//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: A Meeting with A Magical Maniac // Story: Shadow of the Past, Brought Forward Once More // by Super Ponyman //------------------------------// (Canterlot City) Dawn broke over the city of Canterlot, it’s glorious golden rays streaming over the city, driving away the darkness of the night and sending those that hide in the shadows scurrying back to the ruined buildings. The destruction of Canterlot Tower wasn’t just limited to the tower itself, most of the surrounding area, which was largely businesses and high rise apartments, were totally blasted when the building collapsed. The entire city was cut off from its center by a gigantic series of ruined homes and broken office buildings, all of them either had been utterly pulverized, or broken in half during the ordeal that was Prince Eclipsio and Burning Star’s climactic dance of destruction. Many of the people of Canterlot now just avoided the area out of fear that whatever or whoever caused it might come back and finish ripping apart the rest of downtown. Despite Savior insisting that he would be able to protect the people of the city and help rebuild the property lost during the fight, some still were afraid that the beings now known as “The God of Fire and Rebirth.” And “The Swallower of the Sun and Moon.”, were still around, hiding somewhere. Despite said promise, the ruins surrounding the utterly gigantic crater that was the tower were occupied by the magic cults that were referred to as “Arcanists,” and they would leave what they viewed as “holy ground” without a long and hard fight. (Twilight’s House, Dusk Shine’s Room) Dusk sat awake on his bed, typing away at his computer, a report paper on the Arcanist group from Twilight (who got it from Sunset who nicked it from Savior while he was recharging) in one hand, and a fresh banana muffin in the other. The muffin he received when he went to go pick up the mail this morning. A strange blond haired and derpy eyed mail woman gave one to him instead of his package. Even when he corrected her she didn’t take the muffin back, she just gave him the package and wandered off to the next house. Dusk ultimately didn’t mind, he appreciated getting free things, especially free food. It tastes so much better than food he had to pay for. An analyst and all genius, Dusk was much more like his cousin than he’d admit. In his own way he admired magic and saw it as a powerful substance. Twilight saw magic as an extension of herself and utilized it to help her friends and family, rarely using it for anything violent. To her, Magic came from the bonds between people, citing the term that Princess Twilight used when once explaining it to her. ”Friendship is Magic, other me. Friendship in its own way creates a power that is a form of magic. It’s much safer than drawing on raw and unrefined magic from nature, and it never will corrupt you.” However, Dusk saw magic as an ambivalent force with no good or evil sides to it. It was a method for both understanding the world around you and shaping it to your whims. To him, Magic was just another type of energy, like Electricity or Sunlight. The idea that friendship being a source of magic was a curious hypothesis, but ultimately his studies on it went nowhere, due to his lack of well… friends to test his hypothesis on. Regardless, Dusk sat cross legged as he typed, muttering to himself what he was reading off of the report. “The Arcanist Cult.” This group of power worshipping individuals sprung up around about a month after Burning Star and Prince Eclipsio mysteriously vanished, at least that was the story told to the public. In reality Burning Star likely left in such a rush in order to either avoid consequences or the more likely option, make sure everything is going back to normal on his home dimension.” Dusk took a quick bite of his muffin, savoring the sweet taste and making a mental note to go buy more of these from that wall eyed girl, if she even had more. He then continued reading, writing notes on his notepad. “Home dimension? Burning Star was some sort of inter-dimensional traveller of some kind?” The young man said to himself. ”From an outsiders POV they appear to be a benevolent, but passionate organization that seeks to spread the ways of magic to those that show budding talents in it. However, they are not to be trusted, and they seek to advance the studies of magic and arcane arts through any means necessary.” Dusk paused on that line and took a note down on his notepad. “Any means necessary. Huh, sounds like something Twi should know about. She might be able to expand upon what that could entail so I don’t make assumptions.” He said, before continuing to read the document. Based on the considerable effort it takes to even control and manipulate the arcane field, the fact that every member of this cult is fairly good at magical combat lends me to make this hypothesis. Someone or something is teaching them magic, or granting them magical powers.” Dusk paused on that last sentence, making a special note to NOT tell Twilight about that last part. Mostly because he knew what she might do. Dusk closed the file’s envelope and shuffled it away into his messenger bag, he would be going out later to buy more printer ink as he had run out in the 3 cartridges he brought with him. Turns out transcribing your cousins detailed and extensive (not to mention very accurate due to her photographic memory) recounting of the battle that toppled the biggest building in the city takes a LONG Time. Twilight also thought as well as to include her description of Burning Star’s whole entire life story (which itself alone took up 1/3 of the whole paper he was writing). But with a flash of his fingers and the press of the save button, the first piece of his Analysis of Burning Star” was complete. “Ugh, Finally.” He said with a groan. “I’ve been at this all night, and it’s still only part 1. When Twilight said she’d recount the whole story I didn’t think she meant literally.” Dusk immediately snorted a laugh, “oh who am I kidding, of course she was. Heck she probably would have given me a side packet of paper containing said story just in case I needed more info. She really needs to get more social skills.” Dusk sighed and looked at a picture of Twilight holding her medal from the Friendship games. She had that same fake smile he saw on everyones faces when he sat in his college classes. Twilight had always been the more bookish and intellectual of the two of them, while he excelled more in social situations. As a result, Twilight often got her kindness and intellect taken advantage of, especially by her peers. Her little “incident” at Crystal Prep where she essentially transformed into some sort of magical demon woman because of both peer pressure and her desire to please them didn’t make the problem more obvious. But that was two years ago, and as far as he knew, Twilight destroyed Midnight Sparkle, or at least she no longer was a threat to her or anyone else. The young man looked out the window at the rising sun, smiling to himself before yawning and looking at the clock. His eyes widened as he read the time. “Oh my goodness, it’s 7:30 AM. I’ve been up all night for 12 hours writing this whole thing?!” He said shocked, before another yawn broke through. Dusk turned to his bed and he knew that he needed to get some sleep, he took his shirt off and changed out of his pants, leaving only his underwear on, before crawling into bed and pulling the sheets over his head. Minutes later all that could be heard was the sound of content snoring… And the sparks of heavily charged magic. (Twilights Magic Lab) Little did Dusk know that only two floors below Dusk’s room, his cousin was busy with experimenting with magic. Powerful, ancient, and unknown magic. Twilight’s lab was essentially a repurposed storage room in her basement, but she had preformed all sorts of different magic to make it into a proper place to study magic and it’s effects. Multiple lines of purple protection runes were etched into the walls and ceiling, bathing the room in a soft purple light. These served as a way to contain any unpredictable discharges of magic, which were distressingly common whenever Twilight attempted to control her Midnight Form. Several ritual circles drawn in magic-infused chalk littered the floor in various sizes. These were containment fields, primarily for setting up any magic that required specific ingredients or were too volatile to have out in the open air. Other than the purple glow of the runes, the room was primarily lit by candles instead of electric lights, since candles were often perfect conduits for magic. Twilight sat in the middle of one of these circles, her glasses off and secured away so they wouldn’t break from an accidental surge of power. Several books floated around her as she read a tome in front of her. Twilight had read through the majority of the books Sunset had lent her and had asked for more books on magical practices from an older point in History on Equestria. Her reasoning being that by studying said magic, the Rainbooms would be better prepared should something or someone like Eclipsio showed up again. Plus, Twilight made a resolution to learn how do defend herself with magic, in case these Arcanist Cultists happened to get a little too close for comfort. Sunset was hesitant to give Sci Twi those tomes, asking if she was in control of herself, even considering using her power to read minds in order to check if Twi still had Midnight in her head or not. Twilight admitted that Midnight was still in her head, but she had been quiet ever since the Camp Everfree incident. Heck, Sunset assumed that Twilught had tamed the form when she Pony’ed up and grew proper Alicorn like wings. This was technically true, Midnight had been really quiet and hadn’t tried to take over forcefully since then. Even during the rare times she had tried to assume control she had been relatively harmless, with Twi being able to control her emotions. She had not told her that she was now able to transform into her willingly and on command. The form he used during the Camp Everfree incident was simply an illusion to cover her Midnight form. Twilight was afraid if she did tell her that, Sunset would have not given her the books. In the end, Sunset hesitantly gave Twilight the only ancient tome of magic she had, which just so happened to be a tome on The Writings of Clover the Clever, a book that contained primarily teleportation spells, levitation, and the most important part, the strongest Mental Defense Spells she could find. She would need them, for this would be the first of many times she would use Midnights complete form. The most Twilight used of Midnight’s power before was manifesting her wings to fly back to her house when she couldn’t be bothered to pay for the bus or summoning her reality-warping powers to dispose of dangerous objects by dropping them into the gap between dimensions. An obviously stupid use of her powers, but using them constantly and with routine helped her body ease into using them. She had a feeling she would need to use them more in the future, only for defense, nothing more. Although if her own suspicions about the magical cult in Canterlot were true, she had a feeling that using Midnight’s immense magical strength will be the only thing to prevent the end of the world. After some investigation and experiments, She discovered that Midnight’s immense magical power was fueled by a combination of emotions and her insecurity. She even hypothesized that Midnights manifestation and general disposition was a result of her lack of control over her emotions. While testing her limits, She also underestimated how powerful Midnight actually was. When she was warping space with her magic, it wasn’t her magic at all. She discovered that Midnight’s presence alone distorted the fabric of reality around her, causing those rifts to form, albeit much slower. Twilight closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, before slowly swinging her arms outwards. The candles surrounding her slowly lit with purplish-blue fire and she began to float into the air. The room began to shake as the purple light emanating from Twilight’s hands grew more intense, as well as purple lines of magic began to run up her arm and to her neck. Twilight’s hair came undone from its ponytail as she began to breathe in and out slowly, Her hair grew in volume as it turned a midnight purple and hot pink, flaring up into a billowing mess. Sparks of ultraviolet magic arched in between the strands. She felt her back ache and shoulders crack as purple black, hawk like wings erupted from her shoulder blades, draping over her body. Her arms thickened and gained some muscle, as her hands and fingernails elongated into sharp talons. Finally, Twi felt a tingle as the glowing horn and mask of neon green magical energy enveloped her face and forehead. She opened her eyes, Her pupils turning to slits and the whites of her eyes turning deep purple. The transformation complete, Midnight stretched her arms as she let out a small chuckle. ”Ahhhh… it’s so good to come out again, seriously Twilight, you must learn to unwind or these shifts will be far more painful then they already are.” she cooed, feeling the magical energy around her twist and writhe, her mere presence starting to distort the air around her. Midnight landed on the floor and walked over to the full length mirror, where a reflection of Twilight was shown instead of Midnight’s own. ”Im only transforming into this in order to continue my analysis of Eclipsio’s mana battery, don’t get the idea that this is going to be permanent, Midnight.” Twilight said, her mirror image making a scowl. Midnight rolled her eyes and groaned, ”Yes, Yes, I know. I’m aware of the little deal we made on our way home from Camp Everfree. You’d learn more about magic from Equestria, and I wouldn’t discard your friends like the weak people they are.” Twilight frowned and shouted in Midnight’s head, ”My friends are not weak! They are strong in their own ways, and you know that, Midnight. I will not have you slander them! Midnight cackled, paying more attention to the air distorting around her body as reality struggled to keep itself together in the presence of her existence. ”Oh please, Twilight. Spare me the lecture, I am well aware that your friends have those little crystals created by the magic of Equestria. But need I remind you? WE were the ones that opened those rifts. So really, WE are the ones responsible for their rather simple powers. ”They didn’t even say thank you for it, how ungrateful of them. Though I wouldn’t expect thanks from people so desperate to matter! Hahahaha!” Midnight cackled, floating up and turning upside down. She flared her wings outwards, sending a gust of wind that blew out all the candles. Without the protective field emanating from them, the space around her started to warp, and small purple tears in space started to form. Twilight rolled her eyes again, ”I really should have taken Sunset’s advice and gone to see that new psychiatrist Dr Wolfe, he’d probably be able to help me deal with you more effectively than me having to self treat with Internet self help tips.” Midnight put a hand to her head and dramatically sighed, ”Oh woe is me, I’m Twilight Sparkle. I have immeasurable magical power but I’m too afraid to use it because it turns me into a monster! Oh Sunset, please save me from myself! I mean, you have experience with being a demon! You can save me-hahaha!” she whined, voice dripping with sarcasm, before breaking into laughter at how stupid she sounded. ”I do not sound like that!” Twilight’s reflection barked back, ”And I certainly don’t need Sunset to save me from myself. I can control you, I just need to find out more about mind magic in order to do it.” Midnight raised an eyebrow, ”You think you can control us? Oh Twilight, how naive of you. NO ONE can control us. Even if Burning Star were here now in this moment, even he would never be able to contain or subdue us. What makes you think you can, hmmm?” The dark being smirked, letting purple electricity magic run across her arms. ”You know you can’t lie to me, I’m in your head, I’d know what you really want.” Twilight’s mirror image looked off to the side, defeated. ”I’d control you by casting a mental defense spell. That way you could only have your powers manifest instead of your personality. Though on reflection, I think I’d need a better solution to dealing with you.” Midnight pressed a finger to the mirror image of Twilight’s lips, a confused look on her face, ”Why do treat me like I’m some sort of disease, Twilight? I’m a part of you, I’m everything you should be, and yet you ignore and hide all of this… she gestured to herself, ”Perfection behind the facade of a bookish nerd. My existence proves that you have the power to be someone else, someone more… well… imposing.” Midnight snickered as the mirror image of Twilight looked confused, ”Imposing? What are you saying? That I want to be like this? I want to be unrestrained and out of control?” The dark being conjured a portal up, showing Canterlot High School before saying into Twilight’s ear. ”Not exactly, I never said you would be out of control, I’d give you everything you deserve, everything you need to become the woman you are supposed to be. All you have to do is just let go for a while, say, a month at most. Just let me take the reins. I will show you what you are meant for, no, I will obtain the knowledge of all magic you so desperately want. It’s A guilt free victory for you too, since you can blame it on me taking you over.” Midnight Sparkle’s face twisted into a disturbing grin, ”Besides, if Your friends you cherish so much found out that I still exist, even though you said I was gone. We both know what they would do, Twilight. They’d abandon us, it’s in human nature to hate and fear things they don’t understand.” Midnight was about to continue before she gripped her head in pain as Twilight forcibly transformed back, dispelling the transformation in a flash of bright purple light. Within seconds, the tears in the fabric of reality began to shrink and close, thanks to the containment rune lines on the lab’s ceiling. “They’d never do that, they are my friends. The girls would understand and respect why I made my choice. They may think it was a poor decision, but that’s ultimately on them. I chose to summon you back because I felt you could be of some use in stopping further threats to the world. I didn’t bring you back for anything else.” Twilight said, her face hardened into a stern expression. Midnight, now the one reflected in the mirror, flashed a sharp toothed smile, ”Oh come now, Partner, we both know that is not the ONLY reason you brought us back. The power, the feeling of absolute freedom, you wanted to feel that way again. I am you, Twilight. I just am the the you that decided to… let my hair down and show off how powerful we are. Is that so wrong, the desire to let go of what burdens you?” Midnights words pierced into Twilight’s mind, ”Plus, if you say I’m insane… what does that say about you? Well?” Twilight looked away from the mirror, making the image of Midnight vanish, “It says that I need to discuss this with an actual therapist, and not just talk to an insane manifestation of my magic gone rouge.” Midnight rolled her eyes and sighed in Twilight’s head, ”Thats one way to put it, Partner. Another way to look at it is this, you don’t trust your friends and family enough to show them this side of you. You are afraid they would abandon you because of what this side of you represents, aren’t you?” Twilight stood still and took a deep breath, “I’d think they would understand that I want to be a little more assertive and determined, but what you are proposing isn’t that. You are saying that deep down, I want to dominate and control everything, that isn’t me. Why on earth would I ever want that?” She said with a hushed shout, her lavender colored eyes staring into Midnight’s dark purple ones. Midnight put on a knowing look before saying, ”Twilight, you want control because you have felt like everything in your life was out of your hands, from your parents sending you to Crystal Prep to peers forcing you to unleash the built up magic in that magic battery you made, which birthed me into this world. I’m not about to go back into a cage because you feel uncomfortable!” Midnight suddenly reached an arm out of the mirror and grabbed Twilight’s arm! At least that is what Twilight felt and experienced. If one were to look from an outsiders point of view, all yo would see is Twilight drop to her knees and crawl over with her arm extended to the mirror. She forced the girl to look at her, a horrific look on Twilight’s face. ”Make no mistake PARTNER, just as you chose to try and reawaken me, I made the choice to agree to our little deal and come back. I Can and will possess you whenever I want, Twilight. But I won’t do that, wouldn’t be fair. As long as you are cooperating with me and providing me with knowledge, I’ll leave your boring little life and friends alone.” With a maniacal grin Midnight’s reflection faded from the mirror and Twilight tried to stand, but sunk to her knees exhausted and frustrated. Then she began to cry softly. Small sobs echoed in the mostly empty lab, further establishing how helpless she felt. In a way, Midnight was right. She did indeed want to carve her own destiny and not have it chosen for her. She did want to control things that were not in her control. She knew that Midnight’s power will allow her to control and manipulate just about every form of magic possible, and through that she could finally set herself free of a flawed and dangerous world world that makes her unhappy. She did want badly to go to Equestria or and learn from the Princess of Friendship and element of magic, Twilight Sparkle the Alicorn. She wanted to travel to alternate universes, like Equestria Gamma. She wanted to learn about the Alicorn of Fire, Burning Star, from the man-er… stallion himself. She wanted to study his multiverse theory, find her universe’s place in the whole thing. She had the power to do all those things, But she still chose to remain on her Earth because going to that world, taking the easy way out, would leave her friends she loved so much behind. If she had to choose between the all the Knowledge of magic in detail and her friends, she would choose her friends any day. Because as curious as Twilight is, she values the hard fought friends she had, over the knowledge she could have. Twilight got up from her knees and stood on her two feet. She had sweated through her CHS sweater and her purple and pink hair was a mess. Violet lines of mana ran up her arms and legs, pulsing in rhythm with Twilight’s heartbeat. ”If Midnight is so powerful, she could at least invest in altering my appearance so I don’t look as if I’m the spawn of a demon and a rave show.” Twilight grumbled as she left her lab and ascended the basement stairs, remembering to turn on the cleansing runes in order to scrub the area of any leftover magic discharge. With the cleaning procedures finished, the lab went into the magical equivalent of a standby mode for computers. Twilight sighed to herself, remembering Midnight’s words vividly in her head. ”Maybe I should rest a little before trying to speak with her… me… it again.” As Twilight walked to her room, she said. “I mean, could it be more unfortunate to have a demon in your head?” As Twilight was about to find out soon, there is much worse than having a demon in your head. And it may have been closer to home than she thought. (End Chapter 3)