Worlds Faire

Midnight Sky turned at the sound of her younger sister’s voice, sliding the darkly tinted glasses up her nose a little.

“Why is it we’re packing clothes when we’re going through the mirror?” Aurora asked again.

“Because the end of the trip isn’t Equestria,” the junior explained. “There’s no dress code, but clothes are very likely preferred.”

“Besides,” Melody said. “Can you imagine it? A whole new world with styles we’ve never seen before! I can’t wait to write Mother and tell her about them. And the animals! I wonder what kind of animals they’ll have.”

Midnight smiled at her cousin as they approached the mirror outside their school.

“I’m sure we’ll find out rather soon, Mel,” she said as she passed through. After a few moments getting her bearings, she looked around at the haphazard mess of scrolls, blueprints, and stacked books that made up her ‘Aunt’ Twilight’s library.

“Girls!” the Alicorn in question said as she entered the room. “You’re early! Eager to get going, are we?”

“Actually,” Aurora said. “Mom and Mother wanted a bit of time away from us after the incident with the taco stand.”

Midnight nodded in agreement while Melody lowered her head.

“It was horrible,” the younger girl said.

Twilight looked at them askew. “What did you girl's do?”

Midnight grinned.

“Pranked you just now,” she said with a hint of her mom’s smirk.

The Princess of Friendship groaned. “I can see why they wanted to get away for a few,” she muttered. “Anyway, I just got your room assignments, so lets go find your cousins and get you off.”

As they trotted through the crystal halls of Friendship Castle, Midnight couldn’t help but feel at home in the vast halls. Almost more so than in their own house across the mirror, a feeling she couldn’t quite explain even to herself.

The group was about to descend a set of stairs when a flash of gray zoomed up and hovered in front of the group.

“This is going to be so cool,” Wingsong said. “So much better than anything we learned in Cheerilee’s classroom!”

The Pegasus in front of them was surrounded by a lavender aura and set down on the stairs next to Twilight.

“We’ve talked about you flying in the castle, Wingsong,” she began in a motherly way.

“I know,” she said, her steely mane sliding down a little over her shoulders. “But you know I can’t help it when I’m excited. Besides, I’ve seen you do it a bunch of times, and Ms. Fluttershy too.”

“We’re older and have a better grasp on flying than you do,” was all the Princess said. “You still have some fine control issues when you get riled up.”

“Not to mention your landings sometimes need work,” a soft voice came up from the landing. A rust-brown Unicorn stood there, her perpetually messy mane tied back with ribbon. “If I hadn’t caught you this morning, you may not be flying right now.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Wingsong said.

“Oh, did Song almost crash again?” Midnight asked. “You got to tell us the details, Ebony.”

“Now, now,” another voice said, coming from a butter-yellow Pegasus as she trotted in from another room, a scroll tucked under her wing. “We’ve not a lot of time and you all need your room assignments!”

Aurora took the scroll in her purple aura and unrolled it.

“Looks like I’m roomed with someone named Madeline,” she said. “That’s an odd name.”

The scroll was passed to her sister, the magenta aura softly glowing.

“Raven Queen and Cerise Wolf,” Midnight said. “That’s a little interesting.”

“Oh who did I get?” Wingsong asked. “I bet they’re totally nice and cool and can show me all sorts of…”

Twilight reached out with a wingtip and put it over the mouth of the young chatterbox. She really took the worse part of her mother and not enough of her father when it came to talking.

“You got someone called ‘Briar Beauty,” Midnight said. “Eb, you’re with a ‘Bunny Blanc’ and Mel is with a ‘Lizzie Hearts’.” The teenaged Unicorn shook her head. “An odd group of names. Wonder why I wound up with two roommates?”

“Dorm space might have been limited,” Fluttershy said. “This is a boarding school, after all.”

“Now remember, girls,” Twilight said as she stepped forward with a tome hovering beside her and a tall, rectangular mirror behind her. “You are to behave as you would here. You’re going to be ambassadors of Equestria, after all. It wouldn’t do to give them a bad impression.”

The five ponies all nodded before stepping forward and getting hugs from the two adults.

“Ready?” asked the princess?

“So ready!” Wingsong said, prancing in place in her excitement.

Twilight consulted the tome for a second and then her horn lit, a stream of magic going out to bathe the mirror in it’s lavender light.

“Oooh,” Midnight said. “A transpositional gateway without set intervals. Did you create the spell or just power the mirror? Does it go mmmph!”

A purple aura shown around the midnight-blue Pegasus’ mouth, holding it shut.

“You're sounding like Mother,” Aurora said in a teasing voice. “Again.”

The older sister lowered her head sheepishly while Twilight frowned.

“Oh come on,” she said. “Your mother is a well-respected teacher. So what if she tends to ramble about science or magic or…”

A yellow wingtip slid out and over her mouth.

“You do too, dear,” Fluttershy said softly, her smile showing the amusement as they thought of the similarities between the two Twilights.

“Hehe,” the Princess of Friendship giggled. “Right then, off you go. Don’t forget, I expect weekly letters from all of you!”

“See you over the break, Aunt Sparky!” Midnight called as she dove into the mirror.

The passing was a little different, but she felt the familiar sensations of magic shifting her body. She felt herself pass through the far end, but found herself in midair over a stone well. She pinwheeled her arms for a second, and rolled as she landed to soften the fall. She was soon followed by her sister, Melody, and Ebony Rose.

Wingsong flew out of the well and threw out her arms, expecting a set of wings to catch her, only to plummet to the loamy ground of the forest.

“Ow,” she groaned. “No wings? Fail.”

“Things are a little odder than that,” Melody said, looking at her hands.

The girls all followed suit, expecting to see the same familiar skin shades that their coats usually were, but they were all heavily muted, undertones to the pinkish skin they now all sported.

“At least my hair is still the same,” Aurora said, primping for a minute.

Midnight turned to the well to look at it when it vanished immediately.

“Well,” she said. “That’s a new one.”