//------------------------------// // A little bit earlier (chapter name in progress, better than the tomato joke I assure you) // Story: Conscious Life // by CrossRedstone //------------------------------// ~earlier~ “Hey, Twilight.” Sunset greeted her newest friend with a casual wave. “How're tricks?” “H-hey Sunset.” Twilight greeted back, sitting on her still yet to be made bed. “I’m really, really sorry that everything is a mess right now. I completely forgot you were coming over-” “Relax, Twilight.” Sunset intervened Twilight’s rant before it could fully start. The pony girl put a hand on the human girl’s shoulder and pressed it gently, but reassuringly. “It’s alright. I’m a little early anyways and plus, we have the entire day to ourselves. Unless you want us to visit someone else…” “No, no!” Twilight waved her hands in a frantic matter. A second later she realized just what she was doing and put her arms behind her back, blushing a little bit. “Um...I mean...there’s something I want to talk about...in private…..just the two of us….you know. I-It’s not like I don’t trust them or anything of the sorts, quite the contrary, it’s just-” Twilight stopped herself when she noticed that her first friend outside of the family was barely containing her laughter. “What?” the lavender girl asked. “Oh, Twilight” Sunset let out a snicker “Rarity was right. You really are adorkable at times. I wonder how Timber would react if he sees you like that.” “W-what?!” The lavender girl squeaked, taken aback by the comment. “In fact, I’m pretty sure he’d think that you’re cuter than he initially thought.” “Stop it, already!” Twilight half-heartily slapped Sunset’s arm. The pony girl just laughed in response and sat down next to her friend. “Just kidding, just kidding.” Sunset held up her arms. “So, what’s that thing you wanted to talk about?” “Well…” Twilight fidgeted with her fingers “...last night...I was...thinking." "Thinking?" Sunset asked, tilting her head. "Is something bothering you, Twilight?" The pony girl asked concerned. "You aren't having nightmares again, do you?" "No, no! Of course not!" the lavender girl immediately waved her arms in a frantic manner. "I just had a lot on my mind last night. You know, after everything that's been happening. It was... quite a lot to say the least." Sunset nodded, understanding what her friend was getting at. "Yeah, life's become pretty crazy, huh?" "Yeah...crazy..." Twilight agreed, thinking about a particular crazy thing that happened earlier today. "So, what's on your mind?" Twilight looked uncomfortably to the side, wishing she would have thought of something else to talk about. At the same time, Sunset's visit presented the lavender-skinned girl an opportunity to find a possible solution for her current...predicament. "Well...I was thinking about her." "Her?" Sunset repeated. "...Midnight." Twilight grabbed her arm, feeling very uncomfortable talking about her "other self" as it was. "I was thinking about Midnight, the other "me"." Sunset had to admit, she was taken by surprise by the statement her friend just made. She couldn't imagine why her friend would- no wait, she could imagine as to why Twilight would think about her darker self. Sunset herself had thought about her darker self a lot for a long period of time. She tried to avoid it to the best of her abilities, but from time to time she couldn't help herself. The former unicorn proceeded to put a hand on Twilight's shoulder and pressed it gently. "You know, if you still feel uncomfortable about the whole thing, you can talk to us. Believe me, it may not seem that way at first, but it helps a lot." Twilight smiled, putting her own hand on Sunset's. "Thank you. I really appreciate the help, but this isn't about The Friendship Games or anything. It's...well...how do I put it? I have been wondering what she actually is." "What she is?" Sunset echoed, blinking in confusion. She definitely didn't see that one coming, nor did she understand what her friend meant exactly. "What do you mean, when you say 'what she is?'" the former unicorn inquired. "Well..." Twilight looked to the side "...I'm not too sure myself, to be honest. At first, I thought she was a demon made manifest because I misused the magic of you and the others." Sunset nodded, understanding. That sounded reasonable in her mind. As much as magic had been studied in her homeworld, it still held many mysteries. Who knew where the true limit of magic really laid? "But...I'm not too sure anymore," Twilight admitted. "Really? Why? I mean, I have studied magic all my life and I'm not sure if I fully grasp the situation, but what you offered sounded like a reasonable explanation to me." The yellow girl told her friend. "Yes, I know, but we can't be sure. What if we're mistaken? What if she was something completely different." Twilight explained, worry being apparent in her voice. "Something else..." Sunset echoed, seriously considering Twilight's words. "Like what for example." "Well, what if Midnight is...well me...in a sense." "You? But you two were completely different!" Sunset argued. "...On the outside, maybe." Twilight spoke after a little pause. Her words grew her pony friend concerned. "But, after thinking things through (and having one heck of a weird conversation with myself), I think that Midnight just...she just expressed my truly darkest desires, which I suppressed through most of my life." Sunset halted in whatever she wanted to say, as the meaning of those words reached her. "Your...what do you mean?" the yellow girl asked, now putting both hands on her friend's shoulders. Twilight did her best to not look into Sunset's face and continued. "When I think back to what I almost did to you and the others...I realized...deep down, I really wanted to hurt you all." Twilight took in a deep breath, suppressing the tears that threatened to come out. "You know, I never really had that many friends, to begin with, and Crystal Prep...it was a nightmare at times. The way some of the students treated me...it sometimes made me wish I could hurt them back in some way." Upon hearing those words, Sunset pulled Twilight into a hug. "I understand," Sunset whispered gently. "It's only natural to think about stuff like this, especially considering your circumstances. Don't worry about it." "Thank you," Twilight whispered meekly. "You know, we can stop now-" "No, no!" Twilight interrupted Sunset, pulling back from the girl. "It's fine, really." The girl smiled weakly. "I just needed to give you a little context for...."my" hypothesis. You see, I'm thinking that Midnight is somehow me in a way. And I don't mean in an "evil" kind of way, just...I guess more honest is one way to put it." "More honest with yourself, you mean?" Sunset wanted to clarify. Twilight nodded. "Yes. It's just speculation, but from the way she behaved, the way she confronted me...I'm not sure if she truly just was after power or if in reality, she wanted me to face the things that I have been holding down all this time. Back at Camp Everfree, when we transformed, there it seemed like for a moment that she had won, that she would take me over. But that's also when I made up my mind to not fear the magic inside me anymore, to not fear that I would abuse it to hurt you or anyone else." Twilight let out a sigh, massaging her temples. "You know, now that I have said those things out loud, it sounds a lot less convincing. For all I know, she might just be a figment of my imagination, which my subconsciousness made up either in order to face my fears or to blame someone else for my actions back at Friendship Games." "Wow, that's pretty deep," Sunset admitted. "This is all kinda outside my field of expertise. I never thought about tackling magic in a psychological way, but the way you make it sound...it's a solid foundation." The former pony put a hand under her chin, thinking. "Maybe the way we express ourselves influences the way we use magic and our emotions could give magic a completely different form. It could actually explain a lot of things, like how we transform when we play our instruments. Music is a way of expressing oneself after all. It also explains why the others transformed when they do things in virtue with their respective Element of Harmony. Twilight this is huge!" Sunset grabbed Twilight's arms in excitement, causing the girl to yelp. "This could be the breakthrough I've been looking for months as to explain how magic works in this world! Whatever gave you the idea in the first place?" Sunset asked, still holding her lavender-skinned friend. Twilight smiled sheepishly. "Oh...nothing in particular. Just....a random thought I had and then the train just went on from there," she explained. However, this explanation didn't satisfy Sunset in the least. For one, it lacked a considerable amount of information, for two Twilight was a terrible liar. "Oh, come on. Why are you hiding the real reason you thought about this? It can't be some terrible secret that you're desperately trying to hide from- hey, wait a minute. What's a feather doing on your bed?" Twilight's eyes widened in shock when Sunset spoke those words. Midnight must have lost one of her feathers some way or another and it landed on her bed. "It looks pretty neat. Wait, is this thing...glowing? Yeah, here on the side." Twilight's eyes widened even further. Apparently, she had been thinking for so long that Sunset had enough time to go to her bed and study the object in question. "It looks kinda familiar..." That was the last straw for Twilight. She quickly spun around, fell on her knees and hugged Sunset's legs tightly. "I swear, I didn't want to hide anything from you! I just had this dream, where I talked to Midnight! At first, I didn't trust her, I thought it was possibly another nightmare, but then we had a conversation, then we hugged and then she disappeared! I woke up and thought it was just a dream! But then all of the sudden she was standing in the middle of my room! We didn't know what to make of it, I was scared, but she's to a degree harmless! I wanted to call you girls immediately, but she convinced me otherwise, then my family found out, then she freaked my family out and then, then MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMPPPPPPPPPPPHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" It took Twilight a while to notice that Sunset had clapped her mouth shut and waited for the lavender-skinned girl to stop making noise. As she did, Twilight looked up and found Sunset staring down at her with a serious expression. "Twilight, " the yellow girl spoke in a calm and collected tone. "What is going on here?"