//------------------------------// // Chapter III: Suspected Truths // Story: A Reverie of Lost Twilight // by XangelMusic //------------------------------// I forced my way through and stood before a majestic structure, displaying the same crystalline motif as the castle I woke up in. It looked like it was carved from stone from the ground up; its trunk and branches, pointed, jagged and multifaceted, decorated of vines and miniature pearly orbs emitting a translucent white. I noted the five stone orbs on its branches, the large six-pointed star at its centre, and symbols depicting a sun and a moon at its trunk. It was my first time seeing the Tree of Harmony and I was paralysed in all its glory. “Where are the Elements supposed to be?” I asked. “They’re supposed t’ be on those orbs and that there star in the middle.” I slowly moved up towards the tree, attempting to figure out the Elements’ disappearances. I was interestingly focused on the star Applejack described that it looked remarkably familiar. That’s when I kicked something on the ground that resounded a tinkle. I looked down to see a star-shaped gem. It was the Element of Magic! …Except… “Girls, look around the ground nearby! Hurry!” The girls scattered at my command. I picked up the gem before me and studied it, whilst motioning my head back and forth between the tree and my hoof. It didn’t feel like how I remembered it for some odd reason, especially from the way I easily picked it up. “Hey, I found one!” Rainbow Dash held up a lightning-shaped gem. The others followed suit as I heard them announce their findings before arriving back into a circle. “I don’t understand. Why were the Elements lying on the ground?” The girls racked their brains upon Fluttershy’s question, while Applejack pondered over a different concern. “I think that’s the least of our worries,” Applejack stated, which I nodded in agreement. “This doesn’t make any sense.” Rarity tilted her head perplexed at her own Element. “First Sunset gives us some ludicrous story of taking over somepony else’s life, and now we find the Elements like this. No offense, dear.” “None taken.” At least their lack of subtlety was the same as my friends back home, not that I minded. Bewildered looks were drawn upon their faces as they observed the gems delicately in their hooves. I came to join the group while holding out the Element of Magic for their perusal, when Applejack responded in a grim tone. “That ain’t right.” I looked to her with disbelief written on her face. “What do you mean?” “Well, for starters, the Element of Magic ne’er look like that. It’s supposed t’ look like yer cutie mark like when we went up against Nightmare Moon.” She’s right, that is, if those chain of events played out the same way they were supposed to. Yet here it was unchanged, a mute declaration confirming Twilight Sparkle as the rightful bearer of the Element of Magic. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Still, I felt a slight tug in my chest that maybe if possible that wouldn’t have been the case. Nonetheless this was an important clue. “This is Twilight’s cutie mark, the same one that’s on the tree,” I surmised, but what did that mean? It was by fate that the Elements had chosen six ponies to become their rightful bearers, and from what I could tell, it seemed Twilight was predestined for something much greater if her cutie mark on the tree was any indication. But then why was the map at the castle missing? Why was the Element of Magic the only one to retain its form? That was probably a misgiven since the other original bearers were still here, but then why were the Elements on the ground? Did something happen to the Tree of Harmony? And yet, like Applejack mentioned before, there was a much more pressing issue. I levitated the gem in my hoof, albeit hesitantly, and scanned it thoroughly with my magic. I then asked the girls for me to do the same to their Elements but the results were just as I expected. There was no magic left within the Elements of Harmony. “That explains the grey colour,” I thought out loud, delivered in a snarl. “Did you find out something, Sunset?” Fluttershy asked. “I can’t sense anything from them. The magic in these Elements are gone!” Their reaction was almost instantaneous. “What!?” “B-but how?!” Rainbow exclaimed. That question invaded my mind before she even dared ask it. From having taken over Twilight Sparkle’s life, her home, her princesshood, and her title as the Bearer of Magic, this one took the cake. Whilst I pondered the question, I tried to place the Elements in their respective places on the Tree of Harmony, however, they wouldn’t latch on, as if the tree couldn’t recognise the Elements themselves. At this point, my face was sour, but that couldn’t compare to the expressions of horror on the rest of the group. Why did the Elements not have any magic in them? I figured something happened with the Tree of Harmony which was why I wanted to come here to investigate. The map in that throne room was supposed to be connected to the tree after all, which Twilight had informed me at some point whenever she visited me in the human world. My eyes then widened as an idea clicked in my head. “They dropped from the tree…” The girls looked up, their ears perked, intrigued by what I was about to say. “The Elements of Harmony were dropped onto the ground because something happened to the Tree of Harmony.” I wandered around a bit as I highlighted my thoughts. “The Elements don’t have any magic because they’re disconnected from Harmony. Something happened to Harmony itself.” Rainbow took on a serious expression as she crossed her hooves while she hovered. “What do you mean about that? Could you explain it a bit more?” “To make things simple,” I began, “Harmony is not exactly a concept nor is it an idea. While it has been adopted as a doctrine or creed in Equestria, in actuality, Harmony is a force of nature or the very abundance of Equestria itself. It is the basis of what Equestria has been built on, from the time of the unity of the three tribes, from the time of Starswirl the Bearded, and throughout the entire reign of the Princesses Luna and Celestia. It is the energy that encompasses everything. “The Tree of Harmony is the centre of all that exists in Equestria: the citizens, the wildlife, the environment, the weather, the climate, the communities, the leadership, the sun and the moon—everything is connected. And the Elements of Harmony are the most powerful artefacts in Equestria that also represent and harness the power and force of Harmony. Or in other words, the Magic of Friendship.” I looked down at the Element of Magic sombrely after I gently replaced our Elements back to our respective hooves. “The Element of Magic belongs to Twilight Sparkle. She was the spark that brought you girls together. But Twilight isn’t here anymore…” Those last few words weighed down heavily on me that I felt a tight pain in my chest. “You are indeed correct.” A majestic voice in her usual motherly tone came from behind us. We all turned to see the solar princess herself. Her white coat glistened against the shine that illuminated from the cavern walls, and her wings flared out wide as she landed softly on the ground, her imperial figure domineering over us. Her aurora blue, green, and pinkish-rainbow mane wavered and sparkled emitting the exuberance of her heavenly power and authority. Once she landed, she gently motioned towards us. “After I received your letter, I became most concerned. Now I see your suspicions are not unfounded.” I’d almost forgotten I asked Spike to send a letter to Princess Celestia before we left. I was hesitant at first whether to get her involved in this, but I figured it was the right call. “Princess!” The girls rushed over to Celestia and bowed before her, while I simply stood where I was. “Please, my little ponies, there’s no need for that.” She observed the girls with a kind smile, and by her suggestion the girls eventually rose from their lowered statures. Celestia then spotted me and continued her trek towards me, but I couldn’t help feel reserved as she bored her eyes into mine. My old teacher and mentor. Even after having made peace with my past misdemeanours, having been forgiven by Celestia, I still admonished myself for them. Granted I hadn’t had many chances to return to Equestria and spend some quality time with my old teacher. I’d been so busy and preoccupied with my own studies and friends in the human world, as if I prioritised them over her. Of course, she never held that against me. She had mentioned to me that she was proud of me having made some friends for myself, including her most faithful student. I had chuckled warmly at her little commendation for Twilight, since it was an endorsement Twilight frankly deserved—unlike the predecessor that had betrayed Celestia’s trust. “How are you, Sunset?” Her words drove me out of my thoughts as I looked up, realising I had lowered my head at some point. I then cleared my throat before I answered. “Not too well, I’m afraid.” “Quite.” She kept that same gentle smile before taking on a much serious expression as she eyed at the tree. “Still, this troubles me.” “How’d you think I felt when I woke up this morning?” I chuckled wryly. “I haven’t come across anything like this before, and this might just be beyond my control.” “You think this situation is beyond your capabilities?” “Well, I haven’t attempted anything yet. But when your best friend, who also happens to be the Princess of Friendship, disappears, I think that should warrant some leeway.” Celestia gave a hearty chuckle. “There’s nothing wrong in asking others for help, and I’m always here to help you whenever you need it.” She continuously gazed at the tree as if deep in thought, scrutinising it as much as she could. Although I doubted anypony could find out anything new from it, nor decipher why the tree wouldn’t recognise the Elements. I sensed the other girls joining us again, probably waiting upon the princess’ next words. “This friend of yours is the one mentioned in your letter, correct? The pony that you might have replaced: Twilight Sparkle?” “That’s right.” “And how did you arrive at that?” I levitated the Element of Magic in front of her. “I figure this is a big enough clue that supports that hypothesis.” Celestia pursed her lips as she scrutinised the floating star-shaped gem before her. She took it with her magic then closed her eyes while her horn flared brighter as she contemplated something. Her expression remained as she conducted her wanted experiment. However, after hoofing the Element back to me, her demeanour changed to a questioning look. “It is most perplexing to see the Elements in their current state. The Element of Magic especially presents further questions in need of answering, but I hardly see how this warrants replacing somepony.” I frowned at her statement. I mean, the Element itself was self-evidently Twilight’s and as Applejack pointed out, it was supposed to be in the shape of my cutie mark not her’s. Still, I couldn’t dismiss her since we were still this early in the game, and I couldn’t really blame her for relaying any doubts to my theory. “To be honest with you, I’m not too sure whether that is the case or not, or if it is Twilight Sparkle that I have replaced,” I explained. Princess Celestia studied me intently as she contemplated my words. “That you might’ve replaced the Sunset Shimmer of this world, correct?” I nodded. “Yes, you did also mention that in your letter.” “Yeah…” I looked at the girls around me before I looked back to Celestia. “I asked the girls earlier to recount their version of events for me.” “Did you now?” Celestia seemed a bit confused by my statement. Once again I nodded and gently closed my eyes. “Their version of events are completely different to mine.” “I see…” Celestia looked down at me solemnly. “So you wouldn’t have any recollection of the events as we recall them?” “Pretty much.” I pawed at the ground, awaiting expectedly some sort of reprimand by my former teacher. “The fact of the matter is, my memories are completely different to all of you. No matter how much we sugar coat it, everything is completely different to me now. It’s why I’m concerned whether I came from a different world or timeline when I woke up this morning.” And hopefully didn’t replace the Sunset Shimmer of this world either; I was already on edge with the thought of replacing Twilight. “Have you already told anypony else about this?” Celestia asked. “Besides all of you, the only one I’ve told was Spike.” I grimaced. “He didn’t take it very well.” “I supposed not. He has been with you the longest after all.” I could see why. From what Twilight has told me, Spike has always been by her side. No matter how ridiculous her request may be, Spike, her number one assistant, would always pull through in the end. From the way Twilight spoke about him, she was immensely proud of him as a friend, a sister, a teacher, possibly even as a mother. She had always been worried about his well-being, even asking me for advice on occasion. Although, I’m not exactly sure of the circumstances surrounding his origins since Spike had always been amongst ponykind, but I knew he was right at home here in Ponyville, beside his friends, especially Twilight. Taking away somepony that close was never fair to anypony. Now that I’m Twilight’s substitute, how was I supposed to relate to him? Would he expect that same sort of connection from me? “I’m still curious though,” Celestia continued, “how did you girls found out something was wrong with the Tree of Harmony?” Applejack decided to speak up. “Sunset here mentioned somethin’ ‘bout a map.” Celestia turned fully around as she registered her statement. “A map, you say?” “The Castle Map,” I corrected. “It was supposed to be in the throne room in the form of a round table, but it wasn’t there anymore. I’ve seen it numerous times whenever I came back to Equestria.” That gave Celestia pause as she looked at me curiously. “What do you mean by ‘whenever you came back to Equestria’?” I analysed her statement, until I realised my blunder. “Oh, right… I haven’t told you guys my side of the story yet, did I?” I looked around at the other girls who responded in kind with affirmative gestures. I turned back to Celestia to continue my explanation. “Well, the thing is, Princess, I was in another world. I haven’t been back in Equestria for a long while now.” “You were in another world?” Celestia asked pensively, her eyebrow raised. “How in Equestria did you end up there?” “The Crystal Mirror. I’m able to travel to that other world with it.” That was too much of a shock for Celestia than I hoped. She reeled back, her eyes widened like dinner plates and her face skewed into a pained expression while looking down at me with what I felt was nothing like contempt, but it wasn’t anything good either. “…Princess?” I was able to conjure a response when she blinked, but looked straight at me with a stern face. “Why…?” she began with trepidation. “Why, after all this time, are you mentioning that accursed thing now?” I gazed at her long and hard, the same expression on her face unmoving. It was a face I recognised when I told Spike everything of what was going on. It was the same face when I told the girls earlier about my suspicions. Except this face that Celestia was showing was also one out of sadness, while Spike and the girls revealed bewildered expressions and caution to my revelations. It was starting to get uncomfortable for me, and I wasn’t sure how to break away this silent tension since it was clear Celestia wasn’t going to be the pony to do that. “I’m not sure what you want me to say. It’s not like I’m making all this up.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “Like I said, it’s how I’m able to travel to that other world. It’s actually my only means of travel between there and Equestria.” “I don’t doubt your words. It’s just…” Celestia looked down on me with sad eyes. “Sunset, I nearly lost you to that mirror once.” Once again there was an uncomfortable silence. You could slice through it with a knife from how thick the tension was in the air. Thankfully, it was Rainbow Dash that interrupted our train of thought. “So, what’s up with this mirror thing?” “Ah’m mighty curious as well,” Applejack added. “Ya two look like ya dun gone seen a ghost.” We broke away from ourselves. The girls around us were anticipated by our next choice of words. I cleared my throat before I indulged them with my explanation. “The Crystal Mirror is a portal to another world. It only opens up for three days, every thirty moons which is roughly equivalent to around three years.” “That still doesn’t explain why it’s such a sensitive topic for you two,” Rarity retorted. “There isn’t anything scary about this mirror, is there?” Fluttershy lowered her head. I looked to Celestia who was contemplating whether we should even discuss the matter, having peeked at me several times before. In the end she relented and continued on from where I left off. “It was an old magical artefact created by Starswirl the Bearded. I discovered it some years ago in his study, and after studying it for a time, I found it to be enchanted. I had Sunset take a look at it for herself.” I saw Celestia frown. “In the original timeline,” I continued, “I used the mirror to exile myself to that other world. I was living in that world for a very long time now, even making it my home. It was there that I met Twilight Sparkle” “You went into exile?” Fluttershy asked, surprised. “Why in blazes would ya do that?” Applejack’s tone seemed more accusatory than sympathetic which made me wince. “Um, things… didn’t go so well between me and Celestia. Something happened between the two of us which does involve the Crystal Mirror.” But as I reflected carefully upon my statement, a curious thought crossed my mind. “I’m kind of surprised you girls know nothing about it. Didn’t I mention the Crystal Mirror to you girls before?” “Well,” Applejack began, “ya did mention ya had a fallin’ out with the princess, but nothin’ ‘bout a mirror.” The affirmations from the others told me that was the case. I didn’t know why but something was seriously wrong here. I was starting to get a really bad feeling about this, but about what, I wasn’t quite sure. I collected myself while my hoof was up to my face. “All right, well, if you girls say I haven’t told you the whole story before then I guess I didn’t.” “Would you care to elaborate for us?” Rarity affectionately suggested. “Yes, Sunset. I would also very much like to hear this in more detail.” I could see Celestia’s face terse, determined to know what I was about to say. So far she had been somber throughout my exchange with the girls. “Sure thing. Not sure where to begin though.” “How 'bout the beginning? Ya can always start there.” “All right,” I said, after letting out a heavy sigh. “Well, there’s not much to say really, but years ago, as you might already know, I was the personal protégé of Princess Celestia. I was at the top of my class in all my studies at Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, having demonstrated my awesome ability in magic. At the time, however, I didn’t care about making friends, despite Princess Celestia’s insistence. Instead I felt myself superior to everypony else. Not only that but I began to see myself as Celestia’s equal, that I could rule Equestria alongside her. Of course, those thoughts wouldn’t have come to fruition if it weren’t for that mirror.” “The Crystal Mirror?” Fluttershy asked. I nodded. “One day, Celestia showed me this enchanted mirror, and asked me if I could see anything in its reflection. I suspected she wanted me to see something significant as part of a lesson since I wasn’t being receptive to other ponies or making any friends. But what I saw shocked me. I saw myself. An alicorn. A princess. And that convinced me or proved to me that maybe I could rule Equestria alongside Celestia, that I can become an alicorn princess. “I wanted to know more about the mirror, and advance my studies into more powerful magic and not just be a mere student to Celestia. I became obsessed with it, persistently asking Celestia about it, and every time she refused to answer, saying that I wasn’t ready for such things. I was angry at her for denying me greatness and not giving me what I wanted. So one night, I had a thought that if Celestia wasn’t going to tell me anything about the mirror, then I would have to go find out about it myself. “I went into the forbidden section of the Canterlot Archives where I was able to learn that the Crystal Mirror was actually a portal to another world that only opens up every thirty moons.  I was also able to find more powerful spells and magic that were forbidden to everypony. So of course, I was in deep trouble when Princess Celestia showed up along with two guards. And because of my ambition and selfishness, as well as researching forbidden magic when I wasn’t supposed to, Celestia then…” I became silent, droning off what I’d already decided to leave behind. I was shaking like a leaf, breathing heavily, and swallowing whatever was building up in my throat. I didn’t think recounting my past would be this difficult. Celestia moved a little closer and parked herself on the cavern floor in front of me. The solemn regret in her eyes and her sad smile weren’t able to drive away my apprehension, but there was something relaxing and tranquil about them that made me calm down for a bit. Celestia then started to speak. “I did catch you in the forbidden section of the archives. I was already concerned when you became obsessed with the mirror, and when I was informed of your transgression, I was… disappointed. When I saw you there, however, my heart shattered. I could feel the anger and resentment from you, directed towards me; I could still feel it even today. That’s when I realised how important you were to me and how much I cared for you. I asked you to follow me to my bedroom chambers so we could talk more privately. And once we were alone, I knelt down and apologised to you, asking you for your forgiveness. I shouldn’t have dismissed you from wanting to learn more, even if my actions were justified, there was no excuse for how I treated you. I just…”—she swallowed—“I just couldn’t bear the idea of losing you, Sunset.” I couldn’t rightly believe it. Princess Celestia was hurting inside as she recounted her version of events to me, the official version of this timeline you could say. I could see it in her pained expression the torment and regret that she felt back then, and her eyes were as if they were about to tear up. But that wasn’t what surprised me the most. What astonished me was the way the events were played out and the emotions Celestia had described to me. I’ve always known Celestia to be all-knowing and strong with a resolute temperament, but rarely had I seen her this emotional before, if not at all. This was especially true when the fault was mine to begin with, even if I was resentful towards Celestia, she was in the right to banish me. That was why I decided to meet her, to apologise to her and ask her for forgiveness, in which she also asked the same of me. While she was emotional in our first reunion since our fallout, she still kept that same temperament. But the pony before me wasn’t even displaying that. Was this even the same Celestia? I could only assume so even if we were in a different timeline, but this was new to me because what I was seeing in front of me was a new emotion I’d never seen from Celestia: fear. “And I forgave you.” I tried to wrap my head around this. I was so used to Celestia being a strong and authoritative figure, especially when it came to magical studies. To see her like this, having lowered her guard even now, caring for somepony unworthy such as me… “Yes, you did. You did seem taken by surprise by my request, but eventually you did forgive me. You even apologised to me and asked me for my forgiveness. We never mentioned the Crystal Mirror ever again, and our relationship improved for the better. I hid the mirror away from prying eyes, making sure it would be kept secret. Don’t you remember any of this?” I frowned and reluctantly shook my head, betraying her expectations of me. “I’m sorry, that’s not what happened to me, not in the original timeline anyways. After you arrived, you banished me from the castle and terminated my studies as your pupil.” Celestia’s eye widened. “What are you talking about?” “You came up to me and banished me because of my selfishness and ambition. You told me you were removing me of my position as your pupil, that I may stay in Canterlot but I was no longer welcome in the castle.” “But, Sunset, I would never do that to you! You know that!” “Well, that’s what you did!” That came out a bit too strong than I hoped. “Sorry…” I calmed myself down with a heavy breath escaping my lips. “I was angry and resentful towards you from the way you treated me, dismissing me whenever I asked you about the mirror. So when you did banish me from the castle and terminated my position, I was infuriated. I attacked the two guards escorting me out of the castle and slipped through the Crystal Mirror without anypony noticing.” I looked back to the other girls who seemed pretty uncomfortable from our exchange. I was feeling uncomfortable enough myself that I wanted to run away. Of course, that would be irresponsible of me to not finish what I started. “Anyway, after I went through the mirror, the world I found myself in was completely different to our own, especially its inhabitants. Strangely enough, the world is actually populated with a different version of ourselves and the rest of Equestria. I was able to meet all of you in that world, including Luna and Celestia, and I’ve got to say, you all are very much like your counterparts. Of course, I didn’t befriend all for you at first. I wasn’t a good person—err pony—in that other world. I was a bully to everyone, making sure they answered to me. It would be much later that Twilight would come through the mirror, and then soon after that… well, she reformed me. We became friends ever since. She became my first friend.” I looked up, my head pointing towards to the tree while I sobered over my nostalgia. “That there is her cutie mark, engraved on the Tree of Harmony. Twilight is the Princess of Friendship, the Bearer of Magic, and I need to know where she is, or at least find a way to get me back home and bring the real Sunset Shimmer back.” There was something else as well. As much as I hated to admit it, but while they may be the counterparts to my own friends back home, they were different people, and I haven’t really thought of them as my friends. Unfortunately, Fluttershy apparently caught the uneasiness in my expression. “Is there something wrong?” I looked up to her. “Oh, it’s… it’s nothing.” “Ya sure about that?” That didn’t convince Applejack in the slightest, forcing me to choose my next words carefully. “I guess I should mention this,” I began, albeit hesitantly, “but I’ve always thought of you as just Twilight’s friends. We’ve only met a few times before, and even if you act the exact same way as my friends in the other world, I would still only think of you as her friends. I mean, I didn’t go up against Nightmare Moon with you girls, or Discord, Chrysalis, Sombra, or Tirek. You did those things with Twilight, and my memories are only those of that other world.” I saw the girls look at one another with hesitation in their eyes. I lowered my head towards the ground, a bit heartbroken after saying all that. After what seemed like minutes of contemplating, Applejack came forward. “We’ll help ya. We always will.” I looked up to meet her warm smile, the same one everypony else was displaying. “And don’t ya fret none, we’ll always think of ya as our friend. Even if ya don’t seem t’ be in the right place, sorta speak.” “Yes, Sunset, even if your memories are different to ours, or even if you are a different Sunset, we’ll always be with you,” Rarity added. I couldn’t help but have a weight lifted from my shoulders. “Thanks, girls. I’d have thought you’d be angry with me or something.” “Of course not, silly! You’ve always be Sunny to us! And if you are a different Sunny, that means this is the first time we met, and I’ve still yet to throw you a “Welcome to Ponyville” party! Oh, we can also make it a party for our old friend Twilight, although I’m not even sure who she is, but I’m sure we're good friends like you said, so I’d still throw her a party in her honor!” Pinkie enthusiastically declared, while crushing me in her Pinkie-style bear hug. This time Fluttershy was the one to speak up. “Like Pinkie and Rarity said, even if you are a different Sunset Shimmer, I’m sure we would be good friends in no time.” The other girls nodded to that, and we all came together in one big group hug; Celestia herself smiled at our warm display. I felt my body unwind at the immense affection given to me. It was kind of ironic, since they were the counterparts of my friends, I shouldn’t have had anything to worry about in the first place. After we broke from the hug I threw out that question much to the bewilderment of my friends. A lot had happened, and it had already been a long day. “So, what now?” Luckily it was Celestia who suggested something. “Have you found out anything else?” I put some thought into Celestia’s question. “Not much really—” “We found out a whole bunch of stuff! Like how Sunset asked us whether we knew of a pony named Twilight Sparkle, but we said no, except she’s the only one who remembers her and probably took over her life as an alicorn princess, but was also worried that she might be an alien or time traveller from a completely different world or timeline, or that maybe a spell or magical creature was the cause of all this, and even Rainbow thinks this might be the work of Discord since he is a powerful magical creature and probably did this for fun, not like the time when he changed the clouds into cotton candy and made them rain chocolate which was really delicious, and I wish we can have cotton candy clouds and chocolate rain all the time, but he’d have to go back to being cheeky and evil and mean, although he’s still pretty cheeky after being reformed, which is probably why Rainbow thinks that he did it, even though Fluttershy insists he’s been really good and wouldn’t do such a thing, but then Sunset suggested she’d have a talk with him later, and then said she wanted to investigate the Tree of Harmony, and now here we are!” The rest of us were stunned while Pinkie sported her trademark happy-go-lucky grin. Even Celestia seemed to be drawing a blank to what just transpired. Or maybe that was her stoic expression that Celestia was most famous for. “Pinkie, how are you able to say all that in one sentence?” I asked. “It takes practice.” She nonchalantly waved her roof around, which rose a slight chuckle out of me. I was surprised as to how calm and collected Celestia was before Pinkie Pie’s antics. I wouldn’t put it past her though from the way she was deep in thought while Pinkie’s words still hung out in the air. “I must say, I’m immensely impressed with the way you girls conducted yourselves already at the start of your investigation, especially with so little to go on. That includes what we have discovered here.” “It’s mostly just speculation at this point,” I clarified. “That doesn’t make it any less impressive. There is one thing that bothers me with your sense of reasoning however.” “There is?” She nodded. “You mentioned in your letter that this Twilight Sparkle pony might have vanished from existence, correct?” I confirmed her with a nod, by which she continued. “Then tell me, why do you say you took over the life of this Twilight Sparkle?” “Well, that’s because I was never an alicorn princess to begin with and I sorely remember Twilight Sparkle being the Princess of Friendship where I came from. Not to mention, the castle that I woke up in was supposedly Twilight’s, yet everypony insists the castle belongs to me, plus other things.” “That’s true, but then while your deduction is highly justifiable, why do you insist this Twilight Sparkle has vanished from existence?” “…Isn’t that because nopony seems to remember her except me?” But even when I said that, doubts began to linger in my mind that may not be the case at all. “It’s not like that’s the only explanation. It’s merely a possibility, and may still be within probable cause.” “Even if that was the case, Twilight Sparkle may have just been simply misplaced, and because of that nopony would have met her, therefore nopony would have remembered her.” “What are you suggesting, Princess?” “I’m just trying to figure out your choice of wording. How did you come to that idea in the first place?” Strange. How did I come up with that ridiculous notion? In the realm of possibilities, as far as magic was concerned, it wasn’t that farfetched, except I had no evidence to support it. Several times I had made that claim to these girls, to Princess Celestia, even to myself. So what gives? “…I felt something was wrong when I woke up this morning,” I began. “When I spoke with Spike, I was getting confused as to what he was saying and asked him a bunch of questions. It was then that I thought she disappeared when I saw my cutie mark on Twilight’s throne.” “So you based your theory on intuition?” I nodded. It was the only explanation I could offer after all, although an illogical one. “In that case, I would like you to take that in stride as you conduct your investigation. Your instinctual feelings might just be an important clue.” I was taken aback. Even I could sense the girls giving off quizzical looks. Still, I couldn’t let this one go for rationality’s sake. “Not to go against your judgement, but I doubt feelings and instincts are exactly evidence that we can use here.” “Not necessarily,” she countered. “While evidence is required to establish a logical connection, it is our instincts that drive us to achieve our ultimate goals.” “I see. I’ll take that to heart then.” Celestia accepted that with a soft nod, then looked out towards the cave entrance. “I believe it is getting rather late. Please, allow me to escort you girls back to Ponyville.”