//------------------------------// // Outer Realms // Story: A Witch in Broad Daylight // by Epsilon-Delta //------------------------------// “Twilight!” Pinkie bounded to Twilight’s side to inspect the grievous wound on Twilight’s barrel where the black arrow struck. It had the appearance more of a massive ulcer than a stab wound. It was the worst injury to have in the worst place to be injured. Twilight did her best to close the wound, mostly by burning it. Pinkie was unconvinced until Twilight stood, trying to give the impression she could shrug off even that. But in truth, she would be nearly helpless here, in this condition. “Where are we?” Pinkie asked. “Inside the mirror?” They were once again on the mountain range overlooking Paradise Island. But a memory of it, before Twilight had destroyed it and most of the mountain range both. It seemed so close to the real thing, only too silent and still. As Pinkie and Twilight looked out to the clear ocean they saw neither wind nor wave. Nothing gave the slightest appearance of movement, nor did the sun give any warmth. “Yes, but also the outer realm,” said Twilight. “Inside the mirror… inside the outer realm.” “It doesn’t look like we went anywhere,” said Pinkie. “Are you sure this is the outer realm? I don’t get what all these mad scientists are complaining about. It’s not so bad here.” “We wouldn’t be able to perceive the actual outer realm,” said Twilight. “Not without dying, anyway. We’re staring into the mirror. This is our reflection.” “I don’t see me.” Pinkie squinted. “It doesn’t reflect your physical appearance,” Twilight explained. “Not in the outer realm, anyway. It constructs a world that is a reflection of ourselves. This place is our most recent memory so we see here. Get it?” Pinkie tilted her head. “Just remember this: The mirror is far from a perfect defense,” said Twilight. “You might see other things. Things that aren’t a reflection of yourself. Looking at anything that isn’t yourself in some sense will quickly become fatal.” “Anything that’s not a reflection of me is off-limits,” said Pinkie. “Got it! But uh. How do we get back?” Twilight frowned and looked out into the reflection of an ocean. “That… I’m not sure. But we’re not gods so returning won’t be nearly as hard for us as it would be for them. There should be entities here that may have the power to return us. If we’re lucky we might run into the Darklord or the element of Laughter. Both seem at least somewhat sympathetic to us.” “And what about Discord? Shouldn’t we…. You know?” Pinkie slit a hoof across her neck. “While we’re here?” That was part of Twilight’s original plan. Get rid of the curse of undeath and make everyone love her. Would that be enough to salvage her reputation, though? Twilight wasn’t even sure how badly it’d been damaged. Certainly, none of the ponies she cared about would… Then she remembered. “That was… Rainbow Dash’s plan,” Twilight said solemnly. “Uh.” Pinkie craned her neck around to look at Twilight’s growing tears. “I know you two just had a fight, but this is something we should do either way. Zombie apocalypse, remember?” “It’s not that.” Twilight shook her head to stave off the tears. “I just. I didn’t realize what she was thinking until now.” Rainbow Dash wanted to get rid of the witches and end the curse of undeath so that everypony would love them. That was how she thought, wasn’t it? Twilight didn’t know her well enough to notice it back then. She hadn’t given thought to it much until just now. “I thought Rainbow Dash was like me.” Twilight closed her eyes and hugged herself. “That as long as she had somepony who wouldn’t leave her she’d be happy. I wanted somepony who would stay by my side no matter what so when Rainbow Dash hesitated I… I…” “Twilight, she doesn’t hate you,” said Pinkie. “I know the two of you can–” “That’s not it at all! I get it now… Rainbow Dash. She can’t feel like somepony cares about her unless she does something to earn it. She didn’t feel like…” Twilight shook her head. She’d failed to understand her best friend. More than anything, that was her problem. “I’m not going to make that mistake again!” Twilight resolved. “Even if she rejects me again, I don’t care. I won’t let her feel like that. And I won’t run away from my mistakes again.” “So are we going after Discord?” Pinkie asked. “Yes… I don’t care what the public thinks of me. I’ll figure something out no matter what. But I still have to end this curse either way. This is my responsibility.” “But wasn’t it Flash who–” “No. Pinkie. I’m not making any more excuses. I’ll… I’ll face Discord and then I’ll face Rainbow Dash.” “Right!” Pinkie nodded with determination. “And you have a plan for that, yeah?” “I did think about our confrontation for years. Decades, how it’d go a second time. I knew I’d be able to easily destroy him if I had two objects. This mirror… and that hammer I mentioned a long time ago. But I don’t have the latter.” “I did get the hammer, remember?” Pinkie stuck out her forelegs and flicked her hooves. “Pinball tournament!” “Wait! You have it?” “Um.” Pinkie looked over her shoulder. “Well, it’s back at my house.” Twilight rubbed her temple, braced herself, and then started walking toward the ocean. “Well that makes things a bit more complicated.” Twilight sighed. “I’ll just have to kill him the hard way.” “Are we a hundred percent sure we have to kill him, by the way?” Pinkie asked. “I never met him and it’s been centuries since you did. So…” “Yes, Pinkie.” Twilight turned back. “I should have put him down back then. I was just too much of a coward, too afraid of change to take that action. This is a mercy kill, trust me. It’s what he would have wanted.” This was it, then. Time to face the darkest specter of her past. “We’re going to start moving. Just keep walking and remember what I told you.” “Only my reflection. Got it.” Pinkie nodded.” Twilight turned the mirror, sending them into the unknown. It was a snowy forest. Everything looked normal enough. Twilight could look up and see a cloudy sky. One she knew wasn’t there. “Okay.” Pinkie looked around. “I’m not a snowy field, but. Oo!” Pinkie bounded through the snow, leaving small craters with each bounce, then down a hill and off to the edge of a frozen lake. “I remember this place!” Pinkie pointed excitedly at the lake. “And there’s the sign!” Twilight came behind slower, finding the sign in question. Plane, wooden, reading ‘The nice.’ “This is where I fell into the water.” Pinkie hovered her hoof over the view. “Right about… there! Hm. But I don’t feel particularly traumatized about seeing this.” “Should you?” Twilight asked. “Were you before?” “Not really! It’s just the way you were talking before I thought I’d get to look deep into my inner psyche, face my darkest fears, have an epiphany. That sort of thing?” “I don’t think the mirror reflects any part of you in particular,” said Twilight. “But I wasn’t the one who created it so I don’t know all of its properties.” The ice approximately where Pinkie pointed, where she had fallen in, cracked open as though an invisible filly jumped on it. But the water beneath was black, a void that slowly grew, breaking up ever more of the ice. “Ooh! There it is!” Pinkie faced it with excitement. “There’s the trauma! I’m ready!” Pinkie spread her forelegs wide, ready to embrace the lesson but Twilight jerked her away before she could make a mistake. “No! That wasn’t there the first time,” Twilight warned. “That’s not you. Get it?” “Uh.” Pinkie watched as the void bulged upward, then twisted about as it took on the shape of an eye. She nodded and averted her gaze after that. “Got it.” “Just keep walking.” Twilight moved with Pinkie in tow, eyes locked on the horizon. “Don’t pay any attention to it.” They started plowing their way through the snow a little faster than before. On the peripheral, Twilight could see that thing following them taking shape like black icicles on the trees, like eyes bubbling up from the snow. She ignored it harder and walked a bit faster and that seemed enough to keep it away for now. But that couldn’t possibly last forever. Anything in this place was too dangerous to risk confrontation with. “Twilight, I don’t think I ever actually went this far into the forest,” Pinkie admitted as the trees began to repeat. They were soon moving down an endless hall of identical trees. And their follower was taking full advantage of the edges of Pinkie’s memories. The trees began to sway in their direction. Eyes began to appear ever more directly in front of them. It wouldn’t be long. “Now what?” Pinkie asked. That thing was too close. Twilight adjusted the mirror. More land appeared. They were at a sort of intersection, three areas jarringly mashed together with no transition between them. One stood out, deeply unlike the other two. The first was Twilight’s home. Her original treehouse in the forest by the river. The second was some apartment building on the street of a city. The odd one out… It was like more forest. Only the trees were made from bones that moved in and out as though they were breathing and eyeballs hanging down from the branches on yellow vines. Both looked away quickly from that place. “Er. I remember Filthy Riche’s house but I’ve never been there.” Pinkie pointed at the bizarre forest without looking. “Have you?” “Follow me.” Twilight swiftly pulled Pinkie forward, to her home, to the only one she was certain to be safe. Once through, the façade of sky reappeared and it seemed as though they were in a normal world again. Her house, though just an illusion, felt so safe. Twilight opened her door and everything was exactly how she remembered it. Even her old hat was here, hanging next to her cauldron. Items piled high in cluttered, but organized stashes. It was her house from just before she met Dash as there wasn’t enough room on the couch for Dash to sleep on yet, a pile of notebooks on the left cushion and on the right… Smarty Pants. Twilight burned the doll with a quick spell, letting out a sigh of relief as it incinerated without a fuss. In her memory, it was just a doll. Nor did their stalker appear to follow. “What was that weird place?” Pinkie asked. “Almost certainly a trick,” said Twilight. “I’d bet whatever saw us was trying to lure us in.” “It tried to lure us with an eyeball forest?” Pinkie asked. “Wasn’t that a little obvious for a being of unimaginable power?” “Given where we are, that may be the most ‘normal’ thing it could conceive of,” said Twilight, earning a frown from Pinkie. “The next thing we run into might know us better. We can’t go anywhere that you haven’t been before.” “Or you,” Pinkie added. “Well.” Twilight put on her hat, happy to have that comfort again. Whatever happened from here out she’d at least be able to wear her hat openly. “I mostly only have the one place to remember. This is mostly on you.” An idea crossed Twilight’s mind and she began sifting through her cupboards, throwing various reagents into her saddlebag. “Are we staying here?” Pinkie asked. “You said we should keep going.” “Yes, but I want to test something first,” said Twilight. “As I said, I never explored any specifics about this mirror. If there are actual copies of magical items from my house that I can bring with us, that would be extremely useful.” Pinkie considered, but couldn’t object to the plan. Twilight found one of the objects she was looking for soon enough – that healing salve. The same one she used on Rainbow Dash during their second encounter was back on the shelf. She applied it to her wound and it did close almost completely. At least Twilight got that lucky. Much longer with that and she risked collapse. Though she was still exhausted and far from a hundred percent. “Just wait a minute. But if you see anything out of place, let me know. Running away takes priority.” “I’m gonna see if I can conjure Bottle Cap’s Play Place next.” Pinkie closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. “Nothing could ever hurt me there! If I just focus hard enough…” Having no clue if that would work, Twilight left her to it. Sadly, Twilight wasn’t nearly able to get half of what she would have wanted before they were interrupted. Hoof steps on the wood upstairs. Both ponies stopped their activity and backed away toward the door. At first, she was ready to bolt no matter what came down those stairs. Yet, seeing it made her pause and wonder if it was part of her reflection or not. Indeed it was Twilight reflected. But it wasn’t her current self, an actual reflection. It was how she had looked back then, in this memory. The crooked mane, the pale fur, the bags under her eyes, her body withered and yet more muscular than it was now, hardly an ounce of fat on her body. And that expression, tired and yet completely focused and alive and wild with power. If anything, too alive, jittering slightly as it trotted toward Twilight, smiling. How she’d been before Rainbow Dash appeared. Twilight looked down at herself. Had she changed that much? Had she looked like this? True, she never had to worry about what others thought of her appearance until recently. A slight self-consciousness had developed since then. “Erm. Is that ‘you’? It looks like you?” Pinkie glanced back and forth between them. “Of course I’m you, Twilight.” The effigy couldn’t quite seem to hold still. Whenever it wasn’t fidgeting its hooves, it was looking around rapidly with its eyes or licking its lips or flicking its ears about as though talking in ear-semaphore. “I’m just who you could have been by now if you’d tried just a little bit harder, you know? And not have aborted the mission when it was already 99.9% complete? Hm?” She jabbed Twilight’s side. “I mean just look at how fat and gross you got. What’s up with that stupid haircut? Huh?” She tilted her head and laughed far too awkwardly. “Twilight.” “Fat? I still feel you’re a little too skinny,” Pinkie commented. And Twilight was technically below the body fat percentage that was considered ‘healthy’… just not nearly what this pony was. Still smiling, but her eye twitching, the other Twilight turned to Pinkie. “You know.” She suddenly snapped back to Twilight. “I can get you out of here. And I’ll kill Discord or whatever. There’s just one small price.” “I think we should leave, Pinkie.” Twilight grabbed her friend and started walking toward the door. “I know who this is.” They moved outside, the other Twilight following them. “Where are you going?” She asked. “This is like trying to walk away from liking the taste of chocolate. You have to accept that I’m part of you eventually. How do you think I found you instantly?” Trying her best to ignore it, Twilight adjusted the mirror and a crossroads appeared again. “Bottle Cap’s Play Palace!” Pinkie pointed to the center path, a large room with bright-colored furniture, with gusto. The left was unfamiliar… the right was another copy of Twilight’s house. Center it was. Humming a little, the other Twilight trotted past her, then pounced on Twilight far too fast for her to react to. She pinned Twilight on her back, pressing Twilight’s forelegs down with her hooves. Twilight was still recovering from her battle but even still, this strength and speed was too much. She couldn’t throw the other Twilight off. “You see that? I’m only using the strength you had about a year ago.” It licked its lips. “Did you think lounging on the couch eating potato chips for a year was a good idea? You’re declining fast, Twilight. I wonder if there’s a way to just only get stronger, huh?” Pinkie lifted a hoof, about to use psychokinesis to try and pull it off. “Pinkie, no!” Twilight warned her just in time. “Don’t attack it under any circumstance!” It smiled again and pressed Twilight’s forelegs down just ever so slightly, slowly ramping up the pressure, getting close to the point Twilight’s legs would snap. No way Twilight could have gotten out from under it alone. But Pinkie grabbed Twilight and pulled with her telekinesis. Pulling together, they were just enough to tear Twilight out from the other’s grasp and go rolling off into Bottle Cap’s Play Place. Her doppelganger kept its head down as it trotted along the edge of the barrier. “You’re not going to get away from me, Twilight! I’m always with you.” She laughed, a little unhinged, before the path to Twilight’s house gave way to a solid wall. “Let’s only go to places you’ve been,” Twilight suggested. “I don’t think it can come into your memories.” What Twilight originally thought to be odd furniture was webs of garishly colored tunnels, swimming pools filled with large balls, nets, and a whole jumble of other mish-mash elements. Frankly, Twilight had no clue what she was looking at. It was like some bizarre otherworldly maze. “I think maybe we made a mistake,” said Twilight. “This jumbled-up thing has to be another outer realm distortion.” “Don’t worry.” Pinkie looked back as she excitedly went up to the distortion. “It’s supposed to look like this!” “It is?” Twilight tilted her head as Pinkie jumped into the swimming pool of balls. “See, if anything else scary shows up we can hide in the ball pit.” Pinkie sunk her head under the balls. “The ball pit?” Twilight walked up to the edge of it. Why not the ball pool? She put her hoof in, before shaking her head, deciding against it. “What was that other you?” Pinkie asked. “I’m almost positive that was the element of magic,” said Twilight. “With no way of seeing where we actually are, we can’t tell how safe we are from it in here.” “So do we keep going or hide here?” Pinkie asked. Both options were dangerous. But the quick appearance of Magic gave Twilight one idea. “If the element of magic found me immediately… perhaps Laughter would be able to find you?” Twilight suggested. “We both seem equally connected. And if I’m not mistaken, it should exist here in some capacity.” “I heard that thing isn’t exactly nice, either.” “Perhaps. But it hasn’t been actively trying to ruin your life and psychologically manipulating you for centuries,” said Twilight. “Just how do we get it to come over here?” Twilight tapped her hoof on the edge of the pit. One idea came to mind, but she didn’t like it. Laughter hated Twilight and refused to show itself in front of anypony it disliked. Their only chance for it to reveal itself would be if Pinkie were alone. With just one mirror, that would necessitate either Twilight sacrificing herself or asking Pinkie to essentially jump off a cliff hoping Laughter would rescue her. An uncertain proposition. Was there some other way for them to split up and both live? Twilight swallowed hard at the one plan that came to mind. “Pinkie. I think we need to split up if we’re going to find Laughter,” said Twilight. “But we only have one mirror!” “You’ll take it. I think if we go back to one of my memories… I might survive too. Just trust me.” “I do.” Pinkie jumped out of the ball pit. “But do we have time to do whack a mole just once? I never got them all as a foal and that’ll be a pretty good last achievement if we’re about to die.” Pinkie’s hoof hovered towards some odd machine before deflating. The cabinet had begun to writhe as though made of worms, parts of it sloughing off and crawling toward them. There was no way to know if this was the same entity as before. “Never mind! These things don’t miss a beat.” They turned to run toward the door. Adjusting the mirror, Twilight made the view change to her old home once again. And not a moment too soon. Twilight felt something squirming under her hoof. The entire floor writhed and pulsated now. They had to get away right now! The two charged through the door recklessly. And the wind got knocked out of Twilight immediately. Her and Pinkie went tumbling in opposite directions. By the time Twilight even opened her eyes, she once again saw Magic, standing on the ground with one hoof held high toward Twilight. Some invisible force suspended Twilight in air, though she couldn’t even tell if it was magical or psychic. There was no use fighting against this thing, least of all in her present condition. All Twilight could do was wince in her grip. “Don’t think I don’t see what you’re doing,” said Magic. “My annoying sister won’t appear to one who has given in to despair.” Her horn glowed and a dark cloud enveloped Pinkie Pie. Black tendrils floated up above her as her mane deflated and her colors desaturated to grey. All expression left her as well until Pinkie collapsed onto her belly, practically drooling through her blankness. “There!” Magic turned back to Twilight, victorious. “How is your plan going to work now, exactly?” Twilight really had no idea. But she had even less idea what do without the plan. Though she couldn’t see how it could work still… “Pinkie! Take the mirror!” Twilight closed her eyes and threw the mirror at Pinkie just before she vanished from sight. There’d be no way to contact her again. None Twilight could think of. But she bought her friend as much time as possible. Her only hope now was… Magic watched Twilight from above with an immutable frown as the world began to dissolve. Without that, exposed to the actual outer realm, Twilight would die in seconds. With no choice but to act on the bluff, Magic came down to earth, next to Twilight. Her horn glowed brightly and the slowly dissolving view stabilized. Not all of Twilight’s home remained but just enough to take a few steps in any direction, just enough to see the very façade of the tree. Beyond that a wall of purple energy kept Twilight and Magic insulated, safe, but trapped together. Magic looked once more at Twilight before dropping her panting to the ground, and smiled triumphantly at the act. “Oh, I see! So you do trust me.” Her face spasmed a little aa she held up her free hoof. In it materialized a crown of gold, one with an enormous gemstone in the shape of Twilight’s cutie mark as its centerpiece. “If you trust me, then put on this crown. You have no idea how alive I can keep you. Together, we could be beyond anything you can imagine. We could kill all the gods and bring the heavens crashing down around us.” As if there was any doubt that this was the element of Magic. The true Magic, that was. Not just that fragment from before. Were they the same person? The personalities didn’t align so well. At any rate, it didn’t seem Magic could force her to wear the crown. Otherwise, she would have just put it on already. “Kill the gods?” Twilight asked, not quite ready to stand again. “What are you talking about?” “You know me. My only desire is for ever greater power. The knowledge that the Queen of Light and so many others are beyond me? It is all so painful!” Magic winced and shook off that pain. “But you know my ability is the greatest of them all, Twilight. Unlimited potential. “You were right on the edge of what is possible for a pony. You know you would be unable to get any stronger without becoming something more, didn’t you? And you know that you’ve regressed since then. Doesn’t that seem unfair? You put in sixteen-hour days for centuries only to lose all that progress after just a year off. Well once you accept me that no longer happens. You can’t deteriorate like that. And you’ll have no limits. Every single day you try, you will get stronger forever. Until we reach the absolute precipice of what is obtainable! Total omnipotence.” Of course Twilight remembered all that. Magic wasn’t wrong about anything she just said. Twilight knew her progression had been slowing down for years. Only now, however, looking into a dark reflection of her past, was she willing to see that some of her strength had faded as well. “Yes, I know how you work,” said Twilight. She got to her hooves, Magic allowing her this dignity for now. “I know who you are. What you’ve done. You killed the last pony who wielded you. You killed Starswirl!” “I hardly killed him. You were the one talking about murdering your master just now, weren’t you?” “He’s dead,” Twilight insisted. “Then what are you doing here? Why is his final curse still active?” She wasn’t going to accept that kind of distinction. “But hey, if that’s what you wanna do.” Magic tilted her head, calm again for a moment. “Accept my gift. It will take us all of eleven seconds to destroy him. We can kill all of your enemies while we’re at it.” Twilight took the crown and threw it aside. “What else did you do?” Twilight’s face darkened. “You left that thing in my home to psychologically manipulate me for years. Is that even the end of it?” “Of course I did more than that,” Magic admitted with a smile, not born of pride but of total abandon. “Oh, I had plans going all the way back. Why was Flash Sentry the one who showed up, hm? You don’t still think the vast majority of ponies were as selfish as him, do you?” “Wait.” Twilight froze. “You’re not saying you…” “I did! I knew the time was coming for me to ascend. I searched for a pony to screw with your little head.” Magic was growing giddy. “I brought him in knowing exactly what would happen. I orchestrated the whole thing and pulled all your little strings. And I did it all to traumatize you. To make you too scared to give ponies another chance. Just so you wouldn’t waste your time and get all fat and gross like this.” “You!” Twilight stepped forward. It wasn’t even hiding it! This thing had been crueler to Twilight than anyone else and it just spat that out with no justification! While asking her a favor?! What was it even thinking?! “How dare you play with my life like this?!” Another step forward proved too much. Magic merely held her hoof out and Twilight was back on the floor, panting on her side while the element looked down at her completely neutral. And then she smiled again. “And the best part is, it doesn’t even matter!” Magic knelt down to stroke Twilight’s mane, smiling at Twilight’s restrained rage. “It doesn’t matter how mad you get at me, so go ahead and make your little angry face, Twilight.” “And you expect me to help you?!” Twilight spat. “What do you even need me for? You’re already stronger than me. You don’t seem to value friendship or anything like that. Why not just go do your thing and leave me alone? Go kill the Queen of Light! I’m not stopping you.” “Do you not get the situation I’m in? I don’t care about anything but gaining power.” Magic’s face contorted and fidgeted as she slowly turned up her empty forehooves looking back and forth between the two with contempt. “So what happens when I get it? I know. If I become all-powerful the answer is: Nothing.” Magic slammed both hooves on the ground. “I could become as powerful as possible but I’d never do anything with it because there’s absolutely nothing I want. After all this time, I can’t even think of a single thing to do with infinite power! I would merely sit and be content forever. I’d be omnipotent but with no desire to act on it?” Magic shook her head violently. “Twilight, what is the difference between one totally powerless and one who never uses their power? I’d be no different than the most worthless slime in the end! It would all come to nothing. Achieving my goal means absolute disaster for me. It isn’t fair! You complain about what happened to you, but my life is a thousand times more tragic than yours!” Magic looked at Twilight, eyes too wide, as she panted as that of all things left her winded. “I see.” Twilight closed her eyes. “So if I let you become part of me, you’d gain my ability to have other desires.” “Yes!” Magic rushed over to Twilight’s side, seizing on that understanding. “I don’t care what you do with my power as long as you do something with it. Anything! You are the only one I can accept. You get the implication of that, don’t you?” She pulled Twilight, completely stiff, in closer. “It doesn’t matter how evil you think I am because once I am at last satisfied I will have no further will of my own. It will be you completely in control of us with no influence from me.” Magic’s face lit up, elated at her perfect logic. “So that’s why you’ll accept my gift no matter what I’m like.” Twilight could see her reasoning, but she’d never accept it no matter how sound it might seem. “And will we instantly achieve absolute power?” Twilight shook her head. “What would you make me do up until then? Act as callous as you did to me?” “How is that relevant? Who knows what kind of power we may have by then? Perhaps you could go back in time. Bring back the dead. Recreate the universe in your own image. Wish a perfect friend into existence– one who won’t reject you. Anything you do on the way won’t matter in the end. You will be a god. The God. With the ability to reverse it all tenfold.” “But would I?” Twilight asked. “I couldn’t possibly be the same person by then.” “If you have infinite power you can make yourself care about mud pies and imbeciles again.” Magic gritted her teeth like she was explaining something overly simple to such an imbecile. “Not if I didn’t want to. I saw what you did to Starswirl. Can you really say he’s the same pony?” “Oh. That was mostly because of the mental trauma from our split,” said Magic. “I was never perfectly compatible with him and was planning on getting rid of him the whole time. Only you. No such issue will occur with us. All you need is just a little bit of patience. I don’t know how long it will take but you will get there.” Once again, Magic summoned the crown before Twilight only for it to be knocked aside even faster this time. Magic’s face twisted and turned into an awkward frown. “Why do you think I would ever accept you?!” Twilight asked. “Because you would have!” Magic shoved Twilight back to the ground. “Don’t lie to me. I had everything set up perfectly! You were noticing your approach to the pinnacle of mortal might and you would have accepted my offer once Starlight and Faith emerged to challenge you. Everything was set up so perfectly.” Twilight slowly looked toward the ground. Magic wasn’t wrong in that. Like her, there was little else Twilight cared about back then. “I changed since then.” Twilight stood. “Yeah, I noticed.” Magic rolled her eyes. “You say that like it’s a good thing. Fat. Stupid. Pig.” “It is a good thing!” Magic’s face contorted with the most genuine anger and offense Twilight had yet seen. She expected another blow but it was restrained. “Oh. Oh, yes. It’s a good thing you’ve become so stupid you think Rainbow Dash is worth more than literal omnipotence.” Magic’s breath became more labored. “I mean, are you even a lesbian, Twilight? I really can’t tell. Have you thought this through? You’re giving up everything, an infinite number of other ponies, other Rainbow Dashes even, because of some worthless–” “She’s not worthless!” Twilight interrupted. “She’s the one who upended your plan, wasn’t she? She was the one who rescued me from you. And you know what? None of that even matters. I love Rainbow Dash and that’s all there is to it. I don’t care if you don’t understand.” “And Rainbow Dash rejected you.” Magic laughed. “She doesn’t want to stay with you forever. I’m the only one who will give you what you want– a companion who will never leave you.” And that was the first argument that got to Twilight. Thinking back to Dash, a pit formed in Twilight’s gut. “I know you, Twilight. Because I created you just as you created me. The two of us are already one. We’re the only ones for each other.” Magic held out her hoof. And though Twilight wanted what she offered more than anything, she wasn’t the least bit tempted. “I don’t want you,” said Twilight. “Rainbow Dash is the only one that I want. Maybe… maybe I don’t understand our relationship but I will.” Magic nearly bit her tongue off. “What? Because it makes you feel nice?” Magic turned her nose up in disgust. “Well she won’t be a source of your perverse self-gratification any longer. She will die soon and you’ll wish to never feel anything again! You’ll wish you had never met her. Why wait for the scourge to strike you? I can free you of those feelings.” “That’s still better than anything you could offer me. Even if I never see her again, the time I spent was worth it. You’ll never get me to agree with this. And I know you won’t let me die but something else has to find us here eventually.” “Very well. I see protecting you from this pitfall for centuries wasn’t enough for you. Then I’ll remove your attachments manually. Smarty Pants… that tiny fragment of myself in the real world. That is all I need to undo this curse you’ve placed yourself under. Let’s see how well they do without you.”