Author's Note

I post on my FIMfiction blog!
https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/1037520/own-story-or-adaptations
Be involved!
Make friends!!
Influence (ever so slightly)
The direction of the story!

I am open to PM. No discord or email. Do not use email. Please.
I am open to work, even collaborations. I can't draw. Muscle condition.

Want to test my writing with this one. Will try to write more and more challenging subjects as time goes on.
All criticism minus something that can only be seen as a nitpick will be appreciated.

Trying top authors note. Maybe people are just not seeing it?

Change is hard.
Sometimes, if given the option, people go to very extreme lengths to avoid it.
VERY extreme.

21 - Differences

The transition was unexpected.
He thought it would be jarring, but it was abnormally instant and smooth.
It even positioned him standing up. Huh.

He un-clinched his hands. They had both been wound up into balls.
He DID have no fingers in Ponyland.

And then the human emotions came back.
He was really hoping he was wrong this time.
PonderBright definitely didn't miss this.

Twilight came through shortly afterward.
After making sure Ponder made it through safely, she noticed he was scrunched up.
Very afraid.
Or more like a feeling of dread?

For the first time in awhile, she did not see a threat in him.
She supposed that ever since the trial she was working towards this; just not realized it.
She didn't see a zealot who was sure in his crusade.
Just a poor stallion who had had many, many bad experiences trying to do the best he can. Quite needing of some guidance.
The same stallion she saw in the caves.

Her eyes narrowed, and she realized she was blushing.
Not a big blush, but still present.

She swerved around, lowering her head slightly.

' He's your student. '
" He's your student. " She said under her breath.

She took a deep breath.
Regaining her composure, she walked up to PonderBright and put a hand on his shoulder.
He spun around to see her with his eyes narrowed.

" Oh. I- Didn't know "
Ponder interrupted :
" Yeah. It's mostly a me thing. "
" People coming in from behind is a security risk. "
Twilight retracted her hand, feeling a bit sorry for him.
He started walking towards the school.

" Lets get this over with. " He said with unusual gusto. Almost a chipper tune.
" Wha- " Twilight was visibly confused.

" Hey- Hey. " Ponder pointed to her.
" Five feet. "
" ... "
" Ah crap I just sounded like a sexist, didn't i? " He said, unusually scatterbrained.

Twilight giggled under her breath, then fell back a few paces while saying :
" Remember, you just need to talk with Celestia. Make sure no one is missing you. "
" Missing? Me? " He reposed.
" Now that's funny. "

After PonderBright had killed the tone like usual, the two were in the entryway.
The school was mostly empty, it was before school started after all.
Minus 1 key group of friends.

" Sunset! " Twilight walked past Ponder to greet her.
" Twilight... " Sunset was uneasy. She was looking to and from PonderBright.

She motioned to her other friends : a jerky hand motion across the neck.
Ponder, looking very unamused by this pity attempt to go around him, leaned to the side a bit to peer in the direction they were retreating too.

Twilight.
The other Twilight.
Towards the back of the pack, hiding sheepishly behind a book she was holding.

He instantly (and involuntary) clenched both his hands into a fist, while being unable to suppress a very low pitch response:
" Y O U. "
The entire friend group reeled back a bit, including both Twilights.

He started walking towards human Twilight.

Not quickly, not slowly, just at a normal pace.

RainbowDash looked side to side, and then to Ponder.
" Alright. "
She steeled herself.

She ran in fast, and tried to tackle Ponder.

He leaned back a bit, grabbed her by the arm, and tripped her up with his leg he turned into a hook.
He then let go, using her momentum to send her to the floor in the direction she was running.
Rainbow let out a small wince, she did hit solid marble after all.
She looked back at him, mostly unharmed.

He had stumbled a bit due to the weight he had just shifted around, (RainbowDash) but recovered just as quickly as he had done the deed in the first place.
No words were spoken.
In actuality, it looked quite awkward.

Much too real.

The rest of the girls looked on in shock.
Rarity was pulling a taser from her purse, when he stopped.
Right in front of his target.

Not within striking distance. Just outside of it.

Human Twilight wasn't able to look at him, instead looking off to the side.
Fear very visible, but overshadowed by shame.
Sweating bullets.
Prepared to meet her fate.

" That expression... " Ponder sneered upward.
" You know what happened after I fell, don't you? " He crossed his arms and tilted his head. He smiled a smile of pain.

Twilight nodded, tears starting to become visible.

" HAHAH - AH. " Ponder laughed in anger.
His sanity was starting to become questionable.
Not even during his fall did he act this way.

He noticed this.
He inhaled deeply while closing his eyes.

His gaze instantly snapped back to Twilight. She froze.
The others froze too.

" And to think you all would have learned your lesson the first two times this happened! " Ponder looked much more composed as he jestered to the others in the room.

" But no. "
" You all somehow insist on making it a third. " He sneered at Twilight, who was now trembling.
" And keeping the threat around - No less! "

" And to top it all off- You all insist on protecting this piece of shit - " He made a hand motion at Rainbow, still looking at Twilight.
" Who would willingly destroy this ENTIRE PLANET if given the opportunity to do so! " The words left his mouth like nails on a chalkboard. It hurt to listen too, and it sounded like it hurt to say.

Ponder stared at his target unblinkingly. Searching for something. A reaction?
Human world Twilight only closed her eyes and started to sob.

" Ponder! " Pony Twilight cried from across the room, Applejack holding her back with a look of worry on her face.
" D- " She shouted.
" AAA- " Ponder threw a finger to the air to hush her up.

" You might be an expert in Pony World, but this is my world. " Twilight's interruption seemed to snap him back to (mostly) himself.

" And that- " He pointed a hooked finger to one blinking away tears.
" Is a human. "

" And I happen to know firsthand how evil they usually are. " He lifted his right hand, pointing to a small scar. He didn't turn around. No response from his target.

" Ponder! " The equestrian Twilight pleaded.
" She didn't mean it! None of you meant it! Please! "

He slowly looked back at her human counterpart. Cold, unfeeling, and emotionless.
The others were starting to step backward.

Minus the other Twilight.

" I'm - so - sorry. " She managed to say, past all the shaking and tears.
Ponders expression returned to what an onlooker might call ' somewhat resembling normal '

He laughed.
A casual laugh.
Made all the more creepy by how out of place it was.

" Twilight. Your smart. "

" Hu- Huh? " She looked up at him.

" Dare I say your smarter then me and everyone else in this room. "
" You invent things on a whim and effortlessly win academic competitions. " He said while raising an arm into the air.

" So why. "

" Why did you willingly release the magic? "

" I can understand If it were PinkiePie, Rarity, Bulk Biceps, or even Derpy. "
" But you? "

" You have no excuse. " His hands balled into fists again.

Twilight broke free of AppleJack's grip and started running to them.
She arrived rather quickly, and put a hand Ponder's shoulder.
She didn't know what else to do; if Rainbow couldn't stop him with force she certainly didn't stand a snowball's chance in hell.
No response.
She wasn't even sure he noticed her.
It was almost like she wasn't even there.

Ah.
There it was.
A very feint sideways glance from him.
She retracted her hand.

PonderBright returned his focus to her counterpart.
" You know better. "

His tone took on one of pain.
" You should have known better. "
" You have NO excuse. " His anger showed.
" N O N E. "

Twilight feel to the floor.
" I know. " She said through tears, wiping some of them but not managing to get all of them.

" I'm - so sorry - " Her tone was very strained.

" I wish you could have heard their screams. " He spoke without tone, tilting his head upward, looking down on her.
" Maybe then would it finally get through your thick skull. "
Ponder's eyes widened, and returned to their unblinking state.
Obviously searching for a certain response.

The sad and trembling human took awhile to come up with a response.
" If - If there's anything I can do - "
" Kill yourself. " Ponder interrupted.

His tone was not angry.
Nor did it have any tone what-so-ever.
It wasn't trying to make her feel bad.
It was very matter-of-fact.

It was entirely ' To the point ' .

Her response was a lack of response; minus minor facial twitching.
She definitely had a look of shock as she brought up her hands to her face for a good viewing.
If they would stop shaking, that is.
Her friends, including other Twilight, were already rushing to her.

Ponder got the memo and turned away.
He gave Twilight one more disappointed look as as one last parting shot.

She had a classic thousand-yard stare.
Largely unresponsive.

It took almost 2 minutes for her to start crying uncontrollably, only stopped from completing falling to the floor by her friends.
Once she was out of crisis, only staring sideways depressively into space, did Rarity jump into action.
She got up, got one last look at Twilight to indeed make sure everything was ok, and starting stomping towards PonderBright.

She had held it together until now for Twilight, but it seemed confronting him in his corner of the room was too much.
Tears started to form.

He had been standing there for almost 7 minutes. Watching them. As if he was waiting for them to get done with a class assignment and was bored waiting.
It pissed her off so much.

PonderBright noticed the wannabe fashionista approaching.
Still holding her taser.
He reached in his sleeve a bit.

Two knives should do.

Rarity threw her taser across the room, startling everyone. It landed in the area no one was currently inhabiting, shattering to pieces on impact.

Ponder re-strapped and re-secured his knives. Not that anyone could have noticed them anyway.

" YOU MONSTER! " She got up in his face; pointing a finger.
" YOU FIEND! " She wasn't trying to hide her tears.

" LEAVE IT TO YOU; WHO TALKS ABOUT HOW HORRIBLE THAT WAS : TO TURN 3 CASUALTIES INTO 4 !!! "
" Are you done? " Ponder plainly asked.

Rarity's rage visibly intensified; but as she looked back to Twilight and friends she managed to push it down with a long inhale.
After a short " AUMPH! " and a dismissive hand wave, she rushed back.

" I'm so sorry dear. " Her tone was almost normal as she sat down next to human Twilight. frazzled, more like.
" I don't know what came over me. "
" Is there- anything you need? "
" No. " She plainly responded.

The others perked up.

Twilight got up from the floor, not quite managing to stand yet. She sat upright, head all the way down.
" Dearie, you don't have to take what he says- "
Twilight nodded.

" I know. " She sniffled.

" Well. " AppleJack interjected.
" In think we should go somewhere more private. " She looked to a hallway.
" And- I know most of us probably want to do - not so legal things to Ponder right now - " She looked to Rarity.
" But that's not what this situation calls for. "

They all collectively non-verbally agreed, and escorted Twilight to a classroom.

The other Twilight gave a short lived wave, and walked back to Ponder.
Unable to look at him.

" Done throwing a pity party for the genocidal maniac? " Ponder was ready.
Ready for any argument.
For any rebuke.

He had spent the last 7 minutes war gaming every scenario that could now transpire.
Human Twilight was the monster.
Not him.
He was certain. And it showed.

" That's - not quite how it was. " Twilight's response had no emotion, and was slowed.
Sorrow.

Not disappointment,
Not anger,
Not a power play to put him in his place,
Just- sad.

Now THAT caught him off guard.

The walk to Celestia's office was long.
Ponder knew it by heart, and was leading the way.
With the school empty and only just now filling up, it seems the earlier worry about physical safety was largely unwarranted.

Twilight had been thinking all the way there.
For something.
ANYTHING to say.

She really, REALLY didn't want to go there, but she didn't want to leave things as they were even more so.

" Ponder- "
He turned to face her, nothing more.

" Why did you treat her that way? "
" Isn't she me? But just from a different world? "

" No. " He said with confidence. He turned back to face her -
" Rest assured you are NOTHING alike. "

" The only thing you two have in common is you both like to learn. "
" Your nice, you wouldn't destroy an entire world just for the sake of knowledge. " He said softly, looking back in the direction they were headed.

' Ah. ' Twilight thought.
There it was.
That glimmer of hope she saw in him.
But so dim, so faded.
And it seems now he's willingly rejecting it.

" I wish you'd taken your friendship lessons more to heart. " Twilight; being sincere.
" Because I know what you think about others, isn't true. "

" Twilight. " He said tired and with pain:
He pulled up his hand, once again brandishing his scars for her to see.
" I wish "
" I could believe you. "

Twilight looked away for a bit.
Then sighed.

She started to walk away.

Celestia's door opened.
" Hello? ", " Did someone want to see me? "
" Yes, actually " Ponder said with a very normal tone and execution.
It's as if a switch was flipped in him.

" Oh? Do we have a new student Twilight? " Celestia asked, as Twilight was walking away.
No response.
" Huh. " Celestia stared at her.
" Did, something, upset her? " She felt she had to ask.

" Yeah unfortunately. " Ponder quickly responded.
" Looks like I'm at it again. " Ponder said with minor annoyance and dread.

" At what again? ", " Do I know you? "
" What? " Ponder asked.

He decided to try and jog her memory. Old boomers tend do to get this way after a week or two of your absence.
" I've been in your office over 30 times. " He raised an eyebrow at her.
" Getting in fights, (even though i never started them) ",
" Getting tattled on for mundane shit even teachers sometimes do- "
" The Softball Incident ? "

Celestia was getting uncomfortable.
" Hmmm. "
" No. "
" Not ringing any bells. "

" Maybe you mistook me for a lookalike administrator back at your school? "
She laughed nervously while Ponder mentally rolled his eyes.

He was almost dumbfounded.
This level of stupid wasn't unheard of from his principal, but still rare.
' Wow. Either this boomer is currently having a stroke or we got some more eldritch magical mayhem in the works. '
' 50/50 either way. '

Ponder's unenthusiasm for the situation showed.
" Well then yes I would like to transfer. "
" Apologies, my memory isn't the best. " The words slid out of his mouth like a snake.

" Oh! Well then. " Celestia was back to herself.
" Do you have a signed form of transfer? "

" No, not yet. ", " Twilight was just showing me around. " He responded.
" But, just to ease my sanity, could you check if I have records here? Just for my sake? " He fained his disability well.

' ease my sanity ' ??? Celestia was getting more and more freaked out the second.
" Sure... ! " Celestia kept her peripheral vision on him as she search her filing cabinet.

" Name? " She asked, putting on a overly polite front as she opened her filing cabinet.

" I can't believe anyone would say that! " PinkiePie loudly exclaimed with a depressive tone.
" Was he always big bully behind our backs or something?! " She openly asked.

" No comment. " AppleJack's hat was tilted down. A tinge of pain echoed through her words.
Rainbow was looking impatient.
" I don't care if he is a Wondercolt, or that he helped us with magical stuff in the past. "
" That guy needs to leave and never come back. "

" He doesn't really seem like the type that being friendly would work on either. "
Fluttershy chimed in.

" Here Here! " Rarity agreed.
" No forgiveness for me. Never in a million years! "

They all collectively looked downward a bit, taking in what just happened.
And what they just said.

They looked to Twilight, who had multiple glasses of water on her desk, along with Fluttershy's blanket, Pinkie's lunch, Rarity's pillow, Rainbow's sports drink and AppleJack's sweater.

" Lets- not get too caught up- " Rarity made a overly complicated hand gesture.
" In the moment- shall we? "

" Sunset- " She turned her head to her. The person in question had been sulking in the opposite corner of the room this entire time.

She looked up only momentarily, before correcting a bit of her bacon-colored hair and returned to her thinking.

" That display didn't rattle you too much did it? " She asked.
" Yeah. It - kind of did. " Sunset admitted, looking up.
" But that's not it. "

The others were confused.

" At least, not all of it. "

" When I was listening to him speaking - And I agree that what he did was unacceptable. I couldn't help but understand where he was coming from. Only a part of it,, that is."

" Wha- " Rarity was taken back.
" WHAT? " Rainbow butted in.

" From his perspective Twilight was only a person who recklessly endangered everyone's lives, and then tried to end the world just to get to another. "
" And- directly caused the chain of events that resulted the tragedy he was involved in. "

" That doesn't excuse this. " She looked to Twilight.
" Not by a long shot. "

" But I can understand why he chose to do this. " She ended by looking out the window she was leaning against, minor worry in the way she carried herself.

" It's amazing how much you stick up for people. " Rainbow admitted.
" Yeah. " AppleJack agreed.

" I suppose that does explain a small part of- " Rarity cut herself off with a grunt.
Fluttershy and PinkiePie gave each other knowing looks, then sulked.

" Me and him have - a history. " Sunset was catching the depression in the room.
The others looked to her in confusion.

They all then looked to Twilight.
Still looking sideways off into space, but doing much better then before.

Sunset seemed to take initiative.
She walked over to Twilight, and slid a desk next to her.

" It's not your fault. It's no ponies fault. You know that, right? "

Twilight looked to her, then back to the wall staring.

After some short consideration from Sunset:
" Other Twilight told me what I needed to know. There was nothing you, or anyone else could have done. "

" I could have not been stupid and released my device. " Twilight calmly and quietly argued back.
" True. You made a mistake." An immediate response from Sunset.

" But it wasn't THAT mistake. " She really pressed the word ' that ' while Her eyes motioned off into the distance.
" No one could predict that series of events. "
" Your no more to blame then He is. "

Twilight stooped frowning. Not smiling, just not frowning.
" Alright. " Twilight wiped her tired eyes.

" I think I'm over it. " She still said with depression.

" Alright. " Applejack offered a welcoming tone.
" Why don't we go to the band room, to take our minds of it? " Her forced smiled was not that good.

" Yeah. " Twilight agreed while getting up from her table.
She staggered a bit; standing up too fast.

The others were ready to jump into action when they saw the fake smile she put on to sooth their nerves.
They all nervously laughed it off, and continued to music practice.

" If you need anything else, or want to complete your transfer, let me know! "
" I'm only a phone call away! " Celestia left off.

Her office door closed slowly, as if she didn't want to set him off.
Ponder was left with more questions then answers.

He checked his phone, as he had been recording her almost the entire time.
Making sure no magical mind-altering nonsense was effecting him in the room.

Nothing.

Everything was normal.
He no longer existed in this world.

In any other context, he would be ecstatic. No chance of anyone investigating their way into Equestria and ruining the ' magic ' of it. But this wasn't them giving up on a half-assed investigation after 2 weeks.

This was magically induced.

He thought for awhile. The wall he was resting up against was starting to hurt.
Ah. Bingo.
Another plan, another day.

He walked to the entry way, in quite a rush.

He stood in a area where all would see him coming into the building, but not too inconspicuous.
He pretended to play with his phone.
In reality he was constantly recording video.

After a short wait, the students started pouring in.
He dreaded the confrontation. But he had to be sure.

Luckily, his theory was correct.
No one recognized him.

No one - expect the plant girl.
Constantly doing double takes. Trying not to be noticed looking at him. Scrunched up.
He was right to assume it was coming from a person rather then something more akin to a magical natural disaster.

He waited until his stalker was done ' secretly ' observing him. He followed her to her locker, picking up a magazine, tape and some printer paper on his way.
She didn't notice him.
This was all too easy.

He went into the bathroom, and started cutting up the magazine to make a nice assortment of letters.
He wished he brought some gloves, It was hard not getting his fingerprints on the letter using his shirt selves alone.

He walked back to her locker. He pretended to see something from within, did a double take, and ' peered ' into it. He then deposited the letter inside via his long selves while making sure he wasn't seen by anyone.
It didn't need to be a perfect display.
All he needed to maintain was plusable deniability.
Not like anyone around here gives a shit about her OR him, or anyone else for that matter.