Celestia and Luna decide they want to visit Equestria and see what life is like from their point of view. What could possibly go wrong?
Having learned much about Equestria from both Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer, the two principals from CHS have always been curious about what the world is really like. Luna finally proposes the idea that the two should find out themselves just what its like to be a pony...and not just any pony but royalty as well. What could possibly go wrong in this situation?
Twilight could probably name about thirty of them.
It was another summer day in Canterlot. It was now June and the heat was finally starting to set in for the next coming months, much to the dismay of many who would more than likely have their A/C break down along that time period. Now that school was over for the spring term, many students were either at home or on vacation with their families. The former unfortunately was the case for the two sisters in charge of Canterlot High.
Celestia was currently in the kitchen reading through a magazine that listed off tours around the globe while drinking her morning coffee. Unfortunately, most of the trips were at least ten days long and she wasn’t sure she wanted to be gone that long, especially since she didn’t want to leave Zoe, her little Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. “Hmm…I heard Vanhoover is nice this time of year…” she thought out loud.
Suddenly, Luna walked in and practically plopped into the chair opposite her sister. “Its official: I have nothing else to do now.”
“Seriously? Don’t you have like ten different video games that you bought last month?” Celestia asked.
“I finished them already.”
Celestia stared at her younger sister. “Already? Most of those games take over fifty hours to beat!”
“I have my ways…”
“Well, that would certainly explain the lack of sleep you’ve probably been getting,” Celestia said sighing as she passed over a second mug.
Luna took a long sip. “Still vacation planning huh?”
“Yes…most of these places look nice but I can’t see ourselves being gone over a week. And they’re not exactly cheap either.”
“And here I thought you’d relish the idea of eating caviar and all that,” Luna joked.
“I don’t think they’re that fancy…but you know Vanhoover only has eight days and you can take a train to Los Pegasus.”
“Oh yes, because I want to gamble my life’s savings away,” Luna said, rolling her eyes. “Wait…what if we bring Twilight Sparkle? She’s good at probability and stuff and we could-”
“No.”
“…Well it is next to Applewood so maybe they’ll give us a tour of the studios.”
Celestia sighed. “I don’t know…I can’t make up my mind on this. But right now, anything beats staying here in Canterlot.”
Luna was deep in thought for a moment before a slow smile crept onto her face. “Actually…speaking of Sparkle…I might have a suggestion.”
“Hmm?”
“Just hear me out first Tia: what if instead of taking a trip somewhere here, we could go…oh I don’t know…maybe to Equestria?”
Celestia stared at her sister. “Excuse me?”
“Oh come on! The portal’s open, Sunset Shimmer said so herself! It couldn’t hurt to check the place out.”
“And you’re suddenly an expert on these types of things?” Celestia asked skeptically. “You really think its safe?”
“Both Twilight and Sunset did it just fine and nothing happened to them. Besides, didn’t Twilight say we’re royalty over there?”
“Oh no Luna, I know what you’re getting at and I won’t allow it. If there really is a Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, and if it’s true that if we go there we turn into ponies, how do you think that’s going to end?”
“…Well we can always be diplomatic about it. Just say we’re…ambassadors of this world.”
“This is the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard.”
“But I can tell you’re intrigued!” Luna grinned.
Celestia looked away as she considered her choices. Obviously Luna wasn’t going to leave her alone about it and she was partly correct: she was curious what life was like on the other side. But was it safe? Were their pony counterparts going to burn them at the stake for trespassing? Well, if the occupants on this side were mere reflections of those on the other side, then that Celestia wouldn’t do something so barbaric…at least she hoped.
“Okay, I admit it…I’m intrigued. But I’m still not sure this is a good idea.”
Luna casually waved her hand in dismissal. “You’re worrying about it too much sister. I’m sure they would treat us like any welcome guest.”
“Oh yes I’m sure…” Celestia sighed again. “Oh what the hell…what could it hurt? I’ll get dressed then we’ll go check it out.”
“Yes!” Even as an adult, Luna really did sometimes have the mentality of a child.
About half an hour, they drove up to the front of the school, where the remnant of the school statue was located. “I can’t believe Twilight broke that statue,” Luna said. “I always did like that statue. How are we going to replace it?”
“Cadance told me that Crystal Prep is willing to donate money to help pay for the repairs,” Celestia said. “I guess being Interim Principal has its advantages.”
As the two went up to the statue, Celestia couldn’t help but feel a chill down her back. “I can’t believe after so many years and we never noticed that this was a portal to another world.”
“Yes, I suppose because of Sunset Shimmer everything’s different now,” Luna lamented.
“Well…it was getting kind of boring around here anyway…so how do we test this?”
Luna looked around until she found a small rock. “I suppose this could work.”
“You know, if that goes through and somehow breaks a window, it’s your fault.”
“Hmph. Fine, then I’ll toss it ever so casually…” Luna rolled her eyes and gently threw it underhand towards the side where the portal was. As it touched the wall, it instantly disappeared. “It…actually went through.”
“Hold on a second…” The two of them waited to see if the rock would come back and if it did, either the connection between the two worlds was disconnected temporarily, or someone was communicating with them. But the rock never came back. “I…guess the connection is open then.”
“Are you getting cold feet?” Luna smirked slightly.
“No…but I think you should go first since you’re the most eager about this.”
“Fine but you better not chicken out…you wouldn’t dare leave your poor sister behind would you?”
“Just go already!”
Luna stuck out her tongue in a teasing matter and slowly went through the portal. Celestia watched her go and once she was gone, she took a deep breath and followed suit. After all, what could possibly go wrong?
Celestia thought with all the movies that Luna had made her watch with her that dealt with portals, wormholes, or what have you that it would be as easy as going in one place and coming out another. It certainly wasn’t anything like it was in the movies.
Instead, Celestia felt as if she was falling down a well, which in every right is pretty scary. Not only that, but she felt something change inside her. Her bone structure, her DNA perhaps. Of course, the sensation was only momentary as she passed through an area of blinding light and next thing she knew, she had fallen onto a rather smooth surface.
She felt slightly dizzy as she heard a voice call out to her. Then she recognized it as her sister’s. “Tia, are you alright?” Celestia opened her eyes and at first she thought maybe she was seeing things but there was a blue muzzled face in front of her with short ears and bright eyes…her sister’s eyes.
“Luna…” She took a moment to register everything. “…You’re a pony now.”
Luna suddenly grinned and squealed with delight, something Celestia hadn’t heard from her in a long time. “I know! I look adorable right!? And look at this mane! Is it not fabulous!?” Indeed, her…mane didn’t look like a typical mane at all, but instead it had…wait was she seeing the cosmos in there? “And these wings! Twilight Sparkle was right all along!”
Celestia tried to get up, and then realized as she looked down that she too no longer had hands but two front hooves. “This is…interesting…I’m surprised I’m not freaking out.”
“Because you look marvelous sister,” Luna beamed. “Take a peek for yourself.”
Celestia looked behind and saw that there was a mirror, presumably the mirror that brought them here. She looked into the reflection and saw she too was now a pony, a rather large one with a horn and wings…what did Sunset call them? Alicorns? “…How is my mane doing that?”
“I suppose it must be Equestrian magic,” Luna guessed. “But now that I think about it…where are we exactly?”
Suddenly, the door on the other side of the room opened and a smaller pony with a purple body and matching mane peeked inside and upon seeing the two ponies rushed inside. She too had a horn and wings. “Princess Celestia, Princess Luna!” the mare asked. “What are you doing here?”
Celestia and Luna glanced at one another before Celestia leaned over to her sister and whispered, “I think that’s Twilight. This world’s Twilight.”
“Ah…” Luna whispered back. “So…how should we play this?”
“Just act normal…” Celestia then looked up to Twilight and beamed. “Hello…Twilight. We certainly didn’t mean to surprise you.”
“Oh no it’s fine it’s just-” She then paused as she looked at the two curiously. “Wait…how come you didn’t use the front door?” She then glanced behind her towards the mirror and then gasped as it all clicked together. “Wait a minute…are you-?”
“W-Wait!” Luna said as she backed away slowly. “Please don’t be upset, we were just curious and-”
“Upset?” Twilight asked. Her face then broke out into a grin. “Are you kidding, this is wonderful!” The young princess went up and hugged both of them. “I can’t believe you two are here! Sunset didn’t say anything about you two coming at all!”
“Well, Luna was apparently bored and came up with the idea of coming over here,” Celestia said simply. She then looked around the room. “This is…interesting architecture.”
“Oh! Yes, this is actually my castle,” Twilight said, blushing slightly. “Tada…!”
“Very impressive,” Luna noted. “Again, I hope you don’t mind. Since you’ve come to our world we figured it couldn’t hurt if we came to learn a little bit of yours.”
“I’d be honored,” Twilight said as she bowed. She then paused and giggled. “Sorry…kind of a habit since you both share such a resemblance to both-” She then gasped and this time she looked worried. “Wait, no this isn’t good at all!”
The two sisters glanced again at one another. “I beg your pardon?” Celestia asked.
“Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are up in Canterlot…” Twilight started pacing. “But if anypony sees you here they’re going to start talking and everyone will get confused and think-” She then stopped in her tracks. “No, this won’t do. I’ll have to-”
Suddenly there was a knock on the door which almost made Twilight. “Twilight?” Another unicorn poked her head inside and her eyes widened as she saw the three ponies. “Oh! Princess Celestia and Luna, I didn’t realize you two were here.”
“Oh Starlight!” Twilight said rather loudly. “Yes um…yeah these two wanted to surprise me because um…” She glanced at the two ponies for help.
“Because…we wanted to celebrate Twilight’s birthday,” Celestia said. “You know, a whole…royal thing.”
“But…her birthday isn’t for another month?” Starlight glanced at Twilight with a confused look. “Right?”
“W-Well we may be…very busy next month,” Luna added. “Plus we need to discuss…discussions about…pony-related stuff.”
“Yep!” Twilight said with a forced grin. “It’s kind of top secret though so…”
Starlight looked at the three alicorns and her eyes narrowed slightly. “You three are hiding something…”
“Are we?” Luna said darkly. Funny how Luna could make the temperature in the room drop…and apparently there was a storm brewing outside.
“…Well okay then, I’ll just leave you three to it then,” Starlight said as she left the room.
Twilight sighed with relief. “That’s Starlight Glimmer, my former student,” she explained.
“Former student?” Celestia then smiled. “I see you’ve been busy lately.”
“Oh you have no idea,” Twilight replied. “But Sunset tells me things too. I heard camp was fun.”
“It was…interesting,” Luna said. “Well except that we ended up rebuilding that dock about five times…”
“Anyway…” Celestia rolled her eyes. “You were having a moment before?”
“Oh!” Twilight started fidgeting again. “Yes, I need to get a letter out and have the princesses here. I mean, if you’re okay with meeting your counterparts.”
“Actually, I think we’d be most interested,” Celestia said with an amused look. “Do we really look alike?”
“Absolutely…well except for the crown and royal gear,” Twilight said. “But don’t worry, I’m sure they’ll be just as excited to meet you. Be right back, need to get that letter out!” She then rushed out of the room.
It was quiet for a few moments as the two sisters looked around the room. “You know…this place almost reminds me of Crystal Prep,” Luna said. “But look at the walls…I know these ponies have special talents but this doesn’t look man…er…pony-made.”
“Knowing this world, it probably just built itself,” Celestia chuckled slightly.
“Now that’s just ridiculous.”
Twilight was currently in her study, trying to keep her quill still as she wrote her letter. “This is the first time anyone’s ever come to this world from the other side!” she thought gleefully. “It would be nice if Sunset were to come back as well.” She then refocused on her letter.
Dear Princesses Celestia and Luna,
I know this letter is rather short notice but something amazing has just happened! I believe I told you about your human counterparts right? Well, as fate would have it, they just showed up in my castle. Don’t worry though, they just wanted to visit I promise.
Anyway, I know this is a lot to ask but perhaps you two could come visit real quick and speak to them? They’ve shown an interest in meeting you and I would consider this an opportunity to understand one another much better. I hope to hear from you two soon!
Sincerely,
Princess Twilight
Twilight then rolled up the parchment and almost skipped out of the room. “Oh Spike!”
Meanwhile in Canterlot, Princess Celestia was sitting on her throne drinking some hot tea and looking quite bored. What was going to be a busy day suddenly turned into a free day: the Duke and Duchess of Trottingham had postponed their meeting with the princesses due to a family member suddenly becoming sick and once again Prince Rutherford sent in a last second letter about postponing their trade summit with Canterlot. He didn’t specify, only saying in the letter, “DEAR PRINCESS, VERY BUSY. WILL MEET LATER. SORRY, PRINCE RUTHERFORD”. Celestia always favored free days but the question was where she was going to go.
“A day at the spa sounds wonderful,” she thought. “But there’s always so many ponies there and I just want my alone time…” Well, she could kick everyone out…but that was more Luna’s thing than hers.
Speaking of which, her sister had just entered the throne room, a similar expression on her face. “Something wrong sister?” Celestia asked.
“Tia, I want you to be honest with me…am I really that strict?” Luna asked.
“That…would depend on who you ask,” Celestia replied. “What happened?”
“Oh, I was just with the Lunar Guard…don’t get me wrong they’re very loyal and follow every order to a T,” Luna said, sighing slightly. “But those poor ponies give me the thousand yard stare and they go so stiff I’m worried they’re not getting enough blood to the head.”
Celestia smiled slightly. “They want to impress you, dear sister, because they’re aware you’re…um…very ‘old school’.”
Luna snorted. “I’ve done better with becoming more…what’s the word? Mainstream? Yes. I know I ask a lot but…I’m not sure how I can compromise without losing their respect.”
“Just be open with them Luna…if they’re as loyal as you say, they’ll listen,” Celestia smiled. Suddenly, a green flame floated into the castle and upon reaching Celestia’s throne, transformed into a letter. “Hm…a letter from Twilight I see.” She then opened it and read through it. Her eyes widened slightly. “Oh my…”
“What is it?” Luna asked, looking slightly concerned.
“You’ll want to read this; it’s addressed to you as well.” Luna took the letter and read through it herself, soon having the same expression.
“Well this is…most surprising,” Luna said. “What shall we do?”
“This is definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Celestia pondered. She then shrugged. “I’ve got nothing better to do. You?”
“Nope. Let us pay our friends a visit then.”
Celestia then got herself some parchment, a quill, and ink and began writing back.
Dear Princess Twilight,
This is most interesting news. Of course we’ll come and say hello. I suppose you probably don’t want us to use the front entrance. Very well, we’ll be there right away. Let this letter be a two-minute warning.
Sincerely,
Princesses Celestia and Luna
“Two minutes?” Luna asked as Celestia sent off the letter. “Sister, are you trying to kill the poor mare?”
Celestia smirked slightly. “Twilight will learn eventually that once you’re a princess, you’re fair game to all sorts of shenanigans…”
Luna stared at her sister with slight concern. "And they say I was the evil one!
Back in Ponyville, the two sisters were staring at a painting, a work of art that unfortunately neither of them recognized but was still inspiring nonetheless. “Pony anatomy here is...very unique,” Celestia commented.
“You know...there was one question I kind of wanted to ask Twilight before but…” Luna blushed slightly. “I'm kind of embarrassed to ask.”
“Please don't tell me you're wondering if they sell nude magazines here,” Celestia guessed.
“What!?” Luna's pupils shrank as she stared at her sister. “Celestia! Why would you even-!?”
“Am I right or wrong?” Celestia asked, a smirk on her face.
Luna cleared her throat. “No actually… I was going to ask if they...er...have facilities for...you know.”
“Oh.” Now Celestia looked uncomfortable. “I wouldn't think they'd be that... primitive.”
“Hmm...well anyway, I'm curious about something. If this is, in most cases, a parallel world then one would think our counterparts are very similar to us, correct?”
“Well I don't know many royals so hopefully they're not…well the stereotypical royal.”
“Probably not since we know both Twilight and her counterpart are very much the same. Speaking of which, I wonder where she-” Suddenly there was a scream. “Um...is she okay?”
“Well, I didn't hear an explosion so-”
Suddenly Twilight burst into the room, looking very frantic around the room. “Oh no no no I knew I should've tidied up better this morning!” If it wasn't for the fact that she looked like she was going to have a heart attack, the scene would be very adorable.
“Is something wrong?” Celestia asked.
Twilight suddenly giggled. “Wrong? Oh not at all, I just have two minutes before the princesses show up here and I haven't even prepared anything.” She started pacing. “I can't use the throne room...we have to keep this secret...maybe I could…” Suddenly her horn glowed and a large table appeared in the middle of the room. “Perfect! I may have to explain why the dining room table is missing but...oh well!” She then summoned chairs that would be comfortable for the four ponies. “Let me think...ah! I still need to make tea! Do you two like cucumber sandwiches?”
Celestia and Luna looked at one another. “Well I personally like peanut butter and banana…” Luna began.
“That would be fine,” Celestia said as she glared at her sister. “Are you sure you don't need help?”
“Oh no no, you two make yourselves comfortable!” Twilight then teleported off to presumably the kitchen.
“Well...that's definitely the Twilight we know,” Luna commented. She then looked up at her horn. “I wonder how they do it…”
“Let's not blow up the castle on our first visit.”
It was only a minute later when two bright lights went off in front of them, blinding them for a few moments before they looked and saw two identical figures staring back at them.
“Oh my…” Princess Luna said. “Twilight Sparkle speaks the truth.”
“It's truly like staring in the mirror,” Luna replied.
“We apologize for the sudden entrance,” Princess Celestia said. “We wanted to surprise Twilight and we detected your presence in this part of the castle. But I'm not surprised that she isn't here.”
“She felt the need to go make tea and sandwiches,” Celestia replied.
Princess Celestia smiled. “That doesn't surprise me. But where are our manners?” The two princesses came forward and formally introduced themselves. “I don't believe names need to be exchanged of course but as Twilight may have mentioned, we are both rulers of Equestria.”
“I suppose you could say the main rulers,” Princess Luna added. “The system is kind of hard to explain.”
“To be honest, it's kind of shocking to know there's another me out there, especially one that's both a pony and royalty,” Celestia said.
“Oh?” Princess Celestia looked confused. “We were under the impression that you two had similar titles.”
Luna suddenly laughed. “If being principals of a high school were just as important then yes you'd be correct.”
The two princesses gave each other a glance. “So...who is your authority figure?” Princess Luna asked.
Celestia and Luna sighed. “You don't want to know,” Celestia replied.
The door behind them opened and Twilight came in with a pot of tea and a tray of small sandwiches. “Alright, that should be every-ahh!” Despite the surprise, she did well not to drop anything. “Princess Celestia! Princess Luna! You...didn't come from the front entrance did you?”
“I apologize on my sister's behalf,” Princess Luna said. “She wanted to surprise you.”
Princess Celestia gave an innocent look. “I just didn't want to inconvenience Twilight, that's all.”
“We're just getting to know each other, that's all,” Celestia said.
As tea was poured out and sandwiches served, the two sets of sisters explained to one another about recent events. “So somehow Equestrian magic came to your world before Sunset Shimmer arrived and your world's Twilight and the others found gems similar to the Elements of Harmony?” Princess Luna asked.
“Well, considering she's now saved the school three times, yes I would say so,” Celestia said. “She's really come around in a short amount of time. I'd say if it weren't for Twilight, it wouldn't be so great at Canterlot High.”
Twilight blushed slightly. “Oh I didn't do that much…”
“Actually, with all that's happened I maybe partly to blame,” Princess Celestia sighed. “I was the one who introduced her to the mirror in the first place. But more than that, I should've been more understanding instead of... driving her away.” Luna smiled sympathetically as she put her hoof in hers. “If I may ask...has she ever talked about... wanting to come back?”
“Honestly, we haven't really spoken much with her on that,” Celestia said. “I figured it was...a personal matter.”
Princess Celestia sat in her seat silently for a moment. “Luna...care for another sandwich?”
“Actually I think I'm good really-”
“Oh no I insist.” Princess Celestia suddenly dropped the rest of the sandwiches onto her sister's plate. “Oh dear. I guess that's it for the sandwiches. Twilight, you wouldn't by chance have any extras would you? I'm sure Luna and I wouldn't mind if you went and got us more...right Luna?”
Princess Luna blinked for a moment and then finally caught on. “Oh yes, these sandwiches are amazing, I'd love to take some home as well.”
Twilight looked confused on the matter. “R-Right...okay I can bring more.” Grabbing the plate with her magic, she then left the room.
Once the door closed, Princess Celestia looked towards the two sisters. “Please don't get the wrong impression when I ask this but why exactly did you come here?”
Celestia and Luna looked at each other nervously. “Well, I was the one who wanted to come here, mostly out of curiosity.”
“I see.” The two princesses nodded to one another and both of them grinned. “To be honest...we were kind of curious about your world as well. There's a lot we don't know and while we'd love to check it out, we couldn't possibly leave the kingdom behind.”
“Until now of course,” Princess Luna smirked.
“Now?” Luna asked.
“How about a deal?” Princess Celestia asked. “Since we're both interested in each other's world, how about we switch places? Today, you two become princesses and we become regular citizens.”
The look of surprise on their faces was expected. “But we don't have experience in government, not to mention we've never used magic before,” Celestia said.
“Fortunately, it's been a slow day for both of us,” Princess Luna assured them. “Most of what we do is paperwork, which is nothing new for you two.”
“And as far as magic goes, it's difficult to learn at first but you get the hang out of it rather quickly. Considering you two are apparently now alicorns yourselves, you have the potential, you just have to learn how to use it and how to control it.”
“I just have one question, if you don't mind me asking,” Luna said. “Is it true you two are...well over a thousand years old?”
Both princesses smiled proudly. “It's one attribute of being an alicorn, yes,” Celestia replied.
“So...if hypothetically if I were to stay here, I'd never grow old?”
“Hmm...that could be possible…” Princess Luna replied.
The room grew quiet but soon a chuckle began. The chuckle turned to laughter, which only grew louder and more hysterical. Celestia could only stare at her sister in confusion. “I SHALL LIVE FOREVER!” Luna declared gleefully.
“Yeah... we're not doing that,” Celestia said.
“Aw…”
Princess Luna looked to her sister in concern. “Was I like that before-”
“Oh yes.” Princess Celestia cleared her throat. “So...do we have a deal?”
“Well, it actually does sound kind of fun,” Celestia said. She looked to Luna and she nodded as well. “Alright, we'll do it. But for how long?”
“Just a day,” Princess Luna replied. “We'll be back before Tia has to lower the sun so you shouldn't have to worry about that.” She tapped her chin in thought. “Then again, it probably wouldn't hurt to explain it just in case…”
“Then there's only one thing left to do.” Both princesses used their magic to take off the crowns they wore, as well as the footwear they were wearing and both crowns softly landed on their respective counterparts’ heads. “Welcome to Equestria, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna,” Celestia said, renouncing her title. Needless to say, the new two coronated princesses were at a loss of words while looking at their new regalia.
Once Twilight finally returned, apologizing for the wait since she decided to make a larger plate of sandwiches, she came back to see the four ponies were in the exact same spots as when she left. Or so she thought.
Celestia glanced at her counterpart and nodded. “Thank you Twilight. I hope you don't mind but we've all been talking and Luna and I have decided to give these two a tour of the castle in Canterlot,” “Princess” Celestia said.
“Canterlot?” Twilight frowned slightly. “Are you sure that's a good idea?”
“Do not be concerned Twilight, we'll try not to cause any attention,” “Princess” Luna replied. “If worst comes to worst...well the staff has seen much worse from us honestly.”
“Oh...well then I won't keep you all waiting.” Twilight looked slightly disappointed as the dish she was carrying suddenly turned into a to go box full of sandwiches. “Well, I hope you enjoy your tour.”
“Thank you Twilight,” Celestia nodded as she took the box. “I'm sure we'll be back soon.”
With help from the two Princesses, the four of them soon disappeared. Sighing, Twilight then cleared off the table. “I guess I'll just...stay here then and wait til they come back.” She teleported the table back to its rightful place but as she went out the door she paused for a moment. Something was off.
Unicorns can teleport themselves with ease and with a little extra effort they can teleport a large group of ponies, regardless of race. However, it was Celestia and Luna, the human duo, that used magic, which would've been impossible considering they had no practice with magic whatsoever.
Twilight's eyes narrowed with suspicion. Just what were those four up to?
Teleportation was always believed to be a work of fiction. To travel from point A to point B in mere seconds was purely science fiction but this was not the case in Equestria, as Celestia and Luna found out. The Physics Department at the university would have a field day with this.
In those mere seconds, Celestia and Luna found themselves in another room, one much larger than the one they were in previously. Judging by the architecture and the large throne, they could easily deduce they were in another castle.
“Welcome to Canterlot Palace,” Princess Celestia said. The two royal sisters stepped forward and took their places at the throne. “This is the true heart of all of Equestria and, needless to say, the room we both frequent often.”
“Um…I have a question,” Luna said. “If you two are both rulers of Canterlot, why is there only one throne?”
“Yes dear sister,” Princess Luna added, giving her sister a look. “Why is that?”
Princess Celestia looked bemused as she cleared her throat. “Actually, I’ve been trying to get Luna her own throne but…I’m having issues with the company in charge.”
“Wait…really?” Princess Luna now looked surprised. “You actually ordered a new throne?”
“Of course,” Princess Celestia said with a nod. “It’s not fitting for us to only have one throne. But enough about that, I think it’s time we offer you a tour of the grounds. Oh, but before we forget…” The two sisters nodded towards one another before their horns glowed once again and sudden in a bright light, their appearances quickly changed and now stood two unicorn ponies, one with a pink mane and the other with a bright blue mane.
“It’ll look very suspicious if there were four princesses walking around,” the pink-maned pony said, who now had a slighter higher-pitched voice.
“You can change your appearance at will?” Celestia asked.
“Oh yes,” the blue-maned pony replied, her voice slightly lower pitched. “It’s not an easy spell to master but Tia has had a lot of practice avoiding the media.”
“Now then,” Princess Celestia said. “There isn’t much to say about this room other than its an audience chamber where anypony can come to us and speak to us about any matter, but we’ll explain more about that later. Moving on…”
The two alicorns were led throughout the castle and to any other ponies who passed by, it looked as if the princesses were giving a private tour to a pair of young unicorns. However, Luna was quick to pick up on something. “Is it just me…or do these ponies seem…uncomfortable around me?”
Her counterpart sighed. “I admit I…come across as sometimes cold…I’ve been getting better about being more pleasant around other ponies but…well some still have vivid memories of when I was…not myself.”
“You’ve been doing much better sister,” Princess Celestia said, giving her sister an encouraging hug before they entered the observation room. “This is where Luna and I do our parts of raising and lowering the sun and moon. This requires powerful magic-users such as alicorns like ourselves but the practice is more or less simple. I don’t think we’d be gone longer than needed before we have to lower the sun but…”
“It may be best we teach you both this technique just in case,” Princess Luna replied. “Sister, are you sure we’re not going to cause a panic?”
“Oh no one will complain about a little sky show,” Princess Celestia said, brushing off any worry. “Now…watch closely…you have to focus on your target and at the same time picture it in your mind. Tell yourself where you want to go and the magic will do the rest.”
Both sisters stood next to each other as their horns glowed once again. Suddenly, the sun appeared to move to the right as the moon rose over the horizon and appeared next to it. Soon, the two celestial bodies started to rotate around one another as the two bodies went around in a circle itself. It was quite the sight to take in.
“You make that look so easy…” Celestia commented.
“Well, when you have over two thousand years experience…” Princess Celestia said with a slight grin. “Would you two care to try?”
“Honestly, I’m kind of worried I’m going to turn this into a Clock Town situation…” Luna murmured.
The two princesses looked confused. “She’s worried about bringing the moon down on us,” Celestia explained.
It was quiet for a moment before the two royals burst out laughing. “O-Oh trust us, it wouldn’t be the first time,” Princess Celestia giggled.
“Oh yes, the first time I tried to raise the moon I think I almost killed all of Ponyville by heart attack,” Princess Luna laughed.
“That…doesn’t make me feel any better,” Luna said.
“Ahem…do not worry, we’ll make sure to take control if something does happen,” Princess Celestia said.
Celestia and Luna glanced at one another nervously before they closed their eyes in concentration. Their horns started to glow and suddenly the two orbs in the sky started to move slowly. “Yes, that’s it,” Princess Luna said. “Now Luna, you try to send the moon back under the horizon and Celestia, you move the sun about forty-five degrees to your left.”
Fortunately, the sun and moon obviously weren’t next to each other in space but for a few seconds the two had caused a solar eclipse. However, Luna was able to move the moon slowly out of view while the sun moved back to it’s original place. Once it was over, the two ponies looked exhausted.
“I felt like I just pushed a Mack truck,” Celestia panted.
“The moon is…truly a heavy object…” Luna added.
Both princesses smiled slightly as the scene reminded them of their younger days. “That was actually better than I imagined,” Princess Celestia said. “With enough practice you could do that…maybe ten times faster?”
“I think that about covers all the important stuff,” Princess Luna said. “The royal chambers are right below us but again, I don’t believe we have to worry about that. Today is a bit of a slow day so hopefully nothing should come up but if so, all you have to do is either sign or stamp. It’s very simple.”
“Well, that part we do have experience in,” Celestia said. “Well…I guess this is it then…are you sure you’re all okay with this?”
“Well, if worst comes to worst, you still have Twilight and the others,” Princess Celestia said.
“That is true…”
“If she finds out, she’s not going to be happy with us,” Luna said.
Princess Luna snorted. “If Twilight gets unhappy, all Celestia has to do is give her the look and she quiets down.”
Princess Celestia looked upset. “Do I really have that effect on her?”
“She adores you sister.”
“A-Anyway…we’ll return to Ponyville and then we’ll make our way through the portal. Is their anything you need to tell us about your world before we go?”
Both sisters laughed. “Oh there’s much we need to explain,” Luna said.
Princesses Celestia and Luna made their way back to Ponyville, choosing to go on a route that would attract the least attention. “I didn’t realize their technology was so…advanced,” Luna commented as they were flying through the clouds.
“I would say at least fifty years ahead of our own,” Celestia replied. “It’s very exciting and yet…well I have to admit I’m a bit nervous.”
“It wouldn’t happen to be because of Sunset Shimmer now would it?” Luna smiled.
Celestia frowned. “I haven’t spoken to her in so long…I wouldn’t know how she’d react if she saw me.”
“Well, you are the principal after all,” Luna replied with a wink.
“And you’re the vice principal…did we really decide to go into the same career?”
“It would seem that way.”
Finally that reached Twilight’s castle and this time the two opted to knock on the front doors. The doors quickly opened and Twilight stood before them. “Oh good you’re back!” She then stared at the two of them for a moment. “So…did you two enjoy yourselves at the castle?”
“Oh yes,” Celestia smiled. “They gave us a whole tour of the castle.”
“And a couple of magic tips, but nothing major,” Luna added.
“I see…” Twilight still looked suspicious. “But I can understand if it’s a bit much…you’d probably love to head back home now right?”
“Er…yes, I kind of left my keys and phone in the car,” Celestia said, making sure to follow her script. “It’s a pretty expensive phone.”
Twilight smiled. “Oh then I shouldn’t keep you two waiting then! It was good to see you two again, even if it was kind of unexpected.”
The two of them nodded. “We’ll make sure to write to you the next time,” Luna said.
“Oh wait that’s it!” Twilight suddenly disappeared and then reappeared with a journal. “Take this. It works the same way as the one Sunset has so if anything happens or you just want to talk, just write in it and I can reply. Or if you want to, I can give the other to the princesses.”
“Thank you Twilight,” Celestia said, bowing her head slightly. “We’ll never forget your kindness.”
Twilight just waved as the two sisters said goodbye and went through the mirror. “See Twilight, you were just imagining things…as if the princesses of all ponies would even have the time to go to the other world. They’d probably find that hilarious.” She giggled to herself as she left the room. As she left, she failed to notice the blue glass of the mirror flashed a deep red not even for a second.
It wasn’t the first time Celestia or Luna had gone through a portal. Whether it was to go to an alternate dimension of Equestria itself, or flung into a portal to Tartarus, the sensation was always the same, like your body had turned into taffy. A pure novice could get him or herself stuck in the time-space continuum (though Celestia was proud that her former student hadn’t fallen victim to that) but the two princesses at this point were practically experts.
Celestia was the first to pass through the gate on the other end and somehow found herself standing on her back feet, causing her knees to buckle as she fell to the ground. Upon closer inspection, she saw she was now wearing what looked like leather boots on her back feet, which she now supposed were her regular feet and that her front hooves were what Twilight had described as hands.
It wasn’t long before Luna appeared and in the same position as her. She stared at herself for a moment before murmuring, “So this is what Miss Heartstrings dreams on a nightly basis…” She looked at her sister before she started snickering. “S-Sister what are you wearing!?”
Celestia looked down at her current attire which consisted of a purple dress with stitched in depictions of the sun near the seams. “What? I think it looks lovely. You’re the one wearing shorts.”
Luna looked down again, finally realizing she had bare smooth skin now. “Hmm…well considering it is pretty warm outside…” She then looked towards the school. “That must be where our counterparts work during the year.”
“It…certainly resembles the university, that’s for sure,” Celestia said as she finally managed to get on her two feet without losing her balance and dusted off her dress. “Well then, we’re officially here. What should we do?”
“Ooh, we could go around and play a game where if we can recognize our subjects?” Luna suggested.
“…I think you forgot about the part where we’re supposed to blend in and not attract attention,” Celestia said. “But I suppose it could be interesting to see if this world really is a reflection of Equestria.” She then checked her pockets. “Oh no…where is…oh here it is.” She brought out a long list of notes that she had taken before the two of them had left Canterlot. “Let’s see…oh here we go. ‘Car: white subcompact SUV…’ …why did I write this down again ‘…make sure to put in drive when driving and don’t hit anything.’ Well that sounds easy enough. ‘Phones were left in car as well as key...passcode is 7119.’”
“I’m assuming that’s the car over there?” Luna pointed towards the parking lot.
“Considering it’s the only one I see I would assume so,” Celestia said as the two of them walked over, which at first was kind of awkward for them but they managed to get the hang of it rather quickly. Once they reached the SUV, which said “Escape” and “EcoBoost” on the back, Celestia saw the handle for the front seat and tried to pull open the door but it wouldn’t open.
“Okay…where do I put in the passcode?” she wondered. Then she saw numbers next to the window. “Oh, that’s clever…” She then pushed the numbers in slowly and the door unlocked. “Aha! I think I’m getting the hang of this technology…” She opened the door and went inside, sitting on the rather comfortable seat as she adjusted her posture. She then spotted a button which she assumed unlocked the other doors and pressed it. Luna then opened her door and took her seat next to her.
“So…people drive these things here instead of carriages…” Luna noted. “And they have an engine…so is it like driving a zeppelin?”
“I don’t think so,” Celestia said. “Okay…now how to…shouldn’t there be somewhere to put in a key? I thought that’s how automobiles work.”
Luna picked up the “keys.” “…This isn’t a key.”
“Okay, I’m sure we can figure this out…let me check again…” Celestia looked through her list again. “‘No ignition switch, just push the power button.’” She then saw the button and facepalmed. “It’s so complicated and simple at the same time.” She then pushed the button and the car instantly started up. “Well…it’s certainly quiet.”
“Are you sure we should be driving this?” Luna asked, now looking somewhat uncomfortable.
“Oh come on, we have plenty of room around here to give it a bit of a test run,” Celestia said. She found the gear shift stick and shifted it towards D for drive. “Okay…just going to lightly tap on the pedal here…whoops!”
The car shot out suddenly but luckily it managed to stop on its own. “Okay…the accelerator is more sensitive than I imagined. Let’s do this nice and easy…” This time the car started moving at a gentler pace and Celestia used the steering wheel to go around in circles and figure eights for the first couple of minutes. “Oh this isn’t so bad at all…I think I want one of these now.”
“So where to then?” Luna asked.
“Hmm…well I suppose we could check out where they live,” Celestia said. “I’m surprised they gave us all this but then…they are us so I guess we’re not really invading anypony’s- er anyone’s privacy.”
Luna meanwhile was looking at a small device with a screen. “So this is what they call a smartphone…” She could tell that this was her counterpart’s since the background on the screen had a collage of stars and planets. “It’s got all these little buttons…oh here we go…let’s try Maps.” The phone loaded up the app which asked for her to put in an address. “Where’s their house again?”
Celestia looked through her notes again. “1247 Sunset Avenue…huh…why does that not surprise me…?”
“Wait a second…” Luna took a moment to figure out the keyboard on her phone and after figuring out where to find the numbers she put in the address and then pressed Go.
“Starting route to 1247 Sunset Avenue,” the phone’s female voice suddenly chimed.
“Oh look Tia, it talks!” Luna giggled.
“At the turn, turn left.”
“Hmm, she sounds kind of tense,” Luna commented. “She sounds kind of like Octavia…”
Celestia smiled slightly. “Are you becoming friends with that phone sister?”
“Yes I am.”
“Turn left.”
“You heard her Celestia.”
“I’m going, I’m going,” Celestia said as they drove out of the parking lot. Celestia may not have had a lot of experience driving, whether it was a train, trolley, or carriage, but at least she knew about watching out for others and respecting the boundaries put out on the road.
Unfortunately, as she was following the route, she was probably going a bit slower than the speed limit signs suggested, which caused a bunch of annoyed drivers to drive past her. “Ugh, honestly, was that rude gesture necessary?” Celestia grumbled. “If anyone did that in Equestria I’d…”
“In half a mile, turn right and your destination is on the left.”
“Thank you Octavia,” Luna said. “It’s kind of sad you can’t actually talk to her…”
“She’s a…what do they call them? Artificial Intelligence?”
“Well, I’m sure she has feelings too,” Luna retorted. “Speaking of which, where’s your phone?”
“I’m assuming it’s the one in the cup holder,” Celestia said, glancing down at the large device that looked large enough to be a small notebook.
“Aw, yours is bigger than mine,” Luna complained.
“Does it really matter?”
“I do not know sister, I thought the motto in the modern world was, ‘Bigger is better.’” She then looked through her phone. “Oh, it can play music too? Now I’m curious…” She clicked the app and found that the phone contained a large playlist. “Well…I guess we have a big taste in music…let’s see…how about this one?”
Suddenly, music started playing inside the car, causing Celestia to cringe slightly. “What the hell is this?”
“It’s this world’s definition of music…” Luna said as she listened. “It kind of speaks to me…”
“I dunno…”
Two minutes later, the two of them were still in the car singing the song that was still playing.
“Put your pinkie raise them to the mooooon!”
“Hey girllllssss!”
“What’cha’ll tryna’ do!?”
“Twenty-four karat magic in the aiiiirrrrrrr! Head to toe so playa!”
Both sisters started laughing at how ridiculous they sounded. “Can you imagine if we did this at the castle?” Celestia said.
“I know! The guards would probably think we’ve been replaced by changelings again!” Luna giggled.
“Well, we can both sit here and keep listening to music or we could go inside and check out what we do in this world.”
“Aw…oh well, maybe later we can have some more fun Mr. Mars…”
The house only had one floor, which made sense since it was only the two of them living there and while it appeared to be well kept, it wasn’t anything spectacular, which probably explained their counterparts’ reaction to Canterlot Palace. The front door was locked as expected, but Celestia managed to find a spare key underneath one of the potted plants by the door. “You know, it almost seems unfair,” Luna said. “That we live luxuriously and our counterparts are practically middle-class.”
“I agree,” Celestia said as she unlocked the door. “Maybe we ought to invite them over once a year…as long as they don’t end up trashing the castle.”
Perhaps Luna had spoken too soon as they opened the door. What the outside of the house lacked the inside made up for. The inside was mostly tile and they were quickly greeted by a King Charles Spaniel. “Aw… they didn’t mention they had a dog,” Luna said.
The dog quickly went up to Celestia and rubbed its head against her leg. “She’s not even suspicious of me,” Celestia noted. She carefully picked up the dog and looked at its collar. “Zoe…you really are adorable.” Zoe said thank you by licking her cheek.
They took a quick tour of the house, finding the living room, kitchen, dining room, and then went back to where their bedrooms were. “I think we can figure out which rooms are ours,” Celestia said, noticing how one room had a sun on the door and the other a moon.
Luna chuckled. “I guess we really are alike.” The two girls then went their separate ways towards their rooms.
Celestia’s room was very tidy, consisting of a queen sized bed, a table with what appeared to be a “laptop computer” as Twilight had again explained to her, and a small television. “Hmm…seems comfortable enough.” Still, her full attention was on the laptop. Twilight did say the internet was a “fascinating place.”
Meanwhile, Luna entered her counterpart’s room and her mouth immediately dropped. She couldn’t believe what she saw. There was a fifty-five inch television in her room hooked up to a rather large sound system and on one of the shelves that held up the TV she saw a sleek-looking machine with a pair of controllers. “Never in the thousand plus years that I have lived have I ever seen something so…beautiful,” she said as a sinister grin crawled onto her face.*
It was oddly quiet in the castle, not a sound could be heard except for the occasional sound of hoof steps outside or a nearby door opening or closing. Celestia and Luna were sitting in their places, keeping quiet as the day slowly dragged on. “It sure is quiet…” Luna said.
“Mhm…” Celestia replied.
“Surely this can’t be a typical day for them,” Luna groaned. “I’m getting bored already…”
“Oh no no no, this was your idea so you’re going to suffer through it just like me,” Celestia said sternly. She then smiled. “Besides, you should be happy: you’re officially royalty now.”
Suddenly a sinister look crept onto Luna’s face. “That’s right…and anyone has to do anything we say…”
“That’s…not what I meant…”
“Guards!” Luna suddenly yelled. Immediately about four guards rushed into the room. “Wow…that was quick…”
“What is wrong Your Majesties?” one of the guards asked urgently.
“Oh…nothing,” Luna said casually. “I was…testing your reaction time and I was most pleased.”
The guards glanced at one another confused. “So…you do not need us?”
“Actually, yes we do,” Luna said gleefully.
“No we don’t,” Celestia glared at her.
“Don’t be a buzzkill Tia…” Luna then cleared her throat. “As Princess, I now command the four of you…to make a pony pyramid…oh wait we need more than four of you don’t we?”
“U-Um…” The guards now looked even more confused and slightly concerned.
“Luna, this is ridiculous,” Celestia sighed.
“No it isn’t! They will gladly do whatever We command,” Luna said. “Now then…gather more guards and make that pyramid!”
One of the other guards had the courage to speak up. “But…Princess…”
“Do it!” The guards suddenly flinched and one slowly went out to call in more guards.
Within the next ten minutes, the Royal Guard had ended up making quite a large pyramid while Celestia could only look on in sympathy and embarrassment. “Hmm…now I’m entertained! Very well, you can all return to your posts now.” It was well-timed that she said that because the pyramid collapsed, though thankfully there weren’t any major injuries, mostly their pride. They were more than happy to leave.
“Luna,” Celestia said, her voice low but there was definitely anger in her voice. “First of all we’re trying to blend in, and second, we’re not here to damage property, including the Royal Guard.”
“Oh come now, they obviously enjoyed it,” Luna said as she got up and took a walk around the throne room. It was then she noticed the stained glass windows and what they depicted. “Wow…look at this. This artwork is amazing.”
Celestia went over and stood next to her sister, looking at the different windows. “I see…so our counterparts have saved this world a number of times then.” They moved onto the next one. “So…these must be the Elements of Harmony in action.”
“So…that’s Twilight and the others from this world?” Luna asked.
“I think it’s all starting to come together now, why those five are so important,” Celestia nodded.
“Wait…but who is that?” Luna asked. She looked down upon her body and looked back to the glass. “It…kind of looks like me…well, Princess me…”
Celestia studied the glass more and realized what it was depicting. “Oh dear…”
“She went evil at one point, didn’t she?” Luna asked. She then sighed. “That explains a lot then…”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Celestia said. “Yes you can be…intimidating at times but I know you better than anyone and you’ve always been a good person…even through our teen years.”
Luna smiled slightly. “Yes I admit it was…interesting wasn’t it?”
They continued on. “There’s that creature again,” Celestia said. “I wonder what it could be…”
“A draconequus,” Luna said quickly. Upon getting a look from her sister she said, “What? Unlike you, I actually enjoyed reading mythology in school.”
“It’s…kind of weird-looking,” Celestia said.
“Weird-looking!? Your words are enough to shatter my heart, Celestia.”
The two ponies looked around. “What was that?” Celestia asked.
“Oh come now, you should recognize a grand entrance when you see one!” Suddenly, the draconequus from the glass popped out and stood in front of them, now about four feet tall. “…You know, I never was a fan of going two-dimensional.” It snapped its claw and suddenly became three-dimensional. “Hellloooo my favorite two alicorns!” he said, giving them a hug. “Actually, I should say three because Cadance has to put up with an Empire and a foal.” He then paused as a look of suspicion crept onto his face. “Wait a minute…” He then pulled away and looked at the two of them skeptically. “Something’s off here…” He suddenly disappeared and then the two alicorns were hooked up to some sort of EKG-like device while the draconequus was wearing a lab coat and taking notes from a computer screen. “Hm…yes, your magical field is slightly different…but only slightly so obviously you two aren’t changelings…nope without you two are definitely Celestia and Luna…but you two aren’t princesses are you?”
“…What is going on?” Luna asked meekly.
“…Oh! My apologies!” He snapped his fingers and the equipment disappeared. “I am Discord, Lord of Chaos at your service. I am the “weird-looking” thing you just saw.”
“I…um…” Celestia looked embarrassed.
Discord suddenly laughed. “Oh look at you, blushing! I tell you, it takes a lot to make the real Celestia blush, not that I’m saying you aren’t real but I think perhaps you should help clear this up.”
The two sisters looked at one another. “I suppose it couldn’t hurt,” Luna said.
After the two had explained themselves, Discord looked quite amused. “So those two decided to take a little vacation without me. What a bunch of naughty fillies! Oh well, I suppose everypony needs a vacation every once in a while. I’ve been trying to arrange a vacation for Fluttershy and I-”
“Wait…you know Fluttershy?” Celestia asked.
“But of course!” The glee on his face was obvious. “We’re quite the BFFs you know. I’m so proud she finally got that animal sanctuary up and fulfilled her dream. But anyway…I suppose Tia and Lulu gave you a tour of the castle?”
“Yes, but unfortunately, we haven’t much to do,” Luna said.
“Oh that’s too bad,” Discord said. “I mean, being the Lord of Chaos means I can practically do anything, fulfill any desire I want personally. But it would be nice to have somepony to do it with.”
“Wait…what do you mean?” Luna asked, taking the bait.
Discord looked more than happy to explain. “Why, if we wanted to go to some tropical island, we could go there in a snap. Or create an entire world all for ourselves, hypothetically.”
“So like roleplaying?” Luna asked again, excitement now in her voice.
“Well…if you want to put it that way yes,” Discord replied.
“I want in!” Luna said.
“Oh splendid!” Discord said. “Your destination is my command!” He snapped his fingers once more and both he and Luna disappeared.
Celestia blinked for a few moments. “Um…okay…I guess I’ll just stay here and…hold down the fort…by myself…” She then sighed deeply but then noticed something as she sniffed the air. “Is that…?” She then got up. “Is that a bakery I smell? I know the smell of bundt cake like the back of my hand…hoof.” She gleefully took off, following the smell in front of her.
Canterlot
Meanwhile, Celestia was exploring her room, checking out the closet and seeing what was inside. The attire wasn’t much different from what was seen in Equestria, but unlike there, clothing apparently was a necessity. After glancing through everything, her attention returned to the laptop on the desk.
Celestia went over to it and tapped one of the keys, causing the screen to light up. To her surprise, it seemed that the computer was already logged into. “Hmm…this doesn’t seem too complicated.” She quickly learned that the large square below the keyboard was what moved the small pointer on the screen and upon pushing on it selected one of the icons on the screen. “I can imagine if we actually had this technology in Equestria…”
After another ten minutes of meddling with the computer, Celestia was on her way to discovering the internet. She wasn’t sure where they got the name “Google” from but it appeared to be a search engine, as they called it. What was it Twilight said to look for? Cute animal videos? It couldn’t hurt.
“Into a brand new world we go…” Celestia murmured as she typed in animal videos. The results were quick and the whole screen lined up with videos, ranging from dogs to cats to…seals? She clicked on the link and barely ten seconds into the video she started laughing. If people spent their days watching these kinds of videos, it couldn’t be so bad.
About half an hour later of video watching, Celestia finally stopped due to the pain in her stomach from laughing. She paused for a moment and realized she hadn’t heard anything from Luna. “Luna?” she called out, but there was no response.
She got up and went outside of her room, looking down the hallway. It was then she could hear what sounded like a constant barrage of explosions and they were all coming from Luna’s room. “Luna, what are you doing in there?” Still there was no response.
Celestia sighed and went up to the door and knocked gently. “Luna, seriously, what’s going on in there?”
There was no immediate response but she did hear her sister say, “They’re coming in hot people! Don’t let them get through that shield!” Celestia rolled her eyes and opened the door. It was then she saw her sister sitting on a beanbag chair on the floor, her eyes glued to the television screen with a headset on as well as a controller in her hands.
“Luna what in the world…” Celestia could only watch as the scene on the screen depicted space with a large group of ships in the background as well as many smaller ships involved in dogfights.
Luna quickly tapped a button on her headset. “Sorry sister, I’m a bit busy at the moment keeping the rebel scum from getting through that shield!” She tapped her headset once again. “Take out those Y-Wings, they’re targeting the shield generator!”
A slight smile crept onto Celestia’s face. Of all things, it had to be video games. Then again, Luna was always the more adventurous and the more imaginative of the two. She saw a shelf of what appeared to be games and she went through them. “Battlefront…Battlefield…Mass Effect…Prey…yep this definitely sounds like Luna alright.”
“Haha!” Luna suddenly yelled. “Your skills are no match to mine noob!”
“…Definitely like Luna.” Celestia waited until the match was over, which ended quickly apparently thanks to Luna’s efforts. “Sister, I know you’re enjoying yourself but perhaps we should take some time and see the outside world…like now.”
Luna sighed. “Do we have to?”
“I promise only a few hours…besides wouldn’t you want to try out the cuisine here?”
“Hmm…well its not often we get to eat junk food,” Luna said. “Very well, but can I change into something else? This attire seems…weird for me.”
“You and I both,” Celestia nodded. “Alright, we’ll meet at the door in ten minutes?”
“Understood.”
Celestia went back to her room and went through the closet once more. “I’m sure she won’t mind if I borrow something for a little bit,” Celestia thought. She then saw something that caught her eye. “Hmm…that could work.”
Ten minutes later, the two of them were at the door and could only stare at one another. “…What?” Luna asked. “This feels a lot more comfortable.”
“Oh no, I’m not judging,” Celestia said. “This outfit was way back in the closet but a lot of women wear this attire right?”
“I would think so,” Luna said. She then adjusted her skirt slightly. “I guess women here like to show their legs a lot…”
The sudden teleportation again took Luna by surprise as she managed to blink a few times…or at least she thought she did. All around her was pitch black. “Discord, what is this?”
“Oh this?” Discord suddenly appeared behind her with a beard and small afro. He was also holding a paint brush in his one hand. “This is but a mere blank canvas my dear. You’ve still yet to put anything on the parchment.”
“Ah…so it can be…anything?” Luna asked.
“Nothing is impossible to me,” Discord grinned slightly. “But uh…let’s keep this age appropriate shall we? There’s a T rating in this story after all.”
“…Right. Actually I have the perfect idea.” She then whispered something into Discord’s ear.
“Oh that? That’s easy. However, I do think a musical number with an appropriate montage is in order. I don’t believe there are enough musical pieces in this story to begin with.”
“Deal.”
Discord cracked his knuckles. “Oh it’s been awhile since I’ve done one of these…your dreams are my command!” He snapped his fingers and the two disappeared as the dark void suddenly began to fill with color.
Luna suddenly found herself on a grassy plain with mountains in the background. With happy music playing in the background, she recognized her surroundings instantly as she happily started trotting as she went up to a row of blocks and bashed them to pieces with her hooves. It was then she saw a Goomba walking up to her and she jumped, using her wings to give her a little more height as she came and squashed the Goomba into nonexistence.
She kept going through the course, eventually finding a Starman dancing nearby. She grabbed it and her eyes went white as she suddenly sped off close to Rainbow Dash speeds, crashing through everything in her way while making sure to grab some coins.
As she finally grabbed the flag pole, the flag with a dark blue ‘L’ in the middle, the pole suddenly turned into a mast of a ship as Luna stared into the wild blue yonder through a telescope. Dark clouds were approaching in the distance as Luna looked down to where Discord was steering the ship, where he looked to her and gave her a shrug with a worried grin.
Luna then took off from the ship, soaring higher and higher into the sky as the scene changed to space where a large battle between battleships and small starships. Luna was currently piloting a ship as she performed a barrel roll and fired upon the enemy ships, destroying them one by one. She gave a final salute and wink towards the camera as the ship sped off.
The scene changed once again as the two of them were in a distant land surrounded by ruins. Discord was wearing an odd getup of green and brown with a green cap on his head along with a large sword and shield on his back while Luna was wearing a light blue gown, resembling close to a toga. As they walked calmly, suddenly a large machine came out of the ruins, looking like some weird mix of an octopus and crab as its single eye was watching them. Discord was ready to fight but it was then that Luna saw there were four more of them behind them as she gently tapped his shoulder with a worried face. He looked behind and he shared the same emotion as Luna teleported them away before they would get blown up.
Two robots were fighting in a large city, controlled by both Luna and Discord via remote control. The blue robot managed to get in an uppercut, which caused the grey robot’s head to pop off and land about fifty meters away. Discord gave the mare a glare as Luna could only grin sheepishly.
The setting shifted to space once again as a large ship shot through among the stars. Inside, Luna was wearing a red uniform while surrounded by an array of ponies, thestrals, and griffins while Discord was standing nearby as he twirled his finger, causing the ship outside to spin around in circles. Now it was Luna’s turn to glare at the draconequus while he grinned impishly.
The scene changed to a large stage as Luna and Discord were dancing together with a big band playing in the background. The two were in perfect synchronicity as they jumped around the stage. They then separated as they both donned top hats and canes as they began a tap-dancing routine, each giving off their own small solo.
Suddenly, a group of thug ponies wielding tommy guns showed up on the stage, looking ready to crash the party. However, neither of them broke stride as Luna got a few of them in the face with her hooves while Discord turned the guns into rattlesnakes, causing the ponies to run off the stage, much to the crowd’s pleasure.
The two of them then took a bow as the audience went wild, throwing flowers onto the stage and it wasn’t long before everything in the background disappeared behind them.
“Well,” Luna panted slightly. “That was…much more than I could ask for.”
“Did you expect any less?” Discord said, who looked just as winded. “Phew…haven’t done a number in awhile…I guess when you’re stuck in stone for over a thousand years you tend to get out of shape.” He then patted his hands. “Now then dear Luna, is there anything else you wish to do?”
“Well…I did have another idea…”
“Oh do tell.”
“Well it’s…a little bit darker than the last one but…”
“Say no more. Considering you have similar views to Princess Luna I already know you’re into the science fiction horror genre aren’t you?”
“Yes, though my sister doesn’t share the same tastes. She likes all the romance and sappy stuff.”
It was no secret: Celestia was a glutton for cake. Sure, pie was good too but cake…who didn’t like cake? She loved cake. Cake was definitely on the brain as she followed the heavenly scent towards where she guessed was the kitchen.
She had to go down a set of stairs before she found herself in front of two large glass doors. Inside, she could see a female unicorn with a chef’s hat on, tending to a bundt cake that had just come out of the oven. “Oh my gosh…she’s putting lemon icing on it…” She had to stop herself from drooling. “Get a hold of yourself Celestia…you’re supposed to act the role of a princess…not some little girl in front of a chocolate factory.” But the smell was too enticing. It couldn’t hurt to go in and take a peek right? She was the princess after all.
Celestia opened the door and cleared her throat. The poor mare almost jumped with all four feet off the ground as she turned around. “Oh Princess, I didn’t realize you were standing there!”
“My apologies,” Celestia said. “I could smell the rich aroma all the way from the throne room.”
“Oh uh…” the mare blushed slightly. “You’ve definitely got a good nose princess! I mean, of course I knew that but…”
“Oh yes, it was going to be a surprise for tonight but…”
Celestia frowned slightly. “I guess I let my cravings get the better of me.” “My apologies...again.”
“Oh not at all!” the mare smiled. “If my baking is getting the princess’ attention, that just means I’m doing my job well.” She then went back to finishing putting on the lemon glaze on the cake.
“Um…if you don’t mind,” Celestia asked. “You wouldn’t mind…parting with that cake when you’re done right?”
“Oh um…” Apparently the poor chef wasn’t expecting that question. “Well I know it looks really good Your Majesty but I think it needs to cool a bit…”
“…Do I really have to wait?” The edge in her voice was probably unnecessary but the hunger pangs were getting the best of her.
“N-No of course not!” the mare grinned sheepishly as she lifted the cake up along with the dish it was sitting on. “Guests I assume?”
“Yes. Me, myself, and I.” “Y-Yes and they really love sweets. So I’ll just take this and…” Celestia grabbed the cake and she was out of the kitchen within seconds.
The chef sighed. “Well, so much for saving that as a surprise…well onto the next one then. If I recall, Princess Luna really likes Black Forest cake…”
Celestia managed to summon a fork and she was eating the cake shamelessly as she made her way back to the throne room. Thankfully no one saw her, but then again she wasn’t aware that these kinds of things were normal to the common folk these days.
Meanwhile, Celestia was in heaven. Maybe it was because the cake was still a bit warm but it had to be the best cake she’d ever have and she’s had a lot of cake in her lifetime. The intensity of the lemon flavor, the moistness of the cake, there was probably nothing that could make this feeling any better.
Once she finally made her way back to her throne, she leaned back with a pleasant smile on her face. Who cared if she spent the entire day doing nothing? Today seemed like the best day of her life. Nothing could bring her down now.
“Princess!” Somehow she knew that was going to happen. Her and her big mouth…
Two ponies burst into the room, one a white unicorn with a brunette mane worked into a bun and the other a member of the Royal Guard. By the looks on their faces, this had to be a serious matter. “What is wrong?” she said through a mouthful of cake. She swallowed quickly and cleared her throat. “Excuse me. What is the matter?”
“Well you see your highness,” the unicorn fidgeted with her hooves slightly. “I know originally the Yaks said they wouldn’t be able to come to the meeting you scheduled but…”
“But…?” Celestia prompted her.
“Prince Rutherford is on his way here, right now,” the Guardspony said. “Not just them, but the Dragon Lord as well!”
Dragons. It always had to be dragons. “I…don’t recall getting a message about the dragons.”
“There must’ve been miscommunication,” the unicorn said, bowing her head sadly. “We’re terribly sorry about this Princess.”
Yaks and a dragon. “Figures Luna picks the worst time to disappear. She knows dragons better than anyone I know…” “Do not worry, we will figure this out. I’ll be happy to meet with them once they arrive.” There was a slight pause. “They’re going to get here at the same time aren’t they?”
“That’s…a possibility,” the unicorn said. “Relations between the Yaks and Dragons aren’t…great right now…”
“I see…” “This just gets better and better…how am I going to…wait a minute…of course!” “In that case, perhaps I should summon Princess Twilight to help with the meeting. If they do not wish to talk to one another, we’ll just keep them separate.”
“Of course Princess,” the unicorn bowed. “I’ll have a letter sent to her straight away.”
“And I’ll make sure to have extra security in case things…go south,” the Guardspony said.
“Very good,” Celestia nodded as the two left the room. Celestia sighed as she sagged in her seat, taking another bite of cake. “I’m going to need a drink for this…”
The year is 2037. The human race has advanced exponentially in technological and biological practices. The Sombra Corporation has led the way for a new meaning of human evolution with the “ESP Project”; using a newly developed serum, humans have been able to unlock certain powers, such as telepathy, clairvoyance, and pyrokinesis among other things.
Before, the project was only tested among those in the military and other limited agencies, but the corporation has now been given the green light to test this new serum on regular citizens who wish to expand their horizons. However, despite these successes, Sombra Corporation has never fully explained the resources being used for this serum or what exactly are the long-term effects of taking such a drug.
The sound of an alarm went off, waking Luna from her sleep. She groggily opened her eyes as she sat up and looked over to where her clock was before turning off the alarm. It was almost eight o’clock and as soon as she got out of bed her phone started ringing. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she reached for her phone and saw it was her sister calling.
“Morning sleepyhead,” Celestia said cheerfully. “I figured you were going to wake up early so I was wondering if you wanted to get some breakfast before we headed to the lab for those tests.”
“Hmm…that sounds pretty good right now,” Luna replied, stifling a yawn. “Which place?”
“The usual. My treat this time of course.”
Luna chuckled. “You’re going to regret those words later. Alright, I’ll get myself ready.”
“Make it quick, I already arranged a transport to pick you up.”
“…Tia you didn’t have to-”
“I know, it was more the corporation’s treat than mine. See you soon.”
Luna shook her head slightly as she put her phone down and quickly undressed and popped into the shower. She still had a lingering headache from the night before, an aftereffect of the ESP serum, but at least the warm water seemed to put her mind at peace momentarily. Despite working at Sombra Corporation, there had been no obligation for her to take the serum, she had volunteered, especially since she knew her sister was more squeamish when it came to needles.
Once she was finished, she got dressed, wearing semi-formal clothing and then grabbed her things before heading out of her room towards the elevator, taking it to the roof.
As promised, there was a transport waiting for her right on top of the helipad. She walked over towards the transport and opened the side door before hopping inside and taking a seat on one of the comfortable leather seats. “Welcome aboard Dr. Luna,” the intercom suddenly went off. Luna assumed it had to be the pilot. “Make yourself comfortable and we’ll be on our way. It’s a short flight to Sombra Corporation so enjoy the view while you can.”
The transport soon started lifting up into the air and Luna got to see an aerial view of the city of Manehattan. As the transport took off, Luna got a good look of all the skyscrapers nearby which belonged to many of the large companies that were seen all over the world.
Hasbro Studios Presents
They turned left slightly and Luna got a good view of both the Manehattan Bridge and the Percheron Bay. “Nice view of the bridge today,” the pilot commented. “You don’t get to see the water this clear that often.”
A DHX Media Production
Luna could soon see the largest skyscraper in the city that bore the logo and name of the Sombra Corporation. The transport slowly made its descent towards the helipad on top of the building. Luna managed to get one last look at the skyline before the transport began to land.
Hunted
“Watch your step as you leave and have a nice day Dr. Luna,” the pilot said as Luna stepped onto the roof. The elevator in front of her suddenly opened and she saw her sister come out, wearing a white lab coat. “Right on time,” Celestia smiled as she looked at her watch. She gave her sister a small hug before the two of them made their way back towards the elevator. “I know you always like to try somewhere different but you can’t deny that Chef Puff here is probably the best chef in all of Manehattan.”
“I don’t mind,” Luna said as she pressed the button for the fifth floor, the doors closing soon after. The elevator started descending as music came out of the speakers.
“So…how are you feeling?” Celestia asked, looking somewhat concerned.
“Just a lingering headache,” Luna replied with a shrug. “I suppose I’m one of the lucky ones since the side-effects tend to be much worse than they say.”
“And nothing’s happened yet?”
“No…probably good thing too,” Luna sighed slightly. “But they did say it would take time for my body to…adjust, as they put it. Are you really that concerned?”
“I know the test runs have gone well…I would know since I supervised everything,” Celestia said matter-of-factly. “But even so, I still worry, especially since you’re my sister.”
Luna chuckled. “Big sister’s still looking out for me I see.” The elevator soon stopped and the doors opened out to the fifth floor. The building itself was split into two areas. The upper floors were for the executives and IT people while the lower floors consisted of many different laboratories and security areas. The fifth floor was a meeting point between the two and appropriately was where the large cafeteria was, their current destination.
“So what’s on the menu today?” Luna asked as they walked by the large windows.
“Oh the usual,” Celestia replied. “Normally I’m not a breakfast person but again, the food quality is top notch.”
“Better than me making breakfast right?” Celestia only chuckled in response.
Suddenly a voice called out behind them. “Dr. Luna!” They turned around to see a younger woman in her early twenties, wearing a lab coat just like Celestia with pinkish hair, running towards them.
“Sugar Pine? What’s wrong?” Celestia asked.
“I’m really sorry to bring this up,” the girl said between deep breaths. “But Dr. Luna’s appointment has been changed unfortunately.”
“To what time?” Luna asked.
“Um…ten minutes from now.”
Celestia let out a deep sigh. “Of course they did,” she said, looking annoyed. “Thank you Sugar, let them know we’ll be on our way down.” Sugar nodded and headed back to her office.
“Oh come on sister, you don’t have to postpone your breakfast for me,” Luna said as the two of them made their way back towards the elevator.
“Don’t be silly, I can survive for another hour,” Celestia said as she pushed the button. “Besides, if all is good news, we’ll consider it a celebratory breakfast.”
Luna grinned. “Well in that case, I’ll definitely order double the normal amount.”
The lab where Luna would have her secondary tests conducted was on the third floor. Now she wished she had put on a coat since the A/C always appeared to be on on the lower floors. Once Luna confirmed her arrival, she was taken back immediately. “I have to go back to my office for a bit,” Celestia said before she left. “But I’ll meet you back here in about an hour.”
Luna was escorted to one of the rooms in the back which only contained a large window that showed a small group of observing scientists and a large round machine. “Thank you for coming Doctor,” one of the scientists said via an intercom. “We’ll try to make this go as quickly as possible. We just need to do a few scans to see if the serum has caused any changes in your body. Have you noticed any side-effects since the drug was administered yesterday?”
“No, aside from a lingering headache,” Luna replied.
“Hmm…yes this is normal for some people,” the scientist said. “After all, it’s called ESP for a reason.”
“Thank you doctor, I had no idea,” Luna thought.
“Now then, we need you to step into this machine here- oh and make sure you take off anything that’s metal or electronic if you can, it disrupts the scanners unfortunately. Don’t worry, it’s like one of those body scanners at the airports.”
Luna took out her phone and wallet, making sure she didn’t have any loose change in her pockets. Once she was done, she stepped into the large machine. “Alright Luna, now we just need you to stay still as best you can. This is only going to take about ten seconds so bear with us.” Luna kept herself still as the machine activated and started to rotate around her. No doubt it was showing an entire scan of her body which would show any possible anomalies.
“Very good.” The scientist seemed content. “Hmm…this is interesting…it almost seems like your body hasn’t had any real reaction to the serum.” It wasn’t quite the news she wanted to hear and she definitely didn’t want to have more of the stuff pumped into her.
“Doctor, something’s going on with the screen here,” one of the assistants said.
“It’s probably just a glitch or something. Alright Luna, well all I can say-”
Suddenly an alarm went off inside. “Warning…containment breach detected…containment breach detected…”
“What the hell?” someone on the other side yelled. “What’s going on?”
“Alright, let’s just calm down and-AHHH!” Something had jumped across the room on the other side and latched itself onto the scientist’s face, causing him to scream and overall causing a panic inside the room. Luna could only watch in horror as two black figures made their way across the room and attacked the other scientists. Someone managed to fire a gun off but only managed three rounds before it stopped completely.
Luna knew she had to get out, but something was keeping her in place. It was only when she noticed that those same black figures, which looked like some convoluted form of a spider, started banging their bodies against the glass. Luna had been certain the glass was strong enough to withstand much trauma but they kept going with a ferocity that was very feral and cracks started to appear.
She finally broke out of her trance, grabbing her phone before rushing out of the room. Outside, it was chaotic with the sound of screams and weapons being discharged. Luna had no choice but to hide and found the closet for cleaning supplies to her left, opening and closing the door behind her quickly.
She almost jumped when she felt her phone start vibrating and saw it was her sister. “Celestia, thank Faust!” she said quietly.
“Are you alright?” Celestia sounded worried.
“I’m fine but what’s going on? One minute I’m in a lab having tests done and next second something comes into the other room and starts killing everyone.”
“It was a containment breach, as the alarm stated,” Celestia replied.
“But of what!?”
“…I don’t know…”
“Bullshit!” Luna snapped. “You have higher clearance than I do so surely you knew what was going on!”
“Not high enough apparently!” Celestia snapped back. She then took a deep breath. “Listen…where are you?”
“Currently I’m in a supply closet,” Luna said. She put her ear up to the door and it seemed to have gone quiet. “I don’t think they found me yet. How do we get out of this?”
“Once the alert went out, everything’s been contained,” Celestia said. “We’d have to get out via the roof and since the elevators stopped working…”
“That’s nine floors,” Luna said with a sigh.
“I’m on the sixth currently,” Celestia continued. “If you’re still in the labs, there should be a security room nearby. I’d grab whatever you can find. I’ll still be in my office so I’ll wait for you here. Just be careful alright?”
“I will, you too.” Luna hung up before getting to her feet again and opening the door slowly. She peered out and saw that it was quiet. She remembered passing a room on her way over to the lab so she took a left, retracing her steps. It wasn’t pleasant since the halls were now covered in streaks of blood while smoke started to fill the area.
It didn’t take long for her to find a sign with the words “SECURITY” on it. Unfortunately, the door was sealed off but luckily the window wasn’t. While she was glad not to see any bodies, she had hoped to find something to use to break the glass. She did manage to find a briefcase near the waiting area and used it to smash the window in.
It was probably not wise to cause so much attention to herself but she was defenseless at the moment regardless. However, nothing appeared to be coming her way. After clearing away the remaining glass, Luna managed to climb over into the security room.
Luna searched around, finding a computer that was still operable but there was nothing on it of major importance. There were a couple of lockers next to her and once she opened the first one, she found a security uniform. It was a dark blue with a heavier and more durable material which made sense considering the job description.
“Well, it can’t hurt to have,” Luna thought before she took off her blouse, leaving her with a white tank top. She put on the top part of the uniform, relieved to see it fit her just fine. She glanced around self-consciously before stripping off her pants and changing into the lower part of the uniform as well. Again, it would probably offer her a little more protection.
Luna then opened the next locker and found what she had been looking for. A semi-automatic pistol had been tucked away and she immediately grabbed it, surprised how light the weapon was. This pistol wasn’t your typical handgun. Instead of using bullets as ammunition, the gun discharged semi-automatic amounts of pressurized energy, like a blaster seen in most science fiction movies. The clip was the battery that contained the energy and unlike standard handguns, the clip didn’t need to be reloaded as constantly.
Luna then grabbed a battery and loaded it into the gun. The gun gave a slight ding as the small light on the back of the chamber lit up green, meaning there was a full charge. Luna didn’t have a lot of experience with firearms but she figured she was a quick learner. “I’m sure no one will mind if I borrow these…”
Luna remembered there was an armory somewhere but on which floor? It may have been on the sixth floor as well and if that was true, her sister would’ve been wise to bunker herself there instead of her office. She made her way back out of the security room and paused as she noticed something.
The briefcase she had used had been left near the window but now it was further down the hallway towards the elevator. Luna still had the gun in her hand and wasn’t able to put it away anytime soon. She kept her eye on the briefcase as she got closer and once she was about two feet from it, the unimaginable happened.
The briefcase had suddenly disappeared and in its place was one of those spider-like things from before. It tried to jump at her but the surprise caused her to fall down onto her butt. It lunged at her once again but Luna raised her gun and pulled the trigger. The sound echoed throughout the hallway and the creature immediately disintegrated upon contact with the laser.
The sudden scare and adrenaline rush got Luna’s heart pumping now as she had to take deep breaths to calm herself down. Even at its max setting, the guns at worst would leave a clean hole in your body if you were unlucky enough to be shot by one. The creature disappeared at first touch, which made Luna slightly curious about its biology.
She got up and looked towards the elevator. She pushed the button and as expected there was no response. Luckily, there was a stairway that leads up and down the building. In case of an emergency, there were four stairways across the entire building to avoid any congestion. Of course, with the building being as big as it was, it took a couple flights just to get to the next floor.
She opened the door and looked upstairs and down. Surprisingly the power was still on and it gave Luna slight hope that there were others that were still alive. That gave her pause. Perhaps she could go down and check for any survivors. It was the moral thing to do but at the same time she had to keep herself alive and she had a feeling going downstairs was a very bad idea. She then slowly made her way up the stairs, conserving her energy in case of anymore unwanted surprises.
Finally, she found the door with the sign of the sixth floor sitting next to it. She went through the door and saw that this area more or less met the same fate. This area consisted of offices, mostly for the important people here. Well, not as important as the executives of course.
Fortunately, Luna knew where to find Celestia’s office which was only six doors down. But as she walked down, she stopped in her tracks. She had heard something but she wasn’t sure if it was just her mind imagining things.
Then she heard it again. It was a voice but for some reason it sounded slightly distorted. It was coming from her right, towards a small area of offices and cubicles. Luna walked slowly towards the sound.
“I told them this would happen…but they never listen to me!” The voice was female but again there was a slight distortion. The sound was coming from around the corner of one of the cubicles. She looked around but she saw no one there.
“Hello?” she called out. “Are you alright?” That seemed like a stupid question, considering none of them were alright. It was quiet for a moment and just as she started to relax, she heard the scream.
The scream was enough to send her heart into her throat and to her right she saw something big charging at her. She only got a glimpse of something black and humanoid before it crashed into her. The force of impact was enough to knock the gun out of her hand and sent her crashing into the wall about three feet back.
Her vision was now obscured but she made out a large figure approaching her. She tried to get up but her limbs weren’t responding. The figure looked human but all she could see was darkness and a pair of red glowing eyes. The creature grabbed Luna by the throat and picked her up with relative ease.
She tried to break the thing’s grip but to no avail. The creature seemed to study her closely. It was when she heard the words that her blood froze.
“I’ll make them pay…” The words had come from the creature itself, who Luna now realized had been one of the scientists here. Finally, the creature lost interest in her and flung her across the room with incredible strength. The last thing Luna remembered was crashing through glass before everything went dark.
“Pity…that didn’t seem to end well for you did it?”
“Hmm…I suppose not.”
Luna suddenly found herself floating in…actually she wasn’t sure what she was seeing. It was like a sea of random things and creatures which floated by her. Discord was floating next to her apparently unaffected.
“Oh, sorry, forgot to mention this place. This is my home of course: a dimension of complete chaos, perfect for a splendid chap such as me.”
Luna glanced around and noticed a house nearby. “Seems like a nice place,” she said curtly.
“Yes, but I don’t get a lot of visitors unfortunately,” Discord replied. “Of course, getting here by hoof is rather difficult so I have to hand it to the mail ponies who manage to venture out this way. Anyway, perhaps I can give you a tour?”
“That would be nice…but I feel bad leaving Tia behind. She wouldn’t have liked that whole thing anyway but perhaps you can have fun with her next.”
“Hmm…well she does seem a little more open than the princess so perhaps it couldn’t hurt.” Discord snapped his fingers and the two of them quickly reappeared inside Canterlot Palace.
“Oh good, you two are back.” Luna looked over and saw that her sister was again on the throne but she appeared to be eating something.
“Tia, did you take a trip to the kitchen while we were gone?” Luna asked.
“I sure did,” Celestia said as she took a bite of cake. Luna saw there was a bundt cake sitting next to her and then noticed half of it was gone. “This cake is delicious.”
“You…already ate half of it?” Luna deadpanned.
“Oh come on Luna, it’s not that bad,” Celestia said. “I read in a book how much equines eat and trust me, this is nothing for them.”
“You’re just using an excuse to be a glutton!”
“Nonsense,” Celestia said with a dismissive wave of her hoof.
Suddenly a ringing sound filled the room. “Oh dear!” Discord said, pulling out an alarm clock. “I almost forgot I have afternoon tea with Fluttershy today! Sorry ladies, I’m afraid I’m going to have to take off for now. Perhaps if you two are still here and Equestria isn’t in the middle of a national crisis then we can continue this fun later. Ta-ta for now!” The draconequus then disappeared, leaving the two alicorns alone in the room.
Luna then looked back at the cake. “So…is that lemon-flavored?”
“Of course.” Celestia offered a plate and fork with her magic. “You’re more than welcome to have some.”
Luna snorted. “I don’t think I have a choice since you’ll finish it all. Honestly, I’ll be surprised if you don’t gain ten pounds.”
Celestia rolled her eyes and the two ate silently for a few minutes. “So…what happened?”
Sunset Shimmer and the others had met up at the Sweet Shoppe early in the morning at Twilight’s insistence. Apparently she had news about the current state of Camp Everfree. “Well, I have good news and I have bad news,” Twilight said as they were all enjoying assorted baked goods with some morning coffee.
“Alright, might as well as well give us the good news first,” Sunset replied.
“The good news is that from the dance and donations that were given afterwards, we’ve received over eight thousand dollars,” Twilight replied.
“Awesome!” Rainbow said with a mouthful of scone as pumped her fist.
“And the bad news?” Applejack asked.
“Well…despite our best efforts we still need another couple thousand for Gloria and Timber to be able to pay everything off,” Twilight said sadly.
“Oh dear…” Rarity said.
“Wait…is that literally a couple like two thousand or do you mean more than that?” Pinkie asked.
“Technically its $2,351” Twilight replied.
“That’s still a lot of money…” Fluttershy said.
“Oh, then why didn’t you say so?” Pinkie asked, scratching her head.
“So what can we do?” Sunset asked. “I mean, we could try to ask for more donations but I think everyone who has paid isn’t going to be so willing to give up more…not that we could ask them to anyway.”
“We could always do another runway show…” Rarity suggested.
“No!” both Rainbow and Applejack said quite loudly.
“Hmph, it was only a suggestion…” Rarity muttered.
“Oh I know, we could all try entering one of those sweepstakes where they bring the check to your door!” Pinkie suggested.
“Not a bad idea, but even if we had a chance we wouldn’t get the money til it’s too late,” Twilight said.
Sunset sighed. “I don’t want to give up on this but…I feel like we’re out of options.”
“Well I dunno,” Rainbow said. “I mean, you could always sell that bike of yours and get a good-”
“Absolutely not,” Sunset snapped. “And before you ask it, I’m not writing to Princess Twilight for a loan.”
“Didn’t you say ya got a good exchange rate on them…what’ya call them…bits?” Applejack asked.
“Yeah but that was technically my money,” Sunset asked. “Not that Twilight wouldn’t give it to me I just don’t…feel right about it.”
Suddenly Pinkie’s body and hair twitched slightly. “Whoa, where did that come from?”
“Is that your Pinkie sense again?” Fluttershy asked.
“Yeah, but it hasn’t gone off like that since Everfree I think,” Pinkie said. “Somehow I think nowadays it’s attuned to picking up magical oddities.”
“Oh no…” Sunset groaned. “No offense but I’d really like a break from that please.”
Pinkie twitched. “Well, whatever it is, its getting closer.”
“Well, not like I had anything better to do today,” Rainbow said. “I say bring it on-whuhhhhh…” Rainbow’s eyes suddenly widened and her mouth hung open.
“Darling, what’s wrong?” Rarity asked.
“Is she having a stroke?” Pinkie asked.
Rainbow apparently was looking at the window as she pointed behind them. “You…are not gonna believe this…” The girls looked in her direction and that’s when they saw them.
The two women that walked in certainly looked like Principals Celestia and Luna, but the clothing they wore was…something most people haven’t seen in a very long time. Celestia had gone with a simple look of wearing jeans with a t-shirt and a matching jean jacket. It was Luna however that really got everyone’s attention. She was wearing a blue blouse with a silver-gray skirt, the kind that reflected off sunlight, which showed off her legs along with a pair of high-heels. Both of them entered the building, taking off the shades they were wearing.
“Um…did I miss something here?” Twilight asked.
“Yeah…I had no idea Luna had such nice legs,” Rainbow commented.
“Are you…drooling?” Applejack asked.
“Oh no, did they change today to 80’s Day and no one told me!?” Pinkie almost shrieked.
“I think we’re all missing the picture here,” Sunset deadpanned.
“Indeed, the fashion is totally out of style now,” Rarity said. “But I’ll give them credit for being bold.” Sunset just facepalmed.
Meanwhile, Celestia and Luna were looking around, noticing quickly how everyone was looking at them. “Okay, this is kind of weird…” Celestia said.
“They’re staring at us…” Luna said.
“I’m starting to think maybe these weren’t the best choice of clothes,” Celestia conceded. “Doesn’t matter, just act normal.”
The two of them went to the front counter where Mrs. Cake was standing at the register. “Oh my,” Mrs. Cake chuckled. “Seeing the two of you wearing that takes me back. What can I get you?”
“I got this Tia,” Luna said, who apparently knew the lingo around these parts. “I’d like a frap…”
“A frappucino?” Mrs. Cake asked, looking a little confused.
“A frap…venti…mocha,” Luna said, staring at the board.
“Luna, you don’t need a ‘frap’,” Celestia sighed. “You already had your morning caffeine.”
“Yeah well you don’t need a croissant do you?” Luna replied.
“Um…I can give you two more time if you-”
“Two tall mango teas,” Celestia said quite tersely.
“Ugh, fine,” Luna grumbled.
“Okay…well that’ll be $5.50 then.”
Celestia then realized she made a colossal error. “Um…Mrs. Cake, this is kind of awkward but…do you take bits?”
“Bits?” Mrs. Cake asked. “If you mean change of course, as long as they aren’t pennies, please.”
“How about if they’re gold?” Celestia asked as she pulled out five bits.
The poor woman looked as if she was going to have a heart attack. “Oh my…well…” She glanced around for a moment. “I suppose that could work…its real right.”
“Of course,” Celestia smiled.
“Right, two mango teas it is then.”
The two of them waited at the counter and Celestia looked up at one of the overhanging mirrors and her heart almost stopped. “Luna,” she said quietly. “She’s right behind us.”
“Hmm?” Luna glanced up at the mirror and realized who she was talking about. “Oh…so that’s Sunset Shimmer. She’s a very pretty girl.” She grinned slightly. “Well how about that…? You have an opportunity to go say hello to her.”
“I…um…”
Luna looked over to her concerned. “Wait…don’t tell me you’re getting cold feet now?”
“It’s a touchy subject sister,” Celestia whispered. “If she finds out its me, I’m not sure how’d she react. She may think I’m here to take her back or-”
“Or you could just tell her the truth. Hmm…so that’s what the Elements look like as humans. Wait…why is Rainbow Dash staring at me like that?”
Rainbow noticed that Luna noticed her looking and she quickly turned away. “Shit.”
“Okay, what’s going on with you?” Applejack asked.
“It’s nothing!” Rainbow snapped.
“Sure…”
“Is it just me…or does something seem off about them?” Sunset asked.
“Well, their attire is off that’s for sure,” Twilight commented.
“Okay, I’m getting to the bottom of this,” Pinkie said as she got up. “I need to know for sure if today’s Tacky Day or 80’s Day.”
“Wait Pinkie-”
“Oh no she’s coming over,” Luna said.
“Hi Principal Celestia, hi Vice-Principal Luna!” Pinkie said as she came between them. “We never see you two come in here!”
“Oh…well…isn’t that something then?” Celestia replied hesitantly.
“But I have to know…is today Throwback Day?” Honestly, they didn’t give it an official name, or at least to Pinkie’s knowledge.
“Oh…well…you know, these clothes have been sitting in the closet for awhile so…” Luna began.
“I know what you mean!” Pinkie said happily. “You two should’ve told me and we could’ve celebrated it together! Oh! Since you’re here, you want to sit with us?”
“Oh that’s a very kind offer Pinkie but we’re kind of in a hurry,” Celestia said somewhat frantically.
“Nonsense sister,” Luna grinned evilly. “We got plenty of time to chat and catch up.”
Celestia wanted to give her the worst glare possible but instead managed a smile in front of Pinkie. “Well…why not?”
“Awesome!” Pinkie practically pushed the two sisters over to the group. “Hey girls, is it alright if these two join us?”
The girls looked to one another. “Um…sure?” Sunset replied as she got up. “I’ll grab a couple chairs.”
It wasn’t that Celestia didn’t want to sit with them, it was that she knew Sunset was a bright pony…person and if anyone could figure her out it’d be Sunset. Still, it was too late now to just run out of the building. Pinkie then went back and got the two their tea.
“Actually Principal Celestia, we’re kind of glad you’re here,” Twilight said as the two sat down in the circle. “We’re having a bit of trouble meeting our goal for paying off Camp Everfree. You think you might have any ideas?”
“Okay Celestia, play this cool,” Celestia told herself. “You’ve been in these situations before and surely you can find an answer…let’s see…” “Well…I suppose I should ask when the deadline is?”
“End of the month,” Applejack said. “We still need over two thousand dollars to break even.”
“That’s a lot of money…”
Luna cleared her throat. “I think I might have a solution?”
“We’re all ears,” Rarity replied.
“Car wash.”
“Huh?” Sunset asked.
“You know…a car wash,” Luna replied. “You know…since there are a lot of cars here.”
“Well…it’s not a bad idea…” Sunset said. “But…”
“Actually I think its perfect,” Rainbow grinned. “Think about it, a bunch of guys seeing all of us in bathing suits washing cars…they’ll pay whatever we charge!”
“Um…I don’t mind wearing a bathing suit but…I think everyone will just be staring at us then,” Fluttershy said.
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “That’s the idea Fluttershy.”
“I think maybe if you do that you might want…others of the opposite gender working with you,” Celestia said.
It was silent for a few moments and finally Sunset had to ask. “Principal Celestia, is everything alright?” Celestia seemed to stiffen slightly. “No offense, but you two are acting weird…”
“It’s more her actually,” Luna said matter-of-factly.
“Shut up Luna.”
“I asked for a frap, and she wouldn’t let me get one,” Luna said.
“Every morning you want a frap, you don’t need a frap Luna,” Celestia said sternly.
“But it makes me happy!”
The girls stayed quiet while the bantering continued. “So uh…I like the look Vice-Principal Luna,” Rainbow said casually.
Luna smiled. “Thank you. I had a feeling you did since you couldn’t seem to take your eyes off my skirt…or was it my legs?”
“Well, I wish we could stay longer girls but we have to get going,” Celestia said, giving Luna a look that told her to go along with it.
“Indeed,” Luna said as she got up. “Sorry we couldn’t be much help with the fundraiser…but the car wash isn’t such a bad idea…”
The two of them waved goodbye before they left the building. “Ya know…looking back at that just now…something did seem kind of off,” Applejack commented.
Sunset didn’t reply. She kept staring at the door with a slight look of suspicion.
“Well that could’ve gone much worse,” Celestia grumbled as she paced around the living room.
“Sister, you’re worrying too much,” Luna assured her. “I know I wasn’t there when it happened but I think you and Sunset need some closure.”
“I know that!” Celestia almost snapped. “I just…I knew one day we’d meet again but I didn’t think under these circumstances. If I’m here, she may feel threatened and I don’t want that. I could explain myself away but she may lose whatever trust she has for me. I think we should go back.”
“Celestia.” She heard the tone in Luna’s voice that told her she was being dead serious now. “First of all, I don’t think she would come to that conclusion so quickly. Even so, it’s better you tell her before she finds out. I didn’t tell you about the Tantabus before right?”
“Right…and I admit I was kind of upset you didn’t come to me straight away about it,” Celestia said softly.
“And I felt terrible. In fact, I felt terrible that I could confide in Twilight Sparkle much easier than you because I felt she understood me better. My point being is, don’t let this eat away at your soul dear sister.” She then smiled slightly. “Besides, you’re supposed to be the open one of the two of us remember?”
Celestia smiled. “Alright…I’m not sure yet how I’m going to do this but…I’ll just tell her whether in a letter or person what’s going on and why I’m here.”
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. The two of them looked towards one another before Celestia went to the door and opened it. Right in front of her stood her former student.
“We need to talk,” Sunset said. Her serious demeanor shifted slightly as a smile formed on her face. “It’s been a long time, Princess.”
At the moment, Celestia realized she had two choices. Either she could slam the door in Sunset’s face, or she could act like she had no idea what the girl was talking about…and then slam the door in her face. Celestia decided to go with the third option.
She sighed slightly and gave her former student a small smile. “Yes it has my former student…I have to know was I really that obvious?”
Sunset smirked slightly. “Well, to be honest…I kind of cheated. I may have gained a few abilities since coming here. You sounded a bit nervous when you first saw me.”
Celestia froze slightly. Telepathy? That was a rare trait among unicorns. But now it made sense. “I see… well I shouldn’t be too surprised considering-” The wind was suddenly knocked out of her as she felt Sunset almost slam into her. It took her a moment to realize that the girl was hugging her. “Oh…um…”
“I know…this is awkward isn’t it?” Sunset asked.
“Well…I didn’t imagine we’d meet under these circumstances,” Celestia sighed. “You might as well come in so we can explain ourselves.”
Sunset pulled away for a moment. “Wait a minute…you mean it’s you and…?” Celestia just smiled as she led her inside.
“Who’s at the door sister?” Luna peered around the corner near the kitchen and saw the two of them. “Oh…she found out didn’t she?”
“It would seem so,” Celestia said. “Sunset, I don’t believe you two have properly met.”
Sunset couldn’t believe it. “So that’s really-”
“Yes.”
Sunset bowed rather clumsily. “I-It’s an honor to finally meet you Your Majesty.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Luna said with a smile. “As far as we’re concerned, I am merely a Vice-Principal of Canterlot High, nothing more. It is a pleasure to finally meet you as well Sunset Shimmer. Celestia always spoke highly of you and I hope she did the same while I was…absent.”
“Oh uh…”
“…Your hesitation is disturbing…”
“N-No she said nothing bad!” Sunset said quickly but then she saw that Luna was smirking. “Oh…you were messing with me. Speaking of which, where are Principal Celestia and Luna?”
“I think we should sit down before we get into that story,” Celestia said as the three of them sat down on the large couch. “As it turns out, apparently this world’s Luna wanted to…see what was on the other side.”
“Seriously?” Sunset asked. “I didn’t think they’d care for that.”
“I’m surprised my counterpart even agreed to it,” Celestia said. “Needless to say, they apparently made it to Equestria in one piece.”
“Let me guess…they ended up in Ponyville?”
“Oh yes.”
“Did Twilight freak out?”
“Indeed,” Luna replied. “My sister felt it was necessary to come at once, much to her dismay.”
Sunset snorted. That sounded like Twilight alright. “And you decided to come here?”
“We figured it was an opportunity to understand each other’s worlds better,” Celestia said. “I…wasn’t anticipating running into you and when I did I became…worried.”
“You thought I’d think you were here to take me away?” Sunset guessed.
“How did she-?” Luna began.
“She’s telepathic now sister.”
“Seriously?” Luna’s eyes widened. “But that’s…it’s a very rare talent even amongst the greatest of mages.”
“Well, it’s not just telepathy,” Sunset said. “When I touch people…I can see into their memories.”
The two sisters looked stunned. “This is incredible,” Celestia said. “Wait…before…did you-?”
“Oh no, I didn’t,” Sunset said quickly. “I can control it a little better now. I probably should explain but I’ll give you all the condensed version: we found a cave that contained these small geodes and I’m guessing they harness the same power as the Elements.”
“Interesting,” Luna pondered. “Was this…in the Everfree Forest by chance?”
“Yeah, just like in…” Sunset went quiet for a moment trying to process everything.
“It seems the Elements’ reach extends that of Equestria,” Celestia concluded. “And it would seem here that Sunset herself has become an Element…but of what I wonder?”
“They didn’t have a sign so I have no idea,” Sunset said.
“Well, I’m going to head to my room, I’m sure you two have a lot to talk about,” Luna said as she got up and left the room.
It was silent for a few moments. “So um…how is Twilight?” Sunset asked.
“She’s doing well, all things considered,” Celestia said. “She came to a crossroads just recently when it came to her own student.”
“Oh that’s right, she mentioned that before,” Sunset said. “So uh…are you planning on taking another student?”
“Hmm…that’s an idea I’ve pondered for awhile now actually,” Celestia said, a finger to her chin. She then smirked slightly. “You wouldn’t possibly be asking for me to be your teacher again are you?”
“W-What no!” Sunset almost yelled. “I mean, no I didn’t think about it because…well…I kind of blew it the last time.” She sighed slightly. “You know…ever since Twilight got me back on the right path I’ve…felt terrible about what I did and what I said. I really took your teachings and wisdom for granted. I’m so sorry…”
“Honestly, I feel we’re both to blame,” Celestia said as she put a hand on Sunset’s shoulder. "When I saw that you were striving to be better I admit I…saw a bit of my sister in you and as such I became more controlling, even when I told myself I should’ve been more open-minded. If I had only just talked to you instead of prohibiting you things could’ve been…different.”
Sunset suddenly chuckled. “You know…for awhile I always did think what would’ve happened if I had stayed as your pupil. Maybe I would’ve been a princess after all, maybe not…but after everything Twilight did for me, I realize know I probably couldn’t have done half the things she accomplished so…maybe this was supposed to happen.”
Celestia smiled. “I think it also shows me that not even I can teach someone everything…”
“So um…are we okay now?” Sunset asked.
“I think so,” Celestia smiled as the two shared another hug. “And for the record, there was never a time where I was going to come in and snatch you away.”
Sunset grinned. “I know…that wasn’t your style anyway. So…how long are you two going to be here?”
“I told those two we’d return before sunfall,” Celestia said. She looked at the clock and saw it was only after eleven. “Hmm…it almost feels like time here goes much slower…”
“Well…that would give us some time to catch up right?” Sunset asked.
“Indeed, especially since the cat is out of the bag.”
“I just can’t believe you’re letting those two run Equestria.”
“It was an off day…besides we pretty much showed them the basics of magic use. It shouldn’t be an issue.”
“There’s just one other thing that’s bugging me,” Sunset pondered.
“What’s that?”
“How the heck did you two drive back here from the school?”
Meanwhile at the school, what was left of the statue outside of Canterlot High stood quiet as time passed. The portal suddenly started to ripple and it turned a red color. The rippling started to increase more and more, a sign that something was coming through. The light grew brighter and brighter until someone finally came through.
“-yooooouuuuuuuuu Summmmeeerrrrrsssssss-!” the woman screamed until she suddenly hit the ground hard. Groaning slightly, the woman looked around slightly before getting to her feet. “…This isn’t Maretropolis.”
The woman wore mostly purple, purple slacks and a purple jacket which contrasted with her green exotic-looking hair. She looked around and realized the area was completely foreign to her. “I see Matterhorn…you thought you could get rid of me by banishing me to another dimension.” The woman started to chuckle which soon broke down into hysterical laughter. “You fools! By ridding me you’ve doomed this entire world! But I suppose I should be thankful. Now then…there’s much to be done! Ahahaha!” The woman laughed as she ran out of the parking lot towards downtown Canterlot.
For the next half hour, Celestia and Sunset conversed about what had been going in Equestria and this world as well. Celestia had been very impressed by what she had seen so far, especially with technology. Sunset couldn’t believe her former teacher was able to teach herself to drive a car so easily.
“Well when you’ve been the princess of Equestria so many generations,” Celestia said somewhat smugly. “You tend to pick up on things rather easily.”
“Uh-huh…so how’s that phone treating you?”
“…I’m working on it…”
Sunset then decided perhaps it was time to get to know the Princess of Night herself. Of course, she brought nothing up about Nightmare Moon and neither did Luna, but then again she was slightly distracted at the moment.
“Are you kidding me!? You own all this!?” Sunset exclaimed as she stared around Luna’s room.
“Well, technically it’s Vice-Principal Luna’s but she never said I couldn’t play.”
“Wait…what’s your username?”
“TheDarKnight1000.”
“No way…I’ve been playing with Luna all this time and she never told me!?”
“Her collection is quite impressive I must say. Now then Sunset Shimmer, as Princess of Equestria, I offer you a challenge…if you can best me in this challenge I promise I will make sure all of Equestria will remember your name: Sunset Shimmer, heroine of worlds!”
Sunset grinned devilishly. “I accept your challenge Princess.”
“Then let us begin!”
Celestia helped herself to the fridge as she looked for something to eat. Truthfully, she really did crave a croissant at the café and wished she had just stayed and got it. She looked through and saw there was a large jug of orange juice inside and poured herself a glass. “I’ll pay her back…eventually.” She then saw inside that there was a large chocolate cake, a triple-decker by her guess and it was covered in chocolate icing and Oreo cookies.
Celestia found herself drooling already. “Oh come to mama you sweet thing…” She wasn’t going to eat the whole thing but she did cut herself quite the hefty piece. “Again, I’ll pay her back.”
The first bite was heavenly and she felt like her entire body was going to melt. “I haven’t tasted anything this amazing since…when was that sweet convention?”
She took another bite and wondered what Luna and Sunset were up to. Knowing Sunset, she was probably star-stuck that she got to meet Luna. Luna had that effect on others. She went over to Luna’s room, the door open this time and as she peeked inside she saw a scene she’d never forget.
“You’re going down Princess of the Night!” Sunset yelled as she wore a similar headset to Luna’s, the gameplay on the television showing explosions and carnage.
“Ah, you’re a worthy challenger Sunset Shimmer!” Luna yelled in return. “But there’s so much I can still teach you!”
Celestia just stared at the pair as they continued their game, laughing at one another and cheering when one of them got killed. She then slipped out of the room and went back to the kitchen shaking her head. “Maybe she would’ve done better as Luna’s student,” she wondered. She couldn’t help but smile a bit. “Now that would’ve been a nightmare…”
Mane-iac had to hand it to Matterhorn, she was wise to get rid of her via portal to a different dimension. But apparently the girl had no idea where she had sent her. “How sloppy of you,” Mane-iac thought with amusement. “Oh well, it’s my problem now isn’t it?”
Considering this place was obviously not Maretropolis and no one was threatening to call the police, she decided it was best to act like a normal citizen, at least for the time being. At worst, people would think the woman needed a major haircut. “I feel the need to stop by the nearest hair salon…”
But they would have to wait. She already had a plan in mind but without her minions or the black market to depend on, she’d have to resort to more basic means, hence her trip to the local department store. But before that, she’d need something to get around in.
Luckily, she managed to find a white van on her way into town. The best part was the fact that the idiot left his keys in the car and the door unlocked. Were people here that confident about their possessions not being stolen? Mane-iac sure wasn’t complaining. “Sorry dear, I have to borrow this,” she said somewhat sadly as she got into the front seat and started the engine. She shifted into drive and drove off before the owner could come running out and scream at her.
Well, that was the easy part. Now she would have to find all the materials she needed for her new plan. Luckily, the chemical concoction she had been holding onto survived the trip over. She took out the small bottle of concentrated formula. “Oh the things we can do to this town,” she chuckled.
Building a bomb was easy if you knew all the components, which you could find anywhere. Again, with her resources stuck back in Maretropolis, she’d have to resort to explosive material such as fertilizer. Lots and lots of fertilizer.
Before she got up, she took a look in the mirror, finally noticing her attire. “Huh…I can’t deny it looks good but it’s just not…me…” She needed a wardrobe change but she’d worry about that later.
She parked in the front of the store by the front door. Of course, she was probably going to get a ticket but that wasn’t her problem was it? Going inside, it was easy to find everything she needed. You needed brains and brawn to be one of Maretropolis’ most wanted so she knew exactly what she needed.
After getting all the parts required plus half a dozen small bags of fertilizer, she made her way towards the front door. “Excuse me ma’am, checkout’s over here?” Mane-iac looked over to the man at the checkout desk.
“Oh I’m terribly sorry,” she said sweetly as she walked over. “Every store is different so I get lost around here.”
“That’s nice but you need to bring your stuff over here so I can scan it.”
“Oh…right…here’s the thing,” Mane-iac said as she leaned against the table, almost in the man’s face. “See I’m afraid coming over here has left me in a bad situation financially and considering all that’s in there is going to raise a red flag anyway…” The man had no time to react as her hair grabbed him and slammed his head into the wood, knocking him out. “Oh, really? You’ll let me take it for free? You’re such a kind person…the city will thank you for this later.” She then cackled as she left the building. If anyone had managed to witness the scene, they certainly weren’t brave enough to confront the woman.
As soon as she packed everything, she quickly drove off. The police would be notified eventually so for now she’d have to lay low. As she drove further downtown, she passed by the large concert hall and looked over to see a large sign depicting an event taking place tonight at seven.
Mane-iac grinned. “Well, well, well…I think I just found my first target…”
It was about two hours later when Sunset and Luna finally called it quits. “You are certainly a worthy adversary Sunset,” Luna declared. “You obviously have much experience.”
“Well I’m surprised you’re as good as you are and you’ve only been here only half a day,” Sunset said. “Did they create video games over there while I’ve been gone?”
“Not yet sadly, as least not with this kind of technology,” Luna said sadly. “If my counterpart is just as good, one of these days we will have to do battle.” Sunset snorted at the idea.
“Are you two finally done?” Celestia asked, who again was in the doorway.
Both of them blushed. “Were we really playing that long?” Luna asked.
“Yes, but I’m glad to see you two are bonding,” Celestia replied, smiling. “Luna, I know it may still be early but…I have a strange feeling that we should head back and check on Equestria.”
“Oh sister, there’s no way those two could have caused any trouble,” Luna said with a wave of her hand. “Besides, Twilight can handle things if need be.”
“But that’s what I worry about,” Celestia argued. “What if she finds out it isn’t us over there?”
“Wait…Twilight doesn’t know you two are over here?” Sunset asked.
“No…Celestia thought she could be clever and pull one over Twilight,” Luna said.
“I didn’t see the harm in it, considering we weren’t going to be gone long,” Celestia explained.
“Oh boy…well maybe she’s right,” Sunset said. “I can take you two back to the school.”
Luna sighed. “Alright fine… but what if everything’s alright then?”
“Luna…”
“Fine, fine we’ll go.”
“Just one thing?” Sunset asked. “No offense but um…do you two think you could change into something more…current?” Both sisters looked at one another and started laughing.
Equestria
The sound of the clock ticking echoed throughout the quiet room. Both sisters were sitting on their thrones, looking as bored as ever. “Well…I suppose it was only a matter of time before we were going to run out of things to do,” Luna grumbled.
She then heard a snore beside her and saw that her sister had fallen asleep, partly from doing nothing but also because she had a full stomach. Luna sighed. “Figures…” She then got up and decided to take a stroll through the castle grounds.
It certainly was strange to see walking, talking equines about but Luna couldn’t deny the world of its beauty and…quietness. Sure, their world was mostly the same but they had buildings, cars, computers, etc. Here it was like they’ve gone back in time, to a time where life was a lot less…complicated.
Maybe that’s why she wanted to come here, to get away from the usual. But alas, even here she has duties to fulfill. Perhaps it may be a boring day to her and her sister, but to the princesses it was probably one of the few off days they had. Now it seemed that she appreciated only having to worry over a high school instead of an entire country.
As she kept walking, she noticed she was being followed. She stopped and noticed the two members of the Lunar Guard standing at attention behind her. “…Have you two always been following me?”
The two ponies looked at one another. “Of course Your Majesty,” one of them, a female said. “It’s our duty is it not?” While Luna relished in the idea of having her own Guard and having them do whatever she wanted, she didn’t like the idea of always being watched.
“Of course…” Luna said. She then studied the guard who had spoken closer. “Take off your helmet.”
The pony looked confused as she pulled off her helmet and that’s when Luna realized something was different. The pony looked equine but the anatomy was slightly different. Even so she looked…
“Oh my gosh,” Luna said, going over and putting her hooves on the pony’s cheeks. “You are adorable.”
The mare started to blush as the other looked at Luna in confusion. “Um…thank you Your Highness?”
“Oh that’s right,” Luna remembered. “The princess did say they were known as thestrals…oh I want to take one home with me and snuggle with it.” She then cleared her throat. “You’ll forgive me…”
“S-Sergeant Sabre ma’am,” the thestral stuttered.
“Yes.” She looked to the two of them. “I need you two to do something for me.”
“Anything Your Majesty,” Sabre said.
“My sister and I have to go to Ponyville for a bit. However, the Guard cannot know about this. It’s…secret business.”
“Okay?”
“Can you arrange us a chariot?”
“At once ma’am.” Sabre saluted as she put her helmet back on. “We’ll have them meet you in the gardens.”
“Thank you.” Luna then returned to the throne room where her sister was still sleeping. “Celestia? Wake up, we need to get going.” Of course, Celestia only responded with a loud snore. “Seriously sister, wake up!” She tried nudging her but that didn’t seem to have anymore effect. She then spotted a vase full of flowers nearby and dragged it over with her magic, tipping it over and dropping the water on her face.
“Agh! TO THE DUNGEON!” Well, apparently she learned the Royal Canterlot Voice rather quickly. “L-Luna?”
“Sorry Tia, the cake really did a number apparently. We have a carriage awaiting us.”
“Huh?” Celestia then got to her feet. “Why? Are the princesses back?”
“No, I arranged the carriage.”
“You? Why?” She looked at the clock. “It’s still kind of early don’t you think?”
“Perhaps, but I admit maybe we’ve stayed here long enough. It’s not that I want to leave but…”
“But?”
“Perhaps its just intuition or something magical-related with this place but I feel…slightly uneasy.”
“Luna, if you’re worried that some national crisis-”
“That isn’t it, though yes that would be an issue; I just think perhaps we’ve had enough fun for today.”
Celestia was surprised to hear that coming from her own sister. “Wait, you’re not worried the other Luna is playing your-”
“No…but if she scratched anything I will kill her.”
The two alicorns then went out to the gardens (after Celestia insisted on writing a small note letting anyone know the two were running an errand) as the midnight blue carriage awaited them. “At least it looks comfortable,” Celestia commented as the two went inside.
“Well, what else would you expect from the Lunar Guard?” Luna said quite smugly. “But seriously, I had no idea thestrals could be so cute!”
“You can’t take one home…cause then it’ll turn into a human,” Celestia reminded her as the carriage took off.
“Hmm…yes that is true.”
It was only when they were about halfway to Ponyville that Celestia realized something. “Wait a minute, if we land in Ponyville, everyone’s going to see us!”
“…Yeah I didn’t think of that one thoroughly did I?”
“Don’t worry, I have an idea,” Celestia said as she opened her window and looked towards the pegasus stallions pulling the carriage. “Excuse me!” The carriage slowed down as the two ponies looked to her. “Sorry to interrupt you but…instead of landing in Ponyville we need you to stop right above Ponyville Castle…like maybe a hundred meters up?” The one pegasus stared at his partner who only shrugged in confusion.
Once they had finally reached Ponyville, they were so high up one would have to crane their neck in order to see them right above the castle. “Wait, are you sure about this?” Luna asked.
“Don’t worry sister, we have wings after all so we can just float down,” Celestia said. She then opened the door and waved to the two pegasi. “Thank you for the ride!” She then jumped out. Luna just shook her head and followed suit.
“Is it just me or has today been very weird?” one of the pegasi asked.
“Totally weird,” the other pegasus nodded.
It wasn’t the most graceful landing Princess Celestia would ever have, and maybe it was fortunate that being an alicorn made one immortal (again, pony world physics apparently do not coincide with earth physics) since the landing she made probably would’ve twisted something. Needless to say, her legs hurt after that.
Luna wasn’t as fortunate, deciding to use her sister as a landing pad. “Thank you sister,” Celestia said bemused as she lay sprawled out.
“Well you were so confident this was such a good idea,” Luna said as she managed to get up. “Well, at least we managed to reach the front door without any unwanted attention.
“Princess Celestia? Princess Luna?” The two of them looked behind them to see Starlight Glimmer staring at them with a large bag of produce.
“I stand corrected,” Luna sighed. She then put on a smile. “Starlight Glimmer, what a…surprise to see you.”
“Um…right,” Starlight said. “Did you two need to see Twilight about something?”
“Well…not exactly,” Celestia said. “Alright Celestia, play it cool and she’ll suspect nothing…” “We just needed to…see that room again with the mirror but we didn’t want to disturb Twilight of course.”
“Oh I’m sure she won’t mind,” Starlight said as she walked up to the door. “I’ll just-”
“No,” Celestia said, putting a hoof on her shoulder. “She really can’t know we’re here.”
Starlight suddenly looked suspicious. “Alright, what’s going on here?”
“Should we just tell her sister?” Luna asked.
Celestia sighed. “I guess we don’t have a choice. Starlight, I know we may look like the princesses but-”
“Wait a minute.” Starlight’s horn suddenly glowed and she appeared to perform some sort of scanning spell. “Wait…no…you’re not changelings are you?”
“No,” Celestia said, now looking annoyed. “That mirror you saw that goes to another world. We’re from that world.”
“I knew it!” Starlight almost shouted. “I knew there was something funny going on here! So wait…where are…?”
“They’re on the other side,” Luna explained.
“Oh…and Twilight doesn’t know does she?”
“No and we hope we can keep it that way,” Celestia said. “Can we just get to that room please?”
“Alright, I’ll show you the way,” Starlight sighed. “But if we get caught, I’m not getting thrown under the carriage.”
She opened the doors and led the two alicorns inside. “Twilight should be in her office in the library,” Starlight said. “And Spike should be over at Rarity’s currently so I think the coast should be clear…follow me.”
She led them down rows of doors before she found the second to last door on the right. “Here we go.”
“Wait, how do you know which one is which?” Luna asked.
“Believe me, I’ve gotten lost here so many times so I literally marked each door with a marker spell that’ll tell me which place is which.” She opened the door and went inside. However, as the three walked inside, they suddenly stopped in their tracks.
“Hello Starlight, Princesses.” The large white rotating chair that certainly wasn’t there before turned which revealed Twilight’s presence. She was about to say something more but then realized she put too much oomph into her spin and now she was facing to the left of them. “Wait a minute…” She shifted so she was now looking straight at them. “Ahem…as I was saying…hello ladies. What a surprise to see you all here.”
She then got up and walked towards them slowly. “It really is a surprise to see you two again, especially since we just saw each other about six hours ago.”
“They just wanted to come see the portal again,” Starlight explained.
“Oh really?” Twilight looked at the two suspiciously. “And why is that, ‘Princess’ Celestia?”
“She knows…or at least she suspects it,” Celestia thought. “Time to put those acting lessons to good use.” “Before we departed last time, I couldn’t help but notice something was…off about the portal and even though I tried to brush it off, the feeling kept nagging me.”
Twilight suddenly looked surprised. “Really?” She went over to the portal and studied it closely. “Everything seems in working order. I admit this thing doesn’t get used very often so…” She then chuckled. “Oh I see what you’re doing…you’re trying to throw me off with an excuse. But why don’t you two tell me why you’re really here?”
“You know…um…I’m just gonna get going now, bye!” Starlight said, teleporting quickly before Twilight decided to stop her.
“…I’ll be having a word with her later,” Twilight said. “Anyway, you two better start explaining yourselves.”
“I don’t appreciate your tone Twilight,” Celestia said. “You sound like you suspect us of something.”
“Of course I do!” Well, she wasn’t one hundred percent certain…maybe ninety-six. “You two switched places with the princesses didn’t you!?”
“Now why would we do that?” Luna asked.
“I…I don’t know!” Twilight yelled. “But I pick up on the little things you know. When you two left, it was Celestia without the crown who used the teleportation spell. Now how would Principal Celestia know that spell? The truth is she didn’t and it was Princess Celestia who did the spell.”
“I’m not seeing the relevance here,” Celestia said.
Twilight was now gritting her teeth and ready to scream. They were definitely cool-headed, much more than she imagined. “I suppose they have Princess Celestia to thank for that,” she grumbled in her head. Then all of a sudden a smirk came to her face as it finally hit her. That was it.
“Alright…I may not have concrete evidence that a switch was made…but I can still prove you two are in fact Principals Celestia and Luna!” She smiled as a number of books suddenly appeared in her possession. “These books contain a lot of information about the princesses, information you two should already know.” She then grinned. “So if I’m wrong about this, then it should be easy right?”
“You’re…going to quiz us?” Luna said, her bravado started to slip.
“Of course. You two know how much I love quizzes…or do you?” She then opened one of the books. “So…what do you say?”
“I think this is rather ridiculous,” Luna said. “We don’t have time to answer-”
“We accept.”
“What?” Luna stared at her sister, her look of determination never fading. “Celestia, you can’t be serious!?”
“Oh just humor her Luna,” Celestia said. “Like she said, she loves quizzes.” Luna could only facehoof horribly.
“Great!” Twilight said happily. She then looked through her book. “Okay, first question. This is an easy one: what is the name of Princess Celestia’s pet?”
“Philomena of course,” Celestia said. Thank goodness for notes.
“…Okay, maybe too easy,” Twilight grumbled slightly. “Okay, next question: what’s Luna’s favorite cake?”
“Um…” Luna thought for a moment. “Black Forest?”
“…” Twilight suddenly tossed the book across the room. “Okay, those were just lucky guesses. Now we’re going to go a little bit more current: Luna, you have to answer this one yourself: when we dealt with the Tantabus before, do you remember why that creature was created in the first place?” She then smirked at her. “Better yet, do you even know what a Tantabus is?”
Luna scoffed. “Of course I know what a Tantabus is…” However, she didn’t know the answer to that question. Well, if there was one thing she was good at in school it was throwing out answers. “It’s because…well…do I really have to say it?”
“Yes! You do!” Twilight glared at her.
“Is this what happened to you Luna?” Luna thought to herself. “Is that what caused you to turn evil?” She sighed. “Fine, I don’t know. I don’t know because I’m not Princess Luna and she’s not Princess Celestia. I’m tired of playing this game so can we just go home now?” Celestia just shook her head disappointingly.
Twilight froze for a second. This…this wasn’t how she imagined it would be ending. “Oh come on! At least put a little more effort into it!” Well, this wasn’t as much fun as she thought. She sighed. “Look…I’m not…angry I just…who’s idea was it in the first place?”
“Technically it was their idea,” Celestia said. “I don’t think she meant any harm in it.”
“Well she could’ve told me and saved me all the stress,” Twilight grumbled. “Still, I guess I can’t really blame you two, not completely anyway. But why didn’t you two tell me?”
“We thought if we could get away with it without you knowing we would,” Celestia said, bowing her head slightly. “We’re sorry…”
Twilight looked uncomfortable. “This is…kind of weird. Having you two bowing and apologizing to me. Well, I suppose we can go look for them on the other side. Do you know where they are?”
“Well, if they didn’t trash the car then hopefully they’re at our house,” Luna said.
“Wait a minute…you let them into your house willingly!?” Twilight almost yelled.
“Considering we’re pretty much all the same I don’t think it’s as bad as it sounds,” Celestia said calmly. “Then again, if they broke anything…”
“I can see you look worried so we’ll just head over there right away. Follow me.” Twilight was about to step into the portal when her muzzle hit the glass. “Huh?” She tapped the mirror slightly. “This can’t be right…the portal should be open.”
“I think I now understand your uneasiness dear sister,” Celestia whispered.
“Oh no, no no no nonononononono! Twilight shrieked as she went around the portal. “This can’t be happening! This is absolutely the worst time for this thing to break! We need those two back to lower the sun and raise the moon.”
“You know they taught us to do that…” Luna said.
“That’s not the point! If something happens in Equestria, we need Princess Celestia and Princess Luna!” Twilight took a deep breath. “Okay, no need to panic, I’ll just disassemble everything and figure out the problem that way.”
“Um…is the mirror supposed to be turning red?” Celestia asked.
“Huh?” Twilight looked at the mirror and saw the glass turning a blood red. “No…it really shouldn’t be doing that…” Suddenly the portal opened and the three of them felt themselves get sucked in. “No it’s really not supposed to do this!” Twilight screamed as she was pulled inside.
The two alicorns tried to grab hold of something but even with their strength they were still being pulled in. “Hold on Luna!” Celestia managed to grab her with a wing. “We have to go in there! We can’t just leave Twilight behind!”
“Are you kidding me!?” Luna yelled back as books started to fly around the room. “How do we know that isn’t a portal to Hell!?”
“Oh for crying out loud Luna, enough with the damn video game-!” Suddenly a book hit her straight in the head, causing Celestia to lose her grip around the bookshelf as the two were then sucked into the portal. Once they went through, the portal closed once again, leaving the room a complete mess.
There was then a knock on the door. “Twilight?” Starlight opened the door and looked inside, suddenly gawking at the entire mess. “Oh great…am I gonna have to report alicorn on alicorn violence…?”
Princess Celestia wasn’t sure if she was more surprised by how good a driver Sunset was or the car she drove. “This car looks expensive,” she commented as she sat in the passenger seat while Luna sat in the back.
“It…wasn’t cheap,” Sunset said as she took a right towards the school.
“You know, I was wondering what happened to the money in the Treasury,” Celestia commented with a small smirk. “Quite a bit of it was missing after you left.”
“That’s…um…”
“Well as long as you’re happy with it,” Celestia said contently. “And I hope you have good insurance.”
Once they finally reached the parking lot, the three of them got out and made their way towards the statue. “You know Sunset,” Luna began. “It’s not too late. Now is a good time as any if you wish to come back to visit Equestria.”
Sunset froze in her tracks. The idea had come to her plenty of times in the past, especially whenever she passed by the portal. Her one obstacle was finally out of the way so why was she still hesitating? “I want to, I really do,” she said, looking to both princesses. “It’s just…well I wouldn’t feel good about leaving my friends behind. I’d have to let them know personally.”
“We understand,” Celestia nodded. She went over and gave her former student a hug. “I’m sure it’s been said before but I will say it again: you are always welcome to come visit.”
“I promise you won’t have to wait long,” Sunset smiled. “I could always come later tonight too you know.”
“I think we’d like that,” Luna said. “After all, there’s much more we’d like to know about this place.” She then hesitated, not sure how to say her goodbyes. Sunset grinned slightly as she went up and gave Luna a hug as well, much to her surprise. “I guess this is goodbye for now…” she added, blushing a bit in embarrassment.
Celestia turned around towards the portal. “I suppose it’s time for us-” She stopped and her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Something’s wrong…”
“What do you mean?” Sunset asked.
“I knew my powers would be diminished coming here but…I can still make out the magical currents around the portal.” And something was definitely off. She went up to the portal and reached out with her hand, only to touch solid granite. “It’s as I feared,” Celestia said gravely. “The portal has been closed.”
“What!?” Luna and Sunset both yelled.
“But this doesn’t make any sense,” Sunset said as she went up and put her hands against the side of the statue. “Why would it stop working like that?”
“Luna, you can sense it too correct?” Celestia asked.
“Yes…it’s very faint but…”
Celestia nodded. “That’s the problem. Luna and I are perceptive towards magical currents, just like Discord can detect magical imbalances, and this portal should be overflowing with magical current. It’s almost as if the other side has been cut off.”
“You mean in Equestria,” Sunset confirmed. “Maybe she took the portal she has offline? She told me the one in the Crystal Empire only opens every thirty moons.”
“Perhaps…” Celestia said. “Wait…” She then backed up slightly. “Something’s coming…”
The three of them backed away as the portal began to glow red again. “That’s definitely never happened before…” Sunset commented.
The three of them braced themselves for whatever was about to come through. Five seconds later, as something finally did come through, Sunset could only stare in surprise. “Twilight?”
Princess Twilight groaned as she got up to her feet slowly, rubbing her head. “Sunset? Is that-?” She looked towards Celestia and Luna and her expression suddenly soured. “Oh. Hello Princesses.”
It wasn’t long before two more people came through the portal and it was hard for Sunset to believe she was seeing double. The two women opened their eyes and looked around. “Are we home?” Vice-Principal Luna asked.
“Oh thank goodness,” Principal Celestia sighed in relief. “That trip was worse than the first time.”
“Wait a minute,” Sunset said. She was thankful the two pairs of women weren’t wearing similar outfits. “How did you guys get back here? I thought the portal was closed.”
Twilight jumped slightly as her words brought her back to reality. “Oh no!” She went back up to the portal and just as she feared, it was closed once again. “This is really bad!”
“Twilight, what’s going on?” Sunset asked.
Twilight suddenly laughed bitterly. “What’s going on? Oh I’ll tell you what’s going on.” She turned around and the anger on her face caused Sunset to flinch. “Princess Celestia and Luna thought it would be such a great idea to switch places with their counterparts here just so they could go sightseeing. Normally I wouldn’t have an issue with that but they didn’t feel the need to tell me!” She glared at the two princesses and Sunset was surprised to see the two of them hanging their heads.
“And now because of this great idea we’re all now stuck here and Equestria has three of their leaders missing!” Twilight spat. “Let’s not forget the fact that now there’s no one formally in charge of Canterlot and no one to raise the sun and moon! But hey, it was worth it right!?”
“Twilight…” Sunset said.
“No, she’s right Sunset,” Princess Celestia said. She looked at her other former student. “It was irresponsible of me to do this without you knowing. If there’s anyone solely to blame, it is me. I truly am sorry Twilight…”
Twilight’s mask crumbled and her face drooped as she let out a sigh. “No, don’t be sorry, I just really needed to let that out. Now’s not the time for us to be bickering though.” She leaned against the wall and thought for a moment. “There’s a slight time difference between worlds so even if it takes awhile to get back, we may still get home just in time…”
“I just want to know why the portal stopped working,” Sunset asked. “And how did you two get through anyway?”
“The portal opened by itself and it sucked us in,” Twilight said. “It’s never done that before… but as for why it’s not working I may know why.”
“Well, we’re certainly all ears,” Luna said.
“Sunset, do you have paper and pen?” Twilight asked. “This might be easier to explain on paper.”
“Sure.” Sunset went through her bag and got out a notebook and pen and handed it to her.
“Thank you.” Twilight took the pen and drew a straight line with two dots at the end marked A and B. Everyone gathered around and watched her. “Okay, let’s pretend dot A is Equestria and dot B is this world. The line is represented as the portal between these two worlds. More specifically, dot A is the mirror in the Crystal Empire.” She drew two small circles above and below the line. “Now let’s say hypothetically there were two other dimensions and they shared some resemblances just like here and Equestria. Let’s say a connection is made via these two dimensions.” She then drew a line connecting the two circles. “Now do you see the issue here?”
“The lines intersect,” Celestia said.
“Exactly. Again, this is just a theory but I think somehow these two streams as we’re going to call them crossed and what happens when you run into an intersection?”
“Oh I see what you’re saying,” Sunset said. “So its possible something may have gotten caught in the intersection and wounded up here instead of where they were supposed to go.”
“So why did the portal close then?” Princess Luna asked.
Twilight looked down in embarrassment. “Actually…that’s my fault. When I created my portal I installed a…well I guess you could call it a safety feature, in case something like this happened. As I said, the connection is a straight line between points. If something disturbs that connection, it becomes severed to prevent anyone else from coming through.”
“Oh I see,” Luna said. “The foreign object coming through is like a contagion and the portal runs a quarantine procedure which is only lifted when the foreign object is eradicated.”
“That’s…one way to put it, yes,” Twilight replied.
“If that’s true, then how did you three manage to get through to this side?” Princess Celestia asked.
“That I’m not so sure of,” Twilight replied, looking puzzled. “It’s possible since I’m the Element of Magic I was able to…‘override the protocol’ as Luna would put it.”
“Okay, so we need to find out who came through the portal and find a way to send them back,” Sunset said. “Shouldn’t be too difficult right?” She got weird looks in response.
“Well, it’s partly our fault that we got you all in this mess,” Celestia said. “So we’ll help anyway we can.”
“We’re most appreciative of that,” Princess Celestia nodded. “So…where to look first?”
Suddenly, they heard the sound of sirens. “I’d say that’s a good place to start,” Luna said.
With six people now, Sunset’s car was a little cramped inside but they managed to get into downtown without much incident. They parked nearby a department store which was currently surrounded by police cars.
There was a small group of people outside witnessing the entire scene as the six of them went over to look for themselves. “What happened?” Twilight asked.
“Shoplifting,” a man said. “Apparently some crazy woman came in and stole a whole bunch of stuff like fertilizer and all that. The cashier said the woman knocked him out but get this: he says she did it with her hair. The guy must’ve really gotten knocked out or something…”
The group glanced at one another and then Sunset gestured for them to go over by one of the walkway benches. “Sounds like we found our person,” Sunset said.
“He said the woman used her hair to knock the guy out?” Twilight asked. She thought for a moment and her eyes widened. “Oh no…”
“What, what is it?” Sunset asked. “You know who it is?”
“Well…I think,” Twilight said. “But it’s kind of hard to believe.”
“Twilight, after what’s been going on for the last couple months I don’t think you even need to say that,” Sunset deadpanned.
“Ain’t that the truth…” Celestia muttered.
“Alright well, a while ago in Equestria, the girls and I traveled to this world inside a comic book. We became a group of ponies known as the Power Ponies.”
“Oh yeah, I remember seeing those comics back then,” Sunset nodded.
“Anyway, we faced off against a villain known as the Mane-iac who fits that exact description the cashier made.”
“Crazy and has magical hair,” Princess Celestia said. “Yep, that sounds like something that would be written in Equestria…”
“Wait a minute, so you’re saying this person escaped from a comic book and somehow managed to end up here?” Princess Luna asked.
“I don’t think so necessarily,” Twilight said. “The events that took place in that world were based on the comic book that Spike had. Who’s to say there isn’t a dimension where a place like Maretropolis actually exists?”
“So we’re going against a supervillain,” Sunset groaned. “Well, I can’t say it’s the weirdest foe we’ve ever faced. Should we gather up the girls?”
“I think so,” Twilight replied. “We need to find out what the Mane-iac is up to and fast.”
Once they managed to gather up all the girls (after of course they switched cars since Twilight was having a hard time being scrunched up next to her mentor and her mentor’s counterpart) and meeting back at Celestia and Luna’s house, it took a bit to get everyone back on track due to the girls finding out that that Celestia and Luna were actually royalty. Rarity was the worst of them all. “You have no idea what a honor this is,” Rarity said who had taken Princess Celestia’s hands into hers. “We’re very thankful to have a friend like Twilight.”
“W-Well we’re just glad she’s been able to help,” Princess Celestia said, smiling awkwardly.
Rainbow thought this was the coolest thing ever while thankfully Fluttershy and Applejack were a little more controlled in their reactions. Twilight was definitely intrigued. “So…they’re like goddesses in your world?” she asked her counterpart.
“To some…yes,” Princess Twilight grimaced. “But please don’t treat them that way.”
And Pinkie…well she acted in the most appropriate Pinkie way. “Oh my gosh this is amazing! It’s like you two are twins…wait does that mean you’re quadruplets? Does that even happen like that at birth? Who cares, we should totally have a big counterpart party! Ooh Twilight, why don’t you invite us from the other side as well!?”
“No!” Princess Twilight said sharply. “Can we please get back on track?”
Sunset managed to explain everything that had happened and surprisingly the girls found this much harder to believe. “So let me get this straight darling,” Rarity said. “You’re saying some woman in major need of a hair salon came from a world full of superheroes and somehow managed to get caught between dimensions and ended up here and that’s why you three are now stuck here?”
“Pretty much,” Princess Twilight replied.
“That’s awesome!” Rainbow asked. “I can’t believe the Mane-iac is here! I’d totally ask for her autograph if she wasn’t trying to kill me.”
“So this Rainbow Dash likes comics I take it?” Princess Luna asked.
“Pft, you kidding, I have a full drawer of comics!” Rainbow bragged.
“Wait a minute, you call me an egghead for reading history books but it’s okay for you to have comics!?” Twilight almost snapped.
“First of all, history books are boring.”
“Well, Ah’ve heard crazier things happen and lately all it’s ever been is crazy,” Applejack commented. “So what’re we gonna do then?”
“Rainbow can probably back me up on this but obviously the woman is psychotic, meaning she takes pleasure in chaos,” Princess Twilight said. “Huh…reminds me of someone else I know…” “Apparently she stole some stuff from a department store. Fertilizer, pieces of metal, stuff like that.”
“Oh well that’s easy to figure out,” Rainbow said. “She’s building a bomb.”
“A bomb!?” Everyone cried out.
“Well, it makes sense,” Applejack added. “Fertilizer is probably the cheapest and least suspicious product to buy but whoa nelly is it explosive.”
“A-And you want us to deal with this?” Fluttershy asked. “Shouldn’t we call the police?”
“I doubt they’d believe us,” Sunset said. “And when you mention the world ‘bomb’ in a sentence sure it gets their attention but if we have no proof of such a thing we’ll be in serious trouble.”
“I also think if we did that it would tip her off,” Princess Twilight said. “She doesn’t know about us, although she may think we’re the Power Ponies in human form if she happens to recognize us.”
“Then all we need to do is find out where she’s going to strike,” Luna said. “Is there anything going on tonight?”
“Oh, the Canterlot Orchestra is performing tonight at the downtown concert hall,” Pinkie said casually. “Seven o’clock if I’m not mistaken. Oh, and Octavia’s going to be there too!”
“Makes sense,” Rainbow said. “She’d target a place with a large amount of people in it.”
“Okay, it’s worth a shot,” Princess Twilight said. “I don’t know if we’ll be able to get in but I have a plan. Rarity, you wouldn’t by chance have any dresses perfect for the occasion would you?”
“Do you even have to ask darling?” Rarity winked.
“Okay, we have about three hours. We’ll head over to Rarity’s and I’ll go into detail how we’ll stop the Mane-iac. Any questions?”
There were none and the girls headed back to their cars and headed back to Rarity’s house. Before Rarity left however, she was then stopped by Celestia and Luna. “Rarity, I was just thinking,” Celestia said. “I’m not saying Twilight’s plan won’t work but I think Luna and I have come up with a plan B just in case.” She then whispered her plan into Rarity’s ear.
“Oh my…well if you think that’s wise then I’m more than happy to help.” Rarity’s eyes suddenly glittered. “And I know just the person who can help us.”
Once everyone arrived at Rarity’s house, Princess Twilight went into her plan: there would be two groups, one with her and both princesses to go after Mane-iac while the rest formed the other group and would look for the bomb. She was certain that the villain would be in the area since as Rainbow put it, “Villains love having a front-row seat.” Sunset was slightly disappointed that she wouldn’t be able to work with her former teacher but Twilight assured her if they managed to find the bomb and it couldn’t be defused in time, they’d need all the help they can get to evacuate everyone.
Rarity’s part was to find the appropriate wardrobe for everyone. After all, one had to look their best, even in an impending crisis. Showing off her variety of clothing that she had in mind, everyone was content but again Sunset was confused. “So why am I dressing up as a chauffeur?” she asked.
“Because we need a driver and I managed to get a hold of someone who owes me a favor,” Rarity said simply. “Besides, I think the look would suit you.”
It was about an hour before the show began that the girls began to get dressed. At least for the three princesses they were used to running around in high heels and the dresses were short enough to avoid being tripped on. It wasn’t what they had in mind but as Twilight knew, it was hard to argue with Rarity.
Shortly before they were to leave, a large black limousine came up to the edge of Rarity’s driveway. The man was the burly type but he seemed rather cheery when he was talking to Rarity once she came out and spoke to him. “On second thought, I think I’m okay with this idea,” Sunset commented from the window.
Soon everyone made their way towards the car, all except Rarity, Celestia, and Luna. “I actually need to run a few errands before we go downtown,” Rarity explained. “We’ll meet you there later on.”
“Oh Luna, before you go…” Princess Luna said.
“What is it?” Luna asked.
“I thought it best to bring this to your attention but…” Princess Luna glanced behind her for a moment before she leaned in and whispered, “There’s the possibility you may have to put out a restraining order on Rainbow Dash in the future…” Luna then left with a disturbed look on her face.
Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were both quite impressed with the layout of the car. “I think this is actually more comfortable than the carriages back home,” Celestia said. “I am kind of curious what kind of favor that man asked for Rarity.”
The window in front rolled down and Sunset popped her head inside. “Everyone comfortable?” she asked.
“Yep!” Everyone else replied.
“Huh, ya know Rarity was right, the look does suit ya,” Applejack smiled.
Sunset blushed slightly as she tipped her cap a bit lower. “I guess so…I’ve never driven one of these before so…”
“Well Rarity wanted me to tell you ‘not a scratch darling’,” Fluttershy reminded her.
“Oh don’t worry, we’re quite aware of how good a driver Sunset is,” Princess Luna said.
“I’m closing this window now.”
They made their way downtown and with the current traffic it took them about half an hour before they finally reached the concert hall. Sunset dropped them off before taking the car over to valet parking.
“Did Rarity even say how much the tickets were?” Rainbow asked as the group got in line.
“I think she said twelve dollars,” Twilight replied.
Rainbow looked annoyed. “The show better be worth it.”
Meanwhile, it was only about ten minutes before show time and Octavia was tuning her cello on stage along with her colleagues. It was a big moment for her, as with any concert, but to actually be performing with the Canterlot Orchestra was the opportunity of a lifetime. If she played her part well (a silly statement to say but she couldn’t deny that she was nervous), there was the possibility that she’d be able to stay on and continue on with the orchestra. If not, hopefully someone in the audience would at least take notice for her. A scholarship to the Manehattan School of Arts would be most welcome as well.
Her phone vibrated next to her and she sighed. She only had the phone on her in case of an emergency but she was hoping no one would be contacting her tonight. Mom and Dad had already wished her luck so it couldn’t be them. She picked up her phone and looked at the text.
Heyy just wanted to wish you luck tonight I got a surprise for you
Octavia smiled slightly. Typical Vinyl Scratch. She at least had an idea of what that surprise could be.
Hmm sounds rather nice. You better be here right now to see me or else I’ll be most displeased!
Vinyl didn’t respond but Octavia had a good feeling the DJ was probably grinning to herself. If all went well tonight she would definitely be in a good mood and willing to…celebrate with her dear friend.
By the time Twilight and the others got in, the show had already started, Tchaitrotsky’s Waltz of the Flowers Op. 71 playing in the background. “Sheesh, took long enough,” Rainbow complained.
“Alright, we’re in so now what?” Applejack asked.
“Celestia, Luna, and I are going to check the upper floors to see wherever Mane-iac might be hiding,” Princess Twilight said. “You guys check around the entire room to see where the bomb could be. She could’ve put it underneath any single chair.”
“That’s a lot of chairs though,” Pinkie commented.
“Hence why you’re the bigger group,” Princess Twilight said. “I don’t know where Rarity and Principals Celestia and Luna are but I hope they get here soon.”
“We don’t have much time,” Celestia said. “We might as well get started.”
“How are you three going to get past security though?” Twilight asked.
“We…may have a few cards up our sleeves,” Princess Twilight responded.
Pinkie snorted. “Silly Twilight, you’re not wearing any sleeves.” Everyone groaned at the statement.
“Alright, once Sunset gets here we’ll fill her in,” Rainbow said. “Time to save the day once again!”
The two groups went their separate ways. Twilight and the two princesses found a set of stairs that led to the upper balconies. “‘A few cards up our sleeves’?” Luna asked. “Do explain that one Twilight.”
“Well surely you three can use magic right?” Twilight asked as she glanced around for any guards.
“We…actually never tried,” Celestia shrugged slightly. “But I imagine if we confront Mane-iac it would be nice to have.”
“Huh,” Luna commented. “And here I thought you meant use our appealing looks to…how do they say it? Wrap anyone around our fingers?”
Meanwhile, the girls were spread across the room, acting as if they were looking for a seat but were trying to look under any of the chairs if they could. Luckily, the lights had been dimmed so anyone not paying attention to the performance wouldn’t have noticed them so easily. Rainbow looked over to where she saw Applejack and got her attention with a thumbs up sign, asking if she found anything. Applejack shook her head.
The other girls spent the next ten minutes, looking around as best they could but had similar luck. Finally they regrouped near the exit. “Nothing huh?” Rainbow asked.
“If she hid in here, she hid it well,” Pinkie said. “Even my Pinkie Sense wasn’t picking up on anything.”
It was at that moment that Sunset finally made it inside. “By the looks on your faces I can’t tell whether you found anything or not,” she said.
“Unfortunately not,” Twilight sighed. “I was just thinking though, would she detonate it in the middle of the show?”
“Hmm…well honestly if we go by movie standards, they usually wait for the climatic moment,” Sunset said. “The show is a little more than an hour right? We should just take a breather and rethink this.”
“Well, if you say so,” Fluttershy said.
They managed to find a full row unattended and they all sat down. “Seriously, where the hell is Rarity?” Rainbow asked. “I’m about tempted to call her now.”
“Knowing her, it’s gotta be important,” Applejack said. “Well, to her anyway.”
They went silent for a few moments, letting the music reach their ears which would hopefully calm them down. That’s when Twilight heard it. It was very faint, but she could hear a beeping sound. “Girls?” she then said hesitantly.
“What?” Sunset asked.
Twilight didn’t respond and instead got out of her chair and got on her knees, looking underneath her chair. “Um…I got good news and bad news…”
“What’s the good news?” Applejack was hesitant to ask.
“The good news is that there’s definitely a bomb in this building.” Twilight then came back up with a small laptop in her hand. “The bad news is that I think I just found the timer…”
Princess Twilight realized too late the small problem with her planning: she really should have brought walkie-talkies with her, even if someone had to buy them. They provided a quicker response time than phones, which again she now realized she nor the princesses did not have. Their only hope now was to find Mane-iac and make her tell them where the bomb was.
They had looked all around but Mane-iac could not be found. One would think a woman with hair so long would stand out. “We’re running out of hiding places,” Celestia commented.
“Then there’s only one other place to look,” Twilight said as she looked around. The building had a flat top so there had to be an access way to the roof. “It’d be easier to teleport but it only works if you know the destination you’re going to. And I don’t think teleportation really works in this world.”
“Wait,” Luna said. “Surely there’d be an elevator right?”
“It’s possible,” Celestia said.
Luna pointed to a door with a sign that said “Staff Only”. “That looks like a good place to start.”
They went through the door and much to their surprise there was an elevator, which was probably used by maintenance crews from time to time. “Well that was easy,” Twilight said. However, she regretted her words instantly when she realized the elevator required a key.
“Who would’ve thought technology could be this complicated?” Luna groaned.
Suddenly they heard the door open behind them. “Excuse me, you’re not supposed to be back here.” They turned around and saw a young man dressed in formal attire. He didn’t look like security but judging by the tag he was wearing he had to be part of the building’s staff.
“I got this,” Celestia murmured. “We’re so sorry,” she said out loud. “We were just looking for the bathroom and I guess we got lost.” She went over to the man and casually put a hand on his shoulder and turned him around. “You’ll have to forgive us of course…” Judging by the man’s reaction, he didn’t seem to be too upset by the sudden intrusion.
While she was talking, Luna looked around and spotted a vase on one of the tables. Twilight managed to follow her gaze and when she saw Luna step toward it, panic filled her voice. “Luna…no…”
Luna didn’t listen and grabbed the vase. With the man’s back towards her, she crept up to him and raised the vase before smashing it against the man’s head, knocking him out.
Celestia stared at the unconscious man before staring at her sister. “I had it taken care of…”
“Luna what did you do!?” Twilight almost yelled.
“What?” Luna asked. “Someone had to do it and considering I’ve already done enough bad things in my life I figured better me than you two.” She then grabbed the key around the man’s neck. “Besides, we need this don’t we?” Twilight and Celestia glanced at one another. Luna was going to get a serious talk once they got home.
Luna inserted the key into the panel and pushed the button which glowed white. Soon the doors opened with a chime and the two got in. Twilight pushed the button for the roof and the doors closed before the elevator jolted upward.
“Just be ready for anything,” Celestia said. “Twilight, how exactly do you use your powers here?”
“I…don’t know?” Twilight replied. “It just…kind of happens…”
“Wonderful,” Luna said.
The elevator soon stopped and once the doors opened they were met with a cool breeze. They went outside and realized just how quiet it was. Near the edge of the roof in front of them, they saw someone waiting for them. As they approached slowly, the person started clapping their hands together.
“Well, well, well,” the Mane-iac said, the grin on her apparent. She was wearing an outfit that Twilight recognized the last time the two of them met. While she now appeared human, her hair certainly hadn’t changed in length or volatility. “Fate is a funny thing sometimes isn’t it? I should’ve known you’d come and find me Matterhorn.”
“Sorry to disappoint you Mane-iac but I’m not her, though we have met once before,” Twilight said.
Mane-iac cackled. “Disappointed? Well, I admit perhaps I am a little bit. I wanted to see the look on my greatest foe’s face when my little plan goes into fruition!”
“Is this what you take pleasure from?” Celestia asked. “The need to blow up innocent civilians?”
Mane-iac laughed even harder. “Oh look, Professor Celestia as well! Well…okay maybe not considering the circumstances…but who said anything about blowing up anyone?”
“We know there’s a bomb involved!” Twilight snapped. “And we’ll find it before you can detonate it!”
“Hmm…very perceptive…” Mane-iac said. “You and Matterhorn do share a lot in common…I suppose my paper trail made it a bit obvious. But again…who said anything about blowing up anything?”
There was a long pause. “Just what are you up to?”
“Ooh the blue one finally gets it!” Mane-iac grinned. “Yes, there is a bomb and while it will detonate, destruction is not my intention.” She pulled out a small flask? “See this? This is a small concentrated formula of my own design, one I’m very proud of. You see, once the bomb goes off, this liquid will be turned into vapor and…well let’s just say once our friends downstairs get a whiff of it things are going to get a little…crazy…”
The three of them stared at the woman in horror. “It’s a drug!?” Twilight snapped.
“Oh, it’s much more than that,” Mane-iac said. She then turned around to face the night sky and opened her arms wide. “The formula will cause unprovoked chaos, fear, and insanity amongst all individuals and while I admit it’s only a small amount that I was able to take with me, I think it’ll leave quite the impact on this city, don’t you think?”
“You’re going to tell us where that bomb is right now!” Celestia yelled.
“It’s too late,” Mane-iac said. “Even if you killed me, the process has already begun. See, I don’t have a detonator on me, which I admit offers me no leverage but then again…I always did want to finish things off with a bang. I’m sure by now your friends have already discovered this themselves…”
The laptop that Twilight was staring at only had one program running and it appeared to be recording the sounds of the orchestra playing before them. “Wait, you said detonator but all I’m seeing is soundwaves,” Rainbow commented.
“I could be very wrong about this,” Twilight said. “But I think this bomb has been programmed to detonate possibly at the end of this concert.”
“You mean we can’t disconnect it?” Sunset asked.
“I could try,” Twilight said. “But I have to be very careful about this.”
“Wait, what’s that note on the side there?” Pinkie asked.
“It says… Aase’s Death,” Fluttershy read.
“Wait…isn’t that the song playing right now?” Sunset asked.
“Oh no…” Twilight said.
“You see, I thought it only clever to detonate this little beauty when everyone least expects it, in a state of bliss,” Mane-iac said. “I believe I chose…ah yes the song that’s currently playing right now.” She glanced at a watch in her possession and her grin only widened.
“And it seems as if you’re all running out of time,” she said. “Well, since you three are up here you’ll all be spared but your friends…well I’m afraid it’s too late for them. Once the song reaches its conclusion its game over.”
“No!” Twilight made her way towards the elevator but Celestia stopped her. “Celestia I can’t-!”
“You know we won’t be able to save them in time,” Celestia said calmly. “But that doesn’t mean we won’t find a way to reverse this.”
“Hmm…I sense a deal coming,” Mane-iac said. “That’s right, I may have a cure in mind…but of course you’d have to follow my rules. But before that, why don’t we just savor these last precious seconds. Oh the sounds of screams always seem to soothe my heart…”
Twilight wanted to hurt her so badly, magic or not but she knew she had no choice. “I’m so sorry girls…” she thought. “We completely underestimated her…”
The concert hall was large so even on the roof they were able to hear the music playing. The music was decrescendoing slowly and it was only a matter of seconds before the end would come. And that was when the unexpected happened.
Just when it seemed everything went quiet, a loud beat filled the room below them. Mane-iac could only stare in shock. “W-What’s going on? What’s the meaning of this!?”
The sound seemed to hit Twilight’s ears and even she was stunned. However, a grin came to her face as a slight giggle escaped her lips. “One word: Rarity…”
The audience and especially the players on stage were very confused as to what was going on. As if that wasn’t enough, a fog machine had been turned on as fog slowly crept onto the stage and the doors in the back suddenly opened.
Out of the shadows came Rarity in a beautiful elegant dress and high heels, her keytar strapped around her neck as she played the song’s opening tune, sashaying back and forth as she gave a sultry gaze towards the audience. Right behind her Principal Celestia was wearing sunglasses which she casually took off as she wore a mesmerizing blue dress while carrying a microphone and Vice-Principal Luna who oddly was wearing a tuxedo.
The girls could only stare in shock. “Oh my God…” Sunset said.
“We’re screwed,” Rainbow said.
We’re talking away
I don’t know what
I’m to say I’ll say it anyway
Today’s another day to find you
Shying away
I’ll be coming for your love, okay?
“Wow, Celestia’s got quite the pipes on her!” Pinkie exclaimed.
“No, this can’t be happening,” Mane-iac said, almost pacing on the roof. “I had this perfectly planned out. There’s no way you could’ve-”
“That’s the thing,” Celestia said quite smugly. “We didn’t know, but apparently our counterparts were prepared nonetheless. Maybe it’s you that underestimated us.”
“Agh, it doesn’t matter!” Mane-iac snapped. “You can’t stop the bomb from detonating! The second the music stops its over! I won’t lose!”
“I think we’ve heard enough,” Luna said angrily as she stepped forward. Twilight wasn’t quite sure how it happened, but in the next few seconds, the Mane-iac was suddenly blasted backwards by some sort of force and fell off the roof, screaming.
The three of them looked on in horror as Luna looked at her hands. “Whoops…”
Twilight went over to the edge of the roof and looked down. “It’s okay, she fell in a dumpster. I hope the garbage cushioned her fall.” It seemed only fitting.
Octavia wasn’t sure what was going on but as soon as the beat first started, she knew what was going on. “Vinyl…” she thought with a slight frown. Even stranger was the fact of seeing not only Rarity but Principals Celestia and Luna.
Luna suddenly made her way over to the conductor and tried to take his baton. The older man wasn’t so willing to give it up until Luna gave him a stare that would quell a Doberman and he let go of it. The conductor huffed as he stomped off stage.
Luna was ready to take control and at that moment Octavia thought, “The bloody hell with it…” as she started playing with the music, her colleagues at first staring at her and soon joining in.
“Okay, we need to focus now,” Sunset said. “Twilight, please tell me you can break into this thing.”
Twilight spent the next few moments inputting code to try to crack through the software’s security. “It’s…no good. Whatever the Mane-iac's using it's pretty encrypted.”
“Well, maybe we can disable it another way, like with a virus?” Applejack suggested.
“Right, like I have a USB full of malware with me,” Twilight grumbled.
“Um…does that computer have internet capability?” Fluttershy asked.
“Yeah, it’s running on Wi-Fi somewhere,” Twilight replied.
“Try…um…CrunchySauce.com,” Fluttershy said softly. Everyone stared at her. “It’s a porn site that’s known to give your computer viruses and stuff…”
“Uh…” Rainbow said.
Fluttershy rolled her eyes. “I had to borrow my brother’s laptop one time and he forgot to delete his history page.”
“Well, it’s a worth a shot,” Sunset said.
“Right…volume muted…” Twilight grimaced.
Oh the things that you say
Is it live or
Just to play my worries away
You’re all the things I’ve got to remember
You’re shying away
I’ll be coming for you anyway
Celestia was making her way around the stage and stood behind Luna as she glanced in her direction. Luna managed to look back and smiled slightly before giving her a wink. The audience was certainly intrigued by the performance as they weren’t getting up, which the two women weren’t sure was a good thing or not.
Twilight meanwhile had found the site and of course was grossed out by the videos she saw. “Yep, this looks chock full of viruses.”
“Damn that’s some pretty kinky stuff,” Rainbow said as Twilight opened multiple windows with different videos.
“Hey, I think it’s working,” Sunset said as she noticed the pages were starting to lag.
“We better hurry cause those three are running out of song,” Applejack said. Rarity seemed to be sharing the same concern as a look of worry came across her face.
“Okay…hold on…” Twilight said. The screen was starting to flicker and smoke was starting to come out of the laptop. Then the most beautiful message came across the screen.
Error!
This program has stopped working.
OK
“Yes!” Twilight yelled. She got up trying to wave the three of them down. Celestia managed to catch it and gave her a sister a thumbs up as the song finally hit its conclusion.
The crowd then erupted in cheers as everyone got to their feet and applauded as the three of them bowed before Luna gestured to the orchestra as well. They had no idea what had just happened but they seemed to go along with it.
It was only at the end that the three Princesses managed to find them. “You guys did it!” Twilight said as she gave Sunset a hug.
“Don’t thank us, thank those three up there,” Sunset said.
Princess Twilight stared at the three in surprise. “Wait…” It was only when Rarity finally managed to get off the stage and come up to them that Twilight asked the question. “How did you guys know the bomb was going to go off at the end of the song?”
“It was?” Rarity genuinely looked shocked. “Honestly darling, we had no idea. We just thought if we extended the concert a bit it would give you all more time.” She then giggled. “And I must say, I never knew our own principals could be such professional performers…”
Mane-iac couldn’t tell what was worse, the pain of being outwitted once again or the pain upon impact of falling into a dumpster. She could still move her limbs around so nothing appeared to be broken but she’d probably have some nasty bruises for a couple of days.
It was only when there was a flash of green light as a portal suddenly appeared in the alleyway and a figure stepped that Mane-iac figured out there was something worse than her two other options. “You seem worse for ware,” Matterhorn says as she approached the villain.
A small chuckle escaped Mane-iac’s lips. “Come to gloat before you take me away?”
“No, though I am glad to see you haven’t caused too much trouble here,” Matterhorn replied as she glanced around the alleyway. “Of course, you were never meant to be here in the first place.”
“Oh I noticed…” Mane-iac said as she managed to roll off the top of the dumpster and fell onto the ground, coughing slightly. “Still…before I go…there’s just one last thing…”
“Oh really? We’ll see about that!” Mane-iac had grabbed the flask in her pocket and tried to throw into Matterhorn’s face…only to miss her by about three inches. “…Goddamnit!” she snapped in frustration as she sat on the ground and crossed her arms. “Well go ahead and beat me up like you always do.” Matterhorn didn’t move. “Well what are you waiting for, get on with it!”
“No.”
Mane-iac raised an eyebrow in confusion. Matterhorn sighed. “We’ve been doing this for a long time Mane-iac, and there’s going to come a point whether I end up killing you or you end up killing me. I realize now that you take pleasure in chaos because you’re alone and you need a friend. I value friendship more than anything not just because it’s the right thing but because it made me a better person. I don’t know what happened that day to cause you to turn your life around the way you did but…I want to help you and perhaps we can help one another.” She then kneeled down next to her foe and extended her hand. “What do you say?”
Mane-iac looked at her and then down to her hand, the look of surprise never leaving her face. She then gently swatted her hand away. “No.” She then got up slowly as she coughed again slightly from the pain. “No. I’m sorry but…it’s too late for me now.” She then turned around and looked towards the sky. “But you know…even though I haven’t been here that long, I think I’ve had enough of this place…”
Matterhorn smiled slightly. “Nothing compares to Maretropolis does it?”
Mane-iac smiled in return. “I suppose you’re right…” She turned around to face her foe. “Very well Matterhorn…let’s go home…”
The two of them walked back towards the open portal. “By the way, are you curious to know what my diabolical plan was this time?”
“Not really but I suppose I’ll humor you just this one time…”
“Well, I can honestly say that was quite the night,” Principal Celestia said as she and the others were standing outside the concert hall.
“You’re telling me,” Luna said. “I didn’t realize waving a baton around was so complicated.”
Both their counterparts started laughing. “Here we thought we knew each other so well,” Princess Celestia said. “But it seems we were mistaken.”
“Yes, you couldn’t have gotten us up on that stage so easily,” Princess Luna commented.
“How did you even get backstage?” Sunset asked.
“When I gave Vinyl a call to borrow her and her equipment, she said she had a friend who had a key to the back entrance of the building,” Rarity said. “That made getting the equipment inside much easier.”
“And let me guess, you hooked up the equipment to the speakers?” Twilight asked.
“Indeed and it’s a good thing too,” Celestia said. “If we were even a second too late it might’ve been the end.”
“We…and I mean Twilight of course almost had a heart attack,” Princess Luna grinned.
Twilight glared up at her. “It’s not funny.”
“Well, I’m just glad that’s over,” Applejack said. “I wonder where that Mane-iac went.”
Suddenly Rainbow Dash zoomed up right next to her. “She wasn’t back there.”
“There’s no way she could walk off a fall that easily,” Sunset stated.
“Well, when I got over there, I just saw a flash of green light before it disappeared,” Rainbow said. “Maybe she went back to where she belonged.”
“I’m willing to accept that,” Rarity said.
“So now what?” Sunset asked.
Princess Twilight looked to both Celestia and Luna. “Well…we probably need to get home,” she said. “Now that Mane-iac is gone maybe the portal started working again.”
“Aw, but we were gonna celebrate,” Pinkie whined.
“Well…the night is still young,” Princess Celestia said. “What do you think Luna? Do you think you can wait another hour before raising the moon?”
“I think I can handle it,” Luna smiled.
“Well in that case, I say this calls for pizza,” Principal Celestia said. “You’re all welcome to come by our place!”
“Hell yeah!” Rainbow said.
The Princess of Friendship smiled. “Alright, alright, I suppose one hour couldn’t hurt…”
Celestia and Luna decided to go all out, getting two pizzas, a box of chicken wings, two sodas and two of those lava cakes that everyone likes. Pinkie chipped in with some desserts of her own as well as providing her playlists that played throughout the entire house. Okay, maybe the whole event lasted over an hour but who was counting.
“So, I never asked but…how did you take the news?” Princess Twilight asked Sunset as the two of them were hanging out in the kitchen.
“Oh, with Celestia?” Sunset chuckled slightly. “It was…interesting. Without my new powers I probably wouldn’t have known but…we talked about stuff and…I think we’re good now.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” Twilight said. “She’s really wanted to see you.”
“Yeah…” Sunset took a sip of soda. Suddenly Applejack, Pinkie, and Rarity came into the room and they were all snickering. “What…what’s going on?”
“Well…” Applejack began.
“Vice-Principal Luna just invited Rainbow Dash back to her room,” Rarity giggled slightly.
“And it’s funny because I think Rainbow Dash totally has the hots for Luna!” Pinkie finished.
Twilight suddenly spit out the soda she was about to swallow and started coughing. “W-What!?”
“Oh no…” Sunset snickered. “You don’t think…?”
“Mmmmhhmmm,” Rarity responded.
“Like what you see?” Luna grinned.
Oh Rainbow didn’t like, she loved what she was seeing. “Ohmygosh ohmygosh!” She stared at the entire entertainment system. “This is awesome!”
“Thank you,” Luna said. “Considering it’s summertime I won’t be as busy with schoolwork so…if you’re ever interested in coming over…”
“I’ll be here in a heartbeat!”
“I thought you’d say that,” Luna grinned. “So…what should we play first?”
After two hours, Twilight was starting to get anxious, even though she didn’t want the party to end right away. “Don’t worry Twilight, I’m sure Equestria will still be in one piece once we get home,” Princess Celestia assured her.
Saying goodbye was never fun but Twilight knew they’d all see each other again. “Well, that was definitely one of the more…stranger adventures I’ve ever been on,” she said. “I wish we could stay but…”
“We know, duty calls,” Rarity said.
“It truly was a pleasure to meet you two,” Principal Celestia said. “I just hope we didn’t end up causing any trouble in the castle.”
“Oh don’t worry, it’s nothing they haven’t dealt with before,” Princess Celestia laughed.
“I hope you can come by sometime Princess,” Luna grinned. “I think you and I have a score to settle.”
“Very well, I’ll make sure to check my calendar,” Princess Luna smiled. “Just be ready to meet thy doom.”
The girls all shared one last hug. “You know, it’s still kind of weird hugging yourself, you know?” Twilight asked.
“Oh trust me, I feel the same way,” Princess Twilight said with a slight smile.
“We can drive you back to the school,” Celestia offered as she took out her keys.
The five of them made their way towards the car before Princess Celestia stopped and turned around. “Sunset? Have you made your decision?”
Sunset suddenly looked uncomfortable as six pairs of eyes stared at her. “Well…”
“I understand if you still need some time of course,” Celestia said.
“Oh come on Sunset,” Rainbow grinned. “Go ahead. It’s home after all right?”
“Wait…you’re all okay with this?” Sunset asked.
“Of course we are,” Fluttershy said. “We want you to be happy.”
“Yes darling, its your real home after all,” Rarity said.
“Yeah, plus its not like you won’t be able to come back!” Pinkie assured her.
“Just make sure you do before another crisis comes around,” Applejack said with a wink.
“Well…in that case…” Sunset then grabbed her bag and took out her notebook before handing it to Twilight. “Here. If you write in this you can contact either me or Twilight and we’ll be here in a flash.”
“Oh…thank you,” Twilight said as she took the book. “But why me?”
“You’re pretty much the leader now,” Sunset grinned. She glanced over at Princess Twilight. “That’s how it is in our world anyway.”
Twilight smiled and nodded. “Well in that case…hopefully I won’t have to use it.”
There was again another hug before Sunset went to join the others. “So…this is really happening?” Princess Twilight asked.
“Yep, it’s happening,” Sunset smiled.
Twilight suddenly laughed gleefully as she gave her friend a hug, one that was almost choking the poor girl. “This is great! I can show you all of Ponyville, my friends there, my former student and then maybe a magic duel!”
“A magic duel? Seriously?” Sunset asked.
“Actually I’d like to see that for myself,” Princess Celestia said. “But let’s head home before we get carried away.”
The six of them got into the car and soon they drove off. “You know sister, I was just thinking of something,” Princess Luna said. “We may not see these two for awhile, you know, since life at the castle can be quite a hassle at times. I figured we could give these two one last thing to remember us with?”
“What did you have in mind?” Princess Celestia asked.
“Well, I think we both have the hang of using magic here now and…well since Luna’s driving I’m sure she’d enjoy this…could we spare a few minutes?”
“Hmm…very well.”
“Wait a moment, what are you two-? Twilight started to say but Sunset laughed.
“Just go with it Twilight.”
Both princesses snapped their fingers at the exact same time and suddenly the car started to float into the air. As it lifted up, it suddenly changed shape from a car to a spaceship from one of Luna’s video games.
“Oh hell yes!” Luna yelled as the ship suddenly zoomed off into the horizon.
Starlight was pacing back and forth near the mirror. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know that the mirror had been the culprit behind the disappearance of the three princesses. Actually, make that one princess and two ponies that look like the princesses but…aren’t princesses?
Starlight groaned slightly. It wasn’t like she could go through the portal herself since it wouldn’t let her. Besides, someone had to look over the castle. Spike had returned earlier and she had to make up an excuse that Twilight was running an errand. Luckily, since that was almost a daily habit of hers, Spike didn’t find it suspicious at all.
She looked at the clock. It was already past the time where Luna was supposed to raise the moon and eventually ponies would start noticing if they haven’t already. Finally, Starlight had it and went up to the mirror. “Twilight, I don’t know if you can hear me but you better get your flank back here now or we’re going to have a real royal problem!”
Perhaps it was mere coincidence or maybe somehow, somewhere Twilight managed to hear her but the portal suddenly activated as four currents of magic started to flow through the machinery towards where the mirror was connected. It was a good thing Starlight decided to move out of the way when she did, for the portal suddenly sent four figures out towards a large pile of books.
Three alicorns and a unicorn groaned as they emerged from a sea of book. “Okay…I think I need to make some calibrations on the…exiting phase.
“You guys are back!” Starlight said as she helped pick up the fallen books. “Oh thank Celestia…”
“Huh…?” Celestia asked. “Oh sorry…I think I’m still feeling a bit of jet lag from the trip…”
Starlight then looked to the unicorn. “Oh…hello. I’m guessing you must be Sunset Shimmer?”
“That would be me. Starlight right?” Sunset asked as she got up on two feet before starting to lose her balance. “Okay…hold on…I got this…” She managed to catch herself as she stood on two feet. However, a stare from Starlight made her remember where she was as she landed on four feet with a sheepish smile. “Hehe…it’s been awhile since I stood on four feet.”
“I didn’t think I’d be so happy to be home,” Celestia said with a yawn.
“Indeed,” Luna said. “What time is it anyway?”
“Er…way past time for you to raise the moon?” Starlight asked.
“It’s that late already?” Celestia asked. “Well, that’s a problem we can both easily fix.” Both princesses looked out towards the window as the sun quickly (perhaps too quick) set and the moon rose into the sky. “There, that takes care of that. I’m ready to turn in early I think.”
“Um…what exactly happened over there?” Starlight asked.
“It’s a long story,” Twilight smiled slightly. “One I’d be happy to explain. Sunset, if its alright with you, you can stay here for the night.”
“Sure, I have no problem with that,” Sunset replied.
“Great!” Twilight pulled both unicorns into a hug with her wings. “Nothing beats having a slumber party in the library!” Both Starlight and Sunset glanced at one another and couldn’t help but laugh.
“Well, I suppose we should be returning to the castle now,” Luna said. “No doubt the staff are wondering where we are.”
“Not that it would be the first time,” Celestia chuckled. “Sunset, maybe not tomorrow but if you plan on staying here awhile perhaps we can grab lunch sometime.”
“You can count on it,” Sunset said.
Celestia smiled. “Then we’ll bid you three good night.” The two princesses teleported out of the castle.
Sunset looked around the room. “Nice place. How exactly did this get here again?”
“Again, that’s a long story,” Twilight said. “But enough about that, now that Sunset’s here I can finally see her power in action!”
“This isn’t going to involve making a mess is it?” Starlight asked. Both girls started laughing.
Upon returning to Canterlot Castle, both Celestia and Luna realized it was quiet, which for them was always a good sign. “Well, they certainly didn’t destroy the castle while we were gone,” Luna commented.
“No and that I’m grateful for,” Celestia said. She yawned again. I guess my body isn’t used to dimension traveling anymore. I’m going to sleep like a little filly tonight.”
“Well, I hope the ponies in Equestria don’t mind if I take a small nap as well,” Luna said, starting to feel groggy as well.
“Princesses!” They looked over and saw Raven, Celestia’s secretary, running down the steps.
“Where have you two been!?” Raven paused for a moment realizing she just yelled at the two most powerful beings in Equestria. “I-I mean we were worried sick!”
“My apologies Raven,” Celestia said. “We had something to attend to.”
“Oh…well I hope everything is alright,” Raven said. “My apologies Your Majesties, I’ll be going home now.” She then trotted towards the front doors.
“Well aside from scaring the staff, it seems everything is in order,” Luna said.
“I hope so,” Celestia said. “I’m going to the throne room just to make sure no letters or anything have been sent. I’ll see you in the morning then.”
“Goodnight sister,” Luna said as she watched her sister head towards the throne room.
Celestia opened the doors and again everything was in the right place. But then something caught her nose and her eyes widened once she saw what was sitting near the throne. “No…” She quickly trotted over and saw the half-eaten cake. “No… she didn’t! That was mine and she…NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
Luna was already making her way towards her chambers when she heard her sister screaming. She sighed slightly. “It would appear somepony has eaten the royal cake…poor Tia won’t be able to sleep easy now…”
She opened the doors to her chambers and the first thing she noticed was a thestral sitting erotically on her bed. Luna didn’t show any emotion on her face as she stared at the member of her Guard. “Sergeant Sabre…just what are you doing?”
The tone in her voice told Sabre that she wasn’t playing around. She got up quickly with a blush on her face and stood at attention. “M-My apologies Princess, I thought you-”
“Sergeant, I am very tired and I want to catch some sleep before I need to tend to my nightly duties,” Luna said simply.
“Y-Yes Your Highness.” Sabre walked quickly out of the room before the doors closed behind her.
Luna sighed as she floated up slightly and crashed onto her bed. Once she closed her eyes, she knew that sleep was imminent. However, she was aware of Sabre’s presence outside her door. She sighed again as the door opened again. “Very well Sabre, we may cuddle…but save the playing around until after I’ve rested.”
Kenny G was playing softly in the background as Rainbow Dash took in the scene before her. She wasn’t sure how or when, but she found herself in the bathroom and saw that the bathtub was currently occupied. “Why Rainbow Dash, you naughty girl, sneaking up on your principal like this…~” Luna was sitting in that bathtub, her body thankfully obscured by the bubbles in the water as she stared at the teenager with a Cheshire grin.
“I-I thought the room was unoccupied,” Rainbow said, suddenly remembering to look away as she went towards the door. “I’ll just see myself out and pretend-”
“Rainbow Dash.”
Rainbow stiffened. The tone in her voice wasn’t harsh but rather sweet and for some reason her legs suddenly felt like jelly. She couldn’t help but turn around. “There’s no need to be embarrassed,” Luna said with a wide smile. “Did you really think this was mere coincidence?” To sell her point, she decided to extend out a leg into the air, allowing Rainbow a good view of her smooth, wet skin.
If Rainbow wasn’t blushing before, she sure was now. “Y-You mean…?”
“Oh yes, it was quite obvious from the expressions you gave me…or rather my Equestrian counterpart. But I can assure you we’re both the same in…certain assets.”
“Oh my gosh…”
“Come here Rainbow.” Luna grinned. “And don’t think I can’t give you detention or something just because we’re not currently in school.
Rainbow knew this was wrong, so so wrong…and yet she was moving forward towards the gorgeous woman. Who cared what anyone thought? She was hot, and the mysterious aura she carried with her made her all the more appealing.
Once she was near the edge of the tub, Luna’s predatory grin only grew. “We’re going to have so much fun…~” She suddenly got up and grabbed Rainbow, pulling her into the tub with her.
Rainbow suddenly woke, sitting up as she felt a cold sweat on her back, or rather the sheets stuck to her backside. Due to the summer heat, she decided to sleep naked to keep her cool but now she just felt sticky. She panted slightly as what she just dreamed was still imprinted in her brain.
She looked down towards her sheets and noticed a large wet spot… and she quickly found out it wasn’t sweat. “Aw crap!” she groaned as her head fell back onto the pillow. She couldn’t believe it.
“I think I’m in love with Vice-Principal Luna…”
Luna suddenly woke up in the middle of the night, her eyes wide in shock. “What was…oh no…” Thankfully she was wearing a nightgown and didn’t have any sort of episode but… “What the hell was I doing in a tub? And what the hell was Rainbow Dash…”
Her recollection came back to her as she zoned out for a moment. “Oh no…am I developing feelings toward Rainbow Dash?”
The sunlight managed to peek through Sunset's eyes as she slowly awoke. She opened her eyes, first noticing the familiar interior of the room that matched most of Ponyville Castle. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, Sunset paused for a moment as she had to remember she was once again equine. A small smile crept into her face.
The previous evening, after the princesses had returned to Canterlot, Sunset, Starlight, and Twilight had gone to the library and they had spent the next few hours talking, mostly about what had been going in Equestria recently, but also about the human world for Starlight's benefit. Starlight seemed very curious about the place and while she didn't say anything, Sunset spotted her look of interest, a look she probably had many times under Celestia’s tutelage.
It only became slightly uncomfortable once Twilight asked about Sunset's reaction when reuniting with her former teacher. Sunset had no issue telling them that the reunion had been for the most part uneventful (she decided not to mention the whole scene at Sugar Cube Corner) and they were able to reconcile. And then of course she and Princess Luna had some time to get to know each other.
It was only when Starlight asked about what drove the two apart that both Twilight and Sunset became uncomfortable. She wasn't proud to admit it, but she was power hungry and she couldn't have cared less about friendship. However, once she mentioned about Twilight helping her, her tone became more upbeat. In the end, she had said, maybe it was all supposed to happen. She certainly didn't have any regrets about it now.
The evening had continued on with Sunset practicing with her magic, looking up spells she had almost forgotten about. Seeing her magic first-hand, both Twilight and Starlight were impressed with her skills. Sunset made sure to remind Twilight that a magic duel was in order before she went back. By the time they all finally turned in for the night, it was well past one.
Sunset had opened the door out of the guest room and saw that the row of doors were similar to the one she was stepping out of. “Well, this isn't disorienting at all,” she thought as she looked down both ways. Now she wished she had paid more attention to where she had been coming from.
“It's a little confusing isn't it?” Sunset jumped at the sudden voice and turned around to see Starlight addressing her. “Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I was about to come get you since Spike's making breakfast.”
“It's alright.” Sunset looked around again. “Is this how it felt when you first came here?”
“Pretty much,” Starlight said as she motioned Sunset to follow her. “I've been trying to convince Twilight that we need put up signs or something but she's convinced that only takes away the fun of exploring the castle.”
“Yeah, that sounds like her,” Sunset commented. “Wait...so Spike's practically the head chef here?”
“Yep, Twilight still hasn't filed that request for members of the Royal Guard or any aides,” Starlight replied. “But I guess since she's an alicorn she hardly needs any protection.”
They finally reached the throne room where they found Twilight reading, you guessed it, a book while eating a stack of pancakes. She looked up and smiled at Sunset. “Morning Sunset. I hope you don't mind pancakes for breakfast. Spike's are probably the best here in Ponyville.”
“Just make sure to check for rubies and sapphires,” Starlight joked.
Twilight giggled. “Don't worry, he saves that extra ingredient for himself. Come take a seat.”
Sunset looked at the other thrones, noticing the cutie marks. “You sure?”
“Oh don't worry, no one will mind,” Twilight assured her.
Sunset then decided to sit at Fluttershy’s throne and used her magic to drag a plate of pancakes and a fork over to herself. “Can I just say your castle is complicated.”
“What? No it's not,” Twilight dismissed the thought with a wave of her hoof. “Starlight figured it out.”
“After about a month perhaps,” Starlight grumbled slightly.
Twilight rolled her eyes slightly. “But I suppose it would be more convenient for others visiting the castle.”
“Speaking of which, anything important happening today?” Sunset asked as she took a big bite of pancakes.
Twilight sighed. “Nothing unfortunately.” She glanced at the map. “I was hoping the map would have something for me to do but of course, nothing.”
“Well, maybe you could go somewhere, like a trip or vacation?” Sunset suggested. “Or we can make it an all girls trip to Las Pegasus?”
“Hm...I don't know,” Twilight said. “I guess what I want to do is visit...well…”
“Back there huh?” Sunset asked, knowing exactly what she meant.
“Yeah.” Twilight sighed again. “But I can't just leave the castle. Somepony has to be here in case of an emergency.”
She then noticed the smirk on Sunset's face. “I don't like the look on your face.”
“All I was going to say was that there is someone who can take your place.”
“Wait you mean-?” Twilight's eyes narrowed. “Oh no no, I'm not doing that.”
“Why not?” Sunset asked. “It's not like she hasn't wanted to check out Equestria.”
“Alright, you two lost me,” Starlight said.
“Sunset thinks I should trade places with my counterpart,” Twilight said. “I'm not going to do that to her.”
“She's perfectly capable of using magic now,” Sunset stated. “Besides, it's not like Starlight and I can't help her out.”
“Wait, don't drag me into-!”
“She'll be fine,” Sunset assured her. Her grin then widened. “Besides, it's only proper payback for what Celestia and Luna did right?”
Twilight stared at her. “Seriously? You think I'd do this just to spite those two?” She got up in a huff, turning around to leave. “I'm not even mad about that anymore. So what, right?” She headed towards the door in a light trot. “I'll just write a letter to Celestia saying I'll be taking some time off and-”
She got to the door and paused for a moment. It didn't take much for the two unicorns to see something was on Twilight's mind. “You know what?” She turned around and looked at her friends. “Screw it. If they get mad about this I'll be sure to call them out on what they did. Can you get a hold of Twilight?”
