We're just lost in your world!

Twilight landed softly in the clearing, furling her wings and glancing about as the portal closed behind her. "Spike! Spiiiiike!"

"Twilight?" A nearby bush rustled as Spike crawled out. "Twilight! Oh thank Celestia it's you!" He sprinted over and hugged her foreleg.

"Thank goodness you're alright Spike." The mare breathed out, rubbing the dragon's back soothingly.

"You can teleport us home right? I had to hide to avoid some guard ponies, I'd like to get out of here before they come back..." he glanced around, fear evident in his eyes.

Twilight shook her head. "I don't think my magic is strong enough to teleport between dimensions Spike. But if we can find a mirror portal here..."

"We can head to Sunset's world and home from there! Great thinking Twilight." the dragon smiled, clambering up onto Twilight's back, before his smile fell away. "But.. where is the mirror portal?"

"I.. have no idea Spike... we're just going to have to find it." The alicorn looked over her shoulder at the dragon.

"And... if there isn't one?"

"Then... then we look for a different way Spike.. We found our way into this world.. we'll find our way out." Twilight smiled reassuringly.

"Okay... yeah. yeah okay. If any duo can find their way out of another world, it's us. We've had practice after all." He chuckled.

"Exactly!" Twilight nuzzled Spike's belly gently. "I believe you said something about guard ponies, which way did they come from?"

"Ummm... over that way I think." He pointed to Twilight's left.  "They were grumbling about something.... I think they mentioned something about Zecora and the Everfree forest."

Twilight blinked. "Everfree forest... then we're near Ponyville... if they came from the east, then ..this is where my castle is supposed to be."

"Wait.. then if the castle isn't here, were we sent to another world or just back in time?" Spike wondered aloud. "Either way, we probably want to find a way to disguise ourselves."

"That's not a bad idea Spike. I should probably hide my wings until we know what we're dealing with." She glanced back at her cutie marks. "I should alter them too, but I've seen so many ponies with the same cutie mark... perhaps I'll just hide the largest star."

"Your mane too. It is fairly unique." Spike pointed out.

"I think that can wait the five minutes until we're in town and I can find a barber shop." She grumbled. "A dye job shouldn't take too long, and if I can get one that washes out in water that means I can just take a bath when we get home. I'll see if they have anything that matches the blue, I really don't want to have a full pink mane..."

"Careful, you know what saying stuff like that leads to." Spike chided her.

"Oh Spike, there's no basis, magical or scientific, that supports the phrase 'don't tempt fate.', it's not a sentient force." she chuckled, her horn lighting up with an amethyst aura, which slowly enveloped her wings.

"That's what you said about Pinkie Sense, and remember what happened with that."

Twilight chuckled sheepishly. "Only to well, only to well.. sort of. I think I'm still missing bits of my memory from that anvil."

"Well you remembered your brother and Cadence, and rekindled your friendship with Moondancer and the others, so it is coming back." Spike reassured her, scratching behind her ears gently.

"Spike, what have I told you about that?" she chuckled. "You know I'm ticklish there."

"S'why I'm being gentle." He nodded. "Also, I didn't want you having another meltdown over that."

"Thank you Spike." she smiled as her wings finished shrinking. "Okay... they should be small enough now that they're unnoticeable." She turned to face the direction Spike indicated earlier. "Let's do some recon."

"It's... it's like we've taken a step back in time." Spike gawked from behind a solid blue mane.

"Like a year ago... but there's something else bothering me." Twilight's brow furrowed. "Spike, do you recognise this street?"

"I think so.. this is the market right? I can see all of the stalls... except Sweet Apple Acres, and that looks like Carousel Boutique at the end of the street, but it's closed down." He scratched the back of his head.

"Right... I checked a calendar too, it's the same day still, so we've stumbled into another alternate timeline." She looked about. "Ugh..."

"Something else bothering you?"

"Yeah.. but I just can't put my hoof on it. It's a really subtle difference." She snorted in annoyance. "That's going to bug me until I figure it out."

"It can't be that big a deal if you can't notice it immediately." Spike shrugged.

"Oh Spike.. I thought I taught you better than that." Twilight chuckled as she continued to trot down the street, brushing past other ponies. "It's not the big differences that you have to worry about usually, it's the small ones, like for instance..."

Whatever Twilight was about to say was drowned out by the sound of blaring trumpets and shuffling hooves, as everypony crowded onto the side of the street.

"Hey!" a pegasus pony yelled at the pair. "Get off the street, that's the Path of Radiance! That means there are vips being escorted through town!"

"Oh. right. the PoR. Princess Celestia's escort tune." Twilight nodded as she blinked beside the pegasus.

"Bwuh... neat trick. So you know the tune but forgot what it was for?" the mare asked.

"It's been a while since I last heard it." She admitted. "But it's something you get used to in Canterlot."

"Oh, a Canterlot native huh?" She glanced at her cutie mark. "Astronomer.  Makes sense you'd be out here, Ponyburg has the clearest skies in all of Equestria."

"Ponyburg? I thought this place was called Ponyville." Spike blinked.

The mare chuckled. "Used to be, that was before the bearers all moved to Canterlot after Luna's return. Figured a Canterlot scholar would know that."

"We spend a lot of time on the move, studying constellations in various areas around Equestria." Twilight rubbed the back of her head.

"Ah, explains that then. But yeah, Town shrunk a bit after they all packed up and left, so we're more of a burg now."

"Actually, you could have left the name the same. Burg and Ville are interchangeable suffixes, so either one would have been correct." Twilight nodded.

"Eh, Take that to Mayor Vanilla Rose, she's the one who approved the change."

"Well if there's no real difference in meaning, why bother?" Spike asked.

"Yeah, see, the whelp gets it." the mare nodded. "Anyway, wonder who the vip's are. Hopefully the bearers, they might be able to figure out the cause of the weird pink skies earlier."

"Weird pink skies." Twilight parroted, looking at Spike who nodded.

"Say, you're an astronomer, what do you think caused that, the guards reckon it's that Zebra in the forest mixing her potions."

"Well.. Alchemy of any sorts wouldn't be able to affect the sky like that. So I can rule out anything she was doing." Twilight nodded "But I'd have to have seen the events happen to have a better clue. As it is, we just arrived in town about ten minutes ago."

"Just after the second one ended then." The mare shrugged. "What's yer name anyway."

"Oh... well.. I'll give mine if you give yours first." she chuckled.

"Fair enough. Name's Marney, Marney Gale, I'm the sister of one of the bearers, and the top mane stylist in town. My brother gave me his place after he moved to Canterlot with the others. Heh. Sweet thing my brother is, big ol' softie, loves animals."

"Fluttershy?" Spike whispered to Twilight.

Marney's ears flicked. "Hey, that's what my parents said they were gonna name him if he was a mare, his name's Butterscotch."

"Butterscotch... well that's certainly a sweet name." Twilight remarked. "But I thought the bearers were all mares."

Marney raised an eyebrow at the other mare. "Filly, you have been travelling a long time haven't you? There's three mares and three stallions. Elusive, Bubble Berry and Butterscotch are the stallions, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Princess Sunset Shimmer are the mares."

Twilight and Spike looked at each other, both mouthing the words 'Princess Sunset Shimmer?'.

"Heh, yeah, a fourth alicorn princess, I know right. Well the escort is just down the road, so I'm sure you'll catch a glimpse of her." Marney smirked. "It's been a while since I saw my bro too, so that'll be nice."

When silence answered her Marney just shrugged. "Bit overwhelming yeah, but you get used to it."

As the escort drew closer, Marney nudged Twilight and nodded up a bit, directing her eyes to the winged figure standing proudly on top of a carriage. "There she is, the princess of friendship herself. A bit prideful and rough for my liking, but she's got charisma, and is a natural leader."

Again, silence.

"Still a bit shocked eh? To be expected." Marney chuckled before rearing up and cupping her forelegs around her muzzle. "HEY BRO! SCOTCHY!"

A rather slender and effeminate looking, canary yellow pegasus stallion poke his head out the side of the carriage before flying out the door. "Oh. Oh! Marney! It's good to see you!" he scooped the mare into a hug. "How have you been, is my old house treating you well?"

Marney returned the hug and chuckled. "Heh. I'm doing fine, and yeah, it has. Look at you though, you've really come out of your shell."

Twilight tuned the siblings out though as she studied the other ponies in the carriage. She spotted Rainbow Dash and Applejack easily enough, they hadn't changed much, though Dash had a pair of goggles around her neck, and Applejack was wearing a white stetson instead of her brown one. Sunset had the same tempered resolved look to her that Twilight had seen at the end of the Battle of the bands.

Then there was Bubble Berry and Elusive.

Bubble Berry wasn't that different from Pinkie Pie, being just.. a stallion version of her, but he seemed calmer, more controlled as opposed to the unstoppable ball of energy that was Pinkie, but Elusive...

"Hey uh.. Twilight, are you okay?" Spike asked.

Twilight didn't really hear him, Elusive was gorgeous, he still radiated the same elegance and poshness that Rarity did, but again, it was controlled, reigned in, more mature. His mane wasn't the long, flowing curls that Rarity had, but a short, stylish wave, similar to Fancy Pants, just with a little more length. His fur was sparklingly white, literally, he was so well groomed that he seemed to shine and sparkle, like he was made of crystal.

His eyes.. and that's when Twilight realised that he was looking at her. He flashed a gentle smile her way, and she felt her cheeks warm and her heart skip a beat.

"Spike." She half whispered.

"Yeah Twilight?"

"I think I know how you felt the first time you saw Rarity now."

"What are you... seriously?" Spike sighed. "Well this won't end well."