Stranger In My Horse
Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity stared at Twilight Sparkle and her two associates.
The trio from Crystal Prep stared back, curiosity and wonder plain on their faces.
"Ahem," Rarity coughed. "Rainbow Dash? Pinkie Pie? We need to leave. Now." With that, her horn lit up brightly. She smiled at the Crystal Prep trio. "I'm terribly sorry about this."
An aura surrounded the Crystal Prep visitors, and they found themselves flat on their backs on the ground. Pinkie Pie scooped up Rarity, and was in turn grabbed under the arms by Rainbow Dash, who took off into the sky. She flew swiftly around to the back of the school, then dropped her friends, panting and gasping. Once she recovered, Rarity unlocked the back entrance with her magic, and the three slipped inside.
"The HELL was that all about, Rarity?" Rainbow Dash demanded.
"Sunset Shimmer just now received a message from Twilight Sparkle. From Equestria."
"Huh?" Rainbow said. "But..."
Pinkie gasped. "Oh my gosh!" she exclaimed. "Then that WASN'T Twilight! I mean it was Twilight! But it wasn't—"
"Exactly," Rarity said. "It never occurred to me that there might be a Twilight Sparkle native to our world until just now, but..." She grimaced. "Evidently, there is. And she attends Crystal Prep. And that was her."
Silence met her proclamation.
Rainbow groaned and facepalmed. "Great," she said. "So...what now? What's she even doing here?"
"Looks to me like she's investigating all our weird pony magic," Pinkie said. "And that boy she was with looked really interested in Rarity. And not for the reasons boys are usually interested in Rarity."
Rarity grimaced. "We need to tell the others about this. But first..." She pulled out her phone and called Sunset.
* * * * *
Ever since she'd spoken to Rarity, Sunset had felt nervous and restless.
Something was happening to her friends. She just knew it. And there was nothing she could do about it.
She paced her living room, frantic worries churning in her mind.
Her phone rang. She stopped pacing, levitated it over using her magic, and answered. "Hello? Rarity?"
She listened for a moment. Her eyes widened. "WHAT?!"
She listened some more. "But...that means..." She paused. "But that doesn't make sense! Why would she—HOW would she—?" She shook her head. "And you say she attends Crystal Prep?" Sunset sighed. "Well, that certainly complicates matters. Just...keep an eye on her, alright? And that other person she's with. Whatever happens, whatever they say or do, I need to know about it so I can tell our Twilight. I've got a bad feeling about this."
Rarity said goodbye and hung up. Sunset put her phone down on her desk and sat down heavily, deflating like one of Pinkie's balloons after an all-night party. She glanced across the room to the journal, frowned, and levitated it over, along with a pen.
Twilight,
We have a new problem. I just talked to Rarity. Your counterpart, the Twilight Sparkle from this world, showed up at CHS this afternoon. She goes to Crystal Prep, and it looks like she's investigating magic. Some guy who gives Rarity the creeps and a woman who's a teacher or something at Crystal Prep were with her.
I don't know what to do about this, but it bothers me. Especially since they saw Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie.
If you have any advice or suggestions, let me know.
Sunset.
With a sigh, she closed the journal and set it aside, then climbed up onto the couch and flopped over onto her back. "This whole mess just keeps getting better," she muttered.
* * * * *
As Princess Twilight read the latest note from Sunset, her ears folded back and her wings drooped. "Oh no," she mumbled.
"What is it?" Celestia asked anxiously. "Is something wrong with Sunset Shimmer?"
"Not as such, but..." Twilight showed Celestia the letter.
Celestia's eyes widened. "Oh dear," she said. "That does complicate matters."
"What's going on now?" Moondancer asked, looking up from her half a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and powdered sugar donut.
"The other Twilight Sparkle showed up at CHS," Twilight said. "It never occurred to me there'd be another me since she wasn't there already, but I guess I should've expected this sooner or later." She shook her head. "It's one thing to know there are parallel versions of all my friends. It's another to deal with the fact that there's another me."
"It seems fairly obvious," Moondancer said indifferently. "So what's the problem?"
"The problem is she's researching magic," Twilight said. "If I know me, which...well...I do..." She swallowed heavily. "Let's just say I have a bad habit of poking the bear when I get carried away with my research."
Celestia snickered. "Or the hydra."
"So the other Twilight showing up now of all times is not a good thing," Twilight concluded. "At best, it'll be awkward and confusing to have to deal with her when I go over to investigate their side of the portal. At worst, she's going to find a way to make things ten times worse than they already are."
Moondancer raised an eyebrow. "You don't seem to have a very high opinion of yourself."
Twilight rolled her eyes. "I've made lots of mistakes. Even after all this time, sometimes I still make the same stupid mistakes over and over again. Let's just say I'm very aware that sometimes I get carried away and it ends up causing problems for everypony around me. If she's anything like me..." She shook her head. "I just hope she doesn't try tapping into any of the magic floating around over there. That could be...bad."
* * * * *
Cadance, Tirek, and Twilight sat in Cadance's car a block and a half from Canterlot High.
"Are we going to talk about what happened back there?" Cadance asked shakily. Her eyes were wide and her knuckles were white where she gripped the steering wheel.
Twilight's heart was racing. "W-well," she said. "Let's start with the girl who had a horn. She obviously did...something to us—"
"A spell," Tirek said, eyes narrowed. "She cast a spell that knocked us all to the ground."
"So she's a witch?" Cadance asked. "Are we believing in witches now?"
"Whatever she is, she isn't human. Or at least, not entirely," Tirek grunted. "Putting the horn aside, all three of those girls had equine ears."
"I noticed that too," Twilight said shakily. "One of them had...had wings—"
"And carried the other two away when they flew off," Cadance said. She let out a strained giggle. "What the hell are we getting involved in here?"
"Whatever is happening at Canterlot High, it is precisely what I've been searching for," Tirek rumbled. "We need more data."
"You don't seriously want us to go back?" Cadance asked in disbelief. "Not after...not after what just happened?"
Twilight frowned at her scanner. "I need more data on that girl with the horn," she said. "When she did...whatever she did to us, my scanner went completely crazy. I need to observe her using..." She grimaced. "Using magic again. Preferably without being hit by it next time."
"Stealth is the key here," Tirek said. "Now that they are aware of us, we must be careful."
Cadance's phone rang. She jumped, then calmed down as she answered it. "H-hello? Y-yes, Luna. We're...we're just a block or so away. Yes. Of course! Yes. Looking forward to it as always." She hung up, then sighed. "Well...we have no choice but to go back to CHS," she said. "If we don't show up, Luna's going to wonder why, and I don't relish explaining this mess to one of my oldest friends."
"So...we just go back there, walk in, act like nothing's wrong?" Twilight said dubiously.
"That's all we can do for now," Cadance said as she started the engine and pulled the car around for the return trip.
* * * * *
By the time Rarity, Rainbow, and Pinkie had recovered from their unexpected encounter with the Twilight Sparkle from Crystal Prep, it was time for their next class. Agreeing to meet up with the others after school, they went their separate ways. Pinkie was just walking into her afternoon literature class when the trio from Crystal Prep strode down the hallway. Twilight's scanner pinged, and Tirek's crystal flashed a bright bubblegum pink.
Twilight halted. "That...was one of those girls," she said.
Pinkie stiffened, turning around without moving her feet or body. Her eyes were wide, and her pony ears flopped down around the sides of her head. "Oooooooh no," she moaned.
Cadance put a hand on Twilight's shoulder, then stepped forward, a game smile on her face. "Hi there," she said disarmingly. "I'm afraid we got off on the wrong foot earlier. I'm sorry we startled you and your friends. My name is Cadance. I'm the Dean of Students at Crystal Prep Academy. These are two of my students, Twilight Sparkle and Tirek. And you are?"
"Ummm...Pinkie Pie," Pinkie said. She looked nervously at Tirek, then at Twilight. Tirek gave her an impassive stare; Twilight gave her a hopeful, nervous smile even as she scanned her up and down. "And I've got class now gotta go bye!" With that, Pinkie ducked into the classroom and shut the door.
The three visitors blinked.
"Well, that could've gone better," Cadance muttered. "Come on, let's go see Lu—"
"Twilight?"
The three of them turned around. A boy with blue hair stood in the middle of the hall, staring at them. "Twilight! You're back?"
Twilight blinked. "Umm...do I know you?"
The boy frowned, blinking at her. "Twilight, it's...it's me," he said. He shuffled his feet. "Look, Sunset told me everything, and...and I know you're a—"
Tirek took a menacing step toward him. "Whatever your business is with Twilight, it'll have to wait," he rumbled. "We have more important things to do." With that, he turned on his heel and marched down the hall. Cadance grimaced and followed him. Twilight worried at her lip as she slowly turned and followed suit.
A short way down the hall, Twilight hurried to keep stride with Cadance. "Is...is it me," she said, "or does it seem like the people here know me?"
Cadance frowned. "Now that you mention it, Luna had a strange reaction to your name when we spoke earlier. I thought it was simply academic recognition, but..."
Far behind them, Flash Sentry watched them go, fists clenched at his sides and eyes narrowed.
* * * * *
When Rarity arrived with a group of garment bags draped across her back, Twilight was pacing anxiously. Rarity picked up on the tense mood immediately, her ears pinning back. "Twilight? What's happened?"
Twilight turned to look at her. "The other me showed up at CHS," she said. "From the sound of it, things are getting crazier by the minute."
Rarity frowned. "The other...you?"
"There's another Twilight Sparkle in that world," Twilight said. "It never even occurred to me there'd be another me there. Apparently, she goes to the same school where the new portal leads, and she's poking around CHS trying to figure out what's going on with all the magic there."
"Oh dear," Rarity said, worrying at her lip. "Is...is that going to be a problem?"
"I think it already is," Twilight said. "I need to get over there as soon as I can and find out what's going on."
"Well, I've got some outfits ready for a fitting," Rarity said. "If you could transform so we could get started, I'll...I'll alter them as swiftly as I possibly can."
"I'll go scrounge up a few spell lock matrices," Celestia said. "And...I think I'll write a letter to Sunset Shimmer while I'm at it."
* * * * *
Vice-Principal Luna's eyes widened as Cadance and her two students entered.
Her clothes were different, she wore thick black-framed glasses, and her hair was gathered in a messy bun, but there was no mistake: the girl was Twilight Sparkle.
*But that doesn't make any sense...*
"Luna," Cadance said. "These are the two students I spoke to you about. We'll just be having a look around your campus, soaking in the social atmosphere here at CHS. We won't be interrupting any classes or messing with your students."
Luna blinked, then nodded. "Yes, yes of course," she said distractedly. "By all means." She gathered up a handful of printouts and handed them to Cadance, who distributed them to her students.
"We need to catch up later," Cadance said warmly, favoring Luna with a sunny smile.
"We...certainly do," Luna said, returning the smile with some trepidation.
As the trio left the office, Tirek jerked the two ladies aside. In a low voice, he said, "There is no question now. Something is out of place at this school."
"We...already established that," Cadance said. "Or did you miss the pony-eared girls who dropped us with a magic spell and then flew off?"
"Not that," Tirek snorted dismissively. "That's the fourth time someone here has been surprised to see Twilight." He peered intently at Twilight. "Are you certain this is your first time at this school?"
Twilight nodded rapidly. "I've never even been out to this part of town before," she said. She frowned thoughtfully. "But you're right...something is going on here, and it seems to have something to do...with..." She trailed off, her eyes going wide as she stared at something across the hall.
The others followed their gaze. Cadance gasped.
Hanging prominently in the school's trophy case was a framed photo of Twilight Sparkle, without glasses and her hair down and straight, wearing a sparkly purple dress. The small plaque at the bottom of the photo read "Fall Formal Princess 2013: Twilight Sparkle".
Cadance and Tirek turned to Twilight, their gazes questioning. Twilight took a step back from the photo, shaking her head. "Tha—that isn't me," she stammered. "That can't be me..."
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OH SNAP!
And the plot thickens!
Well this just took a turn for the worst. This worlds Tirek is going to be very interested in things now.
Well, the fecal matter's hit the fan now, everyone. Time to panic.
After six months we finally get a new chapter.
I can't wait for the next one to come out, especially now that both Twilights are aware of each other.
7536242 Time To break the Space Time continuum
That is a perfect reveal!
This is going to be interesting...
I AM THE SHADOW OF THE TRUE SELF!
Didn't Pinkie mention seeing "someone who looks just like you, with a dog that looks just like that", back in the first Equestria Girls?
7536282 How often do people listen to Pinkie being Pinkie?
7536282
Yeah, Pinkie says a lot of stuff. I've gotta reckon any friend of hers starts to filter a lot of it out.
"I've made lots of mistakes. Even after all this time, sometimes I still make the same stupid mistakes over and over again."
You can't blame yourself for being badly written. It happens to every fictional character.
7536298
Not nearly often enough.
2013: the year that the first Equestria Girls movie came out...
WHY MUST YOU REMIND ME?!?!
great to see an other chapter after waiting for so long.
7536391 Because you touch yourself.
Oooh snap! Photographic evidence!
7536282
I so want to see Flash punch out Tirek now. I want him to have no idea what's going on, but to somehow manage to swoop in and punch out Tirek for the pettiest, most idiotic of reasons, right as Tirek is about to achieve world domination. I want Flash to believe the entire time that Tirek is Twilight's new boyfriend, and to accidentally save the world by punching him out out of pure jealousy.
Please make this a thing.
It's baaack
Nice update!
Is anyone else really, really annoyed with Sci-Twi? Like, not because of this author, because she's feeling really canon. But with the canon one?
She's essentially stalking people but rationalizes it as science when it's really just following people around against their will and/or knowledge and keeping notes on them. This isn't like, magical animals or objects. These are people, they have a right to privacy. The fact she's working side by side with a villain but thinks what she's doing isn't wrong kind of points out that, while not malicious, Sci-Twi's kind of always been a villain herself - ignoring Midnight Sparkle/Nightmare Scitwi.
"Guess they don't want me to know about something I have no business pestering or snooping around about. But because -I- selfishly want to know (even though I probably rationalize it as knowledge to benefit everyone), I'm still going to dig into their lives and expose their secrets."
I kinda want to slap her and Cadence. Her for doing this and Cadence for not being a responsible adult and stopping her. Tirek's supposed to be the bad guy, so this is completely normal for him and is expected of an antagonist.
7536531
Er... wasn't that her point?
Like, Midnight Sparkle's evil goal was "Learn everything, no matter the people I have to trample on the way!" That motivation didn't come out of nowhere - that was an exaggerated version of what she had been after the whole movie. Why was she doing what Principle Cinch demanded? Because otherwise she wouldn't get into the good school, and learn more.
There was this element of "This unknown element is dangerous, better contain it", but the vibe I got throughout the movie was that Sci-Twi was messing with things she really shouldn't have, because "I have to know"/peer pressure.
IMO, that's what Sunset was telling her at the end - "Stop, this has gone on too far. You are hurting people."
7536544
I never said it wasn't the point. I don't think you understand me. I approve of this for an antagonistic character - which, while not meaning to be, she certainly is. Which is part of my problem with her as a person.
I'm saying it makes me want to slap her.
Finally, this story type begins to appear.
After so many HiE (Human in Equetria) stories, its high time we had some PiCH (Ponies in Canterlot High) stories.
As always.
Heh. But yeah, jokes aside, when Twilight gets carried away, her usual rationality and common sense, take a backseat.
She does, she's just made a lot of mistakes, plus considering that this Twilight didn't have a stable upbringing and considering what school she's in, the way they do things as well as Principal Cinch, she's not as calm as Twilight and significantly younger too, 18 at most, meaning she doesn't have the same experience that Twilight does.
Uh, Flash, buddy, calm down...
And you're right. It isn't you. It's the Twilight Sparkle from another world. Which, without context, I admit sounds insane.
7536531 Yes/no. In this story, absolutely yes, you're on the right track all the way.
In canon, it's a lot less clear because of how terrible the writing is. All the dialog at face value, Sparkle had no idea she was doing more than looking around a public building (in which she was greeted cheerfully, by name, practically every other step) with a malfunctioning scanning device until Sunset got in her face and yelled at her. That level of ignorance would require Sparkle to ignore lots of stuff happening right in front of her face, but the entire movie is filled with people ignoring things happening right in front of their faces. Even Shimmer's crew took a lot of iterations before they figured out part of what was going on.
We forget, but I'm pretty sure the Tirek event hasn't occurred in Equestria, right? Still, it will be funny for Twilight to meet Cadance and try the sunshine dance with her.
Keep going! ;)
Finally and update! This story is amazing.
7536609 The only one Twilight could've easily noticed was Pinkie, and asking to suspend disbelief for a few seconds is nowhere near "terrible writing". She was paying more attention to her device and that miniature portal. And what would she do between learning that her device is dangerous (while draining Fluttershy) and the second round of the games, after which Sunset yells at her? Throw it away? Try to disassemble it? That would be even more stupid considering it's already full of unstable energy.
Oh Yeah! Awesome new chapter. Definitely interested to see what happens next. I wonder if this Tirek has any acting relations to the Tirek of the pony universe.
The chapter is like:
pinkie.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/rsz/mlfw2055_medium.jpg
And Moondancer is like:
shirttrader.com/shirtimages/peanut-butter-jelly-time_1.jpg
Updated on my birthday?! THANK YOU!
Yay update.
Well things are gonna start being messy. And the Sirens still haven't really made a move yet.
Something about human!Tirek sitting in a car is inherently hilarious.
ohhh, that's gonna be good
well, here goes nothing
Nice to see an update, hopefully, we won't have to wait another six or more months for the next one.
Really liking this, great to see it heating up and everyone responding to the changing situation in their own way.
Only thing I'd say is that when this happened, at the start of a new paragraph, I was confused for quite a while because I didn't realise it was the Equestrian Rarity (who up 'til that point hadn't been mentioned in this chapter) rather than the human one. I wonder if it might be worth adding a 'Back in Equestria,' somewhere into the first sentence?
Good job with this story, it's one of the most interesting ideas out there at the moment.
well the cat is out of the bag so to speak.
this is going to be sooo good.
7536610 This is post-Rainbow Rocks, so yes, that HAS happened. Notice there are references to season five in this story (such as Moondancer being in it AT ALL.)
Things are going to get worse before they get better. One thing I'm wondering is if the Sirens are still sneaking around the school what will be their reaction to meeting the human Twilight? Now Flash apparently has the wrong idea about Tirek and Twilight, this will be fun to watch.
7536426 That would be both amazing and hilarious. Then as everyone is cheering Flash for saving the day he just thinks they are thanking him for putting Tirek in his place.
Yay! New amazing chapter. Love all the crazyness going on.
7536706 actually, now that you mention it.....
...Moondancer kind of reminds me of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for some reason.
And the surreality intensifies, even more so than it did in Friendship Games. At least there, human Twilight never saw photographic evidence of her doppleganger. And that's saying nothing of Flash's apparent jealousy. That's definitely not going to lead anywhere good...
Pony-Twilight is going to flip out when she finally sees Human-Tirek. Can't wait for that.
Also, poor Human-Twilight!
7537074 It's the double colouration. Desert yellow like peanut butter and the mix of purples in the hair like jelly.
Nice chapter. I'm still looking forward to Princess Twilight's reaction to human Tirek. I also wonder if the magic-draining device will end up being built here.
(And, perhaps unrelated to the story, I've wondered from time to time what would have happened if SciTwi had absorbed the magic she had collected in a controlled manner.)
In an earlier chapter, Tirek explained that he wanted magic in order to gain control over his own destiny, although he didn't explain how he thought it would help him with that. Since then, I've imagined what might happen if fate conspired to have him encounter the Centaur!Tirek in all of his magic-draining glory; if Human!Tirek turns out to be a more heroic version than his counterpart, as he does in my headcanon, than I can see him making a speech like this:
"I always believed that magic would give me control over my own destiny. I thought that if I had it, I would have the power to break all of the shackles in my life and truly become my own man. But you? You're not in control. You're a parasite—no, even that's to grand a term for you, for even a parasite simply follows a biological imperative in order to survive. But you can't even claim that as a motive for what you do. You're just an addict. You already have so much more magic than you'll ever know what to do with, yet you still want more. And for what? So you can feel a little more powerful than you do now? You're pathetic! And I swear to all that is holy that I will never be like you!"