“Spike?”
The little dragon looked on, eyes wide. He was carrying a sack over one shoulder, which he promptly dropped.
“Spike, you’re okay!” Sunset said. She ran up to him and squatted down to his level.
“So Twilight’s little pet really is a dragon in this universe,” Midnight said.
“But… you can’t be here!” Spike said. “Twilight shattered the mirror portal!”
“Our Twilight and Starlight put together a device that re-opened the portal.”
“No no no!” Spike said. He took a step back. “The null magic will spill into your universe, too! Everyone from Ponyville—”
“Is safe, don’t worry,” Sunset said. “The anti-magic can’t get through our portal.”
Spike stared at her for a few seconds. Then, he let out a breath.
“As long as everypony is okay,” he said. He looked up at Midnight. “Who’s that?”
“That’s Midnight Sparkle,” Sunset said. “She’s… well, she’s our world’s Twilight, technically, just…”
“Superior in every way,” Midnight said.
“…I was going to say ‘consumed by magic and insane’, but alright.”
Spike picked up the sack he had dropped. “Sounds like there’s a lot you need to fill me in on,” he said.
“Yeah, you could say that,” Sunset replied, rubbing the back of her head.
Spike nodded. “Come with me. We can talk on the way.”
Spike led them along a path familiar to Sunset; she could guess where they were headed: the castle’s gardens, though she had no idea why Spike would be taking them there. Regardless, she spent the time explaining most of what had happened since the day the pony-siders came to CHS.
“Wow,” Spike said, once she’d finished. “You guys really went through a lot.”
“Yeah,” Sunset said. “It’s been… it’s been a lot to deal with.”
“Well, I can answer some of your questions,” Spike said. He hoisted the sack up. “Just let me take care of this, first.”
“What exactly is in that sack of yours?” Midnight asked.
“You’ll see in a minute.”
They turned a corner, the corner leading to the gardens. They were a beautiful, colourful, verdant place before; Sunset almost didn’t want to see what they’d turned into now, but she looked anyway.
What she saw caused her breath to hitch in her throat.
The gardens were dead, yes; done in by the anti-magic and the dust-choked sky. But that wasn’t what caught Sunset’s immediate attention.
No; that was the graves.
There were hundreds of them, perhaps thousands. Each was marked with a stone. They sat in even rows across the open space of the garden and extended back out of sight.
“Did… did you dig all these?” she asked.
Spike nodded. He set off into the improvised graveyard; Sunset and Midnight followed behind him, silent. They made their way between the gravestones. Some of them had symbols cut into them, but these became farther and farther between the deeper they went.
Eventually, they reached the end of the graves. There was one already dug but not filled, with a stone at its head. It was here that Spike stopped. He set the sack down lightly on the dead grass.
“Is that…” Sunset said, “…a pony’s remains?”
“Yeah,” Spike said. He jumped down into the shallow grave and carefully removed the bones from the sack, placing them gingerly onto the dirt.
Sunset said nothing. She felt she could say nothing. All she could do was watch this ritual play out.
Once the sack was empty, Spike clambered his way out of the hole. He walked over a few feet and withdrew a shovel that had been left sticking out of the ground. It was clearly too big for his diminutive size.
“Let me,” Sunset said. Spike looked at her a few moments, then relented, and held the shovel out to her. Sunset took it and began shoveling dirt into the grave. Soon, it was full; she patted down the loose dirt with the back of the shovel.
“Thanks, Sunset,” Spike said, smiling at her.
“It’s a pointless gesture,” Midnight said. “They’re just bones. Eventually, those bones are going to turn to dust, too. What does it matter if they’re in a grave or left out in the open?”
Sunset glared at her and opened her mouth to reply, but Spike beat her to it.
“Maybe it is pointless,” Spike said. “But if it’s the only thing I can do for them, I might as well do it, right? Canterlot was my home once, too.”
“Hmph,” Midnight grunted. She folded her arms. “It’s stupid. You’re wasting your time.”
“Not like there’s much else to do around here,” Spike said. He stood up. “You two are here for answers, right? Come with me. I’ll tell you what I know.”
Spike led them back to the castle, through the grand doors that led to the entranceway. They headed down the corridor to the left.
“A few hours before we sent all of Ponyville through the mirror,” he began, “Twilight got a letter from the Princesses.
“The letter explained that something—Twilight called it ‘null magic’—had begun to spread through our world. That it was draining the magic out of things, and that Celestia and Luna weren’t able to stop it in time. It was coming for all of Equestria.
“Twilight decided she needed to evacuate everyone she could, so she enlisted the help of her friends in sending everyone through the mirror to your world. It was the only option, she said.
“After everyone had evacuated, she tried to get me to go through the mirror, too, but I refused. I could tell she wasn’t planning on going through herself, and I didn’t want to leave her alone. I told her we didn’t have time to argue, and eventually she agreed. She used her magic to shatter the mirror so that the null magic wouldn’t follow everypony into your world. Then, we set out for Canterlot.”
“But Twilight didn’t make it,” Sunset said.
Spike shook his head. “No. The null magic had already reached Ponyville, and Twilight was an alicorn—it affected her more quickly than it did anything else. We were flying when her magic suddenly gave out, and we crashed to the ground. She begged me to go on without her, but I wouldn’t leave. I…”
Spike swallowed.
“I was with her when she died.”
Sunset didn’t know how to respond to that. She settled on: “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Spike said. “I’m… I’m glad I was able to be with her. To comfort her.
“After she died, I… I didn’t know what to do. The only thing I could think of was to go to Canterlot, so… I started walking.”
“You walked all the way to Canterlot?” Sunset asked.
Spike nodded. “It took a long time. The day doesn’t pass here, so I don’t know how long. I followed the train tracks up the mountain. Eventually I made it up here.”
They turned down a new hallway. Sunset wasn’t sure where they were headed; she couldn’t remember ever being to this part of the castle.
“Yes, yes, very noble of you,” Midnight said. “Then what?”
“I made my way to the castle,” Spike said. “And I began to search. I knew the source of the null magic had to be in here somewhere. And I grew up here, so I knew most of the castle like the back of my claw, but the place is huge, and I found places I didn’t even know existed. And one of them is…”
He stopped in front of a door.
“…right here.”
He stopped. Looked back at Sunset.
“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” he asked.
Sunset didn’t like the tone in his voice. It sounded tired… and regretful.
“Of course we’re ready!” Midnight said. “That’s the whole reason we came here. Right, Sunset?”
Sunset nodded, but suddenly she wasn’t so sure.
Spike grimaced. “Okay.”
He pushed the door open and led them inside.
The room was fairly large, and circular. It was a rotunda; the ceiling was high and domed.
All of that was just background information, though. What really caught Sunset’s eye, what gained her sole attention, were the mirrors.
There were six of them, standing evenly spaced around the circumference of the room. Each featured a different design, each ornately decorated in one way or another, but in a way that was unsettlingly familiar.
“…Are these…”
Sunset swallowed.
“Are these all mirror portals?”
Midnight flew up to one of them. She reached out with a gloved hand and touched her fingertips to the mirror’s surface. They sank inside.
“They are,” she said. “But… their magic is different from our portal.”
Spike nodded. “Yes. They all lead to different worlds, different Equestrias. Or… I think they did.”
“You think…?” Sunset asked.
“Look inside,” Spike said, gesturing to one of the mirrors. “You’ll see what I mean.”
Though hesitant, Sunset followed his instructions. She walked up to the mirror Spike had pointed at and, bracing herself, stepped through.
She found herself in a room similar to the one she’d just left, mirrors and all. This room, however, had windows. Sunset walked up to one of them and peered out.
All she saw was grey.
She heard footsteps behind her; she turned to see Spike and Midnight had followed her through the mirror.
“So the ‘null magic’ is in this world, too?” she said.
“Not just this world,” Spike said. “In every world. It spread through the mirrors. Every world that’s connected by a portal ends up like this. Including ours.”
The sheer scale of what they were dealing with suddenly set in, and it was too much for Sunset to even comprehend.
“Then,” Midnight said, “the null magic came to this world through a mirror, too?”
Spike nodded. “At least, that’s what I think happened. Come on, let’s go back.”
They all headed back through the mirror they’d come in from.
“This room is where I found Princess Celestia and Princess Luna’s bodies,” Spike said. “They must have tracked the null magic to its source and tried to contain it, but…”
“But it got to them before they could do anything,” Sunset said.
Spike nodded. “They were the first ponies I buried in the garden. After that, I explored through the mirrors, trying to find the source of the null magic, thinking maybe I could do something to stop it, but no matter how many mirrors I traveled through, all I found were more worlds consumed by dust. I must have gone hundreds of mirrors deep, but…”
He hesitated. “I went through so many mirrors, I’m not even sure if this is the same Equestria that I left.”
“Then… you don’t know where the null magic came from?” Sunset asked.
Spike shook his head. “And I don’t think we’ll ever know. There’s just… too many worlds to look through. Maybe even infinite worlds.”
Sunset’s knees grew weak. The raw reality of Spike’s words sank into her heart, made her head spin.
“Then… there’s no answer?” she said, mostly to herself. “There’s… there’s no hope of ever knowing, let alone ever fixing it?”
Spike’s voice was grim. “Yes.”
She sank to her knees. Her mind went blank. The reality of it all washed over her like a tidal wave, and it was almost too much to bear.
But…
But there was something else there, too, mixed in with the feelings of helplessness.
Sunset began to laugh.
“Sunset?” Spike asked. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s just…” Sunset said. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes. “I don’t know, but… I’m almost… happy? All this time, I’ve been chasing after this answer, and now that I know it’s unattainable, it’s like… like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.”
She wiped at her eyes. “I don’t… I don’t know! How am I supposed to feel about this? There’s nothing we can do, but… but!”
Spike walked over. He put a claw on Sunset’s shoulder.
All of the emotions that Sunset had been suppressing suddenly broke through the dam she’d erected in her heart. She was laughing, she was sobbing, she felt like she was being pulled in every direction all at once.
But there was relief there, too. A deep, strong feeling of relief that undercut everything else.
So she sat there, laughing and crying at the same time, until it all ran out.
“Are you okay?” Spike asked.
Sunset sniffed. Rubbed her eyes. “Yeah. I think I’m okay.”
“Well, good for you. But I won’t accept this.”
Sunset and Spike both turned their heads to Midnight, who was scowling.
“What do you mean?” Sunset asked, a little icily.
“That there’s no way of knowing what caused the anti-magic to spread,” Midnight said. “I won’t have it!”
“It’s impossible,” Spike said. “You could spend years searching and not even scratch the surface of the worlds connected by those portals.”
Midnight swung her arm across her body. “No! There is no answer that is unattainable! Not to me!”
“She’s a being of pure curiosity, Spike,” Sunset said. She was choosing her words carefully, now. “Our Twilight’s need to understand made manifest. She won’t just give up like this.”
Midnight turned to Sunset. “You want to know too, don’t you!?” she said. “We came all this way to find out what happened, once and for all! You can’t be satisfied!”
Sunset shook her head. “I am,” she said.
Midnight recoiled. “How can you be okay with this?” she said. “I don’t understand!”
“I know when to call it quits,” Sunset said, standing up. “I have my answer. It’s incomplete, and it’ll always be incomplete, and I’ll probably lay awake at night sometimes wondering, but that’s okay. I’m satisfied with that.”
“I… you…!” Midnight grit her teeth. “Well, to heck with you! I’m going to find out what caused all of this!”
“Not like that you’re not,” Sunset said.
“Oh? And what do you mean by that?” Midnight asked. She floated down until she was just above eye level with Sunset.
Sunset narrowed her eyes. “Not with Twilight’s body.”
Midnight scoffed. “Not with Twilight’s body? It’s my body too, you know.”
“No,” Sunset said. She shook her head. “You have no right to bring Twilight with you across the multiverse on your fool’s errand. You can’t take away her life like that.”
“Says who?”
“Says me,” Sunset said. “Don’t tell me you don’t care about her at least a little bit. You’re a part of her. She’s a part of you. If you want to chase after an answer, that’s fine. But you can’t drag Twilight along on that quest. You won’t take her along on that quest.”
Midnight scowled. She went quiet for a minute. Sunset continued to look on, her stare hard.
“Fine,” Midnight said at last. “You’re right. I hate to say it, but you’re right. I guess I do owe Twilight for setting me free again.”
Midnight closed her eyes. Sunset blinked; it was like she was seeing double, as Midnight began to split into two beings. Then, with a flash of magic, they were apart again. Twilight Sparkle fell to the floor, limp.
“Twilight!” Sunset ran over to her fallen friend. She put her arm under her shoulders and lifted her head up.
Twilight blinked. Coughed.
“Sunset? What’s…”
Sunset hugged her. “I’m so glad you’re alright.”
“Yes, yes, a very touching reunion,” Midnight said. Sunset turned to look back at her. Midnight was smaller, now; small enough to fit into Sunset’s palm. She looked a bit like a fairy.
“Is that what you look like without a body?” Sunset said. “It’s almost kinda cute.”
“I don’t want to hear it,” Midnight said. “Even like this, I could have my revenge on you any time I wanted. Be grateful that more pressing matters have arrived.”
Midnight turned. She raised one tiny hand. A rip in space appeared in the middle of the room. “That portal will take you back to the human world,” she said. “It won’t stay open for long. Be quick.”
She turned towards the first of the mirrors.
“Are you really sure you want to do this?” Sunset asked.
Midnight nodded. “It’s more like I have to. I need to.”
“Well, then,” Sunset said, “good luck. I hope you find the answer you’re looking for one day. I’d be grateful if you shared it with me if you do.”
Midnight snorted. “You’ll be lucky. Goodbye, Sunset Shimmer. I hope for your sake we never meet again.”
And with that, she turned into a ball of purple light, and disappeared through the portal.
Sunset looked on for a few more moments. Then, she let out a sigh of relief.
She looked down at Twilight. “You okay?”
“I think so,” Twilight said.
Sunset shook her head. “What were you thinking, Twilight? That was incredibly dangerous! Why would you resort to freeing Midnight?”
“It was the only way to get you back to Equestria,” Twilight said. “And besides… I knew you would save me somehow. You always do.”
Sunset didn’t know what to say to that. So instead, she stood up, pulling Twilight up with her on shaky legs.
“Come on,” she said. “We’d better go back home. We don’t know how long the portal will stay open.”
She turned to Spike and opened her mouth, but Spike shook his head.
“I can’t go with you,” Spike said. “I’ve still got business to take care of here.”
“Are you sure?” Sunset said. “I mean, you’re going to run out of food, here… even if there aren’t magical gemstones in our world, I’m sure we can figure something out…”
Spike shook his head again. “It was nice seeing you again, Sunset. I’m glad to know that our friends are safe in your world. But I can’t leave. Not yet. I’m not ready.”
He smiled. It was a sad little thing. “Maybe I’ll never be ready.”
Sunset tried to smile back, but it came out wrong. “Okay,” she said. “If you’re sure that’s what you want.”
He nodded. “I’m sure. Goodbye, Sunset. Twilight. Take care of everypony for me.”
“We’ll do our best,” Sunset said.
And with that, they stepped through the portal, Sunset supporting Twilight by the shoulders…
…and back into the tent.
Sunset stumbled a little on the way back through, the typical disorientation hitting her. This caused Twilight to stumble too, and within moments both of them ended up on the floor. The portal winked shut behind them.
Sunset looked at Twilight. Twilight looked at Sunset.
They both began to laugh. Borderline hysterically. Eventually, though, their wits returned to them.
“I guess it’s over,” Twilight said. “Our expeditions to Equestria, that is.”
Sunset nodded. “Yeah. I guess so.” She smiled.
Someone coughed.
Sunset’s head snapped up. They were not alone in the tent, as it turned out. Six people—or, ponies, Sunset supposed—stood around the tent’s entrance. Princess Twilight’s friends, and, in the middle…
“Starlight,” Sunset said, a little coolly. She stood up, Twilight following her.
Starlight flinched. Rainbow Dash saw this, and spoke.
“We get that you’re mad at her,” she said. “And we get why! Starlight explained everything to us. But you’ve got to understand, Starlight was a different pony back then, and she never meant for any of this to happen!”
“That’s right,” Applejack said. “That’s why we’re here. To back Starlight up.”
“It wasn’t her fault,” Fluttershy said.
The other ponies nodded their agreement.
Sunset approached Starlight. The other girl seemed small; her hands were twisted up into fists by her sides. She didn’t meet Sunset’s gaze.
When Sunset was about a foot away from Starlight, she stopped.
Then, she reached out and swept Starlight into a hug.
“W-what?” Starlight said, confused.
“You don’t have to say anything,” Sunset said. “I forgive you. And I’m sorry I got mad. I took out my frustrations on you, and that was wrong.”
“But…” Starlight said. “But I…”
“You didn’t do anything,” Sunset said. “Well, I do think you should have told us sooner. But other than that, you’ve got nothing to blame yourself for.”
Sunset released Starlight and stepped back. She was smiling.
“I’m glad you admitted it to the others, too,” she said. “Looks like they’re better friends than I was. I’m sorry.”
“N-no,” Starlight said. “Don’t… don’t apologize. You don’t have to apologize.” She rubbed her eyes. “It was my fault…”
Sunset shook her head. “You’re fine.”
They stood there in silence for a few moments, Sunset smiling a reassuring smile.
Eventually, Starlight returned it.
“Um,” Twilight said, awkwardly. “What exactly happened?”
Sunset filled her in.
“Oh,” Twilight said. “Huh.”
Silence, for a few moments.
“So, uh…” Starlight said. “What was that portal…?”
“Oh yeah,” Sunset said. “That. We went on a trip to Canterlot. Our last trip to Equestria.”
“How?” Starlight asked. “I thought, with the portal unstable… and how did you get to Canterlot?”
Sunset and Twilight looked at each other.
“I guess it’s not fair to not tell you after Sunset got mad at you for not telling us something,” Twilight said.
“If you’re sure,” Sunset said.
“I am.”
They explained what had happened. Everything from who Midnight was to what they had learned from Spike.
“Wow,” Starlight said, once they had finished. “I guess I wasn’t the only one who was keeping secrets.”
Twilight cringed. “Sorry. I, um… it’s a little… embarrassing?”
“No, no, I totally get it,” Starlight said. “I was kind of evil once, too, so…”
“So was I,” Sunset chimed in. “Turns out we’re all ex-villains.”
They shared a look of mutual understanding.
Rainbow coughed, and they all turned to look at her. Admittedly, Sunset had kind of forgotten the ponies were still there.
“So, uh…” Rainbow said. “What now?”
They all looked at each other.
“Well…”