“I f-found it when I was, um, checking on m-my bunny friends. A strange wolf c-came by and startled them into th-the, um... the Everfree,” Fluttershy was explaining. At the mention of the dangerous forest, Twilight's eyes grew wide, then narrowed as she raised an eyebrow and shook her head. The shy mare ducked behind her mane and gave one of her characteristic squeaks.
“Fluttershy, I really wish you wouldn't go in there by yourself, at least not without telling someone first. I know you're more experienced there than the rest of us, but it's still risky,” Twilight lightly chastised her timid friend. “No matter how good you are with animals, or nature in general, you could still get in serious trouble out there.”
“Oh, um, I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, um, that is...*squeak*”
Twilight sighed and put on a reassuring smile. “It's alright, Fluttershy, I just worry about you sometimes is all,” she said, placing a hoof on the pegasus's shoulder gently. “Now go on. You were saying?”
Fluttershy took a breath and collected herself, then nodded. “Well, when I f-found them, they were all, um, looking at this s-strange little black... um, thing, with g-glowing red numbers on it. I s-saw some hoofprints nearby too, but they were old, and I didn't see a-any other signs of p-ponies nearby. I w-wanted to bring it to y-you, but thought maybe whoever it, um, belonged to might come back looking for it.”
Twilight rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “True, but at the same time, considering it's the Everfree, whoever left it there probably either made it out with no intention of returning, or... well...” There was another light squeak as the obvious implications struck her friend. “...yeah. Either way, they probably aren't coming back for it, especially if the hoofprints are old like you said. In any case, it sounds like it might be some kind of magical artifact, and I'd like to see it for myself.”
“But Twilight, do you really think it's important enough to go back to that forest? Weren't you just telling her how dangerous it is?” Spike said as he walked over to the table the two ponies were sharing, and set down a tray carrying some tea and sandwiches for them.
“Only to go in alone!” Twilight reminded him, defensively. “I'll see if I can get the others to join us. Besides, it wasn't that far into the forest, right Fluttershy?”
The quiet pegasus nodded slightly as she chewed a small bite of her sandwich.
“So it's settled then. After lunch, we'll go see if the girls are free, then take a quick trip to the outskirts of the forest, grab the strange... number-thing... then be back in time for dinner!”
“If you say so Twilight. Just be careful, alright?” Spike urged her. Things had been entirely too quiet and uneventful lately in Ponyville, so he felt they were well overdue for some kind of trouble or another.
“Of course, Spike. I'll even send the Princess a letter to let them know about our discovery when we get there, if that'll make you feel better.”
“It would, actually. That way if you get into troub-,” the little dragon began, then narrowed his eyes. “Wait a minute, does that mean you're dragging me along too?” he whined.
The unicorn chuckled lightly. “Yup. After all, I can't investigate strange magical artifacts without my number one assistant! Besides, what if Rarity needs your protection?”
Those two points seemed to do the trick. After only a moment's hesitation, Spike's put-upon look slipped away. “Well when you put it that way...”
“Right. After lunch, go pack some supplies for us while Fluttershy and I go get the others.”
*****
It was a bit later in the day than Twilight would have preferred when they finally reached the edge of the forest. Pinkie and Dash were easy to convince, having both been driven to utter boredom by the lack of activity recently. Applejack and Rarity, on the other hand, had taken some convincing. In a rare agreement between the two otherwise very argument-prone ponies, they both fought the idea on the grounds that it was a silly reason to go gallivanting into the Everfree.
Normally they would have claimed they were too busy as well, but their friends knew too well this wasn't true. Harvest season had just finished, so the farmpony couldn't use applebucking as an excuse. And Rarity's business had been slow lately, with the winter holiday rush still a few weeks off. Eventually they'd been convinced to come along, knowing they wouldn't forgive themselves if anything happened to their close friends and they hadn't been there to help.
Still, despite their initial reluctance, by the time they reached the clearing Fluttershy was leading everyone to, they were glad they came along. Despite the ominous nature of the forest, everyone seemed to be enjoying the trip, taking the time to catch up with one another as they walked. Clearly, they'd all been more starved for activity than they'd initially realized.
The various residents of the Everfree gave the ponies space as they traveled amongst the underbrush. A squirrel peeked around a tree at one point, but quickly darted away when Fluttershy tried to approach it. The disappointed pegasus almost tried to follow it, but Twilight calmly reminded her of their goal, as well as the fact that the sun was getting uncomfortably close to setting.
Luckily, it didn't take much longer before they arrived in a small clearing which held the device they were searching for. The clearing was spotty with patches of grass and barren dirt. In the dirt, they could see the faded hoofprints Fluttershy had mentioned before, but there were no more recent signs of pony activity. The device itself sat on one of the grassy patches near the far edge.
Rarity's brow furrowed as they approached it, glancing up at the nearby trees. “Is it just me, or do some of these branches look a little... light?”
“Well it IS fall, Rarity,” Dash replied.
“No, she has a point, sugarcube,” Applejack chipped in, pointing a hoof upto the branches in question. “Look. Those ones there look sorta broken, and they're missing too many leaves for this time of year.”
“And that one limb is part of an evergreen. It should still be covered in needles, but this part is all-” Twilight added, before being interrupted by Pinkie.
“NAKED!”
Twilight rolled her eyes, but the others chuckled a bit. “ANYway. We'll need to be careful with this thing. I have a feeling its somehow responsible for all that. Everyone stay back,” she warned, then carefully lifted the foreign object with her magic. Everyone obediently took a few steps away while she examined it. It turned this way and that until she was staring at the side with the glowing numbers with them right-side up. She noticed several buttons on it under the numbers.
She also noticed that the numbers were counting down. It was currently reading 00:00:01:37 on the display. And it was easy enough to determine that the last two digits represented seconds. Her eyes widened at this realization and she threw the object back where it was found. “GET BACK!” she yelled as she bolted behind some trees on the other side of the clearing, followed by the others.
Time passed. Nothing happened. Even after waiting for double the time the device indicated, nothing continued to happen. Slowly, they all came out from hiding, taking a peak at the inert oddity.
“What in Equestria was that about, Twi?!” Applejack snapped, while Rarity tried to coax Fluttershy out from behind a bush. “Y'all trying to give us a heart-attack?”
“Sorry, but it looked like it was counting down and it gave me a bad feeling,” Twilight admitted sheepishly. “I just didn't want us to be near it in case something happened.”
She started moving toward it again when she felt a tug on her tail. She turned back to see Spike giving her a worried look. “Maybe we should just leave it alone Twilight. I don't like this.”
“Don't worry Spike, we'll be fine. I just want to take another look and make sure it's safe to carry. If it is, we can just take it and go home. If not, we'll just make a note of where it is and let the Princess know about it.” She stopped and looked thoughtful for a moment. “In fact, why don't we send her a message now? Spike, take a letter.”
At this, the young dragon perked up and retrieved the scroll and quill he'd stashed in her saddlebag.
“Dear Princess Celestia,
I am writing you to inform you of a small research trip I'm taking into the outskirts of the Everfree Forest today. This morning, my friend Fluttershy discov-”
Just then, she was interrupted by Pinkie. “Ooo, look, it's flashing now!”
Everyone's attention immediately spun to the pink pony. She was sitting next to the device with a big grin on her face, watching the red digits flash '00:00:00:00” over and over again on the display. “Flashy-flashy-flashy!” she cried excitedly as she picked it up. “I wonder what these thingies do?” she pondered aloud as she eyed several of the buttons under the display.
“NO! Pinkie, don't-!”
It was too late. Curiosity overwhelming whatever passed for common sense to Pinkie, her nose had picked a button and 'beeped' it. Moments later, a wave of transparent energy bolted from the front of the object and erupted into a swirling, colorful vortex about a yard or two away from her. “Wooooaaahhhh!”
The others shared Pinkie's sentiment as they stared at the portal with amazement. Even Twilight's anger with her pink friend subsided momentarily as she gazed at the strange disc of energy floating in front of them.
“What... what is it?” Rarity murmered.
“I'm... not sure. I've never seen or... or read anything like this,” Twilight quietly responded.
“Whatever it is, it looks awesome!” Dash declared as she zipped up near it. “It's like a little Rainboom! Just look at it, I bet-”
Suddenly, just as she reached out to touch it, she was sucked in. Everyone screamed.
“RAINBOW!” Applejack cried out, instinctively leaping in after her.
Fluttershy and Rarity immediately tried to grab the farmpony's legs, but were sucked in with her just as easily, screaming on the way in. Spike dropped the scroll and quill and ran in after Rarity, shouting her name.
“Ooo, ooo! Me next, me next!” Pinkie shouted and tossed the device to Twilight. “Come on, this looks fun!”
Twilight looked like she was on the edge of a nervous breakdown. She didn't recover in time to stop Pinkie. With the logical side of her mind screaming bloody murder at her, she leaped in after her friends, and proceeded to feel the world collapse inside out around her.
*****
After what felt like riding a flying chariot from one of her worst nightmares, Twilight was spat out onto the ground, her fall only broken by her dizzy pink friend, who promptly wiggled out from under her and started bouncing around in circles, demanding to 'go again'.
With a groan, Twilight sat up and glanced around to assess the situation. She was simultaneously relieved and puzzled to find they were right back in the clearing again. As she nursed a headache, Rarity helped her up, groaning and giving Pinkie a death glare. “Pinkamena Dianne Pie, if you EVER do that again, I swear I'll-”
“OW! AJ, let me up! I'm fine, eesh!” Rainbow Dash blurted out as she struggled away from a certain cowpony, who was busy fussing over her pegasus friend with unusual panic.
Said cowpony eventually let her pegasus friend up. “S-sorry sugarcube,” she stammered as she trotted over to retrieve her fallen hat. Twilight could've sworn she saw a slight blush on her cheeks as she trotted past, but she chose not to mention it. Instead, the unicorn turned to her most timid friend, who was currently curled into a tight, terrified ball on the ground several feet away from her.
“Fluttershy, are you alright?” she asked quietly, after cautiously approaching her. When she was answered with nothing more than a faint squeak, Twilight moved closer and gently nuzzled her friend. At least she knew she was conscious.
It took a while to collect everyone and try to assess the situation fully. Dash and Applejack restrained Rarity from mauling Pinkie, while Twilight retrieved the strange device from the pink pony and scolded her for playing around with potentially dangerous magical artifacts. Her little speech involved a number of words that only confused the party pony, but she had the decency to seem somewhat chastened by the end of it nonetheless.
“I'm sorry Twi, I didn't mean it! It was just so shiny and flashy and I mean come ON! Those buttons were just ASKING to be pressed! How could I resist?!” she exclaimed, only to be given a glare from the unicorn. “Uh... b-but I guess I could, you know, check with you first next time.” With that, she wore a sheepish grin and kicked at a rock lightly by her hoof.
Satisfied that she would remain out of trouble for the moment, Twilight carried the device in her telekinetic grasp as she returned to the quivering yellow pegasus that was now being prodded lightly by her draconic assistant. After shooing him away with instructions to help the others calm Rarity down, she knelt down by Fluttershy once more and pulled her into a gentle hug. “Come on Fluttershy, it's okay now. Let's just get you home, alright?”
Slowly, with the thought of her peaceful, quiet home in mind, the frightened pony started to sit up, still quivering in Twilight's grasp. After looking around for frightening monsters, she took a deep breath and nodded slowly. “I-I would like that.”
The sun dropped beyond the horizon all too soon, and Twilight's friends were forced to huddle close for safety. Her horn was lit up as she led the way, with Fluttershy huddling close beside her. The poor nerve-wracked pegasus darted her eyes back and forth at every shadow and sound. The others walked behind them- Applejack and Rainbow Dash in the middle, with Rarity on one side, her horn lit up like Twilight's, and Spike begrudgingly on the other, holding makeshift torch flickering with his odd green dragonfire. Pinkie bounced around the others, alternating between whistling and humming a certain song to keep her friends' fears at bay, occasionally pausing to comically mimic one of the various creatures making sounds in the woods. While it didn't work for Fluttershy, and Rarity was still a bit agitated, the others all smiled at her antics.
By the time they finally reached the edge of town, all of their bellies were rumbling. Twilight apologized for their trip having taken so much longer than expected, and promised to make it up to them. With that, they all went their separate ways- mostly, anyway. Fluttershy was still trembling slightly from their ordeal, so Pinkie, the only one that still had any significant reserves on energy left, agreed to walk her home.
For her own part, Twilight hurried to get home to the library, with a soundly sleeping dragonling on her back. He'd long since extinguished his torch after climbing onto her back, to avoid accidentally burning her. They didn't need it anyway- once they were out in the open, away from the canopy of the forest, the moon was more than bright enough to illuminate their path.
“That's strange,” the unicorn quietly commented to herself as she looked up at the sky curiously. “I could have sworn the moon was supposed to be a waning crescent tonight. The full moon shouldn't be for a few weeks.”
In fact, the sky in general seemed a bit off somehow. Certain stars weren't in the right places. Eventually she shrugged it off as confusion due to fatigue. She'd check her star charts later, after she'd gotten some rest. Her attention shifted to the strange object floating in her telekinetic grasp. “I wonder what this thing is. Other than giving us all one heck of a scare, it didn't actually -do- anything, from what I can tell.”
She tried using some various identification and diagnostic spells she had memorized to try and learn more about the object, but all she could tell was that it was decidedly foreign. Whatever kind of magic it used was totally alien to her. She did not have much time to mull this over, however, as she soon reached her destination. But a new problem presented itself when she went to open the door, and promptly rammed right into it.
The unexpected collision caused her to drop the object. Spike grunted and lifted his head sleepily as she rubbed her muzzle. “What happened?”
Twilight glared at the door in confusion. “I... the door won't open!” She tried her magic again, to no avail. She tried several unlocking spells, but none of them worked. “What's going on here?”
After struggling with the door for a few minutes, she slumped over with a frustrated huff, letting Spike slide off to the side. The dragon got an idea and tapped on one of the windows. “Hey Owlowiscious! You in there buddy?!”
“Shhh! Careful Spike! We don't want to wake up the neighbors!”
“Well what do we do? I don't want to spend the night out here,” he complained, then shivered a bit. “It's getting kind of chilly out here.”
Twilight pulled Spike into a hug and shivered a bit herself while she thought for a minute. She'd been ignoring it until then, but she had to admit the nip in the air was getting a bit uncomfortable. “Hmm. Let's try the balcony door. I'll levitate you up there, then you see if you can get inside and let me in. Alright?”
Spike nodded as he rubbed his arms. “I'll try anything if it means getting in my nice, warm bed.”
“Just don't forget to come open the door for me first.”
“O-of course! You know I wouldn't abandon you, Twilight.”
Twilight smiled and rubbed his head gently. “That's my little number one assistant. Now let's go.”
A familiar purple glow surrounded the little dragon as he was gently floated up over the railing of the balcony by her bedroom. Once he was safely over the rail, she released him. Moments later, she heard the sound of a door opening and shutting upstairs, and let out a sigh of relief.
*****
Rarity was silently trudging along towards her Boutique, eyes nearly shut and head hung slightly low. She was exhausted, mentally and physically. At this point, she was essentially walking on auto-pilot, her hooves navigating the familiar streets of town without asking her brain for directions. Had she been paying closer attention, she might have noticed a lot of strange changes to her town.
For example, the spa was now on the wrong side of the street. In place of Sugarcube Corner, there was an herbal remedies shop. An unfamiliar party supply store was present where there was once a florist's. And, most importantly, the streets were decked out with all kinds of moon-themed decorations. The market square itself had a large banner hanging over it, with glowing silver letters spelling out 'Autumn Harvest Moon Festival'.
By the time she reached her precious home, Rarity didn't even bother to look up at it when she pressed against the door. That was when she realized something wasn't right. The lock wasn't responding to her magic. She scowled and shook the door with it irritably. “Oh what now?!” she snapped at the world in general. She was tired, dirty, and not in the mood for uncooperative inanimate objects. She rattled it a bit more, then finally gave a loud, exasperated groan as she collapsed with her back against the door.
Now more awakened through her frustration, she noticed the variations in her surroundings. Her brows furrowed in confusion as she examined the decorations lining the streets. “How odd. I don't recall anyone mentioning a festival.” Suddenly, another thought occurred to her and her foul mood worsened. “But I always do the decorations! Whyyyyy wouldn't they let me help out??”
She got up and trotted over to inspect a bow tied around one of the nearby lamp-posts. She lifted one with her hoof as she inspected it with a frown. It was orange, with a silver lining. “Ugh! Would you look at this?! How drab, the silver doesn't even shine!” She glanced around again and gasped. “And that one isn't even tied properly! Who on earth could be responsible for this travesty?!”
She trotted around with renewed vigor, tsk-tsking at how dull the decorations all seemed. Then another voice snapped at her from behind. “Won't you just cram a f#$*ing sock in already? SOME ponies are trying to sleep, you know!”
Rarity's eyes went as wide as saucers, and something inside her snapped. She spun around, practically steaming from her ears. Had she Twilight's magical power, she would have erupted into flames as her bookish friend was wont to do at a time like this; but alas, auditory steam was all she could muster. “HOW DARE YOU USE SUCH LANGUAGE IN THE PRESENCE OF A LADY, YOU-”
But as soon as she spun around, her rage dropped cold. Looking back in the direction of the voice, her eyes took in the front of her precious boutique in full for the first time that night. It was covered in shades of black and grey, and spots of crimson. Skulls, chains, spikes, and other similarly disturbing decorations covered it from top to bottom. And there, standing in the now-open door, was a unicorn that simultaneously looked both familiar and horribly different. Had she not been so caught up in her mood, she would have noticed the familiarity of the voice she'd heard, albeit with a different accent.
Standing before her was a white unicorn with dark blue eyes and three teardrop-shaped rubies for a cutiemark. Her hair was long, and dark purple like her own, but limp and hanging over one of her eyes. Her ears were riddled with piercings, and they were joined by a silver ring in her nose, and several studs above her eyes. Mascara was thickly applied under her eyes.
She seemed about to retort, when the stranger suddenly furrowed her own studded eyebrows at getting a better look at her doppelganger. Rarity's own voice caught in her throat as her face contorted in horrified shock. Before either pony could say another word, the less gothic-looking of the two rolled her eyes back in her head and fainted.
*****
Rainbow Dash groaned as she approached her own home, finding it to look disheveled and lopsided, lacking its usual rainbow-filled glory. The rainbowfalls were still there, but seemed unkempt and gurgled pathetically into a mixed, splotchy pool near the door. The rest of the house looked dilapidated and unruly.
“Must have been a rogue storm today. Am I the only weather pony in this town that can do the job right? Ugh,” she grumbled to herself. She kicked the door open moodily and sighed as she trudged into the dark living room. It was littered with trash, but she was too tired to care. Ultimately, she decided to crash on the sofa, rather than climb up to her bedroom, dreading the cleanup she'd have to do the next day. She was sound asleep within minutes.
Unfortunately, her rest would end just as quickly. A light came on and someone walked over by the couch and prodded her lightly. “Hey, sister, mi casa is... uh, your casa, but don't steal my smokeage, okay...?” She groaned and shifted a bit, before suddenly bolting up upon realizing she wasn't alone in her own house. Her eyes instantly fell on a curious-looking, but not-unfriendly reflection of herself. Or, at least, it sort of looked like a reflection.
It was a sky-blue pony with a rainbow mane alright. But the colors in her mane and tail were splotchy and looked like a tie-dye job, rather than the streaks in her own. The mane was also longer, and even shaggier, with a few braids in it, some partially beaded. On her muzzle rested a pair of circular, purple-tinted glasses. A strange, funky-smelling odor lingered around her.
As soon as the other colorfully-maned pegasus got a better look at her intruder, her eyes- which, frankly, were a bit red and glazed-over- widened in surprise. “Woah... far-out!”
It was no match for Rainbow's expression though. Right that moment, her jaw was threatening to put a hole through the cloud-floor.
*****
Applejack trudged steadily towards her home with her eyes focused on the ground, lost in thought. The whole ordeal had her even more shaken than she felt she should have been. For whatever reason, she'd never in her life felt as terrified as she did when, for a short moment, she saw Rainbow Dash vanish into that torrent of spinning lights the mystery device opened up. She cared for all her friends, and wanted to believe she'd have felt just as bad about any of them possibly being taken from her. But the truth was, she was probably closer to that cocky pegasus than anyone else. So close, in fact, that she was starting to feel a bit strange.
For the first time she could remember, she'd wished so badly that she could go home with Dash, rather than home to her farm and family, to protect her. It made her feel guilty to think about it, but she had nearly even asked Twilight to cast the cloud-walking spell on her so she could join Dash that night. Of course, ultimately she kept quiet, partly because she didn't want to know how the others, Dash in particular, might react to the strange request. It was probably for the better anyway, she decided. Her family would worry about her if they woke up and didn't see her at home in the morning.
About halfway into the orchard, she lifted her head and noticed something was amiss. She panicked when she noticed the trees around her weren't actually trees at all, but lattices covered in vines. Upon closer inspection, she realized the vines had a few small fruits left on them- grapes, to be exact. Her eyes went round as saucers as she started to panic. “What the hay?!”
In a mad rush of confusion, she started barreling down towards where the farmhouse should be, looking back and forth at the vineyard around her in disbelief. “Where's all th' apples?! Big Mac, Apple Bloom, Granny! Get out here! Somethin' crazy happened to th' farm!”
When she finally saw the house, she stopped dead in her tracks, jaw dropped further. Instead of a humble, welcoming farmhouse, she was greeted by the largest, stateliest looking mansion she'd ever seen outside of Canterlot. Twin fountains shimmered under the moon's light on either side of the long, ornate stone walkway lined with carefully-trimmed bushes on the edge of a magnificent garden. The path led up between some fancy columns to a large, ornate-looking double-doorway into the triple-story building.
Said door opened and an unhappy-looking orange mare stepped out, wearing a frilly night-gown, accompanied with a silly looking night-cap. Her blonde mane hung loosely from under the night-cap. “What nerve! So much noize! Leave zeese premises at once, before I summon ze-!” she started to declare in a thick, french-sounding accent. At that moment, however, she hesitated.
Slowly and cautiously, she approached Applejack, with a shocked look that was only a few degrees less than than the cowpony's. “My word! Qui êtes-vous? You look like you could be my cousin!”
Applejack was now wishing harder than ever that she'd gone with Dash after all. She felt so lost right then, and she wondered if she'd somehow fallen asleep and was having a terrible nightmare. Her whole world was turned upside down and it made her dizzy. She tried to scowl at her double, but her now-tearing-up eyes betrayed her torn-up emotions. “...wha.... what's goin' on? Th... this isn't funny, whoever y'are! Stop it! Make it all go back to normal!”
At first, the other pony seemed incensed, but her expression quickly softened into one of concern. “Oh, please calm yourself, mon chéri! Whatever are you going on about?”
“Ah... this ain't right! Where's mah home? Mah farm? Mah family?!” Applejack snapped. “Big Macintosh, Apple Bloom, Granny Smith- what'd y'all do with 'em?!”
The other pony took a few steps back, become a bit frightened at the outburst. “You must be mistaken! Please, do calm down!”
Applejack was shaking. She never felt so weak before. Her nerves were frayed enough already, and her body ached for sleep. Adding this confusion on top of all that made it simply unbearable. “Ah... but... this... you....”
Not-Applejack sighed and tsk-tsked, then trotted up beside her, placing a gentle hoof on her shoulder. “Come inside, chéri. It's cold, I can see you are tired and lost,” In more ways than one, I'll wager, she mentally added. “And I'm sure I can help you sort things out in the morning.”
After trembling in her spot for a few more moments, Applejack hung her head and shakily followed the other mare inside, hoping she'd wake from this dream soon.
*****
Pinkie and Fluttershy were busy with their own confusion. The path to her home was now lined with cherry blossom trees that had paper lanterns hanging from their branches down along the walkway. When they finally reached her home itself, she was startled to see it had gained a decidedly oriental theme, with a small rock garden out front, to one side of the door. On the other there was a small, beautiful tea house lined with flowered vines of some sort. It was all very nice, but definitely not her own doing.
Whereas Fluttershy was concerned and nervous about the change, Pinkie was predictably excited. “Oh my gosh Fluttershy! It's so pretty! Why didn't you tell us you decided to redecorate?! We could have celebrated! It's the perfect reason for a party!”
“Um, I didn't-”
“In fact, it's the perfect place to party, too!” the excited pony rambled as she bounced in circles around the pegasus. “We could all have tea and cake in the new teahouse and you could show off all the pretty decorations I'm sure Rarity would love them wait did she help you she might be mad if you did all this without asking her for help but I'm sure she'd still love them!”
“Um, Pinkie-”
“The flowers are so pretty too, I didn't know you had such a green hoof I mean I know you're good with animals but plants too? That's really cool especially since they're so healthy even though its so late in the year I bet those pretty little hummy birds love it hey speaking of animals where are all your little critters aww I hope we didn't scare them off!”
“Pinkie, please-”
At that moment, they were both silenced as the door suddenly creaked open and a pair of eyes poked out from the shadows within. “Um... hello? Can you quiet down please? I'm, um, trying to sleep,” a quiet, all-too-familiar voice requested from within.
Even Pinkie was shocked into silence for a minute as the door cracked a little more. But before the stranger could step into full view, the pink earth pony practically bowled her over in an excited tackle, eliciting a shrill half-squeak, half-scream from the victim.
“OH MY GOSH! Fluttershy how are you in two places at once that's so cool I thought only I could do that wait you weren't suppose to know that but I guess it doesn't matter if you can too OH NO WHERE ARE YOUR WINGS?!”
Pushing back her confusion and fears, Fluttershy trotted over and gently tugged Pinkie off the poor pony via her tail. Pinkie smiled sheepishly and stepped back so that the Fluttershy-lookalike could stand up. Flutterhy's eyes widened at the uncanny resemblance. The stranger had the same coat and mane color as herself, although her mane was tied back. There were several notable differences- the lack of wings being the most striking. She was also wearing a pair of black-framed glasses, which she was straightening after having them knocked askew by Pinkie. And on her flank, a trio of cherry blossoms replaced the expected butterflies she was so used to.
But aside from that, the similarity was undeniable. And it was clear that she was now realizing this for herself. “Whaaa??!” she gasped, then removed her glasses to rub her eyes, only to replace them again a moment later. “...w-what's going on?”
“I-I don't know, who are you?”
“Duh, she's you! Or... is she you?” Pinkie looked back and forth between the two ponies at a speed that threatened to unscrew her head from her neck, or at least give her some kind of whiplash. “This is weiiiiiird. We should go see Twilight! Maybe it has something to do with that weird magicky thingy?”
Fluttershy let a slight whimper escape her. Her double furrowed her brow in confusion. “Who is Twilight?”
Pinkie let out a characteristic overzealous gasp. “Alright that's it! Us three, library time, now!” She immediately started trying to push the two back down the path, but the doppleganger slipped away.
“But, um, the library has been closed for over a year now...”
This got another shocked and confused reaction from the two slider ponies. After they both settled down- mainly Pinkie, since Fluttershy only slumped over and starting clutching her head whereas the pink pony went on a bouncing, rambling spree about how wrong the other pony was- the stranger took pity on Fluttershy and invited them into her home. Once they were inside, she started some tea and they began trying to figure out their situation. Well, Fluttershy and her alternate self did anyway. Pinkie was immediately engrossed in a number of what appeared to be lengthy comic books laying on a nearby coffee table.
“These comics are all weird and don't make any sense!”
“Oh, those are Manega! You're reading in the wrong direction. You have to go left to right,” the pony whose name they'd learned was Whisper Blossom informed her. Then, after getting a better look at which one Pinkie was holding, she smirked and stifled a giggle. “Although even then, I doubt that one will make much more sense. It's kind of infamous for being random and weird.”
“Oooo, neato!” Pinkie exclaimed as she began trying to read it from the other end.
*****
Meanwhile, in the sky above Ponyville, a white pegasus awoke with a start in her cloud-home as she was hit with the biggest combination of involuntary bodily twitches and convulsions she had ever experienced. Five minutes later they finally ceased and she stood panting by her bed to catch her breath. “Woah... that was a DOOZEY! What in Equestria could it mean?”
She trotted over to a mirror and gave a half-hearted attempt at brushing her yellow mane, only for it to snap back into its poofy, chaotic default state of being. “One things' for sure... Ponyville's in for one heck of a surprise! I just hope it's the good kind!”