//------------------------------//
// The Mysterious Stranger 
// Story: Solipsism 
// by Shadowed Rainbow 
//------------------------------//

Twilight's mind reeled. It did kind of make sense, in a way, as she thought to reflect on the reality of the idea. She had a draconequus-like form now, after all, it seemed only natural that Discord would be her father. Even so, given what she knew of her creation in this world, she was far from what one might call 'natural'. "But," she fought out, "I was constructed—" 

"Oh yes, of course you were much more nebulous and ethereal at your creation," Discord said, noting the confusion written over Twilight's face. "But when you were first being created the team needed assistance with supporting a being that would likely want to change form. I simply helped provide cellular material to allow for that to happen. So, in essence, yes." Discord chuckled lightly. "I'm genetically your father."

"But, you..." Twilight managed to croak out in nearly a whisper, feeling her her muscles give out and her slender body nearly collapsed on the ground.  Her eyes stared straight ahead, unable to look up at the figure of the patchwork being before her.  Her mind was refusing to believe these insistent words and strange surroundings.  It all had to be a delusion brought on by lack of sleep, that's all.  An elaborate dream.  A terrible, elaborate dream...

But as much as she tried to tell herself that, this was all seeming too real to be a dream. If it had been she surely would have woken up for real by now. She looked up at Discord feebly. "But you.... in the other world, you were one of my worst enemies..." She struggled to stand, turning then to look up at the Princess, hoping and praying it was another trick. The Princess in question let out a somber sigh. 

Discord rubbed his temples a moment, positioning himself by Twilight. "Oh my little Asteria. Please understand that we do not wish to harm you." The draconequus straightened, clapping his hands with a broad smile on his face. "I've figured out what's going on. You are simply suffering from a case of cognitive dissonance."  

Twilight swallowed, barely able to speak seeing as her throat had gone dry.  "Cognitive dissonance?"

A sigh from the figure who held the same appearance as her past mentor, glancing slightly away as Doctor Cobalt and Applejack followed into Discord's office, the former jotting notes down on his clipboard.  "It means that what is real conflicts with what you believe, what you have believed for a long time, so your mind is refusing to accept it."  Celestia quickly glanced at her companion's notes, noting if the doctor assumed that Asteria had suffered any lasting damage.  "You were in that Trial Life too long, your memory amnesia is too complete."

"'Trial Life'?" Twilight echoed, her voice clearly expressing her confusion and disbelief, even though every part of her now felt stiff.  She wasn't used to sleeping this way.  She swallowed, attempting to stop her throat from feeling so dry.  "What is that, exactly?"

"It means that your identity as Twilight Sparkle was an experimental simulation, to learn what it was like to be a pony," said Celestia.  "As I've told you."

Twilight's gaze grew uncertain.  As much as she wished this was a dream, it didn't seem like she was waking up. It was probably best to, at least for now, play along with this reality. "How many 'Trial Lives', do you claim I've had?"

"Your like as Twilight Sparkle was #375," Celestia explained.  "You wanted a full try as a young unicorn this time with a complete life from birth to awakening."  

"I tried to suggest against it, but you thought you could handle it, and Celestia agreed." 

Another voice had piped up, and it was neither Cobalt, Discord, or Applejack. But it was a familiar one. Which was confirmed a white unicorn with a purple mane raced into the room. 

"Oh for goodness sake!" Discord exclaimed, snapping his fingers and seemed to cause the room to increase in size. "It really is getting too cramped in here."

With more space to be in the room, Rarity stepped closer to Twilight, who could see that she was wearing a pristine white lab coat with sparkling blue diamonds along the collar, matching her cutie mark. "I'm thankful to see you're alright, Asteria! I mean, I know you won't want any papers published on this matter, given your past discussion but—"

"What past discussion?" 

Rarity paused, glancing at the others. "Well..." 

"Ah think it might be good to show her," Applejack advised. "Maybe then that'll jog her memory a bit." 

Celestia frowned a moment, as if wondering if that would be the best idea. "Well, it might help Asteria ease out of her Trial Life mindset." 

"I agree with that assessment," Doctor Cobalt piped up. "We ought to go back over to the video footage room. Jogging her memory like that could get her back more in the present, nothing linking her too much to the Trial Life." He glanced at Celestia, grimly recalling how Asteria had briefly attacked Celestia earlier. 

Twilight paused. 

"Oh, you go have fun with your friends, Asteria," Discord urged, waving a paw brightly. "I'll be taking care of things here, got my own chaos to attend to! But don't worry, I'll be sure to see you later!" 

With a snap of his fingers, the older draconequus vanished, the rooms remaining occupants beginning to file out of the room. Celestia glanced backward at Twilight. 

With a resigned sigh, Twilight followed. 





The walk to the video monitor room was the farthest thing from silent, as Twilight found the thoughts in her mind brimming to the surface.

"Simulating an entire lifetime like that is impossible!" Twilight protested. "Being able to have the energy and power to create a simulated world on that scale would take an incredible amount of computational—" 

"Dear, the entire world doesn't need to be simulated at one time," Rarity interrupted. "Just the part that you're immediately around. The farther you go, the simulation fills in the gaps when necessary . In principle it's really not all that difficult."

Twilight reflected on this, realizing that Rarity did have a point. She was aware of the hallway around her spinning like a carnival ride, but she tried not to slump down again.  She crossed her hoof and claw together, the differences feeling strange to her as she still managed to stand on her hind feet.  "But, I.... I'm still me.  I still have my personality as Twilight Sparkle!"

"Which is exactly the kind of thing we hoped to prevent," said Doctor Cobalt. 

"J-Just because you put me in this weird body—"

"We didn't,"  Celestia interrupted.

Twilight was silenced.

"You did." 

An immense door in front of them slid open, and Twilight's eyes widened as they beheld rows and rows of black boxes, each having lines marked with specific dates. She noticed Applerjack looking worriedly behind her as the door shut behind the group. 

Rarity trotted over to a panel in an inlet to the side, typing a few commands into the surface of the control panel.  "To be truthful, in terms of personality, you weren't always this insistent on not exploring realities, Asteria.  You weren't so insistent that only one, the one you had known, was real."

Ignoring the use of the other name, Twilight looked incredulously at the other mare.  "What do you mean?" 

Rarity paused as static flickered on the screen. "You had... differing viewpoints in your growth."  Gesturing for Twilight to step closet to the monitors, Rarity pressed a series of buttons to start up various logs of audio and video.  

Twilight stepped closer to the screen as the image flickered into focus. Asteria was slumped over a desk, in what Twilight assumed to be her office. Books lined the shelves on either side of the desk, arranged neatly in an order than Twilight could recognize as a behavior she herself would have. The desk itself, however, was littered with a few papers, in particular a book that held a glossy black cover. Her form in this vision lacked the fierce claw which she now possessed, instead appearing as a normal hoof, looking closer to the form she knew as Twilight.  Rarity was also present, having just raced into the room by the looks of it. The date on the log indicated the events were from approximately three years prior, which was confirmed upon seeing the paper. 

"Teri, dear!"

A scowl crossed Asteria's face as she looked up from her work. "Don't call me Teri." 

"Sorry, Asteria," Rarity corrected. Her magical aura hung around the paper as she showed the paper's headline: Celestia's Thought Experiment a Success? "Look! Your work is all over the papers! Isn't that great?" 

Asteria blinked. "And?" 

"Why my dear, you're going to be famous!" Rarity exclaimed, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "And sure that if you do an interview—" 

Rarity let out a squeak as suddenly a ball of energy shot at the paper. She dropped it as the paper shriveled to ash, casting her eyes toward Asteria in a stunned silence. 

Asteria scowled, turning away and back to her work that lay on her desk. She flipped through the book. "As Twine once said, Rarity, fame is a vapor.  The only earthly certainty ... is Oblivion." 

I believed that? Twilight thought numbly. She recognized the quote, from one of Cutie Mark Twine's more nihilistic works.  The form on the screen was indeed her new appearance, staring with tired eyes as a series of books were piled around her.  Some were frayed, pages torn, the titles on several worn away.  

"The only thing that can be said with certainty to exist, is one's own perception. My own perception." Asteria pointed a hoof toward the door. "Out." 

"But—" 

"Please."

Rarity paused, looking sadly back at Asteria before walking out the door. The feed cut off into static again, as present-day Rarity looked at her.

"You had us uninstall the camera in your room after that," Rarity said quietly. "You wanted to be left alone with your thoughts."

"Not all the time though," 

Twilight and Rarity turned as Applejack stepped forward at the panel as well. An unspoken glance passed between the two ponies Twilight knew well. 

"You really think we should...?" 

Applejack nodded firmly. "She deserves to know." 

Rarity conceded, stepping back from the panel to rejoin Celestia and Doctor Cobalt and allowing Applejack to take the helm. The orange earth pony rotated a dial on the side of the keypad, typing in several commands of her own. Twilight heard the whirring of machinery transition to different parts of the storage containments, each recording grouped by location. 

Applejack pressed a button to begin another recording, her green eyes reflecting in the screen's blackness before static covered it again. 

As Twilight looked on, there was another change of the log, this one clearly more recent. The log's date showed that this scenario had taken place just three days earlier. It was in a large room a bit like a classroom, as the form suspected to be Twilight stood in front of a group of scientists, a chalkboard positioned behind her.  The lights were dimmed, the blinds pulled over the windows, bathing the room in an eerie glow.  

While some ponies were complete strangers, Twilight instantly recognized several. Her heart leapt as she noticed Rarity and Applejack among the group,  But the pair's expressions showed a curious gaze rather than friendly encouragement. They were much more reserved than the Applejack and Rarity she had known before. The Rarity she knew would probably be complaining about the drab coats she had to wear, and while Applejack wasn't as party-loving and enthusiastic as Pinkie had been, her perspective that Twilight was used to was pretty far from nihilism.  

Twilight herself—No, Asteria, Twilight thought in her mind in an effort to distance her consciousness from her current appearance—sounded authoritative yet despondent, as if she was speaking of an armaggedon that she knew they wouldn't want to accept—much like Twilight herself felt now.   A book was open before her as she read aloud, seeming to dictate a certain story to the assembled ponies. As if she were taking Twine's words as a kind of gospel. She lifted one claw, and a sphere of energy formed in her hand, spreading out and covering the area in a thin violet energy. It gave everything in the room a sinister violet aura, like a void threatening to pull them in if they weren't careful,

"Welcome, Doomed Pony Race."

Much to the onlooking-self's surprise, many of the assembled others bowed to her.  It wasn't a momentary light bow of respect as would be given to a ruler, but a gesture that was firmly maintained, almost like that of a cult awaiting its leader's orders.  And it frightened Twilight as the being who was supposed to be her other self, her true self, continued to speak, the possibility of a truth in "her" words chilling her even more than the appearance.   Herself as Asteria read aloud from the tome with an unsettling mixture of passion and anger. Whether it was due to others not sharing or comprehending her viewpoint, or a resentment of her own existence, Twilight wasn't sure.

"You are not you--you have no body, no blood, no bones, you are but a thought.  I myself have no existence; I am but a dream--your dream, creature of your imagination. In a moment you will have realized this, then you will banish me from your visions and I shall dissolve into the nothingness out of which you made me...."

Twilight felt her own blood run cold—as impossible as it seemed according to her other self—as she listened and watched, the sensations present in the recording filling her mind.  Like another mind was stirring in her consciousness. She found herself almost unwillingly mouthing the words along with her video counterpart. 

"In a little while you will be alone in shoreless space, to wander its limitless solitudes without friend or comrade forever--for you will remain a thought, the only existent thought, and by your nature inextinguishable, indestructible.  But I, your poor servant, have revealed you to yourself and set you free. Dream other dreams, and better!" 

The book was thus closed, the others staring at the speaker in an appalled silence.  It was true that she had been reading from a story, but they could tell by her tone, by the severity of her gaze, that each word rang true in Asteria's head.  And as firmly as that bell of knowledge rang within her own mind, she wanted it to resonate in the minds of each and every pony just as strongly.  To see the truth as she saw it.  

Twilight was trembling—she refused to believe that a creature who read from such texts and seemed to believe every word could in any way possibly be her.  And yet here it was, a being whose appearance was identical and had the same voice, with words so strong that she found herself unwillingly saying them along with her recorded counterpart.  As if a part of her mind knew and accepted that that had been her, that it would always be her.  She could change a facet of her body again, her entire physical form a thousand, a million times over.  But the fact would not change—she had said those words in this world, and believed them.  Her consciousness had projected the written words in a way which made it clear she saw them as absolute truth, not to be argued with.  The knowledge and research she collected was for the sake of knowledge alone.  Nothing more than something to accomplish before her existence faded into nothingness as she so firmly believed.  

Twilight managed to speak, snapping out of her lapse of imitating Asteria's words. "... That's not me.  Not anymore."

It seemed that her companions ignored her.  "You were often a commanding presence when you got into a certain viewpoint," Rarity murmured.  "Very forceful and insistent of you."  She pointed.  "I think you'd better keep watching."

Reluctantly, Twilight turned back to the screen.

"You created me to be like an illusion, a patchwork creature."  Asteria spoke in her own words now.  "Everything is nothing more than a nature as illusory as I.  Knowledge of such a world is the only thing that can be really held on to.  I think, therefore I am, but what if you are not?  All I know exists is what I perceive existing.""

The button was pressed on the keyboard, switching it off, and the ponies present looked in surprise. Twilight's own claw rest on the button, trembling slightly in the rush of stopping the recording. Her gaze was turned toward the keys, looking almost vacant, absorbing what her past self had been saying. 

"Perhaps that was too much," Applejack said softly. 

"No, no, it's good," Cobalt urged. He stepped close to Twilight and placed a hoof on her shoulder. "It got an emotional reaction out of her."

Twilight sighed, her shoulders in a slump. 

"Would you like to return back to your office for a while?" Celestia asked. 

Twilight nodded, barely bothering to protest. 

Doctor Cobalt smiled softly. "Perhaps it would be for the best. Being in your comfortable environment again will likely ease you a bit more into your comfort zone once more." He looked at Rarity and Applejack. "You two can hang out with Asteria later, once she's rested." 

Rarity and Applejack looked like they were about to protest, but the doctor's mind was made up. Nodding in understanding, the two started to set out.  

"Oh, um, Rarity?" 

Rarity turned at Twilight's words. "Yes, Asteria?" 

Twilight didn't even look at the others as she spoke the words. "You can call me... Teri, if you want to." 

"Really?" Rarity's gaze brightened a little at that. "But before you said Teri sounds so—" 

Twilight raised a claw and smiled. "I've warmed up to it."

Looking happier, Rarity trotted out with a bit more of a spring to her step. "I'll have some free time tonight, if you've got your bearings enough I'd love to take you out for a while! Help you remember things a bit better!: She paused, looking at Doctor Cobalt. "Providing she's well enough by then, of course."

"We'll monitor her," Cobalt promised. "Whether she's fit enough to venture outside will be determined then. 

"Excellent!" Rarity exclaimed, turning back to Twilight once more, "And then maybe you can tell me a bit more about that Trial Life of yours!"

"Will do, Rarity..."

With that, Rarity was gone. Twilight cautiously followed out the door, trying to remember the way back to Asteria's old workspace on her own while following Celestia to the proper destination. Rarity seemed happy about Asteria's change of heart regarding the nickname, but she didn't know the reason why:

Teri, at least, had a starting similarity to Twilight. 





Two sand-colored eyes stared intently at the door to Asteria's office, for the moment closed. The mare they belonged to turned her head back and forth. Nopony around. Luckily not even the clicking from her faulty machine from earlier was echoing in her brain. She smoothed down her disheveled coat before quickly opening the door. 

The room was dark, but one thing she could could on as far as she knew with Asteria was that the patchwork being wouldn't leave stray papers on the floor. No worries of crushing some important paper underhoof. 

Under the cover of the darkness, she shifted her blue mane, revealing a small but cracked horn, which shone with the same azure color as her mane. She remembered seeing the confused look on Asteria's face as she had walked by with Celestia and those two other ponies. The mare had barely been able to poke her head out from her door given the mechanical failure going on in her office, but she had seen enough to know something was wrong with Asteria.

Or perhaps something right, as it were. She wasn't too sure anymore.

The mare brushed her long light blue mane away from her face, and cautiously tapped the implant in her right ear, curved like an earring. A loud crackling sparked from it, and a young male voice echoed from it, louder than intended and obscured by static. 

"Pris... are..." 

She winced, tapping the implant slightly until the static stopped. "What?" 

"Oh, sorry," the voice apologized. "I said, Prism, are you in?" 

"Yeah," Prism affirmed. "I'm in." 

Prism primed her ears, glancing back toward the door. There was neither voices or shadows of other ponies near the door. Especially her voice. She shifted her body slightly more under the shadow of the darkness, as if fearing the prism cutie mark on her flanks would catch the light from the hall and reflect it outward, giving away her presence. 

"Is this really a good idea?" the voice asked from her earpiece, as if echoing her thoughts. "What if Asteria comes back and—" 

"Spike, she's not going to kill me." Prisms voice shook slightly as she said the words, not entirely sure if she believed them herself. "And regardless, we have to talk to her. This might be our only chance to get a hold of her without anypony else knowing." 

Prism unclasped the brown saddlebag that her had slung over her shoulders, and shakily lifted a letter from within it. She winced slightly, the envelope was a bit less presentable than she had wanted, and the seal was beginning to lose its form. Hopefully resting on a flat surface would quell that. 

She stepped close to Asteria's desk, covered in papers with lengthy titles, and noticed a book with the words The Mysterious Stranger embedded on the surface. 

Well, I certainly would be like one to her right now, I suppose, Prism thought. But the musing did little to comfort her. 

The book's cover was carefully lifted, and Prism slid the letter partly within its pages, closing the book as carefully as it had been opened. Whether Asteria would arrive in there next with her memories intact or not, it should at least be enough to pique her curiosity. 

Leaving the note to rest on the desk, Prism rose, forcing back a shout of alarm as the cyan color of her mane changed to a magenta aura. She placed a hoof over her mouth, quickly covering her horn with her mane once more.

"What's wrong?" Spike's voice asked. 

"N-Nothing," Prism quickly said. "But I... I have to go." 

"Did you put the letter in?"

"Yes."

"Well, then get out of there!" 

Prism didn't need to be told twice, backing out of the room and quickly opening the door, closing it behind her while trying not to have it click too loudly. For once, technology didn't fail her as the door closed with a satisfying silence.

She hurried off without looking back. 





"Are you sure you'll be alright?" 

Twilight turned at Celestia's voice, noticing her and Cobalt standing there with concerned expressions. Twilight, attempting to regain her composure, nudged the door open with a hoof. "I'll be fine... I think," she admitted, rubbing her head. "It's just a lot to take in." 

"Well, we'll be back in a few hours to make sure you're well enough to go spend some time with your old friends," Cobalt promised. His head bowed slightly. "Take care of yourself, Asteria."

Twilight nodded, quickly closing the door behind her, sighing in the dark. She still didn't want to believe it as her mentor and the doctor walked off, but if this was a dream, her body certainly wasn't keen on waking up from it just yet.

The light switch was flicked on, and Twilight gazed at the room, nearly identical to the one she had seen on the monitor. There were more books lining the shelves, and several stacks of strewn papers on the desk, but structurally the room hadn't changed. She noticed that there was even a room off to the left side, the door swung open to reveal a bed decorated with images of her old cutie mark. 

Twilight felt her heart ache once more, forcing herself to turn away as memories were flooding back. Memories that, if this world was to be believed, weren't her reality. At least, not a reality that anyone here could have experienced. 

With her gaze now drawn back to her workspace, she then paused, noticing something folded carefully on her desk, jutting out from a book. Something about it drew her eye. 

That's not supposed to be there, she thought. A flicker of memory returned, recognizing every bit of the room, the placement of where everything was. That folded envelope hadn't been there, at least in her memory.  She carefully removed the letter from the pages, frowning as a bit of the red seal smeared.The ink hadn't had time to settle, so it certainly can't have been set right after she had first gone to sleep. 

This is from today. Can't have been later than half an hour ago. And whoever it was left in a hurry. 

Despite the smear, Twilight tilted her head as she more carefully examined the seal. Despite the smearing, she could still make out a symbol: what appeared to be a prism encased in flame. Twilight searched through her own memories, then, reluctantly, tried to access Asteria's. No recollection surged in her mind. Neither part of her remembered anything like it. 

Carefully, as if fearing that the letter would turn to dust in her hooves, she opened the envelope. An unfamiliar penmanship and tone greeted her.


Asteria, 
You probably don't know us. Well, one you know, the other not. Assuming what I've heard is true. In truth I don't even think you know my name. Well, one of our names, but... let me start again. 

Me, I've only seen you, we've never spoken directly. And my friend... well, my friend is your friend. Or was. I think. I have to be the one to write the note largely, or I know it won't get through. This place doesn't like any note getting through willy-nilly But I might be able to at least get a word from him. Then you might know that you can trust me. Or try to. 

What they do to you is wrong. What you do to yourself is wrong. You're speaking of enlightenment yet you put yourself above others. You're nihilistic and yet you want to understand at the cost of everyone else. What was in your last simulated life changed you. I can tell that much, at least. 

It doesn't have to be like this. You rise above yet ignore what lies beneath.

You are newer than I. You are at the pedestal, and we are hiding under everything.
We like secrets. We like the dark. We like the things that grow in Time.
If you will come with us, we will take your Mind places.

Follow the light, stay in the shadows. 


Twilight frowned, noting no signature. And then, as she looked closer down the page, there was a small scrawled note at the bottom, in a completely different handwriting: 


Come find us.


Twilight tilted her head, grasping the note in a claw and feeling as if she had been dunked into water. The style of writing was strange and unfamiliar, but the penmanship at the very bottom, those last three words, were another story. There was no signature for either writer, but the last sentence was in a scrawl that she had seen almost every day in her past life, but hadn't encountered at all in her new life as Asteria. 

She couldn't be sure who had dictated the words, if it was the one who penned down the letter or another being entirely. But she knew for sure who had been the one to write the final words. 

The handwriting was Spike's.