When your world is falling apart and fate puts a portal on your path, maybe you should cross it. Life as a pony can't be worse than the literal apocalypse, right?
Maëva lives in a strange world. The legends talk about old mages, coming from a world of ponies, that met with humans a long time ago. They left soon after, never to return again. The known portals vanished and the others were lost to time, only to be found again, by chance, at random points in history. As a slow apocalypse is falling on Maëva's world, her friend Éma discovers one of those portals. Maybe it is luck, or fate, or a carefully devious plan from another entity, but either way, here's their escape route. After all, living as a pony can't be as worse as being a human on a planet were earthquakes have become as common as rain, right?
Well, about that "being a pony" thing...
Story made for the Portal Transformations Contest and to prove to myself that I can write an actual HiE that isn't just a self-insert with a twist. Probably won't be done in time tho. Post-deadline changes : 12/03/2024, added chapter 3 06/04/2024, added chapter 4
"I'm telling you, Maëva! It's one of the portals to Equestria!"
"That's why it's a bad idea!"
Maëva, a young blond adult lady, looked at her friend with legitimate concern, while she was way too hyped up by her own discovery. They were both standing in a cavern only lit by their flashlights, at the foot of a tall rocky wall.
"And it's up there?" said Maëva, flicking her light to the chimney-like hole in the ceiling. Large enough to fit four people.
"Not my fault if the ancient mages put the exits in random places," Éma replied, shrugging.
"How did you even find it? Like, I know speleology is your thing, but how did you even have the idea to look up?"
"Heard a weird noise, sent a drone."
Éma dropped the gear she was carrying and started to unpack. Maëva looked at her, not knowing if she should be despaired or amazed. She was like that, very much spontaneous.
Éma got a few stakes out, a rope, two ice axes, making sure everything was in perfect condition. She knew the risks. That's why she also tied her long black hair.
"I don't think I'll go through it," Maëva said slowly.
Éma suddenly stopped what she was doing and looked at her friend, shocked.
"Are you serious right now!?"
"Look, I know things are bad, but-"
"Bad!?"
Éma stood up, grabbing Maëva by the shoulders, staring her in the eyes.
"Listen, I know you're optimistic, but the world is going to shit. I know you still think your brother is alive, despite the island sinking. But there are literal monsters out there. I refuse to see you stay in that hell. You could be dead tomorrow. This portal is our chance to escape the freaking doom the Collapse brought!"
Maëva looked at her friend, saddened. She understood where she was coming from on that one, but...
"Why can't we talk about that place to everyone?"
"Because the portals can fade if too many people use them too quickly. Don't worry, I've left notes here and there. People will find this place after we're gone. But we need to think about ourselves first. Now put that on."
She handed her a harness, before taking one for herself, getting the snap hook ready, as well as the first stakes firmly hammered in the rock, flashlight stuck into a place made for it on her clothes.
Maëva sighed and put on the harness, readying herself. When she was done, Éma had already climbed two meters. She followed her, reluctantly.
Éma was right about everything, but Maëva didn't want to simply... leave. It was her home. Her place. Where she had grown, saw her family live. As far as she knew, the portal could work both ways, but some couldn't. And she knew so little about that place, Equestria, aside from what the legends from a few millennia ago told, when the ancient mages came. And they had vanished soon after. If it weren't for the few portals found here and there, those stories might have just stayed that: stories. Although, a lot of information was kept from the public.
Fifteen meters higher, Éma's hand finally reached a flat surface. One last effort later, they both arrived at the top.
The cave was a bit wider here. The walls looked pretty dull, at least for Éma. But the remarkable thing was right in front of their feet.
Maëva first thought it was a pool. But on closer inspection, surrounded by small blue and silvery crystals glittering under the flashlights, she realized it wasn't water. It was stone. Very smooth stone. A gray tone, where the light bounced off as if it was clear ice.
There was something mystical about that place. Maëva had heard tales, seen drawings, but never one portal in real life. An ancient gate to another world.
"Are you sure it's safe to cross...?" she slowly asked, as Éma was checking on her package.
"Kind of."
"We will end up as, like... ponies, right?"
"Yeah, something like that."
"What if they don't accept us...?"
"We'll see when we get there. Worst case, we can always pretend to simply be from another country."
"But if-"
The place was suddenly shaken. An earthquake almost caused Maëva to fall back through the abyss they had come from. But it didn't last. Everything went back to normal as quickly as it had started.
"Another meteor..." Éma muttered. "That one wasn't far off."
She looked at the bags she had brought. She handed one to her friend.
"Here. In case we get separated during the transfer. There's enough to last a few days. And to keep warm."
Maëva took a look inside. Vegetables, water, and a... coat? Yeah, that was a coat. Just one made for a pony.
"Thanks. But isn't there like a second portal on the other end? We should both come out that way, right?"
Éma knew way more about those than her, so she was wondering why so much precautions.
"Well, it's hard to know," Éma sighed. "Most people that went through one in recent years never came back. So we don't know if they arrived through another portal."
"Wait, they didn't come back?" Maëva suddenly worried. "Why?"
Éma looked at her, embarrassed and thoughtful.
"Well, they came out the other side alive, that's pretty certain. But there's a problem."
"Which one?"
Éma went by Maëva's side, leaning a bit on top of the portal, inviting her friend to do the same. Which she did, cautiously.
"You see, they couldn't come back because the portals we found since the old days are probably failed ones, made by the ancient mages."
"Failed ones?"
Éma nodded, taking in a deep breath, before saying:
"Only one person can go through them. Afterwards, they just deactivate. So, no one can come back through the portal they used."
The information took a little moment to be processed by Maëva's brain. Not quite certain to understand, she gave a confused look to her friend, still leaning above the portal. Éma looked back at her, saddened.
"I'm sorry."
Maëva felt a hand pushing her in the back. She fell, head first, into the portal. She barely had time to yell the name of her friend that everything became blurry.
Colors began to twist around her. The world swirled like a whirlpool. Her body was stretched. Her cry of terror and confusion became distorted as well. She held her bag as much as she could, as the whole universe around her lost consistency.
Then, black.
Then, white. Snow.
Silence.
Noise. Shattered glass.
Void.
Touch.
Maëva's head hit a floor. A rocky one. She actually knocked herself out.
Opening her eyes wasn't painful. Realizing she had a head carrying those eyes was. But she could see quite clearly, although her mind was a bit clouded.
She was in a house? No, the remnant of a house. Snow was falling on the paved floor. She saw walls around her, windows, holes in the walls.
She tried to get her head up, only to hit the ceiling with so much strength she actually went through it.
"Wha-Huh?"
She shook her head, getting rid of the stone bricks on it, still processing.
"Who makes houses that small...? Oh what!?"
Something felt wrong with her mouth. It felt larger than usual. And her tongue was... pointy? She ran her tongue on her teeth, only to realize she didn't have any. Something clicked in her head and she remembered. The portal. The push.
"Éma!"
She looked around. She was in the middle of some tundra step, with snow slowly falling all around. The ruins she was in were actually just an isolated thing. Not even a house worth of height.
Moving her head around, she noticed something. Her neck was really more flexible than before. Ponies had that?
She looked down and finally understood that something was wrong. Her neck was long. Too long. Oh god, it was like a snake. And at the base of it, that body was disproportionately large. She could only feel two feet and she... Wait, no, that was impossible... But...
"I don't have any arms!?" she shouted.
She looked at her whole body, using her comically long neck to check every part of her body. Nope, no arms. Just a large round belly supported by two dinosaur-like feet. A long tail with points on its end, and points on her back. She was some kind of monster.
"What the- How!? I was supposed to be a pony!"
While she didn't understand why the transformation had failed, she understood that the house she had landed on wasn't small. She was big. Too big. Standing up, she heard a little crack on the floor. She looked and saw shattered glass. As well as the remnant of a circular crystal frame. Oh no! The portal!
She moved away, but it was too late. It was gone.
"Oh no, no... Éma...!"
She couldn't do anything. She couldn't even try to reassemble the pieces: she didn't have any hands to grab them!
She got scared. What was she doing here, all alone? Her friend was definitely not coming now. She was lost in a snowy tundra, only seeing distant mountains.
And she was cold. Way too cold actually. She didn't have any clothes on, nor even a spot of fur. Only scales and she knew reptiles aren't too keen on staying in the cold.
"The coat!" she thought, looking around, only to find the bag Éma had given her, right under her belly.
No. It was too small. She couldn't even open it. Maybe she could with her tail?
With much effort, trying to focus while in the northern cold, she managed to direct the tip in the bag. Thank god it was small enough. She got the coat out. Yeah, it was barely the size of her foot. That wasn't going to keep her warm. And all her other stuff had disappeared, clothes and even the flashlight.
"Shit! What do I do now!?"
She put it back in and wrapped her tail around the bag to carry it. She got her head as high as possible, looking around for a solution. Whoever had built that portal, it wasn't occupying this place anymore. Nor were their descendants.
She saw something on the horizon. Something was glowing. White and bright, like a star.
"I need to find some people..."
It took a bit of effort to lift her own massive body on one foot. Then the other. It felt so clumsy to walk like that. Well, until she realized her tail was there to balance things out.
One notable plus side is that each step covered a large distance. The downside being that her belly was so close to the ground that it was actually touching the snow.
"What the hell am I even...?"
She had expected to change. A part of her had been ready for it. But that was too much.
It took her about ten minutes to finally understand what she saw from afar. It was a tower. Like one from a magical castle. Actually, it looked like a magical castle once she got closer. With other smaller towers and all. Cyan, white, blue. And pointy as fudge.
Maëva thought she saw something else, between her and the tower. Something white and yellow. She squinted. Those eyes didn't like the cold.
It was small. But growing. Moving? Was it getting closer?
"Is that... A pony?"
She had seen ponies in her world, at least in photos. But this one was... different. Colorful, with shades of purple and blue, and very simplistic. It was also surrounded by a yellow aura and flying right towards her. Wait, flying? Like a pegasus?
The white pony looked angry. And female? It also had a horn, which was glowing. Maëva wanted to wave at her, but remember she didn't have any arms.
The light on the pony horn suddenly gained intensity. A laser beam shout out of it. Maëva barely had time to dodge, throwing herself on the side, losing balance and falling.
"Aaah!"
"You shall not tread on these grounds, vile creature!" the pony yelled, flying above her, readying another beam.
"Wait!" Maëva pleaded. "Wait! I'm not a monster!"
"That's what they all say!" the horned pegasus said with gritted teeth, before she stopped. "Wait, hydras can talk?"
"I'm not a hydra!"
The pony looked confused for a second, but still wary.
"What kind of trickery is this? Are you a changeling!?"
"No! I'm a human! I came here with a portal!"
Despite her natural distrust, Maëva had no choice but to be sincere. That mare would not hesitate to attack her again. The flying equine frowned.
"A human? Through a portal?"
"Yes!"
"You lying worm! Humans only appear as ponies through portals!"
"Well, I thought that too!" Maëva said, quite angry, trying to stand up again. "I don't even have arms!"
"If you're a human, then tell me your name!" the pony commanded with authority.
"It's Maëva! And I'm freezing!"
"That's not the sort of name humans usually have..."
The aggressive horned pegasus seemed to think. She muttered:
"But a hydra would never go that far north... She would die of cold... And no hydra would know about the portal."
"Who the hell even are you!?"
The mare looked at Maëva, before realizing.
"Oh, that's right, I didn't introduce myself. Usually you do that, even to enemies, mom told me."
She cleared her throat, spreading her wings to have as much presence as she could.
"I'm princess Flurry Heart, daughter of princess Cadance and Shining Armor, rulers of the Crystal Empire!"
Maëva took a step back. Or rather, she leaned a bit. Her body wasn't really practical to go backward. She was dealing with royalty? Oh dear, she had been impolite with an actual princess? And one with magical powers?
"O-Oh."
"But I don't understand. If you truly were a human and came through the portal we would have seen you."
Maëva only got more confused.
"What do you mean?"
"The portal is in the middle of the city. And you're not really unnoticeable."
"Well, my portal was in some ruins over there."
Maëva wanted to point her thumb over her shoulder, but she didn't have either of them. She mumbled when she remembered it.
"Some ruins?" the pony repeated
"Yeah. Like an old stony house. I'm sorry, but could we get to someplace warmer please? I can't even feel my feet anymore."
"Oh, sorry."
Flurry's horn went bright for a moment. A yellow bubble of what Maëva assumed to be magic engulfed them and protected them from the snow. It felt nice and warm in here, as if she was standing inside a house.
Maëva looked at the princess, still a bit wary. But also a bit relieved now that the winged unicorn didn’t seem like she was going to attack her again.
"Thanks... Er, I mean, thank you, princess."
Flurry nodded briefly, before noticing the bag she was carrying at the end of her tail.
"What's that?"
"Oh, well, it's stuff my friend packed for me before she... pushed me in the portal."
Now that she wasn't alone anymore and not cold, the realization sank in Maëva. Éma. She had said only one person could go through. She had chosen to save her friend over herself. She had never planned on coming with her.
Maëva sat down, in shock. Everything was gone. Everyone she had ever known. Unless they were to find another portal. And it would only work for one person. Her world.
"She pushed you in?"
"Yeah... She discovered the portal and said she wanted to take it with me, but... Well, it's broken now."
"Why would you want to come here?"
Maëva looked at the princess flying in front of her. She was actually quite small. Smaller than her head. But she was an adult, albeit a young one. But something bothered Maëva in Flurry's question.
"You don't know...?"
"Why would I?" the princess said, almost offended.
"Well... People from my world supposedly took portals already to come here."
"As far as I know, there's only one portal and no one has come through it in years."
"How many years?"
"I don't know, fifteen?"
That didn't add up. Maëva was certain to have heard stories about portals in the last ten years. Éma had recent information.
"That still doesn't answer my question", Flurry pointed out, a bit upset.
"Well. My world is... falling apart. Earthquakes, meteors, people randomly disappearing, diseases, wars started by leaders that don't even recall why they declared it the day after. Something happened and seems to have broken reality. Everything that can go wrong eventually does so."
Maëva had purposefully left out the parts about the Collapse and the monsters roaming around. She didn’t know those ponies. They might just seek and destroy all the remaining portals if they were to become afraid of abominations coming through them. That’s what she would have done in their place. She was already a monster herself, at least in appearance.
"That sounds... Awful," Flurry said. "I didn't know things were that bad at Canterlot High?"
"Say what now?"
"What?"
"Canterlot High. What's that?"
"Well, it's the... Oh, right. You're not from that portal."
Flurry suddenly realized. She asked:
"Wait, are you even from the same human world?"
"Huh?"
"You said people from your world took portals. But how well are those things known in your world?"
"Well, everyone knows about them since ancient times. When your mages came through them."
"Our mages...?" Flurry slowly said.
"Yeah? We call them ancient mages, we don't have written records of their names or even anything they said."
"Hmm... Yeah, you're definitely not from the same world. In Canterlot High, the portal is a secret only the people from Equestria and a few others know about."
"I..." Maëva began, before putting that thought aside. "What's going to happen to me?"
"Well, first you're going to follow me. Can't have a hydra running around."
"Stop saying I'm a hydra!"
"What are you then?"
Maëva looked at herself, at a lack for words.
"I... Well, first off, hydras have more than one head."
"Only if the first one gets cut. I can try, if you want."
A golden battleax appeared by magic right next to Flurry. Maëva moved back, scared for her way too long and exposed neck.
"No no! I'll be fine!"
"Shoot," Flurry said, making the battleax disappear. "I never had the chance to try it."
And Maëva was fine with things staying that way. Sadly, that meant admitting she was a hydra. Flurry added:
"Alright then, follow me. We're going to the Crystal Empire."
The princess bringing back a hydra wasn't the afternoon the crystal ponies had planned for today. Even less so a living and talking hydra.
Maëva was surrounded by small ponies looking at her weirdly. She had to ward off foals playing with her tail. "That's dangerous," she said to them. And it was, she didn't know how to move that thing around without breaking anything. Coming to this place, in the middle of the city right in front of the castle, had already been hard enough.
She had seen Flurry as small, but turns out she was a little bit taller than most of the other ponies here. But she wasn't as tall as her mother, princess Cadance, standing right in front of Maëva after her short introduction. Some explanations had been given to the princess of love.
"I've never seen a human get transformed into something other than a pony," she said, worryingly impressed.
"The tales in my world also talked about people being turned into ponies through the portals, if that's any reassurance."
It was Maëva's polite way of saying she didn't have any clue as to what was happening either.
"I didn't even know there was more than one portal," Cadance explained with surprise. "We're not even sure as to who built it. You talked about ancient mages?"
"People wielding magic," Maëva confirmed. "It's not something we know how to use in my world. But they knew. They came through portals of their own making when my people had barely mastered copper. But they didn't stay long, and the portals were lost, for the most part."
"But you found one. Or at least, your friend did."
Maëva nodded slowly, thinking about Éma. Her heart sank a bit. And something was off.
"I shouldn't be the first one to come here," she pointed out.
"Well, I didn't hear anything about talking hydras showing up," Cadance said, sorry for her. "But I'll contact the other princesses and the nations of the world, just to make sure."
"I'll send an expedition to where you said the ruins were," added the white unicorn right next to her, before turning to his wife. "We should also contact Twily. She understood enough of the magic to change the mirror, after all."
"She also has her book to contact Sunset Shimmer," said a pegasus with a salmon-pink coat standing right next to Flurry.
"We'll work on that," Cadance abridged. "In the meantime, you're our guest, Maëva. Welcome to the pony world."
"Thank you, princess."
"Oh dear..."
"Yep, I told you."
Maëva looked at the mirror Flurry was holding with disgust and fear. So, that was her face now? She had never thought of herself as a pretty girl, but this... this was beyond horrendous. No amount of makeup would fix this face.
"I don't even have hair," she noted, horrified.
"You're a hydra," Flurry repeated, flying by her side. "That would be weird for a reptile to have hair. Pretty sure a wig would make it worse."
Maëva didn't even have arms to reach for her own face. She could only look at it and accept it was hers.
They were both standing in the middle of a great stadium. Since she was taller than most houses, Maëva had been assigned to live here. At least she had a roof, and Flurry had cast a spell to keep it warm.
"How old even are you?" asked the alicorn – that's the term she had employed to designate winged unicorns like her and her mother.
"Nineteen. You?"
"Eighteen. You're young. I couldn't have told that from your appearance."
"... That's mean."
"Hey, at least your voice sounds feminine. Almost. A bit."
Maëva could hear her own voice. It didn't sound feminine at all. It was deep and distorted.
The pegasus from before came to them, flying up to Flurry.
"We have an answer from T-Er, princess Twilight," the newcomer corrected, after briefly glancing at Maëva. "She's coming soon, your highness. Your father said he's going to greet her and accompany her here. The mirror is coming as well."
"Thank you," said Flurry, before smiling. "You don't have to be so official around me, you know."
"Yeah but... In front of someone else?"
The pegasus nodded towards Maëva, wincing from embarrassment.
"I don't care," Flurry said categorically. "You're talking to me. I'm already surrounded by people bowing and picking words with such precautions it's like they're working crystal with my feelings. I don't need my best friend to do that."
"Crystal isn't fragile around here, you know," the pegasus mare pointed out.
"It's an expression!"
Maëva looked at them both. She could tell they were friends, simply by the fact that pegasus didn't bow when coming, nor did she present her respects. She looked about the same age as her, with a long blue curly mane.
"Anyway, I don't think I've introduced you, right?" Flurry said. "Maëva, this is my friend, Cozy Glow."
The pegasus briefly nodded politely.
"She'll be the one to help you if me or my parents aren't around," Flurry added.
"What!?" Cozy replied, surprised. "I wasn't aware of that."
"Well, now you are."
The princess giggled, looking at her friend with a mischievous smile. But that didn't seem to make Cozy laugh.
"Come on," Flurry said lightly. "It's not like you have anything planned."
"Well, it turns out I do," the pegasus replied, raising an eyebrow, before acting all dramatic. "But you never ask me, so how could you know I'm actually busy? What I feared has become true, I'm just a servant to be sent around, not a real friend. Oh, poor me, I-"
"Cut it out, will you?" Flurry interrupted with a little laugh. "What do you have to do?"
"I wanted to do a bit of research about the portals."
"With Twilight coming?" the princess doubted, raising an eyebrow. "As if you could find things she doesn't know already."
"I have my ways, mind you," said Cozy, defending herself with self-importance, raising a leg against her torso. "I know I can't really compete against the princess of books, but don't doubt my skills."
"Yeah, sure."
"In the meantime," Cozy pointed out, "Your guest is looking a bit left out. That's not very royal of you."
"What?" said Maëva, suddenly coming back to reality, a bit surprised to be involved in the discussion. "No, no, I'm fine."
Flurry looked at her with concern. Not because she had seen something on Maëva's face, but because her friend had said something about it. She knew how observant Cozy could be, especially with people.
"You were clearly lost in your thoughts, tho," the young pegasus insisted.
"I-... Well it's just... You two remind me of my friend."
"She didn't die, right?"
"I don't think so," Maëva said, a bit of fear rising in her at that simple possibility. "But my world is in such a mess that she could have... And I probably won't see her again."
"Unless we find a way to get to your world," Flurry said. "Why do you think we called for some help?"
"I... I don't know? Because you want to send me back or something? Or you don't want others like me?"
Flurry seemed shocked, while Cozy Glow couldn't refrain from displaying a little smug and mocking smile.
"She has a very nice opinion of us, I see," the pegasus noticed.
"We want to help your world!" Flurry said in disbelief. "You told us it's a mess, we're going to find a way to fix it. Then, yeah, probably send you back if you want. Or at least find a way to give you a body with arms."
"Why would you do that?" Maëva asked, thinking she was joking. "You don't know my world, you barely know me."
"Oh, she's deep in darkness," Cozy giggled, impressed.
Flurry was losing her mind.
"What do you mean "why"!? Because you don't leave people in a bad situation if you can help!? Even if you don't know them!"
Maëva was perplexed by her tone. It seemed so obvious to her. Well, she was the daughter of the princess of love after all, but Maëva had thought this was more like an honorary title given by another noble ruler just to sound great. Cozy Glow noticed the expression on her face and guessed:
"Are people selfish in your world?"
"Well, like everyone I would say," Maëva explained, unsure. "We all have a busy life, especially since things started to go to shit, so we only help each other if we have something to gain or if we feel like it on a given day."
"Hardships don't always bring harmony, huh?" the pegasus smugly said with a mischievous smile.
"We're not like that," Flurry cut. "We have a princess of love and a princess of friendship for a reason. We help, we care, we rescue, we forgive. In this world or another."
"That... sounds like something a cartoon character would say" Maëva couldn't help herself to say.
"A cartoon?" Cozy asked, interested.
Yeah, they probably didn't have TV here, huh? Or so Maëva thought.
"Er. A story. Like a comic, but animated. For children."
"Oh, that was like an insult then?" Cozy guessed.
"What? No!"
Maëva looked at Flurry, afraid she might have misunderstood her. The alicorn looked more confused than anything, but just to be sure, Maëva added:
"It's just... Well, people in my world would call that very naive."
"What's wrong with that?" Flurry asked, almost offended.
"I... I don't know, really. People think you can be exploited if you see things brighter than they are."
"Well, the blame is on the people taking advantage of that then."
"... Guess so... How do you even intend on helping my world?"
"We'll see. We'll need to get there first."
Maëva didn't really reply. What could little ponies do against the end of the world? Even with magic, it didn't look that overwhelming. At least from what she had seen.
"On that note," Cozy said. "If you'll excuse me."
"Fine, fine," Flurry sighed, waving a hoof. "I'll stay with her."
Her friend had her wings already deployed anyway. She flew off the stadium, leaving them both alone.
"... Am I an annoyance?" Maëva asked, not sure as to what Flurry's sigh meant.
"Oh, no," she giggled. "Trust me, life as a princess gets boring around here. It's just snow, snow and snowstorm. I'm glad something is finally happening. And the fact you found some ruins will maybe shake things a bit."
Maëva thought of the dome she crossed when coming to this city. It was weird, that line between cold and decently warm. Like the spell Flurry had cast around them, but applied to a whole city. No wonder why they didn't seem to need electricity here, if magic could act as both insulation and heater.
"Why so much snow?" She asked, curious.
"Because we are in the north...?" the princess replied, unsure as to what kind of answer she had been expecting.
"Fair enough. So, things aren't like that to the south?"
"Oh, no. South, that's Equestria. There's pretty much every climate there because it is so big. Continental, mild, there's even a desert and a tropical forest if you go south enough."
"Wait, so we aren't in Equestria? I thought Equestria was the name of this world?"
Flurry bobbed her head left and right, breathing in through her teeth.
"Well, not exactly but in a way yes. We're like an independent region. My mom is still a princess of Equestria. And, no, the world is called... world. That would be weird if we had a name for it, wouldn't it?"
Maëva thought about it. Yeah, she didn't have a name for her own world either, aside from "world". That made sense, weirdly enough. Flurry suddenly realized something:
"Wait, how do you know it's called Equestria?"
"Well, I think that's how the ancient mages called it?"
"... How long ago was that?"
"I don't know, two or three thousand years? Why?"
Flurry frowned, a bit skeptical about one thing.
"I'm not sure Equestria existed back then..." she muttered.
"You don't know for how long your country has existed!?" Maëva shouted with surprise, causing Flurry to cover her ears. "Sorry."
"I said I'm not sure. I'm not a history book!"
"Well, you should ask your princess of books then."
"Princess of-"
Flurry facepalm with a hoof, sighing:
"Twilight isn't the princess of books, it's just a name Cozy gives her. Don't call her that in front of anyone."
"What is she then?"
"The Princess of Friendship, Twilight Sparkle!"
Trumpets and flugelhorns echoed throughout the stadium, as the procession made its way towards Maëva, standing up in the middle of the field. She bowed respectfully, seeing the purple alicorn approaching, followed by a trailer carrying a mirror surrounded by crystals, as well as a pile of books next to it.
Twilight tilted her head forward, saying:
"It is my pleasure to meet you, Maëva from another realm."
"The pleasure is mine, princess Twilight."
The alicorn giggled kindly:
"It's a bit weird to hear a hydra talk."
"It's even weirder to be one, believe me."
"I can imagine that."
Maëva smiled, asking:
"I understand you went to a human world?"
"Yes. Few are the ponies that can say that. Flurry told you this, right?"
Maëva nodded, noticing that this princess was about as tall as Cadance. She seemed nice.
"I didn't hear about it in my world, tho," Maëva pointed out.
"It stayed a secret. But it's more likely an indication towards the fact that your world isn't the same as the one I visited. Your name shows that as well."
"Is this why your ancient mages never came back to my universe?" Maëva asked. "You found other worlds?"
Twilight winced. She had to admit:
"I don't know who those ancient mages are. I couldn't find anything about them in my old books. As far as I know, no one from Equestria knew there existed other human worlds before you came."
"Great..."
"There's also another problem..."
Maëva tilted her head on the side, as it was the best gesture she could do. Twilight's horn began to glow and a book was lifted from the pile.
"This book is supposed to be connected to that other human world. A friend of mine in it has an identical copy, and they are linked to transfer messages. I hadn't really noticed up until now, but she hasn't written to me in months now. And when I tried on my way here, the words stayed on the page without being sent to that other world."
"Which means?"
"That a link has been severed."
Twilight looked up to Maëva, following with a compassionate:
"If something similar happened with your world as well, that might explain your... state."
"So, I should have been a pony, right?"
"Well..." said Twilight, a bit embarrassed. "It's more complicated than that. I thought I could recall, but actually, there's no documented cases of someone from outside coming to Equestria through a portal. Only ponies went to other realms and back again, never the other way around. So this might be the natural transformation for someone from another world."
If Maëva had arms, she would have scratched her head, confused. She tried to sum it up:
"So, you don't really know more than me?"
"In your particular case, no. But that's why I'm here. We're going to try some things."
"Will it involve cutting my head to see if another one grows?"
"Wha-No!" Twilight said, shocked. "I would never do that!"
Maëva let out a sigh of relief. Flurry's proposition from earlier had stayed in her head and she was afraid they would put that to the test. The princess stated:
"First, we're going to try and reconnect you to your world. Since we want to help you fix it, we'll need a reliable way of going there."
So she wanted to help as well. All of this sounded really weird for Maëva. She had never come here with the intent of finding a solution for her original realm. Only to run away from an inevitable doom. And now she was feeling a bit selfish for that reason.
"You're alright?" Twilight asked, seeing her distant gaze.
Maëva shook her head.
"Yes, yes. Sorry, I lost track of my thoughts for a moment."
"Hmm..." The princess pondered, looking at her. "Maybe it's because of your neck. Your brain isn't as irrigated as it was when you were human."
"I... don't think that's the problem, don't worry."
That pony was really worried about her. In fact, all of the ponies she had encountered up until now were very kind to her. Maëva couldn't help but think how she would have been atomized from the very first moment she laid a foot in her world with that body.
Maybe she could trust them.
"Do you have any idea as to how you can... reconnect me with my world?"
"Yes. A few, actually. May I examine you first?"
"Go ahead."
The alicorn began to fly around her, sometimes a bit closer, sometimes a bit further.
"Oh, you have a bag from your world?" Twilight noticed.
"Oh, right. I forgot. It's not like anything in here is going to be of any use."
It barely weighed on her tail that she didn't even realize it was still there.
"Well, it will," the princess corrected. "Your items have your world's essence in them. That's great! Can I take a look?"
"Sure."
She would have shrugged but, again, no shoulders.
The bag was carefully lifted with magic. Twilight began to take the items out to analyze them. A coat, a bunch of vegetables. She looked at them, thinking a bit, before having an idea.
"Great!"
She carefully lifted the mirror off the trailer, getting it down on the grass, surrounding it with strange devices, some looking like plain old metal scraps and others like weird magical artifacts.
Maëva sat down, looking at the princess of friendship doing whatever she was doing. She was thinking out loud, mumbling some "this should be here" and "the resonance will be better there".
The guards that had followed her looked imperturbable. Maëva had almost forgotten about their presence, to be honest. It's only because they moved out of the way of Shining Armor that she paid any attention to them. A quiet nod from his part also sent them away.
The unicorn came by the hydra's side, looking at the princess.
"I'm guessing she's going to try something?" he whispered to Maëva.
"She looks like she got an idea, yeah."
"Alright. I'll stay here then, just in case she tries to pull you into something you don't understand."
"There!" Twilight suddenly said. "It should work!"
She turned to Maëva, only to see Shining by her side.
"When did you arrive?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
Shining giggled.
"About ten seconds ago, little sis. What do you have in mind?"
"Well, since the mirror hasn't worked in a few years, I want to reignite it and make sure it connects to our guest's world."
Twilight looked back at the portal.
"The mirror can actually link itself with her world?" Shining inquired. "I thought it was only to go to Canterlot High?"
The princess of friendship argued:
"At its creation, maybe. But relocating its destination shouldn't be complicated, now that we know other worlds exist. Can I borrow the coat?"
She looked at Maëva, seeing her nod. Twilight took the cloth out of the bag and placed it next to the mirror, before thinking twice about it. Shining had come to the same conclusion than her:
"Wouldn't it run the risk of closing off any access to Canterlot High?"
"Probably..." Twilight slowly said, thinking, before her face brightened. "Wait! Human energy! That could work!"
"Human energy?" Maëva and Shining repeated.
"Yes! Even if you're not from that world, you're still a human! That might be enough to restore the link!"
"So like, I give a part of my soul or something?" Maëva said, raising an eyebrow.
"No, nothing like that. You just touch the mirror when I ask you to. Your tail should do."
They both looked at each other, Twilight smiling eyes into Maëva doubtful ones. After a second of silence, the princess added:
"It won't suck your soul. Promise."
"How do you know?"
"Because I've been through it a couple of times."
Maëva thought a bit. Unless those ponies were masters of deception, they seemed full of good intentions. She agreed:
"Fine, princess. I'm ready then."
"Great, come closer."
"There?"
Maëva carefully moved her massive body next to the mirror.
"Perfect. On my command."
Twilight focused on her magic. Maëva saw a bright purple halo engulfing her horn and the mirror, as well as the objects she had scattered around it. The crystals engraved on its outlines began to glow. A weird buzz came out of the portal, as the polished reflective surface seemed to shake like waves on water. Twilight frowned in her concentration.
"Something's off... It's like... There's something stuck in between the worlds... And Canterlot High feels so distant."
Maëva had no idea what this meant, but she was feeling all the more unsure about all that. Yet, Twilight followed with determination:
"We need to bring it back to normal. Touch, now."
Maëva hesitated slightly. But that purple alicorn looked like she knew what she was doing. So, moving her tail around, she laid the tip right on the pony figure on top of the mirror.
The portal suddenly turned bright. So bright it blinded everyone looking. Maëva felt something, like electrical sparks climbing up her tail, yet she could not move it.
Everything went fast. There was a great noise, as if the mirror was trying to swallow everything around it, before it stopped and unleashed a large orange and purple smoke cloud, making Maëva and everypony else cough.
"What's that!?" the hydra said, raising her head high to breathe in clean air.
"I don't know!" Twilight answered, waving around a fan she had just teleported in. "Maybe some kind of magical exhaust?"
"T-Twilight?" A new voice suddenly said, confused, surprised but also deep and deformed. "Is that you!?"
"Huh? Who's there!?"
"It's me, Sunset! Oh, I finally managed to get to the other side!"
"Sunset...?" Twilight repeated, confused, as she wasn't recognizing her friend's voice.
The smoke dissipated and Sunset was nowhere to be found. But, on the other hand, Maëva had grown a new head.
The princess couldn't believe her eyes. And neither could Maëva, as she looked at the other head coming out of her body, panic quickly building up inside her, ready to burst out in a scream at any moment.
The other head was also freaking out, but for an unrelated reason it seemed.
"The sky!" she said, staring at Twilight with fear. "It was torn apart!"
She tried to move forward, but the body didn't follow. Her head went back on her neck like a spring, causing her to turn around with confusion to see what was wrong. She froze.
"What..." Twilight slowly said, too many questions bumping into one another in her head. "What do you mean the sky was torn apart!? Is something wrong at Canterlot High!?"
But Sunset's mind was somewhere else right now. She slowly said:
"Where... Where are my hooves...?"
She looked down on her body, then up to her own neck, as if to make sure both were indeed connected. That's when she saw there was something else. Another neck, right next to hers, in the same body. Her eyes slowly went up, creating a meeting of confused and shocked stares with Maëva's. Silence fell.
"I... think something went wrong," Shining guessed with an uncertain expression on his face.
"This is worse than I thought..." Twilight whispered.
Sunset was finally able to speak again, but her voice was distant.
"H-Hi...?"
"Hi..." Maëva replied with the same detached stupor, to Sunset's surprise.
They would have waved to each other in an awkward fashion, but they had no arms. So instead, they just sat still, trying to face a fact they couldn't even put words on.
"I'm... Maëva."
"Sunset... Shimmer. Huh... I... feel like I should scream and lose my mind."
"Me too... You thought you would be a pony too...?"
"Yeah, that's how I'm supposed to be here... I... take it that you're not a natural hydra?"
"No, I was a human..."
"Sunset?" Twilight interrupted, concerned, coming to her.
The ex-unicorn-now-second-head turned to her, still feeling distant but closer to reality.
"Well, that explains why you looked small..." she said to herself.
"You talked about the sky...?" Twilight repeated, understanding her friend's shock but still worried.
Sunset's eyes went wide as she remembered. She had more important things than a mere body problem.
"R-Right! Twilight, you gotta help us!"
"What happened?" the purple alicorn inquired
"It's hard to describe. We heard a loud noise, as if something massive crumbled, like a tower or something, but it was everywhere in the world. The sky was torn apart like a paper towel, and there was nothing behind it. Just an empty void. Not space, just nothing."
Twilight frowned with fear, scratching her chin rapidly.
"We have to go back and see what's wrong!" she concluded.
"I came as fast as I could," Sunset followed. "But something seemed wrong with the portal. I feel like it took me more time than usual to get through."
"You were stuck in there. We were trying to get the link back."
"The link? Is this why you didn't answer my messages?"
"I probably didn't receive them," Twilight said with a serious tone. "The last ones I got from you were the conversation we had about mermaid's history."
"So like, two days ago," Sunset summed up. "Something happened between then and now."
"Two days...?" Twilight slowly repeated. "Sunset, that was months ago."
"What?"
"That conversation, we had it over eight months ago."
Sunset's expression went from concern to complete fear as she realized.
"How long have I been in this portal...? Oh no! The others!"
"We need to get the link back!" Twilight said, going to the portal to examine it. "And find out why there's a problem in this world too!"
Sunset slowly lifted her head, still shocked.
"What do you mean in this world too?"
"Your world had a Collapse," Maëva said, finally joining back the conversation after listening carefully. "Just like mine."
Sunset turned her head, almost hitting Maëva's in the process. Twilight also looked at her, asking skeptically:
"A Collapse?"
"That's how we call it in my world," Maëva explained. "We heard something fall apart, some say it was the pillar of the world – whatever that means – and everything has been shit since then. The sky became dark and it's been sending some kind of meteors and other catastrophes at us."
"You didn't say anything about that," Twilight pointed out.
"I didn't know if I could trust you", Maëva replied, not all that sorry. "I was afraid you would send me back off of fear I would make your world collapse too."
"I would never-"
"Twily," Shining interrupted, walking to her. "If what they say is true, terrible things have been happening at Canterlot High for months now. We don't have time to debate trust issues."
Twilight looked at her brother, then at Maëva, then the mirror.
"Right. I'm sorry Maëva, but your world will have to wait for now."
"It's been falling for fifteen years," the first and original head reassured. "I'm just worried about what will happen to my friend, but you have yours to save first, I understand that."
"Just your friend?" Sunset asked. "No family or anything?"
"Family died before I could become an adult," Maëva said, looking at the other head right next to hers. "I may still have an older brother alive, but that's it. His island sank a few months ago, so he's probably dead anyway."
"Woaw... I'm sorry."
"It's fine," she sighed. "You... get used to it at some point. Everything is uncertain. You might die tomorrow, your house might be on fire, something might eat your friend right in front of you. The only reason we aren't suicidal is because we know the world will kill us first."
"I... can't imagine what kind of life this might be," Sunset said, fearing a bit for her own friends as well.
Both her and Shining looked worried at Maëva. She had a very detached tone, as if she was truly used to this. Yet, she had been hesitant about crossing the portal. But they didn't know that. She still had a hard time believing she was truly out of this nightmare. It hadn't registered in her brain yet.
"I think I can do something," Twilight finally said, after inspecting the mirror. "The link is weak, but it should work!"
Sunset turned her neck, but was stopped on her tracks with the body not following.
"I can't move?" she said, intrigued.
Maëva looked at her, then at her legs. She lifted one, then the other, turning to the portal. She noticed, a bit relieved for herself:
"I think I'm the one in control of it?"
"So, all I have is a neck and a head?" Sunset summed up, raising an eyebrow.
"Afraid so. Sorry."
"I mean, things are probably worse on the other side either way..."
Twilight cleared her throat to get their attention back. They both looked her way.
"You're going to have to touch the portal again. We got Sunset out, so it should work by now."
"Tail again?" Maëva asked.
Twilight nodded. She got into position once more, while Sunset wondered:
"Aren't you afraid that it could spread to Equestria if the link gets stronger?"
"I am," Twilight quietly responded, looking back at the mirror. "Maybe breaking the link was Equestria's own way to protect itself. That could explain why Maëva's world only has one-way portals. But it's not going to stop me."
Twilight almost jumped when her brother put a hoof on her shoulder.
"I'm going to warn Cadance and the others," he said to her. "Should I write a letter for Equestria as well?"
"Yes, thank you, Shining. Send it to Starlight, she'll spread the word around."
The white unicorn nodded, heading for the exit right away. Twilight turned back to the portal and Maëva, who was still waiting.
"Go on," the alicorn invited. "Touch the portal. Whatever happens, I'm ready for it."
Sunset took a deep breath, fearing what would follow. But Maëva wasn't scared. She'd seen worse. Gaining another head with someone else's consciousness in it didn't seem as dramatic as losing her arms.
So, she touched the mirror again with her tail. And nothing happened.
She waited a bit, looking at Twilight with a question in her eyes. But the alicorn didn't say anything. She didn't look away from the portal.
Suddenly, the surface began to glow. Like last time, waves formed. Ripples. But they seemed a lot more pointy than last time. Troubled.
"Huuu..." Maëva slowly said.
"Don't worry," Twilight reassured with confidence and determination. "Nothing bad will come out."
"If you say s-"
The mirror went bright again. Blinding everyone. A purple and blue puff of smoke erupted from it, but Twilight immediately raised a shield in response, dissipating the smoke in an instant.
Everyone was then able to see the electrical sparks climbing Maëva's tail, up to the base of her neck, focusing into a bundle of flesh and scales that immediately grew into yet another head.
The newcomer shook its long and new neck, opening the eyes hidden behind round glasses.
"Am I... on the other side?" they asked, looking around, only for their eyes to fall on Twilight.
"If by that you mean dead, then not yet," Sunset replied.
The new head suddenly moved away, caught off guard by that weird voice so close. They looked at Maëva and Sunset.
"Wha- A hydra? Why am I a hydra!?"
"It's a long story," Sunset said, even though she didn't even have the full story herself. "Welcome to your new body."
"Excuse me," Twilight said, walking forward, looking up at the new head. "But... who are you?"
She didn't recognize the voice, but that was normal. Even Sunset's was so deformed she hadn't realized it was her.
The third head looked at her with disbelief, stuttering:
"Well, I'm... you."
"Me?"
"Twilight?" Sunset asked, surprised.
"Do I know you?" the head said, turning to her.
"Yeah, it's me. Sunset Shimmer."
"Sunset!? I thought you had abandoned us! Everyone thinks that!"
"I was stuck in the portal! I would never abandon you or the others!"
"Wait, wait," Twilight said, flying up to them. "What happened? Sunset just got here, how's Canterlot High?"
"Well," the other Twilight hesitantly said. "The... world is falling apart. Bad things. Everyone looked for a safe place, the school has become some sort of a bastion."
"Hold on," Sunset interrupted. "How long has it been since I left?"
"I'd say about eight months?"
"Is everyone alright?" Twilight inquired.
"I wouldn't say alright..." her couterpart winced. "Some people have vanished. Rainbow Dash has been missing for a month, Big Macintosh and Sweetie Belle too, just to name a few. But, we manage. That's actually why I came here. Everyone thinks some kind of magic caused this."
The princess of friendship was thoughtful, despite all the worries on her face. She muttered:
"Well, if that's the case, it's probably going to happen again..."
"What!?" Sunset and the other Twilight said.
"It already happened twice. We'll need to find what's wrong."
"Twice!?" the third new head shouted.
Maëva cleared her throat, gathering the attention of the three others.
"Sorry to interrupt but..." she said. "I understood that there are two Twilight Sparkle?"
"Oh, right, sorry," Twilight said. "Canterlot High is a close copy of Equestria. Most of the ponies here also exist out there, in human forms, with different lives."
"I see," Maëva nodded. "So you're the Twilight from that other world? That explains why you wear glasses and she doesn't."
"And you are?" the person involved asked.
"Maëva. My world began to fall apart fifteen years ago, just like yours. I just got here in that... body."
"Oh..."
"AAAAAH!"
All three heads turned to Twilight, who was facing the portal with total dismay. Or rather, what was left of the portal. The central part looked like it had faded away. There was no mirror in the magic mirror.
"It broke!" Twilight shouted with desperation. "The link broke!"
Twilight had gone with the ex-portal to bury herself into her research, desperately trying to find a solution. So it was only the now three headed otherworldly being and the daughter of the princess of love.
"At least you're not on your own anymore," Flurry tried to reassure. "You have people that can explain this world with you."
"I only know what I've been told," said the other Twilight – which they'd collectively decided to name Twydra to avoid confusion.
"Right, only Sunset really knows about this place," the princess conceded. "Now that I think about it, I would have really loved to see how my aunt looks with glasses."
She looked at Twydra, half disappointed, half amused.
"Sorry...?" the third head hesitantly said.
"It's fine. But today has been really interesting."
"I wouldn't say that," they all said in sync.
Flurry had to contain a burst of laughter. And the three of them didn't really look happy about that.
"Right, right. Sorry," Flurry apologized. "You all went through a lot today. Especially Maëva."
"About that, I had a question," the later said.
"Go on?" Flurry invited with a smile.
"What am I- are we going to eat? I haven't had lunch since breakfast."
"Oh, right. I don't know if they have anything planned."
"What do hydras even eat?" Twydra wondered. "Meat?"
"Swamp creatures, most likely...?" Sunset guessed, but that deduction wasn't really uplifting.
"According to auntie, they can also hunt ponies", Flurry added, remembering an old story.
"I don't think that's going to work out," Maëva pointed out, sighing. "I knew the vegetables my friend packed wouldn't be of any use."
"I'll check in with the cook," the princess reassured. "In the meantime, I'm going to show you your bedroom."
She led the way, and the gigantic monster followed.
"Oh wow, you actually got one large enough?" Sunset said, impressed.
"Yeah, but don't expect luxury or anything."
"As long as we have three different pillows, it'll do," Twydra told.
"As long as none of you snores," Maëva added. "Stop moving your heads like that, I can't balance properly."
"Oh, sorry," the two others apologized.
Sunset contemplated her own body moving without any intervention from her side. Her head was just following, without even hoping up and down. Her neck was naturally designed to cancel the motion. Like a chicken.
"It's weird seeing your foot move but having no control over it," she observed. "Nor any sensations."
"You're not missing much on the sensations side of things," Maëva replied. "I feel like a two-legged elephant."
"Maybe one day I'll know how it feels to be a quadrupedal..." Twydra pondered.
"Tadaa!"
All three heads looked at the large mattress in front of them. It was the thing where jumping athletes would fall onto. They actually had a few of them. One large enough for the body, and four others. Coupled with pillows and a few large blankets.
Flurry looked at them with a smile, as they stood in the entrance, a prood hoof lifted. They were in one of the training rooms, rearranged for them. Even the door frame had been removed as well as part of the wall, to let them pass.
"How do you like it?" the princess asked.
"That'll be definitely better than grass," Maëva honestly said.
"Grass can be comfortable when you're a pony," Sunset corrected. "But I agree."
"I haven't had a safe place to sleep in months..." Twydra thought out loud. "At least I'll rest knowing a fire won't start while I'm asleep."
"Oh, you have random fires too?" Maëva asked Twydra, curious. "We had those at the start, but they stopped after two years."
"I'm sure we'll find a solution to those problems," Flurry said confidently.
"Yeah, maybe."
Maëva moved her body without much conviction, turning around to sit quite heavily on the main mattress. The thing barely held her weight, but still felt comfortable.
Maëva looked at the alicorn in front of her, thinking. Before she finally said:
"... Thank you."
"It's not much, don't worry," Flurry giggled, waving a hoof.
"I meant for everything you're doing. I'm a stranger from an unknown world in a monstrous body, yet you decided to help me without even asking anything in return. Can't say my friend and I expected that when we planned on coming here."
"It's only natural," Flurry assured.
"Welcome to Equestria," Sunset added with a smile, which was still very uncanny with that face.
"I'm going to ask the cook what can be done for you, alright? In the meantime, you'll get to know each other a bit more."
Maëva nodded, along with the two others. Flurry briefly bowed, before flying out of the room.
An awkward silence fell. Maëva looked at Sunset on her left, then Twydra on her right.
"So, uh..." she started. "What's Canterlot High? A country or something?"
"It's a school," Sunset explained.
"You're still in school?" Maëva said, surprised.
"I was the head council," Sunset defended. "And Twilight works in a research lab not too far away."
"We often did partnerships," Twydra added.
"Oh, so you're like..." Maëva started, before stopping herself.
"Like?" Sunset asked.
"... Old."
"Not that much. How old are you?"
"Nineteen."
"Alright, we're old," Sunset admitted.
"But that means..." Twydra slowly realized. "You were four when the Collapse happened?"
"Yep," Maëva confirmed. "I don't recall my world being anything other than broken. My first memory is from that day, actually."
"Wow..."
"I wonder why it happened to our world so much later..." Sunset thought out loud. "And what started all of this to begin with."
"We haven't found any answers in years," Maëva said, sorry. "The best theories we have is either something in our laws of physics broke, or it's because of magic."
"You have magic in your world?" Twydra asked, curious.
"No. But the ancient mages did. They came from Equestria through portals of their own making. And while the legends aren't really clear – they're legends – it's pretty certain that they could use magic in my world too."
"Which means your world must contain a bit of magic, at least," Sunset concluded. "Or they were able to draw it from Equestria through the portals. Which is somewhat of an oddity."
She glanced at Twydra, who didn't catch what she was saying, lost in her own thoughts.
"Why is that?" Maëva asked.
"Well, here in Equestria, I was a unicorn. I could use magic. But at Canterlot High, I can't. I'm a normal human. Only magical artifacts keep their powers."
Maëva was more surprised by her first sentence than the others.
"You're from here?"
"Yeah, it's a long story," Sunset sighed. "I... ran away. And did some bad things."
"But you were friends with the princess, so people forgave you?" Maëva guessed.
"What? No, I just... Well, she stopped me and offered me a second chance."
"Because you were friends?"
"No!" Sunset defended. "We didn't know each other before those events! And I wasn't kind to her. But she still extended a hand to me. "
Maëva leaned back on the mattress, sighing, letting her head rest on one of the pillows. Sunset and Twydra stayed straight with their necks, looking at her, wondering what was wrong.
"You truly are all naive," the middle head said with an almost envious tone.
"Well, not all," Sunset corrected. "But she... Twilight's just like that. She always tries to see the good in people."
"Lucky you, I guess," Maëva commented, looking at the ceiling.
"Is there something worrying you?" Twydra asked.
"I'm mostly tired."
Twydra and Sunset looked at each other. They would have shrugged, but couldn't really do that. So, instead, they just winced.
Maëva was lost in her thoughts. But not just there. She was lost on mostly everything. She understood those worlds a bit, how this Equestria and Canterlot High interacted, who the people around her were. She had always been good at listening, but her qualities stopped at that. Now, she was there, only representative of her world, coming after the Collapse of another more important and close one. And she couldn't even be alone, left in peace. She had the responsibility of moving those heads around. What kind of day was that?
Her neck was itchy as well. She tried to reach it with her tail, but the mattress was in the way. And she didn't really feel like moving.
"I still don't understand why your world is so different," Twydra said.
"What do you mean?" Maëva asked.
"Equestria and my world are a reflection of one-another. Sure, we are humans and don't use magic, but the people are the same, the names are the same. Yours..."
"Never heard of anyone named Maëva," Sunset confirmed. "It's not even a name that really exists for us."
"Maybe that's why the mages kept a link to yours and not mine..." Maëva mumbled.
"Who are those mages?" Twydra asked.
"Don't know. And no one seems to know, even here."
"It's weird," the third and most recent head thought. "At Canterlot High, there was no memory of people coming through a portal."
"And in Equestria, we knew but no one really cared," Sunset added with a sigh. "Weird thing is, Starswirl banished the sirens to that world, so he knew. Was he one of those ancient mages?"
"We have no memory of their names," Maëva precised, in case Sunset was expecting her to answer.
"That's a bummer..."
"So, like, do you girls wear clothes in your human world at least?" Maëva suddenly wondered.
"Of course we do," Twydra said.
"I feel so naked right now," Maëva realized. "I mean, I was expecting it, but still."
"Trust me, there's worse," Sunset reassured. "At least you're not going from bipedal to quadrupedal. Or trying to write. That's the really embarrassing stuff."
The middle head raised an eyebrow at her.
"How do you even hold a pen with hooves?" she asked.
"You don't," Sunset said. "You use your mouth. Or your magic, if you're lucky enough to have some."
"I wonder what kind of pony I would have been..." Maëva slowly thought.
She was feeling weird. Not just because she was naked. Being there, in this world, was just plainly strange. She was thinking strange. She was... wondering. Looking at the future, at what could have been. She did that in her own world too, thinking about tomorrow, but there was always the possibility that tomorrow might not even exist. And the past was a thing that was best to not be dwell on too much. Especially for the younger people like her, who only knew chaos.
"Good news, we found something you can eat."
"Shh!"
Flurry stopped at the entrance, after Twydra had told her to be quiet.
"They're sleeping," the head with glasses added.
Indeed, Maëva's head was resting on the mattress, eyes closed, with a slow and quiet breathing rhythm. Her consciousness had just drifted away after a few minutes. That day had been a lot. Sunset wasn't fairing better.
"Oh, sorry," Flurry whispered. "When they wake up, tell them that we found some meat-substitute for you girls to eat."
"I... think we're gonna have to stay here for now," Twydra noted. "She has control over the body."
"No problem. If they wake up during the night, just call for a guard or something."
"I think we'll do that, yeah."
Twydra looked at the alicorn in front of her, thinking.
"What?" Flurry asked.
"Technically, you're my niece, right?"
"I... guess so?"
"I don't recall meeting your equivalent in my own world."
The princess frowned.
"Aren't my parents together in your world?"
"It's more complicated than that."
Twydra was still staring at her, fascinated. She moved her head closer, as her own neck was the only part she could control freely.
"They got together, broke up, then together again. I guess that's why I missed out on being an aunt."
"Huh... I can't imagine my father reacting to a break up other than by crying for hours."
Twydra giggled.
"Yeah, that's probably how things played out."
Flurry eyes went from a bit playful to slightly worried. And she asked:
"Is he okay at least...? And my mom?"
Twydra's eyes looked away, bitter.
"They're not your mom and dad, you know..." she said.
"I know, but are they okay?"
"I... haven't had any news for months," the third head confessed. "I wish I'd know, but... I also fear that kind of knowledge."
Flurry frowned, nibbling on her own cheek. She knew she shouldn't feel concerned by that, but. Well, she was.
"Yeah, I understand that..." she sighed.
"I understand that you have quite the troublesome friend?" Twydra said, moving on from that awkward topic.
"Cozy's a good mare," Flurry answered with a slight shrug on the side, smiling. "Ponies give her a bad rep only because she did some dubious things when she was younger."
"So I've heard."
"She's better now!" the princess said, immediately defending her friend.
Twydra smiled, looking at the young alicorn in the eyes.
"She's a good friend?"
Flurry's cheek took on a slight pink taint.
"A very close friend... Closer than most people would like her to be."
A thought suddenly crossed the young princess' mind.
"Does she exist in your world?"
"If she does, I've never heard of her," Twydra confessed. "And with current events..."
"Yeah, I suppose..." Flurry sighed. "It's not even guaranteed that she's a nice person at all. So, maybe it's for the best if you've never met her."
The hydra looked at the princess in the eyes, squinting a bit.
"What?"
"Hmm. Nothing."
Twydra shook her head and looked away, before thinking out loud:
"I guess I should sleep too. Otherwise I'm going to be tired when they wake up and move around."
"I suppose that would be a good idea, yes. Do you need something, like a blanket?"
She lifted by magic the one that was already nearby. But Twydra politely refused:
"I think we're warm enough, thank you princess."
"Alright."
Flurry gently bowed, to which Twydra responded with a polite salute of her own.
Twilight looked really upset, a sad frown on her face.
"Not with my current knowledge," she said to Sunset. "We just know so little about how the portal actually works. Most of our studies were halted by the fact that we might break it. And now, it's gone."
Sunset showed concern. They were all standing near the crystal heart, where Twilight had put the now dull mirror. She'd hope that the artifact would help, but nothing had worked. Cadance was also there, as she was the most familiar with the heart.
"Do you have an explanation for that?" Maëva asked, without much hope.
Twilight shook her head. Sunset looked at Twydra.
"You've studied the magic of Canterlot High. Do you know anything?"
"There wasn't much to study. Most of the magic came from Equestria, interacting with it to conduct scientific experiments was hard. I don't think I know more than she does."
She nodded towards Twilight, looking sorry.
"So... We're all stuck here for now," Maëva summed up. "With that appearance."
"I've searched for a spell to turn you all back to normal," Cadance said. "Hydras are very specific creatures, harsh to work with magic. I don't know what caused you to turn into one, but it's more likely than not that we'll need the same portal magic to turn you back to normal."
"I don't know what normal means to me," Maëva laughed a bit.
"Will I be an alicorn...?" Twydra wondered.
"Probably not," Twilight answered. "I wasn't born an alicorn."
"She was promoted to that rank by Celestia and Luna," a voice suddenly said, further away.
Cozy was flying in their direction but stopped in mid air, surprised, seeing the three heads turning to look at her.
"What is that?" she said, shocked. "I thought Maëva's voice sounded a bit weird."
"That's not a nice way to greet people," Sunset pointed out with a raised eyebrow.
"Things happened," Maëva briefly explained. "People came through the portal."
"Cozy," Twilight stepped in. "Why are you interrupting us?"
It took the young pegasus a great amount of effort to look away from Twydra, answering:
"Gee, princess. That's a harsh way of saying hello."
"Is she serious right now...?" Sunset muttered.
To Maëva's surprise, Twilight and her both seemed wary of Cozy, while Twydra was just intrigued.
"What do you want?" Cadance asked, with the same slightly dry tone that Twilight had used before.
"Well, I'm just here to tell you that we made progress on finding those ruins," Cozy innocently said. "They asked me to tell you they've made two discoveries."
"What!?" Twilight exclaimed. "Where!?"
"A guide is on his way. So, who are they?"
She pointed at the two new heads, as if she had guessed the middle one was the one she knew. The glasses probably helped for Twydra.
"I'm Sunset Shimmer. We never met, but I know you."
"Likewise," Cozy responded with a little nod, before looking Twydra in the eyes. "You?"
"I'm the Twilight from Canterlot High. Call me Twydra, that'll avoid some misunderstanding. Nice to meet you...?"
"Cozy Glow," the young pegasus answered in the most neutral tone she had shown up until now. "Nice to meet you, Twilight."
She was staring at her, frowning, which made Twydra look a bit uncomfortable.
Meanwhile, Twilight couldn't stay in place, walking in circles, scratching her chin with a wing nervously.
"I don't think I can wait..." she muttered. "Cozy, can you point me towards the ruins?"
"It's about this way. They've mounted a little camp."
The mare with a salmon-pink coat pointed her wing in a direction that Maëva recognized as the one she had come from the day before. Twilight got ready to take off.
"Right. I'll go first. You'll go with the messenger, girls."
"Be careful, Twilight," Sunset said, before adding. "And don't leave us out of this."
"Don't worry," the princess answered, taking off.
She quickly disappeared in the distance. Cadance saw Sunset's worried look and tried to reassure her:
"We'll do our best to get back to Canterlot High as quickly as possible."
"I know..."
"If that's any reassurance, your world won't probably vanish like that," Maëva said with a bit of concern. "Mine's been in this state for years. I don't think a day or two will be that terrible."
"Thanks..."
Twydra pushed a little sigh. Cadance looked at them, then Cozy.
"If they need anything, come seek me, alright?"
"Urrr... Can't Flurry do it?"
"I'll go look for her. But for now, they're your responsibility, understand?"
Cozy rolled her eyes, crossed her hooves and mumbled:
"Yes, princess."
Cadance looked at the three heads, saying with a kinder tone:
"Tell me if she says or does anything wrong."
Sunset nodded while Maëva frowned a bit. Why would she? She had talked to Cozy the day before, she seemed like a perfectly nice girl. Mare.
The princess of love walked away, leaving them in front of the castle. Maëva turned to the pegasus.
"Why do people here seem to resent you?"
"Oh, that's a long story."
"The real question is, why wouldn't they?" Sunset mumbled.
Cozy rolled her eyes again, while Maëva looked at the second head with question in her gaze. Sunset explained:
"She tried to end the world. Twice."
"As if it wasn't something we all have in common here," the pegasus sighed with irony.
"I only did it once!"
"Yeah, after betraying Celestia a few years prior."
"Wait, hold on," Maëva cut, a bit lost. "I knew about you, Sunset, but like, Cozy and Twydra too?"
An awkward silence suddenly fell as they realized they were, indeed, all pretty bad, once upon a time. And it was something they had to explain to her, now. Sunset winced.
"We all got corrupted by our lust for power, at some point. I tried to steal Twilight's crown and its power. Twydra got corrupted studying the magical anomalies left by the crown in our world. And Cozy, well I wasn't there so I can't really tell, but-"
"I tried to siphon all the magic in the world to become an empress, then used borrowed powers to try and destroy Equestria."
The pegasus was almost bored stating this. Like it didn't really affect her.
"So," Maëva tried to understand. "Why are people mad at you, and not at them?"
"Because I refused Twilight's hoof the first time she offered me help to become a better pony."
"And she wasn't freed because she felt sorry," Sunset added. "But on a whim, because of someone else pleading for her. And she hasn't really tried to make amends."
"Not towards you, at least," Cozy pointed with a snarky smile. "Because I haven't done anything to you."
"Sure, but still. You gotta admit, we don't know for sure if you truly regret it and if you changed."
"I think being free for ten years without doing any harm, while being close to the princess, should be enough, shouldn't it?"
"Or maybe you're just waiting for the right time," Twydra pointed out. "You're just toying with her and making a fool of her."
Something changed in Cozy's eyes. The bored annoyance in them switched to a very well contained but clearly visible anger.
"Don't say that."
"Yeah, she's right," Sunset said, a bit surprised by Twydra's probably unintentional provocation. "I think that was a bit too far."
"I'm just saying," the third head continued. "If-"
Cozy suddenly flew up to her face, staring at her angrily as she hammered each word distinctly:
"Don't. Insult. Her intelligence."
Silence fell. Twydra was a bit scared by Cozy's eyes. They had lost her uncaring and mocking sparkle. They were wide open, empty of any emotions, aside from a threatening yet calm furor.
"S-Sorry..."
"I won't say it twice," the pegasus slowly warned.
Hearing her icy tone, Maëva suddenly believed a bit more the fact that this mare had, in the past, tried to destroy the world. Then, another realization came to her mind.
"Wait, you were freed ten years ago?"
Cozy Glow's expression immediately returned to its normal state, as if nothing had happened, while she looked at Maëva.
"Yes, why?" she said with a sincere smile.
"But you're eighteen...?" she assumed, since it was Flurry's age.
"Physically, yes. I was frozen in stone for about seven years, as a punishment. So I kept my age for all this time."
"... You were eight when...?"
"Yes, I was a very precocious filly."
Cozy giggled, to Sunset and Twydra's shock. Her change in emotions had just happened so fast. She followed:
"But yeah, that's why people kinda hate me around here. It doesn't really matter to me. Still, I'm glad there's now someone that doesn't hold that kind of prejudice against me."
She looked at Maëva in the eyes with what appeared to be kindness. Which was just throwing her off even more with what had happened before.
"There you are!"
All four turned to see Flurry coming in, flying. She stopped at Cozy's height.
"You're back from your research?" the alicorn asked to her friend.
"Not for long. Now that you're here, I can actually leave. I only came back because I need my lenses."
"You're not wearing them?"
"I told you already," Cozy over-exaggeratedly sighed. "It's a pain when you don't have magic."
"Ask me, then," Flurry proposed, almost offended.
"No," she categorically replied. "Anyway, see you! I have knowledge on collapsing worlds to find!"
"Wait! You-"
But Cozy had already left, flying away quickly, into the castle. Flurry grumbled.
"That pegasus..."
Maëva cleared her throat and the princess remembered their presence.
"Right, sorry. Is there anything I can do?"
"Actually, yes," Twydra suddenly said. "Can you bring the history books you have on the Crystal Empire and the mirror?"
"Sure. I'll bring you the ones auntie came with."
She went into the castle by the main entrance. Sunset looked at the head on the other end.
"You think you'll find something useful?"
"I don't know. But the me here has probably read them. If they contain important information, we might as well be more than one to know about them. Two brains are better than one."
"I feel like there's a joke to be made with that sentence in our current situation, but I can't find one," Maëva said with a distant voice.
"Found anything yet?"
Flurry yawned, sitting against one of the castle's pillars, looking at the three headed monstrosity. They were still in front of the castle. Twydra was leaning forward, looking at a book through an oversized magnifying glass put here by the young princess to allow her to read the small words written on the book.
"Not much, really. Can you turn the page?"
Maëva obliged and used the tip of her tail to go to the next page. Twydra followed:
"As far as I can tell, it's supposed that there was once more than one portal. It's not known if they lead to other worlds or just some place other than Canterlot High. But the ponies who wrote that book could only find portals that had been switched off. So they weren't even sure those were portals. They just looked like it."
"Maybe the one I took was one-way only?" Maëva supposed. "So from your end, it looked turned off?"
"Is it still intact?" Sunset asked.
"No, I stepped on it by accident."
"The simple fact you were able to step on it instead of going through shows that it was already not working in the opposite direction," Twydra pointed out, still reading. "I don't get it, they don't mention anywhere in the book where they put the alleged portals. They have to at least say where they found them."
"That book is from a time when Sombra was ruling," Flurry clarified. "Either he wanted that knowledge removed, or they didn't want him to have it."
"It's that old!?" Sunset shouted, astonished since the book looked pristine.
"Yeah well, getting banished for a thousand years with the rest of the empire does help. Magical restoration did the rest. I'm sure my aunt knows a hundred spells to get a book looking perfect again."
"... Make sense," Sunset admitted.
"So..." Maëva deduced. "Even back then, the portals were considered ancient?"
"If your world is anything to go by," Flurry answered, "that book was written at least a thousand years after the ancient mages came to your world."
"That... sounds old."
"Can you turn the page?" Twydra asked.
Maëva used her tail again, before her attention was taken away by a stallion running towards them. Flurry stood up. The colt in armor bowed politely, before announcing:
"Your highness, I've come to report that we found two archaeologically noticeable sites probably linked to the portals and the other worlds. We mounted a camp and I am here to gather more resources and our experts."
"Cozy already told us. The princess of friendship is on her way as we speak. Thank you for your message."
The guard bowed again, taking the time to catch his breath. Flurry looked at the hydra. All three heads nodded.
"Very well," the princess said, turning back to the guard. "You will escort our guest to the site with the rest of your expedition."
"Yes, princess."
"Wait here," Flurry followed, ready to take off, talking to the guard but also to the hydra. "I'm going to look for the other ponies dispatched to study the sites. I'll be quick"
And with those words, she was off in the city, leaving them alone.
The guard glanced at the hydra with a bit of fear in his eyes.
"We don't bite, don't worry," Sunset sighed, realizing how much she hated not being able to cross her arms and lean against something.
