Chapter 5

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“What’s the story, Jean?” Bobby aka Iceman asks, leaning on the edge of the desk behind him.

We’re inside the lab underneath the school.

It’s been about an hour since Jean tried to help me with the memory dream I have of Laura’s final moments before I wound up in her body.

It had taken a while for the two of us to really recover and process what we’d been through inside my head.

I’m still internally freaking out about the whole changing the future twice thing. I can only imagine how much worse it is for Jean.

Sure, she seems okay with learning her world was a cartoon in my world and that this version is blended with another cartoon’s world altogether, but having that piled on top of learning you’d avoided another apocalyptic future without even knowing it?

Everyone has a breaking point. I just hope Jean’s is still far off enough she’ll have properly processed all this prior to hitting it.

Everyone is here, aside from Scott and Storm, whom Jean informed me she’d left to deal with the matters they’d been involved in at the time to come and help me.

“What’s the situation with… her?” Logan points at me with folded arms as he leans against the wall.

Jean is standing in front of everyone, myself standing next to her. I’m still just wearing my pants, shirt and socks. Didn’t feel it was worth getting on all my clothes for this.

Plus, it will probably lead to less tension if I don’t look more like I’m itching for a fight despite still being exhausted thanks to Rogue’s drain of my powers on top of the mental exhaustion of the memory dive… well, no more looking for a fight than natural.

I am still Logan’s clone, after all.

Tildi is watching me with concern. Wonder if I made a friend in her?

She needs better taste. Being Logan’s clone, I doubt I’m a good candidate for her friend group, when she gets one after the school reopens, anyway.

Jean takes a deep breath and looks around at everyone.

“Okay, so, Hank, would you like to go first?”

I glance at her with a cocked eyebrow. Since when was Beast involved in our explanation?

The mentioned blue-haired mutant is sitting by one of the computers and presses a button, a holoscreen appearing… displaying me? Huh?

“Well, after the initial tests on her DNA, I had 23’s body scanned while she was unconscious and the results are quite interesting.”

The image changes to a display of my muscles, statistics I don’t bother pretending to understand with arrows pointing to specific parts of my body following.

“As you can see here, according to her medical scan, she’s no ordinary fourteen-year-old mutant,” icons flash near my muscles. “As she was created from Logan’s DNA, as can be expected, 23 here possesses a strong durability, heightened senses, reflexes, agility and some animal-like attributes.”

A snort from Bobby earns him a scowl from both myself and Logan and a hard nudge in the thigh from Kitty’s elbow.

Beast coughs, continuing. “Yes, well, while her skeleton, much like her musculature, can withstand greater pressures than a normal human skeleton, unlike Logan, she can only withstand so much weight and pressure without sustaining fractures, as she does not possess an Adamantium skeleton, only claws in her hands and, also unlike Logan, her feet. If not for her healing factor, I would be far more concerned by this revelation, myself.”

My claws briefly highlight.

“While not to extraordinary levels, like, say Juggernaut, 23’s physical strength is quite high. At my best estimate, her body is at the height of how strong a human her age can be. Highest round off I could make of her strength? I’d wager she could lift about eight hundred pounds.”

Another snort from Bobby earns him glares.

“What?” he says, giving me a smug look. “She may technically be Wolverine’s daughter, but you expect me to believe she can really be that strong, at her age?”

My claws come out as I snarl. “Wanna go a round in the Danger Room, one on one to test me, Iceboy?!”

I’m not proud of any of the things Beast just listed about my abilities, hell, some of them honestly took me by surprise, but I’ll be damned if I let someone with Ben 10’s teen voice mock my strength just because of my physical age.

“Getting back to the topic at hand,” Beast says, it not escaping my notice there’s slight exasperation in his tone, “23’s makeup suggests she is not just a random child. She was created as she is for a purpose.”

“A purpose, at least in part, I can tell you,” Jean gets everyone’s attention back on her.

“Okay, Jean,” Logan nods, his expression respectful, “what’s the kid’s deal?”

Jean glances at me and I nod.

She takes a deep breath, then begins.

“First of all, 23 doesn’t come from our time period. She’s from an unknown number of years in the future.”

At that, Bobby, Kitty and Tildi’s eyes widen.

“Whoa, wait. She’s from the future?” Kitty gasps, pointing at me with disbelief. “How? Why?”

“It’s a little difficult to fully answer,” Jean says apologetically, “due to the natural psychic resistances 23 has, I couldn’t fully restore the last memory she has from the future, but I was able to grasp several key aspects.”

I give another nod before she continues. She clearly wants to keep making sure I’m okay with what info she offers. The wrong piece of info could lead to disaster.

“Well, from within the memory, 23 was going by Laura in the future. In the memory, she was with three other mutants. A man named Cable, who was missing his left arm, a young green mutant boy who was also missing an arm, his right and the head of a mutant named Apocalypse.”

“Apocalypse? Sounds like a friendly guy,” Logan says sarcastically.

“What’s with all the missing limbs in the future?” Bobby asks frowning. “That Cable guy’s missing an arm, the green kid’s missing an arm too and this Apocalypse guy is missing everything but his head? How was he even alive if he was just a head?”

Jean sighs and I have a hunch it’s out of frustration from Bobby’s constant interruptions.

“Thanks to information from when Rogue and Kitty first met 23 and what I could glimpse both in the memory and her reactions to the memory, in the future she’s from, those three Sirens that were defeated at Canterlot High School won in her future, taking over the world and seeming to cause an even worse outcome than the future we all managed to stop.”

Logan’s eyes widen. “What? You mean, everything we did, was for nothing?”

“Sort of,” Jean nods. “See, it wasn’t through any fault of our own. When 23 became aware of her surroundings in our time, she wasn’t actually here, in our world.”

“World?” Bobby cocks an eyebrow.

I choose to answer this time.

“At the entrance to Canterlot High in Canterlot, there’s a horse statue,” I fold my arms. “At the base of that statue, normally, once every thirty moons, a portal opens to another world directly parallel to this one. In that world, ponies and other quadrupeds are the dominant species.”

“But, what does this other world have to do with the future you came from?” Kurt asks, perched atop a chair.

I close my eyes and sigh. “In that world, there’s a very important pony, an Alicorn Princess, named Twilight Sparkle.”

Brief snickers from Bobby are cut off by a grunt and I press on.

“You see, in that world and this one, there are aspects called The Elements of Harmony. This world’s Elements were dormant for countless years, until several months ago.”

“Wait a minute,” Hank frowns, rubbing his chin in thought. “I remember my instruments picking up unusual energy readings from the Canterlot area several months ago.”

I nod. “That was the night of Canterlot High’s Fall Formal, where Twilight Sparkle, having travelled to this world through the portal, worked alongside five other girls and awakened this world’s Elements of Harmony in order to save a Canterlot High student, Sunset Shimmer, after she’d been corrupted by ill-used magic.”

“Is this Miss Shimmer alright?” Hank asks, seeming quite concerned, bless him.

Rogue chooses to answer. “Yeah, she’s fine. Met her when we ran into 23 there. She even somehow awakened her own Element o’ Harmony, from what 23’s told us.”

“Wait. Will these Elements still work now?” Kurt asks, looking worried. “Should we need them, since this Princess Twilight Sparkle lives in the other world, wouldn’t they be inert again?”

I smirk. Tired as I am, this feels kinda nice. Seeing the X-Men confused and intrigued by Equestria Girls lore is kinda funny.

Makes me feel more normal, after everything.

I shake my head. “There’s no need to worry, Kurt. There’s another version of Twilight right here in this world.”

To the confused looks, I briefly explain how most everyone being in this world has an Equestrian counterpart, Sci-Twi being Twilight’s.

“Given time, I’m sure Miss Sparkle will be drawn to those other girls,” Beast nods, thinking it over. “So long as the need for those Elements don’t show up before then, we should be fine.”

I can feel Jean’s mind staring at me.

We can’t just tell them everything, but she clearly is not approving my withholding information either.

“Anyway,” I hold up a hand, “getting back on topic. In the future Laura’s from, in the other world, Twilight was murdered by a being called Lord Tirek. The details aren’t important right now, but, with her dead, Twilight didn’t come to this world to help CHS stop the Sirens, which is how they took over the world.”

Jean continues for me. “After Laura was sent to the past, 23 found herself in Equestria and, during a battle between Twilight and Tirek, 23 noticed something that made her uneasy, something that told her something bad was happening.”

“Um, this might seem like an odd question,” Tildi holds up a hand. “But, if 23 knew Tirek killed Princess Twilight in the past, why didn’t she just know that when the two were fighting?”

Jean and I sigh, her answering. “Because, when 23 found herself in Equestria’s past, she didn’t remember why she was there. Her memory had been erased upon arrival in that world.”

Logan stiffens.

Yeah. Knew the mention of memory erasure, especially when it pertains to what is essentially his daughter, would get his attention.

“So, it was her gut instinct, the background memory of what she knew, that made her act?” Rogue asks.

Jean nods. “Because 23 stopped Tirek from killing Princess Twilight during a point where she was vulnerable, she was able to turn the tide and defeat him, meaning she was alive to come here and stop the Sirens, changing our future.”

“And we never even woulda known it,” Logan chuckles, nodding to me. “Nice work, kid.”

“Um… wait. I just realized something,” we all look to Kitty, who’s frowning slightly. “Doesn’t 23 hate being called Laura?”

There’s a slight pause as glances are shared around the room.

Kitty continues. “When we met up with 23 in Canterlot, she made it very clear, on several occasions, she wanted us to only call her 23, never Laura. But, Jean, you kept referring to her as Laura whenever talking about the future, so, what’s the deal? She even referred to herself as Laura, and why in the third person?”

All eyes turn to Jean and myself and I sigh.

Folding my arms, I look away, so I’m not meeting anyone’s eyes. “Because, technically speaking, I’m not Laura.”

To the confused voices, Jean puts a hand on my shoulder.

“You see, 23, in spirit, isn’t Laura. 23 is someone else, from a completely different world from ours or Princess Twilight’s.”

“Wait. What does that even mean?” Tildi asks, sounding confused and worried… and that makes me feel hurt, for some reason.

“In the future, the green boy from 23’s memory seemed to have a mutant power that allowed him to send Laura through time, back to the past. However, something seemed to go wrong with the process, likely due to his powers being so weakened and it somehow pulled 23’s essence from their universe and into Laura’s body. However, there being a version of Laura in 23’s world, she knew who she’d become once she had her senses.”

“Why were the green mutant boy’s powers so weakened?” Kurt asks… though, from his expression, I think he already has an idea.

“If the Sirens had control over the world in Laura’s future, it would stand to reason that, at some point, they found a way to either weaken or drain mutant powers for their own gain,” Hank says, rubbing his chin. “Since he and Cable were missing an arm and that Apocalypse was missing everything but his head… I shudder to think how it was done.”

“So, what you’re saying is, she’s not the same Laura,” Logan says, looking at me with a bit more of a firm expression. “This kid isn’t the same person, just someone puppeting a dead shell?”

Wow. Thanks for that lovely image now implanted in my head, there, Logan. Love you too, Dad.

“23 shouldn’t be blamed for possessing Laura’s body,” Jean says quickly, keeping her hand on my shoulder. “None of this was her fault. She didn’t ask to have her essence dumped into Laura’s body.”

Logan turns and leaves, everyone sighing.

“Considering he’s been wondering how to think of you since finding out about your DNA, I can’t say I’m too surprised by that reaction,” Beast says, shaking his head, before looking to me with a kind smile. “Don’t worry, Laur— I mean, 23. Given time, I’m sure Logan will be less hostile.”

Bobby scoffs, folding his arms. “It’s Logan. Don’t count on it — ow!”

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A knock at the door makes me open my eyes.

After everything was talked about down below, I’d come back to the room I woke up in, it clearly being one I’d been given for during my time in this world, drawing the curtains, leaving the room in semi darkness, and just laid down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

It’s not like there’s much in the room to look at. A bed, a dresser, a closet currently void of clothing and a small radio with a digital clock on the bedside table to my right and a carpeted floor.

I’d just been laying here with my eyes shut, going over everything, trying to piece together what I know about this world, both from Wolverine and the X-Men and EQG.

Now that I had the time to think and I know why I found myself as 23 in Equestria… I’m honestly not sure what I should do next.

Now I know I don’t need to hang around to prevent a horrible future from happening due to having already unintentionally prevented it back when I fought Tirek… what point is there in my hanging around?

I mean, I guess there’s the Friendship Games. Maybe I can prevent Sci-Twi from having to deal with the Midnight Sparkle trauma?

Then again, it is something that gives her and Sunset something directly in common, something only they can understand about each other…

It was during those musings the knock came.

“Come in,” I say lazily, slowly pushing myself up into a sitting position.

The door opens slowly and Tildi slips her head through, looking unsure. “Is… is it alright if I come in?”

I sigh, giving a small smirk. “Pretty sure the last thing I said was “come in”, right?”

“Oh— I— um— right,” she nods, blushing and comes in, closing the door behind her.

There’s silence for a moment as she just stands by the door.

I prop my elbow on my knee, leaning my head into my fist. “I assume you had a reason to come in other than just stand there in awkward silence?”

She blinks, blushing again, before looking away, concerned. “Um… you’re, still you, right?”

I blink… a bit taken aback by that question. “Um… yes? What do you mean, exactly?”

“I mean, you’re still the same you who comforted me before, right?” she looks to me with determined concern. “That was you, not you trying to pretend to be Laura?”

It takes a few seconds for what she’s asking to process, before I lift my head up and nod. “I’ve honestly never pretended to be Laura. Didn’t see a point. I just never mentioned how I wasn’t the real her.”

“Stop!” I’m taken aback again as she points at me, her expression now firm. “Don’t do that!”

“Uh, do what?” I ask, very confused.

She points harder at me. “Saying you’re not the real Laura. Just because you’re not the original, it doesn’t make you any less the real you! Understand?”

I blink, before being unable or care to hide the smile that forms on my face. “Thanks, Tildi.”

“No problem,” she grins, before coming over, climbing onto the bed and crawling over until we’re sitting opposite each other. “So, is it really true? You’re from another world?”

I nod, leaning back, propping myself up with my hands flat on the bed. “Well, yeah. In my world… mutants are both well known, but not.”

“Huh?” she frowns, cocking her head to the side.

I think for a moment, before elaborating. “I mean, in my world, we know about mutants, but we don’t have news reports about them or anything like that?”

“You mean you live in a world without prejudices? You don’t have groups form to specifically target people for being born how they are?” Tildi’s eyes light up and she sighs. “Sounds like your world was a paradise.”

I sigh sadly, shaking my head. “No, unfortunately. We do have those, far more than I’m comfortable admitting, honestly. They just weren’t going after mutants.”

“Oh,” Tildi’s expression sadden and she sighs again. “Guess all universes have problems, huh?”

I nod.

“Are you… planning on going back?”

I cock an eyebrow at her.

“To your world, I mean,” Tildi looks to me, worried. “Now that you know you stopped the horrible future Laura wanted to stop… are you going home?”

I give a sad chuckle. “Can’t. Princess Twilight looked into it and I’m stuck like this. Whatever went wrong with the time travel and dimension hopping power used on Laura, it locked me into her body. I couldn’t return to my original body, if it still exists, even if I wanted to. And going back to my world as a mutant would not go well, trust me.”

“So, you’ll be staying here?!” her eyes light up again.

I give a reassuring smile as I shake my head. “I have responsibilities back in Equestria. I’ll come to this world as often as possible and stay for as long as I can each time, but my main stay will be Equestria.”

“Oh,” she says, looking downcast.

I watch her for a moment, before putting a hand on hers.

She looks up and I give her a reassuring smile again. “To be fair, I’m not going back for some time. I need to keep up to date on things at CHS for a while on Princess Twilight’s behalf. Plus, there’s a mutant at CHS who I’ll need to keep an eye on.”

Her eyes widen. “Another mutant? What’s her power?”

I take my hand back and rub my chin. “From what I observed, best guess is something like Kurt’s teleporting.”

Tildi’s expression becomes worried. “Is it safe for her to be there on her own? What if the MRD see her using her powers?”

I can’t help chuckling at that, folding my arms and leaning back against the wall. “Honestly, it’s thanks to who she is that I think it’ll be a long time before, if ever, the MRD figure out she’s a mutant from her using her powers.”

To her puzzled look I explain how Trixie’s teleports seemed to generate puffs of smoke and, thanks to her flare for dramatics as a stage magician and her frequent use of smokebombs for exits, she’s unintentionally hiding her powers.

Anyone seeing her teleport will just think she’s really good at her stage magic.

Well, as long as she doesn’t do something like teleport from the ground to the top of a nearby building.

That would draw some attention.

We have a good laugh at the idea of Trixie’s bewildered expression as she suddenly finds herself on top of a building, demanding to know how she got up there.

Author's Note

Well, that took a little longer than I'd like to admit, but, here we go.

I was worried I wasn't going to get an update done today, losing my interesting in doing so before midafternoon, but, after a snack around 2pm, I found myself with the drive to try again.

As you can see, the issue is that I needed to find a way to get the information explained to all the X-Men without it just being an info dump that the readers themselves don't actually need, since most of us have watched EQG and Season 4, so don't need it explained to us.

Also, while I learned about it only as I was getting to the part where Tildi enters 23's room, I found out something from my Neighbour that had gone completely over my head due to either spending most of the day at the other end and then here on the computer, typing away.

A couple of plastic bags have been found in a park near our house... filled with flesh and bone remains.

It's unclear if they're animal or human, but... yeah. Not exactly what I was expecting to happen during the start of my days off

I can actually hear sirens off in the distance right now as I'm typing this, so... this could be quite the more interesting evening than I'd have originally expected.

So, everyone's on the up and up now, including on exactly who 23 is, instead of going off the idea she's simply Wolverine's daughter from the future and 23 seems to have made a friend in Tildi. How nice for her.

So... what's going to happen now?

What will 23 get up to while she tries to figure out her next move?

Will she go out and explore downtown Neigh York? Might she meet other Marvel heroes, like a certain web slinger?

You'll have to wait and see in the next chapter, because it's almost 6pm and I'm hungry.

Just gonna fix some errors I've noticed in the previous chapter over the week and then I'm off to get some dinner.

Hope you were able to enjoy this chapter and, til next time, stay safe, stay clean and see you later everybody