A Socially Awkward Trip To The Zoo

As Twilight phased through the mirror to the other side, she felt a tingling sensation that she could never quite get used to. Logically, it should have hurt; she was transmuting her body into a completely new form AND engaging in inter-dimensional travel in the blink of an eye. Her molecular structure was being scrambled, and yet... tickles.

She was still in the midst of having this thought as she concluded her journey through the portal and into this strangely familiar world. She brushed herself off, having just fallen through the portal and onto the ground, and glanced around at her surroundings.

"Where are they?" Twilight muttered to herself. "They were supposed to be here by now."

"Boo!"

"Ahh!" Twilight jumped backward and almost fell through the portal again, but regained her balance at the last second. "Pinkie, how many times have I told you-"

Twilight glanced up at her attacker, expecting to see the human Pinkie Pie, but instead saw herself. Or rather, a stranger version of herself.

This Twilight had puffy hair and a nose ring. She was dressed in all black. Her dorky glasses? Gone. This was not her. It couldn't be!

But it was. While she looked completely different from the last time Twilight had seen her, this girl had her same color schemes and basic features. And a lot of black makeup.

"Twilight?" The princess squinted at her counterpart; despite her ingenious deduction, she still couldn't quite believe her eyes.

"Surprised? Hey, at least you didn't react the way my parents did. They, like, totally flipped! Oh, and by the way, I got a name change. My name's Midnight now. No need to apologize, there's, like, zero way you could have known." Human Twi- er, Midnight, beamed at her pony doppelgänger, revealing her tongue piercing.

"Midnight?" Twilight stuttered. She was still gaping at the other girl's hair. She was starting to look like Adagio!

Suddenly, there was the pounding of feet against the pavement.

"We came as fast as we could!" Rainbow shouted.

"Oh, no! She beat us here!" Pinkie moaned.

"So much for having the chance to explain things," Applejack lamented.

The six girls, including Fluttershy, Rarity, and Sunset Shimmer, raced towards the two Twilights.

Rainbow was the first one to the portal. She looked out of breath. "Midnight, could you, er, excuse us for a minute?"

Midnight rolled her eyes. "Fine, but I'm timing it. Every minute after the first minute is a dollar that you owe me."

After the other girl strode off while counting seconds under her breath, Rainbow immediately started talking. "We... are so sorry."

By this time, the others had already caught up. They all formed a 7-person huddle next to the statue.

"We didn't mean for this to happen, Twi. Honest," Applejack whispered.

"We really did do our best," Fluttershy whimpered.

"It really isn't our fault, anyway," Rainbow commented.

"I'm sure we can fix this," Sunset stated.

"Enough," Twilight hissed. "Stop apologizing. I just want to know what's going on!"

"Oh. You haven't pieced it together by now? I thought you were supposed to be a genius," Pinkie stated, surprise ringing through her voice.

"Pinkie!" Sunset elbowed her. "What she meant to say is that Midnight is going through a goth phase. She dresses in all black, complains all the time about how horrible her life is, gets piercings for thrills... you know, like being a teenager, but amplified by about fifty times."

"How did this happen?" Twilight groaned.

"Well, as part of her friendship lessons, we all started encouraging her to step outside of her comfort zones, to try new things. Well, it turns out that we took it too far when we let Pinkie take her on a girls' night out." Sunset glanced at Pinkie with intense hatred. "You should just be glad that you missed her hipster phase while you were out of town. It was even worse, if you ask me."

"Worse than this?" Twilight gestured to Midnight, who was looking sullen and depressed on the stairs.

"Imagine Pinkie Pie, but on a coffee rush," Sunset murmered.

"Oh..." Twilight said. "We need a plan."