"And so here we are again, fillies."
Twilight and Starlight both stood once more before Aeon's desk, both fillies wearing matching looks of apprehension at what Aeon had in store for them. Aeon, in response, merely rolled her eyes and gave them each a flat look.
"Oh would you two quit your blubbering?" she scoffed, "I'm not just gonna toss you right into the desert without some kind of training," she tossed her mane and gave them both what Twilight hoped was a playful smirk, "no, that bit doesn't come until you've learned to at least cast a few proper wards first."
At Twilight's and Starlight's horrified looks, Aeon's smirk fell away and was replaced with another flat look.
"I was joking... somewhat," she paused, looking thoughtful for a moment before shrugging, "well, not at all really, but you shouldn't let that worry you too much," she smiled at the two confidently before rising from her seat and trotting around her desk towards them, "I'm very good at what I teach, and my methods get results, so trust me when I say you fillies are in good hooves."
She trotted a little ways past Twilight and Starlight before stopping and motioning them to follow, which they did rather reluctantly. Once Aeon saw that they were right behind her, she continued talking as they moved.
"So, I went back through the information I gathered together from your memories, and I think I have something for each of you," she turned and looked from one filly to the other, "both of you have different talents—and no I'm not just talking about the talents that come from cutie marks."
She gave the magic circle adorning Starlight's flank a significant look.
"Although yours will be a huge boon, Starlight Glimmer," the cobalt mare continued with a small smirk, "you should count yourself lucky, little lady. A spellcrafting talent is rare, and can only lead to great things in the future."
Starlight raised her brows in surprise and looked back towards her own flank. Upon seeing the image of the magic circle she winced and quickly turned away, causing Aeon to raise an eyebrow.
To Starlight, the cutie mark was only a reminder of what she had done to her friend and parents, and as far she was concerned, it wasn't something to be particularly proud of.
After a minute, Aeon snorted softly and looked to Twilight instead, her frown turning slightly contemplative.
"You on the other hoof..." she mused, talking to herself more than the bemused lavender filly, "I might not know what your cutie mark will be exactly, but it's going to be something special, that's for sure. I can feel it."
She stared at Twilight for a moment longer before shaking her head and moving forward once more, having earlier slowed to a stop during her observations.
"I'm getting off topic," she said quickly, "my point is, you both have different things you're good at, and I want to bring out of you not just the full potential of what you're each talented in, but to break down your weaknesses as well—both magical and mental."
Twilight and Starlight glanced at each other behind Aeon's back, the two wondering and dreading just how the mare was going to go about doing that. They each turned back to Aeon as she spoke again.
"As I've said countless times already, the desert is a brutal place, girls," Aeon continued, "I know you've both suffered some terrible hardships, but clinging to those hangups are only going to get you killed in the long run."
She glanced back at the two as she pushed the door leading to the library open—her expression softening somewhat.
"Trust me, it's better to snuff them out as soon as possible, because when it comes right down to it, both your present and your future matter far more than your past."
With that, she pushed the door the rest of the way open and trotted through, leaving the fillies to stand there for a moment in contemplative silence. Both Twilight and Starlight knew the unicorn mare was right deep down.
Accepting and embracing her words however, was a task all its own—one that the two couldn't quite overcome just yet. Still they followed her out of her office and into the nearly deserted library—the crowd thinning out more and more as the night grew later.
As they all made their way across the library, Twilight caught sight of the tall scarred unicorn mare she had seen earlier in the day. She sat at one of the tables in the center of the room, hunched over a book with an intense frown of concentration. Piled high next to her were a stack of books Twilight couldn't see the names of.
Before she could get too curious about the mare's rather startling change in demeanor compared to that morning however, Aeon's voice brought her attention back to the conversation at hoof.
"I plan to separate the two of you during the first and second phases of both your training and your studies," Aeon explained as they continued towards the staircase at the other end of the circular room, "it's important that you two be able to act independently of each other to allow for more versatility."
Rather than head downstairs like the fillies expected, Aeon turned and trotted up the steps instead. Twilight and Starlight followed her upstairs, curious to see where they led. All the while, Aeon kept up her explanation to the two fillies.
"Once those phases are complete however," the mare said, "you'll be continuing your studies and training together. You'll be learning to work together as a cohesive unit—building off one another's strengths and making up for any remaining weaknesses."
"So," Twilight asked tentatively, "we're not gonna be able to see each other while we're training?"
"Not while you're in the middle of your training and studies, no," Aeon replied, "but that doesn't mean you won't be able to see each other during your downtime. In fact, I urge you two to see each other during your breaks."
"Why?" Starlight asked with a raise of her brow, "what's so important about us hanging out during our breaks?"
Aeon stopped part way up the steps and turned to give Starlight a knowing smile.
"Back when I said you two were practically made for each other, I meant it," she said before once again moving up the stairs, "alone you two have the potential for greatness, but together, I really think you both have what it takes to turn Equus on its head—though whether or not that's a good thing remains to be seen I suppose."
After a certain point, the staircase began to give way to a narrow stairwell, much like it did downstairs, although instead of the several doors lining the thick central pillar, there was only one door at the top of the stairwell.
As they reached the end of the stairwell, Aeon paused and put a hoof to her chin as though thinking on her own words. After a moment she shrugged and pushed open the plain, dark brown wooden door. Both fillies could've sworn they saw a flash of something as Aeon's hoof made contact with the door, but it was so quick, they didn't know whether or not it had happened at all.
"Either way, I feel we'll all get better results if I stick you two together," Aeon said, trotting into the room, "but for now, there's some other things I need to discuss with the both of you, and as for why I brought you both here..."
As Twilight and Starlight followed Aeon into the room, they couldn't help but gape. Stepping into the room was like stepping into an entirely different reality for the two fillies.
The entire room was as black as the void save for a single large orb of light shining above like a miniature Sun. The orb only served to illuminate the ponies who had just trotted into the room and did nothing to brighten the all encompassing blackness otherwise.
Once the two stunned fillies were inside, the door slammed itself shut, leaving the bright orb the only source of light in the room—a room both Twilight and Starlight weren't entirely sure was a room at all.
"...I brought you both here so that we could meet your... other teachers."
"Wait... other teachers?" Twilight repeated, the statement snapping her out of her daze, "what other teachers?"
"Surely you didn't think I'd be the only one teaching you girls what you need to know?" Aeon replied with a raised eyebrow, "I run the Grey Asylum. I don't have time to see to you both every second of everyday. Hay, I'll only be able to teach you personally each day for maybe an hour or two at the most."
She shook her head and looked towards the light in the center as she spoke.
"No, instead I've arranged to have some of my... past associates teach you in my stead," she looked back to the girls with a reassuring smile, that came off as somewhat sinister in the contrasting light and darkness of their location, "they might all be a bit scary at first, and some of them might be in some very... odd places for reasons they may or may not decide to share, but I trust them all with my life."
Rather than comfort the fillies, Aeon's words only made them that much more nervous about meeting these teachers. Starlight looked around the room in confusion, before turning back to Aeon.
"So... how are we supposed to get where these teachers are?" she asked with a bemused frown, "in fact, how do we do anything in here? What even is this place?"
"Oh, right, almost forgot to explain that bit," Aeon replied, almost as an afterthought, "this is a pocket dimension I created ages ago. You see, this light here..."
She turned towards the light in question and suddenly lit up her horn. the orb of light flashed once, then twice, then a third time, then one final time before four lines of light shot out of the center in different directions.
After a certain point, the lines of light stopped and began to swirl in on themselves before expanding into large formless blobs of pure light. After a few moments, the blobs of light began to take form and with one more flash from each of the four shapes, they solidified into four shining white doorways that surrounded the three on all sides.
"...is actually the cornerstone that connects every 'doorway' I've ever created," Aeon finished, turning back to a shocked Twilight and Starlight, "I use this place to travel to other places one wouldn't be able to reach by any normal means."
"This... y-you... I..." Twilight stammered, trying and failing to grasp what had just occurred. Eventually she just turned back to Aeon with a look of awe and a bit of fear, "w-what kind of magic is this?"
"The kind of magic I doubt many would be able to replicate," Aeon replied simply, "let's just say I have a lot of experience with this sort of thing and leave it at that for now."
"This is ridiculous," Starlight murmured, slowly shaking her head in disbelief as she stared at the doorways around her, "this can't be real..."
"Oh, it's very real, Starlight Glimmer," Aeon replied with a smirk, "and it's our ticket to meeting four very special individuals who can't wait to meet the two of you."
The cloaked unicorn trotted into the center of the four doorways, and waved a hoof dramatically—her tone suddenly taking on that of a scientist announcing the greatest invention ever made.
"Twilight Sparkle... Starlight Glimmer... welcome... to the Nexus!"