Twilight blinked a bit; this was the same Pinkie she had known since she moved to Ponyville. Granted, she was mostly naked, a bit pudgier than usual, and had one of those bands on her arm like all the ponies did, and her mark was a little off but her wording would have been different if she were from this reality. It was time to compare notes.

“Pinkie, what’s the last thing remember before ending up in this shop?”

“Me popping up on you and you screaming ‘Gah’ for some reason.”

“Pinkie, do you even know what Starlight and I were doing?”

“Obviously, some sort of magic experiment. But given the nature of the spells involved it shouldn’t have resulted in us ending up in an alternate universe, maybe something to do with how the spell’s scattered energy reacting to Starlight’s shield spell.”

“A decent hypothesis, but unlikely,” said Twilight with some relief, “I was using an older clairvoyance spell inside a much newer shielding spell cast by Starlight.”

“What if it wasn’t really a clairvoyance spell,” inquired Pinkie, “and just misidentified as one.”

“That’s ridiculous; it was created by Starswirl during his younger da...how could I be such an idiot,” Twilight facepalmed, “we decided to go with spells classified as clairvoyance spells without confirming they were. Newer ones are easier to let it slide on since they already have extensive studies into their nature, but such testing wasn’t common until a few centuries after the Nightmare Moon incident. Even so, if the spell actually allowed for peering into alternate timelines, that wouldn’t explain how a miscast could result in a transdimensional jump. If it could, then there would be warnings about it. I checked the records of all the supposed clairvoyance spells; there weren’t any warnings regarding this sort of scenario.”

“Then I guess we’re stuck here until you can figure out how to undo it.”

“That’s easier said than done, unicorns are all fitted with rings that restrict the spells they can use. And in case you haven’t noticed, I’m not an alicorn at the moment; my magic output isn’t what it was when you surprised me during the experiment.”

“I thought there was something a bit odd about your look, besides the different cutie mark I mean.”

“Yeah, well yours is a bit different too.”

“Oh, I noticed. Also looks like Rarity has a different mark too, and her personality is different as well.”

“She’s probably this universe’s Rarity, I think it’s safe to say all the alternate versions of our friends, and ponies we know will be a bit different. I just ran into an alternate version of Blueblood that got turned into a mare and is submissively doing what a dragoness tells him too; he goes by Azure Claret now.”

“Ooh, that’s pretty different.”

“Yeah and the building that’s supposed to be Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns is some sort of pony processing center, I think it has something to do with these collars and bands. What did Rarity’s mark look like?”

“Four dark indigo diamonds forming a larger diamond in a tight formation that you can just barely see the spaces for,” said Pinkie with a recitement from memory.

“I saw that mark on a jewelry store on my way here,” said Twilight with concern, “and Shining is working at the processing center while dressed in a very revealing gladiator outfit, it looked a little snug below his belt.”

“What about Cadance?”

“Haven’t seen any ponies that resemble her yet, same goes for all of our friends.”

“Well, Applejack is probably still in Ponyville, and maybe Rainbow and Flutters are still in Cloudsdale. And maybe Starlight is still in the town she grew up in. Ooh, have you met this world’s Spike yet?”

“Yeah, he’s the one who picked you up and brought you here while I tried investigating things further back at the archive, an archive that is incredibly out of date. Did you find out anything about where we are, besides the name, I already know that thanks to Spike.”

“Yeah,” said Pinkie in her usual demeanor, “it wasn’t always called Dragon Crown, that’s the name a city gets when its the capital of the reigning Dragonlord. Spike won the title a little over three centuries ago and has two siblings, a sister named Lance and a brother named Nail.”

“I met her, she’s at the processing center as a receptionist for some reason.”

“She’s doing that again,” came Spike’s voice, “who did she get to go along with her this time?”

“Oh, um, Spike,” said Twilight in surprise, “how much of that did you hear,” she was worried their cover was already blown, it was important they appear to be this world’s versions of themselves until she could figure out and execute their return home.

“Just that last sentence,” said Spike, “I’m assuming you’re making sure Pinkie’s files are up to date.”

“Among other things,” said Twilight, thankfully Pinkie picked up on the ploy quickly. “I just got back from the processing center with some more up to date maps; you really need to make sure all your facilities, especially informational ones, are up to date.”

“Yeah, sorry, I just didn’t think it would be necessary that much,” said Spike, “you’re the only one who really uses the archives.”

“And what if a visitor to your territory wants to read up on things,” said Twilight, “one with whom you have an alliance, how badly will your lack of up to date records look then. Without the most up to date information, an archive ceases to be relevant before long, what if you personally want information and I can’t help you get it for whatever reason. Besides, the most recent maps in the archive you saw Pinkie and myself in earlier didn’t have any maps newer than a thousand years. Which means, they were easily seven centuries out of date. The bare minimum you should have is up to date maps so you can keep track of where each territory is in our current era,” she rolled open the map of what was of the nation and glanced at it a bit, “and this map is dated two hundred years ago, even it is probably out of date by now. The most an actively utilized map should be is five years, two or three decades if you’re out exploring most of the time.

“Right, right,” said Spike with a grin, “I’ll get right on that, before I do I have a little command for you, Twilight.”

Twilight gulped with apprehension, “And what would that be, sir?”

Spike chuckled with amusement and said, “you are to wear nothing under your robes, that includes undergarments, and are to wear nothing but robes from this point forward, when you are going about in any sort of attire. I forgot how cute you look in those, I’ll see about getting your measurements later so we can get you some better ones than that old thing that looks like it’s going fall apart at any moment.”

Twilight couldn’t understand why but she suddenly had the compulsion to take off all her garments under her robe, every last one of them. And without thinking, and surprisingly with no shame, she carefully took off her robe and set it on the counter next to Pinkie before beginning to remove her shirt and shorts. She was just in the middle of undoing her bra when Rarity waltzed in, wearing a saucy looking sapphire blue dress.

“Oh good,” said Rarity with an egotistical tone, “you’re already removing those horrendous clothes, I much prefer you like that,” Twilight’s bra dropped to floor once it was undone, “and I’m thankful your bosom isn’t anywhere as glorious as mine.” she gave a death glare to Pinkie, “Unlike some other ponies, thankfully most of them don’t have the figure to accent their chest as gloriously as me properly.”

“Yes, Rarity,” said Spike, “about Twilight’s new attire,” Twilight was in the middle of removing her panties, “I’ve decided she’ll only wear robes from now on, make sure they show off her physical properties in a pleasing manner without being garish, and no antagonising her during the measuring and fitting process. In fact, you are to not antagonize her during the entire process of getting new attire.”

Rarity’s collar had its flames flash brightly for a moment after Spike had issued the command, “Of course, my lord,” said Rarity with a hint of disdain, Twilight and Pinkie wondered why that was. Rarity pulled out a much more ornate measuring tape than Twilight and Pinkie were used to seeing, the thing was adorned with actual silver bordering and the letters and numbers were made from genuine onyx.

Twilight was surprised to find her chest had a pair of CCC-Cup breasts. But Rarity had a pair of DD-Cups. Taking a closer look at Pinkie, she was surprised to see the pink mare had a pair of E-Cups instead of her standard DDs. Rarity demanded Pinkie give her a clipboard with paper and a writing utensil, which the pink mare did with some mild confusion on her face, Rarity then worked on the measurements faster than either was used to and stormed out of the complex after taking notes on all Twilight’s measurements. Spike followed shortly after.

Twilight and Pinkie gave each other a look and waited until the dragon and ivory mare were out of earshot before Pinkie said, “She’s a whole lot nastier than I thought in this place.”

“Agreed,” said Twilight as she pulled her robe back on and surprisingly found herself taking her other clothes to a bin in the complex that said ‘Scrap Clothes’ and couldn’t stop no matter much she fought the urge to do so, “did you notice what happened with her collar when Spike gave that command about antagonising me?”

“Yeah, I thought saw a similar flash in your direction when Spike gave you that order about what clothes to wear but I was too focused on him to really check, and the flash only happened for an instant.”

“Which means, these collars allow dragons to make us do any physical act they want, I’m pretty sure it doesn’t extend to the mind because of the evidence I uncovered at the processing center.”

“Oh right, the thing with Blueblood. If it were that easy, then Lance probably wouldn’t have made a big deal out of having to mentally recondition him. Not sure I’m okay with that, but it was probably necessary when he was changed into a mare. Hey, you think that…”

“If you finish that sentence I’m not the only one that’s going to have trouble sleeping tonight, and not in the fun or amusing way.” Twilight started wondering where that remark came from, were pieces of her alternate self coming out in her. At least she hoped that was the case because she wasn’t aware of being that in tune with innuendos, especially sexual ones, before.

She Hoped they could get home quickly. Who knew what their alternates were up to in their bodies, the thought wasn’t a very pleasant one. Pinkie seemed mostly oblivious, then again, that was Pinkie for you.

Author's Note

So yeah, looks like Rarity’s a bit of an egotistical bitch in this universe