Midnight Star
By Nebula Star
Chapter 1: Possibilities
***
“Come on, Spike, aren't you even a little curious about the possibilities?” Twilight Sparkle asked the baby dragon, her number one assistant, while fluttering her wings slightly in her own excitement. It was a habit she'd picked up from Rainbow Dash, fluttering her wings like that. She'd only recently become aware of it, but she didn't care. “Countless worlds, countless Equestrias, each different in some way! What would our life be like if things had gone differently? Think of all we could learn!”
“I don't know, Twi. I mean, what if you got stuck in another world?”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “I don't want to go to the other worlds. I just want to see them. A vision, that's all. It shouldn't be too hard, Celestia was able to summon visions of things throughout my life when we were both in the astral plane. If I'm right, then seeing things from different worlds wouldn't be that much different from visions of different times.”
“But what if you're wrong, Twi?” Spike asked skeptically.
“Then I won't see anything. Don't worry, Spike, it would be perfectly safe.”
She'd been trying to convince him of the theory for nearly an hour. That there wasn't just one world, one reality, but many, perhaps even infinite worlds. And that each of those worlds were different in some way. That in each world events could have gone differently. It wasn't really that he didn't believe the theory though. It was that he didn't really care. That and he was worried something might go wrong; experimenting with magic could be dangerous after all.
“Why does it matter,” Spike said as he climbed the Library's ladder to put away some books on the top shelf. “Even if you could get it to work, they're not our world.”
“Because, Spike!” She persisted jumping up and flapping her wings to hover at his level. After nearly a year of flight lessons from Rainbow Dash, she'd managed to get use to her wings and become a fairly competent flier. Not that she thought she was an equal of any born Pegasus, except perhaps Fluttershy, but she was satisfied with her progress even if Rainbow kept trying to push her to work harder. “Think of what they could have discovered that we haven't. Spells we don't know, different ways of using magic.”
“But if you just see a vision of these other worlds, how are you going to learn their magic?”
Twilight was a little taken back. He was right, it would have to be a good long vision in order for her to learn anything complex, and most the simpler spells that wouldn't take long to learn had probably already been discovered in their own world. But who could say, maybe she'd find some simple but unusual spell that hadn't been discovered yet in their Equestria. Besides it wasn't only magic she could learn about from the other worlds.
Dropping back to the floor she folded her wings. “Well I'm going to try it.”
Spike looked down at her concerned. “Just be careful, Twi, you know how dangerous experimenting with magic can be,” he said then climbed down from the ladder.
“Of course, Spike, I'd never try something I think is dangerous,” she said and gave him a quick hug with one wing. “Now will you send the letter for me?” She levitated an already sealed scroll over to him from the writing desk in the main room of the Library.
That had been how the whole conversation had started. The letter was a request to Princess Celestia for the research materials she would need from the royal library in Canterlot in order to try and devise the spell.
“Alright,” Spike agreed finally. “You're the Princess.” He took the scroll in his claw, took a deep breath and then breathed out emerald dragon flames, the letter disappearing in their magic that would carry it directly to Princess Celestia in Canterlot.
“Thank you, Spike,” Twilight said happily and turned heading into the kitchen. “Now, what should we do for lunch.”
In the year since her coronation, Princess Celestia had yet to give her any real responsibilities as a Princess of Equestria, allowing her to instead continue living in Ponyville with her friends. Her anxieties about what Celestia may require of her had faded as the months had passed and she'd remembered that until the return of the Crystal Empire and the incident with King Sombra, Princess Cadence hadn't had many royal responsibilities either.
There were some parts of being an alicorn and a Princess that she enjoyed though. One of the best parts was that Celestia and Luna had, on a few occasions, allowed her to try raising the sun and the moon respectively so that she would know how if she ever needed to take over the important function for a time. She couldn't imagine anything ever happening that would make the Sun and Moon Princesses unable to preform those duties, but she had enjoyed the opportunity all the same.
Becoming an alicorn had boosted her magic strength, though not as much as she had expected. Celestia had confided in her that even before when she was just a unicorn, her magic had been strong enough that she likely could have raised the sun if she had tried.
She had also, once she'd started to learn how, found that she enjoyed flying. She met with Rainbow Dash on a weekly basis now to practice flying with her pegasus friend. That was actually what she had planned for the afternoon and she was looking forward to it, though Rainbow could get a little too enthusiastic at times.
She seemed determined to make Twilight into the acrobatic flier that she was. Twilight had to admit she was curious though; If she did get to Rainbow's level and was able to preform a sonic rainboom, would it still make a circular cascading rainbow like when her friend did it? Or would it be mostly shades of purple in her case? What would you call it if it wasn't a rainbow of colors? A purpleboom?
She shrugged off the questions; there wasn't much chance she'd ever reach that level. After all, nopony else had ever successfully preformed a sonic rainboom except Rainbow Dash.
One thing she didn't like about being a princess however, was how everypony seemed to think they had to treat her differently now. Her friends had come around quickly enough, but after a year she'd just barely gotten the rest of Ponyville to stop bowing to her and calling her 'Princess' all the time. Most still seemed nervous when she was around.
Even so, she was happy living in Ponyville for now and continuing her studies of pony magic. She suspected Celestia knew that and was purposely letting her enjoy her time with her friends while she could. Being an alicorn of magical origins, there was no doubt that she was now immortal like Celestia and Luna.
It had been a painful realization knowing that she would eventually lose her friends while she lived on, but she and Celestia had had several long talks about it and though she still dreaded that day, she knew it was best not to think about it and instead enjoy the time she still had with her friends.
“I'm going to have a daisy sandwich,” Twilight called back to Spike when she reached the kitchen and started getting out everything she would need. “You want anything?”
She'd have to make it a quick lunch. Having to convince Spike to send that letter to Celestia had been an unexpected delay and she was behind schedule.
~~~
“Sorry I'm late!” Twilight called to Rainbow Dash as she landed on a nearby cloud. Being able to walk on clouds was another thing she enjoyed about being an alicorn.
“No problem, Twi. I've only been here a couple minutes,” Rainbow assured her with a grin. “You ready to push those wings to their limits?” It was actually the first time Rainbow had been at their meeting place before Twilight, as she often overslept for her typical afternoon nap.
Twilight just grinned and opened her wings again, crouching down like she was preparing to launch herself into the air. Which in fact, she was. As expected, Rainbow wasted no time and opening her own sky blue wings and took off, leaving Twilight to catch up. It wasn't a race, Rainbow had given up trying to get Twilight to race her, at least until Twilight got faster. As she had said herself, she enjoyed winning, but it wasn't any fun racing if it wasn't a challenge. Instead they just flew together.
Though there were other ways to exercise wings, Rainbow had told her that the best way to strengthen her wings for flying was by flying. She just had to push herself to fly as long and as fast as she could. And that was what they did each week. They had no destination most weeks, they just went where the winds took them. They would soar around Cloudsdale, or out over the wilds of Everfree. A few times they'd flown up into the mountains, and once they had even flown all the way to Canterlot and surprised Princess Celestia.
Today they just flew around Ponyville. Sometimes Rainbow would lead, forcing Twilight to push herself to keep up. Other times they would fly side by side at a more relaxed pace. They never really approached the speeds Rainbow normally flew at, but Rainbow had every other day to fly how she wanted to fly. On these days, as a good friend, she was there for Twilight.
The toughest lesson for Twilight concerning flight had been to not over-think it. She'd at first turned to her books. She'd read all kinds of books on flight and aerodynamics for the first few weeks that she'd been trying to learn. Rainbow had taught her though that the trick to flight wasn't in knowing, but feeling. You had to let go and just let your wings carry you. It had taken a few months, but Twilight had finally learned to do just that.
As they soared through the sky, she didn't think about wing angles, wind directions, or flight vectors. She trusted her wings and body and instead enjoyed the wind in her mane, the warm sun on her wings, and the sheer freedom of flight.
They flew for most the afternoon, pushing Twilight's endurance to the limit just as Rainbow had said. Finally though, Twilight was too exhausted to go on and they landed on a cloud overlooking the town to rest.
“So, you going to go to the Wonderbolt tryouts this year?” Twilight asked Rainbow when she had caught her breath while they relaxed. After proving herself at the Wonderbolt academy, Rainbow had been more confident than ever about making the team.
“You bet I am! After seeing my awesomeness, I'm a shoe-in!”
Twilight smiled at her friend's usual confidence bordering on arrogance. All of her friends had long ago learned to be tolerant of Rainbow's attitude, and Rainbow in turn had learned to not let her confidence go to her head. “I'm sure you'll do great, Rainbow.”
“Hey, if you work at it, maybe you could make the team too in a few years,” Rainbow said giving Twilight a nudge with one of her wings. “Wouldn't that be awesome? A princess as a Wonderbolt!?”
Twilight laughed. “That would be something. But I think by the time I got good enough to make the Wonderbolts, Princess Celestia will have other important responsibilities for me.”
“Maybe, but it's not like an ancient lost empire reappears every day,” Rainbow said with a grin.
“I sure hope not! I really don't think I'm ready to rule over a whole empire!” Twilight exclaimed, horrified by the idea.
“Besides, you're doing great. A year ago you couldn't fly ten feet without crashing, look at how much you've improved already.”
“Thanks, Rainbow, but I still don't think I'll have enough time before Celestia gives me more responsibilities. I'm surprised Celestia hasn't given me more to do already. Still, thanks again for spending so much time helping me learn.”
“Hey, I'm just happy to have somepony else to fly with. Fluttershy's a great friend, but, you know, she's never been much of a flier. You're already way better than she is. Don't tell her I said that,” Rainbow said with a smile, but then seemed to remember something. “Oh, before I forget, the weather team has a rainstorm scheduled for this weekend if you still want to try helping out.”
“When?” Twilight asked wanting her to be more specific. She'd asked if she could help out mainly because she wanted to learn more about what the pegasi of Equestria did for the nation.
“Saturday afternoon,” Rainbow answered. “AJ asked us to make sure it was a good downpour this time. The last storm wasn't quite enough for the orchards.”
“Hmm, I may have to rearrange my schedule, but I think I could make it. You'll have to show me what to do though.”
“Don't worry all we really do is put the clouds together. It's easy peasy. Just have to make sure we make them big enough for the rain we need.”
Twilight smiled and nodded. “Alright, I'll be there. It shouldn't be too hard to adjust my schedule.”
“The weather team sure is going to be surprised when a princess shows up to help out.” Rainbow gave her a wink. She and the rest of Twilight's friends found it amusing how the rest of the town behaved around Twilight now.
“Well, that's about enough relaxing for me!” Rainbow said standing suddenly. “I'm going to get in some stunt practice before it gets dark. See ya later, Twi, it's been fun!”
“Alright. Later, Rainbow!” Twilight called as Rainbow launched herself and with a wave zipped off at full speed.
Twilight smiled watching her go. There was nothing Rainbow loved more than flying. She was glad it was something she could now share with her good friend.
~~~
“Special delivery.”
Twilight answered the door excited. It was the evening after she'd sent her request for study materials to the Princess and she was certain that was what the delivery was. She was right, and after signing for the package and telling the delivery pony he didn't have to bow to her for probably the seventh time, she eagerly took it to the desk and opened it. Among the books and old scrolls she'd requested she also found a letter from Princess Celestia.
My dear Twilight,
I hope that these materials are sufficient for your studies. I've read the theories you referred to in your letter and I understand your interest. If I had more time I might have looked into it myself. Also, you're right, it is quite an easy matter to conjure visions of past events while in the astral plane. Perhaps with these materials you will be able to find a way to conjure visions of these alternate worlds. That is, if the theory is correct of course.
A word of caution though. The astral plane, while it may in fact connect the many worlds the theory speaks of, there are many aspects of that realm that remain a mystery even to me. So do be careful. I've included a scroll detailing the spell I used to conjure the images of your past while we were there. Just don't try to do more than conjure images. There's no telling what would happen if you're spell somehow connected you to one of those other worlds.
In any case I look forward to hearing about what you learn should you be successful. It would be quite intriguing to hear how Equestria would have turned out if certain events had gone differently, or if certain decisions hadn't been made.
Hope you are doing well.
Sincerely yours,
Princess Celestia
Twilight smiled as she finished the letter. Then, eager to get started, she first opened the scroll written in Celestia's own writing detailing the scrying spell and began studying in earnest.
~~~
“Nice goin', Twi. This storm's just what the orchard's been needin'.”
Twilight laughed at Applejack's compliment. “I only just helped, and I don't know how much help I really was. Rainbow had to spend most her time showing me what to do,” she said as she landed and cast a quick spell to shield them from the rain that was already starting to pour down around them.
“Well even so, thanks for helpin' them pegasi out, we needed a good storm.” Applejack said then gestured back toward the farm house. “You wanna get out of the rain and grab a bite to eat.”
“I'd like to, Applejack, but I've got some studying I want to get back to at the Library,” Twilight told her. “I'll walk with you back to the farm though.”
“You sure? I think Granny Smith was bakin' some fresh pies this afternoon.”
The thought of Granny Smith's famous apple pies was too tempting to pass up, though she'd learned her lesson about eating too much pie when she'd first met the Apple Family. “I guess I could stay for a quick lunch...”
~~~
Though Twilight really wanted to get back to her studies. She enjoyed the lunch with Applejack and her family. Apple Bloom had been really excited having apparently helped Granny Smith with baking the pies. Twilight had been a little worried on hearing that. She had heard all about some of Apple Bloom's previous attempts at baking. But the piece of pie she'd had was delicious, leading Twilight to believe Apple Bloom had, in fact, only helped.
Finally though she was back at the library and back to her studies. She was close, she was sure of it. Her spell to conjure visions of other worlds was almost complete. She just wanted to check a few more things then she'd be ready to try it.
She remembered Celestia's warning though and she wanted to make sure her spell didn't create any connection between her and the other worlds. She was fairly certain it didn't. In theory she was conjuring an image, and that image was all that really connected to the other world it showed. But at the same time, she would be connected to the images since she was conjuring them with her magic. She didn't think it would be a problem, but it didn't hurt to double-check.
She also wasn't sure how she could control what she saw. Celestia's spell could target a certain person and a certain time. She'd decided to try and do the same; targeting herself, or rather the other worlds' versions of herself. Once the spell had located her doppelganger in each world, it would then start skipping forward through the time-line of that world.
She'd realized that if it worked there would be months, even years worth of information to see from each world. So she'd also made her spell so it would distort her perception of time, allowing her to see a great deal of each world in just a few minutes.
After checking over a couple other texts, she made up her mind that she'd done all she could, it was time to try it and see if it worked.
Spike had already gone to bed, leaving her to her studies. He knew Twilight well enough to know when she was going to be up late and hadn't waited.
The rain had been coming down all evening. No thunder or lighting, just a constant downpour. It was actually soothing to hear. Twilight listened to the soft sound as she sat on a pillow in the center of the library's main room. Then taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly she tilted her head back and her horn began to glow softly as she let her mind drift. She felt her mind and body separate as she sent her consciousness into the Astral plane.
She'd realized there had to be a way to enter the strange realm without being blasted by the Elements of Harmony since Celestia had been able to meet her there the day she'd become an alicorn. Curious, she'd asked Celestia how it was done and the Sun Princess had been happy to teach her. After warning her of the dangers of course.
Before long she found herself floating among an endless star field. Then she could feel her hooves on something solid, though there was nothing there. Looking around she smiled, it was time.
Bracing herself she called on her magic once more and cast her spell. She felt the magic take shape as she guided it into the forms needed. It was one of the most complex spells she'd ever tried, but she'd been working on it almost non-stop for days. She felt the spell take shape and as she sensed the first images begin to appear she opened her eyes.
It had worked! Before her were nearly a dozen visions, like windows to other places, other worlds with more appearing every second. And all of them showed her. At least, they were supposed to be her. In most she looked almost exactly the same though in the majority she was still an unicorn. A few though, the pony she saw looked different.
There were some things she recognized about these other versions of herself, often the biggest difference was the style of their mane, though their colors sometimes varied as well. But it was her face she saw on all of them, even when their eye and coat color was slightly different. Likewise their cutie marks always seemed to be the same cluster of stars, though the colors sometimes changed.
Focusing on one of the windows into another world she began to hear what was being said as the scene played out before her eyes. She found that with a thought, she could skip forward or back in the time-line of the world she was viewing. She focused on one of the windows that showed a version of her that was considerably different in appearance and was stunned to find out she also had a different name as well. It was incredible, there was so much she could learn!
Eagerly she began to delve into the visions of the other worlds. For hours she went from world to world, often watching months or even years of the other world's history in fast forward before moving on to the next. Some of the worlds she came across were barely different from her own, a few she couldn't even tell anything was different at all. These she skipped over quickly, far more interested in the worlds that appeared to be different in some way.
There were worlds where Nightmare Moon had never existed and Celestia and Luna had ruled together in harmony. Worlds where the Crystal Empire had never vanished and King Sombra had been defeated in ancient times. Worlds where Discord had never been evil and had actually befriended Celestia and Luna in ancient times.
Some worlds weren't so different than her own, but still surprised her. There was one where she was stunned to find she had an adopted daughter. A young black alicorn with a frightening resemblance to Nightmare Moon except that her cutie mark was a blue shield. She was even more stunned when, on delving further into that world's history that the alicorn was in fact Nightmare Moon reborn; but that she had changed, destroyed her evil side, and was living a happy life as Twilight's daughter. After seeing all she had gone through in that world though, she was kind of glad it wasn't hers.
Not all the worlds she saw had turned out well however. There were some that suffered under the rule of Discord. Some where Nightmare moon had defeated Celestia in ancient times or where Twilight and her friends had failed to stop her at the summer sun celebration. She saw several where she and her friends had been driven apart by Discord and the world was in chaos and others where the changelings had taken over and enslaved the ponies of Equestria in order to feed off of their love. She stayed away from those worlds finding it depressing to see such destruction.
There was no end to the worlds and Twilight wanted to see all she could. She kept the spell going for hours moving from vision to vision. It may have been her fatigue that caused it, or perhaps it was something else, a shift in the fabric of the universe or interference from the magic of one of the other worlds she saw. In any case the nature of her spell began to change. She began to lose control.
The vision windows that had hung stationary in the air around her began to move, slowly at first, but then faster and faster. Twilight looked around frightened, trying to regain control of the spell, but she couldn't stop it. Then she felt as if she were being pulled toward something.
Desperately she poured more and more of her magic into the spell, trying to stop the chaos. She couldn't though; she couldn't stop it. She saw one of the vision windows rushing toward her, glowing brightly. She flared her wings in a desperate attempt to stop herself, but it was no use, it was the vision windows that were moving, not her. The window flared pure white even as it reached her and then everything went black, but just as she lost consciousness she felt as if something were entering into her, merging with her mind and body.