“Tell me,” I turned to Julius who looked like the aftermath of a kid who took apart limbs of other toys and stick them into one body. “Does this happen very often? I mean getting arrested by ponies with spears?”
He shrugged, “I guess it’s a Thursday thing.”
I turned back to our heavily armed escorts on the ground and a few in the air, “Look, is arresting us really necessary?”
“We’re not arresting you, Miss,” one of the guards said, “although, the fact you and Discord have appeared in the same place where Princess Twilight was last seen from is indeed suspicious.”
“This brings something up actually,” I turned back to Julius, “What’s all this business of Twilight Sparkle being a princess?”
“Which one are you talking about?” he asked, holding a paw and a claw up. “Are you talking about the one we’re looking for,” in his paw, a little figuring of the missing student appeared. “Or are you talking about the one who lives here?” in his claw, a figurine of a… what was it that the guards said…? What was that word? Alicorn? Yes, it was! A purple alicorn figurine was held up in his claw.
“I suppose the latter,” I told them, watching both of them disappear into thin air.
“Yes actually,” he said, “I found that out when I first came here.”
“Wait here,” we stopped at a door in this long hallway that’s somehow made out of blue crystal. And if I didn't know any better, I’d say that the whole thing wasn't carved but formed in one piece. (I wonder how they did that.) The pony who spoke went in through the door, no doubt to talk to his superior about finding us.
“You know,” I told Julius, “if we get back, I’m going to have to face quite a bit of paperwork for finding all of this.”
He raised an eyebrow, “Paperwork? How so?”
“Really?” I deadpanned, “For the fact that there’s a portal that leads to a universe of equines that talk. So negotiating with the leaders here is going to be a migraine on my-”
“Good news everypony!” Julius’s voice declared… except it was coming from behind me. Julius looked up and I turned around to… Okay, what did I eat before all of this? Now I’m seeing a second Julius with an oversize envelope. “I know exactly where…” the second Julius looked down at me, and for whatever reason, he jumped back in fright. “GAH! U-Uh… H-Hey t-there, Ms. F. L-Long time no see.”
I looked between the two Julius’s, one was scared stiff of seeing me while the one I’ve been with gives me a confused look; confusion, something that I and of these guards share with each other.
“What’s gotten into you?” the Julius next to me asked. “You know her?”
“Unfortunately yes,” the other Julius responded. “Don’t you?”
“A little, I’m kinda in trouble with her at the moment.”
“Oh…” the other Julius shook his head but still kept his eyes on me. “Does this happen to involve a purple unicorn and a purple princess by any chance does it?”
“What purple uni-” I started to ask but I was quickly cut off with someone shrieking from the other side of the door we were waiting.
“WHAT!?!?” Not too long after that, the door inexpertly flung open, slamming a few unlucky guards between the flung doors and a wall. In the doorway was an alicorn that was blue, at first, she somehow reminded me of someone. She had a mane that was like peering into a night sky; her crown was dark and had a chest piece of a crescent moon. But why did she look so… wait… is that?
“Luna?” I asked.
The mare’s eyes were wide as her mouth is open. Before anyone (including myself) could so much as to process what was happening, I found myself on the ground with the mare’s forelegs being tightly wrapped around me.
“MOTHER! WHAT JOY IT IS TO HAVE THEE BACK ONCE MORE!” she really needs to learn about using her inside voice more often. If she keeps it up, I might go deaf!
I looked up to Julius to find that his mouth has crashed through the floor and into the basement. “Mother?” he asked.
Turning back to the mare that’s squeezing all the air out of my new body like a boa constrictor, I tried to use whatever air was left in me to tell her to let go.
“Oh, forgive us,” she said sheepishly, letting go of me. Come to think of it, she does sound exactly like the Luna I know. “We- sorry, I didn't know that you were coming. But, I and the elements have been engaged in an important matter as of now.”
Once I got air back into my lungs, I asked her what she meant by that, “A fellow Princess, Twilight Sparkle has gone missing since yesterday,” she told me. “We have sent forth a search party to find her.”
So their Twilight has gone missing as well?
“Um, excuse me,” the other Julius spoke up. “As amusing as squeezing your mother like a tube of toothpaste, I think I've found something vital.” There was a flash of light before he was suddenly wearing a costume from the old Sherlock Holmes stories, cloak, hat, and even down to the pipe that blows out bubbles. “I've taken these pictures while I was looking near the Everfree Forests.”
“Well, let us see,” Luna said as her horn glowed and the envelope floated over to us. She opened it and took out its contents. It had a few pictures and a magnifying glass. There were three pictures in all. One was a crossed looking white rabbit looking into the camera; another was an underwater picture of a fish with wings; and the last was a wide-eyed red pony with orange hair, sitting by a tiny table with a miniature tea set, an old doll sitting in a chair, and in the background was an open window that overlooked a forest that had two purple dots in it.
“Discord,” Luna looked up with an annoyed look. “What do any of these pictures have anything to do with Twilight Sparkle?”
“You said go out and find anything suspicious, so I did,” the other Julius, apparently called Discord here told her.
“Can I see this one?” I asked, pointing to the picture with the red pony. I turned back to Julius number one who has seemed to more or less gotten over his shock. “Julius, could you hold this picture up?”
He did while I grabbed the magnifying glass with both of my hooves without it slipping. Once I got a grip, I turned my attention to the window in the picture. Using the glass, I saw that those two dots were two nearly identical ponies, except I saw one with wings while the other hasn't. Plus from what details I could spot, their hairstyles match the missing student.
“Well… Discord,” I said, “I think you've just made our jobs a little easier.”
Luna grabbed the picture and the glass from us to look at the two Twilights. She grew a paler shade of blue.
“Sargent Sharp,” she said, “Make preparations to turn our search party to the Everfree Forest.” She turned to me, helping me back onto me… hooves, and dragging me into the room. “In the meantime, we ought to do some catching up.” Before the doors closed behind me, I caught a glimpse of the two Julius’s looking at me.
Hmmm.... now we're getting somewhere.
Okay then! Headcannon/theory time! I'll spoiler out everything just in case I end up being right.
So in the land of Equestria, alicorn Faust is Luna and Celestia's mother. This makes sense, as it's a common idea throughout the fanon (fan canon). Luna says that "they weren't expecting her" which concludes that the actual alicorn Faust is alive... somewhere. Now if the land of Equestria and the town of Equestria are as mirrored as we have been led to believe, then these would imply that human Faust is principal Celestia and VP Luna's mother as well. Unless human Faust is in her sixties or older, then we've got something wacky going on.
Human Faust correctly identifies Luna, but that just means that she is familiar with the Vice Principal, which makes perfect sense since (as an agent) she would have learned the background of those closely involved with her mission beforehand.
So far this has mostly been analysis and deduction, but here's where the extrapolated theories start: If we take the original ending of "The Curiosity of Mr. Disc" as canon to this universe, then we get some interesting avenues to explore. That ending was not viable before because, at the time, there were no plans to continue the story and it made no sense to add Faust in for final scene. Now however, it works. It even fits in with the opening chapter of this story (assuming some weeks or months have passed since their earlier meeting and they've forgotten details about each other). In that chapter, Faust was shown to have some powers of her own (just basic telekinesis, but something nonetheless). What if... another power is longevity/youth? Perhaps, many years before, she did indeed have a pair of daughters, but due to the relationship falling apart and knowing how her work would make her be on the move constantly, she gave them up for adoption. Or, if we want to disregard the edited chapter, we could go a less magical route. If we hold that Human Celestia, Luna, and Faust are similar in age then I pose the scenario that they grew up together. It could work that the three were foster siblings together, and if we make Faust a good 7 or 8 years older than the other two, then she could have been a powerful mother figure in place of an absent or neglectful foster mom. While this comparison is not perfect, it could explain why the town of Equestria is "in her district" (she asked for it since she grew up there). Also, it has been shown that the worlds are not perfect mirrors (unless human Twilight is about to get a promotion to a teaching position, and how Discord and Julius are remarkably distinct despite their shared powers and similar history).
Anyways, it could work.
So anyways... this has been a remarkably long comment.
What I've surmised may be right, but that's just a theory. A pony theory.
5803071 Thank you for this incredible analysis.
But I must turn to you for advice. Originally, ever since I've began this, I've thought about combining the two endings of "The Curiosity of Mr. Disc", but with what you've presented, I must ask the question, should I do that? I think that Mr. D is of course going to ask Agent F her age (I mean, Luna said Mother after all). So with what you've given, what do you advise?
One!
Two!
I got two predictions right!
YES!
5803126
Hmmm... well, after rereading both the chapters in question I believe merging them could work. The linchpin to the decision is whether or not you want human Faust to have some sort of magic, or just be a normal human with a position of power (similar to human Celestia and Luna). Going the non-magic route will make explaining the Mother relationship in the human world difficult, though not impossible with a bit or creativity. This might be down with the "foster sister as a mother figure" concept I mentioned or if her job before becoming an Agent was a superintendent or head of the school board or something similar. However, making the magic chapter canon will require rewriting some of Faust's dialogue (either in the early chapters of this story or the last lines of the other one) so that her knowledge of "what's been going on and who's involved" is consistent between stories. Also, her having magic would mean that all of her subsequent reactions to magic would have to be more toned down than if she were seeing it for the first time, which would greatly impact how she carries herself and reacts to new situations as an alicorn in a world of magic equines.
Unfortunately I can't advise anything definitive, seeing as how I don't know how much more of the story you have written in advance; and since taking either route will affect how this story progresses and how Faust develops as a character.
5803340 Thanks for that, I'll sleep on it tonight.
OFF WITH THY HEAD
i see with the white rabbit and the mad hatter in wonderland