Chapter 4 - Remember
The statue that was once Sunset Shimmer shattered like glass against the hard, mirrored street beneath the crumbling visage of the Crystal Palace, scattering her amongst the similarly stony remains of all those who had stood together this fateful night. Pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies lay scattered, alone and in heaps. The Element Bearers were no more. Electric blue and aqua flames raged through the ancient buildings, gutting the very heart of the city.
And within the heart of the ruins, kneeling on her human hands and knees, Twilight Sparkle wept. She’d torn her glasses off and held her eyes as tight as she could manage with her hands. This was all wrong. All wrong.
She could hear the patter of familiar paws. Through her tears, Twilight could make out the image of her purple dog, Spike, slowly making his way towards her through the flames and the rubble.
“Twilight,” he sighed, eyes devoid of life, “why did you let her do this?”
“I didn’t,” she sobbed, “I didn’t mean too!”
“Why did… you… do this…?” Spike slid down to the ground, and breathed his last, leaving only dust behind.
A voice, like a roll of thunder, echoed through the night, “Awww, don’t feel too bad, Twilight.” The flames rose higher and higher around her, “There was nothing you could do to stop me!”
Twilight could see a form stride through the flames, an alicorn like the Princess Twilight, only ten stories tall and with a mane of blue fire. Her wings were the night sky, and her cackling roar shook the whole world.
Midnight Sparkle had won. All was lost, and Equestria would fall.
“How could you ever hope to oppose me, child?” she laughed, “I am inevitable!”
It was true. Twilight had let her friends down. She’d succumbed. She’d failed. She failed. Failed. Failed. It was as though the sky itself, starless and oppressive, was mocking her failure. The black clouds were as her spirit, drained of all light and life. Save for the full moon, of course…
The moon? Twilight half-turned to look over her shoulder, and even Midnight paused her maniacal laughter to stare at the suddenly present celestial body.
A burst of silvery light washed over the bleak and burning world, heralding the arrival of two shadowy forms, who now alighted beside Twilight.
One was a near-duplicate of herself. The Princess Twilight stood a few inches taller, lacked the need for glasses, and she bore not only her alicorn wings and horn, but was clad also in a regal gown of silver and pink. She immediately knelt beside Twilight, and placed a comforting hand upon her shoulder.
“Twilight,” she said, a soothing tone of love and friendship somehow reducing the previously deafening roar of fire and thunder, “we’re here. We’re here for you.”
The second being appeared on Twilight’s left. At a glance, the human teenager was taken aback at seeing Vice Principal Luna standing there. Then she began noting the woman’s flowing, ethereal hair, her own set of wings and horn. She wore an ancient dress of midnight blues, giving Luna the appearance of a classical marble statue brought to life.
A Goddess in the flesh.
“Fear not, human Twilight Sparkle,” her voice shook the world, “The realm of dreams is my domain. And so long as I breathe, yours shall be defended!”
This Luna swept her hand forward, unleashing a coruscating blast of dark blue magic. The very crystal vibrated at the attack’s passing. It struck true, directly in the center of Midnight’s chest, and immediately exploded into a fireball that lit the whole of the dreamed Crystal Empire.
The towering alicorn of dark magic was no more. Smoke alone filled the space she once occupied. In the echoing silence of her passing, darkness crept in to swallow the blue flames, the broken and shattered crystal homes, the palace overhead, and the night sky. Only the ground, and the shattered statues remained.
“What… just happened?” Twilight felt as though a layer of fog had lifted from her… brain?
Princess Twilight helped her counterpart up to her feet. “It’s a bit of a story, but you’re dreaming.”
Twilight nodded with understanding, checking her glasses for scuffs or scratches. “Ah, I see. That would explain the dream-logic of my being human while in Equestria. Speaking of which…” she indicated the Princesses with a quick hand gesture.
“Oh,” Twilight seemed unsure suddenly, looking over her own form, “I didn’t think we would change so much.”
“Such are the peculiarities of dreams,” Luna said, a contented smile etched onto her lips. “Evidently, young Twilight Sparkle dreams in ‘human’. And so, we take this form.”
“That sounds reasonable,” Twilight concurred. “But… how are you here? This… this is my dream, right?”
Luna spun on one heel, a spring in her step. She walked over to the human Twilight and patted her shoulder like an old friend greeting another. “My duties as Princess of Night allow me entrance to the dreamrealm of my subjects. I often aid my little ponies to combat their own nightmares and insecurities. Yet you,” she smiled warmly, “are a special case.”
“Luna figured it out,” Princess Twilight joined in, “Midnight Sparkle was something called an Incubus; a particular bad nightmare born from strong negative emotions. And with her here, you can say ‘So long’ to Midnight forever!”
The words were… surprising. Very surprising. It was like being told the rain was chocolate milk, or that clouds were cotton candy. Twilight didn’t want to believe them. She couldn’t believe them. Especially since she could see the dust clearing from the air and the figure who remained.
“Ex-cuse you!”
All eyes turned, and with creeping horror beheld the human form of Midnight Sparkle. She appeared as she did so during the Friendship Games, Twilight saw. Her skin and hair were a shade darker than Twilight’s, and in addition to the black hawk-wings and glowing horn, her eyes were wreathed in glass-frames of aqua flame. She was human-sized, unlike the gigantic form she had taken before, and drifted high up in the darkness, like a bird of prey awaiting a dive.
Luna took one step backward, her face contorted into an open-mouthed grimace. “What!?”
Midnight drifted over to within a few feet before setting down. She glowered and crossed her arms haughtily. “I was having a good dream here! Why did you feel the need to spoil it!?”
Princess Twilight gasped, “L-Luna! That’s… not possible, right?”
“It cannot be,” the elder Princess whispered, then said with bitterness, “How hath thou done this, demon?”
Midnight cocked an eyebrow. “Done what? If you wanted to fight a demon, Shimmy’s probably a few dreams over. Tell her I said she looked better in red.”
“No Incubus could withstand my magic,” Luna growled in annoyance, “So what have you done to remain after my attack? Some vile sorcery, no doubt.”
At the mention of an Incubus, Midnight seemed to squint in confusion. Then she began to laugh. No cute chuckle nor smarmy guffaw either. She began to cackle like a witch, doubling over and gripping her sides as the seconds dragged on in her jocular display.
The human Twilight frowned and finally snorted, “You can stop anytime now.”
Midnight’s laughter ceased immediately, and she recomposed herself. “Look, if I was a ‘Super Nightmare’, like you think,” Luna grumbled at the words ‘super’ and ‘nightmare’, “then yes, that should have banished me. I’m afraid little Twily hasn’t been entirely honest with either of you about me.”
Princess Twilight narrowed her eyes, “What do you mean by that?”
“Pfft!” Midnight snickered again. She reached down and picked up a stone… that happened to look exactly like the human Rainbow Dash’s head. “You sound just like Dash. ‘Whaddya mean by that? That’s so cool! That’s 20% awesomer!’” She snorted.
“Put that down!” Twilight’s sudden rage prompted the Princesses to flare their horns and wings.
Midnight just tossed the head back over her shoulder. “Relax, nerd-girl. It’s just a dream. I’m sure your Rainbow Dash will be around to annoy you for as long as it takes me to break you down again.”
“Begone fiend!” Luna cried, an aura of magic burning around her clenched fists. “Trouble this teenager no longer!”
Midnight regarded the Princess of Night with the same sort of unimpressed annoyance she might give a child with a crayon up their nose. “Again, not a fiend. Sunset or Discord might be though, I’d ask them.”
The standoff dragged several more seconds into the grave before Midnight finally threw up her hands, and said in exasperation, “Fine! I’ll go. Have fun explaining us, Twi.”
As she watched Midnight turn and begin to walk away, Twilight remembered something. She brushed off the Princess Twilight’s hand and shouted, “Wait!”
“Twilight!” the Princess reached out to grab hold of her younger friend, only to find Luna’s arm blocking her. “Luna?”
Luna motioned for silence, then turned her complete and undivided attention towards the girl and the monster before them.
Midnight had turned back, a single eyebrow raised. Her aqua-sclera and iris-less purple eyes felt like they were boring heat directly into Twilight as she approached. “Can I help you?”
The other girl paused. A moment of uncertainly gripped her just then, and her hands tried desperately to find something to do or somewhere to hide. Finally, she took a short, deep breath, and willed herself to stand tall.
“You… you repressed our memories,” she said, trying to show no emotion, no fear, and failing, “I didn’t remember what w-we did in the Crystal Empire until now. Why? Why did you do that?”
Midnight froze, for just a second, and then scowled at her better half, “You can’t be this stupid.”
“What?”
“You. Cannot. Be this stupid,” Midnight pronounced each word as clearly as possible. “You’re me. We have the same IQ. Or did you bump your head at some point I wasn’t aware of?”
Twilight blushed angrily, and took a single step forward. “I don’t understand. What does that have to do with anything?”
Midnight growled irritably while shaking her head, “If you would use your brain for a moment, you’d realize that Time Magic is stupid, and everyone who dabbles in it is an idiot. Especially that Starswirl character!”
While Twilight puzzled over this statement, she could not help but hear her Princess self behind her squee with delight, “Finally! Somepony gets it!” From the sound Luna made in response, she did not sound as impressed by this.
“But…” Twilight bit down on one finger as she thought, marveling slightly at how she couldn’t feel a thing. Dreams were amazing. “But you could have used your knowledge of the future. You could have stopped Sunset from defeating you, or tried to take over my body during the battle. Why did you hide those memories until after we defeated you again?”
Midnight’s lip curled into a silent snarl, “Because then I’d have to deal with a paradox. I didn’t, so I couldn’t.” She sneered towards the Princesses, “What did Starlight and you say? ‘Time is a river’? Or something like that. Any change to the timeline might have done something catastrophic that I’d have to deal with later.”
She walked directly up to Twilight, one hand brushing the girl’s loose hair strands, “Besides… who says you defeated me?”
Twilight slapped her hand away, “The Elements of Harmony, clearly.”
The other girl snarled back, “Thanks for that, by the way.” Midnight returned to scowling, “I had the Crystal Heart and all its magic and knowledge right in the palm of my hand! Losing that felt like you were tearing my actual heart out of my chest!”
“My heart, you mean!”
“Semantics!” Midnight turned and began to huff as she walked away. “We’re done here, Sparkle! Have a nice night. One of your last!”
The blue flames that remained in the dream swirled about Midnight, completely obscuring her from view. In an instant, she was gone, leaving behind a single scorch-mark in the street the exact shape of Twilight’s pointed star. Luna, not looking to her fellow dreamwalker or the dreamer herself, drew near to inspect the burned ground.
Princess Twilight came up to her alternate self and placed another comforting hand upon her shoulder. “Well,” the alicorn-turned-human sighed, “That could have gone a lot better.”
“Maybe,” the teenager sighed, making her uncomfortably aware of how much she just sounded like a recording of the Princess, “Or maybe this was always going to happen.”
Twilight ‘felt’ herself, as much as could feel in a dream, spin hard around to face the Princess, who fixed her with a determined look. Their eyes met, and she could not help but feel a strange sort of unease looking directly at someone… somepony who looked so similar to herself, yet so different.
“Never say that,” the command almost felt like it was settling into Twilight’s bones, “Midnight isn’t who you are, or were meant to be. You are exactly who you were meant to be, and I swear, as a Princess of Equestria, that I will do whatever I can to help you remember that fact!”
That conviction, that unbreakable feeling of rightness flowed from the Princess’ words directly into Twilight’s own chest, like a warm electrical current through a conductor. There was something about that passion that kept Twilight standing, even as her mind… which she was technically standing in presently, wanted nothing more than to shut down and forget about all this.
A sharp voice cut through such thoughts. “She hasn’t been entirely honest about me.”
The twinned Twilights stepped away from one another and turned their attention back towards the elder Princess, who remained stone-still mere feet away from the evidence of Midnight’s exit.
“That is what this Midnight said,” Luna’s hands clenched and unclenched behind her back, which led the Princess Twilight to marvel at her quick adjustment to this form. “She said you had not been truthful about her nature with us. Would you care to explain?”
That had been what Midnight had said. But that was ridiculous. She was being ridiculous.
“I don’t know what she meant by that,” Twilight said, arms crossing, “I told Sunset Shimmer everything about what it was like. I told her how my obsession with magic was intensified, and how I just… stopped caring about others. If she didn’t tell you either of those…”
Luna spun around, wings unfurled, causing a rush of dream-wind to kick up the dream dust all about them, the last remnants of the shattered dream world Midnight had created. It was such an intense, violent action that it startled both Princess and regular teenager. Twilight held up her hands out of pure reflex, shielding herself from whatever was about to happen.
But nothing happened. She lowered her hands slightly, peeking through her fingers. She did not feel a magical blast, nor blow from an enraged hand. She saw that Luna had half-closed the distance between them, now standing only a yard away. And as Twilight looked up into her eyes, eyes she could feel burning their way into her soul…
She saw only a glisten of tears unshed.
Luna’s voice was as solid and unyielding as stone when she said, “Twilight Sparkle, I fear what I must ask of you now, so speak truthfully to me.”
She took a slow, measured breath, then asked, “Can you remember nothing else?”
Twilight felt a similar sort of conviction coming off of Luna’s words as had Princess Twilight’s. There was a hidden meaning there, a hidden warmth the ancient princess could not voice, only intimate through her gaze. A gaze that had seen countless victories and tragedies.
It scared her. It scared her straight to the pit of her soul.
“Maybe…” she said with intense uncertainty, “While I hadn’t suffered the same way Sunset had when,” she spared a glance to her counterpart, “when you redeemed her, I suppose I could have been in a similar state of mind. So much stress, anger, and pain that I couldn’t bring myself to think about some of the details of that night.”
The Princess Twilight said quietly, as though she were handling delicate glass, “Is it possible you forgot?”
“Then we are not without recourse,” Luna sighed, “Whilst in the realm of dreams, your mind will be more fluid than normal. You… should be able to recover your memories with far greater accuracy than usual.”
A cold wind blew through the dream world. Twilight felt, truly felt, the chill settle into her stomach. “What memories?” she asked, already knowing the answer and dreading it.
Princess Luna seemed to understand. But in her eyes was now a determined flame. And whereas the one within Princess Twilight was like a welcoming campfire, this flame was more like the one at the end of a Bunsen burner, or one of the plasma torches in Twilight’s lab. It had a very specific, exact purpose. And it would burn away all resistance.
What could Twilight say? What could she do? For months, she’d tried to put Midnight Sparkle behind her, to forget her life before friendship. How could Luna ask her to… to go back to that?
Go on, a voice within her said. She just wants to help you. A doctor looking for the cause of an illness would also look into your history to find a root cause.
Another voice, a hard, cold, familiar voice agreed. Why not? They never asked before. Why not tell them exactly what we went through? Let them see it!
“I… I don’t want to go back there,” she whispered.
“Twilight,” Luna’s passionless tone felt like a knife dragging across Twilight’s skin. “Your dreams of late have been so severe that We initially assumed they were tearing at the foundations of your mind. If Midnight Sparkle is not the culprit of this assault upon your wellbeing, or if she is not an Incubus as I feared, then there is something else at play here that must be found.”
As Luna spoke, Princess Twilight laid a hand lightly upon the human Twilight’s back. She said nothing, merely letting her presence be felt.
Twilight shivered at the touch. As Luna spoke, she slowly began to recoil, to fall back within herself. She didn’t want to go back. She could not. If she had to see it again, maybe that would give Midnight the opening she needed! Perhaps going that far back would remind her of all the bad times before she had friends. Friends that wouldn’t make her go back to…
Soft black wings surrounded Twilight, and pulled her close to the… goddess that looked like her Vice Principal. Luna pulled her further into a gentle hug, and held the girl, who had yet to notice the tears streaming down her cheeks.
Luna’s voice was even, and controlled. Yet still, the faintest whisper of something else could be heard within it. Concern? Or… love? “I don’t wish to hurt you… but even through one thousand mirrors, or across the totality and entirety of the cosmoses beyond, I am your friend, Twilight Sparkle. Let me help you.”
Twilight Sparkle drew in one final, deep breath. And then she exhaled in a long and shuddering sigh. Her whole body stilled, except for her hands. She took Luna’s own and slowly pulled them aside, ending the hug she had found herself in.
Their eyes met. Twilight gave a soft, forgiving smile. Luna nodded, knowing full well what would follow.
The dream world shifted. Luna had seen such transitions before, like walking through a blizzard or a sandstorm for a brief moment as the conjured reality of the dream vanished, then returned. She had recognized the Crystal Empire before, or at least its ruins strewn about young Twilight’s dream. The vision she and the Princess Twilight now appeared in was eerily similar to that experience.
They stood in a hallway, hewn from what looked to be crystal glass. The crystals shone in green, blue, and purple, and great purple and red banners hung from all the walls, which were similarly lined in green metal closets. There was something about the scene Luna could not put a… finger on. What a strange, strange quirk of biology.
“This… looks like a school,” said Princess Twilight, glancing here and there with a quizzical eye, “But I don’t recognize this place.”
The other Twilight, suddenly dressed in a, Luna presumed, school uniform of purple and red, began speaking, “Crystal Prep Academy. Where I was before I met my friends.”
Luna had seen this in other dreams. Twilight’s distant, almost mechanical recollection of events was her mind reconstructing her memories. She would narrate her own thoughts while interacting with the dream world, a sign she was fully immersed.
It was time to get to the bottom of this.
“I was convinced to attend here instead of Canterlot High School because of its academic record,” Twilight stood alone in the halls, despite the sound of distant voices echoing in the distance. “I… didn’t really have friends growing up, so I decided that academia would suit me fine. And at first, I thought that’s what I got.”
A shadow, nearly the shape of a human teenager, male, turned the corner sharply, running directly into Twilight.
“Watch where you’re going, four-eyes!” his voice, originally a shout, was little more than a whisper in a memory. Still, Luna had to snap one hand out to catch her fellow Princess before she intervened. They were too close now.
Shadow-folk filled the hallways, always wearing hazy, indistinct faces and uniforms like young Twilight’s. They moved about in erratic patterns, some in groups, others alone, yet all hurried hither and thither, as though pausing would be the end of them. Perhaps this was a condition of the youth in this universe?
More voices rang from the crowd, each time making a face here or there more distinct, or merely a pointing finger more defined.
“You’ve got a nice personality, for a jerk!”
“Directions? You’re smart! I’m sure you’ll find the Bio-lab on your own!”
“Seriously, why would I care? Get out of my sight, dork.”
The last voice, however, was Twilight’s own. “I wasn’t too bothered by the name-calling.” She stood in the center of the hall, encircled by shadows. “Despite their reputation for being smart and clever… I’d heard it all before.”
Another shadow, more distinct, more solid as Luna saw it, drove Twilight to one side with a well-placed elbow. She crashed against one of the metal closets, causing its door to pop open and disgorge pencils and notebooks.
Ah, so that’s what that was, Luna thought. She immediately chided herself. Focus, Luna!
“I’m so sorry!” the human Twilight raised her hands, as though she were pacifying a wild animal.
The shadow pounced. “You tryin’ to start somethin’, Twinkle!?”
“S-Sparkle,” she gulped, “Twilight Sparkle.”
“Like I care!”
Another shadow came at her side, champing at the bit, “What’d you do to my locker!?”
“I’m sorry!”
“You trying to pull a fast one? Trying to mess with my stuff? Get me expelled so you’ll go up a rank!?”
She shook her head at the accusation, “No! It isn’t like that!”
A third shadow merely sighed. “You’re being a doormat again. What a waste.”
Luna was finding it harder and harder to hold her own Twilight back. The other Princess was constantly on the verge of tearing away and doing something foalish that would endanger their mission, but the Princess of Night also found her patience tested. Such attitudes! Such a casual disregard for the wellbeing of others! How did it come to this in a school?
“I could tolerate when they knocked me over, or yelled at me.” Twilight’s voice was as calm as a windless sea, eerie enough without her body still in the throes of fending off angry classmates. It was a disconcerting effect to watch such an animated struggle, but to hear such flat, emotionless tones. “I was usually oblivious to where I was going, and they all had places to be.”
The shadows receded as swiftly as they’d appeared. Leaving Twilight alone. She simply stood, a tired expression covering her face and seeming to seep down into her bones. Her emotional exhaustion briefly taking over her dream-state’s body.
The Princess of Night regretted doing this. It must be done, but… the cost was mounting.
“What I couldn’t stand… what I never knew I hated so much, was when they would just ignore me.
“But that was fine.” The crystal hallways shifted, slightly. Luna marveled at the ingenuity and the architecture of the building as they swept through it at the speed of dreams. This world was so alien, so different to her own. Princess Twilight had seen it three times now, but perhaps Luna or Celestia should visit such a marvelous place themselves?
The scenery stopped in what was clearly a lab, even Luna could see. Princess Twilight silently beamed into such an academic domain, taking in the strange glass beakers and eldritch equipment. Luna kept her eyes fixed on the human Twilight, now seated at a table, working with… a wand of some sort to fashion a dark amulet. Sparks flew whenever the wand touched the… device. Yes, Luna could read the word in the air around Dream-Twilight. A scientific measuring device.
But to measure what?
Twilight spoke as she worked. “Without friends to worry about, I could focus on my studies. There had been a lot of strange, anomalous occurrences within the area, and I was fascinated by the readings I was getting. I was sure I could pinpoint the energies that were distorting my instrument readout, and then get back to preparing for my application to Everton.”
Was this what it was like for other ponies to listen when Luna spoke Old Ponish? She suddenly felt a bit awkward, and noted how many guards and servants she would need to apologize to later.
“But,” the sound of Twilight’s voice caught Luna’s attention. Was that anger? “My fascination with magic wasn’t useful to the school, at first.”
The scene changed again, now to an abysmally dark office, dark even by Luna’s standards. Within the stifling darkness she could see no windows, instead shelves of arcane tomes and crystal glass and orbs were this rooms only decoration. If this had been Equestria, she would have assumed this to be a wicked witch’s lair. And judging by what she saw, she may have been correct.
The human Twilight Sparkle stood in the center of the room, her physical form knock-kneed and shivering in fright. What sort of demon could…?
“The important thing is we are expected to win because Crystal Prep has a reputation,” a sneering, oily voice slithered across the black desk at one end of the room, “And it is that reputation... my reputation, that is responsible for everything we have here. For everything you've done here. And you've done quite a lot, haven't you?”
Luna switched her eyes to the witch. Dark purple hair, tightly done up. Green skin, as expected. But here Luna noted the dream-memory erring on the side of Twilight’s subconscious, as this… creature possessed eyes as black as a storm cloud, and the very same wings as Midnight Sparkle herself.
Twilight continued, “Principal Cinch. She’d made Crystal Prep what it was; a fostering ground for aggressive, competitive students, and rigorous academics… all to crush and humiliate the students who went to Celestia’s school across town.
“She knew I was the smartest student she had, and she wanted to secure a win in her precious Friendship Games.”
The witch-that-was-Cinch held up a folder. As they stood within the dream world still, Luna had no trouble peering through its manila cover to see what lay beneath. It appeared to be an application of some sort. The only words which she could read were Twilight’s name and something called… Everton? A university?
Cinch grinned, revealing row upon row of sharpened teeth, “I understand you've applied. You see, one of the advantages of having a reputation is a certain amount of influence in such things. So, let me offer you a deal. In return for contributing your agile mind to these games, I will use my influence to guarantee your application is approved. Though, I suppose I could also have it... denied.” She grinned, black venom dripping from her open mouth.
“What do you think I should do?”
Princess Twilight, and Luna herself, had enough.
“What!?” Twilight’s own Royal Canterlot Voice shattered the glass crystals in the room, but did not disturb Cinch or Twilight herself. “How… how dare she? She’s trying to… or was trying to ruin Twilight’s academic aspirations? Over an inter-school,” she spat the next words, “Friendship Game!?”
Luna held her young protégé tightly. “Indeed, t’would appear so,” her own contempt for this woman was entirely unmasked, “If I ever have the misfortune to meet this… witch in the flesh, she will mark it as a Black Day, the lowest possible moment in her wretched existence.”
The dream world shifted again, the darkness of Cinch’s office melting away with the walls and the crystals. Grass grew up under the Princesses’ feet, and a towering statue of a rearing stallion appeared at their back. Finally, a large, multi-storied brick building, clearly an institution of some sort, leapt up out of the ground.
“Canterlot High,” Princess Twilight whispered, clarifying that much for Luna.
Bleachers appeared next, filled with the silently cheering and jeering shadow-folk from before. In front of the school doors, Luna could see the human counterparts of herself, Cadence, and Celestia pantomiming a ceremony of some sort.
“Why…” Luna growled softly, “…am I wearing pink?”
Flashes of aqua-hue lightning crackled amongst the storm-grey clouds, a clear sign of what was to come. Luna could see the Element Bearers, the five ponies… well, humans who were her Twilight’s closest friends, standing to one side of the Friendship Games event alongside Sunset Shimmer. Only they appeared fully formed within the dream. Even the Principals had an indistinctness to them that obscured their forms.
To the other side of this event, beneath the Crystal Prep bleacher, a familiar cadre of shadows and one slightly-less demonic Principal Cinch encircled Twilight Sparkle. The Princesses approached, the moment finally at hoof. Hand. Whatever.
“If we lose,” the shadows and Cinch spoke with one voice, the voice of Midnight, “then you’re to blame!”
“Unleash the Magic!”
“We only want what we deserve!”
“We’re not friends here, after all.”
“Unleash the Magic!”
“But we can win it, if you begin it…”
“It’s up to you to not fail this time.”
Twilight turned towards the event, revealing her face to Luna and Princess Twilight. Tears poured openly from her eyes, and in her hands, clutched as tightly as one’s own life, she held that queer amulet. Black, it appeared to Luna, but radiating with violet magic, and with Twilight’s own Cutie Mark blazing across its face.
She began walking towards the midway point between the bleachers. “So, this was it… a chance to have everything I ever wanted,” she said as the Princesses followed close behind. The walk would take as long as necessary, space having no purpose in dreams.
“All I had to do was open my anomalous-reading-device, and we could win these Friendship Games. If we won the games, then my peers would… they’d like me,” Twilight’s voice hinted at joy, even through the mechanical intonation. “They would be my friends…”
A chorus of voices, all Midnight’s, echoed from the clouds themselves, “We’re not friends here after all.”
Twilight’s voice cracked; scorn clear as a lightning bolt. “No… they weren’t my friends. Not after they insulted me, shoved me… ignored me. But then, who cared? I’d be in the Everton Independent Study Program. No need for friends there.”
This was not right, Luna thought. Despite the mechanical nature of a memory recall, she could taste the roiling hatred and malice of this dream. But such hatred was a hollow state, an emotion that could only be sustained for so long. Her own jealousy and envy were the same way when they had led Luna to don the mantle of Nightmare Moon… but then the Elements had shorn her of that darkness. It should have also returned Twilight to balance, but Midnight remained.
What was she missing…?
Midnight’s voice, again in a sing-song, came down from the heavens. “Imagine all you’ll learn by setting me free…”
When realization came, Luna felt her knees go weak and her stomach freeze. How could she have been so blind? How could she have thought this an Incubus…?
Twilight paused, holding up the amulet… no, device. She beheld it as one might a diamond of great size and luster. Or a snake coiled around her arm.
“And what doors might open if I…?”
Luna stepped forward, “Twilight, that is enough. You don’t need to go through this again! I know what…” she reached out one hand to the young woman.
Twilight slapped her hand aside. Blue flames crackled like electricity across the frames of her glasses. “No!” her shout froze the dream.
“You wanted to see this! You wanted to know what Midnight was! We’re done, when I say we’re done!” Aqua sclera, purple irises, and the fury of Midnight stared back at the princess.
What have I done? Luna only now fully realized the scale of her folly. Twilight and Midnight Sparkle…
Unleash the Magic…
Free the Magic…
Unleash the Magic…
The ghostly refrain echoed from all sides. It came down from the clouds in the voice of Midnight. It came from the shadows of Crystal Prep. Luna watched in horror as even her human counterpart repeated the line. Sunset Shimmer, alone even amongst the Bearers, did not utter the phrase, a look of fear and worry overtaking her dream-self.
Luna, Princess of Night, knelt down in the grass at Twilight’s feet. The Princess Twilight came to her side, consumed by her own confusion, clearly wanting to help but not knowing how.
Worse, Luna thought. Princess Twilight did not realize there was nothing to help.
Blue flames coruscated across Twilight’s body, leaving behind only the dark, corrupted visage of Midnight Sparkle. She took a moment to examine herself, and finding everything to be in order, turned her attention to the Friendship Games.
“Can you imagine,” she sighed wistfully, “suddenly knowing everything? After so long wondering what to do, and how to do it, I knew the answers.
“I knew what I wanted!” She let loose a blast of her electric-blue magic, which struck the Principals on their stage. The whole school lit up in flames, like a box of old rags beneath a flamethrower. The bleachers, the crowds, even the school-building vanished in its wake, engulfed in their entirety.
“Twilight! No!” an echoey Sunset Shimmer cried as she ran towards Midnight.
Luna did not have the heart to lift her head up, to see Sunset become stone and crumble to the ground. She could feel Princess Twilight shaking her shoulders, but could not hear her voice. How did she not see this? Was she so out of practice?
“Oh Cinch!” Midnight laughed, “Since you like playing games so much, I think I’ll let you play them yourself!” And with another crackle of power, she struck the horrid principal down, leaving a tiny unicorn filly in her place.
Midnight laughed further at the pitiful creature’s cries of terror. “What? I thought fillies loved games! All I did was make you look the part!” her laugh pealed with thunder, “And as for you…” she snarled and turned towards the cowering Crystal Prep shadows.
Luna saw Princess Twilight come into her view, a strange look upon her features. Was it fear? No, no that was not it. Concern, yes, concern was there… but behind it all was a welling of rage the Princess of Night had never seen before in her young friend.
“Luna!” she screamed, “Do something!”
Maybe it was the screaming. Maybe it was just the realization that she had done nothing so far but sink back down into self-pity… but the fire was re-lit in Luna’s heart.
She stood, turned within herself, and sought out the power that was hers. As Midnight laughed, Luna focused. She drew up all that she had within her, mustering all the ancient might that was hers to command.
The Moon itself broke the cloud cover, as Luna channeled the Royal Voice once more.
ENOUGH!
The dream dispelled. The shockwave had blown the clouds away, and the night sky behind them. The flames had flickered out, and the school ruins passed like smoke. The shadows, the Bearers, and even the grass and sidewalks had peeled back to reveal the simple darkness of sleep. All that remained were the Princesses, Midnight Sparkle, and the full moon above.
When the roar of Luna’s theurgy crashed into Midnight Sparkle, she was merely pushed back a few feet, but it was enough to reveal Twilight Sparkle standing where she had been a moment before.
Luna turned her wrathful gaze upon the demon. “We name thee Tulpa!”
Silence. Then, the Princess of Friendship asked, “Like the flower?”
The other Twilight, still shaking, adjusted her glasses. “I think it’s something to do with psychology… but I’m better with the practical sciences…”
Midnight, however, simply grinned her goblin grin. “I know what she means, and yes! That does sound more like me. Thank you, Luna.”
“What?” Twilight looked back at her darker half, then back towards the Princess Luna. “What does she mean by that?”
Luna faced Twilight, a professional, regal mask barely holding back her true sorrow. Twilight could feel it, could actually feel the weight of that stare. Her own tears began to flow again, unbidden.
The Princess of Night sighed, then walked towards the scared teenager. She held out her hands, and took Twilight’s with them. Perhaps… just perhaps this closeness would push back a little of the fear.
“A Tulpa is a construct of the mind,” she began, her voice a gentle whisper, “Like Nightmare Moon or Sunset’s demonic form, they are created when one loses their way and gives heed to the darkest elements of their soul.”
She spared only a glance towards Midnight Sparkle, then returned her attention fully to Twilight. “With Nightmare Moon, I allowed my jealousy and envy to consume me, turning me into a monster until the Elements could bring me back into balance and save me. Likewise, Sunset was consumed by her anger, resentment, and her own jealousy. And she was saved the same way as I.
“But,” Luna steeled herself, and waited until Twilight had taken a moment to do likewise, “Midnight is not like those monsters. They were built upon jealousy and anger, emotions that are hollow, and unsustainable. Once liberated from their shadow, Sunset and I were each able to reclaim ourselves. But your Tulpa, Midnight Sparkle, was not born from a hollow emotion, a passing element.”
Twilight looked down, unable to meet Luna’s gaze. She finished for the Princess, “Midnight… the last thing I felt before she… appeared… wasn’t anger or resentment towards my classmates. It wasn’t jealousy or anything like that.
“I was curious,” she sobbed, “My curiosity, and my wanting to know more about this ‘magic’ I’d found…”
Luna pulled her into a hug, letting the teenager weep. The Princess’s wings wrapped around her, and she lay her own head atop Twilight’s.
“Yes,” she cooed softly, “Midnight Sparkle is you, and you are her. She is born from your very heart.”
“So…” Twilight sniffed, “I can’t get rid of her…” It was not a question.
Midnight chuckled lightly, yet said nothing.
“No,” said Luna, “But we will help you, regardless.”
Twilight pulled back and looked at the Princess in confusion. “But… she’s a part of me. How can you help with that?”
Princess Twilight stepped forward now, “Well, you’ve kept Midnight in check for months already. We just need to work on your self-confidence. Plus, a little magic training would give you a variety of tools to use in case she ever does try something.”
“An excellent proposition, Twilight,” Luna nodded to her fellow princess, “And We would always be willing to listen if you wished to converse with us,” she smiled as she dipped back into the Royal We, “We are your friends, Twilight. We will always be here for you.”
At this, Midnight huffed, yet said nothing again.
But Twilight only sighed. “Thanks, but… I can’t accept the magic lessons.”
“Why not?” Princess Twilight asked. Midnight seemed to lean in as well, a scowl forming on her brow.
Twilight indicated her other half with a nod, and a frown of her own. “Because she’d like that more than anything.”
With that, Midnight seemed to have had enough. With a huff and an upturned sneer, she sailed off into the blackness which surrounded them.
“Well, the offer stands,” said the Princess Twilight, who drew the younger into a hug of her own. Letting go, she added, “But now I think you need your rest. We can talk more in the morning.”
“How long until breakfast?” Twilight asked, a soft, purple bed appearing beneath her, and a yawn forming on her face.
Luna finally allowed herself a smile. “Time is irrelevant in dreams. You have much time to rest. Even a dreamless sleep can be soothing.”
The teenaged human lay back into the bed that had formed, instantly passing into said dreamless sleep as she did so.
Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, and Luna, Princess of Night, stood inside the ethereal halls of the Castle of Friendship, or a dreaming facsimile of it. They each glanced at the closed door to the other Twilight’s dream, then to each other.
They looked terrible.
“You should return to your own rest,” Luna chided her dreamwalking apprentice. “A real rest this time. No lucid dreaming tonight.”
Twilight yawned, “I can’t even argue with that.” Her eyes, however, lit up. “Starlight! What about…?”
Luna placed her… hoof onto Twilight’s shoulder, saying, “Fear not. I shall visit her tonight before I depart for my own… rest. Though now I am having second thoughts about trusting Pinkie’s concoction.”
“The Good Stuff?”
Luna laughed, though her energy wasn’t into it. Was it getting warmer in here? “Indeed.”
Twilight shook her head, “Well, have some nice dreams, I guess. The second time isn’t as bad.”
“Second time? You have… partaken more than once?”
The Princess of Friendship waved Luna’s concerned tone away with one hoof. “Please, I have a barrel of The Good Stuff in my kitchen. I can’t even wake up in the morning with regular coffee anymore!”
Luna smirked. “What did I say about showing off?”
The two mares hugged one another again, and then departed. Twilight, despite her worry over the other Twilight, was simply too exhausted to remain lucid this long, and would need a second cup in the morning.
Luna instead made her way to the lilac door emblazoned with the glimmering turquoise cutie mark she knew so well. With a final, steeling breath, she opened the door and went inside.
We may have to get back to Starlight's dream... in another story... 
Stats
Page generated in 0.036 seconds
Total duration
1,041 users online
1,725,071 hits today, 2,814,898 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
So it's all about reminding Twilight that Midnight is in end a construct, and Twilight will always be above her. Also that no matter what other versions of her did she isn't them and each Reality destroyed by a Midnight there is one that wasn't. As to Priness Twilight needing "The Good Stuff" just to be fully awake I believe that is a side effect, she abused it and now physically requires it.
Caffeine dependence is a heck of a thing. Hope you're enjoying the read.
9860975
One of the many reasons why I shall never rely on caffeine, ethanol, or nicotine for daily functionality.
Midnight Sparkle on the Midnight Channel, anyone?
Midnight is basically a second personality of sci twi
9860975
I can agreed with that.
Anyway, this chapter was interesting.
poor Luna! can't escape it even in the dreams of someone from another universe
aww, this is so cute! i am glad that Twilight found someone with her so thoroughly on this
getting some Trixie vibes from Midnight's theatrical exit here
dang Principal Cinch is into witchy stuff? she is cooler than i remember!
yeah the stakes always seemed a bit out of proportion in that one
that is quite the royal voice!
yay a new word for me to learn
an interesting system for the etiology of these nightmare forms! and yes, the motivations of Sunset and Luna as presented in the canon material are very shallow, while Twilight's are a lot more interesting
aww, poor, caffeine-dependent Twilight!
Tulpa... heh
In fact, tulpas are not static and can also change their minds. It is enough just to change the wonder (the world of tulpa) and it will change. That is, to have your own elements of harmony in the virtual crystal academy and soon tulpa will learn to be friends.
However, what the author describes does not look like an ordinary crowd, it is rather characteristic of a subpersonality created in the aftermath of PTSD, but then died.
Then the whole sadness is that having exorcised this demon, we will lose Twilight herself. Since all the genius of the EqG Tvi apparently came from this external source.
The most correct thing here is still their merger. Midnight is actually very limited compared to EqG Tvi and will be forced to comply.
So, now Tvi lives with a big psychological shadow. We get the story of Jekyll and Hyde. I even wonder how the author will solve this question.