"Spike?! Spike!"
The sound of a female voice echoed throughout the overgrown tree and pierced the ears of a small dragon, waking him from his peaceful slumber. The sudden cry forced the purple reptile's eyelids open, revealing the whites of his eyes which were, at this moment, not so white as they were red and swollen. The bags that were housed under said eyes hung heavily, insisting that he go back to sleep so that the aching that they caused them could be put to rest. But alas, the source of the previous exclamations had arrived. Twilight Sparkle, the newest addition to the quartet of alicorn princesses entered the room in all of her purple-y and regal alicornic glory.
"SPIIIIIKE!" Again, the mare disturbed his rest with more frantic yelling, this time in his ear. Spike wanted ever so much to simply ignore her and return to dreamland, but she was his friend. He could pick up on the distress in her voice, and whatever it was that caused her trouble, he wanted to help. It was his job as both an assistant and a friend.
Groggily, Spike pushed aside the blue blanket that weighed him down and forced himself to sit square on his behind. Rubbing his eyes was a great struggle, the lifting of his arms and the energy it took him to actually rub nearly caused the dragon to tumble back into sleeping position. "What is it, Twi?" he asked, sans-haste.
"I was going to ask you to help be with something," the princess began with an obvious upward inflection in her voice, "but I can she you need your rest." She chuckled whilst using her magic to carefully place the discarded blanket back over Spike and nudging him back to sleep, being careful not to make any sudden movements that would startle him. Soon enough, he was back to sleeping like an angel. Granted, if he were truly sleeping like an angel, he would definitely not be snoring with the force of one million two hundred and sixty three and a half locomotives or occasionally producing puffs of smoke as dragon sometimes do. But assuming that is how angels sleep, he was sleeping like one right then.
"Anything for my number one assistant," Twilight whispered as she ever so carefully trotted down the stairs. Entering the main library portion of her home, Twilight's horn lit with the same purple hue that it always did when Twilight performed magic. A cabinet under the shelf of books closest to the staircase opened itself up producing a small notebook that sat among a sea of other notebooks stored in the same cabinet and all sporting the same star-spangled purple and pink cover. From the cabinet below it, a quill flew out, quickly zipping towards a table near the center of the room and dipping itself in a well of pitch black ink before returning to Twilight and directing its tip towards the notebook. The notebook itself was flipping open, allowing Twilight Sparkle to peruse its contents until she found exactly what it was that she was looking for.
"Let's see... Checklist for the planning of Scootaloo's pre-birthday party. Check. Checking the checklist for the planning of the planning if Scootaloo's pre-birthday party. Check." Twilight giggled, excited for the completion of her checklist to come having completed her current one. The notebook magically flipped itself to the next page and the pony princess pranced out the passage and out into the rest of Ponyville, her regal crown and Element of Magic glowing majestically upon her head.
The first stop on the purple pony's list was the Carousel Boutique. It was not only the home of the first of her five best friends that she would be meeting that day, but it was the humble clothing boutique from which everypony in Ponyville (and more) purchased their clothing for extravagant events such as the Grand Galloping Gala, or the Royal Wedding of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, or even the recent coronation of Princess Twilight herself. All dresses produced by the store were all hoof-made by Rarity, whom Twilight was there to see. She looked down to the notebook to read her list. The first line to be checked read, 'Leave the library to begin checklist.' This, of course was already checked off, but Twilight was looking to the next line which read, 'Arrive at Carousel Boutique.' No time was wasted in checking off this item on the list, and after doing so with glee, Twilight knocked on the door to the establishment. The exterior of the two-story building was ornately decorated and bore a striking resemblance to an antique carousel, including the horses attached to the small upper story’s support posts and the one painted on a sign above the front door.
Normally this would be the time where Rarity would opened the door and greeted Twilight before beckoning her to enter. The two would probably have discussed their plans for the day, maybe even have drank a cup of tea or two. Rarity would have offered her a complimentary dress befitting of a Princess for the occasion, an offer which she would most graciously decline before heading off for the next location on get list. But alas, this did not happen as Rarity did not seem to be home at the time, and Twilight assumed that Rarity's sister, Sweetie Belle, was currently at her parents' house.
"That's strange," Twilight mumbled to nopony in particular. "Rarity promised me she would be home today." She dismissed it as nothing to worry about. It was but a mere hiccup in the plan. There were still four other ponies to visit and by then, she thought, maybe she'd find Rarity. The lavender unicorn set out for her next location. She glanced down at her list, staring at a small sketch of a farmhouse next to what was written.
"We ain't seen Applejack 'round here today. We thought she was out in the fields bright and early."
Twilight grimaced. Granny Smith's false teeth had leapt out of the elderly pony's wrinkled old mouth and at Twilight Sparkle's face which it bounced off of, leaving behind saliva residue that smelled faintly of apples and prunes. The event was nearly enough to make her lose her lunch. "So nopony knows where Applejack is?" she asked politely and without gagging.
"Nnope," replied Big MacIntosh wearing his signature stoic expression. He was a stallion of few words, but every time he did choose to speak it was like a choir of angels. Even when he didn't speak, his body spoke for him. It was enough to drive a mare (or even a stallion) wild. His stare was more powerful than an apache helicopter and his wind-swept hair wad like autumn leaves.
Twilight sighed and shook her head slowly. "I guess I'll have to come back later. I was going to ask her for some apples and apple pies."
Granny Smith, having finally returned her teeth to their rightful home spoke up. "Don't worry 'bout that. I can whip up yer apples an' apple accessories in ten seconds flat! Ol' Granny Smith still has gas to burn!" The green pony grabbed her wrinkles on each foreleg and rolled them up as if they were sleeves. It was very gross.
"Eeyup," agreed Big Mac.
A grin crept across Twilight's face and she reached her arms out wider than one would suspect she could and squeezed the stallion and his grandmother tightly. "Thank you so much! You have no idea how important this is."
After completing the next item on her list, though with varied results, she left Sweet Apple Acres to finish the rest of the preparations, not taking notice of the current trend of ponies not being where they are supposed to be. She would find soon enough that this was most definitely not a simple misunderstanding as she thought it was.
"Sorry, dear, but we haven't seen Pinkie Pie anywhere since last night."
The blue mare ducked down behind the counter to sort out the various fresh-out-of-the-oven cupcakes that her husband Mr. Carrot Cake brought out. Her hair poked out above the counter top looking like a scrumptious pink cupcake itself, a most fitting hair style for one such as Mrs. Cup Cake. Her yellow and orange husband added onto his wife's statement. "We thought she was with you and your little group. We're sorry for not being able to help, Twilight. Or should I say, Princess Twilight." He knelt down and bowed his head, smiling. Twilight blushed, not exactly used to the royal treatment that ponies had been giving get lately. From behind her she heard the mindless blabbering and gibberish of two small foals; the cake twins in fact, whom she saw to be over-exaggeratingly bowing to her on the ground.
"Well, thank you anyways," Twilight said. "I can't seem to find anypony today."
After what felt like an hour or so (but in reality, only five minutes) of screaming and yelling at the cloud home of her friend and Element of Loyalty, Rainbow Dash, Twilight realized that she was getting nowhere fast and decided to head off. Rainbow Dash is gone too... she thought.
"A-angel!?"
Atop a golden throne frailly constructed from golden and brass carrots, Angel Bunny, Fluttershy's pet rabbit sat, overseeing the chaos that ran through the aforementioned pony's cottage home. Animals ran wild everywhere; birds were in the bathroom, cats were in the kitchen, rats tore up the rug. Everywhere that Twilight looked, animals were smashing or tearing something, searching for food or blankets or anything that happened to catch their fancy. She looked up at the bunny overlord, his crown of vegetables perched atop the white fluff-ball's head and asked, "Angel Bunny, what's going on here? Where's Fluttershy?" She did not know what exactly she expected from a rabbit, but she'd seen Fluttershy talk to it before, so there was no sense in not asking.
Angel scratched his chin and looked up, pondering on a possible answer for the pony. He looked back to his inquisitor and simply shrugged his shoulders, obviously not knowing or caring much about his lost master. He reached for his scepter that he had made from a wooden table leg and pointed it directly at Twilight. She herself did not understand what he meant, but she found out as soon as a kamikaze of animals of all sorts came charging towards her. Before they had a chance to essentially obliterate her, she teleported outside of the cottage in a flash of purple light.
Twilight Sparkle decided that it would be best for her to return to the library. After leaving Fluttershy's cottage, she had searched through the entire town for any sign of her friends, and after a long day, she just wanted to sleep. Perhaps she was going crazy. Perhaps this was all a dream that she needed to wake up from. Mybe if Twilight went to the Princesses the next day, Luna and Celestia would be able to help work this out. Twilight just knew that she was absolutely exhausted. Upon opening the wooden door to her library, she was greeted by the excited hooting of Owlowiscious. He flew in a graceful circle around the room before gloating down and landing softly on Twilight's back. Spike, having been following Owlowiscious at the time was running down the stairs. He tripped on the third step up from the bottom due to a very small knot on the corner. Though it seems that something that small would make no difference, but one of Spikes claws normally hit the very edge of the step, but this time the size difference caused him to become off balance and fall flat on his face. But it was fine. He stood up and ran to Twilight.
"Twilight, you're back!" he exclaimed. Owlowiscious flapped himself over to the baby dragon's side.
"Yes, Spike," Twilight replied, sighing afterwards. "But I really don't feel like talking right now. I'd rather just go to bed." She stepped towards them and the two moved aside to make room for Twilight to move past them. As she started up the wooden staircase, Spike jogged after her, panicked, and Owlowiscious followed suit.
"But Twilight! There's a HUGE problem!" Spike worriedly informed her. He tried to grasp her hind leg, but he was much to small to actually hinder her movement. Twilight opened her mouth to ask what it was, but upon entering the upstairs room, she saw clear as day what the problem was.
Standing there was a lavender unicorn mare, her dark hair wrapped into a bun on the back of her head with pink streaks in it. She blushed from behind her square glasses.
"Oh my..." she whispered.
Princess Twilight did nothing in response but leave her mouth gaping wide open.
The other mare opened her eyes wide. Very wide. Wider than any eyes ever. And she spoke.
"You're... You're me."
It was another Twilight Sparkle.
You are me. And you, and you, and you...
"You're... You're me."
Twilight Sparkle, the alicorn, not the mysterious double that had appeared, stared intently and the other Twilight. If there was one thing that Twilight Sparkle knew better than the back of her hoof, it was the rest of her, and this mare was most definitely her. This was not the first time Twilight had dealt with herself. On a previous occasion she had been faced with a version of herself from the future. But this could not have been the result of another time travel mishap, since this Twilight Sparkle did not have the wings that she should have had. The princess did not recall time travelling to the future while she was still a unicorn, nor did she remember ever wearing the same mane-style that her physical double did before her. There was one difference that Twilight found truly astonishing. The cutie mark of this other Twilight was in fact not the same pink star that graced her behind, but in its place was a large tome open and on its side, revealing its unreadable contents for all to see. The dissimilarity of her cutie mark was what threw her off.
"And you're me," Twilight finally responded. "But you're also NOT me."
The other Twilight nodded agreeingly. "I can see that. I mean, where did you get wings? The only alicorns in existence are the Princesses."
Princess Twilight Sparkle blushed. "Well, you see, Princess Celestia made me a Princess after I fulfilled my destiny." She beamed at the other Twilight who was giving her quite a confused look. She returned the same look, asking, "You don't know what I'm talking about?" The other Twilight shook her head back and forth rapidly.
"I'm just a librarian I've- I've never met a princess before." Her eyes widened at her realisation. Instantly, the violet unicorn knelt down and bowed her head.
Princess Twilight looked down at her unicorn counterpart, giving her a confused and embarrassed look. She blushed, drooping her head a bit. "What? you don't need to-"
"You're a princess. I know you're supposed to be me, but... You're royalty. I just-"
The alicorn princess put a hoof on her other self's shoulder and then used it to lift her head up so she could look herself in the eye. "Really, it's fine. You don't need to." She smirked. "Besides, if you're me, then doesn't that make you a princess too?" They both smiled and the standing Twilight picked the other up. "Spiiiiiiike!" she called.
The number one assistant poked his head through the door from the top of the staircase. "Yes, Twili- er, Twilights?"
Princess Sparkle turned to the baby dragon and said, "Spike, take a letter. Dear Princess Celestia..."
The princess brought her librarian twin down into the depths of the library tree's roots, leading her down the stairs and into her laboratory. It had been quite a while since she had last been down there, in fact, she had not been in the dirt walled room since before she had become a princess. Spiders had decided that since nopony was there to keep them from taking over, they would make it their dust-coated home. Now cobwebs were hung across the ceiling, cramped into corners and spread across and between the many unused scientific instruments.
Princess Twilight magically swung a torch back and forth in an attempt to both clear the room of spider webs and to light their way. The Twilight behind her ducked down, wary of any venomous arthropods that may come down on her and inject her with their possibly deadly poison.
"Um," began Twilight, "I'm sorry, but how long has it been since you have been down here? I'm not sure I'd want to face the plethora of insects or creatures that might have sneaked their way in here." Chuckling, Princess Twilight continued to make her way to the other side of the room.
"Don't worry, there aren't any dangerous insects indigenous to Ponyville." Twilight squinted in an attempt to find what she was looking for on the walls.
"Okay, but what about the room? This doesn't look very stable to me. What if the library collapses on top of us?"
Suddenly, the basement lit up, lamps scattered across the high up ceiling warming up with electricity and emanating a light orange glow. Twilight Sparkle blew out her torch and turned away from a large metal lever to face Twilight Sparkle. "Don't worry. I made sure when I moved into the library that this room was stable enough to not cave in while I'm performing scientific experiments. Don't you have a lab in your world?"
The librarian Twilight rubbed her elbow. "Well, I'm not much of one to physically pursue science. I'd rather just stick to books. Books are my forte. The safest place to practice knowledge is in my head and on paper." Princess Sparkle cocked an eyebrow. "Besides, when I moved into the library, there was no basement."
Rubbing her chin, Twilight thought for a moment. "I think you need to tell me more about your world. Tell me bout the other differences. Let's start with your early life. You said you'd never interacted with any of the princesses before. What about Cadence?"
"You mean my old foalsitter? What does she have to do with any of this?"
"In my universe, she's a princess and an alicorn. What about you?"
"Cadence was always a pegasus. I'm not sure what I'd think if she were a princess."
Twilight Sparkle turned to her equipment and began searching through boxes and piles of metal, continuing to shoot questions at her doppelganger. "Never mind then. What about Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns? How did you get your cutie mark?"
"Oh, I was never that magically inclined. I'd never be able to get into a school as big and exclusive as that. As for my cutie mark? Well, when I was little, I was always at the top of my class, the teacher's pet, the smarty pants in the school." Twilight nodded, recalling similar events happening in her own universe. "I also kept to myself. I lived nearly every day in the library reading all of the books, more than once even. Most of which I could commit to memory, but now that you mention it, I hadn't bothered much to commit to memory the ones on magic. I suppose I simply wasn't able to put them to use.
"But one day, when I was reading in the deepest corner of the library, A large crash came. I could see it for only a second, but through the window was a wave of colours, like a sonic boom crossed with a rainbow." The sonic rainboom, Princess Twilight remembered." It shook the whole building, knocking down shelves and books. Everything was disorganised and knocked over. I ended up placing every book in their rightful place, partially to get back outside, but also just for fun. I just get lost when I'm doing anything with books. Reading them, even just cataloguing and organising them. When I emerged, I came out with this." She motioned towards the mark that graced her left flank. The open tome, glistening with hot pink sparkles, representing, Twilight assumed what was her love for books.
"And that's how I got my cutie mark. I'm actually surprised you somehow got your cutie mark in magic since I'm not that good at it myself. But anyways, I ended up wanting to move somewhere that wasn't big bustling Canterlot, and ended up coming down here to Ponyville."
Before the librarian could go any further, a large metal cap was slammed on her head, cutting off her eyesight completely. "Gah!" she screamed. The unicorn lifted the bowl just high enough that she could see the other Twilight tinkering with a large metal box that she only assumed was the device she was hooked up to. "What was that for!?" she asked.
"Don't worry," Twilight assured her, "This is purely for scientific purposes. Just sit still and let science work its magic." The helmet was replaced over top of Twilight's eyes and she sighed.
"I suppose one of us has to do it, and you seem to have more experience with the active side of things."
After a few moments of sitting still in pitch blackness and many mechanical sounds and beeping noises, the helmet was finally removed from Twilight's head to reveal alicorn Twilight holding up what looked like a heavy duty curling iron hooked up to a machine via a multitude of technicolour cables. and a very long sheet of freshly printed paper. When she turned around, Twilight could see that she was wearing a strange pair of large goggles with swirling green lenses, through which she stared at her and looked back to the print-out.
"Hmmm... This is exactly what I expected. We're exactly the same," the princess stated, sighing. "I was hoping I could find some sort of anomaly I could go off of, something to trace how you got to my world and how we could get you back to yours." She sighed once more and her ears drooped. "I'm sorry."
"Don't worry," her mirror replied, "I'm sure we'll figure something out. You should go get some fresh air while I do some research."
"No," Twilight declined, "I don't want to put that kind of pressure on you. You're away from your home, I need to do this."
The other Twilight stomped her hoof. "Too late. I'm helping, and you're going out and that's final. There is nothing you can do to stop me." She started to push Princess Twilight towards and up the stairs, not allowing her to exert any force back. Soon enough, the violet princess simply gave up and began walking up the stairs of her own free will, though she could not help but crack a smile.
"Bye, try to stay inside the library. And if someone comes looking for me, you know what to do,Spike."
"Sure thing, Twi" Her dragon assistant saluted. "Come on other Twi, I guess we have some work to do!" The door shut behind Twilight Sparkle as she continued to trot away from the library into town. She did not know where she was going, just that she needed a walk. She needed somepony to talk to about the whole situation. It was strange though, that she couldn't seem to find any of her friends. Even as she passed through town she couldn't find any of her friends around their usual preferred locations. Fluttershy and Rarity weren't at the spa, Applejack wasn't in the open market area, and the clouds seemed especially dark that day. She recalled that there was an announcement earlier that week saying it would be clear skies. But she couldn't spot Rainbow Dash anywhere.
"Maybe Rarity's back at the boutique. I better check, just to be sure" she decided. Twilight travelled back in the direction from which she came, since Carousel Boutique was on the way back to the library. But when she arrived, she felt something was off. The door was open, but all of the lights inside were off. It was as if somepony had gone to sleep without closing up shop. But Twilight could see that the windows upstairs were open, and from where she was standing, nopony seemed to be in there. It was like she had just vanished off the face of the planet.
She entered.
It was the only thing she could think to do at the time. It was just very strange for Rarity to be gone from her shop and home unattended with the door wide open. "Hello?" she called, hoping a familiar voice would echo back to her. "Rarity?" she tried once more, entering through the door. Everything was as it normally was. Many fashionable clothes (including a certain pair of boots that may or may not have caught her eye on more than one occasion), were in there places, either in boxes or displayed beautifully on hangars. But nopony was there.
The princess continued to move through the store, repeating herself once more. "Rarity? Hello? Are you there?"
No response.
Upstairs she went, being careful not to trip herself up. She decided to check on of the extra bedrooms Rarity had in her house, just in case. The wooden door creaked on its frame, the hinges not having been used for a long while. When it was wide enough for her to peek in, Twilight saw a small cot, decorated with fine pink lace and clothe, making even the small mattress seem like a luxury, but unfortunately, nopony was there. Rarity was nowhere to be found.
Twilight Sparkle turned and left, slowly trotting down the singular staircase when the voice of another pony came from the front.
"Rarity? Hey, Rarity?" It was Sweetie Belle. She trotted down a little more, sneaking a quick peak. With her were both Scootaloo and Apple Bloom. Of course. They were there for Scootaloo's surprise party, though nothing had been set up at all due to the mysterious disappearance of her friends. Of course, she walked down the stairs, revealing herself to the three fillies.
"Hello, girls," Twilight said.
Scootaloo was the first to speak up. "Hey Twilight, is Rarity there? Sweetie said Rarity was supposed to bring her back home today." Sweetie Belle winked from behind.
"I'm sorry girls, but I can't find anypony today. She looked at Sweetie Belle for a moment, frowned and shook her head slowly. Sweetie returned her frown, recognising that the party was off.
"Hey, Twilight," Apple Bloom said. "Weren't you wandering 'round the school earlier? I think you said you were supposed to be a teacher or somethin'? What was that about?"
Twilight was thoroughly confused. She knew there was a dimensional duplicate of her running around all day causing problems, but she was sure the other Twilight had not yet been to the school. "Don't worry girls," Twilight assured them. "Maybe you three can go ask Applejack for help, I'm sure she'd be more than willing to walk you home, Sweetie Belle." No she wouldn't. She probably wasn't even at the farm. But Twilight thought this to be the most logical choice at the time.
Apple Bloom hopped for a moment. "Sure thing, Twi!" she exclaimed. "My sis is sure super reliable." The three fillies said heir goodbyes and thanked Twilight for her help, disappointed that they didn't get to throw Scootaloo her surprise party.
Twilight thought long and hard about what Apple Bloom said. The Cutie Mark Crusaders had seen Twilight at the school, but Twilight had not been there all day, and as far as she knew her other self had not been anywhere other than the library. She decided to check it out. It might have been nothing, maybe the other Twilight had wandered past there and that's what the fillies saw.
She trotted back through the town in the direction of the school, not exactly expecting to find anything since school had ended some time ago. When she finally reached the building, she saw a few younger fillies still wandering about and waiting for their parents to arrive and walk them home. Twilight scanned the field, making sure to inspect every pony in sight. Nothing seemed very out of the ordinary. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something. It was a quick swish of a familiar looking tail going through the main entrance to the school. It was it was a dark colour with streaks of moderate violet and brilliant rose running down it. Exactly what Twilight was looking for.
She galloped full speed into the school, collecting glances from the various ponies around her. She threw open the door with her magic and saw exactly what she expected. It was the other Twilight, now letting her hair down to look more like herself, and a different pair of ruby red glasses. She whipped her head around to look at Princess Twilight Sparkle.
"I thought I told you to stay in the library," the alicorn mare told her. The other Twilight gave her a look that was a mix of confusion and shock. She stuttered, unable to get any words out of her mouth. That's when Twilight noticed something. This wasn't the Twilight that was currently researching back in the library. This was an entirely new Twilight. Though she was also a unicorn as the first Twilight was, this one had a new cutie mark. An image of the planet with various pink stars surrounding it. Twilight brought a hoof to her face and sighed. "Not again..." she muttered.
The Twilight in front of her lowered her glasses with a small bit of magic and said, "You're- you're me. I can't believe this! It's me, but it's not!" Her eyes flew to her wings, and to her horn. Twilight sighed as the unicorn her zipped up beside her to examine her wings. "You're an alicorn! How? You must tell me, this is the most fascinating thing I've ever seen!"
"Look," Twilight said, "I'm just as surprised as you are, and this has already happened once today. I don't know what's going on, but I'll tell you about everything if you'll come with me to the library." The other Twilight nodded silently, trying to keep her excitement under wraps.
"The Golden Oak Library?" she asked. "I've been their on occasion, but I don't go there very often. Please, lead the way." As Princess Twilight turned and trotted out of the school house, she followed closely, taking much interest in the two feathery appendages her other self had.
"What do you mean there are two more!?"
Spike flattened himself against the wooden door of the Golden Oak Library in a seemingly failed attempt to avoid the force of Twilight Sparkle's explosive voice. "Hehe..." the baby dragon nervously chuckled to himself. "I don't know what happened, they just both showed up!" He snuck a peak over Twilight's shoulder at the newest addition to the Sparkle group, who's eyes were still shining with delight of her alicorn carbon copy. "You got another one too?"
Twilight growled and said, "Yes, I found her at the school. I think she might be a teacher where she comes from. That's not important. What is important is why there are so many different versions of me. Quick, Spike, what do the other two look like?"
"Well, one of them has a scale as a cutie mark and is wearing a pink bow tie with her hair curled going down one side and the other has messy hair and a piece of paper with a smiling mask on it as a cutie mark. The second one was telling really bad jokes when I left them."
A scream.
A crash.
Then laughter.
Twilight perked up at the sound of this. It sounded like somepony had broken something. There were many breakables in the library that Twilight wanted safe, and if those three had destroyed something priceless, Twilight didn't know what she'd do. Swiftly, the princess zipped through the door to see for herself what had happened. Inside, she saw the first Twilight sitting next to a new Twilight, the one in the bow tie that Spike had described to her. A few feet away from them was the third Twilight that Spike had told her about. Thankfully, what she had broken was not of great value. A small vase with a single tulip lay shattered upon the floor with the messy-maned Twilight upside-down with her eyes spinning in her head. All Twilights in the room turned their heads to the original with the exception of the dazed-on-the-floor one.
The Twilight that Twilight had met at the school house entered at this moment and looked back and forth between all of the Twilights in the room. She fainted. Spike then wandered into the room and up to the princess. "Um, Twilight," he whispered to her. "Do you have a plan?" She shook her head and sat down on the floor.
"I don't know Spike. All of this just seems impossible. If one more of me walks into this room right now, I might just scream," she replied. Suddenly, Spikes eyes pointed in opposite directions as his cheeks bloated up. When he opened his mouth, a burst of green flame sprayed out, producing a small scroll that fell onto the floor in front of Twilight. She levitated it up at read it.
Then she screamed.
Author's Note
Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,
I am afraid I too am facing a problem of similar circumstance. As I write to you, a pony stands by my side clad entirely in armour matching that of the captain of the royal guard, a set of armour that should seem familiar to you, seeing as that was the previous position of your brother, Shining armour. This new pony is a version of you, claiming to be the current captain of the royal guard. She does, in fact have a different cutie mark representing this. I would like you to bring your friends and the version of you that has shown up in Ponyville to come here to Canterlot. We may require the Elements of Harmony to fix this problem. I fear we have yet to see the worst.
-Yours truly, Princess Celestia
