“Citizen of Equestria,” Celestia proclaimed.
Twilight just stared. What was going on? Was this a trick from those blob things? Was it a hallucination?
“I will transfer a thought pattern to you that will allow you to create a portal back to Equestria, so that we may escape this accursed realm.”
“Right. Sounds great. Can you, like, hurry up and do it? These blob thingies are getting closer every second!” Rainbow Dash shouted, diving between two that had appeared out of the mist in front of them.
Twilight studied her monarch in awe. She’d seen her before, when she’d been a filly, and then again when she’d gained her cutie mark, but momentary glimpses through a crowd couldn’t compare to the sight of the Princess somehow managing to regally swim through the air in front of her.
Celestia closed her eyes and took a breath, then continued speaking, ignoring Rainbow. “Come. I can transfer the pattern in but seconds. Less, if you have a measure of skill.”
Then one of the blobs raced toward her, forcing her to swerve out of the way before it hit.
“Perhaps these...things do merit some consideration. Quickly then.”
Twilight held on as Rainbow Dash angled toward Celestia, doing a few quick evasive loops on the way. Then they were there.
“Touch your horn to mine,” Celestia said.
Twilight hesitated. That was...kind of taboo. She’d also never heard of any way to transfer thought patterns between unicorns. That kind of skill would be revolutionary.
“I’m not sure—”
Celestia didn’t take no for an answer. With a single fluid movement, their horns were touching. Then shadows coated the Princess’s horn, and the entire thing appeared black. Her eyes glowed a pure white.
‘Dark’ magic? From the Princess? But she was the one that banned its use in the first—
A new presence forced its way into Twilight’s head. It was a new part of her, a way of thinking, yet it was easier to think of it as a separate entity. The new portal spell. She needed to know...and with that, the presence activated, and Twilight followed the train of thought it spelled out like a raindrop following a well-worn groove in a road, each conclusion seeming natural, logical.
This was mental magic of the highest order.
She reached the end. It was so simple, really. All she needed to do was put a few ‘move’ commands into a skein of magic in the right places...to put a twist in space that wasn’t really a twist but more of a logical intersection of how things worked that would form a pathway between dimensions.
All she needed was magic. A lot of magic. But the blobs were coming. They’d be here before she could gather and break apart the necessary amount.
“I can’t do it in time, Princess. I need more magic,” Twilight said. The Princess could provide it. She was an alicorn. She raised the sun.
So why would she need somepony else to cast the portal spell that she had to understand intimately to be able to pass along to her?
Oh.
“We-we will have to rely on you. Magic above a certain level is suppressed in this place.”
Had the Princess stumbled over her words? Twilight couldn’t blame her. Being trapped in here for weeks on end, with nothing to do, no books to read...she shuddered to imagine it.
“I’m sorry Princess. Rainbow Dash. I can’t do it in time.”
More blobs were appearing at an exponential rate, forming from the magic that made up the dimension. With its strange geometry, this place could hold a lot more than she’d at first estimated. Upwards of billions. Trillions. More.
Speaking of this place’s geometry, how had the Princess found them? With the enormous amount of space, it had to be more than coincidence. Perhaps she could only use a certain amount of magic? A low-level tracking spell targeting for the closest ponies in a dimension with no other ponies could’ve worked.
But speculating was for later. After they survived. If they did. She gathered as much magic as she could from the area around them, even knowing it would be useless. There was always a chance that something would distract the blob things, or they would slow down, or the Princess knew a spell that could hold them off. That she hadn’t cast it yet spoke volumes about her ability to do so, but hope was all Twilight could rely on, and she was going to hold on to it no matter what.
“Twilight?” Rainbow said, her voice oddly hesitant.
“Yes?” Twilight replied tersely, concentrating on spinning together as much magic as she could.
“Would this help?”
Something poked Twilight in the side. She looked back and saw one of Rainbow’s wings with the primary feathers curled around a gem. A quick probe was all it took to confirm her suspicions.
“A piece of solid magic that dense? Did you find it here? No, wait, of course you found it here. Yes, that would definitely work.”
Twilight snatched it up in her kinetic field, establishing a link with the unclaimed gem. This would do.
They were going to make it. They were actually going to make it. The Everfree’s consciousness was destroyed and its magic would eventually disperse, which solved that problem. With the Princess of the sun freed from the alternate dimension she’d apparently been trapped in, the eternal night problem would be solved as well.
“Right. You save the Princess.”
“What? You’re coming Rainbow, the portal will be big enough to fit all of us,” Twilight said.
“Sorry. But I’m not living a life without my magic.”
“What? But the Everfree’s gone!”
“Yep.”
With that, Twilight felt Rainbow disentangle herself, leaving Twilight floating in the air. Then she flew off, straight into the sea of blobs. They converged on her like piranhas on a fresh meal. Within seconds, she was obscured.
“No...” Twilight whispered.
“Quickly. Before they come for us as well. Do not let your friend’s sacrifice be in vain.”
The Princess was right. Rainbow Dash would be remembered. Despite getting herself swarmed by probably evil blobs for no reason whatsoever when they were all this close to escape…
Twilight took a deep breath, drew on the energy on the crystal, and cast the spell.
Magic folded around the portal, feeding it to a bigger size than Twilight had expected. When it was done, the rip in this dimension’s reality was big enough for three ponies to walk through comfortably side by side.
Celestia swam through as soon as it stabilized, disappearing from view. Twilight hesitated and looked behind herself. Hundreds of blobs were shooting toward her. She gazed them a look that was both sad and angry.
“Why?”
They were close now. Too close. Twilight entered the portal.
And woke up back where the tree had been. Everything hurt. It felt as if she’d been liquified, squeezed through a straw, and then forced into a mold of her previous shape on the other side. She groaned and looked beside her, then did a double take.
Laying in a similar position was a dark mare about the size of Celestia, but with a mane made of flowing stars instead of pure magic.
“Who...who are you?” Twilight choked out.
“Ah. Our disguise seems to have fallen apart.”