Chapter 1: A Fortunate Discovery and an Unfortunate Accident
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Chapter 1: A Fortunate Discovery and an Unfortunate Accident
Twilight smiles as she heads out to the park to meet with her friends. They always tried to meet for a nice picnic whenever they could get time to do so. She looked around enjoying the trees and the beautiful meadow. She grins as she finally gets to the usual spot and sees most of her friends there.
Twilight says, “Hey where’s Rainbow Dash, shouldn't she be here?”
Applejack says, “I don’t know but I’m guessing she’s sleeping on a cloud somewhere.”
As Twilight smiled at Pinkie Pie she says, “This is a great picnic you have made, Pinkie.”.
The party pony says, “Thanks, Twilight.” as the lavender unicorn started to eat a sandwich.
Twilight then says, “Well, I don’t know about you gals, but I think today is going to be a good day for me.”
Pinkie says, “Oh? Why?”
Twilight says, “Well, I got a new book from the Canterlot Library, one that just came out.”
Applejack says, “Well that mighty nice and all, but what’s all the excitement about this one Twi?”
The Lavender Unicorn smiles , “Well It’s a collection of passages from the journal of a unicorn wizard called Radgan the Traveler.”
Pinkie Pie just looks at Twilight with an eyebrow raised in confusion, “Who?”.
As all the other ponies raised an eyebrow in confusion some scratching their hoofs against their head as to figure out who Twilight is talking about as Rarity says, “I don’t think I've heard of him at all, should I know who he is?”.
Twilight looks at her friends and then smiles as she says, “Well Radgan was a unicorn pony who lived during the days of Starswirl the Bearded, and they say that he was Starswirl’s contemporary and fellow mage, but nopony knows what happened to him. I’ve heard from journals during that time period that he was dabbling in something called “Alternamancy”.
The cowmare says, “Alter-wha?”.
Twilight says, “Alterna-mancy, basically spells that, in theory, you could use to see into an alternate universe, or even travel to one.”.
Twilight could still see she was starting to lose the girls as she says, “Well I guess the best way to explain this is to do sort of little thought experiment. Remember how Rainbow Dash got her cutie mark and how we all got our own?”.
Applejack says, “Why of course we do.”.
Pinkie says, “ Yeah, Twilight.”.
Twilight says, “Well what would have happened if Rainbow Dash didn't or couldn't do the Sonic Rainboom? Like maybe she suddenly got a cramp in her wing or she crashed into a tree or something. We probably would have gotten our cutie marks in different ways and maybe met under different circumstances.”
Applejack says, “Oh Twi, why are you sweating on this stuff? What happened happened, ain’t a thing can change that.”
Twilight says, “Yes, in this version of Equestria, but there could be another version of Equestria where things happened differently and we or rather our doubles could be doing something different right now. Haven’t you ever wondered for once in your life what would have happened if things were different, and not just within our lifetimes, there could be alternate Equestrias where we’re Zebras or Gryphons. Just imagine the possibilities.”.
As The Mares thought about the idea that Twilight had just said, with Pinkie Pie giggling a bit at the thought of what they would look like as Gryphons.
Rarity says, “Well, look who finally decided to show up.”
As she looked up at the sky and sees Rainbow Dash fly fast towards them and lands saying, “Girls, I have some bad news. Somepony at the Weather Service did a misfile and we’re in for a major downpour of rain, starting in just a bit, so I think you’d better get inside.”
Fluttershy gasps as she says, “Oh no! I have to go make sure my animals are all going to be safe from the rain. We’ll catch up later girls!”, as she starts to run towards her home.
Applejack says, “I’ve got to get the apples all inside before the downpour, sorry to cut and run like this!” as she runs to the barn to do the work.
Pinkie Pie says with a look of sadness on her face, “Aww, now my Picnic is ruined because of the rain.”
Twilight smiles as she puts a hoof around Pinkie as she says, “Don’t worry Pinkie, we can have another Picnic once all of this rain is done, and it will be a better one that the one you were going to have!”.
Pinkie says, “Yeah you’re right, Twilight, Well, I’ll see you then!” as she wrapped up the Picnic supplies and packed them into her saddlebags. Pinkie then starts to bounce back to Sugarcube Corner.
Rarity says, “I have to go back home to make sure Opal doesn’t get all wet from the rain, she just hates that.”.
As Twilight smiles at Rarity leaving back to her home, she notices Rainbow Dash fly up to do her weather duties as she Trots back over to her Library.
Soon Twilight gets inside her Library and closes it up for the rest of the day, as the Pegasi start to cover the sky with clouds and a bit of thunder shows in the sky as they get ready for the downpour. Twilight walks up to the book that she had gotten called “The Ruminations of Radgan the Traveler”. She smiles as she starts to read it. She only noticed the time when the clock on the wall of her library chimed 7 O’Clock. Twilight always tends to forget things when she’s doing something she enjoys. She then sees Spike walks down as she looks up from the book.
“Hey Twilight, I see you got yourself lost in a book again,” the purple dragon chuckles. “So what are you reading anyway?”.
Twilight smiles as she has a feeling of déjà vu and explains it to Spike as he starts to laugh a bit, “Really? So there could be a world where Rarity mines for diamonds in the dirt and Applejack sells apple perfumes?” He just laughed at that possibility because at least in his eyes it was something that couldn't happen, not even in a million years.
As Spike then stops laughing he then says, “Well is there anything I can do for you?”.
As Twilight says, “No..” right when she said that however her stomach growled a bit and she just says, “Well, can you make me a daffodil sandwich, all of this reading is making me hungry.”
Spike grins and says, “You got it!” as he runs to the kitchen to go and make the sandwich for Twilight.
Twilight smiles as she starts to close the book when but just as she was about to shut the book completely, she noticed something called, “The Portal of Possibility”. As she read the spell she realized that this would be a complex spell to do. She then puts the book on a stand and then concentrates in the area in front of her. Her horn begins to glow with its signature indigo aura as she started to cast the spell. She concentrated hard, her magic acting as a tendril stretching and reaching out into another universe. She then feels the tendril of magical energy hook onto a similar area in another universe. As she felt the energy finally reach another universe, a portal slowly began to open and as it slowly widened she opened her eyes and gasped at what she sees.
What Twilight saw was a rather large room with bookshelves all with intricate carvings on them as well as a fireplace on the back wall with two chairs set at angles in front of it, she had noticed that they had backs to them similar to the benches in Ponyville park but their backs were a bit more straight almost like one of Celestia’s thrones. She also noticed a large mechanically run clock in the room as it ticked with its hands slowly moving to show the time.
Twilight was about the close the portal having seen enough until she heard a voice come from the portal saying, “Spike, would you be a dear and send a letter letting the Queen know I'll be attending her Solstone Jubilee?”. Twilight noticed something familiar about the voice but it had somewhat of a different tone to it. In fact if she wasn't mistaken she thinks it sounds like her own voice.
However Twilight heard a door open and close and saw a shadow slowly move across the floor and what sounded like hoof steps. She watches as somepony started to walk towards the portal but then stopped and gasped as its form started to fully cross the line of sight of the portal. Twilight herself also gasped. She saw that the creature was wearing a rather long and beautiful dark purple dress with what appeared to be a tightening harness around her middle section and she saw that the creature was standing on two hooves with her fore legs changed to longer things with what appeared to be something like dragon’s claws but a lot more blunt and covered in a cloth cover.
As Twilight turned her gaze upward seeing how this creature was much taller than a normal pony. She saw what appeared to be two decently sized bags or some kind of “sacs” on the creatures chest, and the top of the dress had puffed shoulder sleeves for the lengthened fore legs to go through and it covered the two chest things. She also saw that it wore a choker with the symbol of her cutie mark on it carved out of gemstones. Twilight also noticed a tail coming from the rear end of the creature that looked like her tail. As her gaze fully went to the creature’s head, it almost was like looking in a mirror.
That creature had her head, but her mane was done in a bun style and she appeared to wear glasses on her snout that appeared to be fancy reading glasses. There was no doubt about it, Twilight was looking at herself. An alternate version of herself, in her mind she was somewhat excited. The Lavender pony just imagined the possibilities of meeting and talking to another version of herself. Her mind imagined her and her other self, talking about the differences between their respective worlds and how they differed and maybe undergo a better understanding of themselves. Her bipedal double also looked at Twilight curiously and started to walk closer to the portal and kneeled down to look at eye level with her shorter quadruped double. She looked at her double and started to put her hand outwards to almost touch it and Twilight looked at her double and began to extend a hoof to touch her double’s claw thing.
However, as they both were about to touch each other’s extended hand/hoof. Twilight’s magic started to fizzle and then with a violent crackle of energy both Twilights were thrown back due to the rapid closure of the portal and they both were knocked out.
As her favorite dragon assistant walked in and says, “One Daffodil Sandwich right here, Twi...” he then stopped and saw his best friend knocked out on the floor. He quickly runs to her side trying to get her conscious again , “Twilight, Twilight wake up!”
The Lavender unicorn mare slowly opened her eyes and says, “Spike, what happened?” As she then looked at him and gasped. She then says, “You’re not Spike! And where are my clothes!?”
Spike just looked at her, “Twilight, are you all right?”
As Twilight tries to get up upon two hooves but then falls flat on her face and she looks down at her forelegs with abject horror slowly creeping into her voice, “My hands, what happened to my hands!?!”
Spike says, “Twilight what are you talking about?” as the Lavender Unicorn quickly gets a sheet and wraps it around herself out of embarrassment of being naked.
Twilight just shivers and says pleadingly hoping that something familiar will help her, “Spike, please tell me, who is the reigning monarch of Equestria?”
Spike looking at Twilight with an odd look on his face just says plainly, “Well it’s Princess Celestia.”
Twilight says in complete astonishment and almost as if she was insulted, “Princess? PRINCESS?!?! How can a mere Princess rule over the Equestrian Kingdom?”
Twilight just takes a deep breath trying to relax but her mind was still running at top speed trying to understand what had happened to her and says, “No.no, you’re mistaken, Spike, It’s ruled under her Royal Majesty Queen Celestia.”
She just kept looking around, where’s the register, the bell on the door, and the door wasn't shaped like this. Her mind just kept asking the same question, “Where am I? Where am I?!”. She then stopped looking at her reflection in a mirror, “Oh, no…..” She then fainted like that one party she went to just a few weeks ago.
Spike just looks at Twilight and says, “Ok, I think you’ve probably been reading too many of those books, come on you just need a bit of rest.” as he takes her to the couch to sleep. Spike did look worried about her hoping that something isn't wrong with her. But he reassured himself that Twilight just was a bit overworked and a bit of rest would do her some good.
Author's Note
All right this is a rewrite of the first chapter that I did in order to fix a few grammar errors and to give it a bit more pacing. Please tell me what you think of it and I'll probably start on the next chapter soon.
Chapter 2: Divergences and Adjusting
As Twilight starts to awaken again she gasps as she opens her eyes realizing that she wasn’t in her normal library. She looked around and saw she was in the other Twilight’s room, or rather Library. She then got up using the claws and her lengthened forelegs to get up on all fours but felt kind of awkward while trying to move of all fours like she normally would. She then stopped getting up when she saw her blunted “claws” and then she gasped as she looked at it. However she didn’t get any time to appreciate this before she heard someone say, “Twilight, are you all right up there?!?” The voice sounded very familiar and yet slightly deeper and with a slight accent Twilight couldn’t identify.
“Ok Twilight, you can do this. Just get up on your two hooves like the other Twilight did”, she thought as she slowly got up. Her blunted “claws” and long forelegs helping her up until she finally stood on her two hooves. She then tries to move forward before she accidentally trips and falls down flat on her face as she wonders, “How does that other me manage walking on just two hooves without falling flat on her face all the time?”. She then tried getting up again this time walking towards the chair very slowly, lifting her dress a bit with her blunted claws so that she won’t accidently trip over it again. She then hears the voice say, “I’m coming up Twilight!” as she hears footsteps walks up stairs. Twilight quickly went to the chair and put her blunted “claw” on the top of the chair to help with her balance.
As she hears the door open she then smiles as she then gasps as she see what or rather who walks in. It looked like Spike but he appeared to be slightly older. Like the Twilight from this universe, and Spike from her universe for that matter; he walked upon two legs, but he was taller and his legs were longer than normal as well as having a slightly more muscular chest. He appeared to be wearing clothes too, what appeared to be a black garments covering his legs as well as a white shirt covering his upper body with sort of another dark brown vest thing with copper colored patterns on it. He also had a chain attached to one of the buttons on the vest that lead down into his pocket. He did have slightly more draconic features to him as adjusted his tie that he wore before asking, “I heard a few crashes up here, are you all right?”. The Purple and Green dragon looked at her with concern, wondering if she really is all right.
Twilight looked around wondering what to say. She looked at Spike and says, “I’m fine Spike. I really am.”
Spike just looked at her with a look that said, “I lived with you practically my whole life, I know something is wrong Twilight.”
“Horsefeathers! He figured me out.” The lavender unicorn thought.
She sighs, “Yes Spike something is wrong. I think we both need to sit down.” as she tried sitting in the chair scooting her rear end so her back is against the back of the chair.
“How in the hay did I know how to sit down in this chair? Is there like some muscle memory left over from the other me in her mind or something?”, Twilight mused in her mind.
Spike sits down and says, “Well?”.
Twilight was pacing around in her mind trying to figure out how exactly to explain this, “Well I was looking at a book, and I was trying out this spell but then I saw this place inside of the portal and then I saw her walk in or rather me, the other me from this universe and we both gasped at looking at each other and our hooves and claws...”.
Spike interjects, “Claws? You mean hands don’t you Twilight?”
Twilight says, “Is that what these things on my forelegs are?” as she put them close to her face and tried moving a few digits on one of them. She moved her little hand protrusions up and down, curling them and moving them. She then looked at a book on the table and then used one of her hands to grasp it and pick it up.
Twilight then looked at Spike, “And my magic started to fade and fizzle and the portal collapsed knocking me out and when I opened my eyes I was here, in this body.”
Spike just looked at her, curious about what she was talking about. A silence fell around the library, which only was broken by the popping of the logs burning in the fireplace.
After what seemed like an eternity Spike finally spoke, “You expect me to believe this, Twilight? I can’t let you run the store with you telling these fanciful tales of other worlds now can I?”.
Twilight just looked at Spike as if he was mistaken, “Store? What do you mean store?”
The well-dressed dragon sighed as he says, “Our bookstore, Twilight. The Old Oak Bookstore, that’s right downstairs. Don’t you remember?”
Twilight while not panicked before started to panic somewhat as she began to walk towards, with some difficulty a window, and unlatched the window and began to take a look outside.
As the cool evening air was felt all over her face, Twilight gasped at what she could see. Instead of living in a tree, she appeared to live in what amounted to a rather nice rowhouse alongside a cobblestone street. As she looked down at the street she saw many other ponies, all standing on two legs as she was and all dressed in clothes, the Mares wearing some type of dress while the stallions are wearing what would either be well made suits or what seem to be working clothes. The street and sidewalks lit up with what appeared to be rather well crafted gas lamps. She then saw a small sign below her swinging slightly below the window as she looked down. The strange rhythm of sound coming overhead somewhat bothered Twilight as she looked up. She then looked in awe at the amazing sight just above her.
Twilight was no stranger to airships having been raised in Canterlot she saw them every once in a while but what amazed her about this particular one was its sheer size, it was as long as a dragon. She could see that the gondola was partly inside of the gas-bag or rather the covering for it instead of dangling from ropes as the usually saw. And she saw many small engines attached all around its outer rigid-shell. The Slow moving airship slowly passed overhead appearing to go east. She then looked over to the east and finally saw something somewhat familiar.
She saw Canterlot built into the side of the mountain but like everything in this universe it was quite different. She saw smokestacks pumping white smoke into the air from a distance and also saw that many airships were moored there along docking spires placed among the buildings. She also saw what appeared to be the familiar train tracks leading up the mountain into the city. The city also was much larger than she remembered with a rather large clock tower in the middle of the city, its clock face could be easily seen from this distance.
She then slowly moving her head back inside the library and walks back to Spike, shutting the window. She then says, “Spike I want you to tell me everything about the Twilight from this universe. If I’m careful, everypony else won’t think anything is wrong, I’ll reveal my true problem to my friends or at least this universe’s version of them in about a day or two.”.
Spike interjects, “Twilight, are you sure this is the right thing to do? If you are discovered they might not trust you.”
Twilight says, “I’ll risk that chance Spike, just not to worry them too much.”
Spike says, “All right, Twilight that is the Twilight of this universe…..”
It had been about an hour or so until Spike was finished speaking, telling Twilight about herself, what the book store is and some particular manners that this version of Equestria had. Twilight had been surprised at some of the customs this version of Equestria had, such as the need to wear clothes because they associated nakedness with sex and debauchery. It would be rather difficult wearing clothes all the time but it would be something she would get used to. Twilight smiles at Spike as she says, “All right, I think I can do this.” As she walks down carefully to the first floor of the home where the main bookshop was, she smiled thinking how easy this could be. She walked to the counter looking at the books all placed neatly on their shelves and seeing a rather ornate register for bits on the corner of the counter. Soon she walks to behind the counter when she heard a bell ring as the front door of the store opened.
“Welcome to the Old Oak Bookstore, how may I help you?”, Twilight said, keeping “in character” as best as she can.
She heard a rather familiar voice come from behind one of the bookshelves, “Twilight, darling, do you have that dress reference book I asked you to save?”.
Twilight says, “Oh yes I do, just give me a moment to get it, Rarity.”.
She walked to the book shelf and picked up the book Rarity needed. Twilight put the book down on the counter and then gasped as she saw Rarity walk into view. Rarity was in a beautiful Purple and blue ensemble that she had created herself. A rather nice long skirted dress that was slightly puffed out and she has a rather stylish hat on her head, with her mane done in an up do to keep it out of her face. She like Twilight now was, stood upon two legs and has a rather nice body. Twilight smiled at Rarity as she worked the register, “That’ll be 5 bits Rarity.”.
Rarity smiles as she gives the bits to Twilight as she gives Rarity the book. Rarity just looked at Twilight and asks curiously, “So, Twilight, are you going to let me make your dress for the Solstone Jubilee in about 2 weeks from now?”.
“Of course”, Twilight smiles, “You always make the best dresses in Ponyville.”
Twilight looks at Rarity as she usually goes into her typical brainstorming before Twilight says, “Say, why don’t we go get something to eat, Rarity? Then you can tell me all about it.”
Rarity’s eyes lit up as she smiles, “Oh that is an excellent idea Twilight. Let me just get a few things back at the Boutique and We’ll be off.”
Twilight sees Rarity leave the bookstore as she says, “Spike can you watch the store while I go out for a little something to eat?”.
Spike says, “All right Twilight, just don’t be out too late.”
“Yes, Dad.”, Twilight says sarcastically as she walked outside of the book store. The familiar bell ringing as she opened the door.
Twilight just marveled at just how different Ponyville looked. She saw beautiful rowhomes of brick and mortar instead of the wooden and thatched-roof cottages that she was used to seeing. She also saw some small shops and offices. However something different she noticed were some of the ponies wearing blue uniforms with star badges on them and tall hats. They had sticks and handcuffs dangling from their belts as they patrolled the streets. They also carried what appeared to be a small metallic handled thing with a chambered barreled thing and long stick at the end of it.
She looks at one particular building that appeared to be sort of a station for the blue uniformed ponies that said, “Ponyville Police Department, Precinct: No. 6”. She wonders what kind of version of Ponyville would need law enforcement of this scale. Sure most of the time the royal guards took care of things in Canterlot but things didn’t get so bad that they needed guards in Ponyville.
Twilight smiles as she walks over before noticing something odd. She sees a rather large building that was painted green and had writing above the window that said, “Sweet Apple Acres Public House” and a sign below that saying “Proprietor: A. Smith”
As she walked into the double doors of the public house, “What in the hay is a public house anyway?”, she mused as she soon got her answer. She saw many different ponies drinking cider and talking as well as having a good time. She also heard somepony playing the piano with his fingers. As she walked over to the counter she heard the bartender of the place say in a rather familiar southern drawl, “Howdy, what can I do ya for?”.
Twilight says, “Well could I just have some nice tea please and what do you have in the way of food here?”. Twilight didn’t notice it at first, but she thought she saw a flash of a blond tail as the female bartender, Twilight could tell from the voice, was working behind the shelf of different drinks in bottles. Twilight smiles as she looked down, resting her head with her hand as she waits for the bartender to give her tea.
As she waited she then heard the female bartender say, “Well we’ve got a lot of different food here, apple fritters, apple tarts, apple pies, as well as the normal things.”
Twilight says, “Could I have a daffodil sandwich please? I feel like I haven’t eaten all day.”.
As Twilight said that she then finally saw the bartender and she was surprised as she saw who it was. She saw an orange coated and blond maned mare, wearing what appeared to be long pants as well as a nice leather top and a white shirt covering her breasts, with a belt around her waist that had three apples on it for a belt buckle. Twilight smiles as she noticed that Applejack didn’t have her typical Stetson on but she still had her mane and tail done in a ponytail style. She also noticed that Applejack had some muscle on her from her hard work she had to do.
Applejack gave Twilight her tea and daffodil sandwich using her hands, “Here ya go Twi, your favorite jasmine tea with honey and a nice daffodil sandwich, just how you like it.”
Twilight smiled at the cowpony and says, “Thanks Applejack.”.
However before Twilight could enjoy her tea and sandwich a rather short, stocky stallion and a taller, more lanky stallion walk up to Twilight. The lankier one says in somewhat of a drunken stupor, “Hey there missy, why don’t you come along to my place and we could have a wee bit of fun.” in a bit of a working class accent.
Twilight looks at the two obviously drunken ponies, “No I don’t want to go with you two.”
Applejack looks at the two intoxicated stallions, “I think you two should leave.” This made the two drunken stallions laugh at her and the shorter stockier one says, “Oh and who’s gonna make us? You?”.
Applejack just did a bit of a come hither motion and they hear the hoofsteps of someone creak the floor boards. Soon the two drunken colts as well as Twilight saw who was coming up behind them. He was a rather tall and muscular stallion with a red coat and an orange mane and tail. He was wearing brown pants with suspenders around his shoulders and a white buttoned-up shirt covering his muscular chest. The Tall muscular stallion said in a southern drawl, “Actually, that’d be my job.” as he cracks his knuckles.
Twilight saw the two stallions sweat upon the appearance of this large stallion.
One of the drunken stallions says, “Well, there’s no need for that we were just about to umm…”
Applejack says, “Leave?”.
The other says, “Yeah that’s it, leave, sorry to be a bother to ya.” As the two stallions run away.
Twilight looked up at Big Macintosh, “Thank you, Big Mac.”
Big Mac just smiles, “Much obliged, Miss Twilight.” As he walks back over to the table to talk with a few of his friends.
Twilight looks at Applejack, “Wow, I didn't know your brother could be so intimidating.”
Applejack smiles, “Yeah, Big Mac makes sure the ponies don’t get too rowdy in here, I want to keep this a respectable business.”.
Twilight says, “I can definitely see why you’d want to, with ponies like those two that tried to have their way with me.”
Applejack smiles as she puts her hand on Twilight’s shoulder, “Don’t worry Twi, I won’t let anything bad happen to ya, not while I still own this place. Besides, isn’t that what friends are for?”
Twilight smiles at her friend. As she ate her sandwich the cowpony bartender looked at her with a curious look, “Is there something bothering you Twilight?”.
The Indigo unicorn looks at Applejack , “Well to be honest yes, but before I can tell you, could we go somewhere more private to discuss this? I don’t want to cause a stir.”.
Applejack smiles as she brings Big Mac over to take her place at the bar as she goes up the stairs. As Twilight followed her she noticed something she didn’t really pay any attention to at first, their light fixtures didn’t use electricity, but rather seemed to use some kind of gas to light flames that flickered inside of glass bowls and coverings to allow the ignited gas to escape.
As the two Ponies finally reach Applejack’s study which was a small room with a desk that was against the wall where the window was, along the other walls was a bookshelf that held mainly record books and finance information for the pub. On the desk was a metallic pen in an inkwell. Twilight looked at it curiously wondering why they switched from quills. She also noticed portraits of each immediate member of the Apple family hanging on the walls. As Applejack sat down in a chair, Twilight went and sat down in a chair next to her.
Applejack then put her hands together, “So mind telling me what the problem is, Twilight?”.
Twilight took a deep breath and relaxed, “Well this might sound crazy to you Applejack, but I’m not from this universe, I’m from a different Equestria where things are nothing like they are here.”.
Applejack looked at Twilight with a shocked face, “Twilight, are you sure you’re all right, because you’re starting to scare me.”.
Twilight looked at her friend with pleading eyes, “Don’t be scared Applejack, I understand that this must be a shock to you, but I’m a completely different Twilight that the one you know. I was practicing a spell, earlier in my library.”
Applejack interrupted, “A Library but you don’t…”
Twilight held up a finger to silence Applejack and let her continue speaking, “And I opened a portal to this universe and saw my other self, but then something happened when our hoof and hand almost touched, my magic fizzled out and the portal closed rapidly, knocking me and the other me out and when I woke up, I was here in this version of Equestria.”
Twilight looks at her friend, the silence was deafening as Applejack looked into her friend’s eyes and realized, she was telling the truth. She didn't know if it had to do with her connection to the Element of Honesty, or if it was something about the way Twilight said it that made it seem as if she really was there, too real in fact.
The cowpony just looked at her bookish friend and placed a hand on her shoulder, “I believe you Twilight.”
Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. She was pleased that Applejack believed her. At least it took some weight off of her chest not worrying about that. As she looked at the cowpony she smiled, thankful that she understood her situation. As Applejack looks at Twilight with some worry on her face, “So what are you going to do now?”
Twilight looked upwards in thought as she then looked back down at Applejack, “Well for now, you and I are going to keep this a secret, I might explore this version of Equestria a bit before revealing the whole thing to the rest of the girls.”
Applejack nods at Twilight, “That’s understandable; I don’t want you to be locked up in an insane asylum.”
Twilight gets a look of horror upon her face before feeling relived that if things went her way, it won’t have to come to that. Twilight then got up and says, “Well thank you for listening to me Applejack.” as she outstretched a hand for a handshake.
Applejack just smiles as she shakes Twilight’s hand, “I promise, I won’t tell a soul about any of this.”
Twilight just smiles as the two mares walk back downstairs before Twilight hears Rarity’s voice saying, “Sorry I’m late, Twilight. You never told me where you were going, so I looked all around Coltenheim Street looking for you. Then I realized you were in here when I saw two drunkards walk past me that came from this pub and they described you in rather, excruciating detail.” as the alabaster coated and purple maned unicorn walked in through the open door.
Twilight just laughs, “Really, well I wouldn't let those two near me, and they got scared when Big Macintosh walked up to them. You should have seen the sweat coming from their brows when that happened”
Twilight then looked over at a rather large and intricate clock on the wall and looks to her two friends, “Well it’s getting late, I don’t want Spike to worry so much that his scales will shed.”
Applejack smiles at her friend as she walks towards the door, “Well have pleasant dreams, Twilight and I’ll hopefully see you in the morning.”
Rarity says, “Well I was hoping to share my ideas with you Twilight, but I suppose we could do that another time. Have a good night.”.
Twilight waved goodbye to her friends as she walks out of the pub and starts to walk back home. As she walked however, she kept on looking around, wondering if Applejack was so different, what could that mean for the rest of her friends, how different would they be in this universe? Twilight just smiled as she looked up at the sky, thinking that she’ll find out sooner or later. She then stopped and took a good look at the little sign above her bookstore, no, the other Twilight’s bookstore. Twilight thought the little store was very quaint and homey; perhaps, her little venture in this universe wouldn’t be too bad.
As she got inside and prepared for bed in her room, she put on her long nightgown and went inside of the rather nice bed. As she started to drift off to sleep she wondered, would her other self have as much luck adjusting to her world as she has done in this universe? Soon Twilight closed her eyes and began to dream.
In the Halls of Canterlot Castle, Duchess Luna of the Night Court looked upon Equestria from her balcony just outside of her room. She wore quite a beautiful sparkling midnight blue dress and her ethereal nebular mane and tail blew as if from an unfelt current of air. Her body while shorter than Celestia’s was still quite amazing. She was practically an amazon compared to most other ponies, being at least a head or slightly two taller than her guards, it certainly did make for slightly an imposing sight to have the one you’re protecting tower over you.
She looked around and wondered where the magical energy pull that she felt earlier tonight had come from. She felt that it had come from Ponyville, but with the Night Guard busy with other things and the impending Jubilee coming up to celebrate her sister’s 1000th year of rule, she wouldn’t investigate further, at least for now.
The energy also felt familiar in some way, like she felt a similar magical force long ago, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Regardless, she will find out sooner or later. As she walked back inside and opened a small book, that had scraps of writings from a somepony named Radgan but as she looked through the records, no pony by that name ever existed, so where did these fragments of a journal come from? They surely didn’t come straight out of the aether. Luna looked on; she had so many questions and practically no answers. But she assured herself, given enough time; she will uncover the secret behind this. She has all the time in the world to solve this mystery.
