Canterlot Castle, the heart of Equestria, now presided over by Princess Twilight Sparkle, was finally into its renovation phase. With the blessings of Princesses Luna and Celestia the castle was being refurbished to better exemplify Twilight’s ruling philosophies - that of greater and grander inclusion of peoples from all areas the kingdom co-exists with.
With as much as Twilight needed to stay there, her eyes always returned to Ponyville in the distance, her heart always just a little sad for the loss of the Golden Oaks library. Such formative years for her; learning to be social, to interact with others who were different from her, and unraveling the secrets buried just outside the town’s borders.
Twilight always wondered if Celestia truly had any idea what those early days would set in motion for herself. But how could she have? Returning Princess Luna, taming Discord, alicornhood, beating Chrysalis and Tirek twice, the Storm King…
Derpy still deserves a special commendation for helping with that.
But Twilight’s fondest accomplishment would be The School of Friendship, being run by Co-Principles Starlight Glimmer and Sunburst. Twilight knew “her” school was in good hooves.
Today was a special one: the meeting of the Council of Friendship. The one day every Moon that she and the Element Bearers, her first true friends, gathered to discuss life, love, friendships, gossip, and basically keep eachother grounded. (Rainbow Dash excluded, naturally.)
This specific meeting was doubly-special, adding two additional ponies to the mix: Starlight Glimmer, in a rare day off from school duties, and Trixie Lulamoon, under dubious pretenses.
Sunburst, still a magic researcher at heart, had been put in charge of cataloging the secret library of arcane knowledge that the previous princesses had kept undisclosed until recently. As much as it pained Twilight not to do it herself, Spike had finally convinced her that she had Princessly Duties to attend to and couldn’t afford to get into a multi-day research funk. So with promises to be careful and to give Twilight updates on his progress, crates of books and scrolls were loaded onto a train and shipped to Ponyville and the school.
And in the middle of all those books, one very special one was selected to bring back to Canterlot and specifically to Twilight for direct review. Being that both principles couldn’t get away at the same and owing to the sensitive nature of the contents, it was quickly decided that Starlight would make the trip.
Trixie was just along to keep Starlight safe, naturally.
The throne room, though ostentatious for a simple tea meeting, was the quietest and cleanest room to use, giving space for all nine of Twilight’s closest… Eight-plus-one closest friends to enjoy the best refreshments the royal kitchens could provide.
“....the energies, necessary, to bridge the reality we live in with any other, rests within the variables we have attempted to document in this research compendium.”
Spike, able to sit with his feet on the ground and his head on the table covered by his wings, groaned. “Twilight, seriously? This might be fun for you, but I really don’t want to be dealing with another portal spell.” His shoulders hunched as he raised a wing to his left, uncovering his face slightly before muttering, “Uhm… no offense.”
Starlight Glimmer sighs deeply and nods. “I understand, Spike. And, really, I’m still so sorry for what happened.”
Across the table from Starlight, a star-speckled hat lifted up higher, only being outshined by its wearer's teeth as she smiled in her trademarked cocksure way. The magician’s voice belted out, “The GREAT and POWERFUL Trixie would love to hear how you almost defeated Twilight Sparkle again.”
To her right Applejack, the Element of Honesty, put the brakes on that idea quick as it left her lips. “Fer right now, how’s about we just concentrate on keepin’ Twilight grounded in reviewin’ research and less tryin’ out any new spells?”
Sitting at Twilight's right hoof was a special position, not just physically but for the Council meetings. It was their authority to mediate the table and give advice on behalf of the rest of the group, once any ideas were sorted out. Today the position was overseen by the immaculately coiffed Element of Generosity, Rarity. “If this book’s contents are as important as you’ve said, Starlight, then I would agree with Applejack. Twilight? Please, keep reading.”
A flutter of wings two-seats to the right was broken up with a groaning whine. “Why? This isn’t a fun story to listen to. This is Egghead Central bo-o-o-oring research notes – in old Ponish yet!” Rainbow Dash, the Element of Loyalty, speed demon extraordinaire, always with her hooves off the ground, holder of three Wonderbolt records in aerobatics… Always with her priorities.
Another two seats to her right came the gentle voice of one of the few ponies who could tame Rainbow Dash’s brashness. Fluttershy, The Element of Kindness’ voice as always, was gentle, nurturing, respectful, and the hardest to challenge. Not because she’d ever raise her voice normally, but because it would feel like kicking someone’s puppy. “Because the more she reads, the less likely she is to cast a spell without knowing what it’ll do? We wouldn’t want that, would we?”
“But isn’t that part of the fun!? The excitement! The Not-Knowing! It’s like the gasp that hits you when everyone else yells, SURPRISE! And you had no idea it was coming!” A near explosion of exuberance came from next to Rarity. Pinkie Pie, the Element of Laughter, was half leaning over the table, tea cup balanced on her nose, only barely looking at Fluttershy.
And back across the table Starlight seemed to be the perfect moderator to Pinkie’s galloping away ideas. “Sunburst and I agreed not to try anything until we’ve had a long time to study what this research is all about. We had no way to know if something might come from this spell. It might be something horrible!”
“--or it might be a bunny.”
Twilight’s levitation spell on the book was the only sound left in the room as all heads turned to look at Fluttershy, who looked back in innocence. “If we can’t know what might happen, then we don’t know if that can’t happen, right?”
Trixie’s smirk was replaced with a thoughtful frown and a simple nod. “For once Trixie agrees. A bunny would be preferable to something like a manticore.”
Twilight hardly seemed to have noticed the interactions, lips moving as she reads the earliest pages carefully. “Well, this is…” She frowns deeply, trying to mentally get her hooves under herself. “Starlight? Am I translating this right? It is expected, however, that far less magical power would be needed to construct a pathway within our own world; joining two places together and allowing for objects to be sent in an instant across all the realm. Scrolls could be delivered across all the lands in as fleeting a time as needed to throw them through such portals.”
Rarity’s eyes opened wide in realization, asking, “This sounds like needlepoint! Sew a thread through fabric at one point on the material’s face, travel behind it out of view, only to pop out again, all without being seen from the front.”
Starlight Glimmer’s head cocked slightly, parsing the analogy. “That’s…” She pauses, blinking in confusion. “That’s not a bad way of thinking about it, actually. Looks like your skills in fashion work pretty well in magical research.”
Applejack wipes her chin as she chews on an apple. “This kinda learnin’ is more suited to Twilight, you, Sunburst, or even Rarity. What does this-all have to do with us?”
Rainbow Dash gave her wings some extra power, floating over her chair, ready to go. “Well, obviously! If Twilight opens a portal and something comes out she’ll need us to fight it back!” She smacked her front hooves together, getting ready for a smack-down tear-down of any pony or anything threatening them.
“Oh! Do we really need to fight a cute little space bunny?” Fluttershy’s eyes welled up at the mental image of Dash doing exactly that.
Pinkie waved the concerns away gently. “It’ll just be a Going Away Party for the little guy. You know nopony leaves my parties getting hurt.”
And yet Twilight’s attention wasn’t deterred in the least, flipping pages back and forth, twisting her head to skim the pages fluttering back and forth, trying to soak up all the information as quickly as possible. The pages turning as Twilight pauses, skimming the contents, scrunching her nose in curiocity. “Wait, wait. Starlight, this can’t be right? Can it?” The confusion on her face was palpable as she lifted her muzzle and looked over in askance.
Starlight returned the look with a frown on her face and nodded. “Found it already, huh?”
Trixie looked hurt. “Starlight! Have you been holding back secrets from your Best Friend? You wouldn’t really do that, would you?”
Starlight sighed at Trixie and motioned for Twilight to read on.
With a worried look, Twilight did just that. “Due to the nature of casting this spell without taking into account the many variables, one might open a tear into a Universe not only unrecognizable to our own, but perhaps based on modes of existence we simply are unable to conceive of. Or, perhaps even worse yet, not fully open, leaving any occupants to drift, forever, in a timeless, existence-less place, cut off from Equestria forever.”
Twilight stopped, looking up from the book and back at Starlight, who nodded. “So now you understand why we decided this had to be brought to you as quickly and carefully as possible.”
Twilight’s whole countenance drooped, ears folding back, and wings ruffling. “Yeah. I see, now. And I think you made the right call.”
Spike had been quietly taking in all that he could up till now, but parts were finally coming together for him. “So, wait. Was like the spell Startlight used on the map when we–”
“YES, SPIKE!” Starlight’s frustration got the better of her and she simply could not hold herself back this time. With a sigh she re-composed herself and gave him a sorrowful look. “Yes. It looks like my spell was accidentally based on this research.”
Rainbow Dash sniffs the air loudly between wingbeats a few times. “And it still smells old.” Pinkie wasn’t the closest with Rainbow Dash, but her Element helped her understand what happened. She’d help defuse part of the frustration and anger that might be simmering by taking the focus off Starlight’s past and putting it back on the book.
“It has Starswirl and Clover’s original hoofwriting, so it’s well over a thousand years old now. It’s going to be a little musty and dusty, even after Sunburst and I cleaned it as best we could.”
“But we don’t use spells for transporting scrolls nowadays.” Rarity commented, somewhat befuddled. “Something must have gone wrong, no?”
“Weeeelll…” Pinkie scratched a hoof under her chin, thinking. “There is that one freaky-deaky crystal mirror. Maybe that has something to do with it all?”
Applejack nods, agreeing. “So maybe that was the first success with this spell?”
Trixie’s condescending voice nearly got her a sudden case of Hoof In Mouth Disease. “Poor, naive, ignorant Earth Pony. Enchanting objects takes far more effort. A device of that quality would have required significant practice to lead up to it.”
“Well, miss ‘Ah Can Take On Anypony S’long As Ah Got Unfair Help’. If that mirror wouldn’t have been the first one, what was?”
Princess Luna slowly cantered her head back and forth, reading the scroll full of research notes and half-completed ideas and scribbled-out sentences, trying to come to some understanding of what she was reading. “We… Commend you on your work, Clover the Clever. However these concepts are…” With a frustrated scrunch of her nose, she finishes, “...difficult to understand.”
Clover’s demeanor was exuberant, hoping to culture the same level of interest as he had in the topic. “I know it’s complicated, Princess. Let me start a different way. Imagine the world we live on is a page in a book.”
“–even though the world is not flat.” Luna’s not-a-question question was enough to make Celestia’s lips turn up in a smile and a slight snort from Starswirl.
Clover’s eyes blinked as he pulled his head back in puzzlement. “Err, Correct. Just imagine it for a moment. Our page is in the middle of a giant book, with pages next to it on either side. We’re like the ink on the page, embedded in it while always right next to another page, never able to go to that other page.”
“Clover, here, thinks he’s found a way to detect if other close-by pages exist and allow us to touch them.” Starswirl’s tone conveyed that he was both impressed and highly skeptical of Clover’s ideas. When they’d first consulted on the ideas, he’d found them to be little more than fantastical whimsey at best. But he always knew, “Clover The Clever” wasn’t called that for no reason.
“Forgive us, teacher,” Celestia turned to face Starswirl directly. “But this research is far beyond anything you’ve taught us. The very idea that there are other Equestrias is…” The words to explain her confusion simply weren’t there for her to explain. But that was why she’d always come to him for magical guidance, wasn’t it?
With some measure of reluctance, Starswirl admitted, “It’s taken me several days to understand parts of this myself. However Clover is quite adamant that he’s right about all this. With your permission, we’d like to conduct further research into this topic.”
“--OUR permission?” Both the princesses’ faces showed surprise as they looked to each other in confirmation, yet it was Luna’s voice that had come out first, asking the question they both had.
“Yes!” Clover’s attention flitted back and forth as his words spilled out of his lips. “You see, I’d like to do this somewhere remote. Just in case anything goes wrong I don’t want to endanger anypony. Not that I expect anything to go wrong, exactly.”
“Just as a precaution, you understand.” Starswirl’s addition was meant to smooth over Clover’s overly-careful words and not alarm anypony.
Luna’s brow wrinkles as she pulls up a memory. “There are the lands at the tip of the Yucatan Ponynsula. That might work for them, don’t you think?”
“I’m not specifically familiar with that area.” Clover was pleased that he’d more than likely get his research funded, even if he didn’t know where it would be.
“Neither am I, oddly.” Starswirl’s gaze leveled slowly between the sisters, sizing them up for seeming to know something he did not.
The princesses looked at eachother, wilting slightly under the moment of guilt they both held.
Celestia, trying to take the brunt of Starswirl’s annoyance off her sister answered, “We went out one weekend–”
“--and flew along the Rambling Rock Ridge–” Luna, though also embarrassed, was also slightly proud that they’d slipped away from the castle guards assigned to them that night.
“--flew past a canyon–” Celestia’s wings shivered slightly, remembering the thrill of the high-speed game of Tag they’d played through the clouds.
“--across the gulf of–” That was almost dangerous! They’d started to get tired just as the coastline began to appear in the dark. Luna was sure they’d make it to dry land, but wondered about getting back to the Everfree safely.
“--looking for the Underwater Kelpie City of Coltlantis!” Celestia felt silly talking about this now. “Coltlantis”. A silly mare’s tale and fillies’ bedtime story.
Starswirl’s neck finally stopped swaying from one sister to the other, having tried to keep up with their back-and-forth rapid-fire answers. He groaned, pressing a hoof into the bridge of his snout, then sighs. “A dozen years as alicorn princesses and you still act like you’re little unicorn fillies?”
Even though a tandem, “we’re sorry” came out of the sisters, there was an underlying level of pride in what they were able to get away with. And a not-so-secret smile between the two.
“You were young and impetuous once, yourself, if I recall hearing.”
Clover’s innocent statement surprised the sisters so much they started to choke as they held their laughter in. It was even harder for them as Starswirl blustered and glared at Clover.
Luna took the initiative and squeaked out, “it’s an isthmus accessible by land only from the south.”
Celestia picked up the verbal baton, giving herself something to mentally hold onto. “And only the outskirts of a grove are out there. Would this sound acceptable to you both?”
Clover’s eyes grew wider. This was actually happening?! “And… and nopony living out there? There can’t be so much as a goat herd, or–”
“Be at ease. There was none that we could see.” Luna’s vision in the dark was always better than her sister’s, so scouting a safe landing area had been simple enough.
Starswirl, not to have his frustrations shorted, latched back on his relectracant students. “And what could have happened to you two out there? No guards means no protection! Nopony to help if you were injured. You have responsibilities, you know!”
Celestia’s body dipped slightly under the verbal spanking, but Luna would not, instead choosing to hold her head tall, knowing they had been safe in her domain, and spoke on behalf of the crown. “Then it is settled! Clover? You may have your place for research.”
“Applejack’s question seems a good one. If the mirror wasn’t the first enchanted portal item, does the book say what was?” Rarity’s genuine curiosity was reflected in the other Elements’ faces, nodding, eager to hear.
Pinkie’s exuberance could not be contained. “OH! OH! I could use portals like that all over equestria! I could just meet somepony new and ZOOM! ZOOM! ZOOM! Back to my party room, get all the supplies I need and ZOOM! ZOOM! ZOOM! Get a party canon setup and BOOM! Instant Welcome to Ponyville Surprise Party!”
Applejack’s wry smile and deadpan delivery brought everyone else’s smile back. “You do all that without any magic portals already.”
“–OH, YEAH!”
Starswirl’s scowl creased his visage deeply, owing to his annoyance. “And just how did you find out about this before I did?”
Finally arriving at the throne room, Celestia took in her sister and teacher in a “discussion”.
“Who found out about what, Starswirl?”
Greeting her sister with an over-the-shoulder look, Luna answered flatly, “Clover’s experiments have yielded a… ‘result’.”
Starswirl’s jaw tightened, clearly annoyed on multiple fronts. “Too Clever for his own good, that one! He managed to get one of his doorways to open and nearly got himself and his whole team killed!”
Celestia lifted a hoof in reflexive fear. “What happened?”
“What I’ve been able to learn through my teams…” Starswirl’s eyes focus on Luna again, squinting down in passive-aggressive anger. “--is that his portal seemed to have opened in a way that sucked the magic out of the world with an explosion that fused rock into a crystalline metal we can’t do anything with.”
Luna added, “Clover and his team should be returning with their research in two days' time. The area has been deemed uninhabitable since all equestrian magic is nullified within it.” She delivered the news in the simple, straightforward way she’d come to value for herself. As little pomp and frill as possible.
Starswirl’s jawline flexed, holding his teeth together, only barely spitting out, “Yes” as the punctuation on Luna’s words.
Celestia, for all her wider vision, was oblivious to the interaction between the two, focussing only on the event in regard. “Good heavens! Is there anything we can do?”
“Nothing now,” Starswirl shook his head. “Once they’ve returned I’ll review Clover’s information to see if there are any safe and practical applications we can make out of it all.”
“Tests in successive cross-crystal delivery became fruitless as distances and time increased. Test scrolls, eventually, scorched then burnt to dust upon exiting the receiving crystal. Our base conclusion was that the portals became unstable, falling out of coordination with each other. These failures' frequencies were exacerbated by distance, but each portal did fail eventually.” Twilight’s reading was becoming easier, the translations coming to her more naturally with each section.
“Sounds kinda like a steam pipe gettin’ more and more crooked.” Applejack's hooves pantomimed the idea, making sure her point came across.
Starlight nodded. “That sounds about right to me, too.”
“Aww!” Twilight looked around the table then read again. “While our initial tests of sending a scroll across a room teased at greater distances, ultimately each pairing failed no matter how carefully the variables were accounted for.” She looked up at Starlight, obviously saddened to hear this, but was met with a twirling “Go On” hoof wave. “Attempts to open a bridgeway to other worlds, ironically enough, were far easier to accomplish. After much thaumic scrying and sensing gained us our first success, causing an explosion that forced us to abandon our research location.”
Dash’s mood perked up instantly. “Explosions? Now we’re talkin’!”
“OH! I hope nopony was hurt!” Fluttershy worried.
Starlight sighed deeply. “I wish I could say that. It was a magical explosion, most of the team was hurt a little and one researcher was lost. But Clover did note something that…” Pausing, Starlight shivered in disgust, her eyes in distress.
Rarity’s curiosity won out over her caution. “Do go on, Twilight! Shouldn’t we know what happened?”
“I promise! We worked in little steps, Princesses! We weren’t trying to open a doorway, just to see if we could… erf… build the door’s frame? I’m sorry. I know what I’m saying is– we’re not sure how to describe these principles yet. We knew it’d be confusing to everypony. We’re still trying to find a proper analogy to explain our findings.”
“We’re just glad to know you’re safe.” Celestia had taken the time to listen and compose herself before saying anything, letting Clover tell his story of the events. It had taken some time to convince Luna to follow suit in the interests of not scaring anypony into silence by mistake.
“From what Clover’s team accomplished,” Starswirl picked up the narrative.”Was a way to… how did you put it? Tunnel a way from one place to another?”
Latching onto a bit of good news, Clover launched into his prepared Good News. “OH! Yes! Princesses! We found a way to enchant two surfaces and allow something small to pass through them!”
“How small?” Luna’s short question held a very hopeful and happy sound to it.
Holding up a scroll, Clover answered, “This small. We passed this scroll back and forth several times.”
In an unconvinced voice, Starswirl tempered this news. “He thinks it may be possible to enchant small portals across the realm for this purpose. It might allow for scrolls to pass from Yakyakistan to this castle to Hollow Shades. Messages could be delivered by reading the destination and pushing it through the portal needed…” With a pointed look and challenging tone at Luna he adds, “It would rival even your messengers.”
Having taken Celestia’s advice to listen and not react, she held herself in check, not raising to the bait laid before her.
“We still have so much research to do!” Clover bounded on without noticing the slight fencing match going on. “The explosion happened because we pushed too far. I think we touched another world, but it’s hard to know for sure. We’re going to review everything we know then see what else we can learn. We might even open brand new chapters in magical exploration!”
Starswirl laid a hoof on Clover’s back to refocus his head. “But not tonight.”
“Indeed,” Luna spoke. “You and your team are to take three days rest before continuing any further activities regarding these experiments.”
Starswirl’s clearly annoyed face was matched by his voice. “Three Days?! That is my apprentice you are giving orders to, Student!”
In stark contrast Celestia’s voice was the calming mediator of the group. “But as Princesses of the Realm, we have to balance our responsibilities to our ponies as well.” Seeing Starswirl about to argue his case further she held up a hoof to call for quiet. “Luna is right; Clover’s team should take time off to rest, be checked out by the physicians, and only then continue with their research.”
Having Celestia on her right-hoof side during these meetings was no casual happenstance. It gave Luna an advantage that nopony directly realized. Because at that moment, knowing that their teacher before them both was unhappy with her order, and having her sister back her up in agreement on this, Luna’s gaze stayed locked on Starswirl’s… and she raised her left eyebrow, directly challenging Starswirl’s authority on this matter.
Starswirl’s jaw shifts and clenches silently as he sizes up his position. Realizing the futility of arguing further he barks out, “Fine!” The word fires off his lips like a curse as he turns with a flutter of his cloak and heads out of the Throne Room, all eyes on him. “In the meantime,” he calls out without turning his head, “I will review what information they've brought back. Spells of this complexity will require I have a head start.”
Clover winces, softly speaking, “I’m sorry, princesses. I never meant to disappoint him or you.”
Celestia reaches out a wing, lightly caressing Clover’s shoulder in a comforting move. “Not to worry, Clover. We know how our teacher can be at times. He’ll need time to come around.”
“Especially with things he doesn’t, yet, understand.” Luna’s words were agreed upon with two nodding heads, even if neither understood what was said.
“Though none of the returning team was seriously injured, our research location was rendered thaumically inert?!” Twilight’s eyes grew large in such shock that she had to re-read this part. “--thaumically inert… forcing a withdrawal back to Equestria. It was several days' travel by hoof through already dying vegetation before any of us could access our talents, leaving the wasteland behind.”
The faces at the table became a mixture of puzzlement, resigned acceptance, and near terror. Rarity’s lips whispered first, “That… that can’t be– Twilight?”
Applejack’s face was the most calm of the group, allowing her to ask everypony else’s question. “Wha’s that mean, exactly?”
“That’s not… possible! –Is it?” Trixie’s face had gone pale, making her eyeshadow seem less professional presentation and more rodeo clown. Even her lips, parted to allow her to nearly hyperventilate, lost their natural colouring. “Twilight, you read that wrong. This is somepony’s nightmare writing, right? You read that wrong!”
Looking around at the unicorn’s near panicked expressions, Spike had to know, “Wait, what? I don’t understand. What’s that mean?”
Turning on her deep-seated teacher mode, Twilight answered carefully, “Meaning, it made an area where magic simply… doesn’t work.”
Spike could only blink, trying to understand. At least Pinkie was ready to help smooth things over and relax everypony’s nerves. “You mean like how all the stuff in the Everfree Forest works in some weird non-magical way? That’s not so bad, right?”
Rarity shook her head, trying to hold her voice even. “The Everfree still has magic in it, Pinkie. What Twilight means is–”
“–magic simply doesn’t exist there.” Trixie’s voice had come out as a hollow, horrified, terrified, emotionally flat interruption.
Ironically it was Spike that reacted first, turning to look at the book, then Starlight, who nodded sadly, and finally back to Twilight. She read on more carefully this time, but not directly out loud. Instead she summarized the contents for everypony to try to keep any further concerning parts to herself. “They did more calculations on how to open a portal. Energy, pulse lengths, mana shapes, detecting the outlines of conflating worlds?! And they said all that was easier?”
“Even the Great and Powerful spells I’ve learned couldn’t do something like that.” Trixie’s eyes were focussed somewhere well beyond Starlight’s place at the table, imagining the horrors that would have been.
“Fortunately for everypony, ah’d say.” Applejack’s comment, true and honest as it might be, brought Trixie’s attention back, ready to show the powerless earth pony just how much power she could muster at any time.
“Trixie, stop!” Starlight, having verified the translations with Sunburst, had been prepared for this reaction. “AJ’s right. Nopony should have that amount of power at their disposal. From what we were able to read already–”
Twilight’s reading from the book again stopped everything in its tracks. “--even though Clover instructed me to never use his portal spell alone, I was forced to disregard that warning. Had I not, the fate of Equestria would have condemned it to a Windigo fate.”
“WINDIGOS?!” Fluttershy nearly hid herself in place, reactively looking up at the ceiling, hoping that none would suddenly appear.
“Many discussions were had regarding any future uses of Clover's Portal spell, involving myself and my students…”
The main hallway of the Castle of the Two Sisters is a place for reverence, understanding, cooperation, and mediation of resolutions. It was designed in such a way as to allow voices to carry part way to the entry, but not beyond, even without magical interference.
Starswirl’s voice, though growling, was still loud enough to almost fill the room with the ferocity of his commitment. “Yes, I used that spell! And I have every intention of using it again if the circumstances call for it. And you should learn how to use this spell as well if you intend to keep Equestria safe from future threats!”
The princesses could barely believe this answer, their mouths almost hanging open at the pure audacity their teacher had, while Clover's face showed he was torn at his core. “This is my research and I said, no. Where did you send them?” His voice was hollow, asking, pleading, that there be some answer; some thread that could be grasped before it all floated away.
Starswirl turned his head to face his old student, answering with the full authority of his convictions. “Where? Away from Equestria! With any luck, perhaps they went Nowhere.”
The Princesses, opposing powers of day and night, were simultaneously in agreement at how wrong this all was, yet opposing in their emotional reaction. Celestia’s eyes had widened in horror, only finding her voice through sheer repulsive reflex. “You’ve destroyed them!?” Luna’s eyes, however, showed the complete opposite of her sister’s state. Instead of horror, she squinted in anger, becoming utterly focussed on Starswirl as a potential combatant. Her own voice grated through her throat in a barely restrained, hissing threat. “How could you?”
Looking away from everypony else, Clover’s vision was distant, speaking to the air, maybe even to the magic of the world, in apology. “It’s not what I intended. This isn’t what I meant it to be used for.” The words were more for himself, trying to understand, to find a way to accept the fact that his benign experimentation had been perverted into a weapon of staggering ability.
Starswirl’s voice cut through their objections by rising in volume. “They would have, one day, destroyed all of Equestria by bringing the Windigos back. You remember, Clover; you were there when they almost killed you all.”
“Yes, but–” Clover’s vision was still off to the side, wondering at all the possibilities of what happened to his spell.
Celestia’s wings half opened, displaying the first signs of her anger, her posture more commanding, her voice losing its usual nurturing quality and sliding into a military tambre. “I cannot… I Will Not sanction such a fate for any creature, no matter their crime!”
Starswirl’s head had turned back to address Celestia with annoyed contempt. “What is done is done, student. You will have to accept that you cannot undo the past.”
Unlike her sister’s, Luna's wings did not move at all from her sides. Her body was the ponification of a wound spring ready to unleash itself. Her previously restrained voice matched Starswirl's contempt with the quiet fury of a dam barely holding back a flood. She commanded in a scathing, clipped, sentence, “You will FIND a way!”
Starswirl, either through ignorance of his place or arrogance at his own self-worth, scoffed back at Luna directly, mockingly, “And just WHO do you think you are, my student.”
Luna’s teeth gritted, holding on for just one more moment; one more second of control. Her own contempt feeding through to mock Starswirl’s own ignorance. “WE, dear teacher, are the sovereign rulers of this castle and its peoples.”
Celestia’s calm, however fake, still held. Not losing her military tone, she still backed Luna’s position. “We have studied from you, but we are still responsible for the actions of this kingdom. Meaning, we are, ultimately, responsible for your actions as well.”
Starswirl’s voice raised noticeably this time, trying to down-beat the Princesses’ concerns through sheer volume alone. “I acted in the best interests of this kingdom!”
“You Betrayed Your Own Teachings To Us! Every Enemy Can Be Turned When Understanding Is Achieved! Taking A Life Fails That Goal!”
Luna’s voice echoed through the hall with a power no amount of tapestries and silencing spells could have hoped to contain. Her outburst shocked Clover and Celestia into staring at her with eyes widened to almost comical levels. Never had Luna lost her temper like this. She’d learned to manage her frustrations with the ponies of the land, to not see intentional slights when her duties were overlooked, to not become angry when her lessons in magic became difficult. She’d even learned, through frustrating lessons, how to keep her composure as a Head Of State, being sure to listen before speaking.
The silence that followed was like a trapped animal, ready to swing at anypony who got too close. Starswirl’s eyes were locked with Luna’s, each staring the other down; daring the other to commit to the first, or last, move. Clover’s eyes turned to Starswirl’s face, able to see his nose flaring with breath as his jaw clenched tightly. Celestia in her discomfort tried to defuse the situation by opening her wing to lay across her sister.
Luna’s own wing smacked it away, her eyes refusing to give up her prey.
Clover’s head turned to look at Celestia, his voice quiet, almost apologetic, “I’ll try to learn where the Sirens are. If they are… Anywhere.”
The contest of wills between Luna and Starswirl would not be broken so easily. Celestia nodded at Clover, her eyes softening and voice returning to its natural soothing sound. “Thank you. If they still exist, we should try to find a way to return them home.”
“And you,” If Luna’s eyes could have tightened even more, they would have. Instead her words virtually clawed their way out of her chest, slowly, with all the threat of her positions. “YOU will find a way to undo what you have done.” Her command was accented with just the smallest motion of her head and neck, tipping her horn slightly forward in a unicorn’s direct physical threat.
“As with any research, branches of magical theory stemmed from my tests. I was able to form instant transportational spells, suitable for one very short travel. Though he could not reproduce the effect, Starswirl developed a variation allowing him to navigate, to himself in the pas–” Twilight’s eyes bulge in wonderment and joy, looking up at Pinkie. “HE’S TALKING ABOUT THE TIME PORTAL SPELL!”
The excitement of the moment piqued Pinkie’s mood back. “OH! He met himself too?!”
Twilight looks back into the book, continuing on. “Though he used my spell research to banish a significant threat to a world we cannot conceive of, he felt it necessary to use a failed variation of it to trap The Pony of Shadows. The power and skill needed to intentionally open such a portal, yet seal it at both ends, would be impressive, problematic, and unrivaled in scope. Yet, despite that, and owing to the disappearance of himself and the Pillars, I can only assume he was successful in containing the Pony of Shadows, somehow.”
“Le’me get this straight,'' Applejack interrupted. “Starswirl, Mage Meadowbrook, Flash Magnus, Somnambula, Mistmane, and Rockhoof used Clover’s spell to pull Stygian into Limbo?”
Starlight nods. “Exactly. According to these chronicles, Clover’s research branched into multiple magical disciplines that we use today. Like personal teleportation.”
“And they weren’t going to ever come home again.” Fluttershy’s body slumped a little, thinking about how brave the Pillars must have been.
“--and they wouldn’t be able to enjoy a Thank You For Saving Equestria Party for it.” Pinkie, being Pinkie, had her priorities.
“That Time Spell only took you back about a week, didn’t it?” Rarity’s hoof on her shoulder brought Twilight out of her concentration.
“And you can only do it once”, Spike added.
Rainbow Dash had finally settled back on her chair and was confused. “So, wait! If they trapped the Pony of Shadows over a thousand years ago, how did Starswirl write all this?”
“It has both Starswirl and Clover’s hoofwriting in there,” Starlight answered. “I think they collaborated on parts, but after the pillars were trapped away, only Clover’s writing is in there.”
Twilight, nearing the end of the book, let’s them all know, “And Clover finishes by writing that…”
Clover, now sporting a traditional wizard’s chin beard, addressed the Princesses. “It may take me years to find a way through to that world.”
Celestia’s voice, ever the supporting sound, comforts and respects Clover. “Thank you. We understand how much this has weighed on you and will support you as well as we can.”
“To that end,” Luna adds. “We have commissioned the most accomplished gemstone artisans to find and craft the most pure crystal mirror for your use. With luck it will make the enchanting process easier to accomplish and more stable. With any luck, we both hope it will allow you to return the Sirens and find a proper peace with… everything.”
Clover’s head dips sadly and nods before raising it again. “Thank you, Princesses. I’ll do my best.”
Celestia smiles gently, “We believe in you, Clover.”
“I don’t remember Princess Celestia teaching you about those years.” Spike's face was confused, frowning in the effort to remember those old days of Twilight’s education.
Finally setting the book down on a wheeled cart, Twilight was able to concentrate on everypony else. “Well, you were pretty young then. But you’re right, she really didn’t. But now that Starswirl is back and finished with his exploration of Equestria, we’ll convene a Council of Friendship with him, Celestia and Luna so we can learn all about these early days.”
With a smirk Applejack couldn’t help poking fun at Spike just a little. “I’m guessing y’ll be writin’ notes for her future self, huh? Better get those claws back in shape.”
“She’s got an actual secretary for that, now”, Spikie answered back with an eye roll. “Just don’t ask how long it took me to convince her to give somepony else that job.”
“Won’t it be wondrous for you, darling? Adding new early-Equestrian history to the Canterlot library. You must be thrilled!” Rarity didn’t share Twilights obsession with books and research, but she always respected that Twilight did.
“Yeah! A bunch of new stories about exploring and battling Discord and other dangers!” Rainbow Dash could see it now - a whole new series of books with Daring Doo traveling to the past and hiding treasures she’d find again when she got back. It’ll be a hit for sure!
“–and meeting new friends.” Fluttershy always wondered how Equestria learned to co-exist with so many other species over the years. How perfect a chance to find out more about these days.
“--and throwing parties for them!” Pinkie’s idea of diplomacy had a lot to be desired in the area of calmness, but it was hard to argue that her methods tended to work far more than they didn’t.
Trixie, unusually quiet up till this point, had turned from Twilight to take in Starlight’s pensive expression. “Trixie knows how to read faces, you know. There’s something wrong, isn’t there?”
Starlight blinks, caught off guard at being addressed and looks from Twilight to Trixie, then back again. “Yeah. Twilight? Besides reading to us you’ve been uncharacteristically quiet. What’s going on?”
Twilight bites her lips slightly, embarrassed at having been caught out. “Sorry. And you’re right. Something about these notes feels… I’m not sure; sloppy? Not the hoofwriting, but… Like it’s… I don’t know. Somehow ‘incomplete’?”
Trixie eye roll was telegraphed enough for the entire table to take in. “Not everypony is as meticulous as you.”
“Now THAT’S the truth!” Spike’s smirk was infectious, prompting everypony to smile and chuckle at the Princess’ expense.
She took it in good graces, giving Spike’s shoulder a light magical slap. “Even so. I would have thought Starswirl might have taught Clover better. At least the early notes I can follow without much trouble.”
“...but our returning scouts came back half insane.” Clover’s hair, streaked with silver runs, was hardly orderly these days. Multi-day bouts of frantic research over the years had taken their toll, including a section that had burned from a too-close candle one night. The one piece that still showed all the vigor of his youth and fortitude was the beard he still kept pride over. And in the Throne Room with the rulers of Equestria, one would expect that he should keep himself composed and cleaned for such a meeting.
The last few years had dissolved any need for such patronization between them.
The breath could hardly leave Celestia’s lungs enough to utter a disbelieving, “What?” Her face was contacted in confusion and concern. The last years had taught her the need for a leader to put up a good, steady, calm face to gain trust from those she and her sister ruled over. But this was simply beyond her expectations.
Clover’s voice answered in sporadic groupings of words, as if trying to translate cryptic expressions from more and more ancient scrolls. “I… I wish I could explain it easily, Princesses. They talked about things… experiences? –that made no sense! They talked about physically impossible bodies… bodies that were all the wrong shapes. They were… They had no fur or tails. The pegasi had… their wings were missing. The same for the Unicorns! No horns. Their skulls were… Deformed… Into balls! And their forelegs? I don’t know how to… They were… they had joints in places they shouldn’t be. And their front hooves– Well, ALL their hooves… They were… Missing? And their legs… they ended in… They described them as, “short tentacles”! Even their cutie marks were gone and they had no magical ability! Princesses, I just–”
Princess Luna, who had trodden through countless dreams and nightmares, who had, proverbially, Seen It All, was simply unable to even conceptualize this report, interrupting Clover. “What… What madness is this they speak of?”
Clover’s shoulders and head slumped, exhausted in body and mind. “I still don’t know, majesties. I wish I could explain it better to you. All I know is these brave ponies all agreed with each other on what they experienced. I don’t know how safe it is for anypony else to cross the mirror and I know our chances of finding the Sirens are almost zero after all this time. But I will keep my word; if they are still out there, we will find them.”
Celestia’s head dipped in respect as she answered in reverence, “Thank you, Clover.”
Luna’s head also dropped respectfully. “We know if anypony can undo what Starswirl himself did, you will.”
The idea of holding a “Great Friendship Gathering Council” party was almost too good for Pinkie’s heart to contain. “OH! It’ll be great! We’ll get together and have special cupcakes and cider and you can ask what happened! Won’t that be great?”
“Let’s slow it down there, Sugarcube. It’s gunna be mah turn to manage the meetin’. If there’s gunna be dignitaries like this, le’s plan this up good.”
Pinkie was undeterred, looking around at the Throne Room, mentally sizing it up. “Hmmm. Maybe we should make it a surprise party so they’re all surprised at the meeting topic? Surprise Parties always get the most honest reactions!”
“Y’know what, Pinkie? That just might work. We’ll get t’ work on makin’ some of Granny’s Ap-Pear Cider Blend. Pretty sure she’d’a wanted it used for somethin’ like this.”
Twilight’s eyes smiled sadly at Applejack. “True, and thank you all! I guess we’ll just wait for the next Moon and our meeting. OH! It’ll be the most talked about meeting for years to come!”