Returning Home

by ferret

First published 9th of April, 2017

With their quest complete, every adventurer longs to return home, to be reunited with their friends and family, and this “human” mare should be no exception. So why won’t she leave?!

One wintry evening, a frozen, half starved and exhausted mare wanders into Ponyville from out of the wilderness. It seems straightforward on how to deal with her, a traveller from a world of humans across the forbidden Void, on an adventure in Equestria. Welcoming her, the Element Bearers try to befriend this mare, aid in her quest, and help her find her way home again.

Things don’t quite work out as planned.

Out of Nowhere

Author's Notes:

In this story, ponies do not have five hooves.

Twilight Sparkle was a very literary pony. She knew well the tales of great ponies long passed. A mare gets stranded on a distant shore. She forms heartwarming friendships with the local ponies or other creatures. Working together, they help her return home and reunite with her family, a better mare for the experience. That's how it works. That's how it always works. But soon Twilight and her friends would encounter a mare for whom nothing seems to work at all.

It all started innocently enough. Fluttershy was tending to her animals, making sure the ones who were sleeping were sleeping well, and the ones who were cold found places to be warm. Applejack was tending to her apples, or lack thereof, pruning branches and turning compost. Rainbow Dash was doing tricks, a brilliant dot of blue in the cool grey Ponyville skies. Twilight Sparkle was seated in her tree library, with her dragon Spike at her side, a cup of hot cocoa, and a book braced against her hooves. Very frequently, a page would turn. And Rarity was in her inspiration room, searching her mind for the next new, big, greatest fad to sweep across Equestria when spring came around. Would it be socks? Braids? Necklaces? Hats?

So of course it would have to be Pinkie Pie who found her. Because Pinkie Pie didn’t have anything special to do, so she was taking a nice walk outside and greeting everypony she saw, and also because Pinkie Pie is never the one who finds her.

With a nice warm scarf wrapped around her neck and draped over her flank (hoof knitted by Sew’n’so), Pinkie Pie was just hopping along without a care in the world. Her bountiful curls put a spring in her step as her hooves crunched along the frozen ground, and she reveled in the simple, sweet joy of movement. Her whole life was a dance from one party to the next, and she loved it that way.

“Oh Rose, you’re looking lovely today!” she said to somepony. “Gardenia, those dried flowers smell amazing!” she said to somepony else. “Hello Fidget, I see you got your wheely thingamabobber working!” she said to somepony else. Pony talking was one of Pinkie Pie’s most favoritest things to do, since each and everypony had an amazing story to tell, just from their day-to-day experiences.

“Hey Cranky, how’s the wife?” Pinkie Pie said talking to everypony she passed by, “Good afternoon Miss Skillet. Sassaflash, that carrot cake isn’t for your special somepony, is it? Caramel just loves carrots! Oh hey, you don’t look so good, whoever you are. Lemon Daze, hi! You got back from your trip early? Why yes Sally Forth, I have your chocolate bunnies all ready for wrapup.”

Pinkie Pie stopped cold.

She skittered backwards, passing Sally, and Lemon, and Sassaflash, oops too far. Pinkie Pie skittered forward past Sassaflash, and really saw her for the first time. The mare didn’t seem to have noticed Pinkie yet, which was fine and dandy. Nothing unexpected there. A bright pink pony like Pinkie Pie was pretty easy to miss in a crowd.

The pony Pinkie Pie saw was a young mare, just about the same age Pinkie had been, when she moved to Ponyville. Boy was that a crazy time in her life. In appearance, she was an unremarkable pony with a creamy coat of fur, and a dissheveled looking mane of cotton candy pink that might once have been pleasantly curly. She looked quite a bit down on her luck now, though. She had abruptly sat down over by one of the buildings, with her hooves clumsily folded under her, leaning her head wearily against its wall. Sitting like that, it was obvious she had no story mark on her hindquarters, which was pretty strange in of itself, but that wasn’t the strangest thing about this mare.

The mare didn’t look distressed or anything, though she did look a dirty, sallow, and maybe dehydrated. It was certainly weird how she just stared around vaguely, like somepony with some serious shell shock. That made sense for a farm pony who’d just been dropped in the middle of Manehattan, but it shouldn’t have applied to a pony being dropped into a smalltime farming village like Ponyville.

But no, that still wasn’t the weirdest thing about this mare. What really drew Pinkie Pie’s attention was that she did not know this pony.

No, that really doesn’t describe the situation here. Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, Pinkie Pie saw a golden chariot descend on her village, pulled by the very hunky personal guards of the Princess Celestia herself. On it was the attachè to the princess: her personal student! Pinkie Pie never expected such an important pony like that would just walk up and say hello to her, but Twilight did, and that made Twilight doubly special: special on special. Pinkie Pie made up some excuse about Twilight being new, but really she just wanted to give an amazing pony like that an amazing welcome to Ponyville.

But even with Twilight, Pinkie Pie had known about her as an important student princess pony, albeit only from reading it once in the Canterlot Quarterly.

There was that donkey whose name she didn’t know at first, but when Cranky Doodle came to town, Pinkie Pie knew who he was. She’d heard tell of his coming long before he stepped into Ponyville. A strange donkey with strange stuff on a strange cart. Even though he didn’t like it, she made sure to have a song and dance routine well rehearsed. She went through a lot of trouble to get that confetti cannon cake oven spectacular greetomatic party cart together, even if she got the confetti and the cake batter mixed up.

The fact of the matter is, and she wouldn’t deny it if you asked, but Pinkie Pie knew everypony in Ponyville. The last pony to really surprise her was Rainbow Dash, and when Rainbow Dash moved to Ponyville, she didn’t give any notice beforehoof, and she did it by flying straight at Ponyville, faster than the speed of sound. Pinkie Pie was not an inattentive pony, and she usually if not always knew what she was looking at when a new pony came to town.

This pony, Pinkie Pie had no idea what she was looking at.

“Hey Daisy,” Pinkie said cautiously, picking out a green and pink pony she recognized as one of Twilight’s neighbors. “Do you know who that pony is over there?”

Daisy outright laughed at Pinkie Pie’s question, caught seriously off guard by it. “Don’t you know who that pony is?” the watermelon colored pony said with another chuckle.

“But... that’s what I asked you, silly,” Pinkie Pie said with a calculated smile, poking Daisy in the chest.

Daisy looked puzzled at Pinkie’s pokie hoof. “Okay, is this a test?” she asked in that sort of quivery hoarse voice of hers, “Um... no I don’t think I ever saw that pony before. Who is she?”

“I don’t know...” Pinkie remarked thoughtfully, looking over at the new mare again and rubbing her chin.

“You... you don’t know who that pony is?” Daisy squawked, her pupils narrowing and her breath coming quicker as she stared at Pinkie fearfully.

“No, no, no, of course, I know who she is,” Pinkie Pie said, turning and ear and waving a hoof dismissively. “It’s um... Paisy Flower from... Whinnipeg.”

“Oh,” Daisy said with a relieved sigh. “You had me really worried there for a minute, Pinkie!”

Daisy wandered off, and Pinkie continued to surreptitiously observe this down-on-her-luck mare. The mare didn’t seem to have anything to do, or anywhere to go in her plans. Pinkie wasn’t sure why she was sitting there leaning against that building at all.

Daisy’s reaction bothered Pinkie Pie, even if it was just Daisy being Daisy, because Pinkie didn’t like scaring ponies. No, really. She had kind of a hard time with that sometimes, and as Pinkie licked the last of the maple syrup off of her hoof, she found herself bordering on obsessed with the source of this mysterious pony. Pinkie wondered if maybe she shouldn’t be known as the pony who knows everypony. Maybe it wasn’t a big deal, and occasionally a pony could come out of nowhere, and it’d be no problem.

...or it could be changelings!!

Pinkie moved from concealed location to concealed location, in the bushes and behind corners. The mare struggled up at one point, and walked around town, but her course was lost and purposeless. She seemed very shy about talking to ponies; she seemed afraid about even approaching them. The mare didn’t seem very cranky, or ill tempered, just... lost. And Pinkie had never seen her in Ponyville, or in anywhere, ever. This was possibly the pony most in need of a welcome to Ponyville, in the history of all Pinkie Pie welcome to Ponyville parties!

“Oh hi, Pinkie,” Twilight Sparkle said to Pinkie, whose head shot straight up out of the bushes with a surprised squeak!

“What are you doing in the bushes?” Twilight asked casually, not even seeing that the strange mare was about to see her and blow Pinkie’s cover!

Pinkie dragged the princess into the bushes, whispering harshly, “Ssssh! See? That pony over there. The one standing by the water trough.”

“Uh huh?” Twilight said, giving Pinkie more of a worried look than the mare. “What about her?”

“I don’t know who she is.”

“Oh. Ohh,” Twilight said, taking a more serious look at the cream colored mare. “Is she new here?” Twilight asked hopefully.

“I don’t know!” Pinkie whispered in response, “That’s why it’s so weird! She just came out of nowhere!”

“Well, I’ve certainly never seen her before,” Twilight said, “What did she say when you asked her?”

“I haven’t asked her, yet,” Pinkie whispered, going for a nearby pair of binoculars to see the mare better with.

“Oh, well. That’s an easy one, Pinkie,” Twilight chuckled. “I’ll go ask her and—”

“No, don’t!” Pinkie hissed urgently, holding Twilight with a hoof, “I want to throw her a party! She needs it more than anypony and it’s better if the party is a surprise!”

Twilight’s slowly raising eyebrow seemed to indicate she didn’t see eye to eye with Pinkie on this. “Right. Going to ask her,” Twilight said curtly, jumping out of the bushes and flutterpoofing the leaves off her wings.

“Wait!” Pinkie whispered in vain, but today her outstretched hoof was unable to reach the retreating princess without leaving the protection of the bushes.

“Hello there!” Twilight Sparkle said brightly, as she trotted up to the confused looking mare. Twilight gave a friendly smile as the mare looked her way, but a friendly smile didn’t seem to calm this mare whatsoever. The mare’s breathing quickened slightly and her eyes widened, as if she had seen a ghost. As if she was seeing a ghost. Twilight really wasn’t sure what to think about that, but it was obvious this mare was not ready to be surprised.

“Sorry to bother you,” Twilight said amiably, “But you seem to be new to town, is that correct?”

The mare just stared at her silently, her mouth vaguely moving in some semblance of words. “Are... you alright?” Twilight asked her, tilting her head.

“It’s really you,” the mare said at last with a soft, sweet soprano. Her voice was hoarse from exhaustion, yet she spoke in the most reverent tone Twilight had ever heard herself addressed. “Twilight Sparkle...”

“Oh...” Twilight said, putting a hoof to her chest modestly and trying not to blush too much. “You’ve heard of me, huh? I am pretty well known it’s true, but don’t let that fool you. I’m just a pony like you.” Twilight coyly swayed on her hooves, giving her wings a little fluff as she added, “Maybe with a few extra additions, heh heh.”

The starstruck mare didn’t answer, and Twilight hadn’t seen a mare so taken with her since that filly back at Rainbow Falls... the filly who Pinkie Pie scared away. Twilight glanced back worriedly at the bushes, but Pinkie still hadn’t made her move.

“I’m not here for any particular reason,” Twilight said quickly to the mare, “Just doing some shopping, you know. But I thought you should know that it’s something of a Ponyville tradition that ponies who move here get a pretty big welcome celebration. So if you’re moving here, you should know it’ll get pretty crazy for a while, because there’s a pony by the name of—”

“Pinkie Pie,” the mare answered distantly.

“Yes... I suppose you’ve heard of my friends, too,” Twilight said a little off kilter by this mare’s reactions. Was she just a fan, or was that genuine fear in her eyes? Fear of what? Fear of why? “It’s just when I first moved here,” Twilight continued carefully, “I found Pinkie a little overwhelming, and you looked like you could use some advance warning.”

“I... yeah,” the mare said, looking away and touching her chin, and knotting her brow, classic signs of a pony thinking furiously.

“That’s all I wanted to say,” Twilight said appeasingly to the frustratingly fluttershish mare. “I guess I’ll... leave you alone now?”

“But...” the mare started to say, then just attempted a smile, saying, “That would be fine. And um... thank you.”

Twilight was now thoroughly confused. The mare at least seemed to realize this, and clarified herself nicely, saying, “For... being such a nice princess! P-pony. I mean. T-thanks.”

“My pleasure,” Twilight said with a smile, “Now I really do have to be going, so you take care, miss...?”

“Um,” the pony said, with another one of those looks like she’d seen a ghost.

“Miss Um?” Twilight asked hopefully.

The mare shook her head though, saying, “No, um, it’s... I’m sorry I...”

“Quite alright,” Twilight said sketchily, squinting at the mare. No answer. “Aaanyway, ta ta.”

Twilight was happily trotting past the bushes, when within them her hot pink friend hissed out, “Did you ask her where she came from??”

Too busy blushing to answer, Twilight Sparkle reversed directions, and trotted right back in the direction that unnamed mare had wandered in.

“Excuse me miss,” Twilight said, while the mare startled to a halt again, then turned her head to look at Twilight as the purple princess said, “Sorry to bother you again, but can I ask where you moved from? My friend wants to—see, er, Pinkie Pie wants to plan a party for you, and she wants to know more about you. So, um... where are you from?”

And cue the mare staring speechlessly at her again. Seriously, there was something weird about this mare. Even Fluttershy didn’t seem at this much of a loss to answer somepony’s question.

“I don’t know if I should say...” the mare said in a worried tone, quite suspiciously, shaking her head and sinking bashfully on her hooves as she looked anywhere but Twilight. “I guess it’s... I mean I don’t really have any other choice. I... I’m so hungry. Um, sorry, I mean...”

Then she looked at Twilight Sparkle with deep blue eyes and said very urgently, “I’m from a place called Earth.”

“Um...” Twilight replied, feeling more like navigating a minefield than a conversation at this point, “Yes, you are? Most ponies call it Equestria. But I meant what township are you from?”

“No, I mean, I’m from a different universe,” the mare said a bit more clearly.

Twilight was still confused though, and said, “You know there’s only one universe, right?”

“Right, but-but if there was a portal into another one—” the mare started.

Twilight handily finished the mare’s thought experiment with a helpful smile, saying, “Then they would both be part of the same universe, just not connected with each other by way of conventional spacetime.”

The mare was once again back to dumbfounded staring, and this time her mouth was hanging open. It would have been so adorable if she didn’t look so... well... hungry. She actually did look kind of... pale, for an off-white mare, and it wasn’t clear how she was avoiding shivering without any sort of coat, hat, scarf or boots. And her coat was a ratty mess of twigs and sadness, that looked like it hadn’t gotten brushed in a week.

Twilight tried to explain to the mare about the importance of using the term “verse” as opposed to “universe” or the inaccurate “world,” but the mare just seemed to get more frustrated at her! The mare pulled her jaw shut, and said to Twilight once she was done, now with a somewhat peeved expression,

“Fine. I’m from a different verse.”

Actual emotion! Good, we’re really making progress here! Wait, what?!

“No you’re not,” Twilight chided the mare in good humor, “Nopony’s ever come from another verse before. Is this... some kind of joke?”

“No, I...” the mare semi-consciously wavered in place, saying, “I came out of the portal in the middle of the woods, and I was like... this,” she looked down at her smooth pastel hooves, before beseeching Twilight Sparkle again. “There was nothing but woods around me. I didn’t know where to go, or if there was anything at all—” the mare said, having to pause to give an unsettling cough, “S-so I went in circles, until I found a river,” she said persistently, desperately even. “And... well, I sort of couldn’t find any, and I was getting hungry I just... I made it to Ponyville, but it took d... days, and I’m really not sure who I ask, to g-get something to eat and I’m... really tired...”

When Twilight had to catch her as she fell against Twilight’s side, the mare’s body felt cold as ice.

Rarity was having no ideas whatsoever. Socks. They had been done a dozen times! Braids weren’t last decade. They were last century! What was she going to do? Was she going to go out of business? Was she going to lose her house and home? Was she going to have to move in with her parents again?!

Rarity’s tummy gave a rather uncouth grumble. The alabaster unicorn’s glare at the offending organ softened as she realized she had forgotten to eat dinner today... again. That was surely her problem, feeling faint from lack of proper nutrition. A terrible habit to get into, but a small sacrifice to cultivate that creative fire that thrilled her.

“Then it’s settled!” Rarity told herself, levitating her reading glasses off of her snout and placing them aside. “Inspiration can wait, but food waits for nopony!”

With no one to observe her theatrics, Rarity just gave a slight sniff and no other noise other than hooffalls on her way out of her inspiration room, and her boutique. Making her way quickly down the stairs, and through the staging area, she paused long enough to touch up her face, comb her sleepy curlicue mane, toss on her winter scarf and beret, and leave an “OUT TO LUNCH” sign on her doorknob, before heading down the road at a brisk trot. Her day was long overdue for a nice, hearty meal.

Sugarcube Corner was quiet when she arrived. It probably meant Pinkie Pie was wandering around town again, doing... whatever it is that Pinkie Pie does. There was something of a line this time of day for ponies out to lunch, but it didn’t take Rarity long to wait before she was at the front counter.

“Good afternoon, Mrs. Cake!” Rarity told the bakery owner in good cheer.

“Well hello there, Rarity,” the portly mare answered with a polite smile. Understandable as she wanted to move things along. “What can I get you?”

“I’ll take two of your red velvets,” Rarity said without a great deal of thought in the matter. It was her usual order, and one of her favorites. “Perhaps a croissant, and a tall glass of holly juice if you would be so kind.”

Rarity did have bits with her this time, but it wouldn’t be polite to pay right away. No, these bits were to pay for Rarity’s orders from last week, not that Mrs. Cake was sad to see them in the slightest. With her tab mostly clear, a tray with delicious pastries and a deep red glass of juice on them, Rarity went to sit herself at one of the little tables outside. It was a bit chilly, but doing so would leave the tables inside open for other ponies to use.

From her seat there, Rarity observed a light colored mare approach Sugarcube Corner, without so much as a scrap of cloth to keep her warm, walking on rather unsteady hooves. She was accompanied on either side by Rarity’s good friends: Pinkie Pie, and Princess Twilight Sparkle. PTS was looking rather harried, but not so much as the mare who looked positively dreadful. The two were walking close to her sides, so she had somepony to lean on, it seemed. What was most odd about this, is that this new mare had clearly finished her growth spurt, but hadn’t any symbol on her rump.

After Twilight, Pinkie, and whomever had vanished inside the restaurant, Twilight zipped back out the door, coming up entirely too close to Rarity, and saying her name urgently, “Rarity!”

Rarity really should have expected something along these lines.

“I don’t know how to deal with this,” Twilight said frantically to the surprised unicorn, caught halfway through a burnished red cupcake, “You know what to do, right? I’ve never assisted a panhandler before. Is that a normal thing for ponies to do? Is it legal for me to do so? She was falling over on her hooves I’m sorry I didn’t—am I being swindled Rarity? Am I being ‘played for a rube?’”

Rarity stared evenly at Twilight until the princess fell silent, then Rarity levitated the uneaten of her two cakes, saying, “Care for a cupcake, darling?”

Twilight took it in her... hooves, oh dear. She must have been seriously bothered by this. “Twilight,” Rarity said deliberately, “I don’t think this is over some two-bit pan-handler. You seem really upset. What’s got you so worried?”

“Well I didn’t... I don’t usually fall prey to panhandlers,” Twilight said sensibly enough, staring at her cupcake, “I learned my lesson with the whole changeling harvest thing. But um... she seemed really sincere. She wasn’t even trying to get bits from me, really. It was like she was trying not to ask me for help.”

“Perhaps she was playing hard to get?” Rarity offered with a wry smile. “Twilight, don’t worry so much over it. So she’s lying, and got a free meal out of you and... Pinkie Pie, so what? Worse things have happened. Most panhandlers are not mind sucking creatures, after all.”

“But that’s not what’s bothering me!” Twilight protested, taking a nibble of her cupcake. Of course that’s not what’s bothering her, she finally admits it. “What I’m worried about is... um... what if she’s telling the truth?”

Well... ...what? That was... Rarity had no idea what Twilight was getting at here.

“Let me get this straight,” Rarity prompted carefully, “That pony in there claims to be destitute,”

“Uh huh,” Twilight said licking at the last of the icing on her hooves.

“And she entreated you for assistance,” Rarity continued.

“Yup,” Twilight said curtly.

“And you’re worried that she really needs your help?”

Twilight blinked.

“Oh,” Twilight blurted, looking up at Rarity in realization, “Oh! No, it’s not that at all. That mare said she was from an entirely different verse than ours, which is patently ridiculous of course, so I figure she’s just trying to weasel a free meal out of me. But... she seemed really sincere. I dunno, I’m just seeing worldwide crises in everything these days.”

Now it was Rarity’s turn to blink.

“So this... verse is... some kind of combat... poetry?” Rarity ventured uneasily.

“Ugh,” Twilight facehooved. “No, not verse like poetry. Verse like universe.”

“I don’t believe I’ve ever heard the universe referred to as just a... verse before,” Rarity said cautiously.

“No, you haven’t,” Twilight said sadly, then with a bit more fire in her eyes, asserted, “But it should be!”

“I c-c-can’t believe I didn’t n-notice this place,” the cream mare said in amazement, shivering there as she sat on her haunches in Sugarcube Corner, wrapped in a blanket there in front of an indoor dining table. “I m-m-must have walked p-p-past it a dozen times. It looks s-so different from below!”

“I’m just surprised you didn’t notice the smell!” Pinkie Pie said, gesturing around the bakery at the amazing smells in here, feeling a sort of weirdly pitying sympathy for this warming mare. Pinkie was getting the distinct impression that this mare was not what you’d call a normal mare, in a normal situation. And that’s coming from Pinkie Pie.

The mare seemed normal, but there was just something so off about everything she said. Like for instance, when Pinkie continued, “Sugarcube Corner makes the best gingerbread this time of year,” trying to get some understandable response out of this mare. “You can smell it all the way across town!”

The mare turned to Pinkie Pie, eyes filled with gratitude and asked her, “How good is a pony’s sense of smell?”

Pinkie blinked.

“Um... good?” she answered uneasily.

The mare laughed lightly at that, which was good... right? “Sorry, you wouldn’t be the one to ask,” she said enigmatically. Pinkie Pie wasn’t sure whether to feel insulted, or gratified. But there was one thing she was coming to understand. This mare was completely unreadable!

A soft chnk turned Pinkie’s ear behind her, and she said a bit nervously, “Oh hey that sounds like the toaster. Be right back, cutie!”

Then she went bouncing off, while the young mare stared wide-eyed and blushing after her. Instead of scrunchy faced and blushing, like a mare her age should have reacted having been called cutie. Pinkie returned shortly, with a tray that had a nice tall glass of grape juice, and one and a half sizzly hot bagels on it. Pinkie’s was a sesame bagel, with lots of strawberry cream cheese. (Pinkie loved that flavor because it was pink, like her!)

And for the mare... one half of a plain bagel. No cream cheese.

“I know it doesn’t look like a lot,” Pinkie said apologetically, “But pleeeeease take little bites, and eat it really slowly. If you really haven’t eaten in days, you might not be able to eat very much at first, but I promise it gets better.”

“I–I’ll be fine I think,” the mare said uncertainly, “It’s only been a few days, but it was getting really cold out there...”

The mare stared at the bagel like a fox stares at a chicken. Like, a fox who’s reeeally hungry, but really doesn’t want to get his eyes pecked out. Then she went and lifted her hoof, and touched it to the bagel for... some reason? Was she trying to... pick it up?

Pinkie put her own hoof to the mare’s hoof, gently pushing it back down to the floor and saying, “No silly, use your tongue!”

The mare looked up Pinkie’s hoof to regard the pony incredulously, saying, “R-really?”

“Yeah, see?” Pinkie said, picking up her bagel and expertly tossing it in the air, just in time to catch it in her mouth as it descended. “Fee?” she said around the puffy egg dough, “Ish gool!”

The rest of her bagel minus one hearty bite landed neatly on Pinkie’s little plate. Pinkie chewed for a while, but the mare was just staring at her. Why wasn’t she eating too?

“What?” Pinkie said self consciously, looking down at her fluffy pink chest. “I have any cream cheese on me? (Not that you could tell! (giggle-snort))”

The mare just shook her head, as though coming out of a daze and said, “N-nothing. I’ll just... I’ll just um...” and she craned her head down and started picking up the bagel like she was a very young foal, wrapping her lips around its curved edge and taking a clumsy bite.

“Oh! I get it!” Pinkie exclaimed with a light bulb, right when Twilight trotted in the bakery, accompanied by Rarity. “Twilight c’mere! I figured it out!” Pinkie squealed over to her friend.

While Rarity observed the mysterious mare with open curiosity from a bit of a distance, Twilight hurried up. Twilight didn’t address the mare at all, but that’s okay, because addressing the mare was pointless, because the mare was completely focused on the strangely difficult process of keeping the bagel from skipping across the plate, while she tried to take bites out of it. Instead, Twilight addressed Pinkie Pie, saying,

“Oh? Really? What did you figure out, Pinkie?”

“Well I’m telling her, not you,” Pinkie waffled at Twilight, pointing at the uneasy looking pink haired mare, “But you’re free to listen to what good old auntie Pinkie Pie has to say!”

“So... tell her, then?” Twilight asked in a bemused tone, not getting the joke at all. Darn.

“You’re just a little foal, aren’t you?” Pinkie said, stretching her head towards the mare, who of course stiffened when she said that. “You must have found a potion,” Pinkie went on confidently, “Or gotten into some bad magic that made you grow up really fast!”

“That’s... what?” Twilight said, tilting her head at the mare. “Why would you think she’s a—”

“Look at her eat!” Pinkie exclaimed, waving a hoof at the mare who seemed to have gotten a bit of bagel down the wrong pipe with how she was spluttering. “I see ponies eat every day, and she’s eating just like a little foal! And walking like one too, did you see her walking? I thought it was because she was cold, but really it was because she met a secret gypsy fortune telling machine that told her she was gonna be big from now on and we gotta find it so we can switch her back!”

And now the filly in a sort of adult’s body was desperately trying to drink from the glass of juice without much luck, but auntie Pinkie Pie knew just what to do. She cradled the glass in the crook of her hoof, tilting it just enough that the filly/mare could get her nose in there.

She became aware of Twilight’s eyes staring intensely at the mare.

“Of course...” Twilight murmured behind Pinkie Pie. “Of course. That’s it! I didn’t even think about that. It’s... it’s okay little filly, you don’t have to make up stories. You’re not in trouble. I need to go research aging spells, so you hold tight and we’ll have you fixed up in a jiffy!”

“No, wait!” the “mare” gasped out, having finally cleared her mouth with the juice, able to speak again now that her mouth wasn’t full of dry bagel. Because ponies can breathe through their mouths, incidentally. That’s totally a thing. Twilight turned to face that mare again, and Pinkie turned to face Twilight, so she could see Twilight turn to face her. So just to make things clear, Twilight -> mystery mare, Pinkie -> Twilight, mystery mare -> no idea because Pinkie wasn’t looking at her.

“I’m not a...” and now the mare was hesitating to speak, after sounding so urgent about it just a second ago! Pinkie had to break her cool to glance over her back at the mare. Seriously, what is this mare’s deal?

“I’m not a filly...” she said finally. Then, “I’m not supposed to be a p-pony. I... I’m acting like a foal because I’m not used to this... this body. I wasn’t a pony, in the other... verse. Yeah, that’s it.”

“Verse?” Rarity said skeptically, glancing at Twilight. Then she added dryly, “Oh, now you’ve got her saying it, do you?”

“It’s a more accurate terminology!” Twilight protested, much to Rarity’s amusement.

“This is so clichéd...” the mare mumbled into her tilted glass of juice.

“Woo hoo!” Rainbow Dash cheered as she shot through the skies. She really got a lot of momentum out of that trick! ...too much momentum.

Dash began to bank around, but it was really putting a strain on her wings. She needed a cross current or something to... there! She caught her wings on the sharp wind and beat them carefully but firmly, managing to slow down to cruising speed.

“Gotta work on the followup to that one,” she said to herself, as the buildings of Ponyville zipped by below her. Rainbow Dash actually talked to herself a lot, up here. Ponies on the ground would think she was weird for it; you really have to experience it to understand just how big and empty the sky is. Considering the close call just now, maybe it really was time she found somepony to cheer her on today.

Alighting on a low hanging cloud, Rainbow gazed around at the grey expanse above her. Boring. She turned her gaze down to the more interesting movements and activities of the ponies below her. Sitting up here on the cloud, it made Rainbow Dash feel like she was queen of the world. You could see everything from up here. From her best friend’s sleeping apple farm, to the forbidding dark foliage of the Everfree, it was all laid out for Dash, like a cloud city below her, except this city was cold, solid and dangerous.

Just the way she liked it.

Her best friend’s tree library was decked out for the season still. Seemed like Twilight finally caved to Rarity’s insistence that they keep the lights up until after wrapup is over. Dash took a trip down to the library, but it didn’t look like Twilight was in. Rainbow Dash alighted on the balcony and looked around.

Dash didn’t know half a thing about the books in it, but this library sure was a pretty building, especially after the tree got that huge makeover once again courtesy of the awesome power of Friendship. It wasn’t exactly the Crystal Empire, but the broad green foliage had never looked healthier, even peeking out from the snow as it was. The ugly gaping wound that had been left after the thing got blown to kingdom come wasn’t entirely gone, but a beautiful faceted crystal had filled the gap, some sort of carbon crystal Twilight brainy thing that made the tree stronger than ever.

Rainbow poked her nose in the second story balcony door and walked further in, looking around to see if that cute little baby dragon was around. Rainbow Dash found Spike busily reshelving books, not in the crazy over the top way Twilight did it, but actually reshelving the books ponies pulled out to read. “Yo, Spike,” Rainbow Dash said, earning a quizzical look from him. “You seen Twilight around?” she asked. “I wanna show somepony my latest trick, and I kind of could use a spotter.”

“A spotter?” he asked in that high, bright voice of his.

“Yeah, a spotter,” Dash responded, “Like when you’re doing a routine and you know... vvvrroooom,” she swept a hoof through the air dramatically.

Spike didn’t seem to pick up on it, and he just said in a practical tone, “Twilight went out to get some writing supplies. She wants me to stay here, and put all the books away, and keep the library neat and tidy.”

“Well, you’re doing a great job!” Rainbow Dash said, despite how unqualified as she was to say it. “I’m sure you’re gonna make her real proud with what you’re doing.” Spike puffed his chest up proudly at that, and if it were any other pony Rainbow Dash would have had a hard time saying that with a straight face, but Twilight? She really would love it. That pony loved books like Pinkie loved cupcakes.

“Anyway, I’m gonna jet, see if I can catch her at the quillery,” Dash said lazily, then hovered up into the air, leaving Spike to his thing, and swooping right out the balcony window she came in.

Well, Twilight wasn’t at the quillery, but Rainbow Dash got a few more bits off her tab, passing on some of her loose pinions. Rainbow was starting to get puzzled now, because she wasn’t sure where any of her regular friends were. Well, Applejack she had a good idea, but the farm was pretty far from here, and it was an awfully big orchard to canvas. But Rainbow hadn’t seen Rarity, Twilight or Pinkie Pie in the last couple of hours or so. She didn’t want to go bother Fluttershy again.

And in fact, she ended up not running into them until the evening, when Rainbow Dash got done with her afternoon cloud packing and saw Rarity and Twilight down there, walking together, alone.

“Hey!” Rainbow said swooping down to her two favorite unicorn friends. Except one wasn’t a unicorn anymore. “Haven’t seen you ponies all day!”

“We had a bit of a holdup with Pinkie Pie,” Rarity said diplomatically. “But good to see you, Rainbow! I trust we’ll have that snow as planned by morning?”

“It’s all set,” Rainbow said agreeably, landing to trot along with her friends. “So you better get somewhere warm before it gets dark. Anyway, what was the holdup?”

“A very odd mare,” Twilight Sparkle said in a bemused tone. “She seems to think she was teleportaled here from an alternate verse.”

“Like a poem?” Rainbow Dash asked curiously.

“She means universe, dear,” Rarity said patiently.

“It’s not a universe, though!” Twilight protested grumpily. “There’s nothing uni- about it. Why did that terminology ever catch on?”

“It is like a poem if you think on it, Twilight,” Rarity said softly, “If you think of our time on this earth as a poem, if her version was different it would be like a different well, ‘verse’.”

“Universe, verse,” Dash said hastily, “Whatever you call it, are you saying she’s an alien?!”

“We’re not sure,” Twilight said frankly. “The mare only has her word, and her rather troubling state of health to vouch for it. She could be just lying to try and get a warm bed to sleep in.”

“But why would she?” Rarity asked, nonplussed by Twilight’s irritation. “She could get a warm bed simply by asking nicely. Nopony would just leave her out in the cold!”

Rarity paused, looked down at her hoof, and added in a somewhat disgruntled manner, “Almost nopony would leave her out in the cold.”

“Well, I haven’t ruled out time travel,” Twilight admitted, “But it’s pretty clear of one thing. This mare isn’t from around here at all.”

“She knows about the shelter, right?” Rainbow Dash asked, her curiosity piqued. “If she was an alien pony, then maybe she wouldn’t know what a shelter is!”

“She writes with an alphabet I’ve never even seen before,” Twilight told Rainbow passionately. “I wish she could tell me more—I mean, she was exhausted, the poor thing.”

“The poor dear couldn’t put up with Twilight’s questioning, and fell asleep on her own hooves,” Rarity said with a teasing tail flick in Twilight’s direction.

“So, just like any other pony in Equestria?” Rainbow quipped back.

“My lectures are not boring!” Twilight insisted. She didn’t have her heart in being outraged though. She knew they didn’t mean it. “Seriously though,” Twilight said, “I’m a little miffed, but the mare needed sleep almost as much as she needed food. Pinkie’s watching over her for now, but all the rest of us can do is get some sleep ourselves, and ask her more about it when she’s feeling better.”

“Sounds like she was in big trouble,” Rainbow said a little worried. “Was she stuck out in the wilderness or something?”

“Why yes,” Rarity said, “She said that she erm... came out in the middle of the wilderness, unaware of what had happened to her, unaware of how to so much as even walk! Yet somehow she persevered, and pined away for days seeking civilization, before she emerged from the White Tail, with Ponyville in sight! She must have come from hundreds of miles away!”

“Actually, she said she searched for a creek in a spiral pattern, then walked downstream,” Twilight said like she thought she was being helpful. “So if she walked in a spiral path at a good trot for two days straight—”

“I thought she couldn’t walk?” Rainbow Dash interrupted. “How does that work?”

“Oh um, heh...” Twilight blushed, “Well then, at a two day um... vaguely spiral shaped plod, assuming she stayed about QTQ feet away from where she last walked, she could have covered perhaps... um...

“Three miles,” Dash said impatiently, “But there’s plenty of places in the White Tail woods that are that far away from a creek! How are we gonna find where she teleportaled in from?”

“That’s... correct,” Twilight said, giving Dash a curious look, “But that’s assuming she didn’t take any breaks while walking.”

“Two miles then,” Dash grumbled, “That’s even harder to find though!”

“She can’t have been going very fast... and her tracks are probably still good,” Twilight mused worriedly.

“Not with this snow coming up!” Dash protested, pointing at the ominous grey cloud layer.

“Okay, how long do we have before her tracks are covered?” Twilight asked Dash hopefully.

“About an hour, maybe?” Rainbow answered uncertainly. “Look, I can just zip over there and see what’s up.”

“I’ll come with you,” Twilight said with determination. “There might be important magical traces still left behind, and at the very least I can leave a beacon on site.”

“Okay, if you think you can keep up,” Rainbow said, lifting up off the ground. “First one to the woods wins!” She zoomed off then, with the princess in hot pursuit, but Twilight had a long way to go before she thought she could compete with the best. Rainbow wasn’t going to lose but she kept a steady, respectable lead on Twilight. They got to the border of the woods, and Twilight caught up, breathing hard.

“You didn’t hafta push it,” Rainbow winked at her, “I know I’m awesome.”

“I just... don’t want to push my luck... with this snow...” Twilight panted, hovering unsteadily in the air with her still unfamiliar wings. “Let’s find her tracks and get moving.”

Neither Rainbow Dash nor Twilight were expert trackers like Fluttershy, but the tracks of a pony clumsily stumbling through the snow were pretty distinctive. The trail made a beeline for Ponyville upon leaving the woods, and sure enough it left the woods right alongside a partially frozen creek bed. Looking up at the grey sky warily, the two ponies landed, and followed the mare’s trail into the woods. Barely a mile in, the tracks diverted to the left away from the creek bed.

“C’mon!” Dash said, darting down the direction of the tracks. Twilight gallopped after, but they didn’t get so much as a quarter mile before Twilight shouted,

“Stop!”

Dash halted, flapping up into the air to face Twilight saying, “What’s up? You see something?”

“I’ve been observing which way the trail curved,” Twilight stated, “And judging by the curvature, we can just cut across to find where she started from.”

“Okay, cool,” Rainbow said, “Which way, princess?”

“That way,” Twilight pointed a hoof to her right, “Follow me, I know the exact orientation. And don’t call me princess.”

“You got it princess,” Rainbow said, sweeping her hoof out for the princess to pass. Twilight glared at her, but a white flake landed on her nose then, and then she just fluttered up into the air, going above the tree line. Rainbow followed, and she and Twilight soared off across the snow covered tree tops.

Not a few minutes later, Twilight backwinged to a halt saying, “Okay, we need to go on hoof from here.”

“Right,” Dash said, descending down after her friend through a gap in the trees to land in the snow between some sleeping bushes. “Where to now?”

“Should be this way still,” Twilight said, “But I want to catch her trail directly now, since I can only estimate the exact epicenter.”

“Great, so we look around for somepony crashing through the bushes?” Dash said, eyeing the foliage around her. The light was still good, but too much longer and this snow would really start to pick up, and they’d be at a loss for any way to find it.

“Over here!” Twilight shouted, getting Dash’s attention. Zipping over there, the pegasus landed beside Twilight before a trail crunched in the snow. It had a noticeable curvature this time, clearly the mare was canvassing the region trying to find out what’s where. Trotting along through the forest, the two seasoned ponies navigated the bushes, fallen trees, and rocks a lot easier than the one who came here before. The mare had been avoiding difficult terrain anyway, in her search, so it was pretty easy to retrace her hoofsteps.

They reached a spot where there was a thick depression with the snow spread around in all directions to make a sort of hollow. “We’re close,” Twilight said intensely, “This must have been one of the times she rested. Hopefully the first one. If we hurry, we should be able to cover her first day’s walk in an hour.”

Twilight wasn’t exaggerating. It was a little risky maybe, but the two ponies made good time as they dashed through the woods at a fast clip. Jumping over logs, and banking on hills, the flakes of snow dusted off their coats even as they worked themselves up enough that not even the scarves and earmuffs were needed. As Rainbow was more intent on Twilight, and Twilight was more intent on the tracks, Rainbow Dash took the rear, so when Twilight came to a sudden halt, Rainbow almost ploughed headfirst into princess posterior!

“What gives, princess?” Rainbow Dash said irritably. “We gotta move. This snow is getting...”

Then she saw what had made Twilight stop in her tracks.

The silent snow fell down all around them, as together the two ponies walked out into a clearing in the woods. It wasn’t a natural clearing, though. All around it were fallen trees, torn up roots and all. It was like a crater from some giant explosion.

“...woah,” Rainbow Dash said in astonishment, gazing around with wide eyes.

The center of the cleared area had the lightest dusting of snow, but only recently fallen snow, not any accumulated over days before. All that old snow, and much of the soil had been blown away, leaving a smooth, circular depression of blackened earth that the two of them walked into. The smell of soot and ozone was heavy in the air. Twilight spread her wings and stopped again, saying, “Hst! Hold on.”

While Dash clustered beside her, Twilight kicked a stone in front of them. It sparked and hissed as it tumbled in front of them, shrouded in eerie blue bolts of lightning, moving in an erratic path as though it was being knocked around by an invisible hoof.

“I think we found where our mare came into this verse,” Twilight said soberly.

Broken Mirrors

Pinkie Pie woke up early in the morning, way earlier than she usually woke up. It didn’t help that she was camped out on the floor of her own room, but there was also a commotion downstairs, somepony knocking at the door and calling out politely if Pinkie Pie is awake in Twilight Sparkle’s voice. Pinkie struggled to her hooves, and stretched catlike, popping out her back and putting that spring back in her tail. Then she hurried downstairs, where the muffled sound of Twilight’s voice could be heard:

“Ohh, I hope she’s awake. I knew I should have waited until dawn I just knew it.”

With a wry smile just to herself, Pinkie Pie pulled open the door and greeted her awkwardly winged unicorn friend. “Hey Twilight!” she said pleasantly, “What’s up?”

“Oh good, you’re up,” Twilight said in quick relief, walking forward as she spoke, until Pinkie had to move backward to avoid the mare running into her. “I hope she slept well, the theory of alternate verses really is fascinating you know, I wonder if she knows anything about the mathematics involved, it’s all supposed to be quite proven to be impossible, of course, and yet here she is. Do you suppose she ran afoul of a powerful wizard, or a princess even, or a queen who banished her here for some awful transgression she committed? Oh, the possibilities are just—”

“Twilight!” Pinkie squeaked desperately, unable to back up anymore, as she’d run her plump rump right into the other wall.

“Huh?” Twilight said vaguely. She backed up, grimacing then, saying, “Sorry, it’s just I’m really excited about the possibilities of the mare actually being from another—do you think she’s available?”

“Well,” Pinkie offered a little more calmly, “Did you get any sleep last night?”

Twilight was trying not to blush as she weakly protested, “Maybe?”

“And what happens after you don’t go to sleep for a looong time?” Pinkie said patiently.

Twilight snorted, saying testily, “I sleep it all off when the crisis is passed? Listen, if you’re worried about me it’s—”

“No, it’s not that,” Pinkie cut in. “It’s just that this filly had a crisis last week, and she didn’t sleep for days, either! So... she’s probably gonna be sleeping a while.”

“...oh. Well, I can wait,” Twilight said, with an embarassed, yet disappointed smile.

“Okay,” Pinkie said, trotting a few steps away from her friend. Turning over her back to look at her though, Pinkie said uncertainly, “Can I get ya anything?”

“Oh, I’m fine Pink—” Cue her princessly stomach to start grumbling.

“How about I go start cooking up some cinnamon rolls?” Pinkie said.

While the day dawned, and Twilight waited for her cinnamon roll, Pinkie kept glancing to the back area nervously. The Cakes lived back there, along with their two adorable little foals. The twins hadn’t been a problem just yet, but if they were too rambunctious, they might wake up the mare, and they were always rambunctious in the morning. Nevertheless there wasn’t much she could do about it, so Pinkie used Twilight’s visit as motivation to get an early start, getting things warming, and unwrapping previously prepared pastries to start out sales in the morning, while the bakers got going on the next round. She made sure to start warming a pot of canned soup, even though the bakery didn’t sell soup, for obvious reasons.

The twins were the ones who woke up their parents, from the sounds of it. But maybe it was the wonderful smells that woke up the four of them. The noise wasn’t too bad though, and the new mare didn’t come downstairs. She was probably sleeping pretty soundly. Twilight Sparkle got her cinnamon roll, and that was especially important because if Pinkie knew anything about Twilight, she probably hadn’t eaten last night either. Twilight was calmer and fuller that way, watching Celestia’s morning sun shining over the horizon, through the assortment of tarts and pastries on display trays in the window.

Pinkie found herself starting to get worried about the mare upstairs again. What if she had woken up and was too shy to come down? What if she woke up and didn’t know where she was, and got really scared? So Pinkie put aside her baking duties for a moment, tossed her apron up onto a hook and trotted over to Twilight.

“Enjoy your breakfast?” Pinkie asked hopefully. Twilight nodded with a grateful smile, some sugary glaze still clinging to her muzzle.

“Thanks Pinkie, I hadn’t realized how hungry I was.”

“No problem,” Pinkie answered brightly, “Say, I was gonna go check on the mare just to make sure she’s doing okay. You wanna come with?”

“Would I!” Twilight declared excitedly, jumping straight up off her haunches. “The mare’s point of entry is just crawling with a kind of magic I’ve only read about before, extraspatial harmonics with a negative frequency! It’s what you would observe in theory if wormholes existed, and I’m starting to think that maybe they do! Do you—”

“Uhh, could we ask her, maybe?” Pinkie asked anxiously. “I’m a little rusty on my theoretical physics.”

“Oh, right, yes. Ask the dimensional traveller, that would be a good idea,” Twilight stated. “So... lead the way?”

“You can count on me!” Pinkie cheered (quietly), and went bouncing lightly for the kitchen. When Twilight followed her that way, instead of going upstairs, Pinkie turned and blushed embarassedly, saying, “Sorry, Twilight. I was just going to get her some soup. Be right back!” Twilight waited there at the base of the stairs, until Pinkie had poured out a bowl of salty vegetable broth, closing the lid on the serving bowl and placing it and a glass of water on a tray on her rump for safe transport.

“Okay!” Pinkie whispered, sidling up next to her friend. Pinkie led the way up the stairs to her own room then. Pinkie Pie gets to live in the cupcake, by the way!! Twilight followed up the stairs, and at the top, Pinkie carefully nosed open the door she’d left partially ajar. Her room was still dark with the curtains drawn, but Pinkie could vaguely see Gummy in his bathtub/terrarium, and the sleeping figure of the mare still lying in Pinkie Pie’s bed.

“One sec!” Pinkie whispered to Twilight, and then carefully froghooved into the room. The mare’s breathing was even, and she looked very peaceful there in Pinkie’s bed. But... maybe the mare didn’t have to stay asleep, since Twilight was waiting so patiently? And it had been like ten hours, so... it would probably be good if she tried to eat something else, by now.

Instead of waking her right away, Pinkie partially pulled open the curtains, and set the soup down on a table beside her, opening the lid enough to let the smell pervade the room. Then Pinkie gestured Twilight into the room, and led her over to where Gummy was sleeping. Or... whatever it is that he does. He stared, blinking slowly up at the both of them, as Pinkie whispered, “Hey there Gummy! You want Twilight to feed you, little guy?”

“But—the mare?” Twilight asked in confusion, looking over to the lump on the bed.

“Just let the soup do its magic,” Pinkie whispered assuringly, “We’ll give Gummy his food and then she’ll be all ready to wake up.”

Twilight nodded approvingly, saying quietly, “That’s very astute, Pinkie.”

Pinkie smiled and nodded, making a mental note to think of fun things to do with that incredible word. Astute! Stootey... toot? Right, so Twilight got to drop little fake jelly worms into the tubrarium, where Gummy snapped them right up. Once he wasn’t chasing the worms anymore, she and Pinkie went back over to the bed. Nudging the mare’s side gently, Pinkie whispered, “Wake up, sleepyhead!”

“Mhm?” the mare mumbled, sleepily opening her vivid blue eyes. “Oh—” she quickly inhaled, looking down at her hooves in surprise, and clutching the covers. “Oh—” she repeated, staring at herself dumbfoundedly, and then joyfully. “Oh, I’m okay!” she said, eyes closing in pure, sweet, unadultrated bliss.

“You want some soup, miss Okay?” Pinkie said, gesturing at the bowl to the mare. The mare looked wide-eyed at Pinkie, then looked at the bowl and with a flat expression said confusingly enough,

“Oh, a lid. Of course.”

But then she blinked and sat up more, looking at Pinkie with shimmering eyes, saying, “Thank you so much. That would be...”

And then her eyes kind of snapped to where Twilight was standing just behind Pinkie. Biting her bottom lip, openly staring, yeah this mare had a fan crush so bad on the new princess. The mare blushed heavily then, and tore her gaze away from Twilight, saying unsteadily to Pinkie Pie “T-thank you so much.”

Pinkie just removed the lid with the edge of a hoof, saying hopefully, “Well go ahead, dig in. It shouldn’t be too hot.”

The mare looked at the bowl, and then Pinkie, and then leaned towards the bowl, and then looked at Pinkie again.

“How do I...” she said uncertainly.

“Do you not have soup in your native verse?” Twilight cut in with tense curiosity, drawing the mare’s entire attention again. Twilight was trying to sound like she knew all about that sort of thing, but it was kind of a silly assumption to make. Still, what was going on with this mare?

The mare blinked at Twilight like a deer in a hunter’s sight, then replied in utter confusion, “What? No, we have soup. I just... how do I eat it?”

“Like this?” Pinkie tried, pantomiming taking a sip of soup right above it, going “Mmm, nomnomnom!”

The mare just looked at her blankly.

“So I just—” the mare said, tilting her head down, and looking at it uncertainly, then just... sticking her tongue in the bowl? She gave a disapproving hst at that, pulling her tongue back and staring at the soup hungrily.

“You don’t have bowls in your native verse, of course!” Twilight crowed triumphantly. “You see, a bowl is a concave receptacle for hot liquids and cereal, that—”

“I know what a bowl is,” the mare snapped frustratedly. “But how do I use it?”

She eeped then, and hid her nose under a hoof, looking at Twilight again.

Twilight blinked at her. “The... bite grip?” she tried uncertainly.

“Thank you! Yes. What’s that?” the mare exclaimed eagerly, her nervousness suddenly forgotten again.

“There’s a lip on the side...” Twilight said, gesturing vaguely with a hoof, “You bite that, so that you can lift the bowl.”

The mare pulled back and looked at the bowl’s lip, realization dawning in her eyes. Biting down on the rim of the bowl, she successfully raised it up into the air. She spilled a little soup, but Pinkie was going to wash her sheets pretty soon anyway. With a paranoid amount of care, the mare took a little drink.

Putting the bowl down, she said thoughtfully, “It’s not very convenient if you can’t talk while holding it...”

“Some ponies hold the bowl in their forehooves,” Twilight suggested, “But it’s common etiquette to only pick up the bowl when you’re drinking soup. With your mouth, I mean.”

The princess strode a few steps closer to the mare, looking at her looking at the bowl in fascination, in fascination. “So, they have bowls in your verse,” Twilight said in a hinting tone of voice, as the mare attempted another sip, “But they have a different design?”

The mare had to pause to put the bowl down again. “Oh, they’re the same design,” she said, with an even, blue eyed gaze at Twilight. “But they have a different use for the lip of the bowl, what you call the bite grip.”

“Really? What’s that?” Twilight asked curiously.

The mare stared at Twilight and opened her mouth as if to speak. Then, she blinked. Then, she looked down thoughtfully at the bowl again, mumbling, “I don’t... know...”

“I don’t suppose you could take care of her up here for a bit,” Pinkie said to Twilight, with an uneasy glance downstairs. Nothing smelled like it was burning, but she wasn’t sure if the Cakes were out there watching stuff yet. “I still have some things baking that I need to go check, and still some setup to do.”

“No problem, Pinkie,” Twilight said with a happy smile, “And thank you for this chance to get to know her better!”

The mare stopped in fumbling with the glass of water to look at Twilight nervously. Which was strange, because it was usually Pinkie Pie who made new ponies nervous—not that she tried to do so. Twilight was always the one who calmed them down and got them to climb down off of the flagpoles. So that had to be what was happening here, even if the mare seemed totally comfortable with Pinkie, but nervous around Twilight. Pinkie was probably just reading things wrong again.

So she left them, calling over her shoulder, “Mi casa su casa! Anything you need, just go ahead and use it.” Then she went trotting lightly down the stairs, returning to the downstairs kitchen to resume her incredibly exciting routine baking and setup procedures. First, Pinkie checked the—

Twilight Sparkle was at a loss. What do you ask an extradimensional traveller? Twilight didn’t want to seem snobbish, but she didn’t want to seem ignorant. Heavens knows, Equestria must have seemed a backwards, primitive verse, from the perspective of one who had mastered travelling between them. If it even was possible to travel between them, that is—but what else would explain that strange phenomenon the mare led them to, by her hoofprints in the snow? It couldn’t be a trick; performance art and theoretical physics just don’t mix! But... what to ask her?

“D-do you think I could um...” the mare said a bit desperately, leading Twilight to notice that she was unsuccessfully attempting to brace the drinking cup between her hooves in order to drink from it.

“Oh, no problem miss!” Twilight said pleasantly, levitating the cup and tipping it slightly forward that the mare could get a grip on it with her teeth. The mare stared at that in a frightened sort of fascination, but didn’t bite it. Did she not use cups the same way?

“It doesn’t have a bite grip, but it’s lighter so you should have no problem taking it in your teeth,” Twilight said. “Just firmly brace them, without biting down hard, and they should tighten reflexively at the weight on them.”

“I uh, drank from a cup before. It’s just I’ve never seen your magic,” the mare said, sounding superbly starstruck. “Is it—what does it feel like to do that?”

“To lift a cup?” Twilight asked uncertainly. The mare nodded.

“It’s um... I just wrap my magic around the cup and lift it,” Twilight said uneasily, “It’s kind of hard to explain to an earth pony—um, not that you’re stupid I mean, just you haven’t had a horn to deal with. It even took me a while to figure out how to just... lift a cup, but it was a long time ago, and I was a very little filly. Do they not have unicorns, where you’re from?”

“No, they don’t... they don’t have any of this,” the mare said, and then she at last took a drink. Twilight released her magic, and the mare spluttered as the cup’s weight tilted against her teeth, and would have lost it, and the water again, were Twilight not already ready with her horn.

“Careful!” Twilight said, levitating the water back into the cup, and the cup over to the mare again. “Sorry, I thought you had it.”

“Just... didn’t know you were going to let go of the cup,” the mare said equally awkwardly, “I didn’t know the um... common etiquette for that, if you hold it the whole time or not.”

“It really is fascinating how your verse’s ponies are so different from our own,” Twilight said, as the mare drained the cup completely dry, without once spraying the water all the way across the room in surprise.

Twilight placed the empty glass down on the tray, as the mare shyly smiled at her and said, “Thanks... Twilight. Or do you prefer Princess Twilight, or Twilight Sparkle?”

“Twilight is fine. We’re all friends here,” Twilight said bashfully, “And no need to thank me. You certainly aren’t going to be at your best in such a strange situation. Tell me, in your world you have no unicorns, and no use of bite grips. From what I’ve seen here, you seem to want to manipulate everything with your hooves. Is that how you do it, in your old world: stop and lift everything with your hooves?”

At that question, the mare gave Twilight the most strangely anxious look, and said meekly, “In my world, I don’t... have hooves.”

O.K. recalibrating here. “You don’t have—huh?? But... you do have hooves!” Twilight protested, pointing at the mare’s pretty cream hooves. Pretty filthy, at any rate.

“I sort of... changed into a pony,” the mare said, wincing as though she were squeezing the words out of a vice grip. “I don’t know how, or why, but I just... woke up like this. I used to be a... um... do you know what humans are?”

“Vaguely,” Twilight said, waving a hoof, “Mythical Monsters Made Manifest mentioned them, once. I think they’re native to Zebri—wait, you were a human?”

Instead of answering, the mare just stared at Twilight open-mouthed again. About what? If she’s such a huge fan, then surely she knows about Twilight’s prolific reading habits!

“I’m sorry it’s... yes, I was a human,” the mare said, shaking her head abashedly. “I must have transformed... that’s why I said I wasn’t supposed to be a pony.”

“Oh my,” Twilight said, her thoughts racing! “You really are in trouble, then! Not only did the transfer process take away your home and loved ones, but also thrust you into a strange form, totally alien to you!”

The mare grimaced as a sort of smile, and said, “No, it’s not so—” but Twilight was on a roll, declaring proudly,

“Well, worry not! You won’t have to be a pony for very much longer, if I have anything to say about it. You’ll be back to your old self before you know it! I’ve already got at least onetwo ideas for new spells that might be able to lead you safely back home, restoring your human form, all highly theoretical of course. I just hope your transformation won’t give you a negative opinion of ponies in the future.”

“I really don’t mind, I just...” the mare glanced down at her hooves again. Probably loathing them. It would be just like if Twilight woke up with a... a beak one day!

“It just takes some getting used to,” the mare said in forced pleasantness, trying to make Twilight feel better by looking at her with an honest smile. But it was clear this mare was suffering silently.

“I’m sure I could get you back quicker, if you tell me about the process by which you came here,” Twilight said hopefully, “Does your verse have dimensional travel as a commonplace thaumology? You clearly didn’t come through with any equipment, or in the most ideal of situations. Are you an explorer of alternate verses? Or a diplomat, perhaps? Was there a terrible accident in the laboratory that—”

“No, no, I’m just... I’m not anyone special,” the mare insisted, holding both her hooves up defensively still laying there in Pinkie Pie’s bed. “Nobody knows me, or c-cares, I’m pretty much nobody. Nothing special about me, and c-certainly I wouldn’t have access to technology that could do... this.”

“Were you a test subject of an experiment?” Twilight tried.

“Sometimes I wonder about that,” the mare grumbled quietly, but then looked at Twilight and added in a normal tone of voice, “No, I’m just... someone. With nothing anyone would remember about.”

“Then how did you get here?” Twilight asked utterly perplexed.

The mare looked at Twilight, face full of worry.

“If you tell me, then I can get you back, and you can return to your normal life,” Twilight said insistently. “That’s why I’m asking, because I want to help you!”

The mare’s eyes darkened at Twilight’s words, and she said in a curiously calm voice, “I don’t remember anything. I just went to sleep in my bed, and woke up face first in the snow, as a pony. It’s really okay though—”

“Oneirology isn’t unheard of for its influence on boundaries of reality,” Twilight mused, “But there are pretty hard limits to what a dream can project. I’m sure you’ve pinched yourself at least once in the past week of searching for Ponyville.”

The mare blinked at her, saying, “Uh, how does a pony pinch ...herself?”

“...by nipping your own arm?” Twilight replied confusedly. “It was just a bit of bad humor. But I can work with that. Somehow, your dream state must have become empowered with reality warping properties, that landed you here, as a pony. Yes, that could hm... well, it’s... something, at any rate.”

The mare huffed a frustrated sigh. Wait, frustrated? “Never mind,” she said glumly, “I just wanted you to know that I’m okay. B-being a pony.”

Why was the mare being so polite about it? Twilight raised an eyebrow at her, but decided not to comment further. Especially not when the mare then decided to ask, “Oh, do you know if there’s a mirror in here?”

“I think so, but this isn’t my room, so no promises,” Twilight said cautiously. “Why do you need a mirror?”

“I have been able to see myself a little bit in water, and windows,” the mare said, “But I haven’t seen a mirror yet. I’m just curious what I really look like... as a pony.”

“Well alright. I’ll see if there’s anything in her closet,” Twilight said contentedly, swinging the closet door open in her magic, “Pinkie has that sort of free spirit attitude, you see. She did say our home was her home, so it should be fine.”

When Twilight poked her nose in the closet, she found a rather large, swivelling full length mirror in there. Because it was Pinkie Pie. While Twilight rolled it out, the mare climbed down off the bed.

She immediately slid down on her rump like a foal, before carefully picking herself up onto all fours. Standing and lifting her head, the mare seemed stable, yet looked curiously at each leg, lifting them to test her sense of balance. Twilight wasn’t sure, but she did seem to recall that humans were bipedal, like minotaurs, so this must have been an extremely unnerving experience for the mare. But, she did ask to see a mirror, and it couldn’t hurt, right?

“Okay, if you’re sure about this,” Twilight told the pink haired mare, Twilight’s magenta hued magic sliding the mirror over their way. “But I want you to know,” Twilight nervously added, “That you are very aesthetically pleasing as a pony, even if you are a bit filthy, currently. It might disturb you to see this, but I assure you that you look very normal, even if it might seem strange to you.”

“I think I’ll manage,” the mare said with a shaky chuckle. “So um...” she tried to tilt her head around to see in the mirror, “Bring it over here, please?”

“Okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Twilight said reluctantly, presenting the mirror for the mare. Sure enough, the mare got very quiet upon seeing herself, revealing neither happiness nor sadness about what she saw. The mare lifted a hoof, then looked at it, then looked at the mirror again in a dazed sort of shock.

“I’m Twinkleshine, without a horn,” she said flatly, sounding disgusted yet amazed. She planted her hoof down again, continuing to silently regard herself in the mirror.

Twilight herself raised an eyebrow at the mare’s choice of words. “I wouldn’t say that,” Twilight argued. “Her snout isn’t as rounded as yours, and she has oval eyes, I’m pretty sure—wait, how do you know Twinkleshine?”

“Well, I’ve... seen her, um...” the mare said, pupils narrowing while Twilight squinted at her.

Feeling quite a bit peeved, Twilight seethed, “Are you seriously that much of a crazed fan, that you even have to stalk my friends in—”

Twilight’s brain screeched to a halt.

“How do you know Twinkleshine?” Twilight repeated at the mare, Twilight’s concern quickly growing, as she said, “How do you know my name? How do you know anything? You’re a human mare from another world! Another verse! An entirely different reality! How did you know about Sugarcube Corner? How did you know Pinkie Pie, and me? How could you be a fan of us, if you live in an entirely separate reality from our own? Were you spying on us across the dimensions? How? Were you sent here intentionally, to target us? Why would your verse want to target the Elements of Harmony, if not for malicious intent! Do you have that capability? What are you going to do to us?!

“How did you know my name?” Twilight demanded of the mare, “How did you know my name?!”

Absolutely terrified, the mare barely managed to squeal, “Twilight, the mirror—!”

(crack)

The mirror cracked, which is to say, the entire mirror cracked, not just the glass. The glass itself shattered and fell, as Twilight’s magic went numb at the realization that she’d just destroyed what had once been her best friend’s mirror. The frame broke into two pieces as it landed, and Twilight desperately grabbed what remained, to little avail.

It was enough to shock Twilight out of her panic though, and she shook her head at the mirror, telling it, “I’m so sorry, Pinkie.” She really hoped it didn’t have sentimental value.

Twilight turned to look at the mare evenly then, who’d fallen on her rump again and backed against the wall. It all made so much sense now. Twilight didn’t know how she did it, but somehow this mare had them all fooled. It had been so convincing, too! But now that the flaw in the mare’s argument came forth, it was obvious that what Twilight had discovered was, while an incredible feat, also an incredible ruse. Still, for her to go to this much effort...

“We’re not gods,” Twilight told the mare somberly. “We’re just ponies, who happened to be at the right place at the right time. Yes I have wings, and yes I did save the Crystal Empire, but not alone, and not just with those 12. It’s perfectly alright if you want to respect and admire me and my friends, for what we’ve achieved as ponies, but can’t you see this is going too far?”

“What...?!” the mare squeaked in frightened confusion.

“This!” Twilight gestured at the mare’s fallen form in general, while summoning a basket to deposit the glass shards in. “You went and starved yourself out in the wilderness, and you constructed some sort of highly advanced magical... prank, just to get my attention? Just to impress me? I’m a princess, not some kind of deity, missy! Why couldn’t you just... take the train to Ponyville, and talk to me? You think your magic can’t impress me, just by showing it to me?”

The mare just blinked at her, speechless.

“This is about Trixie, isn’t it?” Twilight said a little bitterly. “You think that it’s just a big game of one-upmareship, where you have to be bigger and better than her, or I’ll just be a big snob! Is that what you think?”

“I don’t—a snob? Trixie?!” the mare said, her eyes tearing up despite herself, as she braced unsteadily on her forehooves. “What are you saying?”

“I want you to get your friends,” Twilight told her cooly, pulling the mare up to her face in her magic, “And have them all report to me at the library. No more grandstanding, no more risky stunts, no more lying to the pony you’re trying to impress. Get all your fellow fans to the library, and I’m going to have a very long talk with you about the consequences of putting a pony up on a pedestal. Being a fan is one thing, but what they did to you, or you to yourself, is entirely unacceptable.”

“How am I supposed to do that?!” the mare wept as she hung there helplessly, “I don’t even know how I got here! I don’t even know any fans; how would they all fit in the library?”

“I didn’t mean all my fans,” Twilight said rolling her eyes at the struggling filly. Well, technically mare, but she was surely acting like a filly. “Just the ones who orchestrated this. Don’t tell me that you worked alone.”

“I... worked alone?” the mare parroted, just like she wasn’t supposed to do, and that got Twilight’s hackles up enough. Then, the mare said, “Orchestrated? I didn’t orchestrate anything!” and before Twilight could rebuke her for lying again, the mare exclaimed in tearful exasperation, “How do you even know about the show?!”

Twilight took a breath, then noticed her mouth was hanging open, and closed it. The... what? She opened her mouth to speak again and... what? “What show?” she asked, suspiciously. “Are you talking about a stage play?”

“N-no, more like a movie,” the mare wibbled.

Twilight shook her head, saying, “Are you asking for movie rights? Because there are channels for that sort of thing, that don’t involve pretending to be a lost traveller from another verse.”

“I am a traveller from another verse!” the mare bawled, intensely disquieted. “I have a s-show that I watch, that’s like a movie and you’re all in it! That’s how I found you! I mean that—that’s probably why I got sent here, because... because I wanted you to be real!”

“Okay, let’s just...” Twilight rubbed alongside her horn tiredly, “Let’s just start over again.”

“Twilight, what did you do?!” Pinkie Pie shrieked, as she burst in through the doorway.

“Oh, the mirror?” Twilight said with a nervous grin, “Sorry I got a little too—”

“Not the mirror!” Pinkie shouted, launching herself to tackle the mare right out of the grasp of Twilight’s magic, “Her!”

Twilight looked at the mare that Pinkie was hugging, who was now crying into her friend’s fluffy pink mane. The mare looked really upset, like she couldn’t stop her tears from coming. A bitter edge to her breathing, as if somepony had made her... cry.

Guilt welled up in Twilight like inky black oil from depths of the earth. “I’m so sorry,” Twilight said softly, but that seemed to upset the mare even more! “I didn’t mean to—” Twilight said, “This is serious, I mean... I just wanted to impress on you... I was just...”

And now Twilight was beginning to feel tears in her eyes. “Ohh!” she stomped in consternation, and lit up her horn. Winking out with a bright magenta flash, Twilight appearing no less than 300 feet away from Sugarcube Corner, before she decided to run away on her own hooves.

While Twilight had her very fascinating and eventful breakdown outside, Pinkie Pie found that the mare calmed quickly, once Twilight left.

“She’s a lot scarier in person,” the mare mumbled into Pinkie’s shoulder.

“There there,” Pinkie patted her on the back, “It’s all right.” She pulled the mare to arm’s length, smiling at her and saying, “You doing okay now?”

“I’m sorry,” the mare said, guiltily looking away from Pinkie Pie. Huh?

“What are you—” Pinkie started, but the mare looked at Pinkie Pie again, pleadingly this time, saying,

“I’m just not... it’s just so different! I’m not used to... being this way. I didn’t think I would feel so s-scared about it. I couldn’t even think! I...”

“You’re talking about how you were a big, brave humin, instead of a timid little pony, huh?” Pinkie suggested. The mare started to shake her head, then bit her lip, and switched to nodding her head. Huh.

“Yeah, that’s it. I’m just... ponies are really brave, though,” the mare said shakily. “Ponies are really brave,” she repeated more steadily, “And I’m just so much more...”

Lifting her hoof up between her and Pinkie, the mare rubbed the crook of the cannon against her cheek, and tried a smile. Pinkie didn’t know what to do. She left her to her own devices, backing up to give the mare some more space. Maybe it was a bad thing to do, but Pinkie Pie just wasn’t sure what to do at this point. Hug? Dance? Play? Party? Or just... not do anything? Could you do that?

Laughing nervously at the moisture she could see on her arm’s fur, the mare said, “I’m just so much more emotional now. I haven’t been able to cry in... in a good long time. And now I c-can’t not cry.”

“You want ponies to make you cry?” Pinkie declared in utter confoundment. A pony who didn’t like smiling? She’s happy because she’s sad?

She seemed calmer at least, as the mare said to Pinkie in a terribly solemn voice, “It’s a lot worse, when you have so many tears inside, and you just can’t let them out.”

That... hit Pinkie a little harder than it should have. She didn’t let it show, though. As Pinkie spoke with the mare that morning about silly, light hearted and inconsequential things, she wanted to know more about what this mare went through, but the mare really didn’t want to talk about it. And Pinkie Pie of all ponies could understand that.

So, leaving the mare to take a long needed shower, after teaching the mare how to take a long needed shower, Pinkie just had to get to baking and wondering. Baking, and wondering if the mare would be okay, and if there was something really, really wrong with her, and maybe Pinkie was wondering just a little bit about herself. When was the last time she cried? Not just to be funny. Like, really, for real cried? Pinkie couldn’t even...

She couldn’t even remember.

The sounds of the open market were starting to drift around, as ponies arrived and set up their stands. It was a quiet hubbub that gave Applejack that little fluttery feel inside, the excitement of starting another day with four barrels full of cider and a whole array of treats, preserves and apple butter, with good expectation that it’d all be sold come the afternoon.

She was just warming up the kettle of spiced cider when Twilight came along. Applejack would have tipped her hat at her friend, but the farm pony’d taken to wearing a wool stocking cap this time of year, and that didn’t really have a brim to tip.

“Howdy Twilight,” she told the approaching royalty.

“Oh, hello Applejack,” Twilight said in a seriously glum tone, her breath fogging the chilly morning air. Twilight Sparkle didn’t look like she was in the best of moods, so maybe the question Applejack had in mind wasn’t the best question to ask. You didn’t gain nothing by keeping it bottled up inside though, and Applejack reckoned Twilight came here to talk about it anyways.

“How you been?” Applejack asked all friendly-like.

“Just peachy,” Twilight drawled unconvincingly, not looking Applejack in the eye. “Listen, can I ask a favor of you?”

“Cider’s 2 bits a glass,” Applejack said with a hopeful smile, “Take it better part of an hour to warm though. It don’t taste right if you heat it up fast.”

“Not the cider! I—oh. Ha ha,” Twilight failed to laugh, rolling her eyes. “No, I just need your advice.”

“Ain’t that what friends are for,” Applejack mused, kicking a leg out to lean against her apple cart. “Now what can I do you for?”

“Well, see, there’s this mare,” Twilight said. “And I can’t tell whether she’s trying to hurt me or not, or whether I’m... accidentally hurting her. I really felt like we were connecting with each other, and then everything got out of hoof, and now I’m not sure if I should even approach her again. I don’t know if I should pursue her and try to mend our relationship, or just leave her alone, like she seems to want.” Glancing aside nervously, Twilight said, “I know you don’t want to be the go-to pony for loyalty stuff, but I really just need an outside opinion on this, and I think you’d have a better idea of what’s going on than me.”

“Look, ah don’t judge, Twilight,” Applejack said in a calming tone, “You cain be with whoever you wanna be with, and ain’t nopony got any right to criticise, just because she’s a mare. But it’s up to her to choose to be your special somepony.”

“I’m really not in the mood for jokes today, Applejack,” Twilight said in exasperation.

“About askin’ me a favor?” Applejack returned, confused. Twilight Sparkle squinted at Applejack cautiously, but the farm mare just looked at her with concern and Twilight didn’t say any more on the subject.

Instead, Twilight shook her head lightly and explained, “Pinkie Pie took in a homeless mare yesterday. It was all very sudden, but she seemed to think that the mare was special somehow.” It sounded like Twilight was getting into lecture mode, so Applejack busied herself getting a few more sticks in the cider’s fire, while turning an ear towards Twilight speaking at length of course.

“And she was special, it turns out,” Twilight said, “She has no record, no history, not even a name. Never seen in any neighboring towns, according to Pinkie at least, this mare just... wandered out of the woods yesterday, half frozen, starved and exhausted. She— she claimed to be from another world, Applejack. Another verse! From a totally different plane of existence!

“I thought she was just buttering us up at first,” Twilight continued fervently, “To get a free meal or something. And then I thought she was one of those crazy fans that not even Princess Celestia can get off our tails. So to prove that she was lying, and not really from a different reality, Rainbow Dash and I went to where the mare said she’d come from. Before the snow last night, it was pretty easy to follow her trail.”

Twilight shook her head, saying, “There was a portal there, though! Or there certainly used to be. There was a localized magical disaster! Something blew a hole in that forest 300 feet wide, and there was a magical signature there that I found completely unrecognizable. Me! The laws of physics were practically head over heels in that... that crater. So obviously she was telling the truth! And somehow she... came from another world.”

Twilight fiddled on her forehooves at that point, so Applejack said, “Fraid ah don’t see what the problem is here, Twi. You talked to Dash, the mare’s tellin’ the truth, so what’s the holdup? You really think she came from another world?”

“No, and that’s the problem!” Twilight retorted with a stomp. “I mean, yes... and no. I don’t know what happened in the woods, half a week ago, but something big definitely happened. I wrote to the princess last night. I think we’re going to have a whole team of arcanists studying the thing! But...

“Certain parts of the mare’s story just don’t check out,” Twilight said worriedly. “She knew us, Applejack. She knew my name before I even told her. How would she know that, if she was an entire world away from us? I don’t mean to be modest, but we’re not that famous! Are we?”

“I don’t rightly know, Twilight,” Applejack replied. “That hocus pocus stuff is a bit over mah head. But what did she say about it?”

“I tried to ask... okay, I was moderately upset with her, and tried to... get her to confess to setting this all up as some sort of elaborate prank,” Twilight said with a guilty wing lift that would’ve done Rainbow Dash proud. “And she just got so upset... I may have freaked out a little bit, and maybe I kind of... made her cry. So...”

“So you wanna know how to apologize to the mare without scarin’ her again,” Applejack said evenly.

“S...something like that, yes,” Twilight admitted, “But what I wanted to ask you was if I’m being unreasonable about all this. I mean, there are two explanations here, both of which are completely ludicrous. The first explanation is that the mare is some sort of strange creature who portalled here from another dimension using heretofore unknown thaumology, coincidentally got changed into a pony while doing so, and has no idea of how it occurred. And this other world has been somehow monitoring my life all the way back to Canterlot.

“The other explanation...” Twilight sighed, “Is that there is a group of fans of the Elements who are so crazy about us, that they developed an entirely novel magical field which has never been seen before in the arcane community, just to impress me more than Trixie did. Upon achieving this phenomenon, they then had one of their members wander in the forest for two days as if totally lost, in the middle of winter without any protection, just so that she could pretend to be a visitor from another world.”

“So... you think it’s crazy that she might be from another world,” Applejack said carefully, “But you think it’s crazy that she’d pretend to be, on account of what she’d done to convince you?”

“That’s about the sum of it,” Twilight said with a grateful smile. “I’m really sorry to dump on you like this, it’s just... I really need to figure this out, because if it’s the former then we might have a crisis on our hooves, and if it’s the latter, then we have a group of dangerously unstable ponies out there, wielding a completely unknown form of magic. Should I dispatch scientific teams, or law enforcement?”

“Well, eum...” Applejack scratched the ground musing, “What’d she say to get your attention when she tracked you down? Somethin’ all fanfillyish?”

“No, she... she didn’t approach us,” Twilight said thoughtfully. “Pinkie directed my attention towards her, and if I didn’t know better, I’d think she wasn’t looking for us at all.”

Applejack shook her head, saying, “Then her intentions ain’t obvious one way or another. Ya got two explanations alright, and neither of ‘em make a lick of sense. Don’t matter how dangerous it is then, since you cain’t tell what that mare thinks of you. You gotta talk to her, and learn more about her, but ya gotta have some tact, and... just... don’t let her rile you up. You want me to try talkin’ to her? You know how you can get all, kinda... well... y’know.”

“I suppose the first mistake was leaving me alone with somepony,” Twilight said with a morose, flat-eared sigh.

“Now don’t be like that, Twilight,” Applejack set an arm on her friend’s back... wings. Right. Wings now. “Somethin’ got you riled up, and I don’t care if’n it happens every Tuesday, you ain’t gonna get riled up without a good reason. Now I got customers comin’ but if you and this mare, what’sername?”

“I—I don’t exactly know yet,” Twilight admitted nervously.

Applejack continued steadily, saying, “So this... mare and you can come have dinner with me, and I’ll do mah best to suss her out, and keep both of you on the same page. That sound good?”

Twilight smiled at Applejack, saying, “Thanks... I really am worried about it, but it’s not like the world is going to end in half of a day. I should probably get some sleep, anyway.”

Twilight did look kind of frazzled and sleepless like she gets sometimes. So Applejack smiled back and said, “There, see? Get some sleep and ah know you’ll have no problem with yourself.”

“Right as usual, AJ,” Twilight smiled. “So, dinner at your place, I suppose?”

“Wouldn’t have it any other way,” Applejack heartily agreed. “If there’s one thing that can bring out the best in a pony it’s a good, home cooked meal!”

“I better hold my appetite then,” Twilight said, quickly licking her lips, “But I don’t suppose a mug of cider will fill me up too much.”

Hovering her cheek above the surface of the cauldron, Applejack said, “Could be hotter temperature-wise, but it’s sure to warm your heart.”

Twilight laughed freely, and bought herself a tasty mug of cider to boot. Then, she went striding off to the library, to get a nice, good, long nap. When her counter spell woke her up with a gentle dinging noise, Twilight felt... marginally more pony than when she went to sleep. One of the frustrating things to find out about being a princess is you actually couldn’t cut back any more on sleep, even if you could do more while awake.

Twilight slid out from under her covers post-nap and rolled smoothly to her hooves, stretching like a cat until her back popped, then looking out the window at the grey sky overhead. So hard to tell the time of day, this time of year, but Twilight’s internal clock gave her a fairly good idea that it was getting on toward early afternoon. That was one thing that had improved upon her ascension, which was nice and convenient, even if a counter spell was more accurate.

Taking a calming breath in and out, Twilight Sparkle prepared to see about getting that mare over to Sweet Apple Acres.

Of course the mare wasn’t at Sugarcube Corner when Twilight got there. “She went out for a walk,” Mrs. Cake told Twilight. “A young mare like her was probably dying of boredom all cooped up there upstairs. Said something about working out the soreness, quite a sensible idea.”

“Any idea where she went?” Twilight asked hopefully, but Mrs. Cake shook her head.

“But we did manage to get her a little more presentable,” the plump blue baker said as an afterthought. “Just to get the worst out of her coat, and comb out her hair a bit. So don’t go looking for a mare who’s covered in burrs and holly now. She probably didn’t go far. The poor dear was still so exhausted, she was practically walking like a foal this morning!”

Twilight did find the mare nearby the bakery, seated up on a bench and all swaddled up in a nice thick shouldercoat. Too big for her, it was probably Mrs. Cake’s own coat. That family of bakers was so giving when they saw somepony in trouble, it was amazing. There was actually another pony sitting with the mare when Twilight found her, one of the hometown Ponyville unicorns, Twilight was pretty sure.

“You would be surprised how many ponies come down to the lake, especially on weekends,” the one pony said. The conversation prompted Twilight to vaguely remember the mare having been around the local swimming hole, which would explain the story mark of twin dolphins, but Twilight simply couldn’t place her name. She had a striped blue mane, and a lavender coat a shade somewhere between Twilight’s and the mystery mare’s.

Twilight really wasn’t sure how she felt about the safety of this. On one side, it looked like just two ordinary ponies having a normal discussion. On the other side, it looked like just two ordinary ponies having a normal discussion, one of whom was either a powerful, dark sorcerer, the tool of a powerful, dark sorcerer, or an alien visitor from another world.

Nevertheless, that was as far as the conversation got before one of the two mares noticed Twilight standing there looking their way. The pink maned one with blank thighs was facing away from Twilight, so it was the blue maned one who stopped talking first, and her eyes widened abruptly upon seeing she’d caught the interest of Twilight Sparkle. Pony Medley’s 100 Easy Steps to Joining a Conversation did say you should listen to the conversation for a bit, but it didn’t say anything about what to do if ponies suddenly stopped talking in your presence. So instead Twilight just blurted out,

“Hi! Hi. I’m really sorry to bother you. I just wanted to uh...” (lead you to my friend’s house so we can secretly interrogate you), “Find out how you were doing!”

“...me, your majesty?” the blue haired mare said, wide-eyed.

“I think she means me,” the pink-haired one said to the blue-haired one, which was indeed the case, before turning to face Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight had the attention of the mysterious mare out there on a park bench in the chilly winter day. Now if only she could figure out what to say to her.

Author's Notes:

Numeric slang among ponies:

• four = 10

• score = 20

• dozen = 30

• bunch = 100

• hundred = 1000

• onetwo = 12

• oneun = 11

To count by the earth pony system, carry after 3, going straight to 10. There is no fourth numeral. If you are dealing with large numbers, you might want to consider using the Clever numerals instead.

Reconnaissance

Pinkie Pie helped Mrs. Cake with their guest, an unremarkable looking mare possibly from another world, who needed now to dry herself off from the shower. Mrs. Cake was right there with a towel herself, and very interested in the mysterious pink haired pony. “Oh my, that does sound like quite an ordeal!” the soft blue Mrs. told their guest, using the towel in her hooves to scrub the worst of the water out of the mare’s pink mane and creamy white neck. “You spent days outside, in the middle of this winter weather?”

“Well, it was the closest I’ve ever come to dying,” the mare admitted, her soft pink hair still drooping over her eyes despite scrubbling it fluffy with the towel. “But that’s just because I haven’t done anything really daring before then. I’m sure other ponies go through stuff like this all the time. I made it to Ponyville okay, and I’m here now, so... so I’m okay with getting lost in the woods for a while.”

“Still, you shouldn’t be getting into those situations,” Mrs. Cake fussed, pulling the pink haired mare to lay on her belly in front of the dryer. The mare stared under her hair at the hot air vent in fascination, as Pinkie and Mrs. Cake fluffed out the moisture from her fur. “I hope you’re not planning to do anything like this ever again,” the cake matron said warningly.

“Oh,” their guest said, turning her attention to Mrs. Cake, or what of Mrs. Cake that could be seen of her through those pink bangs, at least. “Oh I definitely agree,” the mare said emphatically. “I won’t ever do anything like that again.”

She lifted her bangs with a hoof to peer at Mrs. Cake, but the industrious mare had already gotten a few hairpins in her mouth, and leaned forward, pinning the mane up to stay out of this mare’s eyes, without looking too artificial.

“Say, you’re good at this,” the mare said, looking appreciatively at herself in the mirror. “You can’t even see the pins! Is that how you get your hair to...” she looked at Mrs. Cake, swirling her hoof uncertainly.

Mrs. Cake chuckled at that, saying, “Not entirely, dearie. I do use a bit of mousse, and glitter on occasion, but I’ll let you in on the secret...”

Pulling a previously unseen hair stick out from her mane, Mrs. Cake revealed the very funny fact that she grew her bangs out, in order to fold them a few times, and pin it in place. It made her mane look like piped frosting, and now it just flooped down over her eyes even worse than their guest. Both the guest and Pinkie Pie giggled at that, though Pinkie had already seen Mrs. Cake’s undone mane before. But Mrs. Cake was just so funny!

Taking a moment on her haunches to pin her mane back into its folded frosting appearance, Mrs. Cake beamed in satisfaction, while their guest said to her, “That’s so neat! I didn’t even know you could do that with a mane!”

“Oh ask around,” Mrs. Cake suggested pleasantly, “You’ll find a lot of mares have their own tricks to a well behaved mane. You can’t always keep your mane in top shape from a positive attitude alone!”

Pinkie Pie leaned veeeeery close to Mrs. Cake, who looking at her, grudgingly admitted, “Well, unless you’re Pinkie Pie.”

The mare found that incredibly amusing for some reason, which was great as far as Pinkie was concerned. Free laughs! It made Pinkie feel like sunshine inside.

“Some ponies even dye their manes different colors,” Mrs. Cake continued to explain, “Or have them permed!”

“Like the mayor dyes her hair grey?” the mare asked.

Mrs. Cake blushed at that, saying in a subdued manner, “Oh, well, we... try not to talk about that anymore. It’s the mayor’s private business, but between you and me, I think she does it to look more dignified. There was a bit of a scandal about the mayor’s mane a while ago, involving some scamps you might see around town, the Story Mark Seekers?”

The mare stared, stunned.

“...something I said?” Mrs. Cake asked uneasily, lifting a hoof as she tilted her head at the mare in confusion.

The mare shook her head, breaking her frozen stare. “No, no it’s just... so... um... so, story marks, huh?” she asked emphatically, peering down at Mrs. Cup Cake’s cupcakes.

“Yep!” Mrs. Cake said brightly, turning her flank the mare’s way a little more so she could see the trio of cherry frosted cupcakes with a cherry on top, “I’ve been a baker since I was a filly. That’s how I met Carrot, in fact. Not a terribly interesting story, really. My parents and I were baking up a storm, and I just thought how great it is that I can do this for ponies. Carrot and I had a bake sale, and bam, story mark! He had his mark later, when we were working at a pastry shop in north Ponyville... well, it used to be there, until we opened our own store closer to to downtown, opening up Sugarcube Corner!”

“That’s a more interesting story than I have!” the mare said, gesturing with a forehoof at her blank hindquarters laid flat on the floor.

“Oh, well you’re young yet...” Mrs. Cake said with an unconvincing smile of appeasement, “I’m sure you’ll find your mark any... uh... time now!”

“Even if I don’t ever get a story mark,” the mare replied, continuing to look at her blank rump without the slightest bit of insecurity or remorse, “Just being here in Equestria is enough for me.”

Then she tried to stand up.

Her limbs quivering, the mare groaned and sunk all the way down to her belly. “Maybe not being sore absolutely everywhere would be good, too,” she mumbled against the floor grumpily.

One chilly, overcast day, in search of their mysterious, possibly otherworldly visitor, Twilight Sparkle found the pink and cream mare just sitting on a park bench, chatting with a blue haired pony who bore twin dolphins as a story mark. This young mare may have been terribly dangerous, but in fact she looked completely innocuous. She was just sitting there like any pony in Ponyville, having a conversation with a Ponyville born unicorn (rather than one of the more recent unicorn transplants from Canterlot)

Twilight didn’t exactly know the name of the unicorn with the blue mane. As for the cream colored earth pony mare, with her light pink mane more well combed now, curling merrily around her ears? Twilight didn’t even know if she had a name.

So while Blue-hair gaped at Twilight, Pink-hair attracted Blue’s attention. Facing forward, the pink haired mare calmly told the blue haired one, “I was sort of... Twilight helped me out yesterday, so she probably wants to talk to me.”

Turning her head in a full half circle to look over her back at Twilight, the pink-haired mare looked dizzy as she said, “Woah...”

...but recovered quickly from her inexplicable disorientation, and said to Twilight, “I–I’m really sorry about this morning, Twilight. I know you didn’t mean any harm, I’m just a little... out of sorts lately.”

“Yes, I’m really sorry about that—wait, you’re sorry?” Twilight said, blinking in surprise.

“I think we both got off on a bad foot,” the mare answered amiably to the purple princess standing just beside the bench these two were sitting at. “I do feel much better, now that I’ve had a chance to eat something... and Mrs. Cake let me borrow her coat. I’m not sure how you do um... payments in Ponyville. I... really don’t know what to do about getting a job.”

“You and me both, sister,” the blue haired pony laughed, “The lake is iced over until—” She looked at Twilight wide eyed again then, and stuttered, “O-oh, I mean, I-I’m sorry, Princess.”

“No, it’s fine, really,” Twilight said uneasily, in response to the blue haired mare’s nervous staring at her. She wasn’t sure what to do to calm—

“I’m pretty sure she’s the princess of Friendship,” the pink-haired mare said to the blue-haired one in an admonishing tone. Whose name was... something. Rrrgh, some princess of Friendship Twilight was, couldn’t even recall a mare’s name who’s been in town longer than she has. At least with the pink-haired mare, Twilight had an excuse for not knowing her name!

“What is she going to do to you,” Pink-hair joked to Blue-hair, “befriend you to death?”

Blue-hair blinked and gaped at the other mare, then whispered loudly, “Are you insane?! This is the princess! You can’t just—” and then she seemed to notice she was whispering loudly in front of Twilight, and clammed up again, an absolutely fake smile plastered on her face.

“Look, please, just...” Twilight exclaimed, trying to hold her wings tight to her sides. “Just pretend I’m not a princess, okay? Just—I moved here a dozen years ago, as a graduate student and a new librarian. And I just—just think of that, not what happened to me. Now can we have a normal conversation? I’m Twilight Sparkle. And who might you be?”

Twilight couldn’t help but notice both mares were not staring at her in surprise, but were instead staring in surprise at something slightly over and beyond her right side.

“And... Pinkie’s pantomiming behind me again, isn’t she,” Twilight said, turning her head behind herself to greet the enthusiastic pink pony, who was right behind Twilight Sparkle.

Pinkie Pie said, “Hi, Twilight! I was just checking on noname here and I just wanted to make sure you weren’t scaring her or anything, you know with your super princessy scariness because ponies are a bunch of big—”

“Okay, Pinkie, I get it,” Twilight interrupted tactfully, saying, “I’m much more well rested now, and I’m just asking her if I can—”

“Thiis is Sea Swirl,” came Pinkie’s voice behind Twilight. Twilight turned forward to face the bench again, and Pinkie was suddenly there, holding up the forequarters of a very anxious looking blue haired pony with deep pink fur. “She’s the Ponyville swim coach, and she takes ponies to the beach, for parties!”

“Aheh heh,” Sea Swirl apparantly said, trying to look confident and brave as she weakly waved a hoof. Then Pinkie bounced beside Twilight, and heaved under her chest, to lift Twilight partially into the air, saying,

“And this is Twilight Sparkle, my best friend! Did you know she’s a princess? ”

“Everypony knows that, Pinkie Pie,” Sea Swirl said in a wry drawl, then glancing nervously at Twilight again. Should Twilight what, do something silly to defuse her tension? Or would that just make ponies think she was crazy? In the end, Twilight just couldn’t think of what to do, to stop Sea Swirl’s assumptions about her, but at least Pinkie had given her one of the pony’s names.

Twilight turned to the mystery mare again, addressing her, while trying to ignore any “super princessy” stares she was getting from Sea Swirl, saying, “I just wanted to ask, if you would join me for dinner this evening, with my friend, Applejack.”

The pink haired mare turned her head to look at Twilight just a little bit sideways. She looked terribly excited, but at the same time terribly scared, and in general terribly conflicted about something. Worried about that look of alarm, Twilight hastily added, “I do want to talk with you about things, I admit, but she’ll um—she’ll be there to um... mediate?”

“Twilight wants you to meet her friend,” Pinkie whispered loudly in the mare’s ear. Wait, when did Pinkie get back over to the bench? Ugh.

“Yes,” Twilight confirmed happily to Pinkie and the mare. “I think you’ll love Applejack, and especially her cooking. So, I mean I didn’t expect you’d be busy or anything, but—”

“Do I really have to meet her?” the mare asked in a disappointed whinny. “I know I’m gonna have to meet you all, but I wanted to make it last at least a little longer than this.”

“What? You don’t have to meet Applejack,” Pinkie Pie blurted out, totally flabbergasted. “But she’s our friend! Why don’t you want to meet her?”

“Look, I just... I can meet her,” the mare sighed in conflict between the two mares, “I can, I guess. I mean there’s nothing wrong with it. I mean... fine we’ll go meet Applejack sometime.” She sighed resignedly.

“It should be okay,” the mare concluded, “I feel much better from yesterday. Still really sore, heh... actually I kind of barely made it out this far. I’ll probably be back at Pinkie’s after this, if... that’s okay with her and the Cakes.”

“Oh, I’m sure they’ll be happy to see you as much as Pinkie is,” Twilight said confidently. “They might seem businesslike on the surface, but the Cakes have a heart of gold between them. You just focus on recovering as much as you can. Listen, I’m sorry to try and... press you for meeting with Applejack. Really it’s for my sake more than yours. I just think she’d be good at... um...”

“Telling if I’m trying to swindle you or not?” the mare prompted thoughtfully.

“I wasn’t going to say anything, but yes she is good at... measuring a pony’s character,” Twilight replied, rocking on her hooves a bit cagily. “But I’m sure we both know that genuity is always the best policy, and you don’t need Applejack there to display basic pony courtesy.”

“Right, sure,” the mare said, not sounding as if she believed it herself.

“Great!” Pinkie announced between them, “Then it’s settled.” She pointed at the mare saying, “You take as long as you need, and don’t worry I didn’t need to sleep in my bed, anyway,” and then she pointed at Twilight and said, “And you don’t worry if the mare is gonna like your friends or not. Because she’s totally going to like Applejack!”

“I’m sure I will,” the mare said giving Pinkie Pie a guilty wince. “ I’ll be feeling better tomorrow, too. I didn’t get hurt I think. Just worn out, and a bit scared for a while there.”

“Well, no need to be scared any longer,” Twilight said, “You just focus on getting better, and I’m sure you’ll be reunited with your family before you know it.”

“Oh, right... that, ” the mare said glumly, suddenly refusing to look at her. “No hurry there, just... I will focus on getting better.”

“Did... I say something wrong?” Twilight asked, as the mare looked away. “I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“Oh, no it’s fine, really!” the mare said, forcing herself to look at Twilight. “I’m really... grateful for all your help. I’d be in a lot of trouble if you hadn’t... talked to me.”

“Think nothing of it,” said Twilight Sparkle with a modest blush. “Now, I’ll leave you with your—”

Twilight noticed the blue haired, lavender pony was gone, along with Pinkie Pie, but that was no surprise.

“Oh, um... I may have scared your friend away, sorry,” Twilight winced. “These wings, you see,” she ruffled them for demonstration, “Mark me as a sort of... head of state. It’s honestly just a formality, but ponies still think that I might... you know, turn them into a toad for disobeying, or whatever Princesses are supposed to do to ponies.”

“That sounds more like a witch than a princess,” the cream colored mare mused.

Twilight blinked. Nopony ever even came close to implying that before! “Did you just call me a witch?” she asked in honest intrigue.

“Not if you aren’t going to change me into a toad, uh, princess,” the mare replied, irises narrowing.

That got a chuckle out of Twilight, who said, “You know, even if you are far from home, it’s nice sometimes to have someone here who isn’t all worried about my princessness. B-but I assure you I’ll do everything in my power to get you home, don’t worry.”

At that, the cream colored pony looked at her impassively, then just said, “Yeah, you will, won’t you.” But not in an excited way? It was kind of awkward.

“Sorry, I don’t mean to offend you or anything,” Twilight said with a grimace of a smile, “Say how about I pick you up instead? Then you won’t have to walk to Sweet Apple Acres!”

“Pick me up?” the mare said in confusion.

“Yes, I can bring a cart, and you won’t have to exert yourself,” Twilight said pleasantly, staring into space just a sec as she figured out the things she’d have to prepare for this to go over smoothly.

“But... why?” the mare asked in a frustrated tone. “Are you just in a hurry to get me to meet all your friends?”

“Something wrong with that?” Twilight queried. The mare shook her head at that, but...

“I just don’t see why I have to meet with her right away,” the mare said a bit irritably. “Can’t I at least have a few days, or something? I feel terrible!”

Twilight’s face fell at the mare’s strange callousness. “I... suppose so...” Twilight said unhappily, “But what’s wrong with meeting her? I’m sure Applejack would love you!”

“Yeah,” the mare said almost sounding... bitter about it? “And then you’ll...” she just trailed off then, really looking at Twilight now. “I’m really sorry,” the mare told Twilight with a sudden worried expression on her face. “I didn’t mean to upset you I’m just... kind of really sore, and I just wanted to sit for a while and stay... here. Can I just take a... raincheck for now? I really would love to meet her.”

“When do you think you’ll be feeling better?” Twilight asked hopefully. “You did have a bit of an ordeal there, but you’ve got that strong earth pony heritage, so I’m sure you’ll bounce right back. Er, I mean your biology, because obviously your heritage is of a human alien.”

The mare blinked at her with a blank expression, and then looked down at herself, saying with confident poise, “I have no idea how my biology works now.”

“Oh wow, you wouldn’t believe how interesting it is!” Twilight said with an eager smile, “I know of this great introduction to pony physiology. I’m quite eager to learn how your new pony anatomy differentiates from your true form, and perhaps what stallions are like in your world, too! I can also get you a book on comparative tribal anatomy. I think you’ll find it quite a fascinating read...”

The mare didn’t seem enthusiastic about any of that though? She seemed downright glum! Oh, of course. Twilight had to remind herself that not every pony knew the value of a good book as much as Twilight Sparkle. Still, it would have been nice if the mare was a bit of a bookworm... so hard to find ponies like that, this far downhill from Canterlot. But... this mare was probably into more mundane concrete things other than studying, like baking, or construction. It was really hard to say, as this mare’s rump was entirely devoid of a story mark.

“Sorry, I don’t mean to impose on you,” Twilight said blushing ashamedly, “I can get kind of overexcited about studying sometimes. But we all have our faults, right? You just recover at your own pace, and let me worry about the speed of your recovery.”

“Okay,” the mare said in a small voice. Her ears were still down though, and she seemed to not want to look Twilight in the eye.

“How about this,” Twilight offered, “When you feel up to walking to my library, go ahead and come to it. Then you and I can take a trot to Sweet Apple Acres, meet Applejack, and get some of that appletastic food in you!”

The mare choked back a chuckle at that. “Sure, that’d be great Twilight,” she said less anxiously, her ears turning up again. Then her eyes widened in surprise and she blurted out, “You still have your library?!”

Twilight blinked.

“I thought it was destroyed!” the mare said right back into her highly agitated state. “Oh no, he hasn’t attacked yet. You... you haven’t defeated a monster called Tirek recently, have you? Oh no I came at the worst time...”

“Calm down, mare!” Twilight declared to her, in one of the rare instances that it wasn’t the other mare yelling that phrase at Twilight Sparkle. “Tirek is gone! We defeated him. He’s gone forever! You don’t have to worry anymore.”

The mare didn’t seem mollified by that though, trembling as she said, “B-b-but your library was destroyed!”

Twilight’s ears went down.

“Yes... so much precious literature was lost,” Twilight said sadly. “I still only have half a copy of Predictions and Prophecies... and that copy had such sentimental value for me! But... our Rainbow helped me, remember? It’s pretty common knowledge that it gave me a home again, using the quintessence crystalline... the magic of crystals.”

“Oh, so... it did build it then,” the mare said distantly, looking around at the treetops for some reason. “And you just have a library inside your home.”

“Well... yes,” Twilight said uncertainly. That was technically true, but it was definitely an odd way to phrase it. “I didn’t stop being a librarian, just because everypony lent me their hopes and dreams for a moment,” she said, unable to stop a soft smile at what had happened back there.

“Sorry, I just...” the mare focused on her again, saying, “I was just scared that Tirek was going to come and... make me like that. It... it really looked like the worst feeling in the whole world.”

Looked like? Hmm, curious. The mare could have been from another world, but if she saw the battle between ponykind and Tirek, it would have to mean she somehow broke into this world without detection for (Twilight took a moment to calculate) one year and days DV. But again, Twilight wasn’t sure this mare even was from another world. She could also have been maintaining the ruse, because the mare wanted to pretend she was never caught in the terrible maelstrom of hopeless emptiness that monster had left in his wake.

Twilight wouldn’t blame anypony if they desperately wanted to pretend that it never happened to them.

This was clearly going to take a more delicate touch than Twilight was currently applying. “Great,” she said stepping back from the mare, “Just come by, once you feel better. I’d really appreciate it. Just don’t be surprised if you see Applejack around town on your own, eventually. She’s kind of a big deal around here.

“Anyway I’ll leave you to your um... sitting, and we’ll just take a rain check on that dinner date,” Twilight said reluctantly. “I still really want to spend some time to talk with you, see if we can help you out somehow.”

“Sure, if you like,” the mare said modestly, “I’ll take whatever help I can get, at this point. Hopefully I can repay your generosity someday.”

It warmed Twilight’s heart to think that she was not only appreciated, but part of the fundamental forces binding the universe together. “It’ll be payment enough, to see you reunited with your friends and family,” Twilight said warmly, prompting a shudder from the mare. Wait, shudder?

“Are you... okay?” Twilight asked as the mare worked her forelegs out from under her.

“I’m fine,” the mare assured her tensely, “I’m just worn out, from this little walk, and I really just want to get back at this point, and maybe eat something more.”

“Well, good, but let me know if you’re not, because I’d hate to think I’ve offended you,” Twilight fretted.

“It’s... fine,” the mare stated resignedly, looking down off the bench she was sitting on and stretching out a leg, and,

“Oh...” she groaned as she put weight on it. “Walking for days was not good to me.”

“You need any help?” Twilight offered, looking at the mare with concern.

The mare grimaced, and said, “Thanks, but...” as she put the other forehoof down, “Best thing for sore muscles is to move them now and then. I’ll just be going back to the bakery, anyway.”

She sort of walked her forehooves forward then, her back hoof slipping on the bench as she tried to plant it. Sort of not quite falling off, the mare pivoted around one rear leg, and then another, rising wobbly on her four hooves.

“Are you sure? ” Twilight said hovering over the somewhat splay hooved mare. “Don’t try to be brave. You’re barely standing on your hooves!”

“No, I’m not hurt too bad. I’m just not used to walking like this,” the mare said, taking a shaky step, and then another slightly more confident one.

“How do you normally walk?” Twilight asked curiously, following along as the mare’s steps reached would be generous to call a stately pace.

“I um—” the mare stumbled to a halt, then frowned. She appeared to be trying to rear up on her hind legs, but she wasn’t balanced enough to stay in the air, and came down solidly on her four hooves again. She stared down at her forehooves in consternation.

The pink haired mare then just started walking again, saying, “It’s about the other world, kind of a long story.”

“Oh,” Twilight said, remembering what Applejack warned her about. “I’ll just um... catch you later then, okay?”

“Sure thing, Twilight,” the mare said, “Or I don’t know if you prefer Princess Twilight now? It’s okay if you do.”

“I... honestly don’t , but it’s to be expected,” Twilight said, quite resigned to her situation. “And there is nothing wrong with acknowledging somepony’s accomplishments, so call me whatever you like” Twilight said accomodatingly, thinking a moment, before adding, “Though, we’ve talked so long, and I don’t think I have caught your name?”

Actually, the truth was that this mare had been maddeningly frustrating with her lack of revealing her name in any number of normal social opportunities to do so. But Twilight hadn’t tried just asking, directly. So she might as well shoot for the moon at this point!

The mare halted in her forward progress again at Twilight’s words. Twilight smiled at the mare hopefully. Staring forward at nothing for far too long, the mare looked at Twilight and with an edge to her smile, said, “Um, you know, I don’t... really... have one.”

“You don’t have one?” Twilight repeated incredulously.

“Yup, I don’t have one,” the mare said confidently.

“You don’t have a name,” Twilight clarified, just to be sure.

“Fraid not,” the mare replied insistently, again forcing herself to look at Twilight. Why was this mare forcing herself to look at ponies so much?

“Well, okay then... long story, I presume?” Twilight stated.

The mare looked like she wanted to say more, but sighed and nodded, saying anxiously, “Yes, it’s... complicated.”

“Don’t feel like you have to tell me,” Twilight cautioned her, “But we ponies use names a lot. You might run into problems if you can’t tell ponies your name.”

“Which I don’t have,” the mare insisted.

“...right,” Twilight agreed suspiciously. “Anyway, I’ll see you later.”

“Sure thing, Twilight,” the mare said unenthusiastically. She apparantly decided to just concentrate on her walking, then, and spoke no more. The mare made her way with Twilight over to Sugarcube corner, standing all on her own as she walked. She thanked Twilight again then, before plodding inside. Mr. Cake came trotting up to her, the door swung closed, and Twilight was alone.

Not hesitating, Twilight made herself scarce, and trotted down the cobbles in a slightly different direction from her library, needing a talk with a friend right now. She was feeling pretty ambivalent about that encounter, since she deliberately intended to restrain herself until the mare was feeling less threatened. Yet, Twilight still had no more hints as to whether the mare was a dark sorceress or a dimension travelling alien. That was gonna bother her.

The mare didn’t seem all that comfortable with Twilight Sparkle, but neither had the pony who actually belonged here. Were they both part of the cult that created that incredible magical phenomenon? Was Sea Swirl guilty of something that might constitute creepy cult worship again? Or... was Twilight Sparkle just not a very good friend?

Twilight was starting to hope that Equestria really was in peril, instead of the unhappy alternative.

“...and so, I need you to help get that mare set up with a tab,” concluded Pinkie Pie’s book-loving unicorn friend. Pinkie Pie listened patiently, while Twilight Sparkle addressed her party loving hot pink friend. (That means Pinkie Pie, by the way!)

Pinkie was away from Sugarcube corner at the moment, hosting Peachy Pie’s birthday party, when Twilight approached them to speak with the party pony. The princess acted like she didn’t appreciate Pinkie blowing the party horn so that its end tickled the tip of her snout, but Pinkie knew Twilight was laughing on the inside. Then Pinkie said, “Hi, Twilight!” and Twilight said hi.

Twilight talked about the mare, and how she might not be up for returning home for a while, which made Pinkie a little droopy, but Twilight then said she needed help getting the mare more settled in Ponyville, and that made Pinkie perk right up again. Then, Twilight told Pinkie that she needs her to help get that mare set up with a tab. Then Pinkie listened patiently, while wait no we already did that.

“I’ll do better than set her up with a tab,” Pinkie said eagerly. “I’ll give her a party! ” Several foals cheered at that, all of Peachy Pie’s friends gathered here. Ponies were both gathered here because it was a Peachy Pie, and because it was a Pinkie Pie party. But Pinkie wasn’t Peachy, and it’d make Peachy sad, if her own birthday got hogged by Pinkie, so Pinkie shooed them away saying, “Go play with your friends, sillies!” The foals cantered off giggling to play with the birthday foal, still no doubt anticipating the amazing party Pinkie Pie was gonna throw for this new mare.

“A party would be... fine, I guess,” Twilight told Pinkie, with a hint of frustration to her voice. “But she really does need some kind of record around here. I don’t even know what to call the mare, besides ‘the mare’ and she isn’t telling me anything!”

Pinkie pursed her lips thoughtfully, and said, “Okay... why would she tell town hall anything, then?”

Twilight gave a crafty grin at that, and declared, “Because she’ll have forms to fill out!”

Pinkie... was pretty sure Twilight believed that actually would work.

Nevertheless, mare needed a name. What else would Pinkie Pie write on the cake? “Hey you?” There was a golden opportunity in that, too. A party opportunity, for the mare with no name. And for that opportunity, Pinkie chose to ask her friend Applejack for some help. Applejack was really good at that town hall politicky stuff, and plus, with her taking the mare’s attention, that would be a perfect time for Pinkie Pie to set up her party! It was the perfect plan!

The morning dawned bright and grey-y, and Pinkie got a sore elbow from sleeping on the ground, but that was okay because her friend was feeling much better than she did the day before.

“Oh, I feel so much better!” she said in that sweet high voice of hers, standing in Pinkie’s room and looking at her own hooves in wonderment. “I can’t believe I’m here! I thought for a minute...”

The mare lifted her head and looked at Pinkie nervously, saying, “N-never mind it’s silly.”

“Don’t be silly, silly,” Pinkie said teasingly at her new friend without a name, “Being silly is silly, and that’s great!”

“You are the expert on being silly, I suppose,” the mare said with a twinkle in her eye and a smile hidden in the corner of her mouth.

Pinkie nodded enthusiastically, saying, “You betcha. I’m always silly, all the time!”

“Yeah, except when you start talking to rocks,” the mare said jokingly.

Pinkie Pie blinked at that, and then winced inwardly. “Oh, you saw that, huh...” she said with an unhappy wariness slipping out.

The mare stumbled forward, holding up an off white hoof reaching for Pinkie, saying, “Oh, I’m so sorry, it’s just—”

“No, no it’s alright,” Pinkie said a little unsurely. “You didn’t pick what the movies were going to show about us. And Rainbow Dash ...knows, so it’s okay. Let’s just get downstairs and get something to eat.”

With her eyes practically bugging out, the mare declared, “Oh my god, Pinkie I am so hungry. If you can give me anything I would be so grateful.”

“Looks like your appetite’s coming back,” Pinkie teased the mare, dancing over to the stairs down from her room. “We can set you up juuust fine, don’t you worry.

“Just um d-day olds or whatever,” the mare stammered, blushing crimson. “I promise I won’t need anything for long, just until I get a job or... however that works around here.”

“Got a plan for that too!” Pinkie declared, “Now, follow me!” and charged down the stairs.

Some moments later, Pinkie Pie walked back up the stairs, to help the mare come down them again.

The two were standing at a table in Sugarcube Corner, as if they were already friends together. The Cakes were busy with the twins and with baking, and stuff Pinkie really should have been helping with. But Pinkie Pie had to get some important information from this mare, before putting her plan into motion.

Pinkie was smiling more and more as the mare eagerly but clumsily ate her danish, and elderberry turnover, and carrot tart, and jelly toast, and she only splashed herself a little with the glass of milk, and she made it halfway through a bunch of kale before pausing, and looking up at Pinkie Pie.

“So... are you here for a reason, or do you just like watching me fail at eating?” said the messy muzzled mare.

“Oh!” Pinkie blinked, “No, it is a lot of fun watching you eat, because you’re so hungry it looks like everything tastes amazing!”

“It does taste amazing,” the mare admitted, “But it’s because your baking is amazing.

“Even the toast,” the mare said, leaning forward and taking another bite of it. “Ith crisp on the outside,” she said chewing it thoughtfully, “Moith on the inside...” a pause to swallow, “And doesn’t get all gummy when I chew it. Did you make this bread?”

“Oh, no actually,” Pinkie said with a little blush. “Golden Loaf makes most of the bread in Ponyville. She has a whole bakery for it, on the other side of town.”

“Everything else is amazing too,” replied the mare. “Did you make the...?”

“I made the turnovers, and the tarts and cake are by the Cakes,” Pinkie replied confidently. “But you don’t have to like it just because I made it.”

“It’s all so new to me honestly,” the mare said, “Your food is so different, and I’m ... different.” She leaned forward to take another bite out of a broad, dark green leaf. “Mmm, so good though,” she said savoring the taste.

The mare was enjoying herself so much, that it was making Pinkie Pie hungry, herself. Time to get this show on the road. Eager to move forward, Pinkie stepped next to the mare the mare and, carefully looking the other way, whispered, “So... what kind of cake do you like?”

The mare looked at her, then paused to clear her mouth.

“Is this about the party?” she asked.

Pinkie gasped! “You know about the party?” she declared in shock.

“Er, uh, yeah the um... Twilight warned me about you, that’s all,” the mare said nervously, “I don’t know know about the party, only that there might be a party.”

“Ohh. Well good, because there clearly is no party,” Pinkie Pie said leaning slyly against the mare, “I was just saying it for theoretical party sake. And in theoretical partiness, I just wanted to ask in theory what your favorite flavor of cake was.”

The mare couldn’t resist a laugh at that. Pure joy! She had such a sweet voice, it was a joy to hear her laugh. Pinkie thought it was a joy to hear anypony laugh though, except maybe Nightmare Moon.

“You know,” the mare said bemusedly. “I’m not sure I know what my favorite flavor of cake is.”

“What?? How could you not know that!” Pinkie hissed harshly to her, with eyes wide in shock. The mare’s own blue eyes looked back into Pinkie’s with an innocent curiosity, not offended at all by the question, which shouldn’t even really have been a question. Did she not have cake in her old verse?!

“My tastes are so different coming here,” the mare explained. “I ate hay, yesterday. Hay! Do you have hay cake?”

“All cake is hay cake!” Pinkie replied.

“Really?” the mare asked incredulously, forgetting the plate of delicious foods assembled before her.

Pinkie smiled knowingly and said, “Hay is absolutely essential to cake making.”

The mare blinked at her. “...how?” the mare asked, as if not wanting to hear the answer, but then why did she ask?

“It keeps the cake full bodied and gives it structure,” Pinkie explained, “And unlike fresh grass, it doesn’t taste hardly at all, so it’s really easy to add flavor to.”

“Do you have grass cake?” the mare asked curiously.

“No, but that’s a good idea,” Pinkie said thoughtfully, “Maybe if you used sweet grass, or lemongrass and sweetened it. But most grass isn’t sweet, so ponies don’t make cakes out of it.”

The mare continued to regard her a moment, before going to polish off another tart. Once she was done, she said in an admiring tone, “You really do know a lot about baking, Pinkie Pie.”

“Yeah... it’s kind of a jobby of mine,” Pinkie admitted, squirming shyly.

“It’s still pretty impressive,” the mare said, as she fiddled with the last bit of turnover. “You’re good at your job.”

“I pick up a few things here and there,” Pinkie said embarassedly, “But really what I do best is not just the cake, but the whole party! And I want to give you a super special one so that you can go home feeling great, when you return to your world!”

The mare didn’t respond to that at first, and not just because she was having trouble clearing out her mouth. But she said to Pinkie Pie after a worrisome delay, “Why are you... spending time with me, anyway? Aren’t there other ponies in town, who need your attention?”

“Hmm... not really?” Pinkie said tilting her head. “I can’t help everypony of course, but you looked like somepony I could help, and I just wanted to hear how you were doing just in case.”

“And what my favorite flavor of cake is,” the mare returned amusedly.

“That too, yeah,” Pinkie blushed out.

“Aren’t there other ponies who need help?” the mare persisted. “I don’t know them, but—”

“Exactly!” Pinkie said triumphantly. “Don’t worry about them so much. They all have friends who can help each other out when they’re in trouble. But you just came out of nowhere, and you don’t have any friends! So you just need some extra special help.”

“So why can’t any other pony help me, then?” she asked. “Why you?”

“I dunno,” Pinkie pondered. “Have you asked them?”

“They didn’t spend the night sleeping with me,” the mare said sounding mollified, and a bit disgruntled.

“Exactly,” Pinkie concluded again. “So there’s your answer. Now, what flavor of cake?”

“I... uh... raspberry...” the mare admitted quietly, a blush tinting her cheeks.

“Alrighty,” Pinkie chirped, “And what’s your favorite color?”

“Teal,” she said without hesitation. Well, at least some things this mare didn’t hesitate on!

“Alright, I think you’re all set!” Pinkie said cheerfully, “That’s all I need to know. I’m gonna go do some... things, and Applejack should be here pretty soon to help you get set up with town hall. So finish whenever you like, and she’ll show you where to go. Applejack’s an orange pony with—oh, you know her already, right?”

“Y-yeah,” the mare said almost guiltily. “Guess I’m meeting with her too.”

Pinkie blinked at that. “Yes?” she tried. “I just said Applejack should be here pretty soon to—”

“No, no I heard you Pinkie,” the mare replied with a tired, but grateful smile. “Go, get on to your... not partying, and I’ll go with her.”

Applejack wondered if she was working herself too hard again. It was so easy to just dote on her orchard, even with the trees all sleeping like they do in the wintertime. But once again, she found herself just a mite bit out of the loop.

So apparantly all this week, her friends had gotten all worked up over some mysterious, unnamed mare, who showed up under suspicious circumstances. Applejack managed to miss all the hubbub and hullabaloo of her return, which suited her just fine, but she felt a little guilty for not being there to help out until they called on her some days later.

It was a mighty curious mare that her friends came across. No past, no name, no origin outside of some portal out in the middle of the woods somewhere. Barely able to even walk like a foal, because she wasn’t originally a pony? But now the mare needed to live in the town for a while, so if she didn’t have a name now, she was gonna get one pretty soon.

Pinkie came to Applejack for help there, and good thing she did, because Applejack knew exactly what to do for a mare who was down on her luck, and looking to cut corners to get by. So Applejack would have been ready and willing to pick her up, and help her out. She would have done it without any compunctions, worries or doubts, but for one little thing that Twilight talked to her about.

Wouldn’t you know it, but apparantly this mare objected when Twilight offered to introduce her to Applejack! Takes some nerve to do that for a pony you haven’t even met! Applejack would have been totally willing to get some fat on that mare’s skin and bones that evening, but AJ just ended up just eating with her family as usual, when the mare declined the dinner date.

So Applejack was a little less than comfortable with the mare, when Pinkie asked for help with her again, but, well... Pinkie asked for help. Applejack wasn’t going to turn down a friend in need.

Rainbow Dash was cutting through the chilly winter air, her wings like blades that sliced through it and buoyed Rainbow Dash to great heights. Down, down on the earth, the beautiful landscape of Ponyville spread before her, with all the ponies getting about their business, going to and fro amid the straw roofed cottages. Something caught her eye, and Dash turned and saw that pink haired mare, the one Twilight said was from another world!

Maybe it was her curiosity, or her pride, but Rainbow Dash was curious about this otherworldly visitor. She’d kind of missed out on the whole thing where her friends found her and took her in, and Rainbow wanted to see what this mare was like, herself.

Flipping in the air, and flapping her wings powerfully, Rainbow Dash decellerated smoothly, descending with a practiced precision. Landing with a rush of adrenalin, the earth struck firmly against Rainbow Dash’s hooves, and as she turned to trot over to the mare, Rainbow Dash could see that she had stopped in her travels, and was openly staring Rainbow Dash’s way.

“So,” Dash said cockily, trotting up to the mare, “I hear you’re from another world!”

“I am I—w-wow,” the mare said with a giddy smile, “I’m really talking to Rainbow Dash! P-pleased to meet you.”

“You heard of me, huh?” Rainbow said with surprise, and a little delight. “Do I smell a fan?” she asked slyly.

“Not yet, actually,” the mare replied simply.

Dash nodded, strutting her stuff and saying, “Well look no fur—wait, you aren’t a fan?” She stumbled to a halt. Right, it was probably stupid of her to assume that ponies even knew about her, on a whole nother world.

“Because I’ve only heard of a few of your stunt moves!” the mare said excitedly, immediately making Rainbow Dash perk up. “If I could see some of your tricks for real I bet I would be a huge fan!” she gushed.

Dash beamed at that in relief, saying, “Now that I can understand. Hey maybe I could show you a few tricks. What have you heard of? The corked double whirl? The triple cloud buster?”

“No, those sound totally new to me,” the mare said. “All I can remember see—er, hearing of is the Sonic Rainboom, and that... thing you did to beat Trixie. And um... something where you turn a cloud into a trampoline, to save your friends?”

“Alright, so I just wanna get this out right away, the Rainboom is sort of a you gotta be there thing, not even I know when I can do it,” Rainbow Dash said testily, “The conditions have to be perfect, and nopony really knows what they are, yet.”

“It takes two Elements of Harmony to do it,” the mare explained. “Like you did something incredibly kind, standing up to those bullies for Fluttershy, and you were so generous, you forgot all about winning to save Rarity from falling.”

“Y—no, that’s—wait...” Rainbow’s brain stuttered to a halt at the mare’s simple explanation.

“If Pinkie Pie was ever really sad because you couldn’t do a rainboom, I bet it’d happen like... um...” the mare looked at her hoof perturbed. “I bet it’d happen easy... peasy,” she corrected herself in a squirrelish tone, continuing, “And if Applejack started telling everypony that you were going to do it, you totally would.”

Rainbow Dash just stared at her, speechless.

A second or two later, Dash backed up and stammered, “So uh, catch you uh, later uh... you. I have to... to go think about some things.” Then she blasted off into the sky, away from the surprised mare, Rainbow Dash’s head spinning with the possibilities. Was that really the missing factor? Helping her friends with their Element? It made such a strange sort of sense!

What was Rainbow Dash supposed to do with that information though? Did it mean that everypony was wrong about her? That she was wrong about herself? Was it Fluttershy’s, or Rarity’s power making it happen? Rainbow really couldn’t... she couldn’t really do a sonic rainboom, after all?

Somewhere down on the ground, a pink haired earth pony stared blinking after the fleeing rainbow trail in the sky. Her look of surprise turned into a giggle, and she said quietly to herself, “Totally worth it,” before turning and continuing on her way.

Settling In

It turns out their mystery mare wasn’t mean or ornery, or spiteful towards Applejack. She was downright giddy to see her, when Applejack showed up to teach her the ropes about Ponyville!

“Oh wow, Applejack!” she said, as bubbly as a brook upon seeing Applejack. She’d been at Sugarcube Corner, trying to help the Cakes with some bags of sugar, apparently, but stopped as soon as she saw Applejack stroll in, stumbling over her hooves as if this mare wasn’t even sure how to walk over that way.

“It’s really you!” the rosy pink haired mare said, with big blue eyes, “I am such a huge fan. Do you really own four orchards? Are they south of town? Oh, I hope they’re south of town. I practically memorized that map.”

“Y-yeah, but uh... you’re a fan of... mah apple farming?” Applejack asked, her face twisted in confusion as she hadn’t even introduced herself to the mare yet. “Not exactly the most glamorous of occupations, though I cain understand you lovin’ the end product.”

The mare blushed heavily then, and stuttered out, “S-s-sorry, yeah I didn’t mean to be rude. It’s just that the gang’s all here, right?” She looked at the door to the kitchen, saying thoughtfully, “Only pony I haven’t met so far is Fluttershy.”

“Oh, yew mean like the Elements,” Applejack said, with a little more understanding in her. “Shucks, if you know anything about the half dozen of us, you’ll know how slow Fluttershy is to warm to ponies. Almost never comes into town if not for our sakes. Kinda chummy with Rarity on the side.”

Striding up and chucking the mare in the shoulder, Applejack said sagely, “You best not try to hunt her down. If you wanna meet her, let her come at you, at her own pace. Ah sure ain’t here to drag you over to Fluttershy’s. Ah’m here to get you all settled at town hall, so you’ll be an honorary Ponyvillian!”

“Sure, okay!” little pink-hair said happily. “Let me just tell the Cakes, and then, lead the way!”

Applejack might have missed the theatrics, but the second morning of this mare’s recovery was pure joy, really seeing the town for the first time, with such a childlike sense of wonder in her eyes. Once her soreness faded to manageable levels, the mare’s unquenchable optimism was downright contagious. She walked out into that grey day, on wobbly legs, going way too slowly for Applejack’s tastes. She looked at the dismal weather, the chilly morning, and all the ordinary houses, whose eves were weighed down with snow, and said, with complete sincerity,

“This is so beautiful! ”

“Gawk later, farm girl,” Applejack told the pretty pink thing, in one of the most ironic statements she’d ever uttered, “We need to get you a tab, and some clothes of your own, before Rarity decides to bequeath her whole boutique to ya out of sheer force’a pity.”

“A-alright,” the mare said hesitantly, looking down at the thick, very blue woolen scarf wrapped around her neck, and looking down at her hooves. She deliberately stepped forward on them, raising her gaze as she did so to follow along after Applejack. Rosy’s ability to do something simple as walking was clumsy, but adequate. Applejack didn’t even want to think what’d happen if Rosy tried a canter, or a trot.

Applejack, the real farm pony, led this bedazzled mare carefully down to town hall, wondering how somepony could be so awestruck about some backwater village, that she’d look like a pony who just jumped off the turnip truck. Stranger things had happened, but it was kind of an odd reaction to Ponyville. Most outsiders couldn’t see just how beautiful Ponyville really was, and only saw it for what it wasn’t, which was fancy and sophisticated.

Now, Applejack had a good idea that there was some supernatural jiggery pokery about this mare, but she really didn’t grasp the sheer scale of it, until she spent some time with her. Not only was this mare a fan of Applejack and the other Elements, she seemed to have an uncanny knowledge about the lot of them, when she let something slip that is. She was real close-lipped about it, for some reason!

Like a for-instance, Applejack was trying to give the mare a little something to tell her friends back home, about the real ponies behind the hype, saying as they walked,

“Now Rarity’s a pony of sophistication, but ponies think that’s all there is to her. She knows how to get dirty when the going gets tough. If’n she had to put away all her frippery and finery to save the day, what do you think she’d say? Sorry, I’m too snooty to be a hero? I think ah hear mah oven on?”

“I love being covered in mud?” the mare retorted with a wry grin.

Applejack almost stumbled, before saying, “I— yeah... exactly that.”

She hadn’t ever told nopony about what went down over that debacle between her, Rarity, and somepony who didn’t deserve Rarity. Only ponies who saw that... tiff between them were Rarity herself and... and the dragon, Spike, who was even less likely to repeat something untoward about Rarity than Rarity was. Applejack had thought it was a secret.

“I did try going to town hall,” the mare told a thought lost Applejack, as they approached the large, columnar building, “But I couldn’t read the signs... I didn’t know where to go in there.”

“You couldn’t read the signs?” Applejack asked, looking back at the pink and cream pony. “You need spectacles or somethin’?”

The mare blushed and said, “No, it’s just that I don’t know how to... read.”

Now Applejack had stopped, and was staring at the mare head-on.

“You sure you’re not an enchanted lil’ foal?” Applejack asked skeptically, as ponies on the street parted to walk around the two of them.

“What?” the mare responded cluelessly.

“Pinkie had this notion that you were a lil’ foal, who got enchanted to be a grownup pony,” Applejack said in a calculating tone. “You sure do walk like one, and you don’t know how to read?”

“O-oh,” the mare realized, her blush deepening for a moment as she looked at Applejack beseechingly.

“No, I can read my language, I think,” the mare said nervously, calming as she spoke, “But yours is really ...different. My verse had a different language than yours, that’s all. Twilight told you about the verse... thing right? It’s like another world.”

“Sugarcube,” Applejack told her disapprovingly, “You just told me that you don’t speak mah language, in mah language. ”

The mare started to answer, but she paused a mite, and then asked in honest curiosity, “Wait, what language are we speaking?”

Applejack had to blink at that. How do you speak a language, without even knowing what language it is? “Equish?” she offered to the nervous mare, but no recognition shone in her eyes.

“Look ah dunno about this foreigner stuff, especially from weird magicky places,” Applejack said, a bit frustrated. “You oughta ask somepony who knows about it. For all ah know, maybe it’s normal that a pony from another country speaks like us, but writes different.”

“It makes sense though,” the mare countered, staring at her hoof thoughtfully. “They always used illegible writing in the show.”

“What show?” Applejack asked.

The mare looked up, and blushed at that. “Oh um... nothing special I mean... it’s a long story. I just have a different written language than you,” she said sort of sketchily, “But we have the same spoken language. I ...think.”

“Now fancy that,” Applejack said noncomittally. “Sounds like the sorta thing you oughta tell Twilight. She probably wants to know all about your other country, and let me tell you she loves the little details like that.”

“Not such a little detail,” the mare grumbled mostly to herself, but quickly said to Applejack, “Okay, so I just need some help reading, if you wouldn’t mind.”

“Can’t say I do mind, but you’re gonna have to learn to read y’know, if’n you’re staying with us any amount of time,” Applejack told her cautiously. “Ah cain’t promise that you’re gonna get a chance to go home any time soon, so you might wanna get workin’ on that. For now, let’s just get you a tab, and get you set up with some supplies.”

“What’s a tab, anyway?” the mare asked innocently. “Is that like, credit?”

“Yeah, it’s a... list like, of the good deeds you done, and what was done for ya,” Applejack said. “Whenever you help somepony, they can take it to town hall and vouch for you. That way you can be sure you’re not helpin’ somepony who is playin’ you for a rube.”

The mare seemed surprised at this, so Applejack put a hoof on her shoulders, saying, “Don’t you worry none. Ponies’ll help you quite a bit, before anypony starts gettin’ worried about it. An’ there’ll be plenty for you to do pretty soon, when we wrap up winter around these parts. C’mon then, and let’s get you situated!”

“Alright Apple... Applejack,” the mare said somewhat reverently. “If you ponies can pull this off, that’s just incredible!”

“Just ...come along now,” Applejack said uncertainly, embarassed enough to hide her eyes under the brim of her hat. But for what, she just wasn’t entirely sure.

Getting into town hall was easy enough. Not too busy this early before lunch. But Applejack observed yet another peculiar exchange here, that the mare had with the recordspony. The conservatively blue recordsmare, with her mane in a little white bun, asked this pinkish haired mare a few questions, starting with, “What is your name?”

The mare fidgeted in place then, looking more like she was staring at a lion than a pony on the other side of a desk. “I don’t really... have one,” she admitted anxiously. A wordless pause, and she clarified, “I don’t have a name.”

“Yes, yes, I can see that, miss,” the recordspony replied sensibly enough, looking down at her completely empty form. “But you need a name for identification purposes, so...”

“So...?” the mare responded in a desperate whine.

“So, what is your name?” the recordsmare repeated, a little aggravated at this confusingly spookable pony.

“I told you. I don’t have one,” the other mare pleaded, sounding equally distressed with the notion.

Applejack wasn’t sure what was wrong with this mare, but it had to be some kind of cultural thing with her other country and all, and the silent standoff continued for entirely too many moments, before recordsmare asked in vague desperation,

“Aren’t you going to... pick a name?”

The mare blinked, wide eyed, and blurted out, “I can do that?!”

She blushed then, and lifted up her hoof nervously as the recordspony said in wry confusion,

“Well... yes. How else are you gonna get a name? I’m sorry, but our town needs everypony to have a name on record, miss. No name, no tab. Would you like some time to think of one?”

“Y-yeah I... I— I, um, thanks,” the mare said taking an unsteady step back from the desk.

“No problem miss,” the recordspony said, giving her a worried look. “Just don’t delay too long. It’s pretty cold out there. Now could you step aside and make room for the next pony?”

The mare did, and stumbled up to Applejack seeming all ways of addlepated. “I—sorry I didn’t know you could just pick a name,” she said apologetically. “I lost our place in line, I...”

“Don’t worry ‘bout it,” Applejack told her gently. “Ah guess you didn’t have names in your old country? It’s dead simple. You just think up something you’d like ponies to call you, and they start callin’ you that. Like a word or phrase that describes ya.”

“I know what a name is,” the mare said in annoyance.

“Well, okay then!” Applejack half shouted, feeling a little vexed herself at this point. This wasn’t supposed to be complicated. “Let’s just try to think up a few idears, see if you like any of ‘em,” she said patiently, “Based on your color maybe?”

“I didn’t think I got to pick, gosh... that makes a lot of sense, actually,” the mare said incredulously. “So um... I can change it, right?”

“If ponies get to know you by one name, it can be a hassle, but yeah?” Applejack said to the flowry pink haired mare, as best as she could advise this sort of thing. “Ah suppose you cain change it, before the old one sticks. You gotta pick a name you really like, though. Color names are pretty common round these parts, not all that distinctive though. How about... ah dunno, Pink Rose?”

“...is that an apple?” the mare asked suspiciously.

“Are you an Apple?” Applejack shot back, trying not to glare at her.

At least the mare got what Applejack was implying then, blushing and looking away, saying, “Right, sorry. Rosy is fine.”

“Rosy, not Rose?” Applejack asked curiously, but the mare only blushed harder, and stammered,

“W–whatever works.”

So all that hubbub over a name, and the mare went with the first one Applejack tossed out there? She musta had some strange naming conventions in her old country. Applejack knew a name as something important, and you had to put a lot of thought into what you wanted ponies to call yourself, but this mare seemed to just want something for ponies to call her. She barely wanted to consider any other possibilities.

But for better or for worse, Rosy Pink made a clumsy X in the visitor registry, by the spot where Applejack wrote her name in for her. At least X was written the same, for both of them.

With town hall out of the way, Applejack and the newly christened Rosy Pink took their temporary voucher on down through the town. Traffic was starting to pick up as lunchtime reared its ugly head, and Applejack was feeling a bit peckish herself, but she said she’d help with this simple task, and she was gonna do it. The mare—well, Rosy, Applejack supposed—was a lot less anxious now that they got that paperwork all done with. She was a curious sort, asking about everything from weather to pony politics.

“Shucks, Manehattan?” Applejack had been joking to the mare. “Let me tell you you’re lucky you showed up in Ponyville. Hatters don’t know the first thing about frugality. Why, ah don’t even think they got a tack shop in the whole city! That’s where we’re headed next!”

“We need to pick up some tacks?” the mare asked in a puzzled manner.

“No, the supply and tack!” Applejack corrected with a wink. “It’s over by Barnyard Bargains. They got a clearance rack; you cain get yourself somethin’ there for not much at all, until you get yourself back on your hooves. It won’t be pretty, but it’ll be functional an’ that’s what you need.”

The mare was quite impressed when they entered the store. “It’s like a hardware store!” she said brightly, looking around at the supplies, “Except for hors—for ponies!”

“Well who else would it be for, sheep?” Applejack said amusedly, “’cause sheep don’t know the first thing about saddlery.”

“What do sheep know?” the mare asked so innocently. She didn’t even know simple stuff like that!

“Eatin’ and sleepin’ mostly,” Applejack said offhoovedly, “You should try talkin’ to one sometime, see how far you get before you’re bored to tears.”

Rosy seemed a bit thrown off by that for some reason, like mare didn’t know what to say. She turned her pink mopped little head, looking around the store and murmuring, “I don’t know what we’re here for, exactly.”

“Somethin’ to keep you warm!” Applejack said smartly, trotting over to the clearance rack. “And don’t you worry about raisin’ your tab a little. These things would be sold for scrap if nopony wanted them, so they’re real cheap.”

Rosy finally figured it out once she had carefully walked up to where Applejack was waiting for her. She took a look at the items on the rack and said, “Oh... saddle blankets.”

“Well, you cain wear a saddle if ya wanna get fancy,” Applejack replied. “But most ponies just hold it on with a belt if they ain’t got a passenger.”

“A—wait...” she said in a totally flabbergasted tone, turning and staring at Applejack open mouthed. “Who... rides on ponies?”

“Animals and foals mostly?” Applejack said, cringing at yet another one of this mare’s weird reactions to completely normal things. “Usually somepony’s foal. It ain’t exactly common t’carry animals, but there’s saddles and carry cases for when you do. You gotta have a well trained critter, if you want ‘em to be able to ride on your bare back.” She grumbled under her breath, with a bit of dissatisfaction, “Well, unless you’re Rainbow ‘Iron Pony’ Dash...”

“...didn’t catch that last part,” Rosy said.

“Nothin’” Applejack replied, turning down her hat. “Now what’s it gonna be? They’re one size fits all.”

“Oh, um...” the mare looked down at the rack, touching it tentatively with a hoof to then more confidently slide the hangers around. “It looks like I have a choice between brown, and... brown.”

Applejack blinked at her, and then said a little irritably, “Ah meant the linin’.”

When the mare didn’t seem to understand, Applejack just pulled the one with the tighter weave out, saying, “Here, this’n’s a tighter weave.”

“Oh, thanks,” she said with a nervous smile, “So I just um... take it in my hoof?”

Sighing, Applejack folded the blanket and tossed it on her own rear, balancing it between the saddlebags she always wore around shopping time. “Let’s just go check out,” Applejack said wearily.

To be perfectly honest, Applejack was starting to get tired of this mare’s waifish curiosity. Was she a filly, or a grown mare? She didn’t seem like neither one! When Applejack showed her to the welfare shelter, the mare wasn’t acting disappointed or jaded. She acted like she was a filly in a candy shop. At the shelter!

“I can stay here?” she said, shifting excitedly on her hooves at the pastel, pleasantly heated but very plain interior. “You actually have a place for ponies? This is so incredible! I’ve never stayed at a homeless shelter before. Can I help? How does it work?”

“You talk to the overseer,” Applejack said curtly, “An’ she gives you a bed. I dunno the details. Ah dunno if you cain help or whatnot, but this’ll give you a place to sleep until you get back on your hooves.”

Rosy Pink nodded solemnly, and Applejack smiled, saying, “Good enough time as any for me to find out, I suppose. I’ll walk you in, make sure you’re set up, but then I gotta git. Chores don’t wait for nopony, y’hear.”

“Thanks, I’d really appreciate it,” Rosy said with a half smile. “I think I know even less about it than you do.”

Nodding, Applejack led the way, while Rosy hesitantly clipclopped after.

The building had a pretty nice lobby, with a desk for the receptionist to sit at, with brightly colored streamers connecting from it. There were some couches around the walls, for anypony waiting to talk to somepony to sit on, with some giggly noises coming from behind them. Applejack took the lead, trotting in and looking around. There were a few glows in the ceiling providing pretty good light all around, excepting where the balloons hanging from the ceiling cast shadows on the walls. There was no receptionist at the desk at all at the moment, only a pretty, triple layer cake with a swirly blue and pink frosting on it.

“Surprise!” shrieked Pinkie Pie, scaring Applejack half out of her wits as Pinkie and several other ponies erupted from behind chairs and couches, with party hats on and noise blowers going. After jumping out from hiding behind the cake... somehow, Pinkie dropped off the desk and said with a look of hurt confusion to the farm pony, “Applejack?! You weren’t supposed to come in first!”

“Oh, I’m surprised!” Rosy called out from behind Applejack, “Honest!”

“You an’ your surprise parties,” Applejack said teasingly, knocking the pink pony in the elbow.

“Well don’t just stand there, everypony,” Pinkie said to the crowd as Applejack trotted past her. “Let’s party!!”

Sometime earlier, Pinkie Pie hurried out of Sugarcube Corner, with her party supply wagon in tow. She already had the cakes baking, each one a delicious chocolate crumb, but now she only had half a day to get the party together. She stopped at the Streamer Emporium to stock up on rolls of streamers and bows, a big bag of confetti, and a bag of freshly homemade balloons. Then she went to table rentals and got a number of portable tables. Juniper’s Japery for the noise blowers and party hats, and Soft Glow’s for the candles. Pinkie didn’t know how many candles as technically it was this pony’s first year in Equestria as a pony and that was kind of like a birthday, but she figured she could improvise.

Hurrying down to the shelter, Pinkie didn’t spare a glance at the wide porch of the large cottage before trotting in, announcing, “Guess what!”

The receptionist there a green, white haired pony named If You May looked up on Pinkie’s arrival, her eyes lighting on Pinkie’s wagon hitch as Pinkie stood half in the door to the lobby. “You wanna throw a party?” May said curiously.

“There’s a mare coming to stay here, who just came to Equestria for the very first time, and the very first city she visited was Ponyville!” Pinkie responded.

“Well, that’s interesting news,” May said, adjusting her spectacles. “She a nice mare?”

“She’s really nice, but she’s kind of quiet and shy,” Pinkie said, “But not like Fluttershy. She isn’t afraid to talk to ponies! I think it’ll be really superrific if she stays here, and something tells me you won’t regret it!”

“Great!” May responded cheerfully, “What’s her name, do you know?”

“Er... she said she didn’t have one yet, so she’s gonna go pick one out at Town Hall,” Pinkie said. “So this is also her naming party!”

“Huh... how old is she?” May asked a bit skeptically.

“She’s a bit younger than me, but she isn’t a filly, but she just came from a faraway strange land where ponies didn’t have names,” Pinkie explained. “Anyway I only have an afternoon to set up, so if you’ll excuse me for a sec I’ll just dump these supplies off and go check on the treats!”

May gleefully smiled at that, saying, “Gosh Pinkie, I always love your parties here. You gonna invite a lot of ponies?”

“Sure!” Pinkie replied, “Anypony who I think might be a good friend for her!”

“So... everypony in Ponyville,” May countered dryly.

“I’m not that bad anymore,” Pinkie whined. “Maybe just half of everypony in Ponyville.”

Leaving May with a smile on her face, Pinkie went zipping back to Sugarcube Corner, and took out the cakes to cool. She put in the afternoon orders for the bakery itself, and started on the icing. Egg whites, powdered sugar, some glycerin, some extracts (vanilla, almond and orange!), and a whole lot of beating that Pinkie let the stand mixer take care of.

Then, she went to the pantry where they had a bunch of different cake fillings. She unsealed three raspberry jellies and piled those in between the two cake halves, making a double layer. Then she rolled out three quick sheets of marzipan, blanketing the cake under it and conforming it to the underlying shape. Now it was time for the icing!

Pinkie’s favorite thing was to add the food coloring almost at the very end, so that the icing ended up all swirly with color. She separated it into three bowls, one for pink, one for blue, and one for maroon. Slight swirl in each, her spatula skillfully scooped out the icing and spread it all over the cakes.

And finally, she piped on the cake in bright blue and yellow, “Welcome,” “To Ponyville” and left the middle blank, for filling in the pony’s new name.

Leaving that to rest, Pinkie took the afternoon stuff out of the ovens, basted and filled each of the pastries and flipped them onto cooling racks. The Cakes would take it from there. Then Pinkie zipped back to the welfare shelter, to scope out the situation.

So it looked like Berryshine was here with her daughter again. There was a gardener called Mr. Greenhooves, who had a hard time finding work when it was reeeally cold out, a unicorn from Vanhoover who hadn’t been here long enough to get a decent reputation, Lazy Eye Billie who was just kind of weird so other ponies didn’t like being around her. Nopony scary or dangerous or anything, not that those types tended to migrate in the direction of Ponyville. Nope, dangerous ponies who were down on their luck were hard to come by around here. Now, highly competent and skilled dangerous ponies, those were dime-a-dozen!

After pinning the streamers all around the room, and inflating the balloons, Pinkie went around town on her way back, and invited a bunch of ponies over for a super secret surprise party that would have streamers and balloons and cake and hot chocolate and marshmallows and games and cake.

She invited Roseluck and her friends, and Cherry Spices and Cherry Berry and Lyra Heartstrings and her friends, and Cranky Doodle but he said no, and Owloyscious but he said hoo, and with everypony headed that way, Pinkie stopped in at Sugarcube Corner, asking the Cakes if they would come too, and then working for the rest of the hour selling treats to ponies in the front.

Finally, Pinkie Pie loaded up the big swirly tasty cake in her wagon, along with a container of crumbled chocolate and sugar mix, and a big bag of puffed marshmallows, and sped on down to the shelter, where the ponies already there were helping finish her decorations. Pinkie made sure to thank each and every one of them as she set up the treats, and heated up a big pot of water for steeping the hot chocolate in.

When they heard Applejack and the mare headed this way, everypony hid behind things, and Pinkie scrunched down behind the reception desk, right behind the big central cake. Then, she leaped out, and shouted, “Surprise!” coming face to face with

...Applejack?

“Applejack?!” Pinkie whined, her forelegs drooping limply. “You weren’t supposed to come in first!”

So despite that fluff up, the party was super terrifically awesome, but of course! Who was planning it? Was it Pinkie Pie? Was Pinkie Pie planning the party? Yes, she was! There were snacks and games and party favors, and music playing on a trusty old phonograph that the mare was entirely too fascinated with.

Rosy was her name, it turns out! Rosy Pink! It was the shade of her mane, which was lots lighter than Pinkie Pie’s mane, which actually wasn’t pink even though ponies thought it was, because the rest of Pinkie Pie was pink. But as soon as Pinkie Pie heard that name, she hurried to the cake and took the bag of gel frosting, writing out “R o s y P i n k” in bright blue letters atop the swirly, buttery, creamy cake frosting. Rosy thanked her for that, but... her heart didn’t seem to be into it, but it also was? It was a strange thank you, as if Rosy was confused, but happy.

“You’re silly, you know that?” Pinkie Pie said to the mare, adjusting Rosy’s party hat that Rosy didn’t seem to know how to get on right. “How are you enjoying the party? Do you like the cake? It’s raspberry!”

Rosy took a fond look at the swirly colored slice of cake that somepony had generously helped onto a plate for her, saying, “It’s delicious! And these puffy things, with the cream in them? What are those?”

Pinkie blinked, looked at Rosy’s plate, and said curiously, “You mean cream puffs?”

Rosy slowly but surely planted her forehead on the edge of the table she was standing at. “Right, of course,” she grumbled, giving the puffs another wary look, before turning her blue eyes to meet Pinkie’s. “I haven’t actually ever had a cream puff before,” Rosy explained with an apologetic smile, “But it was really tasty. How does it... puff up like that?”

“Well... it’s pretty amazing actually. You don’t even need baking soda! Just eggs and water, and it works great!” Pinkie said happily. “Well, the cream part has pudding in it, but that gets squirted in later.”

The mare looked at the bits of cream left with a much more worried look on her face. Turning to Pinkie she said nervously, “Uh, so... how do you make... pudding?”

Pinkie blinked back, a little worried now herself and said, “You just beat together some eggs and sugar, and mix it in with the tapioca? I usually use dried egg whites, because you can mix everything but the milk that way, and it comes out really smooth. But why are you worried?”

“Oh, just... sorry I shouldn’t be worried, um...” the mare looked over her selection thoughtfully. “I just heard at one point that both our diets were completely vegetarian.”

“Huh,” Pinkie remarked, “That sort of sounds like that one song I sang that started a war.” She blushed, and added, “Iiit wasn’t a very big war, though.”

“For the record, I liked the song,” the mare said, inhaling more of her cake. “It wasth... creative.”

“You don’t have to say that just to be nice,” Pinkie said with a wince, “I know it was pretty awful.”

“No really,” the mare insisted, leaning towards Pinkie earnestly, “Ith ushed... hol on,” She chewed until her mouth was clear enough and said, “It used the word ‘vegetarian.’ I don’t know of any song that rhymes with vegetarian.”

“Oh, I got stuck on that part, so I just sort of um... skipped rhyming,” Pinkie admitted with a wince.

“Really?” the mare asked, blinking. “I thought you did?”

Pinkie Pie looked up and thought back, tapping her hoof to the beat as she recalled, “Something something both our diets are completely vegetarian~ we all eat hay and oats, why be at each other’s throats?”

“Wow, that... that doesn’t rhyme vegetarian at all, you’re right,” Rosy said rubbing at her chin. “I guess I just forgot, after all this time...”

“I think my best song was the Smile Song,” Pinkie said fondly. “Because I love to see ponies smile!” Her smile faltered and Pinkie had to look aside though, because she admitted, “I’m not so good at singing though, so I try not to sing all that much.” Her boisterous confidence returned as she was happy to say, “No, what I’m good at is parties, and baking!”

“Yeah,” Rosy said with a wry laugh, “Nothing like Fluttershy.”

“You betcha,” Pinkie agreed. “Between you and me,” she leaned close to whisper, “Fluttershy’s cooking is terrible!”

Rosy had a genuine laugh at that, saying, “I don’t think I ever saw her cook!

“...or eat,” Rosy added in a more concerned tone.

Pinkie... really didn’t know what to say about that. “What?” she tried.

Rosy looked up from her plate, blushing, saying, “O-oh nothing, it’s just that the um... show about you, it never showed Fluttershy eating, at first. Everyone started thinking she was a changeling, until finally they showed her eating some pancakes.”

“A changeling? ” Pinkie exclaimed in shock.

“Oh that’s not even the craziest theories people have about you six,” Rosy whispered conspiratorially, “The craziest one about you is that people started telling stories of an eeevil mare who fooled everyone into thinking she was a nice pony, but secretly she was making other ponies... into cupcakes!”

“Cupcakes?” Pinkie asked, her ears tilting down a bit. “What do you mean?”

Rosy glanced at Pinkie, and scrunched her muzzle, saying “N-never mind, it’s just a spooky story. I’ll tell it to you if we ever end up at a campfire.”

“Well okay silly, but I’ll hold you to that,” Pinkie said with a snarky grin.

“It’s seriously not that bad,” Rosy said nervously, “I know the RDP version anyway, which might even have you laughing, even though it’s still spooky.”

“Giggle at the ghostly, as I always like to say~” Pinkie said more cheerily, while Rosy leaned forward for another mouthful of cake.

“That is so true,” Rosy said enthusiastically around her cake. “Ith imposhible to be—” she paused, chewed, and swallowed. “It’s impossible to be scared of a scary story, if someone goes and makes fun of it!”

“Really?” Pinkie asked, not sure that was what she meant, by putting scary things in perspective. She admittedly couldn’t think of any counter-examples, but that couldn’t literally be true, could it?

“I swear it’s true,” Rosy insisted, “Some stories, I was so scared of, and then someone went and spoofed them, and showed how silly they could be. And suddenly I wasn’t scared at all!”

“Wow, I think you might be right!” Pinkie replied hopefully. “It’s not just you laughing at the spooks, but seeing them as funny that makes them not scary! But what if it really is dangerous?”

“Hm?” Rosy said, giving Pinkie a thoughtful look. “I guess it’s kind of like the boy who cried wolf then, so it could be dangerous not to be scared of things...”

“The boy who cried wolf?” Pinkie declared. “What on earth is that ?”

“It’s a story,” Rosy said, pretty much done with her cake now, just a bit of frosting left to lick off her lips. “About a um... a pony, who had to take care of a bunch of sheep. But he was really lazy and kind of mean, so he ran into town shouting that there were wolves hunting the sheep, and the other ponies went and penned the sheep up, and he didn’t have to watch them that day.

“Then, the next time he had to take care of the sheep, he did it again. He was supposed to be watching for wolves, but even when there weren’t any, he pretended there were, to scare all the sheep back into the pen. And—oh.”

Rosy fell silent then, and Pinkie waited, but the pastel mare didn’t say anything else. “Then what happened?” Pinkie prompted desperately.

“I–I think I know why you haven’t heard this story,” Rosy said, backing up a step from the table. “Sorry it’s just... it has a really bad ending. I forgot how it went... I never thought that... ugh, sorry.”

“It’s okay, silly. You don’t have to finish if you’re not comfortable with it,” Pinkie said laying a hoof on Rosy’s shoulder. “My favorite stories are happy stories, too! I bet they all had a big party, and worked out their differences together so that everypony was happy!”

“Yeah, that’s... that’s what happened,” Rosy said unconvincingly. She didn’t look happy still! Pinkie leaned in, with a wide eyed look at Rosy’s stubborn mouth. Wait for it. Waait for it.

“What are you doing?” Rosy laughed, backing up another step.

“Finding your smile!” Pinkie replied happily, as Rosy touched her own cheek with her hoof, a cheek that was genuinely smiling.

“They say there’s always a smile hiding in the corners of your mouth,” Rosy said agreeably. “Not many ponies actually go looking for it, though!”

“Well that’s just silly, silly,” Pinkie replied cheekily. “I find lots of smiles all over the mouth!”

“You keep calling me silly, but I think you’re the one who’s silly!” the mare accused in an amused tone.

Pinkie nodded enthusiastically, saying, “Yup. Silly’s my middle name! Pinkie ‘Silly’ Pie!”

“I thought it was Diane?” the mare quipped at her.

Pinkie was rearing up to follow up with a joke, but she stopped then. She settled her two front hooves to the floor. That uneasy feeling welled up in her, as she tried to understand how the mare just said that.

Turning away to only half face the mare, Pinkie said shakily, “I never told anypony that name, not ever.”

The mare’s face fell at that, and she lifted a hoof, stuttering out, “O-oh I’m sorry I–I didn’t know it would bother you. What’s wrong with your middle name?”

“Nothing’s wrong, but could you please pleeeease not tell anypony?” Pinkie entreated, hunching worriedly and glancing around at the partygoers. She didn’t think anypony heard. “I won’t get in trouble or anything,” Pinkie explained, “I just really really want to be just Pinkie Pie to everypony.” She would have told the mare why, but Pinkie didn’t really like to think about that, so she didn’t.

“Oh I won’t,” the mare assured her, “I know how important that is. I would never, um...”

The mare looked at Pinkie Pie for way too long, scoping her out, or thinking, or something. Pinkie didn’t know, because she wasn’t a mind reader. But maybe this mare was! Because then, the mare said steadily,

“I Pinkie Promise that I won’t tell anypony, if you don’t want me to.”

A smile leapt on Pinkie Pie’s face as she declared in delight, “You know about Pinkie Promises too??”

The mare nodded, carefully smiling again and saying, “Cross my heart and hope to fly. Stick a cupcake in my...” the mare looked at her hoof in apprehension. “Uh...”

“Eye,” Pinkie told her, sticking her own hoof in her eye to demonstrate. Pinkie’s remaining eye saw the mare look at her raised hoof worriedly though, saying,

“Sorry, I’m just not good with these yet. I don’t want to actually poke my eye out.”

“Good with what?” Pinkie asked curiously.

“Hooves,” the mare muttered, lifting a hoof again, and sort of moving it around, like she was trying to take a step forward. The hoof was still downturned, rather than aimed at the eye.

“Well, go ahead and take your time, then. I’m just gonna um... go check on the other partygoers,” Pinkie told the mare. Trotting off from Rosy’s staid stance beside one of the end tables, Pinkie found it hard to even focus on the other partygoers. Pinkie knew about the mare’s movie; Rosy had told her a little about it before getting her name, but Pinkie Pie hadn’t thought it would show... that. All the way back from when she was an itty bitty little twinkie Pinkie, back to... to when she moved to Ponyville?

Pinkie didn’t want to think about it any more, so she found Mr. Greenhooves and talked to him about fertilizers and shrubberies, and all the things he loved, that crazy old mule. Pinkie didn’t watch Rosy or anything. She just watched her meet Fluttershy.

Well, watched her not meet Fluttershy, rather. Fluttershy was waiting for Rosy over there by the wall away from the rest of the crowd, just like Pinkie had planned. Rosy was talking to lots of ponies, and Pinkie knew she looked dead directly at Fluttershy at one point. But Rosy just turned clumsily then, and went walking off in the opposite direction!

So Pinkie wasn’t curious about Rosy or anything, but she sure was curious about her! Rosy knew... things, and she acted funny in a way that just didn’t make sense sometimes. She seemed like a really nice pony too, very polite and friendly, and genuinely smiling even at Pinkie’s jokes! Pinkie Pie knew a genuine smile when she saw one. She just... didn’t know how somepony could watch all their lives, and know them all as much as best friends already, and not go say hi to Fluttershy?

Fluttershy didn’t seem upset by it though. She just smiled after the party, and told Pinkie Pie that Rosy could get to know her at her own pace.

Some days later, Twilight Sparkle was reshelving some returned books while dusting the rafters of her tree library, when who should come to see her other than the mysterious dimensional traveller! Of her own will for that matter, not at anypony else’s prompting!

Pinkie Pie had said she had a name, though Twilight didn’t recall what that name was at the moment. Twilight certainly recognized her, if nothing else for the mare’s strong resemblance to her old schoolmate Twinkleshine. Twilight laid the books she was working on back in their book cart, and trotted down the stairs to the pink haired, cream furred mare, who still had very blank thighs.

The alien was walking forward as if in a daze, and looking around like she’d trotted into the Taj Marehal itself. Her blue eyes were wide and full, and her mouth was hanging open, forgotten in the excitement of the moment. She wasn’t even aware that Twilight was standing here, was she?

“Welcome to the library!” Twilight announced in a level tone of voice, but still startled the alien pony, who jumped a foot back, then looked Twilight’s way with the most astonished expression on her face.

“Word has it you settled on a name,” Twilight said congenially. “Are you here to check out a book? That’s something you can do, now that you have a town record! What kind of... uh... book are you looking... for?”

Why wasn’t this mare responding to her? It was like she was dumbstruck with what to ask Twilight. “You need me to recommend some reading material...?” Twilight asked uneasily.

“Your library!” the alien blurted out shrilly, “It’s still here! ”

“Ssh,” Twilight said, folding her ears back at this strange mare’s excitement. “This is a library, so please: indoors voice.”

“Oh, sorry,” the alien said more quietly, losing a bit of her starry eyed wonder as rational thought crept back into her head. “I thought your library was destroyed!” she whispered to Twilight. “Didn’t you say Tirek destroyed it?”

“Well, he did heavily damage it,” Twilight replied. “But the roots remained alive. I don’t know what your alterniverse viewer revealed, but when Tirek was defeated by the Rainbow of Light, we were able to use its magic to undo much of the damage Tirek did. In particular, if you look over there, you can see one of the staircases is entirely crystelline. It’s a bit piecemeal, but I think it’s a beautiful effect, overall. You should see it in the summer. When the sunlight refracts in through the crystal wall section, it’s both beautiful, and useful light for reading by, while the green foliage provides plenty of shelter from direct sunlight.”

“How long ago did Tirek attack...?” the alien asked distantly, still looking with awe at the almost perfectly ordinary treehouse full of books.

“His attack was in the summer before last,” Twilight said cautiously. “Very recently, I know. It’s still fresh on a lot of pony’s minds, so you might want to be careful before bringing it up. Old wounds, you know.”

“Recently...” she looked at Twilight quizzically, but then sighed and said, “Sure, okay.”

“So, about your other verse,” Twilight asked eagerly. The mare only stiffened in response. “I’m very curious why you were sent here,” Twilight stated. “It might be an important clue for how to finish your quest and get you home.”

“Finish my... quest?” said the mare nervously.

Twilight smiled at her. “Yes, it might not seem like it, but you’re on a great adventure!” she said brightly. “Sometimes ponies or... humans who need a change in their lives will get sent to distant lands, where they can learn valuable life lessons about how important their home is.”

“Well yes, but...” the alien trailed off, eyeing Twilight worryingly sideways. “You mean that literally, aren’t you.”

“Well, I don’t mean to brag, but I have read several biographical accounts,” Twilight stated smugly. “I could look some of them up for you, if you like?”

“Yeah, I... I really want to find out about this verse,” said the alien mare. “But I still can’t read your language, so... do you have an alphabet book or something?”

Twilight was blushing so hard she thought she would die. “I’m so, so sorry,” she said hastily, putting a hoof on the mare’s shoulders. “I totally forgot that only your spoken language had changed with your form.”

“Yeah, and it’s... really weird, when I pay attention to it,” she said, also blushing and half hiding behind a hoof. “It feels like I’m just speaking words, but this can’t possibly be a human language.”

“What characterizes a human language?” Twilight asked curiously.

“I’m not sure I can say, because I don’t... remember, exactly,” the human mare replied with difficulty. “I think it was more... hootey?”

“Hootey?”

“Yeah, hooty, like, beoouuuuuuwup!” the alien replied loudly. Then she blushed, looking around at other library patrons staring at her in irritation, covering her mouth and whispering, “Sorry!”

“C’mon, let’s get you a basic foal’s reading book,” Twilight said, walking the creature toward the foal’s section. “It might help you understand your new manner of speech better, if you learn the basics of Equestrian grammar. And we can talk more about... hooting, I guess?”

“It’s not too bad,” the alien said quietly, following the lilac princess. “At least I can breathe through my mouth.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked in bewilderment.

“In my verse, horses can’t breathe through their mouths,” the pink haired pony murmured back. “Any language they made would have to be composed entirely of humming.”

Twilight cringed at the very idea.

Author's Notes:

They also can’t see purple!

The Journey Ends

The alien mare did end up checking out some basic reading, and expressed her utter delight that Twilight’s library home wasn’t blown to kingdom come anymore. Twilight remarked rather sarcastically that perhaps this mare’s altiverse viewer was pointed in the wrong direction, but the mare was most insistent that the verse it viewed was uncannily like their own. And that’s all she would say on the subject. Twilight tried wheedling her, cajoling her, teasing her, yet she didn’t budge once she’d realized what she was saying. She didn’t seem to like talking about what she knew of them, and nothing at all about her home in the human world.

Twilight at least managed to infer from accidentally leaked half sentences, that the alien lived in a human city, in a human apartment. Twilight came to conclude from that, that an advanced dimension faring civilization still had cities, and apartments, instead of some form of a higher order social organization. The mare certainly seemed normal, and not in any way advanced or enlightened beyond pony ken. She honestly seemed completely clueless, when Twilight tried to find the simplest things about her world’s potential for bispatial transception. The traveller claimed not to be a research subject, nor was she any kind of mad genius, so Twilight was at a loss to imagine how the alien got here in the first place. That left Twilight at a loss of how to help her, with whatever quest brought her to this strange land.

The mare never returned to the library, understandable since she only ever had the most basic of reading levels, but still it was disappointing. Twilight wanted to learn more about her and her world, before this human’s journey had ended, and the opportunity had passed. Twilight wanted to study with the Trotwood students, who were even now divining more and more about the human’s home in an attempt to find out how to return her there. Twilight wanted to help this alien mare, not be stonewalled by her ignorance, and reluctance to divulge the true nature of her verse!

But for better or for worse, Twilight Sparkle simply was not the pony destined to help this mare complete her quest.

“Twilight, a moment?”

“Oh, Applejack!” Twilight said, turning to look over her back with a smile, “How was the frontier symposium?”

The stetson bearing cowpony wasn’t smiling though, but had a look of honest worry on her face. “Met some ponies in a right pickle,” she said, walking staidly into the warm confines of Ponyville’s tree library, “And ah think they need our help. You ever hear of a town called Hayshire?”

“Aww,” Pinkie Pie whined, “But I wanted to play some more with Rosy first! Can’t we wait until next week, or next month or something?”

“Rosy?” Twilight responded blankly for a moment, while levitating a pack onto Pinkie’s back, “Oh, you mean the human?”

“Well, she’s not a human right now, but yeah?” Pinkie responded cattily, shouldering the supplies deposited on top of her.

“Be that as it may, the Trotwood team have the human situation well under control,” Twilight replied curtly, levitating another pack to go on top of Pinkie’s back. “We can’t wait another week, because the Hayshire township needs to harvest their crops now, or they’ll lose them to the first frost.”

“But I wanted to make friends with Rosy more!” Pinkie whined, adjusting to the weight of the new bag. It was really heavy, probably full of books. “She’s so fun!”

Twilight paused in her packing to regard Pinkie thoughtfully.

“I don’t know how close you want to get to the human,” Twilight replied with concern. “Remember she’s not going to be around forever. She has a family, and a home, and friends of her own, and she lives very far away from here. There’s going to be some point where you’re going to have to say goodbye.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Pinkie sighed, looking at the floorboards. “I hope she gets back to her real friends soon, so that she can start making friends again.”

“Don’t worry Pinkie,” Twilight said kindly, putting a hoof on her withers. “She has a big adventure of her own in front of her, and I’m sure she’ll pull through admirably. That’s what she’s here for, to learn an important life lesson, and find her way back home.”

“I thought she was here because her tee-vee exploded,” Pinkie asked, glancing at Twilight in confusion.

“That too?” Twilight said a little less confidently. “But... these quests have their way of working themselves out, so don’t feel like you need to go out of your way. I know you want to make everypony’s lives as full and happy as possible, and sometimes that means giving them space to find their own way.”

Pinkie nodded without further protest, and Twilight went back to packing her books and gear and stuff on top of the pink party pony.

“I wonder why their soil went bad?” Pinkie said, pulling the strap on the latest pack tight around her barrel. “That’s not a thing that usually happens to soil!”

“That’s why they asked Applejack to lend her expertise,” Twilight replied. “It could be any of several dozen issues including aether wellups, blights, fungal intrusions, imbalanced humours, stellar convergence, or even something regarding this dimensional boundary nonsense. I’ve packed whatever relevant texts I could,” she levitated a third, smaller pack on top of Pinkie’s second one, wincing at the pink pony’s burden, and saying, “Sorry, it’s just—”

“No... problem,” Pinkie said bearing under the strain. She sure wasn’t used to carrying around loads of books like this. It’d take her at least the afternoon to adjust.

“Anyway I have faith in Applejack’s judgement regarding such matters,” Twilight went on, levitating a medium sized pack onto her own back with an apologetic grin. “And if she can’t... find the problem,” Twilight said, testing her hooves underneath her, finding them sound to carry her own load, “Then I’m sure if we work together, we can find a solution!”

“You said it, Twilight!” Pinkie said cheerfully, “Now let’s go meet the others, and go make those plants grow, and those smiles glow!”

Their friends were waiting at the train station for them, Applejack with her packs full of seeds and tools, and galoshes, Fluttershy with her carriers of gophers and moles, Rarity with some emergency hats and jackets, as well as some tasteful gifts for ponies they might see. Twilight and Pinkie contributed books, more books, and some food too but Twilight didn’t have to know about the treats Pinkie had snuck along, instead of a few books that probably weren’t all that important anyway. On top of their individual contributions, everypony had a sleeping roll, and a cloak for any unreported snow storms.

“Oh my goodness,” Fluttershy said softly, in great excitement. “I’ve never been across the lunar ocean. Oh what strange and wonderful sights we may see there!”

“You mean strange and wonderful creatures, ” teased Rainbow Dash, making Fluttershy squeak, but not apologetically. They were the least loaded up of all of them, for two very different reasons.

“Personally, ah am looking forward to this,” Applejack said confidently, watching the train pull into the station. “About time somepony asked an Apple to oversee things down thattaway. Ah’m real sorry to drag y’all along with me like this.”

“It’s okay, Applejack. That’s what friends are for!” Pinkie Pie giggled liberally. “We’re going oversea to oversee!”

“Who knows what we might find there,” Rarity said a little less enthusiastically. “But whatever it is we encounter, we’ll be with you the entire way.”

“Shucks, what’d ah do to deserve y’all?” Applejack said with a blush and a hat tilt.

Twilight looked upwards, ticking off in the air on her hoof, “Well, you organized the Ponyville resistance, then you helped save your friends so we could imprison a spirit of chaos back in stone, then you—”

Applejack plugged her mouth, saying, “Ah didn’t mean literally.”

“There’s literally, and then there’s twi-literally,” remarked dryly a little purple dragon, wearing an adorable gem packed backpack of his own.

“All aboard, for Vanhoover!” the conductor called out, as the train made ready to leave the station.

“Is everypony ready?” Applejack asked, a lazy smile on her snout.

“Ready!” Pinkie cheered.

“Yeah!” Rainbow agreed heartily.

“You bet!” Spike said, giving the thumbs up.

“I sure hope so,” Twilight demurred.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Fluttershy admitted.

“Let’s hurry it up before the train leaves,” Rarity said impatiently.

“Well okay then,” Applejack said happily, rearing up to charge onto the boarding platform, “C’mon everypony, and let’s get her done!”

Several weeks later, a half dozen weary ponies and a baby dragon crawled up a long road into town. For the thousandth time, Applejack groaned to herself quietly, “Never... again...”

Nopony saw fit to question her.

It was a droopy eared, exhausted Applejack who approached the quiet town of Ponyville, along with a very worn out looking Pinkie Pie, a tired Rainbow Dash, a frazzled Rarity, a hungry looking Spike, Twilight Sparkle without her nose in a book, and a blushingly happy Fluttershy.

“Oh, I can’t believe we got to see a strocnocerous stampede!” Fluttershy continued to whisper excitedly. “And the wyvern spiders were just like I imagined! And—oh, would you look at that.” Fluttershy finished, falling silent and staring, as the bleary eyed Pinkie basically ran face first into a road sign without noticing it.

== P O N Y V I L L E ==➤

“Oh thank the heavens, we’re home! ” Applejack said in immense relief, pushing an unresisiting Pinkie Pie out of the way, “Oh Ponyville ah’ve missed y’all more’n a skeeter in a hurricane!”

She then proceeded to rear up and cradle the sign, kissing it tenderly

“Applejack, don’t you...” Rarity said wincing at her unusually enthusiastic friend, “Think maybe that your family would like to see you—”

“Apple Bloom!” Applejack shouted, pushing off from the sign. “They don’t even know we’re here yet! Ah sent a letter, but ah ain’t got no way to know if it arrived!”

“I’m sorry, Applejack,” Twilight said apologetically, shifting the supplies she was still carrying with her on her sore back. She’d levitate them but... not after that massive stop spell yesterday. “Spike did his best,” Twilight explained, “But I never thought to ask him to practice sending letters to Sweet Apple Acres.”

“Hey, I almost had it!” Spike protested a little irritably. “Dozenth time’s the charm!”

“I don’t know about you all,” Rainbow Dash declared, “But now that we’re here, I’m just gonna find a cloud and catch some zzz’s. I don’t even want to think about building myself a house again.”

She flapped heavily up into the air, proceeding at a more stately pace once she was airborne. Fluttershy looked after Dash with concern, but ultimately couldn’t help much, since ponies like Rainbow Dash were out of earshot before Fluttershy even took in a breath.

“I for one enjoyed the airy lands,” Fluttershy said to those who remained. “It was a lot of hard work, but we did so much good for those ponies!”

“Yeah... great parties,” Pinkie said agreeably, totally not swaying on her hooves. “I still have to get the recipe for their knock-out punch. It was like a flavor explosion!”

“Well, that partially explains their soil problems, at least,” Twilight said frankly. “Explosive fruits were the least of their worries, though. I’m glad we got them on the road to recovery.”

Pinkie’s nose still smelled like soot.

As the 12 returned to their home, Pinkie Pie went bounding off happily in search of Sugarcube Corner, in complete defiance of her still hefty encumberance. The lighter packed Rarity took Fluttershy, to see if the cottage keeper had survived taking care of her animals or not. Rainbow Dash was probably already konked out on a cloud somewhere. And Applejack went trotting straight for Sweet Apple Acres. That left Twilight and Spike to walk down the streets of Ponyville alone together, heading for their old familiar home, the Golden Oak library.

“I hope they found a librarian while we were gone,” Spike said worriedly. “I did not think that was going to take that long.”

“That’s very thoughtful of you to say, but I’m sure they managed,” Twilight said, smiling down at him, “We did manage to mail a letter to Amethyst before leaving for the Aeriolian fields. I’m sure she got somepony to at least take care of the place.”

Twilight’s stare turned serious as they trotted and strode forward respectively, and she grumbled somewhat more darkly, “But I’ll bet I’m going to need to spend at least a week getting all the books back in their proper places.”

“Huh, maybe I’m just forgetting,” Spike said curiously, “But do ponies usually act like that?”

“Huh?” Twilight said, lifting her gaze and looking to where Spike was pointing. He was pointing at a group of ponies who were walking along the street, but looking at each other anxiously, trotting hastily back in the other direction any time they started to get close to each other.

“Hm, that isn’t odd in of itself, but now that you mention it,” Twilight said, looking around. It was a bright sunny day, which was odd because all the grass and flowers were quite dry looking. It definitely should have rained a while ago. And ponies were taking odd routes, circituous paths that avoided going directly from point A to point B.

They might have continued on, but at least one pony noticed who was walking through town, along with a very distinctive little purple dragon.

“Twilight!” came the shout from Amethyst Star, “Don’t go into the shadow!”

Twilight was in far too pleasant a mood to comprehend that statement. “What?” she asked, looking at a very frazzled Amethyst stumbling towards her, Twilight stopping in her tracks. Was that why ponies were... wait. She looked at the building’s shadows, very short in the noonday sun. How long had it been noon...?

“Shadows... poisoned,” the less purple unicorn said, looking like she hadn’t slept in quite a while. “It got all over town, just a few days ago. Some kind of creature that lives in shadows. How did you... trains are running again?”

“We um... walked here,” Twilight said worriedly. “What’s going on? Should I be getting my friends?”

“Sorry, it—” Amethyst winced and put a hoof to her temple, saying, “It can give you a horrible headache if you don’t give in—it can move ponies around like puppets, it—I haven’t even been inside in days!”

“How did this happen?” Twilight asked in alarm, looking at the poor Amethyst, who moved back as Twilight approached too close.

“The human!” Amethyst exclaimed bitterly. “They said something came through the rift! That it was after her. She went—to go find help.”

“That sounds like a quest!” Twilight replied in fear and yet hope. If it was, then there had to be a way to solve this problem. “Does she—hold on, I have to go warn my friends.”

Ignoring the strain, Twilight pulled herself into a teleport, leaving everything she was wearing behind for maximum efficiency. She mapped a course through the cosmic field, struggling from weariness, but it was nothing she couldn’t handle, not as a princess’s principle pupil, and sometimes savior of the world. That’s what the slim winged unicorn told herself as she ignored the ache of her exhausted horn, teleporting straight into what might be an absolute disaster. Applejack!

The instant before Twilight vanished, she had made a mental checklist of her friends. Rainbow Dash would be out of any shadows, and possibly beyond what a Void creature could reach up there. Rarity and Fluttershy were relatively stately in their movement, and would be keeping out of the town proper if they were heading towards Fluttershy’s cottage. And with the sun in the sky as it was, even the shadows of these buildings were easy to avoid, also considering Pinkie’s love of the warm sun. That left Applejack who was currently about to trot right underneath her beautiful shaded apple —

Twilight appeared at the mouth of Sweet Apple Acres. Her horn blazed with light for a moment, before she confirmed that she was out of any shadows. Then, she went running in the opposite direction, hoping she would find Applejack along the way.

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief as she saw the trotting orange pony come round the bend, heading for her home. “Applejack!” Twilight gasped, “Void incursion. No time to explain. Do not touch any shadows, anywhere. Stay in the sun! Meet me outside the library!” Twilight closed her eyes then and her horn sputtered, but she focused it fiercely, and tried a teleport and... she lost it. Twilight popped out right in the middle of town. Darn it! She’d been aiming for Fluttershy’s cottage, but she just couldn’t hold it! Why did this have to happen when she had a strained horn? Why did she have to go and try to stop time yesterday?!

Of course Pinkie Pie was right there where Twilight appeared. “Pinkie!” Twilight exclaimed in relief. “The shadows are poisoned!” she shouted to the wide eyed pink pony. “Don’t let any shadow of anything or anypony touch you. And please just... drop your bags and hurry. I don’t know if I can warn Fluttershy and Rarity in time—”

Twilight cut off as she learned she was speaking to the empty space beneath a hovering supply pack, bedroll, pots, water canteens, shovels—you get the point. All that crashed to the ground prompting Twilight to jerk her hooves back. She reared up thinking her backpack was still weighing her down, and overbalanced backwards, right into the grasp of her own magenta magic. Twilight grunted with the strain of catching herself, but then shoved herself back down to all fours, right at the edge of a shadow. That was too close for comfort.

Well, Pinkie was gone, and if Pinkie reached the other two in time, it’d be more reliably than Twilight’s pitiful attempts to overstrain her horn even more. So instead, Twilight went looking for a pegasus. And there were very few pegasi in town, but Twilight did find one, sitting at a table with its parasol folded up, looking like everypony else did: hot and glum. She was a pretty pink thing with yellow blond locks of hair.

“Excuse me,” Twilight said to her. “But I need to warn my friend about this shadow problem, and she’s up on a cloud right now. I don’t suppose you could help?”

“What clouds?” she said miserably in a wobbly voice. Twilight... huh. Twilight looked up again, noting there were also no clouds in the sky. This was a distinctly unsustainable situation.

“Well, hopefully she’s gone out of town then?” Twilight asked uneasily. The pegasus mare just shrugged.

“It doesn’t matter,” she said. “I can’t fly like this.”

Twilight peered at the pegasus’s perfectly healthy pink wings curiously. Seeing this, the mare clarified, “It jerks around every pegasus who tries to escape their shadow. I’d fall out of the sky before I even got off the ground.”

“Oh, this is terrible,” Twilight said sympathetically, touching the mare’s shoulder in a way that wouldn’t get their shadows intersecting. “I can’t believe we just left that rift unattended...”

The pegasus laughed tensely, saying, “That sure explains it then. I thought you Trottingdale ponies had been watching it!”

“Oh!” Twilight yelped, blushing with embarassment, “No I meant... me and my friends, you see, we’re... um... a friend of mine and I discovered the rift, and that’s who I was talking about, not Trotwood. I’m sure the Trottingdale ponies were very diligant, in fact. They’re the best research team in the kingdom.”

“Then why are we all jerky and headachy and sick inside?” the mare asked bitterly in return. “They should have stopped this!”

“Maybe there was something else involved,” Twilight suggested. “Something we don’t know about that explains it.”

“Oh, I don’t care I just wish this Faust-darned thing would let me fly again,” the mare groaned, putting her head in her hooves. “I’d never touch the ground again!”

“I’m terribly sorry you have to go through this,” Twilight said sympathetically, “All of you. I don’t know if my friends and I can help, but we’ll do everything we can.”

“You sure seem to have a high opinion of yourself,” the pegasus grumbled, glaring Twilight’s way. “Who are you, anyway?”

“Oh, where are my manners,” Twilight said with a blush, and a hoof to her shoulder. “I’m Twilight Sparkle. What’s your name?”

“You’re the princess?” the mare said, sitting up with interest. “You ca—agh” she winced, and held her hooves to her head. “Fluff—you should go. I think it—it’s trying to get me to—ack” her hoof spasmed away from her temple, reaching for Twilight suddenly. No, reaching for her shadow!

Twilight backed up, and the mare got a hold of herself. Well, in a manner of speaking. The mare started crying, collapsing against the table she was trying to stand at, but she wasn’t being compelled to move anymore. So, it was about the opposite of getting a hold of yourself.

Now that Twilight looked around, she could see other ponies who she recognized were few and far between, and keeping a very wide berth around her, far wider than any pony’s shadow would extend. And... it broke Twilight’s heart, because she had to watch this unknown pegasus mare just lose it, from something she never deserved, and Twilight couldn’t even go comfort her, because it was too dangerous to get near her!

Twilight’s mane blew in the air as Rainbow Dash landed behind her, shouting frantically, “Twilight! Something’s wrong with the shadows! Pegasi up there told me to never touch them, and that they’d get you all if you were down here!”

“Get the others,” Twilight Sparkle stated firmly, but quietly. “Applejack is in the sun outside her orchard. Pinkie and Rarity are with Fluttershy, away from the shadows in their cottage. I need you all to meet me at the library. Please hurry before it tries anything else. We need to use the Elements of Harmony.”

“Tha—that bad, huh—I mean, yes ma’am!” Rainbow stuttered then saluted, probably. Twilight didn’t even get a chance to face her friend, before Rainbow Dash had blasted off again into the sky.

Then Twilight sighed and started to trot towards the library, where her own supplies were lying crashed on the ground, when she’d teleported out from under them. It was time to get her Element of Harmony, and check on Spike as well. Spike was probably worried stiff, with all this shadow business throwing them immediately back into the fryer.

She found him huddled by Twilight’s discarded pack, looking scared but alright. Her little dragon was still quietly cowering there in the middle of the square beside it. “Spike!” Twilight said in relief, “I’m so glad you’re safe.” Spike looked up in fear, but his fear broke into a relieved smile. He stood up, and started running towards her, arms outstretched. The poor guy was so scared he just wanted a hug. Amethyst kicked him across the square.

Twilight stared in outright disbelief as her substitute planner outright kicked Spike across the square. “Stay back!” Amethyst shouted squaring off with Twilight. “He doesn’t—know to resist! It’s trying to make us—ahh!” She fell to one knee then, and Twilight saw in horror now, that Amethyst’s shadow was distorting jaggedly, like something was pulling it around, like it wasn’t even a pony’s shadow anymore.

“Twilight!” came Rarity’s voice, as she, Fluttershy and Pinkie came trotting up. “Thank heavens you warned us! We’ve stayed out of the shadows.” Each of them had already put on their elemental focii, a golden collar that each of them carried with them at all times.

“Ah’m a’comin’ Twilight!” came Applejack’s voice from the other direction.

“Hold on just a little longer,” Twilight whined to Amethyst. “We’ll banish this thing so hard it... will get banished really hard,” she didn’t have time to quip. She turned towards the others, Dash zooming down with Applejack in tow.

“We’ve been through the drill before,” Twilight said, “You’re all ready to use your Elements?”

“Ready!” Rainbow Dash said confidently.
“Ah won’t let you down,” Applejack agreed.
“Any time you’re ready,” Fluttershy said modestly.
“We’ll banish him so hard his butt will turn inside out!” Pinkie quipped.
“I’m ready to do whatever it takes!” Rarity replied.

“Good!” Twilight smiled, “Then let our powers com—wait hold on,” She lit her horn, lifting a flap in the packing supplies she’d been carrying and levitating out her own collar, its sparkling lilac star crowning the center. With that latched on her neck, she shouted, “Let’s do this!”

A cringing pony made a desperate break for them, as did Spike, but it was too late. The Harmony surged around them, holding the others away as each collar came to life on each pony’s neck, and all of Twilight’s friends remembered the deep power that lay within them all. All Twilight’s aches and pains faded away as she could feel her friends as one, surrounding her in a oneun pointed star of good will. One by one each of them lit up with readiness, and Twilight always felt privileged to join them, to open herself up to the friendship she never knew she so desperately needed.

Her friend Rainbow Dash flickered as her voice sort of... came, asking for all of them, “What do we even attack?” But Twilight smiled, as they all already knew the answer.

“We attack the darkness!”

Twilight’s only regret was she didn’t get to observe the effects of the Elements when she was... caught up in them. When the light had faded, and she had descended to the ground again, her first recognition that all was well was a collective cheer going up around her. Everypony was okay! Everypony was okay? It didn’t look all that different in fact, other than the expressions of absolute relief on the face of every pony looking their way.

“We sent that mean old darkness packing!” Pinkie Pie said cheerfully.

“That sure was a close’n,” Applejack said, looking around nervously.

“Is everypony okay?” Fluttershy asked, while Rarity asked, “Is everypony okay?” loud enough for anypony to hear.

“I think so!” somepony shouted from the crowd.

“I think you did it!” Amethyst said excitedly, stepping in place and watching her normal, passive, un-corrupted shadow do the same.

“That should clear up any extradimensional incursions!” Twilight called out loudly, looking around. “You can all go about your normal lives now!”

“Or we could have a party!,” Pinkie called out even louder. There was another collective cheer from the herd.

“Oh, thank you so much!” said that blonde haired pink pegasus, turning loops in the air. “I thought I’d never be free!”

“Seriously, Twilight, next time you go on a trip can you not leave extradimensional rifts lying around?” Amethyst asked wryly. “That was a serious problem!”

“I’ll do my best,” Twilight replied, “But how did it get this bad? No wait, we should save it for the town meeting.”

“Yeah, I really don’t know the details,” Amethyst admitted. “Shadows just started to act weird, and some ponies were being puppetted around. And the more it happened the sicker everypony got. I’ll go find the mayor and gather the other ponies so they can tell you the full story.”

“And I’ll just... find somewhere to sleep,” Twilight said, sagging under her accumulated exhaustion.

Amethyst blushed and said, “Don’t mind me, then,” trotting hurriedly off to make preparations. And finally, like her friends, Twilight Sparkle got to make her way back home. With great pleasure, she returned to her beloved tree library. After checking on Spike to make sure he got back okay too (he cleared the gems out of the pantry, and passed out in his basket), Twilight brushed her teeth, then ascended the crystelline staircase to her old bedroom. Snuggled up and fading into an exhausted slumber, Twilight had never felt so happy to lay in her warm, soft bed. There really was no place like home.

With the entire town in such relief, a little Pinkie Pie magic turned the town meeting into a big celebration, with balloons, and streamers, and one pony named Twilight Sparkle looking rather unamused, as she tried to get everypony to stop partying long enough for her to give her announcement. There were ponies who were very interested in Twilight’s announcement though, so it wasn’t too long before she had a decent assembly paying attention to her. Tapping her note cards perfectly aligned on the podium, Twilight happily told them all the good news.

“Greetings everypony!” Twilight said joyfully, “It’s not every day that I expect to run into great peril on my way back from the adventure, but with Void incursions you can never be too careful. If my measurements are correct, and trust me I triple-checked them,” she said, a nervous chuckle going through the crowd. “You can rest assured that all intruders, dimensional incursions, dimensional diversions and spatial anomalies have been patched up and removed from Ponyville, thanks to the Elements of Harmony, with a little help from the ponies who bear them.”

“But our research!” a pony in the front shouted in outrage. Twilight smiled and—wait, outrage? Not gratitude? She stared uncomprehending for a moment as the pony said, “We moved our entire operation from Trottingdale University in order to study this rift! And it’s just gone, just like that? There was so much we could learn from it!”

Oh. Trotwood. Of course.

Twilight smiled uneasily at the unfamiliar stallion. She hadn’t thought ponies would be upset at a time like this, but it kind of made sense in hindsight. “I... don’t know how to break this to you,” she said to the guy, “But when a Void creature has corrupted the shadows of all the ponies in Ponyville, that’s a little more important than just sticking your head in a portal to who knows where.”

“As it so happens, the probe spells we sent through the portal were measuring counter-rotational antispatial harmonics,” the stallion said snidely. Wait, what? Really? “To the laypony, that means—”

“A stable tri-decimal dimensional manifold?” Twilight exclaimed in shock. “That’s impossible! Did you use Dwell Deep’s Darkness Distinguishment to—”

“To remove any chance of cross-temporal current, yes, and we were about to employ Studious Stead’s—”

“Serial Shade Severance to remove the dynamic malquifescence,” Twilight said excitedly, “Which if below nanometers VQQ would conclusively prove the existence of a stable tri-decimal dimensional manifold, but—”

“But the shadow... creature, as it were, slipped in without our knowledge,” the stallion said, eyeing the confused crowd worriedly as the princess stared at him eagerly. “And it truely was an offensive foe. So as much as you could put it a little more politely, you do have a point. We can conduct our research on less... volatile things. We do have a lot of data collected to analyze anyway, and perhaps with it we can learn to prevent more such Void incursions, the next time it happens.”

“Let’s just hope there won’t be a next time,” Twilight said frankly, a little disappointed, but she could definitely restrain her thirst for knowledge to help these ponies feel better. “But... it’s a good thing to know diligent ponies like you are working so hard to be ready for it.”

She turned toward the greater populace again, announcing confidently, “Don’t worry, everypony! We may have lost a (priceless scientific opportunity) little bit of progress, but the Elements of Harmony will have returned all extradimensional travellers to their home dimensions, and closed the rift that their presence generated. There will be no more shadows coming from the woods to plague you.”

Most of the ponies seemed greatly relieved at that, but a blue mare with a head of wavey blonde hair caught her eye. “Miss? Um... Princess Sparkle?” the pony asked uncertainly, stepping forward.

“Twilight is fine,” Twilight said.

“Okay, Twilight, okay,” the mare said, collecting her hooves a moment, before looking up and asking worriedly, “What about Rosy?”

Twilight winced.

“Rosy was a... dimentional incurser pony,” the mare continued worriedly, “What happens to her?”

“Miss um...” Twilight prompted uneasily.

“Bluebell,”

“Bluebell,” Twilight said, “Rosy had a home of her own. She had friends and family to return to. The Elements would have done nothing other than send her safely home, because... she doesn’t belong here. Her presence was an imbalance in our world that would have held the rift open. I’m sorry if you thought she was going to be with us longer, but those shadows forced our hoof. If we had arrived sooner, we could have done something, maybe. But I’m not going to put ponies in danger, just to keep a traveller from her home.”

“So she is gone...” said Bluebell, her ears wilting. “I didn’t even get to say goodbye.”

“I’m sorry you thought she was going to be around longer,” Twilight said gently. “We all loved ehm... ‘Rosy’ while she was with us. But Rosy will be reunited with her friends now. Her family. She’s in a better place.”

“I don’t think she wanted to go,” Bluebell said resentfully. She stared up at Twilight’s podium in a sudden defiance.

Twilight’s smile was full of sympathy though. “Could you come up here and tell me the story of how you came to be friends with Rosy?”

“I—no I-I...” Bluebell looked around nervously, backing into the crowd.

“No need to be nervous,” Twilight said soothingly, “Just tell me if I’m on the mark here. Rosy had... problems when she first came here, didn’t she?”

“S-she was clumsy as a foal at first, but she was getting better,” Bluebell said in a somewhat offended tone, “She learned how to do pretty well at the shelter. Helping other ponies, who didn’t really knew her. B-but she didn’t seem to know how to make friends at all. She just didn’t know how to get close to anypony.”

“Then, I’m guessing there was some sort of crisis that challenged that?” Twilight prompted hopefully.

“Y-yes actually!” Bluebell replied in surprise, “My foal broke her wing flying into a tree, and she was too ashamed to tell anypony, until it healed wrong. I-it needed corrective surgery, and the only surgery pony I could find who could do it was in Vanhoover. I was scared to go, because maybe it would... g-go badly, and my foal she was scared too and it was breaking her heart, a-and Rosy caught me crying about it one day.”

Bluebell seemed to brighten at that, losing a little bit of her nervousness as she told Twilight, “Rosy told me she’d walk with me all the way to Vanhoover, just like that. And she did. I’d never even done anything for her before! S-she even pulled the cart, and... we got to talking, and it turns out she was really nice!”

“Wouldn’t you normally fly your cart to Vanhoover?” Twilight asked curiously.

Bluebell started to nod, then shake her head, then look a little confused, finally saying, “I was gonna, but Rosy’s an earth pony, so we walked. M-made Rainy feel better, because she’s scared of being up too high with only one working wing.”

“I’m guessing you didn’t have an uneventful trip on your trek to Vanhoover,” Twilight postulated.

Nodding, Bluebell said with honest admiration, “Yes, princess! T-the cart broke down once, and Rosy was the one who found somepony to fix it. She just walked off and c-came back with another traveller, a handsome stallion too! He knew just how to fix the b-broken axle. She was so calm about it, you wouldn’t knew that she was shy at all!”

Bluebell rubbed a foreleg under her chin, before looking up and adding, “And Rosy also made little Rainy feel better. She was scared about the surgery, and that she couldn’t fly, but Rosy wouldn’t let her stay scared. She kept t-telling Rainy all about how she was gonna be able to fly again. She said that when you’re doing everything you can, and you’re still scared, that’s when you’re supposed to... laugh. And even fake laughing really helped her feel better. Helped us both. I’m not um...”

Bluebell blushed heavily, mumbling shamefully, “I’m not good with foals. I just sort of... had one. So... it turns out Rosy is good with foals, and Rainy really liked Rosy, so she’s been babysitting her since then, a-and Rosy and me just got along really well after that.”

Nodding, Twilight asked, “I trust your foal’s wing is better?”

Bluebell nodded, with a relieved smile. “She’s flying again i-if a little more carefully,” the yellow haired purple pegasus said. “Still scared of trees though.”

Twilight stepped back from Bluebell, and declared more for the crowd overall, “What you’ve told me is a tale told time and time again. A traveller finds themselves stranded in a strange land, where they learn the lessons they need to succeed in life. They make fast friends, they journey together, overcoming obstacles along the way, and ultimately they return triumphant. It was just the natural progression beyond that, for Rosy Pink to have to return home. She completed her quest, bettered herself, and it was time for her to return where she belonged.

“I know it might have seemed like Rosy didn’t want to go,” Twilight said to the purple pegasus, “But that shows what a caring pony she was. She didn’t want you to think she was suffering, but I can assure you that deep inside, her home was calling to her. She may have seemed to be happy to be here at the moment, but once the novelty wore off, you know as well as I do that she’d have been pining for her home.”

“I suppose so,” Bluebell said, looking away from the princess.

“Her heart was in returning home,” Twilight assured the mare. “That’s how these sort of things work. Ponies may travel to strange and wonderful places, but be it ever so humble...”

“...there’s no place like home,” Bluebell recited. “I guess you’re right. Sorry, princess. I just... kind of miss her already.”

“Miss Bluebell,” Twilight said, thinking back to her own motivations. “Have you heard the tale of Lighthouse Paul?”

“Can’t say I have, princess?” Bluebell said curiously.

“About years XG ago, a pony known as Nora Nother was lost at sea one day in a terrible storm,” Twilight said, again speaking louder for benefit of the whole crowd. “Everypony thought she had been taken by the waves forever. But back in her hometown of Pollack Spear, she had a special somepony named Lighthouse Paul, who ran the local lighthouse along with his father Lampie, to keep the ships from crashing into the rocks in stormy weather.

“Though ponies said she was lost forever, he never joined another herd. Every time he shone the lighthouse when there was a storm at sea, he never stopped hoping this was the one where she returned. Well, one thing led to another, and he took in a runaway orphan, who happened to be good friends with a dragon. And the dragon was so moved by Lighthouse’s devotion, that he went searching for the missing mare, to find what became of her, whether it was the bottom of the ocean, or a distant port city in Saddle Arabia.

“He found the mare in that port city, and the reason she’d never returned was she sustained a head injury in the shipwreck that robbed her of her memory. She’d built a new life for herself in that city, made new friends, and found new love, but she never could stop feeling like she was missing something, or somepony. The dragon managed to restore her memory, and she knew what she had been missing, were all the ponies she cared so much about back home.

“She was on the first ship to return to Pollack, but as fate would have it, that was also when a terrible storm blew in, and a great wave crashed into the lighthouse, dousing its wick and putting out its light. Her ship was sailing blind, so to speak, and they could not find the shore. It looked for sure that they would be dashed upon the rocks, so close to being together again.

“That’s when the dragon arrived, and used his flame to dry the damp wicks, and light the lighthouse. You might see a statue of him should you ever travel to Pollack, for his dedication and bravery that saved a love that might otherwise have been lost forever.”

Twilight paused for effect, and because the story always made her feel like crying. “Rosy was in the same situation as Nora, Bluebell,” she said, reminding the pony standing at the base of the podium that she was being directly addressed. “Lost in a strange land, far away from home. She had her own Lighthouse Paul, and Lampie, and the mourning townsfolk from her home, who all needed her to return. So I know she was...” Twilight grimaced inwardly, “A lot of fun to be around, but this wasn’t her home, and there were other creatures of her kind who needed her to return.”

“I never knew, princess,” Bluebell said, her own eyes shining with tears. “To think we was keeping her away from her special somepony!”

“You did nothing wrong in befriending her, Bluebell,” Twilight said comfortingly. “She’s back home where she belongs, thanks to the Elements of Harmony, and we can all get on with our lives now, with our real friends.”

“She was my—I mean, yes your highness, that makes sense,” Bluebell said in a torn sort of confusion. “I’ll try to get over her, with my friends. I was just disappointed, on account of it happened so fast I couldn’t even say goodbye. Thank you, princess. Sorry, princess.”

The mare backed back into the crowd before Twilight could think of any more ways to comfort her. Then somepony else came forward and shouted, “Are the rumors true that you fought the legendary air whales?”

Twilight’s ears went flat. “You don’t fight aeroceta,” she corrected the purple and white pony, “But it has been quite an exciting season. And it’s a story that I owe you all, after you went through so much in our absence. Rest assured my friends and I aren’t going to be leaving you again any time soon, barring of course any unexpected threats to Equestria.

She turned to the crowd and said, “It all started when the crops of the Hayshire township mysteriously started to fail, just when they needed them the most...”

As the evening wore on, and ponies of Ponyville began to turn in after the party, for their well earned rest, a lone figure crested the hill overlooking Ponyville from the northeast. She looked down at the quiet town settling down for the evening, and shouted, “Oh no! We’re too late!”

The mare attempted a clumsy run, but then stumbled, and almost fell over her own hooves. Choking back a scream of frustration, she trotted at a more careful pace, eating up the distance between her and the town. As the evening shadows grew long, it became apparant that not all was normal about this mare. Her saddlebags in particular, one of them held a soft, calm glow of light to it. As soon as she reached the edge of town, she whispered to her glowing saddlebag, “This is as close as I can risk. Come on out little guy, and do your thing.”

Without responding in words, a sinuous, 12 legged creature popped its head out of her saddle bag, whose fur glowed with that soft light her saddlebags had emitted. It scurried up her mane, to perch on her head, looking around while the pony stood beneath it looking up in concern. Then, it climbed down her body, and she held out a hoof as it leaped off of it and then just melted into a shadow. The shadow itself disintegrated like smoke at the creature’s passing, only slowly pulling itself together seemingly from bits of scattered darkness. The mare waited there, her soft pink tail curling close to her rump as she looked around at the long shadows, and the total lack of anypony in distress at all.

She blinked, her head tilting in puzzlement at the few ponies up and about, laughing, talking to each other, and striding around calmly in the evening. She looked down at a flash of light, as the creature seemingly climbed out of a shadow. Standing aground and lifting its first pair of legs up to face the mare, it looked at her and shrugged cluelessly.

“I... think we’d better go find Berryshine,” she remarked to the thing. “Everything looks... just fine around here.” It scurried up into her saddlebag in response and perched there while she trotted further into town. As an afterthought, she added, “And maybe Bluebell will know what’s going on.”

Author's Notes:

Well, I guess I’ll just throw all these chapters about the epic of Hayshire that totally exist and I’m totally not bullshitting you in the trash. The things I sacrifice for my art!

Long one coming up next week...

I Said The Journey Ends, Dammit

The Trottingdale Interdimensional Studies Team, colloquially known as Trotwood, were all too happy to provide Twilight Sparkle with copies of the data they had collected, so she really had some numbers to crunch. As far as spatial anomalies go, that one had been quite a doozy. Rosy—er, the traveller had no doubt come from a world far different from their own, possibly with entirely different physical principles!

They weren’t quite as happy to agree to pack up their research equipment and ship out, but there was little they could study without any rift left, and there was little Twilight could do to help with that. The situation had certainly called for the Elements of Harmony, and despite any problems they might have caused, the Elements had been a necessary ev—a necessary act.

So Twilight enjoyed what she had, and wished the Trottingdale students well, and that was that. Finally, for her and her friends, life returned to normal. Rarity had a fabulous reopening sale. Pinkie got to planning more parties than ever. Twilight finally managed to get some sleep. Every critter was almost as happy to see Fluttershy as her poor critter sitter pony was. Rainbow Dash had to work double time to make a lot of rain, to make up for the abnormal days of sun that had been needed over Ponyville to minimize the shadow’s influence and spread. But the season evened out, and the summer was pleasant and warm, heralding a fine crop for the fall season, and a cold winter.

Winter Wrapup came and went with no signs of strangeness, danger or other forms of adventure. The animals awoke, the birds returned, the flowers bloomed and the snow melted. There were still a few of those university students around, but that was hardly unusual. They probably just saw Ponyville as a wonderful place to live and stayed, much like Twilight had done in the past.

Twilight took part in ensuring Wrapup went swimmingly well without an ounce of unicorn magic, with some help from her friends. She kept herself busy keeping Rainbow Dash and Applejack in friendly competition without biting each other’s heads off, helping Rarity and the landscape beatification team focus on quality without fixating on perfection, and demonstrating to Pinkie Pie how Twilight was still a meager ice skater at best, but very good at deciding where to score the lakes, what thin ice to avoid, and how to coordinate everypony moving at once. She... observed Fluttershy and the animal team awakening the hibernating critters, though Twilight still stayed a bit leery of that activity, as not all forest critters were cute, cuddly and adorable.

Spring came, and delicious flowers bloomed all over town, in planters and public and private gardens. Spring was truly a bountiful time for everypony in Equestria, though many of the other animals who could not subsist on grasses and flowers still struggled to feed themselves until the fruit swelled up for harvest. There was no huge crisis though. Fluttershy had even worked out a deal with the fruit bats similar to her rapport with Ponyville’s bunny population, to keep their numbers of little baby bats down to a dull roar, in exchange for help in surviving the fruitless spring.

It was all too soon that the fruit began to ripen and mature, and before you know it, it was a hot summer day, hot enough you could really feel the sunlight on your rear the moment you backed your butt half out of the shade. Even under the thick greenery of the apple trees, Applejack felt the dappled sunlight playing across her back like some kind of a summer symphony of heat and light. The tawny, stetson bearing farm pony was out in her beloved orchards bucking the early apples of the season, when a very familiar mare came trotting down the road from town.

Applejack’s orchard was a big’n these days. Every apple tree was planted with care, because it was a big investment of time and space. 12 years, 13 years, some of the most prized variants took a whole bunch of years to mature, and in all that time, little baby trees weren’t gonna be producing apples. Yet the family always managed to plant more trees than they lost, and the orchard was growing, slowly but surely, into a thing of beauty.

With hundreds of trees in their orchard, there was no way AJ could remember all their names, but there were a few who stood out, either from being ornery like Clyde, or from being sweet as a button, like Susie here. Applejack was pretty sure Susanna Crisp apples were going to be a fresh new strain in a decade or two of quality care. It’d make up for losing Golden Supremes to age and happenstance.

Applejack hopped up and kicked her two strong, orange hooves into the side of the sturdy apple tree, where they slammed with a solid, satisfying thunk. The force travelled up the trunk in an instant, spreading to each of the golden fruits hanging from its branches, and testing the strength of each stem that held them. She made sure to funnel the space above each bucket beforehoof, so the apples cascaded down from all over, but safely poured into her buckets each in a single large heap. Then it was a simple matter to get her buckets up on her back and out to the farm, where they could be used for juice pressing, baked treats, sugar production, and a whole lot of other things.

Lots of effort and knowhow went into the process behind that single buck, Applejack had to admit. She figured it would be at least a bunch of years before she had mastered apple bucking as well as her ma used to do. And little Apple Bloom was just getting started, but she was so smart Applejack figured she’d be bucking with the best of them in a score years at most. It was still a while, but that was okay. They all had plenty of time to learn.

AJ was working quickly to get through the Golden Pie varieties, wanting to get her done before yet another afternoon shower started. Towards the end of Applejack’s tree rows though, she looked down the packed dirt road that led from her farmhouse all the way to Ponyville, and noticed a mare walking along it, headed her way. Before the mare could pass by, Applejack trotted over to the low picket fence that demarcated the road here, leaning on it and saying, “Howdy pardner! Looking to buy some apples?”

The mare who approached had pretty pink hair in a curly swirl that didn’t look like it concealed a horn. Her cream colored coat was a little dirty, but Applejack saw that as a sign of somepony who might be willing to get their flank dirty. The mare had this anxiety in her deep blue eyes that was so familiar! Applejack couldn’t quite place where she’d seen it before, though.

“Oh, hello Applej... Applejack!” the mare said in a sweet voice that made Applejack feel guilty for forgetting where she’d seen her before. “I’m actually not here to buy apples,” the mare said, “I wanted to ask about the um—” Ceasing to speak, the mare then turned to her saddlebags, lipping open the flap on one side and sticking her nose in there. She bit down within and pulled out what looked like a leaflet, one of the leaflets Big Mac had gotten printed lately. It said along the lines of:

HELP WANTED: sorters, truckers, bakers, buckers

SPECIAL: Cider season’s here! Also looking for runners, bottlers, brewers, pressers
(Tasters can get in line just like everypony else.)

•
• How d’ya like them apples?
•
• Ponyville’s finest, here at Sweet Apple Acres!
•
• They don’t just grow on trees though.
•
• Help make the magic happen, and bring about the tastiest darn apples in all the land!
•

If you want to help out, talk to Applejack, Big Macintosh, or Granny Smith

Credit negotiable

“Well how about that,” Applejack said, looking happily at the mouth proferred flyer, “We sure are lookin’ for some help with this year’s cider pressing. It’s not very exciting, but it is good, hard work, if’n you’re interested.”

“Oh yes,” the mare said eagerly, dropping the leaflet, “I’m a big fan of your cider, and um... your farm. So I thought I’d finally just get over myself and come help out!”

“Get over yourself?” Applejack asked uncertainly.

“Oh, um... over my hesitation with helping out,” the mare said, blushing shyly. “Sorry Ap— lady Apple—Applejack, it’s just a little intimidating trying to ask to... work with you.”

Well, Applejack knew what this mare was about, being intimidated by Applejack’s reputation. Lady Apple? Whooee! Poor thing. But AJ still couldn’t put her hoof on it. It was downright uncanny. Where had she seen this mare before?

“So I decided,” the mare continued, regardless of Applejacks inner puzzlement, “With some help from my friends, to try and come help out. It’s been a big dream of mine, for a—a while.”

“Cain’t say no to enthusiasm like that, sugarcube,” Applejack told the mare, giving her a friendly nudge. “Just be here at dawn sharp, we’ll be sure to have something ready for you to do. Cider season starts next Mondee.”

Applejack’s smile became tinged with concern, as she lay a hoof on the mare’s cream colored back, and said, “And sugarcube, I know you might’ve heard I was all famouslike, but ah’m a pony, just like you. We’re both just little ponies like everypony else, and you don’t have to think ah’m anything greater than that. Just Applejack is fine, an’ don’t let anypony tell you differently.”

Applejack backed up then, and said to the mare, “Now, you know mah name clearly enough, so let’s have yours?”

“R-Rosy,” the mare said shyly, daring a worried look at Applejack, “Rosy Pink.”

“Rosy Pink!” Applejack declared in surprise, “That’s why you seemed so familiar! Put her here, pardner!”

As Applejack gave Rosy’s creamy hoof a good shake, the orange farm pony continued, “Ah haven’t seen you in a dragon’s age, not since that shadow beast back in the early spring. Didn’t you get sent back with ‘em?”

“Oh, n-no,” Rosy stated with a light of fear in the back of her eyes. “I w-w-was out of to-o-o-own,”

“Turribly sorry about that,” Applejack said, continuing to shake the mare’s hoof. “We meant to send you back home’re something.”

“T-t-t-tha-a-a-at’s oka-a-ay,” Rosy said, around the—oh... right.

Applejack let Rosy’s hoof loose.

“The Elements must’ve closed off the only way you had to go home,” Applejack said with concern to the pony who was trying to wrangle her hoof to stillness now, “Ah could go ask Twilight if you need help gettin’ back?”

“That’s okay, Applejack,” Rosy said, calming her hoof and standing on it firmly. “I was hoping to spend some more time here, anyway.”

“Well, if’n you do Rosy Pink, ah’d be mighty grateful if you helped with the cider making,” Applejack said amiably.

“Thanks, Applejack,” the mare said with a look of blessed relief. “It really means a lot to me.”

“So... you’re game?” Applejack asked.

Rosy nodded with a beaming smile, “I’m game!”

“Just show up at dawn when cider season starts,” Applejack said, “If we get her done early, ah might even be able to show you a few apple buckin’ tricks!”

The squee was audible as Rosy’s smile spread to her cheeks. “Oh that would be—!” she said in excitement, catching herself and blushing before calmly continuing, “I mean, yes, I’ll be there. Three days, right?”

“Until Mondee, yup,” Applejack replied.

Rosy giggled, saying in an indulgent voice, “Mondee, hee hee. I love your accent, Applejack.”

“What accent?” Applejack asked in confusion.

Rosy blinked at her.

“When you say eee in Mondee,” Rosy said very uneasily, “And I say ayyy in Monday?”

“Oh, mah manner of speakin’!” Applejack realized. She kicked out a hoof, crooking it confidently in front of the other, saying, “Yeap, the Apple family goes way back. We been cultivatin’ our manner of speech for generations. They say ah sound just like mah old great grand aunt Apple Top.”

“How did you learn to speak that way?” Rosy asked curiously.

“Learn it?” Applejack replied at the very unusual question. “You don’t learn a manner of speakin’,” she chided the mare. “Ah inherited it, just like everypony else. Mine is from good ol’ granny Apple Top. Not sure bout before that. But mah sister’s is from an Apple known as Applebud, who hailed from way back before Ponyville’s founding!”

The mare seemed extremely nonplussed at this terribly ordinary thing. Not like she was impressed that Apple Bloom’d be lucky to have such a rich heritage, but like she wasn’t sure that anything she saw in front of her snout made any sense anymore. Hoof lifting and everything!

“...you can inherit an accent,” Rosy said cautiously.

“That’s right,” Applejack responded equally cautiously.

“You were born with it,” she continued.

“Once you start speakin’, yup.”

The mare put her hoof down and stared forward at nothing, saying, “I... I have to think about that. Thanks for...” she focused on Applejack and gave a genuine smile, saying, “Thanks so much for the job, and for telling me that.”

“No problem Rosy, at least ah don’t think there is,” Applejack said giving her a sideways glance.

“No! No problem at all,” Rosy said with a happy little kick of her legs. “I really do thank you very much! Oh I’m so happy I could just burst! I can’t wait to go tell Goldenrod about this!”

Thinking a moment, Applejack said, “That’s Golden Harvest’s cousin, ain’t it?”

“Yup,” the mare said in good cheer. “She was the one who told me it’d be o-okay to talk to you, and nothing bad would happen. Thank you so much Applejack. I’ll be back... on... Mondee! Hee hee!” Rosy about bounced away back up the road then, singing to herself a wordless song that Applejack’d never heard before.

Applejack was starting to remember why Rosy wasn’t so much fun to be around.

Well, fun or no fun, Rosy started working on Applejack’s farm, and doing a pretty good job at it too. She’d been building her strength all year it turns out, doing delivery jobs and hauling things, and that gave her a good start. She was still pretty scrawny at first, for an earth pony at least, but she filled out quickly, and there was just nothing that could get that girl down. Chores she treated more like sightseeing tours, or something, and she had to rest a lot, but she always went back into it with an admirable enthusiasm. Rosy was just so much in love with the simple sensation of feeling herself alive and moving, that she kept doing better and better.

Their second hired hoof, Bubblegum Blossom, was more of a straightforward pony. Easy enough to understand, if a little aggravating at times. She was more interested in eating the apples than bucking them, which was fine when you needed ponies to eat your apples, but she certainly wasn’t living up to her potential with bucking them. Applejack could tell Bubblegum had an eye for detail though. She only worked in the spring, and during harvest season really. She seemed like a lazy sort of pony who spent a lot of time ditzing around town and goofing off, but she never went under quota. She did the exact minimum amount of work needed and then popped off to enjoy her life. Certainly not Applejack’s style; living on the edge like that made Bubblegum weak to schedule changes and unexpected happenings, but Applejack wouldn’t call her a lazy pony.

Their other regular Ponyville farm worker went by the name of Vanilla Sweets. Her family hailed from way down south, right underneath the course of the sun’s path. The pale green pony came up north to beat the heat, just one of those ponies who didn’t thrive in it. She came out to help in the fields around Fall and Winter, spending most of the summer living it up and partying. Applejack honestly wasn’t a real fan of her, Vanilla’s idea of a good time was a colt and a show, neither of which Applejack had time for in her life right now. Vanilla did have the cutest little manner of speaking though, from an old Andalusian lost in the mists of time. Or an “accent” if you went by how Rosy called it.

Really Vanilla was what Applejack would expect Rosy to be, what with Rosy’s time spent with that mysterious otherworldly theater production, the one that somehow duplicated the lives of Applejack and all her friends up till now. But for Vanilla, some light frippery like a club and a movie was an escape, while for Rosy it seemed more like a prison to escape from. Rosy wanted to be in the here and now, which Applejack found herself able to respect... a lot.

There was a third pony working with Granny in the kitchen now, an Apple by the name of Apple Fritter, who was a real whiz at that stuff, but Applejack didn’t know her as well, since Applejack spent most of her time out in the fields. Applejack could still bake with the best of them, but her home within her home was out among the verdancy of her orchard, kicking trees and knocking down their apples, while deep in the earth, her tastiest brews took care of themselves. Thus, most of the interaction Applejack had was with Rosy and Vanilla then, and Bubblegum to a degree.

Applejack sure appreciated the help that the ponies of Ponyville gave her, a lot more than she had in past years. That disastrous Applebucking season so many moons ago had shown Applejack the error of her ways, and now she had Rosy and Bubblegum, and Vanilla Sweets helping clear out the trees. That meant plenty of apples for all the sugar Pinkie Pie could possibly want, all the cider Rainbow Dash could drink, and time left over to tend to the grain crops like wheat and alfalfa. Applejack didn’t deal in root vegetables, but mostly because that was Goldie’s thing, and it did both of them a favor to specialize in what they’re best at, and share the extra wealth they made.

Applejack kind of started to get what was going on with Rosy after a while. She was a lot like Pinkie Pie, with a hair trigger on her emotions, and a surprising amount of intuition that made her prone to crazy leaps in logic. In comparison with Pinkie Pie, Applejack could sort of understand where Rosy was coming from. Applejack got the feeling that Rosy truly, genuinely loved helping other ponies out; she treated it more like a gift than an obligation to do so. Lots of ponies didn’t understand that they weren’t just helping others with the expectation of help in return, but also because it made life a better place to live. If Rosy understood that, Applejack had to respect her. Even if she did have some freakily accurate stories about Applejack’s childhood.

“Sorry about calling you Apple Fritter,” Rosy said once, as she and Applejack both lay on their backs, relaxing on a grassy hill, faces flushed and muscles burning from a whole lot of apple bucking and hauling, respectively. (Applejack did all the bucking. Rosy was certainly not going to learn to buck the fruit off a tree in just half a year.) “I didn’t get you mixed up with the real one. It was just a really bad joke. Y-you told Apple Bloom the story, so I thought it would be okay to tell you um... sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Applejack said perhaps not merely flushed with exertion, “That story ain’t such a big secret, just we usually keep it in the family. It’s just one of those embarassin’ things your granny likes to bring up at awkward times.”

“I wonder how Apple Fritter got her name,” Rosy pondered, “She was born eating apple fritters too?”

“What’re you talking about?” Applejack asked, slightly offended. “Apple Fritter was born just like anypony else, from her ma!”

“O-oh, right” Rosy said, lowering her ears, “Right, we... mares actually do that. I guess they just name their um... foals then, when they come... out of them.”

“Eyup?” Applejack said, her tail scrunching close at Rosy’s choice of words. Corn gravy but did that filly have some anxiety about foaling. Applejack could sympathize, to a degree. She sure couldn’t imagine herself going through something like that. Well... not outside of a pleasant fantasy at least. It just wasn’t practical now, if ever.

“Mommas name their foals,” Applejack said cautiously. “Not sure what you’re getting at exactly.”

“Well, if I were your mom,” Rosy said with a nervous laugh, “I wouldn’t want you to be called Apple Fritter. It’d be too confusing to have two of you with the same name!”

“Ah reckon it would be,” Applejack said frankly, kind of desperate to change the subject at this point. “Don’t you worry though, Rosy Pink,” she said with a hearty back slam, “Ah’m stickin’ with Applejack through and through, and if you wanna know why, you just wait until cider season. Ah can make a brew that’ll flip your tail!”

Applejack internally facehooved at the terrible choice of words that kept spilling out of her mouth now that Rosy got her all flustered about foals and stuff.

Rosy herself was kinda quiet and wide eyed at Applejack’s words, before asking in a small voice,

“Equestria has whiskey?”

Applejack said defensively, “Ah didn’t mean t’imply—” then what Rosy said actually registered on her. “...whiskey?” Applejack asked in a cautious tone.

“I-it’s a kind of fermented drink, that’s been distilled—” Rosy started to explain, looking oddly ill as she did so.

“Ah know what whiskey is,” Applejack said, rolling her eyes. “And yes, we do make whiskey here.”

Rosy just looked stunned at that. What’s her holdup about whiskey now? Applejack was glad for the change of subject away from one’s marely duties though.

“Brandy to be specific,” Applejack said smartly to the shocked farmhand, “It’s real popular in the cold months for warmin’ the extremities. Good for the digestion too, and land sakes if’n it don’t make a pony silly now and again. Ain’t nothin’ like that sissy wine stuff.”

“Sissy wine stuff?” Rosy asked weakly.

“Yeah, wine tastes different, but it really ain’t no different than juice,” Applejack replied, “Keeps forever, and someponies like the aged stuff, but it’s only got trace amounts of alcohol. If’n you want to actually feel anything, you gotta distill th’ spirits outta it.”

“So... wine can’t make you drunk?” Rosy asked in peculiar hesitancy.

“Sure cain’t,” Applejack replied curiously, “Why? Is wine differn’t in your world?”

“I’m not sure,” Rosy said uneasily, staring at the forehooves she had curled above her from where she lay.

Rosy did amazing at cider season actually. Rosy sure did have some good earth pony heritage in her, even if Applejack didn’t exactly understand how that translated to becoming a pony out of the blue. So the cider press went swimmingly, and that gave Big Macintosh a chance to buck some apples, which freed up Applejack to fill the barrels, which freed up Apple Bloom to learn the ins and outs of the scent of a good cider apple.

Applejack could’ve used some tutelage there herself, but it made her feel good to know that Apple Bloom would learn how you put the sour apples that aren’t the best for eating through the cider press, and that’s what gave the juice its signature bite, and helped it keep longer. But not too sour or you get green tasting stuff.

Cider season came and went, and once again this year, Applejack wished that those salesponies that one time had been selling something more than horn oil, but even making cider the old fashioned way, the family managed to satisfy most of the population of Ponyville, thanks to the helper ponies from around town like Rosy and Vanilla.

Rosy wanted to stay on after that, build up her reputation as a farm worker, and for good reason. She seemed to love the simple acts that most ponies took for granted. Just running was a joy to this mare, and she was beyond fascinated with the kinetics of apple bucking, even if she couldn’t direct her force to get more than one or two apples at a time. Plus she was extremely curious about Applejack’s special brew, and Applejack didn’t start selling that until later in the autumn seasons. So Rosy stuck around, and they all grew closer together.

“Welp, bottoms up!”

It was to be expected, but Rosy lost her first shot, gasping and spluttering at the touch of the fiery liquid. Applejack made sure to catch the glass before she dropped it. Rosy was still clumsy as a foal with her hooves it seemed.

Vanilla snickered, while Applejack said, “Good try, Rosy.”

“Didn’t expect it would—glah—burn so much,” Rosy replied, teary eyes squinted and tongue out.

“You need to sip it slowly,” Vanilla Sweet specified.

The three of them were down in the cellar, where the products of Applejack’s distillery were busily aging. There was a little tasting area set up, and to start off sales, AJ decided to break open a 2 year bottle and share it with the workers, especially Rosy who said she’d never even touched alcohol before. Pouring a touch of brandy in Rosy’s glass again, Applejack let the bottle out of her mouth and hoofed Rosy the glass, saying, “Go on, let’s see you try sipping it slowly. Don’t be afraid to sniff it neither. It ain’t just the smell of alcohol.

“Oh, it smells... woody?” Rosy said curiously. She was more careful with the second glass, delicately tipping its contents into her mouth.

“It is good for smelling and swallowing,” Vanilla said, looking into her own glass thoughtfully, “But perhaps not for tasting.”

“Ah dunno, you kinda get used to the taste after a while,” Applejack said, swigging the last of hers. “It’s th’ sour apples meeting with the alcohol what gives it that strong taste.”

They made conversation while they finished off the bottle. About Vanilla’s homeland, which like just about everything, Rosy was fascinated in. They had enough for roughly a dozen shots for each of them, so they were all definitely beginning to relax and warm up after the bottle was empty.

Applejack was feeling a pleasant buzz certainly, relaxed on a hay bale next to Rosy Pink. “Pretty satisfyin’ huh?” she asked the brandy neophyte.

“Ha ha yeah, I’d be so blitzed if I wasn’t a pony,” Rosy said cheerfully, with cheeks as rosy as her name. “So this’s A-Applejack, huh?”

“It sure ain’t marsh water,” Applejack replied smugly.

Rosy gave her a slow look, and asked, “So, you chose the name Applejack?”

Applejack nodded and replied, “Yup. This distillin’s kinda mah thing, so ah think the name fits. It’s a better name than Applebuck, at any rate.”

Rosy laughed saying, “Oh yeah, totally. I love your name, it’s so clever!”

“Suppose so,” Applejack said modestly. “You thought on a different name, yet?”

“Nah, Rosy is actually really good,” Rosy said nonchalantly, “Though I can’t use Rosy Stripes since I don’t gotta stripe in my hair. Maybe Rosy... Cheeks?”

Vanilla found that one terribly amusing.

“Think on it long as you want,” Applejack said. “Long as you’re here, I’ll stick with whatever name you wanna change it to.”

“What was your name, before you were Applejack?” Rosy asked curiously.

Applejack bit her lip at that, resisting the urge to turn her hat down. “Well it was just th’ name mah folks gave me, on account of mah color and all,” she said noncommitally.

“So I’m curious,” Rosy said, rolling limply onto one side to regard the tawny orange pony. “I can’t even imagine you as anything but Applejack. What was it, if it’s not too much trouble?”

Applejack blushed, looking the other way as she said in a subdued tone, “Uh... Pippin. Orange Pippin.”

After a mite, Applejack risked a look at Rosy, whose blue eyes were wide and glimmering as she exclaimed, “That. Is so. Adorable!”

Before Applejack could respond, she was double teamed by Vanilla Sweets, saying on her other side, “Oh, Applejack! You used to be a little pequeño Pippin? That is so sweet!”

“I can’t believe they didn’t use that!” Rosy agreed with a bright smile at Vanilla, “Orange Pippin’d be a perfect name for such a cute little foal!”

“Ah knewd there was a reason ah never told anypony about this,” Applejack groaned, burying her face under her hat.

It was only later that Applejack realized that—in fact—she had never told anypony about that. No reason other than it was embarassing and not really relevant, but it was still true. Applejack really wondered about Rosy. Beyond her “show knowledge” that she let slip at times, she just had a way for bringing out a pony’s secrets, and uncovering what they might have rather left behind.

Rosy was a good pony though, and a hard worker, so Applejack really had no complaints, and Apple Bloom loved Rosy to pieces, what with sharing a common unquenchable curiosity for the strangest things. Granny warmed up to her too after a while, and Rosy never took advantage of that trust.

Yep, everything was fine and dandy, until Applejack made the harebrained mistake of actually talking to her crazy librarian friend.

“And Ponyville’s never been in better hooves,” Applejack said while she had a cup of maple mocha with Twilight at the local Hayburger. “All our applebuckin’ is done, and there’s gonna be a bumper crop of hay for all sorts of delectables over the winter. And let me tell you, the maple leaves were looking mighty green. That means more sweet, sweet syrup now that they’re goin’ to sleep for the long night.”

“I am so enjoying the autumn weather,” Twilight Sparkle said fondly over her own hot, sugary drink, “This’s my favorite season really. Maple syrup, the Running of the Leaves, all the trees turning beautiful colors. Everything getting nice and quiet and restful. Nothing like a brisk autumn wind, to make you appreciate a warm fire and a good book.”

“I do have you to thank though,” Applejack replied to Twilight’s blushingly adoring description of the season. “Without you, ah’d still be bucking all those trees with just Big Macintosh, and we’d be hard pressed to even get the tree taps in the maples by the turning of the leaves. The help this year’s been more than worth it, even if they aren’t all Apples. Especially Rosy, heh.”

“Why especially?” Twilight asked with an amused smile. “Who’s Rosy?”

“Well, most ponies who help on the farm come from Ponyville,” Applejack said, “An’ last year when Vanilla came from so far south, I thought that was a pretty wild thing to do. But Rosy comes from so far away, it don’t even show up on the map!”

Twilight almost choked on her milkshake.

“What?” Twilight said, in the confusion of a pony who knows what she heard, but her thoughts are spinning so fast she can’t make any concrete observations yet.

“Yep, you know that mare of yours?” Applejack said smugly, “The one from the other verse place? She weren’t even in town when we let the Elements loose, so she got to stay in Equestria! Now she’s livin’ here and helpin’ on the farm even. Why ah don’t—”

“Where is she?!” Twilight blurted out anxiously.

Applejack blinked. “...Rosy, you mean? Ah think she’s been livin’ in town?”

“She’s been... what?” Twilight said, bug eyed.

“Look, she didn’t want me to trouble you with it, on account of she’s gonna be stayin’ here for a while after all,” Applejack said crossly. “There’s no need to be gettin’ all upset over it. What’s the problem here?”

“We need to go to the Rift site,” Twilight stated, jumping up from her unfinished milkshake. “Right. Now.”

From behind the canvas tape demarcating the impact crater, a metallic boom arm swung with a delicate apparatus fixed to it. From it, a beep sounded out at irregular intervals, as part of it bloomed and shrank in size as if passing behind a distorted lens. On the ground, the base of the instrument was adorned with dozens of very important colored lights, and a continuous ticker spat out line after line of readings fed from within by a thick roll of gossamer tempaper. A grey pony with blue hair stood by the readout, watching it carefully and occasionally scratching out a note on the clipboard floating in her blue magic.

The whole crater had been stocked liberally with research equipment and trailers. Next to hers, a pony with a hard hat and a test tube story mark was busily carrying a quartz harmonator on his back, placing it at 22 degrees north by northwest of the central anomaly, flipping a switch to recalibrate it. Another young green stallion strutted past the center of the crater, where an opaque, silvery egg shape was suspended, thin legs on all sides bracing it against the grassy soil underneath and holding it up. The antennae on top of the structure continuously transmitted readings to the nearby receiving station outside the spatial distortion zone, where in a small building, ponies busily adjusted knobs and dials and joked with each other:

“I wonder what the humans are up to today.”
“Let’s hope it’s not a hurricane, ha!”
“Let’s check their weather report. Can you get a visual on the local paper?”
“Sunny skies, it says, but you know how clueless they are about that sort of thing.”
“I can’t believe they still use barometers!”

A purple pony princess charged into the clearing, skidding to a halt at the sight of the equipment, and the ponies, and the tents, and the buildings, and the closely grazed fields, and the persistent spatial anomalies, and the friendly chatter, and the irregular beeping noise coming from somewhere, and shouted at the top of her voice, “What the hay is going on here?”

Silence descended on the clearing. Everypony stopped what they were doing, and turned to look at the princess. Ears went low, tails drooped. The only sound that could be heard was an irregular but persistent beeping.

“Busted...” somepony finally said.

“I can’t believe you would do this!” Twilight stated angrily at the closest she could find to a leading researcher of this mess. “How could you not inform any of the princesses that the Rift was still open?”

“We didn’t think there’d be a need for formal inquiry,” said the stallion known as Dr. Harness. While the brown haired, blue furred professor spoke with Twilight, everypony around them was busy scrambling to dismantle and cart away all this fascinating scientific... frippery! “We had the situation under control,” he said, “And a perfectly good research grant.”

“Which I wouldn’t have granted if I’d have thought you were going to hide this from me!” Twilight countered with a hoof stomp. “What were you even thinking, trying to sneak this by me. Do you even realize how terrible this is?”

The glum researchers and students were now under strict supervision from Canterlot, soldiers watching them carefully as they cleaned up their research equipment, shipping it off in pegasus carriers. How the ponies here were going to dismantle the semi-perminent facilities they’d constructed around this clearing, Twilight had no idea, but frankly she didn’t care. Of all the callous things to do!

“What were we supposed to do?” the professor exclaimed, glaring at her with cold blue eyes. “You couldn’t stop going on about how great it was that you closed the Rift. You wanted us to tell you huh? Well now you know, and look what good it’s done! The first thing you do when you find out about us, is shut us down!”

Twilight couldn’t believe what he was forcing her to admit to. Was she really doing this? Telling other ponies not to study and learn? But it was wrong to study this and learn that! This wasn’t a sensible, rational, predictable state of affairs at all! It caught Twilight Sparkle completely on her haunches, and it had been going on behind her back for how long?!

“How can you act like this is a good idea? Don’t you know what’s at stake here?” Twilight asked in anguish.

“Another world!” he roared in return. “Another completely different universe, with mysterious ties to our own! Don’t tell me you weren’t curious about it? And now you’re just going to cut us off from a literal entire world of opportunity?”

“No, that’s... not it,” Twilight said, chewing on a strand of mane fussily. “What is at stake,” she said tensely, “Is a traveller who has come to our world, and you stranded her here! You’re keeping her from reuniting with her family!”

“She’s hardly complaining about it,” he said in a very unconvinced tone, curling his brown tail noncomittally over his dumb blue hiney.

“Just because she’s not complaining doesn’t mean she’s not suffering,” Twilight said angrily. “You don’t understand what it’s like to lose your home, and your family!”

“Do you?” he asked with raised eyebrows.

“Well... no,” Twilight had to admit, “But it’s really bad! This is objective fact!” she said with a definitive stomp.

“You’re making a mistake closing us down,” he replied darkly. “There’s so much we could do for this world, one mare just doesn’t—”

“She’s a traveller,” Twilight repeated patiently. “From a strange land, distant from our own. She has to return to where she came! You’ve seen legends like that come to pass. Haven’t you heard the tale of Tornadorthy?”

“Not everypony has the good luck to have their life full of adventure like you, Princess,” he said. “Some of these students have hardly been out of the house, and this is their first chance at something really exciting!”

“Well, I’ll tell you what’s exciting: all of Equestria in peril because we forced a traveller to never finish her story,” Twilight replied acidly. “How long before something else came through that rift? Do you know how dangerous the Void can be?”

“We had it under control, Princess,” he said wearily. “The containment chamber is specifically enchanted against incursions, and after the shadow incident, we installed measuring instruments that could detect any sign of Outsiders.”

“Well, it’s good you did that,” Twilight said, “And that’s probably why we haven’t had a total disaster... yet. But I’m afraid the party’s over. You have plenty of data collected from this... other world, and it’s time to reunite Rosy with her family again. I’m sure we’ll have plenty of other opportunities for dimensional incursions in the future.”

“From the Void yes, but this is a coherent world!” he protested. “Somepony came through to us. This isn’t just the story of a mare stranded in a strange land—well I suppose it is, but it’s still a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence!”

“It’s not something that’s supposed to happen,” Twilight insisted sensibly. “You’re not supposed to study things that aren’t supposed to happen. This doesn’t belong in our world at all. Yes I do agree it’s something I’ve never seen before, and I don’t like it!”

Twilight paused, and brushed at her coat with a hoof saying more calmly, “And what I like isn’t a concern here. What is a concern is getting Rosy reunited with her family, and returning the world to its proper balance, where everything is as it should be. Yes we will lose the Rift, but no amount of weird, different world stuff is worth risking all of Equestria over. You know what’s in the Void?”

“Frankly... no,” he said. “This is my first chance to study it. But I can assure you that—”

“Well, I’ve read extensively on the subject, especially once the traveller came over, and you should have done so yourself,” Twilight said. “One of you should have realized. As it states in Deranged Dweomer’s Dimensional Diatribe, everywhere that is a world is not the Void, and the Void is everywhere that is not a world. Consider that there might be a reason the Void is not a world. There are things which cannot exist in our world, that by existing would destroy it utterly. They don’t exist obviously, because our world is still intact, and has been so for uncountable ages.”

She mentally flipped a page and continued. “These world ending catastrophes don’t exist in any other world, either. Because if they did, then there would be no world to exist. But the Void is everywhere that is not a world. Literally anything can be in there. Something that could unravel our world into complete nothingness could be found in the Void. That is why it is absolutely forbidden to travel in it, and why things that come from it are so violent and dangerous. Refer to page bee—” she coughed.

“I think my point is fairly clear,” Twilight said, recovering her original mental checklist. “The Void is dangerous. We need the traveller to return to her world, just as if she’d been washed up on a distant shore. She had her adventure, she learned her lesson, and you all prevented her speedy return to the life she knows. I can provide you with grants for any number of subjects you can study that don’t involve world shattering danger. Have you considered studying paleopony history? Or how about a good biography? Clearmark the Fearless is a particularly good—”

“Yes, I’ll be sure to check it out from the library,” he interrupted in an acerbic tone, “I think we’re done here. I told you what’s what, and you just have to draw your own conclusions from that. But for your sake, I hope you’re right princess. I don’t know how I’d live with myself if I let an opportunity like this pass me by because I was afraid of it.”

“I’m not afraid of it,” Twilight insisted firmly.

He didn’t even dignify that with a response.

Twilight left that conversation flustered, and somewhat troubled. She knew she was in the right, right? She could objectively prove that all her salient points had been fully valid and in accordance with ethical research, and Equestrian Harmony. These research students just didn’t know how the world worked. They hadn’t seen an adventure, so they didn’t know that the proper resolution was to return home, and be safe from peril. Twilight was in the right here.

Still, she hated seeing all the disappointed, and even disgusted looks on the ponies’ faces. Like they resented what she was doing, and somehow as if they pitied her.

Well, Twilight didn’t need any pitying. She was just fine the way she is. She was a successful princess and graduate from Equestria’s highest institution, and she knew what she was talking about. Rosy’s quest resolution was somewhat delayed, but with swift, decisive action, once again everything would be back to normal, and everything would make sense again.

“Ah dunno about you, but I’ll be glad to have this behind me,” Applejack said, as part of a four and three ponies, who could be found trotting along through the White Tail Woods. “Ah had no idea you were pining for home so badly, Rosy.”

“Well, I wasn’t really all that much,” said a pink-haired cream colored mare who’d taken the name of Rosy Pink. “But I know how you feel, and... Equestria hangs in the balance, right?”

“Equestria hangs in the balance way too much, in my opinion,” Twilight Sparkle groaned. “But yes, a nice side effect of you passing through the Rift will be ensuring the safety of Equestria from otherworldly invaders, like the thing that was going after pony’s shadows.”

“R-right... that,” Rosy said, staring closely at the ground as she plodded along reluctantly.

“Aww, cheer up miss grumpy-pants,” Pinkie Pie said ineffectually, bouncing beside the worried mare. “I’m sure your family will love to see you again, even though you’ve been gone for so long that the snow is on the ground again again, and we’re all dressing really warmly. You won’t be able to keep the scarf, by the way.”

“Yes, I...” the mare smiled despite herself, tugging at the thick wool scarf around her neck. Personally horn knitted, of course. “I know,” she laughed. “It’ll be fine I’ll just... it’ll be fine.”

“You sure didn’t seem like you would be fine earlier,” Rainbow Dash said suspiciously, fluttering beside the mare and squinting at her. “You’ve been trying to dodge us bringing you here for weeks! If I hadn’t found you just now, I think you would have forgotten to show up today!”

“Oh, I just... you know, I just wanted to stay a little bit longer,” Rosy said, blushing with embarassment. “I’m not trying to hurt you um... ponies or anything. I just wanted to... just enjoy it a little. Live it up, you know?”

“You know you just spent th’ past week hauling away old, dead crops, right sugarcube?” Applejack asked uncertainly. Rosy just shrugged at that.

Fluttershy said nothing.

“Now now Applejack, one mustn’t judge another pony’s pastimes,” Rarity said coyly to her orange friend. “You can’t possibly understand my amount of enjoyment from an afternoon at the spa, after all.”

“Ah could have enjoyed it just fine,” Applejack replied grumpily. “I just liked fixin’ things better.”

“And... if Rosy enjoys, um...” Rarity paused, looking to Rosy for affirmation. “What was it you enjoyed again?”

Rosy looked at Rarity with a confused expression, but then her eyes cleared and she said, “Ponies. I think I like ponies in general. E-even pulling out the... the dead melon vines, it didn’t hurt to pull them out, and I was hardly even breaking a sweat pulling the cart. The pile was taller than my head! I just like being a... being a pony, I guess.”

“Well, as much as you appreciate the better qualities of ponyhood, such as... pulling out old melon vines,” Rarity said touchily, “I’m sure you’ll be happy to finally return home, reunite with your friends and family, and save our world on top of it!”

Rarity seemed troubled, as Rosy muttered something noncommital and looked away from them again. It was clearly because the dressmaker simply didn’t know how to deal with a mare who acted so strangely. Rarity didn’t have to worry though. Twilight had this all under control.

“I’m truly grateful for your help, Rosy,” Twilight said cheerfully, the princess strutting at the front of the group looking purposefully forward. “Equestria will be forever grateful that you returned home and saved us all from destruction.”

“Is it really going to—to destroy Equestria?” Rosy said in a very conflicted tone of voice.

Pondering, but not looking back, Twilight Sparkle said, “Well, it’s not like Equestria has been destroyed before, so it’s hard to have a good estimate for what would destroy it. But I am one hundred percent sure that the solution to all our problems is as simple as you stepping through the Rift, and returning to your home world.”

“Of course it is,” Rosy grumbled under her breath. “I just wish there was some other way,” she said a little louder, a little more troubled. “I wish that rift would just...”

Fluttershy’s hoof trembled, as she held herself away from laying it on Rosy’s back.

Rosy noticed Fluttershy’s involuntary approach though, and smiled sadly at the butter colored pegasus. “Guess I won’t be coming over for tea after all,” she said to her.

Fluttershy shrank back at that, tears coming to her eyes even at the thought of responding. Who said Fluttershy even had any right to speak to Rosy? Why was Rosy such a nice, pleasant, friendly mare? And Fluttershy was just a... a somepony who didn’t deserve anything good. Fluttershy wanted... Fluttershy was afraid to speak.

“It’s no problem,” Rosy said with a nervous smile. “I mean, I... get to go home, right? See my parents maybe. And my brother. And I guess f-find a place to work again and...” she kind of trailed off into a squeak in a manner Fluttershy rarely got to observe from an outside perspective. Looking away from Fluttershy and just staring forward apprehensively as she trotted forward, Rosy was not doing a good job of making it seem like it was no problem.

Applejack ran right into Rosy’s pink tailed rear end when the pink haired mare stopped frozen at the crater’s edge. “Whoops, sorry about that,” Applejack said, taking off her hat and backing up from Rosy’s behind. Rosy didn’t answer, just stepped forward stiff legged into the snowy bowl that was the remains of the strange crater she’d emerged from one day so long ago. Applejack wasn’t sure what that meant, but she went along with it anyway.

The silver containment chamber had been unlocked, and moved off to the side for the purposes of this event. There were a few worker ponies there, to keep the facilities prepped for Rosy’s arrival today. As a whole, they still seemed pretty disgusted with Twilight, yet also a little relieved that she actually showed up this time, without Rosy being absent again. Twilight found that punctuality did wonders for difficult pony-pony relations!

The workers trotted off as soon as Twilight and her friends arrived, leaving the Bearers to manage things. The half dozen stood by, three on each side of the Rift, while Rosy faced it alone. True to its nature, the central anomaly glowed and swelled upon her approach. It was only a tiny wormhole at the start, but once it came to her to restore the balance, it would become a full fledged portal, through which Rosy would return to her home, and the world’s balance would be restored.

Rosy approached it, while the Element bearers stood alongside it and faced her encouragingly. The Rift blossomed and spread. It distorted space as if you were looking into a crystal clear mirror, but there was no reflection of a pony in that mirror. Instead, there was another world.

There was an apartment, that looked straight out of Manehattan, except that it had broad yellow caution tape wrapped around everything, and all the furniture appeared to be covered by sheets of some sort. There was no one to be seen within, though the university ponies had gotten a good look at these strange, bipedal creatures from their surveying spells that could fit through the collapsed rift. It looked kind of like what you’d expect from a crime scene, perhaps understandable considering the nature of Rosy’s departure from that land. Rosy didn’t look at it so much with recognition though. Nor did she look at it with shock and worry, at seeing the consequences of her ill fated dimensional dislocation.

Rosy stared at it like it was a death sentence.

“Well, anything you want to say before you go?” Twilight asked with an pleased smile. She was unnerved as all heck by this thing right beside her, and possibly by this thing in front of her calling itself Rosy, too. But at last, Rosy’s story was about to be concluded, and everypony got a happy ending. It truly warmed Twilight’s heart to see everything coming together like this. Even if this darn portal felt like sandpaper on a blackboard to stand next to.

“Just um...” Rosy said, pulling her gaze away from the gleaming, eerily silent portal, to look at the others. Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie. Not necessarily in that order.

“Um...” Rosy said, tugging the scarf off her neck and holding her hoof out to Rarity. “Here’s your scarf.”

“Oh, why thank you dear. It would have been a pickle if we ended up with that across this terribly complicated manner of transportation,” Rarity said gratefully, taking it in the aura of her cool blue magic.

Rosy was completely naked now, though it’d be a while until she started to get cold. She was stronger, and more lithe than when she’d first appeared here. In better shape, and well fed. Her off-white coat, still lacking in its story mark, was well groomed and gleaming, except for where the scarf had mussed up her neck fur. Her pink mane just a little paler than Fluttershy’s was roughly combed, not attended to too terribly, but allowed to remain in its natural curly state. Her curly pink tail was clean of any brambles, easily held above her rear with a level of control that would have made you think she was born that way.

Rosy turned to Rainbow Dash and said, “Uh, we didn’t hang out a lot, but... I always thought you were really cool.”

Dash puffed her chest out proudly at that and said, “Yeah, you aren’t the only one!”

Rosy just laughed gladly, and turned to Fluttershy. “Um... I’m not trying to imitate you, honest. I just get so flustered when I’m... like this,” Rosy said to her. “I can understand why you’d want to be so shy and quiet, sometimes. But I’m really grateful for your support and understanding. I wish this could have gone... differently.”

Fluttershy couldn’t answer.

Rosy pointedly avoided meeting eyes with Twilight Sparkle, instead looking at Applejack, and there were genuine tears brimming in Rosy’s eyes as she said, “I’ve never seen anything quite as beautiful as Sweet Apple Acres. Farms aren’t like that in my world. Nothing is. Yours is just... it’s something else.”

And she turned to Pinkie Pie, and said, “Thank—thank you for the welcome—party—” Rosy couldn’t seem to stop crying. What was wrong? Twilight peered worriedly at the shaking traveller, whose eyes were streaming with tears. Was Rosy too happy to be going home?

Rosy looked at Twilight Sparkle, too choked up to speak. Rosy tried, shuddering there, trying to get the words out, while she looked—no, she looked at Twilight Sparkle. Struggling to speak, the creamy furred pony fixed Twilight Sparkle in an urgent, seeking stare that captivated Twilight in those deep blue irises, so full of regret, and longing... and terror.

“I’m sorry,” Rosy choked out. She turned and stumbled away—she moved one hoof after another, while the open-mouthed group of friends stared after Rosy Pink, until the little pony was galloping as hard as she’d learned how to do, away from the portal, up the bowl of the crater, and crashing into the underbrush, fleeing through the forest.

The portal closed with a snap.

Okay How About Happily Ever After?

The portal closed with a snap. There was a second snap, as Twilight’s head whipped back around to stare at the central rift. It had fallen back to microscopic size, but the air around it was glowing an angry red, and twisting about with eerie distortions.

“Oh no,” Twilight said, lighting up her horn and—and it was like trying to wrestle an alligator. Her magic just didn’t work right around these disturbances. She surrounded it in a shield bubble, and smoothed out the spatial distortions one by one, wincing as each of them scraped against her magic unsettlingly.

“Don’t just stand there,” Twilight shouted anxiously, staring at the unstable rift, “Somepony go get her!”

“On it,” Rainbow Dash said, firing off into the sky above the clearing.

“Are you okay, Twilight?” Applejack asked tilting her head worriedly at the princess’s preoccupation with the glowy portal thing.

“The containment chamber,” Twilight said tensely, sweat trickling down her brow. “I need you to bring it here. Hurry, I don’t know what this thing is trying to do!”

Applejack zipped over and hefted the hundred or so pound thing on her back and zipped back to where Twilight was, saying, “Just plunk it down?”

“Don’t let it touch the rift!” Twilight instructed. “Open the front half and slide it around it, then close it around the rift.”

Applejack did so... very carefully. When she shut the two halves of the shell together, a hissing, whining hum that they all had been not hearing stopped sounding out, and Twilight relaxed, a little bit.

“This is only a temporary solution,” Twilight said undaunted. “I have to monitor this to make sure it doesn’t start to degenerate its containment. Thank you, Applejack.”

She looked away from the silvery egg for a moment to give Applejack a grateful smile. Then Twilight looked back, and her magic started crawling all over the surface of the silver.

The other four stood there a while, before Rarity asked, “Darling, is there something we can—”

“Yes, could you help me with this?” Twilight asked, without looking away from it. “I’m having a really hard time keeping it stable, and not just breaking it.”

“So you could use a subtle touch, is it?” Rarity said somewhat smugly, striding up to the sphere and lighting up her horn. “Oh that’s,” she said, wincing as she looked at it, “Oh my.”

“Yes, could you just... smooth out the whorls?” Twilight asked. “I can reseal any broken runes. And please Applejack, just... hold it steady while we’re working.”

“Can do, sugarcube.”

Rarity did what she could, while Twilight took care of the brunt of the work. She may have been the magical equivalent of 2.20 very powerful unicorns, but these containment chambers were usually managed by no less than three unicorns, and two earth ponies. And Twilight might have been part earth pony now, but she was actually kind of not that great as far as earth ponies went. She didn’t like to admit it, but she definitely had a long way to go in that regard. So while she appreciated Rarity’s unparalleled skill and finesse, Twilight honestly felt like the pony really keeping this together was Applejack.

“Pinkie!” she called out. “Pinkie Pie could you help Applejack do her... thing?”

“Ah ain’t doin’ no thing, but have some sensitivity, Twilight!” Applejack called out in aggravation, sort of... leaning against the sphere and eyeballing it. “Ain’t you seen what that mare did to Pinkie?”

Twilight’s eyes snapped away from the containment unit. Pinkie Pie was with Fluttershy, who was doing her best to comfort the pony, but Pinkie looked absolutely distraught. She had tears running down her cheeks, and whimpers fighting with sobs, and her hair was worryingly limp. Rainbow Dash said something about that once, that Twilight wasn’t supposed to hear about it, but...

There was a metallic bang from inside the containment chamber.

Twilight snapped her attention back to it, shouting, “Rarity, could you help Pinkie too? Rosy did something to her!”

Rarity nodded, delighting her horn, while Twilight lit up hers again. Twilight had to wait, while Rarity and Fluttershy dealt with whatever Pinkie was going through. She hated the idea that one of her good friends was upset, and all she could do was smooth out the antidimensional vibrations that might have damaged the containment. But that’s what she had to do, so she made sure to do it well.

Rainbow Dash returned then, with a whoosh and a heavy thump as her hooves hit ground. She crunched through the snow right over to Twilight, who looked at Dash questioningly. The first thing Twilight noticed was Rainbow Dash did not bring back Rosy Pink. The second thing Twilight noticed was Rainbow Dash looked positively furious.

Rainbow Dash blasted off away from that... hole in the air that made her wings ache from the wrongness of it. She soared over the trees, peering through the twisted bare branches of the White Tail woods, trying to make out where Rosy had gone. It was hard to see the pastel pony against all this snow, a little pink swatch of color Dash’s only clue that she’d found the mare, running down the trail making a beeline for Ponyville. But Rainbow Dash’s keen eyes soon picked her out, and the pegasus descended into a dive.

“And just where do you think you’re going?” Rainbow Dash said, slamming down in front of Rosy Pink.

The mare scrambled to a halt, her eyes wide in terror as she said, “No, I can’t—I can’t go back there! I’m not ready!”

“What you’re doing, is you’re bothering my friends!” Rainbow said angrily, fluttering up to stare the pony in the face. “Making life hard for everypony, and you know what? I don’t even care what’s so scary about an empty room with police tape on it. What, did you think they weren’t going to notice you disappeared? Come on,” she said, grabbing the mare about her forelegs and heaving her up into the air. “Let’s just get you home, and we can all call this problem solved.”

As her hooves left the ground, Rosy screamed, “Let me go, you monster! ”

“She blew me off!” Rainbow Dash shouted at Twilight anxiously. “She was being a total jerk! She called me a—a featherhead! I didn’t say anything to her, and she just... she just called me something really bad!”

“Well, that’s hardly called for,” came Rarity’s voice behind Rainbow Dash, “But you shouldn’t be disturbing Twilight. She’s in the middle of a very delicate operation at the moment. But please, do tell us why you returned without her?”

The mare hit the snowdrift hard as she plummeted out of Dash’s arms. Crawling to her hooves, Rosy glared defiantly up at Rainbow Dash, instinctively lowering to a defensive crouch, a glare Rainbow Dash never wanted to see again, a word she never ever wanted to be called again. “I’m not a m-monster!” Rainbow shouted down to the mare shrilly, “What is your problem?!”

“Yes you are,” the mare snorted out, “You all are! You do everything you’re supposed to do and everything always goes just like it should. You don’t even listen, and you don’t even think, and you don’t even care. I don’t want to go back! I never wanted to go back! You didn’t even notice! I changed my mind I’m not going. I won’t go! So just—just leave me alone!!”

“Fine!” Rainbow Dash shouted angrily, as the mare ran away, ignoring her. “Fine then, be that way!” With nothing to be done about the swiftly departing mare, the shaken pegasus flew up into the air again, heading straight for mission control, where she could find out what the buck that mare’s problem was.

“She said she didn’t want to do it anymore!” Rainbow Dash told Rarity grumpily. “I don’t know why, she just... got scared, and changed her mind. So she’s not coming back! What was I supposed to do, drag her here?”

Rainbow Dash noticed she was rising off the earth a little, and fluttered herself down to relative stability. “So, she’s not coming,” Rainbow Dash said resentfully, “She’s not coming back.”

“You have to bring her back!” Twilight shouted abruptly. “The fate of Equestria depends on it!”

“Fine, you bring her back, then!” Rainbow Dash said resentfully, turning her head towards her unicorn—er, sorta unicorn friend. “I’m not gonna be bullying ponies just because they won’t listen to me.”

“I can’t, because I’m trying to stabilize this—uggh,” Twilight turned back to the shell. “Just... everypony, go catch up to her. Fluttershy, Pinkie please. I don’t even know what’s wrong I just need you to help calm Rosy down and find out what’s wrong!”

Twilight risked a look, and Pinkie Pie was standing, looking shaky, but nodded in understanding. Fluttershy gave Twilight a long, sideways glance, and simply rose into the air, melting into the surrounding forest as she followed along the earth mare’s noisy trail.

Rainbow Dash followed Pinkie Pie, the two trotting quickly after the quiet pegasus. And Pinkie Pie was quiet too, which made Rainbow Dash really worried. “What’s wrong, Pinkie?” she asked her friend. “You seem really upset!”

“I... I don’t wanna talk about it,” Pinkie said tensely, “Just ask Fluttershy; she’ll tell you all about it. In the meantime we have to find Rosy and help cheer her up!”

“Fine, you’re right,” Rainbow Dash said, “You know me, always flying straight into it.”

Pinkie actually managed a giggle at that and said, “Oh Dashie, you’re fine. Let’s just find her, and we can all get this worked out like nice friendly ponies, even though she’s a human... not a pony.”

They trotted for a while, then looked up as hurrying their way was Fluttershy, and she was not accompanied by a pink haired earth mare.

“Did you find her?” Rainbow Dash asked worriedly.

“No,” Fluttershy said in grave concern. “I tried to follow her hoofprints, but we’ve all been walking along this trail today. I don’t know how far she could have gotten!”

Rainbow Dash recalled her encounter with Rosy, with the hurt, angry pegasus flying away as Rosy beat her hooves in the other direction, in a solid, steady gallop. “She could’ve gotten pretty far,” Dash said wincing. “You two stay on the trail. I’m gonna check the way outta the woods. Meet me there, okay?”

Rainbow Dash zoomed out to the edge of the forest, but there was no pink haired pony to be seen. Dash looked around, but none of the ordinary Ponyville townsponies in the outskirts here fit that description. There were a few pulling a wagon toward the market, from the wheat fields filled with giant rolled up bales of hay. There were some working on breaking the ice in a pond, so they could cart it into cellars for refrigeration purposes.

Rainbow Dash knew Rosy wasn’t all that fast. If she had been out here, there wasn’t any sort of cover, so Dash’s keen vision could’ve spotted her, but the 12 had been arguing for a while, so maybe Rosy had run all the way into town? No, she was probably still running along the trail, and would come bursting out any minute now.

While the strange rainbow pegasus waited there at the mouth of the forest, another pegasus and a pink earth pony came running out of the forest to meet her. Conferring together, the three of them were shaking their heads at each other. Two went running back into the forest together to try to spot where Rosy had left the trail, while the third gallopped into town, searching around for the pony she was looking for in the dying light. Meanwhile, 3.32 unicorns and Applejack slowly but surely managed to get the portal stabilized again, sealed off inside its silver runed chamber. But later when the three met with the other three, there were more heads shaking all around.

A deer rose her head up from where she’d been sleeping in the thicket, waiting until twilight. Ponies were being awfully noisy today. The Bearers were combing through the forest, looking for one extremely lost mare, and making a big mess of things in the process. Come twilight, the deer joined with several others, and politely asked the ponies to stop tromping up the woods. So the ponies left, and that resolved that matter, for everydeer’s concern.

The ponies’ problems though, were just beginning.

“What do you mean you saw her at the market?!”

“Ah mean what ah said! I saw her at the market!”

Twilight leaned her forehead against a nearby bookcase. Applejack had come running into her library the day after they had to give up searching for her. And supposedly Rosy was... at the market?

“She was just... at the market?” Twilight asked, unnerved. “What did she say? ”

“She didn’t say nothin’,” Applejack said angrily. “I tried to talk to her, and she just ran the other way. Ah’m sure it was her, though!”

“Where did she go?” Twilight asked hopefully.

“Ah dunno!” Applejack stomped. “She wouldn’t even say howdy, so ah just came to tell you I saw her, like you wanted me to do!”

“Yes, but...” Twilight squirmed in place, “I suppose it wouldn’t be right to chase her, but still. We were searching all evening for her!”

“Well, maybe we shouldn’t have,” Applejack retorted. “Maybe she’s scared of us now, on account she thinks we’re gonna force her through some strange tear in space.”

“I wouldn’t do that!” Twilight exclaimed in horror, but Applejack frowned, replying,

“You could’ve fooled me! Don’t we need her to go through, to close off that rift thing?”

“Well, yes,” Twilight said uncomfortably, “But that doesn’t mean we need to be rude about it. Why wouldn’t she want to go through? Her home is on the other side!”

“Ah dunno, but I do know that she ain’t talkin’ to me, so there’s not much I cain do about it,” Applejack growled. “Now I did my part, and ah wanted you t’know that Rosy’s fine. So ah’ll be at the market selling apples to ponies who ain’t afraid of me, if’n you need me.”

Twilight’s ears were down when Applejack left, but Applejack didn’t care. She was downright peeved at this whole messy business with Rosy. Couldn’t they just lock that rift up in that container thing and stop worrying about it? Obviously not, but Applejack wasn’t all that great at understanding the details, especially when explained to her by her recently bewinged friend. Rosy’s position on the matter made enough sense though. She didn’t want to go back, and she liked being a pony for some reason.

But to abandon her friends? To give up on her family? Applejack just couldn’t believe that was true. Rosy had to have somepony waiting for her on the other side. Family didn’t just up and disappear when it wasn’t convenient to have ‘em. Applejack didn’t know why Rosy was ignoring her responsibilities to her family, and she didn’t understand why anypony would do that.

So instead of grumbling about it with Apple Bloom, over at her apple stand, Applejack went trotting off to let the rest of her friends know that Rosy was alive and well. Well, alive at least.

Rarity was downright driven to find out about everything that happened. She was as plum curious about the whole thing as Applejack was. Applejack couldn’t help much though, as she still hadn’t talked to Rosy about this, and she couldn’t answer half the questions Rarity brought up. Rarity said she’d ask around, but she wasn’t gonna push Rosy to directly confront her, which suited Applejack just fine. It was probably a good idea to give that human mare some space for a while. Even though they just didn’t know what went wrong, something sure as hay did go wrong, and that kind of thing is dealt with best after a good steady timeout to think about things.

Pinkie Pie was... underjoyed to hear about the news. Applejack wasn’t surprised the pink pony already had an idea that Rosy made her way back to town. Those two both made the same sort of nonsense, if that made any sense. But Pinkie had been seriously shaken by what transpired over by the rift, and it didn’t take a lot to get a pony like Pinkie Pie to start doubting herself.

Applejack did end up finding out what was the matter with Pinkie Pie, and it was as simple as the fact that Pinkie Pie made Rosy cry. Applejack reassured Pinkie Pie that she was a good friend, and that there was something suspicious going on about that rift business. The fact that Rosy couldn’t even look at Pinkie Pie without crying, well that was something wrong with Rosy not Pinkie, and in fact it meant that Rosy cared about Pinkie Pie most of all.

That’s how Applejack figured it at least. That Applejack was the third to last pony Rosy’d talk to was... interesting. Rosy’d interacted with Applejack a whole lot since the shadow thing went down. But Pinkie was the one who first found her, and brought her in, and it took Applejack a while to warm up to Rosy at first, so it made sense in a way, if Rosy had saved Pinkie Pie for last. It was easier to part ways with your boss than with your friend after all.

Except one thing didn’t make sense about it. Applejack may have been less trouble for Rosy to part with than Pinkie Pie, but Rosy had not saved Pinkie Pie for last. Rosy had saved somepony else entirely, a pony who hardly even considered her a pony...

Without answers, and reluctant to approach Twilight herself about all this, Applejack galloped down to Fluttershy’s Critter Care. Applejack had to hurry at this point, because it’d taken a while to tell Twilight, Rarity and Pinkie Pie, and she still had two more friends to go. Applejack sure didn’t want to know what Apple Bloom was gonna do back at the cart all by herself, if sales started to pick up again.

Applejack had tried to teach the filly about the economics of market bits in past years, but frankly Applejack felt like she was the filly sometimes, with how well Apple Bloom understood things. It was great how that filly just snapped up ideas like candy tarts. Trouble is the filly had an ornery streak in her, and when Apple Bloom had her mind set on something, it was hard to convince her it was dead wrong. That’d happened far too often, and Applejack frankly wasn’t sure the filly was ready to watch the cart for ten minutes, much less an hour or so.

She found Fluttershy caring for a manul who according to Fluttershy had become injured while hunting pika and falling into a ravine. Out on the lawn behind Fluttershy’s cottage, the overly fluffy feline had a bandaged paw, and Fluttershy was trying to feed him a dead—eugh, well the cat’s reaction to it was sorta the same as Applejack’s. The wildcat looked at the not-living thing with a haughty disdain. And Applejack hated to break up such a touching moment, but it really wasn’t all that touching-like.

“Psst, Fluttershah,” Applejack said at a cautious distance so as not to spook the critter. The manul looked up at Applejack first, with a patently bored expression on his face.

“Hello, Applejack,” Fluttershy said with a smile, turning to face her friend, while the manul took the opportunity to limp away from her and go hide under the critter cave Fluttershy had set up by her cottage.

“Hey Flutters,” Applejack said, smiling back, “Got some good news for ya sorta. Rosy made it back into town, it turns out.”

“Oh?” Fluttershy said, idly combing at her long, flowing mane and looking away.

“Yep, just wanted you to know,” Applejack said in relief, “She’s still right miffed at whatever happened, didn’t even wanna talk to me.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Fluttershy replied quietly.

“Ain’t no trouble. Anyway, I gotta git,” Applejack said, turning on her hooves for the road, “Gonna see if ah cain find Rainbow and tell her, then I gotta get back to mah apple stand.”

Fluttershy nodded, and Applejack tipped her hat, her hooves shortly pounding down the road leading away from the cottage.

Applejack didn’t find Rainbow Dash on the way back to her apple stand, but she did catch her that afternoon. Shouting up to the rainbow pegasus on a cloud, Applejack said, “Hey Rainbow Dash! You hear about Rosy?!”

Rainbow fluttered down with a frown on her muzzle. “What about Rosy?” she asked, making Applejack a little nervous to say,

“Ah saw Rosy earlier today and she’s fine, just avoiding us on account of the whole... thing or another.”

“Well good,” Rainbow snapped, “I’m glad she is too scared to even tell us that she’s okay. It’s not like we searched for her all night yesterday or anything.”

“I don’t think she means harm,” Applejack said uneasily. “She’s just havin’ problems.”

“Maybe she should tell us what her problems are, if she’s having them,” Rainbow replied, “Until then, she can just take a hike!”

Rainbow blasted off then, leaving Applejack looking up the brim of her hat after Rainbow Dash with concern.

In the days that followed, Applejack worried for her friends, and worried for Rosy’s ultimate fate. It was an unsettling feeling of wrongness about this whole thing that Applejack hadn’t felt before, not since one lonely morning long ago in Manehattan. Applejack was not near as worried sick as Twilight was, though.

Of course, Twilight wasn’t even thinking about Rosy at the moment. But boy was she worried!

“Oh my. Oh. Oh dear. Really? How could they possibly—how do they know? ” Twilight murmured in progressive agitation from the confines of her tree library. She stared in astonishment at what she’d managed to get her projector to show. A familiar song had begun coming out of tinny sounding crystals, as what Twilight was watching unfolded before her eyes.

It was a very old, if popular Equestrian folk song she heard, that just about anypony would know, but it was a song that the other verse didn’t have any evidence of ever having heard before the as-yet-unexplained arrival of Rosy Pink. The humans had some form of particle accelerator, but it was highly experimental, and not nearly the energy density needed to unravel superstrings. How had they heard the song from Equestria then, if they couldn’t leave their own world? Their verse was stitched together tighter than one of Rarity’s garter belts!

Twilight’s research was at a dead end here, as she saw herself, a unicorn, arriving in Ponyville. She was on Cherry’s balloon, for some reason, along with her dragon assistant Spike.The song then took an odd turn, with percussion, and some kind of poorly tuned piano as accompaniment.

Twilight Sparkle heard herself singing words she’d never sang, of what she learned, then each of her friends contributing to this mysterious song. A letter sent to Princess Celestia, with a photograph that had never been taken. Yet it was Princess Celestia who received it, and Twilight and her friends gathering together for that photograph, just as Twilight would have done if it had actually happened. Though Twilight was fairly sure Fluttershy would never agree to be front and center in a group photograph.

The purple princess turned off the projector, and shook her head. The film that they’d decoded from the humans, it couldn’t have been a film of actual events, yet it was uncanny how vividly it portrayed their world, and themselves. How had the other verse known of Twilight and her friends at all? None of the research indicated any human technology that could do more than your basic, ordinary quark manipulation. Nothing that could rip a hole through other dimensions, whether deliberately or otherwise. Had Rosy’s arrival just been some one-time freak accident? But then how did they know about Equestria, and the Elements of Harmony?

And how did they create this footage? The human verse didn’t even have the same... color that Equestria did! It was all muted browns and greens. Though the sky was the same color, everything below it was just... greyer. It was as if you turned the saturation down on everything, just like when... no, that’s completely impossible. The fact of the matter is, Twilight Sparkle did not fly Cherry’s balloon out of Canterlot, and she certainly would remember a photograph like that. Yet she had been researching the Elements of Harmony on that fateful day, just like it showed. Was the extra footage at the opening being played by actors? It made no sense! And Twilight hadn’t even watched ten minutes of it!

The only thing Twilight was sure of was that her friends absolutely had to see this.

...as soon as she could figure out how to get them to speak to her again.

“Heeey Rosy, watcha dooin?”

“Ugh, Pinkie—please, Pinkie Pie. Can’t you find some... other friends?”

Rosy had just dropped the sack of groceries she was carrying, because she wasn’t too good at carrying things with her butt yet, and so she tried to talk while carrying the bag in her mouth. Pinkie bumped the canvas sack up onto her own butt with a bright smile at Rosy, saying, “Don’t be such a silly grumpy pants. I’ll help you carry your groceries, so you don’t have to worry about it at all!”

“I’m not—ugh,” Rosy groaned, her head dropping forward as she gave in, striding slowly as Pinkie Pie hopped beside her fellow earth pony, who was not strange in any way, or party to any scary stories that Pinkie would really rather keep secret. No, this pony was certainly not the same pony as that sorrowful, terrified, crying mare that Pinkie Pie had forced to do something she hated, and never even thought about Rosy’s feelings once, except how much Rosy would love it.

“And here we are!” Pinkie said brightly, standing beside the door and waiting for Rosy to open it. “How you feeling? Happier today? Or kind of sad? Anything I can—”

“I really would rather if you didn’t come in this time,” Rosy said in pained exasperation. “Just... let me have my groceries, and let’s call it even. Please?”

“Oh, I don’t have to do anything, silly, I’m doing this because I just love you to pieces!” Pinkie said happily to Rosy, bumping up her groceries into the air, to cascade down on Rosy’s rump in an orderly manner that seemed to surprise Rosy again for some reason. “I just want to make you smile, see?”

Rosy kind of clenched her teeth and spread her lips with a desperate look, saying, “Shee? Shmilig!”

“That’s pretty good for a first try,” Pinkie said, squinting at Rosy comically. “But maybe you should try it one more time, and this time try to get your eyes to smile too. Those are really important to smiling.”

“Pinkie, it’s... I’m hungry Pinkie Pie,” the mare whined impatiently, “I need to eat dinner and... and I have some—”

“Hey, why don’t you eat at Sugarcube Corner?” Pinkie asked excitedly, “I’ll be happy to treat you! Whatever you want, it’s yours!”

“I want you to leave me alone. Please,” Rosy said flatly.

Pinkie smiled nervously at that saying, “Oh, you kidder. Getting tired of little old me? Don’t be silly.” Rosy was already backing into her door though, and Pinkie added a little desperately, “And next time we meet, I’ll be much better! You’ll never get tired of me then!”

“I’m not... okay, maybe I am tired of you, but just... sorry,” Rosy griped, ducking the rest of the way into her house and shutting the door. The sound of a clicking lock shot through Pinkie’s chest, making her heart hurt for some reason.

“Okay, Rosy Posie!” Pinkie shouted through the door, “You have a good dinner! And maybe we can have some fun after dinner? I could show you more Ponyville movies! I know you like those!”

Silence.

Pinkie hopped away from the house, a happy smile on her face, even though the twisted serpent that coiled around her heart seemed even meaner than the actual draconequus that they’d fought once. This new one wasn’t as easy to fight as Discord though, because Rosy just didn’t seem to like Pinkie Pie anymore. Well, that’s okay, Rosy could hate Pinkie Pie worse than any other pony. As long as Rosy was happy, Pinkie was happy.

Rainbow Dash wasn’t a monster. She was a pony, a real pony. She soared through the open sky just like everypony else. So she was faster, and tougher, and smarter than everypony else. So what? That was just because she worked hard, and practiced every day. And she wasn’t that smart. Twilight Sparkle was way smarter than her. Rainbow Dash was pretty much 100% sure of that.

Okay maybe 23.2% sure.

Rainbow was taking some time out to herself to fly out to the coast, for... reasons. The forests that rushed past below her seemed endless; she knew they were not. But it was comforting to think the rolling hills of solid green were endless, bigger than her, that she was just a tiny piece in the part of a greater whole. Up here in the sky, it was easy to think about... stuff like that. There were no obstacles, no distractions. Unfortunately it was also easy to think of other thoughts. Thoughts she didn’t want to think.

Rainbow Dash dropped her altitude until she was just barely avoiding clipping the topmost branches. Her surroundings were now more stimulating and distracting, as she had to account for the ups and downs of the land below her. She wasn’t a monster. Lots of ponies flew like that, and sure it was dangerous, but it wasn’t anywhere near as crazy as her own stunts, which... other ponies couldn’t do.

Rainbow Dash tried to ignore the other foals at school back in Cloudsdale, the ones who called her that thing she didn’t want to be called. The ones who told her that she wasn’t even a real pony, just because she didn’t have parents. The parents who stood by their foals and called her... that. Well, they were wrong. She wasn’t a monster. She was a hero!

Rainbow Dash had saved the world more times than ponies even knew. And it wasn’t because she was better than everypony. It was because she had such amazing friends, that she had to rely on or she’d totally fail just like everypony else. Sure they were all exceptional ponies too, but it meant that Rainbow Dash wasn’t the unstoppable force ponies thought she was. It meant that there were ponies who could match her, keep her honest. There were things she couldn’t do, that they could do, and that meant she had flaws, just like anypony else.

The trees thinned out and grew scraggly as she approached the coast. Soon, she could see the sparkling ocean spread out before her. The beaches were small and rocky around here, but that’s okay. Rainbow Dash wanted to just perch on a rock and let the soft sounds of the steady ocean waves calm her mind, alone. Her azure wings folded, as the polychromatic pegasus stayed there atop a stately pile of granite, and stared out into the horizon across the ocean, lost in thought.

That mare had called her a monster. Why had Rosy called her a monster? Why was it bothering Rainbow Dash so much? It was just a lie, wasn’t it? The mare was just an evil bully, and was trying to get under Rainbow Dash’s skin, to try to get Dash to back down, wasn’t she? But then, why did Rainbow Dash feel like a monster? Even way out here in total solitude, with nothing but the sounds of the waves to distract her, Rainbow Dash had no idea how what she thought were innocent, helpful actions had gone so wrong. Her attempt to retrieve Rosy had brought Dash face-to-face with such a stare of fear, and hate and ruin. A stare Rainbow Dash should never have gotten anymore, because everypony knew she wasn’t a monster. She was just a pony, like everypony else.

Rainbow Dash wasn’t a monster... right?

Then why did she feel like one?

Rarity was... concerned for Rainbow Dash. Though her friend was right here at the moment, it had only been a few days ago that Rainbow Dash had gone off alone on another one of her excursions to the coast again, and that meant that something was bothering this adorable barbarian of a windblown pegasus. Probably something to do with Rosy Pink. Everything seemed to be that way these days.

Rarity couldn’t believe Twilight went and did that to the oneun of them, put them in between a rock and a hard place regarding Rosy. Rarity could understand if Twilight was having trouble dealing with that terrible... thing, but did she have to put her friends on the spot? Rarity wouldn’t mind at all if Twilight just took care of the problem cleanly, and quietly on her own, but when she had gotten them involved, it meant Rarity had to interact with this Rosy, and listen to her, and see in Rosy’s eyes that desperate hope that the snowy dressmaker knew was ultimately foalish.

It was a child’s desire Rosy felt, a petty greed for what she had right now, with no concern for her own future, or the well-being of others. That was the only reason Rosy could possibly have been so resistant to returning to her own life, and her own responsibilities. Rarity quickly cooled to any idea of that overgrown filly having any sophistication whatsoever, when Rosy simply couldn’t appreciate sensible, mature things like garden parties, high society, and large hats. She just wasn’t capable of seeing the big picture!

Rarity could have dealt with Rosy’s reticence. She was certainly of the opinion that the filly’s tantrum shouldn’t be tolerated. If they didn’t throw Rosy through the portal kicking and screaming, she would continue to test her boundaries, and push their limits worse and worse. First it was a delay, then an excuse, then outright denial of her own responsibility. Rosy was simply not a pony who Rarity wanted to have to deal with. And yet here we are.

“Lift your leg please, Rainbow Dash,” she said politely, adjusting a buckle on the latest ensemble she’d made for her speed loving friend.

“Ugh, I’m fine, Rarity,” Rainbow Dash replied, lifting a leg so that Rarity’s magic could pull another ribbon around there, and... perfect! “I just go down to the beach to chill sometimes. I’m a pegasus! I need to fly!”

“I have to say, this ensemble really compliments your mane,” Rarity said, tweaking the any dye to be just the color she envisioned. Perhaps something crimson red, no, something spicy, something roguishly rouge!

“Was it just because I have a weird colored mane?” Rainbow asked in reply. “But I thought she knew something about our pasts? Did she know about the Institute? I don’t want her to tell everypony.”

“Hang on now, a few pockets might work beneath your wing slots,” Rarity said, levitating over some pocket patches and pins. “Yes, that looks marvelous, and functional too!”

Lifting her wing, Rainbow Dash said, “I know ponies aren’t going to just... turn on me if they found out. It’s just a little weird, and everypony already knows I’m a big hero. So why is it bothering me so much?”

“And, a buttercup and cornflower bow, to rein in that rowdy tail of yours,” Rarity stated, attaching the last bits of fabric. “And... done! Voila, you are a new mare, Rainbow Dash!”

Rainbow looked in the mirror, and a surprised smile danced across her face. Not surprised at what she saw, as much as surprised that it made her smile. Rarity sighed. This was not something a beautiful new outfit for the upcoming bloom festival would fix.

“Well, I thank you for putting up with me, Rainbow Dash,” Rarity said, “Having a friend such as you has done wonders for my ability to conceive of designs that fit a so-called ‘ideal’ pegasus frame. Now, I’ll have your dress ready within the week, but before we clean up here, I would like to ask. Are you worried about hurting other ponies?”

Dash’s smile grew greviously tainted with nervousness as she said, “I’d never hurt anypony, so no I’m not worried about that, even if maybe by accident I might have almost hurt Rosy it—” she hung her head and mumbled, “fluff bunnies.”

Rarity nuzzled under Rainbow Dash’s chin, lifting her head and saying to the smaller, but certainly much more powerful pony on the podium, “You had the chance to hurt Rosy, and yet you didn’t. Because you are a wonderful mare, as you can see in the mirror here. You listened to Rosy, and even though she said terrible things about you, and even though you resented her terribly, you have done no harm to her. Why, I might even suggest that she was the one doing harm. Because who hurt whom in this affair, and has she apologized since then?”

“Well—I haven’t exactly... asked her to apologize,” Rainbow Dash said glumly.

Rarity frowned, saying, “I wish it were that easy, to simply be forgiven by asking for it. But remember that Rosy is not really a pony. She doesn’t think in the same ways we do, and you might find yourself disappointed again, if you try and make her act like a pony. When we ponypomorphize inequine creatures, we have to understand that sometimes they will act in ways that no pony would expect.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Rainbow Dash said with a bit more of a confident smile. “She really was just reacting because I... backed her into a corner like that. It’s not like she really thinks I’m a mo–monster or anything.”

“Oh... Rainbow Dash,” Rarity sighed, her face falling, “Is that what she called you? How could she? That she knows of your life’s history makes it all the worse. Knowing what happened, and what that word means to you? It’s just unforgivable! You are not a... a monster, Rainbow Dash, and never let anypony, or anyone convince you differently.”

Rarity stood before her friend and smiled saying, “So when Rosy referred to your... past in a way that made it seem like she hated you, in fact you were seeing nothing more than a cornered wolf backed up to a corner, lashing out like the animal that it is. You should feel sorry for her, really. If she’s incapable of seeing that what she called you is wrong, it shows how much of a monster you are not. It was just an instinctual reaction of hers, not anything wrong with you at all.”

“That... sounds kind of weird,” Rainbow Dash admitted uneasily, “But if you insist. You’re not wrong, I guess. She probably didn’t even mean it when she said it.”

Rarity sidled up alongside her well dressed friend saying, “You are my friend, and the greatest flyer Equestria has ever seen. You are a pony who deserves every bit of love and kindness any other pony should get. That’s the difference between you and her. She lacks that essential kindness, honesty, generosity and... qualities that a pony has within them, while you are as much of a pony as I am. Would you ever call her a monster?”

“What? No! Never!” Rainbow Dash said in surprise, “Even though she’s kind of weird and scary sometimes, because uh... no. I would not.”

“Then worry not about it,” Rarity offered with a comforting hug. “For all we know, perhaps Rosy will suddenly gain an intrinsic equinity. But you never have to worry about losing yours. You have a story mark, Rainbow Dash. That’s something that nopony can ever take away.”

“Yeah, except...” Rainbow Dash shivered. Rarity had to join her in that sentiment.

“And we... got them back!” Rarity said in artificial cheer. “No harm done! So it’s an entirely different situation than with Rosy, who lacks the compassion needed to get one in the first place. He may have stolen your mark away from you, but you were the one who created it, because you are an amazing pony, Rainbow Dash. No monster could ever hope to match the beautiful deeds that you have done.”

Rainbow Dash flew off feeling much better about herself, and Rarity watched her go. Then the dressmaker’s thoughts drifted to little Sweetie Belle, and her own mark troubles. With Rosy around, it had taken Rarity quite some time to calm Sweetie Belle down when she and her friends saw an adult pony walking around town in plain sight without a mark. Rarity did not want to dredge up old worries like that. So Rarity took a deep breath, and pushed all those troublesome thoughts about monsters and ponyhood out of her head, and prepared herself receive her sister’s attention for the duration of the afternoon, in peace and happiness.

“Rarity!! Guess what??”

...best case scenario.

“Why don’t Rosy like you?” came the axe blade of a question, swinging at the sturdy tree trunk of the convictions of a pony who didn’t want to hear it.

“Aw it ain’t like that, Apple Bloom,” Applejack said over a dinner of apple dumplings, peas and corn cakes. “She’s just a lil’ slow to warm, you know? We had a... a misunderstandin’ that’s still wearing on her awful hard.”

“But cain’t you make it better?” Apple Bloom insisted worriedly. “You always told me to apologize when ah hurt somepony, even if I don’t wanna.”

“That ain’t... precisely the case, Apple Bloom, but this is... different,” Applejack said. “Ah did apologize to her, and she just... wasn’t ready to hear it. So she’s got her life, and ah got mine, and... she ain’t comin’ back to the farm because... she just don’t like me much no more.”

“But why doesn’t she?” Apple Bloom whined. “She was comin’ round here all the time, before! And now she’s just ignorin’ us? What if she was gonna get her story mark in—”

Apple Bloom quieted down, staring at her plate.

Granny Smith looked at the filly, saying with compassion, “Apple Bloom, some ponies just ain’t... ah mean lots of critters don’t get story marks. Rabbits an’ pigs, and deers an’ possums...”

“She looked so much like a pony, ah thought she was one,” Apple Bloom replied unsatisified. “She acts like a pony, and she feels like a pony, so what if we—”

“She ain’t a pony, Apple Bloom, she just looked that way on a temporary basis,” Applejack said confidently... mostly confidently. “There is no way no how that you ain’t gonna get your story mark. You’re a pony and an Apple through-and-through. She seemed like it, but... she just ain’t one of us.”

“But ah don’t have my story mark,” Apple Bloom said resentfully. “How is she different besides me, besides older? Just because she used to not be a pony, don’t mean she cain’t—”

“She cain’t get a story mark, Apple Bloom,” Applejack said firmly. “She was supposed to go home to her family, where she don’t need a mark. But she didn’t, because... because ah don’t know, she was just bein’ ornery about it. So she’s just gonna be here a little longer, until we cain convince her she don’t belong here.”

“Applejack’s right,” Granny said sagely. “Ah don’t wanna here none of you fillies tryin’ to go get that Rosy mare no story mark. It ain’t a thing that cain happen, and it ain’t for you to try to be makin’ her feel welcome, when she’s just bein’ stubborn about goin’ home.”

“Right,” Applejack said as she ate her hearty meal, “Stubborn.”

“Ah guess so,” Apple Bloom sighed. She didn’t press the issue though, instead leaning forward and eating her own food, quietly and without protesting any further.

Applejack kind of wanted her to, though.

Fluttershy watched her cute little birds and squirrels eating the nuts and seeds they’d stored in her cottage with a disaffected air. She just couldn’t concentrate on her task at hand these days. The quiet, slender yellow pony was seriously disturbed by the actions of her and her friends as of late.

Fluttershy found that Applejack seemed to treat Rosy like she was some kind of a circus oddity now. Rainbow Dash pretended to be angry, but kept Rosy at a fearful distance, a behavior that Fluttershy was familiar with, but had never expected to see coming from her old friend. Pinkie Pie went out of her way to befriend Rosy now, but her actions were more from a fear that Fluttershy didn’t fully understand, not out of compassion for the pony.

Rarity had so little to do with Rosy that she didn’t even seem to realize Rosy somehow still had her scarf. Rarity seemed to think of Rosy as more of an object than a pony, or a nuisance that didn’t have any feelings. Twilight Sparkle was simply not dealing with the unusual situation and character that was Rosy Pink. While it was understandable if Twilight wanted to return to her comfort zone, it was still wrong of her to try to force the world to conform to her expectations, however reasonable they may be.

And worst of all of them, Fluttershy was not saying a word of any of these concerns to her friends. Fluttershy just didn’t know how to tell them that they needed to change their behavior for the better, and she wasn’t sure herself what about Rosy was provoking her friends in such unfortunate ways. For Rainbow Dash, it was obvious, but for the rest of them... it was far more likely that Fluttershy was just seeing monsters in the shadows again. Who did Fluttershy think she was, deciding whether her friends were right or wrong? Fluttershy was the one who was wrong, and she just wasn’t a good enough pony to see how her friends were the ones who were right.

The worst thing is, Fluttershy had been talking with Rosy until recently, and helping her, and enjoying her company, and Fluttershy was just too afraid to even tell her friends about it. She was willing to face her fear, and knew she should tell them her feelings despite her concern, but then Fluttershy just froze up whenever she tried. She wasn’t afraid of losing them—she couldn’t be afraid of losing them! Fluttershy knew they would be her friends forever, even if they didn’t really talk with her all that much. But just the thought of hurting them, of having them look at her judgementally, and know that she knew what she did was hurtful, Fluttershy just couldn’t work up the nerve.

She’d been working with Rosy off and on in the time where Rosy had been working at the homeless shelter, where Fluttershy had met this unassuming pony one day last winter. Fluttershy’s animal duties were few and far between in the winter, and she usually spent her time helping out ponies as best as she could, generally from very far back in the soup kitchen. There, Fluttershy met a pony struggling to find her place, struggling to even walk, a pony who had no real idea of what to call herself, who suffered from a profound loss of identity; Rosy just didn’t know who she was.

And yet, she was so happy, just to be. Just to wake up in the mornings, and come join the ponies in their efforts to help each other. Rosy seemed to thrive on her strange identity crisis, only becoming more motivated to make a name for herself, more motivated to find herself, and show them all who she really was inside. She truly was like a filly in that respect, approaching every day with wonder and trepidation. It was strangely heartwarming to see this, and to hear of Rosy’s struggles to fit in.

At first Rosy didn’t even know how to make friends. She faltered at acts of bravery that even a foal should have already overcome... that even Fluttershy had overcome. Once Rosy had some friends, she seemed at a loss to keep them, how to tend to her friendship. Fluttershy showed Rosy as best as she could, but Fluttershy had to admit she was the last pony one wanted to approach when it came to attending to your friends. Fluttershy always felt tempted to just let her friends stay out in the big scary world, while she hid inside where it was safe, and it was usually they who attended to her, taking Fluttershy out of her comfort zone, and showing Fluttershy how she could become a better pony.

But in a strange perversion of reality, the situation seemed to be reversed. Fluttershy found it easy to help dear, sweet Rosy out of her shell, to grow and blossom as the pony she wanted to be, and to grow closer to her. Fluttershy never found Rosy disturbing to talk with at all, and in fact it was heartwarming that Rosy had heard the story Fluttershy loved to tell other ponies, about how she became a friend to the animals and gained her story mark. Fluttershy felt safe with her secrets in Rosy’s wings, because Rosy understood Fluttershy so well. It was so lovely to talk with her, and spend time with her, Fluttershy dared to think that just maybe they had been becoming friends.

Then Fluttershy just had to go and ruin everything.

Perhaps Fluttershy didn’t have any underlying issues anywhere near as troublesome as the ones her friends had to struggle with, but she did have some troubles. Fluttershy didn’t know what was wrong with her, to only feel this way about... Rosy and... her friends, and... also some other mares she’d known. Fluttershy’s issues were frustratingly nebulous, and she couldn’t point to the Perfect Pegasus Project to blame. She could only blame herself, for never learning her lesson, for being afraid of confrontation, again and again. For being unable to tell her friends what she thought they were doing wrong. For being unable to help Rosy, despite the poor mare’s fear and desperation. For taking that fear and desperation, and doing something unforgivable to Rosy Pink. Fluttershy wanted to ease that pony’s tormented heart so bad, it made her want to kick something!

But she just—couldn’t—!

Fluttershy knew, on some level, that her friends couldn’t possibly understand what Rosy was going through. Fluttershy didn’t understand it herself. She’d only briefly been anything other than a pony, and she hadn’t found it unpleasant, but she wouldn’t want to live that way. What happened to Rosy was so much more extreme, and the thought that she would actually enjoy it was just... terrifying!

When Rosy confessed her darkest secret to Fluttershy in the heat of the moment, Fluttershy couldn’t deal with what Rosy had to face, with what she really was, or with what Fluttershy herself had done. Fluttershy wanted to tell her friends, but she feared they might hate her, or come to believe Rosy had been lying to them. Because in a sense, Rosy had. But in the same sense, Fluttershy had been lying to them too. Lies of omission and cowardice, but still lies. There was something seriously wrong with Rosy Pink, that terrified the soft yellow pegasus even to look at her, and Fluttershy may have been the only pony in Equestria to know.

Fluttershy could only hope that she would find some way to express to her friends just how terrified Rosy was of becoming what she had been before.

Fine! Don’t Listen to Me, I’m Just a Title!

Applejack was selling at the market one day, when Twilight Sparkle came up to her again.

“What can ah do you for, Twi?” she asked all friendly-like, but it was clear her friend wasn’t doing so well.

Twilight’s mane was all jiggery from lack of combing and sleep, and her eyes had bags under them. Applejack cursed herself inwardly for letting it get this bad. Twilight needed her, so Applejack was supposed to step up to the plate. Simple as that. But she didn’t want to... betray Rosy like that again. She didn’t want to do what Twilight made them do. Applejack had earned Rosy’s trust, had befriended her and accepted help from her on the farm, and how did Applejack repay that kindness?

But... Twilight needed Applejack’s help.

So, there were reasons Applejack hadn’t come forward to help her friend so eagerly this time, but she still felt awful about standing idly by. What Twilight was doing was the right thing, but it felt so wrong, and Applejack didn’t really know how to deal with that.

“Applejack,” Twilight said pleadingly, “I know you don’t want to talk about Rosy, or about her world, but this research is very important, and...”

“It’s all right, Twilight,” Applejack said with a resigned sigh. “Ah might not want to talk about her, but you do, an’ ah want you to know I’m always here to listen, if’n you need somepony to turn an ear.”

Twilight peered at Applejack disbelievingly. “Really?” she asked in surprise.

“I been puttin’ it off, but yeah, it’s high time we caught up again, maybe the one’n’two of us cain get together some time...” Applejack said unsurely.

“Oh, if you would, I would really, really appreciate it!” Twilight said with a pained whimper. “I don’t know how to tell them, and nopony is talking to me any more, and I just don’t know what went wrong.”

“If ah would what? What?” Applejack said in surprise, taking a step back from the beseeching princess. “Nopony is talking to you?”

“Well, Spike is, but I meant the 12 of us,” Twilight said wistfully. “I don’t know how to—”

“Even Pinkie Pie?” Applejack said incredulously.

“She’s even more obsessed about Rosy than I am!” Twilight protested in return. “I can’t get through to her, after we... after Rosy hurt Pinkie so badly back at that rift.”

“...Rarity?” Applejack tried desperately.

“Oh we talked the other day,” Twilight stated blandly. “I asked how she was doing, and she said she was quite busy.”

Applejack stared at Twilight. “...and?” she asked.

“And that’s it, she didn’t speak to me then,” Twilight replied, ears down. “And Fluttershy keeps shutting down whenever I try to talk to her—”

“Naw, she’s doing that to me too,” Applejack said comfortingly. “Ah don’t know why Fluttershy’s so pee—miffed at all of us. She may be shy, but she ain’t that shy!”

“I-if you could help me, I’d really appreciate it,” Twilight said hopefully. “I know you can get the others together.”

“Well ah could ask Rarity, an’ she’s good with Fluttershy, and—yeah, basically,” Applejack said. “But why are we getting together for?”

“Do we need a reason? ” Twilight whimpered.

“No we don’t,” Applejack said disapprovingly, “But something’s botherin’ you mighty fierce, and ah get the feeling it ain’t just a hankering for a group of friends chattering about various and sundry.”

Twilight relaxed with an apologetic smile, saying, “Oh, right. Yes. I have something very important to show you in the research I’ve been reviewing. I’d really like all the girls here for it, as it concerns every one of you. And it’s really eating me up inside because I don’t want to research further until you’ve all had a chance to look at it.”

“It’s fine really Twi, but you should’ve come forward sooner,” Applejack said sadly, “Ah may be stubborn, but you don’t need to lose sleep over it. I always felt like there was something the research ponies were missing about all this, with all their bluff and bluster. If’n you have a clue what that is...”

“Oh, I have better than a clue,” Twilight said smugly, “I have Rosy’s show.”

Applejack was mighty embarassed by matters that had fallen into her hooves. She didn’t know they all had been avoiding each other, and she really should have expected it. But once Twilight got it through Applejack’s thick skull, it was a simple matter for Applejack to arrange things. For Rainbow Dash, all Applejack had to do was suggest that Twilight was gonna show them the truth behind Rosy’s predictions. Rarity was as concerned as Applejack about mending their friendship. Fluttershy came along with some gentle encouragement from Rarity. Pinkie came when Rainbow Dash beat it into Pinkie Pie that she was letting her guilt consume her. Real dramatic moment, that. Sort of story you’d tell your foals years later. And Twilight was the one running this thing, so she didn’t need convincing.

The Element Bearers were joined together in Twilight’s projector room, where Twilight had, through some form of arcane wizardry, managed to translate the human recordings into a film projection. So along with Twilight, her friends all learned why the librarian princess had been so reluctant to watch the films alone.

“Was that me? ” Rainbow Dash cut in abruptly, before quieting down as she saw all of them were represented, each with a catch phrase.

“Oh, I’m glad Angel Bunny isn’t here to see this,” Fluttershy said nervously. “He already eats far too many apple slices to be healthy.”

“Okay, calm down everypony,” Twilight told the two of them. “This is just some sort of scripted introduction.”

“How do they do that?” Rarity asked incredulously. “She looks just like me!”

“We’re still trying to figure that out,” Twilight said to Rarity, who peered back questioningly for a moment, then her face dawned in recognition.

“Oh, by ‘we’ you mean that Trottingdale crew, of course,” she said.

“Under much stricter supervision, of course,” Twilight stated righteously. “Anyway, we have no answer yet, other than pure, blind coincidence. But somehow... the humans knew of... well, just watch.”

They watched.

“...why would we send Princess Celestia a photograph of us?” somepony asked.

Twilight could only shake her head and answer “I don’t know...”

The show commenced, and almost immediately, Rainbow Dash drawled, “Real smooth, Twilight.”

“I was under a lot of pressure at the time!” the princess protested. “It was just bad timing. What are the chances that everypony would be throwing little celebrations and get-togethers right around the time of—”

“The Summer Sun Celebration?” Rarity asked dryly.

“...fine, I was a wet blanket,” Twilight grumbled.

Applejack found her own introduction at the beginning downright hilarious. “You were packed fuller than a hog fulla plums!” she said to Twilight with a laugh. “Guess the old Apple hospitality got the best of you.”

“That, and certain little fillies who are very good at making it hard to say no,” Twilight said disaffectedly.

They watched and—

And everypony’s mouth dropped open in shock.

“That never happened!” Rainbow Dash shouted in outrage as Pinkie Pie outright collapsed in laughter. “How was I supposed to know you—that was just a mud puddle! It wasn’t... that! ”

Twilight managed to get the projector paused, and said nervously to the others, “Ha ha, these humans and their weird sense of humor. They are supposedly related to apes, so I suppose that kind of humor would just be... normal to them!”

Pinkie Pie was about dying of laughter over this entire explanation of course.

“Could somepony calm Pinkie Pie down before she pulls a muscle?” Twilight said through gritted teeth.

Once they were all... calm again, Twilight stood before the projector and admitted, “I haven’t actually... watched these in advance. I didn’t feel it was right to do so by myself, after I saw that you all were in it. So, there might be some objectionable content, maybe even really upsetting.”

“Oh how bad could it possibly be,” Rarity tittered, the second most amused by this particular frozen moment on film. “I can handle a little bathroom humor, now and again.”

“Maybe Twilight’s too...” Pinkie Pie said weakly from the floor, “Pooped to continue!”

Aaaand cue everypony else except Twilight Sparkle to start laughing.

Still, Twilight was in good spirits when she restarted the projector. She’d worried that this would be much more serious, or invasive than it was, but so far it was basically depicting events that anypony could have seen in plain sight. It all seemed pretty innocuous actually, and honestly a bit sugar-coated. It glossed over Rainbow Dash’s weather performance for instance. There were no vulgar insults from the Canterlot students, over Twilight’s insistence on studying above celebrating. And on that note, in the show, all Pinkie Pie did on meeting Twilight was wordlessly gasp!

The show went on, and the rest of her friends were in good spirits too. Almost immediately after resuming, Pinkie Pie laughed again saying, “Hahaha, now you are a wet blanket!”

“Keep watching, Pinkie, you’re gonna love the next part,” Rainbow Dash said with an eager grin.

Twilight just groaned, and gave a sympathetic look towards Rarity, who watched the scenario unfold with dawning horror. “Rainbow Dash!” Rarity snapped, glaring at the unrepentant looking pegasus lazily hovering there above her seat. “It was you who—”

“Yeah, yeah, I messed up Twilight’s hair,” Dash said, shrugging, “Big deal.”

“Big deal?!” Rarity retorted with a stomp, “A mare’s mane is her most important form of self expression!”

“But you fixed it,” Rainbow Dash protested, “So what’s the problem?”

As Rarity’s scene unfolded, Rarity had very little reason to contest that, since Twilight’s mane disaster had been a good opportunity to break the ice with the fashion designer. There was also the fact that everypony’s ears were down for most of Rarity’s scene, and Rainbow Dash was blushing and looking aside, because of the little bombshell of Spike’s open affection for Rarity. Had he really caught it that bad the very first time he saw her? Twilight felt guilty for not bringing Spike in to watch this too.

But that moment passed quickly, as the show-Twilight escaped Rarity’s obsession with fashion, and then it was on to Fluttershy. Fluttershy continued watching with her usual trepidation, and then with surprise.

“Oh, um... I don’t recall being that quick to warm to Spike,” she replied uncertainly.

“This ‘show’ as Rosy called it seems to be something of a summary, or an exaggeration of the actual events that occurred,” Twilight informed them. “It looks like us, uncannily so, but some things have to be an approximation. I am pretty confident that a few things depicted here never happened at all. Rarity did nothing more than give my mane a good brushing on that day, for instance, and I only met you the next morning, remember? When the birds wake up?”

“Yes Fluttershy dear,” Rarity said with a calming nuzzle, “Do recall my little preoccupation with Twilight’s Canterlot chic breezed by here in seconds rather than days. This is clearly a vast dramatization.”

“Ah dunno, the food spread seemed about accurate,” Applejack said thoughtfully, “Once ah managed to drag you out of this here library that is, long enough to enjoy a home cooked meal with the entire Apple family. I grant you it didn’t happen all in one day. ”

“Pff, yeah and you don’t clear the entire sky with just one pony,” Rainbow Dash quipped, “I may be awesome but I’m not that awesome.”

“Hold on we’re almost to the best part,” Pinkie said excitedly, eyes glued to the wall. Figuratively glued. One had to specify with that pony.

“Oh, you know what’s going to happen next?” Rarity asked in surprise.

Pinkie nodded eagerly saying, “Yup! A party! ”

That was impressive enough, even more so that she timed it perfectly when her projected double said the same words, despite never having possibly watched this film before.

And then her giggles abruptly died.

“Oh no!” Pinkie Pie whimpered in alarm. “You didn’t—that’s why Spike asked about the hot sauce?”

“It’s okay, Pinkie,” Twilight said soothingly, “I was looking for an excuse to leave anyway. I poured my own punch, and it’s my responsibility. I was there for the end anyway, right?”

Thumping tunes, some odd wasplike resonance, and the voice of an aggrivated unicorn continued to emit from the shimmering crystal wired to the thingy on the projector. As the ponies watched, the mare vanished from the face of the moon.

“Oh... I don’t know if I want to finish this...” Fluttershy said, shrinking to her belly.

“Indeed, perhaps we could skip the part about...” Rarity said distastefully, “You know, her. ”

“I highly doubt it’ll be as bad as all that,” Twilight said practically. “This ‘show’ really pulls its punches, it seems. Besides, we already know it works out okay, in the end, right?”

“We... we should watch it,” Fluttershy said in cautious agreement. “We might learn something about how the princess... felt under her power.”

The scene began to unfold and the ponies watching were quickly drawn in, the memories rising up in them from that terrible, incredible, never-ending night.

After it was over, the ponies remained silent, looking at each other warily, hopefully.

Rarity was the first to break the silence, asking, “How... long was that?”

“The er, episode is minutes BS long,” Twilight Sparkle said, looking at the quiescent projector.

“That felt a lot longer than BS,” Fluttershy said distantly.

“It’s only one of many...” Twilight said cautiously. “There are four seasons, and supposedly a fifth planned. You can thank a pegasus by the name of Resonance for deciphering the signals they’d been sending through electrical wires, but all episodes are available to us, if we want to watch them.”

“This explains how Rosy knew us...” Applejack said in wonderment.

“I don’t know if I want to watch much more of this,” Fluttershy said worriedly.

“We gotta at least watch until that big final battle!” Rainbow Dash declared emphatically. “I wanna see if we kick Nightmare Moon’s butt!”

“You were there, Rainbow Dash,” Rarity replied flatly.

“Yeah, but I wanna see if the humans get it right,” Dash replied in a sarcastic drawl. She added in a squeaky voice, “Maybe they’ll be like, oh hey Nightmare Moon wow, zoom, poof, now let’s have a tea party!”

Rarity rolled her eyes.

“She sure sounded right,” Fluttershy said in a haunted tone. “And looked right. With that dark, black fur, and those dragon like eyes, and that deep scary voice...”

“Indeed,” said Rarity in a haunted tone.

“I wonder what the next episode’s gonna be about,” Pinkie wondered. “Is it gonna be about me messing up her nightmares by teaching ponies when to laugh? Or maybe it’ll be about when Rainbow Dash joined her, and got right up under her black snootie, so she could find out where the Elements were hidden. Or maybe—”

“Whatever it is, ah think I’ve seen enough for now,” Applejack said tensely. “Ah need some time to think about all this... not sure ah wanna see my whole life flash before mah eyes.”

“I have to agree,” Rarity said. “To think that poor Spikie Wikey’s deepest secrets may be known to a whole world... I’m not sure we have the right to watch these, even if we are the main subject of them.”

“M...maybe we could watch later... (preferably much later)” Fluttershy squeaked.

“You’re seriously going to pass up a chance like this?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed to her, “What if something happened that we don’t even know about? It might not be exact, but there could be clues to stuff we missed!”

“Plus you want to see us kick Nightmare Moon’s butt,” Pinkie clarified.

Dash nodded smugly.

“Well, I wanna see it too,” Pinkie Pie agreed. “It sounds like it’d be really exciting, and a lot of fun! And it’s been really funny so far! We can always stop if it gets not fun. Plus we’ll be better ponies if we know more about ourselves!”

“That’s... surprisingly insightful,” Twilight said, making Pinkie beam happily. “And I do want to watch these, not just for our sake, but to better understand the rift, and the creature who came through it. If we see the same ‘episodes’, then the traveller won’t have an unfair advantage when we try to reason with it!”

“Her,” Fluttershy said audibly.

“Hm?” Twilight asked, looking to Fluttershy uncertainly.

“She is a ‘her’ not an ‘it’,” Fluttershy stated. “I’m pretty sure, at least, you know if you don’t want to treat her poorly, I mean, um...”

“I suppose you’re right,” Twilight sighed. “I shouldn’t resent her just for making bad decisions. I just wish she would listen to reason. The longer that rift stays open, the greater danger all of Equestria is in.”

Fluttershy nodded slightly from behind her hair.

“Sounds like we’re tied, then,” Applejack said, giving a jaunty tilt to her hat as she added, “But ah’m leanin’ towards watchin’ ‘em. Just gotta check with mah family, and let y’all do the same.”

“If we do watch it, I think we can solemnly swear not to reveal other ponies’ secrets,” Twilight offered. “I can even have it legally formalized if you like.”

“Eh, Pinkily formalized is good enough for me,” Rainbow Dash said, with a hoof bump and a wink to Pinkie Pie.

Their weekly picnic was a lively one, that first week. The Bearers were out on the green hilly fields beneath the partial shade of Rainbow Dash’s house, sharing snacks and sandwiches, and listening to Rainbow Dash recall with irritation, fluttering up into the air,

“Disappointing? That episode was a total ripoff! I thought they’d spend all the episodes on our epic battle with the Nightmare, and they just zoomed on through it!”

“Too fast for you?” Rarity asked coyly, to which Rainbow Dash blushed, and said,

“N-n-no I was just surprised. What about the time I... and you... you know, all that stuff!”

“This show seems to take snapshots of our lives,” Twilight speculated, “What puzzles me is how they stitch them together with things that didn’t happen. Like how would they get footage of Rainbow Dash crashing into me with a full belly from all that pie? Perhaps they altered it somehow?”

“Or maybe they just drew on it,” Rainbow Dash said, “But I did like what was there. Rarity bucked that manticore like a pro!”

“Yes, the manticore who was only attacking because of the Nightmare,” Rarity said dryly, “I feel so proud of roughing up innocent beasts.”

“Um, I’m excited about the show as well,” Fluttershy said tentatively, “But I wonder if we could talk about something... else.”

“That’s probably a good idea. I don’t know if I could take one more jibe about the Element of Loyalty,” Twilight said with a glare at Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash just snickered in response. Looking at Fluttershy kindly, Twilight asked, “Was there anything you wanted to talk about?”

“Um... yes I wanted to talk about... us,” Fluttershy replied. Rainbow Dash landed, and Twilight settled back, looking at Fluttershy self consciously, as the butter yellow pegasus said, “Twilight, I don’t know if... we’ve been... the best ponies lately.”

“Rosy seems to bring out the worst in us, yes,” Rarity said staring at the back a hoof, “But you can’t blame yourself for that.”

“Look, I’m... doing it the right way this time, Fluttershy,” Twilight said, “I’m learning about Rosy’s world, and her life. Once I find out who’s scared her so much that she doesn’t want to return home, then Rosy will want to return home!”

“That sounds...” Fluttershy said uncertainly.

“All ah wanna know,” Applejack cut in irritably, “Is why she’s refusin’ to have nothin’ to do with me!”

“Oh my,” Fluttershy said, her eyes widening in surprise at Applejack, “You haven’t been the one avoiding her?”

“Not in the slightest!” Applejack said, “She won’t even give me the time of day no more.”

“Oh good,” Fluttershy said with a relieved smile, “I was worried you weren’t being... nice to her.”

“We’re being nothing to her,” Rarity said reluctantly, “And she’s being nothing to us, and all things considered I cannot imagine anything improving further than that.”

“Some ponies just don’t like each other, Flutters,” Rainbow Dash said, “You gotta know when to let ‘em go live their own lives.”

“Well it’s just I...” Fluttershy didn’t want anypony letting her go, but how could she find the words for it, and who was she to think that she knew what Rosy was going through? “I really... think these sandwiches are delicious,” she said to Rarity, with a lame smile.

“Thank you darling. I do love a good cheddar and cucumber on rye, and I’m most happy to share it with you all,” Rarity said with a grateful smile. It was a great picnic, and Fluttershy dodged any further questions regarding her feelings towards them.

The 12 left to each go their own ways after that. And for a period of time, Rosy lived her life almost entirely uncontested. There were occasional loud noises coming from the projector room of the library after hours, but for the most part, life continued on just as usual in Ponyville.

“Diamond Tiara?”

Diamond didn’t let it show that she was startled as all heck, turning to face the other filly, then just turning her nose up and saying, “What is it, hayseed? ”

“Ah’m Apple Bloom, actually,” the filly said uncertainly, “Hayseed’s mah cousin.”

“I—that’s not—ugh!”

Diamond was standing outside of school waiting for Silver to talk with the teacher, because that insufferable filly got caught like a little foal, again. And to make matters worse, now an Apple was trying to bother Diamond Tiara, worse still the Apple known as Apple Bloom. She was about the last pony Diamond Tiara wanted to see right now. Diamond didn’t even have any insults prepared! She’d have to think them up on the spot!

Apple Bloom scraped the ground, telling the irascible pink pony, “Ah know we don’t... get along too well, and our families don’t get along too well, so ah’ll be quick. I just wanted to apologize.”

“Well, it’s good you’re willing to finally own up to it,” Diamond Tiara said with a sly smile to Apple Bloom.

The clueless filly’s mouth dropped in surprise and she said, “How did y’ know?”

“Anypony would have to apologize for having a face like yours,” Diamond snickered. It didn’t have the same effect as when Silver was around though. Dammit why couldn’t Apple Bloom approach her when she was ready for it?

“Oh yeah well your—” Apple Bloom snorted herself to angry silence, trying again, saying, “Ah’m talkin’ about your cuteciñera, not mah face!”

“What about my cuteciñera?” Diamond asked snidely. “Which you like, totally ruined by the way.”

“I know, that’s what ah’m apologizin’ for,” Apple Bloom said softly. “Ah saw somethin’ that... got me to thinking, an’ it was your special celebration that was real important to you. We didn’t mean ta steal the spotlight, but we sorta did. Ah didn’t even mean to attend though; knew you didn’t want me there. So, when we um got everypony talkin’ about how cool it was to be a blank flank, ah don’t know if you knew that was an accident, and I wanted to say ah’m sorry. So... sorry.”

Squeezing her eyes shut, Apple Bloom turned and galloped away as fast as her blank butt could carry her.

After a while, a silver pony with a spoon on her butt walked up to Diamond saying, “Was that like, Apple Bloom?”

Snapping out of her trance, Diamond said smoothly, “Oh you know, just reminding her of her place in the pecking order. I wouldn’t be surprised if she cries herself to sleep tonight!” The two friends shared a good laugh at that. Diamond Tiara stopped laughing first, though.

Yup, just as usual.

The ponies almost made it through season 1 before everything went to hell.

It all came crashing to an end, thanks to the Story Mark Seekers. Of course.

“It’s not your fault!” Rainbow Dash flying at speed shouted to Scootaloo.

The filly continued to scoot away shouting tearfully, “It always is! We always ruin everything! ”

“There was no way you could’ve known!” Dash hollered back, “It was that stupid show!”

“I’m gonna get my story mark in failure!”

“Scootaloo, calm down!”

“Never!”

Those were what ponies heard around east Ponyville, and then around west Ponyville, and then east Ponyville again. While Scootaloo dealt with it her way, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were trying not to cry, and generally whimpering and dragging the mood down while Applejack and Rarity respectively tried to comfort them. And the one crying the most loudly and bitterly was a little pink filly in a big mare’s body by the name of Pinkie Pie.

Earlier that afternoon, Pinkie Pie bounced into the library along with the rest of them, in a super chipper mood because of the last episode they saw. Pinkie hadn’t seen anything funnier than Twilight and Fluttershy’s antics last week, not since 22 whole episodes ago, which was a really long time because Twilight was only showing 1 episode a week! Now that Pinkie thought of it, just like last week’s episode, Winter Wrapup had also been about Twilight’s silly antics, and Pinkie had also missed the entire thing. Who would have thought that Twilight Sparkle could be so funny only when Pinkie Pie wasn’t watching?

Certainly not Pinkie Pie!

So Pinkie was really excited about this episode. And she got even more excited after Twilight stood in front of them and said, “Attention everypony, I would like to tell you all that this is a very special episode. It reveals a lot about our past, each of us 12, but I have carefully reviewed the episode, and I can guarantee that there are no dirty secrets being exposed, only tales that warmed my heart to hear them. I’m almost disappointed I have to watch these beforehoof, to make sure they’re safe to show to everypony. But I don’t want a repeat of the Sleepover incident, where we learned more about Applejack and Rarity than they were comfortable with sharing with us.”

“I can’t believe we missed that one,” Sweetie Belle pouted.

“It was nothing you would have been impressed with, dear,” Rarity told her. “Just some embarassing moments, really.”

“You saw our embarassing moments,” Sweetie protested petulantly. “So why can’t we see yours?”

“Sweetie Belle,” Rarity said, regarding the candy white filly resting on her belly with her legs folded compactly alongside her, sitting right against her older sister, who was resting the same. The filly was watching with them today, along with her two friends who’d had a surprisingly large role in the show. Rarity wasn’t sure how to put this tactfully, so she said, “Every pony in Ponyville saw your embarassing moments, when you performed them before a live audience.”

“Yeah, but... still...” Sweetie mumbled, quieting down. She didn’t protest further, though no doubt she was cooking up a scheme to conspire with Apple Bloom to review the offensive episode regarding marshallows and topiary. Rarity would have to distract her with ice cream or something of the sort. Her and Apple Bloom, who was sitting together with her sister, and perhaps Scootaloo, who was standing proudly beside Rainbow Dash, who was hovering excitedly in mid-air, as one does.

“Well I’m ready,” Rainbow Dash said fiercely. “Are they gonna talk about the Institute? Old news! Been there, done that! Are they gonna talk about how I ran away? Quit school and had to earn my GED while working? That’s just how I roll. Around you gals, I’m an open book! No secrets for me!”

“You quit school, Rainbow Dash?” Scootaloo said in sudden worry, looking up at Rainbow Dash with big, limpid eyes.

“Oh... right, you three uh... you’re here too heh heh...” Rainbow Dash said nervously, glancing at Scootaloo and fluttering to the earth with a blush, “Yeah, I didn’t want to, but you can’t stay in school and keep a job. I didn’t quit quit. I still studied on my own and passed um... all the tests, on my own. It was kind of lame actually. It really isn’t something you have to worry about, kid. Your orphanage is way better than my um... thing.”

“Oh, well that’s not as bad,” Scootaloo said, sounding relieved.

“Yeah I probably could have been even more awesome if I’d stayed in Cloudsdale Academy,” Rainbow Dash pondered, “But I still turned out pretty awesome, I think.”

“Super rad!” Scootaloo agreed.

“You quit school, Rainbow Dash?! ” came Twilight’s belated but strident surprised utteration, as the former unicorn finally snapped out of her utter, dumbfounded paralysis.

“Yeah, didn’t I... tell you?” Rainbow Dash said hesitantly to the fish-mouthing Twilight. “I might’ve glossed over that part a little, because I did technically graduate, so um... yeah.”

“I have so many questions,” Twilight said, shaking her head, “But no, this episode does not expose your involvement with the Institute, the PPP, nor any academic... troubles. Nothing bad about any of you at all, and in fact some very good things, which is why I don’t want to spoil the surprise just yet. I will say that the SMS will recognize these stories, so it’s mostly a treat for us grown mares, but it’ll be nice for all of us to see these stories as if we were really there.”

“Well, what’re we waitin’ for?” Applejack said heartily. “Get ‘er done!”

When the episode started, Rainbow Dash immediately exclaimed,

“Pony ziplining?! That is awesome!”

“Not that awesome,” Scootaloo grumbled, as their ill-fated attempt to teach an earth pony, a unicorn, and a pegasus what it feels like to fly ended up snapping, dropping, flopping, and getting them all completely covered in tree sap.

“Okay, so your design could use a little work,” Dash admitted leerily.

Fluttershy immediately perked up when she heard the subject matter. “Oh, I remember this!” she said. “It was quite a while ago, wasn’t it?”

“You never forget the day you get your story mark,” Applejack said in satisfaction, not noticing the envious look Apple Bloom gave her.

“Oh, I meant I remember the day we told the story,” Fluttershy clarified. “These fillies were so —”

“Sssh!” Pinkie Pie said, munching idly on the bag of popcorn she brought with her. “It’s about to start on Applejack.”

One heartwarming tale later, and Applejack had her hat held on her breast, saying warmly, “Now wasn’t that somethin’”

“You were so adorable as a filly!” Sweetie Belle squeaked.

“Well, ah was smaller, at any rate,” Applejack replied, reapplying her hat.

“And you had so many freckles!” Sweetie persisted, undaunted.

Applejack had to laugh at that, if a little nervously. “I ain’t exactly dappled, but ah did have some faun freckles.”

One half of a tale of a pegasus foal later, and Rainbow Dash absolutely panicked, shouting,

“Fluttershy! No!”

“It’s...” Fluttershy mumbled.

“Oh Celestia no, Fluttershy’s gonna hit the ground! Spread your wings, Fluttershy! Pull up, pull up!”

“It’s okay Rainbow Dash...” Fluttershy reassured her friend, putting a hoof on Rainbow Dash’s shoulder as the other mare continued pressing herself against the projector screen on the wall.

“I think this’s gone far enough,” Twilight said firmly, her magic hooking Rainbow Dash’s tail and gently pulling the pegasus back to her seat. Dash didn’t struggle however, because of something happening on the projection. As if suddenly paralyzed, Rainbow Dash stopped fighting and just stared as she was returned to her seat. The others looked at her, alarmed by what they saw on the show, but not quite that alarmed.

“She’s right here, Rainbow Dash,” Applejack said reassuringly. “She cain’t have gotten hurt if she’s right here with you.”

“Oh Fluttershy, did you get hurt?” Rarity asked the butter yellow pony in concern. “Oh I don’t know if I could bear the thought that your friend in protecting your honor...”

“No, um, it...” Fluttershy mumbled.

Pinkie Pie continued to pass the popcorn to the other three fillies.

“Butterflies...?” was all that could be heard coming faintly from Rainbow Dash.

One pegasus’s tale later, and everypony was smiling again. Even Fluttershy. “Do I really sound like that?” she asked, in a glow of appreciation and fond memories.

“Oh no, darling, you don’t sound like that at all,” Rarity said cooly, and before Fluttershy could even droop her ears, the unicorn added, “Your voice is much more mature, and full now. I’m so glad that you’ve finally warmed to us enough that we have the pleasure to hear you sing now and then.”

“Oh that’s...” Fluttershy ducked under her hair, blushing madly “...” but smiling.

“I think we can all be glad to hear that the rest aren’t as hair raising as falling from cloud level,” Twilight stated to everypony’s relief. “Rarity’s might seem relatively uneventful, but I really like the big reveal at the end. Oops don’t mind me.”

“We already know she—” Scootaloo started, before Pinkie Pie heavily shushed her. “You seriously never told each other your mark stories before?” Scoots grumbled, eyeing the attentive pink pony.

“We have, to a degree, except...” Twilight eyed Fluttershy, who looked down self consciously.

“Yes,” Fluttershy admitted quietly. “I didn’t tell Rainbow Dash, because I worried she would blame herself for my clumsiness.”

“I am just so glad you didn’t get hurt,” Rainbow Dash said in relief. “Did butterflies really save you?”

“They didn’t save me persay, but they were migrating at the time,” Fluttershy stated. “I probably wouldn’t have gotten hurt too badly, because I at least managed to reduce my weight to the point that I wouldn’t hurt any of them upon falling. Really, a flock of migrating butterflies is not unlike a cloud in structure.”

“I’ll stick with clouds of water, I think,” Rainbow Dash said frankly. “Way high above the ground.”

“Aw shucks, but you gotta come down and visit sometime,” Applejack said to the pegasus with a teasing eye flutter. Dash just rolled her eyes. And so with a twinkle of magenta magic, the projector resumed, and the show commenced.

“Oh, that was such a delightful play!” Rarity declared after having seen her own mark story. “They only showed a few seconds of the concluding song, but those costumes were just dazzling!”

“Yeah, shiniest food groups in Equestria,” Rainbow Dash grumbled under her breath.

“I heard that,” Rarity said with a disapproving sniff.

“So, I was curious though, your special talent is finding gems?” Sweetie Belle asked uncertainly, “But you’re a fashion designer!”

“And I design my fashion with the gems I find myself,” Rarity gently corrected the filly. “But my special talent isn’t finding gems.”

“It’s not?” the filly replied, confused.

Rarity smiled down at Sweetie Belle and said, “Let me ask you, why had nopony already harvested those gems I found, there?”

“Because they were hidden inside a rock?” Sweetie attempted.

Rarity nodded. “Precisely, darling. My special talent, my modus operandi so to speak, is finding the hidden beauty in things. My story mark symbolizes the gems inside a rock, but what it means is that I wish to devote my life to taking a plain, unassuming pony, and making her beautiful, by helping her express her inner beauty. That, I believe, is the essence of fashion, not clothing persay, nor gems.”

“Wow,” Sweetie said with big, starry eyes. Rarity had to cover up a nervous titter with a hoof at that.

“Alright, admittedly my story mark is a little more mundane than that,” Twilight said with a sheepish look at her oneun starred star, “I wanted to be good at magic, I’m good at magic. What’s interesting is how my horn surge is... well I’ll let you see the story.”

Twilight was fighting mightily to keep from imitating her double on film; the story of her being chosen to be the personal protegè of the princess never failed to warm her heart. “So, you see Dash, and I think this might actually be accurate, but your Sonic Rainboom may have actually supercharged my horn!” Twilight said in amazement, pausing the projection in the middle of her double’s leaping about, “It does have that effect on certain magical antennas, and it’s my theory that there was more going on than just a nervous filly getting startled by a loud noise.”

“Should I... not do those anymore?” Rainbow Dash asked uneasily. “I don’t want to uh... do that to any other unicorns or fillies or whatever. It looked kinda... scary.”

“Considering that you’ve only done a Sonic Rainboom twice in your life, I think we can weather its effects,” Twilight said with a wry grin.

“Eh, what can I say. I’m not a one trick pony!” Rainbow said, waving her hoof lazily. “It’s still the top of my impossible moves list. Can’t believe I managed to do it as a filly!”

“And defending me from bullies too,” Fluttershy said gratefully. “I really do appreciate your kindness in stepping in like that.”

“Huh,” Twilight said thoughtfully.

“Huh?” Rarity asked her warily.

“Come on, come on, do me next! Do me! Do me!” Pinkie Pie started cheering gleefully, “I wanna see this!”

For no explicable reason, the three Seekers rolled their little filly eyes at Pinkie Pie’s enthusiasm.

“Alright,” Twilight said, skillfully preparing to resume the projection. “Now this next one is particularly interesting, because I don’t recall you talking much about your foalhood, Pinkie Pie.”

“That’s because I didn’t~ ” Pinkie said with a sly smile.

“She’s tellin’ th’ truth,” Apple Bloom mumbled around a mouthful of popcorn.

“Yup,” Sweetie Belle agreed passively.

“Pinkie...” Rainbow Dash said worriedly, “Are you sure about this?”

“Pfff, don’t you worry Dashie,” Pinkie Pie said smugly, “I remember exactly how this turns out, and there’s nothing upsetting about it whatsoever.”

“Right, then I agree but... right then, rolling,” Twilight said with a slightly confused grimace.

The scene with a smiling Pinkie Pie in the wagon faded, as the speakers cheerfully broadcast out, “My sisters and I were raised on a rock farm, outside of Ponyville,” before Pinkie Pie started screaming, ”Shut it off! Shut it off!”

The pink pony physically threw herself at the projection, much like Rainbow Dash, but she seemed to be trying to block it from view with her body. “We spent our days working the fields,” the speakers continued to broadcast, “There was no talking. There was no smiling. (sigh) There was only rocks,” as the projection continued to play across Pinkie’s spreadeagled form.

“For the love of Celestia, shut it off! ” Pinkie Pie moaned.

That seemed to snap Twilight Sparkle out of her shock, and her magic fumbled with the projector, the speakers hissing static before going silent, and the multi-hued sonic rainboom playing across Pinkie Pie’s back fading to nothing, as the projector light dimmed and darkened.

There was a silence in the room broken only by the pink pony’s breathing. Only hers, because everypony else was afraid to.

Everypony except none other than Rainbow Dash that is, who shouted, “Pinkie Pie, what gives?! You said there was nothing upsetting about it!”

Pinkie turned over her shoulder, with the most haunted look anypony had ever seen in anypony, saying in a shaking voice, “Y-you weren’t supposed to see that. That wasn’t how it was supposed to happen. You weren’t supposed to I never meant to that’s not how it—”

“Calm down, Pinkie,” Twilight said, abandoning the projector and walking towards her friend, with a look of concern.

“No!” Pinkie shrieked in panic, bucking hard enough in Twilight’s direction that the princess stopped in her tracks “Don’t touch me!” the pink pony said, cringing away from all of them still backed up against the wall as she was.

Fluttershy put a hoof on Twilight’s withers, giving a gentle headshake at the former unicorn. With an anxious relief, Twilight backed up a step while Fluttershy said to Pinkie Pie, “I’m sorry if that upset you, but could you please tell us what was so upsetting? We’ve met your family before, and they seem like lovely ponies.”

A corner of Pinkie Pie’s mouth turned upward as she said disbelievingly, “M-my family. You think you’ve met my... my family.”

“I’m sorry,” Fluttershy wilted, “If we didn’t, that’s okay. I only want to know what upset you about this.”

“I... I never told anypony before,” Pinkie said in a narrow pupiled daze. “I don’t have to tell anypony, because the princess said so. The princess said I never had to tell anypony, and I don’t want to tell you!”

“So don’t tell us!” Rainbow Dash declared anxiously. “That’s what I said the last time anypony found you like this!”

“Like this?” Pinkie asked in confusion, “What do...” her hoof came up to touch her mane, whose strands lay across it unfrizzed straight and limp. She looked at the others again. All looking at her. All seeing it.

“I h-have to tell you,” she whimpered, “You’ve seen it. You’ve seen them I—I can’t go on like this. You saw them. They were right here. They were,” Pinkie turned again, and touched the wall where the projection had appeared as if she could pass through it onto the other side. “They were right here...” she whispered.

“What’s going on? ” Scootaloo whined. “This isn’t the story you told us at all! You never told us the story about how you got your story mark!”

While everypony except Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle looked at Scootaloo incredulously, Pinkie Pie turned to look behind her, with a nerve wracked smile made worse by her decidedly flat mane. “I didn’t,” she replied evenly. “I never told anypony my mark story before. I-it was supposed to be the story of Hearth’s Warming Eve. I couldn’t tell you because it b-because it hurt too much.”

“You don’t have to tell us, Pinkie,” Fluttershy urged, “You are hurt, we can see that. You can wait to tell us why, after you calm down, and take care of yourself.”

“Hurt,” Pinkie vaguely acknowledged, putting a hoof to her own chest. “I’m hurt.” She laughed nervously, looking around the room saying, “You wanna know why I’m hurt? F-funny story really. You wanna know why I’m hurt? Because I hurt them.”

Her voice grew louder, and angrier as she faced off against the rest of the terrified room, saying, “Because I hurt them so bad that they left me forever and I can never see them again. Every one of them! Every pony you saw! They left me! They gave me my story mark and left me! My whole family. They’re gone forever and they hate me and it’s all my fault!!”

“That’s a load of bull!” Applejack shouted, interrupting Pinkie Pie’s increasingly panicked words. With Pinkie staring at Applejack, the farm pony said angrily, “What sorta game are you playin’, Pinkie Pie? You think we’d all just forget about Maud? We met your—”

Applejack found herself subject to the mouth zipper spell, as Twilight stated distantly, “There was no filly there with purple hair.”

When Pinkie didn’t answer, Twilight continued, saying, “There was no filly there with purple hair. I’ve already seen the episode, the entire episode. I don’t miss these things. Pinkie, who were those ponies?”

“My family,” Pinkie Pie said, having trouble saying it for some reason. Her voice was just all over the place and her cheek fur was wet. “My first...” she said, crumpling to the ground, and barely managing to whisper out “family...” before dissolving into shaking sobs.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I cannot express how grateful I am that you would consider me your friend. Though you may wish us to be equals, I have barely begun my life in Equestria, and I still feel like a mere foal next to you. You’ve always been a source of inspiration to me, and as I’ve gotten to know you better, a source of great counsel.

I’m buttering you up for a reason, of course. Attached to this letter are the film reels which remain the only recordings (I desperately hope) of the show from beyond the rift. What came through the rift this time was not a shadow or a monster, but the worst of things: an idea. Somehow the realm on the other side has an uncanny insight into our lives, specifically that of me and many of my close friends. Seemingly by chance, these creatures have replicated to picture perfection films that star... us. Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia, these are the characters of this film, ponies that these creatures have never seen or heard from before. They draw with sophisticated doodle machines, that seemingly just happen to produce chillingly accurate representations of our lives.

I didn’t take the danger of this magic seriously enough, and at least one of my friends has already been hurt terribly by it. I’m sending you these reels because I feel there is no safe way to view them. Even the most innocuous scenes have provoked... severe reactions, and dug up old demons in our pasts that many of us would rather stayed buried. Even so, the temptation to view them is terribly strong. So many of them give such incredible insight into my personal life, and that of my friends.

Thus, I’m sending them to you, with the formal request to have them sealed away, and only unsealed posthumously. As long as the rift remains open, there is a chance that somepony else will decipher the human’s communication network, and risk exposing my friends to a sorrow that I can only pretend to understand. But by sealing away these recordings, at least I can say that I didn’t help.

I’m sorry to be bearer of bad news, princess. If you do view these to try and find their involvement with your own life, thankfully you’ll mostly be disappointed. You could try episodes P, V, Z, or episode BQ, but you and Luna seem to have a satellite role in the entertainment of these apes. If you view episode BD, keep in mind that my friend Pinkie Pie is more troubled than I had known. She says you comforted her in her dreams, so I’m fairly sure you’ll understand the significance when I say that particular episode depicts Pinkie Pie’s first family.

I wish I’d known about it before I showed it to her. She’s doing alright, as well as somepony can in such circumstances, I suppose. She has her friends together with her, and we’ll do whatever we can to bring laughter back into her heart. Except for zombies. Spike wants me to mention that there will be no zombies involved.

Your Faithful and Apologetic student friend,

Twilight Sparkle

Author's Notes:

Yeah, I went there.

Right, right, so... Projecting

Pinkie Pie had messed up really bad. No, really, really, really bad. She wasn’t sure how, or where she’d gone wrong, but she had seriously messed up. She wasn’t even supposed to talk about that bad thing that happened to her. It was a terrible accident, a once in a generation catastrophe! Other ponies didn’t need to worry about that. Even Princess Celestia visited Pinkie Pie because Pinkie was so upset that she needed the princess to help her sleep. Pinkie’d only ever accidentally started to talk about it with the other orphans, but they couldn’t understand. Even Lost Star who both her parents had died, it hadn’t been like... this.

Pinkie only had to tell the princess, and Nurse Sweetheart who Pinkie Pie could talk to any time she needed, but she hadn’t talked to her in a long time because Pinkie felt better about it, and she’d gotten better, but now Pinkie was talking with her again because... you know... yeah.

“I just don’t get it,” Pinkie said in frustration, “Aren’t I better? I’m the funniest pony in all of Equestria now or something! Did my element pick wrong? I thought I was better, but then I saw them and...”

She covered her eyes with a forearm, shouting, “And I’m done crying! I’ve cried a lot already! I just don’t know what—” her voice started quavering then and she had to lay there whimpering into the couch cushions just... getting ahold of herself for a while.

Pinkie Pie was back in Sweetheart’s office, the nurse pony who helped Pinkie sometimes once she moved here. It was a pretty office, with wood panelling and beige walls, though it wasn’t a very exciting office. Pinkie Pie had sat on this velvet couch before, that now pressed its soft surface up against her belly and legs.

Nurse Sweetheart was a pleasant pink earth pony, with purple and white striped hair and dark blue eyes. She usually wore her nurse’s hat, but when she was talking with Pinkie, her head was bare, her mane merely tied up in a bun. She still had her story mark of course, that granted her the status of nurse, but with Pinkie she was as informal as possible. Plumper than Pinkie Pie, but not quite on the level of Mrs. Cake. She stood beside the couch Pinkie lay upon, a clipboard laid nearby in case she had something to write on, but now the nurse only had kind words for the poofy haired party pony.

“You are better,” Sweetheart assured her. “You’re one of the... happiest, sweetest ponies I know.”

“Because all the ponies you know have problems,” Pinkie replied with a bitterness that surprised even her, turning onto her side to look at the nurse pony.

Sweetheart took it in stride though, saying, “You are a good pony, even among the ponies I know who don’t have problems. I know it’s hard to believe, but hear me out. Even ponies who are better can get sad again. If they go a long time without remembering, and then something reminds them, it can all come rushing back too fast for them to deal with. That’s what happened to you, Pinkie Pie. It doesn’t mean you are getting worse, or that you don’t deserve to live as a happy pony. It’s just something you will always have with you. Sometimes things will bother you, it will pass, and then you can still be the happy pony you’ve always wanted to be.”

“But what about my friends?” Pinkie asked, “I just lost it! They probably all think I’m crazy now. More than usual, I mean.”

“Maybe you should talk to them about it?” the nurse suggested.

“I don’t want to talk to them about it! I don’t want to talk about it at all!”

Closing her eyes, the nurse gave a calming sigh, then said, “If you don’t talk about it now and again, then the next time something reminds you, you’ll freak out just as badly. I think you’ve come a long way from the filly who couldn’t talk about it. Maybe it’s good for you to think about the ones you have lost, just for a little bit, every day. It should help keep you from freaking out again, so you can deal with it on your own terms.”

Pinkie Pie looked down at the upholstery, her hair drooping as she said quietly, “I just want to forget about it...”

“Do you really want to forget about your sisters?” Sweetheart persisted, “Your mother and father?”

“No...”

It wasn’t fun to know that a little alien could show up one day, and you’d just fall to pieces on the spot. Pinkie Pie wanted it to not hurt as much. She wanted to be happy again. The nurse was right. Pinkie was going to have to talk with her friends about it. And she knew just who to start with.

“Perhaps you’re going about it the wrong way, darling,” Rarity stated, staring evenly at her Canterlot friend’s obsession with the human world. The other world, or “verse” as Twilight liked to put it, was a fascinating place to be sure, but Rarity was more fond of their cultural innovation. What Twilight was doing here was more along the lines of smashing atoms together, in an attempt to recreate the environment of human particle accelerator projects.

“I just don’t get it,” Twilight said as she pored over the splatter diagrams. “How do the humans know of us? How could they have crossed over into this dimension? We’re not even remotely parallel to them! It may seem like it, but their Manehattan came about through an entirely different process from our own. I’m thinking that this rift had to have been a freak accident, but if so, how did they gain insight into our lives?”

“What I mean to say is,” Rarity replied, not really looking at the notes Twilight was proferring for her, “Perhaps you should be focusing on what the researchers have learned about Rosy. You’ve been focusing on the human verse’s interaction with ourselves, but the crux of the matter here is Rosy. I think you should investigate her life, to find out if there is any reason she might not want to return.”

Twilight’s face dropped to the surface of her desk, and she mumbled around the books and papers, “I know, I know. It’s just...” she sighed, and lifted her head. Smiling at Rarity, Twilight said, “You know what? You’re right. I have been stalling.”

“Well I wasn’t going to say anything,” Rarity said somewhat discomfited.

“Thank you, Rarity,” Twilight said much more brightly than she had a moment ago. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I know just who to talk to!”

Twilight left a warm feeling in Rarity’s breast as her friend trotted back out into the world. Rarity lingered in the library a moment longer. She was vaguely eyeing the shelves, but her thoughts drifted more towards a certain gentledrake. Perhaps if he was available, they could spend some time together today.

Twilight trotted onto the rift site, or the rift facility rather, now that there were fewer tents and more buildings. The permits alone for this project were a miracle, but there were good, professional ponies working on it, and the deer seemed agreed that ponies should deal with pony problems, as long as they stuck to the paths, and kept their construction within zoning regulations. She looked around until she spotted the pony she was looking for. “There you are!” Twilight said happily, trotting up to the mare, a greyish blue unicorn with a lustrous purple mane and tail, who was obviously the pony Twilight needed to talk to.

“Princess!” the mare said joyfully, sticking her head out of whatever mountain of paper she’d been working through. Her horn lit up with a strong magenta and all the paper cleared itself out of the way for her to step out of the pile and run up to Twilight, “They say you came to see me, personally?”

“Yes, Whatnot,” Twilight told her, glancing at the mare’s helpfully informative story mark of a question mark followed by an exclamation point, “I need to find out what you’ve learned about the Traveller. You were cataloguing that information, I’m told?”

“C’mon, let’s... I mean, right this way, your highness,” Whatnot said, clumsily bowing and trotting off to her current living/studying quarters. Twilight followed right along, a little uncomfortable with Whatnot’s open adulation, but it was useful for getting answers, and Twilight was glad for any opportunity to get answers quickly and easily for once.

“Alright, Princess Twilight,” said the delightfully excitable graduate student known as Whatnot, poring over her materials. This blue unicorn mare was something of a genius at memetic physics, and more importantly a huge fan of Twilight Sparkle. Of the graduate students working on studying the rift, she seemed the least upset with the actions their princess had to take. She was a bright, young unicorn, just bursting with eagerness to have the chance to assist a real princess. Which Twilight totally was.

“I’ve gathered all known info on the Traveller,” Whatnot gushed, “And I think you’ll find I’ve dug up some pretty juicy stuff.” The mare levitated several charts and bookmarked journals for her presentation in such a way that made Twilight want to hop around like a little filly. This was going to be so fascinating!

Twilight took in and let out a breath though. It wasn’t her place to have such reactions anymore. She was a princess now, and there were certain expectations she had to live up to. Twilight knew full well how disturbing it was when a pony didn’t act as expected, and the last thing she wanted to do was make this bubbly bluish mare feel that kind of tooth grinding frustration. No, Whatnot expected a princess, and a hero, and Twilight was not going to disappoint her by squealing like a schoolfilly.

“Firstly,” Whatnot stated, holding up a deed of some sort, “We were able to scry out the rental agreement for the apartment. And from there we were able to get a true name, and from there, a picture!”

“A picture?” Twillght asked curiously, “One she drew?”

“No, a photograph!” Whatnot said cheerily, rooting through a very thick binder to pull out a rather... grainy photograph. In it was depicted a very unamused ape.

What little of a mane this creature had was just a swatch of dog brown fur. The color of her coat wasn’t really apparent. Her expression was uncannily like that of a pony, though her figure was entirely alien. It was fascinating. How did she express that level of disdain, when she had no muzzle to speak of? And why was she so disdainful of the photographer?

Twilight couldn’t fathom it. Rosy’s face as a human was flat... ridiculously so. It was kind of adorable even. There was something... off about her appearance, but with that short muzzle, combined with her beady little foal eyes, she looked like an unamused and very distorted toddler.

“Yes, apparently she is missed, because this photo is from something that roughly translates to ‘missing pony report,’” the student went on. “We hardly had to translate at all of course because the portal intersects at an oblique angle with the linguistic plane. Their writing system came over scrambled, but it’s actually a very clever alphabet of about BC characters, with only a few redundancies.”

“This is all terribly fascinating,” Twilight interrupted, “But back to the Traveller. Was there any reason she might not want to return to her home world? Some sort of abuse, criminal intent, or suffering?”

“We haven’t found much yet,” the student admitted. “It’s a very slow process, since we can only send magical probes through with the iris of the portal closed. There doesn’t seem to be much wrong, outside of the fact that people seem to miss her. We haven’t managed to track down her family, to see if she has an evil stepmother, or a scheming younger sibling, or anything like that.”

“If we could at least eliminate possibilities,” Twillght pondered, “I’d like you to focus on that, if possible.”

“Oh, we did get her name!” the greyish blue pony declared, her eyes lighting up. “Bruce Connell,” Whatnot said proudly.

Twilight raised an eyebrow at that. “What on earth is a Bruce?” she asked.

“It might be a scrambled translation,” Whatnot said sheepishly, “It’s pretty common for names to skip the refraction.”

“Well, for an untranslated name, it sounds vaguely draconic,” Twilight speculated, squinting at the unreadable scrawl in these mysterious documents they were working on translating. “But really there’s nothing to say these creatures will follow any naming convention that exists on our world.”

“They’re from a different world entirely, so their culture could be completely uninfluenced by our own!” Whatnot declared excitedly.

“Except for the phenomenon by which they can peer into other verses,” Twilight replied. “That may explain why they’re so similar to us, without any causal connection.”

“Oh! I have a theory that they were harboring a realm of time burrowers,” Whatnot cut in, “And the rift formed during a retroactive cultural migration down their abandoned tunnels.”

“No way!” Twilight said, having never even considered such a possibility. “Have you written anything up on that?”

“Would you like to see my thesis?” Whatnot asked, with wide pink eyes. “It’s still in the revision stage, but I’d be honored to show it to you!”

Twilight couldn’t believe how lucky she was to see such a thing, as she squealed in excitement and danced in place.

“Twilight, we need to talk,” Pinkie Pie’s voice cut in.

“Ah’m Applejack, not Twilight,” Applejack said, looking sideways at her perturbed pink friend.

“That’s what I meant. Applejack,” Pinkie Pie replied, rubbing the bridge of her nose with a pastern. “Sorry, I’m still a little out of it from... last week.”

Twilight couldn’t hear Pinkie Pie speak, because Pinkie Pie wasn’t anywhere near her at the moment. Why would Pinkie Pie be over by Twilight, when it was Applejack she wanted to talk to? Anypony would have to be pretty silly to think that she was. A bunch of miles away from Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie had tracked down Applejack relaxing in her very own apple orchard, as Applejack sometimes did on nice days, as Pinkie Pie sometimes did on nice days.

“Ah can understand if’n you’re a little out of sorts,” Applejack said, her eyes softening a tad. “Ah’d understand a lot more if you would just talk to us about it, though.”

“That’s... what I’m here for,” Pinkie said in an unnervingly defeated tone.

Applejack just had to reach a hoof forward and pull her friend’s chin up. “You wanna come inside?” she asked with a smile. “We can fix up some vittles for ya, get you a warm drink, and... talk.”

Pinkie smiled back, if weakly, and said, “Thanks Applejack. That would be terrific!” a bit too quietly for comfort. Applejack had chores this afternoon. Plenty of crops still to be planted, and the early apples needed awakening, but she put them aside for this. It was clear Pinkie had something heavy to get off her chest, and Applejack had a good idea what it was. But not as good an idea as what Pinkie needed.

So Applejack fixed up some vittles, and bribed Apple Bloom to go out and do the planting, way out of earshot. Then over some cider and crumb cake, she got to hear Pinkie Pie’s story.

Several minutes later, Pinkie Pie got to stand there awkwardly patting her friend on the back while Applejack lost the cider and crumb cake she’d eaten, right into the bushes outside.

“How are you sane?! ” Applejack asked, once she could talk again, staring at Pinkie like—well, like doctors sometimes did, but not since Pinkie Pie moved to Ponyville and met Nurse Sweetheart.

“I dunno,” Pinkie said unsurely, “I’m not crazy? I thought I was kinda crazy. Don’t ponies say that I am?” She didn’t really think that, but it was kind of true.

“You’re not—” Applejack flustered to speechless, crouching low on her hooves. “Ah thought you lost your folks, but not like that! ”

“I’m sorry, Applejack,” Pinkie said, her ears going down of their own volition. “I just thought maybe since you lost your family too, you wouldn’t get too upset...”

“Ah didn’t lose mah family!” Applejack protested stridently. “Ah lost mah ma, and ah lost mah pah, but mah family was with me there, supportin’ me the whole way! Ah didn’t lose mah—oh, Pinkie.” Her ears dropped down. “Ah’m makin’ a fool of myself. You ain’t... that sorta stuff don’t happen in Equestria. They stopped those minin’ practices a generation ago, on account of what it was doin’ to the land! You... really went through that?”

Pinkie Pie couldn’t answer, but despite still having some puke on her, Applejack’s fierce hug did a lot more for Pinkie Pie than a hug had done for her in a long time.

“...ah think you need to water it down a bit.” Applejack said seriously, all cleaned up of vomit, and cautiously munching on a fritter.

“What do you mean?” Pinkie queried, stuffing another apple fritter in her mouth. “Water them down? These fings are good!”

“Just sayin’ that you can tell ‘em the gist of your story without getting into the specifics of it,” Applejack went on. The two were seated at the sturdy oaken dining room table inside the farm house. A resentful Apple Bloom had come to tell Applejack to get out here already, but one look at the atmosphere between these two ponies, and the filly quieted down. Applejack wasn’t gonna shoo her off again though, because hopefully the two of them could avoid any sort of conversation that would give a lil’ filly nightmares for the rest of her life.

If only Applejack could be so lucky.

“The specifics,” Applejack said to Pinkie, “Like how she... uoh Nelly ah cain’t get that outta mah head, ” she said, clutching it as imagined visions plagued her.

Pinkie Pie leaned forward worriedly, asking, “Sorry, what do I do? What do I tell them?”

Applejack released her head, looking up. “Take Twilight for instance,” she said, “You tell her there was a tragedy, and you were just scared you would lose her trust if she knew it unhinged you a little bit. She wants to know why you were keepin’ it from her, and what she did that put you in a bad spot. Mostly she just wants to hear you accept her apology. She don’t wanna hear about how your mom... eugh... smelled.”

Pinkie frowned, saying skeptically, “But isn’t that like... lying?”

“Sure as sugar,” Applejack said with a half smile, “It’s what she needs that you oughta worry about, not just throwing the truth at her like it don’t matter who she is. But that brings me to your biggest problem... Rainbow Dash.”

“Oh, she knows already,” Pinkie said, glancing aside with a blush.

“W—really?” Applejack blinked.

“It’s really hard to keep a secret from her,” Pinkie made sure to emphasize.

“Yeah, ah... noticed,” Applejack said leerily, “But what... how’d she react?”

Pinkie shrugged. “She yelled at Rocky, beat him up, then dragged me to the party.”

“...what?”

“He’s a rock.”

“Uh...”

“Three rocks, actually.”

Applejack tilted her head in bemusement, asking, “But she didn’t get all... uh... horrifiedlike?”

“Well, I wasn’t exactly telling her the story, but I did sorta imply that I sorta was all alone forever because I sorta killed my own family,” Pinkie speculated, “But she just told me to stop lying to myself and enjoy my birthday party.”

“Tha—hm.” Applejack pondered, then chuckled, “Heh heh. Rainbow Dash sure don’t mince words.”

“But I wasn’t lying,” Pinkie whined, leaning forward, “She just couldn’t believe that it was possibly true!”

Applejack raised an eyebrow as she regarded the pink pony dappled with the shadows of the house from the sunlight streaming in through the south window. “You were, an’ you are lyin’ to yourself, Pinkie Pie,” she said with confidence. “You didn’t kill none of them, and you know it.”

“But it was my idea to—”

Applejack cut Pinkie off before she could even get started, saying, “It don’t matter whose idea it was. You were just a filly. Hay, a grown mare wouldn’t have been able to predict it’d go that far south.”

Pinkie didn’t seem convinced though, and stared down at her hooves, mumbling, “I guess.”

“Was your ma a full grown mare?” Applejack asked slyly.

“...yes?” Pinkie said, looking up in curiosity.

“And if she could predict it, would any of this have happened?” Applejack continued.

Pinkie’s baby blue eyes grew hard, as she said, “No, but she didn’t even know about—”

“And neither did you!” Applejack cut in, feeling like a right heel in stomping all over this pony’s personal problems, but Pinkie needed this. Pinkie needed her. “You knew it was against the rules, and it was wrong of you to disobey them,” Applejack told Pinkie Pie soberly, “But what happened because of that was not your fault. It’d be like... if ah was lazy and didn’t milk a cow, then the whole barn burned down ‘cause she kicked over a lantern. See what ah mean?”

Pinkie kind of broke down at that point and started blubbering something about how “Abbleag” was the “behehehest” friend ever. Applejack wasn’t worried about whether she was a good friend or not, but as she held her friend close while Pinkie let it out, Applejack felt with relief that she maybe finally got through to her. Pinkie Pie had been downright absent in her own body these days, and Applejack was glad that she might be coming out of her shell. It was hard to help somepony when they didn’t want to help themselves, but Pinkie it seemed, was finally past that.

Once she’d calmed down, Pinkie asked into Applejack’s shoulder, “...what about Rarity?”

Took Applejack a blinking moment to change gears there. “Tell her...” Applejack tapped her chin, “Tell her you worked things out with Twilight, and you do have some issues, but it was a long time ago and you’re gettin’ past ‘em. Don’t tell her what happened.”

“But—”

“Alright,” Applejack admitted, pulling the pink pony to arm’s length. “Tell her you’ll tell her what happened if she really wants to know, but there’s no danger anymore, and it was so awful that your friend Applejack lost her lunch over it. Then let her tell you she doesn’t want to know.”

Pinkie squirmed uneasily, saying, “Okay that seems... fair enough. Oh, but what about Fluttershy?”

“Tell her everything,” Applejack said in a deadpan.

Pinkie’s eyes widened in fear, “But what if she gets scared, or hates me or—”

“Just trust me on this,” Applejack said, releasing her friend and turning her face down in grim resignation. “She don’t look like it, but Fluttershy’s got the strongest will of all of us. She’s as fierce as a momma bear. Why else do you think she puts on that whole ‘shy’ act all the time?”

“It’s not an act!” Pinkie gasped in surprise and outrage, “She gets really scared of things!”

Applejack thinned her lips, glancing Pinkie’s way and saying, “Pinkie, please don’t tell her ah told ya, but there’s only one thing Fluttershy’s afraid of.”

“What’s that?”

“Herself.”

She was just getting ready to follow Pinkie quietly out the door, when she stiffened, hearing her sister say behind her, “Apple Bloom. Y’mind if I talk with ya a minute?”

Trying to ignore the cold pit in her stomach, Apple Bloom said, “Okay sis,” crept over to the dining table, and reared her forehooves on it since she wasn’t quite big enough to be comfortable just sitting at it.

“Ah bet you wanna know what happened to Pinkie’s folks,” Applejack said evenly.

“Ah was curious but well, you know,” Apple Bloom said nervously, “Ah swear I won’t spread no rumors about her! We made a promise, you know?”

“Ah know,” Applejack answered, “And you’re a good filly for bein’ true to that promise. I just want you to know that she wasn’t actin’ that way for no reason, but the precise details don’t matter so much. She’s still the same Pinkie Pie she always was, and nothing bad that happened to her can change that.”

“I cain’t even imagine what could’ve happened,” Apple Bloom said sadly, “I didn’t even know anypony could get that upset.”

“Well, it was...” Applejack frowned, her gaze distant a moment before she said, “You remember the time y’all went lookin’ for your story marks out in the Everfree Forest?”

Apple Bloom blushed with shame at that. It had definitely not been a good idea, in hindsight. Especially after seeing it on Twilight’s magic movie thing. How could they have been so stupid? “Yeah, why?” she asked testily.

“It was pretty dangerous, wasn’t it,” Applejack said, “An’ things were mighty tight for a while, before Fluttershy saved the day.”

“Yeah,” Apple Bloom said resentfully, looking away from her sister. “Y’all saw what happened,” she grumbled.

“What happened to Pinkie was like that,” Applejack said seriously, “Except everything went wrong that could’ve gone wrong, and nopony saved the day.”

Apple Bloom looked at her sister again.

“Not sayin’ they were cockatrice chow or nothin’” Applejack clarified, before adopting a puzzled look and adding, “Not all of them at least. But it was that sort of thing. So if Sweetie or Scootaloo are havin’ a hard time understanding, tell ‘em it was like that, but it didn’t go well.”

Applejack looked at the door, probably after her friend, repeating, “Not well at all...”

Ponyville was peaceful and calm after the Pinkie Pie incident, which gave Twilight Sparkle plenty of time to obsess over the Traveller. There were a lot of things to study from this human world it seemed. For instance Twilight had once been going on about using lightning to move magnets, which seemed like a silly idea to Applejack, but apparently the humans could pack those little magnets so tight that they could store a whole library of information in the crook of your hoof, just by arranging the magnets like the letters.

Twilight also said they had these tiny little cameras that also used lightning, and Applejack didn’t really see what was wrong with your traditional stand camera, but being able to study it really helped give Twilight something to do. Twilight Sparkle had been kind of set adrift by her princesshood. Without her studies for Celestia, the poor filly had nothing to do with her life, and this rift helped fill that gap.

But enough about those ponies. Let’s focus on Rainbow Dash now. Yeah! Rainbow Dash! Equestria’s fastest pegasus was blazing off to her next destination, after an uneventful afternoon of herding clouds. The winter storms liked to act up sometimes right after wrapup, and it was her team’s job to make sure that everything kept melting, and the sun kept shining. They did an awesome job though, because she did an awesome job. Dash was just awesome like that. She was a hero to everypony, and an enemy to one. She had friends who loved her and a town that adored her and she really wanted to see the rest of those episodes.

They were awesome is the thing! Rainbow Dash loved seeing herself swooping and soaring, doing things that surpassed her limits and even all the stupid stuff she got up to. It was just so much fun seeing things from a new perspective. She’d never even thought about how wing biased the latter half of the Iron Pony competition had been. And the way Applejack said “I’m just better” and she’d just been joking about that? Rainbow Dash thought that Applejack really meant what she said!

Rainbow Dash would never say she was better unless she really thought she was better. It was something she hadn’t learned from those competitions, that watching them as a show had taught her. Rainbow Dash could say “I think I’m the top athlete in Equestria” and Applejack could say, “I think I’m the top athlete in Equestria,” and it’d mean two different things. Knowing that just changed the whole... feel of that memory, and made Rainbow Dash respect Applejack even more than she had before.

Rainbow felt kind of bad about when she did stuff like that. It was easy to see what was going on, when you were the one watching it, but when you’re the one whose friend just flicked her tail in your face, it was too easy for Rainbow Dash to take stuff too seriously, until they were both taking it too seriously. She felt like a better pony for knowing those things, even if it was a hard lesson to learn. And that’s why Rainbow Dash wanted to see the episodes.

That, and all the cool stuff she didn’t get to see because she wasn’t there. She had never even got to see Winter Wrapup from the ground before. And Fluttershy beating that cockatrice was exactly the kind of story Rainbow Dash would have loved to hear, that Fluttershy would never ever tell.

So the guard schedule in Canterlot was pretty predictable. It’d been a while since the last attack on the city, so guards were falling into their old patterns. At least that would remain the case until Luna brought back those weird bat ponies as guards, but Dash was pretty sure that it was still a bit unacceptable for the princess of the night to begin building up an army in Equestria’s capital. So that meant there were a lot of holes in the patrol schedule at night, and while Rainbow Dash was technically a day pony, she really wanted to see those shows.

In the cool blue of night, she flew low on her approach to the castle, staying close to the rocky cliffs to help conceal her from any searching eyes. It was hard to dampen the rattle of film reels in her left saddle bag, but at least the pigeon had stopped giving her trouble. Rainbow Dash was allowed in Canterlot, totally allowed, but she wasn’t scheduled to be here, so it’d be suspicious if she was seen. Far as anypony knew, Dash was sound asleep in her cloud bed, and if she had her way, it would stay that way.

Rainbow Dash had been to Canterlot like, three times, so she had a pretty good mental map of the castle’s layout. There were high security areas toward the mountain deep within, and on her way there, she mentally went over where each one would be, and possible ways to get in unseen. She perched on a roof light as a feather, looking around with owlish eyes, until she saw the guards change shifts. She saw the one hesitate before waving the two others on by, and their gait seemed to be listing slightly to the left, so they were probably going to patrol the north wing first.

Slipping in a window in the south wing, Dash prepared herself for any security she might run into. Hoof dial combo locks were a piece of cake, but magic wards would be pretty hard to get by undetected. She was most worried about running into patrols though, because she really didn’t want to do the thing if possible. It wasn’t reliable against groups, and it really wasn’t a lot of fun, so she avoided the presence of other ponies, stalking through the shadows.

There was one close call, but as Dash’s sensitized ears picked up hoofsteps, she zipped up to the ceiling. Pegasi would stand a chance of spotting her, but they didn’t work this part of the palace at this shift. The unicorns that did pass under her never thought to look up right at that moment, and didn’t see Dash flattened against the ceiling up there.

There was a magical barrier between Rainbow Dash and the high security halls, and teleportation was out of the question in the strongest defended building in Equestria. But if you avoid detection, it doesn’t matter what a hornet’s nest you’re walking into. To circumvent the barrier, Rainbow noticed that there was a vase beyond it that matched with one on this side. A bit of sympathetic charm later, and Dash was at the location of the far vase, without having passed in between.

That was pretty easy though, and the vault itself had a guard standing in front of it, and a hoof lock. Dash had a plan, but it was risky. The best kind. She was headed down the hallway when two guards spotted her. They wouldn’t recognize Rainbow Dash in her black sneaking suit hopefully, especially with her wings folded. It was hard to balance with effectively no tail, but she was up to the task, and well trained in such practices. So she let them spot her, just a shadow moving in the shadows.

“Hey!” one of the guards shouted, “Who goes there?”

Silently, Dash darted away with them in hot pursuit. She lost them by taking a left at a T-intersection, and waving her wings to blow the sounds of her hoofsteps into the right passageway. The guards ran down there, and she trotted after, matching her hoofbeats to theirs. They came upon the vault Dash wanted to check, and were talking with the guard there, asking him if he saw anypony pass by. Perfect.

Rainbow Dash tossed a rock down the far corridor, and at its noisy scraping clack, the guards spun around, saying, “There, down that way! It’s a dead end!” They all charged down the corridor, while Rainbow Dash glided in to fiddle with the hoof dial. She had it down to about a dozen possibilities when she heard them start to come back, and hurriedly cycled through them all with a mechanical accuracy, until the door clicked open. Sticking her head in the vault—she... saw nothing other than scroll shelves and some wicked swords up on stands. Darn!

Rainbow Dash crept away while the guards returned, and opened up the vault themselves to make sure nopony was in there. Nopony, and noshow was in there. The second vault she tried wasn’t as high security, but the lock could be overridden by a simple sliding puzzle that dumped you in the dungeon if you got it wrong too many times. Dash got it right on the first try and... nope, still nothing.

She had a good feeling about the third vault, and crept up to it. Of course there was another guard in front of it, but the mare didn’t look like she was even half awake. Dash was awake of course, every sense honed to a crystal clear precision. She’d be able to crash once she had secured the film back home. This time, Dash let her hoof tap the stone just loud enough to catch the guard’s attention.

“Wha?” she said, eyes snapping forward. “Who are you?!” she exclaimed, levelling her spear at Dash’s throat. It was still hard to see anything but the gleaming metal tip, and you wouldn’t be able to make a pony out who was wearing a sneaking suit. Only that something was standing there, just out of the light. Dash backed up and the guard advanced, saying, “You are not allowed to be here. This is a restricted area! I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to—”

Before the guard could light the hallway torches, Rainbow Dash pulled out her trump card. Opening her right saddle bag, a very flustered pigeon burst out of it, fluttering noisily forward while Dash threw herself away from the spear into the shadows. Quickly scurrying up the wall, she took notice of the beleagured guard turning on the hall torches, but not looking up. The guard was laughing to herself as they slowly lit up to reveal an empty hallway, “A pigeon?”

Behind the guard, Rainbow Dash had already glided into the vault entrance, and was busily jimmying the door open. In it, she spotted—aha! There was a golden stand, on which a set of film reels had been laid. Fluttering into the vault and avoiding the ground, with an eye out for the bright red dot of any tripwire beams, Rainbow Dash reached the stand, on which was attached a note. “Not for use by the Elements of Harmony. This means you, Pinkie Pie.”

“Heh,” Dash murmured to herself, “Guess that doesn’t mean me.”

In swift wing movements, Dash swapped every film reel for a blank one she carried in her other saddle bag. It was smooth enough, it didn’t even trigger any pressure plates. Then she very slightly cracked open the door behind the guard who had returned from her pigeon chasing, and Rainbow Dash settled down to wait. The shift change came, and the mare guard trotted forward, meeting her replacement who said, “Anything to report?”

Dash was already outside the vault and hidden behind a curtain.

“Just a pigeon,” the first said with a laugh, “Scared the hay out of me!”

The first guard left, and as soon as the second had her back turned, Rainbow Dash dashed for the hall. From there, it was a simple straight shot out to—the first guard had turned around and come back for something, and was staring at Dash, and the hall torches were still lit.

Dammit!

Dash darted up to the mare and whispered “Psst! You didn’t see me! You don’t know why you stopped in the hallway. You aren’t gonna r—remember I was here at all.” Every sentence was like a punch in the gut. She was gonna feel that in the morning, but it was worth it. Dash breezed past that very confused looking guard, and vanished into the shadows again. Her head was throbbing, but she was pretty sure she could make it out without any further incidents. Rainbow Dash hated when she had to do the thing.

Before she could collapse in bed, Rainbow Dash made sure to stash the tapes in a chest she had tied up in a tree just out of town. Just a regular tree, not one of AJ’s apple trees, of course, because that orange earth pony just couldn’t understand when you really, really, really had to know something, even when your friends don’t want to let you in on it. In a way, Dash’s retrieval of the tapes helped lessen her nausea in the morning, and that pounding headache she got when misusing her talents. Because it just didn’t feel right to her, to hide from such an important truth they contained.

Now all she had to do was find a projector.

Twilight Sparkle was not having a good day. First, her projector went missing. Then, Rainbow Dash was nowhere to be found. The whole weather team was in a tizzy over that itinerant mare in fact, and that meant Twilight got caught in an unexpected spring shower. That meant her scrolls got wet, and that meant she had to set them drying, instead of being able to write on them right away. To top it all off, she discovered Whatnot had been reassigned to a different project entirely, seemingly coincidentally, but it was a strange coincidence that the student who was most sympathetic to Twilight’s cause would be the one reassigned.

Fortunately, Twilight already had most of the data she needed to get a working plan. What she needed was information on exactly who her Jane Doe was, on the other side. Having the name Bruce Connell wasn’t sufficient. Any mare in the human world could have had that name. Twilight needed more specific information, so she could formulate a plan to defeat the villains that made Rosy, aka Bruce, not want to return to her home. She needed a birth certificate.

Unfortunately, the limited far seeing they could perform through the pinhole sized portal was not able to reach wherever the humans stored those records. Yet, the humans had ways to request those records, that had many parallels with Equestrian society. The principal difference was the transmission of complex signals down copper wires. Ponies used induction for the most part, but that didn’t work very well in the other verse, so physical wires were needed to get power from point A to point B. The humans exploited that to its fullest extent, delivering not only power and telephony, but data, documents, encoded books and records, even films of cats doing silly things.

The system was very well secured, however. Humans seemed to depend on the lack of any clairvoyance spells, basing a great deal of social infrastructure on total secrecy. Without the right credentials, nopony would be able to request an electron codifed form of Rosy’s birth certificate. It would have been nice if there was any information at all in the missing persons report about the family of this “Bruce Connell,” but with no names for any of the family members, and the apartment quite thoroughly cleaned out by the human investigators, Twilight was at a loss for how to locate them.

If she could get certain documents including the birth certificate, she could find out Bruce’s familial relations, if she had any step parents, or was spending time in an orphanage. Twilight also needed employment history, to see if anypony was cruelly overworking Rosy, and making her want to flee. Twilight didn’t have any way to access these documents herself, but she had a good idea how to appeal to those who did. Employers, in the human world, had more legal rights than employees, if Twilight understood it correctly. They could request private, personal information about the employees, on the arguement that it prevented those employees from getting away with laziness. The vast amount of privacy protection did not therefore apply to employers.

It struck Twilight as an unflatteringly cruel way to invade someone’s privacy, but that in itself clued Twilight in to what she had to help Rosy defeat in order for her to return home triumphant. By adopting the enemy’s guise, Twilight could slip right past their security like a changeling in the night, and she would be able to solve this mystery once and for all. They couldn’t exactly squeeze bits through the rift, but it was foal’s play to scan certain circuitry for credit cards within the detection zone, and with the money skimmed off of those pooled in an offshore account, Twilight Sparkle was about to establish a web startup.

Sharing a sapphire smoothie with Spike, Rarity carried herself with the utmost tact and poise, watching it covertly from a nearby cafe table. Not a pony, she told herself, she had to tell herself lest she start feeling for it again. If it hadn’t insinuated this rift between her friends, Rarity would never have suspected it wasn’t a pony. It looked like a pony, moved like a pony, and laughed like a pony with a member of its new friend circle, a grey/blonde mare known for her rather gullible nature. Its next victim, no doubt!

They sure did seem like they were enjoying themselves...

Rarity just wanted to know what went wrong, not just with the ill fated attempt to return the creature to the place from whence it came, but with how her friends had all been so... distant lately. Somehow the thing’s mere presence seemed to drive a wedge between the lot of them. If Rarity hadn’t been taking a moment here and there to observe the creature’s activity, she probably would have been trying to patch things up with Fluttershy again, if nopony else.

As much as Rarity loved all her friends, Fluttershy was most dear to Rarity. They shared so much in common, and even if Fluttershy was an animal caretaker, she still lived surprisingly close by. Applejack’s farm work was so different from Rarity’s occupation that they rarely got to even see each other on the clock. Rainbow Dash was exciting, and thrilling, and brave, and bold, and frankly at times somewhat overwhelming. She hadn’t been seen for a while, anyway. For all of Pinkie Pie’s fascinating and boundless creativity, she was something of a slob, and it was difficult to keep a pristine environment whenever she was around. Twilight Sparkle had some wonderful ideas regarding fabric, design, gem harvesting, just about any subject really, but she was so busy these days with obsessing over this... human.

To anypony else, the human would have appeared as an ordinary young mare, with fur of eggshell white, with a light hot pink mane. Her strangest characteristic was the lack of a story mark at so late an age. It was not unheard of for a pony to get their mark late in the growing period, but it was very rare. Rarity only knew of two ponies who went through that: a homely, eccentric stallion who took a long time in learning about some form of odd self moving golem, and of course that whole fantastic scandal with the famous Sapphire Shores. But those were both ponies, and successful ones at that. This mare, this... thing couldn’t possibly be a real pony.

Rosy was one of those strange, icky looking creatures Twilight had shown Rarity, who may have had a wonderful fashion sense, but they looked like some sort of ape-headed scaleless dragons. It claimed it didn’t want to return to its natural form, but Rarity had other suspicions. Something that looked like... that couldn’t possibly appreciate being a pony. Perhaps it was trying to damage the fabric of space and time. Perhaps it was a forward scout for some sort of invasion force!

Still, Rarity couldn’t overlook what Rosy was wearing... what she was still wearing. Rosy had just looked so cold, and hurt, that Rarity couldn’t... just for a moment of weakness Rarity couldn’t deny she was a pony. And now Rosy wore it almost like a trophy of conquest. It made Rarity feel warm and cold inside, unsure of whether to be gratified or disgusted. It was infuriating and intriguing that Rosy had looked at it, and not thrown it in Rarity’s face as expected. Instead, she wrapped it around her neck, and thanked Rarity for thinking of her. As if that were a good thing!

These were strange days, and Rarity wasn’t sure she liked the change of pace. She should have been designing dresses for her friends, not spending time on this adventure that simply would not come to an end! It was truly a devilish rogue, this creature that could appear totally benign while refusing to complete her quest. Rarity was sure her friend Twilight could find a solution, but frankly she thought that Twilight couldn’t find a solution soon enough!

At least Rarity had that retreat to look forward to. Fluttershy had found a wonderfully relaxing place to spend some time away from the hustle and bustle, and Rarity was the first pony she thought of who might be interested in such a thing. It sounded a bit... rustic, but everything Fluttershy involved herself with was a bit rustic. She was not what you would call a high society pony. Nevertheless, Fluttershy had no end of praise for it, so Rarity was quite willing to give it a go. She just hoped it wasn’t a week spent lost in the wilderness without even the most basic amenities again.

“We gazed into each others eyes the whole time. It was the most magical smoothie ever. And it had sapphires!”

“That’s nice, Spike.”

Meanwhile, during the cool night just before dawn, in an undisclosed location somewhere in Ponyville, a polychromatic pegasus was exclaiming by the light of a projector, “Noooo, don’t give up now! Don’t give up Fluttershy, you improved so much! They need your wingpower!”

Author's Notes:

I’ve had a talk with my title. She should be behaving now.