//------------------------------// // Chapter 65 // Story: Looking Glass // by Hiver //------------------------------// I looked out over the village below. Lights shining softly in the night. A couple of thestrals and an earth pony herded a group of what had to be twenty foals along one of the bridges connecting the trees. School excursion. To the guard training grounds from the direction they were heading. Survival lesson. “I can’t believe she…” Twilight said before she trailed off for the sixth time since we exited onto the balcony of the bedroom. Sunset stroked her mane, “Twi, everything worked out alri-” “That’s not the point!” Twilight said and looked at her, “I can’t believe ‘I’ would have done that in her place!” “You can’t know what,” Sunset told her. “I do know that!” Twilight said and pulled away from her, “She is me! If I had been in her place, I would have been her!” I shook my head, “I’m not su-” Twilight turned to me and apparently that had been the wrong thing to say from the glare she shot at me, “You know it is!” I didn’t back down though, instead I stepped forward, “Sparks, take a deep breath. You need to calm down.” “I do not ne-” Twilights started to answer angrily before she broke off and sighed, looking away, “...Sorry…” Sunset put her side against Twilights, “Twi, I get why you’re upset, but you’re not the same pony.” “Actually,” I said with a small sigh, “I think both may be right. You were the same pony, but ponies change all the time. I’m not the same pony I was two years ago. You may have started as the same pony, but you are both pretty different now.” Sunset frowned, “Sure, but the core of you are doesn't really ch-” I shot her a small look and she broke off, “I mean,” Sunset quickly said, “Ponies do change all the time. Of course you and Midnight are different.” Twilight sighed softly and gave Sunset a kiss on the cheek, “Thanks, and I know how you mean,” she said before she shook her head, “I know what you both mean. The thing is that… I’m not sure that I wouldn’t do the same thing. To get back to you two if I had been the one that had been…” I moved around to her other side, slipping my wing across her back, “Admittedly, it was a really a worst case scenario the big rift thing, right? Much more likely if something went wrong, we’d just have ended up on the wrong world, right?” Twilight nodded, “...Yeah…” She still looked depressed though as she leaned her head against the side of my neck. Sunset leaned against her in turn before glancing at the door, “Think Luna will be back soon?” Twilight sighed, “Whenever she’s done talking with Midnight. But she’s been away for hours now.” “Should be anytime now,” I said, stroking her back softly, “Don’t worry, everything will be fine. After all, nothing did happen. We’re fine, everypony else is fine.” Movement caught my eye and I smiled, “And there she is now,” I said as Luna flew across the village over towards us. “How did it go?” Twilight asked nervously as Luna landed next to us. Luna folded her wings with a small sigh, “We talked,” she said and then shook her head, “Midnight is upset and Tempest is angry with her, angrier than you were, Page. I’m going to talk with my sister about what to do, but… I’m not sure we will do anything. Not like it will ever happen again.” Twilight nodded and then stepped up to hug her. Luna sat down and pulled her tight into a hug, slipping her wings around her in turn., giving her forehead a small kiss next to her horn. Sunset watched with a small smile, shifting to touch her side to mine before glancing at me, “...I’m curious about what happened to you,” she said, “I know Twi’s mane get all wavey when she’s angry enough, but never seen it happen to you.” “The ‘wavey’ as you put it,” Luna said as she stroked Twilight's back, “is a result of the high levels of ambient magic we put out. My sister and I intentionally do so with our manes and tails to focus that or it would be difficult to live among ponies even during normal levels of magic as keeping our domains contained would require constant concentration. My sister would be hot enough to melt gold and… pretty much any room I walked into would turn pitch black.” Twilight nodded and let go of the hug, “It’s going to happen to each of us eventually,” she said quietly and looked at me and Sunset, “Cadance, Me, Midnight, Page, even Flurry. As we get older, we get stronger and more in sync with our domains.” I looked at Luna, “You felt the dream realm around me?” She nodded, “I did,” she agreed, “I think that eventually you may be able to overlay the dream realm and the real world. At least in a very local effect.” “Huh.” Wow. “But there will be a while until then,” Sunset said and looked between us, “I mean, Cadance haven’t even started to do the mane thing yet.” “No,” I said and sighed, “But it does mean I have to be careful not to get too angry.” Luna smiled and stepped forward, giving me a small kiss, “Luckily, I never known you to be somepony with an anger problem.” I kissed back and then sighed softly, “Well, not like I didn’t know it would happen eventually. I have seen Midnight angry.” If I looked half as scary when I did it, I didn’t blame them for putting a shield up. Luna nodded and smiled before she looked out over the village, “I need to lower the moon soon, I should meet my sister before she wakes up.” Sunset smiled, “I’m a bit hungry actually, how about we all have a late dinner after the sun is up?” My stomach strongly agreed. We never did eat anything because everything that happened.