The Curiosity of Mr. Disc

Chapters

2: A Group Interview.
3: Table Conversations.
4: The Piano and the Changeling Interrogation.
5: Portrait of a Changeling.
6: Art Classes with the Perfect Model.
7: Of Teachers’ Lounges and Cafeterias.
8: Au revoir, Charlie the Changeling.
(The C-Files: According to Scootaloo.)
9: On Your Mark...
10: .... Get Set...
11: Eh... Well This is Unexpected.
12: Establishing Identities.
13: Of Wings and Imaginary Pianos.
(The Ponyville Tour: According to Shy.)
14: When Crusaders Meet Crusaders.
15: Lyra and the Gondola.
16: Apples to Apples.
17: Tea N Tea
18: Charlie, Put the Bottle Down.
(A Crusade to Return the Camera: According to Sweetie Belle.)
19: The Therapist.
20: Lost and Found.
21: The Return, the Visitor, and the Film.
1: Invitation to Free Food
(Accidental Odyssey: According to Charlie the Changeling.)

2: A Group Interview.

“Uh… Hey,” Ms. Shimmer said, giving a nervous wave. In truth, ever since I got my job back, I've been hearing a few rumors about her that I didn't really pay much attention to. Oh don’t get me wrong, I've heard about her changing into a demon thing at a dance or something about her saving the school by singing or something like that. But don’t really buy into it for the simple fact that I wasn't there to see it nor have I seen any footage or that happening. The Sunset Shimmer I see now seems to be the more nervous out of the bunch, even more than Shy is on a good day.

Sitting down in front of these girls, I now have a closer look at them that I couldn't help but compare them from their counterparts from that Ponyland. And I have to say, they had a striking resemblance to them.

“I’m here, so what do you girls want to talk to me about?” I asked them.

“Excuse me, can I get you anything?” I turned to the voice to find a lady in blue with a pink apron that matches her hair.

“Yeah Mrs. Cake,” Pinkie said as she gave her their order along with mine, some fries along with a cola. Our host smiled and nodded a little as she took down whatever Pinkie said and told us she’ll be back with our orders.

“So… Mr. D,” my attention turned to the farm girl. “Ah guessed we’d jus’ skip straight to the point as ta why you’re here.”

“It’s a good place to start, so what am I here for?”

“Look Mr. Disc,” Rainbow replied. “I think that with us, you can drop the act.”

“What act?”

“Equestria, we've known you've been there.”

“It’s true,” Rarity nodded. “We already know all about it, how you've met your other self and all of those shenanigans.”

“You've probably had heard them from the other students,” I told them.

“Like how you covered a part of the floor of an entire hallway in ice?” Sunset asked. “In fact, that’s the real reason why you’re here. It’s not just the about the ice appearing out of nowhere.”

“Then what’s this about then?”

“Something followed you back from Equestria, didn't it? Some sort of magic, right?”

I was taken aback by that statement, “Sunset, there is no such thing as magic.”

“Then what’d you call that flash ice rink?” Rainbow asked.

I folded my arms. “How do I know?” I asked. “It’s not magic, it just… a...” Fluttershy raised her hand, “Yes?” I asked.

“Um, I hope you don’t mind of me asking this Mr. D, but how long have you had these, um, powers?”

I raised an eyebrow, “Ladies, listen, what just happened on that day was a freak accident.”

“What about Twilight?” Sunset asked. I stared at her, asking how she knew that name because up until now, I've never said that name. “We've met a few times, plus I’m starting to write to here now and then.”

I still wouldn't let down my eyebrow, “Prove it.”

“That I can do,” she said as she reached into her bag to pull out a leather bound book. It was one of those books where there were some gold leafing and bright colors, and this one had a picture of the sun. Getting out a pen, she told me, “Watch this.” And she started to write in it. She wrote a few sentences before the words faded away. She closed the book.

“Now just wait,” she said. And a few moments later, something so odd happened that it made me wonder if I was hallucinating again: the book rang like an old telephone.

She opened it up and flipped it over to me, it read:

“Yes Sunset, I’m here, is there anything you need? – T.”

I blinked, “Wait, you didn't write that did you?” I asked looking up. She shook her head; I looked back at the book only to find it was blank again. “Uh… Mind if I see that pen?” Sunset gave the pen to me, I wrote that this is Mr. Disc, asking who’s writing this, and watch it fade from the pages.

And right before my very eyes, I saw words forming as if it was being done by an invisible pen. It wrote out:

“Hello again Mr. Disc, this is Princess Twilight Sparkle from Equestria,”

And I watched it as the note faded away.

“What is this? Tom Riddle’s diary or something?” I asked as I examined the book.

Some of the girls laughed a little, “Not really, it’s a way we can talk to Twilight in Equestria and her to us,” Pinkie explained.

“And the book rings?” I questioned. “Wouldn't a phone or something work just as well?”

“How many telephones did you ever see in Equestria?” Sunset asked.

I didn't say anything for a moment. “Good point,” I muttered. “Alright then, I believe you. And yes I do have my superpowers here like I did back there.”

“Okay, that’s just really weird.” Sunset commented, “When I and Twilight got here from Equestria, neither of us had magic, we needed others to do that. But with you, however, you went there and find out that you had ‘superpowers’ and then came back here and you still have them?”

“Wanna demonstration?” I asked with a smirk. This got the attention with the entire table. Applejohn (or something like that) and Rainbow were clearly interested; Pinkie was excited; Rarity and Sunset wanted to see some without me going overboard, and Fluttershy didn't say anything. I looked around to see what I could probably come up with until I looked up at the blank white ceiling when an idea came to mind.

With a snap of my fingers, I turned back to the girls, “What do ya think? A little too much?” They looked up and gawked at a painted mural of my time in Equestria that covered every single inch of the restaurant’s ceiling. “Personally I prefer the Rococo style, but this is nice,” I mused at my latest creation.

“And here are your food dearies,” Mrs. Cake said, snapping my attention as she put the food down on the table from her tray. “Is everything alright?” she asked.

I pointed upwards, “How long do you think that’s been there?”

She looked up and gasped, “Where did that come from?!”

“From someone’s imagination,” I told her.

3: Table Conversations.

“So asides from me,” I asked them after taking another few fries in my mouth. “Who else knows about that portal thing?”

“I think it’s just us,” Rainbow answered. “That is if you don’t count Twilight and maybe the other us from over there.”

“Have any of you ever met them?”

“I have, briefly,” Sunset said, taking another sip from her drink. “But I've never really got the chance to actually meet them. Yet I would think that they would be something like us.”

I shrugged, “So am I the only one here who’s the first to tumble through that portal and into, whatever you call that place?”

“As far as I know,” Fluttershy spoke up. “I think you may be the very first person to ever do something like that.”

“But you gotta admit that it does sound cool right?” Rainbow asked. “I mean, you just went to a completely different dimension here, an alternative universe with us in it.”

Although I didn't say anything, I admit that it was pretty cool. Instead, I replied, “You’re telling me that like none of you have ever been over there… Have you?”

They didn't say anything. So I spoke what’s on my mind, “Hold on, you mean none of you have ever stepped through to see what’s on the other side? I mean, last I've checked, that purple princess has already fixed the thing to stay open, so why not?”

“Why haven’t you?” Applejack questioned.

“Well, I still have a job here- oh.”

“Applejack is right,” Rarity said. “As tempting as it is, some of us do have some obligations to attend to. Some of us have jobs, another family.”

“And besides,” Sunset piped up. “I don’t know if I wanna go back there.”

“How come?” I asked her. “I thought you said you’re from there?”

“Yeah but, the last time I was there when I was Princess Celestia’s student, I left on really bad terms. You see, I tried to overthrow her and… you can guess the rest.”

“You’re a teenager and you've tried to pull a coup d'état on the horse version of my boss?” I asked, “I’m actually kinda impressed.”

“What?”

“Yeah, it’s not like every day that I've encountered a teenager who committed treason from an alternative universe. But I’m off track though, what were we talking about?”

“Something about if any of us have been to Equestria,” Pinkie reminded him after scoffing down another hamburger.

“Oh right, so what is it that you girls do anyway that prevent any of you from visiting?” I asked.

“Well, I am the captain of the Canterlot Wondercolts team,” Rainbow uttered.

“Ah help run the family farm and bottle our cider,” Applejack said.

“I have a part-time job here at the restaurant,” Pinkie chimed in.

“I tailor clothing for a boutique, which I’m very good at, I’ll have you know,” Rarity commented.

“I just take care of animals,” Fluttershy muttered.

I looked over to Sunset, “And you?” I asked her.

“I just work at the school.”

“So have any of you ever planned on going there?” I asked.

“Well,” Fluttershy said. “From what I've heard from Twilight and Sunset, it does sound rather lovely.”

“I’m rather curious myself,” Rarity said putting her finger to her chin. “Since these Equestrians have clothes that they wear, I wonder what their fashion looks like.”

“A place where ponies can run a farm,” Applejack mused. “That I’d like to see.”

“And they have flying sports over there,” Rainbow joined in. “I wouldn't mind kicking their butts at their own game.”

“Oh! And I wanna see how they party over there!” Pinkie added. The girls went round and round about what they would like to do in that land of ponies. All that is, except for Ms. Shimmer, at least, not right away when she asked, “Would you go back?”

“As long as I don’t run into the other me, I’m game.”

“Oh yeah, I remember Twilight mentioning that what was he like.”

“Well, there is one thing about the other me that I've learned about myself.”

“And what’s that?”

“I've learned that I can be incredibly thick at times.”

“I wonder what it might be like meeting our other selves.” Pinkie mused, “And I wonder if I should throw a party for them. I’m not so sure, I mean, it’s us but not really us. Besides, how can I surprise me when I’m the queen of surprises? It’s like a weird Zen riddle or something.”

“But, should we?” Fluttershy asked: “I mean, what would happen to us if we ran into our other selves; would both of our worlds explode or something?”

“I highly doubt that Fluttershy,” I told her. “I've met the other me, and the world didn't end, which is a little bit disappointing when you think about it.” Then suddenly, a question popped into my head, “Wait-a-minute, Ms. Shimmer, you said that you’re from an alternative universe right?”

“Yeah?” she answered with a raised eyebrow.

“Have you ever run into the other you?”

“You know, I thought I would, except, I never did. I tried looking for the other me on the internet only to come up with nothing. So I don’t know if there is a second me here.”

As I finished the fries with the cola, an idea came to me like someone switched a lightbulb in the attic, “I got an idea.”

“What’s that?” Applejack asked.

“What if, as a group, go to that Equestria place for a day on a weekend.”

The table went silent so I added, “I mean, we don’t have to do it this very weekend, but maybe next Saturday that we as a group step through the portal, take a look around and come right back here. Besides, it’s been quite an inspiration for my artwork so far so maybe it could inspire all of you as well.”

“Next Saturday?” Rainbow asked.

“Any objections to the idea?” the group looked at each other. Sunset spoke up, “How about you give us time to think about this.”

“Fine by me,” I said as I got up from my seat. “I’m going to start heading home anyway, and besides, I’m in no hurry as it is. So take your time, oh, and by-the-way, thanks for the free meal. It’s been interesting talking to you girls.” And with that, I roller-skated back to my car.

Author's Note

At this point in time, I've just ran into writer's block, if anyone would give any suggestions on where to go with this story, please let me know.

4: The Piano and the Changeling Interrogation.

Author's Note

Just to warn you, this may be not exactly be my best writing, I had dozens of interruptions for writing this chapter and even I'm not exactly sure if it's any good. But here it is nevertheless.

4: The Piano and the Changeling Interrogation.

Every evening right after dinner, I always set some time for creating art. But before doing that, I must do a kind of ritual, in that beforehand, I either listen to some music or play something that would inspire a kind of emotion.

Tonight I would play on my stand-up piano that’s right on my front porch. I’m in the mood for something chaotic, loud and downright ugly for the entire world to hear. This is why I chose Beethoven’s great fugue for four hands. Now in any other situation when I’m alone, this would be impossible with two hands. But thanks to these powers; the piano is playing itself alongside with me.

To be honest, banging out my most favorite piece of music of all time at eight o’clock gives me the chance to annoy my next door neighbors until one by one they all move away. The sadistic side of me couldn't help but laugh at such an idea. But tonight was business as usual for the idea I have in mind for a painting to prep for. It would be based on the darkest hallucination while I was in Equestria of being in that hospital of horrors. And what better music to inspire such unpleasantness then one of the worst pieces of music that Beethoven has ever written?

“Hey Mr. Disc,” I looked up from my piano to the three crusaders. The three waved at me as they passed by, so I smiled and waved at them back while the music still played without me.

“Evening girls,” I said as they went on their way and I focused back to the keyboard that’d been playing by itself. A moment later I heard the shaking of leaves coming from the unkempt bushes near the porch. I looked up to see that the bush had a lump that wasn't there before; along with a pair of shoes that I've never seen before. Raising an eyebrow, I got up from the chair while the piano continued to bang out the notes.

It didn't help whoever it was that the guy was shaking, I suppose out of fear or something. I walked over to the bush and reached in to feel someone’s shirt and pulled the guy out. The fellow screamed, “Don’t hurt me!”

At first glance, he looked like a student from the high school. But in the porch lights, he looks like something of a crossbreed of human and a kind of bug. For one, his eyes were solid blue without a single pupil in them. He was bald, had a kind of hard skin and looking at his short sleeve blue shirt I saw that his arms had more holes than Swiss cheese. The guy seemed clearly frightened at the sight of me as he tried to squirm out of my grasp.

“Hey wait-a-minute,” I tried to get his attention until he broke loose and tried to make a run for it. He didn't get too far as I tied his legs with ropes, making him fall over. And with these ropes, I pulled him back onto my lawn. “You! Stop it right now!” I snapped at the stranger, this did the trick as he stopped struggling. “Are you ready to listen?” I asked and he nodded. “Now who are you and what were you doing hiding in my bushes anyway?”

The Swiss cheese guy was shaking in the ropes, “P-Please Discord, I-”

“Don’t call me that! Who are you?” I demanded.

“C-Charlie.”

“Alright, Charlie, what are you and what were you doing in my bush,” I stopped, I realized something. “Wait, how did you know my name?”

“I-I… I've heard a-about you.” He said as he tried to escape in his binds, “You are the spirit of chaos himself are you?”

I blinked, “Hold on, you’re not from Equestria by any chance are you?”

“Uh… Y-Yeah.”

I raised an eyebrow, “W-Want me to prove it?” he asked. I told him that it might help somewhat. The next thing I knew, the guy burst into flames. I jumped back, and then I reached for my pills because after the flames subsided, there on the ground still tied up was me. Instead of being the other me from Equestria, this one looks just like me, the human me.

I demanded what he is, “A changeling sir. I’m a changeling.”

“Can’t you… I don’t know, change back?” He did as I said, “Come inside, I want to have a further talk with you.” With a snap of my fingers, the piano stopped playing and the ropes made him stand up and he started walking towards my front door. I had him sat down at one of the armchairs I have around while I sat in the other. Charlie was still shaking.

“Won’t you just calm down? I just wanna talk.”

“I-Is that all?” he asked.

“Why are you afraid of me?”

“I’m not a fool! I know the stories. The mad spirit that turns everything inside-out and bends reality to your every whim; I-I've heard what you've done to us, Changelings.”

“I think you've might be confusing me for the other me. I’m just an art teacher. But you sir still haven’t answered my question. What were you doing in my bushes?”

At first, he didn't seem to say anything. That was until I snapped my fingers to levitate everything that isn't nailed down to float above his head. He saw the tables, the chairs; the heavy bookcases still contained my library, the kitchen wear, etc. Apparently, he got the message. “A-Alright! I’ll tell! I’ll tell!” he said. “I’m a spy for our queen Chrysalis to spy on the Crystal Empire! They've been transporting a crate from there to Ponyville and back in an armored train, so my mission is to find out what they've been caring. A-And I just fell through. Please, I don’t know where I am or what I've been changed into just please don’t crush me!”

That was all I needed to hear. With another snap, I placed all the items back to where they were. “Thank you very kindly for telling me that,” I thanked him. And with a whistle, the ropes unwound off of him, much to his confusion.

“W-Wait, y-you’re just letting me go?”

I laughed, “Why Charlie, of course not! With information like that, I’m going to have to contact a few people. But while we wait,” I said, giving him a sadistic smile. “I’m in need for a model for several portraits. And don’t worry; I’ll come up with ways to make you look as ridiculous as possible.”

He gulped; this is going to be fun.

5: Portrait of a Changeling.

“I look more ridiculous than the last one,” Charlie grumbled.

“That’s perfect, now hold this,” I handed him over a black umbrella with the iconic parrot head along with a carpet bag. “And luckily for you, I’m nearly done anyway with this painting.”

“But looking like this? You’re mad.”

“Why thank you.”

The doorbell rang, “The door’s open,” I called out. I heard the front door open along with a few footsteps and told her that I’m in here. Soon enough, Sunset and Fluttershy came into the room; of course, the first question they had was towards the Mary Poppins impersonator in the middle of the studio.

“My good ladies,” I said, “allow me to introduce you to Charlie, a genuine Changeling spy that’s assisting me at the moment.”

“You have a Changeling!” Sunset exclaimed. With a snap of my fingers, I let my paintbrush float in the air to paint over the sketch I've already made.

Fluttershy asked what a Changeling is, “A creature that could change into anyone and it feeds on love, it’s something like a vampire only instead of blood it eats love.” Sunset explained while looking at me with a concerned look while adding “And you do know that they’re dangerous right?”

“Not to me, (Eh, hold up the umbrella just a little higher, thanks) when I caught him, he seemed to be terrified of me. How can something be so dangerous when it’s scared of you? Besides, he’s been very helpful too.”

“Peinlich wohl eher,” Charlie muttered. *

“What was that?” I asked.

“Nothing sir,” he said, still looking cross.

“So what are you planning to do with him?” Sunset questioned.

“Not too sure,” I confessed. “Since you’re from Equestria, I figured that you might have some idea.”

“How did he get here anyway?”

“Yes Charlie, explain to them how you got here,” and he did. He explained that he was spying for some queen, that his mission was to figure out what a train was carrying in which he found the mirror. He told of how he fell right through and followed the crusaders until he ended up on my front lawn.

“So, what do you actually look like?” Fluttershy asked.

“Just give me a moment,” I told her. “I’m nearly done with the portrait.” After the final touches of Mary Poppins being submerged underwater, I gave the guy the order to drop the disguise and placed the painting next to the other ones that he’d modeled for.

As soon as the guy combusted and Fluttershy ducked behind Ms. Shimmer, the Changeling returned to its Swiss cheese self. Both she and Shy took a few steps back.

“M-Maybe we should tell Twilight about this,” Fluttershy said to Sunset.

“What did you say?” Charlie asked. “Did you say Twilight? As in Princess Twilight?”

“Um… yes?”

“So there is a connection,” he muttered. Charlie glanced over to the glass door leading to the back yard and tried to make a run for it. With a wipe of my hand, the Changeling ran into a solid wall.

“Tisk, tisk Charlie, and here you were being so good,” I told him, shaking my head in disapproval. With a snap of my fingers, he found himself being chained to a seventy-pound ball. I turned to the girls, “So, any ideas on what to do with him?”

“I could send a message to Twilight to have some guards waiting from him on the other side,” Sunset said. “But what to do with him as of now, I’m not really sure.”

“Okay, and also, have any of you figured out about our field trip?”

“Oh, yes we have,” Fluttershy said. “We decided that we should go on this Saturday, well, all of us except for Sunset.”

I gave Sunset a confused look, “You’re not coming?”

She shook her head, “As tempting as it is, now that the portal is open, I’m… don’t feel ready go to back there yet. If I go over, Celestia would certainly know and I can easily predict that it won’t end well.”

“Alright, this Saturday huh? Well, I think I can do that. But that’s only a few days away, so in the meantime, what are you gonna do with him?” I pointed to the Changeling trying to drag the heavy metal ball around.

“Do I have a say in this?” he asked.

“Will you be good for now on?” I asked him like how a parent would ask their children after they've done something bad.

“Yes, yes, now would you let me out of these chains?”

“Oh very well, as long as you promise to behave yourself,” I heard him groan before agreeing to my request, thereby making the ball and chain disappear.

“Um, excuse me,” Fluttershy said, stepping out from her hiding place. “Are you sick?”

“Me? Sick?” Charlie asked clearly confused.

“Y-Your arms are full of holes.”

He looked down, “So? I've always had holes. And what are you anyway?”

“Um, a person.”

“So, is that what I am? A person?” he sighed. “This is turning into a really weird day for me.”

“Hmm. You know,” I cut in. “I think you should let Twilight know about this and tell us when it’s convenient for us to hand over Swiss cheese boy over to them. But until then, I think I might use our prisoner of circumstance for my classes tomorrow.”

“Like an assistant?” Fluttershy asked.

“Why not? The guy can change into anybody, and I don’t think we've got around to doing portraits yet. So how about this, you go tell Twilight while I’ll keep him here so he doesn't do any harm to anyone.”

“You sure you can handle it?” Shimmer asked.

“My dear, I have superpowers now, I think I could handle a spy.”

After all, is said and done, I turned back to Charlie, “So what do you eat anyway?”

“Just as one of them said, I feed on love.”

“But how do you do that? It’s not like you can suck it out of a straw or anything.”

Charlie face-palmed, “Ugh, this is going to be a long night.”

Author's Note

* Translation: "Embarrassing is much more likely," Charlie muttered.

6: Art Classes with the Perfect Model.

“How long is this going to take?” Charlie asked as he walked beside me. Through a favor, I managed to give the spy a long sleeve hoodie along with a pair of sunglasses while we’re on school grounds. At this point, the Changeling had been obedient from every request I give. (Get your minds out of the gutter, will you! Humanoid insects’ aren’t my thing, thank you very much.) Anyway, the clock read ten minutes till school starts.

“The first hour starts at 8:30 and the last at 3:30 in the afternoon. Lunch is at 12:15 and it goes on until 12:50. You’ll be eating with us teachers since I still have to keep an eye on you.”

“What if I need a restroom?”

“I find that very doubtful.”

“Why’s that.”

“You've never asked for one up until now.”

Even though I couldn't see it through the sunglasses, I could tell he was glaring at me. “Now come along,” I told him. “We have some classes to attend to.”

I led him into the school, though students, doors, and rows upon rows of lockers until I came to room 113, my classroom. I unlocked the door and went in with Charlie following behind. With a whistle, a chair fell from the ceiling and landed right in front of Charlie. Getting the hint, he took a seat while I took mine.

By the time the first period rolled in, students were falling through the door and taking their usual places among the black tables. Until the bell rang the students put their stuff down near their chairs, talked and gave a glance over to Charlie who had his arms folded.

Then came the bell for 8:30, “Good morning class,” I said. “Today we’re going to do something a little fun. With the help of my assistant,” I gestured over to Charlie, “we’re going to do portraits today. This here is a professional model that will be assisting us.”

A student raised her hand, “Mr. Disc, how is he a professional model? I've never seen him in any magazine.”

“Ah, of course, you wouldn't but be patient with me; you’re all about to see why in a moment. But before we do so, can anyone tell me, what are some important elements to keep in mind while doing a portrait, anyone?”

Another student raised his hand, “Aren't portraits more difficult because the one we’re drawing is alive?”

“Very good,” I said nodding, “and the reason for that?”

“Well, they could move at any time so it might be hard for us to copy everything down at once.”

“Yes, when doing a portrait it’s always important to keep the subject, or in this case, our model in one particular place in one particular posture. In terms of painting or drawing, you might want to keep an eye on how light is cast on our model from where all of you are sitting. Also, keep in mind of color and shading as well. And you’ll all be drawing this out by using chalk or colored pencils, your choice. Also, these portraits will be due at the end of the class so let’s not waste any more time than we've already had.”

I turned to Charlie, “You can take off the glasses and hoodie now,” I told him. He did, and this, of course, is quickly followed by the shrieking in which I had to calm the class down. To tell them that it’s alright, he’s not going to hurt them and told the Changeling to turn into somebody in the classroom. After bursting into flames he changed into one of my students with a frown on his face.

“I call this one, the grump,” I joked.

_*_

“How much longer?” Charlie asked now sounding tired. “I’m starving here,” he added.

A minute later, the bell rang for lunch and all the students through their portraits at my desk as they all rushed out. Charlie dropped the disguise, back into Swiss cheese boy with his arms around his stomach.

“Hungry?” I asked.

“I haven’t had much since yesterday,” he looked at me annoyed. Then he stopped and sniffed the air. “What is that?” he asked. “It smells so… good.” I looked up in time to see a few students walk past the door, immediately putting two and two together what’s about to happen.

“Now Charlie,” I said but he rushed out of the room followed by a couple of screams. I rushed right out to find that he’d tackled a couple of students. I grabbed the school paper, rolled it up and start hitting Charlie with it. “No! Bad Charlie! Off! Now!”

“Ow! Alright! Alright!” He got up from the couple in which I let a hand to both of them.

“I am so, so sorry about that, don’t know what’s got into him,” I apologized.

“It’s alright, we’re fine,” the green haired student turned to a familiar looking student with blue and pink hair. “Come on Bonnie,” she said as the two walked away.

I turned my attention to Charlie, “What was that for?!” I scolded.

“Hey, I’m hungry, and I just only had a snack back there.”

“But did you have to attack just to eat?” I dragged him by the ear back into my classroom. I handed him the hoodie and sunglasses.

“You would too if you were as hungry as I am,” I muttered.

“Uh-huh. Now let’s just get to-” I looked at my desk and notice something was dripping. It looked like melted white wax that was dripping from above. I looked up the ceiling and saw that it was melting. Not only that but the entire room seemed to be melting, even Charlie.

“No. Not this again,” I reached for the pockets of my melting clothes to grab my pills. I open the melting cap and took a few of the melting pills down my throat. I snapped my fingers to lock the door, locking both myself and Charlie in.

“Uh, what’s going on?” Charlie asked, his voice sounding nervous.

I sat down in my chair and closed my eyes for a few moments for the delusion to go away. Charlie asked again and I told him to just wait. Taking in large breaths of air in and out of my lungs, hoping that the melting would quickly pass.

I open my eyes to see the classroom back to normal. So with it gone, I had the door open.

7: Of Teachers’ Lounges and Cafeterias.

In every school, there is a place for us teachers and staff get together for lunch to get away from the previous hours of teaching, cleaning up, counseling, or sending students into detention. Since this particular room is usually off-limits to other students, it gives all of us a private room for gossip about this or that student.

The room is often times visited by one or both of our bosses. Sometimes it’s Celestia with a tuna sandwich or Luna with taco soup. Depending on the day, usually either one of them shows up, but sometimes the other has to stay because this student had done A, B or C and therefore must be dealt with in an orderly fashion (Whatever that means).

There’s an unwritten rule with the teacher’s lounge, in that students can be allowed in but they have to be invited in by a teacher or the principals. So when I lead Charlie though the door and get a room full of stares, I have to say, “He’s with me.”

As soon as Charlie walked right in and spots her majesty Principal Celestia looking up, he froze right there and then.

“Disc, who’s this?” Celestia asked.

“This here is Charlie, say hello Charlie.”

“Mmmmmumm…” he said with his legs starting to shake.

“He’s a nephew of mine,” I told them. “Sorry, he’s just a little shy.”

“Mmmummmph!”

“More or less,” I added as I walked him over to a table. Charlie, in the meantime, had was still looking in Celestia’s direction through his sunglasses.

“What’s with you?” I whispered to him.

“Y-You d-d-didn't t-tell me sh-she’s g-g-going t-to b-be here!” he whispered back.

“Who? My Boss?”

“That makes it worse! Can I go somewhere else?!”

“Hey Disc,” this voice came from Ms. Cheerilee with a paper bag. She asked if she can sit with us and I told her to go ahead.

“Where’s your lunch?” she asked. I asked her if she has a napkin on her, “Yeah sure, but why?”

“You’ll see,” I took the napkin and unfold it.

“What? Are you going to do a magic trick or something?” she joked.

“You’d be surprised; I’m actually getting quite good at it lately.”

Charlie gave a Humph while I spread the napkin flat on the table. Slowly, there were clinks and clanks, sizzles and pops when I lifted the napkin off from the table for it to materialize a Thanksgiving lunch with a lit candelabrum. Both Charlie and Cheerliee had their mouths hit the table.

“So, you wanna trade for something?” I asked.

_*_

Ten minutes into eating lunch, Cheerliee had noticed that Charlie hadn’t touched anything from the impromptu Thanksgiving meal, he still had a hand over his stomach.

“Are you alright dearie?” she asked.

“Hum?”

“You haven’t touched anything, is everything alright?”

“Uh, yeah. I’m fine,” Cheerliee looked away with a concerned look, not noticing that Charlie was sucking a little bit of green mist from her.

_*_

We still had about ten minutes left with lunch and Charlie complained that he’s still hungry. Even after taking a little bit of love from teacher to teacher (that is, except for Celestia, he wouldn't go anywhere near her), so we ended headed towards the cafeteria. I gave him specific instructions that if he’s going to eat, he has to eat a little bit at a time so it doesn't raise suspicion.

“I’m a spy, I know how to do something like this,” he waved it off.

“How old did you say you were?” I asked.

“Huh? How old...? I don’t know.”

“What do you mean, you don’t know?”

“I don’t know, we Changelings don’t really count how old we are. Why, should we?”

“So, you really don’t know how old you are?”

He shrugged, “None of us see the reason to, and we’re alive aren't we? Why should it matter if we just got hatched or about to be squished? As long as one is useful, age doesn't mean anything.”

At this point, we reached the cafeteria. I turned to him, “I’ll be watching, you've got until the bell rings.” He nodded and starts blending in with the crowd.

“Hey, Mr. Disc!” cried three familiar voices. I turned to the source to find the Crusaders; I smiled and walked over to their table.

“Afternoon girls, anything new today?” I asked while still keeping an eye on Charlie.

“Other than seein’ a stupid movie from last night, nothin’ much,” Applebloom said finishing her apple.

I asked them which movie, “Ever heard of ‘They Live Among Us?’” Scootaloo (a.k.a only to me as Applebloom’s secret crush) asked. I told her that I've heard of it but haven’t seen it yet. “Trust us, you don’t wanna see it, it’s not worth the eight dollars a pop to go.”

“How come?”

“It was dumb,” Sweetie Belle spoke. “The acting was pretty silly, the writing was dumb, and for the life of me I can’t tell you it was about.”

“Wasn't it to do with a monster that can change into anybody?” Scootaloo asked, which reminded me to look up at the Changeling.

“So what are ya girls planning on today?” I asked.

“Well, we’d figure we might wanna make a better movie of our own,” Applebloom said, turning to the other two Crusaders. “But what do ya think it would be about though?”

“That’s a tough one,” Sweetie uttered. “I guess animation is out the window, I've heard it’ll take forever.”

“If I make a suggestion here,” I said. “Why not film something that you girls are interested in, make something that you girls would like to watch.”

“That’s pretty sound advice,” Scootaloo said turning to the other two. “Come on, let’s try throwing ideas while we still can. Thanks, Mr. D.”

The three of them got up from their table and threw their lunch away. I looked over to where Charlie is, and he’s seemed to be headed for Sunset’s table. Perhaps I should step over and ask them if they heard anything from Twilight yet.

8: Au revoir, Charlie the Changeling.

Author's Note

To my Fellow Bronies and Pegasisters,

I regret to inform you that for this story, between the dates of December 26th though January 3rd, that updates will most likely be lacking between this time. The reason being that I am going on a vacation with my family to see an uncle of mine who lives in Arizona around Phoenix. Because of this, I may not have internet access from my laptop to do the updates nor perhaps the time to write them.

I apologize for the inconvenience. I will try to do what I can and perhaps update a chapter or two before I have to go, but I'm not making promises on that aspect.

Until then, enjoy the latest chapter.

You're fellow storyteller,

-CrackedInkWell.

8: Au revoir, Charlie the Changeling.

After knocking on the table to get their attention, the six of them looked up to see who it is.

“Howdy Disc,” Applejoe said. No, that’s not right. It’s-

“Aren't you supposed to keep an eye on that Changeling?” Sunset interrupted my thoughts.

“I am, the guy just got hungry so I have to feed ‘em.” I pointed to Charlie who wasn't too far away. “In fact, hey Charlie, come here,” I guessed him over. He noticed and did as I asked.

“Yes, sir?”

“You fed?”

He shrugged, “I’ll be fine for now. Now, what do you want?”

“Come sit with us,” I said taking a seat next to the girls. He did the same on the other end of the table. “So Sunset, anything from the other side yet?” I asked.

“Actually yeah,” Sunset nodded. “She said that the mirror has been set up in her castle in Ponyville now. And she said that she’ll have the guards over by the time school ends to take him in.”

“You people have a weird way of treating prisoners,” Charlie commented with his arms folded.

“Also, I've got her response to our plans for Saturday,” Sunset added. “She said she’s thrilled with the idea but, knowing her, she wants to do it with caution. Their other selves are curious about it too and trying to figure out how to tell each other apart before you guys get there. Oh, and their Pinkie is apparently bouncing off the walls.”

“That excited huh?” I asked.

“No, it said that she’s seriously bouncing off of everything like someone threw a bouncy ball really hard.”

“I don’t blame her,” human Pinkie said. “I would too if I found out that another me and other duplicates of my bestest, bestest of friends are coming over!”

“I was told that the other me is really into racing,” Rainbow remarked. “I bet I can beat her, I’m still number one at the track.”

“What’s this about ‘other selves’?” Charlie asked.

“Dear, why are you wearing sunglasses inside?” Rarity asked. “And why is your hoodie up? It’s not that cold.”

“It’s his idea,” Charlie pointed to me. “And again, what do you mean by ‘other selves’?”

“Wait, you haven’t figured out yet?” Sunset said with a raised eyebrow. “Do you know who these guys are?”

“What are you even… wait,” Charlie, even though still wearing the glasses, seemed to be scanning who he was sitting with. “Three apples, three diamonds, rainbow lightning, three balloons, and three butterflies… You’re not. No. A-Are you?”

“The Elements of Harmony?” Sunset answered. “Well, this world’s version of them anyway.”

Charlie gulped. “Out of the frying pan,” he said. “And into the bonfire.”

“There there,” Fluttershy reinsured. “It’s not all that bad.”

“You’re kidding me right?” Charlie asked. “I just failed a mission spectacularly, ended up in… whatever this place is; I've just got captured by every Changeling’s worst nightmare; been humiliated; forced to put up disguise after disguise for him and his class’s amusement; gave to eat little bit of love from everyone instead as much as I want from any of them; I've just learned that I’m going to be delivered to the Royal Guards soon? Oh, and to top it all off, I’m now sitting down with, where I come from, the ponies who helped the fall of us Changelings. So how, pray tell, can I not think that?”

Fluttershy shirked nearly under the table as he was staring her down.

“Hey, look on the bright side,” Pinkie said.

“What bright side?” Charlie questioned.

“I don’t know,” she replied. “There’s always a bright side to everything if you look.”

Charlie was about to say something when Rainbow asked, “So what do ya really look like under there?”

“Allow me to give you a hint,” he said as he raised his arm up and with the other pulled a sleeve down to show his arms that looked like he was shot by shrapnel.

“Whoa!” Applejack (I think I've got the name right this time) spoke what was of their minds.

“Is this for real?” Rarity asked who has an interesting look that I want to put in a painting. It was a look between horrified and fascinated.

“That’s… kinda cool,” this remark came from Rainbow in which she got her share of stares. “What? It is, in a weird way.”

“That’s gotta be the first time I've ever heard that from anyone,” Charlie said as he rolled his sleeve back up.

Then, the bell rang. “Come along Charlie, let’s go.” Both him and I got up from our seats, “Oh, and do you girls want to speak with me after school?”

“Eh, Ah don’t see why not,” Applejack shrugged as she along the rest of them were picking up their lunches. “The same place as yesterday Ah reckon.”

“Fair enough, now come along Charlie, let’s go.”

_*_

“Well, that was a good day for teaching.”

“I just sat there all day,” Charlie muttered. By now, school just got out and the students were making their way out of the school. We were waiting on the front steps until there weren't so many students that were around. About ten minutes later, it was safe enough and I took Charlie by the collar and headed towards the statue.

“Actually, Pinkie was right on one thing.”

“What’s that?” he asked.

“You’re going back to your world.”

“What’s the difference? I’m stepping out of one prison into another.”

“True, but at least you’ll have the form that you know and love back.”

“Well… I guess it’s rather weird walking on two legs.”

“Oh, and before you go Charlie the Changeling, do me a favor,” I made him look at me in the eye. “When you get back on the other side and if you happen to ran into one of my other bosses, tell them that I said, hello.” And with that, I pushed him, where he tumbled backward into the portal.

“Well, that’s taken care of,” I said dusting off my hands. “Hmm. And you know what; a shake sounds nice about now.” I jumped in the air and conjured up a Pogo stick and started making my way to the restaurant.

It’s good to have superpowers.

(The C-Files: According to Scootaloo.)

With school now done and over with, and the girls in the Crusader mobile, our next stop in paving the way for filmmakers is at Ms. Cheerliee’s house. The reason for that is that she said that we can borrow her camera for our new project as long as we’re careful with it.

“You ever noticed these black cars around?” I heard Sweetie Belle asked. I asked her what she was talking about and she pointed to a car that’s painted black and had one of those tinted windows going the other way. “Like that one, you ever noticed that there are more of them lately?”

“What’s so odd about that?” Applebloom asked the same question on my mind as we turned a corner.

“Well, with all the weird things happening lately, have you ever noticed that every time something weird happens those cars always show up?” Sweetie asked. “I mean, first with Sunset Shimmer turning into a demon, then those girls that got the school music-crazy, and even more so after Mr. Disc disappeared for a while. Each time something weird happens, those cars pop up somewhere.”

“Maybe they’re like the F.B.I or something,” I shrugged.

“But why would they?” Applebloom asked, “Why would the government come to our town of all places? It’s not like we’re anythin’ important. Sides, if that’s true, what are they expectin’ ta find? Aliens?”

I slammed the brakes on my scooter, both Applebloom and Sweetie Belle asked: “Hey! What was that for?!”

“That’s it!”

“What’s it?” Applebloom asked.

“Don’t either of you get it?! That has to be the reason?”

“What reason?” Sweetie questioned.

“Our town is invaded by aliens.”

The other two Crusaders looked at me as if I've gone crazy. “Scoots, that’s gotta be the most insane thing Ah’ve ever heard in mah life.”

“No, think about it, I mean, really think about it. Sunset turning into a monster and tried to turn everyone else into zombies; these girls who sang that made everyone mad at each other; and then all the weird stuff happen ever since Mr. Disc reappeared out of nowhere, there’s a connection here.”

“And it’s – Aliens?” Sweetie Belle asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Of course! What else could it be? Sunset is an alien and we've just seen what she really looks like, those girls were using some mind control, and Mr. Disc was abducted and experimented on.”

“That’s jus’ crazy talk,” Applebloom said, clearly unconvinced.

“Okay then, then try to explain to me all the weird stuff that’s been going on?”

“Well…” For a while, she didn't say anything.

“Scoots does have a point,” Sweetie Bell uttered. “Aliens or not, something weird is going on in this town. Especially at our school.”

“But why?” Applebloom asked, “Ah mean, before Sunset, this town has been pretty normal with nothin’ and suddenly this? Why?”

At this point, I had the scooter moving again, I said to them: “Even if I’m wrong with my alien theory, you guys have to agree that something is up.”

“Of course,” Sweetie agreed with me. “You have to be deaf and blind not to notice.”

“What are we gonna do about it?” Applebloom asked a very important question.

“Maybe we could investigate?” I suggested. “Come to think of it, Cheerilee's camera might come in handy after all. We could go around interviewing people about the weird things happening.”

“Like Mr. Disc?” Sweetie asked.

“I guess that’s a good place to start, after all,” I slowed the scooter down in front of Cheerilee's house. “He’s the one who for the past several days that weird stuff has been happening. Yeah, let’s get the camera and start with him.”

After parking the Crusader mobile, we went up to Cheerilee's door and rang the doorbell. A moment later our teacher opens up, “Yes, I have the camera.” She told us, “I just found it a minute ago.”

She hands us over the camera to us, “Thanks Ms. Cheerilee,” Sweetie said, “Hey, Ms. Cheerilee?”

“Yes?”

“Has anything weird happen recently?”

Ms. Cheerilee tilts her head to the side with a raised eyebrow. “What do you mean by that?”

“We've figured out what we’re gonna film,” Applebloom said. “Since there have been some weird things that have been goin’ on here lately, we figured that we might wanna make a movie about that. So we might wanna talk to some folks about it.”

“Like a documentary?” Cheerilee asked.

“I guess so,” I answered. “We figured that we wanna start with Mr. Disc first.”

“Mr. Disc…” Cheerilee muttered, “Actually, now you've mentioned it, something odd did happen today.”

“What’s that?” the three of us asked.

“During lunch, while I was in the teachers’ lounge. Mr. Disc brought a nephew of his, seemed to be very shy. But I've noticed he hasn't eaten anything. Oh, and Disc pulled off the most impressive magic trick I've ever seen.”

“How so?” I asked.

“Just using a napkin, he made a whole Thanksgiving meal appear out of nowhere. I still haven’t figured out how he did it, but I must say, the turkey and the sweet-potatoes were rather good.”

The three of us looked at each other, all of us shared the expression that says: “We really need to look into this.” We thanked Ms. Cheerilee and told her that we’d be careful with the camera.

“So where do ya think Mr. D might be at this time of day?” Applebloom asked as she and Sweetie Belle got into the Crusader mobile.

“Let’s try swinging over to his house first and see if he’s there,” I said putting my helmet on and starting the motor. A few streets and turns later we came in front of Mr. D’s house with the piano still on his front porch. We went up to knock on his door to be responded with nothing.

Just when we’re about to leave, I think Sweetie Belle noticed the music book sheet thing on the piano when she asked, “What’s this?”

We turned our attention to the book that it looked like he left from the night before. The thing was open along with the exposed keyboard, for this was one of those pianos where you can close the lid. Unless anyone didn't know about Mr. Disc like us, nobody would have thought that this was strange. After all, we've come here from time to time, and we always saw the keyboard is always closed. And it was really, really rare that he would leave it open.

But what really got our attention was the music itself, apparently, it was written so that two people could play it. I think it was Sweetie Belle who said that this has to be what he was playing last night, but that didn't make any sense. Why would you keep a piece of music that’s written for two when he wouldn't allow anyone to touch it, we included? I mean, sure, Cheerilee did mention about a nephew, but didn't Mr. D say that he didn't have a family?

So what’s going on here?

9: On Your Mark...

Author's Note

I know, this is a huge surprise ain't it? And I'm still on vacation. So you might be wondering how this is possible. You see, for Christmas I've got a tablet (with a spell check that more or less kinda works) as well as a portable hotspot that I can make this possible. So until January 3rd, don't expect a new chapter every day until then.

Also, this may have some spelling/grammar problems so expect that.

Thank you.

9: On Your Mark...

Perhaps it's because that I don't go to Sugarcube Corner very often, but is it me, or are there more people here than any of the restaurants I go to? It was my first thought when I stepped inside the shop that's paying more attention to the ceiling then the food. I had to squeeze myself past people who had their phones pointing towards yesterday's miracle. Pass through the reporter's (school paper, town and otherwise) taking interviews and pictures of my artwork, wondering all the while who did this and how. I twisted and danced my way to the table with the girls already munching away at their food.

"So," I said after practically fighting a battle against everybody else for a chair. "Did I miss anything?"

"I'll say," Rainbow Dash spoke with an annoyed look. "You have any idea how difficult it was just to get through the front door?"

"I've never seen anything like it," Pinkie said. "I mean, I have seen this place busy before, but I've never, ever seen these many persons crammed in here before."

"Look on the bright side," I told her. "At least this place is getting attention for something." I looked up at the instant mural, "Are the owners here gonna keep it? I think it gives this place some class."

"Mr. Disc," I tore my eyes away to give my attention to Sunset. "As increasable as your artwork appearing out of nowhere, don't you think you ought to tone it down a little?"

"What? Why?" I whined. "I'm having so much fun with these superpowers"

"Look, having fun is one thing, but when you keep doing making weird things appear out of thin air, someone is going to notice."

"And you're point being...?"

"Disc," Applejack spoke up. "Don't ya think that one of these days you might end up in big huge trouble?"

"Why?" I answered. "As far as I know, nobody is dead because of me. I've done no harm."

"But what about the ice that the school had to clean up?" Fluttershy questioned.

"So I left a puddle behind," they stared at me. "Okay, a huge puddle. So you're point being?"

"Mr. Disc, dear, don't you think that perhaps you might be taking this a little too far?" Rarity asked. "Don't get me wrong, I would love to do what you do, but what if it gets out of hand?"

"Rarity's right," Sunset agreed. "What if you do something that's too big for you to handle and it's so big that everyone sees it?"

"Why are you girls talking about this like it's a bad thing?" I questioned them. "After all, I took care of a spy from an alternative universe and Charlie is back now in the hands- (no that ain't right) in the hooves of the good guys now. Look, as far as I see it, these powers have been doing the best here. Besides, I do know my limits. Now, other than that craving for a shake and maybe some fries, I did come here for another reason."

"And that is?" Sunset raised an eyebrow.

"So what's the plan for our little field trip, hum?"

"Well," Applejack answered. "We'd figured that this Saturday we'd drop in at nine, look around and come right back here by five. We'll jus' tell our families that we're gonna hang out with each other and we'll be back by dinner. Besides, none of us are lyin' if it's true."

"Both of our sisters will be at Scootaloo's," Rarity added. "This will be a good thing since neither of us needs to worry about them while we’re away."

"And what about Twilight?" I asked.

"She said that she's putting together a schedule when they arrive," Sunset said. "And she also said something about they'll have their ears plugged when they arrive."

"Why would they wear earplugs?" Pinkie asked.

"She said that by the time you guys get there, there's gonna be a lot of screaming."

"Oh come on, I didn't scream when I fell through," I retorted. The girls, however, didn't buy into it.

"Okay, perhaps I did a little," I rolled my eyes before adding: "Oh, and just a friendly warning for you all; when you girls get to the other side, I guess that you might be missing a few things like thumbs. Just a heads up."

"Yeah, Twilight gave us the heads up already," Rainbow said. "Although, I can't help but wonder what it's like to be a pony. I mean, having no hands or feet, having a tail, a long neck and all that. Shimmer?"

"You got me," Sunset confessed. "I was born a unicorn and I'm not sure how to answer that question. But I think it could be something like how I turned human; it's weird to get used to at first."

"Ah'm looking forward to it myself," Applejack said. "Ah've always wanted an adventure in my life outside of this town, and if that means visiting a friend from a completely different world by turning into a pony for a day, Ah'm game."

Fluttershy nodded, "I want to see what their animals are like and if they could talk." This time, it was Shy who was getting all the weird looks, "W-Well, why not? They have ponies that can talk too."

10: .... Get Set...

Author's Note

Happy New Year everyone!

10: .... Get Set...

I looked at my watch, it's Saturday morning, eight fifty, so where is everybody? I had my breakfast, had my hand stitched coat cleaned and I'm all ready to go back to Wonderland, so aren't they coming? I had been pacing for a good fifteen minutes at the base of the statue waiting for the others-

"Morning Mr. D!" Huh, what'd ya know? I turned to find Pinkie leading the way with the other girls, Ms. Shimmer included.

"Good morning yourselves," I nodded to them. "You all ready to go?"

"You bet," Rainbow said. "I'm more than ready."

"I'm taking with me a few essentials," Madame Rarity said dragging a suitcase that would easily fit a kid along with a mini-fridge.

I narrowed my eyes, "Define 'essential'."

"Everything that a lady needs to get through the day," she replied. I decided right there and then to drop the conversation if I didn't we most likely be here for a week.

"Mr. Disc?" Fluttershy asked, "Do you have your pills with you?"

"Of course," I patted my pocket. "I wouldn't dare go anywhere without them."

Sunset looked at her watch, "It's almost nine, so before any of ya go, I think I should give you guys a few heads-ups."

"Fair enough," Applejack agreed.

"Well, apart from getting new bodies over there, Twilight said that your other selves should be waiting on the other side- what was that?" we heard a rustle in a bush nearby, we turned to see nothing out of the ordinary. "The other thing is," Sunset went on. "That when you do get these new bodies, it's important to get used to them as quickly as possible like getting your legs backward and stuff like that. However, they'll be there to assist you. Oh, and one last thing, if any of you do happen to run into Celestia, just, please don't talk about me."

The girls nodded.

"So, shall we get going or what?" I asked.

"W-Well, I don't know..." Fluttershy muttered. "Mr. Disc, I'm starting to have second thoughts."

"Oh come on Ms. Shy, there's nothing to worry about," I reinsured her.

"Ah suppose he's right," Applejack said. "After all, Mr. D's been there already so he might know what to watch out for."

"Not to mention Twilight is waiting for us," Pinkie added. The others joined in to convince her, which didn't take very long.

"So I guess we should get a running start," Rainbow mussed. We took a few steps away from the entrance to the rabbit hole with me hugging all five of them.

Suddenly, an old joke popped into my head. Rarity asked what's so funny, "This in a way reminds me of an old joke, “What does Geronimo say before he jumps out of an airplane?" And with these girls in my arms, I ran towards the portal to Ponyland. "Me!" And with that with the girls screaming, we fell in.

_*_

The next thing any of us knew, we all crashed landed and buried in Mount Soft, that's mostly made out of pillows, sickly adorable plushies, soft blankets and a blizzard of feathers.

"I'm okay," I said poking my right arm out of the mountain. Or at least, I think it's my right arm. I and the others dug ourselves out of this said mountain to tumble down onto the floor. Of course, the very first thing we did was to see where we are. To me, it looked like that Crystal palace only that there's too many books, too many guards and there in front of me is the purple princess herself.

"Julius! Girls! Welcome to Equestria!" she announced to us.

"Gasp! Twilight!" Pinkie greeted her while standing on her two legs, "Whoa! My legs are backward!" she said before falling face first onto the crystallized floor. This was quickly followed with what I think is "I'm okay!"

"Pinkie are you-" was as far as Twilight has gotten before Rarity screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Don't look at me!" she yelled, trying to cover herself with a pillow. "Uh, Twilight, dear, where are my clothes?"

"The portal has a funny way of changing one's appearance," this time, this new voice came from none other than my other white boss herself. "And I assure you, Rarity, that as far as modesty goes, you'll be alright here."

I looked down, "Not much to see anyway," I muttered. The five of them looked at me, "What? Tell me if I'm wrong."

"Principal Celestia?" Rainbow asked as she got up on her own four hooves. "Is that you?"

This Celestia gave a giggle, "I'm a Celestia. But I'm not the Celestia that you know. In this world, I'm known as Princess Celestia."

"Huh, guess that makes sense," Applejack said, following Rainbow's example. "In a way, you're always in charge of everythin'."

"You have no idea," I muttered.

"What was that Julius?" Celestia asked.

"Nothing Madame," I quickly replied.

"There's so much I want to show you all," Twilight said as she went up to each one to hug them.

"Um, speaking of showing," Fluttershy spoke up. "Where are we exactly?"

"You're in Twilight's place in Ponyville." Celestia explained to them, "And let me just say that-" she was cut off when screaming rang in the room as a blur flew from the mirror and right into Mount Soft.

"Alright you alien!" a familiar voice said. Suddenly, up pops out an orange pony's head with purple hair.

"Yeah!" said a yellow one with red hair and a bow that popped out with a white one. "What did ya do, to... mah... sis..."

The last to pop out is a unicorn with yellow and red hair. "Uh-oh," said the sheepish voice of Sunset Shimmer.

There was a long pause before those three let out a scream that will be unmatched by the centuries.

11: Eh... Well This is Unexpected.

Screaming.

"Girls," I said.

More screaming.

"Hey Crusaders," I said a little more loudly.

Even more screaming.

"That's it," I muttered, I waved my left hand into a megaphone, and, taking in a deep breath, I told them as politely as high volumes would allow: "PLANET EARTH TO CRUSADERS! DO YOU READ ME!?"

That shut them up.

"Now that have I have your attention," I said. "Would the three of-"

"Applebloom!" Applejack spoke what was on our minds: "Jus' what in the name of Sam Hill are the three of you doin' here?"

"Applejack?" the three of them blinked.

"Rarity?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Then the three of them looked up to me, "Mr. Disc? What happened to all of you?"

"And what happened to us?" Scootaloo asked looking down. "And what's with the tiny wings?"

"You have wings?" Applebloom asked.

"Answer the question!" Applejack demanded. "What are you three doin' here?"

"Sunset Shimmer?" the other Celestia asked, "Is that you?"

Sunset took one look at the mirror before she made a run for it. She was about a good foot away before she was stopped mid-air engulfed in a golden light. She was lifted up in the air to be taken face to face with Celestia.

"Uh, Princess Celestia, hey there. He-he..." Ms. Shimmer said sheepishly. "Long time no see?"

"Sunset Shimmer," Celestia said dryly. "The last time I saw you, you were trying to overthrow me. And you showing up is rather unexpected."

Sunset gulped.

"Um, Principal Celestia?" she and I looked to Sweetie Belle with a raised hoof. "That is if it's really you."

"I'm a Celestia," she replied. "And what is it?"

"If it helps any, Sunset Shimmer has been growing nicer. Don't get me wrong, I still think she can be rather, well, bad at times but she's changed."

"She's telling the truth," Twilight stepped in. "You do remember that I've told you how she's changed for the better."

Celestia looked back at Sunset, "I do." Celestia said, "But what I want to know is what made you come back?"

"We can explain that," Scootaloo told us before turning back to her other two friends. "Where's the camera?"

"Don't ya have it?" Applebloom asked Sweetie Belle. For the next thirty or so seconds the three of them mined out Mount Soft until Sweetie Belle popped out with a handheld camera in both of her hooves. And by the looks of it, the thing was still recording.

“Eh…”

“What’s wrong Sweetie Belle?” Applebloom asked.

“How do I stop this thing when I don’t have any fingers?”

“Here, allow me,” I said with a whistle. The camera jumped from Sweetie’s hooves into my lion’s paw. And after fiddling around with it, I got the thing to play back the last few minutes.

The tiny screen rewinds up until we left when we jumped through the portal. At this point, I could feel the other Celestia leaning over my shoulder to take a look.

“Well, that’s that,” the human Ms. Shimmer said as she started to walk away from the statue. Suddenly the camera falls along with the voices of the Crusaders falling out of their hideout. “What the-”

“It’s over Sunset!” Scootaloo proclaimed.

“Where did my sister go?!” Sweetie Belle demanded in her squeaky voice.

“And mine too!” Applebloom joined in.

“Crap,” Ms. Shimmer cursed under her breath. “Uh look, there’s an explanation here.”

“I bet she tricked them to be experimented on their alien planet,” Scoot’s stupidly assumed.

“After what Ah’ve jus’ seen,” Applebloom said. “I reckon you might be right.”

“Is that thing on?” Sunset questioned, pointing towards the camera.

“Yeah,” Sweetie Belle answered. “After we put this up on the web, everyone is gonna know.”

For the next thirty seconds, the camera shook in every direction which was making me nauseous; but the four of them arguing can clearly be heard.

“Give that to me!”

“No! Where’s my sis?!”

“Give me that camera!”

“Not until you tell us what planet you've taken them!”

“Hand it over!”

“No!”

This went on until we see Scoot’s charging at the camera, and by the looks of it, I would guess that they were at the base of the statue. Scootaloo charged, there was some screaming, and suddenly, the camera showed the tunnel of many colors.

Fast-forwarding a little, the camera showed them getting spat out and into the mountain of softness. The rest of the footage was dark, but we did hear Scoots saying: “Alright you alien!”

“Yeah!” Applebloom joined in, “What did ya do, to... mah... sis...” It’s right there that I press stop on the thing.

“So to be perfectly clear,” Celestia said to the crusaders. “This was an accident, correct?”

“Ah guess so,” Applebloom said. “So… Are we on some other planet or what?”

Celestia giggled, “I guess you might say you three have stumbled into a new world. New, and at the same time, familiar.”

“So we’re in an alternative universe?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Right on the head kiddo,” Rainbow nodded. “But seriously, aliens? Really?”

Applebloom and Sweetie turned to Scoot’s, “What?” she asked. “It seemed like it at the time.”

When Scootaloo finished that sentence, Pinkie itched, sneezed and then twitched for a moment, “Omigosh! Guys! There’s a welcome party nearby!”

“Dear,” Rarity said with a raised eyebrow. “What makes you say-”

“Come on!” Pinkie urged on. “They’re waiting for us,” she said as she hopped out of the room with Twilight right on her tail.

“Pinkie wait! You don’t know your way around,” And with that, all of the girls with the exception of Sunset followed Twilight out of the room.

“So what are you going to do with her?” I asked Celestia.

“Can I go back to the human world now?” Ms. Shimmer asked.

“You will go back,” Celestia said. “But I want to have a little talk with you before you do.”

“But-”

“Excuse me, Julius,” she said turning to me. “Would you follow the girls, please? I wish to have a private chat with a former student of mine.”

I saluted, “As you wish Ms. Boss.”

When I left the room, all I've heard from Celestia before it became too far to hear anything was: "Sunset, we have quite a lot of catching up to do..."

12: Establishing Identities.

By the time I found the room where the girls were, a memory of a painting I've made a few years back came to mind. I remembered that I made it as a gift in my first year of teaching. In it, it showed the teachers and staff, but with it, I've painted each of them twice to make it look like they all had a twin. That the only thing to tell each other apart was from the clothes and hairstyles that I've painted a few days later.

When I entered the room, the girls were dumbstruck at what was in the middle of the crystal round table. It was them. I looked between the girls that I think I've come with along with the crusaders, and their doubles that reflected their surprise.

“Whoa, Twi you weren't kidding.” The other Rainbow Dash said as she went up to her double. “You girls are seeing this right? They look just like us in every way.”

“And even sounds like us,” our Pinkie said.

“You know,” I uttered. “I think you guys really need to come up with something to tell each other apart.”

“Not to worry dears,” their Rarity said. “I’m quite ahead of that.” This second Rarity went up to each of them with a few presents in her magic following her. She offered the wrapped boxes tied in silk bows out to them.

“What? No present for me?” I joked.

Clink. I turned around to the source of the sound to find a familiar golden band on my tail. From the fading purple light, I turned to the one responsible.

“As you've said,” Twilight said. “We have to tell who is who.”

“But please, do open your presents.” Their Rarity said as the girls looked at the boxes in their hooves.

“Um, how do we open them?” our Fluttershy asked. “I-I mean, we don’t even have thumbs.”

Our Pinkie answered her question when she tore the paper with her teeth. This was quickly followed with her spitting out the lid. “Oh! I love it!” She pulled out a couple pairs of shoes that are covered with rubies and pink diamonds.

The former human Rainbow followed Pinkie’s example. After the paper was mulled, she opened her box, peeked in and smirked. “Nice,” she said as she dumped out a blue and yellow jersey shirt with the number one on it.

Applejack followed suit with her present. Hers was a brown vest with red apples sewn in. “Kinda reminds me of Braeburn’s in a way. But Ah think Ah like it.”

Shy opened hers to find one of those clip things that girls put in their hair, only this butterfly clip looked like it was from Antoinette’s jewelry box. “Oh my…”

And then there was Rarity. She opened hers to find a hat with a few peacock feathers in it. “I’m impressed,” she nodded. “You, my dear, have excellent tastes.”

“I agree,” Rarity’s reflection said. “Everypony knows that peacocks are in style now.”

Our Rainbow chuckled, “Sorry, what?”

“I said, everypony knows-” she was cut short when our girls caught the giggles.

“Ya gotta be kiddin’ us right?” our Applejack asked. “Every, pony? Really?”

I waved it off, “Trust me, they have plenty of puns lying around,” I told them.

“But what about us?” Sweetie Belle asked. “If there are two of you guys, shouldn't that mean that there’s two of us too?”

Then Applebloom got an idea, “Does anyone have a pair of scissors?”

“Why do you need scissors?” their Fluttershy asked.

Applebloom asked her friends to untie her bow from her hair. When this was done, I let in a helping hand in cutting the bow in three pieces in which they tied a piece of the bow around one of their hooves.

“Thanks, AB,” Scootaloo nodded to her. “And you know, you actually look good with the hair down.”

“Well… Thank ya kindly,” Applebloom sheepishly said; looking away from Scoots, rubbing one of her front legs to the other.

“Oh! I have an idea!” Their Pinkie said hopping over to her counterpart. “You guys should get nicknames.”

“Oh, I see,” our Pinkie agreed. “So it doesn't get confusing since there’s two of everyone.”

“Can I call you Pink?” their Pinkie asked, and ours said that she can.

“Well in that case,” our Applejack mussed. “Ah guess Y'all jus’ call me AJ.”

“You guys can call me Dash,” our Rainbow said as she was starting to put her jersey on.

“W-Well… I suppose just Shy would be perfectly alright.”

“And I wouldn't mind if you simply call me Rare,” she said as she adjusted her hat, looking herself in her reflection of the crystal walls.

“What about the Crusaders?” Twilight asked.

“That’s easy,” Scootaloo answered. “You guys can just call me Scoots, her AB, and her Belle.”

“Well since we've gotten that out of the way,” their Pinkie said, suddenly pulling a canon from out of nowhere. “Let’s party!”

Ka-Boom!

_*_

(I suppose that from here on out until we've gotten back, I suppose I should refer the girls that I know from our world from their nicknames. Yeah, I guess I should do just that. Just so that things don’t get too confusing.)

Now, where was I again? Oh, that’s right, the party of twins. The party lasted for about an hour I think in the multiple throne room. At some point, I got bored so I floated away to find out what happened to Sunset.

The door was closed. I was in the mood for some good old fashioned eavesdropping. With a snap, I caught a falling glass. I walked up the wall and onto the ceiling, leaned up to the door, put my glass to the door to listen.

“-ully aware of your recent good behavior from Twilight. And here in the flesh, I can see that you've changed.”

“Yeah but, you've made it clear as your sun that I don’t belong here anymore.”

“Sunset, I am a believer of giving second chances to those who have an opportunity to change. You've become much more humble. Discord and even my own sister have been given that second chance and, while they both have their flaws, they showed that they can bring so much good.”

“That might be true in the human world. But here, ponies will remember me. Sunset, the student who betrayed Celestia for her own selfish personal gain. Look, having your forgiveness is one thing, but getting it from everypony else? I don’t think so.”

“You think that’s true?”

“It’s a fact, your highness. I don’t have a home here anymore. Mine is at Canterlot High where those people there are giving me a second chance. Look I’m sorry, but I can’t stay here.”

For a moment, it all went quiet until Celestia sighed. “Alright. Before you go, however, I have a request for you. Write to me again, it’s been quite a while.”

“I’m not making any promises.”

There was a long silence, followed by the sound of steps coming towards the door. I quickly ducked in the time of the door opening up. Celestia walked right out from under me.

“Peek-a-boo!” I cried out, startling her.

“Gah! What?” she looked up. “Oh, Julius, I didn't realize you were there.”

I peeked back into the upside-down room to find it empty. “What happened to Ms. Shimmer?”

“She’s gone home,” she answered. “So I assume that the others have met I presume?”

“Quite,” I let myself float down to the floor, “Although there was a fight to the death.”

“What!?”

I chuckled, “Kidding.” Oh Celestia, even in this universe you’re still easy to pull a joke on.

13: Of Wings and Imaginary Pianos.

Crash!

“No, my left!”

Whap!

“Okay, just stop flapping for a moment.”

“Owe!”

These were the sounds that we've heard when I and my other boss came into the room. Dash was slouched upside-down in one of the thrones with Rainbow shaking her head.

“Are you sure you’re me?” Rainbow asked Dash. “I have to admit, that was pretty bad.”

“Give me a break,” Dash said getting herself to sit upright. “I had wings only a few times before and not for long. It’s not like I’m used to these.”

“You better get used to them, otherwise, how are you going to compete with me?”

I went up to the crusaders, “What are they doing?” I asked them.

“She’s trying to teach Dash how to fly,” Scoots replied. “And so far, she isn't good at it.”

“Come on, let’s go at this again,” Rainbow ordered her counterpart. Dash started flapping both of her wings, trying to keep steady.

“It’s like I’m riding a bike all over again,” Dash muttered.

“Now come on, just fly over there,” Rainbow pointed to one end of the room. “And come back here again.”

Dash took a deep breath and prevailed herself forward. And like how a drowning victim would after they fell through thin ice, she ended up bumping her head on the ceiling. Of course, she started falling until Twilight caught her with her magic.

“Dash, are you alright?” Fluttershy asked as Dash was rubbing her head.

“Ugh, how do you guys do it?” she asked.

“Do you know how to swim?” Celestia asked.

“Yeah? Course I know how to swim. I’m on the swim team, so…?”

“I try thinking that you’re really swimming underwater, but try using your wings to do it.”

“Huh? Okay.” Dash spread her wings once more. This time, when she’s in the air, she didn't crash into anything.

“There you go!” Rainbow complimented. Then I saw her with a wicked grin, a look that I know too well right before something crazy is about to happen. She went over to a window and opened it, and then she flew right over to her other self.

“Oh Dash,” she said before she whipped her backside with her tail. “Tag, you’re it!” and just like that she flew right out the window.

“Oh, it is on!” Dash declared as she chased her living reflection out the window. Everyone in the room went straight to the windows to witness two rainbows chasing after each other.

At this point, I’m not sure if I was having a hallucination again, but when I looked down at the window, there on the frame were piano keys. And with the two of them flying in between buildings, nearly crashing into trees and ponies left and right ducking, a little tune came to mind. Cracking my knuckles of my mitch-matched hands, I began to play something to set the mood perfectly; just a little ditty of Rossini’s.

The racing melody seemed to be coming from everywhere, but with the entertainment from outside, I couldn't care less. In a way, it was extremely amusing to watch. The two of them, Rainbow and Dash, playing a game of speed tag that any Olympian would be proud of; along with the sounds of “TAG!” that rang out like church bells.

“Um, Julius?” while I tried my best to keep the music going, my annoyance turned to the source. There I found Fluttershy with a puzzled look. “What are you doing?”

“What does it look like? I’m playing, now please let me considerate.” I turned back to the keyboard and the flyers.

“Play what?” I looked again, finding AJ there.

“I’m trying to play the piano, now please be quiet for a moment.”

“What are ya talkin’ about? You’re jus’ tappin’ on the window sill.”

“No, I’m not,” I turned back to keep playing, adding: “Now let me considerate.”

The two rainbows were now going faster and higher above the town. Punching through clouds, popping in and out of trees-

“Mr. D?”

“Ugh, what is it!?” I snapped. I turned my head to find Belle, along with everyone else, staring at me.

Belle jumped back when I asked the question. “Mr. D,” she said with a hint of fear in her voice. “You’re acting funny again.”

“Now Sweetie, can you please don’t talk to me while I’m playing, I’m getting close to the crescendo.” I turned back, banging at the keys, going as fast as the two rainbows were. With them going higher and higher in the air but still hearing them say “Tag” in time of the melody.

As long as they were still in the sky, I refused to stop playing. From here, I just ignored what anyone was trying to say, this was far too charming to stop now. Not when something like this is set to such good music as this.

In the end, they went up so high that they were just dots in the sky. And then, they both came down. They were going faster and faster to keep up with each other, with my music coming close to its climactic conclusion. Just a few more notes to go-

Before I could press the final notes, there was an explosion that a second later was followed by another one. We looked up to the sky to see two halos of light going in every direction in every color imaginable as well as a few not even dreamed of yet.

Although, I have to confess that this explosion was so unexpected that I fell backward with a few hooves reaching out.

“Mr. Disc, are you alright?” this came from Shy.

“Yeah,” I said getting up to dust myself off. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“But, Mr. Disc, I really think you should take your medicine right now.”

“Why?”

“There’s no piano,” she said, pointing back at what once was a window sill has now several indents.

“Yes,” Rare agreed. “You did go overboard for a minute there.”

Out of embarrassment, I walked over to the other side of the room, reached for the bottle and popped a pill into my mouth.

(The Ponyville Tour: According to Shy.)

Poor Disc. For at least several minutes he’s been standing in a corner, putting both of his arms around his head.

“Is he going to be alright?” the other me asked, she had the same worried look as I have.

“Just give him time,” I told her. “He’s already taken some of his medicine; give him a minute or two to recover.”

“Recover? From what?”

“Well… Do you have a Mr. Disc here?”

“You mean Discord? Yes, I know him. Why do you ask?”

“Do you know that he suffers from seeing, hearing and even feeling things that aren't really there?”

“I think I've heard something like that when he last visited. Our Discord took his medicine away; he said he wanted to prove a point that ended up backfiring on him. Celestia scolded him and, well, I talked to him too of how foolish it all was. But it did make me think though.”

“About what?”

“Do you think our Discords might view their madness differently?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, with our Discord, he not only embraces his madness but thinks it’s essential for chaos. But with yours, from what I was told, he seemed to be really scared when he had that hallucination that made a mess of Ponyville. Why is that?”

I tapped a hoof to my chin, I was about to answer when, unexpectedly, we heard Mr. Disc from behind saying: “So what were we talking about?” It did make both of us jump.

He apologized for startling us while adding: “I’ll be fine for now, but that was just so embarrassing back there. I really thought there was a piano there. Plus it’s a little disappointing that no one other than me heard the William Tell Overture, it went so well with those two flying everywhere.”

I looked over to my other self, she tilted her head in confusion.

“But now that I've recovered,” Mr. Disc continued. “Shall we get this tour started?”

Both us looked to each other, silently agreeing that we’ll continue this discussion later. The white horse Celestia excused herself, saying that she has other important duties to tend to, leaving Twilight and Mr. Disc as our guides.

Twilight suggested that the first thing we should do is go and find where both Rainbow and Dash have gone to. She said that by their rainbow trails, she said they went towards the direction of their Sugar Cube Corner. Both Pinkies were very excited, our Pinkie more so, she said that she was curious about what theirs might look like in a world of ponies.

When we exited the crystal castle, Mr. Disc had an idea, with a snap of his fingers, we found on a flying carpet with Mr. Disc at the head, sitting down to a steering wheel. Somehow he was wearing a white color shirt with a black tie, and on his head was one of those hats that public bus drivers used to wear. He reached his lion paw into the air and out of thin air; a speaker with a cord was pulled down.

“Good morning everyone and thank you for choosing Mr. Disc’s flying carpet tours. I’ll be your semi-trustworthy carpet driver, Mr. D. And giving the tour of the town of talking ponies is the Princess of the joint herself, Princess Twilight. Please keep all of your hooves, horns, wings, and tails on the carpet at all times until the carpet makes a full stop one way or another. And now we’ll turn to Twilight for the tour.” And with that, he handed over the speaker over to Twilight.

With a look of uncertainty, Twilight’s horn glowed as did the speaker that left Disc’s hand- paw (sorry) and it floated in front of Twilight.

“Well, Julius, if you please start moving in that direction.” Twilight pointed to him where to go and sure enough, Mr. Disc put the carpet into his drive and we started to take off. The higher we went, the more nerve-racking it became for me and I’m certain for my pony self as well. I know this because we both starting to hug each other.

“Hey you two,” their Applejack said. “Y’all aright there sugar cube?”

“I hope Mr. Disc knows what he’s doing,” I confessed.

“Now Ms. Shy,” Mr. Disc said turning his head to us. “I know what I’m doing. I just got the license to drive this thing about a minute ago.” With a wave of his bird claw, there appeared a little driver’s license with his new face on it. “Proceed,” he said this to Twilight.

“Well… down there is the Quills and Sofas,” she pointed down to a particular building, “And that there is the Yellow Rose, one of Ponyville’s restaurants.”

“What’s that?” our Rarity pointed to a round building with a purple roof and a few white wooden ponies.

“That’s my place of business,” their Rarity replied: “The Carousel Boutique, and where I live.”

“You own the boutique here!”

“I do, don’t you?”

“Well I work at the boutique in my world, but I don’t necessarily own it. I’m merely a teenager after all.”

“Ms. Twilight?” Scootaloo raised her hoof, “What’s that way over there?” I looked over to where she was pointing at. At the edge of the town, we spotted a patch of land that was full of apple trees with a red barn sticking out.

“That way there is the home of the Apple family,” Twilight stated. “Sweet Apple Acres to be exact. And coming up is-”

“MY PLACE!” their Pinkie interrupted, jumping up and down. We all looked ahead to a building she’s pointing at. When I saw it, the very first thing that comes to mind is the gingerbread house from the Hansel and Gretel; which gives me some sense of concern just by looking at it. We also saw both Rainbows on the roof, completely tired out. As we got closer, it was clear that they were arguing.

“I tagged you the most times!”

“But I outflew you!”

“But I was the one who made that rainbow halo thing!”

“That’s my Sonic Rainboom you did!”

Suddenly their argument was cut with the sound of a car horn. I wasn't too sure but I’m sure everyone jumped at the sound of it. All except for Mr. Disc who looked irritated.

“Now if you two are done comparing who outflew who would you girls care to join us?”

14: When Crusaders Meet Crusaders.

By noon, I and Twilight had already shown the girls what the layout of Ponyville is like. All of them were very eager to take a closer look at the town, and some wanted to try the local food as well. So when we reached the crystal tree house, I let them all go free, but only on two conditions. The first is to stick with their counterpart, the other is to make sure they all be back here before five o’clock.

In no time the five of them paired up with their copies. The Pinkies said something about Sugar Cube Corner; the Rarities were headed for Carousel Boutique; the two Rainbows took to the air for a contest about something; Fluttershy asked Shy to come to her cottage to check up on the animals over there; which leaves me, Twilight, the two Applejacks, and the Crusaders.

“Uh, Applejack?” AB asked.

“Yeah?” they both asked like one of those psychic twins.

“Ah mean mah, other sis,” she clarified. “So where does the other us go to this time of day?”

Applejack put a hoof to her chin: “Ah reckon that they might be at their clubhouse, other than that, Ah have no idea where they are.”

Three stomachs rumbled, “Or maybe they’re getting some lunch,” I mused. “Do you girls go somewhere for lunch on a Saturday?”

“Oh, that’s right!” Belle squeaked. “If we had enough from our allowances, the first place we would go to is-”

“Sugar Cube Corner,” both Scoots and AB finished.

“Sweetie Belle, you’re a genius!” AB added. The three of them started to head out, only to stop a few feet when they realized something.

“Uh, how do we get there from here again?” Scoots asked.

“I’ll lead the way,” Twilight told them, catching up to them before turning around to us. “Applejack, AJ, are you coming?”

“Nah, you go right ahead.” Applejack said, “Ah wanna show my other self the farm first.”

“Julius, are you coming along too?”

“Eh…” I thought for a moment before deciding to whistle for a unicycle. “Why not, I got nothing better to do. So lead on then – as soon as I figure out why this thing was invented in the first place.”

_*_

After several attempts to keep one's balance, getting my face flattened and a broken lamp post later, we made it to the gingerbread shop. Looking at this place again, I would say that there’s a few similarities, such as the counter, some of the desserts on display and the fact that one blue pony with pink hair that looks like the waitress from a few days ago is cowering in a corner with a yellow one because they acknowledge the fact that they’re two Pinkies in the same room.

Not to say that these two didn't go unnoticed, some of the other customers couldn't take their eyes off of them; including three familiar children.

“Princess Twilight!” the yellow pony broke free from the blue one and rushed over to the princess. “Thank Celestia you’re here, I think Pinkie’s got into the mirror pool again and…” He trailed off when he spotted me before adding: “Oh, you again?”

“Before you say anything further,” I told him. “I’m actually the other ‘Discord’ from a couple of weeks ago.”

“Julius?” I looked over to the young southern sounding pony.

“Hey Applebloom, and yes it’s me.” I lifted my tail that still has the ring I can’t take off.

“Julius! Welcome back!” she rushed over me to hug one of my legs. “Huh?” it was no secret of who she was looking at from that point.

“Applebloom, remember what I’ve said about the other you and your other friends? This is them.” The other Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo joined the other Applebloom, their jaws hitting the floor. “Crusaders, meet our Crusaders.”

“Now there’s two Crusaders?” the yellow pony asked with sweat pouring down his face. “I need to lie down.”

“Here, let me help with Pinkie,” Twilight left us with the yellow pony. Leaving me and two sets of Crusaders.

“Whoa,” Scoots said with the three of them stepping forward. “I-I’m mean just… whoa.”

“Yeah,” Scootaloo nodded. “You've pretty much taken those words out of my mouth.”

“Why is your mane down?” Sweetie Belle questioned AB.

“Ma mane? Ya mean ma hair? Oh Ah had to cut ma bow inta pieces,” AB lifted her leg with the ribbon still wrapped around. “So we can tell who’s who.”

“Okay, Ah guess that makes sense,” Applebloom nodded. “Guess Ah would have done tha same too.”

“Do you guys wanna help us?” Belle asked, that by now I've noticed that she still holding the camera in one of her legs. “We’re trying to make a movie-”

“Ah no way!” Scootaloo went up to Belle. “Really, you guys are making a movie?”

“I don’t think we've tried filmmaking have we?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Ah wanna be in it!” Applebloom said exactly. Then she looked over to the side. “Hey, ya guys don’t have cutie marks either huh?”

“Cutie what?” AB asked.

“Ya see how most ponies around here have a mark on their flanks?” Applebloom made her point to the other ponies in the restaurant. “If ya got a mark, it means you have a special talent. Somethin’ that makes ya unique. That’s what we’re doin’.”

“So that’s why everyone around here has a picture on their butts?” Scoots asked the three crusaders from our world looked up at me in confusion.

“Don’t look at me,” I told them. “I don’t really get it either.”

“So can we help?” Scootaloo asked. “It might help us get our cutie marks.”

“Of course you can,” Belle said with a smile. “The more help the better right.”

“Aw right!” Scottaloo said. And then, the three of them shouted out: “CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS FILMMAKERS YEAH!!!”

My ears were still ringing before they took their lunches and ran out with their counterparts. I looked around to see that Twilight was chatting with the two Pinkies. So feeling a little hungry myself, I went up to the counter where the blue pony is at the register.

“An apple pie sounds good to me right now, how much is it?”

“Uh,” she looked at the board where the prices were listed. “That’ll be fifteen bits if you please.”

I reached down to feel for a pocket. I found one and reached for something valuable. I felt something and pulled out, to my confusion, a golden crown with a half a pound of jewels on it.

“Do you take possibly stolen crowns that may or may not be from a foreign country?” I asked politely as I put the crown down on the table. Her eyes widen at the crown in front of her. Somewhere in my subconscious, I'm giggling like a little kid.

“Well… I…”

“I’ll have the pie, with a fork, and I guess with the crown, keep the change.”

“Well…” she looked back and forth between me and the crown. “I’ll have it out in a moment dearie.”

And I have to say, that pie was worth every jewel on that crown.

15: Lyra and the Gondola.

Once I wolfed down my sweet lunch and Twilight made the two Pinkies promise something about not bringing the world to an end (I know, killjoy), we moved on. Like I've said, since I've got nothing better to do, I decided to tag along to see how the day would play out.

Our next stop was at the boutique where we expected to see the two Rarities at work. So to get there faster, the idea of rowing a gondola on land was quickly made into reality. As well as to make it look like that the ground, on which the boat was floating, seems as if it was water. And to put the final touch of it all, I even wore one of those striped shirts and a sombrero.

Looking at the gondola, as Twilight was looking around at what she was on, I hummed in thought. “Something is missing here,” I muttered. Suddenly I realized what was missing and snapped for a phonograph playing Dean Martian.

“What?” Twilight asked before I shushed her when the music was beginning to play.

“Shush! This is a good one,” I said as I start rowing forward.

About a minute into the song, a very familiar looking pony jumped right into the gondola. For a moment, I couldn't put a claw on why this light green unicorn looked recognizable to me.

“Lyra?” Oh wait, that’s right! No wonder why she’d looked familiar, thank you Twilight.

“Twilight, thank Celestia and Luna that I've found you!”

“What’s wrong?”

“I think the town has been invaded and…” she looked down. “Why are we on a boat?”

“You tell me, you’re the one who jumped on.” I pointed out Lyra’s dumb question.

“Oh, Discord,” she said dryly. “That explains it,” she shook her head. “But anyway, I think we have more important matters here. Twilight, I just saw two Rainbows and just now, a pair of crusaders. As in there’s a pair of two Appleblooms, two Sweetie Belles, and even two Scootaloos!”

“Did you noticed that there’s a pair of her other friends as well?” I asked. She looked up at me confused. “Alright, you caught me, I’m the one responsible. Now, which version do you want to hear?”

“Which version?” Lyra asked, completely confused.

“Do you want the truth or the one that you’re thinking of? Between the two of us, your invasion thing sounds pretty entertaining right now. And, pray tell, invaded by whom exactly?”

“Wait, you’re responsible? I thought it was changelings.”

“Lyra, we've gone through this before,” Twilight told her. “The changeling spy is in custody, and he says that they’re too weak for an invasion of Equestria.”

“Besides, I’m here anyway,” I added. “I've just found out that they’re terrified of me.”

“So how is this your fault?” Lyra asked.

“Remember the time that there were two Discords?” I deadpanned. “It’s me, the second one.”

“Wait, you mean you’re the one who subbed for Cheerilee?”

I nodded. “And remembered how that I’m from a different universe?” she looked confused. “Long story short, I’m from a different universe and happened to fell through into this one, went back, and a group of students wanted to come here for a day. However, some of them came through by accident, hence the second pair of crusaders.”

“Huh. Okay, I did not expect that. But on the other hoof that’s a relief, I guess.”

“Although, I might want to keep an eye on those Crusaders if I were you,” I expressed to her. “One of them has a camera, so there’s no telling what those three are planning. And yes, I know all too well how often they get into trouble.”

“Camera? Like to take pictures with or something?”

“No, filming.” We turned a corner to see that a Sweetie Belle (most likely their crusaders) pulling a red wagon full of fireworks. “I didn't know this town sold fireworks.”

Both Twilight and Lyra turned to what I was looking at, and I think that Lyra turned a paler shade of green. “Not again,” she muttered before trying to jump out of the boat.

“Wait, hold up!” I tossed her a life raft to draw her back in, “Quick question here, you don’t happen to be in a relationship with uh, whats-her-name?”

“Bon-Bon?”

“Yeah that’s it since you’re here, can you do me a little favor, it’s about Applebloom.”

“Applebloom? What about her?”

“I need one of you to talk to her, just to see if she’s alright.”

“Why?”

I whispered the reason why in her ear.

“Really? That’s adorable!”

“Yeah yeah, but I just want one of you to have a word with her for the sake of her wellbeing. Though as young as she is, just be sure she’ll be alright in the long run. Alright?”

She nodded, I told her to run along so we could be on our way.

“What was that about?” Twilight asked.

“It’s my funny little way of saying thanks, your guy’s Applebloom helped me when I was here last, so I’m returning a favor.”

“What favor?”

I smiled, “I’ll give you a hint, she’s in puppy love with someone.”

“Really? Who?”

I put a claw over my mouth, “Spoilers. Ah, here we are.” I rowed the boat up to our destination of the boutique and jumped off. Twilight got off as well and headed for the door. When we entered, we encountered Rare going through the rolls of fabrics.

“Too shiny… Too dull… Too much yellow.”

“What are you doing?” Twilight asked.

Rare looked up, “Hello Twilight dear, and Mr. Disc, I’m narrowing down the sort of materials my other self is planning on.”

“Planning on what?”

“For our dresses, of course, I’ll be helping her modeling (Oh this one is good) since she has someone who looks just like her.”

“Where’s the other Rarity?” I asked.

“She’s cleaning up from our vegetarian lunch. She’ll be here momentarily. By-the-way, do you know what my little sister is up to?”

“The last time I saw her,” I explained. “Was that she and her friends just found their other selves and now are planning to do a movie.”

“Oh, that’s right! They still have that camera. Mr. D, do you really think it’s wise for them to film here of all places?”

“I’m not sure myself, but I have a feeling that it’s going to go down in flames.” One way or another from those fireworks, I thought.

16: Apples to Apples.

I looked at my watch that read 2:09, at this time; Twilight and I were headed towards the apple farm by Gondola.

“I must say, your highness, we’re making excellent time.”

“Please, just don’t call me that,” she told me. I raised an eyebrow and asked her why not. “My title of Princess shouldn't remove me from everypony else. I wanted to be treated like a normal pony.”

“Normal doesn't exist.” I corrected her and she gave me a confused look, she asked what I meant by that. “If normalcy really did exist, life would be incredibly boring. Normal means having to live with the exact same thing over and over. It’s only in a state of mind that ‘normal’ could exist, but not for long.” I looked down at my passenger. “You don’t get me to do you?” she shook her head. I sighed, “Look, life cannot exist without something changing right? As I tell my students, change is what gives life color, a shade of light and dark. Change helps us see the difference between beauty and ugliness. Then again, a change could make ugly things be inspiring. This is what most people don’t get, they think that things are set in stone and there are things that can’t change and therefore, it’s perfect; but it’s a lie. Perfection, you see, doesn't exist either. There’s an only imperfection that’s bad, good and in-between. Imperfection, you see, is perfection.”

“Since when have you been taking up philosophy?” Twilight asked.

“When you’re in a mental hospital for about a three and a half years, you have plenty of time to think.”

“Hey Mr. D!” we looked up to find all six of the crusaders passing by, dragging a cart full of wooden planks. “Hey Twilight,” Sweetie Belle squeaked.

“Uh, girls, what are you doing with all of that wood?” Twilight questioned.

“We’re going to build a set with it,” Scoots answered. “It’s for our movie; it’s going to be great!”

“It’s jus’ gonna be a short film Scoots,” Applebloom piped up. “‘Sides, we have ta build the set anyway.”

“And we've only got before five ta do it,” AB added. “So come on, let’s go. Bye, Mr. D. Bye Twi.”

Before either of us could say anything, they left while dropping a few planks along the way.

“Sometimes I worry about those three,” Twilight sighed. I kept on rowing down the road. The phonograph was playing an aria from some Italian opera, thinking it was too clichéd, I kicked it to play something else. And for some reason, it started to play Smooth Criminal.

“Huh, that was random,” I muttered.

“I agree,” I looked up and Twilight turned around. “Istaillion can get old after a while.”

“Hello other me,” I tipped my sombrero while he did the same with his fez. “Any reason you’re here?”

“Hmm…” he put his lion paw to his chin. “Not much, rumor has it that you’re in town again so I thought I pop by.” Discord looked to the sky, “This isn't right, it’s too calm.” He muttered.

“How have you been doing lately?” I asked.

“After getting into trouble with Sunbutt and have to clean up your mess, you know how I’m doing.”

“Still mad at me?”

“Mad? Not really. Just disappointed,” at this point, we reached the gate of the farm. “Now it’s my turn, what are you doing here?”

“Field trip,” I told him jumping off the boat. Twilight and the other me did the same, though he did raise an eyebrow. “Fluttershy’s friends from my universe wanted to see what this place is like so I allowed it if I could come along. And here we are. Also, our Crusaders are here too.”

“Are they now?” he hummed in thought as we approached the farmhouse. “Whelp, I think I know what I’m going to do today.” And just like that, he popped out of existence.

I looked over to Twilight, she seemed worried. “I got a bad feeling about this.”

Shrugging, I said: “Why? He knows that I've already forgiven him for triggering one of my episodes here. And if he’s anything like me, I’m sure he’ll make sure the Crusaders won’t get hurt.”

“Are you sure?”

“From what your Applebloom has told me, I can assume that.”

As we approached the front door, Twilight knocked on it, “Come in!” said an older lady’s voice. You know, if I didn't know any better, I would say she kinda sounds like that one lunch lady from the school. Twilight stepped in asking where Applejack was, the old lady replied they’re in a particular part of the orchard. So with that, we entered the great apple forest.

Several minutes later, we found them kicking away at the trees.

“Good afternoon,” I called out, getting their attention. “Why are you kicking at these threes for?”

“What does it look like?” Applejack uttered as she kicked at another tree, whereby the apples fell out and into baskets. “We’re collectin’ apples.”

AJ whipped the sweat from her forehead. “It’s quite the workout, Ah can tell ya that.”

“How long have you been working?” Twilight asked.

“What time is it?” I looked at my watch and told her that it’s about two-forty. “Really? It doesn't seem like it.”

“Ah know,” Applejack interjected. “Time here really flies out here. Apple?” she kicked an apple over to me.

“No thanks, I had an apple pie for lunch,” I handed the apple over to Twilight, she gladly took it. “So how’s the farm AJ?”

“Ah can tell ya one thing,” she said. “Kickin’, or Buckin’ as she puts it, is a whole lot better than climbing each and every tree ta pick each one.”

“Y’all should have been here when she started out.” Applejack laughed, “And ya should have seen the look on Big Mac’s face when he saw the two of us.”

“What happened?” Twilight asked.

“At first, his eyes went as wide as cartwheels. Then he thought that the Changelings-”

“Were invading again?” I completed her sentence.

She laughed, “Yeah, how did ya know?”

“Lucky guess.”

“Anyways, Ah had ta explained ta him that it wasn't it and told him the truth.”

“Ya know, it was weird, Ah can tell ya that.” AJ said, “Walkin’ around this place ta find ponies that look like the people back at home. Makes me wonder who else might be here as well.”

“Like who?” Applejack asked.

“Well, do ya know someone by the name of… ah…? (What’s a good example?)… Sombra?”

“Sombra!” Applejack spat at the ground at the very mentioning of his name.

“Ah’ll take that as a yes.”

“Why Sombra?”

“Don’t know. Considerin’ what he when he was Principal for that Elementary School befor’ he got arrested.”

“An Elementary School! Oh Celestia, our Sombra was a king of the Crystal Empire, Ah can’t imagine what he must’ve done to those poor foals over in your world!”

“At least he’s in prison now. At least, that’s what I've heard before I got fired. I think he’s still locked up or something. I’m not too sure; it’s been a while since he kidnapped those kids. I can’t for the life of me remember what the reason was. Oh well.” I lied to a degree. In all honesty, I’m still not exactly sure what he did to those kids. But I did see a few during my time at the asylum, and even heard them too when some of them were screaming their heads off over… something. But I tell you I was using my teacher’s instincts to keep my mouth shut.

Yes, there are a few things that I don’t tell my students from my hospital days.

17: Tea N Tea

I agreed with Twilight that we should see both Fluttershys before we go find Rainbow, at least with them, we know where to look.

The hollowed out tree house was exactly when I last saw it with the hanging bird houses, dens, tiny huts and so on. And like last time, the animals retreated at the very sight of me.

“Fluttershy?” Twilight knocked on the front door, saying who it was and if either of them is there. The door did open up. At first, I wasn't sure which one it was until I saw the bejeweled hair clip.

“Mr. Disc?” she asked.

“Afternoon Ms. Shy,” I nodded at her. “How are things with your counterpart?”

“We… We’re just taking a bit of a tea break. Do either of you want to come in?”

“Of course,” Twilight smiled as we entered. Shy offered to get some chairs for us, but that was quickly dismissed with a clap, and out popped from the floor were a couple of bean bags.

“Um, okay. I guess that works too,” Shy muttered. “I’ll… I’ll go see if the other me needs anything.” And with that, she left the room.

“Julius?” Twilight asked as she took her seat, sinking in the purple bag.

“Hum?”

“Did you find out what happened to Sunset?”

“I have actually.” I took my seat in the beanbag that was full of patches. “She’s gone back to our world. Although your Celestia did offer her a chance to stay, she turned it down. She said something about not feeling belonged here.”

Her ears folded back, “Oh.”

“You know, I think I could relate to her in a way.”

“How so?”

“Well… There have been times where I've done some mighty stupid things for the sake of attention.”

“But she was after power.”

“Power is just a way of getting attention, isn't it? For people, or in your guy’s case, ponies, to do whatever they have to do to stand on a soupbox to say ‘Look at me! Look at me!’ and getting praise for it.”

“You mean soapbox?”

“Whatever. The point is that I have done some things for the sake of attention that ended up getting me into trouble. For example, you did know I was in a mental hospital for a while do you?”

“Well… To a degree,” she confessed.

I sighed. “Ya see, one day I ran out of my medicine that prevents me from hallucinating. When I got to my desk for the first hour of class, I found a note, or at least, I thought I did it from my boss, Celestia about what I need to do that day. The note was a threat saying that if I don’t order my students to paint every square inch of the whole school by the end of the day, I would get fired. It looked convincing to me, too convincing. So much so, that I panicked. I let myself and my students run loose, painting, drawing, cutting, pacing, folding, shading, spraying anything and everything in sight. You could imagine the result of what it looked like and the countless hours it took to clean it all up. Anyway, Celestia confronted me… And let’s just say that she was not amused. I even tried showing the note, but as that turns out, the note was really a blank piece of paper. And soon enough, she commits me to the hospital until I was declared sane.”

“It sounds like an awfully bad day.” We turned to see who said this. It was Fluttershy balancing a tray on her back.

“The worst,” I replied. “And it makes me think at times if the other me had something like it.” I gave a whistle for the teapot and cup to sprout wings to fly over to me and started pouring. “I suspect he has, but do you know what he did and what happened to him?”

“What happened to Discord?”

“Of course,” I took a look at the contents in my cup. Looks like green tea. “I got into trouble and sent into a lunatic asylum for a thousand days. What’s his punishment?” Then I lifted the cup to my mouth and was about to take a sip when Twilight answered my question.

“He turned into stone.”

I stopped, “What?”

“Sorry, what I mean is that he had turned into stone. In other words, he turned into a statue for a thousand years.”

I blinked, “Okay… That’s a bit harsh. It makes me wonder what he was like when he got out.”

“…. That depends on who you ask.” Twilight answered, “To put it simply, he turned this town completely upside down.”

“Literally in some place-” This was as far as she got when suddenly an explosion. I wouldn't lie that it was so unexpected to I imperiled my horns to the ceiling again.

“What was that!?” Shy and Twilight asked for everyone within earshot. After some quick deduction, the sound came from the town that has a gray mushroom cloud over it followed by some exploding fireworks. It didn't take Batman to piece together who made that explosion worthy of the fourth of July.

“The Crusaders!” Twilight gasped. After yanking me out of the ceiling, she dragged me out the house by her magic taking flight towards the scene of the fireball. Not to mention that I kept crashing into fences, trees, bushes, a roof, a lamppost, a window, a wall, another wall, a staircase, a door, some guard railing, leaving holes behind like a Looney Tunes character with some missing teeth no less!

And so after feeling like a rag doll in a wood chipper, we arrived at the other side of town with a blacken carder in the ground. And not to mention the splint pieces of wood that were as broken as I am.

“Applebloom! Scootaloo! Sweetie Belle! Where are you?!” Twilight cried out.

“Up here!” We looked to find six of the Crusaders are either in the trees or on the roofs of what remains of the nearby houses. We also found the other me, limped on a few tree branches with the camera in his claw.

“Cut,” he coughed. “I think that was perfect.”

18: Charlie, Put the Bottle Down.

“No.”

“But we don’t wanna go back yet!” they whined.

“After that little stunt, you tried to pull off? Too bad.”

“But we didn't get hurt!” Scoots exclaimed. I turned around at our Crusaders with that I've been dragging in chains for the last several blocks. Their Crusaders and the other me and the purple princess were following closely behind but at the moment I ignored them.

“Didn't get hurt?” I questioned. “Look, having fun, breaking a few rules and getting yourself into something dangerous is one thing, but you had to know what you’re doing so you don’t take it too far. And setting off enough explosives to flatten a whole block for the sake of your little movie? That’s just irresponsible, even by my standards.”

“But we didn't know that would happen!” AB said.

“Another reason why you three are going straight home,” I once again start dragging them towards the castle.

“Come on now,” the other me popped up. “I didn't let them get hurt did I?”

“Oh really?”

“You saw me clean all that up with a stomp didn't you?”

“I did, also, I’m angry at you for actually going along with this.”

“All I did was offer myself towards directing.”

“And nearly get them killed? Let’s face it, you have no defense here.”

“I didn't know how big of an explosion was going to be.”

“Wow, you really are dense, now leave me alone.”

“But Julius, it was our fault!” Applebloom piped up. “We started it, so we should be punished, not them.”

“That’s very noble of you,” I craned my neck over to her. “At the moment, however, I don’t care who started what, I’m the one who’s going to finish it. And I’ll be doing that by getting these three home. Come on Twilight.” There was no response. “Twilight?” I looked around, “Hey, where did she g-”

The scream provided an answer with the sound of shattering glass.

“Twilight!” all six of the Crusaders screamed. We looked at what they were looking at. In the alleyway nearby we saw Twilight standing on two legs with a black creature behind her holding a broken bottle touching her neck. The black fanged creature hand holes like-

“Stay back!” a familiar voice cried out from the black creature. “I’ll cut open her neck, just stay where you are!”

“Charlie?” I asked.

“Who else did you think it was? Sombra? Hey, don’t come any closer!”

“How did you escape?” Twilight asked. “I saw you board that train.”

“You didn't think that our scouts haven’t told us about the tunnels from here to Canterlot didn't you? And I must say, it was rather tricky getting off a speeding train.”

“Hey uh, Charlie wasn't it?” the other me asked and he nodded nervously. “You do realize who we are right?”

“At this point, I don’t care, I’m desperate as it is.” I think it was here that I noticed that the black bug was rather thin. “Plus, do you realize how difficult it is to change when you haven’t eaten in days?”

“Charlie,” I said in a warning tone. “Put the bottle down. I mean with all the events of today that I had to put up with, I just had it from here to Neptune of all the sudden things that are going wrong. And remember, both of us,” I pointed myself and my counterpart, “could easily turn you into a lollipop in a snap so do you have any idea how stupid this really is?”

“Ooh! That’s not a bad idea,” the other me said putting his paw over his chin.

Charlie gulped.

“And what are you planning anyway?” the other me continued the conversation. “I mean if you somehow got past us and out of this town which everyone is starting now.” He pointed to behind us, I looked and sure enough, there was a crowd all around. “What is the point of all of this anyway?”

“To warn the Queen,” Charlie said.

I think all of us blinked.

“Warn your Queen?” Twilight spoke what was on all of our minds.

“Equestria is being invaded alright, only it isn't by us. But by them.” His eyes looked over to myself and our Crusaders. “I know now what’s really going on. You, they and the other Elements of Harmony is just the beginning. Soon your kind will come into our world when we least expect it to take over.”

“That…” I facepalmed. “That’s insanely stupid right there, and coming from a guy who spent some time alongside some lunatics, that says a lot.”

It was right then that I got an idea. I snapped my right paw for the idea to take effect.

“Ah! What?!” Not only did Charlie drop the bottle and back away from Twilight, but he looked down at the ever-increasing white fibers and leather straps with buckles wrapping themselves around him. “What’s happening!?” he struggled to get the increasing cloth off of him to no avail. The cloth grew to encompass his torso, his wings and up his arms. He screamed for someone to get it off when the sleeves crisscross themselves over in-front of him like a boa in the Amazon.

“Someling get this thing offummph!” Charlie was muffled when the wires wrapped around his mouth to form the muzzle. As much as he struggled and wiggled, he was now trapped in his newly formed straight jacket.

“Excuse me,” I turned to the crowd. “Would any of you mind helping Twilight here with this lunatic while I’ll deal with these three, thanks.” I started to walk on by with our Crusaders in tow until Twilight called out.

“Julius, wait!”

With an annoyed grunt, I turned around, “What?”

“You saved me, thank you.”

“So? You know you could have saved yourself with that magic wand on your head.”

Twilight blushed sheepishly. “Well… He had a broken bottle aimed for my neck.”

“Well, you could have just – ugh, you know what, I don’t care, I’m going to your castle if you need me.” And before Twilight could say anything else (or maybe she did but I didn't want to hear it) the Crusaders and I headed towards the palace.

(A Crusade to Return the Camera: According to Sweetie Belle.)

What happened after the Changeling was caught? Well, the other Discord took our other selves away towards Twilight’s castle looking more annoyed then Rarity on most days.

Not to say that all of us were feeling guilty for getting them into trouble. I guess we were so caught up in making the biggest movie ever that we didn't take into account of kind of effect it would unleash. And then we let our Discord help directing it and him being our camera guy…

“Wait, do they have their camera back?” I asked both Applebloom and Scootaloo.

“I don’t know, do they?” Scootaloo shrugged.

“Hold on,” Applebloom said thinking for a moment. “I don’t think they do, Discord?” He looked down at us, “Do they have their camera back?”

“No, I still have it.” He reached in his ears and pulled out the oddly shaped black camera.

We all realized that the other us are going home without their camera, we tried to hurry to give it back to them. With Discord’s help, we flew over the crowds and we saw that the other Discord and the other we already step inside Twilight’s new home. So it was just a matter of time until they go back to where they came from.

Once we were inside, we hurried through the hallways and rooms to find them, but by the time we did, we saw that the other Discord walking out of a room with a mirror. But other than that, there was no sign of the other us.

When the other Discord was out of sight, the four of us entered the room, we found it completely empty.

“Are we too late?” Applebloom asked.

Scootaloo sighed, “I think we are.”

“Or maybe we’re not,” Discord mused, I looked over to what he was looking at. Towards the mirror near a mountain of pillows, we walked towards it. “Maybe, just maybe the portal to their world is still open.”

Applebloom went right up to the mirror and, to our relief, her hoof went right through the mirror.

“Ah good,” Discord smiled in approval, “I can’t wait to see this, come on let’s go-” Discord’s head bumped against the mirror. “Huh?” He tried feeling around it, even try tapping it, but no matter what, he wouldn't go through, I tried with my hoof and it went through just fine.

“What gives?” Discord asked. “You guys are able to get through but not me? Why can’t I… Oh.”

“What is it?” Scootaloo asked as Discord seemed to realize something.

“Of course, I’m such an idiot. One of the princesses probably put a spell over it. Well, that’s just great.” He looked down at us and gave us the camera. “I’m sorry, but it looks like you girls have to do it.”

“Us? Why us?” I asked.

“As much as I’d like to take a peek at what’s on the other side, I can’t do anything about it. But you girls can get through the mirror no problem. And besides, don’t you want to know what’s over there anyway?”

He did have a point, I have heard tales from Twilight about the human world, but we all wanted to know what it really looks like.

“But isn't the other you and everypony he comes with going to come right back here within a few hours?” Applebloom asked. “How would we know when to get back here in case they wanna come back here earlier?”

Discord Hummed for a moment, “I got it!” he said. With a snap of his talons, he produced two buckets. He turned them upside down and out fell a red cup with fishing lines in each of them. “You know how you’d make these cups with strings that even at a long distance you can hear what the other is saying if you pulled on the string?”

We nodded. “Same with these, but I’m not sure if they’ll work. Yet if they do, we can at least talk to each other; you go over there and give them their camera while I’ll stay guard here. I’ll give you a heads up if you three needed to come back.”

“Maybe it won’t be such a bad idea,” Scootaloo said. “After all, maybe we might get our cutie marks in exploring a completely different universe. I’m game.”

“Same here,” Applebloom chimed in and I agreed as well. We took the other bucket from Discord who wished us good luck. And like that, we hopped right in. For a while, there were colors that were spinning everywhere, like how somepony would get on a merry-go-round that sped up quite a bit. And I don’t know how to describe this, but going through the portal felt funny. It didn't hurt or anything, it was just… weird.

All of a sudden there was a bright light and then we landed on something hard. We tumbled around a few times until we came to a full stop. We tried getting up as soon as everything stopped spinning.

“Let’s go again!” Scootaloo said as everything was coming into focus.

“Uh, not right now,” Applebloom said. “Ah kinda…”

It was then that we got a good look at each other. For a good solid minute, the three of us didn't say a word. The three of us try to take in what we’re looking at. We even looked down at ourselves. My legs were certainly longer… and thinner… and have these… Talons? Claws? What was it that Twilight called them again?

“Wow,” Applebloom broke the silence. “We’re ugly.”

“Where did the clothes come from?” Scootaloo asked.

“How should I know?” I answered. “Are we humans now?”

“Discord to Crusaders. Discord to Crusaders is anyone there? Over.” We looked down at the bucket with the cup talking in Discord’s voice. “Discord to Crusaders, have you made to the other side? Over.”

We got up, and I must say, walking on all fours for some reason was uncomfortable. But I was the first to reach for the cup and pulled on the string. “This is Sweetie Belle. And why are you saying over?”

“It’s so that we let the other know when we’re done speaking we say over, over.”

“Okay…? Well, I think we made it, but…” I looked around, there was a huge building and we’re in some open courtyard, but there’s nopony around. “I don’t see anyone. Over.”

Scootaloo and Applebloom sat on their flanks before suddenly they stood up on their hind legs.

“That feels better,” Scoots said as she stiffly moved around. “This place is huge, I wish I had my scooter here.”

“Hey, Discord? Over.” I said into the cup.

“Yes? Over.”

“Is it possible that you could send the Crusader Mobile through the portal? Over.”

“I’ll try something, please stand by, over.” For a minute, nothing happened, and then suddenly we saw something went flying out from the base of a statue. It was like the Crusader Mobile only that the scooter had some little box thing at the rear wheel. And we saw in the wagon our three helmets.

I thanked Discord and grabbed the bucket. We got on our way around after strapping our helmets to our heads by using these… hands weren't it? Anyway, Scootaloo quickly figured out that the little box on her scooter is actually a motor.

“Cool,” Scootaloo said as she drove us out of the courtyard and into a town that I've never seen before with humans (I think) like us.

“Where do we start looking for them?” Scootaloo asked. “This place is so weird that I don’t know where to start-”

“STOP!” Applebloom cried and Scootaloo stepped on the brakes until the Mobile came to a sudden stop.

“What?” I and Scoots asked.

“Ah think Ah know where to start lookin’.”

“Huh?”

“We all live in a town called Ponyville right?”

“Yeah?”

“And this is a different dimension right?”

“Where are you going with this AB?” Scootaloo asked. She pointed upwards and we followed it until we saw what she was looking at.

“Oh you've gotta be kidding me,” Scootaloo muttered that silently I agreed.

The green signpost read: “Pony Hill Road.”

“Pony Hill, Ponyville,” I thought out loud. “I guess it might be some kind of wordplay or something.”

“At least it’s a start,” Scootaloo started up the motor, and just like that, we headed down the road.

19: The Therapist.

I really need to calm down. My brain feels a little too warm as if I didn't calm down soon, that warmth will start a fire. I just wondered through the maze-like halls, I didn't care if I was completely lost or not. In fact, I lost track what time it was. But the only thing I cared about was calming myself-

“Julius?”

Down. I looked to my left to a room with an open door. Though it, I saw a very familiar face. “You seemed stressed,” she says. “You wanna come in? My door is always open to you.” I blinked a few times. N-No. I’m having another hallucination again. She can’t be here.

I reached into my pockets to grab out the bottle, “Julius? Are you okay?” She asked getting up from her chair.

“No, of course, I’m not okay,” I muttered. “Look, can you just not talk to me at the moment Doc, the past hour or so has been driving me off a cliff.”

“Julius, tell me what’s wrong,” she said stepping out of her office. “Is Dr. Mindweave mistreating you again?”

“No. He’s not here, and neither are you.” At this point, I took the cap off and tipped it over for one of the pills to fall out.

“I just want to talk, and something is clearly bothering you.” At this point, she was standing right in front of me. “And even if I’m a hallucination, you know as well as I that talking out your problems does tend to help. I promise, nothing bad will happen, just please, step into my office.”

I looked at her and the pills in my paw, “If you say something bad or something weird happens I’m taking these.”

“Then come inside,” she escorted me into her office. I must say, her office seemed to be just as I had remembered it. Calm walls painted in a soft purple with a few thick windows looking out. Her desk was an antique French table that I think she said survived the Revolution of 1789. On it was a few papers, a cupful of pens, and the little plaque of her name. Doctor Foxwit. There were a few diplomas here and a picture of sunset there. And in a corner of the room near the low bookshelves were her simple chair and a couch big enough to lie on. “Take a seat if you please,” she said to me as she picked up a clipboard.

I myself wasn't too convinced that this is really her office, for all I know, I might be in a janitors’ closet or something. And that chair might not be there, so just to be sure, I snapped my claw for a couch. Nothing happened. So I took a seat.

Foxwit closed the door and went straight to her seat while saying her usual: “So Mr. Disc, would you please tell me what’s on your mind today?”

“Look Ms. Foxwit, everything was going well until things just went downhill recently.”

“What happened?”

“Well, here I am taking a few students on a kind of field trip to someplace where I've only been once before right? That we had a kind of schedule until those three showed up.”

“Who?”

“Those Crusaders, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo; those three suddenly popped out of nowhere. I thought that we can still do this given this unexpected surprise. I thought that they would be able to be responsible in such a new place, but what did they do? They endangered themselves by setting off enough explosives to take half a Walmart out! Don’t worry; they’re fine thankfully, but… ugh!”

I think I heard a door opening; I looked over to the door to find it still closed, must be nothing then.

“Anyway Doc, I dragged them back home, and not without giving them a good scolding before sending them off. And I just couldn't believe what they've done! I mean, they just endangered themselves and who-knows-how-many-lives for the sake of that little movie of theirs. I mean, these three can accomplish anything that they set their minds to, I know that. But what they did was completely thoughtless.”

“Why do you care for these Crusaders of yours? Are they family?”

“Family? No, I’m not even related to them.”

“Who are ya talkin’ to?” a third voice said.

“Huh?”

“I said,” Dr. Foxwit said. “Then why do you care about these three so much? You care for them as if they were family to you.”

“Well…” I put my hands over my eyes, still not letting go of the pill. “Look, it’s… It’s complicated.”

“I've got time.”

“Sure you've got time, but I don’t know how to explain it.”

“Seriously, who are ya talkin’ to?” I looked around, I’m certain someone else is in the office with us.

“Then explain away, why do you seem to care about them so much?” Foxwit asked.

“Why do I care? Look, for Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, I don’t even know them all too well, to be honest. But Applebloom on the other hand though… She’s just, well, relatable to me.”

“How so?”

“Well, sometime back I had to substitute for a teacher who was sick at the time. Teaching younger kids than I am used to, but I've done it before you know.” She nodded, “Anyway Doc, during lunch, I overheard Applebloom arguing with some rich snobby kid. For the life of me, I can’t remember what her name was from the top of my head, but I remember her making a comment that she seemed to really care for one of her friends, Scootaloo right? Well, then she said a slur that I was unfamiliar with so I had to look it up. And do you know what I found?”

She shook her head, “I can’t remember what the word was exactly, but I remember what it meant, she called Applebloom a slur name meaning lesbian.” For a moment the room went quiet. “And you know Doc, I couldn't care less if she really is or not. I don’t care if her little crush on one of her best friends is genuine or simple puppy love. You know as well as I that I can be very strict when it comes to bullies like that brat because… I know what it’s like to be… different from everyone else.”

“What did you do then?”

“What then? I punished the brat and I had a talk with Applebloom. I told her that if she wanted, I would keep her secret only between us. She thanked me of course. We talked a while until she accidentally asked if I had a family. After I told her that I don’t, that I can’t remember anyone pass the bits and pieces of my mom, she opened up that her parents died when she was just a baby. And… Doc, I don’t expect you to understand this, but, in that moment of sympathy I guess, she became more than a friend to me.”

“Then what is it?” she asked in an unusual southern accent.

“Doc, I don’t expect for me to have kids anytime soon, but to me… Applebloom and her friends became as close to a real family as far as I could remember. They all look up to me as if I was their dad without them calling me that.” I sighed, “Maybe it was because of this that… I don’t want them to get hurt is all.”

“Ah would have done tha same.” I looked up seeing that both Applejacks were in the room.

“That’s it!” I swallowed the pill. I closed my eyes for a moment to wait until the hallucination to go away. Afterward, I opened my eyes to see that I was lying on a couch, but the office gave way to a bedroom with both of the Applejacks standing there.

“How much did you two heard?”

“Jus’ enough,” they both answered.

20: Lost and Found.

As the Twin Apples explained to me, not only were there but also their counterparts were looking for me because it was almost five o’clock. Looking at my watch, it’s about fifteen ‘til. I guess I've been out here longer than I thought perhaps.

Anyways, the three of us were headed towards the multiple throne room, neither Applejack said a word which made me wonder how much exactly from my imaginary therapy did they hear.

“So…” AJ started, “Ma sis really likes Scoots huh?”

Oh, joy! Both of those Appleblooms are really going to hate me now!

“Yeah,” Applejack nodded. “Didn't see that comin’. Did ya know about this?” she asked her other self.

“Nope. Not a word at all! Ah never given any thought about another Apple would be-”

“Hold on,” I interrupted them both. “‘Another Apple?’ What do you mean by ‘another Apple?’” The two of them stopped, craned their necks to look at each other.

“Do ya remember awhile back to that one family reunion, the one about Brae?” AJ asked.

“What are ya… Oh. Oh that one,” Applejack nodded while realizing something. “Yeah Ah remembered that now. He said that Ah was the very first one in the whole family he’d told.”

“Same here, and didn't he make ya promise to never tell anybody else too?”

Applejack nodded.

“Mind shedding some light on what you two are talking about?” I asked them.

“Braeburn is gay,” they both said in unison.

I slapped my forehead, hard. “So let me get this straight, you two are telling me that this… What is he again?”

“Cousin.”

“That this cousin of yours is secretly gay, and by the way, the two of you are talking, you're both fine with it. And yet, neither of you had figured out your own little sister nor even given a thought of what she might be into?” I let my paw drop from my face, “And here I thought that I can be dense at times.”

“Hey, we didn't know.” AJ tried to retaliate. I just rolled my eyes. “‘sides, she hasn't hit puberty until a year or two.”

I raised an eyebrow, “As if neither of you had a little crush on anyone when you were kids?” They didn't say anything but blushed a little and looked at anything except my eyes. “I thought so, look, we could talk about this later. But for now, it’s time to go home.”

As we neared the room of Thrones, Twilight came up to me asking: “There you are, have you seen the Crusaders lately?”

“Course, I sent them back home-”

“No, that’s not what I meant,” she clarified. “I mean, have you seen our Crusaders? I was told they came in here. But now we can’t find them.”

“I haven’t run into anyone except for these two,” I pointed at the Applejacks. “Well to be fair they ran into me but that’s beside the point. No, I haven’t seen them in here… Unless…” I clapped for a little radar detector that its very existence was made for one purpose; finding the other me. Almost right away a little dot appeared on the screen. And it appeared that he was nearby.

As soon as I left the room, the rest of the girls followed me, asking what I’m doing. “I think I might have a bit of an idea,” I told them as the dot got closer and closer. Apparently, the dot showed us to a particular door with it being partially opened.

“Discord to Crusaders,” I heard the other me say. “Abort the mission, I repeat, abort the mission right now!”

“Why? What’s goin’ on?” we heard Applebloom’s voice. “Ah think we know where they-”

"They're now noticing the three of you are gone! Come back here at once!” Twilight opened the door to find the other me behind a desk talking to a cup that’s connected to a bucket by a thread of fishing line. On the desk was a map that looks like it was drawn with a red crayon with little game pieces on it. And to top it all off, he looked like General Patton. “Um…” he looked everywhere for a moment. “This isn't what it looks like.” But there was no Crusader in sight.

“Alright, where are they?” I asked them, folding my arms and making my doppelganger radar disappear. Of course, when he asked how I could tell he was lying. “Their Crusaders, where are they?”

“Did you say something Discord?” Scoots voice was heard through the cup, in which he covered it with his paw with a sheepish smile.

“Hehe… Uh, we’re playing a game, yeah! That’s what we’re doin- hey!” Suddenly the bucket was covered in a blue aura and it and the cup were yanked out of his hands. Rarity levitated the cup to her.

“Hello? Are you dears there?” There was no response from the other side. “Hello? Where are you?” Rarity questioned.

“Maybe we should stop looking for the clubhouse.” Sweetie Belle’s voice is heard along with the sound of paper rustling. I looked up to see the other me was trying to eat the drawing until I snapped my paw. At a closer look, it was a rough map of…

“Pony Hill Road? Appaloosa Lane? Main Hatters Street? Cloudsday Ave? This is our town!”

“Uh yeah…” the other me said shifting his eyes every millisecond. “About that…”

“Discord?” Fluttershy went up to my other self. “Did… Did the Crusaders go through the portal?”

“Umm… Maybe they-”

“They did!” Faster than anyone could say “What just happened?” the other me was face to face with two Rainbows, Rarities and Applejacks whose eyes were on fire. “WHAT DID YOU DO TO THEM?!?!” they demanded.

“I can explain!” he said raising his arms. “Just hear me out on this! They were just trying to give their camera back to them!”

“What are ya talkin’ about?” AJ questioned.

“Remember the camera that we tried to make that movie with? Turns out, it’s your guys’ Crusaders and they’re trying to find them to give it back to them.”

AJ asked for the cup so she could talk to them, “Girls, this is Applejack, you girls better stay right where you are, we’ll be over there to get ya. Oh Y'all are in so much trouble.”

21: The Return, the Visitor, and the Film.

The girls said their goodbyes to one another with the promise that they’ll come back sometime in the near future, preferably for the summer before we all jumped back through the looking glass. One dizzy light show later we were all spat out onto the concrete in a dogpile with me on the bottom.

“Again! Again!” Pinkie cheered on. We looked around to find that, yes, everything did come with us. Rarity’s suitcase with a modified dress, as well as the gifts they got from Equestria, although some of it seemed to have modified a little to fit them better.

“Can one of y’all mind giving me a lift?” Applejack asked. “Ah think Ah have a good idea where their Crusaders might be.”

“How do you know?” I questioned.

“They said they’re lookin’ for the Clubhouse, which is on our farm on the edge of town. It’s jus’ at the very end of Pony Hill Road.” I volunteered to take her there to find them. The others said their “See ya’s” and went their separate ways while I let the young farmer into my car.

A few streets later and a warning not to open the glove box because it contains a lunch that has been left there since the end of the Vietnam War, I started up a conversation.

“So what are ya going to do when you find them?”

“Firsts thin’ is give them an old fashion tongue lash, then lasso them to the car, and then it’s back to Equestria with them.”

“Do I have a say in this?” I raised an eyebrow before stopping at an intersection. “I mean, both you and your other self know perfectly well about how I see them after all.”

“Ha. Y’all were right about one thing. The four of ya do have somethin’ in common.”

“And that being?” I asked as I pressed on the gas.

“Ya have a knack of gettin’ yerselves inta trouble.”

“Why Applejack, I’m hurt,” I mocked. “The very idea that I would cause trouble all the time,” she didn't look convinced. “Okay, some of the time. You happy now? Actually, don’t answer that. But in all seriousness, I want to have a word with them; as a teacher, their friend, and… as a bit of a father figure.”

Applejack didn't say anything for a moment until she uttered, “Fine. But let me go get them first.”

The farm came into view as soon as we went by the apple orchard. Give or take ten or so minutes of waiting in my car in the dirt driveway, Applejack came to the car with the three Crusaders with their heads drooped low dragging their Crusader Mobile with them. After loading the motorized scooter and the wagon into the truck, the Crusaders got into the back seats while a crossed Applejack sat in the very front.

“Before I say anything,” I said as we drove off the driveway and back onto the street. “I want to know one thing above all else, what was your guy’s reason to come over here without us knowing?”

“We've already done it,” Scootaloo explained. “All we wanted was to give their camera back.”

“Is that all?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Well,” Sweetie Belle rubbed the back of her neck. “That and we just wanted to see what this place is really like for ourselves too.”

“We thought it would be quick though,” Applebloom added. “We’re really sorry alright! Neither of us wanted things to get out of hoof.”

I nodded, “I suppose you and your counterparts have learned something today?”

“Ah guess so, don’t break the rules jus’ to have fun.”

“No. That’s not it,” the three of them (including Applejack) asked what I was talking about. “It’s like I've said, it’s actually okay to break some rules, but as long as that doesn't go too far. Even with these superpowers of mine, I can have so much fun turning the whole universe on its head, but that doesn't mean that I don’t know the consequences of doing so. As a talking cat with a candy-cane hat once put it, ‘It is fun to have fun, but you have to know how.’” I looked in my rear-view mirror to find some confused looks. “You know, from Dr. Seuss.” Nothing changed so I sighed. “Remind me to show you guys his books sometime.”

-*-

By 7:13, I put the baked potato soup on my little table. Going into the kitchen, I recall the memory of about a few hours ago. How that after we drove up to the school to drop the Crusaders back home. Of course, before they went home, I gave those three a little gift; a small collection of Seuss’s poems to read when they go back to their world. Finally, I drove Applejack back to her home, saying that she’s going to have a little talk with her Applebloom. So I planned when Monday comes around, I’ll pop by their table to see if she’s okay.

Sitting down at the table, I levitated a CD mix into the stereo so I could listen to a little something before I perform my usual ritual. The first one to come up made my eyes roll but let it play anyway.

“Yes, is this the real life or fantasy?” I muttered to myself, taking a spoonful with a piece of potato and bacon. “Then again, what difference does it make if everything is made up?”

There was a sudden knock on my front door. Immediately I felt both curiosity and annoyance at the same time. On the one hand, I just sat down from a long day and was just now starting to eat. And on the other, who in their right mind want to visit me at this time of day? So I got up and went over to the door.

“Yeah?” I asked opening the door. There on my porch was a lady with long red hair in a white suit holding a little black book.

“Oh, good evening, I was looking for a…” she opened up her little book, “Julius A. Disc. Is this his residence by any chance?”

“I’m Julius, why?”

“Ah perfect!” she gave me a smile and a firm handshake. “Good to find you, can I come in?”

“But who are you?”

She reached into her pocket to show me a badge, “I’m CIA, agent F to be exact. I’m just popping by to ask you a few questions. Don’t worry sir, you’re not in trouble at all, I just want to ask you a few things.”

I paused for a moment to register what I've just heard, “Well… I’m just starting to have dinner.”

“Don’t worry, I promise that I won’t take up too much of your time, about five minutes or so.” She smiled while adding, “So can I come in please?” I step aside to show her in. “Bohemian Rhapsody – you got a good taste.”

Shrugging, I went back over to my table while she took a seat from across from me. I offered her a bowl but she said that wouldn't be necessary. “Trust me, I’ll be in and out of here before you know it. Now, down to business…” she opened up her little book. “So… Do you want to be called Mr. Disc or Julius?”

I told her that it didn't matter to me, “Alright then, Mr. Disc. You’re an art teacher for the local high school right?”

“Yeah.”

“How long have you been there?”

“Just been rehired for… I guess nearly half a year by now.”

“I see, tell me, during your time there, did you noticed anything unusual?”

I raised an eyebrow, I can see where this is going. “Define ‘unusual’.”

“Well, like did you see anything odd like, for example, a teenager who turns into a… ‘Demon like creature’ or a group of singers who makes the mass group of students act besides themselves; or perhaps, a group of students along with yourself disappearing without a trace for a few hours?”

I stayed silent. “That’s a very particular question from someone whom I've never met.”

“Really? I would think you might recognize me. After all, I do tend to pop up in this town now and again.” I shook my head. She frowned. “Oh well, let me ask another, it’s true that you don’t have any family relations by blood that you know correct?”

“Yeah?”

“Interesting, it says here that just a few days ago you came in with a student who you said was a cousin of yours. A cousin who could shapeshift into anybody, is that correct?”

“What are you trying to accuse me here?”

“I’m not accusing you of anything Mr. Disc, I’m just asking for security reasons. After all, the town of Equestria is in my district to look after on behalf of the government. It’s my job to do as best as I can to make sure that my district stays safe from harm. Please don’t misunderstand me, as someone who works for the government, I don’t want anyone, such as yourself, to think we’re the enemy here. I was hoping that you could look up to us as friends are all.” She ended with a smile.

“If I said yes to that shapeshifting thing, would you be satisfied?”

“Well, part of my visit is to seek out the truth.”

“Alright fine, that shapeshifter isn't my cousin, happy now?” I asked taking a drink.

“Quite,” she nodded. “And is it also true that you have superpowers?” and then I spit my drink back into the glass.

“W-What!?”

“Please answer the question.” She said in a kind motherly voice. I was petrified. How could this stranger have found out? She looked up from her book and smiled. “Again, you’re not in trouble. So please answer my question.”

“Um… I-I, well-”

“I’ll take that as a yes,” she closed her book. “As you can guess, yes, we have noticed your unique talents beyond your artwork. I especially, which is the reason why I've come by myself.”

“And what is that?”

She smiled at me, “I’m here to tell you that, you’re not exactly alone here. As part of my duty to my government as well as myself, I want you to know that you fully have my support. That is, as long as you behave.”

“But what do you want from me?”

“I just want you to be my friend is. So, if you happen to run into any problems, or if you find something strange that might threaten both this town as well as the nation as a whole, please,” she reached into her pocket and hand me over a card. “Give me a call, and I promise that I’ll do everything in my power to fix it. Okay?”

I reached over and took the card, nodding.

“Splendid! Now, I must be going,” she got up from the table and made her way to the door. Before she left, however, she stopped to say, “Oh, and one more thing, could you please tell your bosses that I said ‘Hi’ for me? Thanks.”

Even after she left, I did have only one question on my mind.

“What was that about?” I asked out loud.

-*-

By Monday afternoon, I was heading towards the Teachers’ Lounge for lunch. As the students walk past me, I couldn't help but think about that late afternoon on Saturday. I don't think you could blame me for being a little bit on edge, considering that visit with that CIA lady.

“There you are!” I turned around to find Scootaloo catching my attention. “You have about seven minutes?”

“What for?”

“Come on,” she said pulling on the cuffs of my coat while adding: “We want a second opinion on something.” She pulled me along until we got into the school’s library where Sweetie Belle and Applebloom were at one of the computers.

“Girls, what’s all this about?”

“We just got finished editing our movie.” Sweetie Belle explained, “But Applebloom thought it might be a good idea to let someone see it before put it on the web.”

“Movie? You mean… from Equestria?” Oh, irony gods I’m such an idiot!

“Yeah,” Applebloom nodded, “So take a seat and put these on.” She handed me a pair of earphones to me. So I sat down and prepared myself for the worst. Let me tell you, I have seen plenty of experimental films to last for a lifetime, that most of them were from college by the students there trying to figure out what works and what doesn't. I have sat through films so bizarrely put together that sometimes I couldn't help but admire it.

“Well, what do ya think?” Scootaloo asked.

“Um… Girls, I’m really, really sorry to tell you this – but I think it’s bad.” Their faces drooped and asked what’s wrong. “Two things here: first, what was it supposed to be? I couldn't tell if it’s a sci-fi, a mystery, or what since it’s so oddly put together. And second, and it’s the biggest problem, is that I don’t think it’s a good idea to put this on the internet.”

“Why not?” Applebloom asked.

“Because you just showed not only the portal but what’s behind it; tell me, do you really think it’s a good idea? I mean, if this gets out, what do you think would happen if the wrong people see this and might do something bad to our friends in Equestria?”

“Whoa,” Sweetie Belle realized first. “I never thought it like that before.”

“Yeah…” Scootaloo muttered rubbing her neck. “But, what are we gonna do with it?”

“You guys haven’t uploaded this yet have you?” I asked.

Applebloom shook her head, “Not yet.”

“Here,” I snapped my fingers for a flash drive that looked like a maraca. “Upload the video onto here, and delete the video from your flash drive. I promise, your video will be safe with me.” After all, that’s been said and done, they did upload the video and deleted their copy. With the little maraca in my pocket, I offered the three of the distraught crusaders to have lunch with me in the teachers’ lounge. As we walked, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle walked a little bit ahead of us. So with a little distance, I turned to Applebloom.

“Hey, Applebloom?” She looked up at me as if she was asking what. “Is everything alright with you?”

“Well, yeah.”

“I mean, is everything alright in your family?”

She raised an eyebrow, “Why’d ya ask?”

“Did you have a talk that involved her?” I pointed over to Scootaloo.

Applebloom’s cheeks had a touch of red, “U-Uh, Ah, well-”

“I take it that everything went well,” I half smiled. “And yes, I know.”

“What!?”

“Please, don’t worry about it.” I re-insured her, “I promise you, if you are or not, I’m always here for you as well as your friends. And besides, as they used to say, my lips are sealed.” I put a finger over my lips to make a point.

“R-Really?”

I nodded, “Yes, yes I do mean it. Oh, and one last question?”

“What’s that?”

“Would you girls prefer a feast or a buffet for your lunch?”

Sometime later...

1: Invitation to Free Food

It’s been about a week since I've gone into pony wonderland. So far, everything is mostly back to normal with school work and all. Well… That is if you don’t count the cleanup of the melted ice from a while ago (both of my bosses are still puzzled how that happened). The bullies who were picking on Fluttershy were able to walk away with a bruised bottom and a bruised ego after falling down so many times.

And the best part is, of course, nobody suspected it was me. Yes, the weird art teacher, Mr. Disc, who with the snap of his fingers turned a portion of a hallway into an ice rink. Ever since I've got back, I found, to my sadist side grinning with glee, that I was able to keep my superpowers. But the thing is, I not exactly sure how far this would go; so just to be on the safe side, I don’t try to use it that often. I mean, sure, I did use it to cook some chicken soup without a stove… Or that one time I put in a thousand bucks into my bank account… Or that time I used it to help me paint that double self-portrait of me and Shy from that other place.

But I digress, today’s been an okay day, my students completed their assignments, both of my bosses are still kinda mad at me for pulling a vanishing act on short notice, and I realized that I left my lunch back at home so I had to beg for my meal. Which to say I didn't get very much outside of a tuna sandwich and some water.

Now since school is out, I’d probably step over somewhere for a bite.

“Hi Mr. Disc!” said the well-known, overhyped, higher than anyone ever been on a sugar rush Pinkie Pie said to me popping out of nowhere. Thanks to her, I was very close to having a heart attack.

“Gah! Pinkie! Do you have to do that to everyone just to say hello?” I asked her while clutching to my speeding heart from her jump scare.

“Nah, I wasn't even trying. You just weren't paying attention,” she told me. And somehow, somewhere, I can hear a just as pink pony giggling her head off. “Actually, I’m really, really glad that I've run into you. Well, not like on most days where some of us are trying to avoid you on purpose or-”

“Get to the point if you please," I requested, making it clear that I was starting to get annoyed.

“Okay, it’s not just me that wants to talk to you but the girls as well.”

“Over what? What are you even talking about?”

“Well since you've actually have set foot in Equestria and not just stick your head in, we thought we might want to talk to you about it.”

“This again,” I muttered. “Look, I appreciate the effort, but for the last time, I’m fine. I don’t need some group therapy-”

“But it’s not anywhere like that, I Pinkie Promise it.”

I raised an eyebrow, “Then what, pray to tell, do you ‘girls’ want with me? Besides, you’re not even in any of my classes.”

“But Fluttershy is,” she said. “And she wants to talk to you too. And Rarity and Applejack and Rainbow Dash, and even Sunset Shimmer. And Sunset is from Equestria herself! We’re meeting over Sugar Cube Corner.”

“Look, Pinkie,” I said starting to walk away. “It’s nice of you girls, but I just want to go home and-”

“We’ll get you something to eat, we’ll pay for it.”

I stopped. Turning around, I marched back to the crazy girl in pink, “You have my attention, Ms. Pie.”

She smiled, “Does this mean you’re coming?”

“I think you said something about a meal?”

“Yeah! I work there so I get a discount, plus we all have enough bit of cash to get you some food, and it’ll be free on your part. We just have a talk with you.” That did it, a weakness I have, I confess, is whenever anyone says the words “free” and “food” together in the same sentence, I tend to go along with whatever they had in mind. Even if that plan involved me getting a lobotomy, as long as they were offering a cheeseburger, I’m there!

“Well in that case, where is it?” I asked.

“It isn't too far from here, only a few blocks away, we’ll just walk over there.” And with that, she started to lead the way. I looked around for a moment to check to see if anyone was watching, luckily, nobody was, so I tapped one foot, then the other, and started to skate over to Pinkie on rollerblades.

As I zipped passed her, I asked, “Are you coming to Ms. Pie?”

She seemed surprised by this. “Where the rollerblades come from?” she asked, taking up a little speed herself.

“Oh, they’re just… Uh, they’re new shoes I just got. They have wheels in them.”

“Really? I never noticed you had that kind of shoes before. Do you know where I can get those? I think they might come in handy whenever I…” Pinkie rambled on while I still skated onwards, trying to see if she’ll actually keep up. But Pinkie, in her rambling, did remind me that I didn't have a clue where I was going, so I slowed down so she can take the lead.

As she said, the place wasn't too far from where I work, although come to think of it; I don’t think that I've really been there. Don’t get me wrong, the place is familiar after all, but it’s one of those places where you think you’ll come by but you never do until someone takes you there. Pinkie went through the front doors, but I stopped so I can get my shoes back to actually walk before going in.

“Over here!” Pinkie cried, I turned to her voice to find a group of students sitting in a booth. Among them were Fluttershy and a student who, come to think of it, I've heard about but never really met before. I walked over to their table, pulling up a chair of my own.

“Sunset Shimmer, I presume?”

(Accidental Odyssey: According to Charlie the Changeling.)

I have heard somewhere that “If you wait to do everything until you’re sure it’s right; you’ll probably won’t do much of anything.” Such advice comes into my mind here on the outskirts of the Crystal Empire. As a spy and a natural master of disguise, the first thing one looks for is for anything weird that happens over and over. And an armored train with a flat crate that comes here to Ponyville and back fits the bill.

In the reports I sent to her Majesty, Queen Chrysalis of the Great Vahlerfish Hive, I along with another spy in Ponyville have noticed that armored train has been coming to and fro quite more frequently with the exact same crate. The contents, to our knowledge, have been left unknown until tonight.

My mission, given as an order from the queen herself, was to infiltrate onto the train car with that mysterious crate to discover what is in it; and to find if the contents could be of any use to us. From the sound of it, the order sounds like the queen is getting incessantly desperate. And after that disaster of the royal wedding and her encounter with then Twilight the unicorn, we could clearly see why. It has been lately one disaster after another and her majesty isn't having the best of luck.

But back to the mission, the first step is to disguise myself, which was done; I blended in with these crystal guards that were marching with this crate. Step two; get me into the same space as the crate.

“I need volunteers,” the one who was leading us said. “I need two of you to be in the car with the package at all times until you get to Ponyville, please step forward.” I did along with another stallion; he nodded and instructed us into the car.

Step three, wait until the door is closed and the train moves for some time for step four: gag and cocoon the other guard to make sure he doesn't tattle the other guards.

And step five, open the crate and see what’s inside. Given the fact that I had very limited tools around, it took me about an hour to take out the nails from the crate. I ended up using the holes in my legs to pry it open, of course, it hurt getting one nail after another but I did it. After an hour’s work, I took out the last nail to open up what was inside.

Laying on a bed of straw was a mirror. I would be lying if I said that I wasn't confused at it. A mirror? This doesn't come close to making any sense, why would the Crystal Empire and Ponyville trade this thing back and forth? I mean, it’s just a mirror… Or, what if it isn't? What if this mirror has some kind of magic that we’re not aware of?

I reached a hoof to my reflection, I expected that I would only touch solid glass but, I didn't feel a thing. My hoof went right though! Quickly pulling it out, I inspected it to see if I was hurt but there was nothing noticeable. I wondered what exactly this thing does so I stuck my leg in along with my head.

I guess one of the wood planks I was balancing on snapped because I ended up falling face first. I can tell you that there was a lot of screaming falling in. And a lot of lights and spinning colors too. Still not sure how long I've tumbled down into who-knows-where, I couldn't tell with all of my limbs flapping in every direction.

What happened next, I confess I’m still not quite sure. I was spat out from what I guess was from a statue and rolled over a few times onto the solid stone. It took me a while for the spinning to stop until I could see once again. I looked around, it was still night time, and I was in front of a building with all the lights were off. I looked around to find myself in a town that I've never seen before. What is this place? Was the mirror some portal, and if so, to where?

I tried getting up, but for a moment I panicked, my limbs bend at odd angles. Did I break them without knowing? I looked down at myself, all of myself at the body I’m in. For one, I was wearing clothes which I have no memory of doing. My limbs were still black and have holes in them, but these were slimmer, longer, and my front hooves were flat with these… Talons? Claws? Short tentacles? I-I have no idea! My clothes were rags, and at the end of my hind legs, my hoof was bent at an angle with what I think might be a shoe attach to it. Oh, and to top it all off, my tail is completely gone!

W-What is this? Where am I? Was the only thought I had.

Then I heard the low hum of a machine followed by a voice, “Worst, movie, ever!” one of them squeaked.

“Tell me about it,” another one said. “I mean really? They had to promise a sequel to this?”

“Ah know, it was awful,” a third one said as I heard those steps getting closer. I hid behind the base of the statue and peaked at where those voices were coming from. There were three of them, about the size of an average pony but… (How do I even describe them?) One of them was orange with a purple mane driving one of those scooters with a motor in the back that was hauling a little wagon with two others. One of them was white with a pink and purple mane while the other was yellow with a red mane and a bow.

“I guess the idea was cool though,” the white one said. “About a monster that could change into anything.”

“Yeah, but actin’ was weird, the writin’ was bad and Ah don’t remember what’ it about.” The yellow one commented. As they drove away, I had a choice, I could either try to figure out how to get back onto that train car or follow them.

So I decided to follow them, if that mirror was transporting something with that much security, they're doing it for a reason. So perhaps I should explore this place to see what those ponies are protecting here. Who knows, perhaps I might find something useful to us, Changelings.