Chapter Nine
“And last night, Bumblebee took me to an ice cream parlor.” I explained excitedly. “They had these things where if you eat thirty scoops of ice cream in thirty minutes you got a free t-shirt. I was doing great, but half way through Bumblebee got a brain freeze! I had to finish the rest of it myself!”
Reaching for my bag, I pulled out the t-shirt. It was a plain white shirt, fit for ponies. It had tiny ice cream cones all over, and the words ‘I Won The Thirty Scoop Challenge!’ in bright blue.
“Sounds like you had a fun night.” Mia said, sipping her tea. She was smiling, hadn’t really stopped since I came in.
“Of course I did. The idiot gave me a challenge. I had to finish it.” I asked, picking up my tea cup. Man, Mia always had good tea at the Crystal Empire.
This was how our biweekly meetings usually went. Mia would tell me anything new in her life, and I would do the same, all over a nice hot pot of tea. It felt so British, and I loved it. Of course, most of my stories were changed for Mia’s sake. She didn’t know my secret, and I was happy with that. If she knew, who knows what guilt trip I would get.
It doesn’t sound good, happily keeping a secret. I feel kinda like Miley in the last episode of Hannah Montana, looking for a fake disguise because she needs to have some kind of big secret. Why did I have to pick the crazy Disney channel star? Why couldn’t I have chosen Kim Possible, who never had a secret for more than one episode?
I could worry about that stuff later, right now I was enjoying some sweet tea! Well, it was normal tea but then I put in, like, five sugar cubes. It’s a Southern thing.
This was my life, and I loved it. I had loyal friends, a wonderful daughter, a nice boy(colt?)friend, a mortal enemy, and no one had tried to assassinate me for the Crown. Everything was in order.
Or, at least I could pretend when I was having tea with Mia.
Mia clapped her hooves, excited. “Your first princess summit. I’m so happy for you, and Twilight!”
I had some more tea. “Twilight’s been a bit nervous about it. She still hasn’t gotten used to being a princess.”
Mia brushed it off with her hoof. “Twilight a great princess, and more she’s a great mare. She’ll be one of Equestria’s best princesses.”
“Exactly. She just needs a push in the right direction.” I said. ‘And here I am.’
The Mane Six and Spike walked under the Crystal Palace, smiling once they caught sight of me.
“Hi Raspberry.” Rainbow Dash said, flying over my head. “Why did you have to get here before us?”
“Princess Cadence and I wanted to get together before the Summit began.” I explained to the group. “There’s just not enough time for tea when dealing with four other princesses.”
“I know that, you told us yesterday.” Rainbow groaned. “But why are you here so early?”
That was actually not true. The sky had started to turn gold as Celestia began the sunset, I had been here since lunch. Still, the comment made me blush. “I have a thing against being late. Five minutes early is ten minutes late, so the saying goes.”
Rainbow rolled her eyes. Applejack shook her head, staring at Twilight and I in astonishment. “Hoo-wee! Your very first princess summit. You two must be over the moon.”
“Oh, I’ve been looking forward to it for a long time.” ‘Since I heard about the movie.’ I thought, smirking at my own little joke.
Twilight smiled at her friend. “Oh, I am excited.” The smile faded, giving way to an anxious frown. “But, to be honest, I’m a little nervous, too.”
“You’re ‘nervicited’!” Pinkie burst into the conversation.
Twilight’s wing sprung out in surprise. She hadn’t quite figured out those yet. I merely smiled and watched as Pinkie started hopping in place. “It’s like you wanna jump up and down and yell ‘YAY ME!’” The pony fell to the ground, wrapping herself into a ball and rocking back and forth. “But you also wanna curl up in a teeny-tiny ball and hide at the same time!”
I will admit, that was come impressive acrobatic skills Pinkie had. She uncurled herself from the ball, smiling at us as if she hadn’t just defied physics. “We’ve all been there!” The party pony finished, rubbing Twilight and I head’s in a quick nuggy.
Fluttershy bashfully looked to the ground. “I’m there almost every day.”
“Try every other week.” I grinned.
“You’ve got no reason to fret, Twi.” Applejack assured in a firm tone. “Everything’s gonna be just-”
“TWILIGHT! RASPBERRY!”Rarity shouted, running up to our faces.
All seven of us flinched. Rarity grabbed at our heads (Twilight’s, then mine) searching for our crowns. “Oh, sorry, darlings, but I just realized you’re not wearing your crowns. You haven’t forgotten it back in Ponyville, have you?”
“It’s in my bag.” The purple alicorn turned to her assistant. The dragon patted the saddlebag he had dragged here from the train station. “Just feel a little self-conscious about wearing it. Haven’t really gotten accustomed to these yet, either.” She lifted her wings in emphasis.
Twilight flapped her wings, staying airborne for four seconds before falling flat onto the crystal floors.
“I actually did leave mine at Home.” I commented. Rarity looked at me as if I just told her I wore boots on my horn. “What? I don’t like wearing that thing. It’s heavy!”
“You are princesses now, Twilight, Raspberry. Embrace it!” Rarity said as we all trotted towards the doors. “I’m telling you, if I had a crown like that, I would never take it off. Why, I’d sleep in the thing.”
“No you wouldn’t.” I stated. Rarity rolled her eyes. “It would mess up your hair.” Her eyes shrunk in mute horror, as if she had just now realized the problem.
Twilight opened the doors to the throne room, being met by trumpet blowing crystal guards. The others stared in shock, but I stared boredly. The guards did this every time I came to the palace, so it was an annoyance now than anything.
Yet I stayed by the door, waiting for it to stop. Apparently, they take it as a personal offense when you ignored the trumpets, learned that the first time.
Twilight hadn’t learned this yet. She wandered through the guards, bumping into Flash Sentry. “Her highness, Princess Twilight Sparkle!”
I walked up next, thankful that the horns had stopped for Twilight’s announcement. An immediate wince followed as the trumpets began anew.
“Her highness, Princess Raspberry Stardust!” Flash announced, gesturing to me.
Twilight walked on, smiling at her sister-in-law. “Twilight!” Mia giggled happily. “I haven’t seen you since the coronation! Raspberry’s been my only way of finding out what you’ve been up to!”
I whistled innocently as Twilight playfully glared at me. “No idea what she’s talking about.” I denied the statement.
Princess Celestia walked up, smiling at the exchange. “We have so much to discuss. But it can wait until tomorrow. You all look tired from your journey. Now, off to bed, all of you.”
Everypony nodded. It had been a long day, and it wasn’t even over yet.
Night had fallen in the Crystal Empire, letting the aurora borealis loose onto Equestrian skies.
Lilac and I were in our usual room. It was almost exactly like Twilight’s room, except Lilac had a proper foal’s bed in place of a dog bed.
I had finished telling her a story about Alice in Wonderland, seeing as it somewhat fit tonight’s adventure. Lilac was tucked under her blankets, looking a bit forlorn.
“Just stay here, and under no circumstances follow me.” I instructed, kissing Lilac’s head. “I’ll be back before you know it.”
My daughter frowned. “Are you sure, Mom?” She turned to me, moving her covers so they kept her covered. “I helped a lot with the Planning. I can help even more.”
“Princess, from the bottom of my heart, do not follow me into this world.” I said. “You stay here where I know you can be safe.”
Her frown deepened.
“No. Puppy dog pouts do not work when there is a chance of you in danger.” I said firmly.
“But you brought me to dragons sting biking filled Berk.” Lilac pointed out. She had been getting better at those since January. I’m gonna be humble and say it was her uncles who taught her that.
“Yeah, and you were the one who chased after Toothless during the grudge match.” I reminded. Lilac winced, digging herself under her blanket. “I know you hate it when I remind you about that. It doesn’t make it any less true. You could’ve gotten seriously hurt.”
“You didn’t do this to Aunt Killjoy.” Lilac complained.
Okay. That one stung a bit. I hadn’t been hard on Darcy when Lilac was around, especially when Lilac wasn’t around. Darcy had been my sister, and my student. “I did this a lot to her, when she was your age. It took her a long time before I trusted her on her own, Lilac. She had to work for it. Even I had to work for it. It took me a long time to get to this level of skill.”
I leaned down to her side, kissing her forehead. “Few goods things were ever built in a day.” Lilac closed her eyes, curling into a small ball under her blanket. I sighed. She tended to get a bit distant if I scolded her on stuff she did wrong. For a dragon, she had thin skin. “Goodnight, Princess.”
Lilac mumbled a goodnight. I walked to the door, opening it with my magic. Best to leave Lilac to sort out her feelings, she was introverted.
Off to work.
What woke me was the magical him from the mirror. I had been in here for twenty minutes before sleep called to me. My hiding place had to be the best, not even Sunset Shimmer would think to look behind the mirror for me.
A black hooded figure hopped out of the mirror, gently pushing the door open with mint green magic and sneaking out.
“Took her long enough.” I grumbled, shaking the sleep out of my eyes.
I walked towards the mirror. My saddlebag clicked onto my side. Lilac was safe in bed, Bee was in Ponyville, and everypony else was in bed. My supplies for the next two days had been stuffed into the Bag, plus anything I needed for emergencies.
“Ouch.”
When I came out from the portal, I hit someone. I heard the sounds of papers flying, and someone squeaking.
“Umm…are-are you okay?” A voice asked.
Fluttershy!
Looking at my outfit, I saw I was wearing a plum purple hoodie with little strings that had little yellow beads for ends. My sleeves went out to my elbows, showing off my raspberry colored skin. The midnight blue jeans had my cutiemark on the upper thighs. By my side was a dark brown messenger bag with the strap going over my right shoulder, it had a flap going over top connecting to a golden belt buckle. My boots were amber with white sparkles.
Reaching up to my hair I saw the midnight blue with streaks of silver. It was running freely down the back of my head, it still felt like a frizzy mess.
Fluttershy looked like she did on TV. Her skin was pale yellow with a rosy pink mane done so that she could hide behind it if need be and a white butterfly hairclip. She wore a white tank top connecting to a grass green skirt with two butterflies. Her boots went to knee level and the same shade of green as the skirt with pink I guess socks and white tips.
“I would say I’m just fine.“
Fluttershy looked at me with confusion before slipping down to my level.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Nobody wants to help the animals.” Fluttershy said, pushing her head into her knees and making snuffling sounds.
“I’ll adopt a pet.” The statue shifted a little, I quickly reached into my bag.
“You will? Oof!“ Fluttershy squeaked.
We turned to look at the object that had hit Fluttershy’s head. It was the Element of Magic.
“How did this get out here?” Fluttershy asked, lifting up the tiara.
“I don’t know.” I lied.
“I should get this to Vice Principal Luna. She’s probably hasn’t noticed it’s gone yet.” My pink haired friend said before grabbing some of the papers and walking off.
“Hey,” She turned back to me. I stuffed my hands into my hoodie pockets, awkwardly. “Can I follow you? I’m new here and I don’t know my way. Also, my name is Raspberry Stardust.”
“I’m...Fluttershy.” She whispered.
“Well, Fluttershy, I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship.” With that, I wrapped my arm around the butter yellow girl and walked us into the school.
Fluttershy kindly showed me around the school, showing me Principal Celestia’s office along with some of the classrooms. When the bell rang, she ran off. For the next period I would be bored out of my mind.
I snuck to the library, reaching into my old Infi-Purse to grab my backup computer. Despite all this, I really wanted to work on some Travel stuff. Being in charge of a sub-species was harder than it sounded. Most of it was just some requests to Travel or meet with me.
I swear, it’s all getting so complicated. I remember way back in ‘08 when I could Travel to CSI:NYC in the morning, Rugrats for the afternoon and That’s So Raven at night without a care. Why did they have to make requests to Travel? Was there something wrong with the place? Gah, sometimes I hate my job.
The bell rang again, I guess Second Period was starting. Closing the laptop, I placed it carefully inside the Infi-Purse.
Ah, yes, my Infi-Purse. A little trick I learned in Halloween Town. That grandma knew what she was doing. She enchanted my bag a couple decades back so it was like her alligator purse. Bigger on the inside. It had a ton of stuff for this trip inside it. I planned on using all of it in some fashion.
I walked out of the library, looking for Pinkie Pie.
It didn’t take long.
The pinkette was taking party supplies into the gymnasium, being sure as to not spill any of it. When she walked in, I made sure to accidentally bump into her.
“Oof!” We both said.
Rubbing my head lightly, I looked up to see Pinkie Pie. She had light pink skin with a hot pink hair curling down to her hips. She was wearing a white shirt with a pink heart an purple lining with a bright blue mini jacket. Her belt was a lavender bow just above a pink-purple skirt with her cutiemark on the sides. For shoes, she had bright blue boots up to her knees with two little pink bows.
When she noticed me, she gasped. Seriously, she jumped up and gasped like when she met Twilight.
“Oh my gosh! You’re new because I haven’t seen your face before and I’ve seen everybody’s face before so you must be new and that means you mustn’t have any friends! That’s so sad!”
“I have friends. A girl name Fluttershy.” I defended. Pinkie made it sound like I was a friendless loser.
“Fluttershy, huh? Don’t-”
“Let the whole shy thing fool me?” I finished for the pinkette.
Pinkie gasped again. “Are you psychic?” She asked me, blue eyes wide.
“Yes.” People always asked, so I always answered. So what if it wasn’t true? It was still an answer.
“Cool!” Pinkie cheered.
“Hey, I was wondering if I could help you set up the dance, the Fall Formal? I helped my old school decorate for this last big party they threw and I was taught by one of the best!” I cheered, leaving out the best was Pinkie Pie as a pony.
“Sure! Anything for a new friend!” Pinkie said.
The girl grabbed my arm and dragged me into the gymnasium. She pushed some streamers into my arms.
“Just start hanging these.” Pinkie smiled, skipping off with what looked like a pile of balloons.
“Where?” I asked.
“Everywhere silly! Oh, wait, I forgot to ask you your name!”
“Raspberry Stardust, most people just call me Raspberry.” I said.
“Nice to meet you Raspberry, my name’s Pinkie Pie! My friends all call me Pinkie.”
Twilight Sparkle
The room Fluttershy had guided me to was decorated in familiar balloons and streamers. It was so strange seeing all of my friends as humans, more so than when we were in Morgan’s world.
In Morgan’s world we had our wings and horns and magic, but our skin was the same as any other human’s. Here, there was only the fur colored skin. The rest was all mixed up. Morgan’s high school didn’t have as many lockers, or corridors, or Princess Celestia as a teacher. Spike wasn’t a dog in Morgan’s world, he was human like us.
This must be why she came before the attack. When she hadn’t appeared after Sunset stole my crown, I knew something was wrong. Lilac had woken up, staring at the mirror with a frown on her face and longing in her eyes. She was heartbroken that her mother had gone on her own.
I hadn’t been here very long, and was still so unused to this place. The similarities between this world and Morgan’s and mine had my head spinning.
Then, came Fluttershy. The human Fluttershy, who had no idea who I was. Was this how Morgan felt every time she traveled to a new land? She had to look at others who had helped her for so long and they had no idea who she was, or how much they had helped her.
Now, I was looking for the pony in charge of the Fall Formal Planning Committee, and Raspberry Stardust, and Sunset Shimmer who stole my crown.
“Fluttershy said she’d probably be in here.” I said, walking into the middle of the big gym.
“Incoming!” A nearby voice shouted.
Spike and I didn’t have proper time to move, so we ended up covered in big streamers. Standing up seemed to get all the streamers out, but I had a feeling I’d be pulling it out of my mane for the rest of the day. I walked up to the first human I saw, finding something familiar about her pink mane. Hair. It was called hair, here.
She pulled a balloon out of her skirt, blowing it up to what I knew were inhuman levels,
She turned to face me, her balloon nearly knocking me in the head. It gave me a chance to see who I was really talking to. “Hi, my name’s Twilight Sparkle and-” My eyes widened in recognition. “Pinkie Pie?”
The balloon deflating right in front of her human face. Of course, of course the party planner for the dance would be Pinkie Pie. Fluttershy brought animals to school, so of course Pinkie Pie would be in charge of parties. The room was decorated in Pinkie Pie’s style, with colorful streamers and balloons. No doubt those tables would soon be covered in cakes and a punch bowl. I shuddered, hoping that this Pinkie didn’t put Gummy in the bowl.
Like Fluttershy, she wasn’t wearing the clothes she wears when we go to Morgan’s world. It could be because these were all teenagers, and we are full grown mares. Pinkie Pie gasped, suddenly appearing behind me. She pulled me by the shirt, getting far too close. I was a little happy Raspberry wasn’t here, she would be laughing. “Are you psychic too?!”
“Uh, no. I don’t think so. Unless of course that’s something you can do here?” How close were they to their pony selves?
“Not usually.” Pinkie Pie sighed, dropping me to the ground. She skipped off, smiling.
“Fluttershy said this is where I’d find the head of the Fall Formal planning committee.” I said.
Pinkie’s hard hardened. “Fluttershy, huh? Don’t let the whole ‘shy’ thing fool you. She can be a real meanie.”
“You two aren’t friends?” I asked, disappointed.
“Waited a bit to get your name on the ballot, huh?” Pinkie, always with the non sequiturs. “Dance is day after tomorrow.”
Focus, Twilight. The crown. “I’m brand new here.”
“Ooh! I thought you didn’t look familiar.” Pinkie Pie rushed to my side, pulling at my arms and hair. “Though, now that I’m really lookin’ at you. Do you have a twin sister who lives in the city, has a pet dog named Spike that looks just like that one?”
“Uh, maybe?” I shrugged. If human versions of my friend were here, why wouldn’t I be somewhere around her too? What was I like as a human, without these girls in my life?
Pinkie smiled. “Thought so.”
“Pinkie, careful, don’t overload the girl.” An oh-so familiar voice rang out from behind me.
I turned back, in the corner of my eye I saw Spike doing the same as we saw the approaching figure. The skin, the mane, the eyes and the clothes. It was her. I knew that smirk anywhere. Raspberry Stardust. Morgan Spencer.
The dark pink skinned girl kept smirking, walking up to the three of us and smiling at me. “Wow, Sparkle of Twilight, fancy seeing you here.”
“Raspberry do you have any idea what kind of trouble you’ve caused?” I asked.
“Twi, not in front of the impressionable new friend.” Morgan said, taking Pinkie’s chin in her hand and shaking it, and making a fake sad face.
“This makes the room look funny.” Pinkie laughed.
Raspberry snorted, covering it with her hand. “So, whatcha doin’ here Twilight?”
“Oh my gosh!” Pinkie gasped. She looked between Raspberry and I. “You know each other?!”
“Yep, she was a friend at my old school. She was elected Princess at our last dance, well, it was a tie between me and her, but still.” Raspberry lied.
Pinkie Pie gasped. “That’s awesome! Maybe you can run for Princess of the Fall Formal together against Sunset Shimmer!”
“I would, but the whole Princess thing was an accident, and I think it belongs,” Raspberry hopped over to me and wrapped an arm around my neck, “to my good friend Twilight Sparkle.”
“Raspberry...” I started.
“Okie Dokie Loki!” The human version of my friend Pinkie Pie cheered. She reached a hand into her mane and pulled out a clipboard and a blue pen. “Just need to fill this out and you are officially up for the coveted Princess of the Fall Formal crown.” She smiled.
It took me a moment to remember I couldn’t magic. Raspberry cleared her throat, gesturing to me that I had to use my hands. I carefully gripped the pen in my hands, remembering how Morgan did this back on Earth, and moved it over the clipboard. I tried to sign it, I would say I did pretty well.
“Wow! You have really bad handwriting. It’s like you’ve never held a pen before!” Pinkie gawked.
“Oh! Let me see.” Raspberry said, slowly taking the clipboard and looking at it. “Dear Storyline Twilight, my baby brother writes better than that.”
“Anybody order a dozen cases of Fizzy Apple Cider?” Applejack’s human self asked. She was carrying a crate of apple juice bottles.
“Oh! Me! Me! Me!” Pinkie said, jumping up and down.
Applejack turned to the man walking in behind her. “Can you bring in the rest?”
“Eeyup.” Big Mac too?
Applejack’s human self walked by, looking at me with interest. “Hey, I know you.”
“You do?” Oh no. Has she seen my other self?
“Sure.” Applejack grinned. “You’re the new girl who gave Sunset Shimmer the what for today.” She opened the bottle with her teeth, chugging it. Yep. Still the same Applejack.
“I heard about that too.” Raspberry elbowed me, grinning. “You make me so proud, Sparkle of Twilight.”
I rolled my eyes, finding myself smiling. She always called me that when she was trying to get on my nerves.
“Twilight Sparkle here is gonna run against Sunset Shimmer for Princess of the Fall Formal.” Pinkie told Applejack.
“Rule 64.” Raspberry coughed, nervously looking around the gym.
‘Never drink when someone is about to tell you something. Obvious spit take moment is obvious.’ Those repeated times where Raspberry taught me her Rules, I was ever the student. I made sure to stay away from Applejack.
To prove it, she spat the apple juice all over the floor. “Ah’d think twice about that.” She advised. Raspberry was shaking her head, walking over to a nearby closet to grab paper towels. “Oh, sure, she’ll probably approach you all friendly like...”
Applejack pulled a floating Pinkie Pie down, taking away the heart shaped balloon.
In a minute, she held up two balloons. Sunset Shimmer on one, me on the other.
“‘I sure am lookin’ forward to some friendly competition.’” Applejack said, in a high pitched voice. She changed the voice, making it just a bit deeper for mine. “‘That’s so good to hear.’” She swung Sunset’s balloon, revealing a needle. “But then, here comes the backstabbin’.”
*pop*
“Great. Now I gotta clean up the Twilight balloon too.” Raspberry grumbled, having just cleaned up the apple juice.
Applejack let Sunset’s balloon go, only for Pinkie to catch it in her mouth. “About the only girl in this school you can trust less than Sunset Shimmer is Rainbow Dash.”
“Rainbow Dash?” I asked.
Pinkie Pie hopped by on another balloon. Seriously, where is she getting all of this? “She’s the captain of, like, every team at Canterlot High.”
Raspberry and I winced as Pinkie’s balloon popped on the bleachers.
“She’s also the captain of sayin’ she’s gonna do somethin’ for ya, and then turnin’ around and not even botherin’ to show up.” Applejack grumbled.
“Well, thank you all for the wonderful advice.” Raspberry said, wrapping Spike and I up under her arms. She dropped Spike in my backpack, moving us towards the door. “But this is something Twilight really wants to do. This girl’s more stubborn than a mule.”
Applejack shrugged. “Huh, suit yourself.”
Raspberry nodded curtly, shoving me out the door I walked in. “Hey!” I said. “Raspberry!” My friend only smiled back.
Once we got out the door, I pulled her hand off me. Raspberry only smiled innocently, putting her hands in her pocket. “I just saved you from a really embarrassing moment. You were about to call Applejack by her name.”
Even though the event hadn’t occurred, I still blushed in embarrassment. Then I remembered that I was angry at Raspberry.
I grabbed her arm as she had grabbed mine, dragging her along.
“Owowow!” Raspberry said. She didn’t fight, only whined. Her bark was worse than her bite.
Morgan Spencer
Twilight dragged me aside once we entered the hallway, guiding me to a dark corridor. The light overhead kept blinking in and out of existence.
“Could you be a little gentler?” I asked.
“No.” Twilight answered.
“Alright, but just know my safe word is rutabaga, and my coltfriend will probably have words with you.”
The purple ex-pony glared at me, her purple eyes glaring harshly at my amber. “Morgan, do you have any idea how worried we all were about you?”
“Sparkle of Twilight, I had to come here on my own.” I explained, simply.
“Why couldn’t you have at least told us you left?” Twilight argued. Spike poked out from her backpack.
“You were all asleep. I didn’t wanna be rude.”
“Rude? You still left!” Twilight nearly yelled.
“I have reasons.” I said.
“Morgan, do you have any idea how scared Lilac was when she found out you left?” Twilight blamed me.
I did. I did. I knew she was scared and afraid, she was probably wondering if I was okay or not. “She’s a Stardust. She can handle it.” I said.
Twilight huffed, grabbing at her hair and pacing the corridor. “That’s not the point, Raspberry. She woke up alone, hearing you had run away.”
“I told her I was coming back.” I excused, shrugging. “And I never lie to Lilac, not anymore.”
The ex-unicorn shook her head at me.
“Can’t believe I didn’t recognize you earlier.”
Turning from the purple girl, I saw Sunset Shimmer. She was glaring at Twilight smugly. “Shoulda known Princess Celestia would send her prized pupil here after my crown, and her little dog, too.” Her green gaze turned to me, she sized me up. “But you, who are you?”
I smirked, over dramatically bowing. “Raspberry Stardust, Traveler Princess. You probably don’t have the mental capabilities to figure out what that is anyway.” I boasted, rolling my eyes and looking at a locker. “I’m just here to help.”
Sunset blew me off, changing her venting towards Twilight. That was her bigger concern, it seemed. She should actually be more on edge with an unknown variable. “Whatever. This is just a minor setback for me.” Sunset kept that smug grin. I can’t wait to whack it off her face. She walked circles around us, like a shark. “You don’t know the first thing about this place, and I already rule it.”
“I actually know more about this world than you think.” Twilight said, making me grin with pride. That’s my girl. “If you rule it as you claim, why do you even need my crown? You went to an awful lot of trouble to switch it with the one that belongs here.”
‘Wow.’ I thought with a eye roll. ‘Almost two centuries old, and I’m stuck in a battle between two teenagers. What a time to be alive.’
Sunset Shimmer “Pop quiz: what happens when you bring an Element of Harmony into an alternate world?” A blink. “You don’t know? Seriously?”
To be honest, I never wanted to take the chance, risk an Element. As great as the research purposes would be, I told Twilight the Elements were saver in Equestria. She tried convincing me, but I stayed firm on the matter.
Sunset stopped laughing, grinning evilly at us. “And you’re supposed to be Princess Celestia’s star student and a...whatever you are? Then again, what were the chances she’d find somepony as bright as me to take under her wing after I decided to leave Equestria? Bit embarrassing that you two were the best she could do.”
Spike nearly leapt out of the backpack, growling at Sunset. She was unfazed, looking at her nails. “Oh, and I’d keep an eye on your mutt, Twilight. Hate for him to be...taken away from you.”
Another reason I didn’t bring Lilac. If Sunset said that to my child’s face, she wouldn’t be walking out of this hallway.
“Is that a threat?” Spike held up his paw as a fist. Twilight and I glared angrily at the orange skinned girl.
“Oh, of course not.” Sunset said condescendingly.
Spike barked.
Sunset pressed a finger to his snout. “But I’d cut down on the chatter if I were you. Don’t want everyone to know you don’t belong here, now would you?”
Okay, I know she gets redeemed at the end of all of this, and I am not one to talk about having a demon inside of your head, but this chick is just a plain old bitch. “Same goes for you, Shimmer.” I stated, keeping my voice even. She turned to me, not caring in the slightest. “How will the students take it if they find out you’re a pony? The crown belongs to Twilight, and I’ll make sure it gets to Twilight.”
Sunset seemed a bit worried after my statement, but brushed it off. “It wouldn’t matter. You wanna be a princess here? Please. You don’t know the first thing about fitting in.”
The girl walked off, leaving both Twilight, Spike, and I in the dark hallway. She was right, but I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of it showing on my face.
Twilight had taken the argument harder than Spike or I did. She moped around the hallways, dragging Spike and making me follow along. Well, not making me, but I wasn’t about to leave her on her own in this state.
We found a vending machine at one point. It looked like it could accept bits, so that was good. Twilight didn’t have any bits on her. She tried to kick the machine, making me wince in sympathy.
“Twi, you know I can just give you a bit right?” I said, pulling said bit out of my bag.
“Excuse me.” The two of us turned to see Trixie, who still looked as smug as normal. Would the me in this dimension please come kick her ass please? “The Great and Powerful Trixie needs some peanut butter crackers.”
She pushed the bit into the coin slot, walking away with her treat.
Twilight frowned, looking to the magician and the machine. I sighed, pushing my coin in and buying an apple. “Here.” I held out the fruit to her.
Twilight took the apple, but was still upset. “Sunset Shimmer is right. I don’t know the first thing about this place. Morgan’s world at least lets me use magic.” She took another bite of the apple.
We started walking down the hall. “Don’t say that. The second you admit that to the universe is the second she wins.” I advised. Twilight shrugged. “Come on, Sparkle of Twilight, use that brain of your’s. Come up with a plan. I can’t do all the work.”
“You haven’t done much from my point of view.” Twilight pointed out, innocently.
“I met Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Applejack.” I reminded. “They seem important to me, but that could just be me.”
Twilight smiled. It was a more confident smile, like she had an idea. “If I’m gonna really fit in and win votes, we need to do some research.”
“Research?” Spike almost snorted. I gave him a look to shut the hell up before Twilight caught it.
She didn’t, thank the Story. “This place has a school.” Twilight said. “I have to believe it’s got-”
Low and behold, the door opened as if sensing the prodigal son had come home.
“A Library!” She cheered.
We had been here for an hour, and so far this world only differed from my world only in species.
Twilight was better with computers here than in the movie. She wasn’t using her fists, but was still slow. It was like expecting someone who had only used typewriters to master Word. I helped where I could.
“Twilight, just don’t.” I said, trying to reach for the mouse.
Twilight pulled it away. “I don’t see the problem, Raspberry.”
“If you use bing, I will shove you to the ground.” I promised, adding a bit of a growl. A sickening thought came to me. If she knew what bing was... “Please tell me you haven’t used it back at the Centre.”
Twilight blinked innocently. “Yes.” I groaned, slamming my head into the counter. “Why is it a problem?”
“Bing doesn’t even use bing. Go to yahoo or Google. I don’t even care if you use tumblr, just please get that disgrace of a search engine out of my eyesight.” I said, turning away like a werewolf turns away silver.
My friend did so, much to her confusion.
Our search was interrupted by loud music.
Three familiar friends of my daughter were head bobbing to their song. ‘When you’re a younger-’
Cheerilee’s human self walked over. Oh biscuits, I just remembered I have work next week. “Uh, girls, what are you doing?” She turned off the music.
Sweetie Belle looked at the teacher innocently. “We’re just seeing how many hits our new music video has gotten.”
Apple Bloom turned it back on.
‘So the three of us will fight the fight...’
Cheerilee turned it back off. “No, just. No! The school computers are for research purposes only.”
She walked away, and the Crusaders ank into their seats. I craned my head, feeling a bit surreal at this. It was like something out of the Twilight Zone, seeing them without Lilac in real life. On TV, they looked like cartoons, but here they were actual people. My daughter wasn’t standing behind Apple Bloom, or beside Scootaloo. She wasn’t blushing at being caught by Cheerilee.
She wasn’t there. Even if she was, she would be a dog in this world. Somewhere out there was a Raspberry Stardust that had a little purple dog with blue hair, but it wasn’t a daughter. She didn’t hear Lilac’s voice, or laugh. She didn’t see the light in her eyes when you give her a banana nut muffin with rubies on top. She didn’t feel the pride in seeing her make such wonderful friends.
Apple Bloom’s voice brought me back to reality. “It’s just as well, y’all. Some of the comments about our song were really awful. ‘Epic fail’... ‘Funniest thing I’ve ever seen’?”
Sweetie Belle, always the optimist, found the bright side. “Funniest thing they’ve ever seen, huh?” The three girls smiled, and it was infectious.
Twilight sat up, holding her hand up. “Uh, I don’t know that that’s what you should take from-”
The girls were already out the door. I watched the Crusaders run off. “You said Lilac was sad?”
Twilight stopped typing on her computer, looking up at me. “Yes. She barely said a word.”
That made me feel parental guilt. It sucked. I had to make it up to her. Every time Darcy screwed up on a mission (with the last few as exceptions), I took her out for a movie and ice cream. Lilac liked TV, but taking her to a movie would only remind of where she did wrong. As for the ice cream, she was a dragon.
What do kids like more the TV and ice cream?
I looked over a Spike, coming out of Twilight’s backpack.
Fluttershy showed me another one of the cages, a bunch of the most adorable cats I have ever seen scurrying about inside. They were all sorts of colors and sizes, but one stuck out.
It was a little calico kitten. The main area of her fur was white as snow, with touches of sky blue on the tips on her ears and around her forest green eyes. She was looking at me with them, bearing into my soul. The splotches around her body varied from light brown, cocoa brown and gold. Her tail was thin, a bunch of light brown splotches and a slightly darker brown splotch at the end.
“She’s perfect.” I whispered. Turning to Fluttershy, I showed off my large smile. “I want her. She’s perfect.”
The pinkette nodded. She opened the cage and picked up the strange kitten. When Fluttershy placed her in my arms, I felt her soft fur snuggling against my skin.
“Umm…do you know what you want to name her?” She asked.
“Yep. Her name is Cookie, Cookie Eleanor Stardust.” The kitten rubbed her head against me, she liked it.
We both walked over towards the main office, the kitten testing in my arms. Fluttershy helped me with all the paperwork, I paid with some of the cash I brought with me.
When all was said and done, I would have a new cat.
*ting*
Fluttershy’s phone beeped. The screen was lit up to show a photo of angel, as well as a new notification. “Oh my...” Fluttershy whispered.
“What?” She lifted the phone to me and I saw Twilight. “Smurf.”
Going back to the school with my new kitten, I thought over what happened after I saw the video. Fluttershy helped me pick out a cute collar with Cookie’s full name on it, giving me some cat food and a little mouse toy for whenever. The collar was raspberry pink with a gold heart shaped tag, her name written elegantly on it along with my number. It looked just precious.
Cookie just looked up at me with her forest green eyes, rubbing her head against my dark pink jacket. Petting her lightly behind her ear, I looked up at the school grounds. It reminded me of my elementary school. A shudder went up my spine just thinking about that place. So glad I still have that feud, so glad I’ll be getting vengeance. The kitten in my arms purred, her adorability took my mind off that small it of fear. Lilac is going to love her.
It was almost too easy to sneak into the building and get to the library. Principal Celestia needs to bump up the security in this place.
Taking the quick journey to the library, I saw Twilight still doing research with Spike the dog. They both were starting to look tired.
“Hiya Twilight, howdy Spike.” I greeted.
The purple skinned girl looked up at me, she looked happy but it changed quickly to annoyance. “Morgan, tell me you didn’t.”
Spike looked towards me, noticing the little bundle in my arms. His eyes widened.
“This little cutie is Cookie Eleanor Stardust. I’ll have you know she’s a special breed; calico. Isn’t she just the sweetest little thing?” I shoved the kitten towards Twilight, letting her look into Cookie’s big green eyes.
Cookie reached paw out, bopping Twilight on the nose. Twilight looked entranced for maybe a second, before shaking her head and looking back at me. “Morgan, you can’t adopt a pet! Especially not when we’re going back home once I get my crown!”
I had this nagging feeling in the back of my head, but I let it slide. “But Twilight-”
“No Morgan! I’ve seen you do lots of reckless things, but you can’t just give this kitten false hope like that!” Twilight argued.
“Twilight, it’s just a kitten. Calm down.” Spike explained.
“Spike, Morgan got a cat!” Twilight yelled.
I was so tempted to say I saw the video, but thought against it. So I went with plan B. “Well what about all the times you did reckless crap?” I asked her.
The other princess rolled her eyes. “I’ve done reckless things, I’ll admit, but nothing as impulsive as what you’ve done!”
“Impulsive?! I think long and hard about my actions!”
“For a minute!” Twilight insulted.
She was starting to get on my nerves. “I’ll have you know, Twilight, that I have to think for hours on what I do! Do you have any idea how long I had think to help you six with Discord?”
“Really? Cause if seemed to me like you weren’t awake for most of it.” Twilight said.
Spike, meanwhile, looked ready to crawl into a hole.
Twilight’s argument made me a bit riled up. “That’s what you think? I seem to remember following after you guys even though you woke me up, then got Discord to bring Morgana out into pony in her own pony body. Speaking of Morgana, let’s not forget the last time she came out. All because you and your friends don’t know about this new craze called personal space!”
Twilight gawked. “Personal space? You want to talk to me about personal space? How about how you butt into the lives of others every day? I saw those episodes, we could’ve handled everything ourselves!”
“Did she show you the Royal Wedding?” Twilight flinched. She did. “I guess then you saw how all your friends betrayed you for someone they had met a day before, same for your brother and mentor. How do you think I feel every time people betray me? I feel like my heart breaks. How about every time they undo every kind thing I have ever done? I feel worthless!” Twilight was silent. “I guess you wouldn’t know, what with your perfect little life.”
“My life isn’t perfect!” Twilight argued.
“You own a tree that triples as a library and home. Your assistant is a dragon. Your brother is married to your foal sitter and you two talk practically every day. You have tons of friends. You have an owl, but didn’t go to wizarding school. You’re a princess. You’re great at magic. Your friends always stick by you. Your teacher is a Princess that raises the sun. You’ve taken down three villains and walked out with barely a scratch.” I listed. “Does it seem perfect yet?”
Spike hopped up, trying to get our attention. “Guys, stop fighting! We need to figure out how to get the crown back!”
Twilight glared at me. “Perfect? I nearly lost everything at the wedding!”
“Which I stopped from happening!”
“It would’ve been stopped anyway if you hadn’t come into our lives!”
“Really? If you could go back and stop me from fixing that wedding, would you?”
“Yes! I would stop every single thing you have ever done to us! I wish I had never even knew you in the first place!”
“I wish you had never come to ‘Child’s Play’ in the first place!” A voice bounced around in my head.
Spike and I gasped, I could tell even Cookie recoiled in shock. Twilight lifted her hands up to her face when she realized what she had just said. Now I wish she did say I killed Darcy, it would’ve hurt less.
Taking a breath, I looked at Twilight thru the tears burning in my eyes. “I wish that too. Friendship is magic? What a load of crap.”
With that, I stormed out of the library and towards the exit.
“Morgan wait!” Twilight called out.
I ignored her, going off on my merry way.
“Morgan, stop!” Spike yelled.
Not looking back, I marched towards the exit at a fast pace. I think I saw a motel in town I could use for the night. It looked decent enough.
Because I sure as hell wasn’t staying in the same building as Twilight Sparkle.
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Wow, nice chapter. This looks like it's going to be a good arc, despite being off from the main issue in Equestria.
I like the dynamic you have going between Twilight and Morgan here, it is really well done.
Also:
"Ooh, teen drama! I'm so excited!"
This is so much better than actual high school...
Keep up the good work!
Best Wishes,
Knight
Sooo... Anyone taking bets that Cookie will end up turning into a griffen or something on the other side of the portal giving Lilac a new sister?
Well that escalated quickly. Looks like Morgue got sucked into the teen mentality too?
Hmmm, we can't help but think Twilight was firmly in the wrong here, and she did start it...
Keep going! ;)