Twilight stood motionless in front of the visitor. She gasped, trying to hide her surprised reaction, however, she couldn’t close her mouth. Right in front of her was her beloved and highly esteemed mentor, none other than Princess Celestia, who was gently smiling at her student.

Lauren quickly raised her head and stared at the door in shock. Luna didn’t turn her head. Instead, she stared at the floor, surprised by the sudden appearance of her sister.

Princess Celestia? But… how? We were just talking about her! Lauren gulped, looking at Luna who was petrified in her own seat. She had a grim look on her face, as if she had just seen a ghost.

“P-princess…” Twilight finally managed to talk.

“Hello, Twilight. Are you and Miss Lauren doing okay?” Celestia asked, peeking inside the library. She looked at the two alicorns standing there in the middle, tilting her head in confusion. “Luna?”

Luna gasped, jumping in her seat at the sound of her name. She slowly turned her head to look back at her sister. “T-Tia…” she muttered.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Twilight. May I come inside?” Celestia quickly asked Twilight, who simply nodded and moved away to let the Princess in. “Luna? What are you doing here?” she said, walking towards her sister.

The blue alicorn looked at her sister, gulping her saliva and slowly walking towards her sister. “I… I came to see Twilight Sparkle and her friend to find out more about this situation,” she explained, pointing her hoof at Lauren.

“Ah, I see,” Celestia said, looking at the little alicorn who glanced back at her. The Princess smiled at her and looked back at Twilight. “As a matter of fact, I’ve came to talk about that.”

Twilight snapped out of her state of shock and placed the levitating camera back over the table. She shook her head and closed the library’s door with her magic. “About Lauren’s situation?” she said.

“Indeed, my faithful student,” Celestia responded, walking towards Lauren and taking a seat in the middle of the library, right in front of her. She smiled at her once again.

Why… why do I feel chills now every time she smiles at me? Lauren thought, forcedly smiling back at the Sun Princess.

“Very well then, care to join us back, Luna? Twilight?” Celestia asked, looking at the two mares who rapidly nodded and walked back to where the two alicorns were sitting.

“So, um, Princess… what did you want to talk about?” Twilight asked, tilting her head.

“Well, you see…” Celestia replied, looking once again at Lauren. “A few hours ago, I remembered something.”

“Something?” Lauren said, staring confusingly at the white alicorn.

Celestia nodded, looking back at Twilight. “You see, there’s a very old pony-tale, even older than the Mare in the Moon tale,” she said, looking at Luna and letting out a quick smile.

“And what’s this tale about?” Lauren interrogated. Twilight glanced at her friend and waved a hoof, attempting to tell her to stop interrupting the Princess. However, Lauren didn’t notice her.

“It’s not very well known, since only the Royal Family is allowed to know about it,” Celestia explained, looking back at Luna. “I’m sure you know which tale I’m talking about, right, Luna?”

Luna gasped. Tia… what is this all about? Why do you want me to say the third alicorn tale? she nodded. “Um… oh, right!” she faked surprise. “You won’t mean the Third Alicorn tale?”

“I was surprised when I realized it too,” Celestia chuckled. “I can’t believe it slipped out of my mind, considering that we have a third alicorn right before our eyes right here,” she said, pointing her head at Lauren.

“So, what is this tale about?” Lauren asked, with an insecure tone. I’ve never heard of such thing as a third alicorn tale. But again… I’m stuck here, and there are many things that I didn’t know about this place.

“Patience, my dear Lauren,” Celestia said, waving a hoof. “I’m trying to fully remember the tale, since I haven’t thought of it for hundreds of years.”

“Eh, sorry,” Lauren quickly replied, looking back at Twilight who rolled her eyes, as if she was trying to say ‘I tried to warn you’.

“Well then, I think I remember how the story goes,” the Princess said. “Please, listen carefully.”

A long, long time ago…

There were two regal sisters who ruled the land of Equestria. The eldest, used her powers to raise a beautiful sun, and provide the day to the ponies living in that land. The youngest, used her magic to raise the moon, and provide a magical night to all the living creatures. Together, both sisters ruled the land in harmony…

Certain day, when the youngest sister was done raising her moon, she and her sister went to the royal gardens to play in the peaceful night. They played and played for a long time, until a flash of light appeared out of nowhere right in front of them.

This strange flash of light faded away in less than a second, and a creature was left behind, lying on the ground. The two sisters timidly approached the creature, which slowly began to stand up.

‘Identify yourself!’ the eldest sister commanded, guarding her little sister with her wing.

However, the creature didn’t respond, and instead, it shrieked in fear. The youngest sister slowly approached the shivering creature. ‘Hello!’ she chirped. ‘Who are you?’

The creature looked at the friendly alicorn and slowly walked towards her. The closer it approached, the more it began to take shape. Finally, the creature arrived in front of the two sisters.

The eldest sister gasped in shock, as she looked at the creature. However, the youngest sister looked at it with a grin on her face. ‘Wow! You’re an alicorn too!’ she exclaimed.

The mysterious alicorn nodded and smiled at the youngest sister, looking at the eldest sister who was still looking at it with surprise. ‘I love you, girls. Never forget that,’ it said, before soaring into the starry night sky and disappearing from sight.

The younger sister quickly called her back, but the alicorn didn’t return. She looked back at her sister who was shedding tears. ‘Huh? ‘Tia? What’s the matter?’ she asked.

The eldest sister wiped the tears from her face and looked at her little sister, giving her a cheerful smile. ‘Nothing, Luna. Everything’s okay,’ she replied.

‘Who was that alicorn? I’ve never seen her before!’ The youngest sister asked, looking back at her beautiful, starry night.

‘She was... an old friend.’ The eldest sister said, walking away back to the castle.

“That’s it,” Celestia said, trying to catch her breath from the long tale. She stared at Luna, who had a serious look on her face. “I’m sure you can recall that event, right?”

Luna nodded. She did remember that night as if it was yesterday. However, there were some things that weren’t very clear for her. “I do, Tia, but I don’t fully remember the events from that night. For instance, I don’t remember how the alicorn looked like.”

Celestia sighed, looking one more time at Lauren, who was still trying to understand the tale. She looked back at her sister, who was waiting for an answer. “Luna, the alicorn who appeared that night right in front of us…” she glanced once more at Lauren and pointed her hoof at her. “Was none other than Lauren herself!”

Twilight and Luna gasped at unison, rapidly looking at the little alicorn who confusingly stared back at them. “What!?” Both mares yelled.

Yes, seriously, what? What did she say? Did she say I once appeared in front of her and Luna? But that’s… impossible, I mean… she gulped, trying to give an answer. “I… uh…” she muttered, but that wasn’t enough to be considered an answer. “No… that’s impossible.”

“Impossible?” Celestia asked.

“Y-yes… I mean, you said that event happened thousands of years ago…” Lauren replied. “But I wasn’t even born back then.”

“Are you sure?” Celestia asked once again, raising one eyebrow. Twilight was listening to the conversation, waiting for her turn to speak.

“Yes!” Lauren exclaimed.

Celestia let out a chuckle, she closed her eyes for a moment and quickly opened them, staring directly at Lauren. “You’re lying.”

Twilight and Luna looked at Celestia, who had a smirk on her face. “Lying? Princess! What do you mean?” Twilight asked, while Lauren gulped.

“Think about it, Twilight,” Celestia said, with her stare still fixed at Lauren. “What has Lauren been telling us all this time?”

Ah! Oh no! Don’t tell me she… Lauren gasped.

“Lauren has been telling us that she has lost her memory!” Celestia exclaimed, standing up from her seat. “So far, she has been telling us that she has no memories from before awakening last night!”

Lauren shivered as she looked at Celestia. Darn! My cover is about to be blown up!

“Princess! Where are you going with this!?” Twilight quickly asked, standing in front of her.

The Sun Princess took a deep breath, relaxing herself and sitting back. “Lauren…” she whispered. “You said you were sure that you weren’t born thousands of years ago.” She looked at her one more time. “But if you really lost your memory, you wouldn’t know if whether or not that statement is true.”

Lauren gulped. She just had made an awful mistake, and there was no way to fix it now. Celestia blew her memory loss cover, and now she had some explaining to do. What do I do now? Tell the whole truth? They wouldn’t believe me!

“Uh?” Twilight hummed, quickly realizing what her mentor had just said. “Yes! The Princess has a point, Lauren! How can you be so sure that you weren’t born back then?” she asked.

Luna was staring at the nervous alicorn, picturing her image in her head. Is it… really her? That alicorn from that night?

Lauren really wanted to explain herself, trying to come up with an answer. Think, think! What can I say now to get out of this… she glanced at Twilight who was giving her the same cold stare as Celestia. Ah! I know! “I… I just happened to remember it!”

“Remember it? What do you mean?” Celestia said, suspiciously looking at her.

Ugh, how can I explain it? “Well, I… uh, remembered my birth date, just like that.”

“Oh, wait!” Twilight interrupted. Celestia quickly glanced at her student, interested in what she wanted to say. Luna stared at her as well. “Just like this morning!”

“This… morning?” Celestia asked, tapping a hoof against her chin. “What happened this morning, Twilight? Would you please explain?”

This morning? What is Twilight… Oh, wait! That’s right! This morning I told her that… Lauren gulped, feeling shivers running through her entire body. She was walking on very thin ice.

“Yes, Princess. Earlier this morning, Lauren happened to remember who her husband was,” Twilight explained. Celestia’s face went from her blank expression to a more surprised one. She wasn’t expecting that possibility. A sudden memory? Something was suspicious.

“Hmm… that’s rather interesting,” Celestia commented, “So, when’s your birth date then?” she said, looking once again at the nervous alicorn.

“Um, it’s July 25th,” Lauren responded, with a faint voice. She had no reason to lie about something as trivial as her own birth date.

“I see,” Celestia replied, looking at Twilight one more time. “Twilight, do you remember more about last night?” she asked. Celestia was starting to dig deeper into the case, and she wasn’t done yet. She wanted answers, and that’s what she was going to get; sooner or later, the truth would come out to the light.

“Uh, like what?” Twilight questioned, looking confusingly at Lauren who returned the same clueless stare back at her.

“Well, for starters, what was the first thing Lauren did when she woke up?” Celestia asked, giving a swift look at Lauren with her eyes, returning them to Twilight almost instantly. She knew that there was something odd about Lauren.

“Um, well, at first, she was confused about her whereabouts,” Twilight answered, pressing a hoof against her forehead to remember more clearly. “Then, um… oh, right! She said my name and then she kept asking about where she was,” she continued. Celestia nodded, telling her to proceed with her tale. “After that, she nervously laughed, believing that it was all a dream…”

Well, yes, that’s what happened… Lauren gulped, scratching her head with her hoof.

“After that, she introduced herself and shortly after that I discovered that she was an alicorn,” Twilight finished explaining, waiting for an answer from her mentor, who closed her eyes to analyze her student’s testimony.

“Heh.” Celestia let out a faint chuckle. “Twilight, my most beloved student…” she said.

“Uh? What is it, Princess?” Twilight responded, without any idea of why the Princess chuckled. Was something wrong?

“Twilight, please think of what you just said,” Celestia said, with a smug smile on her face. Twilight tilted her head in confusion, unsure of what the Princess could mean with that.

What? Think? Lauren swiftly looked at Celestia, who was still smiling. Luna was just as clueless as her. Think of what? What did Twilight say that… she suddenly felt shivers all inside her body running from her tail to the tip of her horn.

“You said that when she woke up, she panicked and questioned about the place, right?” Celestia asked. Twilight nodded and the Princess proceeded. “Then, you said that she said your name.” Twilight nodded again, still confused about what Celestia was trying to get at. This time, Celestia didn’t continue, instead, she kept staring at Twilight, waiting for her to give her the answer.

“Sister, I don’t get it as well,” Luna commented.

Celestia sighed, disappointed that her student couldn’t figure out the obvious. “You give up? Okay then…” she closed her eyes for a few seconds and inhaled a good amount of air. “You said that she said your name when she wake up, but isn’t that strange?”

Oh no! She… she figured it out! Lauren panted, trying her best to hide her anxiety.

“How could she possibly know your name in the first place? Didn’t she tell us that she had lost her memories? The sole fact that she said your name after waking up contradicts her entire testimony!” Celestia exclaimed, looking at an anxious Lauren who didn’t know how to react.

Twilight gasped, suddenly realizing that what her mentor said made sense. “Of course! How could I have skipped it!? If Lauren indeed lost her memory, she wouldn’t have known my name.” She looked at Lauren, waiting for an explanation from her.

“The only explanation is… that she didn’t lose her memory at all!” Celestia exclaimed, pointing her hoof at Lauren who cringed at the sight of it against her face. “She has been lying to us about it!”

“Lauren! Is that true!?” Twilight asked.

Darn it, darn it all! What do I say now!? What do I do now? Lauren began to panic, breathing heavily and sweating. She has never been under so much pressure in her life. Her lie was discovered and now she had to deal with the consequences. She started to feel dizzy as her head began pounding. I… I… what… is… happening… she felt her eyes getting heavier and her vision began to blur. She finally lost consciousness and fainted.

“L-Lauren!” Twilight shouted.

That sensation… is that sensation again. Lauren came back to her senses. She tried to open her eyes, but she couldn’t. She tried to move her body, but again, she couldn’t. Ugh, what… what happened? I think… I think I suddenly fainted in front of Twilight and… she could feel her body was responding to her. She slowly opened her eyes, only to be greeted by a familiar face.

“Oh, thanks Celestia, you’re awake!” Twilight said, pressing a hoof against Lauren’s forehead. “You fainted a while ago, and you had me worried!”

“Uh…” This feels incredibly familiar. “You… you were worried about me?” Lauren said. She was lying on Twilight’s bed, covered with its blanket. She looked around the room, but there was nopony else but Twilight and her.

“Well of course! Nopony just faints like that!” Twilight said, removing the wet towel Lauren had on her forehead with her magic, splashing it in a bucket filled with cold water.

I still don’t know why I fainted, but… wait… weren’t they expecting me to answer to why I lied to them? “T-Twilight…” Lauren said, rubbing her head with a hoof. “About before, I…”

“Don’t worry about it, you can explain it later. For now, try to rest. You don’t want to push yourself after fainting like that, do you?” Twilight giggled, placing the fresh towel on top of Lauren’s head.

“It’s… fine, Twilight, I can tell you about the matter,” Lauren said with a confident tone, feeling the refreshing coolness of the towel on her head.

“Then… you don’t mind if I call the Princesses over here?” Twilight asked.

“No, after all, they must listen as well, right?”

“You’re right. Give me a second and I’ll go get them. They’re still waiting at the library’s foyer,” Twilight added, leaving the room and walking downstairs to meet the Princesses.

Lauren sighed, pressing her head against Twilight’s pillow. Now what do I do? Should I tell them the truth? Well, I have to, but… ugh. She closed her eyes, pressing her hooves against them. Suddenly, she raised her hooves and looked at them. I might be a pony, but I’m still the creator of this whole world. Why am I afraid? They wouldn’t harm me. But, I need to be subtle, I mean, I can’t just unload on them that they’re cartoons of a TV show. She stopped thinking as soon as she heard the multiple hoof-steps approaching to the room.

Princess Celestia, Luna and Twilight came inside the room and walked upstairs to meet with the little alicorn. Lauren gulped, ready to confess everything. Or so she thought.

“I see you’re awake now, I'm glad you're okay,” Celestia sighed in relief. “My apologies for my rude behavior a while ago.”

“Um, it’s… it’s okay, Princess,” Lauren replied, feeling a slight blush forming on her cheeks.

“But, we still want to know why you lied to us,” Celestia said, coughing at that last word. Her faint was not a excuse to keep her from telling why she lied about her memory loss after all. “So, would be so kind to tell us what’s the matter?” she said with a soothing tone.

Lauren felt safer this time. She had more confidence in herself now that she had time to think about it. She looked at Celestia from her bed and nodded, removing the towel from her head and placing it next to the bed. She raised herself from the bed and sat down on it. “Okay.” she replied.

“Well then, why did you lie about a memory loss?” Twilight gently asked, placing a hoof on Lauren’s shoulder. The alicorn smiled at her and took a deep breath.

“Well, you see, the reason I lied was because…” Lauren paused, gulping one last time before revealing the truth to everypony. “Because I am… not from… this world…” she mumbled.

“Not from… Equestria? Then from where?” Twilight asked.

“No, I mean, not from this world as in… not from this universe,” Lauren explained, looking at Celestia’s face that had the most serious look on it. She could feel that her eyes were piercing through her mind. Twilight gasped, trying to understand what she meant with ‘universe’.

“Not from this universe? And what is that supposed to mean?” Luna interrupted, stepping closer to Lauren.

“You mean you’re not from this realm?” Celestia asked, tilting her head a bit to the left.

“Yes, I come from… How to say it? Another dimension,” Lauren confessed. She was sure that they wouldn’t believe her anyway.

“A-another dimension?” Twilight muttered, unable to grasp the idea. Lauren looked at her and awkwardly nodded.

“So this other dimension is your home?” Celestia asked, still staring at the little alicorn with her serious stare.

“Y-yes, and I lied about a memory loss because… I didn’t want you to find out about it.” Lauren bowed her head in shame, looking at the stars and comets on Twilight’s bed sheet.

“Why didn’t you want us to find out? What’s so secret or important about your home?” Celestia kept interrogating. It was only a matter of time before Lauren revealed everything.

“It’s just that…” Lauren paused, trying to think about what she was going to answer, but she was suddenly interrupted again by Celestia.

“And of course, how come you knew who Twilight was?”

She is forcing me to say it, but I can’t! I mean… how could they even believe it? “Well, the thing is that… in my world, we know a lot about this dimension,” Lauren mumbled, expecting the most surprised of reactions from Celestia, but her face was still holding that serious look. “We sort of… ‘observe’ what happens here. And that’s why I couldn’t tell you, because I didn’t want you to find out.”

Twilight was still dumbfounded due Lauren’s previous confessions. Another dimension? And not only that, but she knew about this world as well? And that’s why she didn’t want to talk about it? What’s going on? Who is she?

“I-I’m sorry, I know it must be hard to believe, but it’s the honest truth,” Lauren said, with the most honest look in her eyes. The sort of honest look that somepony would get from Applejack.

*Crack*

This time, Luna rolled her eyes and stared at Celestia, feeling chills running through her body. She had just heard yet another of those mysterious cracks coming from inside her sister. But this one was different, and she was sure about it. This new crack wasn’t like the previous ones, no, this one was fainter. Somehow, it was the kind of noise a pebble would make when crushed with a hoof or against a rock.

Celestia lowered her head and closed her eyes. Her sparkling, wavy mane and tail stopped waving as fast as they were before. She let out a faint ‘Heh’ and a chuckle, looking at the alicorn sitting right in front of her. “I understand,” she said.

“Understand what, Princess?” Twilight asked, looking at her mentor. “I still don’t get this entire dimension thing Lauren’s talking about!”

Celestia ignored Twilight and raised her head to get a better view of Lauren’s face. She smiled at her and cleared her throat. “It’s all clear now,” she said. Lauren, Luna and Twilight shared the same clueless look on their faces after those words. Luna was about to ask something, when Celestia continued speaking. “It’s all clear now…” she repeated, with a louder tone.

“W-what’s clear?” Lauren nervously asked. Seriously? What is clear? I thought she’d have more questions or ask me more about… the reality.

“Simple, my dear,” Celestia said between chuckles. “I know who you are, Lauren Faust.”