• Published 3rd Mar 2013
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Becoming Twilight - RandomGreymane



Twilight has recently become an alicorn. But being reborn isn't all it's cracked up to be...

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Chapter 13

Becoming Twilight - Chapter 13 by RandomGreymane (Mike Hebel)


The next morning Twilight worked out with what eventually became a very smug Scootaloo. Twilight came to realize just exactly how out of shape she was, not to mention how weak, and this was not missed by the eyes of the small orange filly.

After the workout, and a hearty breakfast in a secluded location of the royal gardens, Scootaloo was whisked away by her assigned tutor. The look on her face was strangely complacent as if all was right with the world as long as Twilight was nearby. This was not lost on Twilight who waved goodbye to Scootaloo as she finished her breakfast.

Staring into the grounds in the bottom of her coffee cup Twilight mused to herself. Well at least she’s well taken care of. And our workouts will do both of us some good.

Something tiny floated around Twilight’s mind. With a mild start she realized that it was what Scootaloo had said earlier about working to become stronger. What I need is a new magickal practice routine! she exclaimed in her head But first that means I need to test myself to find out where I stand.

Leaving the table she made her way in the direction of the magickal archives. Reaching the archives she chose an unmarked door she knew quite well. Fumbling with her magick it took her four times before she could cast the special identification spell to unlock the way and descend the stairs to the testing lab on the lower level.

“Well I’m not going to be casting any of Clover’s Clever Cantrips at any rate.” she said to herself thinking about the trouble she had with the door above.

Slowly Twilight descended the stairs, listening to her hooves clack on each step, until she reached the testing lab.

The lab itself was fairly large. Off to one side was a separate large area for teleporting in materials. The rest of the lab itself was separated into protective circles of various sizes, each with a table and bookshelf nearby. Several of the smaller ones were occupied by unicorns testing spells within them. One even had an earth pony growing something in it.

Remembering the lectures she received on this place she carefully stepped off the last step causing the distance-shrinking spell to release her. When her hind hooves left the stairs she was a mile underground having only walked a few steps.

Stretching her neck briefly to loosen it Twilight headed towards the largest and most protected circle. Stepping into it she briefly re-read the permanently fixed stone along one side that she knew was the power indicator for magick inside the circle.

Let’s see...gold is the top...last time I tested here was before I became a princess and I hit in the silver range. And I had to stop because of feedback issues. she mused Well no time like the present.

Closing her eyes she called out the incantation that activated the circle of protection and she could feel the invisible dome of power enclose her, cutting her off from everything outside.

“Here goes nothing...” she said to herself with a sigh.

Reaching deep within her Twilight took hold of her magick and carefully shaped it into a second skin. Once she completed this she released her magick slowly into that skin in ever increasing amounts, careful to make sure it was not reflected back in any way.

Twilight knew immediately that she was not anywhere near as strong as she was previously, but then she fully understood and expected that.

What she did not expect was for the indicator of magickal power to top out in the lower bronze range. Twilight was sweating and tiring quickly but she could do nothing to increase her output any further. She tired so rapidly that she released her hold on her magick with a snap causing her head to throb. Ignoring the pain she uttered the incantation to lower the protective shield and stepped out of the circle.

Exhausted, and more than a little dismayed, Twilight climbed the stairs back to the archives and exited into the hallway, the door locking spell designed to allow fast exit in case of an emergency.

At a leisurely pace Twilight headed to her room. Lost in thought she didn’t immediately notice that the room was occupied by Luna until she collapsed onto a large pillow and ended up facing that direction. Too tired to talk immediatly Twilight just stared at the moon symbol on Luna’s chest.

“I see you now understand how badly thou hast been injured by recent events.” Luna said in a soft voice “Fear not. There is little in these matters that can not be fixed in time. And that we have good stock of.”

“I know.” Twilight said without moving her body “I guess I just didn’t expect to ever be in a position like this. Bronze. The indicator just barely showed bronze. Even when I was a filly I was never that weak. It’s like I’ve lost almost everything of myself.”

Luna immediately made a very un-princess-like noise with her lips and said “Nonsense. Trust your sister on this one. This too shall pass.”

Changing the subject Twilight asked “Why Applejack?”

“I beg your pardon?” Luna asked “’Why Applejack?’ what?”

“What made Applejack able to pull me back from the brink more than the others.” Twilight elaborated.

“I believe I explained that earlier but let me try to expound on my previous information.” Luna replied in a voice full of mock snoot, while somehow still managing to smile affectionately at Twilight.

“Applejack is the Element of Honesty correct?” she continued “This means that not only is she honest about those things and ponies around her but she is honest about herself as well. This is extremely rare and undoubtedly one of the main reason she is the bearer of Honesty at all.”

Considering Luna’s words Twilight nodded and prompted Luna to continue.

“Over our lifetimes we tell ourselves little lies.” she said “’I’m not worthy of consideration.’ ‘I’ll never be as good as my sister.’ ‘No pony will ever beat me!’ ‘I’m not pretty.’ ‘The night will last forever.’”

Twilight stared at Luna, hanging on every word.

“Time passes and those words settle into our hearts.” Luna said, a serious look on her face as she looked into Twilight’s eyes “In time those words...cloud...our hearts. We become a little less than we truly are. In extreme cases we forget our hearts altogether and thus forget who we are.”

As she paused a smile returned to Luna’s face.

“The lies that gather in our hearts are not all we are though and with effort they can be washed away.” Luna explained “An honest heart has no words clinging to it and the shine from it is brilliant and undimmed. It’s voice is clear and strong. Dost thou understand now my sister?”

“Thank you for explaining that. I think perhaps I need to wash away some of those lies in my heart.” Twilight admitted.

“Well...” Luna began “You would not be an Element bearer nor a princess if your heart was as clouded as you perceive it to be. I wouldst not worry about thine heart.”

“So much of me feels...missing.” Twilight pondered “If I only knew which direction to go.”

“Up.” smiled Luna “The direction you go from here is up.”

=======================================================

The next morning Twilight resumed her routine of working out with Scootaloo before the young filly was abducted by her tutors. With Scootaloo safely off to her studies, Twilight began another routine. This one a magickal workout rather than a purely physical one.

Starting with the simplest of spells Twilight giggled to herself.

Kindergarten. I’m in magickal kindergarten again. she laughed to herself.

With that laughter something inside Twilight released it’s grip and she felt better. No stronger but definitely better.

After her second workout of the day she joined her friends in a large dining room for lunch. Unexpectedly this filled not only her stomach but her spirit and soon she and the rest were laughing and joking with each other.

Once lunch was over the six of them went their separate ways, Twilight heading to the library not to read advanced magick books but the newest beginner books on magick to be put on the shelves.

Quickly devouring these she found a number of places to improve her technique to compensate for her temporary loss in strength.

Gathering the books to her she made her way to the testing area under the archives and took over a small personal testing circle out of the way of the rest of the ponies working in the lab.

Retrieving a book stand so she would not have to hold the book up while working, Twilight set up the first book so it would be readable outside the circle.

Raising the circle with the incantation she began to practice.

=======================================================

Several hours later Twilight emerged from the lab with a satisfied look on her face. Celestia, having just finished returning a book to the archives, met her in the hallway.

“Well my sister you’re looking better than the last time I saw you.” Celestia beamed “Luna has been quite worried about you for some time now.”

“I feel better.” Twilight smiled “Not stronger really, just better.”

“Regardless it looks like things are taking a turn for the brighter.” Celestia replied, also smiling.

“Indeed dear sister.” Twilight said while silently casting a tiny spell to make her sound like Princess Luna “I do believe that my heart doth feel much at ease.”

Before Celestia could comment they both heard Luna’s amused voice in their heads Thine impression is not wholly bad sister. However it doth need more polish before thou attempts to bring night eternal.

Luna quickly closed the connection, leaving Celestia and Twilight with her voice chuckling in their heads.


=======================================================

Over the next week Twilight improved both her control of her body and her mastery of magick considerably. This surprised even her as she had previous to these events thought she had mastered the basics. Only now did she realize how wrong that assumption was and how blind she’d been to make it.

Near the end of the week Twilight once again found herself in one of the larger testing circles measuring her strength. Reaching she suddenly mentally pulled as much magick to her as she could and found that for a brief moment she was nearer her original strength than before.

Trying her utmost Twilight held fast to the increased flow of power but before long it was ripped from her mental grasp. When she reached for it again it was gone.

Shutting down the circle Twilight wrote her experience down in the small notebook she had once again taken to carrying.

It was later into the evening when Twilight made her way up the stairs and back to the small dining room near her quarters. She was surprised to see both Luna and Celestia sipping on tea and eating cookies, their faces smiling at each other as a magickal chandelier glowed softly lighting only the table.

“How goes the battle sister?” Luna asked before consuming another cookie.

“I’m improving but I still wish I knew was was causing the overall weakness in my magick.” said Twilight

“I think I can answer that.” said a familiar voice from one end of the room.

Twilight and the other princesses looked up to see what appeared to be another Twilight Sparkle stepping forth from the shadows. While the same in appearance this Twilight had small differences. A turn of a feather here, a scar on her hind leg, signs of travel on her hooves, etcetera. But what Twilight noticed most about her was her bearing. It was confident. A lot more confident than Twilight herself had ever been even though this Twilight did not wear a tiara on her head.

“Princess Luna” the second Twilight said standing in front of her “Would you be so kind as to cast a changeling detection spell on me?”

Only nodding in acknowledgement Luna quickly cast the ray of light over the pony in front of her who as she half expected did not change except perhaps to straighten her mane with her magick.

Wiping the travel dust off of herself using magick and depositing it in the nearby trash can the now confirmed Twilight Sparkle approached herself, stopping directly in front of her.

“My apologies for the abrupt entrance.” she said “But to all things there is a time and this one could wait no longer.”

“But how...” Twilight said looking at her duplicate in front of her before stating the obvious “...you’re me. More than just Luna’s spell I can feel that you are...me.”

“Got it in one girl!” the well traveled Twilight said smiling “I can’t give you the details yet but way back when you were at the ceremony before Pinkie’s party she saved you and in the process split us into two accidentally. During the past days...months for me...I’ve been traveling Equestria working on things. Now it’s time for me to come home. For us to be one again.”

“This...” said Twilight “IS FANTASTIC! Tell me all about what you’ve been doing! This explains so much! This explains the pull back when I tried to reach for more magick! What happened to you? Tell me everything!”

“All in due time.” said the other Twilight still smiling “You’ll get all those answers when we are re-joined. I’m sure you’ll be quite surprised.” Turning to the other princesses she continued “I have all I need for the re-unification spell. That’s part of what I’ve been doing all this time. It requires an isolated location, a whole heck of a lot of power, and unfortunately...my brother.”

“Why unfortunately?” asked Twilight.

“Because he has to actively contain the spell.” the other Twilight continued with a slight frown on her face “And if this fails then we will become so much dust. I don’t want him to ever have to see something like that.”

=======================================================

Preparations began in ernest for both Twilights. Regardless of which of them was doing so, both found it quite odd to see themselves work together doing separate things.

Their previous experiences with the changelings also made the situation just that more uncomfortable for those around them. Rainbow Dash in particular had taken to asking random questions of each of them to try and prove which was the ‘real’ Twilight. Applejack and Rarity put a stop to this before it got too out of hoof.

Throughout all this the weaker Twilight repeatedly attempted to get Pinkie Pie to explain what had happened. All to no avail as the bouncy pink pony took to imitating the vocal capacity of the rocks on her parent’s farm.

At one point though Pinkie had had enough and told Twilight “Look Twilight I know you want to know what happened but it is super duper extra important that I NOT tell you about the tangly-wangly bits. Okee Dokee?”

“Tangly....wangly?” Twilight sighed. Shaking her head in disbelief at her friend Twilight and gave up. “You win. I just want this to be all sorted out!”

Pinkie reached out and hugged Twilight “It will be Twilight. I Pinkie Pie promise!”

=======================================================

It took two days to gather all the ingredients and tie up any loose ends. One of the lesser dining rooms was converted into a temporary staging area. By middle of the second day the room was half full of magickal supplies and equipment not to mention food staged for the journey.

Watching as a clerk checked off the items in the room Celestia turned to both Twilights and said simply “Come with me. There’s something I want to show you.”

Puzzled both Twilights glanced at each other before following the princess. They became even more puzzled as she led them to a set of large double doors near the back of the castle. Both Twilights realized that not once had they ever seen these doors opened nor in truth realized that they were there.

Celestia answered their unspoken thought “These lead to the crystal caverns under the palace. The doors have been concealed until now. Follow me.”

The three alicorns entered the caverns. When Twilight was last in these caverns they were a dark and she had to provide the light herself until her eyes adjusted but now orbs of light floated above them making the way clear to see.

They traveled down for a while until Celestia chose a path that quickly leveled out. Following that path for some time until it widened out into an immense cavern. The walls of the cavern had been magickally smoothed until all traces of natural formations were gone, and the front of the cavern opened out to what appeared to be open sky.

Silhouetted against that sky was the largest airship either Twilight had ever seen in their lives.

The ship itself was intricately carved with stained glass portholes. The wood of the ship was infused with a color scheme of royal blue and white throughout. The colors shimmered in the light as if alive. Moreover her gas bag was fully inflated and she was bobbing slightly against her moorings.

Celestia looked insufferably proud as she watched the expressions on her sisters’ faces. “This...” she proclaimed with a wave of her hoof “is the HRS Wind Walker and she will be our transport to the San Palomino Desert. The trip should only take us a day or two at most. She’s the largest and fastest airship in Equestria!”

“Tia I how the hay...” both Twilights started to say together before the weaker deferred to the stronger with a wave of her hoof.

“Tia how the hay did you complete this in secret?” the traveled Twilight continued “The engineering of this cavern alone had to have taken months let alone the laying of the keel and sewing of the bag!”

“And how the hay is this not visible from Neighagra Falls?” the matching Twilight asked “I mean it’s a huge hole in the backside of the mountain!”

Celestia couldn’t help but laugh. “Am I to believe that the only ponies who can have secrets are my sister, small purple alicorns, and Pinkie Pie?” she asked with a smile on her face “I ordered construction on her the moment we found this cavern. In fact it was shortly after your brother’s wedding. She was completed just this week. As for concealment...” Celestia raised her hoof again and pointed towards what Twilight had originally thought was ornamental paint outlining the opening of the cavern to the outside world.

Both Twilights immediately reached out with their senses and promptly got a headache a piece. This time the well traveled Twilight deferred to her sister who reached out and examined the spells enclosed in what turned out to be red crystals around the outside edge of the cavern opening.

“It’s an illusion spell of simply massive proportions!” she exclaimed “You’ve basically recreated the side of the mountain!”

“That we have.” Celestia replied, a look of pride on her face “After tomorrow though it won’t be necessary. We’ll launch for all of Equestria to see. Oh I suppose we could launch at night then leave the illusion up but quite frankly I have no taste for playing hide and seek with a prize such as this. She has no weapons but an incredible shield. Based off of your brother’s magick in fact.”

“What?” both Twilights said at once.

“After the changeling invasion incident Luna and I decided that even though Shining Armor is able to protect the entire city he shouldn’t be put in that position again.” Celestia said, her eyes focused on the airship “So, despite his complaints during the process, we analyzed your brother’s shields and were able to recreate them. They are installed numerous places in and around Canterlot.”

Facing the two Twilights, Celestia continued while smiling and winking at them “This does not make your brother any less important by the way so don’t think he’s superfluous or that we intend to ‘dump him’.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” both Twilights replied in unison. The well traveled Twilight asked “Did he really complain all that much?”

“You’d have thought I was starving him and having him whipped for his troubles.” Celestia said with a very un-princess-like snort “Did he whine like that growing up?”

“A few times.” said both Twilights again, broad grins covering their faces “But that’s a secret for a purple pony to keep.”