She ran away from her palace. From the statues. From the Darkness. Everything was starting all over again ; it had to be a nightmare. Her golden tears fell into the abysmal orange sky that was making most of her world.
Even though her people had told her to escape, she had nowhere to go ; she herself had destroyed the portal to the other world years ago. She guided the transparent blue square platform to a rocky island, one of countless suspended in the endless sky. She did not know that place : it was too far away from her now fallen kingdom ; beyond that point, there were no more floating rocks. As she set her feet on the rocky surface, the entire small island rotated like it was hiding her from view. She felt on her knees as she checked her wound ; her hip was bleeding, but it seemed superficial ; it was unbearably painful however.
“At least that cursed sword had missed me… Hugh… Should I consider myself lucky to have been attacked by a blind idiot ? What are these things anyway !? They look like them… As soon as I’ll get better I’ll…”
The pain snapped her from her thoughts ; she could not do anything, wounded or not : the things were far too many and far too powerful against magic, and she even had not seen their commander, if they had one.
“I’m doomed. Hugh… Who could’ve thought it would end like this ? Me, dying on a stupid rock ! I…”
She interrupted her train of thought herself this time : right before her red eyes, there was a cavern ; it was making an angle just after the entrance and, by a strange light and shadow effect, was appearing as an almost flat depression when looked from anywhere but her standing point. Seeing no reason to not hide further, she went into the hole. The cavern was indeed making a 90° turn to the left ; she followed the path, making another turn to the right. She walked some meters before taking again another turn to the right. In her wounded state, she was leaning on the wall ; as soon as she turned at the corner, she slipped both on the ground and the wall : the rocky path was suddenly morphing into an impossibly slippery obsidian-like steep surface. She screamed from the pain caused by her fall, then from terror when she saw the end of the slide getting inexorably closer : it was a round black hole with bright green edges. She estimated its diameter as three meters, far too large to try to catch the other side by jumping ; she was not controlling her position anyways, and the substance was far too slippery. She closed her eyes and resigned herself to her fate.
“Killed by slipping into a hole. What a funny end for a ruler” she thought before being swallowed by the void.
The Poe had accomplished its mission : the last bits were in its possession, sealed inside its precious lantern ; the ones from its world were easy to find, and it already had given them to its master ; suddenly it sensed the call and disappeared from the universe it was in.
The Master was suddenly right in front of it in all its glorious incomprehensible form.
"O Master, I did as you asked. How may I serve you again ?"
"Return… world of yours. You… assist I for… attack. Not now. I… will… call… you".
The Poe found itself back into its cavern, its lantern now empty, waiting impatiently for the day its master would call it to destroy Hyrule. And everything else.
She was definitely not dead. She was definitely not in her world however. Lying face down, she looked around : a recently burned plain, strange trees and plants, world of light… “Maybe I’m back in… Ow !” : the pain prevented her from getting up, but she managed to at least lie on her back. She looked around her and her eyes widened in fear : there was nothing beside her. No hole. No portal. Nothing. She was stuck here.
After half an hour of total immobility, she forced her body to stand up, trying to make abstraction of the tearing pain. “I hope I’m not infected or poisoned !”. Now that she was standing, she could make more sense of her surroundings : she was indeed in a vast, burned clearing surrounded by a forest ; a dark and silent forest. Her fears were confirmed : there was nothing around her that could have served as a portal. Undeterred, she shook her head and walked slowly in a random direction, towards the woods.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders had done a great job at cleaning her hut ; Zecora had never seen her house so neatly ordered : everything was in its right place, from her masks to her potions ; the floor was so shiny she could eat on it. Three days after the Day of Universal Friendship, and four days since the cleaning, everything was still perfect.
As Zecora was going to prepare her supper, a weak knocking on her door drew her attention.
Finding that small hollowed house in a tree in that forest devoid of animal life was providential. She could not take more ; she had walked one hour in her state ; all of her left side, from hip to foot, was covered in dried blood. She barely had the strength left to knock at the door. She was expecting to see a tiny human given the size of the house, or at least a humanoid form, but she almost collapsed on the small female zebra when she opened the door.
"Who… Whoever… you are… If… If you… understand… me… Can… can you… help… me ?"
Zecora helped the woman to lie down on her bed ; it was too small to accommodate the very tall frame of the female human, but it was comfortable enough for her to relax a bit. The herbalist quickly put a pillow on the bed frame to ease the tension on the long legs that were largely protruding.
Zecora quickly cleaned the wound with fresh water and bandaged it without any medicine ; she feared the foreign body of her unexpected guest would react in unknown and potentially harmful ways with the plants and remedies of her world.
"Thank you… I… Where am I ?" The woman asked.
"Otherworldly guest, you are in Equestria, inside my hut, and I am Zecora".
"I am Midna, Princess of the Twilight Realm".
"This stay in your world was absolutely wonderful ! If only I could stay longer…" Peach lamented as she was drinking her tea.
"Are you sure you want to leave tomorrow ?" Twilight asked.
"I do not want to, but I am obligated. Toadsworth cannot handle everything".
"And our world is waiting for its ruler and its hero to come back", Zelda added.
"I am sure we will come back soon", Link affirmed.
"I’m staying here for the time being", Bowser declared. "As I can teleport whenever I want, I can jump back and forth between the Mushroom Kingdom, my castles, my training grounds in other worlds and Equestria. You’ll have to let me know when you’ll come again though", he told his fellow guests.
"Speaking of staying, did you find a house ?" Luna asked to Anita.
"With the help of nearly everyone in Ponyville, I’ve indeed found my new home ! Just next to the school where… where I hope to teach soon", Anita replied, tears of joy forming in her eyes ; she wiped them and continued.
"Sorry. It’s just that… I’m so happy. In the following days, I’ll take a sped up training with Miss Cheerilee. I’ve always liked puppies… cubs… children… no, foals I should say now… and since Galania was a scientific world, I retained some useful knowledge… Not enough to make me a scientist, but enough I think to teach in most scientific disciplines, like math, physics, chemistry. I’d like to say astronomy and biology, but that’s when the largest differences between Equestria and Galania begin. And that’s why I must do a training too".
"I am so happy for you Anita", Luna congratulated. "You integrated so quickly in our world and already found your place. I am not only happy, but proud ; I have never met such a wonderful person as you".
"Thank-thank you very much", the Galanian replied, blushing with embarrassment.
"I…" Celestia began before the doors of the living room burst open on Rainbow Dash.
"Emergency ! Zecora has found a wounded stranger in the Everfree forest !" She exclaimed.
Fluttershy slowly materialized behind her lover ; she was panting and sweating heavily, and on the verge to fall on the ground ; she however landed gently on the carpeted floor to rest.
"She… says… she’s a princess. A… blue… human… She’s called… Midna…" She panted.
"What !?" Link exclaimed.
"Can you take us there ?" Zelda asked to Bowser, her voice filled with worry.
Everyone vanished from the room to reappear in front of Zecora’s hut ; they hurried inside, except for Bowser, too large for the hollow tree ; he stayed at the entrance and looked inside.
Midna, as she called herself, was now sitting on the bed ; as soon as she saw Link and Zelda, her bluish face and brilliant red irises lit up with hope and joy.
She was unlike every human the ponies had seen so far : she was taller than everyone, her long neck and limbs allowing her to top Anita by a few centimeters. Her skin was a mix of a pale gray blue and black, with patches of the second color unevenly covering her hips and most of her breasts in a shape reminiscent of a tightly closed vest. Her left hip was totally black, the color extending down to her leg ; the pale blue tone covered the right hip – under the bandages – her other leg and all of her belly. Her loose, half shredded dark cloak shining with a vivid blue interior was cut short at the seams, leaving her dark forearms covered with translucent blue tribal patterns visible, but included a hood which was removed along with a elaborated headdress ending on the bridge of her nose. Her hair was bright orange, and, while two spiky locks of hair on her cheeks framed her eyes, the rest of it was condensed into two tresses that were rejoining between her breasts and linked together by a large stone barrette. She had luscious purple lips, and, on her right thigh not covered by her long loincloth, another blue tribal marking ; her feet were bare. The ponies were stunned by the mix of extreme delicateness and mystery radiating from her face, and Rarity internally swore she was the most beautiful being she had ever seen.
"Link ! Zelda !" Midna exclaimed. "What are you doing here !?"
"It is a long story," Zelda replied.
"Maybe it would be easier for us to talk about this in one of the castles ?" Link suggested. "I do not mean to offend you, miss Zecora, but this hut, as comfortable as it is, is… of modest dimensions… for all of us".
Zecora nodded and Peach turned to Bowser, still outside ; the Koopa King teleported everyone, including Zecora, back into the castle of Canterlot.
Once Midna was rushed into a larger bed, Link and Zelda explained everything that happened since her departure from Hyrule she had helped to save ; from the discovery of the Mushroom Kingdom two years ago to that day, mentioning the destructive force that was slowly approaching every world. They also explained to the ponies who was the Princess of Twilight : a long time ago, in Hyrule, during a terrible civil war, a mysterious tribe of sorcerers, only known in history as the Interlopers, attempted to conquer the Sacred Realm, the resting place of the Triforce and a mythical blessed golden land of harmony ; to that end, they used their powerful dark magic in the form of an artifact, the Fused Shadow. They were however stopped in their machinations and the Golden Goddesses banished them to another dimension, the Twilight Realm, as a punishment. They split the evil artifact into four pieces which they gave to the Light Spirits to seal. Under the effect of this beautiful world of shadows, the Interlopers slowly evolved into a new race, the Twili ; while their hate and desire for revenge never disappeared, their descendants gradually lost them ; the Twili became a peaceful race with its own magic and traditions. However, five years ago, a demented Twili, Zant, also a servant of the royal family, depressed to not be elected king and wanting to conquer the Light World out of revenge, forcefully took the throne from his rival, Midna. He was helped and manipulated in this task by Ganondorf, who was posing as a god, sent to the Twilight Realm as a last-resort punishment for its attempt to conquer Hyrule. Zant transformed his fellow Twili into monsters and Midna into an imp ; the princess had wanted to use the Fused Shadow to retake the throne, and she had managed to get to Hyrule ; she already had one piece of the evil artifact, but needed someone to get the other three : seeing Hyrule attacked by Zant and Link being transformed into a wolf instead of becoming a lost soul in the Twilight covering the land, she had seized the occasion to strike a deal with him : he would help her to retrieve the pieces of the Fused Shadow, and she would help him to save his friends captured by the monsters running havoc. Over the course of the journey however, Midna, at the beginning only wanting to retake her throne regardless of the fate of Hyrule, had begun to see Link as a friend and to care more and more about the Light World. By the time they had finally defeated Zant, Ganondorf had already came back to Hyrule. In an act of bravery she could not had conceived before her adventure with Link, Midna had almost sacrificed herself to stop the dark sorcerer ; even though her efforts were proven fruitless before the might of the Triforce of Power in Ganondorf's possession, she had survived the confrontation and the resulting destruction of the Fused Shadow. Her true form restored, she had simply departed from Hyrule, willingly shattering the gateway between the two worlds forever in the process.
Since this incident, neither Link nor Zelda had had any contact with her.
"Three days ago, it was Zant’s usurpation all over again ! Except I didn’t see who was behind the attack... only his soldiers. These things appeared out of nowhere and started to destroy everything without any reason ! They were like… like you in fact !" Midna exclaimed, looking at Link and Zelda.
"They were gross copies of you, made of… purple crystal. Just a pile of rocks mimicking your silhouette and movements… They didn’t say anything about their motivations – I don’t think they can talk by the way – and I think they’re not really... alive… These cursed polygon-things… magic had no effect, but pure physical force can damage them… but they were too many… And these clouds of darkness in the sky…"
"Oh, by the way, I abandoned my kingdom once again… My people… they told me to flee ! I shouldn’t have listened… I should’ve… fought… even if I would’ve lost. I… again showed that… I’m a… failure of a princess…
Two golden tears, the same that had shattered the gateway between Hyrule and the Twilight Realm years ago, flowed from her bright red eyes ; Link and Zelda approached her and each one took one of her hands ; the wisdom and courage emanating from them calmed down Midna ; she finished her story :
"I fled so far away… until the edge of my kingdom… And there was this rock… It was like the last one floating in the Twilight sky… so peculiar. I land on it, find a cavern ; I want to hide inside, I slip, fall into a hole and suddenly I’m here, with no way to come back".
"You will, first and foremost, come to Hyrule", Zelda decided. "Once there, we will try to find a way to send you back in the Twilight Realm, and Link will help you get back your throne".
"Excuse me Princess Zelda, but if you indeed find a way to send your friend back, I wanna be part of the expedition to seize the throne again ; I’ve never found a way to apologize to the trouble I caused in Hyrule… I think it’s a good occasion to do it", Bowser suggested.
"Your motivations are pure, driven by justice and a need for forgiveness. I will allow it", the Princess of Hyrule approved.
"Don’t !" Midna exclaimed. "You’ll become a lost soul in the Twilight Realm !"
"I won’t. Darkness can’t become a shadow. Besides that, if the Triforce offers a protection against the properties of the Twilight, my power will do so, with probably a more potent effect. At least, as I already said it, my soul and my indestructible body are one and the same. And I think…"
"You think I can come too ! I have no soul, so that thing won’t affect me !" King Boo interrupted, suddenly passing through the floor, scaring Midna.
"Since you are… the way you are… soulless… I cannot sense your feelings and your intentions…" Zelda said with a voice tainted with uncertainty.
"I just want to be a hero !" The king of ghosts exclaimed with enthusiasm.
"Despite the appearances, King Boo is the perfect spy. We’ll stay together, so you won’t have to worry about anything", Bowser explained to Zelda. "That said if you find a way back to that dimension. Maybe I can help you with that too, with the books from my library. I’m gonna find some now".
"This is a good idea", Zelda finally approved. "We must report our departure nonetheless ; we will go back to Hyrule in two days".
The next day, Bowser did not find anything useful in the dozens of books he had brought, but Midna could perfectly stand without wincing ; she took this occasion to discover more of Equestria by visiting Canterlot ; she found it beautiful, but a different kind of beauty than Hyrule or her world ; Equestria was also shining with the brightest colors she had ever seen.
As the sun was setting, she decided to visit the Castle of Friendship, visible from Canterlot ; once right in front of the towering crystal building, she was stunned by its beauty and its architecture.
"There are absolutely no equivalent colors in my world", she told the ponies.
As she visited the interior, she stumbled across the Cutie Map, and Twilight explained its purpose.
"If you touch it, you’ll probably see your world but… I’m afraid it won’t tell us anything about its current status or show its inhabitants", the Princess of Friendship explained.
Midna touched the table with her delicate gray-blue fingers and her world indeed appeared : it was represented as thousands of floating chunks of rock ; the palace, from which Midna had fled, was clearly visible near the center. Millions of small black squares emanated from the Map, all going upwards before disappearing at what was the edge of the projection.
"These… black things floating everywhere are normal ?" Starlight asked to Midna.
"Yes, along with the abyss, they are the very essence of the Twilight", Midna replied.
"Your world’s still there at least", Anita whispered with relief and a hint of sadness.
"Yes, it seems so… But I can’t see my subjects on this map. I hope they’re simply detained…" The Princess of Twilight wished sadly.
"Do not worry. We will free them", Zelda assured.
"You gave me many books", Twilight told Bowser. "Maybe there’s something in these to help Princess Midna get back home ? I remember picking up a few books about dimensional portals".
"It’s worth giving a shot", the Koopa King agreed.
Twilight, Starlight and Bowser headed to the library ; the others proposed Midna a quick tour of Ponyville.
"Nothing ! I now know how to close and shape a portal with the right materials, but I can’t find anything on how to create it !" Twilight complained as she put the last book back in place.
"Nothing here either…" Starlight grumbled.
"I’ll search again in my dimension tonight, in the crates this time", Bowser decided. "It’ll take some time though, and that princess will soon go to Hyrule… I’ll call King Boo to come with me to help".
"I hope you’ll be luckier. Do you need our help ?" Starlight asked.
"It won’t be necessary", the Koopa declined. "I don’t wanna put you in danger… Who knows what some of these crates still contains… I’ll try to come back as soon as possible, even if it’s just to update you".
"Maybe you can try to find something on the things that attacked the Twilight Realm ?" Starlight suggested.
"I don’t think I’ll find something, because they’re probably just products of that thing of oblivion, so brand new things, but I’ll check it out just in case", Bowser replied.
The others came back ten minutes later, and Twilight informed them of the fruitlessness of their search and Bowser’s intention to go back to his dimension with King Boo to help him search through the shipping hub.
"That’s disappointing", Midna sighed.
"But not really surprising", Zelda added. "I hope you will have more luck in your dimension. If not, we will be forced to search through Hyrule or try spells until one of them works. I also recall that, back when he was alive, Ganondorf, as well as Zant, could travel back and forth between Hyrule and the Twilight Realm. Although it is not a spell, with sufficient power, I think we can copy the effects of this magic".
"Without the power of the Fused Shadow, it’ll be difficult, if not impossible", the Twilight Princess countered.
"We can use the power of the Triforce", Link suggested.
"Or my power. I was thinking, if the situation’s really hopeless, maybe King Boo can appeal the case to Death which has the power to breach any dimension, but… it’d be a truly desperate measure, and the chances that Death would care about this are too much close to zero for me", Bowser added.
"Hey, Death is cool !" King Boo objected as he materialized under the ceiling. "Maybe these portals and displacements and all this mess are annoying It, as It loves order ; I mean, all of us guests are not where we are supposed to be ; for the ones who can die, if they die in a foreign world, it causes trouble for the Accountants and Charon, you know, paperwork and boring administrative stuff. If Death can spare Itself and its employees from the slightest bureaucratic mess, It would do almost anything !"
"You MUST take me there with Spike to take notes. A LOT of notes. Bookshelves of notes…" Twilight muttered excitedly under her breath.
"Not a chance", Spike whispered to her.
"Twilight’s… dusk’s here", Midna noted suddenly. "It’s kind of amusing, since I think it’s how your world would look like if it were in the Twilight Realm ; it’s beautiful as it is in daylight. It’s reminding me that I am tired however… We Twili don’t have a night and day cycle, so coming into light worlds is a bit disorienting ; even more so here, since the Sun and the Moon are raised magically".
"If anyone wants to go to Canterlot Castle, they can come with me and King Boo, we’ll leave soon. There’ll be no one to teleport you there after our departure until our return", Bowser warned.
"You said you’d come back to update us", Starlight reminded him.
"Yes, but it won’t be after at least half a day", the Koopa King replied. "When do you wanna come back to Hyrule ?" He asked to Zelda.
"We will let you search for three days ; after that, we will truly be forced to return to Hyrule, otherwise the Kingdom may really begin to worry", the Princess of Hyrule answered.
"And the Mushroom Kingdom too", Peach added.
"I am only slightly tired", Midna said with a smile. "I want to stay here a little longer, learn more about Equestria, if that’s okay with everyone".
"You can stay here for the night", Twilight suggested. "We have plenty of bedrooms".
Midna accepted the offer ; besides Bowser, everyone stayed at the castle ; the Cutie Mark Crusaders came between the discussions.
Three hours later however, everyone had left save for Midna ; she was still conversing with Twilight and Starlight about Equestria and the Twilight Realm, with the former taking copious notes, as Spike was already sleeping. Eventually, the three started to tire too, and Twilight showed Midna her bedroom.
"Are you sure you have nothing to do in Canterlot until tomorrow afternoon ?" The Princess of Friendship asked to her fellow ruler.
"Absolutely. Well, maybe except taking the train, it must be so comfortable !"
The princesses exchanged a laugh before wishing each other good night.