//------------------------------//
// Onwards to the next story - MIRROR_NOISE 
// Story: A Certain Magical Friendship – Context_SHIFT 
// by Sora2455 
//------------------------------//

Of all of the buildings in Academy City, there was one that was easily the most mysterious. It had no openings or entrances – its walls could only be bypassed by a powerful teleporter, and the building was said to have counters to even that. Accordingly, this structure was known as the Windowless Building.

In this building was a softly lit room that contained all kinds of machinery, which was hooked up to a tube of liquid in the centre of the room. Floating upside-down in the tube was a ‘person’.

Just by looking at them, one could not tell if they were a man or a woman. Nor if they were a sinner or a saint. For some reason, even such basic questions seemed to be impossible to definitively answer.

<Sol has resumed fusion activity. Solar radiation has returned to typical levels.> A robotic-sounding voice emerged from a screen that appeared to be suspended in the tube's fluid.

<Very well.> The ‘person’ in the tube responded to the disembodied voice. <It was a shame this event was over so quickly. I was hoping to pry some more information out, but this will suffice.>

The Windowless Building was a fortress capable of withstanding a direct nuclear strike. It had countermeasures against all known forms of attack, generated its own power, and produced its own oxygen. While inside the life-support machinery that formed the heart of the Windowless Building, it was entirely possible that a person could fail to notice that the sun had gone out.

<When a house catches fire, the mother’s first thought is to her children. Similarly, one can deduce the greatest possessions of an organisation by what they rushed to when a crisis began.>

The ‘person’ in the Windowless Building hadn’t bothered interfering in the situation that had occurred in Academy City. Instead, it was far more interesting to observe what everyone else was doing.

<I have prepared a report detailing the observed actions the opposing factions, Master Alester.> The screen changed to display scrolling paragraphs of text. <However, I can confirm that there were no areas of unexpectedly high activity.>

<Did they realise we were watching and command their subordinates be still? No matter. We shall simply look for areas of unexpectedly low activity.>

Before one could deduce information, one had to collect data first. Any data could be turned into usable information, once enough of it had been collected.

Apparently satisfied with what the report said, the ‘person’ moved their eyes over, a new screen appearing where they looked. <And what of the intruders who kicked up such a fuss?>

<All unknown contacts have returned to point of origin, Master Aleister.>

<What has been the results of the surveillance attempts?>

<I humbly apologise, Master Aleister.> The screen changed view, now showing a camera feed of a park. The only notable oddity in view was the hole in the dirt big enough to swallow a park bench. <Just as before, the UNDER_LINE system begins to transmit garbage data at -4.087 metres, and ceases to transmit altogether at -5.866 metres. Other probes have been met with the same issue.>

<Hmm.> The person mused. A third screen appeared, displaying Saten Ruiko trying her best to brush herself down on her way to school. <And yet, we know that human beings can enter and return safely.>

The voice from the screen paused. <That is true. However, I cannot recommend sending a human to investigate such an anomaly. Their ability to retain and communicate detail is poor, and they cannot be remotely controlled if the need arises.>

<In which case, the solution is obvious.> A fourth screen appeared, showing a tank of a different design, though this one also had a person floating in it: a young girl with tea-coloured hair.

<We shall simply send a remote control human.>





Spike anxiously paced back and forth on the spot. When Celestia had suddenly flown off, he’d tried running after her, but the ancient alicorn could fly much faster than he could run. Some frantic questions to nearby ponies - “Sorry, but have you seen the princess fly by here?” - got him a little further, but he’d still lost the trail near the entrance to the Everfree Forest.

Spike had, up until this point, lived his entire life in Canterlot. But even there, the furtherest you could get from the wild and dangerous places of the world, he’d heard the stories of the Everfree. A strange and unnatural place, they said, where the weather ran on its own and animals took care of themselves.

Spike shuddered. In another world, that might have been normal, but in this world clouds did not move unless pushed, and animals required near-constant supervision. In this world, the Everfree was like a haunted house, where strange lights appeared in the night and inanimate objects levitated with no visible cause.

And that begged the question: what ‘ghost’ was responsible for the Everfree?

A twig snapped in the forest, and Spike’s heart jumped up into his throat. I-I’m a dragon. He told himself, stuttering even in his head. A big, scary dragon.

He repeated this mantra to himself as he hid behind a tree, shaking like a leaf.

More noises came from the Everfree, and Spike realised that whatever was making the sounds was moving toward him. He gulped.

“Who – who’s there?” He called.

“Spike?”

Spike’s heart leaped into his throat, and turned around so as to extend his neck out past the trunk of the tree. “…Twilight?!”

“Spike! What are you doing out here?!”

It was Twilight. She was alright! And – and Princess Celestia was here too! And those five mares they’d met earlier that day (or was that yesterday, now?). And - 

“Look out, Twilight!” Spike jumped out from behind the tree, one claw pointing shakily at something behind Twilight. “M-monsters!”

Twilight’s face grew confused, and she looked behind herself. What she saw didn’t seem to surprise her, though, and she turned back to Spike. “Oh, them. Don’t worry about them, Spike. They’re just the Nightmare Forces.”

Spike didn’t have a clue as to how that was supposed to make him stop worrying. There were monsters there! Actual monsters! Actual monsters named after the Mare in the Moon herself!

But… Twilight didn’t seem to be worrying. And Twilight worried about everything, so if she wasn’t worrying then there couldn’t have been anything to worry about.

(The thought did occur to him that Twilight might be under an evil mind control spell, but Celestia was also there. Somehow, Spike just couldn’t imagine the princess under somepony else’s control; even if that pony was Nightmare Moon.)

The familiar sight of the mare he’d known all his life helped ease the tight ball that had formed around his heart. (It helped that looking at her meant not looking at the Nightmare Forces). But at the same time, it also reminded him of what he’d been feeling ever since he’d woken up. Spike looked Twilight in the eye, swallowed, and asked his question. “Where were you, Twilight? We went to sleep, and then...”

He sniffed. “And then I woke up, and you weren’t there, and ponies were saying they’d seen Nightmare Moon, and she was chasing after you, and nopony had seen you after that…”

His vision went blurry, which was probably due to the tears gathering in the corners of his eyes. “And I didn’t know where you were, and… and…”

Twilight cringed, guilt etching itself into her face. “Oh, Spike, I am so sorry. I just… I had to go and…  and I didn’t think about how this would affect you. I’m sorry.” She repeated, stepping forward and wrapping her forehooves around him in a tight hug.

“I’m not crying.” Spike lied, his voice muffled due to his mouth being pressed into Twilight’s soft fur.

He heard the sounds of the other ponies moving around, but none of them said anything, for which he was grateful. This was embarrassing enough as it was.

“This must have been really scary.” Twilight said. “With Nightmare Moon, and the sun not rising on time, and how it disappeared again even after it did rise…”

…

“Huh?”

Spike pulled his head out of the hug, blinking through his tears to stare up at Twilight, utterly confused. “What are you talking about, Twilight?”

Twilight blinked. “Well, Nightmare Moon broke out of her seal, just like the prophecy said…”

“Right…” Spike followed.

“And, well, she banished the princess to the moon, so the sun didn’t rise…”

“Yeah…” This was all matching what he knew.

“And then somepony put the sun back…”

“That was me.” Princess Celestia gently interjected.

“Really?” Asked a blue pony that Spike literally just noticed, despite the fact that she was clinging tightly to the much larger princess. “I suppose I shouldn’t really be surprised…”

“And then Nightmare Moon took the sun away again, but we put it back again.” Twilight finished.

“Yeah, that bit.” The fear and stress of his worry for Twilight wasn’t exactly gone, but a different kind of worry was replacing it. “That’s the part that doesn’t make sense.”

Twilight’s eyes became uncertain. “What doesn’t make sense?”

“Well,” Spike said “the sun only went away once.”

There was a moment of silence in the clearing, before everypony burst out in the same confused shout.

“What?!”





In a certain world, the art of magic was dominated by Christianity.

Thus, it was very difficult to argue that the greatest magical fortress in the world could be anything but St. Peter’s Basilica, standing proud in Vatican City.

And if you accepted that as fact, then it became quite obvious who the most powerful man in the magical world ought to be.

Standing inside that great church, an elderly man wearing the cloth of the priesthood spoke. Even alone and unattended, he gave off a great authoritative aura that made one indistinctly defer to him.

[Truly, God has shown us His power and mercy this day.]

The elderly man walked though the halls of the ancient church. His measured footsteps quickly brought him before a massive, wrought iron door. Though the door was already enough to deter any creature of this Earth, the elderly man knew that the room that door led too had been enchanted to the point were even the Seven Trumpets of Revelation could not breach its protections.

Though the door stood many times higher than the elderly man, it opened easily at his touch. Fearlessly, he entered the most sacred place of one of the most sacred churches in the entire world. Inside, a group of four people stood. They all seemed to have been awaiting the elderly man.

[The sun, which our Holy Father created on the fourth day, was stolen from His most sacred creation. But with the grace of God, it was restored to us.]

The four figures, while looking at the elderly man, did so with only the slightest of interest. The elderly man gave off the aura of someone who should be given the highest respect, but these four seemed to barely pay any attention to him at all.

[Still, the light that He created on the first day was also stolen. Even though it too was restored, the time it was gone should have frozen this fragile Earth over like an ice cube.]

The elderly man looked up at one of the four figures.

[Truly, God has blessed us mightily with your presence… Fiamma of the Right.]

[Hmph.]

The focus of the elderly man’s attention led out that derisive noise.

[Keeping the Earth warm required hardly any effort at all. You can barely even call it an action of mine. I hold the holy power to save the world and hold an affiliation with the fiery archangel Michael. For my glorious self, nothing could be easier.]

The elderly man faltered a little. The tone of Fiamma’s voice was a far cry from the ideals the elderly man preached about. To hear such a tone from the leader of his advisers was deeply disconcerting.

[Now, where do you get off talking like that, Bishop of Rome?] Fiamma said unexpectedly.

The elderly man blinked slowly, his grey eyebrows drawing together. [I’m sorry?]

[You’re talking like everything’s done and dusted.] The only girl in the room, Vento of the Front, spoke. [How can it be, when the blasphemers who dared interfere with our Lord’s holy creation still roam free?]

[I… vengeance is the Lord’s, and the Lord’s alone.] The elderly man’s confused tone turned suddenly to confidence.

[And as those who sit at the Right Seat of God, do we not share this right, no, this responsibility to punish the sinners who think themselves above the Lord Almighty?]

The dominating aura of authority that the elderly man carried had disappeared. It had been swallowed up by the egos of the four who stood around the supposed head of the Catholic Church.

[…what do you plan to do?] The elderly man asked.

[We plan to root out sin and evil.] Fiamma of the Right responded. [Do you have a problem with that, Pope elected by the people?]





Deep in the woods, there was a castle.

It had originally been built to take advantage of the solitude and quiet that the forest afforded. However, when the two residents of the castle had been reduced to one, that remaining pony had found that solitude that had formerly been such a comfort to now be unbearable. She had left that castle behind, not even stopping to collect her possessions.

In the ravine beneath that same castle, there was a cave. And in that cave, there was a tree.

Not a tree of wood. A tree of crystal, and magic.

The tree had been waiting as patiently as a tree could. Of the three that were destined to connect with it, it had already met two. One had become… distant… but the bond with the other was still strong.

(The tree did not understand why two of its chosen had come to blows. It was, after all, a tree.)

However, something had gone wrong. This was the day that the third of its chosen was to begin her journey.

Instead, the distant one had moved somewhere the tree could not feel her.

The tree did not understand how this could be. It did not understand why, or what, or where. It barely knew who and when.

The third of the chosen did not bond with the tree that day.

Indeed, even the last remaining link the tree had was broken.

And with that, the tree was left with nothing. Its fruit were still missing. Those bonds had been its last link to the world outside.

The soft glow of the tree faded until, even in the dark cave, it could barely be seen at all.





One of the tips of Touma Kamijou’s hair was smoking as he walked down the street.

<Seriously, what did I ever do to that girl? With that weird fixation on being the strongest, you think she’d go bother the #1 and #2 instead of me…>

In the time that the sun had been missing from the sky, school had technically started. Touma didn’t know how that was going, with all the confusion that must have been going around. However, on the off chance that they were counting school as having started at the normal time, he had grabbed his school supplies and started on his way to school. If he hurried, there was a chance he might not be held back for remedial classes.

(Unfortunately, Touma had already racked up four months worth of missed classes, so that was a total pipe dream.)

However, there was something very important that he needed to do first. He’d managed to lose Misaka in the back streets, so he was all by himself as he walked back to the rubble-filled street that he’d left just a moment ago.

Hands in his pockets, Touma stopped abruptly in the middle of the street.

<It’s okay now. You can come out; everyone else is gone.>

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then, two of the larger pieces of rubble shifted slightly as Index crawled out from between them.

<How did you know I was here?> She asked. A kitten stuck its head out from under her hood and meowed.

It was the old shell-game trick. Which of the paths of mana leading away from the street was real? None of them. Index had never left.

Touma scratched his nose. <You were pretty good at making sure no one was looking, but you had to move at some point. Admittedly, I almost missed you, given how Bug Zapper was going biri-biri all over the place…>

Index’s gaze dropped to her feet. <I see.> She sounded very tired, like she had just run a marathon only to find out that she had another three left to go. She sat down on one of the pieces of rubble and grasped her hands together.

<Are you okay?> Touma asked. <You were going all ‘monster of the week’ on us for a while there.> 

The kitten meowed again. Index carefully picked it off her head and held it in her arms, slowly stroking it. <Was I? I’m sorry. I don’t like it when I talk in my sleep like that, but I don’t really have any choice.> She sighed, long and deep.

…she really mustn’t know what had happened,  if she thinks that she was just ‘talking in her sleep’…

Touma knew someone was going to have to tell her what exactly had transpired in this street, but right now he didn’t feel like explaining that the bruise just starting to form on her face was his fault.

He frowned. But if she hadn’t know about that, then… <What’s wrong?>

Index sighed again. <Did you hear what those two magicians said? …no, I suppose you wouldn’t have, over the lightning.>

<What who said?>

<The boy in the black priest’s clothes and the girl with the lopsided jeans.>

<You call that two meter tall freak a boy?>

<When he was threatening that woman – the one with the Skinfaxi spell – he said he was a member of Necessarius.>

Touma didn’t recognise either of those names, but given how Index’s eyes darkened, he gathered that this was a big deal.

<That’s my church.> Index looked up at Touma. <That’s the church I was counting on to protect me from them.>

<He could have been lying.> Touma offered, not really knowing enough about the situation to offer anything less vague.

Index shook her head. <No. It explains too much – why Necessarius has never tried to recover me, their most valuable asset.> Her gazed dropped down to her hands. <They have been. But if they wanted me to come willingly, they would have just introduced themselves. The fact that they just chased me everywhere means that I wouldn’t agree to whatever they have planned for me.>

<I don’t really get this thing about churches and magicians (are you using code-words for something else?) but I’m guessing it’s not the sort of thing you could just go to Anti-Skill for, huh.>

Index shook her head again, more firmly this time. <If that’s a Science Side organisation, then that would definitely violate the treaty between Science and Magic. It would mean war.>

War.

That was a pretty heavy word to just randomly drop on a high-school student.

Ordinarily, Touma might have dismissed it as ridiculous, but that battle just now… just in that fight, Touma was sure that Academy City had come close to destruction.

Touma didn’t believe in magic, but he could easily believe that someone would go to war over whatever that power was.

<So, you’ve got nowhere to go, huh?>

<Yeah.> Index said, her voice soft and tired.

Touma sighed. He was going to hate himself for doing this. <Well, I have to get to school.>

<Right.> Index nodded, disappointed but unsurprised. Nobody wanted the problems of somebody else. 

Allowing herself one final sigh, she started planning her next move. First, she would need to think of some other way to mask her Walking Church’s mana signature – 

The jingle of keys being dropped into her lap broke her out of her thoughts.

<My address is on the keyring.> Touma said, walking away. <It’s in an all-boys dorm, so don’t let anybody see you. And don’t eat all my food while I’m gone!>

<I – what – wait!> The words spilled out of her mouth in a rush, but Touma was already gone.

Stunned, the nun with a kitten on her head sat there in the morning light, the keys tightly held in her small hands.





The city of Canterlot could been seen for miles and miles away, built as it was, high up on the mountainside. A gleaming bastion of civilisation, home to both the unicorn and alicorn royal families. It was said that if one stood at the foot of the mountain, directly under the city, you could feel a subtle pressure on your withers – the weight, they said, of the sheer power of the city above leaking down.

In that grand city, there were many ancient secrets.

There was the Crystal Caverns, which had simply appeared one day without explanation.

There was the Royal Vaults, said to contain all the evil artefacts that Princess Celestia had sealed away over the years.

There was the city library, where books on terrible and forbidden magic hid themselves on the shelves, just waiting for the right hooves to find them.

But the most dangerous of the city’s secrets arguably wasn’t a secret at all. It was displayed quite proudly in the Canterlot Gardens, where tour guides would point it out to newcomers to the city.

It was a statue. A statue of an ugly, mismatched creature. It had a goat’s horn, and a deer’s antler. It had a snake tongue and a goat beard. It had one limb each from a lion, an eagle, a lizard, a goat and a dragon. It had wings from both a bat and a pegasus.

It was a statue of a ‘draconequus’ - a mismatched creature that represented chaos and disharmony.

None of that was a secret. What was a secret was that the statue not originally made of stone.

And, at exactly the same time a certain crystal tree dimmed in brightness, cracks began to appear in the stone surface of Discord’s prison.





It was true that two problems had been solved slightly faster than normal by the joining of the two worlds.

However, one only had to think a little to realise all the problems that this sequence of events would cause, let alone the solutions that were not put into motion.

On one end, a park in a city of science…

On the other, a forest in a land of magic…

This was only the first of the stories about that trouble-making hole.

The next story has already begun.

The tale of Context_SHIFT was over.

Now begins the story of MIRROR_NOISE.