I sank to the ground under the relentless assault, my newfound magic quashed, the psychotic haze surrounding my eyes dissipating. It had taken mere moments for my illustrious opponent to sunder everything I had worked so hard to accomplish. I did not care about the hundreds of painstaking hours spent obsessively searching, but that the research and developments from this ‘Magic of Friendship’ would be forever lost!
Clad in an opalescent white and pink dress, two illuminating golden wings spread wide and a two foot long ethereal white horn jutting out from her forehead, Seraph Sunset Shimmer looked not overjoyed at defeating me after our prolonged magical duel but resigned.
“Twilight Sparkle.” Her soft voice echoed among the heavy fog. “Take my hand.”
She stretched the eponymous appendage toward me. It felt like we were the only two beings in the world, separated from everything else, and perhaps we were. The school, the students, the surroundings were lost in a wall of mist. I was alone, afraid, and…
A senseless rage almost overtook me; the perfect target to be browbeaten, coerced, and threatened!
I bit back my fiery temper with a grimaced tuck of chin against chest, like I was a wild dog about to be struck again. A violent eruption would do no good, my reserves spent like so many alms. Of the vain hope remaining?
My teeth ground against each other. I understood perfectly what would transpire if I took that hand. I had transcended my previous self by donning the Magic of Friendship, creating the perfected form I now possessed! I would not let a jeering ravager like her close to my mind! Her promised transformation would not empower me with Friendship, but strip me bare!
I could not abandon reason, but I could escape this nightshade assassin, her wreath of light a macabre mockery. There is a certain strength in isolation, one I had become thoroughly acquainted with during my time as a droll pariah at Crystal Prep. I peered through the hazy depths surrounding us, revealing dozens of students. Each tirelessly worked to rescue each other from the aftermath of my actions. Only one searched for me - my faithful dog, Spike.
I knew I would never find a place here. Not with the destruction in my wake.
With the last of my strength I raised my hand in the traditional alchemist’s greeting, hoping my bluff would be enough. And so - with a regretful glance to my one friend in this world, Spike, his twin eyes mourning my estranged state with weeping tears - I let myself fall towards the one remaining portal, the call to the netherworld too great to surrender.
A frantic purifying salvo passed me by inches, a frenzied shout, and then there was just the wind. I was gone, the portal sealed away. Nagging thoughts were swept aside as I fell, a gibbering descent into madness as space and time warped around me.
At some indeterminate point later I found myself plummeting, tumbling through endless clear skies coupled with rolling greens and browns and blues and grays of a countryside that couldn’t make up its mind about where it wanted to be. A golden sun gleamed brightly, but not blindingly so. An idyllic setting, this strange world, down to the rustic town sprawled underneath that rapidly rushed closer. The situation might have been terrifying but for the Magic of Friendship still coursing through my veins.
By pure force of will I stopped. A glance backward confirmed my two midnight blue wings were still present. What was discombobulating was that they connected to a sleek lavender coat and equine body.
I uttered a bemused, “Hmm,” as I raised my right arm… no, my right foreleg. Magic already altered my reality once; there was no law saying it couldn’t do so a second time. The scientist in me immediately demanded experimentation, if not an explanation I knew was not forthcoming. Perhaps this land might provide answers?
A quick test proved all of my parts functioned as I would expect them to, though I suspected galloping would fare better the less I thought about the actual kinetics. My wings seemed more ornamental than functional, given my magic, but they were fully capable of flight and folded easily against my sides. My exposed underbelly and backside left too little to the imagination; a magenta flare of the teal horn I could barely make out crafted a set of violet barding with teal accents.
My very essence thrummed with power. Despite my drained reserves I felt invincible! Yet I knew the feeling was but an illusion of grandeur, a strength borne of lunacy, and I was determined not to waste this second chance by letting my arrogance make a wurm out of me.
With little else to do besides study geography and my newfound body I found myself drifting towards the closer of the two most predominant structures of the town below: a massive crystal... tree in the glacial process of devouring a spired castle topped by an eight pointed star. Strangely, a similar star to the one I emblazoned on my barding, though clear crystal instead of magenta.
An oddly familiar purple winged rootwalla basked on the balcony of one of those spires. The black and white maid outfit suggested sapience, though I had done more than my share of equipping Spike to know it could be a pet. I drifted closer, smiling at the whistled lullaby that accompanied the feather duster idly sweeping back and forth.
I was noticed in almost no time at all; he must be accustomed to spotting despots on the skyline. His face registered surprise, but not the terror I might have felt at a ravenous intruder descending toward me.
“Twilight!” shouted the purple lizard, valiantly brandishing the duster. He did not take his eyes off me even as he inclined his head toward the open door. “I thought you were busy reshelving!”
“I am busy reshelving!” came a disconcertingly familiar voice from the dark depths. “What is it, Spike?”
Spike? I frowned as I compared the creature to my canine friend. The colors were a mirror match, down to the green tuft of hair and eyes. It couldn’t be a coincidence.
“Oh,” he said as I came to the exact same conclusion. “I think some funky parallel universe shenanigans are going on.”
“Good shenanigans or bad shenanigans?” growled my doppelganger’s voice. “Hold on, I’m getting an important call right now.”
A grave scrabbling in my gut stirred me to evasive action; a mere thought brought me to the multi-storied purple and white building set against a green hill. Waterfalls spilled off the edges of the center entryway and around a stylized picture that bore a vague resemblance to my own preferred attire. And, even more curiously, an exact replica of the necklace around my neck, an eight pointed magenta star.
I levitated to the moat, setting down on two islands along the walkway, and gazed into the crystal clear waters. My reflection was not quite what I expected, with an equine’s long face and large, expressive eyes that properly belonged in a cartoon. My… mane billowed away from my head as an ever-burning inferno of magenta and violet. It was intimidating, to say the least, and I found myself recoiling at my imposing visage.
“I love the new look, Twilight,” a refined voice said from behind me. I turned; there stood a pearled unicorn with a styled dark purple mane, exactly the same configuration that Rarity from Canterlot High wore so glamorously. “Very avante-garde,” she continued with an affirming nod.
“Thanks,” I politely returned, if curtly. I cared little for my outward appearance, though the… mare seemed eager to continue the conversation. Perhaps she would be useful in navigating the premises. “I made it just now.”
“Really?” Rarity inquired, conveying more than a passing interest in the technical details with a single word.
“Yes,” I replied, if only to fill the resulting void. “Perhaps we can…” I trailed off as I noticed the three teal diamonds on her bare flank pulsing brightly.
“Oh!” she exclaimed happily, tapping her hooves in an excited dance. “It looks like a Friendship Mission!” Rarity glanced back to me. And then above me. She cocked her head at the approaching winged lizard. And, to my dismay, my native counterpart. Her eyes rapidly flicked between the two of us, ending with a vaguely disappointed sigh. “Twilight, is this your doing?”
“Yes,” I replied guilelessly at the exact same time as my counterpart sternly said, “No.”
I frowned. I had not meant to speak the truth, or indeed to give any answer at all. Was I compelled by this magic to answer Honestly? I nervously drummed my front hooves against my footing, debating the best counter.
“At least we know it isn’t a changeling ploy,” Spike remarked dryly, glancing between the two Twilights.
“No, a blast from the past,” Twilight said, apprehension and distrust staining her words. “You were vanquished years ago, Midnight Sparkle. Why have you returned?”
“I…” I stammered, unable to answer the question behind the question she was demanding. Why did she call me Midnight instead of Twilight? I suppose I was transformed, and she had the prior claim to her name, as I was walking in her plane. “I have no recollection of being here before. I seek to learn the Magic of Friendship.”
“I’ve received word,” Twilight remarked as she drew herself up to her full height, “from Daydream Shimmer that you are wanted in the mirror world.” I could sense the very air aligning itself to her will as her horn surged with power. It was simultaneously alluring and alarming that one not so different from myself could so casually wield such ability. “That you pose a threat to ponies and their magic.”
My mind whirred with possibilities. I immediately discarded any involving escalation, not willing to acknowledge the murderous compulsion. With only untempered power at my hooves? Lethality and surprise would be my only options, and that was not a road I was willing to travel. Perhaps I might be able to flee, but that would run counter with my true purpose here.
I contritely lowered one knee in what I hoped was a supplicating manner. It would not do for them to call my stance a masquerade. “I formally request asylum.”
“Y-you do?” asked my counterpart, her concentration broken and the shimmer around her horn dissipating.
“She does what now?” demanded a brash voice from behind me.
I turned, seeing six ponies in an assault formation. Two winged, one yellow and one cerulean; two horned, one heliotrope and one azure; and two without wings or horns, one pink and one orange. Their eagerness to fight was impossible to miss, and the azure horned one looked especially disappointed that she wouldn’t be taking me down a peg.
“Asylum,” I slowly repeated to the incorrigible youths, enunciating every syllable. “I have good reason to believe I would be tortured and destroyed should I return.”
Twilight glanced around, nakedly grimacing at the approaching crowd of curious onlookers. “Not here,” she said, a bright flash from her horn briefly blinding me. We reappeared in the middle of a large room. Some sixth sense told me we were now inside the castle, and I could make out an ephemeral tunnel that traced back to the origin of the teleport. It took all my will to break my gaze from the fascinating sight and to my surroundings.
Six chairs surrounded a massive stone table in the center of the room. Magic coursed through it, seemingly connected not just to the ponies but to the entirety of the country it depicted in miniature. Chunks of crystal jutted haphazardly from blue walls and green stained glass windows. A massive root structure secured to the ceiling had trinkets and pictures hanging down, the baubles lighting the room. I briefly wondered what sort of creature would need such a massive auditorium, given the doors were large enough for six ponies to walk abreast.
It took almost no time for six of the ponies to take their seats while azure and heliotrope stood guard near the door, Spike hovering near Twilight. As one they turned to regard me with naked hostility. It pained me to be subject to the vixen’s judgement; it seemed they would play not only judge and jury but, if they were to rule against me, executioner.
“Tortured?” The brash voice sputtered, belonging to the cerulean pegasus; I recognized her as Rainbow Dash, which would make the remainder of the motley crew Fluttershy, Applejack and Pinkie Pie. I did not recognize the other two. Rainbow Dash nervously glanced at Twilight, hiding it with the sharpness of a cold, biting rain. “That doesn’t sound right. They wouldn’t do that!”
“They would,” I repeated strenuously. I pointedly glanced between Dash, Rarity, and Twilight. “Or what would you call it if they stripped you of your wings, your horn, your magic?”
“They claim you stripped them of their magic,” Twilight stated. She held up an enchanted journal, the pages detailing as much. “That you might prey upon the ponies here. What do you say to that?”
“They…” I started, but stopped almost immediately. I wanted to say that they lied, but that implied a conscious decision to not tell the truth. They were merely ignorant, the facts presented from one side. “Those are unsubstantiated allegations.”
“Really?” Twilight asked, her voice hard.
“Friendship is like knowledge,” I stated. It sounded trite enough to mollify her. “It can be shared without diminishing. As proof, they were able to empower their friend Sunset Shimmer with the power of Friendship. She defeated me, using the power that you share.” My gaze sweeps across the room, briefly resting on each pony in turn.
“So you’re not like Tirek?” Twilight demanded as a quill, held in a raspberry aura, scribbled in the journal.
“I’m afraid I’m not familiar with that name,” I said evenly.
Twilight took a moment to read the journal’s written response. She glanced up curiously. “You aren’t planning on betraying us?”
“No,” I immediately reassured, wondering who would be naive enough to expect any other response to such a question.
Myself, apparently. I was not enthused by this revelation. Though if there was some sort of ability at play that compelled honest answers? Or at the very least detected dishonesty? I couldn’t rule anything out.
“And I have no interest in a campaign of vengeance,” I continued. “What’s done is done.”
Twilight glanced toward Applejack. The hatted pony returned the barest of nods.
“If that is the case,” Twilight stated, drawing herself up regally. “You will obey the rule of law.”
I couldn’t help but nod, hoping their laws were at least similar to my own.
“And what do you wish to do as our visitor in asylum?” Twilight demanded.
“I wish to learn about the Magic of Friendship,” I repeated.
A hint of a smile flashed across her face. “Very well.” Twilight drew herself up to her full height, wings unfurling in a commanding display. “As a Princess of Equestria, I grant you asylum.” Then, in an instant, the pompous demeanor faded. She practically pranced as she flew to a window and threw the crystal open. “And you came to the right place! Because this-” her forelegs flung wide, indicating the whole campus behind the castle “-is my School of Friendship!”
“Your?” I repeated dumbly, flabbergasted. Somehow, I imagined one with that much power would aspire to more than an administrative position. Perhaps teachers did more than empower students with knowledge here?
“That’s right!” Twilight beamed brightly, comically proud of this fact. “Now, I’m going to be a little busy trying to figure this,” she held up the journal and gave it a little shake, “since, you know, you blew up the portal that we normally use to get back and forth. And I need to figure out how exactly we’re able to communicate across the dimensional and temporal barrier.” She coughed. “So I made a list!”
“I love lists!” I said enthusiastically, craning my neck to try to peek at the contents of said list.
“Oh, great,” Rainbow Dash moaned. “There’s two of them.”
“Hey!” Twilight exclaimed, and she barely beat me to it. “Lists are great!”
Despite the awkwardness I nodded and crossed my forelegs in front of me. Levitating without flapping my wings certainly helped.
“In fact,” Twilight started. I couldn’t help but notice the worried and resigned looks among her friends. “I have a list for this exact situation!”
“You do?” I asked, wondering how many times a copy of yourself came to visit.
“Well, yeah!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, nodding superfluously. The list she rattled off made me wonder if she could read minds. “There was the time that Twilight sent herself back in time, the changelings, the mirror pond, the time we all swapped personalities, the changelings again, the changelings a third time, Starlight Glimmer, Starlight Glimmer again and again and again and-”
The heliotrope unicorn rolled her eyes with a heavy sigh.
“Pinkie!” Twilight half-shouted, half-chided. It calmed the pink menace down, at least temporarily. “I was talking about Fizzlepop Berrytwist!”
“Starlight Glimmer and the changelings... Hey, I was getting there!” Pinkie Pie claimed, huffing as she squatted down in her seat.
My puzzled expression must have demanded an explanation from my counterpart. “You see,” she says while holding up the piece of paper in her raspberry aura, “long story short, we were attacked, and the primary antagonist was a unicorn who went by the name ‘Commander Tempest’.” She said the name with a tremble in her voice, though her smile belied any actual fear.
“Twilight, darling, she doesn’t need the whole story,” Rarity said, as politely as one can when they interrupt a potentially hours-long tale.
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Fine. I was trying to decide who would be in charge of rehabilitating this pony, but she ended up going on an independent study course.” She held up the paper. “There were a lot of candidates.” She glanced around the room, gaze lingering on each pony in turn.
“Please not me,” pleads Rainbow Dash in a quiet voice, hooves clasped together. “Please not me, please not me…”
Rarity idly flipped a lock of mane.
Fluttershy slowly dipped down until only her eyes stared up from below the table.
Applejack and Pinkie Pie sported twin smug looks, confident they wouldn’t be chosen for some magical mischief maker.
The last two unicorns exchanged smirks, their withers flexing as if readying to trot forward.
Twilight’s brow narrowed, but she continued regardless. “Since you’re looking to study Friendship, I think Rarity would be the best candidate.”
“Me?” Rarity exclaimed, her voice shaking. The other two unicorns looked shocked at not being chosen. “I thought Principal Starlight Glimmer would be the best choice.”
“Really?” Rainbow Dash deadpanned. “The same pony who mind controlled us as part of her Friendship lessons?”
I stood a little straighter at that revelation, biting my inner cheek hard and bringing whatever mental barriers I could conceive into being. I felt no different than before, but theorized that mental influence would be impossible to detect from within.
“Precisely,” Twilight agreed with a slight grimace. “Her idea of the scientific method does tend to skip straight to the madcap experiment. Not exactly the best partner to pair with somepony inclined to experimental frenzies. And - trust me - I know me.”
The heliotrope pony I assumed to be Starlight Glimmer gave a conceding shrug.
Rarity hunkered down a little more, glancing at the azure unicorn. “Trixie?”
“Remember what she was like during the teaching lessons when you were looking for a vice headmare?” Spike said, crossing his arms. “Unless you like the idea of giving Miss Midnight here unbridled reign of your library for the conceivable future.”
My eyes must have betrayed my eagerness at such a suggestion because the impatient scratch of a quill came immediately after.
“Um,” Rarity frowned, her eyes flicking wildly. “Princess Celestia? Luna?” Her voice strained. “Cadance?”
“Retired, retired, busy,” Pinkie Pie rattled off like she knew exactly what everypony was up to, and the approaching train wreck had only one destination.
“Sunburst?” Rarity rubbed her hoof against her chin. “Actually, he probably should have been at the top of the list!”
“Except, unless I have drastically misread myself,” Twilight interjected, “Miss Midnight will not be satisfied with theoretical discussions.”
“I would not,” I conceded as Twilight’s piercing eyes strayed on me.
“But,” Rarity stammered, “I-I don’t know, I’m terribly busy with classes and my shops and...”
“So bring her along,” Twilight said with a motion toward me. “I’m sure she’ll enjoy seeing how Generosity plays a part in your everyday life!”
“I didn’t want to do this,” Rarity slowly stated as she calmly drew herself up, pointedly staring at Twilight and carefully enunciating every word. “But I. Hate. Lists.”
I gasped; how could anypony hate something as innocent and helpfully efficient as a list?
“Don’t be silly,” Twilight said immediately. “You love lists.”
Rarity sighed, left with nothing after her bluff was called.
“And your cutie mark!” Pinkie Pie pointed at the glowing set of three teal diamonds and a yellow sun orbiting above Ponyville. “It’s a Friendship Mission! You have to go!”
“Very well,” Rarity said, drawing herself up. “If the map decides, then I must be the best choice.” She cocked her head at the sun. “But what is… Mayor Sunny Skies?... doing here?”
“He knows a lot about magic,” Twilight said, though her carefully controlled mask suggested there was more to this story that she didn’t want me hearing. “I’ll send word to Hope Hollow. In the meantime, Rarity, could you give Midnight a tour of the school?”
“Why do I get the feeling this tour will only visit one location,” Rarity deadpanned.
“The library?” I asked, my voice loaded with anticipation. Would it really be this easy to learn about the Magic of Friendship?
“The library,” Rarity agreed. She trotted through the double doors, only briefly glancing back to make sure I was following.
I did, of course, glad to be out of that tribunal and eager to learn. “It feels strange,” I admitted as I quickly overtook the unicorn, “to have power and know nothing about how to use it. Or anything about it, really.”
“...Yes, I suppose it would,” Rarity replied as we stepped out of the crystal castle and trotted to the school at water’s edge.