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Well, Obviously!

Chapter 3 – Well, Obviously!

Twilight Sparkle lay in the bed of the private room she was given wearing a very unladylike scowl on her face. Ordinarily, patients weren’t given their own rooms, but an exception was made due to her “delicate mental state.” That, of course, was absolutely ridiculous, since her mind wasn’t delicate, it was angry!

Why didn’t Princess Celestia remember Moondancer’s fifteenth birthday party, or any of Twilight’s for that matter? Where did Celestia get all of those notecards and checklists written in Twilight’s hornwriting? She hadn’t made a checklist or used a notecard in years! Celestia insisted they would jog her memory, but instead they just confused her even more!

And what about the photo albums? More than half of the pictures were missing! Where were all the pictures from the weekend she, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity spent in Baltimare last summer? Where were the pictures of that trip that Applejack and Fluttershy took with her when she went to Shallow Shades to study the increase in the salamander population? And why didn’t her friends remember any of those things?

Twilight had posed these questions to her friends half an hour ago when they arrived to check on her, having been informed of the situation by Celestia, but their only response was to stare at her nervously and tell her to get some rest. She didn’t need rest! She needed answers!

But, no; the lavender princess just lay in her bed, currently stripped of her royal regalia, brooding and pondering just what in the name of sanity was going on. Suddenly, her thoughts were interrupted by the squeaking of the hinges on the door to her bedroom opening. Nurse Tenderheart walked in pulling a lunch tray with her teeth. Also on the tray, Twilight couldn’t help but notice, was a small round container, which Twilight was sure contained sedatives.

“All right, princess,” she began, “I have a nice daffodil sandwich for you, with some fruit salad and some yummy peach yogurt.” The princess in question narrowed her eyes slightly. “Then I just want you take these pills in here,” Tenderheart continued, indicated the round container, “and they’ll help you relax, okay?”

“Okay, stop that.” Twilight demanded.

“Stop what?” Tenderheart inquired somewhat nervously.

“That condescending tone you’re using, that’s what!” the princess shouted angrily, standing up on her bed. “First of all, I am not crazy! Secondly, even if I was, I saved Ponyville from an Ursa Minor, I unlocked the power of the Elements of Harmony, and I mastered a spell that not even Starswirl could figure out. So my mental state aside – heck, my royal position aside – I think I deserve to be addressed with a little more respect than that!”

A now quite terrified Nurse Tenderheart quickly bowed and replied, “My apologies, your highness! I was just trying to do my job! I talk to everypony that way!”

The sight of the frightened nurse calmed Twilight down. “No, no, no.” she sighed, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have blown up like that.” The purple alicorn collapsed on her bed. “It’s just…this whole situation is so frustrating. I feel like the world’s out...of…wait a minute…”

“What is it, your highness?” Tenderheart asked.

“It couldn’t be, could it? No, of course not! Well, maybe…” Twilight continued to ramble, seemingly forgetting about Tenderheart’s presence. “It doesn’t make sense, though! Well, it kinda does, in theory. But then again it is just a theory. But that doesn’t mean it’s wrong, just…unproven. Could I have…? Nurse Tenderheart!” The young princess called to the nurse who was slowly backing out of the room, causing her to jump slightly. “If Princess Celestia or Doctor Edelmane drop by, tell them I'm heading out for a bit, but I'll be back in a few hours!” And with that, Twilight teleported away.

_____

"Any change from this morning, doctor?" asked Princess Celestia.

"I'm afraid not, your majesty." the unicorn stallion walking next to her replied, "The strange thing is, none of test indicated any sign of mental instability. And her family, with a few exceptions, it spotless in terms of mental health."

"You mentioned exceptions?" the sun princess inquired.

"Yes, two cases of schizophrenia." Edelmane replied, "But those were both several decades ago and years apart from one another. I'm afraid all of our data is simply inconclusive."

"And I have yet to discern who a teleportation spell could've caused this...whatever this is." Celestia sighed.

"We have an appointment with one of our therapists scheduled in about thirty minutes. You can visit her for a moment if you'd like." But before the princess could respond -

"Doctor! Princess!" came the cry of a blue-furred nurse down the hall, "She's gone! She just left! She teleported out of the room!"

"WHAT!?!?!" the addressees exclaimed.

"Princess Twilight...she just...she started rambling...then she was just gone! I'm sorry!" Nurse Tenderheart explained frantically.

"What did she say?" asked Celestia, "Did she tell you where she was going?"

"No, your majesty, only that she'd be back in a few hours."

Princess Celestia snorted in irritation. 'What else could possibly go wrong today?' she thought. Suddenly, in a burst of green flame, a letter appeared out of thin air. Grabbing with her magic, Celestia opened it and read the hastily written message.

Dear Princess Celestia,

Twilight was just here! She asked me a whole bunch of questions about her foalhood and ponies we knew when she was still in school. Then she told to go wait for her in her room at the hospital and she just took off! What do I do?

Yours faithful (and terrified) servant,

Spike

Sighing, Princess Celestia telekinetcally grabbed a pen from Doctor Edelmane's coat pocket and wrote the following note on the back of the letter:

Dear Spike,

For now we have no choice. Go to Luna and tell her to come to Twilight's hospital room the moment she's done with whatever business she's attending to at the moment. The other five element bearers will be here shortly.

Sincerely,

Princess Celestia

With that, Celestia sent the off, walked to Twilight's room, and sat on her haunches at the foot of her student's bed.

"Princess," came Nurse Tenderheart's voice, "what're you doing?"

"I'm waiting, nurse," Celesita answered, "Twilight's teleporting around Equestria and I have no idea where she is or where she's going. So, it seems I have no choice but to wait. If she is fine, as she continues to insist, then she's in no danger and is no danger to anypony. If she isn't stable at the moment, then chasing her down while she's in such a fragile state of mind could be dangerous, given her newfound powers as an alicorn."

"Do really believe that to be wise, princess?" inquired Doctor Edelmane.

"No, actually," she responded, staring blankly at the floor. "The voice of reason is currently standing right next to me screaming into my ear with a megaphone and truth be told the reasons I just gave were all a load of horseapples. I'm confused, a tad bit desperate, and I'm grasping at whatever options present themselves. So, for the moment, I'm just going to wait."

"Well, then," the doctor said as he and Nurse Tenderheart left the room, "just let me know if you need anything."

_____

Two hours later, Celestia was joined by her sister, Spike, and Twilight's friends as they all sat around Twilight's bed, anxiously awaiting her return. Suddenly, a flash of violet light filled the room as young alicorn made her return, reappearing on her bed.

"Ok, Twi," Applejack began, "ya'll have had us all worried sick for the past couple'a hours, so spill: what the hay have you been doin'?"

"Yeah," added Rainbow Dash, now hovering at eye level with her purple friend, "you just show up at my place outta nowhere and start asking me a bunch of questions about stuff we've done together since you moved to Ponyville, half of which I'm pretty sure didn't happen, and then you vamoose! Do you have amnesia or have you just lost it?"

"RAINBOW DASH!" Applejack shouted, "Now we talked about this! We said we were gonna her talk first!"

"Oh, yeah. Sorry," Dash mumbled meekly as she lowered herself to the ground again, "It's just...you're freaking us out, Twi. What's going on?"

"Indeed, darling," Rarity chimed in, "we've all been going mad with suspense. What have you been up to?"

“First of all, I'd like to apologize.” Twilight began, “I realize I may have given you all quite a shock today, and I'm sorry. I can understand that you were more than a little concerned when I suddenly started talking things that, from your perspective, never happened.”

“Our perspective?” Applejack inquired.

“Precisely, Applejack,” Twilight continued, “which brings me to my main point. I believe that the new teleportation spell I’ve been developing did work, just not in the way intended it to.” Everyone stared her with puzzled expressions. “I've been talking to my parents, my old classmates, several citizens of Ponyville, and of course, of all you. And none you seem to remember any of the things that I mentioned. So, there are three options: A) I have, in fact, lost all of my proverbial marbles. Princess Celestia, what did the doctor say?"

"That the results of your tests were inconclusive, but that you showed no sign of mental illness." Her mentor replied.

"Okay, that makes that scenario highly unlikely." Twilight said, "So that brings me to: B) all the other ponies in Equestria are suffering from the most widespread and specific case of amnesia in recorded history. Again, highly unlikely. So that brings me to my final scenario. The lavender princess paused here. "Now everypony just go with me for a second. There is a theory that states that we all exist in a multiverse. That is, a plane of reality where an infinite number of alternate universes exist. Some very similar, so unimaginably different. So option "C" is -"

“Ooh, ooh, ooh! I know, I know!” Pinkie Pie interjected. “Somewhere out there in the multiverse, there’s a universe that’s almost exactly like ours…exceeeeept the Twilight from that universe did a whole bunch of things that ours didn’t which created a point in the time/space continuum where our two timelines diverged. Buuuuuut, aside from that teeeeeeeeeny little difference, our two universes are almost identical, meaning the boundary between them is super-duper-looper thin. The two have all the same ponies, are the same size, and time flows at the same rate! So, since Twilight’s teleportation spell works by warping space and time in an isolated area, the two Twilight’s in each universe, using the same spell at the same time in the same place, created a bridge between our worlds and they switched places! AmIright? AmIright? Huh? Huh? Am I?”

“Uh, yes, actually.” Twilight answered incredulously. “Well, there you all go. That’s the story.”

"Twilight," Princess Celestia stated, "While I will agree that theory has some logic to it, it seems to be just as unlikely as the other two. What other evidence do you have?"

“I'm glad you asked, Celestia,” Twilight replied as her horn began to glow, “I’ve concluded that there is only one way to prove I'm perfectly sane!"

“Twilight Sparkle!” the sun princess exclaimed, “I forbid you!” Celestia fired a thin yellow bolt that contained the magic for a sleeping spell at her student, but it ricocheted into the ceiling and dissipated when it came within a foot of her.

“Like the invisible barrier?” the purple mare asked, her horn glowing brighter, “I cast the spell just a split second after I teleported in.”

“Twilight Sparkle, think about this! What if you're wrong, and the spell did affect your mind? This could make it worse!” But Twilight's horn only glowed brighter. “Twilight, are you…ignoring me?” the tall alicorn asked disbelievingly. Then something incredible happened – Twilight turned to her…and smirked! And still the glow of her horn intensified, and the light at the tip of her horn finally burst, once again filling the room with a brilliant purple light.

Celestia’s amazement at her pupil’s defiance was replaced by utter stupification at the sight before her. There on Twilight’s bed, were the young mare had been just a moment ago, stood an exact replica of herself! "Well," the doppelgänger stated slowly, "This was certainly unexpected."

Author's Note:

All right! i am VERY satisfied with how things turned out with this one. and in the next chapter: the tumble down the rabbit hole TRUELY begins! stayed tuned, everyone!

EDIT: ooookay, so that didn't go over as well as i'd hoped. i hope you all like this updated version better.

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