The Tragic Story of Twilight Sparkle, or Twilight

by A Fistful of Apples

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Generating Interaction

"We have a new student joining us," said Twilight. It was her fifth student and by far her oldest, her first adult pony.

Three of her students snickered to themselves as though the new student's age (or possibly other properties) meant she was stupid. The fourth was the mare's foal and so glared daggers at the other three.

"Luckily Ms. Doo here is already caught up with what we've gone over so far, so we won't have to start again.

"That's a relief," said Scootaloo. Twilight narrowed her eyes at the filly who was so far her worst student. Twilight wouldn't have accepted her without the prompting of Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, who were both excellent students, the latter more than the former. If Scootaloo didn't shape up soon, Twilight would drop her and put her back in Cheerilee's class regardless of what her friends said.

"Anyway," said Twilight. "Spike, bring me my notes."

Her assistant jumped up in shock, too focused on what he was doing elsewhere to expect Twilight to tell him something new. Soon enough however he brought her what she asked for, and she was patient as he did so.

"So, we finished up the basics of Atomic Theory last time, and Ditzy Doo assures me she understands it and is with us up to then, so as I said, we'll move on. Now we're going to look at something I arguably should have taught first, but I'm new at this so...." She let that sentence dangle as her students looked at her oddly.

"Anyway, we shall now begin our discussion on Xi today, and once we have a basic understanding of that we'll move on to Medicine."

"Are we studyin' to be doctors?" asked Apple Bloom. She'd asked before raising her hoof, but Twilight went ahead and let it slide since she was her best student.

"No Apple Bloom. As I explained to your sister a few weeks ago, Medicine is the foundation of Science."

"That's stupid, how could something like medicine be the 'foundation of science?'"

Twilight growled lowly at the orange Pegasus.

"If you let me continue Scootaloo, you'll understand." She paused and took a drink of water from a nearby glass she had saved for such an occasion. "Xi is the fundamental force of motion, and thus the creator of form, and is properly understood as an energy flow. It is equal and opposite of Matter, which we've already covered. Both are needed to create all there is. Xi flows permeate everything and understanding the ebb and flow of the universe is a fundamental aspect of science.

"Now a singular Xi flow has two properties, Frequency, which can be any positive non-zero number, and charge, which is measured from zero to eight. Frequency denotes the strength of the flow. More mass caught in a stronger flow will move more than mass caught in a weaker one. Charge is a quality of Xi flows that causes some atoms to prefer some flows over others. This is why even though there are straight Xi flows moving inward from the edge of the universe to the centre which all terrestrial matter follows, the celestial bodies do not follow them and instead follow circular flows around the planet. Likewise, a hypothetical pony on the moon could slide off the top if they go too far in any direction, and will not follow the same circular Xi flow the moon itself does. "

She paused so everyone could finish their notes, and to take another sip of water.

"Now, speaking of the movement of terrestrial matter to the centre of the universe, this sort of phenomena is called an Affinity. An Affinity is an attraction or movement upon one body to another body or place. The most general Affinity in existence is the attraction Earth Atoms and Water Atoms have to the centre of the universe, which fundamentally causes all terrestrial matter to try and move there. Another obvious Affinity is the affinity between magnets and certain types of metal. These sorts of bodies have a mutual Affinity and attract each other. Affinities are otherwise pervasive and it's the manipulation, exploitation, and or creation and destruction of Affinities that fuels a lot of the magic we take for granted.

"As to what causes Affinities, it's generally a property of the Xi flows, or Ferments of the bodies. As the Xi flows produce a body, the combined flows can react with other flows and cause natural connections. Which is a reason change is so pervasive in the universe, a fundamental constant from which new things can be expected.

"Next we move on to Ferments, which is the word for the general combination of Xi flows that make up a particular body. For example, Terrestrial water is not pure water atoms. It has all four types in it. The Ferment is the combination of Xi flows that make water, water, and these flows can be easily manipulated by, for example, applying heat, which can change the Ferment slightly to produce Steam, or removing heat, which produces Ice. The same Atoms made to move differently can produce different things, which are essentially different states of the same basic Matter."

Twilight continued in this manner for some time, explaining the very basics, general definitions and qualities of Xi for future elaboration as time passed. It was in fact a much easier lesson than she normally had, with very little acting up from her students. If only she could be so lucky every day.

As the students wandered out of the Library, Twilight was just left with Ditzy Doo and her daughter.

"Thanks again for letting me join you," said Ditzy Doo. "I've been following your work in mathematics for a while now. Fascinating stuff, simply fascinating." She had a really odd manner of speaking, something like stuttering but not quite. Her eyes pointed in different directions, giving her the appearance of a simpleton, but Twilight knew that underneath that she was very intelligent, if quirky and extremely absent minded. Her intelligence and acceptance of her theories from the beginning was the only reason Twilight had allowed her to join her class.

"Well thank you Ditzy Doo!" said Twilight as cheerfully as she could. Truthfully she was tired of speaking so much, and she didn't have long before she had to teach another class, this one purely on Medicine so that a new wave of Doctors and Nurses would actually know what they were doing. Only about half of the local Ponyville medical staff attended, the others either thought she was crazy or honestly didn't understand how much she outpaced them, but even the small numbers were a good enough start for Twilight.

Ditzy and her daughter smiled as they left, and Twilight closed the door behind them before collapsing in her desk.

"Spike," she said, not very loudly. Spike heard her thought, and responded.

"Yeah?"

"Get me my notes for the next class, and take these notes away." She indicated the notes she was just using. "And some more water. Heck just bring a pitcher. My throat is really dry."

Spike nodded and did as she asked.

Twilight rested her head for a moment. She would have to take another survival pill soon. Her fatigue was proof that its affects had worn off.

When the doctors and nurses filed in, Twilight didn't waste any time. A curt greeting, and off she went, continuing to elaborate on the fundamentals of medicine and understanding the harmony of the body.

The matter was the easy part, and was covered in only two weeks in class. There were only four humours, and it was a simple matter to elaborate upon their natures and functions in the body and what organs produced them. Explanations and names for all the muscles and bones in the body had already been done and anyone versed in medicine would already know them. After that, the real medicine began. The important Xi flows were mapped, diagrams created. They were explained, and the fundamental method was imparted to the doctors and they seemed to understand. Medicine was to promote harmony in the body, to make sure the flows were as they should be. Most often this was easy to accomplish through proper diet and exercise, however factors beyond one's ability to control could contribute to imbalance, and at that point there were various ways to bring things back into balance, from the ingestion of herbs, metals, or particular liquids and types of food, the injection or purging of one or more of the humours, or to manipulation of the Xi flows directly. The last was usually the most affective, but also the most difficult. There were other ways of course, but those were major ones.

The worst part of teaching medicine was trying to get the unicorns to understand the importance of learning to tell where the Xi flows were, and if they were in disharmony, without magic. The horn could simply detect them if one knew what to look for, and again, if you knew what to look for, you could tell right off if something was wrong. But there were some cases that using magic to tell would make things worse, and Twilight had a hard time explaining this, and making them learn how to tell what was wrong "the Earth Pony way." Almost as bad was getting it through to all the ponies that diagnosis was only useful in determining how the Xi flows were. The goal of medicine is to keep the body's flows in harmony. Things like disease, burns, coughs, or what have you were all just accidents of this. Regardless of what was wrong, the goal was still just to make the Xi flows work harmoniously. This was counter-intuitive to everything they had learned, where specific problems requires specific treatment for specific goals. Ultimately however, the truth was the goal was always the same. The specifics were just accidents meant to illuminate how to get there.

As soon as the class was finished Twilight herded her medical students out of the library and again sat down to rest. She'd feel a lot better after taking another survival pill, and perhaps a long bath before getting back to work. She also had invited four of her friends over later that night, and she wanted to be in her best temperament. She'd been preparing for this since the new house had finished after all.

Twilight filled her saddlebags with her supplies and leaving Spike to finish cleaning in the library, trotted back to her house. Most of the ponies she saw seemed to be no different than before. But that wasn't true. Most of them had started taking survival pills. Such would be more apparent at night however, when many establishments continued to stay open. Applejack had been more correct than Twilight too, in that most producers of food were being hit hard, seeing a significant decrease in sales as most no longer bothered with eating. Twilight herself only indulged in food about once every two weeks. Such a routine was hardly enough to sustain so many ponies who made their living off food. Twilight felt kind of bad for them, but really, in this new world they were producing something unneeded. Better for them to find a more useful line of work to entrench themselves in.

Just then, a familiar face came trotting up to Twilight. Twilight sighed, desperately wanting to get home and relax for a bit, but tried not to let her exasperation show.

"Twilight!" said Cheerilee.

"Hello Cheerilee," said Twilight. "Lovely day isn't it?"

"It is." She smiled and looked like she was having a wonderful time. "Listen, first I want to thank you for inventing those survival pills. That's exactly what they are, it makes teaching so much easier, as I'm sure you're now aware of!" She chuckled and placed a hoof momentarily on Twilight's shoulder. Twilight tried to chuckle as well but really didn't feel like it. "Anyway, I have a few students I feel would benefit more in your class than mine, and I was wondering if you'd like to take them?"

"That depends," said Twilight. "I'm always happy to take new students... if I think they'd be receptive."

"There are three that I think would do well. Sunny Days, her friend Peachy Pie, and Snails. Thought I think if you took Snails, he'd want Snips to go too."

"Snails?" asked Twilight. "Isn't he a bit... slow? I don't think he'd be very suited to my teaching. I try to go as fast as I can."

"That's a shame," said Cheerilee, her smile faltering. "Snails is slow to pick up things, but once he has them down, he has them forever."

"Well... maybe I could work something out with him," said Twilight, an idea forming in her mind. "I'll get back to you on that."

"Great!" They said their farewells and Twilight thankfully began her trot back to her house.

Twilight quickened her pace, eager to get home as fast as possible before any other ponies demanded her attention.

Finally she made it back. Immediately she went and turned on the water so she could have a bath. While the tub was filling up she quickly went back downstairs, poured herself a glass of water, and got a survival pill both to bring upstairs. She'd take them after the bath. There was a certain joy to be had in being tired, and finally being able to relax, a joy she would miss out on if she immediately took the survival pill.

She made it back upstairs to her bathroom just in time, as the water had nearly reached optimal height in the tub.

She slowly got into the tub, letting the warm water loosen the tension in her muscles as she laid further back. Soon it was just her and her thoughts alone in the warm water. And Mephistopheles. He was always there, following her. Twilight was so used to his presence though that she hardly noticed. Truth be told, she hardly registered him as a separate being anymore. He no longer offered any information. He just answered questions. It was like talking to herself and letting that niggling little voice in her head answer back, except that the answers would always be absolutely correct and immediate.

As she relaxed with her thoughts, she turned her mind to what Cheerilee had told her earlier. She could definitely take on Sunny Days and Peachy Pie. It would require a bit of time for them to catch up to the level of the others, but it wouldn't be too big of a problem. Snails was another matter.

Even if he would eventually pick things up, she couldn't slow down that much just for him. But she had an idea. Ditzy Doo knew the material, so she said. Perhaps she could pay the mare to teach Snails directly. As Ditzy learned more, she could teach Snails more, and since Snails learned slowly, she would be sure to stay ahead. Maybe she could even taken on Sunny Days and Peachy Pie temporarily so that they could catch up faster. Twilight made a mental note to ask Ditzy Doo after the next day's class.

Twilight heard the door open and then close from downstairs. She assumed it was Spike, but asked Mephistopheles just to be sure. She didn't want to be caught unawares.

"Yes, it's Spike," said Mephistopheles.

Twilight nodded her head in the water, eyes closed. She took a deep breath, then dipped her head under the water and exhaled, listening at the noise of the air rising above the water. She felt like she could just stay there and relax forever. But she had work to do.

Pulling herself out of the water she pulled the stopper and let the water drain away. When it was gone she stepped out and into her dryer and let the Rarefied Air soak up the water from her coat, leaving her with a pleasing tingly sensation as it evaporated.

She stepped out and went towards her previously laid out glass of water and survival pill, and in one swift motion she put the pill in her mouth and took a sip of water, swallowing it.

Seconds later she felt the effects. She was no longer tired at all. She felt completely invigorated and could get back to work.

Downstairs on her worktable was her most recent project. And she was almost done with it. It was however a very complicated piece of equipment that, like the telegraph, required two parts, though she was making more than that.

Spike sat down behind her, a good distance away and watched. He'd started doing that more often lately. Mephistopheles said that he both found her work interesting and was trying to learn without outright asking. Twilight figured that was actually a good arrangement and he'd probably pick things up in time.

"What is this thing anyway?" asked Spike as she put on the finishing touches. She'd been just finishing up for some time, but now things were really almost done.

"Be patient Spike, I'll explain when it's finished."

Spike nodded behind her, but Twilight didn't see.

"To your left on one of the tables there are a few syringes. One of them has a red liquid in it, measured out to 2cc. Bring that to me."

Twilight was just about done when Spike came over to her with the correct syringe in hand. Turning one final screw in place, twilight put her screwdriver down and took the syringe from Spike.

"This is purified Sanguine Humour," she explained. "Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy should be here soon and I'd like to be in a good temperament. A slight excess of Sanguine Humour will lift my spirits, make me a bit happier and easier to be around."

Spike tilted his head. "But haven't you taken a survival pill within the last two weeks? Won't that flush it out as an imbalance?"

Twilight shook her head. "This is measured to be a slight increase to mimic what would natural occur when a pony is in a good mood. It's still within normal levels. You're right though, that too much and the effects of the Survival Pill will cause me to expel the excess humour." She winced as the needle pierced her skin and she injected herself. Effects were as quick as a Survival Pill, and soon she felt herself in high spirits. Now smiling she continued to speak.

"You wanted to know what this is I'm working on, and I'm finally done so I can tell you!" She clopped her hooves together briefly in excitement as Spike stepped forward to get a closer look. "I call it a Xiscriber. It's basically a much better Telegraph.

"You see these little buttons? Each has a letter on it, and when pressed, if the Xiscriber is fed paper, it will stamp the letter on the paper. There's this button here, for spaces, and there are buttons for other punctuation marks. Now, I have six of them here, and each one can connect to any and all of the other ones by creating an Affinity between them. You see at the top here?" She indicated a medium sized glass round topped cylinder which had several notches etched into it with a two sliders, one of Silver and the other of Glass on the side. "You know about musical instruments, right Spike?"

"What about them?"

"Well, if I have a stringed instrument, and pluck one of the strings, and here is another stringed instrument close by with the same string, what happens?"

"They both sound," said Spike.

"Exactly. It's just like that with these. If you want to send, you move the Glass slider to a specific point, and then somepony else moves their Xiscriber's Silver slider to that same point. Typing here on my side will cause the receiving Xiscriber to type the same thing."

"I think I understand," said Spike. Twilight was surprised, as she hadn't explained the whole thing yet. "Inside that glass tube there's filled with some sort of metal, and there's probably lines painted inside to mess with the Xi so it can be manipulated in a certain way. Putting the slider up chances the manipulation slightly and when the receiving Xiscriber is meant to receive, the Silver slider moves up to manipulate the inside in exactly the same way. Glass is a sort of Earth, and Earth acts on Metal, which forces an Affinity between them in one direction."

"That's actually very astute of you Spike!" said Twilight, moving in to give him a nuzzle. "You really have been paying attention!"

Spike blushed slightly and nervously rubbed the back of his head. "It's hard not to Twilight. Though I'm still not sure about principles of natural generating interaction. Metal and Glass are both made of the same four atoms, so why do we call one 'Earth' and the other 'Metal?' Same with Wood and Fire and Water."

"It's complicated," said Twilight. "First it's a naming convention. Secondly, there is a specific pattern to the Atomic Structure of all things we call 'Metals' and a pattern to 'Earth's and so on. Everything is one of those things in the sense of structure. I drew a few Tables about it, they're here somewhere. I called them Periodic Tables. They were meant to organise different materials by Atomic Structure and arrange them into a pattern that was easy to understand and grouped by similarity."

"I... guess that makes sense," said Spike. "But there are a lot of things. How could you make a table that had every type of thing?"

Twilight shrugged. "Some things are just groups of smaller things. Like the dirt outside is probably full of several different types of Earths and Metals. Just crumble them up with your claw and you can separate them. There isn't an infinite number of things. A complete chart would probably be big though, and my charts were meant more for convenience and had only things ponies are likely to see. I'll make complete ones eventually."

There was a pause before Spike continued. "Why did you build so many? Are you giving them away? Or selling them?"

"I'm going to sell the design, but no, I built so many because I've had a few ponies who want me to write new textbooks. It's something I wanted to do anyway. And with these, I can write several copies at the same time. I might send one to Celestia though. That way you can type your messages and not have to write them. I can modify two of them to so they can be secure, and I'd have to do that before though."

There came a knock on the door. Reflexively Twilight asked who it was. Mephistopheles answered.

"Your four friends are here."

"Spike, get the door!" Twilight felt herself getting excited. As Spike went to answer the door, Twilight ran up to her bedroom. Underneath her bed was a box, which contained four Silver Pendants. It had taken months for them to be created properly, as the Silversmith she'd hired kept getting them wrong. Twilight grabbed the box in her mouth and tore back downstairs, where four of her friends waited with confused looks on their faces.

"I've got something for you!" she said. Unfortunately she said that with the box still in her mouth and it came out more like "Eh guk thumthin hor ooo."

She put the box down on the table, next to some other things, including the Xiscribers. She repeated, "I got something for you."

"Oooh, is it a present?" asked Rainbow Dash. "That's so awesome. What is it?"

"I love presents!" came Pinkie Pie. "But why doesn't Rarity get one?"

Twilight chuckled. "Rarity doesn't need one." Without waiting for a reply, Twilight opened the box and levitated one pendant to each of her friends. Each one was attached to a snug fitting thin silver chain, and she attached each to the necks of her friends.

"Well this is kinda pretty I guess," said Applejack. "If there's anything fancy to go to, I'll wear it."

"Oh no," said Twilight. She was practically bursting with excitement at how her gift would be received. "These aren't just ordinary pieces of Jewellery. They're artificial unicorn horns, shaped as pendants. Wear them, and you can do magic like a unicorn. You'll have to learn though, but Rarity and I can teach you! It'll be so fun, just think of what it'll be like for you to do magic when you never could before!"

"Well uh...." said Applejack. "I honestly don't know how to feel about this."

"Um, it's nice," said Fluttershy.

"Nice?" asked Rainbow Dash. "It's awesome! Thank you Twilight, this is the coolest thing ever! I mean, I never wanted to be a Unicorn because being a Pegasus is just too awesome, but being a Pegasus who could do magic too! This is the greatest thing! I'm gonna go straight to the library, pick up some books, and begin practicing right away!"

She flew over and gave Twilight a hug before swooping out the door and into the distance. Twilight felt great that Rainbow Dash had such a good reaction, and waited expectantly for her friends to react similarly.

"Rainbow Dash is right, this is super neato!" said Pinkie. "If I learn to float things with this I'll get so much more baking done! So many cakes Twilight!"

Twilight turned to the other two and waited.

"Well uh..." said Applejack, nervously looking around.

"It's... nice... I said it's nice" Said Fluttershy.

Twilights smile dropped slightly. She thought to ask Mephistopheles what was wrong, but then decided against it. Her friends were right here, she could ask them.

"What's wrong? You don't like it?"

"Well... " said both Applejack and Fluttershy at the same time.

"I don't need it," said Applejack. "I mean it's wonderful and all, and I'm mighty pleased that you thought to gift us with such a fancy magical thing, but I dunno. I'm an Earth Pony, and I've gotten along fine being an Earth Pony. Everything I do I do as an Earth Pony and I don't know if I can change that. But... " She took a deep breath. "I know that you probably worked pretty hard on these and that you're trying to show us you care by giving them to us, so I'm gonna use it anyway. I'll be slow to pick up on it, but I'm sure I'll get it down sooner or later."

"Oh Applejack, you don't have to - " Twilight began, but Applejack cut her off.

"I know I don't have to, but I want to. Like I said, I know you did this because you care, and I'm gonna accept it because I care."

Twilight smiled and felt an unfamiliar warmth in her chest. It went away and she turned to look at Fluttershy.

"And you Fluttershy? I know 'nice' for you doesn't mean nice."

"Oh well... Applejack said everything already. I just wasn't sure this was really me. But I'll try it out. Thanks Twilight."

"Yeah, thank you Twilight!" said Pinkie Pie.

"Thanks," said Applejack. It was short, but she smiled as she said it, and Twilight felt that unfamiliar warmth come back again.

As the three ponies began to leave, Applejack hung back for a moment.

"Go on ahead, I need to speak to Twilight for a second," she said. The other two continued on their way before Applejack closed the door.

"AJ?" asked Twilight. "Something else wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," she said. "But I got... something of a favour to ask. And it's kinda embarrassing." She looked nervously at Spike who took the hint and went upstairs, closing the door behind him.

"What is it? You know I wouldn't make fun of you."

"I know that but, still. Anyway I was thinking... you can make these here artificial Unicorn Horns, and that's great and all. But I'd really really be happy if you could make some Pegasus Wings for me."

"Pegasus Wings? You want to fly?"

Applejack nodded vigorously. "More than almost anything. Ever since I was a filly I wished I was a Pegasus Pony, so I could fly. That's not right and proper for a pony though, to wish they were a different type, so I grew up and put aside those foalish fantasies and took to being a good Earth Pony. But... I still think about it. I'd love to be able to fly. Do you think you could do that for me? Make me wings?"

Twilight looked into her friends green eyes and saw that she was genuinely pleading. Her heart felt like it was breaking, looking into those eyes, and involuntarily she found herself nodding slowly.

"I can do it," Twilight said. She felt more determined to do this than she had ever felt in her life, even after Mephistopheles gifted her with knowledge and she was determined to remake the world. "I'll do it better than those Artificial Horns," she continued. "I'll give you real wings."

In Canterlot the two Royal Sisters sat, relaxing together again as they often did now. Celestia was happily reading a new fiction novel while Luna sat, hooves folded over her chest in irritation. Celestia was content to just let her sister stew. She'd speak up when she was ready.

Finally she spoke.

"I want you to put some restraint on that student of yours," said Luna. Celestia looked up from her book. She dog-eared the corner of the page she was on and set it aside.

"What do you mean Luna?" she asked.

"I've been thinking about it more and more," said Luna. "And I just don't like what's happening with her. I don't like what she's doing. It's not even a full year yet and she's single-hoofedly changing the very foundations of our society!"

Celestia smile lowered slightly.

"I admit to being concerned," she began. "But my hooves are tied. She still hasn't done anything illegal. And what she's done has been pretty helpful. I also thought you'd be pleased, so many ponies now are awake to see the entirety of your beautiful night."

Luna growled. "Don't change the subject. I'm happy my night's appreciated, but it was appreciated before and I just didn't know that. I also know now that ponies aren't supposed to be awake all night. It's unnatural."

"But it's not illegal," said Celestia. She chuckled. "Listen to me, the way I'm speaking now It's almost as if I want to put Twilight in prison. No, I love Twilight, and even though I'm concerned, my concern is not so great that I wish to hinder her in any way. It's why I've consented to let her take on students of her own, and why I approved of her idea to write new science textbooks. I want her to flourish."

"What if she goes too far? You've already put some barriers on her research. You didn't let her grow any of those animals like she wanted."

Now Celestia's smile was gone completely. "That was... I felt that that was indeed too far. And these other things aren't. It's something I just feel."

"And what about what I feel?" asked Luna. "Don't I get a say? I thought we were supposed to be co-rulers!"

Celestia sighed. "Don't be this way dear sister. I understand your concerns, and I continue to take them into consideration. But let's take things as they come, all right? If things go too far, then we'll see what happens."

Luna's eyes narrowed, before she stood up and began walking towards the exit. "Of course, your majesty." She left, and made her way to her own room.

Celestia's eyes widened. She didn't like the conversation that had just taken place. Was she really not considering her sister's opinions? Should she try to come to some sort of compromise? But any compromise would stifle Twilight, and she loved Twilight. But did she love Twilight more than Luna? No, she didn't. Soon, she'd sit Luna down again and they'd work something out. She didn't want her sister to ever feel neglected again, especially over something like this.