In hindsight, I should have expected this. The net was quite sturdy, and also quite apt at restricting my movements. It was sobering to think that plummeting from the sky while being chased by a dozen guards was the least infuriating thing to happen to me that night.
Well, they tried to chase me, probably something in the procedure of capturing flying intruders mentioning the fact that they also had to catch said intruders before they plummeted to their deaths.
I needed no such thing.
Thus, I was keeping them at bay by casually firing beams of magic at anyone who got too close. I had my own way of landing safely, a clever little ruse that would save me from both the net and the fall.
My horn glowing with magic, I fixed my gaze towards the ground; I had to time this just right.
Just before hitting the hard marble surface of the courtyard, I unleashed the magic held in my horn, shaping it into a teleportation spell. The destination: my exact actual position, albeit without my current momentum. This resulted in a bright flash of light that made me reappear a few inches off the ground, my hooves soon touching down on the remains of the net that I had shredded by teleporting into it while it passed through me in the split-second where I was not there. Amazing, really. I’d need a few hours to explain the minutiae properly, and this isn’t about that.
I spread my wings, making a show of dusting them off in front of the astonished guards. About half of them landed between me and the castle door, and the stallion in the middle of the formation barked the expected questions at me.
“Who are you and what business do you have here?”
“I am Twilight Sparkle, and I need to talk to the princess. It’s important.”
That look. There it was again. That look of confusion mixed with terror that my name seemed to cause constantly now for some reason. I could already tell he was about to make me even more angry.
“Twilight Sparkle is dead! Who are you real-“
He couldn’t finish his sentence. Understandably so, given I had grabbed his whole head in a telekinetic field and slammed it into the slab of white marble with enough force to send at least one tooth flying.
“WRONG ANSWER!” I yelled.
The rest of the guards braced themselves when I took a step forward, all of them tensing up in anticipation of however they were going to try to stop me.
They wanted the hard way? I could certainly provide; I was no stranger to violence that night. …I suppose I should have been concerned by that.
I didn’t give it much thought at the time.
The guards moved in perfect clockwork coordination, surrounding me in a single second. The one I had slammed into the ground was being helped up, his pained moans immediately drowned out by a bellowing shout from his nearest high-ranking colleague.
“Stand down! This is your final warning, stop now or we’ll arrest you!”
I took a step forward, intending to deliver some deadpan rebuttal along the lines of an explanation of how they had no such authority. They didn’t seem to be intent on taking chances, which is… to be expected of the royal guard. They all jumped as soon as I moved, springing into action as blindingly fast as a mouse trap. In a second they were on me, pinning my hooves to my sides; I teleported away, although barely half the distance I had anticipated. I had very little need for my eyes to confirm what I understood immediately; judging by their glowing horns, the unicorns of the guard were trying to suppress my ability to use magic.
They probably weren’t expecting to go up against someone of my power, and certainly not while I was being fueled by such righteous indignation as I was feeling at the moment. I repeated my earlier unicorn incapacitation trick, only this time was a bit more focused in order to avoid uselessly dispersing my energy in the wide open outside area. The effect was immediate, making the unicorns drop to their knees with a cry and one or two nosebleeds. They’d be dazed for a few seconds.
Seconds I apparently didn’t have, I realized, as I found myself figuratively buried under the pegasi and earth ponies whom I had momentarily forgotten.
If brute force was what they wanted, I’d give them brute force. I grabbed my own body in my magic and spun myself into a roll, throwing the guards on my back away and bowling over the rest. I shot a few more beams of magic at random as soon as I got back to my hooves, causing the horde of guards to back away to a safer distance.
We stood still.
Most of the pegasi, bat-winged or otherwise, were panting slightly while the unicorns shook their heads to clear the dizziness I had caused. The earth ponies seemed in perfect condition, their manes barely ruffled and their breathing still regular. All of them, however, bore angry glares and displeased frowns. Some had even readied their spears, with the clear intent to actually use the weapons if this dragged on for too long.
I didn’t intend for this to take much longer. There wouldn’t be a round two, in fact. Only six guards stood between me and the door, two equine layers thick bristling with weapons and armor. Once I was past that, it was only a matter of outrunning the rest and keeping them at bay.
I lit my horn, projecting a thin but sturdy shield around my front while applying a telekinetic push forward to my whole self. I charged.
The guards’ surprise was immediately apparent, although their training let them react instantly to brace themselves for the impact. I, for my part, barely felt anything when my tackle sent four of them flying and toppled the fifth. I was ready to resume my push with another burst of magic when an unfamiliar tug in my left side made me actually notice the last guard that had stood in my way.
It was the same pegasus I had slammed head-first into the ground, his bloodied mouth turned into a horrified grimace. I followed his gaze down, looking at his hooves and the spear they clutched. A spear whose shaft had buried itself into my ribcage. My left wing extended, soon feeling the rest of the spear poking out of my hide on the other side of my body. Everyone present was silent.
Why hadn’t I felt it? Why was there no blood? Why did I feel just as fine as I did five seconds prior while I should have been at the very least blinded by pain? Why hadn’t this spear killed me?
Lies. Lies, lies lies lies and more lies. Illusions, fake spears, actors, mind-affecting spells or some such. There was just no other way.
The pegasus had let go of the spear and was slowly backing away, his courage seemingly wilting under my hateful glare.
“Stop,” I whispered, using my telekinesis to rip the spear in half and sending the pieces flying out of my body at a speed that made them bounce off the ground. The blunt end exploded into a shower of shards when it met a wall, while the head disappeared into the lightless depths of the window it shattered.
“Lying,” I continued out loud, grabbing the pegasus’ head once more before he could flee.
“TO ME!” A wave of magic pulsed outward in all directions, repelling the squadron of guards who had begun charging at me when I grappled their compatriot. I hadn’t let him go yet, though. My telekinesis extended to his entire front half before I slammed him again into the ground, this time hard enough to crack the stone. I wasn’t done. His body still pressed in the crater, I pushed him away to carve a bloodied furrow into the solid white marble tiling.
The whole process took less than a second, at the end of which I was surprised to hear his anguished wails of pain; I would never have expected anyone to survive that. Through the cloud of dust I saw a twisted, bent leg flailing about, the fractured appendage twitching from the searing pain of its multiple fractures.
I turned away from the grotesque spectacle and focused instead on the now unobstructed doorway, while the guards did their best to rise again from where I had scattered them. No sooner had I taken a single step forward did the whistling of a great number of wings come from above.
Both the fact that I had obviously caused enough of a ruckus to alert reinforcements and the idea that I would have been a fool to expect to catch a break that night meant I was not surprised in the slightest when two dozen more guards landed between me and the doorway. What did somewhat startle me was the subsequent landing of none other than Princess Luna herself. She seemed upset.
“What is the meaning of this?” she called out, eyeing me with no small amount of disdain and surprise. “Who dares intrude upon the royal castle?”
With a neutral tone, deciding that the very least effort to get my point across was to at least try to be polite to the princess –or her doppelganger-, I spoke up. “Princess. I have b-“
“How dare you!” she immediately spat, the volume of her voice rising by a few decibels. “How dare you foul creature wear the skin of my sister’s late and beloved student? How dare you steal her voice?” She spread her wings while dark clouds suddenly gathered above, crackling with lightning. “Be gone, vile monster! I, Princess Luna, champion of the night, compel you! Surrender now before I smite you where you stand!” Her eyes were glowing white with power, her face lit up by the ominous flashes of lightning in the sky.
The only reason her overwrought attempts to intimidate me failed to make me laugh was the fact that they made me angry more than anything else. How dare I trespass in the castle? How dare she try to stop me! I didn’t even care that she was a princess, the real one or otherwise; this was a pissing contest she could not afford. After all I’d been through that night, if I had to take down another alicorn in order to get what I wanted then by the stars I’d do it!
I stepped forward, magic charging up my horn. Luna’s guards fanned out, helping the already-present ones to surround me again. The princess stepped forward as well, walking past her guards and into the circle.
“I’ve told you,” I said, “I’ve told everyone, constantly, ALL NIGHT, that I’m not dead! I’m Twilight, and if you can’t even tell that I’m me, I’m real, and I’m standing right in front of your stupid face, you’re either not the real Luna, a gullible fool, or too much of a drooling moron to be worth my damn time! Let. Me. Pass.”
She went from furious to livid while I spoke, the clouds above sinking lower and crackling with more intensity with every word I said. She was no doubt about to put into words just how much I had offended her, or just as likely ready to attack without a reply, when a thundering voice echoed from deep within the castle.
“Luna! Let her pass!”
The princess’ eyes grew wider while she worked her jaw without a sound for about half a second, before she managed to answer her sister with the cacophonous tone of the Royal Canterlot Voice.
“Have you gone irrevocably mad!? I will not let this abomination set even a single hoof in our castle!”
The echoes had yet to die when Celestia’s voice returned, rumbling through the halls.
“I know what I’m doing. Luna, please!”
The dark princess studied me for a moment, eyes narrowed and still very much furious. Come on, I silently dared her with nothing but my eyes, keep objecting. See if I care about kicking your flank after having you call me a monster and an abomination.
The clouds suddenly quieted, dispersing without a sound as the princess rose back to her full height. “Formation!” she simply called to the assembled guards, “I want the physicians awoken and brought to this stallion immediately! Now you,” she said, turning back to look me in the eyes, “a single wrong move and I promise your ashes will be too fine to touch the ground.”
She then turned and began marching back inside the castle, the guards who could still do so forming a perimeter around me and following her.
The walk through the castle was spent in silence, a respite from the screaming and rage of the past few hours. They treated me like some dangerous animal, some deranged psychopath to be feared; I saw the worried glances the guards sneaked my way. I saw some purple glint reflected in their eyes, widened despite their training. That same look again. The one Shining’s impostor had given me. The one Applejack and Big Mac, and my own f… fake family had given me. Why were they looking at me like that? Why was everyone looking at me like that?
Every exchange of eye contact made me a little bit angrier, yet still I kept calm; I was about to get my answers. I was about to get to the bottom of this: cooperative or not, meeting with the princess would no doubt give me the clues I needed to complete this riddle. Either she knew and would tell me, or she didn’t and would help me.
I was glad to finally reach the throne room; I wouldn’t have to endure the stares or the hostility anymore. This whole waste of my time with the guard was hopefully over at last. Princess Luna herself slammed the doors open, walking inside and up to her sister without even looking back. The guards around me fanned out, giving me a clear view of Princess Celestia.
She was in the middle of a conversation with Discord, and all I could hear of it before they both turned to look at us entering the room was a strange plea from the princess. “Please, I’ll owe you one, but please don't just take them without warning.”
When Discord’s eyes fell on me, his expression changed from one of mild disinterest to something more akin to surprised curiosity. He looked at me for a second or so, raising a single claw as if about to say something before changing his mind to say something else. “Oh,” he said to no one in particular, “well that’s interesting.” He tilted his head towards Celestia, keeping his eyes on me. “I’ll be right back.” He then ate his tail, slurping it like an oversized noodle until he apparently swallowed himself out of existence.
At which point I had the Princess’ full attention. She looked… tired. Her mane was frazzled and unkempt as if she had just gotten up from bed without a single second of brushing. Her usual regalia was nowhere to be seen, and she just sat in her throne, a small scroll laid open at her hooves. She looked at me, the moonlit stained-glass windows painting sparkles of blue, red and purple in her eyes.
“Twilight,” she said, never taking her eyes off of me, even as Luna whispered something in her ear before sitting next to her. The sun princess’ expression was as unreadable as ever, and she simply asked, “How are you doing?”
Yes! Finally someone recognized me for who I was! I dared smile at last; there was some much-awaited hope.
“I’m fine, Princess! I’m fine, really, despite everyone’s best efforts to convince me I’m dead. I’ll admit it’s an impressive prank, but I think it’s high time it ended now. I’m obviously alive.”
“I see,” was the princess’ only response. “So you say everyone you know has banded together tonight to convince you that you are dead, which is a blatant lie, correct?”
I wasn’t sure what she was getting at, or why we were just talking about it, but I still found myself unable to resist answering. Her tone, her way of asking, it felt like the old days. We were once more student and teacher somehow.
“Yes,” I said.
“And what have you done to discover the truth?”
“I… Uh, well, I came here to see you, I guess.”
Her face barely changed, only a microscopic rise of her eyebrow indicating whatever emotion she was concealing.
“Haven’t you tried anything with your magic, other than..." a quick glance at the scroll at her hooves, "scaring and hurting your friends?”
I looked down, struggling to find my words. She always had the knack for drilling me to the core with her razor-sharp questions. Had I done anything good with my magic that night? No. Nothing but violence and anger, I realized, as the events of the night replayed in my head.
But they were all asking for it, weren’t they? They had been lying, conspiring against my very sanity! I wasn't wrong, was I? I opened my mouth to justify myself, but she had already begun speaking again.
“I’m very disappointed by your actions tonight, Twilight. In your defense, I suppose it was possible to forget about this in your situation.” Her horn lit up as she spoke, and a sudden flash of magic drew a large, ornate circle on the floor between us. “It is a very advanced spell, after all,” she continued, “one that few can actually cast. I distinctly remember once teaching you the basics and theories, though. I thought you would remember it when you needed it most.”
Even through all my lingering anger, her words managed to cut into me. It was rare for her to sound so terribly disappointed in me, a tone in her voice that had always terrified me. I couldn’t bear to look at her when she spoke to me that way, it was paralyzing. My eyes drifted to the floor, and the black circle it now bore.
I easily recognized it. It was a pretty distinctive design, after all. A circle of truth, wherein no lie or illusion could exist. That was… exactly what I needed all along! She was right! How could I have forgotten about this? How could I have been so stupid? So… so brutish and unthinking? How could I have done all these things to these ponies?
I slunk even lower, my growing shame weighing on my back as Princess Celestia kept lecturing me on the obvious mechanics of the circle, my guilt swelling with every word. Yes, this line was the backbone of the entire enchantment; yes, the over-arching triangle served to better focus the energies; yes, this rune was invaluable to the proper functioning of the circle. Or it would have been if it had been placed correctly.
Wait.
My eyes narrowed as I inspected the circle more closely. There were several mistakes in the design. Several crucial flaws that should have been obvious to anyone who actually knew how to cast that spell.
A strange feeling of mixed hope and fury surged within me. Another impostor. That was not the real princess. The real princess would not have made these amateur mistakes in such a complex spell. She would not have been so harsh to me, like she was doing now with her cold, calculating eyes still fixated on me.
I could have laughed. The conspiracy ran deeper than I could ever have feared, and this idiot on the throne had just given me the way to get to the bottom of it on a silver platter.
“You fake imbecile,” I suddenly interrupted her. She cocked that eyebrow again, and I saw her swallowing nervously, despite her best efforts to hide it. “This isn’t a circle of truth. This waste of floor space couldn’t guess the answer of an elementary school riddle if the correct answer was already circled!”
I took my eyes off of her to glance at the circle in front of me, walking up into it as I corrected the many errors of the design. “This is wrong, this is even worse, this is downright absurd, and this… I can’t even believe you think the real princess would be stupid enough to make that mistake!” My horn flashed repeatedly, magically altering the black lines on the floor. I could feel the energy shifting around me, the circle beginning to work properly under my guidance.
I stood in the center of the circle, a triumphant smile stretching across my face. I spun around, taking in the completed design and closing my eyes to mentally examine it one last time.
“Now, you dumb, lying waste of breath,” I said, still reviewing my corrections, “you’re going to tell me the truth, because it’s literally the only thing I can hear in here.”
I perceived a faint, temporary moment of brightness on the other side of my eyelids, and decided it was about time I opened my eyes again. The circle was now perfect anyway, no need to review it any more.
“Who are you really and who put you up to thi…”
Words failed me. The very concept of speech seemed like a figment of my imagination for a moment. I distantly heard Celestia’s voice saying something that, after what felt like ages, I managed to process as the words “I’m so, so sorry, Twilight.”
“No.”
In front of me now stood a large, ornate mirror, no doubt just freshly summoned by the princess. But what it told me was so wrong, so terrifying.
“No.”
It had to be another lie. The circle wasn’t actually working. Surely something was wrong, something other than what the mirror was trying to convince me of!
“No. It can’t be. I-I… I, no.”
This was a lie. Another illusion. The circle was a dud. It didn’t work. It didn’t work and I could prove it.
The sky is green
“The sky is g… The sky is g-blue.”
I have five legs
“I have f-fff-four legs.”
I heard a faint poof, like a muted explosion. I saw, in the periphery of my vision, what looked like a cloud of smoke somewhere to my right. I heard a chorus of gasps, and some familiar voices saying things I couldn’t even begin to assimilate. The world didn’t exist anymore. The dozens of faces all around me, staring at me, were invisible. The sounds reached my ears but didn’t resonate. There was only myself, the circle and the mirror.
My name is Shining Armor
“My name is shhhh-hh-hhTwilight Sparkle.”
I am alive
“I am a… al… allllld-“
I am alive
“I am all-llll-deh-“
I am alive!
“I. Am. A-ddd-“
Fine! You want to lie, mirror? I’ll show you lies! I am dead!
“I am dead!”
I laughed, never taking my eyes off of the mirror. I didn’t know why. I didn’t feel like laughing. I felt the joke had gone on long enough. “I,” I chuckled, “I am… I am…”
My reflection’s face fell, the mirth melting away from the pale cheeks. The single remaining ear folded down. A dark, reddish gash was the only thing to be seen where the other ear should have been. The dozens of bloodless cuts radiating from the right side of my face shifted as my smile went limp. The moonlight shone on my coat, highlighting the dark patches of my skin; the necrotic bruises showing through the color of my hair.
The dull buzz I could hear over my own thoughts had no beat, no tempo, nothing to do with a beating heart.
And my eyes. My dull, glassy, lifeless eyes, sat nearly unmoving in their sunken sockets, my vision seemingly guided by the two glowing dots of purple light within.
The monster in front of me opened its mouth, and we whispered “I’m… dead?” in perfect unison.
I only realized I was screaming when a set of strong, white, and incredibly warm hooves wrapped around me; I didn’t stop, not even when a gigantic white wing placed itself between the mirror and I. If I stopped screaming I’d have to face the horrible reality. If I stopped screaming I wouldn’t wake up from this nightmare. If I stopped screaming it meant I had accepted this.
If I stopped screaming, I was dead.
So I kept screaming. Even though the princess was whispering soothing words to calm me down, even when I felt her tears dripping on my head, even while she held me tightly despite my struggle to flee.
I kept screaming and trashing in the princess’ embrace.
“Shhh, Twilight, It’s going to be okay. Shhhh.”
I don’t know how long I screamed.