Twilight Visits Canterlot High
“No doubt about it, Spike, there’s definitely something strange going on at that school,” Twilight Sparkle adjusted her glasses to sit better on her face as she looked at the giant board of data she had set up in her lab.
Spike barked in response.
“I think it’s time to start conducting some field research” Twilight said as she grabbed Spike’s leash from the wall and attached it to Spike’s collar. Spike was panting rapidly in anticipation for his walk. He fell in at Twilight’s side as she walked out the door.
Twilight walked through the campus of Canterlot University as she made her way toward the bus. The campus was very well maintained, one might expect even say idyllic, however, Twilight had no time to admire her surroundings. She had research she needed to do.
She remembered when she first had got the scholarship in the mail from the university, and when she was so young at that. She had jumped at the opportunity to study at such a prestigious school, and while she was there she made the most of it. She was a very studious and self-motivated student, and the professors loved her, though most people found her a little strange and withdrawn.
Finally Twilight arrived at her stop. She got off the bus, surveyed the area and found a good vantage point to begin recording data. As she sat down she adjusted the glasses on her face and took out her favorite notebook with the purple glitter and pink starburst then set down to writing.
Twilight had the next few weeks carefully planned out to maximize her time and get the most reliable information possible. The first five days would be spent entirely on data collection and covert monitoring. That would give her a chance to assess the environment and establish a baseline. After that she would start with some in depth data collection and measurements based off her findings from the first week. She may have to receive permission from the head of faculty there before starting this step. She'd have to see once she finished with this first week what she needed. Concurrent with the field tests she'll also be conducting interviews with the student population. Then she'll use the last couple of weeks for analysis and follow up and to report on her findings. Twilight wasn't sure what she was dealing with, but she was confident with her knowledge and experience in scientific research she would be able to deal with whatever she found. She just had to stick to the plan.
As she began to write, Twilight made a quick scan of the geography of the school. The spot she had chosen gave her a good view of the front door. This would allow her to see everyone that comes and goes over the course of the day. Somehow, though, she couldn't shake the feeling she was overlooking some detail. She decided to expand her attention to a larger portion of the school.
To the right she could see the school soccer field a few kids were playing on it at the moment. For the most part the school grounds were rather empty. There were small groups of students gathered here and there and Twilight could pick up small snippets of conversation, including one voice that was much louder than all the others. Twilight decided to ignore it for now and begin writing her logs.
She opened her notebook, retrieved her pen and double checked on Spike. He was barking at something or someone off in the distance, which was pretty normal behavior for him. She put her pen to her mouth in order to think for a few quick seconds then began to write.
Canterlot High School; Research and Observation : Day 1.
Current temperature: 76.3 degrees.
Current weather: Clear and sunny.
Twilight stopped writing and scratched the back of her head with her pen. There was that voice again. Why did it seem so loud, and why was it bugging her so much?
“...ight. Hey”
Twilight continued writing.
At first glance the school appears no different from any of the other high schools from our country. It is decently well maintained and the students-
"TWILIGHT!"
Twilight started, dropping her pen and almost dropping the notebook on her lap. Next to her was an athletic-looking girl with blue skin and rainbow-colored hair.
"Wow, it's hard to get your attention when you're working on something," she said as she walked up to Spike and greeted him. "What's that you're writing?"
"Nothing," Twilight said defensively. "Just some research." She closed her notebook and did her best to hide her notes.
The other girl looked confused for a second and maybe a little hurt, but she shook it off quickly.
"So, why have you decided to visit? Is the school in danger? Do we need to fight off some new evil?" The rainbow colored girl started shadow boxing, obviously excited with the prospect.
"No, nothing like that." The other girl stopped, disappointed. "I just noticed something strange and decided to investigate."
"Well, alright, but you know if you need anything from us you can just ask, right?"
"Uh.. I'll keep that in mind?"
"Great! Come on. We have to tell the others you're here."
The blue skinned girl grabbed Twilight by the arm and started dragging her toward the school with Spike happily following behind. Obviously, Twilight wasn't going to be getting any help from him.
As she was being dragged along, Twilight took a moment to reassess her situation. Apparently, her anonymity had been compromised. Thus she wouldn't be able to observe the school surreptitiously as she had originally planned. So, then, what were her options? She could abort the mission. She didn't like the idea, though. Her studies had made her incredibly curious about the school and its happenings. It would be a shame to stop before she even got anywhere. Also, she doubted if she could gracefully get away from this girl. She could ask someone else to do the observation and recording. The problem with that was she wasn't sure she knew anyone who could do it properly. Also she would have to convince them it was worth their time. That would be difficult with the lack of evidence she had. No, since it had already gone this far the best thing to do would be to push on. Since phase one of her plan had fallen through, might as well move on to phase two.
The entire time she was thinking the other girl had been chatting away non stop, mentioning how excited these other girls would be and asking questions about what she'd been doing recently. Twilight tried to answer as noncommittally as possible. Some of the things she said did give her pause, though. Royal duties? Seriously? Finally, Twilight found a point where she was able to get a few words in.
"Listen, um.." Twilight trailed off, realizing she didn't know this girl's name.
"What's up?" The other girl said.
Twilight decided not to force the point. "Since I'm here, do you think you could introduce me to the head of your school?"
"You mean Principal Celestia? Sure, we can see her. Let's go." They began walking toward the front door. As they were about to enter, though, the girl stopped her.
"Whoa, Twilight, you know there's no pets allowed in the school. You're going to have to stow Spike."
"Oh, right, of course. That makes sense." Twilight tied Spike's leash to a nearby railing and told him to stay. Spike seemed a little less than happy at this development.
The rainbow girl spoke up. "Isn't Spike going to be lonely out here by himself? Why don't you just carry him in your backpack like you usually do?"
"Why would I carry him in my backpack?" Twilight responded. "Won't I get caught?"
"Don't worry about it. It'll be fine." The girl picked up Spike and put him in Twilight's bag. Before closing it up she addressed him.
"Now Spike, you need to be quiet while you're in there, okay?"
Spike barked. The other girl nodded and turned to Twilight. "See? We'll be fine."
"Right..." Twilight really doubted that Spike understood the situation fully, but before she could voice her thoughts, the girl had already pulled her into the school. Soon she was knocking on the door to the principal's office.
"Yes?" An authoritative but gentle voice came from inside. The girl opened the door. "Rainbow Dash, to what do I owe this honor?"
“Hey there, Principal Celestia,” The girl, apparently Rainbow Dash, said. “Twilight Sparkle’s here, and she asked to see you.”
“I see.” From the tone of her voice, there seemed to be some significance to Twilight being there that Twilight herself didn’t quite understand. “Come on in.”
As Twilight entered the office, she was able to see the principal for the first time. Principal Celestia was sitting behind her desk. In front of her was a small stack of paperwork that was shoved off to the side. The principal herself had the air of someone who liked being in control, both of herself and the situation around her. At the moment she was sitting straight up at her desk with her hands clasped in front. Despite this relatively formal and serious posture, she still managed to look relaxed and open. Her appearance was striking. She had pale pink skin and long flowing hair in multiple pastel colors reminiscent of the aurora. She was wearing a mustard suit with a purple undershirt. Taken altogether, Twilight found her gorgeous and a little bit intimidating.
Twilight stepped forward into the office. "It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am. My name is Twilight Sparkle, though, umm, I guess my reputation precedes me." Twilight smiled awkwardly.
"Indeed." There seemed to be a small amount of humor in the reply.
"Well, um, I'm conducting some research on this school and was wondering if I could ask you a few questions."
"Go ahead."
Twilight paused. These terse answers were throwing her off balance.
"Um, I was wondering if you could describe anything weird that's happened around here recently?" Twilight was interested to hear what she had to say. Information on the happenings at the school had been rather fleeting. All Twilight had were a few eye-witness accounts, which made no sense; some strange light shows; and some unusual seismic activity. The school had been surprisingly quiet about the events. Come to think of it, she hoped she wasn't overstepping her bounds by asking this question. Principal Celestia could very well take offense and ban her from the school, then get a restraining order against her, then take steps to ensure that she would be persona non grata at every school in the entire country. Then she'd never be able to graduate and would have to spend the rest of her days on the streets. She shouldn't have asked that. She played her hand too early. Quick, she had to think of some way to take it back. "Just so you know, any information you decide to give is entirely voluntary." There. That made it less intimidating, right?
Celestia thought for a bit. " 'Recently?' Do you mean since the last time you were here?"
That's not the response Twilight was expecting "I've... never been here before"
Celestia stopped and looked at Twilight for a few seconds before raising an eyebrow and pointedly looking over at Rainbow Dash.
Uh, yeah," Rainbow said, "she's kind of been acting weird since I met her this morning."
Celestia sighed. "Alright. Take her to Nurse Redheart to see if she can't find anything. We'll go from there."
"You got it!" Rainbow Dash saluted and dragged a protesting Twilight out of the office.
***
After giving Twilight a thorough check-up, Nurse Redheart gave her a clean bill of health, which she could have said from the start. The only problems she could find was that Twilight looked a bit overworked, the very idea of which Twilight found ridiculous; and the fact that Twilight couldn't remember being at the school before, which wasn't surprising to her since she never had been. Afterwards, Rainbow took her to an empty classroom and she took the opportunity to rest and let Spike out of her backpack.
"Well, since it's not something physical, we can probably assume that there's something unnatural at work here." Rainbow Dash was texting furiously on her phone as she said this. "Don't worry, Twilight, we'll figure out what's going on."
"Shouldn't you be in class right now?"
Rainbow waved a hand dismissively. "Nah, this is much more important." She was still typing on her phone and didn’t bother to look up.
Just as Twilight was about to start a tirade on the importance of education, the door opened, and an orange-skinned girl with freckles and yellow hair walked through.
"Did you say Twilight was here? You aren't yanking my chain are you?" As she said this her eyes scanned across the room, finally landing on Twilight. "You are here! Ooh boy, it's great to see you again.” She pulled Twilight into a hug. “What's the occasion?"
Twilight struggled to release herself from the girl’s grip. “I’m sorry, I don’t think we’ve met before.”
The girl let go and stared at her. “Come again?”
Rainbow Dash spoke up. “Yeah, sorry about that AJ, I forgot to tell you, it seems Twilight has lost her memory of us. She has, what was was it again? Anesthesia, I think.”
“Um- I think you mean ‘amnesia’.“
Twilight hadn’t even noticed this new girl entering the room. This girl had yellow skin and pink hair that hung in front of her face. She was standing in a way that allowed her to take up as little room as possible, and had trouble making eye contact with Twilight for any length of time. As she noticed Twilight's attention on her she shrank back a bit then brushed one of her bangs back with her hand.
“But this does sound serious. Do we know why it’s happening yet?” She looked over at Rainbow Dash, who shook her head in response. “Oh my, maybe we can get some information from Spike here. Come here, Spike.” To Twilight’s surprise, Spike happily jumped into her arms as ordered. “Do you have any idea why Twilight doesn’t remember us?”
Spike licked her cheek.
The girl smiled. “Oh, that’s very sweet, but I don’t think it’s really that helpful.”
"It was a good try, Fluttershy," Rainbow said. She then paused and put her hand to her chin, thinking. "You know, I don't think I've heard Spike saying much of anything today."
"He's a dog," Twilight said, slightly annoyed. "Dogs don't talk."
As she said this, the door opened again. This time a girl with pure white skin and purple hair which had been carefully maintained to have an elegant curl in her front lock. She looked to be the epitome of poise and grace.
"Is it true? Is Twilight really-" She looked at Twilight then gasped, all composure completely lost. "Oh my, no! This is awful! This is horrible! It's a complete disaster! Oh, we need to fix this right away!”
The sudden outburst caught Twilight off guard. "What? What's wrong?" She said, looking around the room for any sort of catastrophe.
"Your hair!" the girl said. "And those clothes!" Twilight was surprised she would have such a strong reaction to something so trivial. "Oh, my dear, I know appearance isn't one of your top priorities, but you could at least make some effort to look presentable." With that, the girl pulled Twilight into a nearby chair and started working on her.
“Uh, Rarity, I don’t think now’s the proper time,” AJ said.
“Yeah, we’ve got bigger problems to worry about,” Rainbow Dash said. “Twilight has anemia.”
“The word’s ‘amnesia’,“ Twilight said, before realizing that wasn’t her primary problem with the statement. “And I don’t have it.” Twilight looked in a nearby mirror and noticed that Rarity had already tamed the stray strands of hair sticking out and styled her hair into a much cleaner look. She had to give Rarity credit. She did work fast.
At that moment, the door slammed open. Standing in the doorway was a girl with pink skin and pink curly hair. She had a huge smile on her face, and seemed to bristle with barely contained energy. She also looked oddly familiar to Twilight.
“This is amazing! I can’t believe Twilight’s here! Isn’t this the most splendiferous thing you’ve ever heard of? I mean- Wait a minute…” The pink girl stopped to look at Twilight more closely, moving around to view her from every angle and even managing to crawl on her for a bit without throwing off her balance, or even altering her equilibrium in any significant way. Twilight was so amazed at the sudden invasion of personal space, it took her a while to realize that shouldn’t be possible. Eventually the investigation came to an end and the girl was standing in front of her with her hands on her hips ready to announce her findings.
“You’re not Twilight.”
“What do you mean I’m not-”
Suddenly the girl’s face brightened up. “Oooh! You are Twilight! Oh, this is so exciting! I mean, I expected this to happen, but I didn’t think it would be this soon. I already know we’re all going to have a great time together and be the bestest of friends. This is Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and I’m Pinkie Pie. This is so great! We should totally have a party to celebrate! A welcome to Canterlot High party. I’ll get the party supplies. Let’s see, we’ll need balloons and streamers and-”
It was at that moment that Twilight remembered where she’d seen this girl before. It had been her first day in the city. A random girl on the street had somehow known she was new there. She claimed it was because she knew everyone in town already. Considering the population of the city that claim seemed far-fetched at best. For some reason the girl had decided she needed to join Twilight for the entire day and drag her to every place in the city she could think of, which was a lot of places since her attention span rivaled that of a hyperactive ferret in terms of brevity. Twilight spent all day with that girl, being force fed various delicacies from the local populace, mostly sweets. While she did get taken to a few places she genuinely enjoyed, she was afraid to visit them for a few days afterward for fear of running into the girl again.
"-and of course we'll have to have a cake. You can't have a party without a cake. Oh, I wonder what flavor it should be," Pinkie continued. Twilight began to wonder if she had somehow learned to circular breathe while talking. "Chocolate's always great, but maybe a white cake would be better, or coconut, or strawberry-"
Applejack grabbed the back of Pinkie Pie's dress, finally stopping her rant. "Whoa, there, missy, let's back up for a sec. Why did you think she wasn't Twilight?"
"Because she isn't," Pinkie said.
As Twilight looked around the room, she noticed that everyone else was as confused as she was. It was kind of a relief.
After a short pause, Applejack spoke again. "But didn't you say she was Twilight?"
"YES!" Pinkie Pie was now vibrating up and down wildly with a wide grin on her face.
The rest of the group waited a short time for her to elaborate, but the explanation never came. Rarity was the next to speak up. “Well, I don’t understand, dear. How can she be both?”
"Because she's not our Twilight!" Pinkie said.
This was met with looks of confusion from the other girls. Fluttershy seemed especially deep in thought. Soon, she was ready to voice her final assessment, which took the form of a quiet “Oh, oh dear.” Twilight had to admit that was a very succinct and appropriate response to the situation.
Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie continued unperturbed. “Though, technically, I guess she would be our Twilight, since our Twilight isn’t really our Twilight, but another Twilight, though from our perspective, our Twilight would be our Twilight because she’s the real Twilight, but she’s the real Twilight as well, ooh, I’m getting dizzy.”
Pinkie Pie slumped into a nearby chair, and Fluttershy put her hand on her shoulder. “I think what Pinkie’s trying to say is Twilight here is not the Twilight from Equestria. She’s the Twilight from here.”
Twilight had no idea where Equestria was. She had never come across the name in any of her geography classes. It did seem to mean something to the other three girls though, since Twilight saw realization dawn on their face before they all said “Ooooooooooooh” in unison.
“Well, sugarcube, I guess we all owe you an apology. This must’ve all been very confusing for you,” Applejack said.
Rainbow Dash spoke up next. “So, Twilight doesn’t have, umm.. Emphysema?”
Twilight snapped at Rainbow Dash, “Are you doing this on purpose?”
“Only that last time,” Rainbow said, with a smug grin on her face.
Pinkie Pie ignored the aside. “No, silly, her memory’s just fine. At least as far as I know.” Twilight tried to decide whether Pinkie had enough context to know what Rainbow Dash meant before deciding the exercise was futile. “Didn't you guys notice she was acting different? That she doesn't recognize us? Or most importantly, she doesn't move like someone who's not used to having two legs?"
Applejack scratched her head through her hat. "Honestly, we kinda did, Pinkie. We just didn't come to the same conclusion."
The door opened one more time, and a girl with fiery red and yellow hair poked her head in.
"Sorry it took so long to get here. I wasn't able to get away from the teacher." She walked timidly into the room. "Did you say Twilight was here?" Her eyes met Twilight's and she paused. "Oh." She offered a hand. "How are you doing? I'm Sunset Shimmer."
Finally, someone reasonable. Twilight shook her hand and introduced herself in kind. The other girls were flabbergasted.
"Hey," Applejack said, "How did you know she's not Twilight?"
"Wasn't it obvious?" Sunset Shimmer said.
"Duh! That's what I've been trying to say!" Pinkie exclaimed.
Applejack sighed. "Well, Twilight, I think we owe you an explanation."
***
“You do know how ridiculous this sounds, right?” Twilight said as she walked down the hall. She had thought when the story stated that she would be prepared for anything they might tell her, but this went beyond anything she could have possibly expected. It all sounded like something out of a little kid’s show, and a bad one at that.
The idea that a parallel dimension existed within reach of the high school was laughable at best. Though many scientists of the day had accepted the multiple worlds theory, they had yet to make contact with any other universes, nor had they come up with any concrete testable evidence to test the hypothesis. By all accounts, what these girls were saying should be impossible, and it probably was.
“I know it sounds crazy, Twi, but believe me we are telling the truth,” Applejack said.
“I don’t think you’re lying,” Twilight said, “or more to the point I don’t think you think you’re lying. That is still a possibility. Haven’t ruled it out yet, no offense. But even if you aren’t, there are still multiple possibilities that might explain everything better than what you told me. It could have been a scam, or a mass hallucination.”
“Mass hallucination? Are you serious?” Rainbow said. “You can’t seriously believe that could possibly be the case. Besides, if this was a ll a trick, then how did we know who you were?”
“There could be a number of ways,” Twilight said, “The only person who actually was able to say my name without being prompted was you, and there’s multiple ways you could have come across it. It could have been a lucky guess. You could have seen my name and picture while searching the web, or been behind me in line while I was taking an order at the coffee shop. You could have had my name connected to my face in any number of ways, but forgot the context, so when you saw me again, you filled in the context for yourself. The power of suggestion is a really powerful thing and can do a bunch of amazing things to memory, especially if you were under some psychotropic influence. Rainbow was really confident that you all knew me. She could have convinced you that you did and you acted accordingly.”
Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity glared at the idea; Pinkie Pie looked hurt; and Sunset Shimmer seemed unsure how to react. Fluttershy, however, was thoughtful. “I guess that could be possible,” she said, then in response to the other girls looking at her she added, “Even though it’s wrong.” Despite her best efforts, that last bit came out more comical than threatening.
“I’m sorry, that came out wrong,” Twilight said. “I’m not saying that your explanation couldn’t be right. It’s just going to need a lot, and I mean a lot of evidence before it can be properly accepted.”
Rarity grimaced for a little bit longer, but eventually, her face relaxed and she took a deep breath in and out. “Well, I suppose we can let it slide for now. You said you needed evidence. Anything we can do to help with that?”
Twilight thought for a bit. "You say the other me comes from another world, right. How did she get here?"
“She always comes through the statue,” said Applejack. “We can show you, if you like.”
“That would be great,” Twilight said. “Let me just get some instruments.”
She opened up her backpack. Spike, upon seeing her barked happily a few times, eliciting a firm “shush, you” from Twilight as she pushed him back in. She pulled out her energy reader, which was able to detect multiple forms of energy from radiation to vibration. It wasn’t able to give any specific data, being so multifunction, but did provide enough information to let her know what she was dealing with so she could bring out the more sensitive equipment. When dealing with unknowns, it was best to cover as many bases as possible.
“Okay, let’s go,” she said.
“Alright,” said Applejack, “I have to warn you, though. There’s a good chance the door may not be open. It only opens very rarely on its own. Twilight, I mean, not you but, you know what I mean. She was able at one point to open the door on order, but I’m sure she’s closed up that hole by now.”
“That’s fine,” said Twilight. “Even if the gate is closed, I may still be able to pick up some residual… Holy flapcakes!” Twilight stopped short as she looked at the readings on her device. “I’m getting some very strong energy readings from the direction of that statue.” She started fiddling with the controls. “I’m having trouble pinpointing exactly what kind of energy it is. It seems to be messing with this equipment. It could be dangerous, though. I need to have this place blocked off.”
The other girls exchanged confused glances. “I don’t think we can do that, Twi,” Applejack said.
“You have to, at least until I can ascertain what this energy is. I have to go. I’m not equipped to handle this.” With that Twilight ran off, leaving everyone else behind.
***
The girls sat on the lawn and watched as Twilight examined the horse statue in front of their school. In the time since they’d last seen her, Twilight had cordoned off the area to about 100 feet and brought in a whole bunch of complex equipment that they couldn’t even begin to understand. She was sitting there in the middle of the area in full hazmat gear, frantically taking down notes and running tests that they couldn’t possibly even begin to understand. They had tried asking her, but she’d been short on the details.
“I don’t know, gals,” Applejack said, “Is it just me or does Twilight seem a lot less social than normal?”
“Yeah, Twilight’s been a big Grumpy McGrump Pants lately,” Pinkie said. “It’s really getting to me.”
“And she’s no fun either,” Rainbow Dash added. “What happened to the Twilight we could laugh and joke around with, even in the worst of times?”
Sunset Shimmer spoke up. “I’ve kind of been talking to Equestria Twilight, you know, through my book, and she told me that this is similar to the way she acted before she met your counterparts over there. According to her, you, or at least the yous over there are the reason she grew into the pony she is today. This Twilight hasn’t had the privilege of meeting you all yet. Give her time. She’ll come around.”
“Do we want her to, though?” Rarity said.
The other girls turned to look at her.
“I’m just saying,” she continued, “While this is Twilight, and while her core might be the same, this is not our Twilight. Not the Twilight we’ve come to love, admire, and respect, at least. Maybe we shouldn’t try to force her to be that Twilight.”
“But then Twilight wouldn’t have any friends,” Pinkie protested, “Wouldn’t that be sad?”
At that moment, Flash Sentry walked up to the ropes surrounding the statue. After pausing a moment to decide what to do, he crossed over and approached Twilight.
"Hey, um, Twilight, I, uh heard you were in town."
Twilight put her notes down. "Now, what would be so important that you would ignore the barrier I had set up? You do know what that means, right?"
Flash Sentry hesitated. "Um, well, I know we've had some trouble getting off on the right foot, but I was wondering if you might, maybe, want to go get some coffee together, maybe?”
Twilight sighed loudly and turned to face Flash. “Listen, you’re cute and all, very cute, actually, but I’m really busy right now and I don’t have time for this. Now will you please leave this area? It’s not safe here.”
“Oh, right, yeah, sorry, I’ll leave now. Sorry.” Flash Sentry turned to leave, but stopped and turned back. “Do you really think I’m cute?”
“GET OUT OF HERE”
Flash Sentry bolted. The girls watched as he beat a hasty retreat.
“Well, that could make things awkward later,” Applejack said.
Rarity scoffed. “Oh, please. Have you seen those two? That’s hardly the worst conversation they’ve had.” She paused. “Although, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to do some damage control. I’ll be right back.” She got up and followed Flash Sentry.
Sunset Shimmer came to a decision at that point. "You know what? I'm going to talk to her."
Applejack stood up and brushed herself off. “I guess that would be a good idea. Shall we go.”
Sunset Shimmer put up a hand and shook her head. “Actually, I think it might be best if we don’t all try to talk to her at once. Twilight says that she thinks she might be overwhelmed by everyone trying to talk to her at once. That’s how she felt when she first met you all. Over there, I mean. I'll let you know how it goes." She got up and made her way toward the statue.
Applejack watched her leave before getting up herself. "You know, it just don't sit right with me to be doing nothing. There's gotta be a way to make her feel more welcome."
"But what can we do?" Fluttershy asked. "You heard what Sunset Shimmer said. If we try too hard, she... She might not like that."
"I still think it's nothing a party won't fix," Pinkie said, "we just have to approach it the right way. Let's see." She sat down and put a hand to her head in what would have been seen as a comical parody of thinking if it wasn't Pinkie Pie doing it. "I know! This Twilight really likes research, so maybe we can have a research party!"
"No offense, Pinkie, but that sounds pretty boring. I'm not sure even you can make it fun." Rainbow Dash paused to think. "She may be on the right track, though. Twilight's entirely focused on her research. We should approach her from that angle. Oh. Oh, oh, oh oh! I just thought of something. This is going to be awesome! Come on girls, let's grab Rarity, we need to get practicing."
***
Sunset Shimmer walked up to the ropes surrounding the statue and after pausing a second or two decided to remain on the outside of the barrier.
"Twilight, can I talk to you?" She said.
No response.
She tried again, a bit louder.
Still nothing.
Rainbow Dash was right. It was impossible to get her attention. Well, that's great, she thought . That means she made a big deal about coming over and talking for it all to amount to nothing because she can't even get a conversation started. In frustration, she kicked one of the stanchions nearby.
When she turned back to the front, Twilight was at the ropes, three inches away from her face.
"Is there a reason you decided to attack my barrier?" Twilight said angrily. "It's there for a reason you know."
Sunset Shimmer winced. This was not a good start to the conversation. "Heh, yeah, um, sorry about that. I wanted to talk to you and was trying to find a way to get your attention."
The explanation did nothing to change Twilight's mood. "You couldn't have just called to me, or better yet, waited until I was done and talked to me then?"
While Sunset Shimmer had gone through a lot of variations for the conversation in her mind, this confrontational Twilight was not something she had prepared for. She blurted out the first thing that came to her.
"I did think of that but who knows when you would have been done. You've been at this all day. Besides, I know the statue is harmless."
"No you don't."
"Yes, I do!" That was a bit more forceful than she wanted. She needed to calm down. "Twilight, I am from Equestria. I can feel the energy coming from the statue. It is from my home. It feels familiar and warm and... a little bit sad. I can tell you all about that energy if you'd let me. I've studied it for years. But for now I can assure you. It's benign."
Twilight took a few moments to consider Sunset's words. "I appreciate the offer. I'm afraid that your input might cause a bias in the data, though."
"So what?" Sunset Shimmer had been working hard to control her temper after the incidents at the Fall Formal, but something about this conversation and the entire situation irked her to no end. “I know I told you before. I was the prize student of Princess Celestia.”
“Don't you mean Principal..”
“No! I mean Princess Celestia. The supreme ruler of all of Equestria. The number one authority in the land. She trained me personally and made sure I got the best education possible. The point is, I know how research and study work. My ‘bias,’ as you call it, should not affect your results. Why are you so resistant to asking for help? Why are you being so stubborn? So stupid? This is not you!”
At that point Sunset Shimmer’s mind finally caught up with her and told her to stop. This was bad. This was real bad. She had to get away from this situation and cool off a bit. Without another word she turned around and walked away as fast as she could, leaving behind a very confused Twilight who was still searching for a way to respond.
***
Twilight was frustrated. Exceedingly so. No matter what she tried she had been unable to make any headway in identifying the strange energy signature. It didn't help that people kept coming up to talk with her while she was conducting her research. It was incredibly disorienting having so many people you don't recognize know who you are. Eventually Principal Celestia had forced her to shut down her operation, essentially closing that avenue of approach. Unsure of what to do, she was currently wandering the halls of Canterlot High trying to find any lead that might help her move forward.
As she rounded the corner, she ran into Sunset Shimmer, who was similarly distracted. “Oh, hey Twilight,” Sunset said, “I’m sorry for how I acted earlier. It was uncalled for.”
“That’s okay,” Twilight responded, “you probably made some valid points. I do have trouble accepting help when it’s offered.”
Sunset smiled slightly at this before composing herself. “Anyways, if you’d be willing to let us, the girls have something they’d like to show you that may help with your research.”
At this point Twilight was grasping at straws. Might as well see what it was. “Fine, let’s see what you got.”
Sunset smiled wider. “Great! Come with me. You’ve got a camera on you, right?”
Twilight held up her phone.
Sunset nodded in approval. “Okay, let’s go”
***
Sunset Shimmer led Twilight to a room where the other girls were waiting on a stage holding instruments.
“Was this what you were going to show me? A concert?” Twilight said skeptically.
“I know what it looks like, but trust us Twilight. It’s more than it seems,” Sunset said, showing Twilight to a seat.
Twilight thought for a bit. “Alright. I’ll trust you. Let’s see this.”
“Awesome!” Rainbow said from the stage. “Hold on to your seat Twilight, cause we’re about to rock your world!”
The girls immediately launched into an uptempo rock tune. Twilight was surprised to find that they were rather good. In fact, considering they were high schoolers, they were amazing. Even though it wasn’t her style, Twilight could really appreciate the showmanship of these girls. Rainbow Dash shredded on her guitar while simultaneously providing the vocals. Applejack laid down a solid foundation on the bass. Rarity held together harmonies with her keytar. Pinkie Pie was whaling on the drums. Finally Fluttershy, well, there really was only so much you could do with a tambourine, but, it looked like she was owning it as well.
Still, Twilight couldn’t really see why they thought this concert would be helpful at all. Might as well, hold out, though. It would be rude to leave at the moment. Just as Twilight was settling in to bear through the concert, she noticed something. There was a glow around Rainbow Dash, concentrating on the top of her head and at the end of her hair. As she looked closer, she saw horse ears grow out of the top of Rainbow’s head. Her hair got longer as well, and she grew wings out of her back. Similar transformations were happening on the other girls as well, though only Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy seemed to gain wings. Twilight gaped at the girls and rubbed her eyes, wondering if she was imagining things. As far as she could tell, though, this had actually happened.
Shortly after that, the song ended. A few seconds after the last note, the ears, wings and hair extensions disappeared from the girls on stage, and they returned to looking like they normally do.
“So how was that Twilight?” Rainbow asked. “Does that work as evidence?”
Twilight recovered from the shock and immediately took on the demeanor she used for giving out lectures. “By itself, it’s not really worth that much. I mean, there’s still too many other explanations. I won’t be able to prove that the video isn’t doctored, and it could be an illusion. I haven’t ruled that out.”
The girls all looked dejected at that assessment.
Twilight took a breath and continued. “This is enough to convince me that there’s something worth looking into here, though.” She put a hand on the back on her head and blushed. “Also, I don’t know what it is about you girls, but for some reason kind of want to get to know you all better.”
In response the rest of the girls said “Aww” in unison and went in for a group hug. Twilight pulled back.
“Heh, not quite ready for that yet.”
***
Dear Princess Twilight,
Meeting the you from this world was definitely an experience. It’s amazing to see how different you were without the influence of the friends you had made.
Ever since you came to this world to save me from myself, I’ve been thinking about how to repay you. Maybe working with Twilight here can help put me on the path. I know it’s not much, but I hope to show her what you showed me. The magic of friendship.
Your friend, forever and always,
Sunset Shimmer
Author's Note
Since I have a lot to say about this story, and probably will for every story I make, and I believe somewhat in Death of the Author and believe any story I might write should be able to stand entirely on the words within the story themselves, I am going to put the real authors notes in a blog post. It can be found here. I hope you enjoyed the story.
