Something Different

Chapter 1

Sept 1, Monday. 01:54 am

1004AN (After Nightmare)

Twilight Sparkle was almost done with reshelving the history section for the second time today. After placing 'Equestrian History: Volume XVII back in its double indexed place on the shelf, she decided to call it an early night. "Spike was right. I sure have worked myself into the ground lately. *yawn* Time to go to sleep." Walking up and down several hallways to her bedroom, she quickly flopped into bed and turned off her magically powered lamp. Eyes heavy, she quickly fell asleep.

Sept 1, Monday. 07:13 am.

1004 AN

Twilight awoke slowly, her body and mind refusing to release their grip from the world of slumber. Still half-asleep, she stumbled to the bathroom, before taking time to brush her mane which had turned into weird shapes only Pinkie would understand. Shortly after brushing her teeth, she walked out to the kitchen, looking forward to a cup of coffee. 'Good thing Pinkie doesn't know where this stuff is, we'd all be doomed otherwise.' She thought to herself. As she reached out for the coffee powder with her magic, she instead unknowingly grabbed a bag of flour. Opening her eyes further to ensure she could work the coffee machine properly, to prevent a repeat of the last time she tried to do so while still asleep, she instead found that her coffee machine had switched places with her sink. Opening several drawers and cabinets to grab a mug and some sugar, this yielded only cans of soup and various unused pans. 'Now something's going on,' she thought, and this apparent reorganisation of her kitchen only served to delay her cup of coffee. As such, she was majorly grumpy that morning.

After an unsatisfactory breakfast, due to the fact that once Spike was awake to make breakfast, she found the dining area had every chair and table shifted just 6 inches to the left. "Spike, I'll be helping Apple Jack at her farm today. Can I trust you to not do anything reckless?"

"Twilight, that was one time!" Spike complained loudly.

"I'll be gone for maybe an hour. Bye!"

"Bye Twilight!"

Walking to the farm, Twilight thought something was off. Some houses were arranged differently, that house didn't have a garden before, and the streets were ever so slightly narrower. 'Funny,' she wondered, 'When did the Mayor change the plans for Ponyville? Don't building permits usually take a week to get approved?' Trying to make sense of it, she decided it was of no immediate concern and quickly headed to Sweet Apple Acres.

Arriving at the farm just minutes after leaving her house, Twilight saw Apple Jack carrying apples to a storehouse in a cart that had a small apple printed on the rims. "Hey Apple Jack. Good morning."

"Mornin' Twi. Are you here to help me finally pull down that old storehouse?"

"Sure am Apple Jack."

"Right. It's this way," Apple Jack told her, the two walking to their destination.

"Say, I thought that cart was broken, and that you would be using your other one." Twilight asked her.

"Twi', what are ya talkin' about? This one is fine. The other one is broken, so I've asked Big Mac to fix it."

"Are you sure, Apple Jack? I remember you told me this one was broke."

"Sure Ah did. Oh, here we are. This one's been lucky to last this long. Could you just bring it down so we can start building a new one?" Nodding in agreement, Twilight began to carefully pull out old, rotting support beams and after a while, the storehouse finally collapsed, and a small dust cloud rose before settling afterwards. "Thanks for that Twi'. Now I gotta go see Big Mac about redesigning the barn. See ya later!"

"Bye Apple Jack!" Twilight replied back. Walking back to town, she took one look around. Deciding to take a visit to one of her other friends before heading home, she settled for Pinkie Pie.

Sept 1, Monday. 08:21 am

1004 AN

Walking over to Sugarcube Corner, she noticed the door was now all the way on the left, instead of the center like it always was. 'I thought I was being paranoid, but there definitely something going on!' she thought to herself. Walking in, the layout was definitely different than usual. For one thing, the stairs were on the other side of the room, and the display case was considerably larger than she remembered. Spotting her, Twilight waved to Pinkie. "Oh hello, Twilight! What brings you around?" Pinkie asked her.

Twilight responded, "Oh, not much. I just wanted to stop by and possibly get something to eat before going home."

"Sure! What do you need?"

"Just a dozen cupcakes, Pinkie." While heading to the kitchen to sort out Twilight's order, Pinkie was humming a tune that sounded familiar yet unrecognisable. What was it? Before Twilight could think about it any further, Pinkie apeared with a box of cupcakes.

"Here you go, Twilight! That'll be 4 bits." Twilight paid the amount and left, wishing Pinkie a good day. Pinkie yelled after Twilight, "You do know someone is always watching us, right Twilight?" Twilight turned around to respond, but Pinkie was nowhere to be seen. 'Strange. But then again, this is Pinkie. Best not to think about it.' Walking home, she could see that several stores had changed or ceased to exist. For example, the restaurant she ate lunch at one time was now a grocery. The jewelers she always passed by when walking from Sweet Apple Acres was now that restaurant. As she walked home, she began to spot more and more differences she didn't notice before. Not feeling too good at these sudden changes, she quickened her pace, and hurried home.

Once Twilight Sparkle was home, she immediately grabbed a few books with her magic and went to a nearby study to relax. 'Ah. Nothing beats relaxing quite like reading.' she thought. Flipping open the first book, she was soon lost, in a whole other world only books could take ponies to.

Sept 1, Monday. 11:58 pm

1004 AN

Closing the last book out of the several dozen she had took halfway through the afternoon, she looked over to the empty box formerly filled with cupcakes. "Alright, I should probably go to sleep." Twilight said to herself. Getting up, she levitated the box to the nearest trash bin. Walking back to bed, she snuggled under her covers, and was soon in the land of slumber.

Sept 2, Tuesday. 06:53 am

1004 AN

Waking up slowly, Twilight opted to stay in bed for just a few minutes longer. Closing her eyes, she expected to be up in 5 minutes.

Sept 2, Tuesday. 07:26 am

1004 AN

Opening her eyes, Twilight found herself in an completely unfamiliar room. It was similar to her bedroom except that now instead of a nice window with a great view outside, there stood a tall bookcase, filled with books about Advanced Math and biology textbooks. A window hung where the door once stood. The small desk she sometimes used to organise her quills (thrice every week) was replaced with the door outside. A strange, yet familiar room. She quickly took some time to familiarise herself with the room, so as usual she walked to the bathroom to brush her teeth. Except this was another set of stairs, where the bathroom usually was. "Why do I feel like this place is constantly changing?" she asked herself. Walking over to several other rooms, they also had apparently changed overnight. The study with a small shelf was now a balcony, the staircase was now a sub-sectioned library on Griffon History, and the kitchen now was replaced with the main hallway that led outside. Walking to the main hallway, she found the door to where the kitchen would be no longer existed. Further to investigation revealed the kitchen was a separate room, a few doors from the stairwell. "What is going on?!" Twilight shouted to nopony in particular, frustrated with all this wandering. Spike came running in, holding a 'Batmare: Issue 17' comic in his left claws.

"What's wrong, Twilight?" he asked her worriedly.

"This place!" she yelled out, exasperated.

"Why is everything always changing?!"

"What do you mean?" Spike asked.

"The layout! Why is the kitchen over there?"

"What are you talking about, Twilight? The kitchen's always been there. Are you okay?"

Taking a moment to try and calm down, she took a few deep breaths. "Y-yeah, I guess so."

"Okay. Well, if you need me, I'm going back to sleep." She was about to try and find the kitchen when she realised that Spike was reading a different comic than what he ususally read. Brushing it off as nothing too important at the moment, she went in to make her ususal cup of coffee, about the only thing she could make without spilling everything everywhere. 'Still remember that incident.' A shiver ran down her back as she remembered THAT time. 'Not important now anyway.', she wondered. As she opened the door to the kitchen, what was once a small humble place for preparing quick meals was now a grandiose, overbearing kitchen, with hundreds of shelves, cabinets and an almost maze of counters. The ceiling stretched several levels, she was sure about that. Slowly taking off and hovering several feet off the ground, the massive kitchen looked like it could stretch across several properties in Ponyville. "Wow. Just how enormous was this kitchen?" Twilight softly mumbled to herself. Finding coffee proved to be quite the scavenger hunt and after opening several cabinets full of produce, she found the coffee powder, and began her morning routine as usual. 'Ugh, finally. About the only thing I can count on today.' she silently complained.

Just after she finished her coffee, Twilight walked outside to get some fresh air. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she could feel the crisp, cool morning atmosphere improving her mood already. Feeling much better already, she opened her eyes, ready for whatever changes (if any) Equestria could throw at her.

She wasn't prepared.

The roads were paved with some combination of stone and concrete, she could tell that much. Houses were now neatly constructed, and arranged very neatly, horizontal rows shrinking into infinity. Something she would appreciate, if it wasn't for the next thing. Metal carriages. She apparently owned one too, a fact only known after she walked around her tree-castle place. She stopped and turned around to the strange Ponyville.

Welcome to the now.

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