The sky over the Crystal Kingdom was absolutely, perfectly clear, with nary a cloud aloft to mar the twinkling tapestry of the night as the full moon rose higher and higher over the Crystal Castle. It was the kind of night that Skyla had only ever read about in books, and, as she stared out of the window of her room high up in one of the castle towers, she had to admit that she’d never really believed any of them when they’d described nights like the one that she was seeing spread out before her.
Even though the city surrounding the castle had gone dark a long time ago, the full moon’s gentle light danced along the rooftops and streets of the fair kingdom until it seemed to Skyla that the whole city was glowing of its own accord, a beautiful beacon in the dark landscape that shone like a perfect pearl nestled amid pitch black fabric. It was a truly breathtaking sight, and as an early summer breeze teased her subtly curled mane she allowed herself a soft sigh, her hooves scraping against the crystal of her window sill.
I never thought that our kingdom could look so beautiful, she reflected silently, her lips drawn into a small frown as her brilliant blue gaze moved idly across the land below her. Her wings rustled against her sides as the long sheer curtains that hung to either side of her window shifted in the breeze, their translucent folds flowing like captured moonbeams that had taken it upon themselves to frame her view of the kingdom. I mean, I can’t even remember a sky this clear, let alone a single day when the crystals of the Castle and the city looked so perfect. In spite of the view below her, the young mare winced as memories rose unbidden to the forefront of her mind: memories of dull, rock-like crystals, of heavily laden clouds, and of a wind so cold that she shivered in spite of the warm air around her. Skyla gave her head a sharp shake, her dual tone gold and purple mane bouncing fiercely around her face as she did her best to chase those vile thoughts away.
That was a different place, Skyla, she told herself as she turned her gaze back to the city. This isn’t the Crystal Empire that you grew up in…
She sighed loudly, her ears slanting back towards her mane as her wings rustled against her sides. The idea that she had slipped from her own world into a different one was strange even to a pony like Skyla, who had been working tirelessly for seven years to do just that; actually accomplishing her goal, however, was something that she hadn’t truly believed that she could do. I worked and worked on my mirror, believing with all my heart that I could push through everything and make a better life for myself once I was on the other side, she thought, her lips curving into a subtle frown once again, but now that I’m here… She dropped her hooves back to the floor and settled her chin onto the window sill, her head flopping lazily to the side so that her right cheek squished beneath the weight of her face as her gaze returned to the stars above her. Now that I’m here… what in the name of Equestria am I supposed to do?
Ever since she’d started the mirror project in her own world, the Princess had always had a goal: finish the mirror. Whether it was researching the next level of spells that she needed, smuggling more parts into the basement to assemble the mirror itself, or actually imbuing the physical mirror with the magic that would be required for her plan to work, Skyla had always had something to occupy her time and energy… but now she’d accomplished her goal and actually reached her new home, she felt a strange emptiness inside of her. A… well, the best way to describe it would be an itch – an uncomfortable, hollow feeling that seemed to agitate her very soul.
So much so that I can’t sleep, even when I know that I’m finally safe from Mother and her plans. Skyla snorted softly and sat her rump down onto the floor, her wings drooping down her sides as she shifted the weight of her head from her right cheek to her left. It’s only been a week since I got here… maybe it’ll take me more time to stop looking over my shoulder…
She sighed again, louder this time. Although not being able to sleep is really going to make my interview tomorrow a lot more interesting than it should be, and not in any way that I’d like.
The very thought of what she was going to have to do in the morning filled the filly with butterflies, and in spite of her melancholy mood she lifted her head from the window sill and gave her mane a brisk shake, her wings rising up into the air as she did her best to force those thoughts away. Don’t you even think about it, Skyla – if you start thinking about what you’re going to say tomorrow you’re going to start worrying, and if you start worrying then you’re never going to get to sleep!
Her eyes darted to the bed that sat along the wall to her far right, her gaze caressing the rumpled folds of the soft blankets with a mixture of longing and trepidation. Sleep really would be the best thing I could do. Maybe… maybe I should go back to bed.
Even as she thought it, however, she knew that it was easier said than done. She’d laid awake for longer than she’d imagined that she could have, the darkness behind her eyelids providing a perfect backdrop for the moving pictures of her thoughts, all displayed in vivid detail for her mind to see. The more she’d tried to turn off her brain and sleep, the more her mind had insisted that there was too much to think about and that she desperately NEEDED to continue thinking about things because if she stopped thinking then she’d be unprepared for the day ahead, and if she was unprepared for the day ahead then she would make a fool of herself, and if she did that…
The Princess let out a sharp sigh and shifted her weight back onto her haunches so that she could lift her front hooves to her head, the tips of her hooves pressing firmly against her temples as she squeezed her eyes shut. That’s enough… please… just stop…
“Pssssssst!”
The sound, faint yet insistent upon her ears, flitted through her open window and drew her attention away from her internal struggles, its tones so gentle and light that Skyla wasn’t sure that she hadn’t imagined it at first. She slowly opened her eyes and turned back towards the window, her ears perking up out of her mane as curiosity sparked to life inside of her, casting a flickering light into the darkness that had her very heart surrounded. That wasn’t the wind, she thought as she leaned towards the opening once again. The wind might sigh, but it doesn’t ‘pssst’. Who would be trying to get my attention at this time of… the thought slowly tapered off as the sound once again rose outside the Princess’s window, and as it washed over Skyla she couldn’t help but roll her eyes.
“Psssssssssssssssst!” the voice repeated, and with a sigh Skyla rose up onto her rear hooves and placed her front ones onto the window sill yet again, her wings extending away from her back for balance.
“Pssssst yourself, Flurry Heart,” she whispered loudly, the words leaving a small smile behind on her lips as she spoke them. “Why are you still up?”
The pink alicorn leaned a little farther out her window and craned her neck upward, her eyes sweeping across the vast empty sky above her until they returned to the tower, where a smaller alicorn was staring down at her, her blue eyes bright despite the late hour. Princess Flurry Heart stared down at her, upside down from Skyla’s perspective, her sizeable wings extended enough that Skyla could see her pinion feathers poking around the crystal window frame.
“How could I sleep at a time like this?” the younger Princess whispered in return. “I was kind of hoping that you’d be asleep, since you have to do all that stuff with Aunt Twilight tomorrow.”
Skyla winced at the name Twilight, but her lips pressed into a tight line as she stared up at the other filly. “And what would you have done if I’d actually been asleep and you woke me up?” she whispered back, the curled bangs of her mane slowly falling backwards away from her face as she maintained her unusual posture. Flurry Heart’s brow furrowed at that question, and after a moment of silence she poked her muzzle out from behind the sill, a sheepish smile on her face.
“Um… tell you good night..?” she answered softly before smiling in the most charming and disarming way that she could.
“Ugh… you’re hopeless, you know that?” Skyla closed her eyes and gave her head a shake before opening them and smiling up at the other alicorn. “You wanna come down?”
Flurry Heart nodded her head so vigorously that her curly mane bounced all over her face, and, before Skyla could so much as look away, the younger filly leaped out of her window without hesitation, her broad wings extending wide as she hit the open air.
Skyla’s eyes widened in shock, and without thinking she jerked back away from the window, her hooves clacking sharply against the stone beneath her. “Flurry Heart what are you doing?!” she blurted hoarsely as absolute and ineffable panic surged into her throat, choking off her air and causing her head to feel like it was placed in a vice. That filly can barely fly at all – what’s she doing leaping out a window like that?!
A moment passed, and to Skyla’s shock she didn’t see Flurry Heart’s body plummet past the window on a collision course with the ground; instead, the form of the other Princess dropped into place outside the open portal, her muzzle scrunched in determination as she flapped her massive wings as fast as she could.
“Pull… me… in!” she muttered around clenched teeth, her eyes staring pointedly at the edge of the window as she held her front hooves out towards it.
Skyla’s magic ignited around her horn, filling the dim room with a brilliant aqua light that wrapped itself around Flurry and yanked her into the room so quickly that the smaller filly barely had time to pull her wings in against her body, eliciting a strangled squeak from the magically-encased Flurry Heart. Skyla rose to her hooves and took a few steps backwards as she pulled the other alicorn farther away from the window, and once she felt she was a comfortable distance away she dipped her horn and set Flurry down gently onto the crystal floor, her magic going dark once the filly’s rump was firmly place onto something solid.
“What in the name of Saint Celestia were you thinking?!” whispered Skyla, her voice breathless and scratchy. “Y-you told me yourself you can’t fly well yet – why didn’t you just sneak down to my room like you did the last time?!”
To her chagrin, the younger filly just gave her mane a shake and winked at Skyla, her tiny pink tongue poking out of her mouth as she cocked her head playfully to one side. “And I was telling you the truth: it’s true that I can’t fly well, but I’m up to a 6-second hover – one second better than last week’s time!” She stretched her wings and gave them a sharp shake before laying them against her sides, her pinions brushing against the floor even with her wings fully retracted. “Besides,” she continued as she righted her head, “I knew that you’d be there to catch me and pull me in! That’s why I didn’t try to jump down there until I knew that you were awake!”
Skyla’s eyes widened, and in spite of herself she brought her right hoof up and pressed it firmly against her forehead just below her horn, her eyes never leaving Flurry Heart’s own. “…and Mother still has hair after dealing with your reckless behavior?” she muttered softly.
“It wasn’t reckless,” reiterated Flurry, her muzzle scrunching indignantly. “I knew you’d be there to grab me.”
The two fillies watched each other for several long seconds of silence, blue eyes to blue eyes, and as the seconds became moments Skyla felt her shoulders relax, a smile sliding onto her lips almost against her will.
“Flurry Heart… I swear, you’re going to get yourself into trouble if you don’t curb that trusting streak of yours,” she murmured, but as the words left her mouth she knew that they didn’t carry the chastising edge that she’d hoped they would.
Flurry’s own mouth curved into a much broader smile, and with a soft giggle she rose to her hooves. “That’s a funny thing to say,” she said, her voice matching Skyla’s more subdued tone. “You can never get into trouble by trusting another pony.” She hurried forward and slid her neck across the right side of Skyla’s own, her right wing rising to wrap around the larger filly’s chest.
Skyla hesitated, but after a moment she leaned into the hug that Flurry had offered, the warmth of the smaller alicorn seeping into Skyla’s very soul as the pair stood together. “Well… maybe you can’t here,” she conceded, “but back home, trusting another pony was the last thing you wanted to do… so it’s a little hard for me to believe that you do it so easily and so freely.” She sighed and flopped her muzzle gently against Flurry’s curled mane, the whorls of her pink, purple, and teal hair flipping up and around Skyla’s nose as she stared off at the wall over Flurry’s head. “Everything’s so different here,” she whispered. “Different, but just the same…”
Flurry shifted against her coat, and Skyla could feel the warmth of the other filly’s breath on her neck. “Is that what’s keeping you up so late?” she asked, her voice soft and unassuming. Before she could stop herself, Skyla’s shoulders stiffened and she stood up a little straighter in Flurry’s embrace.
“No,” she said, the word tumbling from her lips before she could second-guess herself. “Like I said, I… was just sitting at the window and… and thinking about all of the stuff I have to do tomorrow.” She bit her lip. Well, it’s not technically lying, she thought. I really was thinking about my meeting with the Princess tomorrow just before Flurry talked to me… so… that counts. The wing across her chest slid away from her coat and Flurry Heart took a step back, the smaller filly tossing her mane carefully as her wings shuffled against her sides.
“I guess that’d be enough to keep anypony awake,” Flurry muttered, her blue eyes gazing up at Skyla in the full moon’s light. In spite of herself, Skyla had to suppress a wince at the innocent clarity of Flurry’s gaze; she’d never in her life met a pony who could make her feel worse about lying than the young alicorn who stood before her. “But if that’s what you’re worried about, maybe I can help!” the smaller pony chirped, her bright smile returning to wash away her solemn expression.
“I really don’t see how you could help,” Skyla sighed, her ears drooping towards her mane. “It’s not something that’s going to go away until I do it, and that can’t happen until morning.” She took a step back from Flurry and turned towards her bed, her purple-tipped pinions rustling against her sides as a surge of irritation flared in her throat. “So it’d probably be good if I just, y’know, went to bed…”
She took several steps towards her empty bed, leaving Flurry behind her as she started for the rumpled sheets. I know it’s kind of rude, but she really should just go, she thought as her hoofsteps echoed in the silent room. I don’t have the time to waste on… things that might help… I have to go to sleep… Her eyes darted to her left as silence stretched on in the room, and as she drew closer to her destination she felt her wingtips flutter yet again, faster and lighter than before. Her steps faltered and lost their rhythm as she stopped next to her bed, and it was all she could do to stop herself from turning around to see if Flurry Heart was still there or not. I mean, she has to still be there, she thought with a frown, her curiosity almost forcing her to turn her head around to see what had stopped her chatty counterpart’s tongue.
Before she could do so, however, her questions were all answered as she heard shuffling, then insistent hoofsteps that made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end; she whirled around, her ears pinning themselves to her mane as she braced herself… but what she saw was a streak of white, pink, purple, and teal as Flurry Heart rocketed past her and launched herself forcefully into Skyla’s bed, her mane, tail, and wings flipping and flopping around her body as she did so.
Skyla’s ears rose from their haven in her curls as she stared at the other alicorn, her right eyebrow rising almost to her hairline as Flurry flipped her mane, tucked her wings in against her body, and began to roll herself up into Skyla’s pristine white sheets, humming as she did so.
“F-Flurry Heart? W-what in the name of the sun are you doing?” she whispered, her lips curving upwards in a smile that she couldn’t stop even if she tried. The smaller alicorn rolled herself across Skyla’s bed several times before coming to a stop at the far left side of the mattress; her mane was a mess, her wings and tail couldn’t even be seen thanks to the mass of rolled blanket that wrapped tightly around her like a cocoon, and she had a huge smile on her lips.
“I’m joining you!” she said simply. “This blanket burrito is my claim to space in your bed, Skyla – and there’s nothing you can do to make me leave!” She stuck her tongue playfully out at Skyla. Skyla’s mouth opened in an incredulous smile, and she shook her head slowly as she stared at Flurry.
“I’m pretty sure I could make you leave if I used my magic, Flurry,” she said, but even as the words left her mouth she knew she didn’t mean them. She let out a sigh that didn’t match the smile on her face and shrugged, her shoulders slumping in defeat. “I swear, you can be such a pain in the rump sometimes…” she muttered as she lifted her front legs onto the soft mattress beneath her.
“That’s what Starlight tells me,” replied Flurry, who rolled over onto her right side so that she could flop her head onto the mattress and still see Skyla. “It’s usually when I try something differently than what Sunburst tells me to, but he never gets mad at me for it.”
“Starlight?” Skyla hopped up onto the bed and turned around before settling herself down onto the soft sheets facing away from the wall, the same direction that Flurry was facing. “I don’t think I’ve met a pony named Starlight yet.”
“Her full name is Starlight Glimmer, and she’s a good friend of Sunburst.” Flurry shifted in her blanket burrito, and after a moment of wriggling her front hooves poked out and curled down around the edge of the sheet, giving her a very gopher-like appearance. “She’s also a friend of Aunt Twilight, and has been her student for a long time.”
The very mention of Twilight again made a shard of ice blossom in Skyla’s stomach, but she did her best not to show it on her face. “Oh, okay – so will I meet her tomorrow, too?” she asked.
Flurry frowned at her and, before Skyla could say another word, she threw her body to the left and rolled completely over once before coming to rest right up against Skyla’s side, the sheets cushioning the impact into a soft whump.
“Hey, what’s the big idea?” muttered Skyla with a good-natured scrunch of her muzzle. “I should be able to get some personal space on my own bed, shouldn’t I?” She fidgeted against Flurry, fully intending to roll onto her left side and push the silly filly away from her with her hooves, but before she could do so Flurry spoke, her tones hushed and gentle.
“You always look kind of sick when I talk about Aunt Twilight,” she said softly. “Why?”
Skyla tensed next to her, her plans to push the offending burrito away forgotten as every muscle in her body froze. “I… I don’t know what you mean,” she started, but Flurry shook her head from inside her blanket tube.
“Yes you do know what I mean,” chided Flurry, and Skyla felt her irritation return, though she couldn’t really place why the other filly’s tone rubbed her coat the wrong way. “Every single time I talk about her, you get this look on your face… this…” the filly scrunched her muzzle up tightly, furrowed her brow, and did a remarkable job of looking like she was about to vomit all over Skyla’s bed, “…this really gross face that says that you really don’t want to think or talk about her.” Flurry relaxed and turned her face towards Skyla once again, her blue eyes wide and open. “That’s not very nice, since you’ve never met her before,” she finished softly.
The implication that she didn’t know what she was talking about prodded Skyla in the ribs and brought a tongue of fire to her lips, ready to sear the ears off the young, pampered Princess lying next to her. “It’s not like I don’t have a reason to feel this way,” she spat, but that was as far as she got before Flurry’s eyes brightened considerably, their sapphire depths shimmering in the muted light of the moon.
“And what reasons do you have to not like Aunt Twilight?” pressed Flurry.
“Because I have met her before,” hissed Skyla, her ears flattening against her mane as she lowered her head towards the bed. Her own blue eyes unfocused as memories she tried so hard to forget came surging back into the forefront of her mind, and with them came the horrible feelings that had defined Skyla’s childhood: the pressing weight against her back, the tightness of her chest, and the sick, sour taste in the back of her throat that all combined to form the single sensory overload that had haunted Skyla for years. “I met her back in my home country… back in the Crystal Empire.”
She felt herself starting to shake as the images exploded in her mind: images of a purple unicorn full of an incredible, unearthly power that radiated off of her like cold off of a wendigo, and of her mother, whom she’d always considered to be great and powerful, all but cowering before the smaller figure that somehow managed to stand tall over her.
“And… what was she like?” Flurry’s voice slid through the frames of her memories like the gentlest flakes of drifting snow, and the cool touch of her words brought clarity to Skyla’s thoughts. She cleared her throat and tried to relax, though she couldn’t quite force her ears up out of her mane.
“She was… powerful,” she said quietly as she straightened her neck, raising her head back to where it had been before. “That was really the only word that describes what I thought about her… but I can remember that she was shorter than I thought she’d be. For a pony with a title as long as hers, she certainly didn’t look it from a distance…” Skyla swallowed audibly as a pair of violet eyes throbbed in her memories, “…but close up, there was no mistaking the magical power that she had. It was like she was wearing magic itself around her shoulders… and her eyes…” she shuddered. “It was terrifying to meet her – even my mother and father bowed their overly prideful heads in her presence.”
“Wow…” Flurry blinked slowly. “That… doesn’t sound anything like Aunt Twilight,” she muttered, her lips curving into an impish smile. “Aunt Twilight’s super smart, but for as smart as she is she’s a little goofy sometimes. She panics about stuff if she doesn’t know the answer right away, and she can get really distracted when she’s trying to teach me things if I can get her talking about organizational techniques.”
Skyla’s eyes grew wide, and, in spite of the terrifying presence the Twilight Sparkle of her world had, she couldn’t stop a snort of laughter from escaping her lips. Her right hoof darted to her muzzle to stem the flow of mirth, but several more snorts followed before she could speak again. “Sh-she panics?” she managed to squeak, her voice quavering on the edge of laughter. “T-Twilight Sparkle panics?”
“Oh boy does she ever,” confirmed Flurry with a mischievous smirk, “especially when I learned the teleportation spell without her knowing it and threw myself out the window of the Library Tower.”
Another snort, louder and more insistent than the first ones, exploded from Skyla’s lips, and within moments it transformed into an uncontrollable fit of giggling that Skyla couldn’t seem to stop. She laughed until her sides started to ache and tears rolled down her cheeks, and as she did so she felt the tension in her body ease. Finally Skyla managed to gasp her laughter to a halt, her chest heaving as she wiped a shaking hoof across her eyes.
“B-but I thought… I thought you needed me to pull you into the window when you jumped tonight,” she wheezed.
“Nah, I could have popped into the castle like I did the last time,” said Flurry proudly, her ears twitching as she squeezed the blanket in her hooves. “I teleported into one of the rooms a few floors below, but the look on her face as I went out the window was priceless – and more than worth the hard work of learning the spell!” She grinned mischievously. “Just like yours was earlier,” she noted smugly.
Skyla laughed again, her throat scratchy from her previous bout of uncontrolled mirth. “You… are a crazy little filly, you know that?” she muttered after a moment. “But that… really doesn’t sound like the Twilight Sparkle that I remember…”
“That’s because she isn’t the Twilight Sparkle that you remember,” pointed out Flurry Heart, her smile fading into a slight frown as she met Skyla’s gaze. “Nopony here is the pony you knew there, and there’s a good chance that there are ponies here who were never there at all.” The younger alicorn released the blanket with her left hoof, and used it to grasp Skyla’s right hoof tightly. “Aunt Twilight isn’t intimidating, or scary, or threatening – she’s a really nice pony who just wants to get to know you a little better, that’s all.” She gave Skyla’s hoof a squeeze, and her warm smile returned. “So don’t you worry about it – things will be just fine.” Skyla met her gaze for several long seconds in silence, Flurry’s words washing over her like a warm summer breeze.
She’s right, she thought. I have to stop thinking about the ponies I knew back there, and meet all the new ponies who are waiting for me here… A sad smile curved her lips. …though I think that’s going to be harder than Flurry thinks it’s going to be.
“…all right, all right,” she conceded, her smile curving into a comfortable one as she extended her right wing and used her pinions to stroke Flurry’s mane once. “You’re right. I need to stop thinking about the way I remember these ponies, and act like I’m meeting them for the first time – because I am.”
Flurry nodded, her curls bouncing merrily around her smiling face. “That’s right,” she confirmed. “Besides, there’s no reason to think about ponies from that other world anymore. You’re here now, and you’ll never have to worry about them again.” Skyla folded her wing and returned it to her side as Flurry’s eyes lit up with curiosity. “But I do have a question about your world that I hope you’ll answer…”
Skyla rolled her eyes. “All right… what is it?”
“…what was Twilight’s really long title?”
“That’s what you want to know?!” Skyla barked a sharp laugh and dropped her head down onto the sheet beneath her, the silken sheen of the fabric rubbing pleasantly against her coat as she nestled against it. “Ten thousand questions that you could ask about an alternate universe and you ask about the titles that your aunt has?”
Flurry settled her head down against the sheet, her bottom lip protruding in a pout. “Are there guidelines on what kinds of questions I get to ask now?” she muttered sulkily, and Skyla sighed loudly.
“All right, all right… I’ll tell you.” She took a deep breath and allowed her eyes to close. They’re so heavy, she thought blearily. “Her full official title… was Twilight Sparkle, First of Her Name, Grand Sorceress of the Tower of Starswirl, Queen of all Equestria.” Skyla stifled a yawn with her left hoof and shifted slightly onto her left side so that her head could recline more naturally against the bed. “It’s a mouthful, that’s for sure…”
She heard Flurry laugh lightly. “Oh wow… just wait ‘til I tell her…” she giggled. “She’ll flip her lid..!”
Skyla chuckled half-heartedly in return, but sleep was coming on rapidly and she knew that she didn’t have very long until she passed out entirely. “B-be nice, Flurry…” she managed to slur, but that was all she could force her mouth to form. The warm, comforting darkness of sleep rose up around her, and the very last thing she felt was Flurry Heart squeezing her hoof once more.
“Good night, big sister,” the other filly whispered, and it was that phrase that sent Skyla off into her dreams.