Writing is Magic

            This chapter is written by Princess Twilight Sparkle.

          That spell should’ve never been used, at least not until I knew more about it. Ever since I had discovered that short-term time travel was not only possible, but quite efficient, I wanted to experiment with other magic in a similar vein. This was increased by the thought of Art being killed and the possibility of changing history. On this particular occasion, I was seeing whether or not it was possible to safely view alternate history, that is to say, to see visions of the present which came about in a different historical manner than what we actually knew. But I didn’t think I would almost become part of the story and alter history myself.

          My first attempt at viewing alternate history was a monumental project. The goal was to see what the present time would look like if Discord and, by extension, the Elements of Chaos, had never existed.

          At first, I merely viewed a vision of the alternate present. It was like a cinematic picture of events. Ponyville seemed relatively the same. I could see all the ponies I saw every day. But then I noticed something strange. The picture panned to Lyra Heartstrings and Bon-Bon, two good friends. There was something different about them. Bon-Bon had a picture of a lyre on her flank, while Lyra had three bowties, the reverse of their normal Cutie Marks. As I leaned in to get a better look, I felt the image pulling me in. Before I knew it, I had passed through the picture and was now in an alternate version of Ponyville.

          I’ll admit I was scared at first. I quickly checked myself to make sure nothing was different about me, and fortunately there was not. Same horn, same wings, same Cutie Mark, same magic, thank Celestia. Again, I saw Lyra and Bon-Bon pass by and was astounded by the appearance of alternate Cutie Marks. I decided the first order of business should be to check on my friends to see how they were getting along. From where I was standing, the closest place where I was sure to see somepony was Carousel Boutique.

          The boutique looked very different. It wasn’t even the same building, though it sat in the same spot in town. It had a strong black and red motif, and instead of a carousel design, it was just a simple building.

          *DING-A-LING*

          “Twilight, what a pleasure to see you, and how are you doing this afternoon?”

          It wasn’t Rarity who greeted me, but Art. He had a tape measure slung around his shoulders and a quill pen behind his left ear.

          “I’m fine Art,” I said as he magically removed a finished suit from a mannequin, “Do you know where Rarity is?”

          “She was upstairs the last time I checked. You know how she gets when she gets in the writing mood. Tough to get her to think about anything else.”

          “Writing mood?”

          “Rarity, darling. Could you come down, please? Twilight is looking for you.”

          When Art turned to call Rarity I checked his flank. Gone was the black quill pen and in its place sat three black diamond-shaped markings, a color-swap of Rarity’s Cutie Mark. I made sure to compose myself before he turned back around.

          When Rarity made it downstairs I quickly peeked at her flank, which was emblazoned with a purple quill pen, a shade which matched her mane. It seems that these two had swapped Cutie Marks, and thus destinies in this alternate universe.

          “Yes Twilight,” the unicorn mare said, “What do you want?”

          “Oh, yes, sorry. I’m just feeling a little off today, so bear with me. But, uh, could you remind me what Element of Harmony you two represent?”

          “Silly,” Art answered, “Generosity, of course.”

          “And I represent Knowledge,” Rarity followed in turn.

          “Of course, I knew that,” I excused myself, “I’ll see you around.”

          I quickly exited the boutique, extremely puzzled. Not so much as to how or why their destinies and even personalities seemed flipped, but more about how I was supposed to get out of this alternate universe. I needed some water, so I headed over to Sugarcube Corner.

          “Well howdy partner,” Applejack greeted before I could even step in the door, “Haven’t seen ya all day. Care for a cupcake?”

          “No, thank you,” I replied, looking Applejack over. Her mane and tail were not tied back like usual, but were styled long. It actually wasn’t all that bad of a look.

          “Oh come on,” I heard Pinkie Pie’s voice, “Nopony turns down an AJ Apple Cupcake.”

          Pinkie, on the other hand, didn’t have her puffed-up, curly mane. Instead, it was long and straight, like when it gets deflated. But you could hardly tell, since both her mane and tail were tied back, in a way Applejack’s usually was.

          “I suppose that’s true,” I politely answered.

          The two Earth ponies walked together behind the counter. That’s when I could see that, like Art and Rarity, their Cutie Marks were reversed. I didn’t even want to think about how Applejack discovered her destiny was to be the life of the party, while Pinkie decided to work on in an apple orchard.

          After eating the cupcake happily offered me, I once again made an exit. However, I didn’t get very far before I bumped into another pony.

          “Oh I’m so sorry,” the pony apologized. When I looked up, I saw a blue, rainbow-maned Pegasus.

          “No, excuse me, Rainbow,” I said, “I should have been watching.”

          “No, really,” Rainbow continued in a meek voice I didn’t even know she possessed, “I was distracted by the fresh flowers.”

          “Distracted by flowers?”

          At that moment, I heard the sound of rushing air overhead. Rainbow and I both looked up to see a pink streak cut across the sky. There was no way, was there? The source of the streak flew right up to both of us.

          “What’s happening, everypony,” the pony I know as Fluttershy greeted.

          “Not much, Flutter,” Rainbow answered, “just bumped into Twilight here.”

          “Fluttershy,” I said, but she cut me off.

          “Shhhhhh,” the yellow and pink Pegasus shushed me, “How many times do I have to ask you not to call me by that name. It’s so lame. C’mon Twi, cut a pony a break.”

          “Sorry, guess I have a lot on my mind.”

          It was at this point that I noticed three butterflies on the flank of the pony known as Rainbow Dash, while Fluttershy, or whatever she went by in this universe, sported a Cutie Mark which resembled Rainbow’s usual one, though instead of a rainbow bolt, it was three shades of pink.

          After excusing myself to the two Pegasus, I made my way to my own home, the Ponyville Library. I didn’t know what I would say if I met my alternate self, but I didn’t know what else to do. I had to find a way out of this universe.

          I reached the library and opened the door. Everything seemed normal inside, but it didn’t look like anypony was home. I walked over to the book stand, which held a familiar book. It was the same magic book I had been reading to learn more about time travel. As I began to read the open section, I heard somepony enter. Turning around, I saw myself, or rather, this universe’s Twilight Sparkle.

          “What in the name of Celestia,” the other Twilight asked, puzzled.

          “I’m sorry,” I apologized, “but I am from an alternate universe and I accidentally entered yours.”

          “So it’s really possible!”

          “Yes, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Now I don’t know exactly how to get back.”

          “Oh I have so many questions! What’s your universe like? What’s different, what’s the same, is everypony there just like here?”

          “The ponies have the same names, but they all have different jobs. In my universe, for example, Rarity is a fashion designer, and Art is a famous writer.”

          “That actually makes a strange amount of sense. I’ve studied a lot about why almost nopony does the job that they seem to be made for. But I’ve never come up with an explanation.”

          “I have a theory. In my universe, there exists a being called Discord. He embodies chaos. I believe in my universe, chaos and order are better balanced because of his existence. In this universe, chaos is random and found everywhere in much greater amounts.”

          “I should write this all down.”

          “Later. Right now I have to find a way back to my universe.”

          “Well why don’t you just go back the way you came? How did you get here anyway?”

          “I visualized an alternate universe and saw an image of it, which I unfortunately got sucked into.”

          “Well there you go.”

          “There’s one problem. To do that, I would have to visualize a universe where Discord exists; however, because no such thing would ever be thought of in this universe, I’m not sure I can jump back.”

          “Well didn’t you just implant the idea of his existence? The fact that now one pony in this universe knows that he exists somewhere, it is now something that would, and could, be thought.”

          “Never thought I would literally listen to my own advice.”

          “What are selves for?”

          We both had a good laugh for a minute before I got to work envisioning our universe. A universe where chaos and disorder may exist, but in a strange way it makes perfect sense.

          After a short while, an image appeared before the two of us, the exact same kind of thing that I saw before. As before, I saw the scene of Ponyville, and like before, I saw Lyra and Bon-Bon walking together. This time, however, their Cutie Marks and general demeanors were that of the ponies I knew back home.

          “Here I go,” I said to my alternate self, “Good-bye.”

          “Good-bye and good luck.”

          I came through the image and landed back in Ponyville. I ran as fast as I could to Carousel Boutique. There I saw Rarity working on her latest creation, while Art was working at a writing desk.

          “Oh, hello Twilight,” Art said, looking up, “Where have you been all day?”

          “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”