My Little Human: Friendship Across Worlds

“Isaac Asimov, Harry Harrison, Arthur C. Clarke, Ray Bradbury. Those are authors from the golden age of science fiction,” Tamara Sparque smiled at the teenage girl on the other side of the information desk. “If you want to get better acquainted with the classics, those guys are definitely the way to go. If something's not on the shelf, you can reserve it through the loan reservation system and we'll let you know when it comes in.”

“OK, thanks.” The girl headed for the stacks and Tamara took her lunch break as Brad, the middle-aged systems admin, took her seat.

Tamara hurried dow the front steps of the library, her cheap flat shoes slapping against the cement. A shortcut through a connecting gap between buildings brought her to her favourite coffee house, where she loved to blog on her days off. A latte and couple of sandwiches later, she was on her way back when someone tried to get her attention in a rather strange way.

“Twilight?”

Tamara stopped and turned to see a young boy, gazing up at her with an expression of hope.

“I'm sorry?”

“I wasn't expecting to find you so soon! I guess I got lucky.”

She smiled kindly at him. “I think you're mistaking me for someone else. My name's not Twilight!”

The boy's facial expression changed to confusion and he clutched at the pendant around hi neck, holding it up to examine it. “It can't be wrong...” he muttered.

Tamara decided to play along, figuring the kid must be playing some kind of game. “Is your magic necklace not working properly?”

The boy paused, then he shrugged, took it off and held it out to her. “Here, why don't you take a look at it?”

Tamara took the object by its chain and held it up to the sunlight to admire it, wondering how a kid got hold of such a gorgeous piece of jewellery. Then the fingers of her free hand brushed against the deep green crystal and suddenly bright green lights exploded in her vision, her head began to hurt and the world around her faded to black.

Tamara had no idea how long she had been out, but when she woke up to see the boy standing over her with a worried expression, a flood of memories rushed into her brain. Her upbringing. Her schooling. Her friends. Her real life.

Her real name.

Twilight Sparkle looked up in astonishment. “Spike?”

The boy sighed in relief and gave her a big smile. “I'm glad I got the right person.”

Four hours later, after finishing work, Twilight/Tamara took Spike back to her apartment and insisted he fill her in on the important details of their current situation over an afternoon snack. What were the two of them doing in this world, and why were they humans instead of a unicorn and a dragon? How was it that she now had memories of two different lives, one in this world and one in Equestria? Which one was real?