> An Alternate Universe Where Everything Is Moved Slightly to the Left
>  by _NAME_
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> A Beginning Like Many Before It
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

An Alternate Universe Where Everything Is Moved Slightly to the Left







This story begins as many, many others have. With an alicorn named Twilight Sparkle.

Over the course of her life, Twilight has had a great deal many things happen to her, many good, some bad. She has made some wonderful friends, saved the world a couple of times, read a lot of books, and has just recently come into possession of a giant crystal tree castle to call her very own, though she very much preferred the last place she lived.

It had taken some getting used to, her new castle. Though she had grown up navigating the halls of Canterlot Palace with only little difficulty, this castle seemed to actively resist her trying to learn its layout.

It had been almost a year now she had been living in this castle and it had taken at least eight months before she finally felt confident she understood its design and the locations of each room.

The ground floor was the easiest to learn, as there were only four major rooms to it. The great hall, the throne room, the kitchens, and a sort of sitting room, as well as a foyer and two sets of staircases, one in the front and one in the back.

It was the upper floors that were the trouble. There were thirty separate bedrooms of varying sizes, as well as their accompanying solars, a rather large library, guard barracks, three study rooms, several boudoirs and cabinets, twenty different bathrooms, servant quarters, nineteen balconies, a sunroom, four kitchenettes, countless closets, cupboards, and storage areas, an infirmary, a dovecote and aerie, more sitting rooms, seventeen fireplaces, and about another twenty-odd rooms that Twilight didn’t even know existed, let alone want to remember the names of. 

The Tree of Harmony obviously hadn’t gotten an update about modern architectural standards and practices for a long time. More than half of the rooms were practically useless in this day and age. Solars hadn’t been in style for hundreds of years, and who needed that many fireplaces anyways?

Twilight certainly did not. As far as she was concerned, most of the rooms in her castle would go unused. As it was, once she picked out her bedroom on the second floor, she closed off the other four floors above her and hadn’t gone up any further since.

Only two other bedrooms were ever in any use, Spike’s, and now Starlight Glimmer’s.

And so it was the three of them, all alone, in an otherwise completely empty castle that was much too big for them.

Much too frequently now, Twilight longed for the days when she didn’t get winded walking all the way down the hall to get to the bathroom from her bedroom. In fact, she had once estimated that living in this castle added an average of 3.7 miles to the distance she walked every day, just from the sheer largeness of every single room and hallway.

It was hard to complain though, when said castle literally sprung out of the ground in a completely unprecedented magical event. It seemed destiny and fate wanted her to live in such a place, so who was she to argue?

Though, as it is wont to do, bureaucracy has no bearing for such trivialities as destiny and fate. The castle did clash something fierce with the rest of the rustic stylings of Ponyville, and, after all the hubbub from the Tirek incident settled down, the zoning committee and local historic preservation society had come knocking on her door almost immediately to yell at her for not submitting the appropriate paperwork with town hall before erecting a multi-level, multi-use, shared residence-commercial building on the outskirts of town proper.

It had taken two weeks and one of the Crown’s personal lawyers to sort that mess out. It turns out there is no precedent set for large magical structures appearing out of thin air.

However, if any were to spring up at some point in the future, any court proceedings or legal battle that may happen could easily look to ‘Sparkle v. Ponyville’ for the precedent on how to rule.

She had made it her home, though. It may have taken some time, and a little help from her friends, but she finally felt comfortable in her new castle. She had rearranged all the furniture in every room at least two or three times by now, so that it meshed well with her own particular sensibilities, and had filled the large empty halls with the exact same decorations, objects, and trinkets that she had had for the past twenty years, as she did not like change very much.

The end result was a place that she could feel at home in. And she was happy.

That's why, with settling in firmly crossed off of her list, Twilight Sparkle set her sights on her next goal, something that had bugged her since the time she first discovered it. The very fact her castle existed, or any sort of magical properties it may possess held no interest for her, as it was quickly overshadowed by this one thing in particular.

The most mysterious part of her castle, of course, would be the Cutie Map, a sort of map-table hybrid that she still did not fully understand. How does it know when there is a friendship emergency halfway across the country, or even on the other side of the ocean? How did it decide who to send to try and fix it?

Twilight did not know, and Twilight did not like not knowing things (for reference, ask her parents, who were shocked when they discovered she understood both the details of how babies were made and the entire periodic table, all at age seven).

It was that reason she had been spending quite a lot of time studying the thing. She had been hoping to discover just what made it tick.

But to no avail.

It had been many months now since she began. She had studied it when it sent Applejack and Rarity to Manehatten, Rarity and Pinkie Pie to Canterlot, Applejack and Fluttershy to Las Pegasus, and Spike had kept tabs on it during the times it sent her away someplace.

And nothing of any interest had been turned up. Nothing that explained how or why it worked like it did. It never reacted to any spells—and she had tried a plethora—and it did not react to physical violence, such as the few times she had kicked it out of frustration.

Starlight Glimmer had helped, of course. She had been the one to almost destroy the entire world with it, so she was just as much an expert on it as Twilight herself was, that is to say, not very much at all.

And so, Twilight’s frustration with the Cutie Map grew with every failed experiment. She did not understand why it proved to be so elusive, but she kept a stiff upper lip and kept at it regardless.

Truth be told, strange map-tables that keep tabs on the entire world do not like being tampered with very much. Especially strange map-tables that are a part of a magical friendship castle that was birthed from a mystical and harmonious tree that seemed to have sway over reality itself.

And doubly so for this strange map-table. This one in particular had a short temper and didn’t care for Twilight’s incessant experiments on it.

There was another strange map-table lost somewhere deep in the deserts of Saddle Arabia that was feeling rather lonely and would’ve loved somepony such as Twilight to come along and interact with it.

This, of course, was unknown to Twilight Sparkle. Only one other pony knew of its existence, and he was currently trapped outside of both time and reality itself.

And so, she continued studying her Cutie Map with the same enthusiasm and aplomb she always approached intense research with. 

This, ultimately, was her mistake.

As such, as many others before it have, this story involves a terrible magical accident. This one was not completely Twilight’s fault, though she certainly shares the blame. She could not know the Cutie Map was as cross with her as it was.

And so, a chain of events began that, little did she know, would end with her in another dimension.

Presently, the Cutie Map flared to life, displaying Fluttershy’s and Pinkie Pie’s cutie marks above the town of Appleloosa. There was a friendship problem of some sort there. Maybe more racial tensions between the ponies and the buffalos.

Twilight perked up at this welcome change and moved closer to the table to inspect it more intently. As she had done many times before, she first cast a detection spell over the table, so that she could record the magical energy fields it was radiating for later study.

A clipboard and quill at the ready, she attached several measuring devices to the map-table, all of which immediately began spitting out data at a fast rate. One even began beeping rapidly, which was undoubtedly a good thing.

She allowed herself a small smile and continued monitoring the readouts, all sorts of thoughts and theories flying around her head.

And that was when everything went wrong, as these things tend to do.

For no discernable reason, there was an intense burst of magical energy from the Cutie Map that caused quite a few of Twilight’s machines to short-circuit and fry.

In an instant, a flash, and a bang, a swirling vortex she was intimately familiar with appeared above her. 

A portal to an alternative timeline.

Her eyes widened in surprise, the beginnings of a counterspell surging to the tip of her horn, ready to try and close it. She had prepared for this very thing, after her battle against Starlight Glimmer, just in case.

But, alas, she was not fast enough.

The vortex sucked her into its maw, whisking her away.

And Twilight Sparkle left this universe, bound for another, alternate one.

And when she rematerialized, she appeared in the same room, in the same castle, in the same town, in the same country, only slightly to the left of where she had just been.

She blinked.



~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
> A Whole New World (Of Pretty Much the Same Thing)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight Sparkle stood there, in the middle of a throne room that was both not hers, but also hers at the same time.

For a short moment, she was dazed, confused, momentarily stunned by the sudden and abrupt interdimensional travel she had just gone through.

She blinked again and took a slight step backwards, only to immediately bump into one of the machines she had set up.

Briefly, before the rest of her mind caught back up to her current situation, the only thought that went through her head was that she could’ve sworn that the machine was just a little further away from her than it apparently was.

And then everything fell back into place.

The Cutie Map.

The accident.

The portal.

She was now in an alternate universe, once again. 

Her eyes hurriedly glanced about the room, scanning for any potential threats. There was no telling what sort of dangers there could be here, in this new universe. An offensive spell crackled to life on her horn, primed and ready.

But, there was nothing. Nopony was in the room except her.

She allowed her spell to die off and relaxed some, dropping her immediate defenses. With a deep breath, she straightened up and took stock of her surroundings. Now that she was sure she wasn’t about to instantly get attacked, it gave her ample opportunity to think about her situation.

She was still in her castle, that was obvious. The bright purple crystal was as unmistakable as it was really, really gaudy. Her friend’s cutie marks were still etched into their thrones. A quick look at the Cutie Map showed that Fluttershy’s and Pinkie Pie’s cutie marks were still there, as they had been in her world.

So far, all the readily available evidence pointed towards the possibility that this universe wasn’t all that different from hers. At the very least, it seemed she and her friends had still defeated all of the catastrophic threats to Equestria, and history turned out more or less the same. The Tree of Harmony had obviously still created her castle.

This was not at all like the other universes she had visited. There, the differences were startlingly obvious, or, at any rate, it was obvious that there was some sort of change.

Here, though? Not so much.

So what was the difference then? Where had the timelines diverged?

Twilight would have to investigate, it seemed.

Perhaps everypony was a different species, similar to the world through the mirror? Or maybe everypony was the opposite gender? The possibilities were, almost quite literally, endless.

It would be rather nice to observe a universe where things, at least as they appeared so far, were not so drastically different from her own reality, or potentially life-threatening. Sure, large events such as Nightmare Moon defeating Celestia and ruling over all Equestria were horrible, but even seemingly smaller things, such as two ponies not meeting, could potentially prove to also have drastic results.

She relished this sort of thing.

She was loath to admit it, even to herself at times, but the past couple of years had really made her into a bit of a thrill-seeker. The rush of adventure was addicting, it turned out. Occasionally, if she could find any free time between all her other duties, she would disguise herself as an earth pony and go do something exciting like skydiving or rock climbing or scuba diving.

And, of course, being trapped in an alternate dimension with no back-up also really scratched that itch. Doubly so when there was something to be learned and research to do.

Nevertheless, all that considered, she wasn’t really in any danger of being trapped here. She could easily get back home anytime she wanted, so long as she still had access to the Cutie Map. The altered version of Starswirl’s time travel spell that Starlight Glimmer had created was simple enough to memorize, after all.

But for now, she was curious about this new world. And Twilight Sparkle did not like not knowing things.

“Hello?” Twilight called out, her voice echoing across the empty room.

There was no response.

She knew, of course, that she would have to be at least somewhat careful here. Things could easily go from good to bad with little warning. Any manner of creatures or bad guys could get the jump on her. 

There was even the possibility that she could run into this universe’s version of herself.

Now, while Twilight was a very smart mare and had a fairly solid grasp on theoretical time travel magics, and though she was fairly certain that meeting herself would not cause the destruction of the entirety of reality, she figured it would probably be for the best if she avoided such a situation for the time being.

That being said, however, there was the strong likelihood that her counterpart in this universe was currently in another universe as well, having experienced the exact same chain of events that she had. 

That would be good. Then she wouldn’t even have to worry about meeting herself. One less thing to worry about.

So, if that was to be believed, then all she had to do was sneak around the castle for a bit and check things out. If everything seemed mostly normal enough, in comparison to her own universe, then maybe she could venture out into Ponyville proper and investigate there. And hope that that wasn’t some horrible evil out there that would try and kill her.

It was a good plan. A solid plan. Nice and methodical, just like a list. It provided some structure and direction, while also being just open enough to allow for any possible distractions or diversions that could crop up.

The first thing to do would be to check out the throne room here. Twilight had already looked around some, but once more wouldn’t hurt.

And so, she looked. It was virtually identical to her own throne room. The Cutie Map. The thrones. The chandelier made from the Golden Oak Library’s roots. The green stained glass windows. The varied array of monitoring equipment that Twilight had pretty much surrounded the table with.

Everything was exactly the sa—

Wait a minute…

Twilight looked again at the room, concentrating.

Something was off. 

Something felt…

She frowned. All of the thrones were out of place.

If she was standing exactly where she was standing right now, Rainbow Dash’s throne should not have been that close to her, and her own throne was just slightly too far away. She had carefully arranged these thrones to be in a very specific spot, and here they were all just a little too far to the left. 

And, in fact, all of her equipment and machines were as well.

That was…odd. Perhaps her abrupt arrival in this place had shifted them all or something.

Still, an easy enough fix. With little effort, her magic sprung to life and moved everything sans the Cutie Map itself, as it was stuck to the floor, back to where it should be. 

And so that took care of that minor annoyance.

Now it was time to look around the rest of the castle. Twilight made moves to exit the throne room and head over to the library when there was a loud knock at the front door. 

She froze, panic shooting through her system, before bolting behind her own throne to hide, bumping into it as she went, frantic as she was. She had to be careful here. This world was still new to her. It could be anyone or anything at the door.

If everything was mostly the same in this universe, Spike should go and see who was at the door. She could observe and make a calculated choice about whether or not to get involved after that.

For a moment, silence, and then footsteps in the hall that sounded awfully like Spike’s. She couldn’t be certain though.

She heard the front door open and the barest hint of multiple voices, much too quiet to understand what was being said.

And then, “Twiiiilight!” came what was unmistakably Spike’s voice, reverberating through the crystal walls. “Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie are here for the Map thing!”

And the front door slammed shut.

Ah right. 

Twilight smacked herself. She had completely forgotten that the Cutie Map had summoned her two friends. How could she have forgotten that?!

She slowly drew out from her hiding spot and took a deep breath. 

Okay. It seemed she would have to get involved then. She could pretend. It was only her friends. How hard could that be?

Well…it could be potentially very hard. Twilight hoped that it wasn’t, though.

It was showtime.

Spike’s steps grew louder as he came nearer to the throne room, joined now by the clip-clop of her friend’s hooves.

…And…what sounded like cymbals…and an accordion?

Without warning, Pinkie Pie burst into the room, a vast array of instruments strapped to her body. From what Twilight could see, there was everything from a tuba, to a harmonica, a banjo, a kazoo, the cymbals and accordion she had heard, and what even appeared to be a washboard.

It looked like Pinkie had brought back her One-Mare Band.

She hopped over to Twilight, skidding to a halt just in front of her, but slightly further away than she would’ve in the original universe, the instruments making all sorts of clattering noises. Moments later, Spike and Fluttershy came traipsing in behind her, in a much, much calmer fashion.

Twilight smiled. “Hey, girls!”

“Heya, Twi!”

“Hello.”

Before anything else could happen, Pinkie’s eyes and mind wandered. “Ooh! What’re all these machines, Twi?! You gonna make a Frankenpony? You should’ve asked me to come with you when you went to go dig up graves to get the body parts!” She moved to poke at one of the machines.

“Pinkie!” Twilight scolded, pushing the mare away with a light magic touch. “Don’t touch. This is sensitive scientific equipment!”

“Sorry!” Pinkie squeaked, and quickly moved away, as if she thought breathing on them would’ve damaged them. “I don’t think you should be making a Frankenpony though, Twi. That didn’t end up well in the story.”

Twilight decided not to even mention that Frankenpony was the name of the doctor, and not the monster. “I’m not making a Frankenpony, Pinkie. I’m just trying to study the Cutie Map.” She gestured to the object in question.

“Oh thank goodness,” breathed Fluttershy, relief palpable across her face. “I was getting worried…”

Twilight blinked.

“Did you really think I was going to make a Frankenpony?” She frowned, somewhat taken aback that her friend would even think that.

Fluttershy shrugged noncommittedly and gave an embarrassed grin. “I mean…not really. But the thought of bringing a pony back from the dead is scary, I guess...”

At that, Pinkie wrapped a hoof around the pegasus’s neck and ruffled her mane some. “Aww! You have nothing be scared of, silly-willy! That’s just the miracle of life!” she teased.

“Pinkie,” Fluttershy chided, pulling away from her grasp, “I’m intimately familiar with the miracle of life, and I’m very sure that that’s not it.”

Silence hung in the air for a moment.

Then Fluttershy’s eyes widened and she covered her face with a hoof, suddenly aware of what she had just said. “I-I mean, n-not like that! I just… I’ve taken care of a lot of animals in my life! And I’ve assisted with their pregnancies and things sometimes, but… I mean, I haven’t done anything like…” The rest of her sentence trailed off into a quiet squeak.

Twilight blinked.

Pinkie burst out laughing, and soon both Spike and Twilight joined in. Fluttershy looked at the three of them nervously, but then chuckled and gave a weak smile. She knew they weren’t laughing at her. Not like that.

“Flutters!” Pinkie managed to say through her laughter, “I can’t believe you said that! It’s always the quiet ones, eh? Eh?” She nudged her in the side. “Just wait ‘till I tell the rest of the girls about this!”

Fluttershy shrunk back behind her hair. “Oh. Umm… Could you…maybe not, please…?”

At that, almost immediately, Pinkie wiped the smile from her face and sighed heavily. “Fiiiine… I guess…” But she wasn’t really angry about it. She shot Fluttershy a knowing smile.

By now, both Twilight’s and Spike’s laughter had come to a close as well. “O-oh man, Fluttershy!” he said. He chuckled one last time and took in a deep lungful of air, trying to catch his breath.

Twilight smiled at the sight of all her friends getting along. Ever since she had become an alicorn, it had always made her feel good inside whenever ponies were being friendly. Maybe she just had some innate connection with friendship now, as she was the Princess of Friendship? Much like Cadance was with love? That would have to be something she looked into when she got back.

Wait…

Wait.

When she got back?

Her mind ground to a halt. 

She had completely forgotten that she wasn’t in her own universe anymore.

It was all so similar. So familiar. This. The room. Her friends. It was almost surreal.

These were her friends, exactly like she knew them to be.

This was her home, exactly the same.

She shook her head, trying to get her thoughts back into order. This wasn’t her world. She was a stranger here, however similar things may be.

There was still something different here, she knew. There had to be, somewhere.

She looked at her two friends, standing side by side, maybe just a little too far away from her than they normally would’ve been. Fluttershy, all demure, and Pinkie Pie, with all her instruments still. Oh, and Spike as well. He was more family, though.

And suddenly, a terrible, terrible thought occurred to her. 

“Pinkie, why are you wearing all those instruments?” There was fear evident in her voice, her ears played back. “Are there more parasprites in town?!” Maybe that was what was different here. An overwhelming parasprite swarm. That would make sense. That could very easily happen, and almost had.

The mare in question gave a toot on her horn, a flourish of her accordion, and blew on the harmonica before responding with a smile. “No, silly-billy! I was serenading the customers at Sugarcube Corner when my cutie mark went all a buzza-buzza-buzz, so I rushed over here as quick as I could!”

Twilight hummed in relief. She really did not want to deal with any parasprites right now. That had been a nightmare. “That’s…actually really cool. I didn’t know you did live entertainment, Pinkie.”

“Of course, silly! I do a lot of things!” Here she banged the cymbals on the front of her knees together.

Fluttershy spoke up again. “It was rather nice. She played a little for me as we walked over together.”

Twilight opened her mouth to say more, but was cut off when both Pinkie’s and Fluttershy’s cutie marks began flashing again. Pinkie Pie vibrated uncontrollably for comedic effect.

Apparently the Cutie Map was getting impatient.

Right. Twilight had completely forgotten about that as well. Her head was just not in the right place today. She blamed it on the interdimensional travel. It was a bit like motion sickness, but not actually like that at all, in any way.

“Alright!” she said, moving back over to the table, nearly running into it, as it was still slightly out of position.

“Looks like there’s a friendship emergency in—” Her eyes quickly glanced over the Cutie Map, only to see that their destination was the same as it had been in her world. “—Appleloosa!”

Pinkie strode up and saluted sharply, her accordion wheezing softly. “We’re ready for any situation, Twilight, ma’am, sir!” Fluttershy slinked up beside her and didn’t say anything.

Twilight’s horn ignited, and a flash of magic later, a rather large bag of money was floating in the air, just somewhat to the left of where she had intended it to appear. “Here’s your stipend. As always, try not to spend any more than that. It comes right out of the royal coffers.” She carefully handed the bits to Fluttershy, who held them tight. “I think the next train to Appleloosa leaves in about an hour or so, so you better hurry if you want to catch it!”

Before either of them could get a word in edgewise, Twilight quickly ushered them out of the room. “I’ll see you girls when you get back, alright?” A bold-faced lie, as she would hopefully be back in her own world by then, with her own Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. 

For now, she just really wanted them gone so she could try and figure out this world in a somewhat timely manner, before she actually had to go back.

The two of them walked down the hall together, Pinkie’s instruments painting an amusing silhouette. When they got to the front door, Fluttershy turned and waved awkwardly, still carrying the bits. Twilight waved back, from all the way down the hall.

Pinkie opened the door and hopped through it. “Byyyyyyyyeeee, Twilight!” she called back over her shoulder, her shrill voice echoing all the way down from the entrance. The acoustics in this castle were quite amazing. The Tree of Harmony had at least gotten that right. Rarity and the other Pony Tones had come over to practice many a time now. It was wonderfully crystal clear.

The front door slammed shut.

And so, Twilight was alone.

Completely alone.

“Hey, by the way, I finished putting all of those books back on the shelves,” came Spike’s voice from right beside her. Twilight yelped, nearly jumping out of her skin.

Right. 

Alone, except for Spike. Though, as it was, he hardly counted. He was family—at least, in her own world. Maybe here he wasn’t her number-one assistant and trusted confidant. Maybe he hated her in this universe. The possibility broke Twilight’s heart a little.

He was staring at her now, expectantly. “Uhh… Thank you, Spike!” She forced a smile on her face.

Spike raised an eyebrow, clearly realizing something was up, but didn’t say anything. If there was something vitally important going on, Twilight would tell him, and only then he would begin to worry. Until then, he figured that it was just Twilight being Twilight, worrying about something inconsequential like she was wont to do, and so paid it no mind.

Besides, there were a couple of comic books upstairs in his room that were calling his name. And who was he to deny them?

“Alright then,” he said, “I’ll be going then.” And without waiting for a response, he turned to leave the room, hoping she wouldn’t ask any more of him.

“Spike. Wait.” 

He froze, clenching his teeth together. Great. Of course she world.  There goes the rest of his day.

“Yeah?”

Silence.

Twilight was thinking.

It was time to try and feel out what Spike and her’s relationship was in this world, to see if he could be trusted about her not being from this universe. Maybe he could help her try and figure out what was different here.

Now she just had to figure out what to say, without being arousing too much suspicion. Spike knew her better than anypony else in the world, and Twilight was not the best at being clever or sly when trying to find out information.

Needless to say, this whole thing was a bit of a disaster.

Twilight slinked closer to the dragon, trying her best to pretend nothing was amiss and failing horribly. “Spike… We’re, uhh, pretty close, right?”

“Yeah…?”

“We’ve always had each other’s backs, through thick and thin. I hope you know I trust you more than anypony else I know.”

He frowned at that and crossed his arms, unsure exactly where she was going with this, but was touched just the same. “Of course, Twi. Me too.”

She nodded eagerly at that, glad to confirm what she had hoped was the same. “And that kind of trust requires a certain amount of honesty, right?” She placed a hoof on his shoulder, comfortingly. “We can tell each other anything. There’s no secrets between us, right?” She smiled broadly.

“Right... Of course...”

Here, though, Spike was beginning to get nervous. See, he did have a secret he was keeping from Twilight, one that he was sure that she was going to be upset over. Particularly as it had been a long time since it had happened. Did she finally figure out what he did? He thought that if she hadn’t noticed by now, she was never going to.

This was a classic misunderstanding on his part.

Spike tried his best to act casual. It wasn’t the best attempt in the world, but Twilight was too caught up in her own agenda to take any notice. And, even if she had been paying full attention to him, that still wasn’t a guarantee that she would’ve noticed he was a little tense. Twilight wasn’t the best at picking up on social cues.

So, she continued unabated. “Good. I’m glad. Because there’s something that I feel needs to be said.”

Spike’s entire body went numb. To him, those words told him all he needed to know. She knew! She had figured it out! She was trying to guilt him! That was low, even for her, and Spike felt a little hurt.

Fine, then! A newfound anger welled up inside him, overwhelming his own guilt about his actions. This was such a backhanded way of trying to get him to acknowledge something she obviously knew herself already! If she was trying to con a confession out of him like this, he would just admit to it.

“I’m sorry, Twi!” he hissed out before she could say any more, “I didn’t mean to! It was just an accident, I swear!”

“I—” She stopped, puzzled at his outburst. “Wait. What are you talking about?” This had taken a turn she hadn’t been expecting.

But he didn’t seem to notice her confusion, as he was glowering, irritated at her for how he thought she was going about this whole thing. “It was just a stupid accident! I didn’t mean to burn all those books! I was just carrying them, and, and some dust or something got in my nose, and before I could even do anything, I sneezed!” He made a violent little motion with his hands. “And they were gone! I couldn’t stop it!”

“Spike.” Her voice was firm, grabbing his attention. “What are you talking about?”

He blinked, his anger dissipating. “I…” Did she not actually know? Did he just admit what he had done for no reason? He tried to turn the topic around. “What were you talking about?”

Twilight shook her head. “No no. We’ll get to that in a minute. You said you burned some of my books?”

Spike grit his teeth and glanced down at the floor, suddenly unwilling to meet her gaze. “…Yeah.”

“How long—” She broke off, her voice much angrier than she wanted it to be. She began again, in a gentler tone. “How long ago did this happen?”

“A-about three months or so now.”

…Three months…? Let’s see, if she remembered correctly, three months ago, she was…at the Wonderbolt Academy with Rainbow Dash. Spike, of course, had stayed home to hold down the fort. Apparently, at some point, he had destroyed some books, and he thought he could just sweep the whole thing under the rug.

To his credit though, he almost had. 

Twilight assumed that the same thing probably happened to her own Spike, so she would have to have words with him when she got back about proper document handling. Some of the books and scrolls in the library here were incredibly old. As it turns out, having a room made entirely out of crystal does wonders for preserving old parchment. Quite a few libraries and archives had sent some of their more delicate possessions to her for safe-keeping, sometimes without even telling anypony.

For now, though, there was something more important to talk about.

She smiled at the young dragon and gave him a quick hug, hoping to reassure him, but ended up missing him entirely. She moved slightly and tried again, successfully this time. “Okay, Spike. It’s fine. We’ll talk about this later.” She sighed. “I was actually trying to tell you something important.”

“Oh.” He seemed abashed. “Heh heh… Sorry…”

“It’s fine,” Twilight said again. Then, after a brief moment, “Right. Umm…” She paused here. How does one tell someone else that you’re not from this universe? It wasn’t that big of a deal, but Twilight was still somewhat uncertain on how to proceed. Eventually, she figured it best to just get it over with. 

“I’m not from this world!” she blurted out, with no warning or preface.

His head cocked to the side, confusion now apparent in his features. “Uh? Say again?”

She cringed, mentally berating herself. That was a really unclear way to try and explain it. She tried again. “I’m not from this universe. I’m from a different timeline. Like when…” Some hesitation here, still unsure just what parallels there were between this world and hers. “…Starlight Glimmer tried to get revenge on me?”

He nodded. “Oh yeah. That was just earlier in the year.” It had certainly been an interesting year. “So what then, you came through the Cutie Map?”

She visibly relaxed, relieved that at least Spike seemed to understand, and that the same event had happened here as well. “Yeah. Just a few minutes ago, right after it summoned Pinkie and Fluttershy.”

“So what, did…” He glanced around, looking for somepony in particular, even though they were the only two there. “…Starlight vow revenge on you again or something and try to kill you?”

Twilight shook her head. “No no! I was just studying the Cutie Map, like I said, and it just threw me into this universe! I have no idea why I’m here.” And then she glared at Spike and put on her best authoritative voice. “And don’t say things like that about Starlight. You know she’s good now. She’s trying her best to make up for her mistakes.”

“I know!” he whined. “I just thought that maybe she was still evil in your world or something.”

She scowled at him. “Well you’re lucky she’s conveniently not around right now to hear you say that. She feels really guilty about what she’s done. You know that she sees a therapist.”

“Well, she did try to change history and almost destroyed all of reality in the process, Twi. I’d hope she’d feel guilty. At least Chrysalis had only tried to take over Equestria—Twice.” 

“Okay.” Twilight held up a hoof. “Let’s stop there. We already had this discussion when I decided to let her be my student, and we agreed to disagree about it then. We have more pressing matters to attend to right now.”

“Yeah. Fine.” 

See, Spike had never fully forgiven Starlight for what she had tried to do, even though she’d proven herself many times over since then. Though, he did find the incident when she mind-controlled his friends more funny than worrying, so he probably isn’t the best judge of character. He is still just a child, after all, and a dragon child at that. Dragon ages don’t convert easily to pony years, especially in the eyes of the law, so he was in a weird gray area in terms of how mature he was. Some years back, Twilight had tried to develop a formula to figure out what his age would be in a pony world, but failed miserably when she finally realized that such a thing was impossible.

He continued speaking, his mood shifting. “So what’s different between our two timelines then? Did, like, all of the bad guys we’ve faced over the years decide to team up and destroy everything? Ooh!” His eyes lit up as more possibilities occurred to him. “Or are you a dragon and I’m a pony? Or did other ponies find the Elements of Harmony? Oh! Or is Princess Celestia evil? Or did—mmph!”

Twilight zipped his mouth shut with magic, shuddering at the thought, and then silently mouthed him an apology.

“I don’t really know what’s different. Nothing quite so drastic.” She glanced around the room more, as if to look and see if anything had changed, and then shrugged. “Everything seems exactly the same so far. I was hoping you could help me figure out just what’s different.”

She unzipped his mouth here, and he immediately worked his jaw side-to-side, stretching it. Having your mouth zipped shut was rarely a pleasant experience for anypony. Rarely. There were definitely some ponies out there that enjoyed it… But let’s not get into that. Spike certainly did not appreciate it, but wasn’t going to make a fuss over it.

“All I know is that, for no discernable reason, the Cutie Map created yet another portal to yet another universe, and I got sucked in and plopped down here with no clue what to expect or who I could trust. That’s why I was asking you all those questions. I wasn’t accusing you of keeping secrets from me—even though you were.” A pointed stare. “I was just trying to make sure I could trust you in this world.”

“Oh. I guess that makes sense. You really should’ve just led with that.”

“I know. You can make fun of me later if you want.”

“I’ll hold you to that.” He leaned against one of the thrones, but since Twilight had moved it to her universe’s position, he misjudged the distance slightly and nearly fell. He tried to play it off and leaned against the throne properly this time. “So what’s the plan then?”

“Plan? What makes you think I have a plan?”

He scoffed. “C’mon, Twi. You always have a plan.” He pointed at her. “You’re you.”

“It’s rude to make assumptions, Spike. I’ve taught you better than that. I’ve been too busy to come up with a plan.” 

This, of course, was a complete lie. Practically the first thing she had done was come up with a plan, as seen above. She was just teasing him some.

But he was not so easily dissuaded. “I know you have some sort of plan.”

“Nope. No plan here.

He stared at her, obviously not convinced.

She stared back at him.

“You have a plan.”

She smiled. “Yeah, of course I have a plan. What do you take me for?”

“And? What is it?”

“Well, I figured I would just look around and see if anything was immediately different. Of course, it seems as if that’ll be harder than I thought, so I’m not sure what I’ll do now.”

“So what’s next then? I’m ready for whatever you need me for.” Having to deal with this alternate universe Twilight was considerably more entertaining than how he had expected his day to go. At the very least, she wasn’t making him reshelve more books or helping her respond to various nobles and dignitaries, so he was very happy.

“Next? Next we head to the kitchen.” She began walking, Spike following beside her.

“Why the kitchen?” It was a pertinent question.

“Because it’s next on the list. I have to check out all the rooms here to see if anything’s different.”

“All of the rooms? That seems rather excessive.” 

She shot him a knowing smirk. “Okay, maybe not all of the rooms. At least a couple of them though, and then maybe we can take a look around town.”

“But why the kitchen? What could possibly be different in there?”

An embarrassed grin broke across her face. “Well… I’m kinda hungry.” Her stomach rumbled, as if to prove a point, or just for pure comedic timing. “It’s past lunchtime. I was hoping to get something to eat…”

“Of course.” He chuckled good-naturedly. This was definitely the same Twilight he knew and loved. “You think with your stomach too much. The tabloids already have a field day with your table manners.”

“Yeah yeah.” She rolled her eyes. “At least I don’t seriously buy and read those rags, unlike somedragon that lives here.”

“Hey! I like the gossip. Besides, as your assistant, I have to keep track of what everypony’s saying about you. It’s part of my job description.”

“If you say so.”

“I do say so!”

“If you say so.”

“I do!”

And so, they headed to the kitchen together.

It wasn’t noticed by either of them, but Spike walked just a little too far to the left from Twilight than he would have in her own world. Or, rather, Twilight was just too far to the right than her counterpart would have been in this world.

It was an inconsequential thing, but a thing nonetheless. 




~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~





> What To Do When Visiting an Alternate Universe: A Guide
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

While they ate lunch, Twilight quizzed Spike on some of the things that had happened in his world, so that she could compare them to her own and figure out where the two timelines had diverged.

So far, and rather frustratingly for Twilight, it was going perfectly well. Nothing much seemed to be different. In fact, it all seemed to be exactly the same.

They had begun talking about her friends and their personalities, but quickly moved on to comparing just about anyone they could think of, from the inhabitants of Ponyville, to the nobles of Canterlot, to famous celebrities.

And everyone was exactly the same (within a ten percent margin of error. They couldn’t expect to remember exactly everything about everyone. Maybe if Pinkie Pie were there…). Genders. Dreams. Cutie Marks. Jobs. Coat colors. Personalities. Voices. 

It was all the same.

So, they moved on to speaking about history, and ended up quickly skipping over much of the ancient eras, as Spike wasn’t very well versed in much of anything that happened before Equestria was founded. He never had much of a head for history, however much Twilight had tried to teach him over the years.

As such, they had now gone on to talking about some more recent events, of which they were intimately familiar with. Twilight would ask him a question, and he would respond in kind.

It was a taxing process, to say the least.

“…Nightmare Moon was imprisoned in the moon for a thousand years, and then conveniently broke out just when Princess Celestia sent us to Ponyville?”

“Yup.”

“And then we made friends with Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie? And then we found the Elements of Harmony, purged Luna of the Nightmare, and freed Celestia?”

“Yup.”

Twilight idly itched a spot on the top of her snout and crossed that item off her mental list. She peered at Spike, who was leaning back in his chair, feet on the table.

“Alright,” she said, “Let’s shoot through the rest of these real quick. Ready?”

Spike grunted in confirmation. They had been at this for a few hours now and he was feeling exhausted. Twilight had been incredibly thorough in trying to figure out what was different between their two realities. Poor Spike had borne the brunt of her grueling investigation.

“So, after that, we decided to stay in Ponyville?”

“Yup.”

“Let’s see here… Gilda? Trixie? Winter Wrap-Up? Parasprites? Owlowiscious? Ruining the Grand-Galloping Gala?”

“Yup, yup, and yup.”

“Discord?” She froze here for a brief moment, a blush spreading across her face. “…The…Smarty Pants Incident?”

He laughed. “Yeah.”

“Mare Do Well? Your greed incident? The Flim Flam Brothers? The Future Twilight incident?”

“Yup.”

“The Great Dragon Migration and Peewee? Queen Chrysalis and the Changelings at my brother’s wedding to Cadance?”

“Yup.”

“The Crystal Empire and Sombra? Pinkie Pie and the Mirror Pond? Trixie’s return with the Alicorn Amulet and her attempt to take over Ponyville? Fluttershy managed to reform Discord? My transformation into an alicorn after I finished Starswirl’s spell that caused everyone’s cutie marks to switch?”

“Yup.”

She stopped here, glaring at him. “Are you paying attention, Spike?”

“Yup.”

“Do you want to organize the library for the rest of the week?”

“Yup.”

“Do you love Rarity?”

“Yup.”

And then his eyes widened as her words actually sunk into his brain. “No, wait! No!” He sat up straight now, paying full attention. “I mean, yeah, I do. But you already knew that. I told you.”

“Of course. Just checking, Casanova.” She rapped on the table. “Now come on, pay attention.”

He shifted in his seat, getting more comfortable. “Ready!”

And then, “Okay... Homestretch.” She rolled her neck, the bones crackling. “The Crystal Mirror and Sunset Shimmer? The Plunder Vines and the Tree of Harmony? The Power Ponies? The Breezies? Flim and Flam again? Rarity turning evil because of that book you gave her?”

He coughed loudly at that, obviously still embarrassed. It hadn’t been his proudest moment.

Twilight grimaced. This next one probably wouldn’t do wonders for his self-esteem either. “…The Equestria Games?”

“…Yeah…” He groaned. “All that stuff happened.”

“Tirek? And Discord almost betraying us? Golden Oak Library getting destroyed? This castle being created?”

“Yup.” He continued before Twilight could say any more. “You know, that was a pretty big coincidence, getting this place immediately after our old home was gone.”

Twilight didn’t respond to that. She really liked her old tree building. She still missed it sometimes. Living in a library had been exciting, though living in a castle that had its own library was good too, she guessed.

She continued on, ignoring his comment. “The Cutie Map and Starlight Glimmer? Discord, the Smooze, and the Grand Galloping Gala? Griffonstone?” She chose to skip over his disastrous attempt at taking over her duties and decisions that one time in Canterlot while she was sleeping. “The Yaks? Moondancer? The Tantabus Incident? Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo finally getting their Cutie Marks, all at the same time? Shining’s and Cadance’s pregnancy? Starlight’s revenge, and the beginning of this whole alternate universe thing?”

Spike blinked, trying to process everything she had just said. She had gone through all those really fast. “Uh. Yeah. I think so. That all sounded right.”

“Flurry Heart’s birth and that whole debacle? The Gauntlet of Fire and you giving up your right to be Dragon Lord to Princess Ember? Starlight’s and Trixie’s friendship? You befriending Thorax at the Crystal Empire? Chrysalis’s revenge, subsequent kidnapping of anypony who she thought could defeat her, and then her almost immediate defeat by Thorax, Starlight, Trixie, and Discord?”

She took a deep breath here. “And, of course, Thorax and the rest of the Changelings are good now, and we finally have had a little downtime, at least, until this happened?”

“Yup.” He pushed away from the table. “That’s all right.”

And with that, Twilight groaned loudly and let her head fall onto the table, defeated.

“Well then!” she groused, “I don’t even know what the difference could be then! We covered just about everything I can think of and it all seems exactly the same!” 

“I don’t know, Twi.” Spike was just about as irritated as she was. “All of the other universes we’ve been to have been really obvious. Like, ponies trying to kill us, obvious.”

“I know!” she moaned. “That’s what makes this so frustrating!”

It had all been rather draining on the both of them to have been sitting here for so long, running through all this information in hopes of happening upon something that sounded even remotely different.

Twilight may be driven and scholarly, but even she had her limits.

Spike had his as well, and they were a lot less than hers. He had wanted to give up numerous times much earlier, but Twilight had kept keeping at it.

He walked over to the other side of the table and reassuringly patted her on the back, hoping to alleviate her stress some, and tried to lift her spirits. “You know, it’s probably something stupid, like Pinkie Pie wore a different color hat three weeks ago or something!” He chuckled lightly.

Twilight did not laugh. Something that simple would be so demoralizing and would probably anger her more than anything. That would be a stupid alternate universe.

But, of course, Spike was not so far off. He was correct in assuming that there was only a slight difference between the two universes, but neither of them had even come close to figuring out what it actually was.

And Twilight probably would never know, despite the fact it was practically staring her right in the face whenever she walked into a new room. She could not connect the dots.

Case in point, when they had first entered the kitchen and began making some food (a simple sandwich for Twilight, and some gemstones for Spike, as she had decided that he deserved something nice right now), Twilight quickly realized that most of everything in the room was out of place, much like the throne room had been.

Everything! The toaster, the numerous pots and pans, all of the other cookware, bakeware, and corningware, all the utensils, the decorative baubles that she had strewn about, the coffee pot, the silverware in the drawers, the kettle, the breadbox, the cutting boards, the clay urn that held the spatulas and spoons, the fruit bowl, the island countertop, the cookbooks, the delicate china plates and bowls that were never used. Even all the food in the pantry and fridge.

Every thing!

Twilight just about broke down right then and there and spent the next few minutes frantically moving everything back to where she perceived it should be. Spike watched on in mild amusement, not quite sure what was going on, and wasn’t about to get involved.

If Twilight wanted something to be in a certain spot, then that was where it was going to be. And she had a spot for everything. Spike had realized that at a very early age when he failed to put away some of his toys properly and she very nearly had an existential crisis.

As stated before, it had taken Twilight some months to properly move into this new castle of hers. Everything had to be in the right place, and she had obsessively spent much time to make sure everything was where it should be. 

And so, this universe was, in all likelihood, one of the most frustrating places she could’ve ended up in.

Everything was out of place, in her mind. It was all just a little too far to the left.

Was it like that in her universe? She hoped it wasn’t. She would have to check when she got back. Make sure all of her things there were still in their proper spots.

It never even registered that that was, in fact, the difference here. Something so simple was completely overlooked.

Which is why, after she was done grilling Spike about the entirety of history in this world, to no avail, she decided that the next logical stop would be to check the library. There were plenty of books and references there to look through, after all.

There had to be something different.

There had to be something different.

There had to be.

She just had to know what.

Twilight Sparkle did not like not knowing.

And so, they went to the library.

This was Twilight in her element now, researching information. And even Spike in his, helping her research those very things.

She pulled every history book that she had on the shelves, which was quite a lot of them. She was the proud owner of a complete edition of ‘A Wholly Comprehensive and Detailed History of the World’ (all thirty-eight volumes), as well as many, many other equally rare and important books.

Twilight piled all of said books on a table, arranging them in such a way that they looked to be a veritable book fortress of sorts—well, more like a wall or parapet, but the sentiment holds the same.

But of course, just as she got settled in, she realized that, as this world was wont to do, everything in the library was also out of place. As she went to sit down on her normal cushion, it was just slightly too far to the left and she instead sat on the floor.

She screamed.

So, she diverted her attentions to that, and spent at least another hour rearranging everything, making sure it was all right. Maybe even two hours. Spike helped some, though he wasn’t entirely sure why she was freaking out. Everything seemed perfectly normal to him.

And only when she was done did she begin researching in earnest, trying to find even the slightest difference between the two worlds. 

She read (read, here meaning “quickly glanced through,” because, while Twilight was a fast reader, there were quite a lot of books and not as much time to get through them all in) through many a history book, but also some others that related to physics, magical theory, geography, mathematics, art, music, sciences, politics, and all sorts of classic and modern literature, all in the hopes of finding a difference.

It was certainly difficult.

Impossible, even.

Now, though Twilight was incredibly smart, it would’ve been laughable to think that she could have accurately compared the two universes properly. There was quite a lot of things in her books, and she could never have remembered everything from her universe so that she could try and contrast it to this one.

She tried, though.

She tried real hard.

But she eventually failed.

It took several hours of speed-reading and a gratuitous amount of skimming through paragraphs and pages before she finally admitted defeat.

Everything seemed normal enough, from what she could tell. Physics were the same. History was the same. Geography was the same, as were art, politics, and everything else. She simply just did not have enough information about her own reality to distinguish the events in this universe from the same ones in hers.

Naturally, if she had the exact same books from her world, she could very easily compare historical events or famous pieces of artwork and literature with the books from here.

But without them, it was a lost cause.

Twilight Sparkle gave up.

She slammed what was her final book down on the table with some force and held her head in her hooves. A loud and irritated whinny built up in the back of her throat.

At some point, Spike had fallen asleep at the other side of the table. He had stayed with her for at least the first two hours or so, helping her as best as he could. But eventually, sleep had taken him, and Twilight decided to let him rest some, as he had already helped plenty.

And so, when Twilight slammed her book down and nickered rather noisily, he jerked awake in surprise and nearly fell out of his chair.

“Wha?!” He tensed up, looking around for any signs of danger. The past couple of years had put him on edge where loud noises were concerned. 

Twilight lifted her head sheepishly. “Sorry, Spike. Didn’t mean to be so loud.”

The dragon in question fixed his eyes on her and stifled a yawn. “S’alright. You only nearly gave me a heart attack is all.”

“Sorry!” she repeated. 

“Are you that loud in your universe all the time? Maybe that’s what’s different. I feel bad for your Spike.”

She scoffed. “No, I’m not that loud normally. I just…” She threw her hooves in the air out of exasperation. “I give up. I can’t figure out anything that’s different between our two realities.”

“You give up?” he asked, incredulously. “Wow. That’s a rare sight. We need to write that down.” Here, he mimed writing on a calendar. “Let’s see… On this day, let it be known that Twilight Sparkle gave up.”

“Oh har har. At least I tried.”

“Twi, I seem to remember you once trying to run away from home and live in the woods because you were too embarrassed to tell Celestia you had to give up on an assignment she gave you.”

She blushed at the memory, but pushed back. “Yeah? Well at least I didn’t just fall asleep and leave my best friend to read through all these books by her lonesome!”

“Hey! I’m just a baby dragon! I need to rest sometime, you slave-driver!”

“There’s only going to be so long you can play that card, Spike.” She shook a hoof at him. “It won’t be long until you can’t even fit in here, and then where’ll I be without my faithful assistant?”

He shuddered. “Ugh. That’s a long ways down the road. I don’t even want to think about having to deal with that yet.”

Then, the full reality of what she had just said finally sunk in, and she felt as if the ground had been swept out from under her. She suddenly didn’t know what to say.

The prospect of Spike growing up stirred some emotion deep within her. Sadness, she presumed. Maybe some anxiety as well. Definitely a little bit of dread.

This, she could only assume, was some sort of motherly instinct. If that could even be believed.

Now, of course, she really wasn’t Spike’s mother. If anypony got that title, it would be Princess Celestia, who actually raised him when he was first hatched, as Twilight was much too young for that sort of responsibility (and Twilight’s parents were certainly not prepared to take care of a dragon, thank you very much). 

But, if anything, the two of them were like brother and sister. They were best friends. They were coworkers. She had certainly never felt like his mother before.

And here she was, worrying about him growing up, and not even the fact that ‘growing up’ for him also eventually meant outgrowing the castle. She was just sad that he was getting older. In a few years’ time, he’d be taller than her.

She smiled softly at him. He really wouldn’t be a baby dragon forever…

It was a heartwarming moment, really. It was something that felt so completely normal. In that instant, she completely forgot that she was even in another universe.

For a brief moment, everything was just fine.

And then, before any sort of conclusion to these new feelings could be reached, there was a well-timed, comedic interruption that stopped everything right in its tracks.

There was a flash of light, a crackle of magic, and Discord suddenly appeared in the middle of the table, just slightly to the left of where Twilight was sitting. He twirled about, searching for her, and when he didn’t immediately see her where he had expected, he shifted his gaze to the right some.

He glared at her, his face a cross between worry and irritation. “Twilight!” His voice was serious. “What is this I hear about Fluttershy having to leave, and why did I have to find out from a note she left me?!”

She scrambled for something to say. Her mind had just been in a completely different space entirely, and the sudden intrusion gave her pause.

“Discord, I—” 

But he continued talking over her. “How do we know she isn’t heading into a trap? I don’t trust this Cutie Map thingamajig! You need to take me to it. I want to have a stern word with—” 

He stopped abruptly, as if at a loss for words. His eyes widened in surprise, narrowed, and then widened again, before he peered intently at Twilight’s face through a rather gaudy pair of cheap 3D glasses that had appeared on his snout. 

“You’re not my Twilight!” he said, appearing to actually be thrown for a loop for once. “What?! I don’t…” 

He straightened up now, thoroughly confused, and rifled through a stack of papers that looked to contain numerous charts and graphs. He picked one out and studied it intently for a few seconds, glancing between it and Twilight. 

Spike and Twilight weren’t sure what to do. They shared a look of mutual unease.

But whatever was written on the paper seemed to inform Discord of something, for a look of comprehension shot across his face. “Aha! That makes perfect sense!” He leaned in close and looped an arm around the crook of Twilight’s neck, pulling her in close. “Tut-tut-tut, Twilight. Messing around with alternate dimensions again? What would Celestia say?”

“I—”

“Now now, I don’t need to hear your excuses. I don’t care if you want to mess with the fabric of time and space, but just make sure that the next time you travel to another universe, you hit me up beforehand.” He grinned. “We can go backpacking through the multiverse!” Here, he had on an elaborate and dated explorer’s costume, complete with pith hat. “I know how much you love adventure, and I always love visiting alternate timelines! It’s a perfect match!”

Discord looked down at Twilight expectantly. There was a brief pause where she processed what he said. After almost immediately rejecting his proposition on sheer principle alone, she actually gave it some thought, and decided that it didn’t really sound half bad. They were friends after all, and friends did things together. 

Right?

She gave Discord a small smile. “Okay. Sure. That actually sounds alright.”

He seemed genuinely surprised for only a second, before clapping his hands together and belting out a boisterous laugh. “Marvelous! Ha ha ha! It’s a date then!”

Twilight really hoped that she hadn’t just made a mistake in agreeing. Discord was…well, he was Discord. He was endearing when you got used to him, at least when he wasn’t overly annoying. At times, he could actually be somewhat interesting and fun to be around.

Sometimes.

But then, as if to shatter the moment, there was a loud, shrill beeping, like the ringing of an alarm clock. Discord looked at the watch on his wrist, a rather large novelty one that had Princess Celestia’s wings in lieu of the normal hands of the clock. It was currently five in the afternoon.

“Good heavens, is that the time? You’ve kept me far too long!” He switched off the alarm and turned to her, clearing his throat obnoxiously. 

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, Twilight, I have an appointment with the other version of yourself that’s in your universe.” He glanced down at the clipboard in his claw and at the comically long trail of paper that was attached to it. “It seems I have a rather full docket at the moment. Quite a lot of your alternate yous aren’t in their right universe right now and they all have a scheduled meeting with me two minutes ago, and I’m running late!” 

Then, with a jolt, he jabbed a talon in her face, his expression darkening abruptly. “By the way,” he growled, “if Fluttershy were to get hurt in any way while out doing whatever it is that map-table thing wants her to do, you’ll have me to answer to, comprende?”

She nodded tersely. “Of course.”

He smiled broadly and patted her head rather roughly, apparently satisfied. “Well then, ta-ta for now!”

And with a snap of his fingers, he was gone.

Twilight blinked.

“…Okay.” Spike spoke up now. He hadn’t been a part of that conversation at all. “That went well, I guess.”

“Yeah…” She took a deep, steadying breath, recollecting herself. Interacting with Discord always left her feeling haggard and drained. He was a whirlwind of activity, much like Pinkie Pie.

Now, of course, she knew that Discord’s threats were empty. Even if Fluttershy did get injured while away, she would never let him hurt anypony in revenge. At the very least, he would try, and end up making her week a living nightmare, but nothing more.

But she did find herself worrying about agreeing to go pal about different timelines with him sometime. That would certainly be…interesting, to say the least. There was no telling how that would go.

Maybe her Discord wouldn’t know she agreed to do so.

Probably not, though.

Probably not.

Spike spoke again, filling the silence. “I guess that means you really are from an alternate dimension then. I’d expect Discord would know.”

Twilight’s eyes snapped to him in disbelief. “…Did you not believe me?”

His shoulders sagged and he grinned awkwardly. “I can never know with you, to be perfectly honest. I thought that maybe you were testing me to see how I would react if something like this really did happen. Like, you were going to sit me and Starlight down tomorrow and lecture us on what and what not to do if an alternate version of somepony appears here.”

“Spike!” she admonished, “I would never do something like that!” She paused, thinking. “Well, the testing bit, anyways. Having a plan in place in case this does happen again sounds like a great idea though. I can’t believe I didn’t think of that sooner!”

“Great.” His voice was flat. The prospect of now having to sit through yet another of Twilight’s emergency preparedness lectures at some point in the future was not an exciting one. “Glad I could help.”

She rolled her eyes at his lack of enthusiasm and decided not to comment. “Besides, if I was testing you, why would I spend several hours sitting here reading through all these books for no reason?!”

“I don’t know! You like reading books! I mean, you even spent, what—? Three hours? –quizzing me about history and stuff! I thought for sure that this was all some big test.”

Twilight hesitated. “Okay… Maybe I didn’t need to question you about any of that, especially when I just ended up going to the library anyways. I guess I can see what you mean.” 

He threw up his hands in appreciative acknowledgement. “Thank you! Another point for Spike! I was freaking out the whole time!”

She smiled. “Sorry. I guess just got excited about trying to figure out what the differences between our universes are, and I got a little carried away.”

“It’s fine, Twi. I’ve been through worse. At least you’re not some horribly evil version of yourself that tried to kill me and take over Equestria or something.”

A shiver spread through her body. “Ugh… Don’t talk like that.” And then, a wide grin found its place on her mouth. “Besides, if there is a universe where I’m evil, I would hope I wouldn’t kill you. If anything, you’d be evil too, still my faithful assistant.”

“Or I’d be disgusted by your actions and I’d lead the rebellion against you,” he pointed out with a smug air, joining in. “We’d defeat you and turn you back to good.”

“Ha!” She chuckled dryly. “That’s cute. There wouldn’t be any rebellions under my rule. You think I would let that happen? I would crush any sort of little uprisings like that before they’d even get started.”

Spike blinked. “Wow.” He was somewhat impressed with how forcefully she said that, “You sound pretty sure of yourself there.”

“Well of course. I have a plan.”

That threw him some. “You…have a plan?”

She nodded. “Mmm-hmm.”

“You have a plan right now to usurp the Princesses, take over Equestria, and rule the country with an iron hoof?”

“I have a plan for everything, Spike. Even that. Just in case.”

“…Just in case you turn evil and want to take over the world…?”

“Yes. At least I’ll have a well formulated plan already thought out, and I won’t have to waste any time developing one. My coup will be swift and ruthless. I predict an eighty-seven percent success rate.”

He merely looked at her, an eyebrow raised.

And she smiled at him.

Neither moved.

He set his eyebrow back down in its usual spot. 

“You know what? I don’t even care if that’s true or not. I’m more scared by the fact I honestly don’t know if you’re being serious than by the chance that you might kill us all one day.”

“I am always serious, Spike. Seriously.” Her face was flat. For once, she managed to not betray the slightest hint of her true emotions. Spike really could not tell if she was being truthful or not. Celestia must’ve been giving her lessons.

“Well… Do you have a plan in case I turn evil and go on a rampage or something?”

“Sure. Ever since the last time you did that.”

Silence.

“…And? What is it?”

“I can’t tell you. That would spoil it. You can’t know.”

He would concede her that.

“What about Applejack then? What if she turns evil? Or Mister and Missus Cake?”

Twilight chuckled lightly. “Rest assured, Spike, I have a plan for any apple or cake-related disasters that may occur. I have a plan for just about everything. Just in case.”

Spike did not doubt that she had plenty of contingency plans for any sort of scenario that may crop up. In fact, he knew that she did. But, to him, the question was just how many plans she could possibly have.

And on that, he wasn’t sure.

Twilight Sparkle liked planning things out in advance.

Maybe she really did have a plan to take over Equestria if the need ever arose.

He honestly did not know.

But Spike the Dragon was perfectly fine not knowing things.

So he dropped the matter entirely as another thought occurred to him.

He held up a finger, waggling it in the air. “But you don’t have a plan in case an alternate version of yourself ever appears here! You just said that a few minutes ago!”

She shrugged in agreement. “Yeah, you’ve got me there. I’ll have to do some brainstorming when I get back home.” Her eyes drifted over the stacks of books on sprawled across the table. “Whenever that is.”

The conversation fell back into a more serious territory now. 

“Geez, yeah…” Here, he looked at her, as if just seeing her again for the first time. “You know, I just completely forgot you’re from a different universe. I’ve done that a couple times now. You’d think I’d remember that.”

“I know what you mean. Everything’s so similar here that I have to keep reminding myself that this actually isn’t my home.” She gently placed the previous book she’d been reading, ‘A Practical Guide of Princess Luna’s Night Sky in the Modern Age,’ back on one of the piles beside her. “It might as well be, though, since it seems like it’s pretty much identical. I wasn’t able to find a single difference…”

He hummed in thought. “That’s just so weird. You would think that there’d be something different.”

“I know.” She paused, and then slipped into a more academic tone. “I mean, we’re only assuming that based off a fairly small sample size. Maybe the vast majority of alternate universes are only slightly different from one another. Maybe in one I had toast instead of oatmeal for breakfast this morning. Maybe it’s presumptuous to assume that any alternate universe we visit would be so incredibly different. Statistically, that would make sense.”

“If you say so, yeah.”

She didn’t respond, now lost in thought about the implications of such a thing. Maybe they had just gotten incredibly lucky with the amount of extreme deviance they had seen in other universes. That would be a big coincidence, but, then again, what wasn’t in her life these days?

And regardless, she supposed, not everything that happened to her had to be some grand adventure. Not everything was wrapped up nicely at the end.

This was proof of that.

Whatever the difference was in this universe seemed to be incredibly subtle.

And it was infuriating.

So completely infuriating.

She wanted to know.

Spike spoke up, breaking her away from her thoughts. “So then, Alternate Twilight, what’s next?”

She sighed at the question. “I don’t know, Spike. I’m about ready to just go back home. As unfortunate as it may be, I don’t think I’ll be able to figure out what’s different. At least, not without a lot more resources and time that I just don’t have. I think we’ll have to chalk this up as ‘unknown.’”

Spike let loose a deep yawn and smacked his lips. “Should I go get the book then?”

Twilight nodded, and Spike leapt down from his chair and scurried off to one of the many shelves in the library.

See, since she first began interacting with alternate universes, Twilight had started keeping a small log of what each one was and the differences when compared to her base reality.

It wasn’t a terribly large record. There were only less than fifteen entries, but Twilight had really been hoping to be able to add to it today. She wanted to figure out where the timelines had diverged.

Though, little did she know, that the timelines had never diverged because they had never been one, singular stream in the first place. Instead, the two universes had simply run parallel to each other, one just slightly to the left, or slightly to the right depending on how you viewed it.

Spike came back with the book and placed on the table, in somewhat of a different spot than Twilight had been expecting. He opened it up to the first page, which was only barely half full. They simply hadn’t been to that many alternate universes. 

But, this one would be their very first ‘unknown’ entry.

“You want to do the honors?” She held up a quill for him to take.

He took it. “Sure.” And in the first column, he wrote ‘ALTERNATE UNIVERSE #12,’ and then next to it, ‘UNKNOWN DIFFERENCES.’ 

“There,” he said, and slid the book over to Twilight. “Look good?”

Her eyes lingered on the line of words for only a few moments, somewhat saddened that they had to be written at all. “As good as it can be, unfortunately.” Above that entry were the others, all significantly more detailed than the newest one. The universe where King Sombra and the Crystal Empire was warring with Equestria, and the universe where Nightmare Moon reigned eternal, among others.

She took a deep breath and stood up, leaving the book on the table. “Come on, Spike. It’s time for me to go home.”

And so, together, they walked back down to the Throne Room.

Back to the Cutie Map.

Twilight went forward into the room, skillfully navigating past the thrones, as they were where she knew them to be. Spike, of course, expected them to be slightly more to the left, and walked into one of them, accidently stubbing one of his toes rather hard.

As he hopped in place, clutching at his foot, as if that would help stem the pain, Twilight began preparing the spell that would bring her back to her original universe.

That only took three seconds.

She turned to Spike, who cursed under his breath, angrily glared at Rainbow Dash’s throne, and informed it that it would regret the day it had hurt him. Twilight snickered at that, but didn’t say anything. 

“Well, Spike, I guess this is it.” She smiled gently at him. “You have a lovely universe here. Glad I got to visit it.”

“Yeah. This was… well, I wouldn’t say fun, but it was definitely eventful. Maybe next time this happens, you just leave me out of it and I can spend the day relaxing instead? How about that?”

“Oh hush, you.” She quickly scooped him in for a hug. “I’ll let you take it easy tomorrow, alright? You deserve it after today.”

“Really?”

She nodded. “Of course. Or, at least, I will. I don’t speak for your Twilight, though. She may not let you off so easily.”

“Oh.” His deflated some. “I didn’t think of that.”

“Don’t worry.” She ruffled the spines atop his head. “I’m sure she will. We’re exactly the same, after all.” And then added, “Apparently.”

They smiled at each other.

And with that, it was time.

“Goodbye, Spike. See you again in a minute.”

“See ya, Other Twi. Say hi to Other Spike for me.” He gave her a curt wave.

“Will do.”

Twilight’s horn sprung to life as she cast the spell.

In an instant, there was a flash, a bang, and a swirling vortex appeared above the Cutie Map. 

The portal back to her home reality.

With one final glance at the Spike here, Twilight unfurled her wings and leapt into the portal, which immediately pulled her into its maw, carrying her away.

She was gone.

There was a brief moment where nothing at all happened.

Spike stared up at the portal, unsure what exactly to do.

Another moment passed.

Nothing happened.

Spike grimaced, worry starting to flutter in his chest. Should something be happening right now?

He didn’t know.

Another moment.

And then, without any sort of fanfare or warning, another Twilight Sparkle appeared out of thin air, just slightly to the right of where the previous one had been.

This universe’s Twilight had come home.

She blinked.




~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
> Or Are We the Universe Where Everything Is Slightly To the Right?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight Sparkle stood there, in the middle of her throne room, Spike watching on with mild interest.

For a short moment, she was confused, dazed, momentarily stunned by the interdimensional travel she had just gone through, even though she had been completely expecting it this time around. 

She blinked again and took a slight step backwards, then another, and unceremoniously bumped into one of the many pieces of monitoring equipment that she had set up.

Briefly, before the rest of her mind caught back up to her current situation, the only thought that went through her head was that she could’ve sworn that the machine was just a little closer to her than it apparently was.

And then everything fell back into place.

The Cutie Map.

The alternate universe.

The maddening realization that nothing in the other world was any different from her own.

The heavy decision to give up.

And now she was back in her own universe once again. 

Her eyes quickly glanced about the room, taking in the fact that she was finally back home. 

The Cutie Map. The thrones. The Golden Oak Library Chandelier. The green stained glass windows. The purple crystal walls.

It was home.

It was a relief and a comfort to be back, despite the fact that the other world had been entirely the same as this one.

And there was Spike, standing there, just where he should be. 

He waved at her.

With a deep breath, she straightened up, recollecting herself some.

This was her universe, her castle, her home.

Twilight Sparkle stepped slightly back to the left, returning to what was familiar and good. This was what was normal for her (she had not fully understood why, but she had felt somewhat uneasy in the other reality, a feeling that had vanished now that she was back).

She blinked.

“Spike!” she said, her eyes focusing onto the dragon. “Is… Was there just another me here?”

He laughed at that. “Yeah. Yeah, she was just here. She was pretty much a clone of you in every way.” He paused here, a thought occurring to him. “…You are my Twilight, right?”

She glanced down at her body, as if that would readily provide an answer, and then locked eyes with Spike. “I… I think so… I should be. I returned to my own universe.” And then, firmer. “I am. I’m back.”

“Oh good. It’s hard to tell, since the other Twilight was so similar to you that I forgot that she wasn’t you sometimes.”

“Yeah?” She took a few steps forward, going to meet him. “That happened to the Spike over in the universe I visited too. So is it safe to assume pretty much the same thing happened here that I experienced ov—OW!” 

She forcibly collided with one of the thrones, as it was not in the spot where she knew it to be. “Why is this—did somepony move this?” With a quick burst of magic, she shoved the throne back to its usual position.

“Uhh… I think so?” Spike chuckled. “The other Twilight must’ve. She rearranged a bunch of stuff around the castle 'cause she said it wasn’t in the right spot.”

Now Twilight was confused. “Why would she do that? The thrones don’t go…” Her eyes drifted around the room. Everything in the room was just a little out of place. A little too far… 

One of her eyes twitched. 

Oh no.

No. No. That couldn’t be it. Twilight refused to believe that. There was no way that was the difference between her universe and the other. There was no way. That would be silly. 

…Right?

Yes. Of course.

That would be entirely nonsensical. There was no way the difference between two timelines would be so…so ridiculous.

No matter the fact that even she, in the other universe, had been rearranging everything as well, because she had felt it was out of place. It had all been too far to the right.

No matter that such a thing would be entirely within the realm of possibility.

And all of that time spent trying to figure out the difference between the two timelines, when it had been literally staring her in the face the entire time? It couldn’t have been that. She would’ve noticed (even though she did, several times in fact, said a small part of her mind).

It had to have been something else.

It had to be.

She shook the thoughts from her head, unwilling to entertain them any longer.

“Other Spike says hello by the way,” she told her Spike.

“Hello!” he said back with a cheeky grin.

He always did that whenever he was told somepony else had passed along greetings, as he never knew quite how to reply. He would just respond back, as if the other party could hear him. He found it amusing.

Twilight did not, but it was endearing anyways.

Just then, her stomach rumbled rather loudly, filling the silence of the room.

How was she hungry again? Her ears splayed flat against her head as a wave of mortification flowed through her. This happened much too often for her liking.

It had been some time since they had eaten lunch, of course. A couple of hours. She had spent most of the afternoon and the evening in the other universe in the library trying to figure out where the timelines had diverged, to no avail.

And then her stomach grumbled even more. 

“Jeez, Twi,” commented Spike, “Hungry again? Didn’t we just eat?”

Twilight glared at him. “We did not! It’s been—” Her eyes found the clock, tick tocking from up on the wall. “—almost six hours since we had lunch. That’s plenty of time!”

“If you say so. I don’t feel that hungry.”

“Well, I have an alicorn metabolism. We have to eat more.”

“Yeah? And I have a dragon metabolism. I’ve always had to eat more than you, alicorn or not, and I’m still pretty full.”

She chuckled nervously, as her stomach made even further noises. “…Would you believe that interdimensional travel makes you hungry?”

Spike rolled his eyes and smirked. “Sure, Twi. Whatever you say." He turned and walked from the room, Twilight catching up with him soon after.

They walked side by side, neither one of them too far to the left or to the right from the other.

It was perfect.

It wasn’t something Twilight had consciously noticed when she was in the other world, but the slight differences in where others stood in relation to her home universe had unsettled her. As such, she wasn’t entirely sure why she felt so relieved to be back home.

“Besides,” she continued, “It’s about dinnertime anyways. It’s always good to keep on schedule. If we ate too late, we would be too full for breakfast the next day, and then everything would be thrown out of whack. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, after all.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s just an old saying.”

She sighed. “Fine then. If you don’t want to eat, then I’m not going to force you. You can tell me all about your time with the other Twilight while I eat something. Just don’t come crying to me when you’re hungry in a couple of hours.”

Of course, she would’ve wanted him to tell his story regardless, but at least now he could do it without having to eat throughout it. She was incredibly curious as to what sort of Twilight had ended up here.

See, as strange as it may sound, she had found herself in a universe virtually identical to her own. From what she could tell while she was there, everything was exactly the same. And, judging by what Spike had said earlier, about the other Twilight also being similar to her, it sounded as if comparable, if not the same events had played out here as well.

It surely would’ve been a very big coincidence if she and Other Twilight had merely swapped universes, but it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility. Out of all the near infinite number of alternate worlds out there, the chances that the other Twilight from the universe she had visited had ended up here, would be almost preposterous. And, adding on to that, the fact that their two universes were practically identical to each other? Twilight did not even want to know probabilities of that happening.

But, of course, that was exactly what had happened, though she had no way of knowing that at the moment.

All for the better, probably.

It would’ve been particularly cruel to her sanity if she ever figured that out.

She probably would have a meltdown or something similar.

Too bad that was exactly what was going to happen.

As it was, the sheer relief and peacefulness she had been feeling by simply being back in her home universe was shattered the moment they entered the kitchen.

Everything there was out of place as well. 

Noticeably so. 

So very so.

It was all too far to the right, much in the same way it had been in the other reality. 

She had spent so much time there moving everything back to where she knew it to be, and now here it was all wrong again.

It was all wrong.

“Oh come on!” She nickered in frustration, coming to an abrupt halt as she took in the kitchen. She had been silently dreading something like this ever since she realized that the throne room had been in the same situation, hoping that it wouldn’t be true.

“Did she move everything here slightly to the right?!” She, here referring to Other Twilight.

Spike walked past Twilight, who was still standing motionless in the doorway. “You know, she kept complaining about the exact opposite thing. That everything was slightly too far to the left or something. She kept bumping into things.”

Twilight’s face scrunched up in confusion, her ears laid back against her head. “…I was doing that in the other world too. Everything was out of place, and I was all out of sorts because of it. I didn’t even think…” Her voice was quiet. 

For a moment, nothing.

The implications ran through her head. It seemed as if her initial suspicions were correct, however preposterous they had been.

“So what? Me and the other Twilight switched universes, and the only difference was that everything was moved slightly to the left or right in relation to our home universe?!” A low whinny escaped her throat. “I… I can’t…”

It was too much.

After everything, after all that time and effort, that was the difference?!

It was the only thing that made sense.

The only thing that could.

Twilight Sparkle had been transported to an alternate universe where everything was moved slightly to the right.

And the Twilight from that universe had come to this one, where everything was moved slightly to the left, in relation.

That was…so incredibly stupid. So exceptionally discouraging.

For once, Twilight Sparkle would have been perfectly fine not knowing.

She blinked.

Then blinked again.

Her jaw clenched, teeth grinding against each other.

One of her hooves tapped uneasily against the ground, a muscle spasming.

It looked as if she was about to say something more, but then didn’t.

She blinked again, an eye twitching unbidden.

She took a deep breath in.

And exhaled.

Again, in.

And out.

Her eyes looked at nothing in particular.

“I’m going to bed.”

“What?” said Spike.

“I’m going to bed,” she repeated. “I’m done with today.” 

And with that, she turned and began walking away. Spike played catch up this time as she continued on, her voice low and weary. “…That is the absolute worst alternate universe I’ve ever heard of. I was already stressed out because I couldn’t figure it out over there, and then I come here and find out that everything was only in a slightly different position? I’m done.”

He was confused. He didn’t quite understand what she had figured out. “What’re you talking about, Twi? What’s different?”

She opened her mouth, as if she was going to expound further, but then shut it again with a snap. “I’ll tell you later. Right now, I’m tired. It’s been a long day. I’m not even hungry anymore.”

“I… Okay… That’s fine.” He decided not to push it any further. She looked as if she was going to freak out if anything else annoyed her further. He had learned long ago not to antagonize her past a certain point, and she was clearly there now.

He gently grabbed one of her hooves and led her down the hall. He knew how to handle her in this state. “It’s okay, Twilight. Why don’t you go lay down for a while? Travelling through dimensions is exhausting, after all.”

She nodded numbly, muttering a quiet word of thanks under her breath. She was glad he seemed to understand she needed to be alone. 

After everything that had happened and all the effort and time she had put in, finding out the true difference between the two universes practically broke her. It was such a letdown. A disappointment. Disheartening. 

Together, they walked up the stairs and down the hall to her bedroom.

It took several minutes to do so, as the castle was so large, but they eventually made it.

Spike opened the large door with only minor difficulty, and ushered her inside.

“Okay now, you get some rest.” His voice was soft. “I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

And with that, without waiting for a response, he shut the door, leaving Twilight alone in her room.

She stood there for some time, just inside the doorway, not moving an inch.

All of the energy in her body was gone. All the excitement that had filled her earlier in the day, drained away.

She could scarcely believe it…

An alternate universe where everything was slightly to the right.

Out of everything it could be, it was that.

She could scarcely believe it.

But the facts were there.

She had gone to the other universe, and complained about everything being too far to the right.

And the other Twilight had come here, complaining about how everything was moved to the left.

She took a step forward.

Then, another.

Her eyes focused properly on her bedroom, taking it in for the first time since she had gotten in.

This was her room. 

Her sanctuary. 

Her quiet place. 

This was where, after a long and stressful day, she could just forget about her problems and relax.

This was where she needed to be right now.

And everything was in the exact place it should have been.

The other Twilight never changed anything here.

Nothing was out of place.

Everything was perfect.

Not too far to the right.

Not too far to the left.

Everything was good.

Everything was right with the world, here, inside this one room.

And Twilight Sparkle was happy.

She crawled into bed, hoping to just get through the rest of the day and get a fresh start tomorrow, but ended up staring blankly at the canopy above her for several hours, her precious and coveted sleep eluding her.

Several thoughts ran through her head during that time, the least of which was the realization that she would have to go and completely reorganize both the entire library and the kitchen, as they were both still messed up.

It was only around midnight that she finally drifted off into a peaceful and dreamless sleep, of which she was rudely awakened from at about seven o’clock when Rainbow Dash abruptly crashed into the side of the castle and snapped off one of the spires.

But that is not this story.

This story ends as many, many others before it have. With a mare named Twilight Sparkle.




~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~





> BONUS: AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE WHERE EVERYTHING IS CONSTANTLY SCREAMING!!!!!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


BONUS: AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE WHERE EVERYTHING IS CONSTANTLY SCREAMING!!!!!






~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~





Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, five-time winner of the National Equestrian Speed Reading Competition, and all-around pretty swell mare, was back at it again.

It had been a couple of months, a few weeks, and one or two days since the initial incident with the whole “Left Universe Debacle,” as it had become to be known, and she was preparing yet another venture into an alternate universe.

See, in the ensuing time since then, she had made six separate forays into other alternate universes with the intent to study them, all with varying degrees of success.

There had been one where everything had been the same, except the color blue was called ‘jeel,’ and another where the concept of ‘walking’ had never been invented, and everyone just ran everywhere all the time (Twilight had certainly brought some mind-blowing revelations to that world).

And now, she was gearing up for her seventh expedition through the Cutie Map portal.

It was exciting, to say the least.

Twilight was always happy to learn new things, and had certainly taken a great interest in the subject of alternate universes.

The Cutie Map, on the other hand, was not at all happy about being used in such a manner, but had now begrudgingly resigned itself to its new purpose.

Presently, Twilight finished her preparations and turned to Spike, who was sitting just off to the side. “Well, I’m all set here.” She strapped her rather hefty saddlebags to her back. “I shouldn’t be too long.”

Spike glanced up from the comic he was reading, “Mmm-hmm. I’ll be here for the other Twilight who comes through.”

“Do you have your checklist?”

“Yup.” He set down his comic and held up the clipboard that lying next to him. “I’ve got this, Twi. I’ve done this six times now. Nothing will happen.”

“Okay okay. Just making sure.” She smiled at him. “I’ll see you soon.”

“See ya.”

And with that, Twilight stepped up to the table and cast the spell that would open up the portal.

The Cutie Map flared to life and the familiar swirling vortex appeared above her. 

The portal to an alternative timeline.

With only one more glance back at Spike, Twilight leapt into the portal, eager to experience whatever was on the other side, no matter how mundane it might be.

If only she knew what was actually waiting for her.





~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~





AHHH AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

“AAAAHHH!” AHHH AHH, ARGH AAAAAAAHHHH AAAWWW AAAHHHH AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH. “AAAAAAAAA… AAAAAAAAAHHHH AAAAAH AAAAWWWWWWWWW AAHHHHHHHHH AAAAAHHH AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH?”

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH AAAAARGGGGHHHH AAHHHHHH. “AH. AH, AHHH AAAAAAAAAHHHH AAAAWWWWWWWWW AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH. AHHH AAAAAAAAAHHHH EEEIII AAH AAAAAHHHH AAAHHH AAAAIIIIIEEE OOOOOWW OWWWWW.” AAAAHHHH AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH, AAAAAHHHH OOOHHH AAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWW ARGH OOOOOHHHHH. “ AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAA AAAAHHHHHH AAHHHH AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH, AAH?”

AHHH AAAAAHAAHAHA AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ARGH HHHHAAAA, AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH AAHHH AAHHHHHH ROAR AH AAAHH, HHAA HHAAAAHHHHHHAAAAAAAA OOOOHHH AAAAAHHHHH AAAAHHH. “AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH… AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH AAHHH AAAHHH… AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH AAHHHH WOAH. AAAHHH ARGH AAHHHH OOOOOWW AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.” HHAA HHAAAAHHHHHHAAAAAAAA. “AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH AAAAAAAAAAHHHH. AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH EEEK.”

“AH ARGH, AAAHHHH AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH AAAAAAAAAHHHH AAAHHH ARGH AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAA AAHHHHHH AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH AAHHHHHH AHHH AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAA OOHHHHH.”

“AH?” AHHH AAAAAHHHH, ARGH OOOOOHHHHH. “AAHHHHHH ARGH AAAHHHH AAAAHHH AAAAIIIIIEEE AAAHHHH AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH. AAAHHH AAAAAAAAA AH ARGH EEEIII AAH AAAHHHH AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH AAHHHHHH AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH–OW!” 

AHHH AAAAAHHHHH AAAHHH AAAHHHH, AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH AH AAAAAAAAAHHHH AAAAIIIIIEEE AAAHHHH AHHH AH ARGH WOAH. “AAAAAAAAA?” AAAAAHHHHH AAAAAHHHH AAAHHH, AHHH AAAHHHH EEEK ARGH.

“UHH… AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH AAHHH AAAHHH?” AAAAHHH. “AAAHHHH AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH. AHHH AAAAAHHHH AAAHHH AAAHHHH AHHH AHH AH AAAAIIIIIEEE AAAHHHH AAH.”

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH AAAAAAAAAHHHH. “ROAR AHHH AAHHHHHH? AAAHHHH…” ARGH AAAHHHH. AAAAIIIIIEEE AAAHHHH AAAAAAAAAHHHH AAAAWWWWWWWWW AAAAAHHHH AAAHHH. AAAAAHHHH… 

AAAHHH ARGH. 

OH AAAHH.

AAAAAAAAAAARRRRROOH!

AAAARRHHH. AAAARRHHH. AAHHHHHH WOAH AH. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH ARGH AAHHHHHH. AAAAAH AAAAAAAAAHHHH AAAARRHHH OWWWWW AAHHHHHH AAAAAAAAAHHHH AAAHHHH ARGH AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA HHAA AAAHHHH. AAAAAH AAAAAAAAAHHHH AAAARRHHH OWWWWW. AAHHHHHH ROAR WOAH. 

…AAH?

ARRHH. AAAHHH.

AAHHHHHH ROAR WOAH. AAAAAH AAAAAAAAAHHHH AAAARRHHH OWWWWW AAAHHHH ROAR WOAH AAAHHH…AAAHHH.

AAAARRHHH AAAHHHH AAHHHHHH AHHH, AAAAIIIIIEEE AAAHHHH AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA, AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, AHHH AH AAAAAAAAAHHHH AAAHHH. AH aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh ARGH AAAHHHH AAH.

AAAARRHHH AAHHHHHH AAAAAHHHH ROAR WOAH AAAHHHH AAAHHH.

AAAHHHH? AH AARRRRGGHH AAHHHHHH. AHHH ROAR AAAHHH (EEEEEEEE AHHH ARRROOO, AAAAIIIIIEEE, AHH AAAAAHHHH AAAHHH ARGH).

AH AAAIIIEEE ARGH AARRRRGGHH.

AH AAAIIIEEE ARGH WOAH.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH AHH EEEK AAAAAHHHHH AAAAAHHHH.

“AAAHH, AAAH,” AAAAHHH, “AAAAWWWWWW?”

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH OOOOOHHHHH. “ARRROOO AAAHHH! AH—” ARGH AAAHHHHAAAHHHH. “—AAAIIIEEE. AAHHHHHH AAAHHH!”

“AAHHH AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAA AAAHHH. AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH AAHHHHHH.”

“AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH AARRRRGGHH AH AARRRRGGHH ARGH.”

“AH? HHAA AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH AARRRRGGHH AAAAAHHHH AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH. AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH AAAIIIEEE ARGH AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAA, AAAHHH, HHAA AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH EEEIII.”

AHHH, AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ARGH. “…ROAR AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAA AAHHHHHH AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAA?”

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH AAAIIIEEE ARGH AH AAAAAHHHHHAAAAAAAHHHHHH AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AW AAAAAAAAAHHHH ARGH AAAHHHH AAH.

HHAA AAAHHHH AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH AAHHHHHH AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAIIIEEE ARGHAW AAAAAAAAAHHHH ARGH AAAHHHH, AAAAIIIIIEEE.

AAHHHHHH AAAAAAAAAHHHH…AAAHHH. AAAHHH.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH ROAR AARRRRGGHH AAAHHH.

AHHH AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH. UUUUUUUUUUUAAHH?

HHAAAAHHHHHHAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

ARGH!

AAAHHH ARGH AAAHHHH, AAAAAHHHH.

AH AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH AAHHH AHHH AAAAAAAAAHHHH ARGH, HHAAAAHHHHHHAAAAAAAA ARRROOO.

AHHH AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

AHHH OOOWWWW AAAAAHHHH AAAAIIIIIEEE.

AAAAIIIIIEEE.

HHAA.

ARGH AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH AAAHH AAAAIIIIIEEE.

“AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH ARGH.”

AHH AAAAHHH.

“AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH ARGH.” AHHH. 

AAAHHHH AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH.

AAAHHH AAAAAAAAAHHHH AAAHHH.

AW AAAAAAAAAHHHH.

AAAHHH OOOWWWW ARGH AAAHHHH AAH.

AAAHHH ARGH AAAHHHH.

AW AAAAAAAAAHHHH.






~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~






Twilight Sparkle appeared in a flash of light, finally back in her own reality, in her own throne room.

For a short moment, she was confused, dazed, momentarily stunned by the long, arduous, and incredibly entertaining events that had taken place the other universe.

She blinked, took a slight step forwards, and then she collapsed to the floor.

Spike, who was still there, ran over to her, worried out of his mind. “Twilight! What happened!”

The mare in question took deep, gasping breaths and clutched at her ears as if they were in the most unimaginable pain possible. She didn’t even acknowledge Spike’s words.

“Twilight! Twilight! You’re okay! It’s okay!” He pulled her hooves away from her ears in a desperate bid to help her, not knowing quite what was going on.

Her ears were bleeding.

Spike’s eyes widened at that, and he didn’t know what to do.

“Twilight,” he said, enveloping her in a hug, “Twilight, it’s okay. You’re home. Everything is okay.”

Twilight stiffened at his touch, opened one of eyes and looked at Spike.

And then she sat up and looked around, blood still trickling from her ears.

She was back in her own universe again.

She hadn’t even realized it.

She was home.

And there was Spike, standing there, watching on in worry.

And not screaming.

He wasn’t screaming.

She repressed a shudder and cast a simple healing spell on her ears, repairing the damage done to them. Her eardrums had burst at some point, and she hadn’t even been able to hear.

But now, she could, and she had never felt more relieved in her entire life.

“Spike?” she said, cautiously. “Am I back?”

He nodded. “Yeah, you’re back, Twi. Don’t worry.”

With a deep breath, she straightened up, recollecting herself some.

This was her universe, her castle, her home.

Where everything was nice, and quiet, and not constantly screaming.

She smiled at him.

“Umm… What happened?” was what Spike asked next. The poor drake was awfully curious, and he needed to know if there was anything he could do to help.

“Screaming,” she stated simply, her eyes staring vacantly at nothing in particular.

“What?”

She looked back at him, her entire body trembling now. “Everything was screaming!”

He looked at her oddly. “…What do you mean, ‘everything?’”

She gripped him tight, her face alight with a manic energy. “Everything, Spike! Everything! Every! Thing!” She took a deep breath, steadying her nerves. When she spoke again, it was in a much more level tone. “Like, the ponies could not physically stop screaming. Even when they slept. They screamed. Constantly. And not just them, no. But everything. The blades of grass, every house, the sun, pieces of parchment, water. Everything.”

She slumped back down to the floor, wiping at the now dried blood on her ears. “…It was terrible…” she said in a whisper. “It was horrible… I couldn’t even think… It—It was all just screaming…”

“I have some idea what it must’ve been like,” he said.

Twilight gave him a look that very much told him that he really didn’t know what it had been like.

But he pressed on regardless. “I mean, not really, of course. I can imagine. But, I do understand a little bit. That universe’s Twilight was here, with me, and she just screamed the whole time too. We couldn’t communicate at all. She just screamed. I don’t even want to think what you had to deal with.”

Twilight nodded slowly. “Yeah. Let’s just never speak of this again. I’d really like to erase it from my memory.”

“That’s fine with me.”

There was a brief moment of silence, of which Twilight cherished like never before.

“Do we still have those industrial-strength sleeping pills?” she asked. “I really need to sleep right now. I don’t think I can even do anything else.” She repressed yet another shudder.

“Yeah, I’ll go get them.” 

And he did so, and Twilight slept for the next two days, and the two of them never spoke of it ever again.

Though, Twilight did have to go to a therapist for over a year because she freaked out when anypony ever screamed near her. That had been an interesting time. Really put a damper on the whole saving the world thing she and the others had to do, as there was generally at least some screaming involved.

But so ends that ordeal.







> BONUS #2: An Alternate Universe Where the Concept of 'Alternate Universes' Doesn't Exist
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

This story begins as many, many, many others have. With an alicorn named Twilight Sparkle.

Without the concept of alternative universes existing, she lived her life blissfully unaware that there was anything more to explore than the world she lived in. 

And thus, this story ends as many, many, many others before it have. With an alicorn named Twilight Sparkle.