//------------------------------// // The Blind Eternities // Story: My Little Planeswalker: Twilight's Spark // by Zennistrad //------------------------------// Looking back on it, Twilight Sparkle had quite the unusual life. Sure, she didn’t often think much of it while it was happening. Becoming the personal student of Princess Celestia, finding the Elements of Harmony, and saving the world multiple times were each extraordinary feats on their own, but as they had happened Twilight had found herself surprisingly quick to adjust to them. Even becoming the Princess of Friendship, easily the most significant event of her life, seemed almost quaint now. It was a huge responsibility for sure, and for a long time she didn’t quite feel like she deserved it, but she had grown to see her duties as a normal part of her life much more quickly than she’d ever expected to. Yet of all the strange things she had encountered in her lifetime, the Magic Mirror was still the one thing that she could never quite get used to. A portal to a parallel plane of existence was something straight out of a fantasy novel, yet she had with some regularity been drawn to it, and the inevitable conflict that it created. The latest incident with the Mirror was no exception. Starlight Glimmer, Twilight’s own personal student, had traveled to the parallel world to meet up with another unlikely friend that Twilight had made. What Starlight reported back was extremely worrying. She had known for some time of the multiple incidents caused by Equestrian magic leaking into the other world, but every report she’d received, whether from Sunset Shimmer’s journal or Starlight herself, suggested that they were occurring with increasing frequency. If things continued down this path, it could permanently damage the balance between both worlds. Now, she decided, it was time to do something about it. Sitting before a desk in her castle’s laboratory, she painstakingly assembled the links in the silver chains attached to her latest creation: something that would hopefully allow the worlds to be placed back in balance. “Hey, Twilight!” Twilight’s attention was pulled away from her work. She turned around to see Starlight Glimmer standing in the open doorway just before the castle hall. “Yes, Starlight?” “I just wanted to let you know that I’ll be out for the afternoon,” Starlight replied. “Trixie and I are going to see a movie together.” Twilight flashed her pupil a knowing smile. Much as she was reluctant to accept it at first, Trixie and Starlight had become closer than nearly any other ponies she had seen. A little voice in the back of her mind sometimes wondered if their friendship was something more than what they’d both claimed. “Thanks for letting me know,” said Twilight. “Hope you two have fun!” “We will,” Starlight cheerfully replied. She looked curiously at the artifact that Twilight was assembling. “Say, what are you working on there?” “Oh, this?” said Twilight. “Well, your trip through the Magic Mirror had got me thinking about something. Ever since Equestrian magic started leaking through to the parallel world, I’ve been wondering if there’s a way I could deal with that. What I’d realized is that forcing the Mirror open outside of its normal cycle has created a more or less permanent planar gate that allows magic to travel through freely, even when it’s inactive.” Starlight raised an eyebrow. “And you take it that’s a problem?” “Well yeah,” said Twilight. “Believe it or not, I’ve dealt with a similar Mirror before. There’s a reason these kinds of interplanar portals are rarely used - using them too recklessly risks damaging the fabric of both our world and the world it connects to.” Starlight winced. “That doesn’t sound like a good thing.” “It isn’t,” said Twilight. “So I’ve been developing a method of interplanar travel that won’t upset the balance between different planes. Take a look!” Twilight’s horn lit up, and she levitated the artifact in front of Starlight. It was a silver amulet hung around a delicate, incomplete chain. The amulet’s shape was reminiscent of an upside-down triangle, distorted so that its longer sides curved inward and its base curved outward. On top of it were five long spikes with curved edges, the largest in the center, two smaller ones surrounding it, and the smallest at the edges. Starlight stared at the artifact blankly. “Um... what is it?” “I call it the Planar Amulet,” said Twilight Sparkle. “This artifact will let anypony wearing it be able to travel between worlds without the need for a stable portal, ensuring there’s no magic leaking from one world to another. And I know it looks odd, but I’ve calculated that this shape is the best at channeling magic used for interplanar travel. Once I make an extra copy for Sunset, we can both travel between worlds without risking further destabilization.” Starlight Glimmer shifted uncomfortably. “Um... well, that’s great and all. But don’t you think that’s a little bit dangerous? The Mirror involves magic unlike anything I’ve ever seen. What if something goes wrong?” “There’s no need to worry about that,” Twilight reassured. She motioned to a pair of small, metallic hoops on her desk, each held above the surface by a thin metal rod and crackling with magical energy. “I’ve also constructed a pair of miniature planar portals based on my research on the Mirror. By sending the amulet through them, I was able to extensively test the effects of exposing it to the space between dimensions. Long story short, it should be able to withstand any amount of the chaotic energies between our two planes. The only thing that’s left for me to do is finish constructing the chain.” “If you say so,” said Starlight. “I just hope you know what you’re doing...” “Hey, Starlight! What’s the holdup?” Trixie’s voice called from a distance “The movie starts in fifteen minutes! If we don’t get going now we’ll miss all the previews!” A pink flush appeared on Starlight’s muzzle. “Oop! Sorry, I’ve gotta go! See you later!” Without another word, she quickly trotted out the doorway and disappeared down the hall. Twilight waved goodbye to her student, then turned her attention back to the amulet. She could barely take the anticipation, knowing that the secret to traveling between worlds was within her grasp. ——————— It hadn’t taken long before the Amulet’s chain was completed. Or rather it could have taken a long time, but Twilight was so intensely focused on her work that it didn’t matter. She was so excited to finish the job that she had barely noticed the passage of time at all. “It’s finished! It’s really finished!” With a squeal of delight, Twilight levitated the amulet in front of her, getting one last look as she admired her own work. Though she was far from an expert in silversmithing, the Amulet body itself had proven finely crafted and impressively sturdy, aided by the many layers of protective enchantments she had placed on it. Nearly shivering with anticipation, she carefully slipped the chain around her neck. Her horn lit up once more, and a purple sheet of translucent reflective material appeared in the air, serving as a makeshift mirror. She smiled at her reflection, and the sight of the artifact adorning herself. “Looking good!” she said, dismissing the mirror. “Now, there’s only one thing left to do...” Twilight focused her will on the amulet, and the entire world disappeared from her senses in a burst of sound and light. What she saw next was unlike anything that she could have ever anticipated. All around her was... something. It was difficult to describe in mere words, like floating in a sea of colors - white, blue, black red and green - but all of it surrounded by an additional color that she was certain did not exist within the visible spectrum. It almost looked to her like a greenish-yellow purple, even though the mere thought of such a color itself seemed contradictory. Even more difficult to describe were the dimensions of the sea of chaotic energies she found herself in. Not merely the size of it, but the directions that it extended into: it went outwards in all three dimensions as far as her eye could see, but it also continued in directions that did not exist in the three-dimensional world, into four, five, and even six dimensions, possibly even more. Despite the headache that seeing it all had given her, she had found it surprisingly comprehensible, like her eyes had been opened when she didn’t even know that they were closed to begin with. Finally, floating throughout the sea were millions, if not billions, of bubble-like spheres that each shimmered with five colors - white, blue, black, red, and green - extending in every direction as far as she could see. These, Twilight Sparkle quickly realized, were each their own plane of existence, each a world just like her own. Her mouth lay open in silent awe, the sheer vastness of the Multiverse finally dawning on her. The sight was so incredible that she didn’t even notice the Planar Amulet’s chain being corroded by the sea of chaos. Twilight’s focus was violently ripped away from her surroundings as a sudden snap sounded right below her chin, and the only thing holding the Planar Amulet in place broke away from her body. “NO!” she screamed. She reached out with her magic to grab the artifact, but by then it had already fallen far out of her reach, into the impossible depths of interplanar space. Twilight’s body tensed, her pulse quickened, and her breathing became rapid and shallow as the reality of her circumstance dawned on her. Though the Planar Amulet’s body could withstand the chaotic interplanar energies, in her excitement she had neglected to test whether the chain could survive as well. And without the Planar Amulet’s protection, she realized, the chaotic energies of interplanar space would tear her apart within seconds, body, mind and soul. She could not do anything but close her eyes in anticipation of her swift and painful demise. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and her life flashed before her eyes. All of her accomplishments and failures, all of her mistakes and successes, everyone and everything that she had ever known and loved. As she felt the energies wash over her, she let out one final, desperate sob. And yet, despite everything that she had known about the space between planes, the end did not come. Seconds later, she was still there, still intact, still living and breathing. The very worst that she felt was a slight tingling just beneath her skin. She opened her eyes, and found herself looking at the exact same scene that she saw before. “I’m... alive?” The words pushed their way out of her lungs with great effort, hindered by the multitude of emotions pressing down on her chest, equal parts relief, happiness, fear, and confusion. Yet even as she survived, she could feel the tingling beneath her skin intensifying, turning into a persistent irritation. The chaotic energies were still affecting her, but they were eating away at her more slowly than should have been possible. “I... I have to get back to Equestria!” Twilight gasped. She stared at the multitude of planes surrounding her, each indistinguishable from one another. “But which one is it? Where do I go!?” Twilight closed her eyes, and let out a wordless cry of frustration. When she opened them again, she found herself standing before her desk, safely inside her own laboratory. The door suddenly opened with a slam, and Spike burst into the room. “Twilight! Are you alright!? I thought I heard you screaming!” Twilight turned towards her assistant with wide eyes, her heart still beating with the intensity of a bass drum. “Spike! Prepare a letter to Princess Celestia immediately! It’s an emergency!”