Today was just like any day in Canterlot. The white sun shone upon the spires and towers of the Canterlot Palace, resplendent in its royal glory. Ponies immersed in the high culture of the Equestrian capital as they trotted about on her meandering paths, basking in the morning glow.
But today was not just like any other day for a purple mare. Twilight Sparkle stood alone at the balcony of one of her high towers. She gave the beautiful view a chance glance, but her expressions were dark as shadow.
She had little mood to appreciate the sceneries. Giving her thick notebook another hesitant gaze, she sighed and went inside, walking down the spiral stairs of the Ivory Tower.
Her trots reverberated in the high but empty tower, until she reached the ground floor. She gave a nod to her dragon Spike, who was sitting at a small desk and cramming diligently, and pushed the heavy door to the streets open.
She glanced over the path to the central plaza. When three ponies appeared on the horizons, she cantered towards them at a leisurely pace.
“There you are, Twilight! Moon Dancer is having a little get-together in the west castle courtyard. You wanna come?” Twinkleshine chirped while the other two friends looked on.
Twilight suppressed her urge to let out a worried sigh. She raised her eyebrows slightly and politely smiled. “Why, it’d be great to be with you all. I heard the new chef has a stall there making tasty dandelion salad.”
“Yeah, the dandelion salad’s a blast!” Minuette gushed, then quizzically asked. “How’d you know Twilight? We’ve just seen him put up the stall!”
“Donut Joe told me when I was dropping by. You know what, the new chef is his cousin.” Twilight gently chuckled. The group of four giggled and teased on their way to the little gathering.
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Twilight finished sipping her last cup of lemonade, as the afternoon sun slowly dipped towards the horizons.
Looking into the empty cup, she quietly muttered. “This is laughable… Even knowing what’s ahead of me, I’m still a sitting duck against the injury of fate.”
“Hey, Twilight! What’re you mumbling about? Come join us already!”
Lemon Hearts grabbed Twilight’s shoulder, and dragged her to the laughing and chatting friends at the side. She and Minuette were exchanging the latest castle gossips. The introverted Moon Dancer was politely nodding nearby.
Twilight returned a helpless smile, and she duly complied and mouthed off some rumors she heard around the palace
“Hey Twilight, you leaving already?” Lemon Hearts turned towards Twilight and asked.
“It’s still early Twi, we’ll be going to the downtown this evening for more fun!” Minuette positively bubbled.
“Well everypony, I had great fun with you lovely ladies. But sadly I have to go, I have to pack things up for a royal assignment to Ponyville. I will depart tomorrow morning.”
Twilight said while making her best apologetic face possible. Her mind was not really with these Canterlot acquaintances of hers, but having a social life meant she had to be at least somewhat invested.
“Well, this can’t be helped then…” Moon Dancer sighed quietly.
“... Um, than- thank you for your gift, the quill set is, uh, lovely.” She added with a timid smile.
“Talking with you was a lot of fun! We hope to have you around soon!” Minuette immediately added.
“Absolutely, you’re like a one-mare gossip machine!” Lemon Hearts exclaimed, almost cause Twilight to do a spit-take. “I never knew there’s that in you! Where have you got all these juicy details from anyway?”
“Girls, I have to protect my, ahem, sources.”
Twilight flustered for a bit, then cleared her throat. “And I would love to hang out with you all again of course...”
Twilight’s cheeky expression suddenly faded. “I mean, I don’t mean to put a damper on the party spirit, but this trip of mine might not be short.”
She paused for a bit, feeling a bit awkward to aim for a future that had not yet happened. “I had a feeling that my stay at Ponyville would be for a really long time.”
The other mares loudly gasped. Twinkleshine, who have just returned from the kitchen, almost yelled. “You have to move away from Canterlot?!”
Twilight looked up steadily and said frankly. “Yes. The Princess have informed me yesterday. I was assigned to a temporary post in Ponyville, but from what I’ve learnt, it might easily become a full-blown long-term assignment. Anyway, I’ve been packing and moving things around since then.”
The other mares were saddened by the news. They all offered their heartfelt farewell to Twilight. Twilight, though, shushed the sad faces with her hoof.
She put up a sad smile. “We can keep writing to each other of course!”
“This is my Ponyville address, the Golden Oak Library. I will also visit Canterlot often, so don’t you worry girls. Now do me a favor by wiping off your frowns and have a great night-out in my name!” Twilight struck a comically triumphant stance on a chair nearby.
The mares stared and broke into a mirthful laughter together. They each hugged Twilight, who bid them farewell. With a longing face, Twilight took a slightly hurried gallop to the exit and returned to her towering residence.
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Spike was still doing the studies assigned by Twilight in the morning, when the door to the tower creaked and slowly opened. “Welcome back Twilight, how was your party today?” Spike quipped.
“It was fine, Spike, and Moon Dancer liked the gift we picked for her.” Twilight reassured Spike.
“Whew, that’s a relief. I didn’t know picking a gift for a mare could be such a stressful task! I would rather take reorganizing the library a hundred times!” Spike exclaimed.
Twilight smiled and laid a hoof on Spike’s shoulder. “You’ve got a lot to learn about mares, young Spike.”
She then raised her voice a bit. “It’s important for you to read and learn so that you would grow to become a mature, learned and informed dragon.”
Spike looked up to Twilight, his face perplexed, “… I’m confused, Twilight. I’ve always thought myself to be your assistant, just as the Princess intended, and getting the jobs done makes me happy. But now you’ve started to do all the tasks by yourself, I…”
Twilight shushed Spike with her raised hoof. “Spike, you’re not just an assistant. I hatched you and cared for you, you’re like the dearest of my family.”
She thoughtfully looked over Spike’s shoulder. “For all your work I’m immensely thankful, and I couldn’t repay you nearly enough. A proper teaching is all a magic student like me can give you.”
Spike started to frown, but Twilight shook her head and continued. “You know, Spike, I’m starting to realize that you shall one day become a strong and wise dragon of your own.”
Spike looked stunned. He asked with great uncertainty. “Twi, y- you don’t mean-”
Twilight wincingly smiled. “No Spike, I will never desert you. No force on all of Equestria could sever our tie. I simply want to see you become whatever your heart desires, but you need to be learned to achieve that.”
Twilight went on, when she noticed a perplexed look on Spike.
The purple mare coughed and said. “Well, Spike, I want you to know that everything that I did is for the good of you, and us. The greatest gift you can give me now is to work hard on the studies that I assigned to you.”
“But Twi…” Spike weakly protested.
“I understand you’re not used to the change in the routine yet, but it’s definitely for the better. Anyway, let’s not get all wishy-washy and emotional yet.”
Twilight shifted the topic. “I have brought you a gift too, Spike!”
Twilight lit her horn, a bright red gem floated out of her saddlebag, and landed on the small desk in front of Spike.
Spike visibly beamed. “Wow Twilight, is that a red beryl? It must have costed a fortune! Are you sure that…”
Twilight interrupted Spike with a big hug. “Anything for my dearest Spike! You’ve worked really hard lately.”
She then warmly smiled. “We shouldn’t be discussing gem price anyway, that’s too pedestrian. And we have to get ourselves prepared, we’re going to Ponyville tomorrow. Now, now Spike.”
Twilight stopped Spike. “I’ll be doing the packing, and your job is to finish reading the first chapter of Political History of Ancient Equestria by tonight.”
Spike crossed his little arms and grumbled. “What’s the use of reading these dusty old tomes. Isn’t that your job, Twilight?”
Twilight laid her hoof on the small pile of books. She closed her eyes and slowly said. “… Spike, I’ve read the Political History dozens of times already, and all the books I gave you contain information useful either for our daily life now, or will soon be useful in the near future.”
“So that’s why you made me read the fairy tale book about The Mare in the Moon last week?” Spike retorted.
Twilight paused and looked directly at Spike. “Now that we’re ready to depart, I must tell you something that I have found in my recent study. I never lied to you, right Spike? So I beg of you to trust me.”
“… Sure Twilight, tell me about it.” Spike said slowly, sensing the gravity in Twilight’s voice.
“To put it simply, Nightmare Moon is to return shortly after her banishment on the moon for a thousand years. She will bring forth eternal night if she’s not stopped.” Twilight lowered her voice.
“What?! Nightmare Moon?! Are you serious Twi?” Spike shouted loudly, and then hurriedly covered his mouth.
“Spike, the Magic of Harmony used by Princess Celestia to banish Nightmare Moon is very precise, and I have checked the relevant formulae multiple times to make sure they are without any error. It is outlandish, but perhaps you also remember my demonstration of fluctuating moon magic last night, which would only happen naturally once per million years.”
Twilight took a deep breath after explaining to Spike plainly. She would have panicked like him too, if that was not old news to her thanks to the strange encounter with the tome.
“In this case, shouldn’t we be telling the Princess as soon as possible?” Spike asked with a frown.
“She knows, Spike. And she wanted to make this a test of my character.” Twilight struck a wry grin.
“Wha…?” Spike was speechless.
“The Magic of Harmony is activated by six pieces of ancient artefacts called the Elements of Harmony. But to exercise its power, the wielders have to embody the respective elements and also need to form well-bonded friendship with each other.”
She tried to keep her grin, but she could not help but knitted her brows at the difficult prospects of dealing with her friends of future-past. “So this is the untold mission of my trip to Ponyville, to find the element-bearers and defeat Nightmare Moon.”
Twilight pointed her hoof at the distant royal towers. “She … the Princess always thinks that I'm an egghead that hides in the ivory tower all day. To be fair, she’s right.”
Spike eyed her with a strange glint. “It’s not quite true nowadays.”
She sheepishly grinned and added. “Anyway, she hoped that I would figure my way to the relevant legends and artefacts, and that my outing to Ponyville will result in friendship strong enough to activate them. Hence the addendum in this letter.”
Twilight gestured to the missive she received from the Princess. “And by the way, we should also not lay harm on Nightmare Moon in the process.”
“Why?” Spike blurted. “She’s an evil goddess who want to bring about eternal darkness!”
“Nightmare Moon was Princess Luna, Princess Celestia’s younger sister, who was unfortunately corrupted by her jealousy.”
Twilight explained. Looking at Spike’s completely dumbfounded face, Twilight continued. “We definitely won’t want to accidentally harm members of royalty, even in the process of purging evil influences.”
Spike held his head and made a grimace. “All these new info made my head spin. The whole thing sounds way too reckless to me.”
“It is. I like how you’ve assess the risk reasonably, Spike, you’ve definitely learned. But in case, I guess I can take it as high level of trust a teacher has with her student, right?”
Twilight laughed dryly. “And surely she had backup plans…?”
“Twilight, you’ve changed.” Spike suddenly quipped.
Twilight froze in the middle of her laugh and turned to Spike. “What do you mean, Spike?” She said with a somewhat forced smile.
“If it’d been some time ago, you’d definitely be panicking and asking me to write a stream of letters to the Princess already. But you’re now laughing it off like it’s nothing, and tearing apart the situation with clinical rationality. I also remember you never lose your cool at all when the Princess told you to go the Ponyville.”
Spike’s voice become quieter and quieter. “…In fact, it is as if you’ve become a different mare altogether.”
Twilight involuntarily coughed and thought of a thousand responses. Spike was her closest family, how could she not foreseen this? The mix with the tome spirit definitely shifted her temperament somewhat, with the torrential influx of knowledge and perspectives. She definitely liked to think of herself as a Twilight Sparkle who seek self-improvement, not a Twilight Sparkle impostor.
She grew anxious finding an appropriate response when she was interrupted by Spike’s next words.
“I’ve noticed it back when you started talking to yourself. I was really worried, but I didn’t say my concern out loud. I was afraid that you’d studied so much and talked with ponies so little, that you began to conjure up an imaginary friend to talk to in broad day light.”
“I- I didn’t!” Twilight pouted.
Spike snorted. “No offense, Twi. You always come off as more than just a bit neurotic. I won’t put it past you to magically make a ‘friend’ that exists only in your head and can be turned off whenever you want to study.”
Twilight widened her eyes, and then sadly smiled. “Did I really that come off as this maladjusted?”
“See, this is another way that you’ve changed. You were humble, but you would chew me off for mocking you that way. But now you’ve gone off the edge and become a doormat.”
Twilight nervously smiled. “I- Isn’t being inoffensive a good thing?”
Spike rolled his eyes. “Maybe. But back then, I did worry if a magical unicorn like you went loco, it would be a major disaster.”
The purple mare scratched her cheek. “I, uh, turned out okay, right Spike?”
“You turned out too okay, Twi. You stopped muttering to yourself, start mingling with all your acquaintances, even trying to pull friggin’ Moon Dancer, your past egghead-in-hooves, out from her study. You’ve grabbed the opportunity to talk with anypony, from the washing maid to the royal chancellor. You write tons of letters to those outside Canterlot as well. When I casually chatted with the Princess about this, you won’t believe how large and round her eyes became.”
Spike added with a muted voice. “… Past Twilight would be both horrified at all the social interactions and scoff at all the wasted time that could be used for study.”
Twilight gulped and nervously explained. “T- The world outside is a veritable classro-”
Spike put a finger on Twilight’s lips. “Shh, Twi, it’s okay. No need to explain it away to me. I don’t mind it at all. If you find this a kind of improvement, I’d be fine with it all the same. I like cool-as-cucumber and slick Twi as much as I like panicky and socially awkward Twi.”
Twilight blushed intensely. Spike then scratched his head a bit with embarrassment. “You know Twi, I love you as family no matter how you’ve changed.”
“Spike ... I ...” Twilight stuttered with the burst of emotion, and then elected to simply sweep Spike into her tight embrace, and hugged him for a long, long time.
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Spike had been tucked into his little bed as Twilight walked towards the balcony. The night view of Canterlot entered her eyes. It curiously resembled the fateful night on which she finally met with her friend in a tome six moons ago.
The tome, now part of Twilight, was a relic of an era long gone. It was more a machine than a tome, carrying knowledge of a strange civilization flourished hundreds of thousands years ago. It did not know its purpose, but its function is to record the surrounding with incredible penetration power and precision, allowing it to scan everything minute physical attributes and movement within a close radius.
The crash has damaged part of its functions, which were unknown to even the tome itself. However, it still dutifully recorded from the moment the flicker of civilization began on Equestria, to the arrival of ponies, to the union of three tribes, to the founding of Canterlot, and beyond.
However, as earth moved and the tome became embedded under the Canterlot Hill, unicorns using dark magical arts was banished to the caves.
Over the years, the natural deposit of magic became volatile, seeping through not only the rocks and furrows, but also the layers and components of the tome. It had done the unimaginable - a true consciousness had emerged from its originally limited artificial intelligence.
Despite the dark origins of the magic, it was tame, curious and open, and it continued to record the events on ground, absorbing the knowledge of magic and history of the world.
But over time, it grew sad and weary. The cave was a lonely prison. It had witnessed the lifetime of countless inhabitants of Canterlot, countless conflicts, and even the sad tale of a certain being who was similarly encased in stone.
It tried to reach out also by repeatedly sent out signals, but their worlds never coincide – until that fateful day.
Twilight again felt wetness in her eyes. She didn’t know if she was feeling sad for the tome as the young mare, or feeling sorely guilty for disrupting the young mare’s life as the tome. Her feelings were a complicated mess.
She eventually turned her mind away from her emotions and to the knowledge she now had.
In many ways, the precursors were a race of quarrelsome beings. They were incredibly advanced, reaching the technology level equivalent to modern-day Equestria hundreds of thousands of years ago. However their history was also mired in disunity. Even as their society progressed, wars and conflicts that seldom fell upon the ponies were but a daily occurrence to them.
However, she felt some admiration for them. She sometimes wondered if it was an irrational affinity, because the tome was ultimately a probe made and sent out by them, and she had inherited this longing for its maker.
But ultimately, she decided that there was much more to that. This was no less because she saw her not-so-distant future had she never met the tome. The cataclysmic changes of her life notwithstanding, there was one thing that would have fascinated her before, but slightly unnerved her now that she integrated her points of view.
Her reckless action should have condemned her to drifting between the space between time, and eventually being reclaimed by the self-correcting force of the universe. But instead, she was saved, and in a twisted way rewarded with visions of the future. She was now in a unique position of knowing what should happen and what could have happened if she did not take action.
However, ‘destiny’ was a sensitive subject for her.
She dearly wanted to make friends with her five fellow Element-bearers, seeing how they are such lovely companions. Every friend, acquaintance, and even adversary in her visions, she longed to reach out and connect.
However, she was unsettled by the influence to the fate of the world she and her friends-to-be wielded. A small clink in their personal fortune would have sent the flying wheels of destiny into disarray. She was a bit horrified to think that Equestria would be turned into a barren wasteland just because a certain filly did not fly fast enough.
Of course she was still thankful of Rainbow Dash’s Sonic Rainboom, without which she would not be admitted into the School for Gifted Unicorns and eventually studied under the direct patronage of Celestia. But the scepter of misstep terrified her ever since she saw the visions.
She adored the ideals of harmony. At the same time, she didn’t want harmony to be something that was like a pinball on an overturned bowl – a slight tremor would cause it to fall apart.
Friendship was a real tangible force in this land, primarily because the magic of harmony responded to it. She didn’t mind being the champion for friendship and harmony, especially if it maintained the peace of the land. However, she found it unsettling that literally everything she held dear to would depend on the action of so few.
Her mind once again strayed towards the ancient past. Although the precursors had been disunited and fought wars with a level of brutality and destruction unimaginable in Equestria, they at the end came together and worked towards a single goal. It was not brought about by a particular great custodian, nor was there a natural regulating force or magic that existed on their world. They, against all odds, prospered despite the calamities. Their generative and regenerative power was stronger than a hydra.
From the desk, the purple mare picked up a small piece of scratch paper that she had doodled on from memory. On it was a curious symbol once engraved on the ancient tome. A white globe protected by a pair of white wings on a background of blue, the colors of peace and tranquility.
Ever since the incident, Twilight had been thinking about why the precursors could survive and even advance so swiftly despite having no magic, outstanding racial talents and constantly fighting each other.
Some while later, she thought she found the answer: the ‘disunity’ of the precursors were also their strength, in that it fostered a diverse culture to fend for themselves, and oppose evil and destruction on a grassroot level, instead of having to rely on the Greats like they did in the unitary Equestria.
The ‘Greats’, like the princesses, that they were supposed to become.
She and her friends, the destined bearers of the Elements.
Her thoughts came to a screeching halt. It was as if her heart was cut by a blade when she thought of her five would-be friends.
After the incident, she had been researching madly on the safest and the quickest way to activate the Elements, so as to dispel the first major threat to Equestrian security in a millennium – the return of Nightmare Moon.
However, she unearthed something that shocked her to the core – she could not hope to activate the Elements in her current state.
Although she knew it for a fact that she was not just Twilight anymore, it hit home that the Harmony magic would not have reacted to her summoning like ‘before’.
Chipping a bit from the pedestal that the tome’s fellow stone-encased inmate, the purple mare extracted the minute residue of Harmony magic for testing. It turned out that the merging of minds had caused an unexpected but severe side-effect.
It appeared that the Elements of Harmony were built upon an asymmetrical connection: while one bearer can have more than one Element like the princesses did, it was impossible for one Element to be shared by two individuals or more.
While the merging of minds resulted in a solitary consciousness, a fundamental duality of her vital impetus remained. It did not completely precluded her commanding of the Elements, but as the Element of Magic in particular came by the combined effort of the other five, the inherent disparity of their mental essence would propagate and destroy the connection.
In short, the extra soul in her mind was like a sore thumb standing out, stopping her from connecting to the Elements.
Sweat dropped from her forehead as the muscles of her whole body tensed.
She had a way to deal with this, as she had researched. But it felt wrong to do so.
That day was tomorrow. Twilight has long thought and struggled about it, as she had known from the fateful night. If she was to wield the Element of Magic and rid Equestria of one terrible tyrant, she must be joined in friendship and spirit with all five other Element-bearers.
While at having to make friends with the five mares with a looming agenda was uncomfortable for her, it unsettled her even more to consider what she had to do to ensure the activation of the Elements.
She lit her horn, and a bundle of white tendrils shot out, and retreated as quickly as it came.
She heavily sighed. The idea of casting mind-melding spells on her five friends-to-be had made her deeply uneasy. She often feared for a loss of a sense of right and wrong if… when she had to do it.
She knew she had to do it. There would be no other way.
Underneath all the self-justifying talks, however, Twilight would scarcely admit that she also want to have five mares who understood her completely, as her one friend and companion had gone.
Even though – she bit her lips until it bled when she thought of it – this action could amount to brainwashing in certain sense.
As the night went on, she nonetheless hardened her resolve. She could not let her qualms doom the world, for she already strayed from the path of innocent goodness by their sacrilegious union of psyches. However, she also smiled in a somewhat unhinged manner, as she savored the possibilities of meeting her soon-to-be friends.
Twilight gazed at the ground as she sat on top of the balcony, silently waiting for the last sunrise before her departure.