Lady Luck meets Lord Chanceby ThePoliteCanadianChaptersCurtains UpOne in FiveMeet and GreetWild CardCurtains UpReflections are strange, almost surreal. One never sees one’s face unless staring into a mirror, or looking at a photograph, and how strange is it to stare at someone that looks exactly like you? Besides being contained to the dimensions of the mirror, there being staring back supposedly has a thinking mind, like you, a beating heart, like you. That is if it wasn't just a projected image reflecting back for you to see. Twilight Sparkle stared at one such mirror, just a solid substance of silver nitrate, distilled water and ammonia. She had found it in the back-room of the fourth floor of the sub-basement while searching through the older and rarer collections of books and tomes the casual public didn't know existed let alone check out of the royal library. It had been covered by a rich red velvet curtain; surprisingly clean despite the dusty old room, which was what had piqued her interest. Pulling the curtain off, it fell to the floor like a heavy cloud and revealed the mirror. It looked boring, to be completely honest. The alicorn’s purple hues stared at the mirror diligently, why would this mirror possibly be here? If she said it was clear, she’d be lying. With a hoof, Twilight tried to clean the surface of the mirror, there was something a blurry about it, but it remained with the same almost translucent look to it. Suddenly, the glass swirled and her reflection disappeared. It almost looked like a portal. “I wasn’t prepared for this.” muttered the purple alicorn under her breath. Twilight wanted to figure things out; she wasn’t the type of pony to just let things go, especially when she had yet to fully comprehend the entire situation. However, she had been completely side tracked by the mirror, not yet finding the copy of Encyclopedia Equestria V retold by Starswirl the Bearded hidden somewhere in the library. Twilight could have used a basic analyzing spell to check if the mirror was of magical origin, she could have done some mathematical equations to figure out if it was a physical deformity with the mirror. Instead she did something she claimed as her last resort option, the end all failsafe, no regrets method. She flipped a coin, calling heads to take care of the situation herself, tails to ask Celestia about it next time. The shiny bit coin fell like a comet and landed into the alicorn’s purple hoof. “Tails.” Twilight said, a little disappointed. With a begrudging sigh, she levitated the velvet curtain, about to cover the mirror, when suddenly a large purple blur was hurled from the mirror and into one Twilight Sparkle. “Discord’s beard!” she grunted, struggling to get off from under the weight of whatever had fallen on her. Dazed, but otherwise okay, she dusted herself off and glared at the figure; it was a pony. A purple alicorn! Oh my goodness, that’s another alicorn but that’s not possible because I would know if there was another alicorn, no, no, no. Her thoughts were panicked and jumbled as she trotted around the mysterious pony, who was still groaning from the impact. It had a violet coat, a darker purple mane cut with a streak of pink. In fact, it looked a lot like Twilight herself, although the mane was much too short. But the cutie mark! It was the same, the chances of that was 1 in 978 931, not quite a million but it was close. She knew, she had done the math on a lazy Sunday afternoon once back in her fillyhood. By Luna’s mane that has to be my evil mirror twin reflection from Equestria 2 bent on replacing me and befriending my friends and destroying Celestia and Luna and taking over the world! Perhaps she had watched too many sci-fi horror movies with her good friend Pinkie Pie, but in Twilight’s shocked state, it was about as solid as a theory she could ever come up with. “Oh, Solaris, I’m sorry about that, I’m not sure what happened.” came the apology from the pony. It stood and tried to smile, “I’m really sorry, again. My name’s Dusk Shine, and well, you see I had found this mirror and it-” But for once, Twilight wasn’t absorbing information; instead the mare was staring at what she honestly had thought was her reflection, her mirror double if you will, coming to life. But it wasn’t really a double at all, it, or rather he, was standing a good hand and a half taller than her, had a stockier build and the most important part was he was male. “And then I apologized and told my story and here we are, all caught up.” finished the stallion. “Dusk…Shine…? asked Twilight a little less than eloquently, “Do you know what’s going on? The stallion shook his head, “When the mirror swirled, my first instinct was to learn more about it, so I went through.” He looked around, “My theory is that I’m now in the mirrorverse and you’re my reflection, but you’re a…” “A mare?” finished Twilight. Dusk Shine shrugged, “It doesn’t add up.” he hesitated, “You’re not evil, are you?” And at that comment, the female alicorn bursted out laughing, she knew what he was thinking; she had her own theory about evil doubles taking over her world. Dusk Shine, whoever he was supposed to be, wasn’t a threat. “I’d be frightened by your evil laugh, if it was 50% scarier and 99% less cutesy. “said Dusk Shine with a grin. “Evil mastermind was never really a fitting career path for Celestia’s star pupil.” stated Twilight. The Stallion cocked his head, “Celestia? Who’s that? I honestly would have assumed to know everyone you do; if we were truly…” a pregnant pause as he searched for the term, “I’m going to say alternate universe copies of each other.” Twilight’s eyes narrowed as she frowned, “Do you like the sun?” Dusk Shine waited for her to continue, only looking mildly offended, “Well, the Sun gives light, heat, energy, etcetera, etcetera, it’s very vital. Celestia just so happens to be the princess that raises said star…she’s kind of a big deal.” Twilight rubbed her eyes with her hoof tiredly, “I’m sorry for my sarcasm, but she’s the princess of the sun! You really aren’t from here.” “That’s interesting,” he murmured, “Back home; it’s a prince that raises the sun, Lord Solaris. I’m his star pupil.” There was a trace a pride in his voice, similar to the kind of tone Twilight has when she talks about her own studies under Celestia. Playing with the velvet curtain beneath his hooves, Dusk Shine suddenly perked up and smiled, Twilight almost raised an eyebrow, she knew that look. “You have an idea.” stated Twilight as a matter of factly, at the same time the stallion announced, “I have an idea.” “This world, it’s amazing. It’s an identical, maybe, copy of mine, except for a few differences, gender being one of them.” “What are you getting at, Dusk Shine?” Like a giddy colt, he bounced ever so slightly in his seat, “I want to explore your world, learn new things, meet not so new ponies! It may be, dare I say it, fun!” Twilight Sparkle was appalled, “Are you sure you’re me? Because I would never, ever, explore an unknown world without being prepared, having some knowledge, or, or some backup! And what if this little rift of the time space continuum is horribly unstable and we ruin the fate of our two worlds?!” “Wow.” mused Dusk, “I really do watch too many sci-fi movies with Berry.” “What? Who’s Berry?! No! Never mind! You cannot come.” Twilight put her hoof down. The male could only sigh, “Look, I understand your concerns, but you have to understand my own curiosity. Are you seriously telling me that you,” he paused in mid-sentence, “I never got your name.” “Twilight Sparkle.” sighed the mare. “Right, are you telling me, that you, Twilight Sparkle, prized student of Princess Celestia, wouldn’t be the least bit curious to understand the mechanics of a working parallel universe in a world where all her friends are of different genders and history itself could be potentially drastically different from your own?” Twilight shifted uncomfortably, the scholar inside her agreed with the stallion, and she also wanted to ask him questions about his world. “When you put it like that, I hate you.” she grumbled, “Fine.” Dusk Shine grinned widely and flew into the air, “Let’s go meet your friends then!” “Wait, what about the mirror? Surely we can’t just leave it here.” The purple stallion frowned, “Who else would take it?” Twilight groaned ever so quietly, “To be frank with you, I just want to take it back to Ponyville so if something goes horribly awry I can just shove you back through and it’ll be like nothing ever happened.” “Duly noted.” said Dusk Shine levitating the curtain back over the mirror and then levitating the entire thing, “We’re just borrowing it, it’s in the backroom on the fourth floor of the sub-basement, who’ll miss it? “said Twilight quietly to herself. The stallion gave her a look of concern. Twilight only shook her head before exiting the room, “Come on then.” The two hurried out of the royal library, and began flying back toward Ponyville, mirror in tow. Twilight occasionally glanced beside her at the stallion, not too sure how things would play out. She almost laughed, how conspicuous did this sight look, two almost identical alicorns flying across the night sky, levitating a curtained mirror beside them. It almost sounded like a bad fairy tale. “You know,” said Twilight pointedly, “curiosity killed the cat. Dusk Shine grinned and rolled his eyes, “But satisfaction brought it back. To life that is.” He added, “I never liked how that saying ended so ambiguously just to rhyme.” “Oh, brother.” The stallion grinned even wider, “I basically am!” Twilight dead panned, maybe morning would come and this would just be another over studying induced state of delirium. One in FiveThe two alicorns touched down just outside the library in Ponyville. Despite the serene orange glow the rising sun was casting upon the small town, sounds of panic and frenzy escaped through the wooden walls of the hollow tree that was the library. Hearing the commotion, Dusk Shine frowned deeply, and with wide eyes casted a glance toward his double. Twilight could only shrug and grit her teeth, bracing for the worst. Inside, a claw biting dragon sitting on his posterior frantically looked back and forth between one pile of books and another pile of books, muttering something under his breath. Beside him was a pink earth pony doing push ups with no hooves, another cyan Pegasus in the middle of a wing up, slack jawed, staring at the pink pony. And next to that makeshift gym was an orange Stetson wearing mare, pacing back and forward, jumping and alternating between a trot, walk and canter. To the far side, a white unicorn urgently tore the books from the library shelves, adding to the piles of books while the dragon stared. Finally, amongst the chaos, was a quiet yellow Pegasus, trying to disappear from the site of chaos by making herself as small as possible. Dusk Shine said nothing, his concerned frown starting to look permanently etched into his face. “Girls, what are you doing?” asked Twilight Sparkle, not sure how to approach the situation. All eyes focused on the mare who spoke. Ah, now that snapped the five little ponies and drake out of their trance. First to jump to his feet was Spike the little purple dragon, who rushed toward the alicorn in a relieved panic. “TWILIGHT, I WAS SO WORRIED I DIDN’T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU AND I PANICKED AND THEN AND I KNEW THAT IT WAS DISCORD OR SOMEONE PONYNAPPING YOU, STEALING YOU IN THE NIGHT AND-” shouted the dragon, unable to use his indoor voice. Pinkie Pie did another no hoof push up before doing a flip and landing on her back hooves, “We were so worried! We were about to storm the Canterlot library with pitchforks and torches to riot.” Her baby blue eyes looked thoughtful for a moment, “But we can still riot! Nothing like an old fashioned witch hunt to bring the community together!” She grinned menacingly, hooves full with pitchforks and one of her father’s old farming hats perched on her head. Twilight could only shake her head, “Everyone calm down. Didn’t I tell you I was going to the Canterlot library to find books we didn’t have here in Ponyville?” The previously pacing pony was standing still now, taking off her hat to half cover her face, “Well, ya’ll did tell us, but the way Spike was crying about you being gone for too long, we…I suppose we may have had a temporal lapse in judgement.” she said sheepishly. Spike ripped his thumb out of his mouth, “I wasn’t crying! My eyes and tear ducts were concerned!” “Applejack, I’ve only been gone for two days.” said Twilight in an amused tone, “If you were all so concerned, why didn’t you just write to me? Or maybe even visited me?” The cyan Pegasus waved a hoof in the air, “Oh, oh that was my idea! We were going to swoop in, a valiant group of ponies to save their friend, beating up all the bad guys and saving the day!” “Too brash,” chimed a grandiose voice, “I was going to find a spell to zap you back home.” announced the white unicorn. She coughed, “But, um, the spell eluded me in this sea of paperbacks and novels.” The elegant unicorn daintily nudged a pile of books on the ground with a hoof and frowned. “Is that so, Rarity?” mused Twilight. “I wanted to just wait.” stated Applejack as a matter of factly, before Rarity could respond. “No pony listened to me when I said to just write a letter.” sighed the yellow Pegasus. Applejack rolled her eyes and brushed Fluttershy aside, “In the end we drew straws, and I got the short one, so we did what I wanted to and that was to just sit here, no matter how stir crazy we got.” finished the cowpony. She scoffed again, “Writin’ letters. Phfff.” A ridiculous sentiment. Dusk Shine stifled a giggle and looked away. He could see them now, his friends as mares. The blue one was obviously Rainbow Blitz, the pink one, Berry Gumball. The white one surely was his friend Elusive, leaving the yellow Pegasus to be Butterscotch. Even Spines seemed to be Spike in this world. Applejack’s name surprisingly didn’t change. It was strange, seeing ponies that weren’t his friends, but were. Ponies who he knew incredibly personal things about, but didn’t even know his name. It was also a little upsetting to him that his all his friends were rather easy on the eyes in female form, hopefully he wouldn’t be awkward. Who in Equestria was he kidding; Dusk Shine was one of the most socially awkward ponies around, even despite his studies and experiences in friendship. “Who’s your new friend?” chirped Rarity, eyeing him a little more intently than Dusk Shine was comfortable with. The two purple ponies gave the other a quick glance. Don’t say brother, don’t say cousin, just friends, just friends, don’t be suspicious, no relation, no relation, no relation. “She’s my old Canterlot U friend!” “He’s my science experiment!” The two stared at each other, horrified at how out of sync they were. “I MEAN, HE’S MY UNCLE IN LAW.” “SHE’S MY FLYING INSTRUCTOR.” Each made a choking noise and bit their lower lip. Purple hues met each other in a aghast, pained look. Applejack chuckled, “You two are worse at lying than I am.” The white unicorn made her way toward the male alicorn and circled him a few times, “Science experiment or not, he’s a hunk of a pony.” Two sets of purple eyes dilated before shrinking to pinpoints and all Dusk Shine could see was a tall unicorn stallion, with a baritone voice two octaves lower than the mare in front of him saying such things, and shuddered. Fluttershy, though quiet and typically soothing, nearly brought Twilight to her knees with her next soft spoken statement. “Gee, Twilight, he looks an awful like a colt version of you.” she noted, even kindly pointing a hoof between the alicorn similarities, the mane, and of course, the cutie marks. “Well, yes! That is, um, of course, because he is my twin brother that you’ve never met before. Yes, twin brother and therefore also related to Shining. You know how it is, I’ve got loads of brothers I forget to mention to my best friends!” said Twilight with false bravado. Applejack’s bullhonky sensor went off the charts as her muscles involuntarily contracted and threw the cowpony to the floor. Twilight nodded with nervousness, she wanted to facehoof, then throw Dusk Shine into the mirror and perform lobotomies on her friends so they’d never bring this up ever again. A giddy squeal was heard from a bundle of pink energy, hugging the two alicorns together. “He’s from a parallel universe where all the mares are stallions and all the stallions are mares and it’s pretty much all the same except for certain outcomes based on chance!” she paused for breath, “And he’s you!” “How did you…” started Twilight, before shaking her head. Pinkie of course, used the Sense or something. Bouncing around the room, Pinkie chanted, “Twilight is a colt, Twilight is a colt!” Slightly flustered and trying to retain control, Twilight scowled at Dusk, “Why did you even go through the mirror? I didn’t!” The stallion waved his hooves in surrender, “I flipped a coin! It was heads so I went in! You never go back on a coin toss, it would defeat the purpose!” Rainbow Dash nodded appreciatively, “He has a point.” “Based on chaaaaaaance!” sang the pink earth pony, continuing to bounce around. Rarity followed after her, worried the pony would end up hurting herself, or more importantly someone else in the library. Dusk Shine thought for a moment, “You said you guys were either going to try a spell, barge in, wait or write a letter. Applejack drew the straw so you waited.” Everyone nodded in agreement. The male remained silent, deep in thought. So what are *my** friends doing to do?* It was a five in one chance for any of the choices, but he was 100% certain that his colts back home were currently freaking out, just as the mares had done here. He’d better make the Q&A with Twilight quick then. Before anyone else could do or say anything, a ruffle of sheets and feathers was heard before a floating velvet curtain hurled itself into one of the library shelves. “Ow!” cried the curtain. It seemed to be morphing in shape, extending every which way and flapping around. “GHOST CURTAIN, KILL IT WITH FIRE!” screamed Spike before he took a deep breath, ready to release his flame. “Wait!” objected Fluttershy, hitting the drake once on the back, causing him to choke and cough out smoke. She then trotted over and pulled the curtain off from the pony that was underneath it. Her curious teal hues met with an irritated amethyst gaze, attached to a very blue and very male muzzle. Startled, Fluttershy quickly back peddled and hid behind Rainbow Dash, peeking just slightly out to see what would happen. The newcomer kicked the rest of the curtain off himself and fully stretched out his wings, he had a rather impressive wing span. His smirk was quickly replaced with a look of surprise as he was blindsided by a large clump of several other ponies, the mass of bodies was hurled into the center of the room where most lay twitching, some groaning from impact. A pink pony squeezed himself out of the pile and frantically waved his hoof in excitement at the male alicorn, smiling hugely at him, “Dusky! We did it, we saved you!” He jovially looked down at the mass of ponies, “Bravo, Bravo Battalion! Mission complete!” A groan of three ponies in pain acknowledged the commendation. Dusk Shine took a tentative look at the cluster, and immediately facehoofed. What were the odds again? Meet and GreetThings could be worse. At least he didn’t have a broken wing; the only thing that really hurt was his pride. What a landing. The impact may have been jarring but he could shrug it off, Rainbow Blitz was sure things were going to be okay. Yeah right, he just got sucked in head first through a mirror, a mirror! It was amazing he hadn’t been shredded to pieces. He had panicked when the curtain obstructed his vision, then bashed his muzzle on a few, painfully solid objects before he recovered. The pony grumbled to himself, and then his friends decided to dog pile on him, didn’t they? The winged pony picked himself up and dusted himself off, muttering obscenities under his breath the entire time. Leave it to Dusk to be a dolt and get himself captured by, by…hmm. Blitz’s gaze shifted back and forth around the room, and he could only pout in disbelief. “We’re back in Ponyville?! Are you kidding me?!” He growled in exasperation before finally laying eyes on just the alicorn he wasn’t thrilled to see. “Dusk Shine! Can you explain what the hay is going on? You said you went to Canterlot, Spines said you were ponynapped! I dived through glass for you, ready to save your sorry flank!” He huffed, crossing his hooves. That last part wasn’t exactly true, Rainbow Blitz was pulled into the mirror, screaming like a little filly as it happened, but he’d never admit it. An orange hoof placed itself on his shoulder; it was attached to a large stallion with a concerned expression. “While I’m impressed by your loyalty to our mission of saving Dusk, your observation skills leave much to be desired.” he drawled. The large orange pony, gestured a hoof around the room. Raising a brow, the cyan Pegasus finally noticed the six other ponies in the library. Elusive the unicorn was staring at another orange mare, scrutinizing her with his critical eye. He flicked her hat and flipped his tail in distaste. She looked extremely offended when he scoffed and turned from her, on to his next victim. Butterscotch tentively circled a pink earth pony, who was grinning so widely that Rainbow Blitz unconsciously touched his own facial muscles, unsure if they were truly capable of such a feat. He looked back at his friend, who could only frown and shake his head unknowingly. “I guess the gang’s all here.” said Dusk Shine quietly. “Who the heck are you guys and why are you in the library before hours?” asked Rainbow Blitz, tone accusing. Rainbow Dash was not one to take an accusation, no matter how subtle it was. “Who are we? Who are you?!”she snapped back, “You guys just trashed the library after you flew out of a mirror! Nice landing by the way.” Rainbow Blitz’s feathers bristled as he straightened to bicker with the obnoxious cyan mare who had insulted his honour. As he opened his mouth, a well groomed white hoof shoved itself into it, effectively shutting him up. “Where are our manners?” laughed a rich, baritone voice. It belonged to the white unicorn with a navy blue mane and sparkling sapphire hues. Those sparkling sapphires however, turned cold and steely as they glared at Rainbow Blitz, with the very distinct message of Be mature and polite about this, you idiot. “My name is Elusive Beau; this here is the ever dashing Rainbow Blitz.” Blitz grunted. Elusive casted a disdainful look at his friend before continuing, “My good colt Butterscotch is the other Pegasus, and the charming Applejack is truly the delight of our small town.” Applejack nodded and smiled, “Howdy.” Standing a few trots away was Applejack the mare, staring at the orange Stallion curiously and mildly annoyed for a reason she could not explain. “I see you’ve already met our resident genius, Dusk Shine. And last but not certainly not least is- Berry Gumball, you get down from there!” scolded Elusive. The pink stallion had been hanging off the chandelier, playing paddy cake with another just as pink, just as bubbly mare. “Aw, man.” moaned Berry Gumball and Pinkie Pie in unison as the male hopped back onto the floor. “Might I ask the names of the lovely ladies, and perhaps give them a tour of the town?” asked the gracious Elusive. Rainbow Dash smirked, “The name’s Rainbow Dash, and we live here, pal. I don’t know who you think you are,” she paused for a moment, groomed fetlocks, coiffed mane, polished horseshoes…definitely Rarity, “You should probably take your egghead friend here and head on home.” “We live here too.” came the soft but firm statement from Butterscotch. “Well, actually we are in their version of Ponyville.” explained Dusk Shine, “When we went through the mirror, we actually ended up here, in an alternate universe. This isn’t exactly home, though it may feel like it.” Rainbow Dash wasn’t mollified, “Yep, our property, why don’t you second rate copy cats take a hike?” “Rainbow!” chided Twilight, “You’re being rude!” Blitz had just about enough lip from the annoying little mare, “Second rate?! I’m the fastest flier in Equestria! I pull off sonic rainbooms in my sleep!” He spread his wings, “Fly me, brah!” “Oh, you wanna go? I’ll go!” challenged Rainbow. “No one wants to go!” interjected both Applejacks, “I suggest ya’ll calm down and keep a level head.” “Spooky.” noted Berry and Pinkie in unison. Realizing what they had done, the two smiled at each other and high hoofed. But it was too late, “First one to the bell tower and back wins! Readysetgo!” shouted Rainbow Dash. And with a gust of wind, the two cyan ponies disappeared in a rainbow flash. “If one of them wasn’t enough,” sighed Twilight. “Now we have two brash and competitive ponies.” shrugged Dusk Shine good-naturedly, finishing Twilight’s sentence. Rainbow Dash was beating her wings as fast as pegasusly possible. Here was this arrogant pony, claiming he was faster than her, when it had already been established time and time again, that were was no better flier than Rainbow A. Dash. The A stood for awesome! She was the youngest flier in Equestria to do a sonic Rainboom, the top of her class at the Cloudsdale Weather Academy. She even turned the Wonderbolts down before! Did she mention the A stood for awesome? Dash scowled, it didn’t matter if Rainbow Blitz was her alternate, they were still two different ponies, with different wing spans, muscle strength, bony density…she’d still be the best. Rainbow Blitz was right next to the rainbow mare, gritting his teeth in frustration. Okay, fine, she was fast. Faster than any other mare he had ever flown with. But he was a stallion, he had the muscle advantage, he couldn’t possibly lose! He was the element of loyalty, the champion of kicking flank and looking good while doing it. Lunar Nightterror couldn’t stop him, Strife couldn’t hold him down. Queen Somber and King Nymphamos? Nuh uh, Rainbow Blitz took them all down! Then why in the name of all that is good and holy can’t I get a nose of an advantage? The two were flying neck and neck, even at the turn around the clock tower, not a single feather of distance was lost or gained. Each emptied the tank and gave a final burst of speed as they approached the library, but they were going much too fast to adjust for the sudden change in wind current, sending them both tumbling through the open doors of the library. They skidded and slid on the floor, finally sliding to the centre of the main room, where they were scrutinized under agitated and exasperated looks. “Who…won?” panted Rainbow Blitz. “You tied.” said Fluttershy as a matter of factly. “I win!” squealed Pinkie Pie. Berry grumbled as he tossed the mare three bit coins. He never lost bets, until now apparently. “Aw, come on! Rematch!” Shouted Rainbow Dash. “Bring it!” “No.” said Rarity calmly, a hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder, “If you two hotheads would cool down for a bit, we can discuss the real issue here.” Elusive nodded at his double, “Indeed. There are six paradoxes in this room. You six mares being male is something that never happened in this world, and here we are, standing in the same room!” Worried, Fluttershy trotted next to Twilight Sparkle, “Is this…bad?” she asked. “We’re not sure yet.” answered Dusk Shine, looking up from his book, “Reality hasn’t been destroyed yet, that’s for sure. As of now, I’d suggest to just staying away from the mirror, don’t even mention it to anyone else, and I guess you should stick in groups.” “Like a buddy system.” continued Twilight Sparkle, “Cover for your doubles, and but try to keep the social interaction with others to a minimum, well, unless you think you can handle the awkwardness that’s bound to ensue when you have the male, or female version of yourself hanging around with you.” Applejack shrugged and waved a beckoning hoof over to her male counterpart, he began to follow, as did two other earth ponies, happily bouncing along. Rarity eyed Elusive for a few moments and finally stated, “If it wouldn’t be a trouble to you, could I practice making a suit on you? Dresses are my passion of course, but I hardly ever get male clients, I think this would be a wonderful learning experience.” Elusive grinned, “But of course! Always happy to help a lovely lady.” The mare blushed and they set off for Carousel Boutique to fit Elusive for his new suit. As Dusk Shine levitated another pile of books toward him and Twilight for their research on the mirror, Rainbow Blitz and Rainbow Dash stormed out of the library. They glared at each other with animosity. “You’re nuts if you think you’re staying with me.” growled Rainbow Dash. “I didn’t want to anyway! I bet my crib’s better!” huffed Blitz. “Fine then!” “Good!” “Okaaay, calm down now.” urged Butterscotch, stepping between the two, “We’re all friends here.” His female double agreed, “Why don’t we just relax, and get some nice, hot breakfast?” Rumbles of hunger could be heard from the stomachs’ of the athletes, who had just finished a race without any sustenance. “I bet I can eat more than you.” challenged Blitz. “We’ll see about that!” retorted the cyan mare. As the two rushed off toward the nearest diner, Fluttershy rolled her eyes, “What in Equestria am I going to do with her?” Butterscotch gave her a good hearted smile, “Well, as soon as you figure that out, feel free to tell me so I can keep Blitz in check. Come on, I’m sure we’re going to have to play mediator with those two.” His eyes widened in sudden realization, “Oh, Solaris, we have to make sure they don’t eat the town out of business.” he remarked playfully. The mare laughed softly, but genuinely, “We better hoof it then!” It was a Celestia damned war zone. A Nightmare Moon cursed scenario. A Discord blessed turn of events. It was what would be forever mentioned as the Great Panic of the Breakfast Foods at old J.J’s Diner. Determined sets of Amethyst eyes stared each other down as the ponies they belonged to shovelled food into their mouths. Mountains of plates were stacked on top of one another, the poor chefs were tripping over their hooves to bring orders to table 12, where Rainbow Dash and Rainbow Blitz were locked in an epic showdown of the highest stake; their prides. Eggs, toast, pancakes, waffles, cheese, omelettes, every breakfast food one could imagine were being devoured quickly and methodically. This had been the first hour, as for the second and somehow, a prolonged third, the devouring devolved into a forced nibbling and pained chewing. Breathe and swallow, breathe and swallow. Thought Blitz determinedly, although with the over looming feeling of doubt, and stomach cramps. I…I can’t. Rainbow Blitz paused, and the mare he was facing off looked up from her toast. He raised a single hoof in the air, and took a deep breath. He smacked his lips once. Then twice. The stallion promptly threw up all over the floor. He finally collapsed on the table, a strand of drool dripping from his mouth. Old J.J the beige earth pony tugged at his goatee and paid one of his waiter’s two bits. After pocketing the money, he sent him to fetch a mop to clean up the mess Blitz had made; it was a victory short lived. Dash however, couldn’t celebrate. Usually a bright cyan, the mare was currently an odd shade of sea green. With a sudden sprint, she flew into the washroom and slammed the door. One could only imagine the horrors beyond. The butter coloured Pegasus stared at the stallion beside her and covered her face with a wing, “Why didn’t we stop them?” she groaned. A low growl escaped Butterscotch’s lips, “We tried.” he muttered, still picking at the harden egg whites stuck in his mane from his first three attempts at slowing the cyan ponies down. They wasted perfectly good eggs, throwing them at poor Butterscotch. Rainbow Dash merged from the filly’s room, stumbling and looking no better than she had been when she entered, although her coat was less green, more of a pale blue. “Are you two completely satisfied with yourselves?!” demanded Butterscotch, uncharacteristically authoritative. “What good came from this foalish competition? Nothing! You both tied, again. You both wasted piles of perfectly good food, and you’ve completely embarrassed Fluttershy and I. Now your bodies will have to pay for your recklessness here.” He stormed out of the dinner and sat by the road, fuming. Blitz got up with a groan and followed after his friend, “Alright, fine. I’m sorry for this little…mishap here.” He put a hoof around the agitated yellow pony, “Sorry to you, Scotch, not her.” finished Rainbow Blitz pointedly. It was Fluttershy’s turn to be exasperated, “You are her!” she sighed while helping Rainbow Dash out of the diner. “You two are going to destroy Ponyville with your antics.” said Scotch quietly. “Doesn’t seem as if you two are as close as me and Shy.” came the snarky ribbing from Rainbow Dash. “Enough, Rainbow.” said Fluttershy, almost appalled at her friend’s audacity, “Butterscotch is right. You if you two don’t get along, somepony, including yourselves, are going to get hurt.” Feelings of remorse and regret flowed through the cyan ponies. Rainbow Blitz and Dash begrudgingly exchanged a look; it was a simple glance, followed by a nod. “We’re stubborn and thick skulled, fine.” said Dash, “But you animal caretakers, you.” continued Blitz, “You’re our friends, and, I guess we care. About you.” he groaned, “Sharing feelings is for fillies!” But that was enough for the gentle, yellow ponies. Butterscotch and Fluttershy shared a smile. “I know Twilight and Dusk Shine said to use the buddy system with our doubles, but since you two don’t seem to get along, maybe we should swap partners?” suggested Fluttershy. “I can go with Rainbow Dash, and Blitz can go with Fluttershy.” nodded the yellow stallion. Rainbow Blitz slowly walked up to the yellow mare, he wasn’t particularly large, just your average Pegasus stallion, but he was still a good hand taller than her. “Whatever, let’s go.” He readied his wings for take-off, but instantly back-pedalled at the sight of Rainbow Dash in his face. “In the name of Luna, if you do anything stupid or reckless with Fluttershy, and if I know myself, I would, I’ll buck you to next Tuesday! And, and…and then next Tuesday Applejack will buck you back and we’ll just buck you back and forth like a ping pong ball! Ohh, you’ll be so sorry…” she said threateningly, voice trailing off for Blitz’s imagination to add its own flavour of horror. “Yeah, well, you treat Scotch well! He’s sensitive!” retorted Blitz. Butterscotch dead-panned, “There’s a difference between reserved and sensitive, you dolt.” But Blitz was already in the air, “Treat my boy right! Peace late!” he thumped his chest twice with his hoof before flying off, Fluttershy in tow. To his left, Rainbow Dash had a mischievous grin on her face. A grin Butterscotch didn't like, not a single bit. Wild Card“Applejack! Have you gained weight?” questioned Granny Smith upon seeing her beloved granddaughter trot through the gates of Sweet Apple Acres. Granny Smith however, was staring at the orange Stallion, not the mare. She squinted, “Oh, hang on, lemme get my glasses.” “Granny!” yelped Pinkie Pie happily, “It’s so nice to see you, I baked you a pie!” The bouncing pony pulled out a steaming fresh cookie dough pie out from seemingly the air itself, and handed it to Granny. “Why, thank you dear. How’s my favourite granddaughter, trice removed?” Applejack pouted, “Granny!” Sure Applebloom was great, but Applejack always secretly thought she was the favourite granddaughter. The betrayal ran deep. The old mare waved a hoof, “Come on, Applejack, you know the schedule. Applebloom was my favourite yesterday and today’s its Pinkie. Tomorrow’ll be you, dear.” The grandmother squinted at the orange Stallion again, “Big Mac? Did ya’ll get a tan?” Jack swallowed, “Uhm, nnnope.” he said nervously. The two mares were a little astounding at how much he sounded like Big Mac, although his voice was clearer and not quite as rumbling. Applejack cleared her throat, “We better go, Granny, apples to see, ponies to buck. I, I mean…” she stuttered, “Love you bye!” The four ponies scampered off into the orchard, leaving a disorientated Granny Smith behind. She shrugged. Kids, they were always off being mischievous and whatnot in a flash, causing old Granny to see double. “That was close.” sighed Applejack. Applejack nodded before finally voicing his primary concern, “What in Equestria do we call each other?” There it was, the elephant in the orchard. Everypony else’s doubles had proper names, the male and female equivalent. Unfortunately for the farmers, their name turned out to be gender neutral. That was what had irked the Applejacks. Berry Gumball thought for a moment, “Well, Jack is a male griffon name. I guess my Applejack could just be Jacky Boy! Or Jack attack. Male Applejack V.1.0. Jacky Apple seed?” he grinned ear to ear. “I was thinking just AJ would be fine, but Berry makes a good point, Jacky Apple Seed suits you, Jacky Apple Seed!” squealed Pinkie. The male cowpony nodded slowly before swinging a hoof, “AJ it is. I ain’t a griffon.” Berry shrugged his shoulders, “Suit yourself. Although, wouldn’t it have been easier just to ask your parents what alternate male name would have been picked for you?” Applejack’s relaxed grin fell to the floor, “My parents passed away many moons ago.” Pinkie Pie chose that time to drop a pin to the ground, everypony heard it. The pink stallion almost visibly deflated, “I’m sorry, I …I didn’t…I’m gonna cry!” his lower lip quivered and he buried his head into Pinkie’s chest, who was consoling him and stroking his mane. The mare smiled wistfully, “S’alright. The past’s past, ya’ll can’t change it, I’ve learned to accept it.” AJ stared far off in the distance, eyes unfocused, “C’mon, why don’t ya’ll show us ‘round?” he murmured. It was a weak suggestion, obviously as the pony who ran the same farm back in his world, AJ knew the farm like the back of his hoof, but a distraction was needed from the current subject. Applejack began the tour, starting at the barn, passing through the river where she and Big Mac, and ultimately AppleBloom would play as foals. She showed them the vampire fruit bat orchard, and shared the story of Flutterbat the Hungry. “You mean, she was a vampire?!” gasped Berry, “Like a, eat your face and gobble your hooves, vampire?!” Apparently in their world, Butterscotch’s song had convinced the others to build the sanctuary right off the bat. No pun intended. It had been difficult for AJ to rhyme “varmint” with “scorched earth policy.” “No-” started Applejack. “Yeah!” nodded Pinkie, “I made her garlic cupcakes for a week after just to be safe! She didn’t even eat them, I have my suspicions” her baby blue eyes narrowed, “… ain’t nopony’s gonna eat Pinkamena Diane Pie!” Berry pulled out a wooden sword, “Or Bartholomew “Berry” Daniel Gumball!” agreed the stallion. Pinkie pulled out her own oak rapier and the two began the fence along the edges of the sanctuary. A screech from a fruit bat caused the ponies to jump and hold each other tight. Just across the field, AJ could see a large red earth pony playing with a small yellow filly, wearing a pink bow to keep her tangled mane in check. He smiled to himself, seeing his own siblings reflected in their personalities. He watched his brother Applebuck hiding in the barrel of apples to scare the large stallion, and despite being male; it was his sister Red Gala’s patient smile and playful nudge he saw. “I can introduce you to them if you’ll like.” offered Applejack. “But, the paradox?” Applejack shrugged, “Family’s family. You’re an Apple. Heck, Berry’s an Apple. You can be from South Coltlina, can’t you?” The stallion felt an almost giddy feeling in his chest and nodded vigorously. “Applebloom, Big Mac! C’mere!” she hollered. Obediently, Applebloom began skipping in their direction, followed by the steady pacing of Big Mac. The little filly curiously looked up at AJ, then back to her sister, then back again. “Do I know you?” asked Applebloom, head cocked. Applejack shook her head, “Naw, this is your cousin… Cortland from South Coltlina. He’s just visiting and I wanted you to meet him.” Big Mac slowly nodded his head, “Howdy.” “Why haven’t we seen you around before, or at the family reunion? Didn’t you go?” asked Applebloom, a little distraught that a fellow Apple wouldn’t visit. AJ was indignant, “I did! Ain’t nothing more important to me than family. I was just…out of the pictures really.” covered the farmer as best as he could. That wasn’t good enough for Applebloom. “Then we make it up now!” she announced trying to push AJ toward the farm house with her head, “Pictures, let’s take pictures! I wanna make memories!” Big Mac’s response was cut off by a large gong sounding; “Lunchtime!” came the echo of Granny Smith’s voice. “Oh boy, lunch time!” Two pink blurs raced past the farm ponies and headed toward the farmhouse. Pinkie Pie’s appetite was legendary, and now there were two of them. AJ and Applejack panicked and sprinted toward the house, they wanted to eat something before the party ponies ate it all. Applebloom tried to follow behind, but her little legs simply couldn’t compete. With a flick of his head, Big Mac threw his sister on his back and began to run for lunch. The filly giggled with delight, “Hi ho Big Mac, away!” Mhmmhm, hay sandwiches, salads, and apple cider. And for dessert, the Ponyville famous apple fritters. When Granny Smith made the meals, there was always enough to feed fifteen ponies, just a little habit she picked up after living with twelve brothers and sisters. Naturally, everpony ate to their hearts’ content. The one thing that bothered AJ was the fact that there were exactly five seats at the table. There was no way Granny set the table for five; he and Berry hadn’t even been introduced. And hopefully they’d never have to if Granny’s eyesight was as bad as Grampy’s without their glasses. Of course that meant those seats belonged to… The stallion excused himself and left the room. He sighed. His parents were dead. It was so weird a thought, something surreal. He sat on the porch, lost in thought. A clip clopping could be heard as someone approached behind him. Applejack had followed him out and sat beside the large stallion. She rested her head on his shoulder,“Whatcha thinking about, cuz?” “Your parents are dead.” he stated somberly. Applejack nodded, “Absolutely crushed me n’ Big Mac when we were kids, and Applebloom was too young to remember. I loved them so much. We all did. It was hard, the mourning, but I guess you already know that.” The farmpony shook his head, “No, I don’t.” his voice was pained, “Let’s take us Applejacks out of the equation. Big Mac and Applebloom’s parents are dead. Red Gala’s and Applebuck’s are alive.” The mare froze, “You mean…” AJ nodded, “Our parents only died in this universe.” Applejack’s thoughts were spinning. No, her head was spinning. Heck, Applejack’s world was spinning. Somewhere, somehow, her parents were alive! She nearly fell head over hooves, muzzle over flank trying to process her train of thought. AJ caught her and steadied the poor mare. “I’m sorry, that was selfish of me to say, what with you goin’ through such a great loss and I, I never even thought about…” apologized the male. Applejack had closed her eyes, and when she reopened them there was a glint in her emerald hues. A look AJ knew all too well. “This means, this means I could see my parents again. I could see ma, I could see daddy!” AJ’s heart sank, that was exactly what he would have said, “But you can’t. Your parents have passed, who knows what repercussions this could have! Your alternate universe parents, meeting the daughter they never had?" The mare looked downtrodden, she stared at her hooves and let out a deep breath, of course it was too good to be true. Of course. The male slammed a single, powerful hoof into the ground. From under the brim of his eye his determined gaze met Applejack’s, “But gosh darn it…what about them meeting cousin Cortland from South Coltina?” Applejack’s eyes lit up in anticipation. She was going to see her parents again; it’d be an Apple family reunion on a grander scale. “Absolutely not.” “But, Twi, please! I’ll never have this chance again!” Twilight Sparkle’s heart almost broke in two when she saw the pained and desperate look on her friend’s face, a look that she had put there with her refusal to let Applejack use the mirror to see her parallel parents. Even Spike the Dragon looked at Twilight wistfully; he knew what it was like to have parents missing in his life. “It wouldn’t take too long, she’d be introduced as a cousin, and Lord knows we Apples are never short on cousins. All she wants to do is see ‘em.” pleaded AJ. The alicorn bit her lip, “We’ve only just scratched the surface of the origins of this mirror.” She cleared her throat and began reciting her research from memory, “The Fairest Mirror, an item of fairy-tale, was forged from ancient magic, long before the reign of the royal Sisters. It granted the user the possibility to experience what could have been, but not what would never be. But it’s supposed to be a fairy-tale, this mirror shouldn’t exist.” “But it does.” Said Applejack bluntly. “Again, it shouldn’t. The only story I’ve found about it is about a mad wizard who uses it to explore the extent of his powerful dark magic, without a regard for consequence because he would always just hop through universes where the other decision was the one he made. He single hoofedly caused the Dark Ages. It’s not a blessing, Applejack.” Dusk Shine interrupted the mare before she could continue, “Twilight, it was just a fairy tale. I think we could actually make this work.” But Twilight couldn’t bring herself to comply with the idea, “How would she even activate the mirror? Both Applejacks are on this side, would flipping a coin or drawing straws still work?” With a coy smile, Dusk tapped his horn with a hoof, “Portal opening spell, come on, Twilight, this is Magic 401. Instead of teleportation where matter dematerializes from the inside out of a pony, we channel such properties through a beacon, or in this case, the mirror. Whatever matter passes is dematerialized and reappears on the other side.” “Sounds like we’re cheating chance.” mulled the lavender mare. The male nodded his head slowly, “Well, think of it as an ace up my sleeve.”
Curtains UpReflections are strange, almost surreal. One never sees one’s face unless staring into a mirror, or looking at a photograph, and how strange is it to stare at someone that looks exactly like you? Besides being contained to the dimensions of the mirror, there being staring back supposedly has a thinking mind, like you, a beating heart, like you. That is if it wasn't just a projected image reflecting back for you to see. Twilight Sparkle stared at one such mirror, just a solid substance of silver nitrate, distilled water and ammonia. She had found it in the back-room of the fourth floor of the sub-basement while searching through the older and rarer collections of books and tomes the casual public didn't know existed let alone check out of the royal library. It had been covered by a rich red velvet curtain; surprisingly clean despite the dusty old room, which was what had piqued her interest. Pulling the curtain off, it fell to the floor like a heavy cloud and revealed the mirror. It looked boring, to be completely honest. The alicorn’s purple hues stared at the mirror diligently, why would this mirror possibly be here? If she said it was clear, she’d be lying. With a hoof, Twilight tried to clean the surface of the mirror, there was something a blurry about it, but it remained with the same almost translucent look to it. Suddenly, the glass swirled and her reflection disappeared. It almost looked like a portal. “I wasn’t prepared for this.” muttered the purple alicorn under her breath. Twilight wanted to figure things out; she wasn’t the type of pony to just let things go, especially when she had yet to fully comprehend the entire situation. However, she had been completely side tracked by the mirror, not yet finding the copy of Encyclopedia Equestria V retold by Starswirl the Bearded hidden somewhere in the library. Twilight could have used a basic analyzing spell to check if the mirror was of magical origin, she could have done some mathematical equations to figure out if it was a physical deformity with the mirror. Instead she did something she claimed as her last resort option, the end all failsafe, no regrets method. She flipped a coin, calling heads to take care of the situation herself, tails to ask Celestia about it next time. The shiny bit coin fell like a comet and landed into the alicorn’s purple hoof. “Tails.” Twilight said, a little disappointed. With a begrudging sigh, she levitated the velvet curtain, about to cover the mirror, when suddenly a large purple blur was hurled from the mirror and into one Twilight Sparkle. “Discord’s beard!” she grunted, struggling to get off from under the weight of whatever had fallen on her. Dazed, but otherwise okay, she dusted herself off and glared at the figure; it was a pony. A purple alicorn! Oh my goodness, that’s another alicorn but that’s not possible because I would know if there was another alicorn, no, no, no. Her thoughts were panicked and jumbled as she trotted around the mysterious pony, who was still groaning from the impact. It had a violet coat, a darker purple mane cut with a streak of pink. In fact, it looked a lot like Twilight herself, although the mane was much too short. But the cutie mark! It was the same, the chances of that was 1 in 978 931, not quite a million but it was close. She knew, she had done the math on a lazy Sunday afternoon once back in her fillyhood. By Luna’s mane that has to be my evil mirror twin reflection from Equestria 2 bent on replacing me and befriending my friends and destroying Celestia and Luna and taking over the world! Perhaps she had watched too many sci-fi horror movies with her good friend Pinkie Pie, but in Twilight’s shocked state, it was about as solid as a theory she could ever come up with. “Oh, Solaris, I’m sorry about that, I’m not sure what happened.” came the apology from the pony. It stood and tried to smile, “I’m really sorry, again. My name’s Dusk Shine, and well, you see I had found this mirror and it-” But for once, Twilight wasn’t absorbing information; instead the mare was staring at what she honestly had thought was her reflection, her mirror double if you will, coming to life. But it wasn’t really a double at all, it, or rather he, was standing a good hand and a half taller than her, had a stockier build and the most important part was he was male. “And then I apologized and told my story and here we are, all caught up.” finished the stallion. “Dusk…Shine…? asked Twilight a little less than eloquently, “Do you know what’s going on? The stallion shook his head, “When the mirror swirled, my first instinct was to learn more about it, so I went through.” He looked around, “My theory is that I’m now in the mirrorverse and you’re my reflection, but you’re a…” “A mare?” finished Twilight. Dusk Shine shrugged, “It doesn’t add up.” he hesitated, “You’re not evil, are you?” And at that comment, the female alicorn bursted out laughing, she knew what he was thinking; she had her own theory about evil doubles taking over her world. Dusk Shine, whoever he was supposed to be, wasn’t a threat. “I’d be frightened by your evil laugh, if it was 50% scarier and 99% less cutesy. “said Dusk Shine with a grin. “Evil mastermind was never really a fitting career path for Celestia’s star pupil.” stated Twilight. The Stallion cocked his head, “Celestia? Who’s that? I honestly would have assumed to know everyone you do; if we were truly…” a pregnant pause as he searched for the term, “I’m going to say alternate universe copies of each other.” Twilight’s eyes narrowed as she frowned, “Do you like the sun?” Dusk Shine waited for her to continue, only looking mildly offended, “Well, the Sun gives light, heat, energy, etcetera, etcetera, it’s very vital. Celestia just so happens to be the princess that raises said star…she’s kind of a big deal.” Twilight rubbed her eyes with her hoof tiredly, “I’m sorry for my sarcasm, but she’s the princess of the sun! You really aren’t from here.” “That’s interesting,” he murmured, “Back home; it’s a prince that raises the sun, Lord Solaris. I’m his star pupil.” There was a trace a pride in his voice, similar to the kind of tone Twilight has when she talks about her own studies under Celestia. Playing with the velvet curtain beneath his hooves, Dusk Shine suddenly perked up and smiled, Twilight almost raised an eyebrow, she knew that look. “You have an idea.” stated Twilight as a matter of factly, at the same time the stallion announced, “I have an idea.” “This world, it’s amazing. It’s an identical, maybe, copy of mine, except for a few differences, gender being one of them.” “What are you getting at, Dusk Shine?” Like a giddy colt, he bounced ever so slightly in his seat, “I want to explore your world, learn new things, meet not so new ponies! It may be, dare I say it, fun!” Twilight Sparkle was appalled, “Are you sure you’re me? Because I would never, ever, explore an unknown world without being prepared, having some knowledge, or, or some backup! And what if this little rift of the time space continuum is horribly unstable and we ruin the fate of our two worlds?!” “Wow.” mused Dusk, “I really do watch too many sci-fi movies with Berry.” “What? Who’s Berry?! No! Never mind! You cannot come.” Twilight put her hoof down. The male could only sigh, “Look, I understand your concerns, but you have to understand my own curiosity. Are you seriously telling me that you,” he paused in mid-sentence, “I never got your name.” “Twilight Sparkle.” sighed the mare. “Right, are you telling me, that you, Twilight Sparkle, prized student of Princess Celestia, wouldn’t be the least bit curious to understand the mechanics of a working parallel universe in a world where all her friends are of different genders and history itself could be potentially drastically different from your own?” Twilight shifted uncomfortably, the scholar inside her agreed with the stallion, and she also wanted to ask him questions about his world. “When you put it like that, I hate you.” she grumbled, “Fine.” Dusk Shine grinned widely and flew into the air, “Let’s go meet your friends then!” “Wait, what about the mirror? Surely we can’t just leave it here.” The purple stallion frowned, “Who else would take it?” Twilight groaned ever so quietly, “To be frank with you, I just want to take it back to Ponyville so if something goes horribly awry I can just shove you back through and it’ll be like nothing ever happened.” “Duly noted.” said Dusk Shine levitating the curtain back over the mirror and then levitating the entire thing, “We’re just borrowing it, it’s in the backroom on the fourth floor of the sub-basement, who’ll miss it? “said Twilight quietly to herself. The stallion gave her a look of concern. Twilight only shook her head before exiting the room, “Come on then.” The two hurried out of the royal library, and began flying back toward Ponyville, mirror in tow. Twilight occasionally glanced beside her at the stallion, not too sure how things would play out. She almost laughed, how conspicuous did this sight look, two almost identical alicorns flying across the night sky, levitating a curtained mirror beside them. It almost sounded like a bad fairy tale. “You know,” said Twilight pointedly, “curiosity killed the cat. Dusk Shine grinned and rolled his eyes, “But satisfaction brought it back. To life that is.” He added, “I never liked how that saying ended so ambiguously just to rhyme.” “Oh, brother.” The stallion grinned even wider, “I basically am!” Twilight dead panned, maybe morning would come and this would just be another over studying induced state of delirium.
One in FiveThe two alicorns touched down just outside the library in Ponyville. Despite the serene orange glow the rising sun was casting upon the small town, sounds of panic and frenzy escaped through the wooden walls of the hollow tree that was the library. Hearing the commotion, Dusk Shine frowned deeply, and with wide eyes casted a glance toward his double. Twilight could only shrug and grit her teeth, bracing for the worst. Inside, a claw biting dragon sitting on his posterior frantically looked back and forth between one pile of books and another pile of books, muttering something under his breath. Beside him was a pink earth pony doing push ups with no hooves, another cyan Pegasus in the middle of a wing up, slack jawed, staring at the pink pony. And next to that makeshift gym was an orange Stetson wearing mare, pacing back and forward, jumping and alternating between a trot, walk and canter. To the far side, a white unicorn urgently tore the books from the library shelves, adding to the piles of books while the dragon stared. Finally, amongst the chaos, was a quiet yellow Pegasus, trying to disappear from the site of chaos by making herself as small as possible. Dusk Shine said nothing, his concerned frown starting to look permanently etched into his face. “Girls, what are you doing?” asked Twilight Sparkle, not sure how to approach the situation. All eyes focused on the mare who spoke. Ah, now that snapped the five little ponies and drake out of their trance. First to jump to his feet was Spike the little purple dragon, who rushed toward the alicorn in a relieved panic. “TWILIGHT, I WAS SO WORRIED I DIDN’T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU AND I PANICKED AND THEN AND I KNEW THAT IT WAS DISCORD OR SOMEONE PONYNAPPING YOU, STEALING YOU IN THE NIGHT AND-” shouted the dragon, unable to use his indoor voice. Pinkie Pie did another no hoof push up before doing a flip and landing on her back hooves, “We were so worried! We were about to storm the Canterlot library with pitchforks and torches to riot.” Her baby blue eyes looked thoughtful for a moment, “But we can still riot! Nothing like an old fashioned witch hunt to bring the community together!” She grinned menacingly, hooves full with pitchforks and one of her father’s old farming hats perched on her head. Twilight could only shake her head, “Everyone calm down. Didn’t I tell you I was going to the Canterlot library to find books we didn’t have here in Ponyville?” The previously pacing pony was standing still now, taking off her hat to half cover her face, “Well, ya’ll did tell us, but the way Spike was crying about you being gone for too long, we…I suppose we may have had a temporal lapse in judgement.” she said sheepishly. Spike ripped his thumb out of his mouth, “I wasn’t crying! My eyes and tear ducts were concerned!” “Applejack, I’ve only been gone for two days.” said Twilight in an amused tone, “If you were all so concerned, why didn’t you just write to me? Or maybe even visited me?” The cyan Pegasus waved a hoof in the air, “Oh, oh that was my idea! We were going to swoop in, a valiant group of ponies to save their friend, beating up all the bad guys and saving the day!” “Too brash,” chimed a grandiose voice, “I was going to find a spell to zap you back home.” announced the white unicorn. She coughed, “But, um, the spell eluded me in this sea of paperbacks and novels.” The elegant unicorn daintily nudged a pile of books on the ground with a hoof and frowned. “Is that so, Rarity?” mused Twilight. “I wanted to just wait.” stated Applejack as a matter of factly, before Rarity could respond. “No pony listened to me when I said to just write a letter.” sighed the yellow Pegasus. Applejack rolled her eyes and brushed Fluttershy aside, “In the end we drew straws, and I got the short one, so we did what I wanted to and that was to just sit here, no matter how stir crazy we got.” finished the cowpony. She scoffed again, “Writin’ letters. Phfff.” A ridiculous sentiment. Dusk Shine stifled a giggle and looked away. He could see them now, his friends as mares. The blue one was obviously Rainbow Blitz, the pink one, Berry Gumball. The white one surely was his friend Elusive, leaving the yellow Pegasus to be Butterscotch. Even Spines seemed to be Spike in this world. Applejack’s name surprisingly didn’t change. It was strange, seeing ponies that weren’t his friends, but were. Ponies who he knew incredibly personal things about, but didn’t even know his name. It was also a little upsetting to him that his all his friends were rather easy on the eyes in female form, hopefully he wouldn’t be awkward. Who in Equestria was he kidding; Dusk Shine was one of the most socially awkward ponies around, even despite his studies and experiences in friendship. “Who’s your new friend?” chirped Rarity, eyeing him a little more intently than Dusk Shine was comfortable with. The two purple ponies gave the other a quick glance. Don’t say brother, don’t say cousin, just friends, just friends, don’t be suspicious, no relation, no relation, no relation. “She’s my old Canterlot U friend!” “He’s my science experiment!” The two stared at each other, horrified at how out of sync they were. “I MEAN, HE’S MY UNCLE IN LAW.” “SHE’S MY FLYING INSTRUCTOR.” Each made a choking noise and bit their lower lip. Purple hues met each other in a aghast, pained look. Applejack chuckled, “You two are worse at lying than I am.” The white unicorn made her way toward the male alicorn and circled him a few times, “Science experiment or not, he’s a hunk of a pony.” Two sets of purple eyes dilated before shrinking to pinpoints and all Dusk Shine could see was a tall unicorn stallion, with a baritone voice two octaves lower than the mare in front of him saying such things, and shuddered. Fluttershy, though quiet and typically soothing, nearly brought Twilight to her knees with her next soft spoken statement. “Gee, Twilight, he looks an awful like a colt version of you.” she noted, even kindly pointing a hoof between the alicorn similarities, the mane, and of course, the cutie marks. “Well, yes! That is, um, of course, because he is my twin brother that you’ve never met before. Yes, twin brother and therefore also related to Shining. You know how it is, I’ve got loads of brothers I forget to mention to my best friends!” said Twilight with false bravado. Applejack’s bullhonky sensor went off the charts as her muscles involuntarily contracted and threw the cowpony to the floor. Twilight nodded with nervousness, she wanted to facehoof, then throw Dusk Shine into the mirror and perform lobotomies on her friends so they’d never bring this up ever again. A giddy squeal was heard from a bundle of pink energy, hugging the two alicorns together. “He’s from a parallel universe where all the mares are stallions and all the stallions are mares and it’s pretty much all the same except for certain outcomes based on chance!” she paused for breath, “And he’s you!” “How did you…” started Twilight, before shaking her head. Pinkie of course, used the Sense or something. Bouncing around the room, Pinkie chanted, “Twilight is a colt, Twilight is a colt!” Slightly flustered and trying to retain control, Twilight scowled at Dusk, “Why did you even go through the mirror? I didn’t!” The stallion waved his hooves in surrender, “I flipped a coin! It was heads so I went in! You never go back on a coin toss, it would defeat the purpose!” Rainbow Dash nodded appreciatively, “He has a point.” “Based on chaaaaaaance!” sang the pink earth pony, continuing to bounce around. Rarity followed after her, worried the pony would end up hurting herself, or more importantly someone else in the library. Dusk Shine thought for a moment, “You said you guys were either going to try a spell, barge in, wait or write a letter. Applejack drew the straw so you waited.” Everyone nodded in agreement. The male remained silent, deep in thought. So what are *my** friends doing to do?* It was a five in one chance for any of the choices, but he was 100% certain that his colts back home were currently freaking out, just as the mares had done here. He’d better make the Q&A with Twilight quick then. Before anyone else could do or say anything, a ruffle of sheets and feathers was heard before a floating velvet curtain hurled itself into one of the library shelves. “Ow!” cried the curtain. It seemed to be morphing in shape, extending every which way and flapping around. “GHOST CURTAIN, KILL IT WITH FIRE!” screamed Spike before he took a deep breath, ready to release his flame. “Wait!” objected Fluttershy, hitting the drake once on the back, causing him to choke and cough out smoke. She then trotted over and pulled the curtain off from the pony that was underneath it. Her curious teal hues met with an irritated amethyst gaze, attached to a very blue and very male muzzle. Startled, Fluttershy quickly back peddled and hid behind Rainbow Dash, peeking just slightly out to see what would happen. The newcomer kicked the rest of the curtain off himself and fully stretched out his wings, he had a rather impressive wing span. His smirk was quickly replaced with a look of surprise as he was blindsided by a large clump of several other ponies, the mass of bodies was hurled into the center of the room where most lay twitching, some groaning from impact. A pink pony squeezed himself out of the pile and frantically waved his hoof in excitement at the male alicorn, smiling hugely at him, “Dusky! We did it, we saved you!” He jovially looked down at the mass of ponies, “Bravo, Bravo Battalion! Mission complete!” A groan of three ponies in pain acknowledged the commendation. Dusk Shine took a tentative look at the cluster, and immediately facehoofed. What were the odds again?
Meet and GreetThings could be worse. At least he didn’t have a broken wing; the only thing that really hurt was his pride. What a landing. The impact may have been jarring but he could shrug it off, Rainbow Blitz was sure things were going to be okay. Yeah right, he just got sucked in head first through a mirror, a mirror! It was amazing he hadn’t been shredded to pieces. He had panicked when the curtain obstructed his vision, then bashed his muzzle on a few, painfully solid objects before he recovered. The pony grumbled to himself, and then his friends decided to dog pile on him, didn’t they? The winged pony picked himself up and dusted himself off, muttering obscenities under his breath the entire time. Leave it to Dusk to be a dolt and get himself captured by, by…hmm. Blitz’s gaze shifted back and forth around the room, and he could only pout in disbelief. “We’re back in Ponyville?! Are you kidding me?!” He growled in exasperation before finally laying eyes on just the alicorn he wasn’t thrilled to see. “Dusk Shine! Can you explain what the hay is going on? You said you went to Canterlot, Spines said you were ponynapped! I dived through glass for you, ready to save your sorry flank!” He huffed, crossing his hooves. That last part wasn’t exactly true, Rainbow Blitz was pulled into the mirror, screaming like a little filly as it happened, but he’d never admit it. An orange hoof placed itself on his shoulder; it was attached to a large stallion with a concerned expression. “While I’m impressed by your loyalty to our mission of saving Dusk, your observation skills leave much to be desired.” he drawled. The large orange pony, gestured a hoof around the room. Raising a brow, the cyan Pegasus finally noticed the six other ponies in the library. Elusive the unicorn was staring at another orange mare, scrutinizing her with his critical eye. He flicked her hat and flipped his tail in distaste. She looked extremely offended when he scoffed and turned from her, on to his next victim. Butterscotch tentively circled a pink earth pony, who was grinning so widely that Rainbow Blitz unconsciously touched his own facial muscles, unsure if they were truly capable of such a feat. He looked back at his friend, who could only frown and shake his head unknowingly. “I guess the gang’s all here.” said Dusk Shine quietly. “Who the heck are you guys and why are you in the library before hours?” asked Rainbow Blitz, tone accusing. Rainbow Dash was not one to take an accusation, no matter how subtle it was. “Who are we? Who are you?!”she snapped back, “You guys just trashed the library after you flew out of a mirror! Nice landing by the way.” Rainbow Blitz’s feathers bristled as he straightened to bicker with the obnoxious cyan mare who had insulted his honour. As he opened his mouth, a well groomed white hoof shoved itself into it, effectively shutting him up. “Where are our manners?” laughed a rich, baritone voice. It belonged to the white unicorn with a navy blue mane and sparkling sapphire hues. Those sparkling sapphires however, turned cold and steely as they glared at Rainbow Blitz, with the very distinct message of Be mature and polite about this, you idiot. “My name is Elusive Beau; this here is the ever dashing Rainbow Blitz.” Blitz grunted. Elusive casted a disdainful look at his friend before continuing, “My good colt Butterscotch is the other Pegasus, and the charming Applejack is truly the delight of our small town.” Applejack nodded and smiled, “Howdy.” Standing a few trots away was Applejack the mare, staring at the orange Stallion curiously and mildly annoyed for a reason she could not explain. “I see you’ve already met our resident genius, Dusk Shine. And last but not certainly not least is- Berry Gumball, you get down from there!” scolded Elusive. The pink stallion had been hanging off the chandelier, playing paddy cake with another just as pink, just as bubbly mare. “Aw, man.” moaned Berry Gumball and Pinkie Pie in unison as the male hopped back onto the floor. “Might I ask the names of the lovely ladies, and perhaps give them a tour of the town?” asked the gracious Elusive. Rainbow Dash smirked, “The name’s Rainbow Dash, and we live here, pal. I don’t know who you think you are,” she paused for a moment, groomed fetlocks, coiffed mane, polished horseshoes…definitely Rarity, “You should probably take your egghead friend here and head on home.” “We live here too.” came the soft but firm statement from Butterscotch. “Well, actually we are in their version of Ponyville.” explained Dusk Shine, “When we went through the mirror, we actually ended up here, in an alternate universe. This isn’t exactly home, though it may feel like it.” Rainbow Dash wasn’t mollified, “Yep, our property, why don’t you second rate copy cats take a hike?” “Rainbow!” chided Twilight, “You’re being rude!” Blitz had just about enough lip from the annoying little mare, “Second rate?! I’m the fastest flier in Equestria! I pull off sonic rainbooms in my sleep!” He spread his wings, “Fly me, brah!” “Oh, you wanna go? I’ll go!” challenged Rainbow. “No one wants to go!” interjected both Applejacks, “I suggest ya’ll calm down and keep a level head.” “Spooky.” noted Berry and Pinkie in unison. Realizing what they had done, the two smiled at each other and high hoofed. But it was too late, “First one to the bell tower and back wins! Readysetgo!” shouted Rainbow Dash. And with a gust of wind, the two cyan ponies disappeared in a rainbow flash. “If one of them wasn’t enough,” sighed Twilight. “Now we have two brash and competitive ponies.” shrugged Dusk Shine good-naturedly, finishing Twilight’s sentence. Rainbow Dash was beating her wings as fast as pegasusly possible. Here was this arrogant pony, claiming he was faster than her, when it had already been established time and time again, that were was no better flier than Rainbow A. Dash. The A stood for awesome! She was the youngest flier in Equestria to do a sonic Rainboom, the top of her class at the Cloudsdale Weather Academy. She even turned the Wonderbolts down before! Did she mention the A stood for awesome? Dash scowled, it didn’t matter if Rainbow Blitz was her alternate, they were still two different ponies, with different wing spans, muscle strength, bony density…she’d still be the best. Rainbow Blitz was right next to the rainbow mare, gritting his teeth in frustration. Okay, fine, she was fast. Faster than any other mare he had ever flown with. But he was a stallion, he had the muscle advantage, he couldn’t possibly lose! He was the element of loyalty, the champion of kicking flank and looking good while doing it. Lunar Nightterror couldn’t stop him, Strife couldn’t hold him down. Queen Somber and King Nymphamos? Nuh uh, Rainbow Blitz took them all down! Then why in the name of all that is good and holy can’t I get a nose of an advantage? The two were flying neck and neck, even at the turn around the clock tower, not a single feather of distance was lost or gained. Each emptied the tank and gave a final burst of speed as they approached the library, but they were going much too fast to adjust for the sudden change in wind current, sending them both tumbling through the open doors of the library. They skidded and slid on the floor, finally sliding to the centre of the main room, where they were scrutinized under agitated and exasperated looks. “Who…won?” panted Rainbow Blitz. “You tied.” said Fluttershy as a matter of factly. “I win!” squealed Pinkie Pie. Berry grumbled as he tossed the mare three bit coins. He never lost bets, until now apparently. “Aw, come on! Rematch!” Shouted Rainbow Dash. “Bring it!” “No.” said Rarity calmly, a hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder, “If you two hotheads would cool down for a bit, we can discuss the real issue here.” Elusive nodded at his double, “Indeed. There are six paradoxes in this room. You six mares being male is something that never happened in this world, and here we are, standing in the same room!” Worried, Fluttershy trotted next to Twilight Sparkle, “Is this…bad?” she asked. “We’re not sure yet.” answered Dusk Shine, looking up from his book, “Reality hasn’t been destroyed yet, that’s for sure. As of now, I’d suggest to just staying away from the mirror, don’t even mention it to anyone else, and I guess you should stick in groups.” “Like a buddy system.” continued Twilight Sparkle, “Cover for your doubles, and but try to keep the social interaction with others to a minimum, well, unless you think you can handle the awkwardness that’s bound to ensue when you have the male, or female version of yourself hanging around with you.” Applejack shrugged and waved a beckoning hoof over to her male counterpart, he began to follow, as did two other earth ponies, happily bouncing along. Rarity eyed Elusive for a few moments and finally stated, “If it wouldn’t be a trouble to you, could I practice making a suit on you? Dresses are my passion of course, but I hardly ever get male clients, I think this would be a wonderful learning experience.” Elusive grinned, “But of course! Always happy to help a lovely lady.” The mare blushed and they set off for Carousel Boutique to fit Elusive for his new suit. As Dusk Shine levitated another pile of books toward him and Twilight for their research on the mirror, Rainbow Blitz and Rainbow Dash stormed out of the library. They glared at each other with animosity. “You’re nuts if you think you’re staying with me.” growled Rainbow Dash. “I didn’t want to anyway! I bet my crib’s better!” huffed Blitz. “Fine then!” “Good!” “Okaaay, calm down now.” urged Butterscotch, stepping between the two, “We’re all friends here.” His female double agreed, “Why don’t we just relax, and get some nice, hot breakfast?” Rumbles of hunger could be heard from the stomachs’ of the athletes, who had just finished a race without any sustenance. “I bet I can eat more than you.” challenged Blitz. “We’ll see about that!” retorted the cyan mare. As the two rushed off toward the nearest diner, Fluttershy rolled her eyes, “What in Equestria am I going to do with her?” Butterscotch gave her a good hearted smile, “Well, as soon as you figure that out, feel free to tell me so I can keep Blitz in check. Come on, I’m sure we’re going to have to play mediator with those two.” His eyes widened in sudden realization, “Oh, Solaris, we have to make sure they don’t eat the town out of business.” he remarked playfully. The mare laughed softly, but genuinely, “We better hoof it then!” It was a Celestia damned war zone. A Nightmare Moon cursed scenario. A Discord blessed turn of events. It was what would be forever mentioned as the Great Panic of the Breakfast Foods at old J.J’s Diner. Determined sets of Amethyst eyes stared each other down as the ponies they belonged to shovelled food into their mouths. Mountains of plates were stacked on top of one another, the poor chefs were tripping over their hooves to bring orders to table 12, where Rainbow Dash and Rainbow Blitz were locked in an epic showdown of the highest stake; their prides. Eggs, toast, pancakes, waffles, cheese, omelettes, every breakfast food one could imagine were being devoured quickly and methodically. This had been the first hour, as for the second and somehow, a prolonged third, the devouring devolved into a forced nibbling and pained chewing. Breathe and swallow, breathe and swallow. Thought Blitz determinedly, although with the over looming feeling of doubt, and stomach cramps. I…I can’t. Rainbow Blitz paused, and the mare he was facing off looked up from her toast. He raised a single hoof in the air, and took a deep breath. He smacked his lips once. Then twice. The stallion promptly threw up all over the floor. He finally collapsed on the table, a strand of drool dripping from his mouth. Old J.J the beige earth pony tugged at his goatee and paid one of his waiter’s two bits. After pocketing the money, he sent him to fetch a mop to clean up the mess Blitz had made; it was a victory short lived. Dash however, couldn’t celebrate. Usually a bright cyan, the mare was currently an odd shade of sea green. With a sudden sprint, she flew into the washroom and slammed the door. One could only imagine the horrors beyond. The butter coloured Pegasus stared at the stallion beside her and covered her face with a wing, “Why didn’t we stop them?” she groaned. A low growl escaped Butterscotch’s lips, “We tried.” he muttered, still picking at the harden egg whites stuck in his mane from his first three attempts at slowing the cyan ponies down. They wasted perfectly good eggs, throwing them at poor Butterscotch. Rainbow Dash merged from the filly’s room, stumbling and looking no better than she had been when she entered, although her coat was less green, more of a pale blue. “Are you two completely satisfied with yourselves?!” demanded Butterscotch, uncharacteristically authoritative. “What good came from this foalish competition? Nothing! You both tied, again. You both wasted piles of perfectly good food, and you’ve completely embarrassed Fluttershy and I. Now your bodies will have to pay for your recklessness here.” He stormed out of the dinner and sat by the road, fuming. Blitz got up with a groan and followed after his friend, “Alright, fine. I’m sorry for this little…mishap here.” He put a hoof around the agitated yellow pony, “Sorry to you, Scotch, not her.” finished Rainbow Blitz pointedly. It was Fluttershy’s turn to be exasperated, “You are her!” she sighed while helping Rainbow Dash out of the diner. “You two are going to destroy Ponyville with your antics.” said Scotch quietly. “Doesn’t seem as if you two are as close as me and Shy.” came the snarky ribbing from Rainbow Dash. “Enough, Rainbow.” said Fluttershy, almost appalled at her friend’s audacity, “Butterscotch is right. You if you two don’t get along, somepony, including yourselves, are going to get hurt.” Feelings of remorse and regret flowed through the cyan ponies. Rainbow Blitz and Dash begrudgingly exchanged a look; it was a simple glance, followed by a nod. “We’re stubborn and thick skulled, fine.” said Dash, “But you animal caretakers, you.” continued Blitz, “You’re our friends, and, I guess we care. About you.” he groaned, “Sharing feelings is for fillies!” But that was enough for the gentle, yellow ponies. Butterscotch and Fluttershy shared a smile. “I know Twilight and Dusk Shine said to use the buddy system with our doubles, but since you two don’t seem to get along, maybe we should swap partners?” suggested Fluttershy. “I can go with Rainbow Dash, and Blitz can go with Fluttershy.” nodded the yellow stallion. Rainbow Blitz slowly walked up to the yellow mare, he wasn’t particularly large, just your average Pegasus stallion, but he was still a good hand taller than her. “Whatever, let’s go.” He readied his wings for take-off, but instantly back-pedalled at the sight of Rainbow Dash in his face. “In the name of Luna, if you do anything stupid or reckless with Fluttershy, and if I know myself, I would, I’ll buck you to next Tuesday! And, and…and then next Tuesday Applejack will buck you back and we’ll just buck you back and forth like a ping pong ball! Ohh, you’ll be so sorry…” she said threateningly, voice trailing off for Blitz’s imagination to add its own flavour of horror. “Yeah, well, you treat Scotch well! He’s sensitive!” retorted Blitz. Butterscotch dead-panned, “There’s a difference between reserved and sensitive, you dolt.” But Blitz was already in the air, “Treat my boy right! Peace late!” he thumped his chest twice with his hoof before flying off, Fluttershy in tow. To his left, Rainbow Dash had a mischievous grin on her face. A grin Butterscotch didn't like, not a single bit.
Wild Card“Applejack! Have you gained weight?” questioned Granny Smith upon seeing her beloved granddaughter trot through the gates of Sweet Apple Acres. Granny Smith however, was staring at the orange Stallion, not the mare. She squinted, “Oh, hang on, lemme get my glasses.” “Granny!” yelped Pinkie Pie happily, “It’s so nice to see you, I baked you a pie!” The bouncing pony pulled out a steaming fresh cookie dough pie out from seemingly the air itself, and handed it to Granny. “Why, thank you dear. How’s my favourite granddaughter, trice removed?” Applejack pouted, “Granny!” Sure Applebloom was great, but Applejack always secretly thought she was the favourite granddaughter. The betrayal ran deep. The old mare waved a hoof, “Come on, Applejack, you know the schedule. Applebloom was my favourite yesterday and today’s its Pinkie. Tomorrow’ll be you, dear.” The grandmother squinted at the orange Stallion again, “Big Mac? Did ya’ll get a tan?” Jack swallowed, “Uhm, nnnope.” he said nervously. The two mares were a little astounding at how much he sounded like Big Mac, although his voice was clearer and not quite as rumbling. Applejack cleared her throat, “We better go, Granny, apples to see, ponies to buck. I, I mean…” she stuttered, “Love you bye!” The four ponies scampered off into the orchard, leaving a disorientated Granny Smith behind. She shrugged. Kids, they were always off being mischievous and whatnot in a flash, causing old Granny to see double. “That was close.” sighed Applejack. Applejack nodded before finally voicing his primary concern, “What in Equestria do we call each other?” There it was, the elephant in the orchard. Everypony else’s doubles had proper names, the male and female equivalent. Unfortunately for the farmers, their name turned out to be gender neutral. That was what had irked the Applejacks. Berry Gumball thought for a moment, “Well, Jack is a male griffon name. I guess my Applejack could just be Jacky Boy! Or Jack attack. Male Applejack V.1.0. Jacky Apple seed?” he grinned ear to ear. “I was thinking just AJ would be fine, but Berry makes a good point, Jacky Apple Seed suits you, Jacky Apple Seed!” squealed Pinkie. The male cowpony nodded slowly before swinging a hoof, “AJ it is. I ain’t a griffon.” Berry shrugged his shoulders, “Suit yourself. Although, wouldn’t it have been easier just to ask your parents what alternate male name would have been picked for you?” Applejack’s relaxed grin fell to the floor, “My parents passed away many moons ago.” Pinkie Pie chose that time to drop a pin to the ground, everypony heard it. The pink stallion almost visibly deflated, “I’m sorry, I …I didn’t…I’m gonna cry!” his lower lip quivered and he buried his head into Pinkie’s chest, who was consoling him and stroking his mane. The mare smiled wistfully, “S’alright. The past’s past, ya’ll can’t change it, I’ve learned to accept it.” AJ stared far off in the distance, eyes unfocused, “C’mon, why don’t ya’ll show us ‘round?” he murmured. It was a weak suggestion, obviously as the pony who ran the same farm back in his world, AJ knew the farm like the back of his hoof, but a distraction was needed from the current subject. Applejack began the tour, starting at the barn, passing through the river where she and Big Mac, and ultimately AppleBloom would play as foals. She showed them the vampire fruit bat orchard, and shared the story of Flutterbat the Hungry. “You mean, she was a vampire?!” gasped Berry, “Like a, eat your face and gobble your hooves, vampire?!” Apparently in their world, Butterscotch’s song had convinced the others to build the sanctuary right off the bat. No pun intended. It had been difficult for AJ to rhyme “varmint” with “scorched earth policy.” “No-” started Applejack. “Yeah!” nodded Pinkie, “I made her garlic cupcakes for a week after just to be safe! She didn’t even eat them, I have my suspicions” her baby blue eyes narrowed, “… ain’t nopony’s gonna eat Pinkamena Diane Pie!” Berry pulled out a wooden sword, “Or Bartholomew “Berry” Daniel Gumball!” agreed the stallion. Pinkie pulled out her own oak rapier and the two began the fence along the edges of the sanctuary. A screech from a fruit bat caused the ponies to jump and hold each other tight. Just across the field, AJ could see a large red earth pony playing with a small yellow filly, wearing a pink bow to keep her tangled mane in check. He smiled to himself, seeing his own siblings reflected in their personalities. He watched his brother Applebuck hiding in the barrel of apples to scare the large stallion, and despite being male; it was his sister Red Gala’s patient smile and playful nudge he saw. “I can introduce you to them if you’ll like.” offered Applejack. “But, the paradox?” Applejack shrugged, “Family’s family. You’re an Apple. Heck, Berry’s an Apple. You can be from South Coltlina, can’t you?” The stallion felt an almost giddy feeling in his chest and nodded vigorously. “Applebloom, Big Mac! C’mere!” she hollered. Obediently, Applebloom began skipping in their direction, followed by the steady pacing of Big Mac. The little filly curiously looked up at AJ, then back to her sister, then back again. “Do I know you?” asked Applebloom, head cocked. Applejack shook her head, “Naw, this is your cousin… Cortland from South Coltlina. He’s just visiting and I wanted you to meet him.” Big Mac slowly nodded his head, “Howdy.” “Why haven’t we seen you around before, or at the family reunion? Didn’t you go?” asked Applebloom, a little distraught that a fellow Apple wouldn’t visit. AJ was indignant, “I did! Ain’t nothing more important to me than family. I was just…out of the pictures really.” covered the farmer as best as he could. That wasn’t good enough for Applebloom. “Then we make it up now!” she announced trying to push AJ toward the farm house with her head, “Pictures, let’s take pictures! I wanna make memories!” Big Mac’s response was cut off by a large gong sounding; “Lunchtime!” came the echo of Granny Smith’s voice. “Oh boy, lunch time!” Two pink blurs raced past the farm ponies and headed toward the farmhouse. Pinkie Pie’s appetite was legendary, and now there were two of them. AJ and Applejack panicked and sprinted toward the house, they wanted to eat something before the party ponies ate it all. Applebloom tried to follow behind, but her little legs simply couldn’t compete. With a flick of his head, Big Mac threw his sister on his back and began to run for lunch. The filly giggled with delight, “Hi ho Big Mac, away!” Mhmmhm, hay sandwiches, salads, and apple cider. And for dessert, the Ponyville famous apple fritters. When Granny Smith made the meals, there was always enough to feed fifteen ponies, just a little habit she picked up after living with twelve brothers and sisters. Naturally, everpony ate to their hearts’ content. The one thing that bothered AJ was the fact that there were exactly five seats at the table. There was no way Granny set the table for five; he and Berry hadn’t even been introduced. And hopefully they’d never have to if Granny’s eyesight was as bad as Grampy’s without their glasses. Of course that meant those seats belonged to… The stallion excused himself and left the room. He sighed. His parents were dead. It was so weird a thought, something surreal. He sat on the porch, lost in thought. A clip clopping could be heard as someone approached behind him. Applejack had followed him out and sat beside the large stallion. She rested her head on his shoulder,“Whatcha thinking about, cuz?” “Your parents are dead.” he stated somberly. Applejack nodded, “Absolutely crushed me n’ Big Mac when we were kids, and Applebloom was too young to remember. I loved them so much. We all did. It was hard, the mourning, but I guess you already know that.” The farmpony shook his head, “No, I don’t.” his voice was pained, “Let’s take us Applejacks out of the equation. Big Mac and Applebloom’s parents are dead. Red Gala’s and Applebuck’s are alive.” The mare froze, “You mean…” AJ nodded, “Our parents only died in this universe.” Applejack’s thoughts were spinning. No, her head was spinning. Heck, Applejack’s world was spinning. Somewhere, somehow, her parents were alive! She nearly fell head over hooves, muzzle over flank trying to process her train of thought. AJ caught her and steadied the poor mare. “I’m sorry, that was selfish of me to say, what with you goin’ through such a great loss and I, I never even thought about…” apologized the male. Applejack had closed her eyes, and when she reopened them there was a glint in her emerald hues. A look AJ knew all too well. “This means, this means I could see my parents again. I could see ma, I could see daddy!” AJ’s heart sank, that was exactly what he would have said, “But you can’t. Your parents have passed, who knows what repercussions this could have! Your alternate universe parents, meeting the daughter they never had?" The mare looked downtrodden, she stared at her hooves and let out a deep breath, of course it was too good to be true. Of course. The male slammed a single, powerful hoof into the ground. From under the brim of his eye his determined gaze met Applejack’s, “But gosh darn it…what about them meeting cousin Cortland from South Coltina?” Applejack’s eyes lit up in anticipation. She was going to see her parents again; it’d be an Apple family reunion on a grander scale. “Absolutely not.” “But, Twi, please! I’ll never have this chance again!” Twilight Sparkle’s heart almost broke in two when she saw the pained and desperate look on her friend’s face, a look that she had put there with her refusal to let Applejack use the mirror to see her parallel parents. Even Spike the Dragon looked at Twilight wistfully; he knew what it was like to have parents missing in his life. “It wouldn’t take too long, she’d be introduced as a cousin, and Lord knows we Apples are never short on cousins. All she wants to do is see ‘em.” pleaded AJ. The alicorn bit her lip, “We’ve only just scratched the surface of the origins of this mirror.” She cleared her throat and began reciting her research from memory, “The Fairest Mirror, an item of fairy-tale, was forged from ancient magic, long before the reign of the royal Sisters. It granted the user the possibility to experience what could have been, but not what would never be. But it’s supposed to be a fairy-tale, this mirror shouldn’t exist.” “But it does.” Said Applejack bluntly. “Again, it shouldn’t. The only story I’ve found about it is about a mad wizard who uses it to explore the extent of his powerful dark magic, without a regard for consequence because he would always just hop through universes where the other decision was the one he made. He single hoofedly caused the Dark Ages. It’s not a blessing, Applejack.” Dusk Shine interrupted the mare before she could continue, “Twilight, it was just a fairy tale. I think we could actually make this work.” But Twilight couldn’t bring herself to comply with the idea, “How would she even activate the mirror? Both Applejacks are on this side, would flipping a coin or drawing straws still work?” With a coy smile, Dusk tapped his horn with a hoof, “Portal opening spell, come on, Twilight, this is Magic 401. Instead of teleportation where matter dematerializes from the inside out of a pony, we channel such properties through a beacon, or in this case, the mirror. Whatever matter passes is dematerialized and reappears on the other side.” “Sounds like we’re cheating chance.” mulled the lavender mare. The male nodded his head slowly, “Well, think of it as an ace up my sleeve.”
