Commander Twilight Sparkle sat at her desk writing on the parchment with the quill provided; she couldn’t help feeling nostalgic as she had MUSIC playing on her Datapad. She had her teeth clenched even though it had been a couple hours since she spoke to the Princess and she had not calmed down at all, the Alicorn had brought up a lot of very unpleasant memories for the unicorn, ones she’d rather stay buried. Least she wasn't reduced to a quivering mess curled into ball like she used to be when she was reminded of her times in the Labs.

To try and get her mind off things since Queeny wasn’t here to talk to the mare decided to try writing, in this case keeping a journal. She could write it on her Datapad but she thought the quill and parchment would help her by reminding her of times before when life seemed so simple and she thought the world was all sunshine and rainbows. She knew better now but still remembering the past did help as it reminded her of what she fought for.

Day One, don’t know the date as I haven’t asked
Well today has some good news and bad news, good news is I didn’t have to meet with the Nobles so that pretty much nearly negates the bad news, granted Queeny is probably having to meet with them so I do kind of feel bad about that but nothing I can do about that.

Now onto the bad news, I somehow have ended up in another dimension again and this time not because of anything I did, unless walking down the hall counts as triggering these sort of things, no clue honestly how all this works.

Anyways there is a bit more good news in that I’ve ended up in another Equestria that from what I can tell has followed the same events as mine just with different outcomes; well some ended more or less the same though some are drastically different.

Besides the fact the EDF doesn’t exist here Tirek is alive and in Tartarus, even though he destroyed Golden Oaks, and Starlight Glimmer, the most dangerous criminal in Equestria is free and FRIENDS with my counterpart.

And yes I have met my counterpart and she is as naive and stupid as I used to be though some how she became an Alicorn and is the Princess of Friendship of all things. How one becomes an Alicorn or gets a title like that I have no idea.

So far I have only been here a few hours and it has been eventful, I easily escaped from a hospital
Snuck through Ponyville,
Got attacked by four members of the Royal Guard,
Beat the shit out of four members of the Royal Guard,
Learned Golden Oaks was gone,
Nearly strangled my counterpart to death
Got invited to stay with my counterpart in her eyesore of a castle
Studied a map of this land
And set up an EDF FOB in the castle

Overall not bad for just a couple of hours of work if I do say so my self.

Though I am current pissed at my counterpart, she had the gull to tell me she understands how I feel about losing my Cutie Mark because Starlight stole hers, yes that happened and Starlight got off scot free. Except she only had hers gone for less than a day before she got it back where I will never get mine back and it was taken in a far more brutal fashion.

Anyways she drummed up a lot of unpleasant memories and I’m not looking forward to sleeping tonight, I still will as I need sleep if I want to function at 100%. Speaking of such I need to explore this place or else I won’t be able to sleep at all tonight so I’ll end this here.

Commander Twilight Sparkle of the EDF.

With that the mare nodded and placed the page in a drawers of the desk and replaced the stopper in the ink well, it felt very odd doing that but in a good way. She made a mental not to get an actual book to write it as she pushed back from the desk and headed for the door.

Princess Twilight Sparkle was in the Map Room pacing back and forth franticly while Spike looked on. “Twilight calm down, I’m sure it’s not that bad.” The little dragon said.

“Not bad? Not bad?!” The purple Alicorn said. “Did you see how mad she was at me!? Princess Celestia put me in charge of her and in less than twenty minutes I make her angry!” The mare took several deep breaths rabidly. “The Princess is going to make me a unicorn again over this!”

“The Princess wouldn’t do that Twilight.” Spike said as the mare started to pace again.

“Yes she will I’m supposed to be the Princess of Friendship and all I’ve done is make myself angrier and angrier!” Twilight said as Spike try to ignored how that sounded. “She’s probably going to tell the Princess and demand a new place to stay and then Celestia will make me a unicorn again and toss me in a dungeon for angering somepony who is basically a foreign diplomat!”

“Celestia wouldn’t do that, look at this From Commander Sparkles point of view; she’s not in her own world anymore and is essentially a stranger here.” Spike said trying to calm the mare.

“I know! I should be making her feel welcome and at ease and instead she’s mad!” Twilight said as her wings started to flap and lift her off the ground. “Why did I have to tell her I understood, I should have known she had lost her Cutie Mark in an unpleasant manner?” The mare was stopped when her head hit the ceiling dazing her for a moment. She quickly shook her head as a knock sounded from the castle’s main door.

Spike glanced at the Alicorn and saw she was now flying in a slow circle while mutter about how upset Celestia was going to be so spike took this opportunity to go answer the door. It took him a few minutes to reach the door and he was relieved to see Twilight’s friends.

“Hey Spike how are things here?” Rainbow Dash asked as she hover from her place above the group as usual. “Is that Commander causing problems?”

Spike sighed and stepped to the side to allow the mares in. “Not so good.” He told them as they entered.

“What did that brute do?” Rarity asked and it wasn’t hard from Spike to figure out who she meant.

“Nothing really, from what I can tell they were just talking about the differences between Equestria when Twilight mentioned about all of yours Cutie Marks being stolen so she understood how Commander Sparkle felt and that made the Commander angry.” Spike explained as he started to lead them to the Map Room with the hope they could calm Twilight down.

“Why would that make that unicorn angry? We all know how it feels to lose a Cutie Mark.” Applejack said.

“Well Twilight said something about the Commander saying…”Spike hesitated a bit and visibly shuttered. “That she had been a test subject and experimented on and the pony who was experimenting on her and removed her Cutie Mark to study it and that she won’t ever get it back unlike Twilight did.” The five mares stopped at hearing Spike tell them what Twilight told him. They hadn’t thought about the fact the unicorn mare had been tortured. They all shared a look before they continued on to the Map Room where they found Twilight in the middle of packing her saddle bags with books, quills and parchment.

“Uh…Twi what are you doing?” Applejack asked and the Alicorn jumped and spine around, her mane a mess and eyes shrunken.

“I need to get out of here before the Commander tells Celestia of my mess up and she makes me a unicorn again and throws me into a dungeon and sends the dungeon to the middle of the Everfree.” She said having escalated her punishment to ridicules levels.

“Darling I’m sure it’s not that bad.” Rarity said as she walked up beside the purple Princess.

“You did see how angry she was before she left to set up her FOB.” Twilight said and the group all looked confused.

“She named her room “Equestrian Defense Force Forward Operating Base”” Spike said helpfully and the others nodded.

“Look Twilight just let her calm down and I’m sure everything will be alright.” Rarity said reassuringly. It was then they heard the sound of distant MUSIC that slowly grew louder as the source got closer to the Map Room.

After a few moments the door opened and the music grew far louder and the gathered ponies recoiled at the lyrics as the Commander trotted into the room, walking like a pony now as opposed to on two legs. “Ah spike there you are. “The mare said and the song came to an end and it seemed to have been coming from a small rectangle being held in her magic. “I’ve finished exploring the upper floors and I was wondering where the kitchen was, I haven’t eaten anything in about twelve hours and with the shock to my system that’s not a good thing.”

It was then that Twilight half ran half flew up to the Commander causing her to take a step back and the object on her hip was half way drawn from its holder before she stopped herself and Twilight spoke. “I’m so sorry! Please don’t tell Celestia and having her make me a unicorn and thrown me into the dungeons and then send the dungeon to the middle of the Everfree with a creepy jailer who watched me sleep at night.” She babbles having escalated the punishment once more.

The Commander stared back at her before she finally spoke. “The fuck?” She said and looked at the gathered ponies. “Did someone drug her?”

“No she’s worried you are going to tell the Princess about her angering you and she will be punished.” Spike said.

“And why the hell would I tell Celestia anything? She’s not my superior.” She looked back at the Alicorn who was breathing heavily still panicking. “I got just the thing for this.” She said and a bottle of amber liquid appeared beside her, much to the surprise of the group, and she tilted the Princess’ head back and poured some of the contents down her throat.

Twilight sputtered and recoiled as she coughed and held her chest and the unicorn smiled as she held the bottle. “Wh-what is that? It burns!” Twilight said as she coughed.

“Whiskey, nectar of the gods.” The unicorn mare said before taking a drink from the bottle and then it vanished after she replaced the stopper.

“You…you poured alcohol down my throat?” Twilight asked in shock.

The Commander nodded. “Yup.” She said and smiled. “Best way to calm down, just wait till it hits your system.”

The group just stared at her and then noticed Twilight started to sway a bit on her hooves. “I feel funny…”She slurred.

The Commander started to laugh. “That would be the whiskey reaching your brain.” She laughed more. “I remember being a light weight like that. “Just wait till it takes full effect.” She said with a smile.

“Hey!” Rainbow said and flew into the Commander face. “What’s the big idea forcing alcohol on Twilight huh?”

The Commander stared at the Pegasus mare flatly. “Did you really want to deal with her having a melt down?” None of the ponies answer as Twilight swayed more. “Exactly, I think I know how to fix myself thank you very much.” The Commander said as she pointed at the group then her stomach growled. “Now then about dinner.” She said not lowering her hoof, still pointing at them all as Twilight started laughing.

Commander Twilight Sparkle sat with the group that looked like her friends but were and a drunk Alicorn version of herself while Spike made everyone dinner, the group of multi-colored ponies clearly did not trust her so had insisted on staying for dinner. All the Commander thought was how she wished there was meat so she could get a proper meal and get a show.

“So then I pulled all the books off the shelves and told spike we needed to reorganize.” The drunken princess slurred and started laughing again, not noticing no one else was laughing. The Commander stared upon her drunken counterpart. Is that how I am when drunk? By Celestia I can’t be this bad! She thought as the Alicorn became distracted by the room spinning. “Do you have any more of that…whatever it is?” She asked suddenly staring at the Commander.

“I do but only two bottles and I need to make them last as I have no idea how long I’ll be here for and I doubt this Equestria has proper whisky as mine didn’t till I started brewing my own, then found someone to manufacture it for me.” She said and the sober group stared as the as the princess pouted.

“You brew alcohol?” Rainbow asked eyeing the military mare.

“Not anymore, I found someone to do it for me, I use it to supplement the army’s budget and Night Fall is a very popular brand though only enjoyed by those who can hold their liquor the best as it’s harder than anything else by a large margin.” Twilight said and thought. “Though it is very popular with a lot of the nightclubs in the cities.”

“Why do you need to sublimit your budget? Don’t you have the Princess’ support?” Rarity asked.

“Of course do you think I could have built an army otherwise?” Twilight said. “But most of the Nobles are against me, especially after I threw one of them against a wall early on because he annoyed me. About the only two that are firmly on my side are Fancy Pants and Fleur de Lis with a few others but that group is small.”

“You know…for having a name like Fancy Pants you’d think he’d wear pants.” The Princess aid and laughed again.

“I noticed that too actually. “The commander said looking at her counterpart who was using the table to support herself. “You’d think with a name like Fancy Pants he’d wear more than just a shirt and jacket.”

“Yeah, what’s up with that?” The Princess asked. “Come to think of it why is it he and Fleur are the only nice nobles in all of Canterlot?”

“I’ve asked that myself many times, I mean I expect some of them to have their nose up their own asses but not most of them.” The Commander said.

“I know, they are around the Princess and everything so you think they would be nicer.” The Alicorn said as she tried to think.

“Yeah I agree, but somehow it hasn’t rubbed off on them, it’s like they are immune to being decent people or something.” Twilight said and the Princess nodded.

“Maybe it’s some sort of affliction and we can come up with a cure?” She suggested.

The Commander rubbed her chin. “Maybe, but we would need to isolate whatever was causing it and then work backwards from there, and if we could find Patient Zero it would be easier.”

“We would also need to analyze Fancy Pants to see why he was immune to whatever it is.” The princess said not noting the gathered ponies staring between them as they drifted off into their own world.

“Yeah we could use my lab here to test sample and such.” The princess said.

“I’d do the leg work but I’m not setting one hoof in a lab if I can help it.” The Commander said.

“Oh? Why is that?” the Alicorn asked looking at her counterpart.

“Because I spent a month being subjected to a lot of medical experimentation at the hands of a sociopathic scientist and his team as they worked to learn everything about me and my magic they could and treated me worse than an animal.” The Commander said without thinking as she was caught up in the conversation. The room went dead silent and she looked around before she registers what she said. “Oh…um…”She said her brain starting to spiral backwards into the pit.

Before she could hooves were put around her and when she looked she saw the Princess was hugging her. “I’m so sorry that happened to you.” She said and held her Unicorn self tightly and then nuzzled her causing the Commander to stiffen. “But you are safe here; no one can do that to you ever again.” She said soothingly as she held the commander close.

The Commander looked at the group of the Princess’ friends who looked on in shocked and mouthed the words help me as she didn’t want to hurt the mare who was acting out of inebriated sympathy but was still very uncomfortable.

“Uh...hey…Twi...uh...maybe you could check on Spike and see if he needs help with making dinner?” Applejack suggests.

“Oh…yeah I should do that.” The Alicorn mare said and giggled before getting unsteadily to her hooves and wondering off to the kitchen.

The commander sighed in relief once she left the room. “Thank you.” She said and ran a hoof down her face. "I really hope I’m not like that when drunk, I’ll need to ask the Major when I get home.”

“The Major?” Rarity asked.

“My second in command, she handles the minor duties that can pile up while I handle the major duties when we aren’t splitting the work between the two of us.” Twilight explained.

“Sounds like a very useful mare.” Applejack said.

Twilight nodded. “Yeah she is, I don’t know what I’d do without her assistance as I don’t think the army would run as smoothly as it does.”

“Who is she?” Rarity asked curious. “Is she from the Royal Guard?”

Twilight snorted. “Hell no, far from it. She’s Ch—“The door to the kitchen opened and Spike was pushing in a cart filled with plates of food while a drunken Princess of Friendship followed behind.

“I’m sorry I broke the plates Spike.” She said solemnly.

“Twilight it’s fine you were just trying to help.” Spike said as he start to place the plates before the ponies as the Princess took her seat beside the Commander once more, not noticing the Commander scoot her chair further away.

She was a bit disappointed to see vegetable soup with a side of salad was the meal and not a trace of meat to be scene, this was going to be a relatively tasteless meal but food was food and she would not waste a single bite.

Commander Twilight Sparkle followed Spike down the halls of the castle, a passed out Princess of friendship slung across her back. “I still can’t believe she face panted into her salad.” Spike was saying referring to what happened near the end of dinner when the whiskey caught up with the lightweight Princess. After everyone had made sure she was just passed out her Friends had made their farewells as they seemed to be more comfortable with Twilight being around now after actually talking with her.

“I’m surprised she made it as long as she did before passing out.” Twilight said as they walked.

“So do you pass out like that when you drink um…what was it?” Spike asked.

“Whiskey and you are not allowed to touch a drop of it till you are at least past a hundred years old” She said. “and I used to, but it take a lot more to make me black out these day as I’ve grown used to it over the years.”

“Do you often drink?” Spike asked.

“At least a shot at night after I go off duty to help me relax and me and the Major sometimes share a drink when we talk. Though it doesn’t seem to affect her very much, or she can just hold her liquor better than anyone else I’ve ever seen.”

“You two sound close.” Spike said and Twilight chuckles.

“Yeah I guess we are rather close, she had been a good friend to me over the years and helped me out a lot.” She said as they reached a door at the end of the hall.

“Well here we are.” Spike said as he opened the door for the two of them.

“Thanks Spike.” Twilight said and patted his head. “You should get to bed as it’s late.”

“You sure you can find your room?” Spike asked.

“Yeah I memorized the layout of the castle so I won’t have any problem getting back to my room.” Twilight re assured him. “So off to bed with you. “She said and gave him a nudge. With a last look at the Princess on the Soldier’s back he made his way to his room as Twilight carried the other mare to her bed and used her magic to pull the blankets back before using her magic to lift the slumbering Princess into the bead and cover her up.

Before the mare could leave the Princes woke up slightly and reached out and grabbed the other mare’s shoulder. “I’m really sorry….for what I said earlier….I didn’t mean to upset you….” She said

The commander Sighed. “It’s ok, I know you meant well and it’s kinda in your job description to make connections to people.” She told her and removed her sunglasses and looked down at the Princess. “Just know I’m not some one that is easy to get close to and be friends with ok? I’ve been through a lot in my life and certain things remind me of memories I’d rather stay buried.” She said

The Princess nodded. “Ok…still I am sorry….”

“It’s ok Princess, get some rest ok? I have a feeling Pinkie is going to throw a party for me if she’s anything like my Pinkie.” She said with a chuckle.

The Princes had to laugh as well. “Yeah probably.” She said and smiled. “We will find a way to get you home you know that right?”

“Between the two of us I’m sure we will and if nit then I know the Major will have the EDF working towards finding me and getting me back so one way or another I’ll get home.” The Commander said and the Princess nodded. “Good night princess, see you for breakfast.”

“Good night Commander.” The princess said and the Soldier turned and left the room mentally preparing herself for what the night would bring her.

Author's Notes:

well the relationship between the two Twilight's is repaired through the power of WHISKEY!

and we got a bit of a glimpse of how the Commander can be when drunk