//------------------------------//
// Chapter 22 - Voice From The Past 
// Story: Pandemic 
// by ASGeek2012 
//------------------------------//

Spike once again found it was up to him to remind his charges to eat. He slipped out and procured their meals, carrying the tray into the third floor room as Twilight and Starlight continued their work. "I brought food!" he announced as he set the tray down on a workbench.

Twilight turned and smiled. "Thank you, Spike, for bringing us lunch." She paused with a stalk of celery halfway to her lips. "Um, this is lunch and not dinner, right?"

"Yep," said Spike as he helped himself to a cup of gems.

Starlight sighed as she levitated her plate off the tray and set it down on the floor where she sat on her haunches. "Though it feels like we've been at it that long," she muttered.

Spike glanced at the center of the room, where two pillars of white marble rose, framing the angry scar of portal energy between them. Sparkling crystals were embedded in each pillar at regular intervals. Carved into the rock between and around them were arcane runes. "It looks like it's almost done." He stepped up to the pillars. "Is this really going to open a portal to the other world?"

"Not quite yet," said Twilight. "This will simply give us an access point at this end."

Spike scratched his head. "By doing what exactly?"

Twilight paused to swallow some broccoli. "By creating a Starswirl Confinement Field around the ultra-dense plasma and utilizing the thaumic coefficient expansion capabilities of the crystals to extrude a positive dimensional plane which will serve as the primary entry manifold."

Spike just stared.

Starlight turned her head and said with a mouth full of lettuce. "She's going to stretch the entrance of the wormhole like a rubber band so it'll be large enough to step through."

"Isn't that what I just said?" said Twilight.

Starlight smirked. "Yes, Twilight."

"Except now I actually understand it," Spike murmured. "But what good will it do if it doesn't go all the way through?"

Twilight turned from her meal and stepped up to the right pillar. "It will make it much easier to explore how the portal works." She lowered her head as her horn started to glow. A narrow beam of purple light shot from her horn, and wisps of smoke rose from were it contacted the marble. She began carving another rune. "I honestly don't like doing it this way, it feels like we're playing with fire. If we infuse too much energy, we risk collapsing the wormhole completely at best and an explosion at worst."

Starlight's eyes widened. "Explosion? You never mentioned about anything exploding!"

"Well, it won't, unless my equations are completely off."

"Uh, how big an explosion are we talking about here?"

Twilight finished carving the rune before lifting her head. "Worse case scenario is that the plasma at this end completely destabilizes. The resulting power release would vaporize Canterlot, and the subsequent shock wave would flatten Ponyville."

"Whoa," Spike murmured.

Twilight gestured at the pillar. "Now that we have these in place, I could likely seal it off at this end if I had sufficient warning, but all that power would have to go somewhere, which may mean down to the other end of the portal. I don't want to be responsible for destroying one of the natives' cities any more than our own."

"Maybe we should be glad Sunset never thought of weaponizing her invention," said Starlight.

"That might be another reason why Princess Celestia suppressed it," said Spike.

"Possibly." Twilight took a deep breath. "In any case, we're ready."

Starlight raised an eyebrow. "Can't we finish eating lunch first?"

"I'm anxious to know if this will work."

Starlight wolfed down some asparagus before trotting over to Twilight. "All right, but if we vaporize Canterlot because I'm doing this on an empty stomach, I'm blaming you."

Spike fidgeted. "Um, should I be hiding under something?"

"It will be fine, Spike," said Twilight as she positioned herself at the left pillar, Starlight standing before the right pillar. "I hope."

Starlight smirked faintly. "Well, that inspired confidence."

"Ready?" said Twilight as her horn started to glow.

"As ready as I'll ever be," said Starlight, her own horn glowing. "Let's set a match to this, shall we?"

Twilight and Starlight lowered their heads. "Now!" Twilight cried.

A bolt of magic shot from each horn to the base of its respective pillar. Energy raced upward, the crystals glowing almost blinding white, causing Spike to raise an arm to shield his eyes. Starlight clenched her teeth as she strained, her hooves splayed as if in need to better balance herself. While Twilight was not nearly as taxed, even she grimaced slightly, and she spread her wings. Soon a low hum reverberated through the room and carried through the planks of the floor, setting everything in the room shaking.

"Almost there!" Twilight cried above the din.

"We better be!" Starlight exclaimed. "This isn't as easy as it looks!"

"Almost ... just a little more ... there!"

Spike let out a startled yelp as jagged bolts of energy arced between the two pillars from crystal to crystal, snapping and sizzling. From the center of the maelstrom, a silvery plane expanded to fill the space between the pillars.

"We got it!" Twilight cried triumphantly. "Ease off!"

Starlight let the flow of magic from her horn taper off. She staggered back a step, panting and wiping sweat from her forehead. The hum had settled to a lower volume, accompanied by a faint buzzing noise and the tingly sense of static electricity.

Twilight smiled. "Nice work, Starlight!"

"Um, yeah," Starlight said in a distracted voice. She stepped up to the portal, and her own perfect reflection mimicked her approach. "Is it just me, or did we just go through a lot of magic and effort to create a mirror?"

Twilight's reflection approached, and Starlight turned her head towards the real one. "In a way, yes. It will look like a mirror until the portal is fully opened. But look!" Twilight raised a foreleg and swept it through the air. "That jagged scar is gone. We've got full control over this end of the portal now."

Spike stepped up and eyed his own reflection. "And nothing exploded!"

"And nothing will if we keep the confinement field energized," said Twilight. "I'm going to talk to the high magic department of Canterlot University and see if I can borrow some mana batteries."

Starlight tapped a fore-hoof against the mirror-like surface. Despite the feeling that she had struck something solid, the surface rippled like a pebble thrown into a pond, and she heard a sound like a tuning fork. "Maybe this thing is not completely open yet, but there is energy coming through."

"Yes, I can feel it, too," said Twilight. "It's crystal clear now. There is definitely bits of transformation magic leaking through."

Starlight turned more fully towards Twilight. "That kinda raises another concern of mine. Shouldn't we be focusing on Sunset's transformation research? If Sunset is doing something to that other world, we may need to fix it."

"Yes, I've started to think about that myself. Starlight, you seemed to be fascinated by what you found in the Archives. Do you want to take a shot at figuring it out?"

"Sure, I can try," said Starlight. "Mostly I'm curious as to what Sunset's thinking was on how permanent is 'permanent'."

"I don't quite follow," said Twilight.

"I understand that once you change the morphic resonance, the creature will stay in that form, but couldn't you just apply a similar spell and change that resonance back?"

"That could be why she burned her notes, to prevent somepony else from crafting the same spell."

Starlight considered. "Or she knew something that we don't."

"In either case, I would appreciate you looking into this," said Twilight as she stepped away from the portal. "That will let me focus on this and ..." She stopped and trailed off, looking around.

"You okay, Twilight?" Spike asked.

"There is it again," said Twilight. "That strange tingling. And now it's gone. Where is it coming from?"

"It must be from the portal," said Starlight. "My fur feels all staticky."

"No, it's not that," said Twilight. "I felt the same thing when I first looked at the portal with Shining Armor, and in this same exact spot. It's something else."

Starlight approached. "Here, let me try."

Twilight moved aside and pointed a hoof. "Right there."

Starlight trotted over and stood, then shrugged. "I got nothing."

Twilight gently pushed her to the side and occupied the spot again. "I felt it again! And, again, it's gone just as fast."

"What exactly did you feel?" Starlight asked.

"It's really weird. It's not like a normal tingling like you'd get in a powerful magic field. It's more like it came from, well, inside me. Like ... like I had a big tuning fork inside me and somepony just barely bumped it."

Starlight lighted her horn and paced out a circle around Twilight. "I'm not sensing anything. I'm even checking for mind magic in case a spell is just making you think you felt something."

Twilight looked thoughtful. She stepped off the spot again, lighted her horn, and stepped into it once more. "If the source is not in this room, it could be from another part of the building."

"The second floor, maybe?" Spike suggested.

"Princess Celestia said that's where Sunset built a shrine to her," said Starlight.

"Celestia likely cleared out that room as she did the others, but it might be worth taking a look," said Twilight. "Let's go."





Sunset Glow uttered a soft and quavering sigh as she stared at a family portrait that now seemed both familiar and alien to her. Until a day ago, it had depicted her, her husband Shimmering, and their "only" foal Night. Now a brightly smiling red and yellow unicorn filly sat next to Night. Both she and Night had a foreleg wrapped around each other.

She lowered the portrait to the table, the aura of her magic fading from around it as the timbers overhead creaked. "Shimmy? Are you still up in the attic?"

"Coming down now, love," came a faint and muffled reply.

Glow could scarcely believe that they had several boxes worth of stuff from Sunset's foalhood all this time, yet thanks to Celestia's infernal spell, they could stare right at them without ever seeing them. She could almost laugh at the discussions they had about never having enough attic space and wondering why.

She heard a clop of hooves from the hall, and Shimmering entered the room, another dust-choked box levitated before him. He set it down next to three others. "Have you had any luck?" he asked.

Glow glanced at the portrait. "I got distracted," she said in a soft voice.

Shimmering stepped up to her and wrapped a foreleg around her barrel. He cast a wistful gaze at the portrait. "How far did you get?"

Glow looked at the boxes. Her horn glowed, and a diary floated out of one of them. "Halfway through the second box." She levitated the journal before her and opened it briefly before slamming it closed and dropping it to the table with a thud. "Nothing! No evidence at all that she ever thought those terrible things that Princess Celestia claimed she believed!"

"Glowy, please, we talked about this," said Shimmering in a delicate voice. "She did express those opinions to us once."

"Only after the Princess claimed to have forced her to reveal them."

"As much as I'm upset with the Princess, I don't think she's behind her beliefs."

Glow frowned but said nothing.

Shimmering ran a hoof through his mane. "Even if she was, we're not going to find proof of it here. We only have up to her early teen years before she went off to Celestia's school."

"That alone is proof she didn't get these ideas from us!"

"I don't understand what you want to accomplish. Does it matter where it came from?"

Glow slid out of her chair onto her hooves. "Yes, it does, Shimmy. I need to know. I have to know. Everypony keeps claiming that her beliefs were her ultimate downfall. That means whoever gave her those beliefs is partially responsible for her death."

"I understand your need for closure on this, but--"

"I'm not sure you do." Glow stepped over to the boxes and sighed. "But I think you're right, we're not going to find the answer here." She looked up and turned to her husband. "But I think I know where we might find the answer: in Twilight's diaries."

Shimmering's eyes widened. "What?"

"The claim is that Sunset was teaching Twilight her beliefs," said Glow. "Then there must be something in her journals as a foal about it. They might contain a clue."

"We don't have a right to--"

Glow stomped a fore-hoof. "We have every right to see them! Our daughter's legacy is at stake here. I'm going to talk to Night. He and Velvet have all of Twilight's old things."





Starlight growled as magic rippled a fetlock's length from the door to the second floor when she poked her hoof forward. "What is it with Canterlot being so seal-happy??"

Twilight smiled and stepped forward. She cast a spell at the seal, and it vanished in a flicker of light. "As I suspected, Celestia re-keyed all her seals concerning Sunset to allow us through."

Starlight pressed her hoof forward again. This time, she could touch the heavy wooden door, its surface covered in ornate carvings, not the least of which was Celestia's cutie mark near the top, and Sunset's cutie mark, smaller in size, below it. "Well, here goes nothing." She flicked the latch open and pushed open the door. Beyond was little more than dusty darkness.

"I can't see a thing in there," said Spike.

Twilight took a step forward, her hooves kicking up small clouds of dust. She frowned and tossed her head when her horn caught a cobweb. "I can see torches on the walls. Let me see if I can light them."

A short incantation later, and four small balls of light whipped about from Twilight's horn and flew to receptacles on either side of the room. Flames sprang up and bathed the room in soft light.

Starlight's pupils shrank. "What in--?"

"Wow," Spike breathed.

"Oh, g-goodness," Twilight murmured.

Stretching out before them was a tiled floor, a huge mosaic of Celestia's cutie mark surrounded by large, ancient runes, each as big as a pony. At regular intervals along each wall to the left and right were marble columns. Between the columns lay stained glass, back-lit by magical light that had been triggered by the lighting of the torches. One depicted Celestia in a heroic airborne pose, her large wings spread majestically, the Elements of Harmony encircling her as a cone of magical energy hurtled from her horn to entrap Discord in stone. Similar scenes glorified her defeat of Tirek, Sombra, and Nightmare Moon. Another depicted her as she would appear during the Summer Sun Celebration, her wings outstretched, the sun behind her, ponies kneeling before her on either side. Another showed Celestia in a similar pose, but below her were one unicorn, one pegasus, and one earth pony. They sat on their haunches and lifted their fore-hooves to Celestia, lines spiraling from them up and around Celestia's horn.

At the far end of the room, a huge statue of Princess Celestia sat upon a low dais. Her wings were stretched out and up, her head held high, her head and hooves adorned with full royal regalia. A magical light shone on her from above and projected a beatific halo about her head. Her eyes and her cutie mark glowed faintly.

"When the Princess said Sunset had built a shrine to her, she wasn't kidding," Starlight murmured.

"I ... I almost didn't believe Celestia when she said Aunt Sunset worshiped her," Twilight said in a hushed voice.

Spike looked around. "Maybe Sunset just really liked Princess Celestia a lot?"

"This goes far beyond mere like," said Twilight softly. She pointed to the floor. "Look at these runes for instance."

Starlight frowned as she stared at them. "I can't read them."

"I can," said Twilight. "It's in very old tribal script. This one, for example, says 'love'."

"Well, that doesn't sound bad," said Spike.

"Except it's written in second person future imperative."

"Oh, okay, so ... um ... huh?"

"Loosely translated, this really means 'You will love', the implied direct object being Celestia," explained Twilight. "So this says 'You will love Celestia'. This next one is 'You will obey Celestia'. Then 'You will worship Celestia', and so on, each one describing some deep level of religious fealty to her."

Starlight stepped up to the stained glass scene depicting the defeat of Discord. "Uh, isn't there a distinct lack of Princess Luna in this scene?"

Twilight joined her. "Yes, there is. And in the one with Tirek, and the one with Sombra. And look at this." She trotted up to another scene.

Starlight and Spike followed. "Um, so?" said Starlight. "It's a Summer Sun Celebration."

"Look at the ponies to either side."

"Well, they're bowing. No, wait, they're--"

"They're kneeling, with all four legs." Twilight turned to her. "That's a classic prostration pose back when the ancient pony tribes worshiped pantheons of gods." She looked around, her eyes falling on a spot on the floor some five pony lengths before the statue. "I thought so."

"Thought what?" Starlight asked, but as soon as the words were out of her mouth, she spotted it as well: a slightly discolored rectangle on the dusty floor.

Twilight's horn glowed, and a brief blast of wind cleared the dust from a threadbare rectangular mat on the floor. "This is a replica of an ancient prayer mat. It was used by the pony tribes to conduct prayer services and sacred rites."

"Okay, now this is getting creepy," said Starlight.

"I know, this is very strange to us, but something must have prompted Aunt Sunset to go to these elaborate lengths," said Twilight. "But what?"

"I know I'm going out on a limb here, but maybe she was just, I don't know, a little cuckoo?"

Spike fidgeted. "Glad someone else said it."

"You may be correct," Twilight admitted in a reluctant voice. "But Starswirl the Bearded did research on the ancient practices and concluded that prayer could generate actual effects."

Starlight gave her a wary look. "But nopony believes those ancient deities were real."

"Yes, but Starswirl theorized that those ancient ponies were tapping into their own budding magical abilities. When ponykind realized that, they largely abandoned religious worship." Twilight looked up at the statue. "I wonder now if this were just some sort of unusual magical experiment."

"That's a bit of a stretch in my view."

Spike's eyes drifted down. "Hey, Twilight, look! Your wind spell blew some dust off the base of the statue. I think I see some writing."

Twilight trotted over to the statue, where a plaque lay at Celestia's fore-hooves. She looked down and read aloud. "All praise be to the Solar Goddess. Let Her life-giving light shine forever upon ponykind. She will not fail you if you do not fail Her."

"There's a page on the floor right in front of it," said Starlight. She levitated the yellowed document before her.

Twilight's eyes widened. "That's Celestia's writing!"

Starlight read it aloud. "Dearest Sunset, please forgive me for failing to live up to your ideals. I feel you have been cheated, in that you devoted yourself to a pony who is as fallible as the rest. I can only demand of myself so many times how you came to believe as such before I will go mad. If it was something I did, if I ever once even hinted I wanted your worship, you have my unending regret and sorrow. I know not of the nature of the afterlife, but I hope this missive somehow finds its way to you and allows you peace."

Twilight let out a heartfelt sigh and lowered her gaze. "Poor Celestia. She must have written that when she was still grieving for Aunt Sunset. Maybe that's why she left this shrine intact, in hopes that just maybe her spirit would somehow find this letter. It would be in keeping with some ancient practices."

Starlight lowered the missive to the floor. "It is sweet in a way."

Twilight's head suddenly whipped towards the statue. She took another step forward. "Starlight ... this statue ... it's the source of the strange energy I sensed in the lab."

Starlight's eyes widened. "It is?"

"What does it mean?" Spike asked.

Twilight trotted slowly around it. "I'm not sure. I don't even know quite what it is yet."

Starlight frowned. "Twilight, I'd be very careful if I were you. If Sunset left some kind of booby trap in here--"

"What would be the point of that?" Twilight said. "Anyway, now that it's a little stronger, it feels ... familiar somehow."

"What's making me really wary about this is that I still can't detect this energy myself."

Twilight stopped pacing around the statue. "Perhaps it's because I'm an alicorn."

"But if that's the case, don't you think Princess Celestia would have sensed it?" said Starlight. "At least she never mentioned anything like that to me."

Twilight came around the front of the statue and approached the others. "Then let's go ask her about it."





"Absolutely not," declared Twilight Velvet before Night Light could even open his mouth.

"I wasn't asking you," Glow said in a cool voice.

"We both happen to be Twilight's parents, in case you haven't noticed," said Velvet in an acid voice. "And we can't just give you her private journals."

"Can you at least tell me if you found--"

"Mom, we don't read her old journals!" Night finally said. "And, Velly, please, calm down."

Velvet took a deep breath. "My apologies, I just ... I've never felt this much stress in the household before, not since Sunset first, well, passed on."

"We only know those parts of Twilight's diaries that she shared with us," said Night. "We don't ask to see them. She entrusted them to us, and we will continue to honor that trust."

Shining stepped forward. "Grandma, why don't you just ask Twilight about this? I'm sure if you explain things to her, she'll be glad to help."

Glow averted her eyes. "I-I guess I was afraid she might ignore me."

"Mom, why would you think that?" asked Night.

Glow sighed. "I've just ... I ..." She took a deep breath and lifted her head. "Please, don't take this the wrong way, but Twilight idolized Princess Celestia for so long that I'm afraid she might cover for the Princess."

"Grandma, Twilight wouldn't do that," Shining said. "She wants to know the truth same as anypony."

"But why isn't she as angry with the Princess as the rest of us?"

"That's just how Twily is," said Shining with a small smile.

"Mom, Twilight is upset with the Princess," said Night. "But she also has an important task to do right now. She has to work with Princess Celestia to do it."

"Goodness knows, I've had my reservations about things the Princess has done in the past concerning Twily," said Velvet. "But Twilight is a grown mare. She can make her own decisions."

Glow's eyes misted. "You really think she'd help me?"

"I'm positive she will," said Shining. "Let me go find Twilight for you, and I'll ask her on your behalf."

Glow slowly smiled. "Thank you, Shiny. I'm sorry I'm being such a pest."

Night smiled and hugged her. "You're never a pest, Mom."

"I'm sorry I was short with you," said Velvet. "Perhaps I can make up for it with some tea?"

"Yes, please, that would be nice," said Glow.

Velvet smiled and trotted off into the kitchen.

"I'll go see if I can find Twilight," said Shining as he turned away.





Celestia looked both thoughtful and sorrowful as she listened to Twilight and Starlight's account of their visit to the shrine. When they were done, she forced a small smile. "Would you think me strange if I told you that I am disappointed that my letter was still there?"

Twilight smiled. "Not at all. I understand how you felt about her."

Celestia slowly paced. "But to answer your question, Twilight, I never detected any sort of magical resonance in that room, other than what powered the stained glass lights."

"When was the last time you visited the room?" Starlight asked.

"I visited it on the very night that I checked on the rift," said Celestia. "Right after Luna told me you and Twilight had detected it. Had there been any residual magic, I would most assuredly have sensed it."

"This is very strange," said Twilight. "I know what I sensed. It was only fleeting in the room above, but when I stand right next to that statue, I can sense it constantly." She turned to Celestia. "You've heard about the possibility of Aunt Sunset being alive?"

Celestia nodded once. "If Sunset has done anything to disturb that world, I pledge to do whatever is in my power to fix it." She hesitated. "I want to believe she is still with us, but it is hard to hold out hope."

"I feel I owe it to her to see if she's alive," said Twilight. "Despite whatever she did and may have done, she's still family."

Celestia smiled. "You are to be greatly admired for your dedication, Twilight. Sunset was right in choosing to lavish such affection on you. She always spoke highly of you."

"She did?" Starlight asked.

"This is yet another reason why I believed she was on her way to Ascension," said Celestia. "She had the ability to sense future magical talent in others. She sensed the very same thing in you, Twilight, that I had sensed. When she shared with me what she had learned, I encouraged her to spend more time with you, not realizing what could result."

Starlight raised an eyebrow. "Now Sunset sounds suspiciously like she wanted Twilight as her own protege."

"Perhaps," said Celestia. "Had things turned out differently, I may very well have allowed Sunset to instruct Twilight."

Twilight looked intensely thoughtful for a moment. "I wonder now if Aunt Sunset and I were closer than perhaps I had realized. I can't help but think it may have something to do with what I'm sensing in the shrine."

"Uh, isn't that a bit of a stretch?" said Starlight.

"But why I am the only one who can sense it? It's almost as if it were meant for me to find."

"Maybe all she wanted was to indoctrinate you in her little 'Church of Celestia,'" said Starlight.

"You could be right, but I feel I need to know for sure." She turned to Celestia. "Thank you for your time."

"I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help," said Celestia. "But I may have something else for you. Starlight had mentioned a pony named Star Singer with whom I was not familiar."

"Yes, we believe she and Aunt Sunset may have been close friends," said Twilight. "Or at least worked together in some capacity."

"I had my clerks review Day Court records from around that time," said Celestia. "Star Singer had apparently petitioned to see me on a very urgent matter just before I cast the spell that wiped memory of Sunset. Do you wish me to follow up on this, Twilight?"

"Yes, please," said Twilight. "I'd be interested in hearing her side of this." She turned to Starlight. "Let's go." 

Celestia hesitated as the two ponies turned away before calling out, "Twilight, please, wait."

Twilight stopped and turned. "Yes?"

Celestia slowly smiled. "I would be honored if you would consider joining me for dinner this evening."

"Oh, um ... "

"Feel free to bring any of your friends or family along."

Twilight paused. "Well, I think I better remain focused on this task, but, thank you."

Celestia nodded. "As you wish."

Starlight glanced over her shoulder as they left the throne room. "Did I hear you right? You give up a chance to spend time with the Princess?"

"I don't feel comfortable yet being with her in such a casual setting," said Twilight. "The more I dwell on Aunt Sunset, the more I realize I have emotions I still need to sort through concerning Celestia."

"I thought you said you forgave her."

"I did. At least, I think so." Twilight sighed, her ears drooping. "I keep trying to convince myself that she thought she was doing the right thing twenty-one years ago, but I'm having a harder time with it than I thought I would. I just--"

"Twily, there you are!" came her brother's voice from up ahead.

Twilight lifted her head. "Oh, hi, Shining. Were you looked for me?"

Shining cantered up to them. "I have a request from grandma Glow. She wants to look at your old journals."

Twilight gave him a confused look. "She does? Why?"

Shining sighed. "She's having a very hard time dealing with Aunt Sunset's beliefs. She's insisting they had to come from somewhere else other than her own head."

"That sounds familiar," murmured Starlight.

"Huh?" said Shining.

Twilight gave Starlight a cross look. "That's not quite what I meant. I was talking about her motivations." She turned back to Shining. "She's not going to find what she wants. I remember that time well now, and I doubt there's anything in my old diaries that's any different."

"Still, I think we should humor her, if for no other reason than to get her off your back," said Shining. "I hate to be that blunt, because I know this is hitting her hard."

"No, I understand. I'd like a chance to look at those old diaries myself, just to make sure my memories are as accurate as I think they are. Do you want to come along, Starlight?"

Starlight smirked. "That depends. Will there be embarrassing adorkable stuff about you from when you were a little foal?"

Shining placed a hoof to his muzzle to hide a grin. Twilight rolled her eyes and said in a reluctant voice, "Most likely, yes."

Starlight grinned. "Then count me in!"

"Figures," Twilight muttered.





Twilight face-hoofed as she heard Starlight giggle behind her yet again. Arrayed around them on the floor of Twilight's old bedroom were the journals she had written as a foal. While Twilight had been intent on searching for any material concerning Sunset, Starlight appeared to be more interested in amusing herself.

"Oh my gosh, look at this!" Starlight said, her voice bubbling with mirth. "Your parents were late getting home from some sort of engagement, and you created a table of possible causes, all with probabilities listed. And you calculated a non-zero chance of things like were-breezies and minotaur ninjas!"

Twilight ground her teeth as Starlight fell over onto her back in a fit of giggles. "Give me that!" Twilight snapped as she snatched the journal from Starlight's faltering grip. "Will you be serious, please?"

Starlight rolled back onto her hooves, wiping away tears of laughter. "Sorry, Twilight, you were just sooo adorkable when you were a foal."

"We really need to focus, Starlight. And stop using that word! It doesn't even exist!"

"But if it did, it would have a picture of you next to it in the dictionary," Starlight said, triggering another round of giggles.

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Stop it." She lifted another journal into view, open to a page about two thirds through. "I found something interesting." She floated the journal over so they could both see. "This entry details a story that Aunt Sunset told me. I had remembered this, but not all the details. Read it for yourself."

Starlight stepped forward and brought her eyes to focus on Twilight's impeccable script despite her being only five at the time: Auntie Sunset told me a fun story! One upon a time, there was a beautiful mare who did all sorts of nice things for other ponies. She wanted them all to be happy and safe. She even did nice things for non-ponies, too! One day, a strange creature appeared. He was really mean and wanted to hurt ponies and break things. Everypony turned to the beautiful mare and begged her to help. "Believe in me, my ponies, and I will defeat him!" But even with all the ponies believing in her, the mare just barely defeated the evil creature. She looked like I did that time I fell down the stairs before Mommy took me to the hospital. Somepony said, "The non-ponies didn't believe in her!" But the non-ponies said, "We did believe in her with all our hearts, but it didn't help!" And the beautiful mare said, "Fear not! I will find a way to make you all ponies, and then everything will be better!" And one day, she did, and they all lived happily ever after.

Starlight lifted her head. "Huh. Not exactly subtle, was she?"

"But do you notice something interesting about this story?" asked Twilight.

"Other than it really highlights her beliefs about creating some sort of all-pony utopia?"

"Yes, other than that," Twilight said. "Not once does it come right out and claim ponies are better."

"Uh, but isn't that implied?"

Twilight picked up a quill in her magic and jabbed it towards a particular passage. "It says 'I will find a way to make you all ponies, and then everything will be better.' It does not say 'you will all be better.'"

"Well, okay, yeah," said Starlight. "But isn't that just a matter of semantics?"

"One thing I've learned about Aunt Sunset is that she was very much concerned with exact meanings," said Twilight.

"I would say you are very much like that as well," Starlight said cautiously.

"I know where you're going with this. You're concerned that I'm projecting my own persona onto Aunt Sunset."

"Well, yeah."

Twilight set down the journal and quill. "You can't deny that there are some similarities between us. Maybe our demeanor and outlook were different, but we're both intellectuals. We care about things like facts and precise meanings."

"And you're sure you took down the story correctly?" Starlight asked.

"Positive. I've always had a good short term memory, and that's what would be needed to convey the story accurately. I believe this represents exactly what Aunt Sunset told me."

"Okay, then what about the chance that she was crafting her words very carefully to cover her tracks, and she counted on an impressionable filly to read between the lines? Especially given how your family hadn't realized what she believed."

Twilight was silent for a long moment. "I suppose that's possible. I guess I just don't want to believe that she intended to be deceptive towards even me. I know you may accuse me of being biased, but I feel a bond with her that I can't explain. Why would I be the only one to feel that odd resonance at the shrine?"

"Which we don't seem to be any closer to figuring out," Starlight muttered.

Twilight looked at the journals around her. "We hadn't come here for that."

"I know, but I was kinda hoping we'd find something anyway."

"One thing I am sure of," said Twilight as she picked up another journal. "Grandma Glow isn't getting the answer she wants from these. There's nothing here that hints at where Aunt Sunset got her beliefs."

Starlight picked up another journal as well and flipped through it idly. "I think it's more a case that they have an answer she doesn't want to hear."

"You're probably right, but ..." Twilight trailed off as she saw Starlight staring at something on a page and smiling. "What is it?"

"Oh, just something cute."

Twilight sighed. "Please, not another embarrassing moment from my foalhood. I get enough of that from my Mom."

"Eh, not really." Starlight turned the journal around.

Twilight slowly smiled as her gaze fell on a page of doodles, mostly of Sunset or her cutie mark. "Oh, that. I often did that on the last few pages of a journal. It always reflected whatever or whoever I was most interested in." She picked up another journal and opened it to a back page, which was filled with sketches of Cadance. "See? This was after Cadance started foal-sitting me."

Starlight grabbed a few more journals and flipped to the back. On the third one, she gasped. "Oh, my."

Twilight turned her head. Her ears drooped. "I can guess which one that is."

The top part of the page was filled with the usual doodles of Sunset, but halfway down the page, it became shaky drawings of the family, all looking sad, sometimes with tears dripping from their eyes. Interspersed among the pictures was the same word over and over: WHY.

Twilight uttered a heavy sigh, and her eyes glistened.

"Um, sorry," Starlight said in a soft voice.

Twilight closed her eyes for a moment and shook her head. "It's fine, Starlight. I should have expected this would jog some sad memories."

Starlight turned the page, and she let out a shaky breath. "Oh, Twilight, this ... this is lovely."

"Huh? What is?"

"This beautiful sentiment you wrote in here."

Twilight stepped over to Starlight. She stared at a page half-filled with more sad drawings, but part of it had been erased, and in its place were the words: You have left this world, yet I can still follow in your hoofsteps. All I need to do is be true to who and what I am, and I will unerringly find my way. I will seek what is dear and true to my heart, and there I will find the answer.

Starlight took a deep breath. "Twilight, that is really a very sweet--"

"I didn't write this!" Twilight cried.

Starlight's eyes widened. "Wait, what?"

Twilight grabbed the journal fully in her magic and read the passage again. "Yes, it ... it is very nice, but I didn't write this."

"Maybe you just don't remember because of your emotional--"

"No, Starlight! I would remember writing something like this. Look at the structure of the prose. This is too sophisticated for my age at the time." She stared at the comment again, her horn glowing. "This is not even written with the same pencils I used back then."

"But it looks like your horn-writing."

"Which could be duplicated with a well-crafted spell," Twilight declared. "This is not a message from me to Aunt Sunset, this is a message from Aunt Sunset to me! Look how cleanly the drawings were erased to accommodate the text. She wrote this with some sort of time-delay spell on it so it wouldn't appear right away."

"And she put it in your horn-writing so anypony else looking at this wouldn't be the wiser."

"Exactly!"

"Okay, so, what does this message mean?"

Twilight stared at the text. It took a bit of effort to separate sentiment from rationality. As much as the words tugged at her heart, she had to focus on a deeper and more obscure meaning. "Be true to who and what I am," Twilight murmured. "I will seek what is true and dear to my heart."

"So what was true and dear to your heart back then?"

Twilight looked up. "I don't know! My heart was tugged in so many directions. I looked up to Aunt Sunset, yes, but I also dearly loved my big brother, and I was fascinated with Princess Celestia. I had also started reading about Starswirl the Bearded."

Starlight considered. "All right, say this is a message from Sunset to you. What would be dear to her heart?"

"Well, Celestia, of course," said Twilight. "If that shrine of hers is any indication ... if ..." She gasped. "That's it!"

"Huh?" said Starlight. "What's it?"

"The shrine! That's where she wanted me to find 'the answer.' She said to be true to who and what I am. She's referring to my morphic resonance!"

Starlight blinked. "She is? How do you figure that?"

"The magic in that shrine is impinging on my morphic resonance. That's why only I can feel it, and why it feels like it's coming from inside me. It must be a magical key."

"Then why didn't some secret thing open up when you were near it?"

"Because it's not quite correct. It's trying to seek my resonance as it was when I was a unicorn! Since I've Ascended, it's changed. There was no way Aunt Sunset could anticipate that I would become an alicorn. If I can create some sort of filter, some way of altering my apparent signature so that the keyed spell will trigger, then--"

Starlight raised her fore-hooves. "Whoa, whoa! Isn't that a huge risk?"

Twilight gave her a cross look. "What are you talking about?"

"We already know Sunset figured out how to mess with the morphic resonance. How do we know this isn't some sort of trap?"

"Why would she do such a thing?" Twilight said. "And to the unicorn who looked up to her the most? Come on, we need to get to a magic lab so I can start working on this."

Starlight frowned. "Fine. But if this winds up turning you into a kumquat, don't come crying to me."