She braced herself as the landscape trembled around her, changing a thousand times between one heartbeat and the next before she could reassert her tenuous control over the firmament again. It was here, at the far edges of the dreamlands, on the border of existence itself that they touched all the realms that were, are and might be. It was here she had come in search of her lost friend. Every step in this place was a hazard, as you fought to prevail upon it both your existence and its.
Here where reality itself was questionable the echoes of Celestia’s and Twilight’s brief time in the Other reverberated like a soundless thunder. The aether was thin, brittle like bad ice and if one was not careful you could fall through and find yourself lost amid the myriad worlds that lay beyond. This is what she suspected had somehow happened to Twilight, and which was why time, if it had any meaning in this place, was of the essence. Many of the worlds beyond were dangerous in a way that young Sparkle was not prepared for, and they in turn could be grievously wounded if the inexperienced alicorn delved too deep or too recklessly in her newfound power.
Luna only hoped that Twilight had heeded her sister’s advice. She still struggled with the weight and consequences of her fall and she did not know if she could bare facing the reflection of it in her friend. Twilight giving into despair or anger wasn’t the only worry however. If she really had become the manifestation of Magic and all that entailed then she could cause far more damage with even the best of intentions than Luna had ever been capable of in her darkest hours.
She had only traveled a short distance further when the next tremor caught her mid-step and suddenly found herself and the landscape around her split into a thousand imperfect fractal reflections. A thousand aspects of her and their differing effects on the dreamlands swirled around as though she and the world had become a damaged kaleidoscope. Crying out in pain and disorientation she struggled to pull herself back into a singular being. Some pieces came easily and quickly joined the task. Others struggled or tried to hide. The last shards, the parts of herself that she hated or was ashamed of were the hardest. She fought herself and then fought herself in an endless battle both real and entirely imagined until an eternal instant later she made another step and was whole again.
The dark alicorn shuddered and the world shook and darkened around her as she fought to release the fear of what she had just gone through. The experience had shaken her, any worse and she might never have recovered from it. She wanted nothing more at that moment than to return to Equestria and cry into her sister’s soft fur. To touch light and love and know without doubting that it existed. When she had gathered herself enough to move once more the caution with which she did so made her earlier measured pace seem like a reckless gambol.
Lost pockets of alien dreams, secrets, and relics that existed outside of time and space materialized and faded away as she followed the echoes of Twilight’s passage. Luna knew better than to attempt to look at any too closely, nothing that retained shape in this place was without power or consequence.
The longer she walked the more she felt the faint echoes of past hoof steps. Somepony had been here before. Instinctively following the ancient yet familiar feel of them she stumbled upon a loose trail scattered with faded pieces of rainbow. Their edges jagged as though they had been violently shattered. ‘The bridge?’ Luna thought, incredulous.
Had the elements somehow reconnected with what remained of that ancient construct? It was possible. Luna picked up her pace as the lingering magic of rainbow shards and the memories of past ponies gave solidity to this sliver of the borderlands.
Hope and worry warred within her. As she traveled she became more and more convinced that she would find Twilight Sparkle at the end of this path, but the bridge had been destroyed for a reason. That even this much of it remained was worrying.
It had been a lighthouse with which to navigate the treacherous seas of the border. Perhaps one of the greatest feats of magical engineering that had ever been imagined, let alone realized. They had traveled far and explored with the unrestrained earnestness of youth. Always the bridge would guide them back, and as they traveled they had anchored it to more and more of reality. They had learned however that many lost things had been searching for a harbor.
The aether began to take on a fouled and dirty feel even as it became more solid. Some fey thing had wallowed its way through here, graceless and violent. Casting in this place was the height of folly and the impressions old, nevertheless she found herself readying defensive spells and looking around warily.
Suddenly she was thrown off her hooves as a massive pillar of light on the horizon speared violently through the aether. Thousands of years of experience was the only thing that prevented her from falling into the vast cosmos below as the whole plane cracked and shifted beneath her, giants rifts into nothing and everything spiderwebbing and becoming solid as the terrain around them boiled between a million different landscapes to fast for thought to accept.
Throwing all her previous caution to the wind she raced recklessly towards the light. The appearance of five flickering rainbow bands arcing overhead and heading towards the disturbance gave Luna no cheer. True harmony was beyond any thinking being’s understanding and the elements could be as dangerous as any problem they were invoked to solve. A lesson she and her sister had learned long before the name Nightmare Moon had ever been uttered aloud. Without her friends nearby to anchor Twilight and help direct the magic the risks were greater still.
As Luna sped towards the light she only hoped she arrived in time to prevent history from repeating itself.
Wow, it's nice to see one of the Princess in the story. Not much to say other then that. Keep on rocking.
First thought: Yes, and update!
Second thought: Nooo, such a short chapter!
Third thought (after realizing what it is about): Ohohoho ...
So, yeah. It might have been short, but certainly succeeded in riling up my excitement and expectations of what is to come. I guess now I have my answer as to whether it was the real Celestia that Twilight conversed with or just a fragment of her imagination - and I'm no less excited about the prospect of Luna coming to visit. Almost all of the stories that have Twilight magicking herself to another world have everyone back in Equestria clueless and helpless, if they are even mentioned at all.
It's a refreshing change of pace to not only have the Princesses be aware of what has likely transpired, but actually taking steps to do something about it. It was also a nice little peek in to Celestia's and Luna's backstory (one I imagine she will reveal to Twilight later on) and how they used to navigate the void between the worlds in their younger days. Speaking of the void, I assume that the "graceless and violent" things she felt having passed through were the Endbringers, coming to Earth from wherever they came. Once can only hope that more don't intend to follow their wake, if there are more on whatever world they came from.
Also, I imagine Luna's reaction when she gets to fully assess Twilight's situation will be somewhat amusing - instead of all the grim things she is imagining (and for all the hardships that Twilight is, indeed, going through), the fledgling alicorn has been busy building a gaggle of friends on the new world, doing no small amount of good with her presence and generally becoming somewhat of a symbol of hope for the city she arrived in and is worldwide (and generally positive) news. One can only hope that Luna doesn't develop a second complex of inadequacy :P
I have to wonder when Luna will arrive though ... seeing as Twilight is (presumably) trying to draw upon the Elements once again, I assume the battle against Leviathan has started already. If that's the case, here's hoping we get to see Luna kicking some ass. And I'm certainly looking towards her reunion with Twilight and all the following interactions.
Now excuse me while I go and furiously rock back & forth in my room's corner as I impatiently wait for the next chapter.
There is one thing that slightly confuses me though - namely, when in Equestria's timeline is this taking place? Originally the story was giving a pretty strong impression that it happened right after Twilight and her friends used the Elements on Nightamre Moon, but now I'm not so sure any longer.
I mean, at the very start of the story, Twilight's memory lapse was described as only clouding her memories over a relatively brief timeframe, right prior to the accident. The fact that she couldn't recall her friends reinforces this - if this happened, say, during Magical Mystery Cure, surely Twilight wouldn't forget them, as at that point she would have known them for well over a year. During her conversation with Celestia, she also had to be informed that the Elements healed Luna (something she would normally know on her own).
In the previous chapter however, we have Twilight mussing how she has gone on all sorts of adventures with her friends, which doesn't quite float if all they had done was face NMN up to that point. Now Luna is refering to Twilight as her friend, which normally wouldn't really happen prior to Luna Eclipsed, I believe.
All in all, I'm having issues placing when, exactly, did Twilight decide to world-jump. The earlier story seems to hint right after blasting Luna with the Elements, but the last few chapters seem to hint at sometime later (much later), but that doesn't quite line up with the short-term memory loss causing her to forget her friends briefly.
Unless this being an Elements inducted accident (or so I assume), caused her to briefly forget all the events when the Elements were used, for some reason, and the circumstances surrounding those incidents. Other than that ... *scratches head*
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I have been pretty ambiguous on the timeline haven't I...
A few hints from the story
1.) Twilight was involved with some accident/incident
2.) She initially remembers nothing beyond her something Involving Nightmare moon (her first interaction with the elements
3.) Over the next few chapters, but particularly chapter 4 we see a hint that she remembers things that happened significantly later than this
4.) Burnscar and interacting with the elements cause her to remember a lot more things that seem to indicate an older Twilight
5.) Luna Talks about the elements being dangerous
And in the show we see
1.)We see in MMC that the elements can cause far reaching memory effects and alterations.
I can neither confirm nor deny anything - but you might be pretty close to something here
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Yeah, I recall those hints. Initially I had this pegged as post-NMM fight (as was your intention, I imagine), but with the new information bits that obviously doesn't hold up. Which raises the question of what, exactly, was Twilight up to when she ended up on Earth.
She did recall it being a task from Celestia (though that doesn't necessarily say much if her memory is faulty, as she might be thinking of another incident, and for all we know she finally succeeded in blowing up Ponyville as a part of a private experiment), which the Magic Mystery Cure could qualify as, I suppose ... or you could be going for a non-canon activation of the Elements for whatever purpose. I imagine Luna will fill in the blanks on that one.
Of course you can - you just won't
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For me the biggest hint the timeline is the behavior of Twilight as a whole: she's assertive and not a social recluse, and considerably more mature from what I think she was at the beginning of the series. My own headcanon was is somewhere after S2 and before Twilight becoming an alicorn in the S3 finale.
However, it wouldn't surprise me if it was actually the casting Starswirl's incomplete spell from MMC which sent Twilight into the Wormverse.
3966620
Twilight has always been reasonably assertive though, and the social part is hard to judge because of her new circumstances - she has been thrown in a whole new world, stuff has been trying to take a bite out of her flank ever since the first few minutes since arriving, she doesn't really have the local knowledge to support herself in this new environment long-term, her chances of actually getting home are unknown ...
In essence, she is alone, stranded, stressed and scared (with good reason). It's no big wonder that, even had she still been in her "I don't really need friends" phase in her normal environment, that her current circumstances would make her seek out and hold/latch on to whatever peace of mind she can, to re-establish some sort of a comfort zone. Familiarity with environment is off the table, so that pretty much leaves familiarity with individuals, which is quicker to establish and the opportunities to do so presented themselves readily enough.
What I'm trying to say is, Twilight's observable behavior doesn't necessarily line up neatly with any corresponding point in the series, because her emotions have been thrown out of whack pretty badly.
Random speculation on Alicorns after re-reading the story (yes, I couldn't wait for the next chapter and this was the next best thing...). Luna was pondering about Twilight having become the manifestation of Magic, which likely means that, in this story, Alicorns probably represent some sort of an idea or a concept from the world, either physical or emotional/spiritual.
What Cadence represents is pretty obvious, which leaves the question of what Luna and Celestia represent. I kinda doubt it's as simple as Sun / Moon, because really, Moon is a big piece of rock ... I kinda doubt Luna is the manifestation of that. Or if she was, she'd probably look differently.
On a wild guess, I'd go with her representing the concept of "Night" - we have seen her exhibit power over dreams (which has an obvious connection to sleeping and thus nighttime), she watches over Equestria during night, and even her association to Moon and stars (as we view them) can be traced to night - because nighttime is when you can see them. Perhaps a smudge of gravity in there, as the moon controls the tides. I imagine she's good with all sorts of abstracts and "mysterious" concepts often associated with darkness and night, hence her navigating the void between realities instead of Celestia.
By contrast, Celestia would have to be "Day", though that almost sounds a bit too simple (with a touch of Fusion thrown in, if she can control the Sun, which is essentially a humongous fusion reactor) ... though perhaps that actually fits - Celestia is a warm and approachable public figure and generally is (or seems) obvious, like things tend to be in the light of day and under the warmth of sun.
Obviously they aren't limited to just being their concepts (Luna seems fond of throwing lightning around, for example), but if there is to be an overarching theme with either Alicorn, I reckon it might be that ... or I might be off in the left field and completely out of whack.
Twilight not having Celestia's/Luna's stature and the flowy mane (yet ... and assuming said characteristic is shared between all mature Alicorns, not just a quirk of Luna and Celestia on account of them being sisters) is easy enough to explain by her being but a newborn in Alicorn terms - it was noted her inner magical structure is still undergoing changes, so I imagine it might take her a while to fully grow in to her power.
We do know Alicorns grow after all - in the show, Twilight is slightly taller after her transformation (not a lot, but she is very slightly bigger than her friends, when before they were all dead even), and from a flashback we know Cadence used to be much smaller/filly sized, but now, after what must be a decade or so, she nearly has Luna's frame. Probably just going to take Twilight some time to get there - she may be a level 99 Unicorn, but her Prestige Class of Alicorn has only been unlocked just now and is level 1.
Or I might be completely wrong
Um... the Eldritch Horror almost certainly wasn't the Endbringers, but saying any more would be spoilers if you haven't read WORM.
I am curious as to what the Tactical Rainbow Strike is going to do to Leviathan though. Not that he's even a real threat in the grand scheme of things.
The big IF on the radar right now is whether the Simurgh or... that other threat... are picking up Twilight on their radar, and when they started to. Of course, with Jack dead, a good portion of the endgame is buggered beyond recognition anyway...
In any case, I'm very interested in seeing where this goes.
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Re-reading the story, I am sorry the update schedule has driven you to such desperate measures - but thank you for the implied compliment
This is some good speculation, on another board I confirmed this much:
What exactly that entails and its ramifications I will leave for further speculation :
4001042
Yes, you have driven me to all sorts of desperate measures and now must repent! *ahem*
And yay, good to know I got "something" right - I was half-convinced I was babbling a whole lot of nonsense there. And now you have me even more excited about Luna's arrival and how she will impact the story - and what will her deductions be about the worm-verse and the Endbringers.
Also, am I too hopeful in assuming we will get to see Luna kicking some flank? Would be one hell of an experience for Twilight as well, to see one of her precious princesses cutting loose - I imagine that Luna, unlike Twilight, actually has a list of spells, tactics and effects designed with the purpose of causing harm to her enemies and wouldn't be too squeamish about using them, given Luna's general no-nosense personality and the harsher time period from Equestria's history she hails from.
Though I obviously don't expect Luna's arrival to be a magical fix-all button, far from it. And Luna already implied that Twilight can be, or at least has the potential to be, more powerful than herself. Though I imagine Twilight would first have to grow in to her Alicorn power first for a decade or century or two, and gain some with applying said powers experience under her belt.
3990509
Ha! yes.
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Hmm, All I shall say is this: I would not introduce her and not use her
4001334
Heh, I can already imagine all the diplomats and bigwigs trying to climb over each other to get at Luna, much like they did with Twilight, after learning that an actual ruler is here now to speak for her people.
And Luna getting the hell out of dodge by proclaiming Twilight as a Princess perfectly capable speaking in her place and running away leaving a mortified lavender alicorn behind to plot her revenge
3990509 heh... yea. Now I wonder what would happen if River Song made it to Equestria?
...
...
...
Wow. Okay, my headcanon now has this as a multiverse multi-crossover. Connections between realities in an inconceivable space beyond the edge of the realm of dreams? Sounds kind of like the Outside at the edge of the Fey realms in the Dresden Files. The rainbow remnants of a bridge between realities? Hey, Bifrost. I'm going with the Norse version, rather than Marvel's. I do not expect to see any of this come into play...well, maybe the rainbow bridge being tied back to Norse mythology as further proof of previous contact with other realities. But this story officially ties to the Dresdenverse for me, and Luna and the Gatekeeper are BFFs.
Also, think I just realized what's going to happen when Twilight sees Leviathan, and a certain powerful hero shows up to fight. And no, I don't mean Golden Boy.
4040917
The rainbow bridge is from G1 MLP actually
Again, only a couple of errors noticed.
bear
in to
worry, (comma)
4040917
Aquaman? Seriously, this looks like a job for Aquaman.
Freaking Rainbow Bridge!
4040917
Actually the Rainbow bridge is a reference to the first two generations of MLP humans will cross over with the Rainbow bridge and a human had the power of the rainbow of light