The Mishap with the Mirror
The library was quiet today, the girls curled up in chairs and on bean bags ( Courtesy of Rainbow Dash...sort of). The atmosphere was quiet and easy today, as were most Sunday's in Equestria. Fluttershy had fallen asleep a while back, her head rested on Rarity's back and a blanket over her body. Rarity was in the middle of sewing up some tapestry she had taken from the Castle Of The Two Sisters, an act she did with vigor. Celestia was astounded at how well Rarity had restored the old things, offering to pay her handsomely for each piece she finished. Rarity was so hesitant and while she was no stranger to taking large sums of money for her work this was the Princess. Technically these were hers to begin with. It just didn't feel right to the mare as much as Rainbow Dash liked to try and undermine the payments for "helping." Speaking of, the rainbow maned mare was floating around the room in pure excitement, the newest Daring Do novel had her in a position to not keep still.
It annoyed Twilight sometimes; Rainbow Dash was prone to flying to weird rooms of the castle and sometimes even outside. After a book was ruined in the rain Twilight had to enact a spell to keep her glued to the room. Of course this also meant that walking and teleporting were the only ways in and out of the space at this point. Pinkie was amused by this and was now known to tie a string to anyone distracted while in the air and attempt to pull them out of the room. She did it less after an accident with Cadence and a mis-thrown Lasso. Today she was strangely quiet, writing down recipes from one book to another. Her newest hobby was finding old recipes to try with the Cakes, although they were often a little...interesting. A lot of Jello was called for, as were moulds, and often the recipes were downright nasty. Never stopped dear old Pinkie Pie from trying them, much to her friends dislike, especially Applejack. Applejack had been offended by some apple jelly concoction that attempted to be sweet and savory at the same time. Applejack insisted Pinkie stop, but neither mare was up for arguing. The orange earth pony was caught up in reading an old Apple Family Almanac, trying to find an old fertilizer recipe that Granny Smith mentioned. It had been invented long before the Apple Clan had come to what would become Ponyville, but it was lost to her generation due to the Zap Apple boom. Princess Twilight was no where to be seen, her dragon companion missing as well.
The Princess was busy studying the map in the center of her throne room, a specific blip worrying her. She had been studying it for weeks now, writing to the other princesses about it in hopes someone had any information on it. So far no one had turned up any luck and it worried Twilight. Why would her map just suddenly black out a space beneath Canterlot like that, the actual Canterlot had no darker of a shadow underneath. Spike had tried to help, but these days Twilight left him to do his own thing elsewhere. Right now he was cleaning up a mess he had made trying to make Twilight some breakfast. She admired his attempt greatly and even offered to help him but he insisted he clean it by himself. She smiled a moment at this notion, taking her mind off of the current predicament. Her mind would have stayed there if a secondary action on map didn't catch her attention. It was a shockwave, slow moving and as dark as the shadow beneath Canterlot which appeared to be it's origin. Eyes wide and mouth open to gasp she ran to the window to watch for it, only the blue sky greeting her. A small wind did pick up in that moment, but nothing to write home about. Perplexed she went back to the map, her eyes fixated on the map again.
A collection of startled screaming that went quiet before getting loud again echoed through the castle. Spike was the first to investigate, a mess of mares in the center of the room greeting him. He was confused greatly, why were they piled up like that, weren't they all relaxing. Twilight came in as his mouth opened to ask a question, the usual "Girls!" escaping her mouth as she ran in in concern.
"What happened! Are you all alright?" She looked worried, beckoning Spike over to help her.
"I'm already on it Twilight!" He replied, keeping pace behind her when she had run in and almost knocked him over. He went to Pinkie first who was laying with her hooves straight in the air and staring at them. " Pinkie! You alright?"
Pinkie replied by looking at Spike and suddenly rolling over. "Spike! You look so weird without your collar!"
"Co-what?" That threw the poor dragon for a loop, his arms going to his sides in confusion and his fins drooping briefly. "What are yo-aaaah!" His world flipped upside down as a familiar voice greeted him with an Apology.
"Sorry about that Spike..." The orange pony reached for her hat slowly and put it back on her head. An attempt to move her hair made her stop and stare at her own hoof like she had seen a ten headed hydra.
"Uh...Twilight?" His head turn revealed Twilight was seeing the same thing he was. Before them was Rarity who had already sat up, complaining about how rude it was to be thrown like that. They watched as she went to her hind quarters like a pony looking for saddle bags only to stop and stare at her own body. She pulled her gaze to her own hooves before her eyes went wide and she let out the loudest scream she could muster.
Twilight put her wings and her hooves to her head in an attempt to shield herself from the sound she was being assaulted with, the scream turning into a full whirlwind of crying. It wasn't often that Twilight got overly upset over such chaos, but today she was just not having any of it.
"GIRLS!" She shouted, her wings spreading out wide and her face screwed up in anger. There was a sudden and slightly eerie silence that hung over the room for a while before Spike spoke up.
"Uh Twilight?" He was standing where Rarity had been sewing previously.
"Yes Spike?" The princess gathered herself before folding her wings again and looking in his direction.
" I don't think these are our friends..."
" I noticed..." She turned to look at the ponies before her who were all sat still in slight anticipation. Putting a hoof to her chest she breathed in and breathed out again, her hoof moving out to complete the action. "Spike, find me parchment, we've got a big problem on our hooves."
"Problem? Are you kidding me? Look at how cool I look!" Rainbow Dash butted in, already in the air and flying around until she hit the magical barrier in the room. Fluttershy gasped and stood to help her friend, running over on her hind legs awkwardly.
"we're also very naked, Twilight do you have any clothes for us?"
"Clothes? We're HORSES!" Rarity piped in, sitting up and staring at Twilight in slight disgust, " How am I supposed to fix my hair? How am I going to...to...function!"
"Now hold on Rarity, Twilight hasn't even had a moment to explain anything to us. Go on Twilight!"
Twilight was trying so hard to figure this all out in such a short amount of time, a buzzing book vibrating in Spike's claws. He was unsure if he should open it or not, this wasn't something he touched usually unless he was cleaning. A pink aura surrounded it as Twilight took it from his claws, opening it and reading it as fast as she could. Sighing heavily and closing the book she looked up at her friends.
"Look's like Sunset Shimmer is having the same problem on her end...it looks like somehow you were all brought through the mirror from your world to Equestria."
"Well we can jus' turn it back on can't we?" Applejack asked, getting to her feet slowly and unsteadily. She did her best to be strong though, at least for her other friends.
"Hey didn't you say you had friends just like us?" Pinkie interrupted, appearing behind Applejack and leaping over her in excitement. " Where are they?"
"Well..." She went to the Mirror and examined it, a hoof going to the reflective surface with a silent clunk. " They must have gone through the mirror when you came in. Something appears to have switched you five with my friends...I mean..." Her ears went back as she looked away in embarrassment.
"We know what you mean Twilight," Fluttershy piped in, " But who would do such a thing? Oh I do hope your friends are alright..."
" I don't know..." She began to examine the mirror again, trying to light the spark of magic between the book and the mirror. After the fifth try Twilight panted and looked to where she hoped Spike was. " Spike?" She wanted to run and find him but she couldn't leave these five confused ponies in the room like that. "Spike!"
"Coming!" He stumbled over himself, " I couldn't find any paper, I hope this will do!" He held up a drawing some filly had given her which made Twilight frown.
"Thank you Spike. The mirror isn't turning back on, I need to alert Celestia immediately. " She was so quick to write that Spike almost fumbled when she gave it back to him to send.
" What do you mean it won't turn back on?"
" It means I can't send them back!"
"you mean some crazy magical force swept across Equestria, turned on the mirror and pulled your friends through and swapped them with us and now it's turned off the mirror completely stranding us in a world we have no knowledge of as we attempt to adjust to our new lives?" Pinkie sat and smiled, her forelegs out wide as an ending gesture before she stood and bounced out of the room like Pony pinkie did.
Twilight's jaw dropped as the pink mare escaped the room, her face showing how offended she was that even human Pinkie could do that. She was brought back by the sound of Spike burping a letter out, the other ponies in the room all attempting to adjust to their new forms. She read it quietly before looking up at the others. " Looks like we're going to Canterlot.”
The journey to the train was an interesting one, Twilight had to stop to assist Rarity especially. Pinkie pie was bouncing as usual, in fact if Twilight didn’t know about what had happened she would say that Pinkie never changed. The others were dealing with their sudden acquisition of a front pair of legs, even Rainbow Dash attempted walking. There were jokes from the locals about cider drinking and an attempt at shaking someones hand. In the end the mares all made it to the train in one piece, much to Twilight Sparkle’s surprise. The journey on the train was quiet, the mares taking in their new surroundings with several large bursts of gasps and excitement.
“Is that Canterlot High?” Fluttershy asked, forcing everyone else to look in the direction she pointed. They were all expecting some kind of amazing building, not an entire town and a castle.
“It’s a Castle?” Rarity looked back at Twilight with eyes sparkling, “ Is that where the other Princesses are?”
“Yes.” Twilight replied, “ That’s Canterlot, I grew up there. Princess Celestia took me under her wing and taught me everything I know, it’s...it’s…” Usually Twilight had no problems speaking about Canterlot, it was home, school, a place in her heart and full of warm memories. Why now could she not describe it to a group of humans in mare’s skin?
“It’s wonderful Twilight,” Fluttershy spoke up, patting the other on the shoulder. The two shared a smile before the conductor spoke up as he walked through the car.
“Canterlot, five minutes. We will stop for fuel before continuing express to the Crystal Empire!”
“The Crystal Empire?” Rarity perked up again.
“Calm down Rarity!” Applejack and Rainbow Dash both piped in, looking at each other and giggling as the white mare hid her face in embarrassment.
" Welcome back Twilight, " She exchanged a bow with Twilight before looking over at her friends, " You must be Twilight's friends from Canterlot High. I've heard so much about you!"
All five of them were in aw at Celestia, mouths open and eyes staring in an attempt to wrap their heads around her in general. This wasn't their principal standing before them, this was a very clearly powerful alicorn with magic hair and a tall golden crown on her head. This must have been who send Twilight to retrieve her crown in the first place.
"Woah! Your hair looks like a flag!" Pinkie stood and very quickly had her hooves wrapped around Celestia's tail. She tried her best to examine it, but it was more than just hair she found.
" Pinkie!" Applejack scolded, pulling the mare back over with her hooves as if they were hands. " You wouldn't do that to Principle Celestia!" She stared down the other earth pony who smiled awkwardly back.
"Your Gorgeous!" Rarity exclaimed, stumbling to stand on all fours as she admired the Princess. Celestia smiled to her and nodded back.
"Thank you Rarity." She looked at Twilight who clearly had been staring at her in anxiety. " Now, Twilight has explained to me that the mirror had a little mishap and now it will not work." She walked over to Twilight before holding her head up, " Any ideas Princess Twilight? You look as though you have something to tell me."
She shook her head, " I was examining that dark shadow beneath Canterlot again! That is where the shockwave originated!"
"Shockwave?"
"Yes Princess Celestia, a shockwave of black that swept through Equestria. It felt like nothing more then a wind to me, I waited for it before I heard the commotion in my library. "
"Twilight," Celestia looked concerned at her former student. " I told you before, there is nothing beneath Canterlot. Are you sure it wasn't something else?"
"Princess," She was cut off by a raised wing and Celestia's worried glanced.
"Not to be rude," Applejack interjected," But couldn't y'all just make another mirror?" the others nodded in agreement as they looked to the two Princesses in anticipation.
Twilight looked back before hanging her head, " Sadly no, the secret of making the magic mirrors died with Starswirl himself. We found one of his spells, but we don't know if it's THE spell that makes them. Even if we did we wouldn't know if it connected to your world..." she looked back up at the now disappointed group before her. " I wouldn't know how to even point it at your world."
" So what do we do until then?" Fluttershy asked.
"Well..." Twilight looked up at Celestia who gave a cheeky smile.
"You'l have to go about life as usual until I can fix this."
"What will we tell our families?" Rarity asked, folding her hooves over themselves like a lady crossing her legs.
"Hm...just tell them I had a spell mishap. It happens sometimes, usually everyone sort of accepts the results."
"That's awfully complacent of everyone," Applejack said with concern.
“Nah,” Spike interjected, “ weirder things have happened here in Equestria. “
“Mmm…” Rarity watched the dragon before looking at Twilight, “ I guess you’re right, you do seem to have a plethora of mythical beasts that have the ability to enslave the entire population…” She shook her head before looking at Celestia, “ No offence.”
"None taken, I will admit our world is dangerous. Why don't we take the afternoon for tea and maybe an explanation?"
"But Princess! Your appointments!" Her assistant pointed out from the back of the room.
"I know, I will send a letter and we shall reschedule. This is very important."
"Understood my lady..." the mustachioed stallion trotted off with an angry look on his face.
"Princess Celestia," Twilight looked at her mentor in aw.
"This is important Twilight. We may be in the clear for now but until we can fix the mirror we must prepare for the worst. Now come, let's all have tea."
The girls collectively perked up and became excited at the notion of having tea with royalty, no less learn about a new world. The afternoon would be an interesting one, if any unique. As they were shooed into one of the many tea rooms something gently shook the water in the tea kettle, sending a wave of birds to fly over the castle. The girls all looked in awe, oblivious to the shadow that truly grew beneath Canterlot.
