NaNoWriMo2015 Oneshot Colletction

Night Stryker was beginning to wonder if it was just better for everypony’s health if Starlight just stayed away from coolers. First, there was the portal to the Crystal Empire that was now in place of his mother’s freezer. Then there was the taco geyser. The dye incident. And now… whatever this was.

“On the bright side, the portal isn’t into an apocalyptic Equestria,” the mare beside him commented casually. Night turned to look at her. Standing just a little shorter than Night, she was still taller than just about every stallion Night had ever met. She had midnight blue zebra striping that mirrored Night’s own, and a nine inch tall Mohawk to Night’s six inch one. She also just so happened to be one of four ponies to have come through a portal to another dimension that Starlight had created in a cooler.

“You have me there,” Night admitted as the pair looked over at the animatedly chatting quartet on the other side of the room, while the other duo was over by one of the workstations in the room. The room was a good sized theoretical arcana lab with about a dozen workstations, though only four looked to be in active use.

“We should probably check that they’re remaining on the right topic,” Dawn suggested after a long moment of just watching the chat.

“And that the Dancers aren’t at risk of making the Charges faint,” Night added, following behind his doppelganger with a resigned sort of look.

“Oh, I don’t think your Dancer is a danger to my Charge, and vice versa. I think it’s just the idea of a universe following the supposedly fictional sixty-third rule of alchemical experimentation,” Dawn said with a shrug.

“Supposedly fictional? What were your male colours when Midnight did his poison joke experimentation?” Night asked with a laugh.

“Red and black,” Dawn admitted reluctantly, frowning and giving Night a look. She was saved from Night’s reply by them having reached Neutral Charge, Positive Charge, Starlight Dancer, and Midnight Dancer. The former two were shades of brown with darker brown manes while the latter two were a deep blue with raven black manes.

“Oh, hey Nighty!” Starlight greeted happily, her grey eyes shining with a cheerful light. “You know, it’s really weird to see you made female without the pink on purple colours.”

Midnight snorted, chuckling as he shot a teasing grin at Starlight. “I could say the same for Dawn without the red on black,” he noted, tone matching grin.

“Don’t remind me,” complained Dawn. “I looked like a bad Long Lost Brother parody.” She shuddered, while Night, Starlight, and Neutral all looked curiously at her. “A bunch of bad plays and books that involve a long lost third brother to the diarchy,” she explained.

“Oh, looks like the colours for bad male characters don’t change across universes, at least,” Starlight said cheerfully.

“Probably the same for the females, though the roles are most likely reversed,” Midnight noted, “though I’m not going to go through your literature to find out.” He made a rather disgusted face that nearly mirrored Starlight’s own at the thought of reading those stories. Night had to hold back a snicker at it, wondering if they realized just how twin-like they were acting. The Charges seemed to have no problems with snickering and giggling, however, at the Dancers’ expressions.

The Dancers both glanced over at the Charges in surprise, causing the latter pair to blush suddenly, and badly, which in turn set the Dancers laughing.

“So, have you guys figured out how to reopen the portal yet?” Night asked with a sigh, almost certain the four had gotten severely off topic after only having actually been speaking to them for a few minutes.

“No, we haven’t. We’re not entirely sure that doing so is a good idea, either,” Neutral explained, his voice soft, but confident.

“We’re not certain that doing so won’t suck through another group of ponies, or that the portal is even two way,” Positive went on, “we were sucked through from our end, remember? No portal here. Though I think we can all agree that coolers will never again be brought into either lab, right?” She narrowed her eyes at Midnight.

“Hey, I brought burritos!” he complained. “You liked them no?”

“I think it’s definitely safe to say she liked your burrito,” Starlight told her doppelganger impishly, causing poor Positive Charge to go bright red in the face as she let out a squeak that Starlight found quite adorable. Midnight sputtered and glared at Starlight in annoyance.

“Was that really necessary?” Night asked, deadpanning Starlight, though the corner of his mouth was quirked.

“Yes, yes it was,” Starlight answered, completely unaffected by the looks being sent her way. “I could not let that joke go unmade! Would Moonlight?” Night frowned, knowing immediately that Starlight was right, and her sister would never leave that joke unmade. Shadow, Starlight’s brother and Moonlight’s twin, might, if only out of consideration for Positive Charge.

“Yes, yes she would,” Midnight answered, “it’s Shadow I have to worry about. He refuses to leave any joke unmade.” There was a short pause, and then a look of comprehension spread across the Dancers’ faces. “If you swapped Moonlight’s and Shadow’s names and genders, everything probably would probably line up,” Midnight stated.

“That has to be the weirdest thought I’ve had in a long time,” Starlight stated numbly.

“Weirder than-“

“Yes,” Starlight cut him off definitively. “Definitely weirder than that.” Midnight did not try and go on, the tone of Starlight’s answer seeming to have been enough for him as he gave a smug smile. Night knew more than enough not to question what the incident might be, and apparently so did Dawn, as she kept silent as well.

“So, we’re just going to remain here?” Dawn asked Midnight, frowning. “I do have work, you know, and Bass isn’t going to let me go so easily.”

“Neither will any of our relatives, but if we fail, or worse, bring more ponies over, what then?” Positive said sadly.

Night frowned thoughtfully, before perking up. “Zebrican traditional magic. I know not much stock is put in it by most ponies, but that might hold the answer,” he said. “That way, we don’t need to worry about whatever you are worrying about. We can ask a master.”

“A master or a scholar?” Neutral asked, looking troubled. “There’s a pretty big difference sometimes.”

Night smiled. “A true master. My mother,” he said, a twinkle in his eye.

“Don’t you mean… no, there is no way,” Dawn interrupted herself. “I’m not entirely sure I’m ready for this! Seeing my genderswapped self from another dimension is weird enough, but I do not want to see my father as a mare!”

“How does that work anyway? He a warrior?” Night asked curiously.

“Spirit walker, but that’s really not the point,” Dawn answered. “The point is that I really don’t want to be seeing what my father would be like as a mare!”

“Don’t worry, we can introduce Positive to her sisters later. That should make things even,” Starlight said with a smug smile.

There was a short silence as both Positive and Neutral took a moment to complete this. Then they both proceeded to pale considerably. Six siblings gender reversed would do that to a pony. Starlight and Midnight both burst into laughter at the expression on the pair’s faces. “Poor mom and dad,” they said in concert.

“Oh come on, it really can’t be that bad, can it?” Midnight suggested. “Sure Shockwave’s a little boisterous, and Bronze and Gold could stand to be a little less rough… you know what, it’s probably worse…” he admitted as he went on, his look starting to pale a bit the more he thought about the topic.

Positive giggled. “See, we need to get this fixed as fast as possible before you end up scarred any worse,” she said to him teasingly, grinning with a look that was far too pleased with herself.

“I fully agree. Dawn, let’s go see Zepher’s female self and get home,” Midnight said, looking to the big female zebra expectantly. “Hopefully before everypony starts worrying too much.”

“Or before you think too hard on the implications of an Equestria following the sixty third law of alchemy?” Dawn suggested.

“That too,” Midnight agreed shamelessly. “So let’s go.”

Dawn snorted out a laugh, nodding to Midnight, before looking to Night. “How do you want to play this out?”

“We walk out of here like nothing’s out of the ordinary,” a new, male voice suggested as two supremely short unicorns with blue coats and sunny yellow manes approached, one male and one female. “If this lab is this close to the one back home, nopony will question it, and some of them will go out of their way to not question it,” Temporal Flux went on with a chuckle.

“Hate to say it, but Temporal’s right,” Starlight admitted, allowing herself a giggle. “Nothing around here is ever something anypony wants to question, even under normal circumstances.”

“And a clone of yourself showing up here isn’t normal?” Thermal Flux asked, her tone jokingly pointed.

There was a short pause, before Starlight rolled her eyes. “A double of you guys isn’t normal,” she pointed out with a huff.

“Fine fine, let’s just get to wherever, and get this fixed,” Thermal conceded with a laugh.

Night turned to lead the way, Dawn beside him. As they left the lab, Starlight spoke up. “How much trouble do you think I’m going to end up in?”