When Worlds Collide...

by Dreadnought

...And More

Without another word, Big Mac marched towards Ponyville. Applejack trotted behind, pulling her loaded wagon while Rainbow flew beside her. Big Mac navigated the streets as a stallion on a mission, letting nothing or nopony get in his way.

Rainbow Dash leaned over to Applejack. “Do you know where he’s leading us?”

“Nope. This isn’t the way to Rarity’s or Sugarcube Corner. Ah’m not sure who he has in mind.”

Big Mac made a sharp right turn onto Stirrup Street and the two mares followed him around the corner. Both came to a dead stop at the sight before them.

“Is that what I think it is?” asked Rainbow as she landed on her hooves, too shocked to remain in the air.

“It cain’t be. We must be seein’ things!” replied Applejack, rubbing her eyes.

Big Mac glanced behind, “Come on! What’re y’all waitin’ for?” He turned and continued his march towards the Golden Oaks Library.

Outside the hollowed-out tree stood a mob of ponies, talking amongst themselves or clamoring for a glimpse through the windows. Upon hearing the heavy hoofsteps of Big Mac approaching, Lyra turned around. “Big Mac! Do you know why the library’s back?”

“Nnope!”

More of the crowd turned around, catching sight of the two mares following behind. They unleashed a torrent of questions upon the pair:
“Rainbow Dash! What’s going on?”
“Applejack, why’s the library back?”
“What does this mean?”
“Are we under some sort of magical spell?”
“Can the Elements fix this?
“Why are my roses blue?”
“Why aren’t they answering our questions?”

Applejack addressed the crowd, “Now lookie here, we’re here to find out ourselves. If y’all excuse us, we might be able to fix whatever’s happening.”

Big Mac pushed his way to the front of the crowd. Knock! Knock! Nothing. Knock! Knock! Again he waited, and again nothing. Pound! Pound! Pound! The hinges strained under the force. After a moment, it opened to reveal Spike. “I told you all to go – Big Mac! Applejack! Rainbow Dash!”

“Spike,” said Big Mac flatly.

The young dragon stepped aside. “Come in. Sorry. We’re getting mobbed this morning.” Big Mac walked inside followed by Rainbow Dash and, after unhitching herself from the wagon, Applejack. Spike slammed the door before anypony else could enter.

Twilight entered the foyer. “Spike, I said not to – oh. Good morning,” she said sheepishly.

“Twilight,” acknowledged Big Mac.

“Twilight, what’s goin’ on?” demanded Applejack. “First somethin’s wrong with Big Mac, now the library’s back.”

“Something is wrong with Big Mac? Please tell me.”

“Well –” he started, but stopped when another pony entered the room.

“Sunset Shimmer!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash and Applejack.

“Hello,” she said with a weak smile.

Narrowing her eyes, Applejack demanded, “Are you behind this?”

“Me!?”

“Yeah, you.”

“Why would you think I’m causing all of this?”

“Well, the last time we saw you, you were trying to steal Twilight’s crown so you could enslave another dimension,” explained Rainbow Dash in an isn’t it obvious? tone.

Sunset turned to Twilight, who awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck. “Sunset, there’s probably some things you should know.”

“No kidding,” Sunset deadpanned.

“Guys, we were going to hear what’s wrong with Big Mac,” reminded Spike.

“Yes, of course,” said Twilight.

“Well, nothin’s really wrong with me, but somethin’s wrong with these two,” he motioned to the mares who’d accompanied him, causing them to let out gasps of surprise. “Neither of them can remember my marriage to Rainbow Dash.”

“Since when are you married to Rainbow Dash?” clarified Twilight.

“Six months if I remember correctly,” said Sunset Shimmer.

“So you do know what’s goin’ on!” exclaimed Applejack.

“Yeah, spill it,” ordered Rainbow Dash. “I want to know why I found –” She quickly covered her mouth as her cheeks went red.

“Why you found, what?” asked Sunset.

“Not important!” she shot back. “Just tell us what’s going on.”

Sunset turned to Twilight, “Should you or I?”

Knock! Knock!

“Who could that be?” muttered Twilight. “Spike, I thought you told the crowd outside we were not to be disturbed?”

Spike trotted to the door and opened it. “Rarity!”

Rarity strode inside. “Twilight, there you are. I tried finding you at your castle, but it was gone!”

“You have a castle?” asked Sunset to Twilight.

“Yeah, it’s probably one of those things I should tell you about.”

“Twilight!” shouted Rarity with a stomp of her hoof, causing everyone to turn towards her.

“Yes?”

“I demand an explanation!”

“Well, the library –”

“Not the library!” Rarity shrieked.

“Then what?” asked Twilight, cocking her head.

“This!” Rarity stepped aside to reveal a unicorn foal, with a white coat and a pinkish-purplish mane.

“Sweetie Belle?”

“It’s Silver Belle!” he corrected. “Why does everypony keep calling me ‘Sweetie’?”

“Because that’s your name!” cried Rarity.

“No it’s not!” he huffed.

“Rarity?” urged Twilight.

“I wake up this morning to find – him – sleeping in Sweetie Belle’s bed!”

“It’s Silver Belle! Sunset, my sister’s acting all crazy this morning.”

“Me!? Crazy!? How am I supposed to react when I find my little sister has changed into a colt?”

“I’ve always been a colt!”

“No you haven’t!”

“Yes I have!”

“Then how do you explain us competing in the Sisterhooves Social two years ago?”

“Applejack thought it would be a good way to bond. And the Apple family has a really liberal definition of ‘sister’.”

“Eeyup,” confirmed Big Mac, who was met with an angry glare by Rarity.

“Well, what about the Grand Galloping Gala?” pressed Rarity. “I made you the most adorable little dress.”

“It was a suit! Why would I wear a dress? I’m a colt.”

“Rarity! Sweet – Silver Belle!” interrupted Twilight. Both turned to look at the alicorn. “There’s something I should tell you – all of you. You see –” Bang! The door flung open and slammed against the wall. “Now what!?” she exclaimed.

A white rabbit hopped inside.

“Angel?”

The rabbit began leaping up and down in excitement.

“Is something a matter?”

The rabbit nodded vigorously.

“What?”

He pointed behind him.

“I don’t understand.”

He turned and leapt out the door. A moment later a mare entered, pushed by Angel.

“Fluttershy!” cried Twilight, Spike, Rarity, Rainbow and Applejack in unison.

The yellow pegasus stood before them. She wore pink shorts with a purple jacket and matching hat. Around her neck was a green-and-white polka dot scarf and glasses sat on the tip of her snout. “Like, yeah,” she replied, the annoyance pervading her voice.

“What are you wearing?” laughed Rainbow Dash.

“Yeah, you look ridiculous in that outfit,” added Applejack.

“That ensemble happens to come from my Manehattan store,” said Rarity in a clipped tone.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack exchanged embarrassed glances between themselves.

“It’s the ‘in’ thing, you know?” she replied, twirling her mane in her right hoof.

“What happened to you?” asked Twilight.

“So last night, I went to bed, and this morning, I was like, ‘this isn’t my apartment.’ It kind of freaked me out, you know? And then this cat –”

“– Rabbit –” corrected Twilight.

“– Like, whatever, started acting totally weird. He dragged me over to this bookstore–”

“–Library–”

“–Whatever. So, can you like, tell me how I ended up here?”

All heads turned to Twilight. “Well... you see...” She began rubbing the back of her neck. “Last night... Starlight Glimmer –”

“Starlight Glimmer?” asked a confused Sunset.

“Yeah, she was my personal student. It’s –”

“Probably one of those things you should tell me about,” finished Sunset with a sigh.

“Yeah. Anyways, Starlight Glimmer and I tried opening a portal to another dimension. We had studied the mirror to Canterlot High thoroughly, so we thought we understood it. We were successful in opening the portal... but it had unintended effects.”

“What kind of effects?” pressed Applejack.

“You see, there was an... imbalance between the two dimensions. I managed to close the portal before it was too late, but not before some elements of the parallel dimension had come through.”

“So what your saying is that this ‘Big Mac’ – is a parallel Big Mac?”

“And Sweetie Belle?” asked Rarity.

Silver Belle huffed at her choice of words.

“And Fluttershy and Sunset?” asked Rainbow.

“Yes.”

Silence fell over the library for a long time.

“So, can you like, get us back home already?” asked Fluttershy.

“Sunset and I have been working on it,” replied Twilight. “I’ve also asked Spike to send some letters so we can get some help.”

Applejack choked, “What... what about our Big Mac?”

“And Sweetie Belle?” asked Rarity.

“We’ll do everything we can to bring them back safely,” confirmed Twilight.

Looking around, Rainbow asked, “Say, where’s Starlight? Shouldn’t she be helping to clean up this mess?”

Twilight frowned, “I believe she’s with the others.”

“Oh.”

“How long will this take, Twilight?” asked Rarity. “My parents are returning Monday, and I want them to come home to the filly they left, not the – ahem – colt who I found this morning.”

“The others should be here this evening, so that will give us the weekend to find an answer.” Looking around at the concerned faces of her friends, she said, “I know you are all anxious, but you need to sit tight for now. We’ll do everything possible to get this resolved as soon as possible.”

Rarity turned to the colt next to her. “Sweet – Silver Belle. Since there’s nothing to be done, let’s go back to the boutique.”

“Okay.”

“An we’ve got a lot of work to do at the farm,” said Big Mac to Applejack.

“Actually...,” she hesitated. “Maybe you could go with Rarity?” She shot the unicorn a pleading look. “Ah really would like ta explain things to Bloom first.”

“Oh... Ah understand,” said the crestfallen stallion.

Fluttershy asked, “Like, can I come too. I don’t really like animals and, you know, that house it totally overrun.”

Rarity forced a smile. “Of course. You two are welcome to come to my house.” She led the way, with most ponies following her out the door.

Twilight turned to Angel. “You’re going to be in charge of the Sanctuary until we can get the real Fluttershy back.”

The bunny saluted and hopped out the door.

After the door finally shut, Spike turned to Twilight, “That went better than I thought.”

“Yeah. We’ve really got to fix this. Come on Sunset, we’ve got a lot of work to do before Starswirl the Bearded and Sunburst arrive.”

“Starswirl! Sunburst! You’ve really got to fill me in on what’s going on around here!”

Author's Note:

Heads Up! The next chapter is done and will be posted in the next few days.

Dreadnought

Comments

[Ze1a7in]

Damn. That almost got confusing in the middle.

[Dreadnought]

9195632
I hope it wasn't too confusing. I worked hard to make it straightforward... well as straightforward as the twists will allow.

Dreadnought