Gala with a Dash of Chaos

by Tower of 0

So a Human Walks into a Library...

It's another beautiful morning in Ponyville, albeit a little bit on the chilly side since Autumn rolled in. That matters not to the human leaving his some in the cool fall morning. He breathes in with a smile, his nostril being filled with the seasonal smells, and exhales. His legs start to move, bringing him to his first stop of the day; the market. He spends a little bit of time doing his usual greeting and waving, buying a few things for the house, and creating small talk with several ponies there.

After tending to his personal matters at the market, he moves on to his next stop of the day, and most likely where he'll be for the rest of it. There he stands in front of Golden Oaks, waiting for Twilight to answer the door. Justin gives the door another firm knock. Still no answer after several minutes of standing around. Twilight asks for his help on something and now isn't answering the damn door. After another short time of silence, the door opens with the lavender mare in question peeking out at him.

"Oh! Good morning, Justin." Twilight greets with with a yawn. "You're here early."

"Twi, it's noon. Did you not sleep last night?" Justin leans in, almost examining the tired mare.

"Nope! Was up all night, studying!" Twilight seems to giggle as she opens the door wider for him. "Come in!"

Justin nods a little bit and steps into the library with Twilight. His gaze quickly looking over the main room to find it in an terrible mess. He knows Twilight liked to study, but this was bit much. He sets his bags down near the door and fixes his gaze on the lavender alicorn with an almost amused expression at this point. Twilight hasn't registered yet that he's looking at her.

"What exactly were you studying?" Justin asks with a smirk.

"Magical theory and all known instances where magic could shift." She may be tired, but hell, she was on point at least.

"Let's get you some coffee before you fall asleep boring yourself." Justin teases as he guides her to her own kitchen.

After brewing up a pot of joe for the mare, the two sit at her table. Justin has to sit in a sort of uncomfortable way, but he's way too stubborn in making it work. Twilight is feeling way better after drinking some of the ground up bean liquid and starts to go on about her findings. Well, more of a recap of what they both know. Not that he minded, he has an interest in magic and Twilight was always happy to help ponies learn.

"So, what anything about magic just switching hosts?" Justin asks after the presentation.

"None from what I could find." Twilight admits, staring at her coffee.

Justin reaches across the table and prods her hoof with a finger. "You'd think with Equestria's lengthy history, there'd be some kind of event like this."

"Hopping realities isn't really something ponies are known for either." Twilight states, finally looking across the table at her guest. "I'll keep looking though, for both our sakes."

Justin gives her a small smirk. "So, about that thing you wanted help with."

Twilight stares at him for a moment, then her eyes widen. "Oh, right!"

This is not what he was expecting. The previous mess he walked in on turned into an even bigger mess now that there are about half a dozen other versions of him ending to the shelves. The ever so famous Library Re-Organization Day is today, and here he is helping with it. The "prime" Justin is leaning up against a wall, carefully watching his other versions to make sure nothing funny happens. He knows himself all too well, these other copies weren't any better but knew exactly who the original was. Twilight comes out of the kitchen with her lunch, happily humming to herself.

"Was this an excuse to get me to do your chores?" Justin asks her as she approaches.

"What? No! Of course not.... okay maybe." Twilight responds. softly kicking a hoof against the floor. "Atleast you get to try something new with the chaos magic!"

"Smooth." Justin mutters to her with a smirk. "Got tired of watching me perform some basic stuff like conjuring stuff and teleporting?"

Twilight just smiles at his words and takes a bite of her sandwich.

"Uh, Twilight?" A Justin copy walks over with a book in his hands and a piece of paper with the number '4' on it. "Where does this go?"

Twilight is quick to swallow the bite of food and look over the book's cover. "Classical Equestrian History, that section can be found over there." She replies while pointing a hoof in the direction he needs to go. He gives her a nod and walks off to put away the book. "This is kind of uncanny."

"What, that there be like seven of me in your library?" Justin looks down to her and she just nods. "They're all like me and know that they be fake."

"I know, it's still weird to think you can just do this now." Twilight comments, taking another bit of food and chewing on it for a few moments before swallowing. She decides on a change of subject. "How's the home life?"

"It's fine, everyone is happy." Justin calmly replies. "Derpy does her own thing. Fudge is just happy, probably cause of the better life. Vinyl is still out on tour, somewhere."

"Did... did something happen between Vinyl and you?" Twilight asks while turning her gaze to look at him.

"Nah.. nah. I think the novelty wore off for them, if I'm being honest. I want them to do what makes 'em happy." Justin lets out a sighs as he shifts against the wall. "That's okay though, things change, and I still get updates from Vinyl about where she is."

"What about Derpy?" The alicorn leans in a it closer to him now.

"She doesn't want me to be alone, which is rather sweet of her. On a plus side, she knows that there's someone for her to rely on." Justin gives as a reply with a slight smile. "I think it's time for these guys to take a lunch break, what do you think?"

"I think they've earned it, I'll help." Twilight smiles back up at him.

The two disappear into the alicorn's kitchen to prepare a feast for the gaggle of busy humans. It took Justin mere moments to settle on the simplest of meals: PB&J. Except he replaces the jelly with jam for less of a mess. Or so he thinks, Twilight decides to get a little devious with and launch some peanut butter at him, hitting him square on the cheek. He looks at the mare with a smirk, wiping some of the peanut spread off his cheek and wiping it back on hers.

"Little punk." Justin mutters with a smile.

Twilight just giggles at his reaction and uses her magic to remove the stain. Both of them tending to making the rest of these sandwiched for the impromptu library crew. Once the food is ready, Justin leans his head out the door and whistles loud enough to catch the others' attention. With their attention nabbed and leading them back into the kitchen. With all the copies of the same human now feasting, Twilight takes the moment to slip out of the kitchen. She doesn't go unnoticed by her human friend and he soon follows.

"Hey, Twi, you doing okay?" Justin asks as he approaches her.

"Wha? Oh, yeah, just checking their progress is all." Twilight seems to have fallen to a daze before he approached.

"How they doin?" The human leans down next to her.

"Much how I expected about six other of you to perform." She looks at him with a smile. "Followed directions and now almost done."

"Excellent, successful test I take it?" He grins at her and she nods. His face shifts a bit. "Twi, I know it's been a while and I haven't really asked... but how did you feel after you severed the bond?"

At first, Twilight was taken back by the question, her ears folded back against her head. "Uh... well.. if I'm being honest, as if something was missing." Her eyes start to scan his face, watching his features soften. "How did it feel for you?"

"Kind of the same. Though, more of an empty feeling too." Justin admits as he takes a seat on the floor. "Probably why I held myself up in Canterlot Castle for so long."

"How did you spend your time there?" Twilight asks with curiosity.

"I learned to read Ponish. Got a tour of the Castle. Made my second friend there." Justin glosses over, looking towards Twilight with a smirk. "Spent some time with the princesses. Nothing too special really."

"Keeping secrets from me, have you?" Twilight chuckles a bit.

"Don't tell me you don't have some of your own you haven't told anyone." Justin smirks and presses his finger against her snout for a quick moment. "Anyway, I think break time is over for the boys."

Twilight watches him get up, contemplating on telling him something. She ends up deciding against it and letting him gather up his copies to finish up their work. The alicorn moves out of the way once she hears him start to rally the other versions back to their work. She glances over all the books that are left and estimates that it'll only take them about an hour, maybe two. The crew of the same humans come filing out with the original not far behind, always wearing that pendant. She smiles a little at seeing him and goes to the stairs, taking herself a seat on one of the steps and watching the rest of the work go by.

So it actually takes them three hours, but it's done. The two friends are happily chatting on the stairs, and it's just the two of them now. Twilight couldn't be more thankful for the slight privacy with the human, even if the six others were just the same. To her, this feels more natural, but they both now know he can do it with the newfound magic. Also allows her to examine the nature of Chaos without the annoyance of Discord. To be fair, she found Justin to be better company than the actual spirit of chaos.

Nevertheless, the two continued to carry out a conversation of varying topics. At first, Twilight was asking about the astronomy book. Justin is all too happy to tell her what he learned about the constellations, including a few that bore some similarities to the ones back on his world. This information did pique the alicorn's interest some and so she decided to ask him about it.

"What constellations did you find similar?"

"Well." Justin starts, scratching the side of his face. "The Ursa Major and Minor are exact copies of the human counterparts from what I know."

"Mhm." Twilight nods her head. "Anything else?"

"You Starswirl constellation has a belt to it that's more vertical compared to the one I'm used to. We called it Orion's Belt, also part of a larger constellation with the same name."

Twilight made a mental note to add that to her current stash of knowledge on humans. Then something else comes to her mind and she looks at him. "How does it feel?"

"Feel?" Justin looks to her curiously. "How does what feel?"

"Well, you know. When you use your chaos magic, how doe it feel?" Twilight asks a little more clearly. "Since, well, humans aren't magical in nature."

Justin chuckles a little at the nervous nature his friend displays at the question. Almost as if she were asking him inappropriate. "Huh. Never really thought about how it felt." The human continues to hum for a moment in thought, trying to remember the feeling. "Y'know.... I don't really know how to describe the feeling. Never really thought about it until now."

"Awe." Twilight sounds a little disappointed at first until she looks at the time. "We should probably get you out of here. Shall we meet a little early next Tuesday?"

"Sure, but what's the occasion?" Justin asks her with a small chuckle, gathering up his things near the door.

"I have an idea for what we can do next with your magic." Twilight informs him with a smile.

Justin just smiles back and agrees, the two say their farewells and part ways. The human decides to take a small detour and head towards the boutique to check up on Rarity. He gives the door to the boutique a good hard knock to ensure the mare knows that there is a visitor there. The door opens and the white unicorn gazes out in front of her first, then her gaze follows the midsection up. A wide grin breaks across her face as she realizes who her visitor is.

"Darling!" She all but squeals. "So glad you stopped by, I need you to try on your suit!"

Before the human can even protest, her magic incases his body and drags the man inside, and the door slamming shut behind him. Justin is quickly stripped down to his underwear, something he is thankful didn't go anywhere, nor would it be the first time this mare has seen him like this. As excited as Rarity is, Justin can almost forgive the forced stripping. In almost the blink of an eye, he's fully clothed again in a really nice suit.

Justin let out a long whistle as he looks himself over in the mirrors with Rarity standing not too far away. She seems more interested in seeing his reaction than what her work looks like on him. To say the human is impressed is an understatement, his expectations were essentially stuffed into Pinkie's Party Cannon and blown clear out whatever door they came in through. The dark shoes and slacks fit his body with a comfortable snugness that was almost divine. What really steals the show for him though is the top. Its a matching blazer to the slacks and shoes that laid over a royal purple dress shirt that was sewn in a scale-like pattern. The tie has a sheen to it, golden as well, or is it actually made from gold? He'd have to find out.

"Wow... Rares." Justin continues to admire the ensemble.

"I think you look rather dashing." Rarity chimes in.

"You really outdid yourself here. I'm really loving it."

"I'm glad you feel that way, darling. I may need to make a few minor adjustments, but I assure you that it will be ready by the time the Gala arrives!" Rarity declares, then her horn starts to light up.

Quick to react this time, Justin stops her. "Woah there. I think I can undress myself."

Rarity gives a little shrug and flips her mane at him. "Fine, have your way." Did she jut smirk at him?

Justin is left with that last thought as he make a beeline for one of her changing rooms. Now in his street clothes, he carefully folded the exquisite suit and returns it to Rarity. More farewells were bid between the two before the human leaves the boutique. Almost as if it were on time, a scroll appears in font of him and he snatches out of the air to look at it. Another letter from Luna and he smiles. Justin quickens his pace home since the sun is starting to set, he has a princess to respond to and stars to look at.