Twilight Sparkle was excited. No, Twilight Sparkle was positively thrilled! For the time has come to put the results of the last three months of a hard work to a test!
She stood in one of her castle's chambers, the one she decided to turn into a brand new lab. Thankfully most of her precious equipment that was stored in the basement laboratory survived the explosion of the Golden Oak Library, so it didn't took to many effort and expenses.
Before her stood a tall mirror hooked up to the machine, she once used to open the portal to the human world. Though the mirror was different, it was plain rectangle with no frame, nothing like the elegant Magic Mirror created by Star Swirl The Bearded but it would suffice, after all this was just a prototype. Besides, the mirror itself, despite its unoriginal look, was a piece of a magical art. The sheer number of intricate enchantments waved into its glass was astonishing.
Yes, she was going to create a new portal. The portal that leads to a new world! Ever since she had gone through the Magic Mirror the concept of the multiverses became her newest obsession. Thanks to that obsession she was able to construct the machine on such a short notice, when Sunset asked for her help with the Sirens. And now it took only some minor tweaks to repurpose the device.
She cleared her throat. "Spike, take the parchment."
"Can do," The baby dragon saluted, hopped to the nearby table with a big book and stack of parchment on it and grabbed the quill. "Ok, ready when you are."
"Excellent!" Twilight levitated a big tome and some writing essentials from the table to herself and began to write. "Project "Mirror" research log number one-three-eight-dash-one. The prototype is finally ready. I was able to repurpose the machine I used to power the original mirror into, what I call, a Portal Control Terminal. All information on the additions and upgrades to the machine can be found in the attached documents."
"Today I am going to activate the Terminal and attempt to open a stable connection with another universe. As always Spike will observe the experiment and provide a written transcription," At this she waved to her number one assistant.
He smiled and waved back.
"Alright, I'm activating the Terminal," Twilight pulled one of the levers on a control panel, and the machine began to hum.
"Beginning data input," She began to tap on a keyboard with her hooves. "I'm using the coordinates that were calculated with the help of my friend and a colleague Sunset Shimmer and my personal student Starlight Glimmer. According to our calculations, the world on the other side will be very similar to ours, with only some minor differences in a probability that wouldn't be relevant on the grand scale. That's done in order of safety, we don't want to open the portal and find Tirek or hostile environment on the other side."
"In case of emergency I've added a self-destruction enchantment to the mirror that can be activated remotely by Spike via the enchanted rune I gave him."
Spike stopped writing for a moment and glanced at the runestone that was hanging on his neck as a medallion. He really hoped that he wouldn't have to use it.
Twilight had finished putting in the coordinates and was adjusting the settings with some handles and tumblers on the control panel. "If everything will go according to plan the portal would lead to the exact same chamber, and hopefully it will be unused, just like this one was only a week ago. I really don't want to go through the portal and walk face first into something. In any case I would be able to visit the other world for a brief time and, hopefully, establish contact with my counterpart."
Twilight smiled to herself, imagining the look on the other Twilight's face when they will meet. And hopefully this won't be like the time traveling spell all over again, neither of us need that. She thought.
"Alright, the moment of truth," She took a deep breath and pulled the last lever.
The machine started to hum louder, a few electric arks started to dance between the coils on its top. The surface of the mirror began to ripple and shimmer.
"It's working! Spike! It's working!"
Twilight couldn't wait to see the world on the other side. She quickly cast a shield spell around herself and moved closer to better see the mirror.
It's surface already begun to glow bright white and the ripples have turned into the waves. The humming began to get quieter, which could only mean that the hardest part of a spell was finished and the Terminal began process of stabilizing the connection.
Any moment now, Twilight thought looking eagerly at the portal. She levitated her journal closer to herself, ready to write about the success of the experimental launch.
But something was not right. The mirror continued to glow brighter and brighter.
Twilight took a step back. "Spike, I think something..."
She wasn't able to finish the sentence.
Suddenly the surface of the mirror exploded with light, forcing Twilight to jump backwards and use her wings to shield her eyes. The coils on top of the machine began to spit electric bolts all over the room. All monitors on the control panel started to glow before exploding in a shower of glass.
"Spike! Turn it off!" Twilight shouted.
The baby dragon didn't need to be told twice. He grabbed the runestone and inhaled ready to activate the self-destruction enchantment with his dragon fire. But before he could release his breath, the arcane-electric bolt from one of the coils hit the table he was sitting at and send him flying across the room.
"By Celestia, Spike!" Twilight screamed. She wanted to run towards her assistant and make sure that he would be alright, to protect him and activate the self-destruction rune. But what she saw at the corner of her eye stopped her dead in her tracks.
The tendrils of arcane energy started to shoot out of the mirror like whips, leaving the scorched marks everywhere they touched.
And some of them were heading right towards her.
The first one collided with her shield before she could even react. Normally her shields were able to sustain a substantial amount of damage even before she became an alicorn, now they were practically impenetrable by any normal unicorn magic. But this was not normal magic.
Raw arcane energy that collided with her shield vanished almost immediately but, it managed to disrupt the spell on its base level. The shield cracked. The second tendril collided a moment later completely destroying Twilight's protection spell.
This all happened so fast, she didn't even have time to move. The third tendril flew right above her head, singeing her mane. With a frightened squick Twilight fell to the floor and looked at the mirror, only to see more arcane whips flying towards her, leaving the scorched marks on the floor. The moment purple alicorn saw them, she knew that she wouldn't be able to move out of their way in time.
With nothing else to use as a protection Twilight grabbed the journal, that fell from her magical grasp a moment ago and shoved it between her face and the upcoming danger.
When magic collided with the book, the time seemed to slow down. Twilight looked with horror how her makeshift shield was engulfed in flames, how its cover started to glow bright and how it started to disintegrate sending the burning pain in her front hooves.
The Princess instinctively closed her eyes and waited for pain to come...
And waited...
And waited...
By Celestia, I know that this suppose to feel like in a slow motion and all, but this is ridiculous! She thought.
Cautiously Twilight opened one eye and was greeted with a singed cover of her old journal. She just stared at it for a moment. She was sure that the old book was destroyed by magic, she even felt it disappearing from her grasp.
Twilight carefully lifted her head and looked.
The room was dark and quiet, only lit by the occasional sparks flying out of the broken machine. The magic was gone, they were safe, they were...
"Oh Celestia, Spike!" She shouted and jumped back on her hooves. In one big leap Twilight got to the corner where Spike has been thrown by the electric charge, casted the elimination spell and started to dig through the pile of broken wooden planks that ones was a cabinet. "Please be okay, please be okay, please be okay..."
"Urgh..." A clawed hand slowly moved one of the planks aside and the panicked princess saw the small, slightly singed, dragon. "I'm alright, Twilight." He raised his other hand above his head, the cracked runestone in it. "Everything is under control!"
"Oh Spike!" Twilight grabbed her assistant and hugged him. "You saved me! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" If not for him, her face would've been melted by the uncontrollable magic energy, and that is just one of best possible outcomes. "Oh, what would I do without you?"
"Keep hugging like this and you'll have to find out..." The little dragon wheezed. "I can't breathe."
"Sorry." She released him and smiled apologetically. "I keep forgetting about this whole earth pony strength. Are you sure that you're alright?"
"Yeah, yeah, thick scales, remember?" Spike took one more deep breath and looked around the room. "So... What happened?"
Twilight looked over the wrecked room once more. What did happen?
Everything was perfectly calculated, the machine was fully functional, the theory was solid.
And yet, it exploded in her face.
"I don't know Spike. But we can worry about it later. Let's just get out of here." She levitated her assistant onto her back and headed to the door. "How about we go and grab something to eat at the Sugarcube Corner?"
However, before Spike could voice his approval, the door flew off its hinges.
Twilight gasped as something big flew into the room.
"Don't worry everypony!" the familiar, yet rather unwelcomed voice announced. "Discord is here to save the day!"
"Discord! What are you doing here?" Twilight asked and then squinted at him. "You don't happen to be responsible for that little light show, do you?"
The draconequus was making some significant progress with his reformation, however there were some regressions and occasional slips, some more severe then the others.
"Moi?" Discord put his paw on his chest and managed to look rather offended. "Twilight, my dear, the resonance cascade is not a joke! Not even for yours truly!"
"The what?"
"I was minding my own business, creating chaos, choosing gifts for Fluttershy, putting laxatives into Tia's cake, all at once mind you, when I felt the disturbance in the force and rushed to your aid-" Discord started to pace around the room "- only to find the crisis averted, the nerve, and accusations been thrown my way!" he stopped and pointed an accusatorial finger at Twilight. "Well, next time you and that assistant of yours will bring about the world's end don't count on my help! Ta-ta!"
And with that he disappeared leaving behind very confused alicorn princess.
"I'm... sorry?" was all she managed to say after the few moments of silence.
"You are forgiven!" the cheerful voice from behind caused Twilight to jump once again and turn around to find the Lord of Chaos floating there. "But seriously, next time at least wear the proper protection gear."
And with another snap of his fingers he disappeared once again.
"Whaf waf faf afouf?" sounded a muffled voice.
Twilight turned her head and saw Spike wearing some sort of a green body armor and a gray helmet that covered his face. After some fumbling he managed to pull it off.
"I said, what was that all about?" he repeated. "Nice suit by the way." He pointed at Twilight.
"Huh?" Twilight looked over herself, she was wearing a strange orange and black outfit that was made of what seemed to be a metal as well as some rubber-like material for the joints. The armor was surprisingly light and did not hinder her movement at all. Also a pair of simple rectangular glasses was perched neatly on her snout.
"Well, it does look like it can protect me, I'll give him that. I'll have to test it later." She took a few more moments to admire her new outfit before realizing something. "How do I take it off?"
It took some time and Spike's help to free Twilight from Discord's gift and, after putting it away, they continued with their original plan.
***
Despite the bad start the day turned out to be great. When Twilight and Spike arrived at Sugarcube Corner Pinkie Pie already had the complementary "Don't get worked up about the failed experiment" cupcakes ready, because of course she had, and they were simply magnificent. Some time later Rarity came in and, after some casual conversation, offered them to join her at the spa. When they returned home the sun already started to move below the horizon.
"I'm telling you Twilight, they are definitely using some kind of unknown earth pony magic." Spike stretched, while riding on Twilight's back. "You definitely should hire them for our royal spa."
Twilight giggled at that. Yes, the spa sisters were as eager as always to give their princess a royal treatment and as always their hooves were simple divine... Maybe Spike was on to something there.
"We don't have a royal spa, and no, I'm not going to hire anypony."
"Ehh, it was worth a shot." Spike stretched one more time and yawned. "Don't know about you but I am getting sleepy. I'll go hit the hay earlier today."
The Dragon hopped off her back and headed towards the bedroom.
"Are you coming?"
Twilight thought for a moment. "Yes, I'll just go to the lab quickly and get a few things for tomorrows review of the experiment."
That got Spike to stop in his tracks and turn around to face her.
"Okay, I know where this is going," He squinted and pointed an accusatory claw at Twilight. "You are going to get all worked up again as soon as you enter the lab and will spend the whole night trying to figure things out, aren't you?"
"What? No!" Twilight answered with a nervous chuckle. "Of course not. I'll just grab our notes and be right back. Honest."
Spike kept his stare for a bit longer but then he just sighed and shook his head. "Okay, but don't take long."
"Don't worry. And good night Spike."
"Good night Twilight."
***
The lab was dark.
Twilight tried the switch once more but no light came. Apparently the magical surge completely destroyed the power lines in the room.
"Good thing I isolated it from the rest of my castle," Twilight murmured as she entered the room with her illumination spell on.
She made her way towards the table Spike was sitting at during the experiment to see if any of his notes can still be salvaged, only to see a scorched pile of wood and burned pieces of paper scattered around it.
"That lightning did a number on it..." Twilight bit her lower lip and looked back at the rubble that once was a cabinet. The memory of lightning bolt hitting the table and sending Spike flying made her shiver. "Oh Spike, if anything ever happens to you I will never forgive myself. I must be more careful next time."
She shook her head and walked away from the wreckage.
With all transcripts destroyed she lost the benefit of the side observation, however her own notes should be enough to review the experiment and find out what she did wrong. With that thought Twilight made her way to the center of the room where her journal still laid on the floor.
She levitated the book towards herself. Even in the purple glow of her magic she could see the burned marks all over its cover and some of the pages. A pang of guilt shot through Twilight's heart. That book was with her for so long. It served as her diary, a research journal and it contained a copy of every single letter she and her friends wrote to Princess Celestia. It has even survived the destruction of the Golden Oak Library. She could probably think of it as another loyal friend. Especially after she used it as a makeshift shield.
"At least you're still in one piece," Twilight said tucking the book under her wing. "Come on, lets go before Spike decides to drag me out of here by the tail."
***
"I probably would have to drag her out of there by the tail, again." Spike sighed to himself and looked at the clock. "Five more minutes and I'll..."
He was cut off when with a bright flash of light the purple alicorn appeared in the middle of a room.
"Huh. I didn't expect that."
"I told you that it would take just a few minutes." Twilight smirked.
"Good, now I can sleep in peace. Good night Twi!" He dove into his basket and was out even before Twilight could reply.
"How does he do that?" Twilight shook her head.
She levitated the book onto a nightstand near her bed and went to the bathroom to get ready for the sleep. After all tomorrow would be a long day of reviewing all spells and enchantments, and she'd need a clear head for it.
***
"No, seriously, how does he do that?" Twilight thought to herself once again.
She was laying in bed for an hour already and couldn't fall asleep. The thoughts on the experiment were buzzing in her head. Could it be that she was wrong about the sigils they used to enchant the mirror? Or the coordinates were wrong? It was a possibility, after all it is quite hard to work with so many additional dimensions. But no, she quadruple checked everything. Maybe it all boiled down to a simple input error?
With a grunt of frustration Twilight put hooves on the sides of her head. She would never fall asleep at this rate.Twilight set in her bed and grabbed the journal from the nightstand, if she couldn't sleep, she might as well check some things out. With this thought Twilight opened the last page of the journal.
...
"Huh?" Twilight stared at the page for a moment, then she closed her eyes and shook her head. But when she opened them and looked at the page again, nothing changed. She was still staring at an incomprehensible jumbled mess of letters and symbols instead of her own writings.
Twilight started to turn pages, one after the other, but all of them contained the same jiberrish as the last one.
"What kind of magic could have done this?" She questioned out loud. "All of my research, all our letters, everything is gone..." She continued to look through the mess on the page, however the more she looked the more familiar it seemed. She just couldn't put her hoof onto it.
Twilight turned some more pages when suddenly she saw a pice of paper with the normal words on it. One glance was enough for her to recognize it. It was Applejack's letter to Celestia. The one about the importance of being honest to yourself not just the others. Aj accidentally spilled some ink on it and decided to write another one. The ink blot was not big and the letter remained perfectly readable, so Twilight decided to attach it to her journal instead of copying it. And now it was the only readable thing in the whole book.
The proverbial gears in Twilight's head started to spin.
"The letters was in the book when it was hit by the magic, and yet it is intact. That means that this mess was the result of something other than wild magic," Twilight muttered. "That magic could not possibly target only my book nor my hornwrighting for it was anything but sophisticated, on the contrary it was incredibly disruptive. In other words..."
And that's when it hit her. Twilight looked at the writings as if she saw them for the first time. There were patterns, and the more she looked at them the more familiar they became.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" Twilight whispered in disbelief. "Is that really my encryption!?"
Now that she realized what it was, she could clearly see it. Her whole journal was encrypted when the wild magic disrupted the enchantment she made.
"But... Didn't I dispel it?"- Twilight whispered, rubbing her chin - "I was sure I did."
Twilight tried hard to remember the last time she made any alterations to the enchantments on the journal. That day she checked its fireproof enchantment, waterproof enchantment, renovated its oxidation resistance and added a new enchantment to make sure the pages wouldn't stick to each other. However she couldn't remember anything regarding the encryptions.
"Huh, I guess I completely forgot about it," Twilight scratched the back of her head. "Hey, that means that everything is still here!"
She grabbed the journal and smiled at it.
"I simply need to decipher everything," her ears fell a little. "I just hope that the enchantment is still working..."
Twilight laid her trusted journal back on the bed and ignited her horn, ready to cast the key sequence spell, that should've activated the deciphering process. A few moments later she opened it on the first page, hoping to see how this jumbled mess transforms into normal words which then slide into their rightful places.
However the text remained motionless with the only one readable word "Hello" written in the upper left corner of the first page.
She tried to cast it again, only to see how the word "dear" gathered itself and slid next to "Hello".
Twilight tried it on more time, making sure that she cast the spell correctly, and was rewarded with a phrase "Hello dear Diary".
"Oh, great..." Twilight facehoofed.