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Say, Pal...1,158 words
Someone New1,915 words
Somepony New1,931 words
Learning the Basics (By Cyber System)2,997 words
Luna1,944 words
Finishing Up the Night (By Cyber System)1,978 words
The First Rift2,653 words

The First Rift

Wilson paced around the room, hyperventilating and his eyes wide. He stopped for a moment in front of Luna. "The Night Beast...!? Here?" He sat down, pressing his hoof against his head.

Wendy glanced at him, "Welp, you broke him. Got any taffy?"

Pinkie tilted her head, "Of course we do! Whenever I'm here, I hide a bunch of sweets everywhere! But, why do you need some now?"

"Nevermind, he just needs to snap out of it." She shook her head, "Wait...you mentioned the beast as a female."

Luna nodded, "Yes."

"How do you figure?"

"Once she was as you formerly were. Human." The way she said it was strange, as though she was trying the word in her mouth, and was unsure it it felt right. "The king, I forget his name...he mentions her a lot. He favored her company prior to her fate."

At the mention of Maxwell, Wilson broke his stupor. "It's difficult to imagine Maxwell caring for anyone."

Luna gave him a mild glare. "I don't believe you understand, Higgsbury. In the game of chess, even a king is bound to the board. He is not wholly responsible for his actions."

"He trapped children, let them die. He tricked people who had already lost everything in the world just to watch them suffer." Wilson's eyes burned brightly as they glowered into the princess's, his hatred clouding his fear for her, "And you call him innocent? Even after the horrors he's inflicted upon people?"

Luna huffed, "I am not condoning his actions, nor am I calling him innocent." She sighed, turning her gaze towards the window and to her moon. "Perhaps, in due time, you shall see. I already...sympathize with him."

"Excuse me," Wendy rose her hoof to break their chatter, "The night beast was human? How would someone like you even know that, as well as its gender? Not to mention you have unnatural knowledge, or at least you seem to, of Maxwell. I'd like a proper explanation." She sat down, hooves crossed, her eyes looking right into the princess.

Fluttershy stepped up, "Um...I would like to know how you even know that the beast is...er...here."

The other mares nodded.

Though a bit wobbly, Luna gathered herself and stood, her magic too depleted for her mane to even flow. She shut her eyes for but a moment, then opened them to reveal their demonic form. "I know because I was there for the first rift."

"The first? I assumed this Twilight's was the only one." Wilson tossed the idea around in his head.

"The first not to end in death. At least,...not yet."

Wendy sat up a little, "I'm guessing it's time for a story?"

Luna looked down, as though pondering whether she should come clean. At last, she turned to the crowd of mares. "You've all seen the castle in the Everfree Forest, not just when the elements cleansed me."

They nodded.

"Terrible, unspeakable things very nearly happened. Things I'm ashamed of. The only reason they didn't was because of a stallion I dare call my friend." She took a breath, remorse threatening to spill down her cheeks. "Starswirl the Bearded."

Everyone present blinked cluelessly.

"Uh, who?" Aj asked.

Luna groaned, "Do you remember the previous Nightmare Night? Miss Sparkle's costume perfectly mirrored his appearance prior to his death. She even got the bells right!"

"Oooooh, you mean her crazy clown suit?" Pinkie piped.

The princess twitched, unamused. "He was there for me and my sister's coronation, back when we were fillies. Rose the sun and moon prior to us. And, as it just so happens, had extensive knowledge of inter-dimensional magic. He made a mirror long ago, and he and my sister traveled to them for generations. Making both memorable adventures and disastrous mistakes," Remembering the thought of Hydelestia sent a chill down her spine, "He sealed this mirror upon the discovery that Celestia was abusing its power. However, he had a great desire to continue studying these dimensions without seeming hypocritical."

"The rifts," Wilson muttered.

Luna nodded. "At the twilight of his life, he found himself growing more curious of black magic. Not the practice, but how it worked. How it differed from normal charms. He began to research how to open tears in between macrocosms. Windows where he could observe these dark worlds peacefully. In fact, Equestria would come in contact with your prison realm before humanity even endured the black death."

She paced around the room, uneasy.

"What went wrong?" Fluttershy asked.

"Well, he wanted me to be there with him. He'd neglected my company for too long, and he wanted to make it up to me. Besides, he didn't want Celestia to know, and I understood that these studies were to be kept between the two of us. We set up a lab in the basement, secluded from the rest of the castle. Unfortunately, the first time we cracked into a world of black magic, we discovered the rifts didn't keep things from getting through. Um, it's admittedly lucky Equestria wasn't made into a second home for eldritch abominations." She laughed nervously, before clearing her throat and continuing, "After the incident, StarSwirl developed an apparatus that would form an anti-magic field around the tear. It was almost certain to work."

"Let me guess, it didn't." Rainbow guessed.

Luna shook her head, "With the direction of the tale, you'd think so, but I can definitely say it worked more than well. It was a big night, everything in place, prepared to take a look into the darkest depths of magic, and Celestia seemed to be none the wiser. As a little filly, I was excited. He certainly was. The machine was activated, and the rift was opened. We were...underwhelmed to say the least. At first, there was nothing but dust, and the void, but we were pleasantly surprised to find Them. Of course, They tried to get through, but were unable, until...Celestia interjected."

"She knew?" Wendy was completely sucked into Luna's story.

"She knew we were up to something dark, but she didn't understand. Minor hints a filly and a slightly senile stallion neglected to hide tipped her off. Guards burst into the room, my sister at the head. Believing the machine to form the rift, the Guards set to work in its destruction. At both sides of the room, StarSwirl and Celestia argued and bickered ferociously. With this triangle of events, I was terrified, unsure of what I should do. A perfect target for corruption. A perfect target for Them. When the field was destroyed, They set their sights on me. Magic streams of pure darkness spun from the rift, I remember drowning in it, the fear I felt, then the rage. If StarSwirl hadn't interrupted the stream with his own spells..." She trailed off for a moment, before picking up her tale, "They saw him as a threat. Before any of us could stop it, They...killed him, and dragged his body into their world. It went dormant afterwards, we didn't believe danger would be able to seep through anymore as long as we were careful."

" For a world inhabited by colorful equines, this place is...quite a bit more violent than I would've expected." Wilson said, bothered.

Fluttershy nodded, "In the past couple years, I've almost died seven times, more. But, I, uh, don't try to let it bother me."

He whimpered in response.

"Anyways, me and my sister agreed to keep this from the public. We used illness to explain StarSwirl's mysterious death. The castle was abandoned, and thusly Canterlot was built. Leftover shadow magics would influence the Everfree forest and it's chaotic nature. Sadly,...I will never be able to rid myself of what They did to me. Their magics developed as I did, eventually twisting my emotions, my mind. Bastardizing me until I was their puppet. Until I was Nightmare Moon. Even though the five of you cleansed me, I'm still attached to their world. Even the tantabus was forged in part by fuel residue" She turned to Wilson and Wendy, "Even back when I was trapped within the moon, I'd have visions. Starting many years ago, with your puppetmaster and his former assistant coming to the world, and being distorted as They did with me. While they haven't poisoned my dreams for a while, there was a ten year period where I had ten visions. Wilson, you'd be interested to know the last one involved you and the machine you built."

He scowled, avoiding the princess's eyes and staring regretfully into the ground. "I was stupid. Desperate. I would've accepted anything, and his offer seemed heaven sent."

"Ten years? No, that doesn't make sense. I've been there six months at most. No one on the island has been stranded for more than a year." Wendy pondered that for a moment, Luna smiling.

"Well, time moves differently there. Slower. I imagine that aging is also altered, They don't want their playthings to die from growing old, it'd be boring." One could easily see that despite all They had done to her, Luna was, at least partly, still fascinated by their world. "Ahem, StarSwirl's journal was given to Twilight a year ago. He did, however, use invisible ink to write the experiments down. Twilight must've discovered it, it's the only way she could find out about and replicate what happened. Of course, with one rift open, the other one did as well. Without the field around it, the night beast could slip through it. I theorize Twilight was casting a spell on or close by the tear, thus the switch when you came into contact with it. Unfortunately, it went dormant and stranded you all here. I don't know how to resolve all issues at hoof at the moment."

The mare sighed, things were getting complicated, and she still had the issue of her depleted magic. "I have a question for you, what's it like now? If it's habitable by non-magical creatures, I'm curious about how it looks."

Wilson was more than happy to lecture her, it was a passion he had since he was a child. One his family never took to, but he enjoyed it nonetheless. However, he was unsure of how to explain it all when he had barely been able to study a thing without risking his life, "I apologize, princess. Maybe that could wait for later.

"Alright, I'll inquire further tomorrow. I'll try to rest, but you all must be wary of odd happenings in the night, in the dark." The crowd dispersed at Luna's words. The young ones all went to bed, Wendy reluctantly so. Some of the mares retired, others stayed up a little longer.

Like FlutterShy.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

The tea room was much smaller than most of the other areas of the castle, pretty cozy to be honest. It's why Wilson was there, to get a break from how overwhelmingly tiny he felt within the palace.

He wasn't exactly doing much, thinking about all that he had been told, and whether Maxwell could truly be innocent in any aspect. Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Fluttershy in the doorway, a teapot held her mouth.

"Oh! Uh...you...Er, come in. How long have you been there?"

She trudged in, setting the pot, as well as two teacups on a small table in the center of the room. "Ten minutes. I wanted to come in earlier, but you looked busy."

"Doing what, precisely?"

She shrugged, "But, you never know." She lifted the pot, pouring herself a cup of the steaming liquid. "Would you like some?"

He did, tea was one of the things he missed most about home. Then again, he was unsure if this was similar to english tea or some crazy equestrian stuff. "What is it?"

"Chamomile. My favorite."

"Mine too." He salivated over the golden liquid, "Erm, yes, I would like some, miss...Butterfly was it?"

"Fluttershy," she gave him a shy smile, pouring him a cup.

The mare sat herself at the other side of the table, watching Wilson down the contents of the cup. "I understand you have a lot of questions. Wendy did, too. Frankly, we didn't even know if you would ever wake up."

"Well, yes. It's all a bit more than overwhelming. Strange, new creatures, strange, new world...strange, new...look. With honesty, you hold a sense of normalcy I hadn't come to expect here. No offense...if that sounds offensive."

"Oh, the others can just be a bit excited around a possible adventure. I just try to take things a little more mildly."

"I do appreciate that, you even seem to have won Wendy over. She still hasn't completely warmed up to me. Calls you a listener."

She nodded, but shrunk a little. "She's...nice, but scary."

"Sounds like my Wendy," Wilson almost chuckled. He sighed, leaning back and splaying out over the floor. "I've been comatose for three days, is it right to feel so tired? I guess hunger doesn't help."

"A few hours of stress will leave anyone exhausted if you aren't used to it. That room we put you in was kinda set up for you if you did snap out of it. And, you have, so just go there if you need sleep. And, um, the kitchen has a bunch of snacks if you need food."

" I might take you up on both offers. I feel I'll need to be ready to face tomorrow. Seems we'll start planning on restoring everything to its former place." He sloppily poured himself another cup, leaving a gap of silence in the conversation.

"Who do you want to get back to?" she asked.

Wilson choked on his tea, and he spent the next few moments in a coughing fit, "This again!?" He sputtered, blushing.

She coyly shrunk into her shoulders, "Applejack told me."

"Bloody mare..."

"Who is it?"

"No one, just drop it," he grumbled, "I'm going to raid the kitchen then die on my bed."

"I-I'm sorry," She whined.

"You did nothing wrong, but I just might kill that mare if I figure out how to hold a knife. Goodnight, Miss Fluttershy, thank you for looking after my Wendy. She doesn't think so, but she needs someone to help keep her mind in check."

She smiled at him as he left the room. Wilson may be a bit irate, but friendly. He needed a tutor, someone to help him figure things out. Maybe she could be of assistance.

Author's Note:

Going on comic canon, the story goes a little AU considering the ages of Tia and Luna were different than what I'm projecting.

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