6:30PM - Return home
Darkness blanketed Ponyville, and most of the ponies who lived there were already in their homes, the flickering light of firefly lanterns and happy chatter of families floating from windows as dinners were prepared and served.
However, the shining white moon and stars provided more than enough light to navigate home by, which was good, because Twilight Sparkle did not have the mental capacity to worry about short-term navigation as she blankly staggered home, her body moving forward on automatic while her mind ran circles.
It’s just Pinkie being random. I mean, Bubble being random. For the thirty-seventh time. Just because you use your magic for carrying and grabbing things doesn’t mean everypony can. Earth ponies have to use their mouths like that all the time. Pinkie has shoved things in your mouth like that before. Just… not quite as… intrusively.
She fought back the instinct to lick her lips. She’d already lost to that urge a few times, and the sugary aftermath of the invasion was entirely gone, but somehow she still wanted to do it again, as if to assure herself that every trace was entirely gone.
She could still smell it, though.
He never even seemed interested before then… or after… it has to be just a Pinkie thing. Even if it wasn’t just him passing over something, it’d just be… to fit in with the rest of our friends or something.
It didn’t mean anything.
“Dusk?”
Bubble probably wouldn’t even know how to make it mean anything! No, no, that’s not fair… that pony is smarter than we give her credit for… I mean, him credit for… whatever!
It didn’t mean anything.
“Duuuuuuuusk?”
The subconscious processes guiding her body gave her a signal that there was something that might need her attention, but she was in no mood for such nonsense right now.
Am I seriously feeling… disappointed? Am I really getting that caught up in this? Stop licking your lips, filly! It wasn’t a kiss. It was just Bubble being Bubble and it did. Not. Mean. Anything.
“Dusk Dusk Dusk Dusk Dusk Dusk Dusk!”
Who in Equestria is making all that racke— oh, right, that’s me. An— oh, for the love of…
She reassumed manual control of her body and took a quick step to her right, away from the hoof about to jab her in the side.
The rather familiar, mint-green hoof.
“Oh! Hi Dusk! I thought maybe you couldn’t hear me for a moment there.” That inane grin, irrepressible hopefulness…
Lyra.
Twilight took a long, hissing breath in, her wings spread wide and eyes narrowed, ready to unleash another tirade upon the unicorn…
Then let it all out in a rush, slumping and trying not to collapse.
“You alright?” He looked at her with a tilted head.
Twilight lifted her head just high enough to look in his eyes. “…Look, I’ve… I’ve just had a very, very long day, and I’m very tired, and I don’t really feel like yelling at you, so just… go ahead. Whatever you want to say, whatever you want to show me, just… go.” She closed her eyes, preparing for the tirade...
“Well, first, I wanted to apologise,” Stallion-Lyra stated, his own head hanging and his ears folded back.
It took a few seconds for that to sink in, before Twilight’s eyes snapped open and she stared at him.
“Wait, what?”
“I thought about what you said earlier today… and maybe I have been a bit focused on my interests.” A green hoof traced circles in the ground. “You looked like you were a little stressed, just a bit…”
“I screamed at you for a full minute.” Twilight gave a deadpan stare.
“Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about! A bit stressed. Happens to everypony sometimes.” He grinned widely.
“You’re... used to getting screamed at, aren’t you?”
“Well yeah! Usually a good time to come back later, yeah?”
“...Yes. Yes, it is.” What more could she say?
“So yeah. Um, sorry for keeping trying to make you look at all my stuff all the time.”
“Oh. Well, um… thank you.” Twilight gave a smile, tired but genuine. “I wasn’t expecting that. I appreciate it. And I’m sorry for yelling at you – I’ve been a little stressed, today, yes, but you probably didn’t deserve that…”
“Well, I did have one thing… not the usual stuff! I promise!” He waved a hoof to ward her off as the smile fell from her face and she tensed once more. “You said I should try showing you something else! And you’ve been stressed a lot, so I thought I might give you something to help with that, instead!”
At least slightly mollified, Twilight relaxed a little once more. “Well, I did say you could go ahead before…”
“Alright, so most of what I show you is stuff that I know I can’t do, or can’t find, since you’re a prince, but this is something I can already do. Soooo…”
With a flourish, he whipped a series of books from his saddlebags, flipping them out in front of her. Her pink aura overtook his golden as she brought them in close to squint at the text in the moonlight…
Only to recoil as the image emblazoned below the title was quite clear and recognisable, even in the darkness.
Several ponies of various species, in a tangle that was at once acrobatically spectacular and unquestionably obscene.
Twilight had not gone searching, but as a librarian and professional student, she had certainly encountered the Karmare Sutra before.
A quick glance at the others showed their contents as being spellbooks - but rather specialised spellbooks, with an entirely unsurprising theme.
“So? I dunno if you had much experience with these, but judging how stressed you are, you’re probably in need of some relaxation and friendship, right? I’d be more than happy to help you test a few of them – I’m sure you won’t b—”
“AGAIN?!” Twilight cut him off with a strangled scream. Though she couldn’t see it, her mane and tail were waving up without any natural breeze, giving off light and flickering up in a manner quite reminiscent of flame.
Though the stallion didn’t know it, the presence of books - no matter how much their content offended - was likely all that stood between him and imminent immolation.
“You had me!” Twilight hissed at the suddenly-cowering stallion. “I really, honestly thought, for one beautiful, sparkling minute, that I could have a conversation with one stallion today without it ending like this! Is this just what this Ponyville is like? Is it something to do with me? The spell? Why is it that being a mare instead of a stallion for one day sends every. Single. Stallion. into some sort of--”
“Wait!” He shot to his hooves suddenly. Twilight's tirade came to a halt, cut off and derailed mid-rant, as he stared…
He flitted around her a moment with the sort of random movement normally seen only from pink-on-pink ponies, then his eyes bulged.
“By the dawn! You’re a mare?! You’re a mare! When did you pull that off?!” He goggled at her in shock and awe.
Twilight gaped.
The incandescent winds cut out like a switch had been pressed, her grip on the books faltering and failing as she stared in incomprehension at the stallion before her, her mouth opening and closing in shock but letting out no more than a whimper.
And he just looked at her with that expectant, impressed smile.
Without another word, the unconscious part of her that had kept her walking home on automatic took the reins once again and hooked up to her horn, and with a sudden flash of light, she vanished from the street entirely, retreating home to safety.
And a few moments later Harpsy carefully picked up his books again, brushing them off with another impressed look.
“Wow, I was completely wrong. He’s definitely already read these - that’s way more advanced than most of this! Maybe I should get him to teach me some of this too!”
And with an eager skip in his step, he packed them away and headed back to his home, already planning for the future…
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Whoops?
Bloody brilliant.
So how are the Princes going to react to her? Especially given how the princesses react in dawn of dusk shine which you've tantilisingly given a canonical nod to.
5622918 Whoops, thanks ^.^ The fact that the gender mistake I made was actually somepony getting it RIGHT accidentally is just... Yeah. Welp, fixed.
5622919 ^_^ Glad you enjoyed!
5622923 How indeed... *dons mysteriousness hat and flees*
Short, but to the point. Your cliffhangers are evil, as they should be. But not in the malicious way.
Sad that this is coming to an ending, but such is the way of all good things. I've loved every single part of the story thus far and do hope you'll make a sequel or some kind of follow-up where Twilight's friends in her world are kinda awkward around her while she tries to find out if Dusk did hit on them, ect, ect.
By the way. Addressing something I saw in the previous comments from the last chapter. Bubble Berry kissing Twilight isn't all that odd. In 'normal' society, a man kissing a woman he likes is not uncommon. The woman may slap him and be very offended, be really interested or just be stunned to the point of not doing anything. But if a woman kisses a man she likes, she may be viewed as something quite negative, according to public eye.
That's all. Looking forward to the ending.
Wow. That is crazy. That was funny as can be though. Great job. I loved it.
Oh geeze, if you think about it Harpsy's comment about begin yelled at regularly makes perfect sense, he regularly shamelessly hits on Dusk Shine and probably ticks him off all the time. Also makes me wonder how Harpsy didn't notice "Dusk" had changed genders, and if this a difference between worlds or if it implies Lyra has feelings for Twilight.
... You're not actually gonna end this at the end of her day, are you?
Because that would be a waste of potential. Also it would be far too easy on Twilight. I enjoy seeing my preferred purple pony princess suffer.
5622935 Thank you! I'm glad you've enjoyed it :) The ending will be coming very soon...
And yes, Twilight is intellectually aware of that... and with time, careful study, and perhaps a couple months of therapy, she might even come to believe it too ;)
5622961 Thanks for commenting! Glad you enjoyed!
5622966 No, he's just that single-minded. Lyra/Harpsy sees what (s)he wants to see, doesn't really have feelings for Twi/Dusk, just wanted to help out a (potential) friend and maybe have some fun.
5622971 The next chapter is titled "Epilogue: The next day", if that helps. =D
Hah! :D
quickmeme.com/img/a7/a7327bce9523c05ad67daa1504de75b7c20420035899796a5ced086dcc812d0e.jpg
This is stupid.
5623126 Ha ha HAH!
5623133 Somewhere between that and Princess-style ethereal-hair, yep. =D It occurs that as an Alicorn, that sort of thing would come with collatoral damage...
5623134 I did actually consider that! But Bubble got the ambiguity card, and Harpsy got the gender card. XD Besides, the whole idea is that Twilight should be happy to be going home, where everything is normal and sane. Right?
5623147 Twilight agrees with you whole-heartedly.
Ha, that was funny. Here I thought Bubble's kiss was gonna be my favorite bit, then Harpsy showed up.
Shorter than I was expecting for the final chapter before the epilogue, but I shall reserve judgement until that comes out.
Did like Harpsy just being that oblivious though.
I am hoping Twi will be trapped in the world of the stallions for a while, but we will see.
Ha! Twilight forgot that Lyra is gay.
Hah!
Poor Bonbon's counterpart...
Just watch. She gets to the Library and there's Gleaming Sheild and the male Cadance.
5623390
Cadance's counterpart is Bolero, Prince of Love and The Lost, IIRC.
5623640 didn't want to screw up the name.
Of all the things that Twilight has done today, this one seems most likely to be the one that Dusk ends up regretting. I wonder what that means for when Twilight gets home and meets Lyra again?
Twilight/Dusk casts the counter spell just as Celestia/Solaris & Luna/Artemis arrives. Twilight & Dusk go back to their respective realities, but drag the opposite gendered royals with them.
"Huston, we have a problem."
..................................................What?
5623213 Escalation is awesome!
5623262 To be fair, it's not so much its own chapter as the end of the last one - it's just not as good if it doesn't end on the kiss.
I see this edition of Harpsy/Lyra as basically being a horrifying combination of Twilight and Pinkie. He wants to know everything, do everything, and have fun, but has a mind set on rails and, unlike Twilight who tends to get derailed when something distracts her, will just keep on trucking full speed ahead and assume that everything that happens is somehow related to the way he sees the world, and disregard such silly things as objective reality.
He's an amazingly fun character to write... in very small doses. XD
5623343 She's clever enough to figure it out and get back... unless somepony was to distract her with something that kept her mind off the research...
5623352 Not so much gay, as "I'll try anything once. And then a few more times. Actually, I'll just keep trying. Wanna try with me?" ;)
5623389 Can you imagine living with that every day? Bonbon has the patience of an Alicorn.
5623751
"As if I didn't have ENOUGH reasons to avoid that crazy unicorn... siiiiiigh..."
5623766 There is a very strong possibility that I did. (Thanks, fixed >_>)
5623810
5624044 That sounds like an amazing story idea, especially if we then end up with a whole stream of errors with ponies getting flickered back and forth until eventually they're about half-half and nobody knows which dimension they're actually IN. XDDD I love it.
5624181 Twilight also agrees wholeheartedly with this sentiment.
5624611
Sequal / Spinoff / AU of an AU is a GO GO GO!!!
So much delicious chaos.
Oh god.
...
That was awesome!
Leonzilla
And now Twilight is so beyond worked up that any solution she comes up with will backfire in the most spectacular way.
this colt is so cute
5624664 Yeah but with all the ponies popping across dimensions so often, the whole spatial plane fractures and then a whole bunch of Daleks and Cybermen show up and if you don't send Rose to Bad Wolf Bay then the universes overheat from all the global warming in every dimension spilling over.
5622935 Actually, in the 'normal' world today, suddenly kissing a woman will get you a) maced, followed shortly thereafter by b) sued for sexual harassment.
5627593
*whaps* Alondro over the head with a rolled up newspaper
Bad. Bad killjoy. Go party pooper somewhere else. XD
5626769 well duh. Lyra is always cute. even when she's a stallion.
o.O -.- o.O
Lyra in a nutshell
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait....
Is Harpsy gay?! Is that what you're implying?!
What is the 'Karmare Sutra'? I've never heard of it...
Harpsy is FUN!
5624611
Or if Harpsy/Lyra spies on Twilight working and reverse-engineers her "gender-swap" spell and casts it on anyone who asks until the authorities figure out what is happening. Or "Male Trixie"/Trixie, or Starlight Glimmer.
Weirdo Lyra really hasn't aged well.
YES! Nailed it! Yes!!!!