School was preemptively canceled the next day following the hydra attack. Everypony from Twilight’s class was safe, but some administrator decided that maybe they should take a pause to do another headcount.
With no class the next day, Twilight brewed some coffee and decided to stay up all night. It was better than the alternative.
That still didn’t mean choosing not to sleep was easy. For one, she had to be alone with her thoughts, which had taken a decidedly more paranoid bent as of late.
Fighting the hydra was the first time Twilight had transformed since...she didn’t remember, months, at least. She was rusty. She shouldn’t have been so terrified. She should have finished the fight sooner. She shouldn’t have hesitated.
But what worried her more was how sharp she still was.
Twilight worked out, training her body because she couldn’t face being weak again. This battle had shown that she hadn’t lost anything, but for some reason, that upset her even more. Maybe because it provided a good reason that Cadance and the development group wanted her back.
She had picked up a new book from the library, this one about ancient minotaur migrations and their effects on modern road construction. In retrospect, maybe that wasn’t a topic that helped with her objective of staying awake.
Twilight woke up aching, having apparently dozed off and fallen forward into the book, spending the rest of the night bent in half and with her face pressed to the pages. Her reading light was still on.
She stood up unsteadily, groggily reflecting that at least she hadn’t dreamed. She looked at her half-full cup of coffee, long cold, but then picked it up and slugged it anyway. She retched, though it did wake her up.
She stumbled out to the front room and jerked to a halt, startled. Cadance sat on the couch, a newspaper spread out in front of her.
Cadance looked up, but Twilight dropped her head and went into the kitchen. The coffee maker was already on and filled with fresh grounds. Twilight yanked the pot off and poured a cup.
She stomped back into the living room. “How did you get in here?”
“Maybe you forgot that I arranged for you to have an apartment in this neighborhood so you could go to school here,” said Cadance. She held up a key.
She folded her newspaper and put it down on the coffee table. True to Lyra’s prediction, Twilight was on the front page. The picture must have been taken shortly after the battle, before she’d remembered to make herself scarce. Whoever had taken it had thoughtfully not included the dead hydra in the frame.
The headline read:
Element of Magic Returns?
Trackers excited.
Trackers. Twilight’s lip curled just thinking about it.
When the Elements first burst onto the scene, it was the biggest news story of the day. They were Equestria’s secret weapon. They were going to save everypony. In pictures, all of them appeared as powerful, beautiful mares with extravagant outfits.
Despite the overarching threat of Nightmare Moon, the public lost its collective mind. Element merchandise was everywhere. Ponies endlessly compared each of the Elements, judging their relative prowess. While the secret to the Elements was never revealed, it didn’t stop speculation. An early theory became popularly known as the Witchiness Testing Scale, supposedly measuring some unknown, arcane trait that could indicate that a mare was qualified to be an Element. Misguided scientists, acknowledged scammers, and everypony in between was searching for something that the Crown eventually had to declare false.
That was the first time the Equestrian government had officially commented on Element matters, though subsequent press releases became much more nuanced once Celestia realized how information on the Elements could be controlled. She had the sole source of truth, and could provide or withhold it as needed for public morale
Unfortunately, creeps will be creeps. Some ponies found themselves so fascinated with the Elements that they fell in love - with mares they’d never met who had better things to be doing than dating. An entirely new category of tabloids popped up to speculate on the Elements’ private lives, who they might really be, and the best way one might meet, date, and ultimately wife them. The entire industry became derogatorily referred to as the Waifu Tracking System, a joking derivative of the Witchiness Testing Scale, and its consumers became known as trackers.
Twilight still couldn’t imagine why Rainbow had willingly revealed her real name to the world.
“You made quite an impression in Baltimare,” said Cadance.
“So?” Twilight sipped her coffee, which was still too hot. “This isn’t exactly news to me. I was there.”
“So you’ll fight for your school friends?” Cadance said.
“I don’t have-” Twilight came up short, teeth clenching. “I was right there, I couldn’t not help!”
What would she have done if Fluttershy hadn’t been there to demand that she do so?
“And you can’t help the rest of Equestria?” Cadance asked.
“Why are you trying to guilt trip me?” Twilight demanded. She gestured. Her coffee sloshed. “Why don’t I guilt trip you for lying to me? Pinkie and Rarity didn’t retire like me, did they? What about the others?” Twilight shook her head. “Actually no, don’t tell me.”
“Why do you care if I lie to you?” Cadance asked. She tilted her head, staring at Twilight.
“Because you’re my-” Twilight came up short, face pinched as she cut off her reply.
Cadance got up and crossed the room. Twilight stood her ground, glaring. Cadance stopped just inches away, close enough to touch, but she didn’t.
“I asked you not to leave the group,” Cadance said quietly. “I begged you to come back. I did what I could, but you wouldn’t listen. Fluttershy and I arranged for her to transfer to your school, to remind you. I tried to set up a reunion with the girls to lure you back. I need you back, Twilight. I’ve even had to resort to playing dirty.”
“You make it sound like this is my fault.”
“You’re the one who decided to close her eyes and cover her ears instead of using her power to stop evil. But now, maybe that you’ve seen what we’re up against, now that your new friends have been touched by it, you might finally have a reason, after ignoring so many others.”
“Did you rehearse that?” Twilight said.
“Yes, actually. I do need you back.” Cadance stared at her for a moment longer. Twilight thought she was going to go for a hug, but she didn’t. She just walked out the door.
Twilight stared after her. In spite of herself, she couldn’t help but be moved by Candance’s words, though she was still trying to decide if she was livid, worried, or touched.
She looked down at the coffee spots on the rug. What was the development group “up against?” Hypnotized hydras? How had that happened? Who could be behind it?
Did...did Cadance do it? Twilight involuntary exhaled as if punched. She wouldn’t, would she? Not threaten an entire city just for Twilight?
She didn’t want to believe it. She didn’t think Cadance had implied it. But she had also never seen this side of Cadance before. Her old foalsitter, her sister in law, was being driven to admitted desperation... because of Twilight?
Even if Cadance hadn’t sent the hydra, what she was doing was still emotional terrorism. Twilight took a sip of her coffee. No, she wouldn’t cave. But she needed more information. She saw through Cadance’s plan, stringing Twilight along to get her to take the bait and ask what was going on.
Who would she ask? Twilight’s first thought was Princess Celestia. Straight to the top. But no. As much as Twilight hated to admit it, her old mentor was not the best choice. She was too close to the issue. Perhaps Cadance was even acting on Celestia’s orders.
Twilight put her paranoia aside. Fluttershy was definitely acting on Cadance’s orders, but Twilight was also sure she could work the truth out of her. Then again, she’d displayed about as much spine the previous day as Twilight had ever seen from her. Also, Twilight didn’t know where she lived.
She considered it for a few more minutes, but paused to pour out the rest of the coffee in the sink. As much as caffeine was a tool to wake up, she had a greater desire to be clear-headed. The beginnings of an idea had started to come to her.
Twilight grabbed a muffin and left the apartment. At the train station, she bought a ticket to Ponyville.
Elsewhere on the Equestrian rail system, Rainbow Dash sat in a private compartment with Spitfire and Soarin’. A copy of the morning newspaper was spread out between them.
“Well, it’s definitely Twilight,” said Rainbow, indicating the picture on the front page.
“Is it that easy to recognize her?” Spitfire asked.
“The glamour doesn’t work on other Elements.” Rainbow studied the text of the article. “I didn’t think she’d moved to Baltimare, though. This says Fluttershy was also there. Oh wait, it says here ‘the monster chased ponies indiscriminately, including a group of schoolchildren on holiday from Canterlot.’”
“Lucky they were there,” Soarin’ observed. “But I’m worried now that this shadow enemy has decided to go public, we might not be so fortunate next time.”
“On the other hoof, maybe this setback will make them think we’re everywhere,” Spitfire suggested. “Though the issue of the Element of Magic reemerging will complicate things.”
Soarin’ gestured to the headline. “But is she actually back?”
Rainbow shrugged. “I haven’t talked to Twilight since she left and I went into this covert stuff. Cadance said that she’d been trying to get Twilight back, but Twilight was resisting. I’ll bet Celestia had this newspaper story authorized to use as more pressure to get Twilight to come back.”
“It did say something about a press release,” said Spitfire.
“I would almost bet Celestia effectively wrote the whole article herself. She basically did every headline back during the war, to the point that I’m surprised she admitted any Element was killed in action instead of listing them as permanently missing.”
“Well, she certainly kept the Element of Magic’s retirement quiet, though the newspapers did notice she hadn’t been seen in a while,” Soarin’ noted.
“I still can’t believe Twilight would rather go to high school, but then, she always was a nerd.”
“How well do you know her?” Spitfire asked.
“Well enough, I guess.” Rainbow sat back in her seat. “The group of us trained together a little so we knew everypony’s abilities. Twilight’s good with that sword of hers. She’s got more tricks up her sleeve than you’d expect, too.”
“What did Kindness do?” Spitfire asked. “The paper says she was there, but doesn’t say anything else.”
“Sounds about right. Fluttershy doesn’t really do combat. She’s not good at it at all. But she’s a great medic. That’s why I picked her.”
“I’ve never really been clear how becoming an Element works,” said Soarin’.
“Well, first off, it doesn’t work on dudes. But when you find a mare that you want to give the power to, you just have to concentrate and focus yourself. You pick their Element, they pick their Element item, and the magic does the rest.” Rainbow raised a hoof. “Keep that to yourself, by the way. I may have ‘come out’ as the Element of Loyalty, but no way am I telling everypony I can do that and getting swarmed by wannabe Elements.”
“Would you want to be an Element?” Soarin’ asked Spitfire.
“I don’t know. I feel like it...wouldn’t be me.” Spitfire paused, apparently deep in introspection. “I appreciate the Elements, but I’m not sure I would want that, power aside.”
“Well, they told me to knock it off anyway,” said Rainbow. “Plus, I think Fluttershy is the only one I made who survived the war. To be fair, though, if I had to pick just one, it would have been her. She and I go way back.”
The train began to slow down. The conductor called out, “Now arriving at Canterlot.”
The three of them got up as the train stopped. Rainbow put on a pair of dark sunglasses. She stretched after the long ride, careful to keep her cutie marks concealed under her saddlebags. “Let’s go see what Cadance wanted to talk to us about. She said something about a dessert shop.”
Soarin’s ears perked up.
“Now arriving at Ponyville.”
Twilight looked up and closed her book, putting it in her bag. She got up from her seat and stepped out of the train car onto the platform.
The station had been fixed up. The last time she’d seen it, a shadow creature taller than the building had torn through it. Twilight turned her head, as if that would help her turn away from the memory, and started to walk.
She remembered the apple orchard at the edge of town. It had served as a forward base during the war. There was enough food to feed a small army and enough room for them to assemble. Other than the trees, though, it hadn’t been very defensible.
Everything seemed to have been repaired and gussied up. The fences were straight. The trees had been pruned. The barn was freshly painted. Twilight, however, focused on the house. She walked up onto the porch and knocked on the front door.
Hoofsteps crossed the floor, easily audible on the wood. Everything was wood. There was a rustic charm to it, but Twilight had already discovered that she couldn’t live in the country anymore.
Applejack opened the door, eyes opening in surprise. “Twilight?”
“Applejack.” Twilight shifted her hooves. She’d come this far that morning on nothing but a mental plan, and suddenly second-guessed herself. Did she really need to do this?
“I was hoping I could ask you a few questions,” Twilight said.
“Why sure. Come in.” Applejack stood back from the door.
The inside of the house seemed emptier than Twilight remembered. It had never been just two of them there. She followed Applejack into the kitchen. Applejack opened the icebox and took out a jug, from which she poured two glasses of cider.
“Thank you,” said Twilight, accepting one of them as they sat down at the table.
“Ain’t no problem.”
Twilight remembered the first time they had met. Applejack was willing to do anything to defend her home and family, but wasn’t shy about voicing her opinion of the Royal Guard commandeering the farm. Just like other Elements before, Twilight and Cadance had both sensed it - here was somepony special. Country bumpkin without tact she may have been, but Applejack was worthy. Cadance named her the Element of Honesty.
“I wanted to ask you what you know about the Element Warfare Development Group,” said Twilight.
“Don’t you have ponies closer than Ponyville you can ask?”
“Closer, but none that I’m willing to ask.”
Applejack frowed, but let it go. “Well, I don’t know much about the group seein’ as I’m not an official member, but I hear a few things.”
“You aren’t?” interrupted Twilight.
“You and me went opposite directions,” Applejack said. “You wouldn’t fight, and wanted to go. I wanted to keep at it, but wouldn’t leave Ponyville. You retired. I got retired.” She shrugged. “Well, at any rate, Cadance doesn’t tell me what to do anymore, but we still talk occasionally. I may not answer to her, but I do keep the Everfree clear. We have a kind of unspoken agreement.”
“Have you noticed any change recently?” Twilight asked. “Cadance seems to have suddenly redoubled her efforts to get me back.”
“Noticed a change,” Applejack confirmed. Twilight’s mouth opened, so she preempted her question. “Don’t know what it is. Don’t care.”
“Do you think...do you think the shadows might be coming back again?” asked Twilight.
“Don’t know. Don’t care.”
“How can you not?” said Twilight. “All of Equestria could be at stake - again!”
“Well, I’m doin’ more about it than you.”
“I don’t even know what’s going on! Monsters are attacking. Cadance is lying to me. I just wanted what ponies my age are supposed to have! I’m not supposed to be some saviour of Equestria! I’m not supposed to be an orph-” Twilight bit off the rest of her retort. She’d passed the Apple family cemetery on the way in.
“Just who are you trying to convince, sugarcube?”
Twilight let out a long sigh, staring at the glass of cider in front of her that she still hadn’t touched. “I don’t know how I can go back. I don’t know how I can stay away.”
“Get over it.”
Twilight shot her a look. “Says the agoraphobe.”
“The what?”
“The pony who refuses to leave home.”
“And what does that have to do with anything?” said Applejack. “You refuse to make a decision on refusing to join the group or going back.”
“I didn’t refuse to choose!” Twilight protested. “I made the choice! Then Cadance shows up trying to drag me back! She won’t quit, even after I keep telling her no!”
“She thinks you chose wrong.”
“I know!”
“Do you know better than her about threats to Equestria?”
Twilight seized up, trying to vent her anger, but unable to counter the question. “I-I just don’t want this to be my life! I shouldn’t be made to do this! It’s just not fair!”
Applejack put down her empty glass. She stood up and leaned forward across the table until she was nose to nose with Twilight. “Ain’t nopony cares.”
She drew back and glanced at the clock. “The train back to Canterlot leaves in twenty minutes. Next one’s tomorrow.”
Still seeing red, Twilight got up and stalked past Applejack without a word. Her pace didn’t change until she got back into town and bought a train ticket.
Standing on the platform, tapping her hoof angrily as she waited, everypony made a wide berth around her. Twilight wasn’t sure if she was mad at Applejack or just at the situation, and that only drove her anger deeper.
She sat on the train, mood brewing the whole way back to Canterlot. She didn’t get off at the local station near her apartment. Instead, she rode until the station just at the foot of the mountain.
It was a long climb up the well-paved but steep path to the castle. Twilight didn’t feel any fatigue. Her rage had cooled, at least to the point she could keep a straight face, but it had been replaced by blind, maniacal determination.
A subconscious voice warned that she shouldn’t do things rashly. It reminded her that talking to Cadance and talking to Applejack hadn’t helped, so she may not get results this time. It begged her to use some common sense.
Buck common sense. That hadn’t worked.
Twilight walked up to the castle gate. The tall wooden doors were open, but attended by Royal Guards in polished armor.
“I want to see the Princess,” said Twilight.
“Uh, your name, miss?” asked one of the guards, apparently taken aback by her attitude.
She gave it and a nearby guard consulted a clipboard. He shook his head. “Sorry, you’re not on here.”
She’d halfway hoped Princess Celestia would have kept a permanent pass for her. No matter. “I want to see the Princess,” she repeated.
“I’m sorry, if you’re not on here, you’ll have to make an appointment,” said the nearest guard.
Twilight started to respond, but he cut her off. “There’s no other way. A lot of ponies say they need to see the Princess, but there are no exceptions. She’s busy, and you can’t just barge in. Now leave. Nothing you have to say is going to be important enough.”
Twilight punched him in the face.
As she was dog-piled by half a dozen guards, Twilight reflected that at least she was going to be in the castle now. She’d figure out the next step from there.
Moon Dancer approached the door carefully, checking the peephole. Seeing who was on the other side, she opened the door.
“Didn’t you hear my knock?” Lyra said, walking in.
“I was just being careful,” Moon Dancer replied.
“Hydras don’t knock.” Lyra glanced at Moon Dancer, who still wore a troubled look. “I mean, okay, I can see how yesterday messed everypony up.” She hesitated, and then added, “This morning, I jumped when a bird chirped.”
“I wonder how Twilight is doing,” said Moon Dancer. “I think...she might have seen things like that before. She told me her parents died in the Nightmare War.”
“Fluttershy was also weird about it,” said Lyra. “But for different reasons, I think.”
She chewed her lip for a moment in thought and then shrugged. “That was pretty messed up, though. Still, I can’t believe the Elements showed up!”
“They just...killed it,” said Moon Dancer, voice small.
“Well...I guess rather it than us.”
“I suppose so.”
There was a moment of silence that apparently got to Lyra before it did Moon Dancer. “I wonder who the Elements are? I mean, Rainbow Dash revealed herself, but the rest are still covert. Do you think Magic and Kindness live in Baltimare? I wonder if we have any living near us? You don’t hear much about them since the war.”
“You sound like a tracker.”
“No way! Those guys are weird. I just think the Elements are cool.”
Moon Dancer hmm’d in vaguely feigned interest. “So why did you come over?”
“Well, we have the day off and I heard about this new dessert bar. Do you want to go?”
Cadance had told Fluttershy to be expecting somepony. Still, she was surprised to see Rainbow.
“So these are the new digs?” Rainbow said, as Fluttershy let her in the front door of Café Cadenza. Rainbow was followed by a mare and a stallion, who Fluttershy vaguely recognized but didn’t know well.
“Cadance and Princess Celestia came up with it,” said Fluttershy.
Rainbow looked her up and down. “Did they come up with those outfits?”
“Yes.”
Rainbow smirked. “I’m glad I’m off doing the spec ops dirty work, because there’s no way you could get me into that.”
Fluttershy showed them to the private, secure room in the back. She saw Soarin’ eying the pie in the glass case out front and brought him a slice.
“So where’s Cadance?” Rainbow asked. “She said she wanted to talk to us.”
“She just left,” said Fluttershy. “Though I think she planned to be here. She seemed in a hurry, and was muttering about Twilight.”
“What happened with you and Twilight in Baltimare?” Rainbow asked.
“We were on a class trip and the hydra attacked. Somepony was controlling it. It’s a good thing we were there, or somepony might have been hurt.”
“So is Twilight back?”
Fluttershy shook her head. “I only barely convinced her to fight. We need her back, but she isn’t having it. I don’t know what we can do.”
“I could beat some sense into her,” Rainbow offered. Maybe even seriously.
Fluttershy glanced at the security monitor, which showed two ponies approaching the front door. “I’ll be right back.”
She’d forgotten to lock the door after letting the others in. Well, she would just have to give the customers some treats and then close up after them. Fluttershy didn’t mind working at the shop, it was a nice change of pace really, but she didn’t want to keep Rainbow waiting.
Unfortunately, it was two of her classmates that came in.
“Oh hey Fluttershy, I didn’t know you worked here,” said Lyra. She grinned and raised her eyebrows. “Do you do discounts for friends?”
“Uh...sure,” Fluttershy said. “But only on the pie.” She pulled out the one that had a single slice cut out of it.
“Nice!” said Lyra, not even bothering to ask what flavor it was.
“Just a second!” Soarin’ stuck his head out of the back room. “I wasn’t finished with that!” Somepony tried to tug him back, but was unsuccessful.
“Who’s that?” said Moon Dancer.
“Maintenance,” said Fluttershy. “We, um, pay him in pie. He’s...here to fix the dishwasher. That’s why you can’t eat here, because we have no clean plates today.”
“I’ll just eat it out of the tin,” Lyra offered.
“No, can’t do that, it’s a health code violation.” Fluttershy cut one more slice from the pie, crammed it in Soarin’s mouth with one hoof, and thrust the rest at Lyra with the other. “Five bits.”
“You had the money, right?” Lyra said to Moon Dancer, who dutifully paid, though she looked considerably more suspicious than her friend. Fluttershy escorted them to the door, and then locked it.
With a sigh of relief, she turned and walked to the back room again. Rainbow raised her eyebrows. “That must be some really good pie.”
As the hours passed, Twilight sat in a cell and thought about what she’d done.
It seemed like a good idea at the time.
But now, watching the moon rise through the barred window, she had really begun to regret punching that Royal Guard. It wasn’t his fault.
It wasn’t Twilight’s fault that Cadance wanted her to fight monsters. No, that wasn’t exactly comparable to Twilight hitting a Guard, but a couple of hours sitting on a hard cot in a bare stone room had given her time to think.
There was a scrape of keys in the lock and the door swung open. Twilight wasn’t really surprised to see Princess Celestia standing there. Once her name had filtered up from the Guards to the Princess, of course she would want to see Twilight. She was a little surprised to see Cadance standing next to Celestia.
“Let’s go to my office,” said Celestia.
As she followed them out of the cell, Twilight paused to speak with the Guard who had unlocked the door. “I need to apologize to who I hit. That was uncalled for.”
He stared at her for a moment, but said, “I’ll tell him.”
Apologetic as she was, this was still probably the fastest way to get in to see Celestia, Twilight reflected. She hurried along, catching up to the two longer-legged mares.
Twilight remembered the way to Celestia’s office, though she hadn’t been there since before the war. The three of them walked in silence the whole way. Having had time to think while in the cell, Twilight now began to overthink. Celestia had obviously called Cadance. What had Cadance said to her? What would the two of them say to Twilight? Would they, together, demand that she rejoin the group?
Twilight wondered what she would say.
Celestia led the two of them into her office and nodded to chairs on the front side of her desk. She went around and sat down in her own chair. Not a throne, that was downstairs, just a fancy office chair, the same as the guest chairs. But it was still clear whose office this was.
Celestia put her hooves together, resting them on the desk. “Twilight, why did you come here today?”
“I wanted to talk to you about the Element Warfare Development Group.”
“Could you have asked Cadance?”
“Maybe, but-” Twilight glanced at Cadance, suddenly unwilling to throw her under the train. Or maybe she just didn’t want to sound like a tattling filly. She decided to see how involved Celestia was, first. “You may have heard what’s happened in the last few days.”
“I heard that you saved your classmates from a monster,” said Celestia. “Cadance tells me that she’s running out of ideas to get you to do that for other ponies, too.”
Lyra, Moon Dancer, the rest of her classmates. How fortunate they were to have an Element as a classmate. They’d won the lottery when it came to picking schools. Twilight couldn’t not help them, not if she was there and able.
Could she not help everypony else? Could she swallow her pride and accept that she’d lost the argument and couldn’t get what she wanted? As self-acknowledgedly selfish as it was, no, not just yet.
Twilight met Celestia’s eyes. “I want to know why I should. What’s changed, and why can’t somepony else handle it?”
Celestia paused, as if summarizing her thoughts. She said, “We believe somepony is attempting to create counterfeit Elements.”
Twilight’s eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. Celestia went on. “Unfortunately, they are not friendly. While what we have been able to deduce indicates that their magic may not be as pure or effective as ours, their methods seem to be more diverse, as you saw with an enchanted hydra. In addition, we believe they may have greater aspirations than this world.”
“Wh-what’s beyond this world?” Twilight asked.
Princess Celestia touched a button on a small intercom that sat atop her desk. “Could you please send in Sunset Shimmer?”
Twilight’s mind raced. She was slightly relieved that Nightmare Moon or her army wasn’t coming back, but this was somehow almost worse. Counterfeit Elements. The enormous power which she had been granted, in the wrong hooves, could be catastrophic. Literally world-rending, if she’d heard the Princess correctly.
The door opened and a unicorn mare the color of a creamsicle came in. Her mane was streaked in red and yellow, and she wore a pair of glasses that almost resembled Moon Dancer’s. Her cutie mark, like Celestia’s, was a sun.
Sunset introduced herself. “I’ve been working on research for the Princess for several years now.”
Now that she said it, Twilight vaguely recalled Sunset’s name. Maybe from the School for Gifted Unicorns. She might have even known Sunset if Twilight hadn’t been taken from the school to fight a war.
“Perhaps you’ve heard of the concept of parallel universes?” Sunset said. Twilight nodded. “Our world has a stable connection to another. We keep it here in the castle.”
One stunning blow after another. Twilight reminded herself to not let her mouth hang open too far.
“Their world is called Terra. The locals who we’ve contacted come from a country called Pedestria. It’s really rather remarkable how alike we are, even if they’re completely different physically than us. They call themselves humans.”
“Unfortunately,” Sunset went on, “The existing link between our worlds also makes it far easier for random, uncontrolled, as well as intentional connections to form. A pony with knowledge of this other place, as well as enough magic power and spell skill, could go there without our knowledge by creating their own portal.”
“Now that we’ve noticed counterfeit Elements,” Celestia said, “We’ve become concerned that they may be targeting this other universe. The denizens there don’t have magic, or at least not any in a form they can use. Suddenly adding it, especially by those who wish evil, could tear their world apart.”
There were so many questions Twilight wanted to ask. She fought to narrow it down, and eventually said, “What have you done so far?”
“I’ve been trying to get ahold of our best and brightest,” Cadance said flatly.
In a much more gentle tone, Celestia added, “We’re also developing a way to preemptively counter any bad Elements by selecting a small group of worthy humans to wield the magic for defense.”
“But isn’t that still giving magic to a species that doesn’t, or isn’t supposed to, have it?” said Twilight. “What if one of them isn’t trustworthy? What happens if the others find out about it?”
“Already asking good questions,” said Celestia.
Twilight was instantly on the defensive. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Celestia looked at Twilight. “Now that you know everything, are you in?”
Twilight swallowed. The direct question. Yes or no. She said, “On one condition.”
She looked at Cadance and back to Celestia. “That we will do everything we can to contain this here before even thinking about exporting the Elements. I know why they exist here, but I wish they didn’t have to. I’m not going to put anypony in a different world through what I and the rest of us have gone through here.”
“Very well-”
“Promise me,” Twilight insisted. “If I’m doing this, then we’re doing it my way.”
She’d never snapped at Celestia before in her life. She couldn’t have imagined doing it ten seconds before. Celestia was surprised, too. However, she bowed her head. “I promise that I will do everything in my power to avoid tainting another world with this. I know how you feel, Twilight. You have my word.
“Now, I believe Cadance would like to talk to you privately.”