Through the Mirror

by Darth Link 22


Another Lesson

That night, Twilight found herself in the Keeper’s realm once more. She had done this enough times to know what to do next. Without wasting time, she made a beeline for where she knew the ancient Alicorn resided.

“In a hurry, are you?” the Keeper asked.

“No, I just don’t want any more surprises,” Twilight said. “I want to know why I’m here. I’m never here unless you have something to say to me.”

“Are you sure? Maybe you’re here because you want to be. Maybe you’re finally skilled enough to bring yourself here.”

“Nice try, but I grew up with Celestia as a mentor. I know riddles when I hear them, and quite frankly I’m not in the mood for it.”

The Keeper smiled. “Very well. We’re here because you seem to be trying to reunite the Human versions of your friends.”

Twilight tilted her head in confusion. “Is that a bad thing?”

“Not necessarily, but it might be a misguided thing. Because you seem to be under the impression that these friends are your friends.”

Twilight was silent. The Keeper realized she was letting her say her piece.

“They might be similar to the versions of your friends you know, but they’re not your friends. They’ve had different lives, different experiences. They haven’t even lived in the same social climate.”

“Maybe, but they were friends before I came along, and they can be friends again.”

“I’m not doubting that,” the Keeper said. “But you need to be aware they they’re not the same. This is a different world.”

Twilight went into thought. “Are there more worlds than just the two?”

“Are you in a hurry to explore more? You should be focusing on the task at hand.”

“Not exploration, just gathering information. Are there more worlds, and what can I learn from it?”

The Keeper looked at her a moment, then nodded. She lit up her horn, and suddenly a screen appeared in front of her.

The first image was rather surreal. It was Celestia and Luna, but they looked like twisted versions of themselves. Celestia in purple, Luna in red, they led an assault on Canterlot while King Sombra defended his ponies against them.

“What the?”

“A universe where Celestia and Luna are evil, while Sombra is good.”

“Huh. What kind of weird comic book logic is that?” She took a deep breath. “Let me guess, this other version of me is some top field commander?”

“Well... not exactly,” the Keeper said, allowing the screen to change. Now Twilight was sitting around a table with the other versions of her friends, counting out from a large pile of bits on the table.

“The other you is the leader of a criminal gang.”

Twilight shivered as she scanned the scene. There were twisted versions of all her friends, except one. There was no Spike. There was no twisted purple dragon sitting to her evil self’s left, assisting her in every way. The fact that there was a version of her that both was not by Celestia’s side and didn’t have a Spike was even worse than the fact that she was evil.

“I... wow...”

“Are you surprised with yourself?” the Keeper asked. “Are you surprised with what unnerves you?”

“...Yes,” Twilight said at last. “I am. What does it say about me?”

The Keeper gave her knowing smile. “Since when have I ever given you a straight answer? Believe me, Twilight, it’s something you have to figure out for yourself.”

Despite the cryptic answer, Twilight couldn’t help but grin. “There has to be blood between you and Celestia.”

The Keeper only shook her head, though her smile didn’t waver. “Let’s see if we can find something a little more closer to your timeline.”

The Keeper changed the screen. Once again it was Celestia and Sombra on the battlefield, but now they seemed more like the ones from her world. She was surprised to see her friends: Rainbow Dash with a steel wing, Pinkie working alongside another grey mare.

And her herself, at Celestia’s side, shouting orders to take out Sombra’s soldiers.

“Spike didn’t make it to the Cadance with the Crystal Heart in this...” Suddenly her eyes widened. “Wait... is Spike...”

In response, the screen zoomed in on this other Twilight. She was wearing a black band on her foreleg, and Spike’s face was on it.

Tears started leaking out of Twilight’s eyes. “...No...”

“This isn’t your world, and that wasn’t your Spike.”

“I don’t care!” Twilight said. Her voice raised and became strained. “I freaked out when it happened in my world, Spike could have died! Actually seeing it happen...”

“I understand that, but you need to keep a level head,” the Keeper said. “You need to remember the difference between the worlds when you’re doing your work.”

The screen changed again. Now NightMare Moon sat on the throne to Equestria. Rarity sat at her side, dressed in formal business wear.

In front of the throne was Rainbow Dash and Applejack, both dressed in armor. They were holding the chains of their prisoner, Twilight Sparkle.

Then the scene changed again. Now the world was back in the chaotic state it had been in under Discord’s thumb. Discord himself was riding a unicycle, dressed in a royal robe and crown. He chased Celestia and Luna in circles, both of them dressed in clown make up.

And once more, the scene changed. Now Chrysalis laughed at Celestia as she was surrounded in green goop. Celestia was broken, there was no resistance from her. Chrysalis then put her hoof through the mane of Twilight Sparkle, who was sitting at her side with wide, green eyes.

“Okay, okay, I get it,” Twilight said, covering her eyes. “There are worlds where I wasn’t strong enough, where I failed Celestia!”

“Or your opponents made better decisions,” the Keeper stated.

Twilight’s head fell to the ground as she covered her ears. “I don’t want to hear it!”

“But you have to,” the Keeper said. Twilight felt herself get lifted back to her hooves by a firm, yet gentle magic. It reminded her so much of Celestia whenever she calmed her that it got Twilight to stop.

Twilight took a deep breath, then looked back at the screen. “I suppose next you’ll tell me Flim and Flam took over Equestria in another world?”

“Well, yes. It’s a funny story that we don’t have time for,” the Keeper said. The screen changed once more. “You’ve seen worlds, but the real lesson here is seeing yourself.”

The Twilight of this new world walked through the halls of Canterlot Castle. Her friends tried to follow.

“Twilight! Twilight, please!” Applejack called. Tears spilled out of her eyes. Twilight ignored her.

A cyan blur finally stopped her. “Twilight, will you quit action like a foal!”

Twilight sneered at Rainbow Dash’s words. “This coming from the mare who acts like an idiot teenager 24/7? Honestly, I’m surprised you’re even allowed to live on your own...”

“Twilight, will you just listen to us!” Rarity pleaded.

“No, I’m done listening to any of you. Especially you, you stupid little whore.”

“How dare you!” Rarity shrieked. “I am an upclass mare...”

“You’re a stupid hick from a backwater town, and the only progress you’ve made has been from whoring yourself out to anypony you can find! Blueblood, Fancypants... me!”

“Twilight, that’s no fair!” Applejack said.

“Oh, not fair? Was it fair that I got disowned for trying to protect my brother? Or that ponies are lying dead in the streets while the ones responsible are allowed to walk around without a scratch on them? Fine, I guess I’m not being fair. Go report me to the fairness police.”

“Stop! Stop!”

The Keeper paused the scene. “Yes... I think that’s for the best. You really don’t want to see where that leads.”

“Please, just tell me I wasn’t that cruel to Spike!”

“Of course you weren’t. That Twilight wasn’t you. That’s the entire point of this.”

Twilight looked at the Keeper. “Then... the other me... was she?”

The Alicorn simply lowered her head. “You know, I think you know the answer to that, and you’re asking because you don’t want to face it.”

“No... no, no!” She fell to the floor, curling up into a ball. “I couldn’t lose him. I couldn’t lose any of them! Not Applejack, or Rainbow, or any of them!”

The Keeper put a wing over her. “There, there. You won’t have to as long as you remember how important they are.”

She stayed under the Keeper’s wing for a few minutes before breaking away. “Okay... you were trying to tell me that other versions of my friends aren’t the same as my friends. I shouldn’t count on our relationships being the same.”

“That’s correct,” the Keeper said.

“But these versions of my friends were already friends,” Twilight said, her confidence returning. “In fact, they were such good friends that Sunset saw them as a threat and did everything she could to get rid of them. And they all like me very well, and I’ve barely talked to them.”

“That is true,” the Keeper said.

“So why tell me this? It seems like a lesson I didn’t need to know.”

“I would think that you, of all ponies, would understand that a friendship lesson is never wasted.” The Keeper gave Twilight a knowing smile of a teacher amused at her student’s antics. It made Twilight feel like a filly again. “As well as the fact that I never give straight answers. Now come on, why do you think I showed you this?”

Twilight thought for a moment. “You did this because I’m forging new friendships, and you don’t want to see me waste them, even if I might never see them again after this mission.”

The Keeper nodded. “That’s a good start. Keep going.”

Twilight thought again. The answers came to her in an avalanche. “I can’t simply treat them as replacements to my old friends,” she said. “I can’t act like these versions of my friends will be exactly the same. There will be similarities, but there will be differences, and they’re important. I need to acknowledge them.”

The Keeper nodded. “You’re on a roll. Go on.”

Twilight thought a bit longer. “I can’t simply treat them as tools to take down Sunset?”

The ancient Alicorn tilted her head at that. “Can’t you? Lives hang in the balance. Are you going to go back to Celestia and tell her you failed, costing several lives, because you put five strangers’ comfort above what you had to do?”

Twilight winced. “That sounds so cold.”

“But does that make it any less correct?”

Twilight looked at the Keeper, analyzing her carefully. “...I... look, what are you trying to tell me? You go on about how important friendship is, and yet now you’re telling me that they’re expendable?”

“Twilight, I’ve said nothing about how important friendship is, you have. You’ve considered it sacred. Even seeing yourself evil was nothing compared to seeing you destroy your friendships, even over something many would tell you you had every right to break things off.”

“I...” Twilight was stuck on what to say.

The Keeper remained silent, allowing Twilight to piece the puzzle together in her own time.

“I’ve never seen friendship used as a tool.”

“Have you?”

Twilight went wide eyed. “What are you saying? Celestia never...”

And then Twilight stopped dead. She knew, at that point, she had let something slip that she had kept inside herself for a long time.

“Celestia... I can’t say she took me in entirely out of my interests, can I? Even since we defeated NightMare Moon, I knew Celestia had been grooming me for it even since I hatched Spike’s egg. She had it planned from the start.”

“So, do you think any of the love she showed you was a lie?”

“Of course not,” Twilight said. There was no hesitation.

“It was all true? Do you really believe Celestia when she says she loves you? Did you believe Luna when she told you Celestia is jealous of your mother because she has the position she wants?”

“Yes.”

“No hesitation. You truly believe that. Then why are you so reluctant to admit Celestia used you as a tool, even if you think she truly loves you?”

“I... but... I can’t imagine Celestia just using me like that.”

“And that’s because she never has ‘just used you,’” the Keeper answered. “You might have been a means to an end for her, but that’s never all you were to her. Even back in those early days, when she tried to keep her distance from you, she had your well-being in mind.”

“Wait... she kept her distance? Wh...” Her question didn’t finish, because the answer came to her with the obvious thought. “Sunset... after she failed Sunset, she tried not to get to attached with me, didn’t she?”

“Yes,” the Keeper said, actually answering a question for once. “She loved Sunset dearly and always treated her like a daughter. Celestia feared that this was what made her blind to Sunset’s troubles. When she took you on, she vowed not to make the same mistake. But it didn’t work.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re a wonderful pony. Despite everything, she grew to love you just as much. Even though it hurt, knowing she could lose you too, knowing you couldn’t return her love fully because you already have a mother, she couldn’t deny it. You became dear to her.”

Twilight smiled.

“And yet, she still went through with her plan. She used you, and she would have used Sunset for the same purpose.”

Twilight frowned. “Yes... she did.”

“And you claim that doesn’t lessen her love for you. So tell me, do you think your love for your friends is lessened by you using them in the same way?”

“...I don’t like it put that way...”

The Keeper didn’t speak, and Twilight realized she wanted her to keep talking. So she kept going.

“It’s not like I asked any of them to help me beat Sunset. Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie all offered, and Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash said they’d vote for me... Really, I’m not doing anything that they haven’t already done.”

“Except trying to get them to be friends again. You really don’t need them to do that to beat Sunset if they’ve already agreed to do so, do you?”

Twilight looked at the Keeper. “You... why do you always need to look for a negative in everything I do? There is no way all of them becoming friends again would be a bad thing. I’m doing something good.”

“But you’re not doing it out of altruism. At least, not entirely.”

“That doesn’t make what I’m doing ane less of a good thing! What does it matter if I have another motivation behind it?”

There was a silence. Then, the Keeper smiled. “It seems you understand...”

“Understand what?”

“Being a leader means making some tough choices. Choices where your loved ones’ well-being is going to have to come secondary to the greater good. How many times has Celestia put you in harm’s way for Equestria’s safety?”

“...Several times. I never held it against her, because it’s what I wanted. If she tried to stop me from helping Equestria, I’d go anyway.” Twilight took a deep breath. “And... my friends would too.” She found herself smiling. “They’d take any sacrifice to do what’s right. Yes, they’re tools, but they’re willing tools, and much then that besides.”

The Keeper nodded. “And these new friends?”

“Well... three of them are willing to stand behind me if I stand up to Sunset, and I’m willing to bet Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash will as well.” He smile became even bigger. “They may not be the same ones I know, but they’re the same in the most important way possible: they’re all heroes, whether they know it or not.”

The Keeper nodded. “Then I think we’re done for tonight.”

Twilight looked at her. “What about the other questions you asked me? I haven’t answered them.”

“Not yet, but you will. Trust me.” She touched her hoof to Twilight’s forehead. “Sweet dreams, Twilight. Luna might not be here, but I can give you a good dream in her place.”

And then, blackness surrounded Twilight.


Twilight sat on the edge of the picnic blanket, calmly eating a hay sandwich. She looked over the crowd she had assembled. So far, the ponies and the humans had hit it off rather well. This was a relief. Her first act as princess has been to successfully make first contact.

She had more friends than ever.