One that can't understand can't learn
It was Dangerous, Twilight knew it, she had gone into the Everfree forest before. She had gone in alone to make the short trips to Zecora’s but she had never gone in deep into the forest without her friends before. She had been looking at the night sky for several days taking notice to strange phenomena that had been happening. The first was something that most of Ponyville had enjoyed. It was a simple meteor shower, it was unexpected and confused Twilight because things such as this were expected ahead of time but she ignored that one, thing like that was unpredictable anyways.
The next strange thing was that hours of the day seemed to be slowly messing up. It was fall but slowly each day the sun stayed in the sky longer. Had the princesses lost track of time? Maybe that one had to do with Discord, it had only been a few days since he was “reformed” and she still didn’t fully trust him. He already displayed the power to control the sun and the moon as well.
The final one wasn’t observed by Twilight but by Rainbow Dash. She had noticed strange weather over the Everfree forest- even stranger than normal. Despite it being fall there was considerable heat coming from the forest. The Everfree worked in ways nopony ever really understood; it had its own weather and didn’t need anything to help it. Sometimes its weather would fall into Ponyville but was usually fixed. Could it also have something to do with all the odd things happening?
She was doing this alone because nopony else took it seriously. They dismissed it all and said she was overreacting. “So what if a few things fell from the sky no one knew about. It was cool and it doesn’t mean the world’s going to end.” Rainbow Dash had said. Even Pinkie had said how it didn’t make sense to worry about it- PINKIE said that her worry didn’t make sense- PINKIE PIE said that something doesn’t make sense!
Twilight was dead set on this and when Twilight’s mind was set on something it was near impossible to get her to stop. So here she was walking through the Everfree looking for… something. She didn’t know what she was looking for just that she would know when she saw it… hopefully. She could see the castle ruins that they had visited when her and her friends were stopping Nightmare Moon. She decided to go inside and crossed that old bridge Rainbow had fixed. As she ventured further she entered the main hall of the old castle. Broken stain glass windows, floors and walls covered in dirt dust and webs, the whole place looked decrepit and… well old.
“This world has been disconnected.” An unknown voice rang through the large room.
“Zecora?” Twilight called out in weak hope
“So tiny… so ignorant.” A distinctly female voice said. The voice sounded detached she couldn’t tell if the owner of the voice was talking to Twilight or to herself. She went up the two large stairs that connected to the small balcony at the top A large picture that was partly destroyed showed the young Luna and Celestia sitting in front of two large ponies but there faces were weathered and worn making it impossible to identify them. It stood above a doorway to an empty hallway. It was what stood just in front of that doorway beholding the picture of the Princesses that got her curious. Tall was the pony but that was all that could be made out. The figure was cloaked and refused to look directly at her.
“Hello?” Twilight said timidly.
“Hello, young one.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Watching,” The figure said cryptically “Observing, Waiting… a lot of waiting.”
“For what?” Twilight asked more curious than ever
“The inevitable.” Twilight found herself getting impatient with all these cryptic answers.
“Just who are you? What are you doing in a place like this?”
“‘Who are you?’… if you could truly comprehend you would understand how little that question makes sense. My reasons for being here are my own. You understand so little.”
“I could try to understand,” Twilight said “I could learn what you’re talking about if you would just explain.”
The figure turned her back to Twilight completely and started to walk away, the silent clopping of hooves being echoed through the large empty room. “A meaningless effort, to truly learn one must understand, one who understands nothing learns nothing.” In a quick burst of light the figure vanished leaving Twilight by herself.
Twilight was confused more so than when she first came, but felt somehow, without any grounds, that there was nothing left to find here.
Twilight made the lengthy venture back into Ponyville with all that was spoken to with the strange pony racing through her head.
Rainbow Dash was racing around the sky trying to put the finishing touches on today’s weather. Partly cloudy skies were scheduled for today and she still had quite a few clouds to move. She saw Twilight walk past her towards her home. “Hey Twilight, where have you been?” Rainbow Dash asked not really stopping her placement of the clouds in the sky.
“I went into the Everfree forest.” Rainbow stopped dead in her track and swooped down to get right in her face.
“Seriously? You do just mean to Zecora’s, right?”
“No I went to the castle ruins.”
“By yourself?! Are you crazy you should have asked someone to come with you?”
“None of you were taking what I was saying seriously and it could have been something big. It probably still is!” She screamed in frustration and ran off. She ran in frustration of that odd pony and her odd answers, of no one believing her when it comes to something weird like this. Things were happening and no one seemed to notice or care. The stress was so high she felt as though she would just burst into flames! Rainbow Dash just watched her friend run off a little dazed and confused over what happened… what did happen?
Elsewhere Fluttershy was gingerly escorting some lost baby bunnies back home. A rabbit that lived near her cottage had lost her young ones and Fluttershy just had to help. She found them near the middle of town “Just a little further now, we’re halfway home.” She said gently to them as they followed. She and the bunnies stopped though as they heard the sound of singing, the sound of running and one pony screaming.
“What’s wrong with this guy?!” A white unicorn with wild electric blue hair and a grey earth pony with a neat black mane ran as fast as they could and accidently scared the bunnies off.
“Oh my!” Fluttershy exclaimed in surprise. Just then the pony that was singing raced past Fluttershy as well. It was a light grey earth pony with an elegant white mane.
“Yes, run as you will the inspiration is heart stopping. The melody! Can you hear it?!” he declared. The unicorn dived behind a stand with the other pony.
“What are you talking about, you lunatic?!” They quickly abandoned it as he got closer and disappeared behind a corner with the strange pony in pursuit. Fluttershy quickly tried to find the little bunnies that ran away.
“It’s okay now, you can come out.” She called out hopeful they would come but when they didn’t she began searching. She was looking under the tables that were around and behind some of the market stands. “Oh, please come out from wherever you’re hiding.” She said in a more concerned voice. After worriedly searching some more she noticed Pinkie and Rainbow Dash coming her way.
“Hi Fluttershy, what are you doing?” Pinkie asked
“I was helping some bunnies when they got scared and ran off. You haven’t seen them have you?” She asked hopefully
“Nope, I was actually going to ask for your help with something.”
“I’d love to, but I’m a little busy at the moment- if that’s all right with you.” She quickly said trying not to accidently hurt feelings.
“Alright with me!” Pinkie smiled “Dashie just told me how Twilight’s all upset and frowny,”
Rainbow Dash cut her off “I still don’t get what she’s angry about.”
“So I thought I’d throw her a nice party to cheer her up.” Pinkie continued without missing a beat. “You can come over to Sugar cube corner when you’re done.” Pinkie said happily bouncing away. Only Rainbow Dash stayed. She offered to help Fluttershy find them which Fluttershy accepted gratefully.
Somewhere else a Mint green Unicorn and a cream colored earth pony sat together outside a restaurant. The Earth pony had regretted bringing up a topic that her friend believed greatly in. “I haven’t found one yet, but I feel like I’ll see one real soon. You know, Bonbon?” Bonbon had to bite her tongue from admitting that she didn’t understand, it would only prolong this talk. She instead retreated to just agreeing.
She tried a tactic that’s worked so far “Not that this isn’t interesting or anything but maybe we could talk about something a little more grounded than your theories.”
“Like what?” Lyra asked
“Maybe us?” Bonbon offered with a slight tone of sarcasm
“Oh, Oh!” Lyra jumped. She looked under the table and saw an adorable, white, fuzzy face. “Oh my Celestia, who is this little guy!” Lyra squealed excitedly at the little thing. She levitated it up from under the table and into her forelegs, hugging it gently but happily “Bonbon look, a bunny!”
“Aww, it is pretty cute.” It was at this moment Rainbow Dash fluttered down next to them.
“Hey, that’s one of the bunnies Fluttershy was looking for, could you please give it back.” Rainbow asked. Lyra let out a sigh and gave it back.
Eventually night came but Twilight remained buried in books. A while ago she found a book with some really interesting things in it. There was one poem in here called “The Bell of Freedom”
Ring out the old, ring in the new
Time for a major alteration’s due
Soon enough we all must sing
Let the Bell of Freedom ring!
Ring out the news, speak loud and clear
Come on the day of liberation’s here
Soon the changes will take wing
Let the Bell of Freedom ring!
There goes the Bell, we won the fight
Sing out the song of victory tonight!
All the joy our thought will bring
Let the Bell of Freedom ring!
Twilight couldn’t figure out what this poem could be referring to. She checked all the history books and saw no signs of any kind of enslavement in Equestrian history books. Didn’t see any in the books about the Griffon Kingdoms history. The only kind she could think of took place in the Crystal Empire and the way they always emphasized “Bell of Freedom” it would suggest that it was some type of thing; the empire only had the Crystal Heart, never a bell. It was always interesting when Twilight found out about something she’s never heard of before. It only made her want to find out about it even more. At first she suspected the book had something to do with the Crystal Empire when she saw the book title “The Great Dark King” but now she wasn’t so sure. The book was very vague and didn’t even mention the king by name. As if the author of this book was still trying to maintain a secret. Nothing was very specific, not the Kingdom he ruled, not where it was, not even what happened to it. Its disappearance, according to the book, was sudden- just in the blink of an eye. “Six powerful beings stood up to the Beast King and commanded his kingdom leave, and then it vanished from time and history”
It was strange, how can anything just… vanish! It seemed beyond any logical reasoning, yet in the last couple years things have happened that she never thought possible. Ruling out the possible accuracy of this book could be a huge mistake. Spike came down the stairs and was stunned by the mountains of book surrounding her. “You’re still doing this?” Spike said with a mixture of exasperation and disbelief.
“Uh-huh.” Twilight said absent mindedly as she became more absorbed in her book.
“You know Pinkie is throwing a party for you, right?”
“Uh-huh…”
“I’m heading over there now, are you coming later?”
“Uh-huh…”
“Well… see you later then.” Spike said slowly then carefully walked around the scattered book and out the door. Twilight remained in her home for roughly another hour before she felt her whole house shake violently. Her head shot up from the book and shock over took her face. The towers of books were shaken down and spread across the room. The remaining books also fell down and Twilight couldn’t even get herself to stand up. It lasted for about a minute before it abruptly stopped.
“What in the world just happened?!” she said to no one and rushed to the window. Other ponies were coming outside to see what was happening. As she watched she could hear the far off sound of explosions and it seemed that some others heard them too. “It’s Canterlot!” One yelled above the deafening silence “Something’s attacking it!” Heads turned towards the mountainous city and panicked murmuring started to spread.
“Canterlot?!” Twilight exclaimed and ran outside to see for herself. To her horror it was being laid siege to. Explosions could be seen from here and, although she couldn’t make out exactly what, she could tell that whatever was attacking was a force and not a single opponent. A low rumbling was heard again and the dark night sky gave a dim light now instead of the gentle light of the night. She turned her attention to the sky and saw the Sun and the Moon shared the same place in the sky. “An Eclipse, now?” A trail of fire could be seen racing across the sky heading this way at an amazing speed and stopped abruptly over Ponyville with another earth shaking rumble of a small earthquake. At this point the citizens were panicking and running for their lives making the world around Twilight one of pure fear. Every pony was running for whatever safety they could find. They ran, they screamed, they were in complete hysteria!
Twilight was just as terrified but couldn’t find the power to move, she was frozen in terror. All she could do was look up at the burning pony flying above her in awe and terror. The pony looked like an Alicorn the mane and tail were that of fire and the coat was grey as if it were covered in a thin layer of ash. The armoring was no different, It was threatening to look at and it only added to the intensity, it too was blackened by the mean of fire. It hovered in that place observing the terror of the town’s ponies and then, to Twilight’s terror, it turned its attention to her and the unseen power of the pony that seemed to radiate from its very being seemed to intensify as the Alicorns gaze landed on her. It felt like killing intent.
Without any provocation the fiery terror unleashed its power blowing up a house not too far from the two of them. Now Twilight felt the power to run and she ran like never before. Rainbow Dash might have been impressed if this weren’t a matter of life and death. The Alicorn did not even attempt to stop Twilight as it continued to make an Inferno in its wake. Without warning two spears impaled the ground just in front of Twilight making her stop in her tracks. If she were just a little faster her life would have ended there. Two Pegasi in the same blackened armor hastily landed in front of her and pulled the spears out. She crouched on the floor and covered her face, waiting for what was to come. But it never did Rainbow Dash came speeding towards the with such speed they plunged through the wall of an adjacent house. “Don’t gawk, run!” Rainbow insisted.
“But Rainbow Dash-”
“No arguing this time! I can handle these goons!” Hesitantly Twilight started to run away. She never stopped running but glanced over her shoulder and saw that more had come and they surrounded her. She felt like she needed to do something but was too scared to think straight and just kept running. More of the black armored ponies appeared there were Pegasi and Unicorns and Earth ponies too, all in that blackened armor. They too would set fire to the houses and shops, some would chase the townsfolk. It was like a nightmare she couldn’t wake up from. The eerie brown sky was blackened with smoke and fire and the air was filled in terrified screams.
A mare was huddled in a corner with a foal held close as three soldiers closed in. On pure instinct Twilight blasted those with her magic they were swatted away almost like flies. They lay on the ground groaning in pain before they fell unconscious. The mother silently acknowledged the help of Twilight and ran off with her child. Twilight felt a little better after that but it didn’t erase the pure terror still infecting her. It was giving good reason as the Fiery Alicorn once again confronted Twilight landing on the ground with enough power to shake the ground. “INSOLENT FOOL! YOU DARE CHALLENGE ME?!” a booming voice roared from her mouth. Gold and blue beams came down from the sky and knocked the monster down.
Celestia and Luna flew in place in the sky defiantly of this Tyrant.“You will not harm them!” Celestia commanded.
The Alicorn picked herself up and glared with those blank white eyes “NO ONE COMMANDS ME!” and flew after them enraged. They disappeared in the growing smoke but the light and sound of their battle was not lost. Through all this that Eclipse was the only thing that somehow remained visible in the sky. And odd flash came from the rims and then, from the direction that Twilight had come from, six beams of light shot into the sky and ran laps around the eclipse till the colors fused together… and then the worst happened arms of light fell from they and tearing the ground apart. The ground didn’t have craters; instead it seemed to be dissolving. They fell into chunks and gravity lost meaning as they flew into the sky. The buildings dissolved and were torn apart as well the world swirled and twisted in the most mind blowing and disorienting ways. Ponies trapped on the dislodged pieces of ground and some trapped in the buildings flew into the sky. The smoke swirled in a vortex and the center of the insane storm of destruction was the eclipse surrounded by the light. Twilight was trapped on a chunk of ground too and it got sucked up into the sky. She looked around one final time as she rose into the sky. The complete and utter despair was heartbreaking. The town that was peaceful and quiet only moments before was seeing its last light, and it was from fire. Light flashed blindingly and then nothingness, everything was dark and quiet.
Twilight woke up with a shock, her mind was dazed and racing at the same time and felt a cold sweat. Her heart was running a marathon right now. Was it just a dream? She wondered. If it was it was the most vivid dream ever. She noted just how cold her room felt and sat up in her bed but something was wrong- or felt wrong. She looked around her room it looked the same. Books everywhere, all of her research stuff and her furniture as well. The only difference was that her floor was carpeted. “I don’t remember doing that.” She noted out loud. As she continued to look around her room trying to figure out just what was wrong with the picture chills ran up her spin from the she grabbed her forelegs to try to keep herself warm when she realized that she felt different. As odd as it was, she personally felt different, she looked down at herself and had to mentally keep herself from freaking out.
She was in a body she had never seen before. Bare skin with a layer of hair so light it night as well of not been there. Skin that was a dark tan kind of color and no hooves instead she had appendages like Spike, she had hands! She put them out in front of her in confusion and fascination mixed with a tinge of fear. She looked them over front and back and flexed her fingers, then sensation was odd having that many joints in only two limbs. She used her unfamiliar hands to touch her face. It was rounder than before and had a pointed nose. Her ears weren’t where they should have been and were on the side of her head instead. Despite the very bald body she still had her mane for some odd reason. The body just even more strange the further she looked down her body. Hair was thicker in bizarre places rather than just being covered in fur like a normal creature.
She was snapped out of her concentration by the sound the doorknob being twisted. As the door opened what came through surprised her even more. A creature that had the same body shape and skin tone as her came through. She had blue eyes and a smart looking mane style just like her own. The only difference was that this one was fully clothed unlike herself. The creature was just as surprised as Twilight and dropped the books on the floor slack jawed. “Wha- how… who, you look like me!” The creature pointed in shock.
“It speaks!” Twilight screamed fear again returning to her and she backed up as far she could on her bed till her back touched the wall.
(~#)
Elsewhere something similar was happening. Three children observed something that they had never seen before “What is it?” said one with blond curly hair.
“It looks like a person, don’t ya think?” said a red head country looking girl with a bow in her hair.
“But how many people have blue wings?” said the third dressed in orange.
“An Angel maybe? She has Rainbow hair.”
“Ah’ don’t think normal Angels have tattoos on their butts, Belle”
“Oh! Maybe it’s an Alien!” the kids got closer as their curiosity got the better of them and poked and pulled at the wings. “Belle, Ashleigh the wings are totally real!” It was at that moment the crumpled, unconscious body picked itself up groaning in pain.
“Ah, my head.” She groaned in pain “What happened?”
“Beats us.” The red head named Ashleigh responded.
The rainbow hued oddity quickly turned around to see three creatures she’s never seen before. “Oh!” she screamed and crawled backwards from the initial shock. “What the heck are you things?” Ashleigh looked offended.
“Hey, you could be nicer.” Rainbow Dash fell silent as she studied the three faces. They looked familiar.
“Apple bloom? Sweetie Belle? Scootaloo?” The kids exchanged confused looks.
The blond spoke up “No I’m not Sweetie Belle, my names just Belle. Only my sister and parents ever call me that.”
“I’m not Apple Bloom either, I’m Ashleigh. I live on an Apple farm though.”
“Why Scootaloo?” the darker skinned one spoke.
“It sounds close to your nickname, Scoot.” Belle said matter-of-factly
Rainbow Dash realized plenty of strange things about them and the place she was in. She looked around and it reminded her of Manehattan, more specifically the alleys of Manehattan. She was surrounded on both sides by tall concrete buildings and the ground was concrete. Trash cans both standing up barely holding anything and trash cans with their content spilled out on the ground. The alley was long and she could see other strange forms far off outside of the alley. They stood and walked in the same manner as the three in front of her. She had no idea what in Equestria happened. One moment a monster and an army was invading and burning down their homes and then… she’s here. She rubbed her arms as an uncomfortable chill came. She looked down to her surprise she had a body almost like the three. Except she was taller and had two strange utters. She was glad the she managed to keep her wings but the purpose of the two strange oddities on her chest confounded her. Were these creatures somehow related to cows? Did she just transform into a cow monster?!
Belle gasped loudly and covered her eyes blushing furiously “I was too distracted by everything else I didn’t even realized you were naked!”
Ashleigh covered her eyes too when the realization came to her “We have tah get ya cloths.” She mumbled.
Scoots looked horrified “Ah! You remind me of my idol Rain, now I can’t stop picturing her as you!” They turned away from Rainbow and talked in a panicked manner to each other. “We have to tell someone about this! We have to tell people we found an actual angel.”
“But they wouldn’t believe us. Nobody ever listens tah us.” Ashleigh whined
“What if we just showed them her.” Belle suggested
“But she’s naked you can’t go around naked.” Scoots reminded
Why not? Rainbow wondered. Nothing like that was ever an issue before. Then her thoughts went down to the utters and concluded that it must have something to do with those. They were a little distracting after all.
“We could take her to my sister’s place she loves to make cloths.” Belle suggested
“She would freak out if a strange naked person came in. She might freak out even more if she found out it was an angel.” Scoots pointed out. Belle let out a sigh that confirmed the suspicion.
It was then Ashleigh got an idea “Mah big sister! She’s the most natural down tah earth person there is!”
“You sure Jackie would help?” Belle asked. They were all in agreement. Rainbow Dash was getting stuck on multiple parts of their conversation. Their names sounded similar to the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They looked almost the same and they mentioned two other people with familiar names. Rain and Jackie. Something wasn’t right here but she couldn’t quite figure it out.
“But wait,” Belle said interrupting the girls’ moment “there’s still the problem of how where going to get to the farm without anyone noticing.”
Rainbow smirked and shot up on two legs but quickly started teetering backwards. Her arms did windmills till she got her balance and continued without missing a beat “Did you forget these?” she said triumphantly spreading her blue wings “I can get us there in a flash.”
(~#)
On the aforementioned farm that was covered in apple trees was a blonde haired farm girl hard at work taking care of the apples. It had been most of the day she’d been working. “Apple picking season” her family called it. A job that fit her family’s namesake so wonderfully. Jacqueline Apple, or as everyone called her Jackie Apple. It was a clear Saturday and barely even noon, this was one of the warmer days she’s had since the weather started to cool.
She had taken a break and sat on the ladder she’d been using. The family business was apple farming and their certain ways to do things but there were times when it seemed like a better idea if she could just knock them all down instead of just picking them. She was told many times by many people that she and Rain were both very strong. Speaking of which she wondered where Rain could have gone.
Her eyes went over to the stables, she dreamed about it when she was a kid. Being a horse, it seemed like fun sometimes. Every now and then she still entertained the unrealistic thought. Her day dreaming was broken when she saw an unfamiliar figure walking around the stables. It was too far for her to make out from the distance she was at. Without much thought she shot to the ground and ran over. The person didn’t seem to take notice but kept staring into the stables. “Hey! Who are ya? Ya ‘can’t jus’ wander onto the property!” Jackie yelled as she got closer. The intruders head shot up in surprise and looked at her with an expression of disturbed fear. They both stopped dead in their tracks as their faces locked onto each other. It wasn’t like seeing a ghost, or even your own reflection. It was seeing a bare clone of yourself out of the blue with no warning or reason.
Nothing was said for a long time, they just stared at each other. There was fear but also… fascination.
(~#)
On request of the odd creature Twilight covered herself with the bed covers. The two were talking to each other for a while. They were both trying to find out why Twilight was there and the story was a little too hard to believe for the human, as Twilight found out they were called. Twilight also discovered the girl’s name which sounded similar to her own, Tara Sparks. “So let me get this straight,” Tara said sitting on a chair in front of the bed. “You say that your name is Twilight Sparkle… and you’re a Unicorn?”
Twilight new that it probably sounded weird “I know it might sound strange but it’s the truth. I think it’s strange that I’m talking to an actual human.”
“How come?” Tara asked
“Well where I come from Humans don’t exist, or at least not in the typical way. They’re just old ponies tales, stories that you would tell a little filly or colt.” Tara found it strange that a supposed magical world found it hard to believe in something as simple as humans.
“So anyways, how did you get here? If you really are a unicorn how come you aren’t one now? And why are your eyes colored differently like that?”
“Purple eyes aren’t normal here? Weird.” She muttered to herself. “To be honest I don’t really know myself. It all happened so fast I can barely wrap my head around it. The weather acts weird, I look around the Everfree forest, I see a strange pony, she talks to me cryptically then vanishes, next thing I know all of Tartarus is breaking loose and then I wake up her in a strange body.” She said skimming through the major events that led up to this point “Also I find a human with a name close to mine and I happen to look almost like her.”
“Do strange thing like this happen normally to you?” Tara asked still apprehensive on believing this story. What sane person would honestly believe some stranger if they run around claiming that their a Unicorn?
“Strange things? Yes. Like this? Then no.”
Tara felt like she had some sort of idea of what this sounded like, it was a classic fiction plot. She had an idea of how to support this idea “You said that you had five other friends, right? What were their names?”
Twilight raised an eyebrow in confusion but answered anyways “Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rarity.”
Her friends had similar names “My friends names are Rain Dash, Jackie Apple, Pinky Pie, Fiona Shy and Rachel Rare.” She could hardly believe it, both of them. Twilight was starting to catch on to what Tara was trying to say. One of her friends had the same exact name. Was Pinkie’s equivalent really the same exact thing no matter what? Pinkie was a human name as much it was a ponies? “Constants and variables.” Tara said to herself in thought. “Though I would of never have thought of such a variable as this.” As if able to tell what Twilight was going to say next Tara spoke up again “No, I’m still not entirely sure if I believe any of this yet, although that Pinky Sense incident makes me question the believability of this even more.”
‘So even some of my own events have crossed over.’ Twilight thought to herself
Twilight was startled when she heard a strange rhythmic beeping. Tara quickly pulled out a strange device of square plastic “A cellphone… I’ll explain later.” Tara said quickly before answering “Fiona hi- what is it?” Tara’s face showed one of shock “Uh-huh,” she said slowly “No, no, no, listen- trust me I believe you. Yeah, something similar is happening right now- hold on I got another call.” Tara messed with her phone some and talked into it again. Twilight was stunned by the actions, was some form of magic or advanced technology? “Rachel? You too? Yeah me and Fiona both- sorry another call. Pinky? Pinky calm down I can barely understand. A copy of you? Poof? There are two at the apple farm? Tell everybody to meet at Sweet Apple Acres.” Twilight couldn’t help but think that Tara spoke oddly. Tara pulled out some clothes from her dresser and handed them to Twilight “I want you to meet some people.”
(~#!)
At an entirely different side of the city in an old warehouse a woman laid half-conscious against a wall. Barely clothed with the exception of a few bits of blackened armor. Unnatural red hair trailed out from the helmet and three shady men had surrounded her. She peeked open an eye magenta eyes were revealed as she saw them. “Look at this find, guys.” One of them said presumably the leader of this pathetic group. She moved slightly wincing in pain and growling with a combination of anger and pain.
“You… presume to… have the power, uh, to victimize me?” she growled pushing through the pain, knowing full well these lowlifes intentions. The men said nothing but there silence as well as the looks on their faces said all that was needed. “FOOL!” her voice boomed and in a golden aura they were cast across the warehouse and into an old broken down piece of machinery. Their bodies crumpled to the ground as the fell unconscious. She grabbed on to a dusty shelf next to her and pulled herself slowly and painfully to her feet. She could barely stand and it wasn’t just because of the body itself. Her body was covered in various injuries all fresh. Bruises, burns and cuts all of them superficial injuries but the pain was still there. “Those princesses were stronger than the others.” She muttered to herself “I was too confident, I got sloppy.” Damn those two to Tartarus. They made a decision she never saw the others make before, instead of protecting the single city they rested in they chased her. They could have derailed the entire plan if she fell to them. It was by sheer luck of time that she won. Even then she couldn’t call this a victory, she was beaten, battered, humiliated and she won’t stand for being insulted. An echoing laugh rang through and snapped the former Alicorn out of her thoughts.
A dark skinned creature walked through, she had long blue hair and piercing green eyes. She wore a black dress-like outfit with florescent green wrapped around her stomach area. It bore resemblance to what some human called, if the Alicorn remembered correctly, a Kimono. It was tattered across the arms. “It seems that the big, strong Empress isn’t so big and strong after all.” She said in a sarcastically sympathetic tone.
“Chrysalis, you would do best to watch your tone of voice with me. I may be hurt but I can still do the same to you.”
“Of course my lord, I simply mean that this should be a lesson in humility at the very least.” She toned down the sarcasm but it still remained nonetheless. “I see you made some friends.” Chrysalis said looking over at the three easily disposed thugs.
“Feel free to do with them as you wish.” The Empress said casually “Though only after you gather our forces again.” Covered herself in a golden aura and in another feat of magic produced clothing on herself, it was a simple black suit. “I’ll never understand universes so obsessed with clothing.” She said mostly to herself.
“Being almost completely bald must be embarrassing to them as a race.” Chrysalis responded “And as for our forces that last attack scattered them, it would be a while before our numbers return.” Those princesses ruined everything! It didn’t go according to plan and everything is behind now! The Empress clenched her fists but put on a stoic face.
“Then go find them, you’re their Queen, yes? Summon them.” The room was silent and the dust seemed to just hang in the air “I know you’re there, come out.” She called out
An amused laugh came from seemingly everywhere “Oh, still haven’t loosened up? You really need to get into the spirit of things, it really is quite boring.” A man with wild black and white hair and a small white goatee appeared out of thin air. He wore a suit that seemed like several suits patched together. “Queenie and Commander Hothead,” he laughed some more. “At least we know you have a better half.” He looked at the Empress.
“You help or when I find my Six once more you’ll meet your fate like all the other, Discord.” She threatened calmly. Discord struggled with the decision but in the end agreed.
“I suppose you have a point.” He let out a heavy sigh.
(~#)
Tara led Twilight just outside of the city to the Apple farm. It was a little slower than expected because Twilight had to stop and admire several things. Car’s being one of the major ones. The ponies had motors to work stuff like floats but they were difficult to make and start, plus they used magic. As far as she could tell Humans don’t have magic, what made them move? There were so many of them too. Everyone wore clothes too; she was getting a stronger feeling that it wasn’t as much of an option here. Eventually they made it was greeted by doubles of all her friends as they entered the barn. A normal brightly colored version and the dull colored version that all humans seem to have. Humans really had no color other than in their clothing; it was all boring and simple. Two Pinkies’ the more human one had strawberry blond hair as did Fluttershy’s double. The Rarity double was still as fashionable as ever as was the actual Rarity at that moment. Dressed simply yet still managed to look her best. Rarity’s double had black hair though. It was impossible to tell the two Applejack’s apart, they looked the same. They were both dressed the same even. The only difference was one of them was wearing a hat and the other wasn’t.
Then Rainbow Dash, she was actually the only one without a double standing in the room. And she was dressed in farming cloths just like the Applejacks. It was odd for Twilight seeing her friends in human shape and it was strange for Tara two see doubles of themselves from a magical world. Tara was pretty sure this wasn’t an elaborate trick anymore when she saw the Rainbow one with red looking eyes and blue wings sticking out of her back.
Rachel spoke up “well I certainly wouldn’t have believed a word of it if I didn’t see all this.”
“Ah hear ya’ if ah din’t see, um… Rainbow Flash fly over with Scota, Ashleigh and Belle ah’m pretty sure ah would have called the cops on Applejack.” Jackie agreed
Rainbow crossed her arms “My names Rainbow DASH, not flash.”
“Speaking of Rainbow Dash,” Rarity spoke up “Why are you dressed like that?”
Jackie laughed a little at the memory “when she flew over here she was only wearing a white bed sheet. With those wings and the way she was dressed you would have thought she was an angel. Speaking of which She explained that in her world she’s a Pegasus and also said Fluttershy was too, why don’t I see any wings on you?” Jackie asked Fluttershy.
She looked down at the ground and played with her new fingers nervously “Well Fiona said humans don’t have wings and this yellow sweater was the only thing big enough to hide them.” That hadn’t occurred to either Rainbow or Jakie. Jackie had just sacrificed a shirt when she didn’t need to.
“Where’s Rain?” Tara asked
“Who?” Rainbow asked
“Rain Dash, I’m pretty sure that she’s your double. She should have been here.” Tara explained.
“We all tried to call her but she wouldn’t answer.” Pinky answered. Rain was usually out running around and goofing off but where was she? It wasn’t like her to just ignore them like this and she always kept her phone on her no matter what she was doing. Where is she?
