Final Fantasy Equestria: New Beginning

Chapter Fifteen

The Difference

Part Three

(Ponyville, Fluttershy’s cottage)

“I’m glad to see you’re doing okay after what happened yesterday,” Fluttershy said as she handed her counterpart a cup of tea along with some pancakes.

“This wouldn’t be the first time I had to fight against something like that.” The white mage said as she took a sip from her tea. “Thank you for letting me stay here, even though it was suggested by the others.”

“Oh, it’s no problem on my end. The animals like you a lot...though that might be because of your appearances.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised about that. Till this whole situation we’re in is over and done with. I’ll be sure to help out around the house if you need it.”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that on my account-” Fluttershy paused upon seeing her counterpart stop her with a hand to her face.

“It wouldn’t be right of me to not assist you in whatever you need to be given how I’m going to be staying here. I’m not planning on being a freeloader like most ponies would do.”

“Well, if you insist. I just don’t want you to get hurt or anything.”

“I’ll be fine. Again, it wouldn't be the first time I’d have to work through the pain.” The white mage said as she let out a sigh before admiring the cottage. “This place does bring back some good memories.”

“You mean your home in your Equestria?”

“Yeah. Other than the Everfree being wild and chaotic and Ponyville being a bit small. The cottage I lived in with my animal friends is still the same even in this world.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, but what was your life back in your world? I mean, before becoming...um...I don’t know how to put it into words, but-”

“A healer would be the most accurate name for what I am.” The white mage said before taking another sip from her tea. “Before I walked the path of the white mage, I was just a normal pony taking care of wild animals. Whether they are dangerous or not. Kind of like how you take care of the animals here in this world. It was a simple life along with my friends, I wouldn’t have changed anything about...but sadly, not everything can stay the same forever.”

“What do you mean?” Fluttershy asked as she noticed her counterpart’s happy expression quickly turned into a cold and angry expression.

“War came. The Garleans from Garlemald invaded Equestria, all thanks to Discord for betraying us by making us think he was our friend. I, along with my Twilight and the others before Trixie and Starlight joined, was sold to Tierk and were then brought to Garlemald to be used as...experimental test subjects. Mainly because they want to be able to use us as either their tools to fight in the war or to see if they can make garlean earth ponies be able to use magic.”

“Oh my, that’s horrible.”

“We...were subjected to a lot of things. Physical, mental, and verbal abuse. Operated upon while still awake without any means of nulling the pain. Humiliation, both private and public. Rape, be it by ponies, dragons, griffons, yaks, changelings, minotaurs, hippogriffs, and wild animals that work under the Garlean Empire.” She said as she looked up to see a shocked expression on her counterpart’s face. “This went on for a good year and a half. The tipping point for me was when they locked me up with my animal friends and gave me a choice. I would either starve to death, or I would have to eat my animal friends to live.”

“....Y-You didn’t.”

“....I’m not proud of what I did...But the hunger, the isolation, and the physical & mental pain can make anypony do things that you wouldn’t believe were possible.” The white mage said before taking another sip from her cup of tea. “Do I regret it? I don’t. Given the situation I was in, anypony would do the same in my world.” She said which caused Fluttershy to stare at her in utter shock and slight anger.

“How can you say something like that!? If I was in your position, I would never do that!” Fluttershy said which caused the white mage to laugh weakly.

“Maybe. If you stayed true to your word, then you’re a better pony than I am. But how would we know given the fact that you have never been through something like that before? The difference between us is that you live in a world that’s full of peace and harmony. While I come from a world that isn’t like that.” She said before taking another sip from her drink before placing it back down onto the table and standing up. “If you excuse me, I must be off.” Having said that, the white mage left the cottage of her counterpart and flew off into the direction of Ponyville.

Fluttershy stared at the white mage flying off. It was hard to believe that there was a different version of herself that could be like this. She acted calm, polite, and caring. But underneath the facade was a mare that’d seen her fair share of hardships. The thought of herself being in the same position as the white mage gave her goosebumps as she pushed the thought away, pulled herself up from the table she and her counter were sitting, and began to clean the table as a means to get her mind off of that subject.

(Ponyville, Castle of Friendship)

“Dear Celestia…” Twilight said as she watched the summoner sitting at a table with a large assortment of food and began to eat it with vigor. As if she was starving and hadn't eaten anything in months. From what the alicorn could tell, it was a mix between pastry goods, meats, seafood, and fruits. All that was unfamiliar to her and have never been seen before.

“What? Haven’t seen a pony eat this much before?” The summoner said as Twilight and Spike looked at each other for a moment before turning their gaze upon the unicorn.

“Not to be rude…but aren’t you worried about your figure? I mean with all this much food, surely you would-”

“I have to eat large amounts of food daily. Not like I have much of a choice in the matter. But given how I have a large magic pool compared to most unicorns. Because of that, I burn more calories, which means I have to eat more.”

“Well, that answers a few questions, but is that all my food that you’re eating?” Twilight asked as the summoner shook her head.

“Half of it is food from my world, while the other half is food from your kitchen.” The Summoner said before letting out a small belch. “Also, you’re out of eggs, milk, and pancake mix.”

“I’ll pick up some more food on the way back from Canterlot,” Twilight said before walking to a seat next to her counterpart. “More importantly, I would like to know a little bit about your world. More specifically, how your world is run. Does it have some kind of-” Before the alicorn could speak more, her counterpart placed a hand over her mouth.

“I know that we just met and all, so I’m going to let this one slide seeing how it’s your first time. Rule number one. I don’t talk about stuff like biology, mathematical equations, or anything surrounding knowledge when I’m eating. It’s distracting and I prefer not to have my food turn cold. And before you say anything about that. Yes, I could use my magic to heat my food back up, but it leaves a weird aftertaste in my mouth.” She said before removing her hand from Twilight’s mouth.

“Um…sorry.”

“It’s fine. You didn’t know, hence why I’m giving you a heads up so you’ll know what not to do.” She said after gulping down what appears to be some kind of semi-cooked squid. Which in turn caused Twilight’s face to turn slightly green, mainly because she was making slurping and chewing sounds.

“How can you eat this stuff without getting sick? I mean the eggs are understandable, but a lot of this stuff is meat from…what I can guess is from your world and not get sick?”

“War and evolution pretty much made that possible for ponies in Eorzea to be able to eat meat without getting sick.” The summoner said before grabbing a handful of boiled eggs. “Which I’m not complaining about, because being in an area with little to no plant life can cause problems for those who are herbivores.” She said before popping a few eggs into her mouth.

“While I can understand we’re from different worlds, shouldn’t you be mindful of other ponies around you? Not everypony is that comfortable with the fact that you eat meat. It could cause relationship problems if you were to-”

“I don’t care.”

“...Excuse me?”

“You stated yourself that we’re from different worlds. Unlike you who choose the life of a princess for the ponies of Equestria, I chose to be an adventurer along with my friends. Sure we may have similar characteristics and traits, but besides all that, we’re not the same. So I’m going to say this as best if not politely as possible. I don’t care about how ponies see me. I know you mean well about trying to be on the public’s good side, but I don’t care so much about how I’m looked upon by others. I’m not a pony pleasure like you.” She said while reaching over for a mug of apple cider.

“...Wow...edge lord much?” Spike said, only for the unicorn to throw a still living octopus at his face. Upon making an impact, Spike let out a scream as he started to run around the room they were in. Twilight quickly used her magic to pull the sea creature off of the young dragon’s face as she glared at her counterpart, who in turn had a smug expression on her face.

“Was that necessary?” Twilight asked.

“You should teach your friend not to be a smartass.” The summoner said after noticing Twilight’s magic covering Spike’s ears. “You know you can’t keep protecting him from foul words. Especially if he’s around me or the others.”

“Then don’t say stuff like that around him and I won’t have to cover his ears.” She said before removing her spell over Spike’s ears.

“Yeah…no promises on that.”