Through the Booking Glass
The library of Other-Questria had a seemingly infinite number if books at its disposal, and though most were about mundane subjects like history or geography, there was a recently addition that caught a certain bookworm's attention.
The new addition were books about magic, and the bookworm was the Other-Questrian Twilight Sparkle.
Or Sci-Twi, to avoid confusion with her Equestrian counterpart.
She sat down at a table and opened a book about magical artifacts: it had information about the Memory Stone, the Teleporting Telephone, the Magic Mirror, and other artifacts that Sunset and her friends had encountered before.
And when she looked at the author, she saw why: "Written by Sunlight Sunshine" was written at the lower left corner of the cover, and Sci-Twi could remember Sunset Shimmer talking about using that pen name to act as a writer. Good for her, hopefully her books would get some recognition-
"These books are a bunch of horse radish!"
Sci-Twi closed her book and turned towards the source of the statement. She found it two tables away from her, in a table with three interesting occupants.
The Dazzlings.
If she remembered what Sunset told her right, the orange one was Adagio Dazzle, while the blue one was Sonata Dusk and the purple one was Aria Blaze.
"What numbskull wrote this trash?" Aria growled as she closed the book and folded her arms. "You'd think they'd use this prose for something that was actually accurate!"
"Magic's still new to this world, Aria," Sonata spoke. "You can't expect the book to be entirely accurate."
"Of course not, but I expected a couple inaccuracies, not an entire book filled with them!"
"Stop it, you two," Adagio wearily ordered. "We'll send complaints later. Although, if anything, we should probably try to become co-writers for future books."
"Us? The singing sirens who once controlled Canterlot High?" Aria scoffed and waved her hand. "We'll be lucky if we get any song gigs in a week, and you think this "Sunlight Sunshine" is going to let us help her?"
"We have to at least try; these books have so much misinformation it's only a matter of time before someone corrupts or kill themselves trying to do what's written here," Adagio sighed. "And the last thing anybody needs is another corrupted magic user."
Sci-Twi clutched her chest, remembering her time as Midnight Sparkle. The maniacal laughter, the screams of pain, the tears in the fabric of space and time-
"Hello."
Sci-Twi flinched and looked up to see Sonata standing in front of her, smiling with her arms folded behind her back.
"You've been staring at me and my bandmates for a while," Sonata added, speaking in a calm voice. "Do you need something?"
Sci-Twi grabbed her book and held it close to her chest as she stammered, "I-I just got curious about... w-well... w-what you were talking about... y-you were kinda loud-"
"And you're being kinda quiet."
Sci-Twi flinched again, and this time, Aria and Adagio had joined Sonata's sides, the latter adding with a stern tone, "If you have something to say, just do it. We're not going to bite you."
Then, she smirked. "At least, Sonata and Adagio won't."
"Don't listen to her, she's a prick," Adagio stated. "But seriously, Sonata brings up a good point: if you've been staring at us, there has to be a reason, right? So, what's up?"
"She says she overheard us talking," Sonata explained. "And, I think, she's a little interested in giving her opinion."
Aria promptly leaned closer to Sci-Twi and snatched her book, with the bookworm barely getting to call out "Hey!" before she began surfing its content. "And you were planning to do so with this book? If it was written by that "Sunlight Sunshine" don't bother; it's probably just as riddled with misinformation as the books we read."
"Aria, don't just steal someone's book!" Adagio snapped. "Stop reading that and hand it back!"
As if on cue, Aria stopped surfing and her eyes widened, while Sonata chirped up and clapped, "Oh my Grogar, Adagio, Aria listened to you for once!"
"No," Aria shook her head, and showed the page to her bandmates. "That's not the reason why I stopped."
Adagio, Sonata, and Sci-Twi took a closer look at the book, and their eyes widened as well: the page Aria spotted had information on the portal that Princess Twilight used in order to enter Other-Questria. Its activation, its transforming effect, and its Other-Questrian counterpart in the Canterlot High statue was among the information available.
No information on how or when it was created, though.
"No way," Sonata blurted. "There's a portal connecting this world and Equestria?"
"And this "Sunlight Sunshine" didn't just find out about it, but she wrote about it in this book!" Aria chuckled. "Why would she do something so stupid?!"
"It's clear why, Aria: to avoid accidental interdimensional travel," Adagio spoke, snatching the book and handing it back to Sci-Twi. "Sure, the requirements for the portal to activate are so specifc it's unlikely someone will travel it by accident, but that doesn't mean it can't happen."
"And since a lot of unlikely magical occurrences have happened," Sci-Twi added, taking a worried look at the book. "Someone accidentally using the portal isn't that farfetched."
"Tsk, fine, let's assume she had the foresight to do that," Aria folded her arms and raised an eyebrow. "That doesn't change the fact that there will be some idiot now who's gonna try to cross the portal, just to see if it works!"
"Including you..."
The sirens turned around and saw Sci-Twi glancing at her book, before she turned back to them and flinched.
"What did you say?" Sonata asked.
"N-Nothing, act like I said nothing-"
"Oh no, you definitely said something!" Aria cracked her knuckles. "Now spill the beans or I'll force you to spill them!"
Sci-Twi squeaked and backed away. "I-I was just thinking, y-you were b-banished here. s-so-"
"Now that we know about the portal, you think we'll try to use it to return to Equestria," Adagio finished. "Especially because there will be a full moon this night that will make it activate?"
Sci-Twi blinked twice, then silently nodded.
Adagio sighed and shook her head. "Maybe if we had first been banished, you'd have an idea, but now, we couldn't careless."
"What?" Sci-Twi asked in relief.
"What!?" Aria snapped. "You can't be serious, Adagio! We got the perfect chance to return to Equestria right in our eyes, and you're not even gonna take it?"
"What's the point? The Pillars more than likely rigged the thing so we couldn't go through with it," Adagio folded her arms. "And besides, we don't have magic. Even if we did return, we'd be effectively just a bunch of flying fish."
Sci-Twi got an idea. "Actually... that might not be necessarily the case-"
Sonata frowned. "Don't tell me you want to help us return to Equestria."
"I mean, I'm sure anybody would gladly try to get rid of us at this point," Adagio remarked. "But they banished us from Equestria once; they're not gonna accept us back with open arms."
"And also, why would you want to help us return?" Sonata asked. "As far as I know, this is the first time we've met."
"I know, but, see, I got an idea," Sci-Twi walked back and forth as she explained. "The portal has only ever been used by Sunset Shimmer, or by people with her, but with the information provided by the book, it's only a matter of time before interdimensional travel between the realms becomes commonplace, and then, considering the reforming nature of this world-"
"Uh, excuse me, reforming nature of this world?" Aria scoffed. "We didn't reform, we just stopped spreading chaos."
"She's not listening, Aria," Adagio pointed out. "And besides, you have to admit, we kinda have become nicer since we helped those three girls with their problems."
"Maybe, but-"
"I'm gonna need to ask my counterpart about this, though; she's the one who has the mirror," Sci-Twi snapped her fingers. "I'm gonna go talk to her, wait for me here!"
Sci-Twi ran off deeper into the library, leaving the stumped sirens behind.
"She's gone nuts, hasn't she?"
"Doesn't anybody do when magic's involved?"
Meanwhile, in Equestria, Princess Twilight, accompanied by Spike and the royal guard Flash Sentry, was reading some documents when she heard something ringing in one of the books. She used her magic to telekinetically fly the book to her, then opened it on the glowing page, It kept glowing for a moment before it cleared up to reveal Sci-Twi on a screen.
Guess books could now serve as interdimensional communicators.
"Oh hey, Human Twilight! It's been so long!" Twilight chirped as she put the book on the table. "Why are you calling me all of a sudden?"
"Hello, Your Highness, I-" Sci-Twi paused as soon as she noticed the yellow guard. "Is that Flash Sentry?"
"Yeah, the Flash Sentry of this world, in fact," the royal guard answered. "I assume I got a counterpart in your world?"
"Yes, but we haven't seen each other in a while, so I don't know how he's doing," Sci-Twi shook her head. "Anyway, there's something I need to discuss with you, and it involves the portal."
Twilight and Spike exchanged worried looks, before the dragon asked, "Do you want to send or receive someone?"
"Well, how do I put this? A set of villains here have reformed and they wish to return to Equestria to turn over a new leaf-"
"Nonsense!"
Twilight raised an eyebrow, and Sci-Twi promptly moved the book to reveal the sirens: Aria had pocketed her hands and held a stern expression, Adagio folded her arms and held a neutral expression, and Sonata waved her hand with a nervous smile.
"The sirens?!" Flash exclaimed. "You want to send the sirens back to Equestria?! Are you mad?!"
Twilight raised her hoof to her cheek. "Well, she's a counterpart of me, so-"
"Nonono, you got it wrong! T-They really have reformed!" Sci-Twi stammered, waving her hand. "They helped the Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo from this world work out their issues, and they're getting along just fine with my friends! Besides, they don't have any magic anymore."
Twilight hummed. "Them not having magic greatly reduce their danger to Equestria, but-"
"Look, just think of this as an experiment!" Sci-Twi smiled. "If the sirens reformed and return to your world, you can use this as the basis for a new reforming law for villains!"
Twilight raised an eyebrow. "And so, if we get another troublemaker," she smiled. "We can send them to the human world, have them reform, and then return them here so they can start anew!"
"Your Highness, you can't possibly be serious!" Flash stated. "These are the same sirens who caused strife and disharmony thousands of years ago! Now you wanna have them back in our world?!"
"To be fair, the Twilight from the other world insists that they've changed," Spike pointed out. "And besides, isn't giving everypony a second chance a core element of harmony?"
Flash frowned. "Maybe, but-"
"It's at least worth a try, Captain Flash," Twilight remarked as she closed the book and put it back on the shelf. "If it fails, or if the Dazzlings decide to do anything bad, we'll simply kick them back to the human world, and they'll stay there, no question asked."
"B-But-"
"Enough, Captain Flash," Twilight narrowed her eyes. "We're going to give this little experiment a shot, and that's final. Come on, Spike, let's get everything ready."
The princess and the dragon left the room, leaving behind a disgruntled Flash Sentry. "Your Highness..."
After a highly boring day, the night came forth to let Sci-Twi and the sirens test the scientist's little experiment. They went to Canterlot High, and stopped close to the horse statue, just in time for them to see the full moon in the sky.
"Alright, girls," Sci-Twi said, rubbing her hands. "Pretty soon, we'll be able to see whether the portal works on you."
"I still think you shouldn't have such high hopes for this experiment," Adagio remarked. "As far as we know, the portal could very well have had a spell put on it so that we specifically couldn't go through it."
Sci-Twi looked at the moon. "Maybe, but there's only one way to find out." then, she reached for her back, took out the communication book, and opened it on a page showing Princess Twilight on the other end. "Are you ready, Your Highness?"
"Yup, everything's ready on my end."
The full moon of the other world reached its highest point, and the sides of the horse statue's pedestal glowed for a brief second.
"And everything's ready on my end too!" Sci-Twi turned to the sirens. "Alright, you three, which one will try to cross first?"
The sirens exchanged looks until one of them stepped forward: Sonata. She held a concerned expression as she approached the pedestal. She stopped, turned to Sci-Twi, and after earning a nod and thumbs up from the girl, she smiled slightly as she leaned her hand to the pedestal.
As soon as her hand touched the concrete, however, a wave of black lighting struck, causing her to scream in pain and run back to her bandmates as the lighting continued for a second, dissipating moments afterwards.
"Sonata, are you okay?!" Sci-Twi asked.
"I-It burns, b-but I think I'll be fine," Sonata took a deep breath. "But regardless, what was that thing?!"
"I think it was a magical reaction," Adagio remarked, stealing an uneasy glance at the statue. "One way or another, the portal must've recognized Sonata as a siren, and thus reacted to prevent her from entering Equestria."
"In other words," Aria narrowed her eyes. "We can't use the portal!"
Sci-Twi opened the book again and turned to Princess Twilight's page. "Your Highness, did you see that?!"
"Yes, I did, the mirror suffered a magical reaction to one of the sirens trying to cross through," Twilight scratched her mane. "But I don't get it; the portal's never done that before!"
"To be fair, only you and Sunset have used the portal before," Spike pointed out with a shrug. "Maybe, since the sirens were explicitly banished, they also got zapped with some magic that made them unable to cross the portal?"
Twilight frowned and turned back to the book. "Did you hear that?"
"I did, but I don't think we should jump to conclusions," Sci-Twi turned back to the sirens. "Maybe at least one of them can walk through?"
"Oh no, you're not going to send anybody else to that death trap!" Aria snapped, stomping up to Sci-Twi. "You just saw the portal reject Sonata, who's easily the nicest one of us! If the portal won't let her through, what chance do Adagio and I have?!"
Sci-Twi looked at the statue. "Well, we're about to get half the answer."
Aria turned around, and to her horrified shock, Adagio leaned her hand towards the statue. As soon as she touched the concrete, the black lighting returned and assaulted her. However, Adagio managed to bear it long enough to shove her forearm through.
A hoof poked through the mirror's glass, seemingly undeterred by the black lighting.
"Twilight, look!" Spike remarked, pointing at the hoof as the princess gasped. "A hoof's coming through!"
Spike started to run towards the mirror, until Twilight used her magic to stop him. "Spike, don't! We don't know if the lighting affects anybody other than the sirens!"
And just as Twilight mentioned the sirens, the hoof went into the mirror and the lighting dissapeared moments later.
Adagio was on her knees, clutching her scorched, numb forearm as Sonata and Aria helped her stand up. "That's a really strong magical reaction. We definitely can't force our way through it without roasting ourselves alive!"
"No duh, because you took way too long!" Aria stated as she cracked her knuckles and walked past Sci-Twi. "With these kind of things, you have to be quick and precise."
"Wait, I thought you were against the experiment?" Sci-Twi asked incredulously.
Aria shot a glare at Sci-Twi. "I am, but you were just going to try convince me to try it anyway, weren't you?"
With her words spoken, Aria stretched a bit and took a couple steps back, before she ran straight for the pedestal and jumped.
She barely got to hit the concrete before the black lighting shot right past the girls and into the wall of Canterlot High. Furthermore, as Sci-Twi and her fellow sirens came to check up on her, Aria twitched and spazzed with black lighting surging through her as she slid down and hit the ground.
At this, Sci-Twi took a deep breath and opened the book on Princess Twilight's page.
Twilight looked with horror at the twitching Aria, the burned Adagio, and the sighing Sonata, all three paired up as Sci-Twi's voice spoke, "None of them got through, Your Highness."
"But I don't understand," Twilight frowned. "I mean, even if the mirror was affected, how could anybody access it? I didn't tell anything to the princesses, so the only other pony who could've enchanted the portal was-"
"Me."
The princess and the dragon turned around, and saw none other than Starswirl the bearded and Flash Sentry enter the room.
"And about the fact you didn't tell anything to your fellow princesses," Starswirl paused and took a deep breath. "I'm afraid I have taken care of that too."
"Princess Celestia, Luna, and Cadence wish to speak with you, Princess Twilight," Flash Sentry added. "I suggest you go see them when you can."
Twilight glanced at Starswirl, then to the mirror, and once she connected the dots, she stomped the ground hard enough to crack it.
"You enchanted the portal?!"
"It was necessary, Your Highness," Starswirl stated, with Flash nodding in agreement. "As soon as I heard word that the Sirens were still alive, and that they were planning to return to Equestria, I had to make sure there was no way for them to endanger our home!"
"But how did you find out about it?!" Twilight exclaimed, spreading her wings as she turned to face the royal guard. "Was it you, Flash!?"
"I'm sorry Your Highness, but you know their story: they caused strife and disharmony, and even when banded together, the Pillars couldn't beat them," Flash argued. "Even if they're nicer, that doesn't mean they've reformed: how do you know they won't just continue spreading chaos once they go through?"
Twilight glanced at Starswirl and Flash, and stomped the ground once more. "I can't believe this!"
"We can," Adagio spoke through the screen. "It was only a matter of time before the Pillars did something about this. Granted, I figured they'd act as soon as they banished us, but I guess they decided to play the long haul."
"Indeed we have, Adagio Dazzle!" Starswirl sternly stated as he trotted to the book and glared at the siren. "And no matter how long or how much power it takes from us, the Pillars will never let you ruin Equestria with your disharmonious ways again!"
"After messing with a royal artifact like the mirror portal, I believe you completely," Adagio lowered her eyelids. "Guess we'll just have to bring disharmony to the world you banished us to instead."
Starswirl raised an eyebrow. "And how will you do that without magic?"
"The same way we'd have done it in Equestria if we had gone through: we couldn't," Adagio took out her tongue. "But alas, that's something for another day. For now, have a good day, Starswirl."
The book's screen turned to static and it closed itself as Starswirl went back to Flash, who promptly lead the way out of the room while Spike rubbed a shocked Twilight's mane.
Back at the Other-Questrian library, Sci-Twi and the sirens sat back on the table, trying to rest from their failed experiment.
"I'm so sorry I made you go through all of that," the scientist spoke.
"You better be!" Aria snapped, flickers of lighting escaping her pigtails as she twitched. "I think I'm gonna be catching radio waves for the next week!"
"Look at the bright side," Sonata clasped her hands and shrugged. "We won't need to buy a new radio."
"Not helping, Sonata!"
"Besides, you can't say this came out of nowhere," Adagio sighed. "We're pretty infamous back in Equestria, it'd be weirder if nobody raised a hand to stop our return."
"Hoof," Sonata corrected.
"Right, hoof, that's what I meant to say."
"Guess the whole "send villains to this world so they can reform to return to Equestria" idea is out the window," Sci-Twi sighed sadly. "Sunset's going to kill me when she finds out what I nearly did."
Adagio looked at Sci-Twi for a second, then spoke, "Say, I don't think we ever got your name."
"Not that we'd ever care about you enough to bother remembering it," Aria added, spazzing afterwards.
"I'm Twilight Sparkle, though since there's the fact I got a counterpart with the same name, my friends call me Sci-Twi to avoid confusion," Sci-Twi sighed. "Okay, only Sunset calls me that, but it helps to have another name to go by."
"Alright then, Sci-Twi," Adagio smiled as the scientist flinched. "How about we find more misinformation in these "Sunlight Sunshine"'s books, and write down what's wrong and what's right for her?"
Sci-Twi blinked twice. "Why the sudden offer? If it's because of me trying to help you get back to Equestria, then one, I didn't succeed, and two, I never asked for anything in return."
"Yeah, that was a pretty big mistake," Sonata agreed.
"Listen, you were nice enough to give us the benefit of the doubt, even when you only had a passing knowledge of our "reformation," Adagio explained, Aria scoffing at the "reformation" part. "So, while we're left questioning your sanity, I believe it's only fair we do something to repay. And you seem like the kind of person that would enjoy pointing out wrong facts."
Sci-Twi hummed, and put the book she was reading this morning on the table. "This is the latest book in the series, and I didn't get to read it all."
Sonata and Adagio smiled, while Aria rolled her eyes and chose to take a nap. So, Sci-Twi and the two remaining sirens began reading the book, and pointing out the facts it got wrong.
Author's Note
You kinda have to wonder what would the sirens do if they found out about the portal, and how fast that method of escape would be taken away from them.
This is my interpretation of that hypothetical scenario.
Draxonos135, flying away!
