//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 - Unleash the Magic // Story: Home Again // by Ninjadeadbeard //------------------------------// Whatever that brick wall was made of, Twilight desperately wanted some for her laboratory. Or at least a replacement for the blast shield she used for the really, really interesting experiments. It tanked the next blast of white light like nothing happened, even though, from what she could see… everything had happened. The Wondercolts… Draconequus statue was racing away at full speed down the road. The sky was now undulating storm clouds and rainbows. The grass was… laughing? Weeping? She couldn’t rightly tell. “I’m not a fan of this chaos business,” she sighed. She made sure Spike was still nestled protectively into the wall, and then moved into the eye of the storm. The dozen or so other students who’d been witness to this mayhem were still around, though any humans left were long since gone, replaced with everything from Dragons to Changelings. Beyond the bubblegum façade, stone towers rose up from the school itself like it were a fantasy castle, and she could see desks leaping to and fro in the windows of the classrooms. The Trixies stumbled past Twilight, thankfully no further transformed. “Come on,” one said irritably, “Trixie is tired of this bit.” Twilight reached down and laid a hand on that Trixie’s shoulder, “Is everyone else alright?” The other Trixie pointed towards the statue plinth, where the awkward sight of two pony front-halves fused together at their midsection stood arguing. “I say this way! We can hide out at the boutique!” Rarity shouted, desperately pulling her half of the body away from the school. Rainbow Dash was winning however, as she seemed to get most of the wingpower in their new relationship, “Not before I beat Disqord and Discord into mush!” “Please! I cannot be seen like this!” “You’re already a pony!” Rarity paused, then thoughtfully tapped her chin with a hoof. Finally, she lit up her horn, raising the plinth up threateningly before snarling, “Fine! Then I get first dibs on the human one!” Twilight was on hand to stop them. “Wait, wait! Let’s not be hasty! He might have an explanation.” One of the Discords’ voices sighed, “Maybe… but you might not like it.” The two Lords of Chaos approached Twilight, both eyeing the plinth with worried expressions. Fluttershy followed close… bat wings, ears, teeth, and eyes making her appear far, far more fearsome than she would normally. In fact, Twilight thought her friend might have been shivering. Behind them, Sunset Shimmer was helping a very… striking alicorn with an ethereal star-field mane learn to walk. “That’s it, you’re doing amazing, VP!” Sunset encouraged the transformed Luna. Luna however, was quite upset. At least, Twilight could tell from her tone. The actual words she spoke were, “Ridiculum. Existimabam linguis antiquis in collegium! Non puto me simul bene! Sicut si aliquis suus impugnamur in verbis meis quilibet infirmus interpres? Sunset, si non figere hoc primum est, ut per detentionem a mensis.” * “Yeah,” Sunset tried very, very hard to sound like she understood that, “Apparently, Princess Luna was known for speaking Old Ponish right after she came back. I guess you have something similar going on here.” She muttered, “Though why not this world’s actual equivalent…” “Because Chaos,” Disqord said, absentmindedly as he and Discord scratched their chins and watched the plinth some more as Rarity lowered it to its usual resting place. “Not everything should be the same, after all.” “Odi te qui sis,” Luna snarled. “Nescio quid est, sed scio te esse post hanc.” ** Twilight, ever helpful, translated. “Don’t worry Vice Principal. Discord… and Disqord are actually trying to help,” she said in that same, ancient language. “Twilight? Vetus Militiarum Equestrium Quae tibi loqueris?” *** “A little. I took six language courses prior to Crystal Prep,” she laughed, lightly given the situation they found themselves in, “Guess overpreparing worked out this once?” Luna gave Twilight an odd look, a mix of surprise and… pride. “Credimus quia iustus es ostentationem,” she said. **** Leaving Luna with Twilight, Sunset joined the Discords as they began to pull tools out of thin air. First rulers, then protractors and calculators, and finally some sort of… phone? It looked like something out of a science-fiction show, Sunset thought, the way it kept beeping as Disqord ran it over the statue plinth. “So… any idea what went wrong?” She asked, trying to give her new friend the benefit of the doubt. Disqord looked at her, and very clearly knew what Sunset was doing. “Yes, unfortunately.” He smiled, anyway. “What you got here,” said Discord, dressed in blue overalls with a red long-sleeved shirt and cap with a crooked ‘D’ on the front, “is your classic Chaos Snarl.” Disqord, in a green version of the same outfit, albeit with a ‘Q’ on his hat, threw in an accent, “Mama mia! The Portal, because’a she was’a tied into the prank’a that’a made me, she’s all’a tied up with’a da Chaos! Spaghetti!” Sunset tried her best to… ignore whatever it was they were doing and just focused on the words themselves. “So, the portal itself is corrupted?” Discord, closer to normal, shook his head, “More like, it’s tangled up with all the Chaos at the moment, and every time I or my better half use our magic on it, it rebounds.” “But can’t you fix the rest of it?” “No can do,” Disqord said, a pained expression on his face, “There’s a whole web of Chaos tied up right now. Undoing any of it from here-on-in will tug and pull on other strands of Chaos elsewhere. At this point, if I turned one Trixie back to… whatever a Trixie considers normal, there might be a typhoon across the sea, or across Time!” One of the Trixies sighed, “I’m starting to see why Twilight hates time magic so much…” Discord glanced up, “And with that thing up there, I don’t think messing with such randomness would do us any favors.” They all looked up… and suddenly wished they hadn’t. There was a space in the writhing rainbow storm clouds, and through it one could see the full moon. In broad daylight. It looked like an angry moon as well, considering the scowl on its face and the insane grin beneath that scowl. It also looked like it was getting closer. “Rough estimate,” said Disqord, checking his calculator, “Three days. Give or take a song and dance routine.” Sunset whirled back to them, “There has to be something you can do!” Discord slowly scratched the back of his head. “Well… there is one thing we could try… but I can’t do it myself.” “Oh no!” Disqord shrank slightly, “Not that!” “I’m sorry my boy, but it must be done.” Discord looked down at Sunset with a sorrowful look. “What’s the problem…?” Sunset did not like where this was heading. This day had gone from bad to Insane already. What could be worrying Discord now!? “It’s…” Discord bit his lip. A single tear rolled down his cheek, and he finally said, “Pony Magic!” The other Disqord gasped, wilted. Fluttershy immediately began to fan him with her bat wings. Sunset sighed, “Of course you’d make it a joke…” “Oh, it’s no joke!” Discord said, with utmost seriousness. “We need a Level Five Containment Ward around the portal-pedestal there.” “Wait, a Containment Ward? How will that help us?” Sunset wracked her mind for the answer, but wards had never been her strongest subject back in Celestia’s school. Discord was visibly uncomfortable, but he managed to talk through his skin shivering and… literally trying to pull away from this conversation. “As I understand it, Wards are very protective of whatever’s inside of them, and at Level Five they actually create dimensional barriers between the sealed object and reality around them. That’s how Celestia was able to keep the Elements of Harmony away from me the second time.” Twilight had at some point taken a seat next to Sunset, and listened with rapt attention. “When you have a snarl like this,” Discord waved one claw around in a circle, to indicate basically everything, “The only way to snap it back to normal is to remove the snarl itself from the same reality for a second or two and let the whole system reset.” Disqord added, “It’s the unplug-it-and-re-plug-it version of a solution, but it’s all we have.” “Well,” said Sunset, “What are you waiting for? You can cast that spell.” Both Discords shook their heads, with the original saying, “It’s too orderly…” “Too neat!” “And too regulated,” Discord pointed at Sunset, “It’ll have to be you, Sunny. You’re the only one here who actually went to Celestia’s School and would have learned about these things.” Disqord laughed, “Also, you’re not Trixie…” Sunset immediately cried “This is terrible!” Both Discords, upright again, looked down at the agitated unicorn. “Um… is there a problem?” asked Disqord. “Of course, there’s a problem!” Sunset marched right up to the human and Draconequus Lords of Chaos, “It’s been years since I had to do… well, most any kind of magic! I couldn’t remember how to write out a Fourth Level Ward, much less a Fifth!” Trixie, the pony one, said in a not so Great and certainly not Powerful voice, “So… does this mean we…?” Sunset didn’t turn around. “It means we can never go home, and this world is…” She couldn’t say it. After all this. After the pain and suffering, the chaos and the reconciliations… her whole quest to help this world had doomed it. How could she ever have thought she could measure up…? “It’s alright, Sunset. I remember.” A voice of pure ice and malice froze Sunset’s blood, a voice she once heard on this very spot proclaiming their intention to destroy the world. The unicorn spun around, eyes full of tears and shock and the sudden, awful realization that she hadn’t quite failed enough for one day. Out of frightened reflex, she whispered the name of the one who spoke. “Midnight…” Sunset didn’t turn around. “It means we can never go home, and this world is…” Twilight closed her eyes, and it all froze. The world went gray and lifeless, without sound or motion. All was still. All was silent. Good, she thought. I need some time to hear myself think. “What a mess,” a voice beside her in the dark of her mind said. “I suppose I’ll have to add Chaos to the things I’m going to have to avoid once I’m free.” “Midnight,” Twilight greeted her… tulpa. “Sparkle,” Midnight sneered. “How on earth did you manage to screw up this badly?” “I didn’t have anything to do with this,” she waved one hand. They simultaneously stood in the time-frozen moment in between moments, as well as the darkness of their own, shared mind. It was a bit confusing, but not too hard to get around once you were used to it. “Impressive, by the way,” Twilight added, “I’m guessing you used Starswirl’s Tiny Thoughts spell to increase our cognitive speed enough to have this conversation in the span of a few picoseconds?” Midnight looked… confused, “Not at all. This was you, I thought. I would have waited a few minutes until the stress of living in such an awful place wore away at your defenses first.” “Oh,” Twilight took a moment to admire her own handiwork, “I guess I’m… better at this than I thought.” Midnight scoffed, “You’re just imitating me at this point.” Twilight just sighed and looked out on… awful didn’t quite do it justice. Doomed was a better description, overall. The world was spiraling into a chaotic maelstrom of uncontrollable change and disarray. Yes, doomed would be an appropriate epitaph. “Doesn’t matter what you call it,” Midnight laughed, clearly having heard Twilight’s thoughts, “Once you’re too tired of this… nightmare to deal with me, I win. It doesn’t matter how many seconds or minutes or days you crammed into this one moment, since you have no idea how to fix this… “But I do.” Twilight snapped her… well, three-dimensional space was a strange and entirely unsatisfying concept in the mindscape, so she settled for facing Midnight directly. “What do you mean?” Midnight smiled wickedly, “I know the Fifth Level Ward spell they need to save your world. If you remember being me, you’d know that I can passively learn magic as long as I’m around it. The Crystal Heart had all sorts of…” Twilight grabbed Midnight’s nonexistent shoulders, “Then help us! Tell me how to do it so I can save my friends!” The tulpa put on a sickeningly sweet and cute smile, saying, “Oh gee! Why not? And then I’ll just quietly fade away into your mind and never bother you again!” She scowled. “I’m beginning to wonder if I did end up with all the brains in this relationship.” “Don’t you care if the world’s destroyed!?” Midnight put on a brief show of thinking quite hard on that question, before answering simply, “No.” “But,” Twilight wracked her mind, “But you’re me! If the world’s destroyed…!” “I’ll survive,” she answered back, nonchalantly, “Always do. And if the world does get destroyed, that just makes it easier to leave and find Equestria again. Stop comparing us, Twilight! I may be you, but I’m the better you! The one who knows what she wants and knows how to get it.” She laughed at this, laughed at the fact that the world might be ending. Twilight scanned the darkness and saw… nothing. She looked to her friends. Fluttershy was crying softly, Rainbow and Rarity were helplessly tripping over themselves, the Trixies were panicking, Sunset was despairing, and even the Discords… Disqord was just looking down, sorrow plain as day on his face. He hadn’t meant to do this. All he’d wanted was a laugh with his friends. All he or the other Discord had ever wanted… What had Discord wanted…? Could it really be that easy? Twilight supposed there was only one way to find out. “What do you want?” Midnight stopped laughing. “What?” Twilight faced her again, “What do you want? What’s your endgame here?” Midnight tilted her head, “Dominion over Magic?” “Power isn’t a goal, it’s a means,” Twilight lectured, “So again, what do you want? Why do you want all the magic?” “Why!?” Midnight looked incredulous, “Why not!?” Twilight nodded, “Okay, so then what will you do once you have all the magic?” Midnight opened her mouth to answer… and then stopped. Huh… that was a fair question. She’d never thought of it before because, well, taking all the magic had been at the forefront of her thoughts up until this point. Until she had that… she hadn’t really needed to… “I… I suppose…” she looked around her for inspiration, then noticed Discord. “I can… take over the world!” she announced. “The world you just destroyed?” ask Twilight, arms crossed. “What would even be the point? It’s not like you’d have anyone left to gloat or rule over.” They sat in silence. Twilight had made a good point, but Midnight wasn’t about to let her have that. Still, while Midnight contemplated this new development, Twilight had the initiative. “Fine,” she sighed, wearily. “You win.” That… that was unexpected. Too unexpected. Midnight took a step back, and then a few more. Not that distance meant anything here, but still. “What sort of trick are you playing at, Twilight?” she snarled, waiting for anything to happen next. Twilight just shrugged. “No tricks. You’re going to win eventually, so we might as well get it over with now.” That couldn’t be right, Midnight thought. There was no way even someone as weak-willed as Twilight would just… give up. There had to be a trick here. There had to be! But the more Midnight looked for one, the more she peeked here and there into Twilight’s thoughts, the more she… “Well,” she said, a smug look projecting over her features in the mental plane, “About time.” She reached out, ready to take what was hers by right when… “But first…” Midnight flew back, “I knew it! This is a trick!” But Twilight followed her, “No tricks! I promise that at the end of this, I will willingly give you my mind and body!” The look in her eyes was a determined one, fueled by a fire Midnight hadn’t seen in her other half. She paused in her retreat. Twilight was serious. The two watched each other for a long time before Midnight at last said, “Proceed.” “First,” Twilight stated matter-of-factly, “You will spare my friends.” “This isn’t one of those ‘everyone in the world’s my friend’ things, is it? Twilight shook her head, “Not at all. Just the six girls who helped me when I needed it most.” Midnight had no interest in them. “Done,” she said, “Now let’s…” “Second!” Midnight sighed. “I want you to say something about each of them.” Midnight snorted, “They’re all idiots! Now, as I was saying…” She felt, more than saw a warning hand flash into the mental space they occupied, and Twilight’s voice rang out louder, “You didn’t let me finish! I want you to say something nice about each one of them!” They were back to standing in the dark, they being the only illuminated things in this space between spaces. Midnight regarded Twilight with a deep scowl. Alright, she thought, this had to be some sort of trick. What was the angle? Twilight stood there, a smile on her face. Did she get… when did she learn to be duplicitous? “Fine,” Midnight said, slowly and cautiously. “Great!” Twilight laughed, “Let’s start with Applejack!” “Applejack?” Midnight hadn’t ever thought of Applejack. “I… she’s too dumb to lie. Next!” “Nice things, Midnight,” Twilight smirked, “I want to hear nice things.” “Why!? What are you getting out of this?” That smirk again. “Information.” Why was she being this infuriating!? Midnight had so little to say on Applejack that she was almost afraid giving a physical description would exhaust the totality of what she knew of the girl. She lived on a farm… could that work? No, too neutral. She was pretty? Not really, and she, being a part of Twilight, already had an idea that wouldn’t work. Wait, that was it! Midnight was Twilight! Even though she hadn’t really experienced these fools firsthand, she could just dip into Twilight’s memories for what she wanted! “Applejack…” she began slowly, a wicked laugh in the back of her mind as she congratulated herself on a truly devious scheme. She would defeat Twilight with herself! “Applejack is honest, and won’t lie even to spare your feelings. Like that time she ripped apart that speech in history you had to give,” she held back a chuckle at Twilight’s misfortune. “Yeah, AJ tells it like it is,” Twilight smiled, “She’d make a great advisor for you.” Curious. “What do you mean?” “If you’re considering ruling the world instead of destroying it,” Twilight somehow adjusted her glasses even in this dream-like place, “You’ll need people who can tell you when you’ve made a mistake. Basic scientific theory principles. Data’s no good to you if it’s biased.” “Y-yes… I suppose…” Twilight coughed, “But that’s fine. Next, how about Rarity?” “Rarity?” Midnight began to sift through her memories. Rarity… Rarity… Got it! “Rarity is probably one of the only friends of yours I can respect. She’s driven to get what she wants, and performs her craft at a high standard. She even got that internship with that fashion magazine… Graze, I think.” “Friend of ours,” said Twilight. “Pardon?” Twilight nodded, “Friends of ours. Rarity is my friend, but since you’re me, she’s your friend too.” Ugh, this girl. “What else?” Twilight pressed. “Um…” how many dresses were in her memories? How many had Rarity made for her? How many… did she never ask payment for? “I suppose… it would be boring wearing the same outfit for eternity…” Midnight remembered that weekend a month back when Rarity had made dresses for all the girls. She… Twilight had gotten a beautiful light blue thing decorated in stars. “Very well, she will be spared and made to design my wardrobe. Next.” "Well," Twilight smiled, "How about Sunset Shimmer?" "The one who blasted us at the Friendship Games," Midnight did not ask a question. "The very same, though I do recall you getting even with her back in the Crystal Empire...!" "Yes, draining her magic did feel better than usual," Midnight smirked. "But I know you won't accept that as something nice so..." There were plenty of good memories to choose from. Sunset had, pun unintended, shone a real light into Twilight's life. She was Midnight's other half's first friend. The memories were so filled with happiness that Midnight started wondering if she might catch something from them. Stay focused girl, don't lose focus. "Sunset is the only one who's almost as brilliant as I am," she finally said, "She's passionate, but kind. And she knows when to take charge or to let you... let you find your own way. I suppose she's the only one I... actually like." Maybe... maybe Midnight wouldn't smash that statue. Maybe Sunset would make a nice ornament... "Next." “Rainbow Dash.” Finally, an easy one. “Guard. Maybe a soldier. Definitely someone I could send after people I don’t like.” Twilight warned, “Midnight…” “Fine. Rainbow Dash,” she thought back to that one time her old… Twilight’s old Crystal Prep peers had crossed paths with her at the mall. “Rainbow Dash is loyal, to a fault. She’d probably throw herself in front of a bus for us.” “The mall?” Twilight smiled, cheekily. “When we thought Sour Sweet was going to attack us?” A snort of laughter escaped Midnight’s throat, “Rainbow was about to throw her off the escalator until you stopped her! And all because she was trying to bring you back that book.” “Reminded me never to forget something in my locker again,” Twilight laughed. “Alright, that’s a good one. How about Fluttershy?” Her smiled widened. Ah, now there were some good memories to look through. Midnight found herself flicking through them like an album, at least until she noticed Twilight staring at her. Keep it together, Midnight, she thought. You’ve almost won! “I wish I could figure out a way to magically get that Stare from her,” she crossed her own arms and tried to frown. It wasn’t helping much. “I’d be unstoppable.” “It only works on animals.” “Well, yes… but it’d get Spike to stay off the couch. That or her voice,” Midnight laughed again. So close to victory. “Fluttershy’s like this little stuffed animal that someone built around a steel rod! I sometimes can’t believe that shy little thing can be so tough when she wants to be.” Twilight laughed with her, the fool. This was too easy! “Pinkie Pie,” Twilight said through her laughter. Midnight roared, “She’s funny! She’s the funniest person I know! I mean, do you remember when she threw that party for Applejack…?” she snorted with laughter, “And she somehow got Big Mac to jump out of the apple pie!?” Her giggling, cackling laugh was too much! “I knew it!” Twilight’s voice cut straight through Midnight like an industrial saw. Midnight stopped dead. Her eyes widened; her laughter caught in her throat. She turned towards Twilight, and could see… tears? Well, of course tears. Midnight had won! She was going to be free! Free! Free to plunder the world of magic! Free to rule over it forever…! Alone…! Forever alone. Oh… “That’s just it, Midnight,” Twilight advanced. “What good is all the power if there’s no one to share it with.” “Stop,” Midnight warned, stepping backward as Twilight came forward, “What is this? I won!” “You did,” said Twilight, smiling, “You realized you wanted friendship more than power! I could feel it!” “You’re lying!” “You’re me!” Twilight cried, “I can’t lie to you!” “We’re a teenager! Lying to ourselves is our job!” Where did this wall come from? Midnight could feel herself run up against it, nowhere to run. Not even a half-truth to hide behind. Twilight was almost nose-to-nose with her now. She raised her hands. Why was Midnight so afraid? What was this!? She looked away, closed her eyes tight. She’d won, hadn’t she!? She held out her hands, to block something of what was about to come. Her heart, as it was in this dreamspace, felt tight in her chest… Something took her hand. Slowly, one eye at a time, Midnight looked to see Twilight Sparkle. She just stood there, holding Midnight’s hand in between her own. The girl didn’t even look back at her, just kept her head down. Why was Midnight so scared? Why did her cheeks feel so warm and damp? “Midnight, please,” the voice was so quiet, so frail. Twilight turned her gaze back up to Midnight’s… and the tears began to fall, “Please… save our friends…” Midnight’s protest was so weak, even she didn’t believe it, “… your friends…” Why was her vision so blurry? Were these…? “Our friends!” Twilight’s grip tightened, “Our friends! Yours and mine! Fluttershy! Dash! Rarity! Pinkie! Applejack! Sunset! Even Discord, and Trixie, and all the rest! Look through more of our memories, and you’ll see how important they are to us!” This… this wasn’t right… this wasn’t fair… losing everything… for friendship…? “But… I’m Midnight Sparkle… I’m not supposed to… lose.” “I’m willing to give up everything for my friends,” she said, her eyes narrowing on Midnight’s own, “You win.” She… won? Then why did it feel like… “One condition,” Midnight blinked what tears she could away, “We’re taking the Princess up on her magic lessons…” “Midnight…” There she was, the nightmare herself. Twilight… no, the creature who wore Twilight quietly removed her glasses as an arc of aqua fire, fire so wild it was almost lightning, crackled into their place. She carefully placed the glasses in a pocket, and then opened her eyes. Aqua sclera. Purple irises. Midnight Sparkle. Sunset’s horn burst to life, a flash of crimson magic ready to strike. Or, she would have. But she didn’t. What was the point anymore? The portal was gone. Her life here was effectively gone. The whole world, perhaps the human race soon… would be gone. What was losing one more thing, even if that was her best friend? Rarity-Dash wouldn’t let that stand, however. They flew onto the scene, horn blazing light-blue, and wings flapping madly. They whipped past Sunset, Dash in the lead, and made to slam right into Midnight before she had a chance to… Stop them in an aqua magical aura. Midnight smirked at them, stuck floating in the air, and then with the terrible power at her command… she set them down next to Fluttershy. Neither Discord nor Disqord had moved to fight her. They seemed more interested in watching whatever this was transpire. Midnight looked down at the unicorn before her. “Sunset Shimmer.” Sunset glared. Midnight’s smirk faded, replaced by… hurt? Sunset almost had to do a doubletake. Did Midnight…? “Hear me,” she said, without the explicit malice her voice usually carried, “Twilight Sparkle and I have an accord. You need a Fifth Level Containment Ward?” The grass flashed with Midnight’s magic, leaving behind a flat dirt patch all around the Wondercolt… plinth. She instantly burned all the grass away. She then raised one hand to the sky, and a moment later the sound of shattering glass filled the yard. Dozens of chalk pieces, markers, and pens flew through the windows of Canterlot High School, summoned by an unseen force. They whipped about overhead a moment, before Midnight brought her hand back down to point at the ground. The pens and chalk and markers hurtled downward, landing all around the plinth. Sunset was amazed. Twilight’s telekinetic control was superb, even by unicorn standards, but this was something else! The writing utensils sprang to life again, spinning around the statue’s pedestal at a break-neck pace, spinning and spiraling like a swarm of bees furiously flitting here and there. Sunset hadn’t seen a proper magic circle in years, but her senses came to life instantly as she watched this one form. It was over a dozen circles, one inside another, with a line of smaller intersecting circles connecting each layer. And five grand circles spaced evenly apart, crossing multiple larger circles, were filled with mystic symbols she had forgotten so long, long ago. With the final mark made, the Containment Ward was complete, and it flashed to life with a crack of red lightning. Both Discords took a step back from the pure, undiluted Law which rolled off the spell in waves. But besides the lights and sounds, nothing else happened. Both Trixies applauded the show, but besides even that nothing happened. Sunset finally found her words. Word. “Discord…?” “Hmmm,” he squinted through the red haze, “I was afraid of this. The Snarl has gone too deep. Even with the dimensional barriers, it’s still too… real to be removed.” How many failures could Sunset take in one day? “Then hit it.” They turned, as if suddenly reminded that Midnight was standing right there. Disqord frowned, “Hit it? That sounds like something Trixie’d think up.” Midnight shook her head, “Once again, I’m the smartest one here.” She walked up to the red barrier and tapped it experimentally with her knuckle, creating the eerie sound of knocking on solid air. “This snarl or whatever is merely anchored. All you have to do to break it off from this reality, even for a moment, is to hit it hard enough to move about… an inch.” Disqord started, “Oh my! That…” “That could actually work!” Discord finished. “It’s risky, destructive, and clearly the symptom of a diseased mind! We kick the entire portal out of reality, and the whole system resets!” “I love it!” Disqord laughed. As both Lords of Chaos celebrated, Sunset approached Midnight. “Give her back!” Midnight glanced down at the unicorn. “Excuse me?” “Give Twilight back to us!” Sunset’s horn lit up in warning. Midnight just sighed, “Twilight gave up. I’m the one in charge now. And all I have to do to be truly free is help save your… delightful little dimension,” she rolled her eyes at the last part. “So, get used to it.” “No!” Sunset practically screamed, “Twilight would never give up! And neither will I. If you think we’ll ever accept losing her… if you think we’ll ever stop trying to save her… then you have another thing coming! She’s our friend!” Rarity and Rainbow, the Trixies, even Fluttershy crowded near, taking up a place beside Sunset. In each of their eyes was that same fire as was in Twilight’s. They were determined. They wouldn’t stop until their friend was safe. Yet even Sunset had to pause as she saw Midnight’s face. What… what emotion was that? Midnight turned away from them, wiping at her eyes as she did. Only Sunset could hear what she whispered beneath her breath though. “I am your friend…” But when she turned around, it was a new Midnight. One who had a mission. “Alright! I need both Lords of Chaos for this! Sunset, Trixie, and Luna as well. Moving an entire dimension by an inch will take everything we have!” Sunset protested, “Luna’s had less time to get used to her magic than you’ve been around, and I’m not talking combined between now, the Friendship Games, and the Crystal Empire! There’s no way she can…” A black wing rested on her withers. Vice Principal Luna… could be forgiven in this moment from appearing every bit as regal, and as ancient as her mirror counterpart. She merely nodded once to Sunset, and then once more to Midnight Sparkle, though not without a hint of boiling rage just beneath her stoic exterior. They lined up shoulder to shoulder… or as close to that as was possible between Disqord and Discord standing at least a head and a half taller than Midnight, and Luna who’s horn barely came up to her sternum while still towering over Sunset and the pony Trixie… Suffice it to say, it was a strange, strange line up. “So…” Trixie nervously danced between considering how Great and Powerful she must be to stand amongst such Giants, and how each and every one of them could probably send her to the moon on a whim, including Sunset, “Any tips for the showponies amongst us?” Disqord settled into a grimace, “Don’t stop. We let up, and this whole dimension gets another, bigger dose of the crazies,” he briefly smiled at the last part of that. “On three!” Midnight flared with blue fire, her wings, clothing, and hair fulling retaking her magnificent form, “One!” The Lords of Chaos wreathed white lightning between their hands, claw and paw. “Two!” Trixie and Luna ignited their horns reluctantly. In the former’s case because the best blast she could manage would probably inconvenience a foal on a good day, and the latter because from a biological, temporal standpoint, she was about 5-minutes old. Sunset raised her own horn and began to channel all the might she could feel within herself. “Three!” Midnight was calculating. She did so when she was stressed. And if she weren’t stressed now, she never would. She stood at the center of an array of magic more powerful, more volatile, and more incredible than she’d ever once thought possible. It wasn’t quite a rainbow, not like the Elements of Harmony, but it was close. Unfortunately… it also wasn’t enough. Midnight calculated. Being Twilight Sparkle originally, she still had all her mental acuity and processing power. When she’d been transported to the future… which was currently her past… nevermind. When she’d engaged in magical battle there, she found she could place most of her mental processes onto a sort of auto-pilot, and let her deepest cognitive processes slow down her perception of time. It made calculating odds so much more convenient. And right now, the equation she was getting said they weren’t going to make it. Luna, bless her heart, sputtered out after a few seconds. Having less experience than a foal would (she presumed), it was only natural that even an alicorn would falter under these circumstances. Midnight had been hoping her burnout would have been a disgorging of magical energy, as opposed to this, but what could you do? That was a distressingly non-rhetorical question at this point. Trixie dropped within half a minute of Luna. Rarity had thrown a shot in… which was quite impressive in and of its own right… but to little avail. There has to be more power! A voice shouted in Midnight’s mind. Twilight… I swear, if you’re trying to… If I could give you any more power, I would, she said. We’re almost there! Yeah, almost… which would count if this were horseshoes or… If we just had one more Alicorn… What did you say? We need more power? No… we need one more alicorn… Wait, she won’t accept that! Please Mid- Midnight shut the voice down, reluctantly. She didn’t need a new idea, she needed another alicorn! And with this much power, with this much magic… could she find the answer? Midnight started calculating a new equation, and let her magic-seeking senses flow. Transmutation? No, not enough. Power-condensation? Closer. Ascension? Had to be. “Sunset!” she cried through gritted teeth and over the roaring wail of a building-sized magical explosion crashing into a magical shield that might as well be the full weight of the moon right now. ***** Sunset couldn’t speak through the strain, only angle her head just enough to look at Midnight. “Hold on!” Midnight had once chance to make this work. The spell, horribly complex, wild, and savage in its primal… wrongness practically screamed at Midnight as she constructed it with one of her backup processes. Ascending to an alicorn was meant to be the final step of a long, long process. A championing of magic and Good over time and space itself. Accelerating the process worked against everything Midnight knew the Princesses and Sunset stood for. Forgive me, she thought, then released the spell. It hit Sunset like a truck. Actually, it didn’t. No. Sunset would describe it as being hit by a truck that was on fire and being driven by Rainbow Dash in a hurry. She felt like she’d been set ablaze, or struck by lightning. The… well, it wasn’t exactly pain, but the incredible pressure and feeling of the Elements of Harmony striking her down had been the only thing to make her outright weep in pain. Until now. It was like every fiber of her being was being destroyed and recreated simultaneously, over and over and over and over again. It was like having that happen while Pinkie Pie dunked her into a bathtub full of her jalapeno chocolate muffin sauce. She knew what was happening. She’d been so obsessed with the process studying under Celestia that she thought she could review the method in her sleep. Sunset’s entire being was being changed, from top to bottom, outside in. Since a foal, she’d dreamed of being a princess, of being an alicorn. To hold such power and authority, such respect… But she didn’t want that. She hadn’t wanted that for a long time now. Sunset knew she’d done nothing to truly deserve it, to earn the honor. In fact, she refused. Of course, Sunset didn’t know if she could refuse what was currently happening, but she’d try. She could feel the sheer power of an alicorn just below her own. And… and she knew she needed it. Without it, the portal was going to rebound. This was their final, best chance. The last day had felt… It had only been a half hour, she realized. So, on top of everything else, Princess Twilight would probably finish her morning grocery shopping in the same amount of time it took Sunset to blow up a planet. Mondays. But maybe… maybe she could use this? Channel the power, but refuse the rest? Well, whatever she did, it had to be now. Sunset prepared to channel the greatest power she’d ever felt through her very soul. And then, the world would explode. Again. A stone plinth sat on the front yard of a school. It had stood there for years, unharmed, untouched, unbothered. It was surrounded by walls thicker than any metal, higher than any mountain. The world was silent, and cold, if brightened by the lights shifting and warping just beyond. And then, it moved. Just an inch.