Finally the day it had been waiting for for years had arrived. It would soon find out if Twilight’s magic combined with its logic could bridge the gap between their worlds.
Thankfully it’s creators had the foresight to build in basic tools, that allowed for things like smelting, forging and digging. Ever since it had heard the transmission of Twilight’s conversation with Luna, it had discreetly snuck back to Everfree forest and began digging. Twilight would be much less suspicious of it if it was beat up and buried.
After the final shovel-full of dirt sailed out of the hole into the pale moon light, The metallic being immediately aimed one of it’s gun’s at it’s shoulder and shoot a laser through it leaving a gaping hole in its place.
Once several more holes had been made, it pulled at the area surrounding them, and began to peel back the waterproof coating.
It then climbed out of the hole, having decided that it should position the dirt to fall back in the hole, once the earth supporting it was shot with a laser, before starting the rusting process.
~~~
Twilight forced her heavy eyes open, but even still they only opened enough that anything not directly in front of her gaze appeared blurry. For once, she was hoping it was late and that she had slept in. But no, only an hour had passed since she last looked at the clock.
Twilight awoke the morning after the gala much like she had fallen asleep, with no shortage of issues plaguing her mind. She was not even sure sleep was the right term for it. Something about it felt vaguely restful, but she was still painfully aware of each minute slowly ticking by. Her worries even managed to keep her from focusing very long on the misery they had caused.
Was Rainbow Dash going to be okay? She was a strong pony, but she had always been obsessed with the Wonderbolts. More troubling still was the fact that Equestria could be in great danger. It could be millennia before humans figure out how to exact their revenge, or it could be today.
But now something new troubled Twilight's mind that she had been too busy worrying about those other two things to think about: why did she know that language and what did it mean? Twilight had spent many years studying magic, and there was nothing she knew of that could teach a pony a language. Even if such a spell existed wouldn't the pony who cast it on her have to actually know said language, and what pony could possibly know the language of beings they have had virtually no contact with for thousands of years?
She hated to think it, but the most reasonable explanation that Twilight could think of was that there was some part of her past she couldn't remember for some reason, in which she learned it. Had she somehow crossed the dimensions and lived, yet somehow stayed long enough to learn their language? How could such a gaping hole exist in her memory? The more Twilight thought about it, the more she felt as though she didn't know who she was anymore.
This wasn't the first time Twilight had called a fact to mind that she couldn't remember ever having learned. These weren't rare occurrences, nor were they just a simple matter of having forgotten which book she read something in. There were a number of things that she could almost swear she had always known.
This was part of what made her so fascinated with magic as a filly, because she never had any of those awkward moments of realizing she already knew something when studying magic, which made her question how she knew so much. She had all but forgotten it, but growing up, this feeling of not knowing who she was, was common. But never had the feeling been this intense, and neither had she ever known anything as large as an entire language.
It wasn't even as if she only knew the basics of said language. Now that she had remembered it, she could speak and think in it fluently at will. She even knew common spelling mistakes, and grammatical errors.
This could wait though, as all of Equestria might be in peril. She didn't have much to go on, but she knew that Everfree Forest had something to do with all this, so it seemed like a logical place to start. She would need the help of her friends though, so maybe she could help cheer up Rainbow Dash along the way. Twilight briefly considered waking Spike, but it looked as though he had stayed up late celebrating the increase in membership, so she left without disturbing him.
When Twilight arrived at Dash's place she found that Fluttershy, and Rarity had already beaten her there, but it didn't appear they had gotten there much sooner, as Fluttershy was just now knocking on the door.
“You're going to have to knock louder than that, dear,” called out Rarity.
Fluttershy hated knocking on doors. It just seemed so barbaric and violent. Hadn't they invented doorbells for a reason? She knew the door wasn't really alive, but still she couldn't justify giving it a good whack when it had done nothing to her. She hit it with her hoof once more a little harder, but the sound it made was still barely audible.
Rainbow Dash then bolted out of the sky, coming from the opposite direction of her house, and landed right in front of Twilight. “Are you ponies looking for me?” she asked.
“We’re a little concerned after what happened yesterday dear. I for one, think Spitfire was way out of line. I’m sure she’ll regret it after she has had time to think about what she said.” said Rarity.
“I don’t care what she thinks. The Wonderbolts system is flawed. Big deal! That just means I'll have to be so awesome, it’s clear I'm the leader and I can change the rules. Then I'll change the system so that all ponies have to constantly become faster to stay on the team. The old goal I choose of just joining the Wonderbolts was too easy, and I became too awesome for it, so I came up with a new goal for me to become too awesome for. When things don't go the way I wanted or dreamed them to, I just become more awesome. That is why I was practicing,” said Rainbow Dash.
“So you really don't need any help? Because if you need to talk, I am really good at listening,” said Fluttershy.
“Thanks, but I should probably get back to practicing soon. I was bummed at first, but then I realized self pity is stupid.” said Rainbow Dash.
“Now that Rainbow Dash seems to be back to her normal self, perhaps we should go to Everfree Forest, to hopefully find out more about this potential threat. Why don't we gather the remainder of our friends and begin investigating? I am sure we will be safe if we all stick together,” said Twilight.
“Oh you mean the 'threat' which barely managed to get a rock over to us,” snickered Rainbow Dash.
“This isn't a laughing matter. For all we know, they could arrive today,” responded Twilight.
“While I don't think it is a laughing matter, I have to agree with Rainbow Dash. Why go looking for trouble? If trouble finds us then we will use the elements of Harmony, but until such time there simply isn't anything to worry about; Well, aside from your mane that is,” said Rarity. She then promptly began inserting bits of Twilight's hair into some strange fashion device.
“What is that?” inquired Twilight.
“The Mane Mangler 3000. The cosmetic world is buzzing about it,” said Rarity.
“And you just happened to have it with you?”
“One always needs to be prepared for emergencies.”
Rarity had only meant to help, but Twilight couldn't help but blush. In all of her panic and confusion, she had completely forgotten about hygiene.
However, this feeling of embarrassment passed quickly as she remembered the more urgent reason as to why she was here. Twilight said, “What about you Fluttershy?”
“Everfree Forest,” repeated Fluttershy. She then instinctively let out an “eep!” sound, and began shaking slightly.
Twilight sighed heavily as she could feel precious time dying. Having to convince everypony would take too long. If she at least knew somepony else who was willing to go, maybe she could try to win them over, but at this rate she wasn't convinced it would ever happen. She needed to know what these beings were, when they were coming, and who she was, and the only clue she had to go on was Everfree Forest. “Fine I'm going without you then,” said Twilight, as she trotted off
“Hey I'd never leave a pony hanging, even if you are being stubborn. Actually, stubborn isn't a bad look for you,” said Rainbow Dash who promptly caught up to Twilight, and who was now effortlessly keeping pace with her. Twilight smiled. She didn’t really want to have to go alone.
Rarity's voice called after them, “Wait for me.”
They stopped for a couple seconds, and that was long enough for the white mare to catch up with them. However the white mare wasn’t the only one who came into view. They waited for a few more seconds and Fluttershy had caught up as well.
“We brushed off something that was important to you once before, and as your friend we don't intend on doing it again,” said Rarity. She continued “But I must ask, what exactly are you hoping to find that Princess Luna did not?”
“I don't know. Maybe if I know a language I didn’t know I knew I know other things I don’t know I know. Maybe I’ll recognize something that looks like an everyday object. At the very least maybe I’ll remember something,” replied Twilight as they began to pick up their pace again.
No pony ever heard Fluttershy call quietly after them, “I'll be here if you find anything. Actually, if you do find anything, could you just tell me about it later?”
They found Applejack working the farm as usual. Twilight called out to her, “We are going to go check out Everfree Forest for clues about humans. Do you want to come with us?”
Applejack knew this was a bad idea, but seeing three of her friends about to trot into potential danger made it hard to say no. “We are a few days ahead on apple picking anyway, so I'll be there in a jiffy,” said Applejack, who trotted over toward them after knocking apples off a couple more trees.
They were on their way to Sugar Cube Corner when Pinkie Pie just started bouncing along beside them. “So where are we going anyway?” inquired Pinkie Pie.
“Everfree Forest,” answered Twilight.
Pinkie Pie proceeded to make a sound not unlike when Twilight first said hi to her, but she followed it by saying, “Everfree Forest! But, but...” Pinkie Pie then proceeded to sing, “She's an evil enchantress who does evil dances...”
“Pinkie, we already know there is nothing to fear about Zecora,” said Twilight.
“I know, but I haven't gotten to use that song in a while, and it has a certain ring to it,” replied Pinkie Pie. Then suddenly Pinkie Pie's face illuminated with excitement.
“You don't suppose we could convince Zecora to actually be an evil enchantress, to better fit my song do you!? Then I could sing it all the time, and maybe it'd become a hit at Nightmare Night parties!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie.
Twilight could almost kick herself for saying this but she couldn't seem to stop herself in time before blurting out, “But having parties on Nightmare Night, would mean not collecting free candy.”
“Saying no to free candy! Are you loco in the cocoa? The parties would be on other nights close to Nightmare Night, duh,” said Pinkie Pie.
The ponies wandered around for hours, without finding anything. Twilight almost suggested they split up to cover more ground, but she could hear them all shooting down that idea in unison before she even said anything. There were a number of complaints, many of which from Rarity, but they were things they were all thinking. It was getting dark and not one of them had eaten anything since breakfast. Twilight had tried to keep morale up, and was constantly reassuring them that they would find something soon.
“Twilight, sugar cube, I appreciate that you want to figure this out, but we have been out here for hours, and I just don't think we are gonna find anything. ‘Sides, don't ya have a meetin’ with Princess Luna in a couple hours?” said Applejack.
Twilight sighed, finally conceding, “You are right. This was a dumb idea. I'm sorry for wasting your time, everypony.”
“It's chill. At least now we know there is nothing out here. Besides, I got to practice a few tricks, while waiting for you to catch up,” said Rainbow Dash.
“Yes, well...” began Rarity also trying to look for a bright side, “at least we did get to spend the day together, so we did not muddy our hooves for nothing.”
“Besides isn't it a good thing we didn't find nuthin’? Maybe that means those old fables are nothing but a bunch of hogwash,” said Applejack.
“Evil enchantress who gives evil glances?” mumbled Pinkie Pie to herself, trying to work the second verse. “Oh sorry, were we talking about something?” inquired Pinkie Pie.
Twilight couldn't believe none of them seemed to think this was important, or even real. Twilight looked down in disappointment, but a single familiar letter caught her eye.
She took her hooves, and wiped the dust away from more of the shiny smooth surface, and saw more letters of the language she shouldn't know.
“What is that?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“I don't know. It looks like the rest of the letters are on parts of it that are buried, and the letters I can see, don't say anything by themselves. I am positive this is something else the humans sent through,” said Twilight.
The ponies all rushed over to help dig it up, but none of them got the chance to do any digging, as Twilight tossed aside a massive chunk of dirt with her magic.
Before them was a strange device made completely of steel, that was twice as tall as the ponies. It was barely recognizable as steel through the thick coating of rust, and there were several holes in it varying in size, from one a pencil might make, to one that was the diameter of a cup.
Despite its extremely beat up look, it still had a discernible structure to it. It had two tank-like treads that were where it's feet would be, and had two arms, each with long hollow tubes mounted on them. The inscription Twilight had caught a glimpse of earlier was on its forehead and it read, “Warning: Failure to properly program this device may result in death or dismemberment.”
“What is that thing?” asked RD.
“That is an InterGalactic destruction unit or IDU for short. It is a multipurpose unit, whose primary function is killing enemies, but is also capable of storing exabytes of data and has state of the art artificial intelligence systems. I would be happy to schedule a short demonstration, but it requires at least two months notice, as these models are very popular,” instinctively blurted out Twilight.
All the ponies’ mouths were agape, but it was Applejack who first broke the silence. “Come again?” she said.
“I don't know,” said Twilight, who was looking very intently at the ground. “I didn't mean to say that, but I couldn't help myself. I know this must sound crazy, but I do know what this thing is, and these tubes have got to go, as they are weapons,” Twilight proceeded to rip them off with her magic.
“Wow, Twilight, I always thought I was the only one who had Pinkie sense, but your Pinkie sense is way cooler than mine. Or maybe I should call it Twilight sense, unless you've decided you want to be Pinkie Pie too, but that would be way too confusing unless I get to be Twilight,” said Pinkie Pie bouncing in place.
“Being able to read a new language I can deal with, but you knowing so much, is creepy. Are you sure you don't recall where you learned any of this?” asked Applejack.
“No. My best clue for figuring this out is to try to reactivate this unit. It is so beat up and I've never tried this spell on a robot before, so I don't know if this will work, but I have to try,” answered Twilight. She had recently been working on a spell that would awaken sleeping or unconscious ponies, and would even cause inanimate objects to bounce around. It wasn't really that similar to what she wanted to accomplish but it was the closest thing she could think of, so she began to cast a spell very similar to that one.
“Here goes nothing,” muttered Twilight, as she touched her horn to the ugly hunk of junk.
After a few seconds, one of the robot's eyes began to glow a dim red. “You are lucky, that the chips related to my AI functionality are still intact or else your spell would have done nothing, Dr. Beta. Regardless you have bought me but a little time, as my power supply is almost depleted,” said the robot in a quiet voice that was rapidly switching pitches, and almost sounded as if it was gasping for breath.
Twilight felt silly for having removed his weapons as she was now positive he was too weak and deteriorated to be able to use them anyway. But she didn't waste much time feeling silly as she was overwhelmed that there actually was a valid clue. She didn't want to be so happy, as this was almost assuredly a robot from the people who wanted them dead, but her curiosity made it impossible. There was so much to say, she didn't know where to begin, but she wanted her questions to be as relevant to the current conversation as possible, so she started by blurting out, “Dr. Beta?”
“Indeed, my visual scanners didn't recognize you, as it seems they have made you one of them. Fear not though as I have other means of identification and you are indeed Dr. Beta. I am guessing they took away your memory as well, so I suppose I should tell you that you are a human, and one of the most brilliant scientists we have ever had. Unfortunately you volunteered to enter this dimension along with many of your creations and a vast army, an overwhelming majority of which were completely destroyed in transit. My calculations indicate we are probably the only survivors,” replied the robot.
Twilight didn't know what to say. This thing sent by the humans had offered the most reasonable explanation for why she knew these things that she had never heard or thought of, but it was still so absurd. Didn't the humans want revenge, yet she never felt any urge to harm any of her friends. Further, how had she become a pony? Could magic really do something like that? And why was this robot by the humans who wanted them dead so much friendlier than she had expected?
Though it was clearly weak, she had expected it to at least try to kill them, or maybe open some portal for the humans to get through. Twilight was at such a loss for words that she just stared at it for a few moments. It was awkward and she was so curious that she couldn't excuse herself for not asking it questions so she uttered something that even sounded stupid in her head, “I'm a human?” She immediately regretted asking it. It would surely think she was a moron if that was all she managed to understand of what it just said. But her regret quickly faded as at least her words evoked a response.
“Honestly, I was rather hoping you had gathered that much from unexplained knowledge you likely retained. Research indicates that even magic has difficulty removing knowledge from a brain, without damaging it severely and irreparably. Perhaps their brainwashing is far more powerful than we realized,” said the robot.
Yes, brainwashing. That was a perfect cover for why she had given such a stupid response. Twilight instantly latched on to this topic, and said the first thing that came to her mind. “Brainwashing? What pony could possibly be powerful enough to turn me into a pony and brainwash me other than...” trailed off Twilight Sparkle
.
“Princess Celestia. Exactly,” said the robot.
Rainbow Dash blurted out, “What are you two saying?!”
Rarity said, “What my friend is trying to say, is that it is rude to carry on a conversation around us in a language we don't know.”
It was then that Twilight realized they had been having this conversation in the one human language she knew the whole time. Not only had she not realized this, but she had forgotten that her friends were with her. She looked around at them, trying to think of what to say, as she herself still had no idea what is going on. It had said she was human, but could she really believe that, especially after the way it just accused Princess Celestia?
“Don't worry, they’re not really your friends anyway,” said the robot.
A single bit of misinformation, from a robot whose sources of information were likely highly biased, Twilight could tolerate, but having every pony she respected most being put down was too much.
“And who asked you?!” shouted Twilight back at it. “These ponies have always been there for me, when I needed them!” she continued.
“Really? And if you trust them so much, why do you hesitate to tell them what you have discovered? Why have you not told them that you are a human, and not a pony? Could it be, that being the rational person you are, you know as well as I do, they would turn against you if they learned the truth,” said the Robot.
She knew her friends would never betray her, but what would they do if Twilight weren’t a pony? Before she knew it a few seconds had passed and Twilight still had said nothing. The robot seemingly took this as his cue to jump into his attack with full force.
It continued, “Friendship is magic? Elements of Harmony? It's all a lie, to control you. Celestia kept you around instead of killing you, not out of a sense of mercy, but because she knew your knowledge would be helpful in destroying humanity, which has always been her goal, so she has cleverly devised all this to make you as loyal as possible, so that when the inevitable contact between you and humanity occurred, as it now is, your emotions would cloud your judgment. But don't let them. You are smarter than that, Dr. Beta. Haven't you always felt a bit different? More logical than even the most studious of their kind?”
Twilight had streams of tears running from both cheeks that were so hot they burned as they dripped down her face. Rainbow Dash, Rarity and the others were more curious than ever what was being said, but it was apparent to them that Twilight was hurting, so they didn't dare ask yet what was happening. They gathered close to Twilight and stared intently and menacingly at the robot, as it was all they could think to do for the mean time.
Twilight didn't notice this act of kindness though, as her head was throbbing. She was so confused. She knew the robot had to be lying, but she still ached. Her hooves felt like they were on fire supporting her weight and her stomach was threatening to renounce food forever and send anything it received right back out. Despite all this she could still yell. In fact, she wasn't sure if she was capable of speaking any other way. “Why should I believe a thing you have said?!” shouted Twilight.
“Because you know I am right, otherwise you wouldn't be so worked up. Think about it. Who among the ponies have given you a remotely reasonable explanation for why you know these things, or has given you any explanation at all. You think of us as the enemy, but why? Because we sent an army in hopes of destroying Celestia, before she destroyed us? Do you think she hasn't tried similar things, only with greater success?
“Or is it perhaps because of some supposed message we sent. We have been battling her for thousands of years, so naturally she has picked up on enough of our language to fake that. How many prized pupils do you suppose she has had? Has she ever mentioned any previous pupils? Isn't that such an interesting coincidence that you should be her first and an element of harmony as well?”
Twilight retorted, “Even if I were to assume that my mentor is as selfish and violent as you, what could she possibly have to gain, from destroying you?”
“Come now Twilight, you don't have to ask me anymore. I am confident we are getting to the point where, you know the answers to these questions already. Do you really believe Luna's version of how things came to be? No, ponies did not just come to being randomly. They existed already on a distant planet. However, the world they lived on was barely habitable, so they came to earth and they stole it from us. They would have killed us all, but we had them severely outnumbered, as there weren't many ponies yet. Instead they banished us to a different world, and stole our earth from us. Ponies finding out that their home world was stolen, would be a public relations nightmare, and so it only stands to reason that she would want us all dead, as we are the only evidence of this great sin that has been committed,” said the robot.
Twilight searched desperately for any holes in the logic of the robot. He had to be lying and if he was, he was bound to have slipped up somewhere. Twilight said coolly, though she still felt terrible, “Before you just start spouting off lies, I recommend you get your story straight. First you accuse my friends, then Celestia, and now you say that normal ponies, like my friends, don't actually know anything about the truth, and it is a giant cover up?”
“It was painful to see you make such a desperate and illogical attempt to continue believing what you want to believe. Do you even remember what it is I accused your friends of? I accused them of not being able to handle the truth of you being a human, as assuredly nopony could. They instinctively seem to have an unnatural aversion to our kind. They are just normal ponies, and thus have nothing to do with the atrocities Celestia has committed,” said the robot.
Twilight had to really concentrate to restrain herself from visibly face-hoofing. She was in a rush and desperate, but still she was ashamed to admit such half-baked logic had come out of her mouth, and every mistake she made, made its arguments seem more plausible. She couldn't accept that. Even though she knew it was lying, this was one argument she had to win. Truth should always prevail over fallacy in an argument.
Then she almost felt her head burst, from the enormity of the idea that just birthed itself from her head. Of course! “If things really are as you say, how is it you know so much? You know about me, the elements of harmony, Princess Celestia, and even my friends? It almost sounds like you have been stalking me, in order to carefully craft your lies in the most effective manner possible,” said Twilight with a smirk, a glare of confidence, and all four hoofs planted firmly on the ground.
“Even if I were in any shape to do any stalking, remember that you did just reactivate, very temporarily, a badly damaged robot. If you aren't Dr. Beta, why would I have any reason to follow you, as you have implied? One could argue that I could have because you are one of the elements of harmony, but how would I know that?
“If you are Dr. Beta, then the question still remains why are you now a pony and don't you remember your previous humanity, to which the most logical answer is, because of Celestia, which points to her being evil, and in which case why do you really doubt anything I have said?
“As for how I knew all this already, there is a far simpler explanation. Everything I have told you relates to the nature of ponies or Celestia. We have fought Celestia enough to know what she is like. We have heard her lies about friendship and harmony before when she has used them to turn our own troops against us.” said the robot.
Twilight was calculating a rebuttal when she was cut off by the robot’s weak voice.
“As much as I would love to continue debating this matter with you, I meant it when I said my power supply wouldn't last long, so I need to give this to you before it is completely depleted. I know you don't exactly have a computer to view its data with, but there are likely magical means that could achieve the same effect.,” said the robot.
The robot took his hand and pierced through his own chest with it, and then removed a hard drive. He handed it to Twilight, and before Twilight finished deciding whether or not to take it, its eye ceased glowing. Twilight was so frustrated by this. She almost had a strong finish to that argument but that robot had a valid rebuttal to everything she said. She knew she was right, but she still wanted to win, as truth should.
When Twilight took the hard drive from its hand her head began throbbing worse than ever. On the bright side she couldn't even feel her stomach or her hooves anymore. Her head was throbbing so much that she wasn't sure if the pain in those body parts ceased, or if she just couldn't feel it anymore over the throbbing of her head.
“What happened?” asked Rainbow Dash, with her jaw still wide open.
“Uh, he was lost, and wanted some directions,” replied Twilight who was hurting too much to even realize how stupidly unconvincing her lie was. “Anyways, I gotta go do stuff, or something,” continued Twilight, who wanted nothing more than to go over this alone in her library, before running off. There was just something about libraries that she still associated with peace, and with her head hurting the way it did, and the events of the day in general, peace sounded really good about now.
~~~
“How dare Twilight, act like she wanted to be friends, and an hour and a half later, she still has not shown up! We have had a hard enough time making friends without Twilight making a mockery of us!” Princess Luna thought so angrily that she thought it aloud. After a few seconds, she sighed, and said to herself, “No, Twilight is the only one who has been so understanding. We must assume the best of her until we have good reason to think otherwise. We are just letting our nerves get the better of us as we have not made a friend in a very long time.”
Luna was not in the habit of talking to herself, but when she was particularly angry she had a hard time stopping herself, and once she started talking to herself it was hard to stop. What if somepony heard her say something stupid while angry, and she never spoke aloud more reasonably for said pony to see her retract her statement.
The carriage she had been riding in suddenly stopped. A sharp voice then called out, “We have arrived at Twilight Sparkle's library, Princess.” Ever since Twilight had helped her learn how normal people talk these days, it annoyed Luna the way royal guards always spoke to her in a sharp, curt, concise way, as if they had just been punched in the stomach. Maybe the guard training program was one of the few things that hadn't changed in the past thousand years, but ever since that day, Luna couldn't shake the feeling that they only spoke that way around her.
She tried to clear her mind of such needlessly negative thoughts as she trotted over to and banged on Twilight's door. Several seconds passed before she hit the door again, perhaps more out of aggression against the door for refusing to permit her entry, than to summon Twilight. After a few more seconds the door swung open, and Twilight stood on the other side of it.
“You haven't died, so your excuse can't be that good,” said Luna as she proceeded to trot right into Twilight's house. Luna's mouth rested halfway between a smile and a displeased glare, as she was still trying to decide if she was upset or if she was joking.
“No, I have something that is far better than dying!” exclaimed Twilight, barely managing to pry the words out of her huge smile, while bouncing around in a manner similar to Pinkie Pie. Despite this, her pupils were strangely small, and her mane looked as though it hadn't been brushed in months.
“Behold logic in its purest form!” continued Twilight with one hoof extended toward a bunch of symbols floating in the air. Some of the symbols looked like the ones on that rock; however something was distinctly different about their arrangement here. There were some lines that only contained a single symbol, and often after such lines the indentation would change.
“Um...” began Luna. Luna had never seen letters floating in the air before, especially not in a foreign language, but there didn't seem to be anything particularly special about these letters and symbols. More importantly, where had Twilight learned to do this? Luna didn't know what to make of it, but it seemed suspicious that so much had happened since yesterday, but how could she even begin to address her concerns?
Twilight cut her off, “Isn't it amazing? It's called a programming language. It's a new form of magic, in which one can specify what one wants to happen, and it does! All you have to do is be precise enough about what it is you want, and there are loops, and functions, and...”
Twilight tackled the Princess and resumed talking to her while standing on top of her, “it is the greatest form of magic ever, don't you see?! Why have I never known about this? Do you have any idea the possibilities this creates? You just don't get it do you? But I get it. I see everything. There is nothing beyond my knowledge, and there is nothing beyond my power, because knowledge is power, and with this as an existing part of the universe how can there ever be an excuse to not know or be able to do anything ever again, as this gets rid of all limitations, removes all boundaries...”
“Twilight Sparkle!” spat Luna in the royal Canterlot voice. She spoke so fiercely that she blew Twilight off her with the power of her voice. Luna no longer cared to think about where this knowledge came from. Luna’s cheeks were again aflame as Twilight's excuse was far worse than she could have hoped, and even now that Luna was here she was being ignored.
Twilight should feel guilty. Maybe it would help Twilight break free of this stupid obsession. She opened her mouth, to harass the nearby air with her voice, but again found a sudden surge of sympathy for Twilight, as she remembered how much help she had been on Nightmare Night. She let out a sigh instead, and spoke in a more reasonable manner.
“Look, what thou hast discovered is interesting, but we expected better out of Celestia's star pupil. Had you really forgotten us so easily? We had been under the mistaken impression that you hated tardiness as much as we do. But what is done is done. So can we please just do something that friends would do? We would be more than happy to study this, 'language' with you later,” Luna voiced sternly.
It took a few moments for these words to pierce Twilight's brain, particularly the word ‘later.’ This new form of magic was like discovering magic all over again, only better. How could she just be expected to not focus on that for awhile, especially when she was the first pony in all of Equestria to discover it. She, Twilight Sparkle, had discovered something. She had actually contributed something to all of ponykind like she had always dreamed of, but she never actually thought it was possible. Was it not her duty to continue to discover, and see how deep the well goes? Could she really betray all the ponies to come, for the sake of one?
Princess Luna was a fellow academic; surely there must have been a way to make her understand. Twilight stared back at Luna with her eyes wide open and replied, “You want me to spend a moment of my time not working on this language? Do you know the things I have been able to do? I have gotten the phrase 'Hello World!' to float in midair. Yet you would have me pause for even a moment, when I am making the largest discovery in the history of magic? History is being made here; don’t you see that? The logic is so beautiful... so eloquent... I've never seen anything like it.”
“Please Twilight, we have as much academic interest as you, and what thou is saying sounds fascinating, but for once, we are trying to put down the books, and make a friend. Right now knowing that somepony who isn't family cares for us, would mean much more than trying to fulfill this insatiable curiosity that has plagued us all our life,” pleaded Luna.
Twilight had meant to listen. She knew that whatever the Princess had to say, it couldn't possibly take that long, but a brilliant idea struck her only moments after Luna had begun talking. What if she stored previously calculated results in an array, and checked that array first for a value, before, recursively calling a function to compute that value. It was such a simple yet brilliant idea that could cause her programs to run much faster. She just had to try it.
“So you don’t see that history is being made here?” said Twilight, who continued to stare at and revise the floating symbols, as she had been the entire time Luna had just been talking.
“Are you even listening to me?!” demanded Princess Luna.
“A simple yes or no will do,” muttered Twilight to the symbols she was staring intently at.
Luna stood in place shaking, trying to restrain herself. She wanted to shake Twilight, but, though tough love was in order, Luna reminded herself that nothing that drastic would do any good. On the other hoof, normal tough love wasn't working, so clearly Twilight needed something a little stronger. After three seconds pondering, she picked up Twilight and said, “I am doing this for your own good,” while dragging her outside.
“This is a little something called fresh air!” yelled Luna as she simultaneously slammed Twilight's front door.
She had just finished modifying the code to include this revision but had not gotten a chance to see the difference when it ran. Why had she been forced away from discovery? She was on the verge of profound insight, when suddenly she had been dragged away.
Luna didn’t want her to learn. And that robot had given her all the information she needed to know for this great power on that disk, so clearly it couldn't be evil. If what it said was true, then while Celestia had given her power as well, at the same time she had taken away knowledge of this far greater power. For all this programming knowledge was familiar.
Had she really let emotion cloud her reasoning? Could she take that chance? She had let herself accept something as completely removed from logic, as Pinkie sense. What did she really know about Celestia or Luna? A sharp but familiar pain surged through her head again.
She could scarcely think but she needed to make a decision. Celestia or the robot? Given power or removed power? Logic or emotion? Every second she wasted thinking about this, was another she could be making this discovery. Further, the knife jamming deeper and deeper into her skull begged she choose something, and it did not care what. She made her choice, and her head cleared.
“It all makes sense now. You and your sister are just trying to keep me away from this powerful magic. It really is true,” said Twilight coolly.
“What?!” Luna snorted, “This meeting was planned before you became obsessed with this 'programming.'”
“Yes, but it was you who gave me the clue I needed to discover programming among other things, and it is why at that same meeting, you scheduled this one. You don't really want to be friends. You are here to spy on me, and make sure I don't become too powerful, by distracting me with friendship. I understand now. Technology like that robot is programmed, and programming does not lie. It is the perfect magic of beauty and truth,” said Twilight.
Luna replied, “We are really concerned about thee Twilight. We sense darkness brewing in thy heart. We should go see Celestia, because she can help thee.”
“I step out of line so you want to take me to see your sister, to tighten the leash. Well if you think I am going to tolerate that then you have another thing coming. You'll take me to see Celestia over my dead body,” grunted Twilight.
“I am sorry Twilight, but this is for your own good,” said Luna as she started charging toward Twilight.
At the last second Twilight teleported out of the way, but Luna teleported a few yards in front of her, almost immediately afterward, and knocked Twilight right off her hooves upon collision.
“You did something similar in our first battle, remember?” said Luna. “Did you really think I would fall for that again?” she continued.
Twilight began to lift Luna with her magic, but Luna used her own magic to put herself down, and countered by thrusting Twilight into the wall of a neighboring house, with her magic. “Do you really think your magic, is more powerful than that of the bringer of the moon?” asked Luna.
Twilight got up, and a huge cone around her horn began glowing, as if she were trying to lift that water tower again, only this time, grass, bricks, and even houses were becoming mysteriously desirable. Luna however has a stronger magic resistance than most, so she picked up on the “want it need it” spells before they affected her, and proceeded to shut her eyes.
“Not a bad distraction attempt, but I have much more experience than you. I don't even need to be able to see, to move objects accurately with my magic.” said Luna.
As she was saying this Twilight was repeatedly being slammed into the ground, and then Luna stopped and dropped her.
“Thou hast not the elements or thy friends. It would just be easier for everypony, if thou just came quietly. You must know that we have thine best interests at heart,” said Luna.
Twilight laughed so hard her whole body shook, with her neck sporadically twitching the whole time. “You really haven't heard anything I've said all night have you? Did you think I was kidding when I said I had discovered a new form of magic? Did you not notice that I have been casting spells to distract you just enough for me to write a small program?” taunted Twilight.
Twilight tapped a bunch of floating symbols with her horn, and then a brick flew out of one of the neighboring houses at Luna.
“A single brick? Really?” puzzled Luna. Luna held it back with her magic quite easily.
Then a second brick dislodged itself from the house and flung itself at Luna, and she held it back to. Luna then tried to throw them back, but they wouldn't budge.
“Did I forget to mention they are programmed to apply a force proportional to the force applied to them?” said Twilight.
“Well it’s only two...” began Luna when a third brick flung itself at her, which she likewise began to hold back, and then she continued, “three.”
However before long there were about a hundred bricks floating a few feet in front of Luna and they were all still trying to make their way toward her. Luna was sweating and panting, but she was still keeping the bricks in place.
“You see, this is the brilliance of programming. I don't even have to keep putting magic into it to keep these bricks coming at you. They won't stop until you are unconscious, so you may as well let it happen.”
Luna hated to admit it but she couldn't think of any way out of this, though it was difficult to think at all with the amount of concentration that she was using to hold the bricks back. She had run out of sweat to sweat, and her eyes just felt so heavy, that a nice brick induced nap was beginning to sound good. She let go and all one hundred bricks hit her at once.
After several seconds a heavily panting Luna emerged from the pile of bricks. Scrapes and bruises covered her, and her eyes glowed with rage, but she teleported away.
Suddenly new symbols overlaid themselves on top of the old symbols that said, “OutOfBoundsException: Target Luna cannot be found within the bounds of BrickA103E2776G” and bricks ceased removing themselves from her neighbor's house.
“If only she had let me read the section on exception handling, on this hard drive first, I would know what that means,” sighed Twilight. “Oh well. No time like the present to find out,” she said enthusiastically and she returned to her library with her pupils smaller than ever and her neck twitching.