Most of the others who had been present for the previous night's craziness were all passed out around the castle, having decided to catch a few hours of sleep in order to have the energy to roam Ponyville during the day. Princess Twilight's spell had long since worn off, and she had decided it would be simpler to give the visitors identifying scarves rather than repeatedly turning them human with magic—especially if they were going to be out and about in town. Only the two Twilights remained awake, sipping coffee and having a simple breakfast.

Princess Twilight smiled at her counterpart. "That little speech from last night?" she asked. At Twilight's nod, Princess Twilight shook her head. "Don't misunderstand. Princess Celestia wanted to make you think. You're, well...stubborn," she said. "And when I was younger, I was stubborn too." She snorted. "I still am sometimes. Anyway, whenever I was particularly stubborn, she'd do something like that to make me think, to realize I was being stubborn about something I needed to accept."

"It's not just her, though," Twilight said. "None of your friends really like me. I mean, not that I expect them to, it's just..."

"Well," Princess Twilight said with a grimace, "you do seem to be going out of your way to be as rude to everyone as you possibly can."

Twilight shrank into herself. "I—"

She was cut off by a loud crash as a swearing blue pegasus tumbled through the dining room doors, rolling to a stop in a tangled heap of limbs. "Ugh! Stupid horse body," Rainbow Dash muttered.

A herd of twinned ponies entered the room, accompanied by Princess Luna. "Good morning darlings!" Pony Rarity called brightly.

"Good morning, Rarity," Princess Twilight said. "Good morning to everyone!"

Both Pinkies pounced on Twilight. "Ready for our tour of Ponyville?" Pony Pinkie asked.

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Actually, I'm going home after breakfast," she said.

Everyone present stared at her. "WHAT?!"

Twilight adjusted her glasses. "I still have a lot of questions about...about everything," she said. "About what's been going on at CHS, about this...magic. But..." She looked around the room. "Honestly? This is all too much for me, and as curious as I am, I think this is a world I just...don't have a place in." She took a deep breath. "Besides, I...I have something important to do." She smiled at Princess Twilight. "You've given me a lot to think about. Not just about things I didn't even know existed, but...about mistakes I've made with my own life." She frowned at her coffee. "I think it's time I did something about that." She looked at the group of ponies staring at her with various unhappy expressions. "This other Twilight calls you all her friends, and Sunset Shimmer too. I just...I don't think we have enough in common. I'm sure you're all wonderful people. I just...I need to find my own path. My own friends."

Rarity sniffled. "We understand, darling."

"We do?" Pinkie asked.

"Yes, we do," Princess Twilight said sadly. "She's right. We can't decide who her friends are. If...if she was destined to meet all of you, she'd have been at CHS a long time ago. Or...I don't know. Maybe in another lifetime, if things had gone differently, she'd have met you all and become friends with you, the way I did with my friends here in Ponyville. Either way, she has her own life to live, and..." Princess Twilight sighed. "It's up to her how to live that life."

Unhappy murmuring filled the room as the rest of the group shuffled their hooves.

Twilight stood up, looking at everyone. "Still, I'm sorry I was so rude to you all," she said. "I just...I have a hard time opening up to others, and I think I was just...startled by all this. By all of you."

Rarity smiled gamely. "It's...it's alright," she said. "If you ever decide you want to get to know us better—"

"Oh, I do intend to interview all of you about what happened both at your Fall Formal and at the Battle of the Bands," she said. "You haven't seen the last of me. I'm not finished investigating. But for right now..." She grimaced. "For right now, I think the things I've already learned are going to take a while for me to really digest."

Pony Rainbow's stomach chose that moment to rumble loudly. "Speaking of digestion," she muttered.

Everyone laughed. "Luna? Why don't you go with everyone down to Ponyville? The kitchen's a little understocked right now for this many ponies." She stood and rustled her wings. "I'll open the portal for Twilight and send her home."

Luna nodded. "Of course." She smiled. "Hopefully, we can rendezvous with my sister and my...niece."

"But...don't you wanna at least explore Ponyville?" Pony Pinkie asked Twilight with a pout.

"Yeah!" the other Pinkie agreed. "I mean, you came all this way, don't you wanna see what this world's like?"

Twilight grimaced. "I'm not really into all that touristy stuff," she said. "I might come back for a visit sometime and have a look around."

"Come, everypony," Princess Luna said, "let us away...to feast upon the bounty this quaint hamlet has to offer!"

Pony Pinkie gasped dramatically. "AAHHH! Nightmare Moon's gonna turn us all into hams and FEAST ON US!"

Luna narrowed her eyes. "Don't. Start. That. Again," she said coldly. After a moment, she smirked and added, "Besides, were I to devour you, I would first turn you into...A CHICKEN!"

Pony Pinkie jumped three feet into the air, laid a colorfully decorated egg, and ran away, leaving a Pinkie-shaped puff of smoke behind.

The others just stared.

Pinkie snorted. "I like her!"

Princess Twilight groaned. "Just...just go to breakfast, everyone. I'll see you all later. Come on, Twilight. Let's get you home."

As the herd of ponies headed for the palace gates and the two Twilights headed upstairs to the library, Twilight's brow furrowed. "Your friends are weird," she said.

Princess Twilight smirked. "Yes. Yes they are."


* * * * *


Sunset Shimmer and Princess Celestia strolled around Ponyville, watching the sleepy little town wake up. Sellers setting up their market stalls for the day looked on curiously, most bowing, as their Princess walked by. Celestia nodded and greeted them warmly as she passed.

"I still can't get over this place," Sunset said. "It's like something out of another time."

"Hmm? How so?" Celestia asked.

Sunset tilted her head. "Well," she said, "in the human world, a town like this is, well...old. Archaic. Like something out of the past. Or a storybook."

"I see," Celestia said. She tilted her head curiously. "What's your world like?"

Sunset hummed thoughtfully. "A lot like Manehattan, really," she said. "Big buildings, paved roads, people always in a hurry. But also more than that." She levitated her phone out of her jacket pocket. "Almost everybody has one of these, so we're always connected to everyone and everything in the world all the time. Life is fast, and people tell the whole world every single thing they do practically every minute of every day."

"Goodness," Celestia said. "And how does that work, exactly?"

Sunset opened her mouth to explain, paused, then shook her head. "The magic of human technology," she said. She found a twig lying on the ground, picked it up with her magic, brushed it off on her coat, and woke up her phone, going through her photos, music, and so forth and showing it to a wide-eyed Celestia.

"Amazing," Celestia breathed. "And...and what all can this device do?"

"Pretty much everything," Sunset said. "Take pictures, record short movies, play music, play games, talk to your friends, look up information on the Internet—that's like the world's biggest library and every newspaper in the world all rolled up into one, and...other things."

"How remarkable!" Celestia said in a delighted tone.

"Yeah, it's pretty cool," Sunset said, putting her phone to sleep and pocketing it again. "The irony is that because these phones can do so much, nobody just sits and talks to each other anymore. Not without a screen between them."

"I see," Celestia said. "So these devices let everyone talk to everyone else all the time, and yet nobody talks to anybody. How...strange."

"PRINCESS CELESTIA! SUNSET SHIMMER!"

The two mares turned to see a large group of ponies approaching. All around the marketplace, ponies were staring, gasping, muttering, and fainting dramatically with screams of "THE HORROR! THE HORROR!" as five sets of twin mares cantered up the streets, led by Princess Luna.

Luna looked over at the fainting flower ponies and snorted. "Please," she huffed.


* * * * *


"Goodbye, Twilight," Princess Twilight said.

Twilight snorted. "Goodbye...Twilight." She took a deep breath and stepped through the portal...

As the blinding kaleidoscope of colors faded away, she collided with something both solid and soft, and cried out as she found herself falling to the ground. "Uwah!"

"Ah!" a male voice cried out.

Twilight's glasses slid askew. As she sat up, she hurriedly fixed them. "Sorry, sorry!" she said once she realized she'd knocked a teenage boy to the ground.

"It's okay, happens all the...Twilight?" The boy looked at her with wide, hopeful eyes. He had spiky blue hair and wore a ripped T-shirt and a dark grey windbreaker. "TWILIGHT!" He moved to hug her...

She held up a hand to stop him. "Wrong Twilight," she said as she adjusted her glasses. She frowned. "You're...the boy who has a crush on that other Twilight, right?"

He blinked. "Other Twilight? What—"

Twilight smirked. "She's right through there," she explained, touching the surface of the portal, which rippled and shimmered beneath her hand.

The boy stared, wide-eyed, and swallowed. "Is it safe?"

Twilight hummed thoughtfully. "Well...it should be, so long as she doesn't close it before you go through."

Without a second thought, the boy dived right into the portal. Twilight giggled, then pulled out her phone and scrolled through her contacts. "Cadance? It's Twilight. Listen, I've been thinking about that job offer, and I'd like to meet to talk about it. Umm...one thing, though. Can you pick me up at Canterlot High School? Yes, you heard me right. It's a long story." She paused, then added, "I was just...looking into something over here. Alright, I'll see you in a bit."


* * * * *


For the remainder of the day, the large group of mares wandered all over Ponyville and its environs, introducing the Rainbooms to everything there was to see: Sugar Cube Corner, Carousel Boutique, the barren, burned-up ground where the Golden Oak Library once stood, Ponyville Town Hall, the train station, schoolhouse, clinic, various lakes, Sweet Apple Acres, Fluttershy's cottage, and the outskirts of the Everfree Forest. They broke for lunch when the Rainbooms grew exhausted, shared stories of their lives and respective worlds, and laughed over shared interests and anecdotes.

As the day came to an end, the low evening sun casting orange and red hues across the sparkling crystal of Twilight's palace, the group gathered in front of the portal to CHS.

"We thoroughly enjoyed our visit here," Rarity said. "Thank you for letting us have a look around."

"It's no problem at all," Princess Twilight said warmly.

"Y'all should come visit our world sometime," Applejack said with a grin.

"Ooh! Can we, Twilight? Can we?" Pony Pinkie asked, jumping up and down excitedly.

Princess Twilight rolled her eyes. "Sure," she said. "But it'd probably be better to go on a weekend so the girls can really show you around and so you won't confuse everybody at CHS too much. Right, Sunset?"

"Absolutely," Sunset said. "We can have a big group sleepover at AJ's place—if that's okay with you, AJ?"

"Course it is."

"Ooh, a big sleepover party with..." Pinkie Pie took a headcount. "Ten? Eleven? Twelve of us? That sounds super duper FUN!"

"Hey, uhh...Twilight?" Rainbow Dash asked, brow furrowed. "What's with that pegasus curled up in a ball in the corner?"

Twilight blinked...then gasped. "Oh my gosh! I'd completely forgotten!"

Sunset looked at where Rainbow was pointing, and facehoofed. "Flash? Seriously?!"

"FLASH?!" the other Rainbooms cried.

"Oh my," Fluttershy said, covering the giggle and silly smile that threatened to break loose.

Twilight rolled her eyes and smiled. "Yeah, he somehow figured out the portal was open and came through. I...don't think he took it very well when he got a look at the real me." She sighed. "Oh well."

Sunset groaned. Her horn lit up; a teal aura wrapped itself around Flash and pulled him over to the mirror. "Come on, Romeo," she said. "Time to say goodbye to Juliet..."

"Goodbye, girls!" Twilight said warmly. "I'll see you all again soon, I promise!"

"You'd better," Rainbow said with a grin. "Come on, girls, our folks are probably pissed by now."

"Bye, Twilight!" Pinkie said with a wave. "Bye, Pinkie! Bye—"

Fluttershy shoved her through the portal, then turned with a sheepish smile. "Goodbye, every...pony," she said. Giggling, she stepped backward through the portal, waving.

"We'll meet again, lovelies!" Rarity said as she followed.

"See you 'round, sugarcubes," Applejack said, tipping her hat as she went through the portal.

"Later!" Rainbow called, waving as she went through.

Sunset pushed Flash through the mirror, then turned, looked over the group, and sighed. "I'll come back to visit as often as I can," she said. She looked at Celestia, her eyes misting up. "I...I'd stay longer, but..."

"I understand," Celestia said, sweeping her up in a hug. "Your place is with them now." She sniffled. "So long as I know you're safe and happy, and you're only a letter or a quick trip through the portal away..." She smiled. "I'll enchant a new pair of magic journals and have Twilight deliver the new one as soon as it's ready," she said. "That way we can stay in touch."

Sunset smiled. "I'd like that." Hugging Celestia tightly, she stepped back, looking at the portal, then back at her friends. "Well...see ya," she said.

She turned, took two steps...

And then plunged through at a run, leaving behind a trail of tears that splashed onto the crystal floor.

A long, heavy silence followed her departure.

"So," Rainbow Dash said eventually. "That was your boyfriend, huh?"

Twilight blushed. "Y-yeah, that...yeah."

"No offense, but he was kind of a wiener."

Twilight smiled a silly smile. "Yeah, but...he's my wiener."

Everypony laughed.


* * * * *


Twilight Sparkle set up her framed photo of herself and her brother on her new desk, then slipped a smaller photo of her dog Spike into the corner of the frame. She smiled, adjusting her navy blazer as she sat back in her chair. On the computer monitor in front of her, a login screen for the faculty of Crystal Prep Academy sat open.

A girl about her age walked into the faculty office, wearing a rumpled black pullover turtleneck and drab pants with sensible shoes. Her magenta hair was an absolute mess, her pale cream complexion was dotted with acne, and her thick-framed glasses were scotch-taped across the bridge. She shuffled over to a neighboring desk which was covered with dozens of books in an unseemly sprawl, then sat down, sipping a coffee as she pulled a book from the stack and poked her nose into it.

Twilight smiled gamely. "Hello," she said. "I'm Twilight Sparkle. I just started here as a teaching assistant today."

The girl looked up at her and grunted. "Moondancer," she said. "I'm a student TA. I graduated from here last year."

Twilight nodded. "I see you like to read."

"That's right." She blinked, adjusting her glasses. "Wait. Did you say Twilight Sparkle?" She peered intently at Twilight. "As in Doctor Twilight Sparkle, youngest Ph.D. graduate from Everton?"

"That's me!" Twilight said happily, beaming.

Moondancer's jaw dropped. "And you're wasting your talent working here?!"

"Dean Cadance is...a friend," Twilight said. "And she thought this would be a good opportunity for me, at least for a little while. Until I decide what I really want to do with my life." She paused, then added hopefully, "I don't really know anybody here other than Cadance, though. Maybe we can be friends?"

Moondancer's brow furrowed as she considered that. "Hmm. Friends. I don't really have any of those..."

"Everybody needs a friend," Twilight said with a gentle smile.