//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: Dreams About Friendship Are Magic // by Soft Story //------------------------------// Celestia rolled over and stretched as she woke up exactly one hour before sunrise. As she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was Twilight’s sleeping form in the other bed. It had become her routine to awake seeing Twilight sleeping safely near her. As silently as she could, Celestia climbed out of bed and headed into the lavish bathroom. A tiring but rewarding day of being Princess always started with a relaxingly hot bubble bath. The soundproofing spell that she used was so easy to cast she could put it in place without hardly thinking about it. All sounds from the bathroom would be muffled by arcane barriers so that Twilight and Spike would not be disturbed. The gigantic bathtub filled swiftly, gradually filtering in a thick fog of steam into the room. She poured out a small amount of the bubble solution and couldn’t help but smile in childish glee as she watched the bubbles form. Celestia couldn’t resist dumping in another large helping in addition. The Princess slowly lowered herself into the hot water, and after giving herself a moment to adjust in the miniature swimming pool she called her spa, let out a drawn-out sigh that spoke volumes of the pleasure she was experiencing. She leaned back and closed her eyes, letting the warm water wash over her. Celestia’s mane began floating of its own accord in the still pond of her sanctuary, water suspending the strands rather than magic. Her mind drifted and pulled up one of her fondest memories. The first time she brought the young Twilight Sparkle to join her for a bath. Twilight had just agreed to become her personal student and had spent the night with Celestia. Twilight loved bubble baths and had been so surprised to learn that the Princess got to take one every single day. Celestia giggled to herself as she stretched, idly thinking about dragging Twilight in for tomorrow’s bath. The look on her face as they relaxed next to each other would be worth the possible embarrassment, she decided. Celestia’s self-allotted relaxation time came to an end all too soon, and she quickly scrubbed shampoo into her mane, tail, and coat. After several hundred years of having the same morning routine, her magic and hooves worked completely on their own. Her mind drifted once more to Twilight. She was a little worried what Twilight might find in the course of her research. Or more worryingly, what would happen is she didn’t find anything. With a gentle burst of magic, the bathtub drain opened and the water around Celestia quickly rushed down the pipes. She grabbed a large, fluffy, white towel from a nearby shelf in her aura and quickly rubbed down every inch of her fur coat, getting herself dry in less than a minute. She smirked as she used a bit of magic to dry out her mane and tail and set up the spell that kept them waving through the air. Most ponies assumed that it was natural for alicorns to have such magical manes, but it was just a little secret spell that Celestia kept. As Princess she wanted to look her best, after all. The soundproofing spell popped with a sound much akin to a bubble as she interrupted the incantation. Celestia slowly walked through the bedroom and out into the hall, making sure that her closing of the front door did not rouse her roommates. The sun was due to rise in a little less than quarter of an hour. She had plenty of time to head out into her personal garden and raise the sun from outside; another part of her centuries old routine. A pair of unicorn guards fell in step behind her as she walked, her usual escort after Twilight had been cursed. The months directly after the attack, Celestia had been surrounded by guards for almost every minute of the day. It took a lot of reassurance until she had managed to get them down to just a few guards whenever she ventured outside the palace. The gardens were completely silent and dark as the Princess and her guards walked out of the palace. The moon was too low in the night sky now to provide any useful illumination, and the lunar body hung on the horizon, awaiting its descent. Not that Celestia needed any light; her ancient eyes worked just fine in the dark. On cue, however, the guards cast a simple light spell to allow them to see all around. The lush greens of her garden suddenly became clearer as two soft orbs let loose their light from their perch on the guard’s horns. “Thank you,” she said softly to her guards. They simply nodded their heads at her; it was all part of the routine. The Princess took her place in the middle of a clearing and waited. She could feel the minutes tick past, one after the other. Her mind soon counted down the seconds, and with ten seconds to go her horn started to glow. The moon slowly drifted down below the horizon behind her, and directly in front of her the sun rose, bringing its light and warmth to the garden. Celestia allowed herself a few minutes to enjoy her sunrise, a faint but happy smile tugging at her face. With a burst of renewed confidence that everything involving Twilight’s condition would turn out just fine, she headed back inside the palace. Her guards quickly dismissed themselves as she headed to the dining hall for breakfast. Twilight and Spike would be up soon enough now that the sun was up, wanting to get an early start on a busy day of research, she guessed. After a short but pleasant breakfast, Twilight and a small herd of guards left the main door of the palace and set off down the street towards the city. Spike, perched on her back, had been giving her all sorts of information about the Academy all morning. It was similar to her memories of school, so she mostly focused on remembering names and classes that she should be familiar with should she run into anypony. The guards had been assigned to her at Celestia’s insistence; it would be her first time in the city since she was cursed, after all. As they left the palace grounds and entered the city proper, it seemed like every single pony wanted to wish her a good morning and a wave. The guards kept anyone from getting too close, but they were all excited to see her. The amiable pestering of almost giddy pedestrians reminded her of the attention she received after using the Elements of Harmony, only she wasn’t surrounded by her friends this time. “Look, there it is!” Spike called out, bringing her out of her thoughts. Down the road from them was a large building, similar in design to the palace, if not smaller. Spiraling pillars arranged in a neat, orderly column held the awning above the entrance, giving a professional feel in the air just by examining the structure. Five large towers rose above her as they approached, their grasps silently reaching towards the sky as if to touch it. At the top of the tallest one was a daunting telescope far larger than she, trained up at the sky. The unicorn leading Twilight’s group of guards turned to her. “Lady Sparkle, do you wish to head directly to the library?” Twilight nodded once. “Yes. This isn’t a social visit,” she replied. Spike’s advice for talking with her guards had been to be polite but talk in direct statements. She was expected to give orders, not make conversation. It was awkward initially, but Twilight was an adaptable pony. Of this, there was no doubt. Somehow they managed to get through the hallways and to the library without being stopped. Twilight considered that to be extremely fortunate. There was a pony waiting for them inside the library, however. An older mare with glasses was just inside the library perusing a small piece of parchment as they entered. She quickly raised her head with an aged, but comforting smile. “Oh my! Lady Sparkle!” Twilight, somewhat surprised to be greeted so quickly, jumped slightly. Spike jumped to the ground from her back. “Good morning, Mrs. Scrolls!” Clearing her throat in an attempt to compose herself once more, Twilight tried to give the mare she assumed was a librarian a friendly wave. “Good morning,” she said softly, her instincts preventing her from speaking in a full voice inside the walls of a library. Mentally she did her best to file away the mare’s name. Mrs. Scrolls bowed slightly to her. “Good morning, Lady Sparkle. Is there anything at all I can help you find?” “I know where I’m headed for now. But thank you, Mrs. Scrolls. I’ll send word if I need your assistance.” Twilight felt awkward as she tried to sound confident. In reality, she had no idea where to even start looking for research on alternate worlds. She waited a few moments as the librarian mare slowly walked away. “Let’s find someplace quiet to work,” she said, prompting Spike to lead her. He did, taking her towards the back of the room. They walked past shelf after shelf of books, and from a quick glance around Twilight could tell the room was rather large. A partially glass ceiling met her glances upward, letting in a bountiful supply of natural light into the amphitheater that was the Academy. She spotted a twisting set of stairs leading up to what she assumed was another floor of books, and potentially another floor from there. The library was something truly grand to behold. If only she wasn’t pursuing such important matters... Spike approached a wooden door that was propped open by a small door-jam, and quickly opened it all the way. Sliding the wooden wedge into its new home, he motioned with a free claw for Twilight to come over. “This should work just fine. It’s even your usual room from your academy days.” Twilight walked into the room. It contained a large table and several chairs with a few blackboards attached to the walls. Simple, quaint, and efficient. A perfect room to study without others peaking in on you. “Ah, so it is,” she lied calmly. “Now then, gentlemen. If you’d be so kind as to guard the outside of this room, I’d like to have some peace of mind while I work. I’ll be sending Spike out to gather my materials, so if one of you could keep an eye on him and potentially aid him when he does so, I would greatly appreciate it.” Her squad of stallions saluted her and quickly moved into a formation outside the door without a word. “Thank you,” she said with a quick smile at them before quietly shutting the door. She turned to Spike, who was laying out some parchment and ink for her to use. “Now Spike, does the library use the Dexter Decimal System?” “Only on mass published books,” he muttered in distraction as he stared down at a quill. He tapped a talon against his chin in contemplation, before slightly adjusting its angle. The newfound placement brought a satisfied grin to his features. “Magic journals and research data, however, would be filed-” She cut him off. “Yes, yes, I know. First though, I want you to go to the Science and Magic shelves, and find the math and physics sections. Should be 510 and 530, if the system is the same as I remember. Look for anything related to Lay Lines or Mana Flows.” Spike had been about to run off, but her request struck him as odd. “I thought you wanted to know about alternate worlds?” “I do, Spike. But I also need to look into what could have caused me to move worlds without a detectable spell. You should be able to to find some books on those subjects quickly, and then I’ll have you go digging around the research sections for anything on dimensional boundaries, parallel worlds, and time travel after,” she explained as she climbed into a chair. Spike’s eyes lit up in understanding. “Ooohhh! That’s actually a good idea! Don’t worry, Twi. I’ll be back in a flash!” He opened the door and rushed out, letting it swing close behind him. She could hear his distorted voice again and smirked in amusement. “Whoever is coming with me; let’s go! We’re headed to the west end of the library!” As the next several hours slowly started to creep by, Spike brought more and more tomes, scrolls, and other varying descriptions of literature containing the information she requested. Soon enough, Twilight had filled her workspace with pages of notes, some stacks towering over her by a full head. She took a bite of the sandwich Spike had brought her at lunchtime; she was still only half done with it. She hadn’t found anything at all that would help her. In fact, what little she was able to find seemed to reject her ideas and concepts altogether. Any magic that could interact with dimensions outside their own seemed to be impossible to do. She crunched the numbers for a third time and sighed. The power requirements to even detect another universe would require about thirty Princess Celestias all channeling their power together. Unfortunately, she was about twenty nine Princesses short for that. Not even the Elements of Harmony could produce that output for more than a moment, and it would take several seconds to confirm that they had detected another universe. It would take much more power to send something across the boundary. With the sun hanging low in the sky, Twilight called it quits. Spike informed Mrs. Scrolls about the mess they had made as the guards escorted them out. Their walk back was silent. Celestia was waiting, just inside the palace, when they returned. “How did it go, Twilight?” A heavy sigh was more than enough to answer the question. Spike was more vocal as he got off Twilight’s back. “She went through dozens of books, over a couple of hours, but no luck it seems.” “As I know, time travel spells are unable to alter the past, so I can rule out that.” Celestia and Spike both looked over in confusion, to see Twilight starting one of her infamous rants, though mostly to herself. “Parallel worlds or alternate dimensions are just too hard to reach with magic. All the numbers show that it would take… I don’t know! Five hundred to a thousand alicorns to have enough power to send a pony across them? And then they’d have to devise a way to link their magic and figure out which dimension they were targeting. It would be a logistical nightmare, even for me!” With her tirade seemingly done, Twilight gave another defeated sigh and visibly slumped. “I guess that means I’m from here after all.” Celestia forced herself not to smile or give a relieved sigh. Instead she stepped over to Twilight and gave her a friendly nuzzle. “Then perhaps we should try to locate your memories. Could you teach me that memory spell you used on me before? I believe you said it would bring forth shared memories.” “Of course, Celestia. It should work on me, seeing as I must have those memories somewhere in my mind.” It didn’t seem to cheer Twilight up anymore. Her words sounded almost montone as she spoke them. Twilight’s exhaustion became palpable very quickly. “I just… I need some time alone, Celestia.” Spike gave a worried look to the Princess, unsure of what to do. Twilight’s mood seemed to be even worse than when she first woke up from the coma. “Very well. I’ll have somepony bring you some dinner in your room.” Twilight slowly walked off, her hoofsteps echoing in the empty halls. A soft exhale left Celestia's lips as she glanced down at her friend. “Come on, Spike. You can tell me more about her research over dinner.” She leaned down to let him climb onto her back, used to the feel of his claws grabbing her coat. Once he was seated, she slowly started to walk towards the dining room. Spike broke the silence, talking in a soft voice so they wouldn’t be easily overheard. “She went through the math over and over again. While it seems that magic might be able to send a pony to another world, it needed more magic than we could ever hope to use.” Celestia nodded once. “I had guessed that would be the case. If it were so easy, we’d be having visitors from other worlds all the time. I guess the best case would be that I can cast this memory spell she’s invented and it returns some of her previous life to her.” “If that spell even works. How do we know she hasn’t… you know… lost it completely?” The Princesses faltered midstep, coming to a stop. The shift in the air was instant, and nearly foreboding in nature. She very slowly turned her head to look at the young dragon. A large bead of sweat formed on Spike’s forehead at her expression. “Nevermind,” he said quickly, with a nervous chuckle. After glaring at him for a moment longer, Celestia started walking again. “I felt the spell she cast, and it did go through my memories. I have no doubt the spell does as she says it can. What I fear is that it won’t find anything.” “But if she’s our Twilight and not from an alternate world, then it’s gotta find her memories… Right?” Celestia gave a defeated sigh that mimicked Twilight’s. “The curse that was cast upon her should have killed her, but it failed to take hold properly. I think that perhaps it killed the Twilight we knew but left her body alive. All her memories gone because of that pony. In the coma, she lived an alternate version of her life up to this point. She managed to hold on to the important things to her: You, me, and her family. “But she lost the fine details that made her our Twilight. Instead, she got all these strange details. Battling ancient evils instead of doing paperwork, making friends with ponies instead of griffons.” Celestia paused to open the door to the dining room. “I know that she is my Twilight, but my heart says that she is broken.” Spike jumped down off her back, landing with a soft thud. “Maybe we should have her evaluated by a professional. If the memories really are gone, she might need some pony who knows what they are doing to help her cope.” The Princess huffed and glared at him once more. “Twilight isn’t crazy. I know that much.” “You called her broken.” “That’s not what I meant, and you know it. She’s Twilight, but she’s not the Twilight that I…” She trailed off, her cheeks turning a soft pink as she realized just how she was planning on ending that sentence. Spike leaned over towards her and flashed her a toothy grin. “That you love? Celestia, if I may offer my opinion, this Twilight seems to be a lot more interested in you than the old Twilight. Perhaps you stand a better chance at winning her over. A fresh start.” “Spike!” Celestia’s whole face turned several shades of red as she admonished the drake. After a moment though, she leaned towards him and whispered in his ear. “You really think I have a chance?” He just laughed at her, making her turn an even darker shade of red.