> Creatures of Habit > by SUBJECTXVI > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Meeting Of The Minds (Redux) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Late Night, Twilight Sparkle's Castle/Treehouse Hybrid Night settled deeply all across Equestria, and its denizens who couldafford it were all sound asleep. Including but not limited tone Twilight Sparkle... That is until a certain familiar musk intruded upon her nose and subsequently her sleep. Sitting up in her bed she quickly and quietly rushed out of her shared room and down the stair into the Library that made up the majority of her home. "Okay what the hell was that for! I told you not to give me dream like that Namí! Do you want to wake up Spike! You know how sensative his nose is!" Twilight said in a harsh whisper closing her eyes and rubbing her forehead in preparation for a no doubt, "Interesting" conversation. "Sorry Twi! I forgot he was here tonight!" came the giggled reply. "You wouldn't have forgotten had you not already been fantasizing about your crush Namí! Accused another voice. "Hehe it's true! I am sooo sorry Twi!" Namí whined/apologized "It's fine Namíne just try to suppress those thoughts across our link." Twilight said with a deep sigh. "Was she doing it again Lillian?" "Do you even need to ask? This is Namí we are talking about right? *sigh* Though why she insists imagining on some of the things she does with Fluttershy is beyound me. *shrug* Poor Flutteshy would probably die of embarrassment before anything could really get started." sighed the now identified Lily. "Though in retrospect she is probably dom. especially with her normal quiet nature. That whole stare thing could be part of the inner nature that she never lets out... Kind of like us and her. "Ugh! I don't even care anymore! I'm going to bed before Spike wakes up and gets curious and checks on me. It would be bad if he came down here and heard me talking to myself... Good night you two!" Twilight yawned and opened her eyes revealing that she was the only one in the room. Choosing to ignoring the replies from the two voices Twilight turned around and started for her stairs. Yesterday was a long day and something told her that today would be even longer. But before she could even touch the first step, she turned around again and instead headed for her desk. 'There's something I want to check anyway, at least I can put being up in the middle of the night to good use.' Twilight thought sourly. Inside Twilights' Mind Namíne flinched as Twilight "slammed" shut Lillian's and her connection from the main body preventing any of their thoughts from reaching her. Leaving the two ponies alone together. One was an emerald colored pegasus with a silver mane with a pink stripe down the middle and on her flank was picture of three intertwined crowned hearts. "You think she'll be mad at me tomorrow Lily?" she asked wilting. "I don't know maybe... But I doubt it. She's never been able to stay mad at you. So yeah I really doubt she will." replied the other, a dark gray earthpony with a crimson mane and the picture of a silver shield on her flank. "I hope you are right... Dear Celestia I'm such a screw aren't I?" Namíne whispered wilting even more. "Hey! Hey! You aren't a screw up. You just made a little mistake that's all" Lilian said placatingly, gently putting a hoof on the other pony's shoulder. Namíne just wilted further eyes brimming with unshed tears. Unable to think of anything else that would bring up the other mares mood Lily wrapped Namíne in a hug whispering sweet nothings that would hopefully make the mare feel better. Not a second later Namíne burst into tears. 'She's always been such a fragile soul... No wonder Twilight fell in love with her... Not she'll ever admit it.But then again she's always been more worried about keeping us safe than her own feelings' Lilian thought with a smile, and felt Namíne shutter and stop crying, the slowness of her breathing let the other pony know that she had fallen asleep. 'Well in retrospect she probably loves us both but I think its more of motherly love towards me... or I could be wrong on both if our accounts and she loves me like that and Namíne as a mother. Or both of us like that or like a mother... Now that I think about it I can't read Twilight's thoughts well enough to make that sort of assumption so I'm babling for nothing... Meh... Not like I have anything better to do with Namíne falling asleep... not that I blame her of course! she must be exhausted the poor dear! Okay now I'm really rambling and it more like I'm talking to some unseen audience! But that would be ridiculous! Wouldn't it? Meh! We could probably ask Pinkie... But there's no guarantee that we'd get a straight answer from her... She's always seems to know more about what's going on then what she says...' She thought gently putting Namíne onto the ground which shifted and sprouted into a bed. "Buck it! I'm going to sleep!" Lily said cutting off her own incessant rambelings and laid down next to the sleeping form of Namíne. "Sweet dreams for my sweet..." Lily whispered softly before drifting off into the arms of morphius. In Reality "Oh what to do what to do!" Twilight said having another one of her oh so infamous PANIC! attacks. The reason? None what so ever... Well as far as we can tell. Anyway. "What am I going to do if the others find out! (OH! So that's the reason!) I don't think I can keep hiding this from everypony!" Twilight whispered eyes darting around as the panic of her situation took firmer hold. It had been easy hiding her "Condition" from everypony before because there really wasn't anypony who was close to her. Sure there was the Princess and Cadance and to a lesser extent Shinning Armor. But the Princess was too tired and busy to notice the small quirks that would shine through caused by her alternate personalities. Or she simply saw them as being part of her as a whole and not the effect of a different personality. And both Cadance and Shinning shared the same problem and that was the neither were paying enough attention to notice, because both were focusing on their special somepony... Not that they knew that she knew that something was going on with them. "Things were soooo much easier before when it was just the three of us... but now that I/we have friends it'll kill us to let them go! oh what to do!?" "Twilight?" Spike said yawning walking into the room sleep making everything sound like he was hearing it from behind a wall made out of ten inch thick glass. "You okay? You look like you forgot an important assignment again." "I'm fine! Go back to bed" she said light heartedly but saw the look of unbelief on Spike's face. "I'm fine! Really!" she said barely hiding her panic behind the surprise of her assistant/adopted son. "I was actually thinking of altering my teleportation spell so that it wouldn't take such a big drain and maybe even make it even faster!" she said getting excited about the idea and started collecting large amount of papers and research materials. Losing herself into the spur of the moment idea forgetting temporarily forgetting her personality troubles in favor for the excuse she made up. Spike just sighed and went back to bed. If there was one thing that he'd learned about his mother it was that once she got into a groove practically nothing could drag her out of it... though that hadn't stopped her from being practically omnipotent when he had been a baby, baby dragon. 3 Hours Later Everything was dark inside the Treehouse/Library/Sparkle Residence. Everypony in it having fallen to sleep. Spike the dragon in his bed. And Twilight Sparkle with her head in a book having been unable to resist the call of sleep. Everything was quiet and still. Leaving no one to notice the Shadow that flickered passed Twilight leaving no trace of whatever it was. No trace other then a Sheet of paper with the Words: WE KNOW. Written under a black hoof print. > Pinkimania and a Little Phychosis (Redux) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Ugh... Anypony get the number of the carriage that ran me over?" Twilight asked her mane looking like the combination of a beehive and a giant rats nest. "Spike? You there?" Twilight asked still more then slightly asleep. Never let it be said that Twilight Sparkle was a morning person. Despite the fact that she had served under the Sun Princess as a student, Twilight was more along the lines of being a Night Owl. Something that irritated Celestia greatly. "Mhmm... Twilight? That you?" Spike asked staggering onto the stairs carrying a teddy bear in pajamas with a sleeping cap while his own sleeping cap still firmly attached to his head. "Spike? What are you doing up there! I thought you were in the kitchen!" Twilight said a little more awake now. "TWILIGHT! WAKE UP YOU DUNCE! IF SPIKE IS JUST WAKING UP THAT MEANS THAT SOMEONE IS IN OUR HOUSE!" Lillian shouted across their link(which had reopened sometime during the night/early morning hours) tired of the "Drivers" lack of attention. "Honestly! You are worse then Princess Celestia about waking up!" Lillian sighed rubbing the sides of her head "Wha!" Twilight shouted waking fully with a start, with a sideways dash she made her way hap-hazardly towards the kitchen. Staggering inside Twilight was greeted by the sight of a pink whirlwind spinning around her kitchen somehow throwing together all the ingrediants required to make Whole Wheat Pancakes as well as make the Pancakes themselves. "WhatTheHell!" Twilight and her respective consciousnesses all finished together. "WHAT! WHAT IS IT!" Spike shouted pushing his way into the doorway. "Yeah what is it!" Pinkie Pie shouted appearing out of nowhere on the other side of Twilight making all three rather cramped. "PINKIE! HOW WHAT WHERE!" Twilight shouted pointing back and forth between the pink tornado and Pinkie Pie herself. "Do you like it! IT'S MY SUPER SURPRISE BREAKFAST TORNADO OF BREAKFASTNESS!" Pinkie exploding into the air in front of Twilight and Spike. Streamers and Confetti exploding all around them. Somehow covering everything yet missing all the food and the tornado that was somehow making it. "HOW THE-! WHO THE-! WHAT THE-!" Twilight and her alternate personalities shouted all together (Although to anypony else it just sounded like Twilight kept cutting herself off because each took over their shared mouth to try and get out their own exclaimation of surprise.) "You know what? It's way too early for this! Ignoring problem until later date!" Twilight said doing the royal Canterlot Breathing exercise. "Now Pinkie Pie would you kindly explain what your doing in my house?!" Twilight demanded with an irritated sigh. "Making you breakfast you silly filly!" Pinkie stated like it was the most natural thing in the world to do. Though knowing her it probably was and it just had taken sometime for the pink mare of madness to get around to her. 'Honestly if I hadn't already run the blood tests I would be sure that Pinkie was somehow related to Discord!' Twilight thought irritated. Turning her attention back to Pinkie Pie who she'd immediately started ignoring when she went into one of her oh so infamous "Pinkie Rants". "PINKIE!!!" Twilight shouted gaining the Pink whirlwind of happiness' attention. "Is there a point on you explaining to me the size and dimensions as well as the elasticity of pancake batter and pancakes in general?" Twilight asked rubbing her forehead feeling a migraine starting to form. "NOT REALLY!!!" Pinkie shouted shooting Twilight a 50 Megawatte Smile, almost blinding her. Twilight just sighed and sat down at her table next to Spike after getting a PPP (Pinkie Pie Promise) from Pinkie that she would not burn down her kitchen (and subsequently the Library). "OH TWILIGHT! I JUST THOUGHT THAT YOU'D LIKE TO KNOW THAT YOU HAVE A PIECE OF PAPER STUCK TO YOUR CHEEK!" Pinkie shouted from the kitchen. "THANKS PINKIE!" Twilight shouted back in reply before using her magic to remove the paper. Giving it a quick look over Twilight had to take a double take and stared at the paper in shock, as pure absolute dread seized her heart. Quickly excusing herself from the table, Twilight shot herself up and out of the dining room towards the second floor using her rarely used wings to go even faster. "Well when you gotta go, you gotta go!" sighed Spike before perking up as Pinkie waltzed (Quite literally) into the room while carrying a huge stack of pancakes while a song that suspiciously sounded like it belonged more to Swing Dancing then Waltz but then again Spike didn't really care. Inside Twilight's Mind "OH NO! OH NO! OH NO!" Twilight shouted (after casting a quick silencing spell that is) panic mode in full effect. "TWILIGHT! TWILIGHT! CALM DOWN!" Namíne shouted trying to get the main to respond but was ignored as well as Lillian who was trying to nudge her way into control but all her efforts were batted aside. "Namíne! She's lost it! We need to force control!" Lillian shouted becoming scared for Twilight's Mental integrity. "YOU GOT IT!" Namíne shouted and joined Lillian's efforts to pull Twilight out of the drivers' seat. Both quickly worked to disable the multiple firewalls and other various, tediously constructed safety measures that insured that one or the other could not take over unless it was an absolute emergency. Both worked quickly side by side and dismantled all of the trapping with a speed belaying years of practice. And then there was none. "WE GOT IT!" cheered both Lillian and Namíne. Feeling a slight pull both ponies collided together and forming a "Harvey two face" with one side being Lillian and the other being Namíne. "Ugh! I hate it when this happens! Lillian this is your fault!" Namíne complained "Ugh! I don't like it anymore then you do Namí. But it has to be done!" Lillian sighed rubbing her side of their head. I hope Twilight snaps out of it soon. Hopefully Pinkie won't be able to tell something is wrong..." "Yeah that pony is scary..." commented Namíne "OKAY LET'S GET STARTED!!! BACK TO REALITY! "Twilight" sighed and shook her head before heading down stairs and started eating with Pinkie and Spike. Amazingly enough Pinkie's "Pinkie Sense" hadn't gone immediately off. Which in itself was amazing considering the supernatural speed at which it fed information to the unpredictable mare. Inwardy "Twilight" sighed in relief at not being instantly discovered by the Pink mare's unusual abilities. As if to insult "Twilight's" good fortune fate decided to trigger Pinkie's PS (Pinkie Sense) at that very moment. "Crinky elbow? Ichy heel!" Pinkie Pie shouted in surprise. in response "Twilight" Popped up a cover shield while Spike dove under the table. "Is it safe?" Spike asked shivering slightly. Ever since he was the unfortunate recipient of Griffen "bombing" when he didn't heed the power of the pinkie sense he'd been scared for life and had practically become a religious follower of Pinkie's "powers". "Of course it is you silly goose!" Pinkie exclaimed causing a sigh of relief to come out of Spike and Twilight to release her spell. "Well then what do those twitches mean?" Twilight asked curiously. "Oh those? They meant that somepony I know isn't the somepony that I known!" Pinkie exclaimed happily before giving both Twilight and Spike a suspicious look causing Spike to scoff, while secretly wondering how Pinkie managed to split her head like that since he and Twilight were on opposite sides of the table. "Pinkie! It isn't us!" Spike sighed rolling his eyes. "OKAY!" Pinkie shouted before standing on her hind legs and throwing something on the ground causing a small ploom of smoke to completely cover her. when it dissipated Pinkie was gone. "Twilight? Pinkie is weird..." Spike stated nodding his head. "You've barely figured that out?" asked Twilight raising an eyebrow Spike just shrugged before both kept eating, ignoring the fact that when Pinkie disappeared she'd some how manage to take with her, her pancakes with her, and some cleaned her dishes. > A Picture's Worth A Thouand Words > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "You have got to be kidding me." 'Twilight' said jaw unhinging in its effort to escape from the horrendous stupidity of a disaster that piled high into the sky in front of the library's front door. "You have got to be bucking kidding me!" she shouted rubbing her eyes in an effort to erase the sight that lay before her. Towering high above her was a massive pile of books. A small mountains worth in fact. Twilight sat there for a few more moments in stunned silence before her brain caught back up and decided it was time to take action. "SPIKE!!! COME OUT HERE PLEASE!!!" she shouted to her assistant/adopted foal. "Coming Twilight!" he replied back thanking Celestia that he finally got a break from washing the huge pile of dishes that had unexplainably appeared after he'd finished baking a jewel cake for himself. "Dear Celestia! What's with all the books Twilight!?" Spike asked suddenly wishing he could go back to washing those dishes. "It appears that the Opportunistic Book Enterprisers of Yokeshire thought it was a good idea to donate to us a third of their total library" Twilight replied scanning the massive manifest that had been stacked neatly on her doorstep. "Spike can you go get Pinkie Pie and the rest of the girl? Oh and tell time turner that I'm going to need to turn in -." "That favor? I thought you might." TT said coming around the corner. "Though it is mostly my fault." "Meaning?" Twilight asked eyebrow twitching while Spike wisely choose to inch his way out of the immediate "Death Zone" and towards Pinkie's house first. "I may have informed my friend of your love of book who then informed they're friends and so on and so forth until well... we have this." TT said gesturing with a forehoof to the massive pile of books. "Well I best get started! Unravelling time and space before reconstructing it within a live thing isn't exactly easy you know!" he said before trotting inside. "Well I might as well get started." Twilight sighed with trepidation. Time Skip 3hr. Later. "This is ridiculous!" 'Twilight' Shouted in frustration while glaring at the pile. The very same pile she'd just spent the last few hours working on in "Alicorn Time" yet somehow still had no dent in it. "I'm never going to get this done!" Twilight whined with frustration which was adding to her irritation that came with Spikes report of all her friends being busy. "Well you certainly won't with all three of us stuck in the same body you won't!" Someone said seemingly from right next to "Twilight" "WHAAA!!!" cried Twilight and then spun around expecting to see Pinkie Pie, but when nopony was there she realized that the voice came from within her own head, meaning only one thing... "TWILIGHT!!! YOU'RE BACK!!!" The Namíne half of the fusion Twilight shouted happily within their mind. "Good to have you back Twi." Lillian said softly allowing herself the guilty pleasure of using her nickname for Twilight. "Good to be back my sweet Lily!" Twilight replied with a slight giggle. "Now go find us somewhere out of sight so we can split! after all! Three sets of hoofs are better then one!" Without another word "Twilight" shot off inside and quickly shut the front door. "That should do it!" Lillian stated stopping in the middle of their brand new foyer. Turning their thoughts inward Lillian and Namíne appeared inside their mindscape once again separate conscousnesses. Once inside, Namíne took no time in swiffly tackling Twilight who stood waiting in the middle of the "room". "TWILIGHT!!!!" Namíne shouted crying into the Alicorn's mane. "Don't do that again! Please!" "I won't Namíne. I won't." Twilight replied holding on tightly to the sobbing Pegasus. "Feeling better?" She asked after a couple of minutes. "Mhm." Namíne replied foalishly nodding her head before letting go. "Okay let's do this then." Twilight said walking to the section of the room that was decorated with her Cutie Mark, while giving Lillian a quick affectionate nuzzle on her way past. "Ready girls?" "Ready" "GOOD TO GO!" "Alright then! Three..." "Two..." "ONE!!!" "PUSH!!!!" Outside the body. Today had not been going good for Rarity. First the CMC had crashed through her front window and wrecked one of the dresses on display. Next Opal decided to use her latest order as a scratching post, then Pinkie barged into her shop and all but foalnapped her into helping Twilight take the mountain of books into her newly refurbished Library. "Pinkie could have at least given me a warning before sending me off to help Twilight. I need to take that dress to Photo Finish before she changes her mind again! And now I needs to resewn the other one!" Rarity huffed while marching towards Golden Oaks carrying to with the camera that Photo requested (Read demanded) that she bring. Having arrived with little to no hastle Rarity looked around for Twilight. Not seeing her Rarity deduced that the Princess had gone off to recruit their other friends. 'I'm sure she won't mind if I let myself in to wait instead of standing in this hot sun until she and the others arrive.' She thought reasoning with herself. And without further a do let herself in only to see Twilight standing there. "Oh darling! I had no idea that you'd be in here! I'd half expected-..." Rarity started apologetically but then stopped in terror as she saw Twilight's body begin to bulge and twist in horrifying ways. familiar piece of pony anatomy beginning to show through, such as a hoof here or the tip of a wing there. Backing up in silent horror Rarity took the camera that'd been secured to her back and used it to take a quick picture before backing out of the library and shutting the door. deciding to watch from a window instead of standing in the immediate "Danger Zone". As she watched Rarity saw the bulges on Twilight's body begin to change into two separate forms on either side and gradually two distinct pony figures could be seen pushing out of her skin. Finally after what seemed like hours two more ponies stood besides Twilight their tails still attached to her flesh before with a quick pull they came out leaving Twilight perfectly intact like nothing ever happened. One of the newly formed ponies was a Emerald Pegasus with a silver pink striped mane and tail, while the other was a dark-gray Earth Pony with a Crimson mane/tail. "Blegh!!! That is never pleasant!" shouted the Pegasus sticking out her tongue in disgust. "You said it Namíne!" Twilight grunted sitting down and rubbing her sides to lessen the pain. "But at least you don't have to know what it feels like to be drawn and quartered!" "Well it would be easier if we could somehow manage to make it that our release were to come and go instantaneously instead of these long drawn out transformations." the Earth Pony said sagely. "Yeah what Lilly said!" Namíne shouted pointing towards her counter part. Taking advantage of their preoccupation Rarity seized the opportunity to snap a picture of the trio before darting of to develop her new pictures. 'Princess Celestia is going to want to know about this!' Rarity decided with a grim expression on her face galloping towards her store as fast as the camera on her back safely allowed. Big thanks to Teraphim, TheMusicalBoy93, Wolfie 03, and gwg for all the help!