When Worlds Collide...

by Dreadnought

An Awkward Conversation

Ding-A-Ling! jingled the bell above the front door to Carousel Boutique, proclaiming the arrival of the strangest assortment of ponies ever to grace its premises. Rarity stepped inside, followed by three unhappy-looking ponies. She quickly shut the door and locked it behind them, making sure the store sign read “Closed”. An awkward silence hung over the room as everypony stood around looking at each other. “Well... here we are,” she finally announced.

“Like, duh,” said Fluttershy.

“Yeah, I’ve been here before,” added Silver Belle.

“Eeyup,” finished Big Mac.

Examining her odd company, she suggested, “Perhaps we should go to the back where we can be comfortable?”

“Rarity?”

Turning to her pseudo-little brother, she responded, “Yes, Silver Belle?”

“Shouldn’t... you know... I go to school?”

She hesitated, “Well....” Though getting an education was important, she wasn’t sure how she could ever possibly explain this to Cheerilee. It would also worry Sweetie’s friends to learn their friend had disappeared, causing fear and panic to sweep the school and then all of Ponyville, which already lay on edge from the reapperance of the Golden Oak Library. “We’ll call today a sick day.”

He narrowed his eyes. “I’m not sick!” he angrily protested.

“You’re absolutely right,” she quickly corrected herself. “But... I’m not sure there is a really good description for a day such as... today.”

“Won’t I get behind?”

Rarity thought for a moment. “It’s Friday. If it’s anything like when I was a filly, there’s nothing new covered.”

“I guess you’re right. Mister Breeze likes to spend Fridays reviewing stuff and assigning homework for the weekend.”

“Mr. Breeze?” Rarity repeated.

“Yeah?”

“As in Zephyr Breeze?”

“Yeah?” replied Silver Belle, cocking his head.

“Eeyup,” verified Big Mac.

Rarity looked to Fluttershy for confirmation.

The pegasus rolled her eyes and huffed, “He for some reason likes it here in the sticks.”

“Oh, uh –” Had it been anypony else, Rarity would have been greatly insulted at such a discription of her hometown. However, she had to remind herself that this Fluttershy was displaced from her home and likely needing a way to vent her frustrations.

“I, like, have this hip studio apartment on the upper west side,” continued the pegasus.

“Of course....” Eyeing the outfit again, she asked, “So, do you shop at my Manehattan boutique a lot?”

“Yeah, I like totally use the employee discount.”

“Em-Employee discount?” Rarity stuttered.

“Like, that’s what I said.”

Rarity rubbed her head. “I think we all better have a chat to find out how our Equestrias are different. Would anypony else care for some tea?”

“Eeyup.”

Silver Belle shrugged, “I guess.”

Rarity turned to Fluttershy.

“Like, could I have a cosmo?”

Rarity balked, “You mean a CosMare?”

Fluttershy rolled her eyes again. “I don’t want a magazine, I want a cosmo. You know, a cosmopolitan.”

“You drink!”

“Like, yeah. It’s Friday, which is my normal day to go barhopping with the girls.”

Rarity returned a blank stare.

“If you don’t know how to make it, I could tell you how,” offered Fluttershy.

“Isn’t – isn’t it a bit early to start drinking? It’s only nine o’clock in the morning.”

“It’s got juice in it, I think. Like, maybe cranberry and lemon? My memories of bartenders making them are like, hazy. Besides, I’m sure it’s five o’clock somewhere, or whatever time the bars open around here. Plus, it would, like, totally help me relax.”

Rarity sighed. “No, I will not make you a cosmopolitan.”

“So uncool.” Noticing the glare she received from the unicorn, Fluttershy said, “Like, fine. I’ll have some tea. But, could it, like, be a Long Island ice tea?”

Rarity shook her head, “I’m sorry, I actually don’t keep any alcohol here.”

“W-T-F. You’re so lame,” she whined. “My manager is so cool and in with it.”

“And who’s your manager pray tell?” she asked, ushering the other two into the kitchen.

“Like, Rarity.”

Rarity stopped dead in her tracks, halfway into the other room. “Me?”

“Duh. Rarity loves to drink, though she’s a bit snobby about it. She only drinks the expensive stuff from Neighpa Valley.” Suddenly Fluttershy’s face lit up. “I know! You should totally pick up drinking. I can help you with that.”

Rarity continued into the kitchen. “Dear, I have all that I can handle at the moment. Adding alcohol to the mix would only make things worse.”

“Whatever.” Fluttershy took a seat at the table along with the other two displaced ponies.

The room remained mostly quiet as Rarity prepared the tea, giving her a much-needed moment to catch her breath. Dealing with the other three – well, maybe not Big Mac – was extremely stressful. But shortly her respite was over, and she joined the others.

“So, perhaps I should start with telling you about our Equestria?” proposed Rarity.

“Okay,” said Silver Belle.

“Whatever. Just make it quick.” Fluttershy seemed completely disinterested in the change of topic. Or perhaps she was still unhappy about the lack of booze in Carousel Boutique.

“Well, let’s see....” Rarity took a sip of her tea as she thought of a suitable starting point. “Long ago we had six Pillars, who helped bring order to Equestria: Starswirl the Bearded, Rockhoof, Mage Meadow–”

“We, like, had the Pillars too,” criticized Fluttershy.

“Oh... so you also rescued them from limbo?”

“Okay... so maybe we don’t know, like, everything about the Pillars.”

“Well, they were sent to limbo,” continued Rarity. “When they disappeared, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna came to power. They defeated Discord who caused mayhem throughout Equestria. The two princesses ruled together, until Luna became jealous and turned into Nightmare Moon. Princess Celestia had no choice but to use the Elements of Harmony to banish her sister to the moon.” She paused to ensure everypony had followed her to this point. “A thousand years later, during the Summer Sun Celebration, Nightmare Moon returned. Six of us found the Elements of Harmony and became the Bearers: Twilight Sparkle, the Element of Magic –”

“Twilight?” confimed Big Mac.

“Yes?... Applejack, the Element of Honesty. Rainbow Dash, the Element of Loyalty. Pinkie Pie, the Element of Laughter. Fluttershy –”

“Like, me?”

Doing her best to contain her rising annoyance with the pegasus, Rarity replied, “Like, yes you. Our Fluttershy became the Element of Kindness.”

“Like, so weird.”

Ignoring her, Rarity continued, “And I became the Element of Generosity.”

“You!” cried an incredulous Silver.

“Yes?”

“You are the Element of Generousity!?”

“Yes Silver,” confirmed Rarity, a little unsettled with what he was implying. “We used the Elements to defeat Nightmare Moon. Twilight stayed in Ponyville to study friendship and became librarian at the Golden Oak Library. Things were quiet, for the most part, until Discord returned. He attempted to take over Equestria, but we stopped him.” Again, Rarity paused to make sure everyone was following. “Then there was Cadence and Shining Armor’s wedding, which coincided with a changeling invasion. After their honeymoon, those two were sent to rule the Crystal Empire, while King Sombra returned and tried to seize to power. What else....” She took a sip of tea as she thought. “Oh yes, Twilight accidentally swapped our cutie marks, but she fixed it and became an alicorn. Then –”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” interupted Silver Belle.

“Yes, dear?”

“You mean Twilight became an alicorn for fixing a problem she created?”

Rarity hesitated, “Well, I wouldn’t put it quite like that. She actually completed a spell by Starswirl the Bearded.”

“You mean the one Sunset’s been workin’ on for the past two years?” asked Big Mac.

“Sunset?” questioned Rarity.

“Eeyup.”

“I don’t know. Perhaps?” After a pause, she continued, “Next we defeated Tirek who had escaped from Tartarus. Then the map sent us to a village where Starlight Glimmer stole everypony’s cutie mark. Starlight Glimmer came back seeking revenge, using a time spell to change history. But Twilight and Spike reformed her.”

“Wasn’t it Starlight that opened the portal that brought us here?” asked Silver.

“Yes, she and Twilight.”

“Maybe you would have been better off throwing her in a dungeon and throwing away the key.”

“Silver Belle!” snapped Rarity. “She a good friend who just happened to cause this accident.”

“Doesn’t mean it’s okay,” he grumbled, crossing his forelegs.

Rarity, though disturbed by Silver’s reaction, struggled to continue. “Let’s see, Cadence and Shining Armor had a foal, who destroyed the Crystal Heart and nearly brought about eternal winter. Then we had the second changeling invasion –”

Big Mac’s jaw dropped. “You had two?”

“Yes.”

Big Mac shook his head in disgust.

“Then we had the Storm King invasion –”

“You, like, are invaded a lot,” said Fluttershy.

Rarity sighed, “Yes, I’m afraid so.” She sipped her tea to regain her train of thought. “What else.... We opened a school to teach friendship across Equestria.”

“The school’s gone,” observed Big Mac.

Slouching, Rarity lamented, “Yes. I’m afraid it is. I saw Twilight’s castle had vanished when I was trying to find out about Swee– Silver Belle. Well, those are the major events in Equestria. For us, Rainbow Dash became a Wonderbolt a year ago... Fluttershy opened an animal sanctuary...”

“Like, eww!” complained the pegasus.

“...and she also befriended Discord...”

“He came back!?” cried Silver.

“Actually Princess Celestia had him set free, so we could reform him.”

Big Mac shook his head in disgust.

“As for me,” continued Rarity, “I opened two other boutiques.”

“Only two?” clarified Silver.

“Why, yes. How many does your sister have?”

Silver shrugged. “I don’t know... thirty or forty.”

“Thirty or forty! How does she manage so many!” cried Rarity.

Silver rubbed his chin as he thought for a moment. “Well, she spends a lot of time working. And she has a lot of help. She does the designs, but most of the sewing and running the stores is done by her staff.”

Without thinking, Rarity banged her hoof on the table. “But sewing is one of the joys of being in the fashion industry!”

Silver shrugged. “Not to her.”

“Dear....” Rarity sat back in her chair in shock. How could her parallel self be so... wayward?

After a while, Big Mac asked, “Should we tell you ’bout our Equestira?”

Snapping to the moment, she said, “Yes, I would like to know more.”

“A lot of it is like your Equestria. We ’ad the pillars. When they disappeared, Queen Celestia and Princess Luna took over, before Luna turned into the Nightmare and was sent to the moon.”

“Queen Celestia?” clarified Rarity.

“Eeyup.”

Silver Belle nodded in agreement while Fluttershy gazed about the room completely disinterested.

“When Nightmare Moon came back, Queen Celestia sent Sunset Shimmer to find the Elements of Harmony. She became the Element of Magic, mah wife the Element of Loyalty, Applejack: Honesty, Pinkie: Laughter, Redheart: Kindness, and Cheerilee: Generosity.”

“Really?” asked Rarity as she sipped her tea.

“Eeyup. Discord came back but them all turned him to stone. An’ he’s still a stone statue. After ’im the changelings invaded once, but we don’t ’ave ta worry ’bout them no more.”

“So you reformed them?”

“Reform them?” asked Silver.

“Yes. A changeling named Thorax helped the changelings become good,” explained Rarity.

“Nnope,” said Big Mac. “Queen Celestia led the army to their hive an’ wiped ’em out.”

“Wiped them out? As in – ”

“Ain’t no changelings left.”

Crash! Rarity’s teacup shattered upon the floor.

“You – You exterminated the changeling race?”

“Nnope – not me personally. Royal Army did.”

“The changelings put up quite the fight,” added Silver.

Rarity rubbed her head. “I... I just cannot believe Princess Celestia would do such a thing.”

“What were we supposed to do? They declared war on us.”

Rarity sighed, “I can sympathize, but still... killing all of them?”

“Queen Celestia did what she ’ad ta do,” explained Big Mac. After a tense silence, he continued. “Don’t know what yer talkin’ ’bout with this Crystal Empire. Never heard of it. Nor this Tirek or Starlight Glimmer. As fer the Storm King, we invaded his lands and got rid of that menace. An’ a whole lot of folks were happy for it.” He thought for a moment, “Other than that, not sure of too many other differences between our worlds. Can you Silver?”

“Well,” began the little unicorn, “you forgot to mention our other wars.”

“Other wars?” asked Rarity.

“After the changeling invasion, we wanted to keep ourselves safe. So we wiped out the changelings, overthrew the Storm King, an’ conquered the Dragon Lands, Griffonstone, Yakyakistan, and Saddle Arabia.”

“My....”

A tense silence hung over the room. Nopony knew what to say or wanted to be the first to speak. Finally, Silver spoke, “So now what?”

“Pardon, dear?”

“What are we supposed to do now?”

“We will just have to wait until Twilight and Sunset find a way to safely open a portal to your world.”

Silver shook his head. “That’s not what I meant. Since I can’t go to school, what am I supposed to do?”

“Oh....” Rarity paused in thought. “Well... you’re more than welcome to spend time in Sweetie’s room. She has a collection of books you can peruse or you can read any of mine. Many of them are business related, though I do have a number of Shadow Spade books.”

“Okay,” said Silver, getting up from his seat and heading out of the kitchen.

“Fluttershy?”

“Yeah?” replied the pegasus.

“Perhaps you’d like to look at some of my latest designs?”

“Not really.”

“I see.... Would you like to look at my fashion magazines?”

“Not really.”

“Is there something you’d like to do while we wait?”

“Yeah.”

“Please tell me it doesn’t involve hitting the bars.”

“Oh... that’s still a no then?”

“Yes.”

Fluttershy shook her head. “So uncool.”

Rarity turned to the other occupant of the kitchen. “Big Mac, what would you like to do?”

“Well....” He thought for a moment. “Ah’d like to be useful. Ah know Ah cain’t work on the farm. Is there somethin’ y’all need help with?”

“Me?”

“Eeyup.”

“I’m not sure.”

“Need help with the fashion?”

“Do you have any experience in the industry?”

“Nope.”

“That would be problematic....”

Big Mac’s face fell.

Rarity quickly added, “Well, I could use your help with some new stallion’s clothing. Perhaps I can get your opinion?”

Big Mac perked up, “Eeyup.”

Rarity stood from her chair, gathering some towels to clean up her broken cup on the floor. “Fluttershy, Big Mac and I will be upstairs in my inspiration room. If you should need anything, please come see me.”

“Whatever.”

Author's Note:

This story isn't dead! I had writer's block, then a long TDY, and finally a PCS OCONUS. Wow, just thinking back on the past couple of months leaves me exhausted!

Dreadnought

Comments

[Fernando1717]

Good to have this story moving again and nice chapter, uh declaring war on everyone to achieve peace, a story about that would be fun specially if the wars were goofy like in that alternative timeline were Sombra invaded Equestria.