The Encounter
“Make that…the second weirdest thing…” Princess Twilight Sparkle said, visibly taken aback by what she looking at. Twilight had just stepped through the portal linking the realm of Equestria with Canterlot High School’s statue and finished a very hurried description of her previous adventure. She had gotten so wrapped up in her exposition that she wasn't even paying any mind to her surroundings and only just noticed the odd situation she now found herself in.
The other girls seated on the grass were equally as dumbstruck at what they were seeing. Standing opposite Twilight was a girl dressed in a dark red prep academy uniform. Her hair was the same color as Twilight’s but tied into a bun with a pink, star-shaped hairpin and she had a pair of black-framed glasses adorning the bridge of her nose but otherwise she looked identical to Twilight. Her facial expression turned to a nervous enthusiasm upon making eye contact with the Princess of Friendship.
“Uhhhh…” was the closest thing Rainbow Dash could manage to speaking.
“Ahh…ehhh…ahem!” Rarity stammered, taking over for her speechless friend. “Rainbow Dash! Let’s not be…rude!”
She stood to her feet and brushed off her skirt. “Princess Twilight Sparkle, please meet our new friend…umm…Twilight Sparkle…” She attempted an introduction but was clearly at a loss for the very strange situation. She curled the corners of her mouth into a forced grin. The human universe’s Twilight sheepishly waved at her counterpart.
“Two…Twilights?” Spike, Twilight’s talking dog, said in confusion.
Suddenly the tension was broken by Pinkie Pie with a grand outburst. “WOOOW! Both Twilights in one place! I can’t believe it, this is super, SUUUUPER crazy!” she exclaimed in a joyful squeal. The shrillness of her voice seemed to shake the other girls out of their dazes and they started to absorb the event.
“Heh…wow…I can’t believe this is happening,” the native Twilight, said, twirling her purple hair nervously. She held out her hand towards her counterpart. “It’s nice…to finally meet.”
“Uh…what are you doing?” Princess Twilight asked, confused by the gesture. She looked around at the other girls.
“Oh, right, you ain’t from ‘round here,” Applejack, said, realizing Princess Twilight came from a different culture. “She wants to shake hands. Just grab it and give it a quick pump!”
Twilight reached out nervously and grabbed her universe double’s hand. “Ni-…nice to meet you, t-“ Twilight started to respond. Suddenly a spark of energy jumped between their hands. “Wha-?”
The girls’ clasped hands released a large wave of energy. Human Twilight’s eyes grew wide as the energy wave burst forth and covered the surrounding area. It washed over the six other girls and they found themselves standing in the middle of a large grassy field. Everyone else also experienced drastic physical changes. Their bodies took on more equine forms as hooves appeared in place of their hands and feet while everyone present was now standing on all fours. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy sprouted wings while Sunset Shimmer, Rarity, and human Twilight grew horns on their foreheads. Princess Twilight grew a pair of wings and a horn. Spike found himself transformed into a small dragon-like creature with green spines and claws instead of paws.
“What’s happening?!” Sunset Shimmer cried out, confused and panicked by the event. “Everyone's turned into ponies!”
“E-Equestria?!” Princess Twilight said, looking around and seemingly recognizing where this strange energy nexus had brought them. “But…how?! We never went back through the portal!” Human Twilight pulled her now-hoofed limb away from Princess Twilight and the energy withdrew as quickly as it emerged. Everyone returned to their human forms and collapsed to the ground.
“Ugghh…” Rainbow Dash groaned while rubbing her head. “You really are new to this ‘handshake’ thing.” Applejack shot her a dirty look for the remark and Rainbow Dash just shrugged innocently.
“What was that? Did…did we all just ‘pony-up’?” Fluttershy asked when she and the others were back on their feet, still trying to process what had just occurred.
“That was way more powerful than a simple pony-up,” Sunset Shimmer replied. She looked at Princess Twilight for insight but only got a small shrug and a confused look as a response.
“I’m sorry, I can’t explain that,” she responded while shaking her head. “It was like a huge release of magical energy that somehow caused us to temporarily merge with Equestria. But I thought our realms were separated by the portal.”
“Maybe I have an explanation,” her human counterpart interjected, her voice hinting at a possible lead. “Let’s meet in the lab.” She set off for the campus of Canterlot High and the rest of the girls followed her.
“Wait, darling!” Rarity said, grabbing Princess Twilight by the arm.
“Rarity, what are you-?” Twilight tried to ask, confused why she was being pulled aside.
“We can’t have you wandering around out in the open now that Twilight…the, ‘other’ Twilight, that is, attends CHS,” Rarity explained. "Might create some confusion." She rolled over a rack of clothes, pulled out a hooded sweatshirt and pants, and whisked Princess Twilight into the outfit in a flash. She completed her ensemble with a pair of sunglasses. “Voila! Now no one will recognize you!” Twilight lowered the sunglasses to make eye contact with Rarity but, proud of herself, had already started skipping off towards the school with the rest of her friends. Twilight took a quick glance around then put the sunglasses back over her eyes. She tucked her hands into the front pocket of the sweatshirt and tailed her friends into the school.
Inside, Princess Twilight followed her friends through the Canterlot High School halls as they made their way to human Twilight's laboratory. Class had let out so the other students were roaming the halls. The human Twilight came up to a door and unlocked it with a key from her pocket. She and the rest proceeded inside, with the disguised Princess Twilight entering last.
“Hey, Twilight,” a student said in passing before Twilight could enter the room. The remark startled Princess Twilight; her disguise had clearly failed. The sunglasses popped off her ears and she fumbled to catch them.
Twilight fished for a reply. “Wait, how did you-?! WAH!” Before she could finish her sentence, Applejack's arm reached out from the lab and yanked her inside.
Twenty minutes later the girls were standing in the lab as human Twilight Sparkle rolled her chair back and forth between two tables containing a computer and a set of written diagrams that she was constantly jotting notes onto. As she worked, she could be heard muttering calculations and figures to herself.
“You almost done there, sugarpie?” Applejack asked.
“Just a minute more,” Twilight responded as she continued to zip back and forth between the pair of desks, not even breaking eye contact with her work. Princess Twilight wiped a small tear from her eye as she watched her counterpart work with such zeal.
Rainbow Dash looked over at Princess Twilight. “Are you…crying?” she asked.
“Dearie, what’s wrong?” Rarity added.
“Oh…oh! It’s nothing,” Princess Twilight said, slightly flummoxed. The tone of her voice had a hint of strain to it, as though she was holding back some emotion. “It’s just…seeing her work so hard, it reminds me of how I was before I found my friends in Equestria. Spending hours upon hours studying and researching instead of appreciating the value of having others in your life. I'm so glad she found a circle of friends.” The other girls smiled, feeling touched.
“Well it was thanks to you that we were able to be friends,“ Sunset replied. “You brought everyone together after…I tore them apart.” The seven girls reached in for a collective hug but were suddenly interrupted by human Twilight.
“Done!” she proclaimed as she finished the last bit of typing on her computer. Next to her computer was a small handheld device. It had two antennae and a meter on the display. Twilight pulled the cable out of the device and walked over to the group.
“Ooo! What does that do?” Pinkie Pie asked enthusiastically.
"This is a 'spectral analyzer'," human Twilight explained. “It lets me detect and read nearby abnormalities in energy then upload the data it captures to a computer in order to help determine the source. Originally I had used it to confirm that there was some kind of energy anomaly here at Canterlot High. I've recalibrated it to operate in a different sensitivity spectrum that should help me understand what's going on.” She gave the device to Fluttershy. “Fluttershy, could you hold this, please?” Twilight asked. “Twilight, you stand over there,” she instructed with her finger, indicating to her alternate self to stand at a distance across the room. Princess Twilight complied and took her position.
“Alright, when I say so, raise your arm towards mine. Fluttershy, please aim the meter's antennas towards the space between us,” human Twilight continued. She nodded to her counterpart and they both raised their right arms in unison. Fluttershy pointed the device at the area between the girls. “Now, Twilight, walk towards me one step at a time until I say ‘stop’.”
The girls each took a step towards one another with their arms outstretched. Fluttershy and the others looked at the spectral analyzer. The dial on the face oscillated at the lower end of the scale. The two Twilights took another step towards one another and the dial began to move up the face of the meter. Another step and the dial moved steadily to the center of the gauge. A strange, glowing aura also began to fill the space between their extended arms.
“What’s going on?” Sunset wondered as she observed the aura take form.
“It’s like I thought,” the human Twilight said. “Take one more step then stop.”
Princess Twilight did so and her counterpart followed suit. Doing so caused the mysterious aura to condense and then change into a cloudy bubble. Within the bubble a small fragment of another world could be seen within. The girls looked intently at the strange phenomenon. The spectral analyzer's meter was now reading a maximum energy discharge in the area.
"Wooooah..." Rainbow Dash said, awestruck by what she was witnessing.
“What is it?” Rarity said, in curious wonderment.
“I don’t know yet,” human Twilight said. “You can put your arm down now.” The two girls lowered their arms and the aura immediately dissipated. She took back her device from Fluttershy, returned to her workspace, and reattached the cable connecting it to the computer. “Now I just need to pass these numbers through my program…” she said to herself as she typed into the computer. A few minutes later the nearby printer sprung to life and began feeding out sheets of paper. Once it had stopped, Twilight collected the papers and stapled them together. She adjusted her glasses and began to read what had been printed.
“So whaddya got?” Rainbow Dash inquired.
“Fascinating…” Twilight said as she briskly flipped through the stapled sheets, skimming down each page. “According to this the aura you just saw is a homogenization of the magical energy fields around myself and Twilight. When beings that possess identical magical affinities come in close contact, the stasis of their energies is thrown into disarray and can’t coexist in the same metaphysical plane. The barrier that protects our dimensional framework destabilizes and tries to evict the unstable coagulation of energy into the opposing reality.”
“But if the unstable magic crosses into the other dimension,” Princess Twilight continued her train of thought. “Then the same reaction would occur and it would cause a repulsion of the erratic energy back to the source dimension. The constant shifting between dimensions would eventually shatter the barrier entirely and lead to a collapse of both dimensions into a singularity!”
Human Twilight nodded in understanding and Princess Twilight covered her mouth in horror. However everyone else in the room was stumped.
“Sooo…Ah take it y’all mean…” Applejack tried to feel her way through the two girls’ logic but was clearly at a loss to put it in terms she could understand.
“It means that two creatures from different dimensions with the same magical energy can't touch or it'll break reality,” Sunset Shimmer put succinctly.
“Right, Sunset,” the human Twilight confirmed. “Think of it like this.” She went into the drawer of her desk and pulled out two small magnets. “If you try to force magnets together with the same magnetic polarity, they will push away from each other.” She demonstrated her point by placing both magnets on the desk then trying to force them to touch. The magnet she wasn’t holding slid across the desk away from the one in her hand. “Since Twilight is the same as me from the dimension of Equestria, we aren’t meant to be in the same realm at the same place. We’re ‘same-pole magnets’. After the incident at the Friendship Games, I must have unlocked a considerable amount of latent magical energy and since Princess Twilight and I are counterparts, it must be the same as hers. However, because we aren’t actually magnets, the ‘pushing’ effect you saw between the magnets would occur in the time-space surrounding us instead. This dimension would attempt to rid itself of the now-unstable magical energy by sending it into the opposite dimension and the metaphysical ‘barrier’ that separates our reality from theirs forcibly opens in order to send the energy there.”
“But when it gets sent there,” Princess Twilight continued, “the unstable energy can’t exist in that realm either so that dimension will try to 'push' it back to where it came from.”
“It sounds like a really creepy inter-dimensional ping-pong,” Pinkie Pie summarized.
“You...could say it like that, yes,” human Twilight replied. “However, since the dimensional hole cut by the unstable magic isn’t natural, the longer it stays open the more it begins to tear through the rest of reality. If the rift stays open for too long or the magical energy continues to magnify out of control, the barrier will collapse entirely and the two realms will collide, which would mean the end of all existence in both.”
Everyone present in the room gasped. “That’s…that’s awful!” Spike said in shock.
“As much as I hate to admit it,” Princess Twilight said, “I don’t think I should stay here at Canterlot High. Being in too close proximity to Twilight probably puts everyone at risk.”
The other girls let out a chorus of groans in disappointment. “But you just got here!” Rainbow Dash cried. “Now you’re just going to leave again?!”
“I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash, but it’s really for the best,” Princess Twilight said dejectedly.
An hour later the girls had reconvened in front of the Canterlot High School statue and Princess Twilight was hugging all her of her friends goodbye.
“Aww…I really wish I could go back with you!” Pinkie Pie moaned.
Twilight chuckled. “Me too, Pinkie, but then we’d have the same problem in my dimension!”
“It’s such a shame, darling,” Rarity said. “We’ve got so much catching up to do.”
“I wish we could figure out how to stabilize the energy around you and Twilight,” Sunset said. “This seems like such a lame reason for you to have to go back to Equestria.”
“I agree,” Twilight said, “but I can’t risk the stability of both of our universes, even if we are good friends.” Sunset gave her friend a hug.
“Please write back this time,” Sunset pleaded into Twilight's ear.
“I will,” she responded. “I’m not so indisposed this time…at least I hope not.”
Twilight then went to embrace the human Twilight before suddenly catching herself and realizing what would happen. Both girls pulled back cautiously.
“I’m disappointed we couldn’t get to know each other better,” human Twilight said to her counterpart, shuffling her feet awkardly. “I feel like there’s a lot we could have shared.”
“Me too,” Princess Twilight said.
“I intend to research how to stabilize this energy,” human Twilight said, hopefully. “I think it’s possible to create a nullification field but I need time to sort it out.”
“I look forward to it,” Princess Twilight said confidently.
“Heh, maybe next time you could introduce me to your Spike,” Spike said with a grin.
“Possibly. He and you would probably get along quite well,” Twilight said patting him on the head. He flashed a wide smile at the gesture. She set one foot into the portal beneath the statue and waved goodbye one last time. The other girls did the same then she stepped into the portal fully and was gone.
Just then the group heard someone running up behind them. It was a boy with blue hair and a black jacket. He was panting heavily as he slid to a stop. It was Flash Sentry, the boy that Twilight had befriended on her first trip to the human dimension.
“Was…was Twilight…here?” he struggled to say between breaths.
“Oh…Flash…no, you just missed her,” Fluttershy responded. He collapsed onto the grass.
“Aw man…I had heard someone mention Twilight came back! I ran out here as fast as I could when I saw you guys out in front of the statue,” he said, exhausted and annoyed that his rush was for nothing.
“Sorry, Flash,” Sunset said.
“Any reason she had to go back so quickly?” Flash asked. Sunset pointed to their universe’s Twilight. She waved sheepishly.
“Apparently those two can’t be near each other… It causes ‘unwanted’ consequences,” Sunset explained. Flash frowned and picked himself off the ground.
“I’m sorry, Flash, I wish it could be different,” Twilight said. “But with the magical instability that occurs when she and I come in contact, she thought it was best if she went back through the portal in order to keep everyone safe.”
“It’s okay, it’s not your fault,” Flash said he as he turned back towards the school. The look in his eyes conveyed a hint of confused frustration. "I'm not sure how I should feel. You're Twilight yet...you aren't. It's so weird, I'm having to tell myself that whenever I see you in the halls." Flash walked back towards the campus as Twlight and her friends watched him, finding themselves at a loss on how to make him feel better.
The other side of town…Saddleback Mall
Three girls stood outside a large clothing store. They were wearing gray hooded sweatshirts and had backpacks draped over their shoulders.
“Two minutes,” the girl in the middle said. “We do this in two minutes then meet outside.” The other two girls nodded in unison. They each put on a pair of sunglasses then raised the hoods of their sweatshirts over their heads.
The three entered the store inconspicuously and out of the line of sight of any employee on duty. They split up and ducked into the clothing racks. They stealthily moved between the racks while surreptitiously removing pieces of clothing as they did, jamming the merchandise into their backpacks. If an employee came near, the girls ducked behind whatever they could find in order to stay unseen before continuing to steal more clothes.
Once the two-minute mark arrived, the planned exit from the store began. Each girl selected the shortest route to the nearest exit they could find and began to make their way out. Unfortunately for one member of the team, she found herself in a bad situation when she observed a member of the mall's security force quietly conversing with an employee, directly in the path of her planned escape. It seemed as though the employee was aware that something undesirable had been in the store, as he indicated to the security guard that they ought to look around. The lead guard nodded to his other squadmates and they split up to cover the store. As they did, the other girls also began to see the security staff combing the aisles and racks. Panic set in and it was clear that the security team knew that they were in the store.
All three girls quickly tossed their loot under the racks and swiftly dodged the eyes of the security staff as they made for the exit to the store and back into the mall. Having seemingly evaded the security team, they reconvened near one of the mall exits and began hastily making their way outside.
“How did they find us?” one of the thieves whispered to the team's organizer.
“Psh, it was probably Pearlesecent’s fault,” she whispered back.
“What?!” the third girl said, offended. “I bet Jade Jewel was being too obvious again. Why do we take her on these? She’s bound to mess them up!” Jade Jewel lowered her sunglasses slightly to shoot Pearlesecent a dirty glare.
The trio managed to get through the exit to the mall but as soon as they did, they could see more members of the security team were waiting outside the exit. They did an abrupt about-face and attempted to double-back into the store they came from but were then met by the team sent into the store to catch them. They were now pinned down and didn't have a way out. Before they could react to their situation, three of the guards grabbed them by the shoulders from behind.
“Ungh! Unf! Let me go!” the ringleader struggled as she was being restrained. Her hood and sunglasses fell off as she tried to wiggle herself out of the guard's grip, revealing her bright orange hair underneath.
“Twice in the same year, huh, Ms. Shimmer?” the security force lead said to the would-be thief, recognizing her face and hair. “You should apply for the mall’s loyalty program…” She flashed a snide grimace of contempt at her captor.
The guard team removed the hoods and sunglasses of her two partners. Without their hoods on the girls' hair flowed out, revealing Jade Jewel's jagged green locks and Pearlescent's smooth pink hair. “Couldn’t resist, could you? Well we were nice enough last time to just ban you from the mall but I think we need to be a little firmer now…” Jade Jewel snorted defiantly while Pearlescent just looked at the ground, trying not to make eye contact with any of the security guards.
A few minutes later the police had arrived at the mall and the three girls were sat in the back of a squad car in handcuffs. Their backpacks of stolen clothes were handed to the arresting officer before he got into the car and drove to the precinct.
Stats
Page generated in 0.017 seconds
Total duration
1,051 users online
1,608,660 hits today, 1,960,719 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
So... *Claps hands together* I'd like to say a few words.
Holy Hell...
This... Was... BRILLIANT!
You just accurately showed EVERY SINGLE OUNCE OF THEORY I possessed about the two Twilight's meeting each other, AND how Sunset Shimmer existed in the CHS world as a human.
I have only two words for you.
Well... Done...
Please...
FOR THE LOVE OF FAUST, KEEP WRITING THIS, I BEG OF YOU!
10/10, Five Stars, have a favorite and a like. You've earned all four.
Hrm. Tracking. Let's see where this goes.
This looks like it'll be interesting, and the writing's solid so far.
I'll be watching.
Meet
Greet
Break
Cancel
Return
Sneak
Six words for the chapter.
While the rest of it was well written and disturbing well thought out... I feel having Glimmer be a thief felt gratuitous. It felt like she was used only because she was a pony antagonistic.
6563101 I needed a way to bring the two of them together (since that's the crux of the story) but if there's a better method I'd like to know. It should be fairly obvious where things are going already.
I really want to tune this story so I don't mind toying around with things. However, because of the structure of the story there's really only one viable antagonist so I do need to work towards that.
6563843
I have no idea where you're going with this. So I can't say, and I'm genuinely sorry about that. But there's something wrong if you can slip any antagonist character into that dialogue and their actions wouldn't change.
This is beautiful. Everything makes sense!
I can't wait for the rest!
6563848 Very well. I'll do another chapter and we'll see how it plays.
I apologize for being cliche.
6563904
I've heard a lot of possibilities for Glimmer. Conformist substitute teacher. Student body president who wanted Canterlot High to have uniforms. A teacher at Crystal Prep. But her just being a thief in league with this world's Shimmer feels... petty.
BTW? Reason they recolored Lightning Dust to be Indigo Zap in Friendship Games? They felt Lightning Dust was TOO NICE to be a Shadow Bolt!!!
6563919 You know what? That is something I will apply.
I agree, using them was a poor choice. That will be something I'll change on my next revision. There is no reason to use Starlight Glimmer and Lightning Dust as human Sunset's cohorts. I just wanted to experiment with giving human counterparts different personalities from their human selves but frankly that is unnecessary.
I imagine that's what happened when they originally tried to use Lightning Dust before creating Indigo Zap.
Tracking...