Chapter 2: How Twi Met Your Mother
Twilight Sparkle
(5 AM)
Twilight found herself sitting down on a picnic blanket, enjoying a daffodil and daisy sandwich. There was a cool breeze that rustled the vibrantly green grass in the clearing. She looked around the blanket and saw the smiling faces of her friends.
"I know," Rarity chimed in. "You must give my best to Spike. These are simply divine."
A pang of sadness accompanied that name. 'Where is Spike, anyway? Shouldn't he be here?' The answer came to her quickly. 'Right, he's cleaning the library.'
"I should get going. I don't want to leave Spike alone for too long." Twilight turned away from her friends, then paused. 'Why do I feel this... trepidation?' Looking back, she added, "I'll see you again soon."
Applejack stood up, her expression was a mix of concern and worry. "Now Twilight, I thought you knew better than to tell fibs like that."
"Applejack, what are you—"
Twilight fell as clouds flew past her, seeming to rise up to the heavens. Above her she saw something bright. 'Is that the sun?' She stretched out a hoof to try and reach towards it. As she did, she caught sight of something else. 'Another sun. That's... that's.... Izuku's sun. Their world. That's right, this is—' Twilight's sense of awareness returned to her and hit her hard. The memories of her short encounter with Artistic Flare, the feeling of falling through this space between worlds, and the memories of meeting Izuku.
Twilight found herself in the familiar state of hurtling through the sky towards the beach below her. She scanned the shoreline, expecting to see Izuku and bracing herself for the unpleasant memory that should surely follow. She found nothing except an empty beach and waters reflecting an overcast sky.
'This feels… different.'
It took Twilight a moment to place it before realizing she had the use of her wings this time. She tried to course correct—to actually land on the beach as opposed to crashing into it—but the corrections were too sudden, and she threw herself into a tumble.
Twilight took a deep breath and tried to think back to the checklist she made when Rainbow Dash was teaching her how to fly. "Step one was—" Before she could start on the list, Twilight found herself suspended in the air, her momentum brought to a stop just before impacting the water below her. "What? How?"
Twilight's wings twitched as she scanned across the gray waters below her with both her eyes and ears for a sign of what had happened. When she turned her focus upwards, Twilight's ears stood on end, her wings quickly following suit. Above was not just an overcast sky; hanging—imposing—above her was a large moon, not the one from this world or the one that should be from Equestria—at least not any more. It was a sight that she only expected to see again in history books and fantastical tales… the Mare in the Moon.
"You can't be here; we defeated you!" Twilight shouted up to the moon—large, silver, and uncaring. Twilight didn't know if she was expecting a response or not. If she was, it wasn't in the form of the sky being torn apart like fabric, the stars now gleaming from up above. "If you're back, we will stop you! The magic of friendship is—"
Twilight was cut off as her vision was clouded by pools of pitch darkness, swallowing everything from above. All that was left was Twilight, the moon, and the image of the mare upon its surface.
Twilight awoke with a scream as she threw off the covers of her futon. Every fiber of her being told her to run, to get away, as far away from the dark room she woke up in as possible. Something horrible had happened. That she needed to get back to her friends, to Spike, to the princess.
'No!' She stamped out the thoughts. 'I promised to help Izuku.' She needed to teach him the ins and outs of being a pony. Still, she couldn't shake the feeling. 'There's too much to do. It's not just teaching him the basics; I'll need to ensure that he can continue to learn even after I return to Equestria.'
She knew that this was going to be an arduous process—it was always going to be given the careful consideration required and the short timeline she had—but she didn't appreciate the new wrench that had been thrown into a plan that was already on shaky ground to begin with. If Twilight was expecting long and sleepless nights before, she couldn't even begin to comprehend what it would entail to do all of that while also plotting a route across an ocean. 'One problem at a time, Twilight.' She took a few breaths to steady herself before she could relapse into full blown panic, then contemplated her next move.
Finally, Twilight decided to throw open the blinds to the living room. She turned to the kitchen behind her, the next move suddenly becoming clear to her. Among the thoughts of lesson plans for Izuku, the chapters she would have to write for the books she would leave him, and distances between the small landmasses around the island nation she found herself on, a new thought, like a revelation dawned on her, one that would fill her with hope or dread depending upon the conclusion that it led her to. 'Please, please, please have coffee in this world.'
Izuku
(Ten Hours Ago)
Izuku found himself perplexed by the object in front of him. 'How, exactly, am I supposed to use this?' The object was simple in its complexity, the secrets of which continued to elude him.
"So, uh..." came the confused cry of Twilight, who must certainly be equally baffled by this epitome of human architecture. "Are you going to keep staring at that door knob, or are we going inside?"
"Right, right." Izuku tried to open the door with his hooves. Thankfully, he didn't trip on his back hooves, since he could support himself with the door. Unfortunately, hooves lacked a certain... effectiveness—or, depending on who you would ask, basic competency—at gripping smooth, round objects. He was able to get a little rotation out of the knob by using his wrists, but it was to no avail.
'How am I going to be a hero like this.' Izuku shuddered at the thought of chasing down a villain, only to be stopped in his tracks by a simple door.
Twilight seemed to look embarrassed at Izuku's efforts. He was about to try wedging the knob in the space between his horn and forehead when she bit down on the knob with her teeth, turned, and pushed the door open.
"Right... that should have been my first thought." Izuku blinked as he stared into the hallway of his apartment. "Mom, I'm home," he said with trepidation. 'Now I really have to do this. What am I going to say to her? Will I even get to say anything before she freaks out?'
"Izuku?" he heard his mom call back, a hint of worry in her voice. "Is everything all right? You've been out far later than usual and—" She poked her head out of the door on the far side of the hallway and froze in the middle of the frame. "Izu... ku?"
'What to say, what to say. "I know this looks bad but..." No, that makes it sound worse. "I almost died, this was the only way Twilight, the pony over there, could—" Who am I kidding, I wouldn't get past "I almost died." "Mom, please hear me out. I'm not hurt, but I can't sum up what happened quickly. I'll explain everything, but let's sit down first, ok?" Yeah, that sounds good.' Izuku steadied himself; he needed to speak calmly for this to not end badly. "Mom, please—"
"Izuku! What happened to you?'" His mother ran over to him and hugged him, tears streaming from her eyes while she ran her hand across the back of Izuku's mane, not giving Izuku a chance to get another word in. "Are you ok? Does it hurt? What can I do to help you?" She then turned to look at Twilight, as if noticing her for the first time. "What did you do to my baby, you villain?" she cried.
'I didn't expect that to feel so nice.' Izuku lost himself for a moment as his mom pet the back of his head. "Mom, listen. I know this seems crazy, but Twilight didn't do anything wrong, she's not a villain. She actually saved my life. Please, can we all sit down and talk?"
"You almost died?" Inko burst into tears as she glomped Izuku, her expression a mix of panic and concern. "Izuku!”
Izuku awkwardly wrapped his forelegs around his mom as he tried to calm her down enough to actually explain.
Cherry Rose
(One Year Ago)
Cherry looked in disbelief at the U.A. trifold that Pony had placed in front of her before taking her usual seat at the head of the table, with Pony seated to her right. The dining room they were in was rather ornate; the building had been in the family for more than a few generations, though gone now were the days of lengthy meetings with board members and the forging of alliances over this or that endeavor. She had moved on to better things, more important things, but that was for later. Right now, Pony was looking up at her as if this was the most important thing in the world, and maybe she was right.
"You want to go to U.A.?" Cherry said it with more venom than she intended; that much was obvious from Pony’s hurt expression. "Sorry," she quickly corrected, "but where is this coming from? You've never mentioned wanting to be a hero before."
"I didn't want to hurt you. I still don't." Pony seemed to be avoiding eye contact with Cherry. "But Mom was a hero, and I still remember how happy it made her when she talked about making the world a better place. I want to do that too, and since we're moving to Japan…"
'Do I know her so little that I completely missed this?' Cherry looked down as she thought of her sister—Mare. Even years later it was hard to hold back her tears. 'You were always so much better at this than me. I'm just a shitty replacement, aren't I?' Lost in thought as she was, Cherry couldn't help but think of how much Pony resembled her sister, and by extension, her (at least if you ignored the horns). 'I guess the wavy hair runs in the family. The blonde actually looks good; maybe I shouldn't dye my hair, though I do like this shade.'
Cherry ran her fingers through her dull red hair. It was a distraction from the main issue, but she wasn't going to complain about having a few moments of pleasant thoughts before she needed to weigh crushing Pony's dreams against her safety. 'Don't know if I could pull off something so casual though. I've grown rather fond of business formal.' Cherry paused for a moment as she found the thought amusing. 'Never thought I would catch myself thinking that…'
She was getting a little too distracted. 'I need to give her an answer…'
"I understand, I'll have to think about it." A coward's response—and a lie; thinking about it was the last thing Cherry wanted to do. 'If I lost both of you, I...' she shuddered at the thought, then pushed it—rather forcefully—from her conscious mind. "You should probably think more about it too. U.A. might be one of the highest regarded hero schools, but just because we're going to be close doesn't mean you should make such a life-changing decision because of it."
"It was the school Mom went to," came Pony's simple response.
'Yah, just a shitty replacement.' Cherry couldn't hold back her tears any more. Her thoughts were filled with memory after memory of her sister. How happy she looked when she was accepted to U.A, how even more happy she looked when she passed her licensing exam, the tales she would tell of the villains she fought and the disasters she averted. Those were happy memories, but Cherry knew how it had ended.
She remembered that day clearly. She was watching her sister on a Japanese news livestream—she didn't understand any of it at the time, but she liked to be there in spirit—pulling people from a burning apartment. It was going well until the explosion—she was told it was because one of the residents had illegally stored propane tanks in their room—and the building collapsed further. She promptly pushed that memory from her mind; she didn't want to think of her sister burning alive.
At least she took it better than her sister's husband, Takeru. He was a wreck after the incident, and Cherry was worried he'd end up turning to drink with how depressed he looked. To his credit, he didn't, but he knew he couldn't take care of a child like that.
The thought of what Pony must have gone through. She couldn't help but picture how the scene would have played out. Pony and her father watching the news on the TV, the look of shock and pain on Pony's face. Pony's cry of—
"Mom." Pony filled Cherry's vision, having tilted her head so that she was looking directly at her. "Are you ok? You've been crying and—Oh, I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have said anything and—"
Cherry just wrapped her arms around Pony and pulled her into a hug.
Izuku
(Nine Hours Ago)
"...and then we walked, or trotted I guess, back here." Izuku looked awkwardly over to his mother. While he had succeeded in getting them seated at the dining table, he had not yet successfully escaped her grasp. And so, he sat on a chair at the table, with his mother holding onto him and her chair only resting on two legs, while Twilight sat across from them. 'At least she's listening now.'
Inko carefully poked at Izuku’s chest, as if making sure there wasn’t still a hole there. “You’re really fine?” She looked Izuku right in the eyes, tears still streaming down them. "Really, really fine?" The words came out as more of a plea than a question.
"Yes Mom, I'm really, really fine." Izuku wiped the tears from his mom's eyes—and his coat did a good job of soaking them up. 'This is it, the moment of truth.' Izuku took a deep breath. "I might actually be able to be a hero now."
Inko’s death grip on Izuku tightened. 'A horn to the chest couldn't do me in, but if you keep this up, you might actually succeed.' Izuku gasped for breath. "Mom. Please. Air."
Inko loosened her grip enough to let Izuku breathe—barely—as she took a moment to gather her thoughts. “You said she could turn you back. Are you saying you want to stay like this? You’ll be okay with that?”
'Will I be ok with this?' Izuku asked himself, then thought back to Twilight's use of magic. 'She used that magic to save my life.' Izuku nodded. "Yes. I've given it a lot of thought. I didn't see it at first, but if I stay like this I can be a hero. I can save people, just like All Might and Twilight."
Twilight inclined her head towards Izuku. "Well, maybe not just like me. Turning ponies into ponies—I mean, turning people into ponies—probably isn't the go-to solution most of the time. At least, I would hope it isn't."
“And nothing bad is going to happen to him if he stays a pony?” Inko turned her gaze towards Twilight with an expression that clearly said 'Answer honestly, or magic won't be enough to save you.'
"Aside from some trips and falls while he gets used to an entirely new body, no. There shouldn't be any negative side effects." Twilight said, apparently oblivious to the intensity of the stare Inko was giving her, or the fact that the room was now the site of a localized heat wave.
Inko nodded and finally let Izuku go, though only with one arm. “I hope you don’t mind then if I have a doctor check him over, just to be sure.” She began pulling her phone from the kitchen counter to herself with her quirk, grasping at the air to pull it closer inch-by-inch.
Normally it would take a moment for Inko to move the phone over from the kitchen; however, this time it glowed green and just flew over. 'Did I?' It took a moment for Izuku to process what happened, between the glowing green light and the strange feeling on his horn. It took him another moment to process that everyone was now looking at him.
The shock caused Izuku to drop the phone, the light surrounding it flickering out. 'Oh crap.' He tried to use magic—his magic—again to catch the phone, but he wasn't really sure how he’d done it in the first place. 'It was so natural before, I should be able to—'
The phone glowed purple as Twilight plucked the phone out of the air and laid it to rest upon the table in front of her. "Well, that's one disaster averted," Twilight said, looking up at Izuku. "Though I can't say I expected you to be able to use your magic without any guidance. That's quite the feat."
'I hope she doesn't think I'm some kind of prodigy or something. I wasn't even able to catch it the second time.' Izuku rubbed the back of his head—or at least tried to, his body wasn't exactly well suited to the task. "I don't think it was that impressive. It was probably just because Mom's quirk is telekinesis. I've seen her use it hundreds of times. It's nothing special, really."
"I wouldn't sell yourself short; many Unicorns struggle with even the basics at first, and they've had years before their first lessons." Twilight turned the smartphone around in her magic. It looked to Izuku as if she was hoping she could discern its purpose by staring at it hard enough. "Fascinating. I can't tell what it's for, but the construction is so small, it fits right in your hoof."
The smartphone made a chime and the screen lit up, followed shortly by Twilight's expression. "Ooh, what's this? '#2 hero Endeavor perpetrated domestic abuse, leaked documents reveal.'" Twilight read the words carefully. "A device for communication? That must come in handy. Who has the companion device?'
'Really? Endeavor? I knew he could be a bit intense, but to go that far...' It was a shock, to be sure, but Izuku decided to focus his attention back to the conversion at hand. "It doesn't work quite like that. We have a global network of all sorts of devices that communicate between each other all the time. In this case, the Tokyo Reporter reported a story, and that got sent to Mom's phone, where it showed an alert to you."
"A global network." Twilight paused, a look of concentration on her face. "Back in Equestria, I had read papers of how that might be accomplished using magic. It was mostly theoretical, and given the infrastructure that would be required, it stayed that way. But the possibilities it put forth…" Twilight looked up at Izuku, floating the smartphone over to him. "Can you show me how this device works?"
"No problem, Twilight." Izuku took the phone in his hooves. Luckily, Inko didn't use a password, so he wouldn't have to fiddle around with typing in a code. He tapped his hoof on the icon for TheTube and… and… "That's funny, it's not working." He tried tapping the icon a few more times. "Maybe something's wrong with that one, let's try Memeagram…"
Inko hesitantly held up one of her hands. “Um... sweetie?” Izuku turned his attention away from the phone for a moment, and she wiggled her fingers.
Izuku stared blankly at her for a moment before his eyes widened in realization. "Right, a normal smartphone isn't going to work with hooves. You would need either a device made for people with mutation quirks or a glove for much the same purpose." Izuku handed the phone back to Inko. 'Just how many things am I going to have to do differently now?' The thought troubled Izuku, not only in regards to the list he was now forming of things he was going to have to find work arounds for, but of the realization that at any point, some ordinary task could suddenly find itself being an extraordinary obstacle.
Izuku turned his attention back to Twilight and his mom. Apparently while he was reevaluating even the most basic of tasks in his life, Inko was helping Twilight discover the wonders of modern technology. He pondered for a moment what it would be like to suddenly find himself in an alien world with technology light years ahead of his own. Then he decided he didn't like where his thoughts were going and so decided to listen in on the conversation—and get some more practice with his pony ears while he was at it.
"What an interesting orthography. I don't think we have anything like this in Equestria," Twilight exclaimed, and Izuku could see she was studying the screen closely. "I think my translation spell should still work, or, at least, I hope it does."
Izuku blinked from the sudden flash of light from Twilight's horn. 'Translation spell? That sounds like it could be useful.' He made a mental note to ask Twilight about it later. Right now, he could feel all of the day’s events catching up to him, and the thought of resting his head on a soft pillow was growing more attractive the more he thought about it.
"'#2 hero Endeavor perpetrated domestic abuse. U.A. to unveil new foreign exchange program. #17 hero Void Out still missing. New link between Starlight Glimmer and Equalizer movement? New theater production all the craze—' This is absolutely fascinating, to see the concept so fully realized. Seeing all of this, I can't help but think of how foalish it was for us not to explore this concept further back in Equestria."
Izuku could swear he could see stars in Twilight's eyes, though maybe it was just the onset of sudden dizziness he got when listening to something in a different direction than where he was facing. "I think I'm going to turn in early. It's been a long day." Izuku got up from the table and just barely avoided toppling onto his backside. 'Well, that's a minor improvement at least.'
Twilight Sparkle
(Seven Hours Ago)
Twilight wasn't sure when she completely lost track of time. Probably some time after Inko showed her a larger version of the "smartphone" (which—sadly—wasn't sentient) called a "computer" and was apparently used by the family. It took some time to become acquainted with its methods of operation, how the keyboard and "mouse" related to the screen and the various symbols on it. After some instruction, she settled on the use of Midori to browse the "web" 'also called the internet, see citation on—wait, too early for that'.
The sheer amount of knowledge she found herself with access to was something she could only have dreamed of before. She had previously thought the invention of the public library was ponykind's greatest achievement, but if something like this was possible, it would be like going from carving letters in stone to the invention of the printing press.
It was while watching a documentary on the history of the internet on TheTube that one of the recommended videos caught Twilight's eye. "HOW I LEARNED TO LIVE BETTER AND BE MY OWN BOSS WITH FLIFLAM HEALTHSTYLES AND YOU CAN TOO," she read the words aloud quietly. A few clicks later and she found herself staring at the likenesses of Flim and Flam—though much more human in appearance—on a page listing all the "wonders" of Fliflam. It seemed to be quite the enticing offer, almost too good to be true, and knowing the Flam Flam brothers, it certainly was. The offer aside, it left Twilight with a far more pressing question 'How and why are they in an entirely different world?' She thought it unlikely that they had managed to unlock the secrets of multiversal travel, and other hypotheses were equally unlikely.
Rather than trying to just throw out wild guesses, Twilight decided to take the opportunity to leverage the incredible technology she had at her disposal and put the full power of Wahoo! to the test. She typed Flim and Flam's names into the search engine and quickly found all sorts of information on them. The results were a mix between articles detailing several investigations into Fliflam Healthstyles in multiple countries, and callouts on various social media platforms from ponies people she assumed were upset with them. 'Wait, is that Applejack?' Among the callouts was one attributed to Applejack, accompanied by an image that looked like how she would picture Applejack looking as a human.
This led Twilight down a rabbithole of searching for her friends and surprisingly getting results. Rarity's Carousel Boutique was an international sensation in this world. Sweet Apple Acres was a household name across the ocean. She was surprised to see Pinkie Pie as a pony—well it was Pinkie Pie, so not that much of a surprise—before learning what a "vtuber" was. Rainbow Dash's name only turned up on some social media pages, though from what Twilight could tell, she was a test pilot for various aircrafts—another type of technology that made Twilight's mind reel from the sheer possibilities. Try as she may, she couldn't find anything about Fluttershy or if she even existed in this world, which Twilight probably should have suspected would be the case.
'Ok, so it's clear that somehow there are counterparts of at least some ponies from Equestria in this world. Is that just the nature of alternate realities, or just this one? I was taken here through a comic book; does that have an impact?' Twilight's thoughts were only interrupted by another idea that came to her, a curiosity so great that even the uncountable implications of this new revelation could not stay her hoof of magic. She turned her attention back to the search engine. "T-w-i-l-i-g-h-t S-p-a-r-k-l-e." A click soon followed.
'This was a mistake.' Twilight stared at the results, the possibilities of which were less numerous than before, but far more frightening. 'Twilight Sparkle found not guilty in arson case killing 3.' Twilight's heart sank. She wanted to walk away from the machine in front of her and just pretend she never saw anything. 'Everypony else's lives seem to match who they are in Equestria, so does this mean…' she started to walk away, but the thought of not knowing was somehow more frightening. Reluctantly, Twilight opened the article and started reading.
It was an article from some years ago detailing an incident that had happened around the time when the Twilight of this world, while studying abroad, set fire to her apartment. The flames spread to the adjacent buildings before help could arrive, and the fire and subsequent explosion cost the lives of two residents and a hero that had entered the building to save them. The subsequent court case was reported nationally, with the defense presenting evidence that showed that Twilight's actions followed a pattern consistent with those that suffered from the effects of mind-altering quirks. "Twilight shouldn't be held responsible for the events that transpired on that night. She was used as a puppet by a heinous individual, playing with people's lives. That person is not only responsible for the deaths of Toshiko Sawaya, Etsuko Sawaya, and Mare Tsunotori, but is also responsible for the life of Twilight Sparkle, who has yet to recover from the assault on her mind, and experts are unsure if she ever will." Twilight read the excerpt from the defense's closing statement. The article concluded with a verdict of not guilty by reason of induced insanity. After the trial, Twilight was placed in the care of a facility that dealt with people suffering from similar afflictions, then later moved to an American facility so her family could visit her. There was also a note from the author of the article informing the reader that normal mental illness presented much differently than quirk-induced ailments, and that violence is not common outside of such artificial stimuli.
Twilight struggled to process the information she just read. Between the sheer wrongness of what had happened and what had been done to her counterpart in this world, she knew she had to do something, but what she had to do she couldn't put her hoof on. She tried to find more information, but everything was just another retelling of the events, the person truly responsible having never been found. 'If nothing was found, then I'll have to do it myself. There's only one pony that knows the full story, so I'll just have to talk to her and go from there.' A plan was starting to form in Twilight's mind, one that clearly did not integrate well with her existing commitments in this world. 'Right, Izuku. I'll have to wait until the end of summer at least. Then go to this "America." Then I can write down the lessons I need to leave him with, then return to Equestria. I can do this!' Twilight thought, not entirely sure if she could do this. "First thing’s first, planning. Air travel from and to anywhere is possible; I should start there.'
The first thing Twilight learned about international air travel was that she was going to need documentation that she very much did not have, and would likely find herself in a very difficult situation if she was found without. The second thing she learned was that those requirements were not specific to air travel. 'This isn't going to work; it's too far to fly on my wings, and even getting out of the country doesn't seem possible with these restrictions.' She wondered if maybe she could convince people she was from a different world, but then thought better of it. 'Even if they do believe me, that cannot be a means to an end. I would need to represent Equestria and open formal diplomatic relations, assuming that's in both Equestria and this world's best interests, and would need to give that my full attention.'
The only option that seemed left open to Twilight was to make the crossing on her own, barring some mind-breaking piece of technology existing in this world. If nothing else, Twilight was still amazed—and thankful—for how easy it was to find almost anything she was looking for. It was mere minutes between the idea and the moment when she had detailed maps of the ocean she had to cross. 'If the measurements and scale work out how I think they do, and I'm reading this map right, I think this might be possible.' Twilight drew lines—again using what she now considered an informational multi-tool—from what she assumed were small islands that connected them to other islands that she hoped she could reach with a combination of teleports and flight. 'This could probably be better, but I think it shows that a route is possible.' The resulting map was a bit of a mess, but it was a contiguous line from Japan to America and she could make it better later.
A glance at the bottom of the screen revealed the unsettling truth: It was 1 AM and she would have to turn in with only the possibility that a plan was possible, no resolution to the untold pages of questions she needed answers to, and no idea on how she was going to integrate that with her other responsibilities. She didn't like that the day ended on a cliffhanger, but as the computer went through its shutdown procedures and Twilight realized more and more than she needed to go through hers, the fact was that she had accomplished all she could and she would have to wait until she could work out the rest.
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