Chapter 1 - Home Sweet Home

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The train ride from the Crystal Empire back to Ponyville was a lot quieter and less crowded than one might expect. Few Crystal Ponies liked to leave their homeland, especially since so few of them would know anypony outside the city after their thousand-year absence, and outside of the winter sports enthusiasts and arcane academics, tourism was always a little sparse coming and going.

Yet, as this train rumbled across the open plains, its few passengers were glad for the isolation. The last few days had been… hectic. Hectic was a good word. Despite their initial goal to merely study Equestrian magic on portals, the four pony passengers had ended up a part of the legendary Starswirl the Bearded’s latest experiment in Time Magic. What had started as an attempt to help a unicorn regain her lost horn had turned into a trans-dimensional battle that nearly resulted in the destruction of Equestria itself and more. Time-displaced duplicates of the Bearers of Harmony, as well as two demonic alicorns from yet another universe had been set loose upon the Crystal Empire, and it was only the intervention of a few heroic ponies, including the alternate Bearers themselves, that prevented total disaster.

Starlight Glimmer, now resting on the train with her fellow heroic companions, had said disasters like that were distressingly common around these parts. The Great and Powerful Trixie, using her friend Starlight as a makeshift pillow in the train car, agreed wholeheartedly.

Starlight and Trixie were heading home now, traveling with three of their initial companions from the train-ride up from Ponyville. One, a red-and-gold maned unicorn mare named Sunset Shimmer, had once been Princess Celestia’s own pupil, while another, a purple unicorn with a set of large glasses resting on her face, was the mirror-universe counterpart to the Princess of Friendship herself, Twilight Sparkle. Their final friend, the sleeping baby dragon, was actually a dog named Spike on the other side of the mirror, which lay within Princess Twilight’s castle. And through the mirror, home.

As the train was nearing Ponyville, all four ponies were awake, Spike remaining stubbornly asleep. Starlight and Trixie took up one bench, while the other three took the opposing side facing them.

“Well,” Starlight said, raising a sympathetic hoof to Sunset and Twilight, “for what it’s worth, I’m sorry your study-vacation didn’t go according to plan.”

Trixie, still sleepy and likely to nod off at any moment, yawned and said, “Not a problem. Though it wasn’t a total loss. Trixie made many new fans during the celebration.” This earned her an annoyed glare from Starlight, but Trixie seemed not to notice.

Sunset, however, hadn’t stopped smiling since the day before their departure. She just chuckled lightly under her breath before saying, “While it wasn’t the most relaxing time I’ve had being back home, I did manage to get what I wanted out of the trip.”

She carefully drew out a small scroll from her saddlebag and proudly displayed it for her friends, “A spell by Starswirl himself! With this, we can actually stabilize some of the Equestrian magic flowing into Canterlot High!”

Trixie, still groggy, raised an eyebrow. “Canterlot High?”

“High School, Trixie,” Starlight added helpfully, “They’re students there.”

“Wait,” said Trixie, eyes narrowing, “Do you mean to tell Trixie that these two are school fillies? Trixie’s been hanging out with children this whole time!?”

Sunset shrugged, “Hey, I’m still an adult on this side of the portal.”

Not one to be confused, at least intentionally, Trixie sat up straighter. “How does that work? Twilight’s around my age, I think… but you’re definitely older than Trixie! Like, really old, if Celestia taught you before Twilight.”

Sunset narrowed her eyes in return, “I’m not that old.”

“It’s tru- “, Twilight began to say before a long, excessive yawn shook her whole form, “…true. The portal between our worlds seems to operate under a loose and constantly vary- * yawn * -varying time dilation effect.”

Sunset placed a hoof on her younger friend’s shoulder, “You okay Twi? You seem tired.”

“I-it’s been a long weekend,” Twilight said, patting the friendly hoof with her own. “I always get the jitters after a magical disaster back home. My REM patterns are just off; they’ll get better once I’m home in my own bed.”

“Rem?” Starlight cocked her head at an angle.

Sunset nodded, “The part of sleep where you actually dream and rest up.”

Trixie was also not one to be ignored. “So… how does this time dilap… diam… thing work?”

Starlight sighed, “Trixie, it means that over in their world, there’s a copy of everypony from this world, just a few years younger.”

“Hm,” Trixie tapped her chin, “Trixie may be perfect, but even she wouldn’t mind losing a few years here and there.”

“That’s not how it works,” Sunset smiled, “Our Trixie is in school with us. I even consider her a fr…”

“WHAT!” Trixie shot up to her hooves. Spike, asleep on the bench, snapped awake as she screamed. If there were anypony else in their car, it would have been quite the embarrassing outburst. But since the Great and Powerful Trixie did not know the meaning of the word…

“Whoa, Trixie, calm down!” Starlight grabbed Trixie with her magical light blue aura and forced the suddenly enraged azure unicorn back to her seat.

“Calm down!?” Trixie shouted, hooves waving about, “How can I be calm when there’s an imposter besmirching the name of the Great and Powerful Trixie!?”

Twilight scrunched her nose in confusion, “Trixie… she has the same name.”

Trixie, the Great and Powerful, was unmoved. “Charlatan! She can’t get away with this! Next you’ll tell Trixie that this… Fake and Not-Powerful Trixie is also a magician!”

The resulting awkward silence from this comment was deafening.

Trixie crossed her forelegs in a pout and snarled, “When we get back, Trixie is going to find this Fake-Trixie and introduce her to Intellectual Copyright Violation and Legal Counsel!”

Starlight, a worried look on her face, “Trixie? I didn’t know you had a lawyer.”

“Trixie doesn’t,” she sniffed, holding up her front hooves menacingly, “Trixie named her Great and Powerful hooves.”

Twilight frowned. “We’re not letting you beat up our Trixie.”

“Then I will have to settle for a groveling apology from her,” said Trixie, who turned to the window and said nothing more.

The train soon came to a stop at the Ponyville station, and its few meager passengers filed out without trouble. Since everypony, including Spike, was heading towards the Castle of Friendship together, their conversations continued, albeit without input from the Grumbling and Pouty Trixie.

The late afternoon sun hung low in the sky, giving the entire town a warm, fuzzy glow that tinted everything orange. Sunset seemed to quicken her pace as the light filled the town, as though it had somehow rejuvenated her. Hard fighting, poor sleep, and a long train ride seemed to fade from her, taking her weariness with it.

After a few moments, Sunset realized she’d started pulling ahead of the others. She fell back a pace to match Twilight and Starlight, leaving Trixie to sulk a few feet behind them.

“So,” she began conversationally, “What’s your week looking like, Starlight?”

“Same old, same old,” the lilac unicorn laughed, weariness tugging gently at her, “Applejack, Pinkie, and Dash took the students on a fieldtrip to Yakyakistan, so I get another day to finish paperwork and lesson plans. Last I heard, Rarity and Fluttershy were dealing with a Friendship Problem over in Canterlot, but they should be back before classes return…”

Twilight’s eyes, attuned with the clarion call of academia, lit up instantly. “Oh! Sunset said that you were the Friendship School’s new Princip- I mean, Headmare. Congratulations!”

Starlight blushed, “Oh, thanks. It’s been… an experience taking on Twilight’s old duties in the school, and the town. I wish Sunburst hadn’t been needed with Flurry Heart still. I really do rely on him as my Vice Headstallion.”

Sunset nudged her, “As your VP… and nothing else?” There was no mistaking the almost predatory grin Sunset flashed.

More blushing.

“No pony congratulates Counselor Trixie,” Trixie grumbled just quiet enough to be under her breath, but also loud enough so everypony around her would hear.

Twilight turned to look directly at Starlight in horror, a mouthed ‘Counselor!?’ on her lips.

“Hey, I know she can be…” Starlight sought long and hard for the right words, “… well, Trixie. But she’s got a big heart, and she’s loyal to her friends and her students.” She turned to look over her shoulder, a smile on her lips. “She’s my best friend, and I don’t know what I’d do without her Great and Powerful advice.”

Trixie took a short break from grumbling to smile back.

“Well,” Twilight shrugged, “I suppose it would be hypo- * yawn * hypocritical to say that Friendship isn’t a proper qualification for working at a Friendship school.”

Sunset raised one hoof to feel Twilight’s forehead, “You alright Twi? I’ve never seen you this exhausted.”

She shook her head, as much denying anything was wrong as she was shocked at how well Sunset could walk on three hooves. “It’s really nothing. I just need a good night sleep.”

Turning one final corner, the group beheld the magnificent Castle of Friendship. The towering, tree-like structure glistened in the afternoon light, its crystal walls catching the sun in a dazzling, fractal display. There was no sight like it anywhere in Ponyville. Yes, including the pillar of black smoke pouring out of the open doors.

Oh, that can’t be good, thought Sunset.

The ponies took off in a dead gallop, even Trixie finding a sudden swell of energy firing into her limbs as she raced towards the castle. The locals, out in force normally for the late afternoon market, managed to gawk at the sight while keeping a lane open for anypony headed towards the disaster, a skill honed by years of such things going on in Ponyville. A common saying among the locals was that it wasn’t Tuesday in Ponyville if the fabric of reality hadn’t been threatened twice before lunch. Three times if the Cutie Mark Crusaders were on the loose. Four if Pinkie had a mug of coffee.

Sunset reached the gaping doorway first, and could hear some sort of crashing, yelling, even explosions going on past them. She led the charge straightaway, following the smoke down the main hallways to the throne room and the castle interior. She came up suddenly as the smoke curled around a doorway into the kitchen, if she remembered the layout rightly.

The kitchen had seen better days. Ingredients of all kind were sprayed across the countertops and cupboards, those that weren’t dangling at crooked angles. Smoke hung in the air near the ceiling, but was gathered thickest just above the waterlogged stove, besides which a small, purple dragon gasped and sagged from some monumental effort.

“Spike!”

“Sunset!” he cried back. “Y-you’re back!”

“Spike, what’s going on?” Sunset swept a calculating eye over the little dragon. Besides a few scuffs, it looked like he was okay.

Spike wiped one claw across his brow, “What didn’t happen!? I swear, those Crusaders…” His eyes snapped wide open, pupils the size of pinpricks.

That expression was never a good sign. A sheepish grin crawled its way across Spike’s face as he asked, “Um… when exactly did you need to be getting home again? Could I interest you in some dinner here first? Perhaps a bath? Another… vacation…?”

Trixie and Starlight had just swept past, chasing after whatever else had happened to the castle. Twilight caught up to Sunset just as Spike had finished talking, her own Spike running on all fours to keep up, lacking the wings of his counterpart.

Sunset could have sworn Twilight asked her what had happened, but for some reason her ears weren’t working properly. Something cold and slimy had settled suddenly into her guts, and drained all the warmth and life from her senses. It was a foreboding feeling. It was by sheer mechanics that she managed to turn and continue racing towards the library.

Books were scattered all around the vast library room, and into the halls of the castle, haphazardly tossed and piled like a whirlwind had careened through moments before. The crashing and banging had ended before Sunset and the others entered the castle itself, but all five, six once the other Spike ran after the group, could hear voices in the…

The mirror room. Oh… no…

The small room which housed the portal back to Sunset and Twilight’s world looked more like a warzone than a part of the library. The floor was scuffed in places, scorched in others. Books were thrown open and tossed about. Gears, cogs, and glass littered the floor where once there had stood a tall mirror housed in an arcane gate. Once. Past tense.

The mirror lay shattered and broken on the floor.

Beside the ruin, the Princess of Friendship, a near doppelganger of Twilight save for the extra height and addition of wings, seemed to be talking to a trio of fillies. Sunset… Sunset could not bring herself to focus on any of them. She had only eyes for the destruction of her very life, of Twilight’s very life.

The purple unicorn, in fact, had just made the final turn and looked upon the destruction herself. Glancing back, Sunset watched her friend simply freeze in place, her eyes desperately trying to understand just what lay in front of her. To her supreme credit, the Great and Powerful Trixie held a worried and shocked look upon her face. She even placed a protective, almost sisterly hoof on the younger mare’s withers.

Under any other circumstance, Sunset would have probably joined her. Or at least given Trixie the sort of praise she deserved for displaying that sort of atypical tact. But it was true that the nearly torched and cratered remains of her doorway home took up much of Sunset’s concentration.

Well, that and the tail end of the Princess’s lecture.

“… and I think you’ll find that your friendships were the real treasure all along.”

The Cutie Mark Crusaders, earth pony Apple Bloom, unicorn Sweetie Belle, and pegasus Scootaloo, smiled and cheered as one, “Thank you Twilight!”

“Now,” the Princess chuckled, “Go get cleaned up! Dinner will be in an hour.”

As the three fillies raced away, the Princess of Friendship sighed contentedly and turned to begin her next task, only to stare directly into the pinprick eyes of a very familiar, very disturbed mare.

“Ah! Sunset Shimmer! It’s great to- “

“TWILIGHT!” Sunset screamed, “The mirror!”

The purple alicorn stared, puzzled, at her fellow former student of Princess Celestia, then turned her head slowly to take in the rubble that was once a mystical portal built by Starswirl the Bearded himself.

“Hm.” She nodded noncommittedly, “Yes, I can see why that would be distressing.”

Sunset’s disbelief at her friend’s nonchalance bordered on all-consuming. “What happened!?”

Princess Twilight happily recounted, “Well, since I had some things to clear up in Saddle Arabia, I sent Spike back to help the CMC out with the activities we planned to do together. I’m sort of foalsitting. And, well, they apparently decided to make a mess of cooking lunch, and then tried to find the journal that would let them activate the portal and go see their human counterparts. There was also something about finding buried treasure, but once the fire broke out, they abandoned that plan. Turns out, every step of the way went about as you’d expect with them.”

Sunset had no words. Literally no words as she sputtered in a combined state of horror and rage. Twilight Sparkle, on the other hoof, choked back a sob and shouted, “How can you be so calm about this!? We… can we ever go home now?”

Princess Twilight’s eyes seemed to take in her younger self with a sort of focused detachment. But only for a moment, as she shook her head like a pony fighting off a sudden drowsy spell. The look she returned to her two friends was one filled with sudden embarrassment with a touch of concern and good humor. It was a complex look.

“I’m sorry,” she said, “I was just in ‘Celestia’ mode and… I didn’t think how you would be reacting to this. But I can assure you that it’s not as bad as it looks.”

Trixie took a step forward, just ahead of Twilight, and leveled a frown at the Princess. “It is clear to the Great and Powerful Trixie that this is, in fact, as bad as it looks. What baffles even Trixie is how calm you are about this, Sparkle.”

“The Great and Powerful Twilight has reason to,” Starlight chimed in as she entered the room herself, her magic holding up a small collection of strange items. In her blue aura there hung a set of bandages, a paperclip, a wad of chewed bubblegum, and a roll of duct tape. All procured from the human world, Sunset suspected.

Starlight continued, “Twilight’s been having me work on all sorts of contingency spells for… well, literally anything and everything. This was just one such spell, in case something just like this happened.”

The items began to spiral around Starlight’s horn, building up a haze of silvery light. In moments, they seemed to blend together into a halo hovering in the air, and with a sudden bullwhip-snap, the items had become a disk of pure magical energy. Sunset, Trixie, and even young Twilight stared at the effect as it lowered itself to the ruined mirror on the floor.

With a sound like an engine roaring to life, Sunset watched as the mirror’s bits and bobs bucked themselves into the air and began to snap together again. It was almost too bright to look at, too loud to listen to. But in seconds, the mirror and the magical-technological apparatus that held it together had been fully restored, landing back onto the floor with a soft click.

Sunset and Twilight both felt their legs give out. For Sunset’s part, she landed softly on the cold crystal floor and could feel it with every hurried breath, right alongside the pounding of her heartbeat. For one minute, one terrifying, soul-crushing minute, it had seemed like her life had been torn away from her. Again. And now it was back.

Emotional whiplash. Equestrian style. Wonderful.

Twilight sighed, barely holding back another sob, this time of happiness, “We… we can go home?”

Princess Twilight nodded sagely. “Yes, of course. In six to eight hours or so,” when she saw Sunset’s questioning look, she explained, “Oh, the portal is a little… unstable at the moment while it locks back onto your dimension.”

As way of demonstration, Starlight picked up a piece of broken crystal tile and tossed it under-hoof towards the mirror. Before it even reached the shining surface, the tile had simply frozen in place, and then dissolved into sand, leaving yet more of a mess to clean up.

“Okay,” Sunset said as her eyes locked with the sandy pile, “Guess that’s… good?”

“Of course it is!” Princess Twilight beamed at her guests, “Because now you can all clean up, have some dinner with me, and tell me all about your study-vacation!”

That last part gave Sunset pause, but before she could say anything, she was cut off by a certain blue unicorn stepping up to take center stage.

Trixie coughed once, “A bath and a meal would be most welcome after our adventures. But first, now that this crisis has passed and Trixie’s fans are alright…”

Instantly, the showpony rushed up to her hated rival, the Princess of Friendship, and threw her forelegs around her neck for support as she knelt with her hind legs on the ground. She let out a terrible sound as she whined, “Twilight! Why didn’t you tell me there was another Trixie!? I thought we were friends!”

“Uh, I don’t… what?” Princess Twilight appeared entirely confused by this foalish display.

“There’s a human Trixie who thinks that she’s the Great and Powerful, but I’m the Great and Powerful, and I need to go show her what’s what!” Trixie’s voice nearly cracked as she begged.

Princess Twilight leveled an unamused glare at her trans-dimensional guests. “What did you tell her?”

They could only give back chagrined smiles.

“Trixie,” the Princess continued, “I am not going to let you travel to another dimension to… beat up a child, no matter how much she resembles you.”

“Trixie did not want to hurt the impostor,” sniffed Trixie, standing up. She turned her nose up and said, “She merely wishes to see this show-not-pony’s act and make certain that it meets the Great and Powerful Trixie’s high standards of conduct and professional excellence!”

A voice that felt like a sour note and a flat cider seemed to ooze out of the air above Sunset and Twilight. “High standards of conduct? Professional excellence? From the Lame and Unimportant Trixie? Now that’s comedy!”

Trixie, at the sound of the voice, fled behind the Princess while both human-turned-ponies leapt back from its source. Sunset’s horn immediately flashed to crimson as she readied to defend herself. In between the two, however, a strange and weird creature had instantly materialized as if from thin air.

Most, upon viewing the twisted, monstrous form of the Lord of Chaos, would be confused, disgusted, or perhaps intrinsically insulted at its alien geometries, a collection of claws, paws, hoofs, horns, antlers, and wings all grafted to a strangely serpent-like equine body. Not Sunset. Oh no. She had seen Discord before, both awake… and in her nightmares.

Her haunches hit the floor a second later, her eyes shrunk to dots and her mouth hung open in a silent scream. The statue! The one from Celestia’s garden! There it was!

Discord drifted gently over to the golden unicorn, a toothy smile on his face and an open claw seemingly ready to give a long-lost friend a friendly hoof-shake. “Long time no see, Bacon-hair! How have you been?

Sunset fell onto her back, hooves up defensively in front of her face as she began to mutter under her breath, “Draconequii aren’t real, Draconequii aren’t real, Draconequii aren’t real,” each time adding a touch more conviction to the mantra.

“So,” Discord continued as though nothing had happened, “Did you ever get over those mommy issues? I guess not since old Sunbutt’s still around.”

“TWILIGHT!” Sunset turned her head and shouted to the Princess, tears streaming down her cheeks, “Why are my foalhood nightmares talking to me!?”

Spike, the dragon, didn’t seem to notice the distress Sunset was going through, asking the Lord of Chaos, “You know Sunset?”

Discord seemed to only just notice his Ogres & Oubliettes partner, “Hm? Oh, yes. Shimmysham and I go way back. She used to come out to the gardens and complain to herself about Celestia’s teaching routines.”

The Draconequus lifted his paw, now covered in a felt puppet shaped just like Sunset, and used its flappy mouth to perfectly mimic her voice, though in a mocking tone. “Why can’t Celestia see that I’m ready to be an alicorn!? Where’s my crown!? Oh, I sure would like to free the Lord of Chaos and show everypony how amazing I am! Buy gold!

“Honestly,” he continued in his own voice, slightly miffed, “You could have taken a hint about a team-up after the third dream.”

Sunset snapped her head up, a confused look on her face. “You… you were in my dreams?” And then, sudden white-hot anger. “You gave me those nightmares!?”

“Well I was a statue at the time,” Discord twirled a claw absently, “or else I would have just asked. I swear, you were so full of venom back then, if you’d had a friend to argue with in front of me, the Disharmony generated could have gotten me out years ago!”

“YOU JERK!” Sunset was back up on her hooves, horn blazing, “I wet the bed until I was nine because of you! You gave me a gray hair when I was ELEVEN!!!”

Discord smiled smugly, as if he could smile any other way, and said, “Yes, but that’s all water under the bridge these days. Welcome to the Reformed Villains Club, Sunny!” he passed her a small card with a line of ten punch holes under the self-explanatory text, “Commit ten good deeds and you get a whole special to yourself.”

He scratched his chin and looked around. “I can’t believe Starlight of all ponies actually managed that. Well, more fool me.”

Before anything could explode, turn to stone, or generally disintegrate, Princess Twilight laid a comforting wing over Sunset’s withers. “Sunset, I know you have… some issues with Discord. Believe me,” she shot the Draconequus a disapproving glare, “Everypony does.”

The Lord of Chaos narrowed his eyes at this, but said nothing. Twilight continued, “But he’s proven to be a true friend to us, and I’d prefer it if you two could get along instead of blow up my castle…”

A bit of crystal masonry crashed down from the ceiling somewhere.

“… more than it already is,” she chuckled, slightly embarrassed.

Sunset took a deep, shuddering breath. And then another. And another. After about five minutes, she’d calmed down enough to lower her horn.

“Alright, sorry. Kinda… I kinda lost my temper there.”

Discord seemed appeased. “Apology accepted. You can make it up to me by treating me to a night on your town. I suggest someplace with carnies, naturally, so Trixie feels at home.”

Trixie huffed, but said nothing.

“Yeah, not gonna happen,” Sunset chuckled. “With Starswirl’s spell, we’re actually aiming to reduce the amount of chaos going on over there.”

The Lord of Chaos gasped, claw over his heart. He looked like Sunset had actually stabbed him in the chest. “Princess Twilight!” he snapped angrily, “I demand this… this Mad Pony be committed immediately! Did you hear what she said? Such flagrant disregard for Chaos!”

The Princess, however, hadn’t heard him. “Starswirl? Starswirl was there?”

Sunset, ignoring her foalhood nightmare’s indignant cries, swiftly lifted the spell scroll in question from her saddlebag, a pleased smile on her face. The younger Twilight, however, cocked her head to one side, and gave the Princess a concerned look.

“Uh, Princess? Didn’t you receive Sunset’s letter?”

Sunset also took note of this, her original concern at Princess Twilight’s obliviousness having been scattered from her Discord-shock.

“N-no?” for once the Princess appeared flustered. “Why didn’t you use the journals… oh, I suppose we can’t use them while they’re stabilizing the…” she glanced towards her scaly little brother, “Spike? Did we get a letter?”

The purple dragon had it clutched in his claws. He swiftly brought it over. “Sorry, it arrived when things were… more hectic.”

Princess Twilight snatched the letter up with her magic, cracked the crystal-heart shaped seal, and began to read. As her eyes scanned the page, her breathing began to quicken. Even from their vantage point, Sunset and Twilight could see her eyes shrink down to near-dots. Discord merely read the letter himself, looking over the Princess’s shoulder. Trixie smiled at her rival’s discomfort. Starlight glowered at Trixie.

When she dropped the letter, Princess Twilight’s breathing was ragged, and her eyes had started drifting away from one another, giving the alicorn a rather crazed look. Starlight Glimmer, stepping past Trixie, leaned in and asked, “Um… Twilight? You need a paper bag?”

“No. No,” she replied, eyes still… uncrossed, and voice cracking slightly, “No, n-n-n-o, no, no, nope. This is fine, this is all fine. It’s fine. It’s… it’s fine because everything got fixed in the end and nopony got hurt and the timestream is intact and Midnight Sparkle almost got loose and am I rambling?”

Trixie answered, with her usual casual tone, “Yeah, a little. Like a four-out-of-Pinkie.”

A flash of green light, and another letter scroll, this time on pink parchment, dropped out of the air and onto the Princess’s head. She snapped it up and open in her purple magical aura. Seeing it was a short message, she automatically began reading out loud.

“Dear Twily,” her voice came out quick and slightly higher pitched than before, “Sorry about the late letter, but Shining and I fell asleep on the chariot (you know how that is*)…” she muttered through the next part, before roaring back to an ear-splitting shriek, “FLURRY WAS KIDNAPPED!?”

The Princess swung her head about in a wide arc, magical energy bursting from her horn. Even Discord took an apprehensive step back as wild gouts of purple magic fired into the air. But in moments, the power coalesced into a sphere of light. The sphere seemed to condense for a moment, before it heaved and flashed outward, instantly filling the entire castle interior.

The assembled ponies, Draconequus, dragon, and dog-turned-dragon were blinded only for a moment. As their eyes readjusted, they could see that the entire castle had remarkably organized itself. Every book appeared back on its shelf, the chipped and scorched crystals had been repaired, the smoke cleared out. The kitchen was probably fully restored as well, Sunset thought, assuming this was a contingency spell the Princess had prepped like the last one.

The castle may have been magically repaired, but it was clear that the Princess of Friendship was slightly broken, if her gibbering, cackling, evil laugh and uncrossed eyes were any indication.

“Everything is fine!” she screamed in the most convincingly ‘fine’ voice imaginable. “Go get clean! Dinner is in an hour! Then we can talk about how you almost destroyed the universe! Isn’t that exciting!? Heh, ha ha! HA! HA! HA!”

She even squee’d.

This… would be an interesting night.

Chapter 2 - The Midnight in Me

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Dinner would, in fact, take a little over two hours to begin. This was partly due to the Princess’s guests requiring a much, much longer time to relax and recuperate than she probably had scheduled. Twilight and Sunset needed time to forget the crushing despair they’d briefly felt when the mirror had been destroyed, while Starlight and Trixie decided that they, in fact, deserved a quick trip to the spa. The Spikes were up in the dragon’s bedroom, reading comicbooks, which was an odd-yet-not-unenjoyable experience for the dog. Discord spent much of his off-time teaching Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle the finer points of Ponyville Hold ‘Em. And Applebloom spend her time cleaning out Discord of bits at Ponyville Hold ‘Em, because even the Lord of Chaos should never cross an Apple mare at cards.

The other reason dinner would take longer to make ready was that the host, the Princess of Friendship Twilight Sparkle, took a sleep spell to the face during her incoherent, mad cackling. All Starlight would say was that she was following Twilight’s Contingency Plan No. 128: In case of Twilinanas, take a nap.

The other Twilight silently wished she knew that spell.

Once the Princess had time to heal her clearly shattered mind, she was only mildly perturbed at her friend and former student’s decision to knock her unconscious. Dinner preparations were swiftly put under way.

The dining hall was lavishly appointed, with pink and lavender banners and bunting strewn between its high crystal columns and towering green glass windows. The Princess had taken up a position on the furthest side of the round table from the doorway, becoming the defacto head of the table. Sunset and the human Twilight Sparkle sat to the Princess’s right, while Starlight and Trixie took their seats on the left, and in that order. The Crusaders, flanked by a Spike on either end, sat directly across from the Princess, and Discord hung up in the bunting like a hammock. He seemed content to levitate the food up to his place near the ceiling.

Oh, and what a meal it was! Sunset hadn’t had a good, old fashioned Equestrian meal like this one in forever, and the way she tucked into every dish was evidence of that. The main course was daffodil and dandelion sandwiches paired with a creamy onion and vegetable soup. There were honeyed wheatcakes, lemonade, and even cupcakes from Sugarcube Corner and a few fried cinnamon apples, courtesy of Applebloom, who swore all to secrecy on the matter. Granny Smith would be furious to hear about fried apples.

Sunset’s face-stuffing drew many curious glances from the Crusaders, especially Sweetie Belle, who clearly held some of Rarity’s opinions on eating habits and manners, at least when it came to other ponies.

Eventually, the golden unicorn noticed the looks she was receiving. “Heh,” she smiled sheepishly after swallowing an entire mouthful of sandwich, “Sorry everypony… it’s been a while since I ate pony food. Feeling nostalgic, I guess.”

Scootaloo piped up, “What kind of foods do you eat when you’re in hooman world?”

“Oh yes!” Discord called down from his bunting hammock, a bowl of soup resting on his belly, “How does bacon taste, Bacon-hair?”

Sunset’s eyes shrank and her sudden blush grew.

The Princess raised an eyebrow. “Bacon?”

“Um…” Twilight had a shockingly out of character moment where nothing came to her mind, “It’s… um…”

Sunset took a breath, and seemed to come back to reality. This conversation had played out a few times in her mind. Better to rip the bandage off now. “Meat. Bacon is a type of meat.”

The table became… incredibly quiet, with the exception of a giggle from Discord.

“Did you…?” The Princess began, cautiously.

Sunset looked straight into her eyes, and said, “Yes. And,” she looked down at her plate with no small amount of embarrassment, “it was delicious.”

Discord, in his high perch, lost every trace of mirth or laughter in his face. And then it came back, fiercer and darker than he’d ever felt since being reformed. “Oh, Sunnycakes… I think someone’s trying to get on my good side! Assuming I have one…” he turned his head to reveal a small Fluttershy-head growing out of his shoulder. “Well, what do you know…?”

The Princess hadn’t heard. “But… but you’re a pony!”

“Technically,” Twilight pushed her glasses up more securely on her face as she entered lecture mode, “she’s human. At least over there. We’re omnivorous, so eating meat is entirely natural to us. And while some of us choose to avoid eating other creatures,” a blush started on her cheeks, “I must confess I enjoy the occasional meat consumable as well. Though not to the same… excessive degree as Rainbow Dash or Applejack.”

“Applejack!?” Applebloom cried.

“R-Rainbow Dash!?” Scootaloo squeaked.

Sweetie Belle stuttered as she asked, “D-do you eat… p-ponies?”

Both Twilight and Sunset shook their heads and waved their hooves, protesting their innocence in a babble of denials.

Trixie leaned on one hoof to watch the proceedings, a smile on her face. Starlight, however, had a perplexed look on hers. And once the screaming was over and the Crusaders alleviated of knowing their sisters and role models were… monsters in another world, she had another question for the trans-dimensional guests.

“So, why don’t you just keep eating food from here?”

“Not everything translates through the portal,” Sunset replied, taking a large bite of her sandwich, “Daffodils, for instance.”

Trixie snorted, “Daffodils?”

“Poisonous, especially to horses,” Twilight nodded.

Scootaloo pushed her plate away. She wasn’t that hungry anymore.

“Well,” Princess Twilight sighed, “I can’t exactly condemn you for something that’s biologically natural, no matter how much it disturbs me.”

At this, Sunset smirked. “Oh Twilight,” she crossed her forelegs and leaned in, “You remember that dinner we had at the Shake Shop? Right after the Sirens were defeated? I seem to recall a certain princess adoring their famous chili-burg...”

“Why! Would you look at the time!” Princess Twilight shouted, wings outstretched, hooves slapping the table and shaking all the dishes, “It’s getting so late! Time for some fillies to hit the hay!”*

It took some time, and a lot of protesting, but eventually the Cutie Mark Crusaders were upstairs and asleep, as far as anypony was aware. The rest of the castle’s occupants this night assembled around the Cutie Map. Princess Twilight took her throne, with her Spike taking up his own besides her. Sunset sat in Rainbow Dash’s throne to their immediate right, and then counterclockwise Twilight Sparkle sat in Fluttershy’s seat, Spike the dog in Pinkie’s, Trixie in Rarity’s throne, and Starlight in Applejack’s place to the Princess’s immediate left.

Discord dragged a chair from the dining hall all the way to the throne room, leaving both a long scar along the floor and the continuous echoes of screeching chalkboards in his wake, before he magically nailed it halfway up the wall and sat in the air next to it.

This aggravation aside, the Princess asked her guests to fill her in on the… disturbing adventure they apparently had in the Crystal Empire while she was away…

The first interruption in their narrative came when Tempest Shadow entered the story. Princess Twilight was ecstatic to hear of her friend’s success in the empire. She was equally depressed when Starlight informed her that they did not, in fact, take pictures of a filly-fied Tempest playing with Flurry Heart, the Princess’s niece. Though Trixie’s description, dripping with affection for the fillies, satisfied her.

As had the news of Tempest’s horn.

“I can’t believe it!” she beamed at her human-counterpart, “You actually did it?”

Twilight beamed back, “Well, when it seemed like magic wasn’t going to work, I decided to fall back on good old Human Science!”

The Princess shook her head ruefully, “I never considered combining crystals and prosthetics. They’re a fairly new field of research these days, and not very well developed compared to what I saw from your world. You have my eternal gratitude for helping my friend when I could not.”

Sunset laughed, “Oh that’s a neat idea! Why don’t you two trade magic for science?”

“Pardon?” asked the Princess, a curious smile dancing in her eyes.

“Yeah,” Sunset smiled back, “You give Twilight here magic lessons, and she’ll teach you about human science! It’s a perfect exchange program!”

Twilight Sparkle held back another yawn. They were coming on more and more.

The second interruption followed moments later, when the Princess finally put two and two together about her friend Tempest being temporarily reduced to a foal. Truly, it was a sudden interruption, as the moment Sunset began describing how Starswirl the Bearded, despite ostensively knowing better, had been experimenting with Time Magic, Princess Twilight’s head slammed against the map table.

Though her mouth was covered, her moan was clear in its intent.

“Yeah,” Starlight sighed, “That was my reaction too.”

Princess Twilight lifted her head back and bemoaned to the universe in general, “Why doesn’t anypony figure this out!? Time! Magic! Never! Works! Ever! What was Starswirl thinking!?”

“Well,” Twilight was happy to leap into a discussion of magical theory, “It was a blunt-force method he originally used with Tempest. Once Starlight showed him her corrections to his original time spell, and Sunburst and I came up with- “

“Starlight!!!” the Princess turned towards her former student, a vein popping out on her forehead, “What the hayseed!?”

“Look, I’m sorry,” Starlight held up her hooves defensively, “I knew it was a bad idea to begin with! I tried to warn them…!”

“Do I have to send you to the moon!?”

By the end of her friends’ tale, Princess Twilight had her head buried in her hooves, sighs and groans wracking her body. Time-displaced duplicates of her friends. Doomed timelines still existing. Midnight Sparkle. The only silver lining amongst the mess was…

“At least,” she lifted her head finally, “those… other ponies proved that the Magic of Friendship wasn’t entirely lost to them. Maybe, in time, they can rediscover it again.”

Starlight had grown extremely quiet during that part of the retelling. Trixie had moved over to her friend’s seat and laid a comforting hoof on her foreleg the entire time once they’d dredged up Starlight’s old mistakes. The showpony would never admit to not understanding everything that was going on, but she understood Starlight needed a friendly hoof, and simply held onto her friend during the whole thing.

“But… without their memories,” Starlight blinked back a tear, “how will they ever know? How can they fix my mistakes if the spell we used to send them back erased the knowledge that there might be a better way?”

Twilight Sparkle had also grown quite during the retelling, more so whenever the corrupted Midnight Sparkle came up. But as Starlight struggled to hold onto her composure, Twilight struggled against a far, far darker tide. It was only her concern for Starlight that kept her head above it all.

“They remember,” she said, barely above a whisper.

“Twi?” Sunset hadn’t quite heard her, “You say something?”

Twilight slowly met Sunset’s gaze with one that showed every lost minute of sleep, that practically screamed out for rest. Food and a bath had reduced some of that burden, but in that moment, it was clear as glass how tired the human-turned-pony was.

“I said, they remember.”

Starlight’s jaw worked for several seconds before she croaked, “How do you know?”

The purple unicorn let out a single, mirthless chuckle. “Because, I remember,” a flicker of electric blue fire flashed across the bridge of her glasses.

Sunset rose in her seat, horn glowing dimly. “Twilight…?”

“Don’t worry,” Twilight said, shaking her head, dissipating the flames, “It’s just me here. Midnight only shows up when I try to sleep. Which I haven’t been doing much of for a while.”

“You haven’t been sleeping well,” said Sunset, understanding finally coming to her. “It wasn’t just jitters then?”

Twilight looked to the map table, drawing a circle on its surface with one hoof as she spoke. “The first and second night weren’t terrible. Just a few… memories of the library. I didn’t pick up at first how my perspective on the events was different while I was dreaming. It was dream logic. So I thought.”

She returned to look at the Princess. “But since then, I can’t seem to escape her. Every dream is just her, laughing at me, taunting me. Reminding me of what I did when I was her…”

Sunset’s forelegs wrapped around her friend in a protective hug. Twilight hadn’t noticed her leave her seat. “Twilight, you are not Midnight,” she said, head buried in Twilight’s mane, “Remember what we went through in Camp Everfree? You’re better than her!”

“And yet,” the bespectacled unicorn sighed, “I still remember ripping your magic from your body and attacking the Crystal Guards. I still remember being dragged back into the time portal by our friends.”

Starlight scrunched her nose in confusion. “But Starswirl’s spell was supposed to erase your memories! How did you not remember what happened until now?”

“The spell was blocked,” said Twilight, reluctantly leaving Sunset’s embrace, “I think the Elements of Harmony had something to do with that…”

“Of course!” the Princess clapped her hooves together. She grinned and said, “The Elements are connected with the Tree of Harmony! And the Map!”

Trixie, squishing herself into the same throne as a grumbling, but not unhappy, Starlight, sniffed and announced, “The Great and Powerful Trixie understands completely. Understanding what you say is foal’s play! But, just for the non-ponies’ benefit, could you explain further?”

Starlight narrowed her eyes at her seat-mate, but then returned the Princess’s smile, or something close to it. “We’ve seen the Map protect ponies from the effects of time travel… like when I… you know.” She glanced away momentarily, “So, it stands to reason that the Elements have some similar effects when dealing with time magic.”

Everypony took a few seconds to consider this news. Trixie took a few seconds to nod her head along with the others. Nopony noticed the three fillies nodding along just out of sight past the open throne room doors.

As if the Cutie Mark Crusaders were gonna miss out on a bedtime story this amazing!

Spike, the dog, took that moment to speak up, “But then why did Twilight’s memory disappear and then come back?”

The other Spike added, “And if Sunset Shimmer’s evil demon self was there, why doesn’t she remember anything?”

Twilight scratched her chin with a hoof as she began to think out loud. “Midnight herself is the likely suspect. But I’m not certain what purpose that would serve. With the state I was in after the battle, she could have easily stepped back in and took over, but she didn’t…”

Sunset leaned over the table, “For me, I… I think I was just exhausted. I mean, in the span of a couple hours I’d gotten into a fight with Twilight, hit by one version of the Elements of Harmony, tossed into a magic duel with all of you, plus Starswirl and Tempest, then had all of my power ripped out of me again by Midnight, and then had to help tackle her into a swirling Time portal while channeling a second set of the Elements.

“And that’s not mentioning getting dropped back into my own time so hard I left a crater, or the hours I spent helping Luna patch up the damage I’d caused to the school,” Sunset seemed winded just from describing her worst day ever, a lifetime ago it seemed. She settled her chin down onto her hooves, which rested atop the table. “I had so many nightmares and fever dreams in the days after that. I… I think I just made myself forget.”

This time it was Twilight who placed a gentle hoof atop Sunset’s withers, her tired eyes returning some of the warmth her friend had always shown her. But this was short-lived, as she turned back towards the Princess version of her. “Sunset was exhausted and confused… but I was in my right mind the entire time between becoming Midnight, and when I was returned to normal. Obviously barring the moments leading up to my poor decision to unleash the magic.

“I hypothesize that Midnight Sparkle retained some amount of control over our magic while she was weakened by the Elements, just enough to allow her to cast some sort of memory spell on me.

“Now, I don’t know as much about Equestrian magic as any of you,” she took in both unicorns and alicorn princess across the table from her with a wave, which elicited a smug grin from Trixie, “but that… that sounds like an incredible feat of magic. Being able to cast memory spells while being under that kind of stress and pressure.”

“Yeah,” Sunset agreed, then said with some concern, “Wow! Midnight sounds more and more impressive when you say that… at least where magic is concerned. More than the last time we had to deal with her. You don’t think she got stronger?”

This last question was directed towards the Princess, who was exchanging a hurried, wide-eyed gaze with Starlight Glimmer.

“Uh, guys?” Sunset asked again, uncertainty edging her voice.

Both alicorn and unicorn looked back to Sunset. Starlight gave the Princess a weary shrug, which seemed to deflate something in the Princess.

Discord took that opportunity to call out, “Don’t keep us in suspense, Twilicorn! We’re all waiting for a juicy story!” He winked towards the open doors, though only the three hiding Crusaders noticed this. They took the hint, and continued peeking around the door frame.

Princess Twilight did not immediately respond. She seemed to scan the room, allowing her stare to linger on the face of each of her friends in turn. Yes, even Discord. Trixie sat a bit straighter in the throne she occupied when the eyes passed over her. Starlight avoided the gaze entirely. The Spikes hardly moved a muscle, while Twilight and Sunset felt a sudden chill enter their bones.

“Spike, please retrieve the Midnight File,” she finally, wearily said in as professional a voice as any there had heard from her.

The dragon rose into the air immediately, sudden worry in his eyes. He flew out of the room with uncommon speed and seemed to hurtle away from the library.

“Restricted section,” the Princess said, drawing attention to the odd direction he’d flown, “Best if nocreature besides him, Starlight, and I know where that’s hidden.”

She then slightly turned her head towards the open door. “And now, for real this time, three fillies in particular need to go to bed. It is well past the time.” Her voice gained suddenly in volume without any visible strain on her part.

Sweetie Belle broke first. “But… why can’t we hear about this Midnight filly?”

“Haven’t we proven we’re old enough for this sort of thing?” Applebloom kicked the doorframe.

“Seriously!” Scootaloo cried, “What could be so bad…?”

“No!” The Royal Canterlot Voice kicked up a layer of dust, reverberated through the map table, and seemingly every facet of the crystal castle walls began to vibrate with Princess Twilight’s command. The Cutie Mark Crusaders froze in place, and the adult ponies in the room covered their ears as best they could. Even Discord halted in his jeering, eyes wincing against the force projected.

Twilight Sparkle, human high school student, looked up to see her Princess counterpart, standing up in her throne with wings fully outstretched. The magically empowered shout only enhanced the sudden vision she perceived as she gazed up at this… this Royalty. For the first time, Twilight fully understood how large the gape truly was between herself and the Princess. Here stood a Goddess, full of righteous anger and justified sovereign might.

Sunset, Trixie, and even Starlight were having the same sudden, vertiginous realization of what Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Equestria, truly was.

The Princess’s voice returned to normal, but her tone was clearly now that of a ruler who expected to be obeyed. “Please, wait in the hallway. I will explain when we are finished.” All three fillies immediately turned and fled from the room.

There were no protests. The mares, Draconequus, and dog were left in a stunned silence. Moments later, a whirl of magical green dragon flame and ash drifted into the room and hovered over the map table. Spike’s signature mailing system dropped a tome from the air, and it struck the table with a booming thud, as loud as if a timberwolf had crashed down upon it. The book had to be as thick as Twilight’s head was tall!

Spike followed through the door moments later, closing the way behind him as he entered. “Sorry, but I am not carrying that thing.”

Princess Twilight smiled, briefly. Then she turned her magic upon the book.

“Novis Catalogus,” she intoned, casting the spell.

The tome snapped open, its bindings undone. Each page leapt from the book, and flashed with magical light. With each flash, a page became a folder, and each folder was fit to burst, held together with twine and string. The folders kept jumping from the book, landing upon the map table, and slowly covering up its entire face. Within moments, no part of the table was visible, and no folder was in a stack less than four high.

Trixie’s jaw nearly hit the floor. “Sparkle? What is all this?”

Starlight answered for her, “Everything we found on Midnight Sparkle.”

“What!?” Twilight snapped, glasses nearly thrown entirely from her face. “How is that possible!?”

Sunset shook her head and looked to the Princess for answers. “Twilight, what sort of research did you do? I only talked about Midnight with you after the Friendship Games!”

The Princess Twilight fixed her guests with a stare, then said slowly, “First, remember that I said the Cutie Map could protect one from the effects of time magic?”

Everypony nodded, so she continued, “Well, Starlight and I have been experimenting with the map, and we’ve found that, with the proper spells, we can use it to peer into other timelines and universes, to see what could have been, had a few things gone differently.

“You see,” Princess Twilight’s voice took on a lecturing tone, like a teacher delivering a grim lesson of history, or a particularly odious bit of homework in the last five minutes before the weekend. “There are an infinite number of worlds in the vastness of existence. If our world, or mirrored worlds, were but a single leaf on a tree, then every other leaf near us would be a world more similar to ours…”

“Oh,” Twilight perked her ears up, “Multiverse theory.”

The Princess stopped midsentence; mouth left agape. “What?”

“Multiverse theory,” Twilight said, helpfully, “The idea that there are an infinite number of worlds, or universes, each similar to each other, but more or less different depending on specific events that did or did not happen in each universe. Any one difference could be as minor as me picking cereal over toast for breakfast, or as huge as an entirely different species rising to prominence instead of humans… or ponies, as the case may be.”

“There’s a word for that!?” the Princess failed to even pretend to hide her shock. Trixie snickered in her chair, only to get an elbowing from Starlight.

“Yeah Twi,” Sunset laughed, “Books, movies, even comic books in our world have been playing around with the concept for years.”

“Can confirm,” both Spikes snorted in perfect stereo.

The Princess now hid her embarrassment with a cough and a return to her lecture. “Well, yes, um… alright. So, I’ll skip that part.”

She indicated the folders on the table with a wave of her wing. “After hearing about Midnight Sparkle, I was curious. Some of her behaviors and method of creation were similar to events in our world, such as Nightmare Moon, or Daybreaker.”

Trixie raised an eyebrow, “Who?”

“Nevermind,” Princess Twilight said, not even looking at her one-time rival, “The point is that Starlight and I asked the map to find worlds where… where Midnight Sparkle came to exist.”

“After realizing what ‘infinite’ truly meant,” Starlight added with a hollow chuckle, “we narrowed that down, like a case study, to around five-hundred worlds where she appeared.”

Twilight and Sunset’s eyes were wide in shock. “Five…?” Twilight asked.

“Hundred…?” Sunset finished.

The Princess nodded. “Of course, only three-hundred-and-twenty-one of those universes were close enough to our own baseline to use for comparison.”

As she spoke, folders began to vanish from the table with audible pops like a teleportation spell. With every folder gone, the original book appeared to regain a page. As the Princess noted the three-hundred odd universes out of the original five-hundred, a huge number of folders vanished at once.

“Of the three-hundred-and-twenty-one worlds we looked into, few had any major differences from ours. In some, you,” she pointed a hoof at Twilight, “chose a different pair of shoes to wear to the Friendship Games. In others, you never adopted Spike.”

Both dragons bore a worried expression at this.

“But out of all these worlds…” Princess Twilight took a deep breath, “In two-hundred-and-eighty-nine realities, Midnight Sparkle was born.”

The folders vanished at a slower rate, now beginning to reveal the face of the table once more. The table face beneath them shone with an inner light that began to shape itself. Twilight and Sunset recognized the white sphere as more and more folders vanished though. Both had seen it during the Friendship Games, though from decidedly different perspectives.

Beneath the piles of folders, the white sphere of light resolved itself into the… human form of a young woman who bore a striking resemblance to Twilight Sparkle. Her skin was darker, and her hair wild in style and with additional pink highlights. Not to mention the risqué outfit, the electric blue flames which formed a horn and glasses upon her face, nor the black wings which held her aloft, soaring over the grounds of Canterlot High School.

Midnight Sparkle, as she was that first night at the Friendship Games.

“And…” the Princess faltered, “… and in all but ten of those realities…”

The Cutie Mark Crusaders waited near, but not too near, the doors to the throne room. They hated waiting. It was boring, and it wasn’t something that Crusaders or any pony worth their salt would put up with, especially when there was a mystery or an adventure to solve or to go on.

But whenever one of them started thinking about sneaking back, that fresh terror of an enraged Twilight Sparkle gave them pause.

“This is silly,” Applebloom pouted, “Twilight’s still our friend! I mean… I guess she could be stressed about bein’ a real, ruling princess, but…”

Sweetie Belle scoffed, “Applebloom, she just yelled at us! And all we were doing was trying to help.”

“Uh, how were we helpin’?” the little farmpony tilted her head quizzically to one side.

“Moral support,” Sweetie replied, head held high, just like Rarity showed her, “That other Twilight clearly needed someponies to stand by her side, since she used to be a bad pony... or, um…”

“Person?” Applebloom offered.

“That’s not a word,” said Sweetie, certain that she was right.

Scootaloo, silent up until this point, piped up. “Guys? I think… I think the Princess might have been right.”

That certainly caught the other fillies off guard.

“How can you say that?” Applebloom’s face was the very picture of worry for her friend’s mental stability.

Sweetie concurred, her voice cracking as she said, “Where’s your Crusader spirit?”

Scootaloo didn’t look to her friends. She instead turned her own, worried expression towards the doors. “I’ve… I’ve heard a lot of bad news before,” her wings experimentally buzzed once, drawing the other Crusaders’ attention, “and… I guess I can tell when adults are being weird because they’re weird… and when they’re actually scared of something.”

She met her friends’ eyes again. “I think this is one of those other times. Twilight…”

She didn’t get a chance to voice her thoughts further. The doors swung open, slowly, with a deep groan.

The first to leave the room were the two mares from that other world, Sunset Shimmer and the other, still-a-unicorn Twilight Sparkle. Sunset walked with one foreleg held over Twilight’s withers in a tight walking-hug. She looked worried, afraid her friend would shatter like glass if left alone. And if Scootaloo could read faces, and she reckoned she could, she could tell this Twilight had been crying, heavily. Sunset was in a similar way… but it was Twilight having the worst of it.

Scootaloo had seen her parents cry like that once, when the doctors who looked at her had to tell them…

Awesome ponies don’t think about that stuff, she reminded herself. Dash would be upset to know Scoot had let it bother her again. Still, the Crusaders all collectively wished they could do something for the poor, crying mare. They just didn’t want their Twilight to think they’d run off yet.

Both Spikes followed, but neither would even look at the fillies. How bad was the news?

They could hear two ponies talking softly just within the doorway, but on the other side of the doors themselves. One sounded like Starlight, their sometimes-friend-sometimes-teacher, while the other sounded like Trixie, the crazy one.

“Look,” Trixie was saying, low and quiet, “I can put off dealing with the other me for a day. The mirror isn’t going anywhere. If you want, Trixie can take you down to the lake and we can fly kites?”

Starlight’s voice was… old. Not like she’d aged or that she herself was any older than one of their sisters, but even the Crusaders could feel the unbelievable stress and sorrow in her voice. It was a voice that belonged to someone with far too much sadness in her heart from living too long.

“That’s okay Trixie,” she said, nearly whispering, “I need some time.”

The Crusaders could hear the sweep of Trixie’s cape, and with a quick peek, Sweetie could see the two mares hugging one another tightly.

Trixie would probably have kept hugging had Starlight not clearly wanted to leave and seek out a bed to collapse onto. The Great and Powerful Trixie lowered her head as she made her way to her own bed, a hammock she’d set up in one of the guest rooms. You could take the pony out of the show, but not the show out of the pony, it seemed.

Finally, the Princess herself came out to see the Crusaders. She hadn’t gotten more than a few steps from the door before she felt three filly bodies press into her front and sides. Looking down, Princess Twilight felt the tiny hooves and forelegs grip her tightly in the desperate hugs of three fillies who didn’t understand what was wrong, but knew they wanted to help anyway.

She didn’t need to say anything, not yet. She wrapped her little ponies in her wings, and held them close while she wiped their tears, and reminded herself that these three were amongst the bravest, most loyal, and most caring friends and ponies she’d ever known. And she would remind them of that fact once she came up with the words.

Discord, Lord of Chaos, Mayor of Madness, Baron of Bonkers, and DDFBFF (Discord Draconequus Fluttershy’s Best Friend Forever) stood alone in the throne room, staring at the Cutie Map. It still displayed the sight that had driven all the others from the room.

What a piece of work, he thought. She floated there, in space, surrounded by the shattered remnants of two worlds, a cracked moon, and a sun she’d turned blue and crackling. She was cackling, completely hysterical with laughter, holding what looked like the head of a statue.

A statue that used to be Sunset Shimmer…

His arms were crossed behind his back as he contemplated the image. He knew evil. He was intimately familiar with the dark thrill that came from being the Bad Guy. But this wasn’t the sort of villainy he’d ever approved of. This was just mindless destruction. Not fun at all!

But… had he been fun? Discord didn’t like to think back on his bad old ways, but he couldn’t help but do so once he saw Bacon-hair and Little Twi break down at the sight of what could have been.

“Oh Cordy,” he sighed, “Should have kept your big mouth shut. If you hadn’t egged her on, maybe this would have been a happier night.”

A lightbulb popped into existence just above his head. He glanced up at the dark bulb, but it did not turn on. Looking about, he didn’t see anyone, so he raised a claw and tapped it a few times. And as its light engaged and shined down on the Draconequus, he got an idea!

Of course! What better way to lighten his pals’ moods than with a joke?

He’d been planning his little prank since Shimmy had shown up with that… spell scroll. He reached into a pocket he only just now decided he possessed, and brought out a small, worn piece of paper. It was nearly identical to the Reformed Villains Club card he’d jokingly offered Sunset earlier, and it had nine holes punched into it. Out of ten.

“Time for a bit of mischief,” he smiled, “and you’ll thank me for it, too!”

Chapter 3 - Memento Mori

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“Come on, come on,” the Princess of Night whispered fretfully, her twitching eyes nailed to her sister’s sun as it tipped ever-so-slowly towards the horizon. Tia was probably doing it on purpose, naturally, just to spite her. She tap-tap-tapped her hooves impatiently on the floor of her bedroom balcony, the same place from where she always raised and lowered the moon.

Luna’s agitation carried over from her eyes to the rest of her form. Dark circles around her eyes spoke of many a restless day spent not getting her proper sleep. Her fur was unkempt and ruffled in places. Her wings badly needed pruning, and her mane and tail hung limp from her head. But once the moon was up and her little ponies were resting once more, everything would turn out alright, at least as far as Luna’s trouble was concerned.

Why wouldn’t the blasted sun set yet!?

The golden disc finally touched the horizon. Luna watched it like a cat would a mousehole, waiting for the right moment to pounce. As the sun slowly, slowly dipped down, every muscle in the Princess’s body quivered for action, demanded it.

“Just a bit lower,” she snarled quietly, “That’s it. Almost… there…”

At the same instant the sun finally vanished over the horizon, Luna’s horn flashed with her dark blue majesty, and her Moon fired into the sky as though Pinkie Pie had launched it with one of her impossible party cannons. The stars even looked like confetti this night, shaky with the haste Luna cast them up into the heavens. The royal astronomers would be complaining about whiplash for days after this.

The Princess of the Night did not care for such trivialities. “Finally!” Luna laughed in a slightly Twilight-fashion. Her horn lit up again, carrying her mind across the darkening lands of Equestria. “Where are you?” she snarled, the hunt underway.

She only needed a moment to find what she was looking for. The trap had been sprung, and the hunter need merely approach to collect their prey. Excellent. This gave her time to prepare for the confrontation.

However, before that confrontation could take place, she heard another one landing on her balcony.

“Sister,” the gentle, at other times soothing voice of Celestia, the Princess of the Sun, ran up Luna’s spine like a warm cotton blanket, “I cannot allow you to do this any longer.”

Three nights of this argument had done little for Luna’s nerves. “Well, if thou wills it, then cast me back to the moon!”

“Luna!” the sudden tone of anguish was more than enough to make the former Mare in the Moon flinch and reconsider what she’d said.

Besides, this night she had better news. “Forgive us, Sister mine,” she turned, looking up into the ancient, concerned eyes of the only pony she truly loved, “But as you are well aware, this has been a troubling issue for too long. And, if I am correct, I have finally found the answers I sought.”

“Oh?” the solar diarch raised an eyebrow, “You’ve finally figured out where this…” she waved one hoof about, searching for the word she thought she’d committed to memory by now, “… this Super Nightmare is hiding?” She placed her waving hoof on Luna’s withers, in an obvious attempt to comfort her sister.

Luna allowed the sign of affection, even if she could hear the trace of condescension in Celestia’s voice. Or perhaps that was the sleep deprivation. Who could tell?

“The… ‘super nightmare’, as you call it,” Luna wondered why she bothered with correct terminology anymore these days, “or more properly, the Incubus, has eluded me for three nights. This should not be possible, but I think I have discovered how the monster is doing it.”

Celestia’s hoof somehow tightened its hold. “Sister… that’s what you said last night.”

Luna gently removed the hoof with one of her wings. “As I was saying, I have just now confirmed what I merely suspected last night.

“The Incubus resides within the dreams of Twilight Sparkle.”

Celestia gasped, a hoof swiftly rose to cover her shocked expression. “Are you sure? But she seemed so calm at the diplomatic summit!”

“No,” Luna blinked irritably, “The other Twilight Sparkle! The one who is from the dimension in which your Sunset Shimmer now resides.”

“Oh… well that’s not good either,” said Celestia, ruffling her feathers lightly.

Luna shook her limp mane, “Indeed not. An Incubus is a Nightmare of supreme darkness and despair. It does not merely worsen our pony’s sleep, but can overturn their sanity itself if left unchecked.”

She turned her gaze back to the moon, scowling as she continued, “I have only faced three before in all my nights. One was the Tantabus, which I set upon myself as punishment for Nightmare Moon…”

Celestia was at her side, quickly interrupting as gently as she could, “And I am gladdened every day that you overcame your misplaced guilt and came back to me, my dearest Luna.”

The princesses smiled together a moment. Then, Luna finished her tale, “The other two were easy to find, and weak to mine own puissance… my power over the dreamrealms. This one, like the Tantabus, had some means of eluding me. Hence these past sleepless days and harrowing nights.”

“How did it hide from you?”

“There are two Twilight Sparkles.” Luna pointed out two of her stars, making them glow and twinkle in time with one another, “Despite the minor differences between us, the souls of our counterparts across the mirror are very similar, if not identical to one another. Whilst Dreamwalking, I was unable to differentiate between either one. It was like a nightmare echo, blinding all my other dream-senses, hiding its source.”

Celestia, despite the seriousness, tittered, “Don’t you mean deafened?”

One annoyed glance caused the elder sibling to quiet herself, and listen with a foalish grin as Luna continued.

“The other Twilight has been in the Crystal Empire for the past two days, as you may well recall from Cadence’s letter about the incident there. But I believe she has returned to Ponyville, and sleeps now in the Castle of Friendship. With their close proximity to one another, the echo is focused in one location. I can finally see exactly where to go so I may solve this crisis.”

The two alicorns stood on the balcony, bathed in moonlight, and cooled by a slow, measured breeze ordered in from Cloudsdale. The two could not be more dissimilar, as Luna’s faded condition stood in stark contrast to the well-rested Celestia. Indeed, Celestia could tell even without a millennium of experience that Luna was shivering, not from the cold but from sheer lack of sleep.

The Diarch of the Sun decided to address that particular issue. “Sister, you’re exhausted.”

“We… I have been striving hard to locate this threat…”

“Your Nightguards say you’ve been hallucinating in the halls during the day.”

Luna blew a raspberry, “Night Kicker would say that, the nosy little…”

“Night Kicker’s been dead for one thousand years.”

Luna glowered at her sister. “Impossible! She was with me last…” she paused, one eye blinking involuntarily, “oh, I see. You may have a point then.”

Celestia gently laid a wing over her sister, pulling them together gingerly. Luna knew there would be a lecture at this point about responsibilities, taking care of oneself, and all of those things she emphatically did not wish to talk about this night. Typical, really.

So, she cut Celestia off quickly. “Fear not, Tia. I know that in my present state I am no match for an Incubus.”

“Good,” her elder sister smiled, “I am glad you are making the responsible choice in this matter…”

“Which is why I summoned help.”

A flicker of anger passed across Celestia’s face, but before she could say anything further on the matter, she heard something… sproing behind them. Both princesses turned back towards the door to the balcony, and took in the sight of a bouncing pink mare hopping towards them.

“Oh, horsefeathers,” Celestia sighed.

“Good evening your majesties!” Pinkie Pie trilled as she came to a stop before the two sisters, “And isn’t it a be-ay-U-tea-full night for a party!?” She managed to maintain her rhythmic bouncing while one hoof came up to scratch at her chin, “Then again, when isn’t it a good time for a party…?”

Something about this should have worried Celestia. Something in the back of her mind, in a memory she couldn’t quite recall. Why did she suddenly dread the appearance of the hyperactive pink pony?

“We welcome thee, Pinkie Pie,” Luna genuinely smiled, “Did you bring it as I requested?”

Pinkie stopped a few feet away, reached up into her mane, and drew out a silver thermos whose lid was held down with red tape. “Of course! One order of Pinkie’s Super Sugary Turbo-Caffeinated Mocha-Delight! Or, The Good Stuff, as I call it,” she said, somehow capitalizing the name even in speech.

The Good Stuff. Oh, no. Celestia remembered now… her wings quivered reflexively. “Luna, hold on. That’s…”

“Not what We asked for,” Luna held up the thermos in her magic. “Lady Pie, I believe I asked for your strongest caffeinated beverage.”

Pinkie’s expression retained every ounce of joy and good cheer she’d entered with. “What d’ya mean?”

Luna set the thermos down. “What I mean is, I was led to believe you could provide me something called… The Ponk. Was I mistaken?”

Celestia had seen Pinkie Pie perform impossible stunts, and through Twilight’s letters knew of a hundred more. She knew Pinkie could smile so hard that rainbows spontaneously appeared in the sky, or outrun a flying Rainbow Dash with ease. Pinkie was said to have died and returned to life three days later, though that might have been an ill-timed sugar-induced coma, according to Twilight’s follow-up medical examination.

She had never seen or heard of a serious Pinkie Pie. And the Party Planner Pony was deadly serious now. Her mane, the frizziest Celestia had ever seen, deflated instantly. Her eyes narrowed to points, and her jubilant smile became a warlike scowl.

“No,” said Pinkie Pie, her voice a slab of concrete.

Luna raised an eyebrow in question. “No as in, I am not mistaken? Or no as in you will not…”

Pinkie’s hoof clamped down on Luna’s muzzle, silencing the Princess. Both she and Celestia looked on in complete shock. Pinkie’s voice was completely, and entirely unemotional as she said, “No. I cannot give you what you seek.”

Not that Celestia wanted this line of thought to go any further… but now she was invested. “Why not? If I may ask?”

Pinkie folded her forelegs together. “I have sworn a sacred oath. No creature may again have the Ponk, save for Pinkie Pies.”

“Did… did you just pluralize your name?” Celestia frowned.

Luna, however, lifted her chin and said with an imperial tone, “And what if We were to command it? You forget that We are the Princess of Night.”

Pinkie’s face came within an inch of Luna’s, their eyes locking. For the first time in… what was probably millennium, Luna felt like a filly again. Pinkie’s eyes did not hold the power of Fluttershy’s legendary Stare, Luna did not think, but they did hold a power all their own. It was as though Luna had stepped uninvited into another Princess’s domain.

“The Ponk is too dangerous,” Pinkie warned again, “Nocreature besides a Pinkie Pie and one other have ever survived the attempt. I wouldn’t wish the Ponk on my worst enemy,” a flash of her goofy smile returned, “and I don’t even have those!”

“Wait,” Celestia regretted asking, but again… invested. “Who was the one other creature?”

Pinkie glanced about the balcony, making sure that the three were alone. She then reached up to both princesses, and pulled them down into a huddle.

With a conspirator’s whisper, she asked, “What do you two know about Discord’s backstory?” *

Both princesses snapped back to a straight posture, their own eyes now pinpricks. Celestia’s jaw stopped working entirely, while Luna began to speak as quickly as she could manage, saying, “Very-well-we-shall-heed-your-warning! The Good Stuff, it is!”

Pinkie squee’d, her joyful exuberance, and frizzy mane, restored.

Celestia, however, balked. “Lulu! Do not drink that!”

Luna tore off the tape keeping the thermos’ lid down. “What now? Why not?”

“Because I know what The Good Stuff is and what it does to ponies!” She affixed Pinkie with the stare of an angry parent after a school buckball game, “Pinkie Pie, the last time you sold that… concoction here, I explicitly banned it from the city. Why do you still have it?”

Pinkie shrugged, “I didn’t know what that meant,” then more seriously, and a touch chagrined, “Um… sorry about that. I figured if Luna asked for it, then it would be alright. Besides, I didn’t sell it, I traded it. You never banned me from just making The Good Stuff either.”

Celestia snorted. “I know you don’t remember since you were so young yourself and hadn’t met yet, but Twilight purchased a bottle of that horrid stuff while she was still a student here…”

“The Good Stuff,” Pinkie interrupted, “It’s a trademark thing.”

“And she ended up in a coma!”

Luna, eyeing the thermos, turned her shocked face back to the conversation, “What!? A coma?”

Celestia nodded, “She was asleep for a week straight! That… Good Stuff gave her enough energy to spontaneously burst into flames, and then after a day she just collapsed! As did half of my other advanced students!” She shook her head in disbelief, “I think Sunburst was down for a month. Did not do his grades any favors…”

Pinkie leaned in and gave the Princess of the Sun a light elbowing. “Buuuuut… how much work did Twilight get done before crashing?”

Celestia deflated slightly, sighing, “An entire semester in an afternoon…” then, wings outstretched and muzzle right up against Pinkie’s“And then NOTHING for a week!”

The Royal Canterlot Voice straightened Pinkie’s mane back… temporarily, but failed to deprive the mare of her sunny disposition.

“Relax! I’ve tweaked the formula. Luna’ll have a whole night’s worth of energy for whatever it is you’re doing, and then she’ll just have to sleep it off for, like, a day.”

“Great!” Celestia’s sarcasm was combined with an eye roll so hard she nearly made herself dizzy, “More work for me, assuming Luna doesn’t turn to stone or something ridiculous like that.” She turned back to her sister, “Luna, I…”

The thermos was tipped completely up, the Princess of Night quaffing The Good Stuff down like water in the desert.

“Oh, for MY sake!”

Luna smacked her lips and gave a satisfied sigh. “Huh… minty.” She returned the thermos to Pinkie Pie, and then asked, “When should I start feeling the effects of your draught?”

“Now she asks,” Celestia muttered.

“Just give it a few minutes,” Pinkie nodded enthusiastically. She then produced a small piece of parchment and began reading. “Just to let you know, for legal reasons, there might be some side effects.”

Celestia face-hoofed.

“For Our charges,” Luna said in a regal manner, “We would suffer any malediction. But, pray tell, what might these… side effects entail?”

Pinkie coughed, then read, “Warning! The Good Stuff is not to be taken by mares who are pregnant or might become pregnant. If a blink takes longer than four hours, seek medical attention immediately.”

“A… a blink?” Luna stuttered.

Celestia sighed, “Medical attention?”

“Common side effects may include: discolored cutie marks, rampant nostalgia, loss of smell, loss of the sense of smell, necromancy, giggle fits, loss of life, loss of death, mane palpitations, and hoof-rot.”

When Pinkie finished, she beamed another smile at the royal sisters.

“Sister,” Luna did nothing to hide her sudden panic, “This was a terrible mist- oh boy…”

The Princess of Night leapt twenty feet straight up with a howl. She landed lightly moments later as a faint glow settled across her body. Celestia, knots in her chest and stomach, watched as Luna’s eyes lost their dark circles, as though by magic. Her coat evened out, and even her wings seemed to suddenly fill back up with clean feathers.

Worryingly, her mane and tail were far… frizzier than before.

“Whoa,” Luna said, sitting down onto her haunches. She remained unmoving only a moment, before she lifted her hooves up to inspect them. She was still glowing.

“Um… Luna? Sister?” Celestia inched forward. “How… how do you feel?”

Luna licked her lips. “I don’t know. I can feel my hooves.”

“Can?”

“Yes,” Luna nodded, “Especially the inside of them.” She looked up at Pinkie. “Why are my teeth screaming?”

“Okay, we’re done now,” Celestia’s horn blazed with golden light, bathing the balcony in magical energy. The light was near-blinding, even for Celestia. Yet within moments it faded, leaving three creatures standing together.

“Pinkie, help me get Luna to bed…” the Princess of the Sun began to say as her eyesight cleared, only to see something extraordinary.

Luna seemed completely fine. Better than fine, even. She stood in front of her sister, calmly taking in the night. Her eyes, flanks, and wings were still fine, and her mane had returned to its starlit ethereal beauty.

“Well,” she said, a slow, even breath pulling into her lungs, her first real taste of the cold, night air tonight, “You seem to have countered the unnecessary caffeine in my system, Sister. Astounding.”

“Luna?” Celestia checked her sister’s eyes for twitches and pupil dilation. “How do you feel?”

“As though I received an adequate amount of sleep over these past few days,” she responded in a smooth, even tone. “Though, I trust this will have some adverse effects on my ‘crash’ later. Is that so, Pinkie?”

Pinkie Pie removed the sunglasses she’d put on to avoid Celestia’s magical light. “I cannot be held responsible for magical interference in The Good Stuff.”

Celestia placed both her fore-hooves on Luna’s shoulders. “Lulu, are you really fine? I just hit you with a sleep spell!”

“For sooth, sister,” Luna removed Celestia’s hooves with her own, and then gave her a quick hug. “Though I will confess you seem to have taken the edge off my heightened energy levels. Which spell did you use?”

Celestia blushed. “The… the one Twilight and Starlight wrote.”

Luna clicked her tongue, “Ah. I see.”

“I know,” the solar princess chuckled uneasily, “Overkill, considering the spell itself was designed for a full-blown ‘Twilighting’.”

Luna smiled, then turned back to Pinkie. “You have performed admirably, Pinkie. Before I take my leave, I shall deliver your payment.”

Celestia watched as Luna summoned a scroll of paper with a pop of magic. The Princess of Night motioned to Pinkie with one hoof, and the party planner pony bowed low to her and Celestia both.

“Then,” Luna spoke in the Royal Canterlot Voice, though at a far lower register than usual, “By the power invested in Us as the Princess of Night, Diarch of Equestria, we name thee Pinkamena, Daughter of the House of Pie, a noble of the court, and grant thee the title of Princess.”

“Luna!” Celestia snapped, “You can’t just make Pinkie a Princess!”

Luna huffed, “She’s performed many a great and noble service to the nation before. Such is the least We might do to repay her.” She stuck her tongue out at her sister, “Besides, it’s an honorary title, and it’s not like I’m making her an alicorn!”

Pinkie shook her head vigorously, somehow making the sound of a cowbell. “I couldn’t accept that even if you offered anyway. Did you see how mad ponies got when Twilight became an alicorn?”

Celestia’s mind felt a little gooey, trying to process all of this. “Well, I know Blueblood was pretty upset about the whole affair, but…”

Luna popped another scroll out of thin air, then tossed both to Pinkie using her magic. “And, of course, the other half of the payment.”

Before Celestia could say a word, Pinkie’s smile caused a rainbow to briefly flash into existence over the royal balcony, just before she leapt back onto her tail… which she used like a giant spring to launch herself over the balcony’s railing.

The last Celestia saw, a little pink parachute had safely lowered Pinkie Pie to the gardens below, from where the party pony took off in a gallop for home.

“Wait, what?” the princess sputtered, “What just happened? What payment?”

Luna began doing her wing stretches, replying to her sister as she did so. “Oh, I just named Pinkie Pie as the Official Canterlot Planner for the Grand Galloping Gala this year.”

“Y-you what!?”

Shadowy tendrils of dream magic sprang to life from Luna’s horn at that moment, and she called out to her sister as though she were departing physically, instead of merely magically. “Sorry Tia! Can’t hear you through all this dream magic! See you in the morning!”

Celestia reached her sister just as the dream-trance took over. That did not, however, stop her from grabbing Luna with both fore-hooves and shaking her for all she was worth. After a few minutes though, even Celestia got tired of this, instead opting to laugh at the whole situation.

“Ah well,” she giggled, returning to her chambers to rest, “at least this means I’ll get some of Pinkie’s delicious pastries. And with any luck, she’ll ‘ruin’ the gala again this year!”

The Dream Realm was ever-changing and ever-unchanged. It was timeless, and a place without time. Normally, Luna would bask in the radiance of this pseudo-night, flying through a sea of stars that were dreams. But this night was different. This night, she was here to hunt a monster.

An Incubus was a very, very dangerous form of nightmare, if left unchecked. In her thousand-year absence, Luna had failed to execute her duties in this matter. While before Nightmare Moon, she had only seen two instances of such a thing, she knew from checking Celestia’s accumulated records that there were many cases of “mad ponies” throughout the centuries that she could have helped, had she been there.

Incubus were nightmares born from deeply seated issues the pony in question allowed to fester until it became something more than a mere nightmare. One’s sanity would erode under such mental stress. Yet for all the danger, they were simple for Luna to defeat if she could find them.

And now she knew where to look.

She could see the Castle of Friendship within the Dream Realm. A pillar of crystal, within which lay many doors and portals to the dreams of those who dwelt there in slumber. It would be a simple matter to slip in and begin searching.

Luna did so with ease, appearing in a dreamlike recreation of one of the castle’s many hallways. Luna often marveled, as many others did, at how much larger the castle seemed from the inside as opposed to its outer dimensions.

The Princess walked down the dream corridor; her dream senses open to whatever lay beyond. She came first to a purple door with a pink star emblazoned upon it. The door itself was wide open, as were any door which led to a dream Luna might visit.

Inside, she could see the Princess Twilight Sparkle, sitting at a desk, writing onto some lengthy paper as she cycled between three separate books held in her magical grip. A study-dream? How peculiar. Yet, there was something odd about Princess Sparkle’s appearance.

For one thing, she looked like she was actually reading the books, which Luna knew to be impossible. The written word could not survive intact within a dream.

“How interesting,” Luna mused.

Twilight waved her hoof towards the door. “Oh, not so much. It’s a wonder how much work you can get done lucid dreaming.”

Luna balked, her eyes growing with shock. “You… you can see me?”

“Well of course,” Twilight said, taking one book in particular in hoof, “Lucid dreaming.”

“Lucid dreaming doesn’t do that, Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight looked up from her books. The two princesses stared at one another for what felt like an uncomfortably long time.

Luna decided to clarify. “I’m outside your dream, Twilight Sparkle. You should not be able to perceive me, regardless of your mental state.”

The purple alicorn blushed, and then faded away. She reappeared instantly next to Luna in the corridor between dreams, just as the door to her dream slammed shut without a sound.

“So,” Twilight sighed, scratching the back of her neck with one wing, “I suppose this particular jig is… in fact, up?”

Luna wore a perfectly neutral expression, long practiced as a part of her royal ‘costume’, even though her internal world was spiraling with questions, protestations, and latent caffeine spikes. “How did you do this?”

Twilight shrugged, avoiding eye contact, “Well, you remember that amulet you and Celestia made to let me tap into your power to raise the sun and moon?”

“Indeed.”

“Well, Starlight and I studied the magical signatures in the amulet itself and… maybe, sort of… reverse-engineered it,” she spoke this last part quickly, and in a single rapid breath.

Luna, outwardly neutral, inwardly reeling, repeated to herself, “You reverse-engineered our Cutie Mark’s power to control the heavens… in order to learn how to Dreamwalk?”

Twilight nodded, still avoiding eye contact. “I just thought, since you’ll be retiring, perhaps I’d need to be able to help ponies in their dreams like you did, but I needed a way to do that, and if you said no because of the cutie mark thing, then I’d need a spell to copy your power so you’d maybe accept my plan and let me come along once in a while…”

Luna’s hoof did not need to touch Twilight’s muzzle to make the Princess of Friendship cease her rambling.

“Twilight,” she smiled, meeting her dear friend’s eyes with her own, “Did you think We would be upset that you not only wished to care for the wellbeing of others, but also managed to create a whole new spell in order to accomplish what others have always thought impossible?” She winked, “Do you think so little of me?”

“Oh gosh!” Twilight shouted, “Of course not! No! I think the world of you and Celestia…!”

Luna laughed, a real belly laugh, if a princess could do something so crude and plebian. “And how did you manage to read in your dreams? That’s supposed to be impossible.”

Twilight smiled, letting go of at least a bit of her anxiety, “Oh, well, I figured out how to use magic to copy books into my mind… but the contents have to be absorbed heuristically… in order, so I made them directly accessible through my dreams. A little lucid-dreaming spell later and, well…”

“You don’t need to keep impressing me, Twilight,” Luna nuzzled the younger alicorn affectionately, “We were already giving you our throne, after all.”

Twilight returned the affection, then stepped back and asked, “What brings you out here tonight?”

Luna’s mirth faded away as her task reasserted itself in her mind. “We are here with a perilous purpose. We believe that your mirror counterpart is under the influence of an Incubus…”

Twilight gasped, “An Incubus!?”

“Indeed, Twilight Sparkle, it…”

Twilight carried on uninterrupted, “A ‘Super Nightmare’ that slowly degrades a pony’s psyche and drives them mad!”

Luna was nonplussed, meekly adding, “Uh, yes.”

The purple alicorn hummed as she pondered the problem, then cast a serious gaze towards her elder Princess. “It must be Midnight Sparkle.”

“Midnight Sparkle?” Luna’s eyes widened. “Is… is this an unknown relative of thine? Why have I never heard of them before?”

Twilight shook her head, “No, no. Midnight Sparkle is… well, we thought she was like Nightmare Moon, just born from the other Me instead of you.”

Huh. Luna had never thought of it that way, but Nightmare Moon did come from her own jealousy and anxiety towards Celestia. She supposed that meant four Incubuses…

“But if she’s an Incubus,” Twilight continued, “Then you should be able to defeat her in the other Twilight’s dreams!”

“That is my intention,” Luna nodded. “In fact, destroying such a creature is not difficult. It was only due to your unique situation that…”

Twilight held up one hoof to stop her, a decidedly smug look on her face. “Dream echo?”

Luna allowed a playful smile to touch her features, “Now, dear Twilight, I do believe you are just showing off.” She sighed, and then came to a decision. “Twilight Sparkle, wilt thou accompany me? I would say the education would be good for you, but…”

The purple alicorn began bouncing like her friend Pinkie. “Oh! Thank you! Thankyouthankyou!” She paused, coughed with embarrassment, and then said in a tone more befitting her station, “We thank thee for this opportunity, dearest Luna.”

Sharing a light chuckle, the two alicorns began treading through the illusory halls. Twilight was clearly new to the experience despite her magical studies and experimentations, glancing about and taking in the sight with foal-like glee. Luna outwardly seemed stoic, even becalmed. Internally, she marveled at her young friend and heir-apparent.

While she only seemed to interact with Twilight during crises, Luna found each encounter an enlightening experience. Each one showed her more and more how well Celestia had picked her pupil.

Luna nodded towards an upcoming door. It was a dull red-colored wood, with a symbol in the shape of a black cyclone marked on it. “Do you know whose dream lies beyond that door?” she asked, expectantly.

Twilight trotted up to the door, eyeing the symbol with interest. “I assume this is meant to be a Cutie Mark? I’ve never seen this one before.” She reached for the door handle with one hoof.

Before she could touch the door, it opened a crack. And through the small opening came the familiar head of a Draconequus. “No solicitors!” Discord cried, then slammed the door shut on Twilight’s nose. It was fortunate this was merely her dream-nose.

Luna chuckled as she saw Twilight’s confused face turn back to her, “Dreamwalking Lesson One: You’ll find that it’s best to leave Discord’s dreams to Discord.” She snickered, “Addendum: Same with Pinkie Pie, actually.”

The princesses continued down the corridor, pausing briefly at the open dream doors they passed. The first were three doors right next to each other, each emblazoned with the Cutie Mark Crusader’s emblem. The three fillies appeared to be fighting evil, Nightmare versions of Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash, and losing. Sweetie Belle’s dream was in black and white, Rarity dressed as a mob boss. Applebloom looked to be wrangling her sister, now a giant bull with her Three-Apple Cutie Mark. And Scootaloo… appeared to be a giant robot about to be crushed by an equally giant, slightly more draconic, Rainbow-zilla.

Luna merely brushed one of her wings through each of the open doors, winking to Twilight as she did so. The dreams appeared to ripple as she touched them, transforming each of the elder sisters and sister-figure back to their normal forms, leaving Rarity happily performing community service, Bull-Applejack giving Big Mac and their sister a cart-ride, and Rainbow Dash… also becoming a giant robot with Scootaloo.

The fillies seemed perfectly content with the outcome.

“Sometimes,” Luna lectured, “the mere presence of a friendly force such as We can turn a simple nightmare into a far more pleasant experience. Not every nightmare requires our personal attention.”

“I suppose I’d never stop if I did that,” Twilight nodded, a furious scribbling quill and parchment suspended in her magical aura following her.

Next they passed the Spikes’ dream doors. Spike the dog was currently as tall as a skyscraper, and breathing fire onto a building whose large sign simply read, ‘Mailman Inc’. The other, dragon Spike, was wearing a top hat and spats, swimming in a huge vault full of gems while a dream-Rarity sang a catchy theme song for her “Spikey-Wikey”.

“… or rewrite history, Spiketales!” Twilight hummed as she left her Number One Assistant to his fantasy.

The next door bore a spiraled gold and red sun symbol, Sunset Shimmer’s iconic Cutie Mark. A glance within by Twilight… was an experience, certainly. Inside a brick building she believed was Sunset’s home back in Canterlot City, Sunset appeared as a unicorn. Her hooves were proving an intense handicap in her ability to manipulate the controller of her video game console, and judging by the snarling growls coming from the dream, she was not having fun overcoming this.

“This is a new one,” said Luna, without slowing her stride, “I would hazard Sunset has many questions for herself on her place in this world and ours.”

Twilight sighed, “There’s no easy answer to those, I’m sure.”

Luna nodded, “Indeed. I would normally not intervene until the dream itself became more intense, but even if ‘twere, we have a mission tonight.”

The Princess of Night trotted ahead of Twilight, before suddenly dashing towards a purple door marked by an aquamarine star-shape; Starlight’s mark. Luna glanced inward, briefly, before slamming the door shut with a flicker of magic.

“What was that for?” Twilight asked as she caught up.

Luna fixed her younger friend with a long stare. She seemed to be chewing on an idea, then settled for the truth, “You are not ready for this sort of nightmare.”

Twilight glanced towards the closed door, “Is… is Starlight alright?”

Luna sighed, then turned and continued walking. “I have been observing her dreams ever since she began living with you in Ponyville,” she said, beckoning Twilight to follow with a wave of her wing. “At first, her dreams were troubled and dark. A reflection of the turmoil within her soul. Your friendship with her did wonders for Starlight’s heart and her dreams… but there was always one she revisited.”

The Princess paused, turned back to Twilight, and said despondently, “She hadn’t done so in six moons… until the incident in the Crystal Empire brought her worst fears to life. It is a dream much like my Tantabus… it is meant to punish her for the crimes she feels she’s committed.”

“But,” Twilight stood aghast, “But then we should help her!”

“What do you think I’ve been doing?” Luna leaned in to Twilight’s face to emphasize her words. “Lesson two: there is only so much you can do for another pony. Eventually, they must choose whether to accept your aid or not. I will not abandon her, but Starlight has made it clear she will continue until she feels she has made some amends for her actions with Starswirl’s Time spell.”

With that, the two alicorns continued their journey, this time in total silence.

Luna knew Twilight would agonize over this, but she had already explained the threat of the Incubus which sought her mirror doppelganger’s destruction. If time permitted, Luna would try to speak with Starlight again, but if not, then perhaps Twilight stepping into the role of Dreamwalker may prove a useful tool in healing those wounds.

Perhaps. May. Luna bemoaned her usage of such trivial and unhelpful lexicon. She missed Old Ponish some nights. It may have been as blunt as an ax, but one never mistook an intention voiced. Like an ax, actually.

Before long, an azure door appeared, one decorated with not just a crescent-moon-and-wand Cutie Mark, but was also completely covered in cheap gold and silver stars made of cardboard and sequins. Luna knew from experience that this would be an excellent final lesson before she and Twilight faced their true foe this night.

Luna needed this as well. Pinkie’s concoction gave her energy. But this would give her conviction.

“Tell me, Twilight Sparkle, what do you see in yonder dream?”

Twilight approached the doorway and gazed in. Within the room beyond, she could see silvery mist, tinged in a pale blue light. All within the mist was uncertain, shadows cast through fog, except for a single vision which took up the center of the room. A little foal, with silver and blue mane, and a coat of lovely azure, a dead-ringer for Trixie Lulamoon herself sans cape and wizard hat, lay within a cradling embrace. The forelegs which held her were feminine, and a shade of orange just shy of gold, but Twilight could not otherwise see the mare who held the tiny Trixie.

Twilight told Luna all this.

“Indeed,” Luna said quietly, as though she were afraid to interrupt the dream, “Whenever I can, I always try to visit the dreams of the Great and Powerful Trixie.”

“You do?” Twilight did not look away from her once-rival’s foal-self, “Why?”

Luna smiled, “Many reasons. Partly, I feel a… a kinship with Miss Lulamoon.” When Twilight stared confusedly, and cocked her head to one side, Luna elucidated, “We are both guilty of allowing our jealousy and envy for another guide us down the path of wicked sorcery. And…” she smirked, “both of us were redeemed by a future Princess of Equestria.”

Twilight blushed, then returned her gaze to Trixie as she was rocked back and forth. Luna carefully, carefully reached her horn forward. It touched something, a translucent membrane strung across the doorway, much as she had done for the Crusaders’ dreams. Yet as she did so, Twilight realized she could now hear the dream Trixie was experiencing. **

A voice, light and melodic, a young mother’s voice, carried through the doorway and into the ephemeral halls like a ghostly echo. It was a simple humming tune, a soft and somber set of notes that almost dripped with an ache of the heart. Twilight did not recognize the song, neither its tune nor even the style. And yet the moment her ears felt its first notes, it felt like a twisting knife in her soul. Tears streamed unbidden from her eyes, and she could feel her throat seize.

Luna, however, smiled with her eyes. “Trixie and I share other qualities. This is one of the few memories of her foalhood she can remember. Did you know she can’t remember what her mother looked like?”

Twilight was hard-pressed to hold in a sob as she turned a horrified look to her teacher.

“Neither,” the ancient alicorn continued, “can she recall what she sounded like. This voice is something she has conjured for herself, a combination of Starlight’s voice and her own, to remember the old song her mother gave her. A song only Trixie, myself, Starswirl, and Celestia even remember. Someday I would like to find out how she came by such a thing.

“Regardless,” Luna brushed a single tear from her own eye, “all else Trixie recalls is that her mother could dance, and sing… and that she smelled of Sunflowers...”

“Why?” Twilight managed to get out, “You… visit Trixie’s dreams every night?” From her tone, the princess clearly was not impugning Trixie, but rather simply asking for the reason Luna would deliberately invite such heartache into herself, night after night.

Luna loved to hear Twilight’s empathy, even for one so low and so misguided in their past. “While this dream comes around once in a while, when dear Trixie needs it most, her other dreams are among the most beautiful I have ever seen. Whatever her faults, the last of the Lulamoons always dreams with her whole heart. You should see her firework displays.”

With one hoof, Luna picked Twilight’s chin back up and gazed into her mournful eyes.

“Lesson three: There is beauty in even the lowest of your subjects. Never close your heart, Twilight Sparkle, to sorrow or joy. Love is a rainbow with many shades.”

Wiping her tears, the Princess of Friendship lingered only a moment longer before following her teacher for this evening, leaving Trixie to her dreams. The final haunting strands of a song sung by a forgotten mother, however, would never leave her.

Author's Notes:

* Well, this is odd. Apparently, the Lord of Chaos himself has shown up to talk about this interesting bit of trivia- *turns into stone*

Discord: Thank you, Ninja… weirdo…

Discord: Yes! It is I, the Lord of Chaos, the Mayor of Mayonnaise, the Sous of Insanity, Prince of the Shivering Isles, and the… second best Ponyville Hold ‘Em player in existence. Please, hold your applause.

Discord: It’s true what Pinkie said. I once partook of the Ponk, and it changed my life forever. And its high time I revealed to you the true origin… of Discord!

Discord: I was born thousands of years ago, to a lovely pair of Batpony parents.

Discord: Oh… is that so surprising? Yes indeed, the mighty and wonderful Draconequus you see before you was once a humble, though still insufferably handsome and clever, batpony named Dizzy Cordwood.

Discord: Let’s not dwell on the name. Suffice to say, pony names are still the craziest thing I’ve ever come across. And I’ve met myself before! So, as I was saying, I was a Batpony… who wanted to learn about magic!

Discord: I studied hard, so hard that I actually learned how to cast spells without a unicorn horn. I was a bit of a prodigy, after all! Starswirl himself made me a Professor at his School of Magic, where I helped to instruct Celestia and Luna both.

Discord: They still haven’t turned in that last paper I assigned. I might have to drop a giant banana sundae on Sunbutt, just to remind her.

Discord: Anyway, during one spring break, while Starswirl was off with the Pillars doing… Pillar things. Did they do a lot of flexing and weight-training? No, wait, they were vampires, weren’t they? Bah! Eternal memories aren’t what they’re cracked up to be, let me tell you!

Discord: Where was I…? Oh, yes. During Spring Break, I met a time-traveling Pinkie. She and I spent a whole summer together (I may have lost track of time). We grew close, very close! But then, tragedy struck.

Discord: A piano fell on my head. I still think Luna took her pranks too far. Especially when she should have been working on that summer reading project (“Don’t Be Evil” by Scorpan, very informative… wish I could remember where I put my copy…).

Discord: Well, I was not long for this world after that. I had only another three or four decades, modern medicine being what it was and the piano in question being a squeaky toy.

Discord: Pinkie generously offered me a swig of the Ponk, which would heal me of my… injuries. And once it touched my lips, the Ponk transformed me!

Discord: Instantly, I became the astounding creature you see before you today. I erased Pinkie’s memories (who could tell?) and sent her back to her own time. Then, I went back to the beginning of everything, and added my sketches to the original design documents for Season 2, thus ensuring via Paradox that I would always be me!

Discord: And that, ladies and gentlecolts, it how the magnificent Discord came to be!

Discord: Ooh! Thank you for the opportunity to get that off my chest, Ninja… I do so love to play the Unreliable Narrator.

Discord: Say… did I ever tell you how I got these scars…?

** It sounds a little like this.

Chapter 4 - Remember

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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.

Chapter 5 - It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

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As the sun rose above Canterlot City, its crisp, clear light chased away the unseasonably cold morning chill, leaving behind the pleasant sort of late spring heat that enticed almost everyone to lie in the grass and watch the clouds drift by. Unfortunately, it was Monday, so despite the lovely weather, the teens of Canterlot High School were just a bit too jaded and bitter about the whole thing to go rolling on the track and field this morning.

Many students were out and about the school grounds, but entirely uninterested in the newly reconstructed Wondercolt statue, which had taken quite the effort to replace since the Friendship Games, and which seemed to be the epicenter of all the magical weirdness the student body had accepted as simply part of their lives.

This might have been a good thing, actually. It was presently in use.

The portal between this world and that of Equestria was situated on the face of the statue’s plinth that faced the school’s front doors, and at the moment it shimmered and glowed with a deceptively subtle light. After a few moments, it finally spat out the human, red-and-gold haired form of Sunset Shimmer, leather jacket and all. Despite the speed at which she flew, the teen had prepared herself for the jump, and managed to come to a stop on one leg after only a few hops.

Sunset beamed to herself. Finally got a handle on the portal’s habit of launching…

Twilight Sparkle, bespectacled, and once again in her blouse, sweater-vest, and skirt ensemble, hurtled from the portal and into the open air. Sunset, however, was quicker than that. She caught her airborne friend, and with a single, inertia-draining spin, brought themselves to a complete and safe stop.

Not having to pick themselves up out of a tangled pile, both teens smiled happily at one another.

And then Trixie slammed into both of them. All three were completely tangled together, and now quite sore as they picked themselves apart and tried to stand under their own power.

“Eugh,” Trixie was having a bit of a time of it. “Did anyone else notice Sparkle was hugging me a lot at breakfa- Whoa!” she cried, falling right back down. Twilight caught her, but on rebound she nearly toppled into Sunset. Finally, she seemed to balance herself and remain upright. Sunset took in the new Trixie, noting the smart purple top hat and short cape, as well as the light blue suit that just screamed ‘stage magician’.

“Not bad, but take it easy, Trixie,” Sunset cautioned, “Getting used to two legs isn’t…”

Trixie immediately launched into a quick tap routine with her… feet, she thought they were called, satisfied with the loud clicks her shoes made on the ground. She finished with a spin and a high kick, like she’d seen the dance-ponies do.

And then she allowed herself a deservedly smug grin.

Sunset’s mouth hung loose somewhere around her collarbone, however. “Wha-? How…? But…”

“Oh ye of little faith,” Trixie smirked, “Did you think that the Great and Powerful Trixie would have trouble adjusting to merely two legs? More than a few of my acts require extended hind-legged feats of strength and Trix-terity! Hahahaha!” she covered her mouth with a delicate hoof… and then stopped.

She stared wide-eyed at the tiny appendages that were attached to the end of her ‘hoof’. Normally, she’d scream to see such a sight back in Equestria. But here, something felt very different about this body. Like it was natural.

“Why, hello there,” she said to her new limb-pieces. She wondered if she could still do sleight-of-hoof with these ungainly things in her way…

Twilight adjusted her glasses and began to examine the new-human. “Huh, if Rarity were here, she’d say your outfit is very similar to late century stage magician costumes, but the fabric is entirely modern. The hat is a bit early modern, while the cape seems more noir-magick… the genre, not the style. I think you might be a few inches taller than our Trixie, but I’d have to measure you both.”

Trixie looked herself over. Then, blushing, “Does… does Trixie… Do I look alright?”

With raised eyebrows and a small smile, Twilight nodded, “You look Great and Powerful.”

Trixie’s moment was interrupted by a resumed flash of white light from the portal. All three braced for another violent entrance…

Only to watch a tall, lanky form walk calmly out of the light and onto the grass, holding a small, purple dog in his arms. The dog yawned, stretched, and then hopped carefree out of the man’s arms.

“Thanks, Mr. Discord!” Spike cheerily called back as he trotted over to Twilight. “That was a lot nicer than the first time through.”

Discord, Lord of Chaos, chuckled to himself before taking in a deep, deep breath through his nose. Then, with a hugely exaggerated exhalation, he cried, “Would you look at this place!”

He glanced down to see three bipedal creatures staring at him, jaws almost completely unhinged by the look of them. The one on the left was definitely Bacon, and the one in the middle was certainly little Nerd-Twi.

“Well-well, Trixie my girl!” he laughed and elbowed the blue one in the ribs, “We clean up good I see!”

Huh… that felt a little different. Like his limbs were the wrong length. But since he was always the wrong length, that couldn’t be it. Discord looked down at himself. Clothes?

“Anyone have a mirror? Oh, nevermind,” he said, fingers about to snap, “I’ll do it myself!”

Sunset grinned and shook her head. “You’ll be disappointed Discord. Without a geode or an artifact, Equestrian magic…”

With a snap, and a flash of light, an entire vanity appeared directly next to the former Draconequus. This left Sunset in the unenviable position of being surprised by Discord. Again.

“What!?” Although the dream of becoming a Princess had long since left Sunset’s mind, she always had a natural aptitude for the Royal Canterlot Voice.

While Sunny Shim had her little meltdown, Discord took stock. He’d been to plenty of other universes, and had some idea of what humans were typically like. This was one of the more colorful models out there, but he’d seen worse.

He appeared to be… somewhere in the early-to-mid-twenties, as far as humans went. College-age for certain though that knowledge was from watching soaps from these sorts of universes in his spare time. Discord’s skin was a light gray similar to his normal face back home, and hair was black and slicked with a touch of grease, while his eyebrows and beard retained their white color and wild… well, slightly less wild than normal style. His eyes were exactly the same, just resized for his head, which was long, thin, and had a certain cut to it.

“Quite rakish, I think,” he laughed quietly, “Almost debonair.”

“You sort of look like a teacher,” Twilight had gone into analytical mode again, “with that jacket and those elbow pads, anyway…”

Discord did note his clothing, something he’d usually never bothered with, except as a gag. He seemed to be wearing a brown tweed jacket with patches on the elbows; one white, the other blue. It reminded him of his horns… which he did indeed miss right now. Opening the jacket, he could see a red tie at the top of a buttoned shirt cut into two patterns, one cream like his old paw, the other yellow and striped like his claw. His pants were similarly split into a green-with-white-polka-dots leg and one somewhat normal brown one.

To top it all off, one shoe appeared to be a sneaker, the other a dress shoe. And they were in the colors of his former wings.

He looked… positively marvelous!

“How?!” Sunset was still balking.

Discord raised one eyebrow, but before he could say anything, a scratchy, familiar voice cut in, “Uhhhhh… who’s this character?”

He turned around to see two eerily familiar girls standing by the statue, having walked over from across the street. The one who’d spoken was cyan, with a messy crop of rainbow hair atop her head, while the other was pale white and radiated ‘fashionista’ with her wardrobe and luscious purple hair.

Discord laughed, “You think I’m a character, Dashie? I’ll not argue, but I’m already spoken for.” He winked.

The two newcomers gave each other worried glances, then Rarity decided to push past it. “Sunset, dear? Do… do we know this person?”

“Please tell me this isn’t a memory stone situation,” Rainbow sighed.

Twilight stepped past her still-sputtering friend to stand beside Discord. “Rarity, Rainbow Dash? Meet Discord, the Lord of Chaos. He’s from Equestria, so he sort of knows us… indirectly.”

“I don’t just know you,” Discord couldn’t help a little sneer appear on his lips, “I happen to be one of your best friends. And sometimes mascot.” To demonstrate, he waved a tiny sports flag dominated with his current face, and surrounded by the tiny pony faces of the seven friends.

Rarity’s eyes grew a little bit, seeming to take in the information, “Oh… but if we’re such good friends, did my other self ever talk to you about your… ensemble choices?”

“Yeah dude,” said Rainbow, bluntly, “You’re kinda horrifying to look at. And I don’t even do fashion.”

Rarity snapped, “Rainbow Dash! There is no need to be rude to our pony friend!”

Discord choked, “Pony!? Madam! I will have you know I am a Draconequus.” He struck as imposing and daring a pose as he could muster.

Twilight frowned. “Wait, that’s what that was supposed to be?”

The Lord of Chaos snapped his fingers, and a helpful model was instantly constructed. Said model being a little wooden puppet that looked just like his former self. He held it up by a set of strings (with magic, not his hands) so the others could see it.

“I know, I took a downgrade to fit in here,” he smiled, “But I didn’t want to make the rest of my human-friends jealous.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes narrowed onto the puppet as it, against all expectations, began to cut a rug in mid-air. “Dude… you used to look cool.”

“Used to!?”

Twilight had turned to Rarity, asking, “So, where’s everyone else? Shouldn’t school be starting soon?”

“In a half hour or so,” Rarity checked her phone’s clock, “Applejack is probably taking her horses out for their morning run. You do know how she dotes on them. And Pinkie was hosting Sweetie Belle and her friends at her home last night for a sleepover, so they will probably be running late. Dash said Fluttershy was on her way, but…”

“What do you mean Used to!?”

Sunset, finally registering reality again, shouted at the former Draconequus, “How can you have magic!?

Discord finally turned back to Sunset, letting Dash watch the dancing puppet with almost childlike wonder. “You don’t have to shout.”

Sunset took a deep breath, “I’m sorry, but you just summoned a mirror, and a dancing doll. There shouldn’t be that much Equestrian magic here, so how are you doing that without something to channel your magic?”

“Ah!” he snapped his fingers, though nothing apparently happened, “That’s what I was going to say. Also, you!” He pointed an accusatory finger right in her face, “How dare you lie to me!”

Everyone’s attention was focused on those two now. “What?” Sunset blinked rapidly.

“You said this universe had almost no magic in it,” Discord reached one long, long arm up and dragged it through the air, somehow producing the exact sound of someone running their finger along a glass window, as well as some sort of sparkly white glitter on his finger, “Yet this place is practically dripping with pure, undiluted Chaos Magic.” He licked the resulting white sparks from his finger like they were a tasty treat.

“So, Sunny,” he continued, now behind Sunset, who turned to face him, “how does it feel having your pants on fire?”

Sunset initially kept her face as one deeply, deeply confused and blank-eyed. She shook her head, and with an expression of pure surprise said, “Wait! Chaos magic? This world has Chaos Magic!?”

“Has? It’s saturated!” Understanding seemed to light up behind Discord’s yellow eyes, “Oh, you can’t sense magic that way, right? I keep forgetting if humans or ponies can do that.” He grinned sheepishly.

Sunset gave him an annoyed stare, “No, Discord. We don’t. Hm…” she held her chin and pondered, “I hope this doesn’t do anything to the spell we brought back.”

That got Rainbow Dash to check back into the conversation. “Spell? You eggheads found something?”

“Oh yes!” Twilight’s eye brightened seemingly with stars, “Starswirl the Bearded himself made it! It combines a flow-regulator incantation with a…”

Her voice slowed to a stop. She turned her eyes down, away from the others.

Rarity walked to her, and rested a hand on her shoulder. “Darling? Is something the matter?”

Twilight didn’t look up. “I… I just learned I shouldn’t let this magic stuff get me too excited.”

“Oh, my dear,” Rarity leaned in, “I can tell something is getting you down. Won’t you tell us what it is?”

She finally looked up. Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Sunset, her dog Spike, and even Discord were looking on with sincere concern etched onto their faces. She knew she couldn’t hide this from any of them. And she didn’t want to, for that matter.

Twilight sighed, “I’ll tell everyone later. But… for right now, let’s focus on the spell.”

Rainbow took that as a cue to return to her normal, upbeat self, “Alright, cool. What’s this spell do?”

Sunset took that as her cue as well. From her backpack (once a saddlebag), she drew out a scroll of paper, still sealed by the hoof of Starswirl himself. “You won’t believe it! This spell… hey,” she looked around her, “Anyone see Trixie?”

It took only a second for her to catch sight of the blue magician… racing away towards another blue magician in school colors.

Oh, no…

Trixie Lulamoon was actually humming as she came to school. She’d made decent enough money over the weekend doing one of her shows. It had been some kids’ fifth birthday party, but the show was still successful, she was still paid, and no one got cake in her hair this time. Good times!

More than that, her folks had decided to take her along with them on the next tour once she graduated! This was it! The big leagues! Soon, Trixie would be the greatest and most powerful…

“Imposter!!!” a voice ripped through Trixie’s good mood like a booing audience. It wasn’t just loud, though. It was familiar… and she could tell it was coming straight for her.

She turned around, already snapping at whoever dared, “Who said that!? Show…”

Someone had placed a mirror in front of her. A funhouse mirror, presumably, as it somehow added a hat and… very nice magician’s outfit to her reflection. Huh… she needed that mirror for her act.

And then the mirror grabbed her backpack strap. “I do! The Great and Powerful Trixie!”

Trixie swatted this Other Trixie’s hand aside. “Who are you to call yourself Great and Powerful, much less Trixie!”

“Trixie Lulamoon!” she cried. “That’s who!”

The two stared at one another, a smoldering anger burning right alongside a strange sort of curiosity.

“So…” the human Trixie said slowly, “Are you some sort of magical clone? Or just one of Trixie’s fans dressed up? Because while the makeup is good, the costume’s overdoing it.”

“Pffa!” the pony-now-human Trixie scoffed, “I am no fan! I am the one and only Trixie Lulamoon of Equestria! The Greatest and Most Powerful Showpony in the world!”

“… Showpony?”

Pony Trixie sniffed smugly, “Indeed. And I am come on an errand of great importance.” She ran a critical eye over her human duplicate, “Since you could not have known you were stealing my act and besmirching my good name, I have decided not to punish you for doing so. Instead! I demand that you, Other Trixie! Show me your magic show, that I may inspect it, and judge its professional standards!”

With that, pony Trixie snapped her fingers and instantly produced a large Equestrian Bit, a coin the size of her now-human eye. While human Trixie spared this a quick glance of approval, she also noted how mystified the… pony Trixie was at having hands, and having hands that could apparently pull off the trick within minutes of existing for the first time.

“Are you sure you wish to contest the arcane prowess of Trixie?” human Trixie smirked as she put her hands together… and apparently began to remove one of her thumbs when they slid apart.

Pony Trixie was astounded. Her eyes flashed at the sight of new magic, new tricks! Could this Trixie be worthy of her mantle? Her legacy? Her… dare she say it, franchise?

“How about this?” she said, hoping the eagerness wasn’t too apparent in her tone, “I’ll teach you one of my tricks, and you teach me one of yours?”

“Sorry, Trixie. No can do.” human Trixie found it truly bizarre to have this conversation with herself, especially as more than a few fellow students were now walking past, staring at the confrontation.

Still, she closed her eyes and gave the best smugly Trixie face she could manage. Had to sell it. No telling what sort of new tricks she could glean from a magical pony her. “I have to take it up with my parents. The Lulamoon Magicians do not trade family secrets over a handshake, or hoofshake as the case may be for you.”

Nothing. No rejoinder or begging. No pleading, no harassment. That wasn’t very… Trixie.

She opened her eyes. “Um… Trixie?”

The pony Trixie stood stock still. Her eyes glistened, and her breathing was suddenly shallow and rapid.

“Is everything alright? Trixie?”

She managed a whisper. “Mom’s… Mom’s alive?”

“Aaaand now they’re hugging,” Discord sighed. Watching the two Trixies scream incoherently at one another had looked to be an interesting show. Watching them fight would have been better. Since no one could hear exactly what they were talking about, watching them hold each other up while sobbing incoherently was simply boring.

He turned to Sunset, who watched the whole process with a mixture of confusion and irritation. “Well, I’m out.”

Sunset looked back to him. “What?”

“This dimension’s a bust. If I wanted to see ponies… humans, whatever, cry, then I would have stayed home. Au revoir!” Discord was about to step right back into the portal, when a soft voice called over to the group.

“Oh! Hello everyone! Sorry I’m late!”

The girls turned, as did Discord, to see the approaching Fluttershy. A thin girl, with long, flowing pink hair and the deepest, kindest, most gentle eyes anyone knew. She ran up dressed in a soft green dress and hiking boots. Biodegradable ones, too.

She stopped just a bit away from them, panting lightly. “I was having trouble wrangling some of the birds this morning. You know how they can be when they… haven’t…” She slowed down her speech, her large, green-blue eyes slowly drifting to the odd newcomer with the yellow eyes.

Yellow eyes staring right back into hers.

The two slowly approached one another in silent contemplation. As they did, Rainbow, Rarity, and Twilight looked over at their dear friend Sunset…

Who was trying to hold in a giggle fit, and failing valiantly.

“Uh,” Rainbow quirked an eyebrow, “Sunset? You okay?”

Sunset nodded, not trusting her voice for a moment. “I’m… I’m fine. I just… these two have a history back home, at least according to the Princess.”

“Pfft! Ack!” Rarity balked, “Those two? They couldn’t be more dissimilar! What does the other Fluttershy see in… that?”

Oblivious to all else, Discord and Fluttershy stood barely a foot apart. Their height difference was far, far less than it was back in Equestria, Discord himself would note. Despite his new body having a good half-decade on the rest of the girls, and being fairly tall in general, he only had a head or so’s height on this… delicate recreation of his Fluttershy.

Discord held out one hand, and took hers in it. “You look… radiant this morning, Fluttershy.” He kissed her hand.

She blushed, but did not remove his hand. “Do… have we met?”

“In another world, yes,” he smiled, revealing a gold tooth where his fang once sat, “There, you are my dearest, and closest friend.”

Her blush deepened. She noted the portal behind him with a quick glance before returning to his eyes. “Oh… well, um. She’s very...” She took a little breath, and a gulp of nervous energy. “You…”

He nodded. “I know. I’m not really one to look at.” He closed his eyes, and began to turn away.

Her hand touched his cheek. Their eyes met again.

“You’re beautiful,” she whispered. “You’re everything I ever…”

A tear appeared in the corner of his eye, “You know I’m sworn…”

“I know,” tears formed in her own, “We can never be together.”

“The other Fluttershy…”

“She has you forever. Let me have this!”

Fluttershy pulled the tall former-Draconequus into a tight embrace, their lips pressed firmly together into a passionate kiss. Tiny fireworks began to burst above their heads, and birdsong started to ring out. One of Discord’s legs bent at the knee, and Fluttershy leaned him back almost to the ground, like they were in a tango.

As their kiss ended, Fluttershy brought Discord back up with a whirl. He swooned, and she made to turn back towards her other friends.

“Good morning Twilight!” she smiled in earnest, “How was your study vacation? Did you bring back any pictures of the cute ponies?”

It wasn’t just shock or horror that played out on the faces of the four girls. Their slack-jawed, wide-eyed looks gave the impression that each of them was working through one of the stages of grief in rapid succession. Twilight was stunned. Rarity was possibly begging an unseen agent to remove the memory of what she just witnessed. Rainbow Dash flipped between anger and a desire to crawl back into bed and forget the whole day.

Sunset Shimmer, on the other hand, had no reaction whatsoever. She simply gripped the spell scroll tightly in one hand, and then said, without an ounce of emotion, “This… this is the weirdest day. I had to literally fight my personal demon just three days ago, and this is still worse.”

She turned around, faced the portal, and opened the spell scroll. There was nothing, nothing at all that could be done at this point to scar Sunset further. She’d just watched her foalhood nightmare and possibly stalker make-out with one of her best friends. Literally, factually, nothing could now happen that could in any way surprise her in the slightest.

She began to read the spell:

“From mirror to mirror and across time and space.”

Had she been in any way a right state of mind, she would have stopped there, before continuing with:

“Hey Bacon, can't wait to see the look on your face…?”

As the spell radiated raw, red lightning from the page and her hands, Sunset suddenly realized two things. One was that she’d just tempted fate, and it had taken no time at all to get back to her on that account.

Two…

“Discord! You son of a…!”

It was like standing next to one of those giant drums the band sometimes brought out for the big concerts. Or like being too close when Pinkie Pie set off one of her party cannons. The shockwave made it feel like Twilight’s heart had stopped in her chest. The blinding light didn’t help matters much either, but at least the brick wall had shielded Twilight from the… worst of…

Brick wall?

She blinked away the blindness, and realized that, yes, a brick wall, of the exact height and width to grant her cover, currently blocked direct line of sight with the portal to Equestria. Spike lay coiled at her feet, only just lifting up an ear from covering his eyes, and peering out at the madness that lay around them.

The grass, with the exception of a shadow of normalcy flowing from Twilight and the wall away from the portal, had been turned into a quilted mashup of patterns. Crosshatched here, plaid there, polka-dotted elsewhere. The school was unharmed, thankfully, and most of the students had been beyond the range of whatever that had been. In fact, they were all kneeling down, with heads covered.

Guess those ‘Magical Hazard’ safety videos the ATV club whipped up were good for something.

Twilight ventured out past the brick wall that had suddenly appeared before her, and peeked out to see what had happened. The Wondercolt statue had become a Draconequus… which was the least-surprising thing possible. There hadn’t been a doubt in her mind before, but now Twilight was beyond questioning Discord’s role in this.

Still, had he something to do with the wall? Further inquiry was required.

Discord was currently in his true form once more, curled up into a ball, suffering from what one might call a fit of belly laughs. Besides him, a thoroughly ponified Fluttershy blinked the light from her own eyes, and then faltered as she tried to stand up. Falling back onto her haunches, Fluttershy seemed to finally notice her hooves, her wings, and her transformation in general.

Twilight wasn’t sure if she’d ever seen Fluttershy so happy. Nor could she recall if she’d ever seen somepony hug themselves so warmly.

“My hands!” Rarity’s sobbingly most dramatic voice drew Twilight back towards the statue, which the fashionista was currently leaning against in vain hope of continuing to hold herself up on two legs. Not used to the balance or… grip of hooves, she was sliding around quite a bit more than she probably would have liked.

She howled, “How will I ever sew again without my fingers!” As she sobbed, her new horn lit up, summoning a handkerchief… hoofkerchief now, Twilight supposed, to dry her tears. Rarity took a break from her weeping to marvel at that, probably contemplating a new, inspired design, or how to use this new ability to better shovel ice cream once she’d found a tub of it and a proper fainting couch.

The pegasus Rainbow Dash stood atop all four legs, glaring daggers at Discord and trying to breathe deeply enough to calm down and perhaps not leap right at his throat. Her wings were awkwardly splayed and fretting about, as she’d not had enough time with wings, even with her previous, short-lived trip to Equestria, to learn how to settle them comfortably.

When she finally did throw herself at the Lord of Chaos, she went about five feet up, zero forward, and five feet back down, hard onto her torso, effectively winding herself.

Twilight looked to be the only one that wasn’t suddenly a pony. The wall seemed to have blocked whatever had happened to the others. But where did the wall come from? Was there another layer to Discord’s prank?

Probably. But why?

Finally, Sunset Shimmer, unicorn, sat on her haunches. Her head made mechanical trips between staring at the portal, and staring at the spell scroll laying on the ground besides her. Back to the portal. Back to the scroll. The portal. Scroll.

Her head snapped around so hard that Twilight actually ‘eeped’.

“Discord!” Sunset’s eyes were wide, but her irises were mere dots, “Why!?” a vein bloomed along her neck.

The Lord of Chaos wiped the tears from his eyes, but continued to cackle away, “The… the look on your face!”

Twilight wasn’t sure if grass could just catch fire spontaneously, but the way Sunset stalked towards Discord with that look in her eyes and that flare along her horn made her wonder very carefully about that.

“That… that…” Sunset was sputtering again, “That was our chance! I’ve been trying to fix this whole magic problem since we learned about it, and you go and do something like this!? I thought you were trying to be my friend!!!”

Discord, still chuckling, suddenly paused as he saw Sunset’s eyes. The anger was… whoof! That was a serious case of RAGE right there, like… bury the remains and swear the witnesses to secrecy sort of rage. But he also saw the tears of frustration bursting from his little Bacon-hair.

Oh… did he overdo it again? But he was sure that this time…

He rose back onto his feet, ignoring Fluttershy as she rolled merrily through the grass. His ears drooped slightly as he said, “I… I thought I was helping.”

Sunset took a single, stuttering step back in the anger department. She was down to quivering fury. “How do you think this is helping?” At least she wasn’t screaming anymore.

“Um, Sunset?” a voice from behind said, unsure of itself and of the strange situation that had suddenly made itself apparent.

Had to be Flash Sentry. Sunset whirled around to see her former boyfriend, a dumbfounded look all across his boyish good looks. She hardly noticed the two Trixies holding hands behind him, also watching with some mild concern.

“Magic stuff,” Sunset grumbled with a frown affixed to her face, “Get some breakfast Flash. I’ll fill you in later.”

He nodded, and then proceeded to stumble off toward the school building. The human Trixie smirked at Sunset.

“Huh. You weren’t kidding Trixie. Pony Us must be adorable.”

“I said Great and Powerful, Trixie,” pony Trixie corrected, “But adorable also works.”

Sunset didn’t have the time, nor the patience for two Trixies. Not today. Not on a Monday. And certainly not when she had to deal with a certain Draconequus.

She managed to say, through clenched teeth no less, “Discord, I don’t know how you thought you were helping, but you didn’t. You made everything worse.

“Just…” she took a deep breath, “Just tell me you can fix this. Please.”

The Lord of Chaos… looked very, very low, if Twilight’s eyes weren’t deceiving her. His eyes were downcast, his horns… could horns go limp like that? She supposed with Discord, anything was possible.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, “It seems like all I can do these days is cause trouble for my friends. Don’t worry, I’ve got this.” He reached out his claw, and snapped his fingers once.

Nothing happened. The echo faded as soon as it started.

His eyes screwed up, as though he smelled something rotten. Discord gave his claw a good, hard stare and said, “Huh… that’s unusual.”

It flickered. White lightning snapped between his fingers, and the Lord of Chaos gave a pained yelp.

Fluttershy was at his side instantly, “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

“It’s nothing, nothing at all to worry about,” Discord was clearly lying and more clearly, worrying.

“Discord?” Sunset’s anger had faded, replaced by the same sort of concern one might have for a lunatic lab partner, the kind who like explosions. “What’s going on?”

“Oh, it’s nothing,” he said, nonchalantly as another crackle of lightning traveled up his arm and snapped between both horns, “It’s just that… remember what I said about this world being saturated in Chaos Magic?”

Everypony took a breath. Sunset responded slowly, “Yeah?”

Discord’s whole body lit up for a second, his spine twisting and crackling as he contorted into different shapes, yowling and crying as he went. When he finally stopped, his whole body began to glow softly white, with crackles of lightning now jumping about him. Even his eyes turned completely white and radiated undiluted chaos.

“Well… I might have underestimated just how saturated.”

The Lord of Chaos began to float straight up into the air. His friends cried out his name in surprise, and the local student body began looking for the nearest exit or standing structure to flee into. This had all the hallmarks of another magical catastrophe. Why no one had built a bunker for these situations by now was a mystery.

Discord, to no one but himself and perhaps an unseen audience to these events, said, “Folks, please take any small children with you out of the theater at this point in the show. Things are about to become… obscene…”

And then he exploded.

It was a sad fact of life that hating Mondays did not stop them from coming, and another that one never learned how to deal with them, even as an adult. No one, in the history of Mondays, had ever enjoyed one even on a purely theoretical level. Not once. Not ever.

That was Vice Principal Luna’s story, and she was sticking to it. It wasn’t enough that she was the one stuck pouring over the school’s dire financial records over the weekend, Wondercolt statues being prohibitively expensive and her sister Celestia being a dirty, filthy Liberal Arts major instead of an enlightened Bachelor of Science like her good self. It was also not enough that she was wearing one of those vile pink blouses her sister kept buying her, and that she must wear on occasion as a sacrifice to the gods of good sisterly decorum.

No. This Monday was ruined by the fact that her coffee machine, as well as her backup coffee machine, had finally given up the ghost. Traitorous machines. The day was only slightly turned back around because Luna knew Pinkie Pie. And Pinkie Pie, still perky even before dawn, had been kind enough to loan Luna a hot thermos full of her proprietary coffee, a blend she only sold at cost to a few people at school with a real caffeine addiction.

Luna did not dwell on how embarrassing that entire episode was, nor her guilty description of herself during its events. Desperate times. Desperate times indeed.

The Vice Principal was hurrying down the halls of the school, waiting to reach her office before cracking open the canister and drinking down the hot, life-saving draught within.

Draught, she laughed to herself. Such an old turn of phrase. She should really read more than the occasional fantasy novel.

Once safely ensconced in her office, Luna poured herself a cup. She smiled as the sweet, sweet aroma… how much sugar was in here? Oh, it didn’t matter. She was desperate.

Raising the cup of heavenly joe to her lips, Luna closed her eyes and prepared for the divine sensation… only to feel a strange ripple of air pass through the room. Had the air-conditioning kicked on already? There must be a glitch in the electrical system. That thought sent a shiver down Luna’s spine, recalling the last financial report she’d read, and all the red ink circling the electric bill figures.

She glanced down to look at her coffee. The heft was suddenly different. Luna turned the cup upside down, and watched as a mug-shaped marshmallow slopped down onto her desk.

How much sugar was in The Good Stuff? Luna set the mug down onto her desk, and then watched as it flapped its wings and scampered up into the AC vent, where she supposed it would use as a nest hereafter.

She decided that she needed to see Tia. Especially as the thermos had begun to tango with her desk’s little water-dippy bird.

Celestia’s office was close to her own, so it was in no time that she reached the door and flung it aside.

“Celestia, I think the caffeine’s getting to me. I need an immediate… vacation…?”

Luna was briefly reminded of an old senior prank back in her day, where the students had managed to sneak a horse, an entire horse, into the principal’s office. If it weren’t for the fact that this horse was a white, winged unicorn with her sister’s mane, she’d have thought the prank had been repeated.

Seeing… winged unicorn Celestia panickily smashing her desk and keyboard to splinters with her hooves, and then break down into a sobbing wreck as her chair completely failed to hold up her new… Luna would be polite and say heavier form, somewhat dispelled that thought. As did the pens and pencils, held in a golden aura, sailing through the air.

Luna sighed. “I will just go get Sunset then, shall I?”

Well… at least it hadn’t been Pinkie’s coffee. Luna didn’t actually care for vacations.

At that very moment, Pinkie Pie was skipping merrily down the street. The bouncing pink bundle of sugary energy and laughter simply could not contain her sheer exuberance and love of life and joy. Plus, she’d had six coffees, two croissants, eight breakfast muffins, and an entire bag of sugar. She probably didn’t know she was skipping.

She even hummed a little song while she skipped. “Smile! Smile! Smile!” Granted, she may have forgotten the other parts of the song.

Behind the pink and prancing premiere party planner of prodigious potential, running at a dead sprint and still not keeping up, were the Cutie Mark Crusaders themselves. Had Scootaloo’s scooter not given out half a mile back, perhaps she’d be within catching distance, but her and Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were certainly losing ground now.

Which might have been because the Pinkie Pie Breakfast they’d had was all sugar as well, which meant their energy had peaked already, and now the crash was coming with the growls of upset stomachs.

“I feel like I’m dying,” Sweetie Belle moaned in between gasps for air.

“I think I’m already dead,” Scootaloo nearly lost her breakfast in a nearby gutter.

“If’n I was a horse back on the farm,” Applebloom felt an eyelid droop in pure exhaustion, “they’d probably put me out of my misery by now!”

Pinkie Pie, who had dropped back just a little bit, began to itch. Specifically, she felt her middle left toe itch, followed by a gentle spasm in her right pinkie finger.

Heehee, Pinkie’s pinkie finger.

“Huh?” she wondered aloud, “That usually only happens when something ironic is about to happen to someone who said something they shouldn’t have. Weird.”

As she continued to skip merrily along, a wave of light rushed over Pinkie and the Crusaders. Pinkie herself hardly noticed a thing, and switched to a prance as soon as her arms became forelegs and her hands became hooves. She didn’t even miss a beat.

It was several yards later, after she’d absent-mindedly reached out to a former-mailbox and took a taste of the new-chocolate cake that she finally stopped moving, and started thinking.

“Mmmm! That’s a good… chocolate cake… Hang on a second! I know that chocolate flavor anywhere. What’s Discord up to now?”

She shook her sproingy, frizzy mane and marveled at how the more things changed, the more… well, lots of things were suddenly changing, and that was pretty okay in her book, now that she thought of it.

“Alright CMC,” she spun around on one hoof, “We’re gonna… oh.”

The Crusaders were a touch more than helpless at the moment. They lay on the sidewalk, sliding and grasping and making a real mess of being ponies. Literally, in Applebloom’s case. That girl could not hold down her cake batter.

“Ah was kiddin’!” Applebloom snarled at the universe in general for how she was now up on four legs and shakily tip-hoofing towards her friends. Owning horses at least gave her some idea of how to walk like this… even though the existential panic of owning horses was making her oddly formed knees quake a little.

Sweetie Belle was having a harder time walking, what with trying to hide behind her newly-grown tail. “Omigosh! We’re naked! That breaks Rarity’s Twelfth Rule of Fashion!”

Scootaloo just pouted, and made experimental buzzes with her wings. “I feel ripped off, somehow.”

Pinkie Pie came prancing back into view. “Come along kids, we don’t want to miss an adventure with Discord. Or school for that matter!”

Scootaloo marveled at the CMC’s sleepover host. “Pinkie… how are you doing that?”

“Doing what?”

Applebloom shuffled closer, “Walking so well as a… as a horse!”

“I’m naked!!!” Sweetie Belle was still recovering.

“Oh,” Pinkie laughed, “I’m used to this. I was born with hooves.”

Scootaloo, unsure of how to respond to this, simply didn’t. Within seconds of the awkward silence forming, Pinkie Pie decided to keep talking.

“I’m actually the Pinkie Pie from Equestria, where we’re all magical talking ponies. Me and your Pinkie switch off every week or so for funsies.”

Sweetie Belle finally asked something sensible, “Why?”

Pinkie scrunched up her nose, “Dunno. It’s simply the Way of the Ponk.” While waiting for the Crusaders to finally figure out this walking thing, she continued to bounce and spring around, saying, “Of course this does make me wonder about what other side characters might be dealing with now that Discord’s unleashed a wave of Chaos Magic onto the human world…”

She glanced around, expectantly.

“Huh,” she thought out loud, “I was sure my Pinkie Sense was picking up a transition… oh, there it is.”

And there it was.

For how urban it seemed at times, the outskirts of Canterlot City were remarkably rural. Go far enough in any direction and you might hit the beach, scale a mountain, pass by Sweet Apple Acres or one of the many rural farms out that way, or even get lost in the woods between the city at the (recently renovated) Camp Everfree.

Along that last way, there were any number of camping sites and truck-stops one might pitch a tent or park one’s vehicle in to wait out a night on the open road. And in one such stop in particular, a very well-traveled van sat in a parking lot alongside a grove of trees and a deep pond someone once mislabeled a lake.

Outside the garish-colored van, two teenage girls sat around a small campfire on the small stools they took along for such sitting purposes. They were still in their sleep-wear, with one keeping her voluminous orange poof up in a tight bun, the other letting her purple and turquoise-stripped hair hang loose for once. The small campfire they had going played host to a pan heating up a can of… something.

The third traveler, back in the van, had lost the label. She hoped it was taco sauce.

Orange poof sighed, “So, how’s it look, Aria?”

“Not ideal, Dagi” Aria Blaze informed her sister, bandmate, and lunatic-in-arms, “The tank is full, but our pantry’s completely empty. Except for those taco shells, some old condiments, and that can of beans.”

Adagio glanced at their still-warming can. “I thought it was corn?”

“Well, unlike you,” Aria chuckled without a hint of joy, “I still have dreams.”

Adagio barreled ahead of the conversation, “Still, the next gig is just north of here. We get in, do a show, and get out with enough cash to eat again.”

“In three days,” Aria growled, “and then we’ll run out of gas again on our way back through the city.”

“There aren’t any gigs in the city,” Adagio snarled back, hunger making up the bulk of her ire right now, “At least none for us.”

“Dagi…”

“No.”

Aria sighed, “If we just apologized, they’d probably help us get some more work…”

“Absolutely not,” Adagio kept staring at the can of bread, cheese, and turkey meat. She could dream too. She dreamed big.

“Come on Dagi!” Aria was tired of this argument, but rapid-onset starvation was a pretty sound motivator, “You’re being ridiculous. If it weren’t for your pride…”

Adagio snorted, “Oh yes, sister, let’s talk about pride. I seem to recall you weren’t too keen to take Starswirl’s offer to surrender either!”

Aria folded her arms across her chest, “I mean how you decided we suddenly needed to take over the world once Equestrian magic showed up here. We could have just kept going forever like we were… as miserable a life as that was… but now we have no magic, and singing voices we have to make with a computer!”

The can popped, a little hole in the lid signifying that its delicious meat and potato innards (or possibly mushroom soup and duck, neither were picky) were done. The argument forgotten, both teens fought viciously over the spatula before Aria scored the win and proceeded to pop the can’s lid clean off.

One glance inside, however…

“Ari? What is it?”

A sour-faced former-Siren kicked the can over. “Well… it was olives.”

They sat back down, defeated, anger giving way to hunger and that curiously human sensation they’d begun to feel only after their other humiliating defeat during the Battle of the Bands. It felt like a lead weight in their guts that wanted them to think about all the horrible things in-store for them.

Quite inconsiderate, dread.

“That’s another thing to think about,” Aria sighed.

“Oh? What now?”

Aria just waved vaguely at the van, “Our music. How long do you think this synthetic-voice thing is going to last?”

Adagio scowled. She said nothing though.

“Dagi,” Aria said with worry, “Do you remember Rag-time? Back in the day?”

“Of course,” the orange-haired girl brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.

“And disco?”

“You’ve made your point,” Adagio growled. She knew just as well as Aria that genres rose and fell like the tide. But with such weak voices, what could they do? The only alternative was that ‘Wub-wub’ noise, and she was certain that abomination was dying too.

She sighed, a long and wracking sigh. “I just want to go home…”

And then the forest shook with a sound like Celestia slamming a car door. Specifically, their van door. More specifically, the third Dazzling and former Siren, Sonata Dusk slammed their door open.

“Tacos!!!” she cried out to the heavens, holding up a lightly steaming pan of taco shells with fixings. Her pajamas were lightly sprinkled in condiments, her hair up in a sleeping-cap.

Aria’s head nearly tore itself from her body as she spun towards the call of foodstuff. Later, she’d wish she’d ended up in a universe populated by owls, if only to avoid the inevitable chiropractor bills.

“What!? You actually…” she gripped her nose, a wretched sound nearly escaping from her mouth, “oh Sonata… you didn’t?”

The blue-haired girl nodded her head like an infant shaking a rattle. “Oh, did I ever! We had all these ketchup packets, nacho cheese, mayo, hot sauce, and a bottle of something I lost the label to just lying around!”

Sonata sniffed the results of her brush with cooking. Her eyes began to water, most likely because despite not having any mustard in the horrid concoction, whatever she’d done had clearly constituted a war crime. Without changing facial expression, she tossed the evidence of her sin over her shoulder and into the woods. Where it remained a public hazard for decades.

“So,” she continued cheerily, “What were we talking about?”

Adagio, from deep within the confines of her knees, chortled, “About how Disco’s dead and we’re going to starve long before going grey becomes an issue.”

Sonata nodded, a little more sagely at this. “Yeah, that’s… not great. Anyone else notice how we’ve been aging normally since losing our magic? I feel like I’m the only one having a sort of existential crisis over this…”

Adagio leapt up with an abominable screech and hurled her plastic stool in a high arc across the parking lot, where it crashed into a park-issued firepit. She stood in a wide battle-stance, her whole body heaving with every fuming breath.

Sonata breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh good! I’m glad it wasn’t just me.”

“This is all that wretch Sunset Shimmer’s fault!” Adagio shrieked, “If she’d just let us take over the world with magic, then none of this would be happening!!”

“Yeah, that’s not exactly what you should be taking away from that, Dagi,” Aria managed a tiny smirk through all the irritation she felt watching Adagio throw a childish conniption fit.

It was her turn anyway.

Sonata joined her currently mostly sane sister on this one. “Yeah, Adagio. I thought we got past all this stuff a while ago. Why are you suddenly now getting so bent out of shape about it?”

Adagio was still getting it out of her system, however, “Maybe I just need to vent!! Or maybe my life sucks and there’s no hope of going home or fixing it!!! I just feel so mad I could…! I could…!!!!!”

And that was when the forest shook a second time. And unlike before when it sounded like Celestia, the sound accompanying this sudden blast was precisely the same as Discord slamming a door. You could tell because, under the cacophonous roar and frightful rumbling that swept over the treetops, you could hear a clown horn honking.

Ominous honking.

Adagio Dazzle’s orange mane of frizzy, poofy hair came loose with the initial wave of wind off that distant explosion of madness, her scrunchy lost forevermore. She looked up, over the trees, and saw the towering pillar of light rising into the sky. The sky began to ripple outward in every direction, shifting color from blue to green to pink to some sort of color they had no name for.

And it was all rising up from Canterlot City.

“Girls…” she breathed, “do you know what that is…?” a creeping thrill started working its way into her voice.

Aria was not having it. “Dagi, no!”

“Dagi Yes!!!!” Adagio spun back around, revealing eyes that flashed in malevolent joy with a toothy grin to match. Aria and Sonata grimaced, taking several steps back.

Adagio roared in a very mad, possibly Twilight-like, way, “Don’t you see!? We can do it right this time! No more mistakes! We can have the magic!”

“You’re crazy!” Sonata shouted first, “Come on Dagi! I actually like a few of those Canterlot people. At least Pinkie sends me cupcakes…”

Aria joined her. “Yeah, this is stupid. You’re being stupid!”

“Fine!” Adagio began to glow with a crackling white light as the ripples in the sky reached them. “I don’t need you!!! I don’t need anyone!!!!!” *

There was a flash of light, and the sound of a gum-bubble popping. And there, drifting just a few feet above the parking lot, was the terrifying golden form of Adagio Dazzle, the Siren!

Which then promptly smashed directly and unceremoniously into the asphalt.

“Ow.”

Aria and Sonata, after a moment of shock, tiptoed towards their mad-but-still-sorta-family-in-a-twisted-sense sister. She looked just like they’d remembered her from before. Gold scales, webbed mane and a fish-tail back with a pony set of front legs. The only thing missing was her gemstone, the old source of their siren magic.

Aria smirked, “Still no magic, I see.” Sonata giggled.

Adagio grunted, then tried to heave herself up on long, ungainly, and long-unused hooved forelegs. “A minor setback,” she panted. “When I get ahold of that Equestrian magic, I’m gonna… I’m gonna kick Sunset’s butt… all across the school parking lot… And I’m going to enjoy every second… of… is… is it getting hotter…?”

She collapsed.

Sonata snorted, “Well that was dramatic.”

“Well, that’s Dagi,” Aria smirked.

Silence. Only the rumble of the strange light receding into the distance, and the dulcet tones of one of the nearby bush’s new acapella group filled that silence. The firepit had already flown away.

“Um… Dagi?” Aria couldn’t hear breathing. She reached Adagio’s still form, and with some effort managed to turn her over.

She saw gills, flapping uselessly.

“Oh… crud,” Aria finally managed, “Without her magic, she can’t breathe!”

Sonata’s panic and shock flared right up, “But, what? Why!?”

“We’re Fish-Ponies!” Aria snapped, “Did you just forget about our gills!?”

“… kinda…”

Adagio gasped. Her gills may not be working, but Sirens could still live for a little while on air. A very little while. Vanishingly little.

“Ari?” she croaked, tears instantly streaming down her cheeks, “Ari? I’m… sorry…”

“Don’t talk!” Aria may have always let her… her older sister call the shots, but she was no slouch when it came to taking charge when action was needed. “It’s fine! It’s gonna be fine! We just need to haul you into the van, and then drive you over to the lake!”

“…pond.”

“Whatever! Sonata! Help me get her to…” as Aria turned around to scream at her idiot-sister, she caught sight of what Sonata had already seen.

Their van had no wheels. At least, not rubber ones. And with a sudden clang of metal, the van’s chassis collapsed on top of its cheese-wheels, smashing the dairy product into so many crumbly bits.

Aria, however, would not be stopped. This wasn’t something she could give up on, after all. This was family. Adagio was Sonata and her only family. And despite loathing the country-fried hick herself, Aria would have sworn by any one of Applejack’s sayings on family sticking together in this moment.

“Hang in there, Dagi! We’ll haul you down to the pond ourselves. Sonata, you get the tail, I’ll… Sonata! Do not eat the wheels!”

“Buh ahm ‘ungry!”

It felt like someone, most likely Rainbow Dash, had dropped a whole barrel of cider on Applejack’s head. In which case, she hoped her multi-hued speed-demon of a friend had found some other level of super speed. She’d need it once this farm girl got her head back in working order.

Everything was swimming in her vision, even her dog Winona, who was right now part fish, at about one hundred feet and climbing. Good on her? It was hard to focus much. Heck, it almost looked like the apples in the orchards were flashing different colors, like Hearth’s Warming lights.

But that’d be silly. T’weren’t the holidays for another half year or more.

Speaking about time, Applejack began trying to reconstruct just what had happened. She remembered getting up, helping Big Macintosh with the chores, and talking to Granny about gassing up the ole jalopy in the barn. Breakfast was apple-themed, naturally, and then she and Big Mac had decided to take the horses out for a light morning ride before school.

Ah shoot. School. That was probably coming up soon, and Applejack’d hate to miss out when there were so few days left before summer anyway. Can’t have fun and play games if’n ya didn’t get your work done first, she always said. So, with her head starting to calm down a touch, she stood up from the hard soil of the horse pens…

And fell right back down again. Huh. Odd. It was almost like her knees were on backwards, Applejack thought. She looked down at herself and chuckled. Nah, they were fine. At least, for pony knees.

Oh. She was a pony. That was new. Leaping high into the air, and crashing back down again, Applejack screamed.

She was a pony! “What in tarn-hay-loving-nation!?“ Holy smokes! It had all been real. She could now clearly see Winona performing some sort of acrobatic corkscrew through the nearby clouds… some nearby pink cotton candy clouds, and there was a distinctly tinny recording of a Heath’s Warming carol playing in her orchard in time with the blinking apples.

“Big Mac!” she cried out, “Somethin’s going screwy round here!”

But as she swiveled her head around, Applejack saw her brother immediately. He sat only a few yards away… completely normal. Human, for one thing. Just sitting up and receiving hugs from three colorful ponies.

Three colorful ponies. Applejack was thinking a lot of ‘huh’s today.

“Applejack?” Big Mac tilted his head in confusion. “Yer… a pony?”

“Seems that way, yup.”

The three ponies threw their eyes over at Applejack as she said this, and immediately broke off their group hug to rush over to her.

“Applejack!” they cried out happily as one.

She held out her hooves. “Now hold up! Jus’ a second!” All three paused. Applejack glanced around and, upon finding her Stetson lying beside her, picked it up and set it squarely on her head. Best not to think how hooves had done that, she thought. It was already going to be a Monday.

“Now just who in tha heck are ya…?” Applejack tried to ask as she stood up, and fell right back down.

A soft, orange glow seemed to come over Applejack, and she was soon hefted up into the air, only to settle back down stably on her four hooves. Within a moment, a pair of vanilla-colored wings set her hat back onto her head, and a black tail had brushed a bit of dust off her flank…

The three ponies stood silently in front of her, big bright eyes watching with some sort of eager anticipation.

Applejack began to think, but it was a slow and deliberate sort of think so she set to work in the meantime, looking over these strange magical ponies that’d somehow wound up out of Equestria and onto her farm. To the right, the unicorn mare. She almost looked like what Applejack understood Applebloom would’a looked like as a pony, save for the horn of course, and being fully grown. Bright red hair and a coat of light yellow. She had a mark on her rear-haunch, a Cutie Mark as Sunset once explained, that looked like a bundle of sticks, or perhaps cinnamon…

That was an odd thought. Odder still was the Cutie Mark of an oak tree on the brown and vanilla-dappled flank of the brown-maned pegasus stallion who stood in the middle of the three. Oak. Oak…

“Ooh! Ooh!” the light brown mare with a black mane and a chocolate-chip Cutie Mark hopped up and down like Pinkie Pie, “Are you trying to guess? Which one am I!? Which one!?”

Cinnamon sticks. An oak tree. Cookies. Either she did have a concussion, or something screwy were going on, because that sounded like…

“Cinnamon?” Applejack looked at the unicorn, then back to the pegasus, “Oakley?” to the regular pony, “Cookie?”

Cinnamon clapped her hooves slowly, and sarcastically, “Wow! Great job AJ! And it only took you five minutes.” She kind of sounded like Applebloom give or take ten years and a lot of attitude.

Oakley flicked Cinnamon’s ear with his wing, “Hey now! Applejack weren’t ever one fer numbers,” his voice came out in a smooth country drawl, rich as the finest yodeling cowpoke, “That’s why Granny always has to do the apple-countin’.”

“This is so cool!” Cookie yipped, “I can finally talk and tell you how we all feel! And I can think about feeling about talking! And I’m suddenly aware of the past, present, and future! This is the best day ever! So far!”

“Yer…” there was a mildly annoying ticking going on in Applejack’s brain, “Yer my horses…”

Cookie nodded. “That’s right! We were Apple Family Horses!”

“Course,” Cinnamon snorted, “I wonder if ‘Pony’ is technically a downgrade from ‘Horse’.”

“Why would it be? Look at what I can do!” Oakley flapped his wings and sent himself into a backflip, twenty feet up. After two loops, he landed back down like he’d done it all his life. Cookie stamped her hooves approvingly.

“My horses are ponies,” Applejack whispered, “An’ these ponies are people… I don’t think it’s legal to own those…”

The former-horses had apparently waited long enough, as the three new-ponies rushed up to Applejack and enveloped her in a group hug.

“We love you Applejack!” they said as one.

“Whuh?”

“You raised us!” Cinnamon nuzzled affectionately.

“Ya’ll took care of us,” Oakley smiled warmly.

Cookie laughed, “You gave us sugar cubes! And made us feel like we were part of the Apple family too.”

Applejack took several long seconds to fully take all that in. There was still that odd ticking in her head, like something wasn’t fully clicking into place yet. But the hug was making it start to fade, at least a little. She probably could have stood to stop the hug by this point… but it felt kinda nice, now that she thought about it.

Oakley kept talking, “Sorry about dropping you, by the way. I’m usually pretty calm and steady, but when that magic light hit us, I sort of panicked as I became more intelligent.”

Magic light…?

“Not that much more,” Cinnamon teased.

Cookie leaned in, grinning, “Says the mare who rolls around in mud after every bath…”

“That’s it!” Applejack reluctantly broke out of the group hug, “This is all got to be Equestrian magic gone loco again!”

Cinnamon scrunched up her nose, “Wait, Equestria? That… magical ponyworld Sunset was talking about last time she rode us?” Her eyes went wide, “I guess that checks out…”

Oakley snorted, “Heh, horse riding a horse. Don’t that beat all!”

Applejack turned to look at the sky, and sure enough, once she’d followed the ripples of oddness back to their source, she saw a pillar of light hovering just above…

The school. Could have saved time and just set out right away.

“Right,” Applejack set to walking, now trying to repeat what she’d always seen her horses do, “I’ll handle this. Big Mac? Hold down the fort! Right-front, back-left, left-front, back-right…” she kept track as her speed steadily increased.

“Uh… eeyup?”

Applejack swatted at the latch on the gate with her nose. Then she rubbed her nose irritably while cursing mildly under her breath. “Guess that’s horse-proof proven, consarnit…”

The latch glowed with that orange light again, as Cinnamon said, “Here, lemme get that for you.” It opened right away.

Applejack tipped her hat, “Thank’ee.” And then she leapt forward into a gallop.

And then she hit the earth with her chin and slid to a halt. She lay there a moment, not sure if she was more embarrassed that her hors- ponies had seen that, or that her hat had somehow landed on her flank. Both were a mite upsetting.

There was another twinkling sound of magic as her Stetson landed back on her head, and then two larger presences pressed into her sides and hauled Applejack up to her fe- hooves.

“Don’t worry Applejack, we got’cha,” Oakley crooned.

Cinnamon walked ahead of them, pointing the way with her horn. “Last time you rode me over to the school was a while back, but I think I remember the way. Let’s go!”

Applejack took a second to realize that Oakley and Cookie were holding her up as they helped get her into a trot. “What? What’re ya’ll doing?”

“We’re coming to help, obviously!” Cinnamon called back.

“But, ye don’t hafta…”

Oakley laughed, “Course we do!”

Cookie leaned in a little to catch Applejack’s eye, and said, “We’re Apples, ain’t we? And family don’t never leave their own dangling!”

That ticking sound had finally stopped. Something clicked for Applejack.

“Guess your right,” she laughed quietly. Then, as she hit a full gallop, she let out a rebel yell and cried out, “Come on Apples! We got a world to save!”

Big Macintosh just watched as this all played out. He wasn’t one to act before taking the time to think, and this… would take a lot of thinking. A lot. Plus, more cider that they had in the fridge currently.

Which was a handy time for a distraction. The barn doors gently burst open, prompting Big Mac to turn around and look at the old jalopy itself sitting there. Someone had apparently gone and painted the truck when he wasn’t looking. It was now a bright green color. With a white roof no less.

And Granny Smith’s face in place of a grill and headlights.

“Big Mac?” the car asked.

“… Eeyup.”

“Ah still need ta git this ‘ere jalopy gassed up, and there’s a load of groceries ta git before dinner. An’ seein’ as how yer the only Apple with hands at the moment…”

“…” he sighed, “Eeyup.”

Chapter 6 - The Last Temptation of Discord

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“Eugh,” Discord slowly dragged his conscious mind back to reality, “did somepony get the number of that Yak?”

As the physical world began to realize it needed to exist, Discord decided to do a quick head count.

One.

Good, one head was plenty for his current needs. He also took the time to extend his senses and figure out just what had exactly happened. He could tell he was still a Draconequus, small mercies. He could tell without opening his eyes that the ground was still a technicolor nightmare. And he could tell that there were two ponies shaking him awake.

“Please Mr. Discord!” a sweetly melodic voice begged him, “please get up!”

“Are you alright?” asked the other, calmer and more bookish voice, “That looked like it hurt significantly.”

Well, Discord would hate to disappoint the first voice, obviously Fluttershy, at least. He sat up with a groan and opened his eyes. The first voice was indeed his beloved pony’s not-normally-pony-but-today-was-an-exception self. She was delicately wiping away some stray tears with her tail. How fascinating that she could adjust so quickly. But then, that’s what he loved most about…

The other pony wasn’t a pony at all. In fact, he was staring at the still-human form of Twilight Sparkle.

“Huh,” he said, “a lot of things are surprising me today, but you staying… well, you, is right up there. Especially after…” he waved one paw around noncommittedly towards where he’d exploded. Thinking about that would come later.

She shrugged, still analyzing him for any bumps, bruises, or scrapes. “Well, I suppose the wall helped.”

“Wall?” Discord glanced over to see the free-standing brick wall. “Oh, that survived? I do good work. Pops always said I could go into brick laying if being Lord of Chaos didn’t work out…”

Twilight’s curious gaze met Discord’s as she pressed her face into his, “Wait! That was you? You stopped the original prank from changing me? Why?” She blinked, “You had a father?”

Flustered, Fluttershy stepped between the two, pushing Twilight back with both hooves. A bit defensive, wasn’t she? Discord hopped up himself and began to dust off.

“Well,” he began, “if going Pranking with Pinkie and Dashie has taught me anything, it’s that someponies can’t handle the same sort of ribbing as others.”

She seemed… hurt by that. “I… you’re saying I can’t take a joke?”

He just shook his head. “Not at all. In fact, I think you can take more than most. But last night was… shall we say, difficult for you. I wanted to raise some spirits with a good laugh, but I thought you’d gone through quite enough, my dear.”

“That’s…” her eyes took on a curious look, “That’s very thoughtful of you, actually.”

“Come on Discord!” Sunset’s voice rang out from closer to the Wondercolt statue, “Wake up! You! Need! To! Fix! This!” It sounded like she was jumping up and down on something.

With a weary sigh, Discord turned to face the riled-up unicorn. “Sunset, I’m already awake. No need… to… shout?”

Sunset and Discord locked eyes with one another. Sunset’s shifted from eyes full of tired rage to ones full of irritated confusion. She looked at Discord for several long, silent seconds. And then she looked down at the human Discord for several more. When she looked back up to complain about Discord’s use of clones to mess with her however…

Discord supposed the deeply, deeply confused feeling writhing in his gut was plainly visible on his face, if Sunset’s was anything to go by.

While human Discord started slowly dragging himself to his feet, aided by Sunset and the now slightly-more-comfortable-moving-as-ponies Rainbow Dash and Rarity, the original Discord had a quick glance about.

That Chaos-Supercharge was a bad one, he reckoned. Back, way back in the days before his first memories (paradoxically, there were always more memories the further back he went), he’d remembered these happening all the time as he grew into his own as the avatar of Chaos in Equestria. But as he’d used more and more magic, it had calmed down considerably in his care.

But this universe had so much Chaos, he started to think, perhaps it decided one Discord wasn’t enough to contain it?

Well, in any case, the grass hadn’t changed much with that hit. It was still pleasantly ridiculous. Some of the flowers had been replaced with eyeballs, but that gave it character. The front of the school… actually, the entire front edifice seemed to be made of an obnoxious pink bubblegum. Neat.

Less neat was the sidewalk and city beyond. The sidewalks looked like one of those brightly colored fruit candies, each cement block now a different flavor and color. He supposed Pinkie would love that, though anyone walking on them seemed to be slowly sinking into a sugary prison. Not ideal. The city beyond… well, several buildings were now walking about on stilts or hairy yak hooves, and any number of streetlights had apparently turned into car-sized fireflies and flown away.

Speaking of cars, and yes, the Lord of Chaos knew what those were, there were mercifully few sounds of crashing vehicles coming from the city. Discord was many things, but he had learned to not enjoy actual pain of others at the hands of his pranks. He did, however, watch with some amusement as a yellow school bus grew a set of airplane wings and a jet thruster before rocketing… sideways of all directions… directly into the sky, which was thankfully still blue. Though the rings of rainbow-colored clouds centered on the school were a lot more ominous than not.

Finally, Discord began to register how few… humans there were. Seemed like a lot more ponies than he’d initially planned were standing around, gasping in horror at their hooves or crying their eyes out. Though, in fairness, he could see a human Flash Sentry crashing down from an initial flight with his new pegasus wings.

Well, the Trixies didn’t seem to mind. Both unicorns were using each other like a mirror at the moment, admiring the way their manes bounced, their coats shone, and how their wizard-hats sat at the perfect jaunty angle to express just how Great and Powerful they were.

Discord knew he’d get blamed for this.

Discord was not having a good day. And considering it was his first day, ever, that was not an ideal state of affairs. He’d literally come into being moments ago when he was torn out of... himself... was smashed into the ground, and then had some pony with a mane that reminded him of breakfast jump up and down on his stomach! It didn’t help that he now had three ponies failing to grab onto him with their useless hooves and pull him up.

How did this happen? Oh, wait… Discord threw his memories back, and watched the entirety of the infinite expanse of time and space resolve before him. Chaos, okay got that. Ponies? Hm, could do worse. Fluttershy… file that one away. Villainy? Reformation? The… the prank that just created himself? Interesting…

Suddenly, Discord felt an odd pair of appendages heft him up. Felt like a paw and a claw, and as soon as he realized that, he knew precisely what was up.

The two Discords simply stood and studied each other. The Draconequus looked slightly down on the Human, in more ways than one. He wondered if he’d worn it better. The Human, naturally, wondered whatever had he seen in being so tall and so… Draconequus-y.

“Well,” said the human Discord, “This is a new one.”

The other Discord concurred, “It does seem a tad strange, even for us.”

“The fact that we have to use the word ‘us’ is doubly strange.”

Twilight and Fluttershy stood behind the Draconequus Discord, while Sunset, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash took up space nearer the human one. The Trixies happened to remain off to the side and in between the two camps. Spike just huddled behind the small brick wall. Best to not get involved unless they needed him.

Both Discords stared one another down, face to muzzle.

“Discord?” Fluttershy raised an eyebrow, “Is everything alright?”

The human Discord looked to her, “Actually, everything’s fine Flutter… oh rats!”

“Ha!” The Draconequus jumped up and clicked his heels together, “You blinked!”

Human Discord grumbled. “Oh fine… you can be regular Discord.” A thought came to him then, and he smiled, “But then I get to be Disqord.”

Discord paused in mid-air. “Did… did you just change it to a ‘Q’?”

“I did,” said Disqord.

“For the meta?” Discord asked.

He smiled, “Of course!”

Discord took Disqord into a one-harmed hug, cheering as he did so, “That’s my boy!”

Sunset stared in horror at whatever this was. She wasn’t angry anymore. Anger was impossible with such confusion. Now she merely dreaded having to explain that there were two Discords. Well, she knew he could do that normally… but something about this felt off.

Rainbow Dash tilted her head. “Um… both those names sound exactly alike.”

“Only on audiobook,” Discord chuckled.

“But Discord, dear,” Rarity seemed equally confused, “How will we be able to tell you from this other Disqord like that…” she paused, and seemed to roll the words around her mouth again.

Disqord laughed, “At least this one catches on quick.”

“Discord?” Sunset felt a twinge of worry now. Magic was one of her best talents, and she’d never even heard of a true duplication effect like this. “How… how is this different from the way you normally are? And should we be worried?”

Disqord tilted his own head towards Discord. “Shall I?”

“Oh, I insist!”

Disqord took a step towards Sunset, and said, “What did my erstwhile self tell you about Chaos Magic?”

Erstwhile self? That… did not sound promising.

“He said the human world was saturated in the stuff,” she said, any true anger now fully extinguished by the old student of Celestia’s she once was; hungry for the answer to a mystery.

Disqord smiled, “Indeed it was!”

Trixie, the actual pony, hesitantly asked, “Was?”

“Good catch, Blue!” Disqord dropped a baseball onto her head, despite being several yards away and not having one beforehand. “Chaos was all over this dimension, ever since it first formed. But there was little actual magic, so it was quite bored and didn’t have much in the way to do besides make everything in the universe just a skosh more random than usual.”

“Wait,” Twilight’s mind started reeling, “But that would mean… but Chaos Theory states…”

Discord politely handed her a small bag of popcorn. “Don’t interrupt the story. He’s on a roll.”

“Thank you, Discord.”

“You’re very welcome, Disqord.”

Disqord continued. “But then, Chaos noticed this wonderful, beautiful creature pop into reality. Like a cross between… well, everything!” He held out one hand towards Discord, who held his fore-appendages together and shook them like a champion boxer, “And Chaos thought, ‘Well, if that’s how the other universes are doing things, I bet I can do better!’”

Discord paused, “Better?”

“Better!” Disqord waved his hands to indicate his whole form. “Human is very in, this year. It goes with everything, and is chic, unique, and magni-freak!”

Only Rainbow Dash heard what foul curses Rarity uttered when she heard that.

“Draconequus, on the other hand,” he indicated Discord with a sigh, “Well, it’s passé.

“So, Chaos took that old-fashioned Draconequus and whipped up something with a little more pizazz! And so here I am,” he smiled, “All of the old, old Discord’s knowledge and memory, none of the baggage, and all of the Chaos of this world!”

There wasn’t as much applause as Disqord’d hoped to hear. There was, in fact, none. Not that that didn’t stop Twilight Sparkle from filling the void with her out-loud thoughts and borderline Pinkie-tier hopping as she contemplated all she heard.

“That’s amazing! Chaos Magic has something like a rudimentary will, and the capacity to observe and learn? Does it operate like Starswirl’s Homunculus Matrix? Is Firaga’s Method involved? How many magical secrets are still…?”

She paused, then withdrew back into herself, “Sorry… I got carried away again.”

Disqord snorted, “Eugh, would you stop!” He pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance, “I swear it’s always ‘Midnight Sparkle this’, and ‘Midnight Sparkle that’ with you these days! Why not let her come out and get it over with?”

Now the other Discord snarled, “Hey! Enough of that!”

“Or what!?” Disqord shot back, “You haven’t done anything cruel or wicked enough in years to make me back off! I should know!”

Both Lords of Chaos suddenly found themselves facing off again. This time, however, there was no staring contest. A light ripple of unreality was the only sign that they were each ready, and able, to have it out here and now.

Sunset, however, saw something else.

“Wait!” she cried, “This is great!”

“Of course I am!” both Discords snapped at once, neither looking away while they said it. Both Trixies also said it at the same time, but quieter.

Discord, slightly confused, followed with, “Wait… what is?”

“There’s two of you!” Sunset beamed brighter than she had in… ever! “If Chaos is satisfied with that, what are the odds of another duplication happening?”

“Nonexistent,” said Disqord, verbally preening himself, “It got it right on the first try.”

“Then it won’t… make more of you?” Rainbow Dash ventured.

When both Draconequus and Human nodded, Sunset practically yipped, “Perfect! Then you two can fix this whole debacle! All it will take is a snap of your fingers, and we can get back to Starswirl’s spell!”

But while Discord scratched his beard and nodded with a light, happy-my-friend-isn’t-mad-anymore smile, Disqord merely raised a questioning eyebrow and leveled a confused frown.

“Why?”

Shimmer paused in her celebration, “What? What do you mean, why?”

The newly-minted human Lord of Chaos nodded once. “I asked, why? I rather like it this way,” he said, indicating the rainbow sky, the candy sidewalks, and the scattered-and-still-panicking ponies lying about the school grounds.

“But,” Sunset was started to feel a tight, cloying feeling deep down, “But aren’t you our friend?”

“No.” He didn’t even hesitate.

Trixie, the pony, started tapping her hooves nervously. She knew a bad, bad audience when she saw one, and Disqord was angling for a bad, bad show. “I… I… I’ll go get Twilight!” She cried out and bolted for the portal.

Which proved quite solid when she smashed into it at full speed. The human-turned-pony Trixie, Rarity, and Dash rushed to make sure she was alright.

Disqord barely took notice. “I’m not even convinced you’re his friend,” he indicated Discord with a tilt of his head.

Discord huffed, “Well now you’re just being ridiculous. I have friends. Lots of friends!” Did… did his voice crack just then?

But Disqord whirled on himself and began counting on his long, grey fingers, “The Princesses still wish the Elements of Harmony were around so we could be ‘Stoned’ one day, I’m pretty sure Spike and Big Mac only invite you around because they pity you, Fluttershy doesn’t count…”

“Hey!” Fluttershy scowled suddenly.

“… Princess Twilight and her precious purple pupil Glimmyglam have about a dozen contingency spells and plans worked up with you in mind specifically, just in case…”

Pony Trixie coughed, lifted her head, “Well, you do have a record…”

“And that brings me to my last point: Sunset Shimmer!”

Sunset balked, “What’d I do?”

Disqord smirked, “What didn’t you do?” He stalked towards her, hands clasped behind his back. As he circled the red-gold maned unicorn, Twilight began to feel a lot of Cinch-related queasiness as he said, “First, you broke poor Celestia’s heart, the only real mother you ever had, by insulting her and then running away. Then, you tried to rob your better, prettier, more ‘Princess-worthy’ replacement, trap her in this dimension, and conquer her home with an army of mind-controlled children, also conveniently allowing you to show up dear old Mommy Sunbutt…”

As the Lord of Chaos circled, the cold feeling in Sunset’s stomach grew worse. Just having her faults and failings thrown back in her face would normally be bad enough, but she knew he was working towards something else. But as he talked, a fire also grew inside her. The Old Sunset Shimmer may have been a hothead and a mess of a pony, but that anger was still within her.

“I paid for my mistakes!” She roared back. A drizzle of tiny chocolate chips began to fall as she growled, “I’ve changed! So whatever else you want to dredge up out of my past, just get on with it!”

“Oh, I will!” he guffawed, still circling, “Then after all of that and more, after betraying your closest loved ones, enslaving children, lying to everyone you knew for years while you bullied and humiliated your new ‘friends’… you were forgiven.

“A bit of a sappy end, but there you have it,” he shrugged and continued, “Without earning it, friendship was offered to you. And after saving the day a few times the rest of the school grew to tolerate you. Like you, trust you. You made friends, of all things!”

Discord frowned, “You’re belaboring the point a bit, junior.”

Disqord knelt down suddenly, bringing himself down to Sunset’s eye level. “And then, when your old pal Discord played a harmless prank on you because he felt just awful about egging on the Princess last night, and making you all sad and depressed over Midnight Sparkle… you remembered how no one had trusted you with that whole Anon-a-Miss business…”

“How did you…?”

“Omnipotence,” he dismissed her, “The Chaos in this universe remembers that fiasco! A wonderful bit of mayhem. But after recalling that experience and all the pain you went through from having no one take your side or even offer you the benefit of a doubt, you had a good laugh, gently explained to Discord what he got wrong, and then let bygones be bygones with your friend…

“Oh, wait!” he snapped his fingers. “No, that’s not it! You yelled at him! You said he wasn’t your friend!”

Sunset’s mind whirled, “That’s not…”

“Face it, Sunnybean,” Disqord tapped her on her nose, “You never thought he was your friend!”

Sunset fell back onto her haunches. She turned her head to look at Discord…

She really wished she hadn’t. The Lord of Chaos was truly speechless, his yellow eyes some terrible mixture of sadness and haunting realization. Sunset couldn’t face him, couldn’t bear the sudden knowledge that… that Disqord was right, so she looked away.

When that Anon-a-Miss business had happened, she’d been ostracized again. She’d lost everything she’d ever worked towards, every friend and every good deed undone. It was even worse than when everyone had their good memories of her erased by the Memory Stone, because at least then they didn’t have the option to weigh her good and bad deeds… and find the bad far greater.

She never thought…

Discord’s hoof and claw-foot came into her field of vision. He leaned down, and gently picked her up, setting Sunset down on all four of her hooves. His voice came out like maple syrup, slow and heavy, as he said, “I’m sorry.”

She finally looked up at the Draconequus, a tear threatening to fall from her eyes. “What?”

“I’m sorry,” he sighed, “I… I thought my familiarity with you created something like friendship. But I realize now that wasn’t enough.”

Discord held out his claw, like he was looking for a handshake, “So… I’m sorry for my bit of fun. I should have… I should have thought about how important this was for you… instead of how it might make me feel better about what happened, about what I did… I’m always making this about me, after all.

“Can we… start over?”

Sunset stared at that claw for what felt like the longest five seconds in all of history. Finally, she reached out with one hoof, and set it in Discord’s grip. Disqord thoroughly harrumphed at this.

“Friends?” she smiled.

“Friends,” he smiled back.

And then her eyes went wide. White light poured out of them as Sunset froze in place, and Discord leaned back, shocked.

“I didn’t do it!” he cried out, head swiveling around to confront the accusers. But no one or pony said anything. It was like they’d seen this before…

Sunset blinked away the light, and then held her head with one hoof like she’d just woken up from whatever head injury Trixie was shaking off next to the statue.

“I… I get it,” she whispered.

Disqord, tired of being ignored this long, snorted. “Get what?”

“You!” she turned back to him, a smug grin plastered all across her face, “I understand you, because you’re me!”

“Ex-cuse you!?” he reared back.

The other Discord was at his side already, “Yeah Bacon, we might be friends now, but that was a low blow!”

“No, you dip!” she laughed, “I mean, you’re just like I used to be: angry, jealous, and most importantly, lonely! I can’t believe I didn’t see it before, considering how often it ends up being the answer to these sorts of problems…”

“And what might that be?” Disqord sneered, then added sarcastically, “The Magic of Friendship?”

Sunset smiled, “Well… yeah.”

He laughed back in her face, “Ridiculous!”

Trixie’s voice came from the base of the statue, “Is it though?” All eyes were on the showpony as she rose from the ground, dusted off her hat, and began slowly walking towards the human Lord of Chaos.

“Trixie would just like to say that Sunset is only half-right about you, Disqord,” she sniffed the air imperiously. “While it is true you would like nothing more than to have friends, you are in fact most similar to I, the Great and Powerful Trixie!”

Neither Discord looked particularly amused, but the Draconequus one shrugged and said, “Oh well, you should at least hear her out. She’s usually good for a laugh.” They then snapped their fingers to summon up their thrones, upon which they took their seats.

Disqord noted, gleefully, that his was bigger.

Trixie, however, continued unabated, causing light sparks to fly from one hoof while she began to trace circles and shapes into the air before them. “You and Trixie are stageponies… draconequus… whatever. You live for an audience!”

She brought down her hoof and a flash of smoke enveloped her. Trixie reappeared standing in between the Lords of Chaos’ thrones, and neither had actually seen her do it! There wasn’t even the pop of a teleport.

“You live for the flash! The applause! The adulation of a crowd who enjoyed your show is the one thing we truly want out of life,” she gave Disqord a sly wink, and then reached up to pull a deck of cards out of his ear. He looked quite impressed, to be fair.

Returning to ‘center stage’, she ruffled the cards. She cut the deck one way, then another. She made cards dance along her hooves, rolling over and under each other in a swift and dazzling display, all without a hint of a magic aura. Human-turned-pony Trixie could only stare in true, gob-smacked astonishment.

Maybe… she was the real Great and Powerful?

“And!” she flourished and disappeared the cards to the Discords’ light applause, “Every show… person knows that the first act is the most important of the night. You want to make a good impression on your audience! You want them hooked and amazed! Why waste your opening routine being a jerk… like Trixie once was… when instead you can make them love you!?”

Taking the brim of her hat, the Great and Powerful Trixie pulled it off, and left it at her side. She… she seemed so much smaller without the hat, Disqord noted.

“And…” she was quieter, “It’s all an act. Because even the Great and Powerful Trixie… she’s just a mask. A performance, like you.”

Disqord… watched.

Trixie smiled, then returned her hat to its rightful, Great and Powerful place.

“But just because Trixie can be herself with her friends, that doesn’t mean she can’t also be the Great and Powerful magician she knows she is!” A firework launched seemingly from her upraised hoof, where it fired high into the sky… before sputtering out and coming down to a sodden, chocolate-smeared sidewalk below.

Trixie coughed, “Well… if the last trick doesn’t work, at least your audience, and your friends, will have still liked the show.” A more serious expression overcame her for a moment, “So if you are really a whole new Discord, you have no act to follow. No lies, or japes to be haunted by. Your first act could either be Great and Powerful… or more of the same, tired, villainous Discord we’ve all gotten sick of, even Discord.”

All eyes shifted to the Lord of Chaos, the one who didn’t have horns and wings. He sat, motionless in his seat. His Draconequus self leaned towards him, chin held up by a paw, eyes watching, questioning the next move.

Then, he rose, and walked to a point just beside Trixie’s ‘center stage’, where he could be clearly seen and understood. Upstaging, it was called.

“I can’t believe you think so lowly of me,” he frowned, “As nice of a speech as that was, it still misses the point that I don’t need friends. I’m Disqord! Lord of Chaos!!!” Lightning cracked behind him, “I can do what I want, and when I want, and nothing you say can change that!”

A malevolent light shone in his eyes. “And I think it’s high time I reminded everyone of…” He paused. Something was tugging at his pantleg. Disqord looked down into the pale blue eyes of a yellow pegasus with a bright pink mane.

Fluttershy looked… so sad…

“What is it? Can’t you see I’m monologuing here?”

So… sad…

“You know, the Stare won’t work on me,” Disqord growled, “So knock it off!”

…sad…

Disqord began to sweat, “I’m not changing my ways! Villains deserve the chance to be villains! Reforming again would just be boring!!!”

There were tears now. So sad… saaaaaaad…

“What do you want from me!?” Disqord cried, any louder and he’d be using the Royal Canterlot Voice.

Fluttershy sniffed. “Disqord… you’re breaking my heart…”

That did it. His whole form seemed to deflate instantly, all wrath and villainous glee flew from him like ducks at a wedding (doves? Passé). Disqord reached down and pulled his Fluttershy up and into his arms. He hugged her as tight as a scared child his teddy bear, and she smiled as she nuzzled and hugged him back.

“Fine!” he shouted through the tears, “Fine! I’ll be good! I’ll help! I’ll be your friend, just please stop that!”

A collective sigh rang out, not just from the assembled ponies, Spike, and human Twilight, but from the dozen or so human and pony students who’d been close enough to watch the proceedings. Except for Flash, who was stuck on the school roof after his wings finally let him crash land. He was just happy to not be constantly falling.

Sunset trotted up to Trixie. “Nice job, oh Great and Powerful Trixie.”

“Thank you,” she grinned, “But I couldn’t have done it without my Great and Powerful assistant.” She held out one hoof towards the other Trixie, who revealed a used sparkler and set of smoke bombs beneath her own wizard cape.

“Great work, by the way,” she told her former-human self, “We’ll make a true Showpony out of you, yet!”

“Why thank you, Trixie,” said Trixie, “But that sleight-of-hoof with those cards was truly Powerful! We would love to learn more.”

As the two laughed, Sunset couldn’t help but sigh in relief. She felt a paw pat her on the top of her mane, and looking up she saw Discord smiling down at her… while wearing a woolen cap.

“That’ll do, Bacon,” he said in an accent, “That’ll do.”

She laughed! Nah, she thought, he couldn’t ruin her mood now. “I’m just glad this nightmare is…”

“Sunset Shimmer!”

Why she ever opened her mouth, Sunset never understood. She and the others turned towards the school doors as a still-human Vice Principal Luna rode out of them… yes, rode out on top of what looked to be a donkey wearing a toupee.

As Luna reached the group most likely responsible for all this, she hopped off the donkey. “Thank you, Cranky.”

“The Union will hear of this,” he grunted ominously, then trudged off.

Sunset stepped forward, a slightly… more Twilight element of anxious worry in her voice than she liked as she said, “Vice Principal! How are you doing this fine Monday morning?”

Luna looked down at the unicorn, who only came up to her waist. And should have been a human girl. Luna was really taking this whole thing well, considering the lack of screaming.

“It is a Monday,” she sighed, then with one raised eyebrow she indicated the… well, chaos around them. “Care to explain the rest?”

Twilight, from behind her brick wall, provided an answer, “We tried to make the portal, and magic, safer. But then the avatar of the universal concept of Chaos pulled a prank, and that prank has gone a little out of control. But thanks to Sunset and Trixie, Chaos is on our side, and the portal shall be fixed and all set right momentarily.”

Luna nodded. “Well… good. Glad to see things are well in… hoof.”

Discord and Disqord, now standing beside each other, wrapped their snapping-arms around at the elbow, like an elaborate dance. They nodded to the assembled ponies.

Discord said, “One working portal, coming right up!”

“And one regular old, boring universe… perhaps not too boring and regular,” Disqord chuckled, “Also coming up!”

Unfortunately, Sunset chose that moment to sigh, “Finally…” And just before she could clamp her mouth shut again, the world exploded.

Chapter 7 - Unleash the Magic

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Whatever that brick wall was made of, Twilight desperately wanted some for her laboratory. Or at least a replacement for the blast shield she used for the really, really interesting experiments. It tanked the next blast of white light like nothing happened, even though, from what she could see… everything had happened.

The Wondercolts… Draconequus statue was racing away at full speed down the road. The sky was now undulating storm clouds and rainbows. The grass was… laughing? Weeping? She couldn’t rightly tell.

“I’m not a fan of this chaos business,” she sighed. She made sure Spike was still nestled protectively into the wall, and then moved into the eye of the storm.

The dozen or so other students who’d been witness to this mayhem were still around, though any humans left were long since gone, replaced with everything from Dragons to Changelings. Beyond the bubblegum façade, stone towers rose up from the school itself like it were a fantasy castle, and she could see desks leaping to and fro in the windows of the classrooms.

The Trixies stumbled past Twilight, thankfully no further transformed.

“Come on,” one said irritably, “Trixie is tired of this bit.”

Twilight reached down and laid a hand on that Trixie’s shoulder, “Is everyone else alright?”

The other Trixie pointed towards the statue plinth, where the awkward sight of two pony front-halves fused together at their midsection stood arguing.

“I say this way! We can hide out at the boutique!” Rarity shouted, desperately pulling her half of the body away from the school.

Rainbow Dash was winning however, as she seemed to get most of the wingpower in their new relationship, “Not before I beat Disqord and Discord into mush!”

“Please! I cannot be seen like this!”

“You’re already a pony!”

Rarity paused, then thoughtfully tapped her chin with a hoof. Finally, she lit up her horn, raising the plinth up threateningly before snarling, “Fine! Then I get first dibs on the human one!”

Twilight was on hand to stop them. “Wait, wait! Let’s not be hasty! He might have an explanation.”

One of the Discords’ voices sighed, “Maybe… but you might not like it.”

The two Lords of Chaos approached Twilight, both eyeing the plinth with worried expressions. Fluttershy followed close… bat wings, ears, teeth, and eyes making her appear far, far more fearsome than she would normally. In fact, Twilight thought her friend might have been shivering.

Behind them, Sunset Shimmer was helping a very… striking alicorn with an ethereal star-field mane learn to walk.

“That’s it, you’re doing amazing, VP!” Sunset encouraged the transformed Luna.

Luna however, was quite upset. At least, Twilight could tell from her tone. The actual words she spoke were, “Ridiculum. Existimabam linguis antiquis in collegium! Non puto me simul bene! Sicut si aliquis suus impugnamur in verbis meis quilibet infirmus interpres? Sunset, si non figere hoc primum est, ut per detentionem a mensis.” *

“Yeah,” Sunset tried very, very hard to sound like she understood that, “Apparently, Princess Luna was known for speaking Old Ponish right after she came back. I guess you have something similar going on here.” She muttered, “Though why not this world’s actual equivalent…”

“Because Chaos,” Disqord said, absentmindedly as he and Discord scratched their chins and watched the plinth some more as Rarity lowered it to its usual resting place. “Not everything should be the same, after all.”

“Odi te qui sis,” Luna snarled. “Nescio quid est, sed scio te esse post hanc.” **

Twilight, ever helpful, translated. “Don’t worry Vice Principal. Discord… and Disqord are actually trying to help,” she said in that same, ancient language.

“Twilight? Vetus Militiarum Equestrium Quae tibi loqueris?” ***

“A little. I took six language courses prior to Crystal Prep,” she laughed, lightly given the situation they found themselves in, “Guess overpreparing worked out this once?”

Luna gave Twilight an odd look, a mix of surprise and… pride. “Credimus quia iustus es ostentationem,” she said. ****

Leaving Luna with Twilight, Sunset joined the Discords as they began to pull tools out of thin air. First rulers, then protractors and calculators, and finally some sort of… phone? It looked like something out of a science-fiction show, Sunset thought, the way it kept beeping as Disqord ran it over the statue plinth.

“So… any idea what went wrong?” She asked, trying to give her new friend the benefit of the doubt.

Disqord looked at her, and very clearly knew what Sunset was doing. “Yes, unfortunately.” He smiled, anyway.

“What you got here,” said Discord, dressed in blue overalls with a red long-sleeved shirt and cap with a crooked ‘D’ on the front, “is your classic Chaos Snarl.”

Disqord, in a green version of the same outfit, albeit with a ‘Q’ on his hat, threw in an accent, “Mama mia! The Portal, because’a she was’a tied into the prank’a that’a made me, she’s all’a tied up with’a da Chaos! Spaghetti!”

Sunset tried her best to… ignore whatever it was they were doing and just focused on the words themselves. “So, the portal itself is corrupted?”

Discord, closer to normal, shook his head, “More like, it’s tangled up with all the Chaos at the moment, and every time I or my better half use our magic on it, it rebounds.”

“But can’t you fix the rest of it?”

“No can do,” Disqord said, a pained expression on his face, “There’s a whole web of Chaos tied up right now. Undoing any of it from here-on-in will tug and pull on other strands of Chaos elsewhere. At this point, if I turned one Trixie back to… whatever a Trixie considers normal, there might be a typhoon across the sea, or across Time!”

One of the Trixies sighed, “I’m starting to see why Twilight hates time magic so much…”

Discord glanced up, “And with that thing up there, I don’t think messing with such randomness would do us any favors.”

They all looked up… and suddenly wished they hadn’t. There was a space in the writhing rainbow storm clouds, and through it one could see the full moon. In broad daylight. It looked like an angry moon as well, considering the scowl on its face and the insane grin beneath that scowl.

It also looked like it was getting closer.

“Rough estimate,” said Disqord, checking his calculator, “Three days. Give or take a song and dance routine.”

Sunset whirled back to them, “There has to be something you can do!”

Discord slowly scratched the back of his head. “Well… there is one thing we could try… but I can’t do it myself.”

“Oh no!” Disqord shrank slightly, “Not that!”

“I’m sorry my boy, but it must be done.” Discord looked down at Sunset with a sorrowful look.

“What’s the problem…?” Sunset did not like where this was heading. This day had gone from bad to Insane already. What could be worrying Discord now!?

“It’s…” Discord bit his lip. A single tear rolled down his cheek, and he finally said, “Pony Magic!”

The other Disqord gasped, wilted. Fluttershy immediately began to fan him with her bat wings.

Sunset sighed, “Of course you’d make it a joke…”

“Oh, it’s no joke!” Discord said, with utmost seriousness. “We need a Level Five Containment Ward around the portal-pedestal there.”

“Wait, a Containment Ward? How will that help us?” Sunset wracked her mind for the answer, but wards had never been her strongest subject back in Celestia’s school.

Discord was visibly uncomfortable, but he managed to talk through his skin shivering and… literally trying to pull away from this conversation. “As I understand it, Wards are very protective of whatever’s inside of them, and at Level Five they actually create dimensional barriers between the sealed object and reality around them. That’s how Celestia was able to keep the Elements of Harmony away from me the second time.”

Twilight had at some point taken a seat next to Sunset, and listened with rapt attention.

“When you have a snarl like this,” Discord waved one claw around in a circle, to indicate basically everything, “The only way to snap it back to normal is to remove the snarl itself from the same reality for a second or two and let the whole system reset.”

Disqord added, “It’s the unplug-it-and-re-plug-it version of a solution, but it’s all we have.”

“Well,” said Sunset, “What are you waiting for? You can cast that spell.”

Both Discords shook their heads, with the original saying, “It’s too orderly…”

“Too neat!”

“And too regulated,” Discord pointed at Sunset, “It’ll have to be you, Sunny. You’re the only one here who actually went to Celestia’s School and would have learned about these things.”

Disqord laughed, “Also, you’re not Trixie…”

Sunset immediately cried “This is terrible!”

Both Discords, upright again, looked down at the agitated unicorn.

“Um… is there a problem?” asked Disqord.

“Of course, there’s a problem!” Sunset marched right up to the human and Draconequus Lords of Chaos, “It’s been years since I had to do… well, most any kind of magic! I couldn’t remember how to write out a Fourth Level Ward, much less a Fifth!”

Trixie, the pony one, said in a not so Great and certainly not Powerful voice, “So… does this mean we…?”

Sunset didn’t turn around. “It means we can never go home, and this world is…” She couldn’t say it. After all this. After the pain and suffering, the chaos and the reconciliations… her whole quest to help this world had doomed it.

How could she ever have thought she could measure up…?

“It’s alright, Sunset. I remember.” A voice of pure ice and malice froze Sunset’s blood, a voice she once heard on this very spot proclaiming their intention to destroy the world. The unicorn spun around, eyes full of tears and shock and the sudden, awful realization that she hadn’t quite failed enough for one day.

Out of frightened reflex, she whispered the name of the one who spoke.

“Midnight…”

Sunset didn’t turn around. “It means we can never go home, and this world is…”

Twilight closed her eyes, and it all froze. The world went gray and lifeless, without sound or motion. All was still. All was silent.

Good, she thought. I need some time to hear myself think.

“What a mess,” a voice beside her in the dark of her mind said. “I suppose I’ll have to add Chaos to the things I’m going to have to avoid once I’m free.”

“Midnight,” Twilight greeted her… tulpa.

“Sparkle,” Midnight sneered. “How on earth did you manage to screw up this badly?”

“I didn’t have anything to do with this,” she waved one hand. They simultaneously stood in the time-frozen moment in between moments, as well as the darkness of their own, shared mind. It was a bit confusing, but not too hard to get around once you were used to it.

“Impressive, by the way,” Twilight added, “I’m guessing you used Starswirl’s Tiny Thoughts spell to increase our cognitive speed enough to have this conversation in the span of a few picoseconds?”

Midnight looked… confused, “Not at all. This was you, I thought. I would have waited a few minutes until the stress of living in such an awful place wore away at your defenses first.”

“Oh,” Twilight took a moment to admire her own handiwork, “I guess I’m… better at this than I thought.”

Midnight scoffed, “You’re just imitating me at this point.”

Twilight just sighed and looked out on… awful didn’t quite do it justice. Doomed was a better description, overall. The world was spiraling into a chaotic maelstrom of uncontrollable change and disarray.

Yes, doomed would be an appropriate epitaph.

“Doesn’t matter what you call it,” Midnight laughed, clearly having heard Twilight’s thoughts, “Once you’re too tired of this… nightmare to deal with me, I win. It doesn’t matter how many seconds or minutes or days you crammed into this one moment, since you have no idea how to fix this…

“But I do.”

Twilight snapped her… well, three-dimensional space was a strange and entirely unsatisfying concept in the mindscape, so she settled for facing Midnight directly.

“What do you mean?”

Midnight smiled wickedly, “I know the Fifth Level Ward spell they need to save your world. If you remember being me, you’d know that I can passively learn magic as long as I’m around it. The Crystal Heart had all sorts of…”

Twilight grabbed Midnight’s nonexistent shoulders, “Then help us! Tell me how to do it so I can save my friends!”

The tulpa put on a sickeningly sweet and cute smile, saying, “Oh gee! Why not? And then I’ll just quietly fade away into your mind and never bother you again!”

She scowled. “I’m beginning to wonder if I did end up with all the brains in this relationship.”

“Don’t you care if the world’s destroyed!?”

Midnight put on a brief show of thinking quite hard on that question, before answering simply, “No.”

“But,” Twilight wracked her mind, “But you’re me! If the world’s destroyed…!”

“I’ll survive,” she answered back, nonchalantly, “Always do. And if the world does get destroyed, that just makes it easier to leave and find Equestria again. Stop comparing us, Twilight! I may be you, but I’m the better you! The one who knows what she wants and knows how to get it.”

She laughed at this, laughed at the fact that the world might be ending. Twilight scanned the darkness and saw… nothing. She looked to her friends. Fluttershy was crying softly, Rainbow and Rarity were helplessly tripping over themselves, the Trixies were panicking, Sunset was despairing, and even the Discords…

Disqord was just looking down, sorrow plain as day on his face. He hadn’t meant to do this. All he’d wanted was a laugh with his friends. All he or the other Discord had ever wanted…

What had Discord wanted…? Could it really be that easy? Twilight supposed there was only one way to find out.

“What do you want?”

Midnight stopped laughing. “What?”

Twilight faced her again, “What do you want? What’s your endgame here?”

Midnight tilted her head, “Dominion over Magic?”

“Power isn’t a goal, it’s a means,” Twilight lectured, “So again, what do you want? Why do you want all the magic?”

“Why!?” Midnight looked incredulous, “Why not!?”

Twilight nodded, “Okay, so then what will you do once you have all the magic?”

Midnight opened her mouth to answer… and then stopped. Huh… that was a fair question. She’d never thought of it before because, well, taking all the magic had been at the forefront of her thoughts up until this point. Until she had that… she hadn’t really needed to…

“I… I suppose…” she looked around her for inspiration, then noticed Discord. “I can… take over the world!” she announced.

“The world you just destroyed?” ask Twilight, arms crossed. “What would even be the point? It’s not like you’d have anyone left to gloat or rule over.”

They sat in silence. Twilight had made a good point, but Midnight wasn’t about to let her have that. Still, while Midnight contemplated this new development, Twilight had the initiative.

“Fine,” she sighed, wearily. “You win.”

That… that was unexpected. Too unexpected. Midnight took a step back, and then a few more. Not that distance meant anything here, but still.

“What sort of trick are you playing at, Twilight?” she snarled, waiting for anything to happen next.

Twilight just shrugged. “No tricks. You’re going to win eventually, so we might as well get it over with now.”

That couldn’t be right, Midnight thought. There was no way even someone as weak-willed as Twilight would just… give up. There had to be a trick here. There had to be! But the more Midnight looked for one, the more she peeked here and there into Twilight’s thoughts, the more she…

“Well,” she said, a smug look projecting over her features in the mental plane, “About time.”

She reached out, ready to take what was hers by right when…

“But first…”

Midnight flew back, “I knew it! This is a trick!”

But Twilight followed her, “No tricks! I promise that at the end of this, I will willingly give you my mind and body!” The look in her eyes was a determined one, fueled by a fire Midnight hadn’t seen in her other half. She paused in her retreat.

Twilight was serious. The two watched each other for a long time before Midnight at last said, “Proceed.”

“First,” Twilight stated matter-of-factly, “You will spare my friends.”

“This isn’t one of those ‘everyone in the world’s my friend’ things, is it?

Twilight shook her head, “Not at all. Just the six girls who helped me when I needed it most.”

Midnight had no interest in them. “Done,” she said, “Now let’s…”

“Second!”

Midnight sighed.

“I want you to say something about each of them.”

Midnight snorted, “They’re all idiots! Now, as I was saying…”

She felt, more than saw a warning hand flash into the mental space they occupied, and Twilight’s voice rang out louder, “You didn’t let me finish! I want you to say something nice about each one of them!”

They were back to standing in the dark, they being the only illuminated things in this space between spaces.

Midnight regarded Twilight with a deep scowl. Alright, she thought, this had to be some sort of trick. What was the angle?

Twilight stood there, a smile on her face.

Did she get… when did she learn to be duplicitous?

“Fine,” Midnight said, slowly and cautiously.

“Great!” Twilight laughed, “Let’s start with Applejack!”

“Applejack?” Midnight hadn’t ever thought of Applejack. “I… she’s too dumb to lie. Next!”

“Nice things, Midnight,” Twilight smirked, “I want to hear nice things.”

“Why!? What are you getting out of this?”

That smirk again. “Information.”

Why was she being this infuriating!? Midnight had so little to say on Applejack that she was almost afraid giving a physical description would exhaust the totality of what she knew of the girl. She lived on a farm… could that work? No, too neutral. She was pretty? Not really, and she, being a part of Twilight, already had an idea that wouldn’t work.

Wait, that was it! Midnight was Twilight! Even though she hadn’t really experienced these fools firsthand, she could just dip into Twilight’s memories for what she wanted!

“Applejack…” she began slowly, a wicked laugh in the back of her mind as she congratulated herself on a truly devious scheme. She would defeat Twilight with herself! “Applejack is honest, and won’t lie even to spare your feelings. Like that time she ripped apart that speech in history you had to give,” she held back a chuckle at Twilight’s misfortune.

“Yeah, AJ tells it like it is,” Twilight smiled, “She’d make a great advisor for you.”

Curious. “What do you mean?”

“If you’re considering ruling the world instead of destroying it,” Twilight somehow adjusted her glasses even in this dream-like place, “You’ll need people who can tell you when you’ve made a mistake. Basic scientific theory principles. Data’s no good to you if it’s biased.”

“Y-yes… I suppose…”

Twilight coughed, “But that’s fine. Next, how about Rarity?”

“Rarity?” Midnight began to sift through her memories. Rarity… Rarity…

Got it! “Rarity is probably one of the only friends of yours I can respect. She’s driven to get what she wants, and performs her craft at a high standard. She even got that internship with that fashion magazine… Graze, I think.”

“Friend of ours,” said Twilight.

“Pardon?”

Twilight nodded, “Friends of ours. Rarity is my friend, but since you’re me, she’s your friend too.”

Ugh, this girl.

“What else?” Twilight pressed.

“Um…” how many dresses were in her memories? How many had Rarity made for her? How many… did she never ask payment for?

“I suppose… it would be boring wearing the same outfit for eternity…” Midnight remembered that weekend a month back when Rarity had made dresses for all the girls. She… Twilight had gotten a beautiful light blue thing decorated in stars. “Very well, she will be spared and made to design my wardrobe. Next.”

"Well," Twilight smiled, "How about Sunset Shimmer?"

"The one who blasted us at the Friendship Games," Midnight did not ask a question.

"The very same, though I do recall you getting even with her back in the Crystal Empire...!"

"Yes, draining her magic did feel better than usual," Midnight smirked. "But I know you won't accept that as something nice so..." There were plenty of good memories to choose from. Sunset had, pun unintended, shone a real light into Twilight's life. She was Midnight's other half's first friend. The memories were so filled with happiness that Midnight started wondering if she might catch something from them.

Stay focused girl, don't lose focus. "Sunset is the only one who's almost as brilliant as I am," she finally said, "She's passionate, but kind. And she knows when to take charge or to let you... let you find your own way. I suppose she's the only one I... actually like."

Maybe... maybe Midnight wouldn't smash that statue. Maybe Sunset would make a nice ornament... "Next."

“Rainbow Dash.”

Finally, an easy one. “Guard. Maybe a soldier. Definitely someone I could send after people I don’t like.”

Twilight warned, “Midnight…”

“Fine. Rainbow Dash,” she thought back to that one time her old… Twilight’s old Crystal Prep peers had crossed paths with her at the mall. “Rainbow Dash is loyal, to a fault. She’d probably throw herself in front of a bus for us.”

“The mall?” Twilight smiled, cheekily. “When we thought Sour Sweet was going to attack us?”

A snort of laughter escaped Midnight’s throat, “Rainbow was about to throw her off the escalator until you stopped her! And all because she was trying to bring you back that book.”

“Reminded me never to forget something in my locker again,” Twilight laughed. “Alright, that’s a good one. How about Fluttershy?” Her smiled widened.

Ah, now there were some good memories to look through. Midnight found herself flicking through them like an album, at least until she noticed Twilight staring at her.

Keep it together, Midnight, she thought. You’ve almost won!

“I wish I could figure out a way to magically get that Stare from her,” she crossed her own arms and tried to frown. It wasn’t helping much. “I’d be unstoppable.”

“It only works on animals.”

“Well, yes… but it’d get Spike to stay off the couch. That or her voice,” Midnight laughed again. So close to victory. “Fluttershy’s like this little stuffed animal that someone built around a steel rod! I sometimes can’t believe that shy little thing can be so tough when she wants to be.”

Twilight laughed with her, the fool. This was too easy!

“Pinkie Pie,” Twilight said through her laughter.

Midnight roared, “She’s funny! She’s the funniest person I know! I mean, do you remember when she threw that party for Applejack…?” she snorted with laughter, “And she somehow got Big Mac to jump out of the apple pie!?” Her giggling, cackling laugh was too much!

“I knew it!” Twilight’s voice cut straight through Midnight like an industrial saw.

Midnight stopped dead. Her eyes widened; her laughter caught in her throat. She turned towards Twilight, and could see… tears?

Well, of course tears. Midnight had won! She was going to be free! Free! Free to plunder the world of magic! Free to rule over it forever…!

Alone…! Forever alone. Oh…

“That’s just it, Midnight,” Twilight advanced. “What good is all the power if there’s no one to share it with.”

“Stop,” Midnight warned, stepping backward as Twilight came forward, “What is this? I won!”

“You did,” said Twilight, smiling, “You realized you wanted friendship more than power! I could feel it!”

“You’re lying!”

“You’re me!” Twilight cried, “I can’t lie to you!”

“We’re a teenager! Lying to ourselves is our job!” Where did this wall come from? Midnight could feel herself run up against it, nowhere to run. Not even a half-truth to hide behind.

Twilight was almost nose-to-nose with her now. She raised her hands. Why was Midnight so afraid? What was this!? She looked away, closed her eyes tight. She’d won, hadn’t she!?

She held out her hands, to block something of what was about to come. Her heart, as it was in this dreamspace, felt tight in her chest…

Something took her hand. Slowly, one eye at a time, Midnight looked to see Twilight Sparkle. She just stood there, holding Midnight’s hand in between her own. The girl didn’t even look back at her, just kept her head down.

Why was Midnight so scared? Why did her cheeks feel so warm and damp?

“Midnight, please,” the voice was so quiet, so frail. Twilight turned her gaze back up to Midnight’s… and the tears began to fall, “Please… save our friends…”

Midnight’s protest was so weak, even she didn’t believe it, “… your friends…” Why was her vision so blurry? Were these…?

“Our friends!” Twilight’s grip tightened, “Our friends! Yours and mine! Fluttershy! Dash! Rarity! Pinkie! Applejack! Sunset! Even Discord, and Trixie, and all the rest! Look through more of our memories, and you’ll see how important they are to us!”

This… this wasn’t right… this wasn’t fair… losing everything… for friendship…?

“But… I’m Midnight Sparkle… I’m not supposed to… lose.”

“I’m willing to give up everything for my friends,” she said, her eyes narrowing on Midnight’s own, “You win.”

She… won?

Then why did it feel like…

“One condition,” Midnight blinked what tears she could away, “We’re taking the Princess up on her magic lessons…”

“Midnight…”

There she was, the nightmare herself. Twilight… no, the creature who wore Twilight quietly removed her glasses as an arc of aqua fire, fire so wild it was almost lightning, crackled into their place. She carefully placed the glasses in a pocket, and then opened her eyes.

Aqua sclera. Purple irises.

Midnight Sparkle.

Sunset’s horn burst to life, a flash of crimson magic ready to strike.

Or, she would have. But she didn’t. What was the point anymore? The portal was gone. Her life here was effectively gone. The whole world, perhaps the human race soon… would be gone.

What was losing one more thing, even if that was her best friend?

Rarity-Dash wouldn’t let that stand, however. They flew onto the scene, horn blazing light-blue, and wings flapping madly. They whipped past Sunset, Dash in the lead, and made to slam right into Midnight before she had a chance to…

Stop them in an aqua magical aura. Midnight smirked at them, stuck floating in the air, and then with the terrible power at her command… she set them down next to Fluttershy.

Neither Discord nor Disqord had moved to fight her. They seemed more interested in watching whatever this was transpire.

Midnight looked down at the unicorn before her. “Sunset Shimmer.”

Sunset glared.

Midnight’s smirk faded, replaced by… hurt? Sunset almost had to do a doubletake. Did Midnight…?

“Hear me,” she said, without the explicit malice her voice usually carried, “Twilight Sparkle and I have an accord. You need a Fifth Level Containment Ward?”

The grass flashed with Midnight’s magic, leaving behind a flat dirt patch all around the Wondercolt… plinth. She instantly burned all the grass away. She then raised one hand to the sky, and a moment later the sound of shattering glass filled the yard.

Dozens of chalk pieces, markers, and pens flew through the windows of Canterlot High School, summoned by an unseen force. They whipped about overhead a moment, before Midnight brought her hand back down to point at the ground. The pens and chalk and markers hurtled downward, landing all around the plinth.

Sunset was amazed. Twilight’s telekinetic control was superb, even by unicorn standards, but this was something else!

The writing utensils sprang to life again, spinning around the statue’s pedestal at a break-neck pace, spinning and spiraling like a swarm of bees furiously flitting here and there. Sunset hadn’t seen a proper magic circle in years, but her senses came to life instantly as she watched this one form. It was over a dozen circles, one inside another, with a line of smaller intersecting circles connecting each layer. And five grand circles spaced evenly apart, crossing multiple larger circles, were filled with mystic symbols she had forgotten so long, long ago.

With the final mark made, the Containment Ward was complete, and it flashed to life with a crack of red lightning. Both Discords took a step back from the pure, undiluted Law which rolled off the spell in waves.

But besides the lights and sounds, nothing else happened. Both Trixies applauded the show, but besides even that nothing happened.

Sunset finally found her words. Word. “Discord…?”

“Hmmm,” he squinted through the red haze, “I was afraid of this. The Snarl has gone too deep. Even with the dimensional barriers, it’s still too… real to be removed.”

How many failures could Sunset take in one day?

“Then hit it.”

They turned, as if suddenly reminded that Midnight was standing right there.

Disqord frowned, “Hit it? That sounds like something Trixie’d think up.”

Midnight shook her head, “Once again, I’m the smartest one here.” She walked up to the red barrier and tapped it experimentally with her knuckle, creating the eerie sound of knocking on solid air. “This snarl or whatever is merely anchored. All you have to do to break it off from this reality, even for a moment, is to hit it hard enough to move about… an inch.”

Disqord started, “Oh my! That…”

“That could actually work!” Discord finished. “It’s risky, destructive, and clearly the symptom of a diseased mind! We kick the entire portal out of reality, and the whole system resets!”

“I love it!” Disqord laughed.

As both Lords of Chaos celebrated, Sunset approached Midnight.

“Give her back!”

Midnight glanced down at the unicorn. “Excuse me?”

“Give Twilight back to us!” Sunset’s horn lit up in warning.

Midnight just sighed, “Twilight gave up. I’m the one in charge now. And all I have to do to be truly free is help save your… delightful little dimension,” she rolled her eyes at the last part. “So, get used to it.”

“No!” Sunset practically screamed, “Twilight would never give up! And neither will I. If you think we’ll ever accept losing her… if you think we’ll ever stop trying to save her… then you have another thing coming! She’s our friend!”

Rarity and Rainbow, the Trixies, even Fluttershy crowded near, taking up a place beside Sunset. In each of their eyes was that same fire as was in Twilight’s. They were determined. They wouldn’t stop until their friend was safe.

Yet even Sunset had to pause as she saw Midnight’s face. What… what emotion was that?

Midnight turned away from them, wiping at her eyes as she did. Only Sunset could hear what she whispered beneath her breath though.

“I am your friend…”

But when she turned around, it was a new Midnight. One who had a mission. “Alright! I need both Lords of Chaos for this! Sunset, Trixie, and Luna as well. Moving an entire dimension by an inch will take everything we have!”

Sunset protested, “Luna’s had less time to get used to her magic than you’ve been around, and I’m not talking combined between now, the Friendship Games, and the Crystal Empire! There’s no way she can…”

A black wing rested on her withers. Vice Principal Luna… could be forgiven in this moment from appearing every bit as regal, and as ancient as her mirror counterpart. She merely nodded once to Sunset, and then once more to Midnight Sparkle, though not without a hint of boiling rage just beneath her stoic exterior.

They lined up shoulder to shoulder… or as close to that as was possible between Disqord and Discord standing at least a head and a half taller than Midnight, and Luna who’s horn barely came up to her sternum while still towering over Sunset and the pony Trixie… Suffice it to say, it was a strange, strange line up.

“So…” Trixie nervously danced between considering how Great and Powerful she must be to stand amongst such Giants, and how each and every one of them could probably send her to the moon on a whim, including Sunset, “Any tips for the showponies amongst us?”

Disqord settled into a grimace, “Don’t stop. We let up, and this whole dimension gets another, bigger dose of the crazies,” he briefly smiled at the last part of that.

“On three!” Midnight flared with blue fire, her wings, clothing, and hair fulling retaking her magnificent form, “One!”

The Lords of Chaos wreathed white lightning between their hands, claw and paw.

“Two!”

Trixie and Luna ignited their horns reluctantly. In the former’s case because the best blast she could manage would probably inconvenience a foal on a good day, and the latter because from a biological, temporal standpoint, she was about 5-minutes old.

Sunset raised her own horn and began to channel all the might she could feel within herself.

“Three!”

Midnight was calculating. She did so when she was stressed. And if she weren’t stressed now, she never would. She stood at the center of an array of magic more powerful, more volatile, and more incredible than she’d ever once thought possible. It wasn’t quite a rainbow, not like the Elements of Harmony, but it was close.

Unfortunately… it also wasn’t enough.

Midnight calculated. Being Twilight Sparkle originally, she still had all her mental acuity and processing power. When she’d been transported to the future… which was currently her past… nevermind. When she’d engaged in magical battle there, she found she could place most of her mental processes onto a sort of auto-pilot, and let her deepest cognitive processes slow down her perception of time.

It made calculating odds so much more convenient. And right now, the equation she was getting said they weren’t going to make it. Luna, bless her heart, sputtered out after a few seconds. Having less experience than a foal would (she presumed), it was only natural that even an alicorn would falter under these circumstances. Midnight had been hoping her burnout would have been a disgorging of magical energy, as opposed to this, but what could you do?

That was a distressingly non-rhetorical question at this point. Trixie dropped within half a minute of Luna. Rarity had thrown a shot in… which was quite impressive in and of its own right… but to little avail.

There has to be more power! A voice shouted in Midnight’s mind.

Twilight… I swear, if you’re trying to…

If I could give you any more power, I would, she said. We’re almost there!

Yeah, almost… which would count if this were horseshoes or…

If we just had one more Alicorn…

What did you say?

We need more power?

No… we need one more alicorn…

Wait, she won’t accept that! Please Mid-

Midnight shut the voice down, reluctantly. She didn’t need a new idea, she needed another alicorn! And with this much power, with this much magic… could she find the answer?

Midnight started calculating a new equation, and let her magic-seeking senses flow. Transmutation? No, not enough. Power-condensation? Closer.

Ascension? Had to be.

“Sunset!” she cried through gritted teeth and over the roaring wail of a building-sized magical explosion crashing into a magical shield that might as well be the full weight of the moon right now. *****

Sunset couldn’t speak through the strain, only angle her head just enough to look at Midnight.

“Hold on!” Midnight had once chance to make this work. The spell, horribly complex, wild, and savage in its primal… wrongness practically screamed at Midnight as she constructed it with one of her backup processes.

Ascending to an alicorn was meant to be the final step of a long, long process. A championing of magic and Good over time and space itself. Accelerating the process worked against everything Midnight knew the Princesses and Sunset stood for.

Forgive me, she thought, then released the spell.

It hit Sunset like a truck.

Actually, it didn’t. No. Sunset would describe it as being hit by a truck that was on fire and being driven by Rainbow Dash in a hurry. She felt like she’d been set ablaze, or struck by lightning. The… well, it wasn’t exactly pain, but the incredible pressure and feeling of the Elements of Harmony striking her down had been the only thing to make her outright weep in pain.

Until now.

It was like every fiber of her being was being destroyed and recreated simultaneously, over and over and over and over again. It was like having that happen while Pinkie Pie dunked her into a bathtub full of her jalapeno chocolate muffin sauce.

She knew what was happening. She’d been so obsessed with the process studying under Celestia that she thought she could review the method in her sleep. Sunset’s entire being was being changed, from top to bottom, outside in. Since a foal, she’d dreamed of being a princess, of being an alicorn. To hold such power and authority, such respect…

But she didn’t want that. She hadn’t wanted that for a long time now. Sunset knew she’d done nothing to truly deserve it, to earn the honor. In fact, she refused.

Of course, Sunset didn’t know if she could refuse what was currently happening, but she’d try. She could feel the sheer power of an alicorn just below her own. And… and she knew she needed it. Without it, the portal was going to rebound. This was their final, best chance. The last day had felt…

It had only been a half hour, she realized. So, on top of everything else, Princess Twilight would probably finish her morning grocery shopping in the same amount of time it took Sunset to blow up a planet.

Mondays.

But maybe… maybe she could use this? Channel the power, but refuse the rest? Well, whatever she did, it had to be now.

Sunset prepared to channel the greatest power she’d ever felt through her very soul. And then, the world would explode.

Again.

A stone plinth sat on the front yard of a school. It had stood there for years, unharmed, untouched, unbothered. It was surrounded by walls thicker than any metal, higher than any mountain. The world was silent, and cold, if brightened by the lights shifting and warping just beyond.

And then, it moved. Just an inch.

Chapter 8 - The Light at the End

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“Ari!” Sonata Dusk cried, “Slow down! I’m gonna lose my lunch!”

Aria Blaze snapped back, “At least you’re carrying her forward! I’m running backward here, and we didn’t eat lunch! You ate a tire!!!”

The two currently human Dazzlings had lost time for their sister, Adagio Dazzle, when that second wave of magical light had rocked the campsite and parking lot. They’d been dragging her huge, and decidedly heavy Siren body between them for minutes now, and it was exhausting work without the ground beneath them turning into corn-on-the-cob or having to dodge the local forest ranger, after he suddenly turned into a bear.

“Hold on Dagi!” Aria begged, her sister’s breathing having become shallower and shallower, “We’re almost to the lake!”

“… pon…” she managed to whisper back.

The lake was in sight. It was so close there was already water in Aria’s eyes. All they needed was to hoof it up to this little ledge over the bank and throw her in. Then she could breathe, and everything would be alright! This wasn’t even happening really!

“Aria!” Sonata’s panic mounted, “She’s not breathing anymore!”

“She’s a fish!” Aria screamed back, not thinking about whatever it was that Sonata had said because if that’s what she said then that meant… it meant…

They reached the ledge. Barely a six-foot drop into the water. Six feet and Adagio would live.

“Sonata, on three!”

“Right, one!”

“Two…! THREE!” Aria heaved Adagio’s bulk into the air on the count…

Sonata was still holding the tail, because she thought ‘Three’ and then throw. She landed, hard onto her stomach right on the lip of the bank, nearly dropping herself down into the pond as well.

Adagio, despite the off-kilter manner, seemed to fly once more. She sailed in a ragged, half-way arc, directly into where the water should have been.

Should have been. Aria watched, however, as the entire pond pulled back from the shore, just where Adagio was due to make fall. She hit the mud and the muck headlong, with a loud, sludgy blorp.

The pond chuckled. It thought it was hilarious. A comedian.

Adagio sat there, head in the muck, and tail in the air for a total of about ten seconds before a third wave of light swept over the region. At which point, the pond became a regular pond again, and Adagio… human Adagio was buried beneath the water.

Sonata and Aria lay down at the ledge, staring down six-feet of embankment, into the slurpy, green water, beneath which their sister had crashed into a pit of mud. To say that they were in much of a fit state would be a terrible, terrible lie.

Yet, just as the crushing realization was about to set in, the water nearest them burst! And a sloppy green pile of muck sputtered and gagged as it pulled itself up the sandy embankment… then slid back down the embankment, then clambered back up one more time with Aria and Sonata lending a hand.

Adagio heaved up an enormous amount of water and mud once she was laying on grass again. Her entire body burned in the worst way imaginable. Catching smallpox that one time a few centuries back wasn’t so bad, in hindsight.

Once the worst of the muck had been peeled off her, Adagio felt two pairs of arms pull her up and squeeze her. Looking to her left, Aria, and to her right, Sonata. Both had teared up, and both were hugging as tightly as she’d… actually, had she ever hugged them before?

She did now. She spun around and hugged her sisters like she almost couldn’t ever again.

“Thank you,” she managed, “Thank you… girls?”

Sonata opened an eye, “Yes?”

“I… I want to go to Canterlot now.”

Aria looked at her. “The… Equestrian magic?”

“No,” Adagio shook her soggy mane, “I think it’s time… we talked to Sunset Shimmer and her friends. I’m done,” she pulled herself back into the hug, “I’m done.”

“Awww!” Sonata beamed a smile so bright it might have blinded Adagio before today, “That’s so wonder- uh oh…!”

Sonata’s eyes bugged nearly out of her skull. She broke off the sisters’ hug and leapt for the ledge of the bank. She stuck her head over the side and began making the most wretched noises Adagio had ever heard.

Aria’s eyes flashed. She turned to her other sister and said, as if it were the most normal thing in the world, “Oh, we might need to walk. Sonata ate the van’s tires.”

Well, Sunset thought as consciousness returned once more, third time’s the charm.

First, experimentally, she felt the grass with her hand. Alright, that was a hand, not a hoof. Good start. She was quite familiar with the differences by now. She followed up by opening her eyes, to see a small purple dog looking down on her with worry.

“Is… is it over?” he asked.

Sunset pulled herself up into a sitting position. Hands, good. Clothes… oh! Leather jacket! Awesome! And not a unicorn horn or… wings in sight. The grass below was green, and the sky above was blue, clear, and didn’t have a raging moon dropping out of it.

“Yeah… yeah I think so.” She gave Spike a warm smile.

“Fantastic!” he smiled back, “Time for a nap.”

And with that, he promptly curled up, and began to snore.

Sunset fully picked herself up and took a quick inventory of the world around her. Looked normal enough. The school building was a building again. The grass and sky were normal. And there wasn’t a pony in sight. People were back in business around here, if the masses of confused and nauseous human teenagers stumbling about were any indication.

As for her friends, Sunset first caught sight of the Trixies as the last bits of white light finished enveloping them. Within seconds, two human teenagers stood where once were ponies.

“You did it, Trixie!” one cried out.

“No, we did it, Trixie!” shouted the other. “Great and Powerful, on three!”

Sunset couldn’t tell which was which… and didn’t really care at the moment, so she left the two spinning around one another in a helicopter hug.

Rainbow Dash and Rarity were still sitting where Midnight had dropped them, and it was good to see they each had a complete, human body again. Though they were wearing each other’s clothes, which caused both of them some manner of distress, judging by the way they were spinning around and checking themselves and each other. Dash in hout-couture, and Rarity in a jersey… maybe the Chaos was here to stay?

Sunset laughed. She felt like she’d earned it.

Standing together, about center of the portal-plinth (still Wondercolt-less) stood… oh crud. Discord and Disqord, both returned to the obnoxiously dressed human form. Keeping them separated was going to be a nightmare.

They were speaking to Fluttershy. Human Fluttershy.

“Go on! I bet you can’t guess.”

“I bet she can. After all, who knows us better?”

Fluttershy spent a full three seconds glancing back and forth between the two tall, color-blinding humans before she leapt to the one on her right and gave him a great big hug.

“Disqord!”

Discord kicked the grass, “Drat.”

“Fluttershy! Discords!” Sunset raced towards her friends. As she reached them, Fluttershy exchanged a quick, tight hug with her. “All human again?”

“It looks that way,” Fluttershy smiled back. But there was something about her eyes…

“You already miss being a pony, don’t you,” Sunset smirked.

Fluttershy’s eyes went wide, “Sunset! Y-you don’t understand!” The usually shy nature-girl clasped her hands in front of her and let her hair fall in front of her eyes as she stared down at the ground. She whispered, sadly, “I was adorable.”

Disqord set one comforting hand down onto her shoulder. “What do you mean, was? You’re always adorable!”

“Discord!” a pair of voices cried out, startling the former-Draconequus, who had been watching his other half and Fluttershy. He turned to see Rarity and Rainbow Dash, outfits swapped, marching towards him.

“Ugh, girls!” he threw up his hands, “I think I’ve earned a break from magic for the moment, don’t you agree? You don’t need Chaos Magic to fix your problem, you need a dressing room and some privacy!”

Both girls planted their fists on their hips. And then, with uncharacteristic grace and refinement, Rainbow Dash said, “Oh Discord, darling? I think you may wish to reconsider that position.”

Rarity nodded, then slapped her hair out of her face with uncharacteristic annoyance. “What she said, draco-whatsit.”

Discord’s face scrunched up like he’d just eaten a whole lemon. With almost mechanical speed, he brought up a hand and snapped his fingers. A flash of white later, and the two girls had their outfits (and other things) swapped back to normal.

“Oh man,” Dash sighed, “That’s the second-best thing I’ve seen all day. Besides Rarity not being my butt anymore.”

“Yes, thank you Disc…” Rarity turned a visceral scowl on her rainbow-headed companion, eyes as wide as saucers, with pinprick irises to match. She slowly turned back to her fashion-savior. “Thank you, Discord. I do apologize for not believing you before. About being friends. We’d be honored.”

Discord seemed quite happy with this arrangement, if Sunset was any judge.

Vice Principal Luna approached Sunset herself, but seemed only to share a happy nod before directing her full attention to the Discords. There would probably be some long, long and angry discussions about what had happened today, which would be good for everyone.

More unfortunate, however, was that Sunset had been hoping for Luna to speak with her now… since there was just one person left she needed to check up on.

Midnight Sparkle stood apart from all the others, facing the stone plinth. She still had her wings and the rest of her mystical visage. It put her in stark contrast with the… well, everyone. Even Discord started to feel like a regular person once you got used to the eye-strain his outfit put one’s eyes through. But with Midnight, there was an almost palpable otherness to her. She was a being outside of reality, forced to conform to it.

And… she was talking to herself. As Sunset approached, she could see the creature that had stolen her friend fretting about with her hands, tilting her head this way and that, and generally silently talking with herself.

How was Sunset supposed to talk to her? She knew, at least intellectually, that she had to. She couldn’t just let Midnight go! She was still a threat to the… the entire multiverse, if Twilight had been right about her.

But was she? The Midnight they all knew, or thought they knew, would never have spared their lives or saved the world. She would never have made a deal for her freedom, at least not one whose terms she’d keep. How could Twilight just… hand over her body to this creature if that were the case? There had to be more to this than that.

Sunset just didn’t know where to start. Because intellectually, she knew she had to. But emotionally, her heart felt like there was a knife embedded in it, and Midnight was the one who put it there.

Midnight paused momentarily, and turned her head around. The fire replacing her glasses had flickered out, but her mystical eyes remained a deep electric blue with purple irises. She seemed to note Sunset’s presence with sullen contemplation. Like she had made a decision she didn’t care for.

She doubled over, wincing pain clear on her familiar-yet-alien face. She gasped, and it was her audible pain that made Sunset race to the girl’s aid. Whatever else she’d done, Sunset threw all that aside for a moment. Midnight wrapped her wings about herself just as the red-and-gold haired girl reached her.

“Twi- Midnight!” she gripped her by the shoulders, “Midnight, what’s wrong!?”

Blue fire, electric blue flared around Midnight, the arcane force of its ignition pushing Sunset back several feet in its wake. She watched as the flames wrapped around the girl who was once her friend, and with a terrible ache in her heart, Sunset knew a teleportation spell when it was charging. Why it hadn’t been an instant pop and nothing more, she couldn’t say, but she remembered slower forms practiced early on in Celestia’s school, and this had all the hallmarks.

“Please, don’t!” she cried, one last, desperate attempt to keep her friend with her. But just as the spell fired, and she expected to see no more Midnight nor Twilight…

She saw two Twilights, flying apart from one another. They each landed in the grass, mere yards apart, and lay still. Sunset leapt to the nearest one’s side, even as she could hear the rest of her friends rushing to the scene.

This Twilight Sparkle… had her usual blouse and skirt, glasses still on her face, and even her hair done up in a bun. It… it was just Twilight. Her Twilight. Who was rapidly coming to…

“Eh,” she shook her head, “Sunset? Are you alright? You’re crying…”

“I’m alright?” Sunset laughed, wiped at her eyes, “I’m alright!? Twilight, you just split in half!”

The nerd-girl smiled back, “It’s been a long morning, yeah. Oh!” She shot up into a sitting position, “Midnight!”

Sunset and Twilight swept their eyes over to the other Twilight… no, to Midnight Sparkle. She was in the spitting image of Princess Twilight when she’d first shown up in this world; long straight hair, a simple button-up shirt and skirt with tall boots. But… there was a brilliant aqua streak in her hair where there should have been pink, and her eyes were just as bright and blue as Twilight’s were dark and purple.

The new Twilight… Midnight Sparkle, slowly raised herself up from the grass into a sitting position just like the one Twilight had taken. She looked down at herself first, tracing her legs with her eyes, then one arm with the other. She seemed shocked to have fingers, and spent several seconds checking each one before she finally looked up at the group that had built around her.

She considered what to say… then said nothing. She didn’t trust her own voice. She tried again… and then turned away. Choosing your first words was more difficult than it…

“Midnight!”

She had no time to think as a thin, purple girl threw herself atop Midnight and wrapped her in a hug.

“Aargh!” were her first words, “Twilight! What is this!? Let me up this instant or I shall reduce Smarty Pants to ash!!!”

“It’s a hug, you goof!”

“You are the one who is a goof!!!” Midnight snarled with entirely too much venom in her voice for someone pinned to the grass, getting a hug from themself.

She didn’t resist much though…

Finally, Sunset offered a hand to both girls and helped them up. There was an awkward silence right away. Sunset and Midnight each looked away from the other, each with one hand sliding up the opposing arm… until they saw this mirrored trait and giggled together.

“I don’t understand,” Sunset managed to say first, “What is this? How did you two do this? Why?”

“It was a bit complicated,” Twilight began, placing one hand on Midnight’s shoulder.

“But necessary!” said Midnight, lightly shrugging off the comforting hand, “While Twilight may have been too weak to deal with my voice in her head, I wasn’t about to subject myself to lecture after lecture on ‘friendship’,” she said the last word in a voice dripping with sarcasm, “when I could remove the offending migraine before it began.” She smirked, in a way rather eerily reminiscent of Twilight herself.

Twilight adjusted her glasses, and smiled back, “So, we modified a teleportation spell…”

“Took a page out of Luna and Princess Twilight’s Dreamwalker magic…”

Rarity jumped in with an awed whisper, “And voila! Apparently… though, Midnight, dear, you must let me do something about your wardrobe!” she pinched at Midnight’s sleeve, “You’ll need your own look, especially if the Princess comes to visit us soon. I have a few emergency outfits in the band room for just such situations…”

Midnight recoiled from the touch, nearly tripping over herself as she fell back in a panicky flight. The only thing that stopped her was Sunset’s very physical body blocking her escape route. Midnight recoiled again, but only a foot or so, eyes locked onto Sunset.

Then they drifted to the other girl’s back…

“It’s… fine, Midnight,” Sunset managed after an awkward pause, “I’m not mad.”

Midnight bit her lip, then said, “I… I knew you had a hang-up about seizing power for yourself… for some reason. Still, I feel…” she wasn’t entirely sure what the appropriate response to this situation would be.

Sorry I might have made you into an immortal magical alicorn?

“…bad?” she finished, lamely.

Sunset set her hands onto Midnight’s shoulders and looked her in the eyes… her normal, blue human eyes. “It’s been a long, long Monday. And school hasn’t even started. We’ll have plenty of time to work through… what you tried to do and what you did.”

Twilight’s face erupted into a tremendous grin as Sunset pulled Midnight into another hug. “But,” Sunset whispered, “For what it’s worth? I know from personal experience that saving the world tends to earn you a lot of forgiveness around here.”

“Please,” Midnight sighed, but did not resist, “Please tell me hugs normally aren’t this common? Is this really my life now?”

Twilight met her… Midnight’s eye and smirked in a way that just screamed, I know you love it.

She managed to remove herself from Sunset’s embrace, only to find an athletic, cyan arm wrapped over her shoulder, and its full-spectrum-haired owner pressing her cheek to Midnight’s.

“Cool… we got another Egghead, right? You ever read Daring Do?”

Midnight raised an eyebrow. “Technically, yes? But Twilight…”

Rainbow near-shouted into her ear, “Awesome, right!?”

“She steals magical artifacts… what’s not to like…?” Maybe if she kept agreeing with these people Midnight might get out of here without any more hugs…

“So,” a commanding, feminine voice rang out across the school yard, “Who wants to explain what happened first?”

Principal Celestia was back to normal. Tall, pale, beautiful and graceful as her Equestrian counterpart, she strode across the grass with a near-perfect imitation of regality, not hurt by the ethereal mane which billowed behind her in the solar wind…

That last part was a bit unusual, actually. Once she stopped walking, Principal Celestia slapped at the flowing hair until it settled back down into its normal, nonmagical style.

Sunset, sweet and innocent smile on full display in a way that made both Trixies very proud of her, stepped forward, scratching the back of her head. “Um… it’s a bit of a long story Principal Celestia… and we have school in a couple of…”

“Oh, I don’t think so,” the pastel-haired woman shook her head, “Half the school is still trying to figure out if they should be walking on all fours, and a winged unicorn just destroyed all the computers in the office, which means the bell system… and probably everything else, is down.

“If anything,” she pinched the bridge of her nose, “morning classes will be replaced by the counselors wrangling whoever needs the most comforting and emotional support right now, followed by a school assembly to explain what just happened,” she narrowed her eyes at Sunset here, “and you can bet that all of you will be in my office helping me prepare that little explanation for the rest of the school.”

She sighed, and smiled. “Then, early release. It’s been a long Monday, after all.” Luna patted her sister’s shoulder at that.

And then the two trained their eyes on Midnight Sparkle, who wilted slightly under their scrutiny. Luna spoke first, “Now, as for you…”

Whatever she was going to say died in her throat as she noticed the statue-less plinth. Her mouth worked for several long seconds before she simply stopped trying to comprehend what she was looking at, nor what words could possibly transcribe the emotional anguish her soul was writhing in at that moment.

All those financial reports… useless!

Celestia was about to cover for her sister’s… understandable mental lapse… but whatever she was going to say was also cut short, as a white light flooded out of the portal.

The sparkling, flashing portal crackled to life, and in moments two figures strode confidently from its mystical glare. The first through looked to be an adult human woman with lilac skin and long, wavy dark-purple hair with a single turquoise streak through it. She dressed conservatively, with a bright orange blouse and wine-dark skirt and jacket. She could have passed for one of the teaching staff…

The second figure, however, defied expectations. It looked like Twilight Sparkle, the Princess from the other side of the mirror, the magical pony princess who had once come to save this world and her own from Sunset Shimmer, and again from the depravations of the Dazzlings. But this could not be Twilight Sparkle. She was entirely too tall, too regal. Dressed in a dark purple suit with a gold blouse, with such golden regalia she looked every bit the visiting monarch.

Her hair, briefly, seemed to wave in an ethereal wind as she passed through the portal.

“Sunset! We’re here!” She cried in Twilight’s voice, “Where’s Discord!? The Midnight alarm…” Her eyes widened as she took in the sight of Sunset, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, two Twilight Sparkles, two Trixie Lulamoons, two Discords, Fluttershy, Principals Celestia and Luna, a sleeping purple dog that looked like Spike… and she thought she saw Flash Sentry looking down at her from the roof of the school building.

One of the Trixies sighed, “Great. Now there’s three Sparkles…”

Starlight Glimmer glanced around warily. “I… I think we may have missed the crisis.”

“Princess Twilight?” Celestia was taken aback by the sight of… well, the gangly high school girl she’d met twice and had known the mirror-universe version of for nearly a year… fully grown, and taller than herself!

“Oh! Principal Celestia! Sorry about this,” Princess Twilight walked forward, hand outstretched, “We had some issues on our end of the portal, and were worried something had happened.” They shook hands, a little mechanically on Celestia’s part, then the Princess looked to Sunset.

Sunset nodded slowly, having the strangest sense of wrongness as she had to crane her neck back to meet her friend’s gaze. “Um… yeah, it’s been a long morning. How…?”

A Trixie stepped forward, “Why are you so much older looking, Twilight?” A note of anxiety marred her otherwise Great and Powerful poise.

Before Twilight could say anything, Starlight ran up and grabbed Trixie by her shoulders, tears forming in her eyes. “Trixie! Is it really you!?”

Panic setting in, Trixie did not allow her emotions to run wild, much, “Of… of course it is I, the Great and… what’s going on, Starlight?”

“Trixie,” Starlight swallowed, “Trixie, while only a few minutes have passed for you, whatever happened to the portal unmoored it from our end… you’ve been gone for thirty years!”

“WHAT!?”

The silence that followed, the horror, the sudden realization that…

“Gotcha,” Starlight flicked Trixie’s nose with her finger. “It’s been three weeks.”

“Three… weeks…” Trixie slid down to the grass, her eyes fixed somewhere into the distance.

Princess Twilight frowned. “Starlight, that wasn’t funny.” She ignored her friend’s giggles, turned towards Sunset again, a softer expression and sound to her voice, “We modified the mirror while it was reconstructing after… whatever happened here. It’s probably just reflecting the fact that I’m effectively the Ruling Princess these days, and Starlight’s fully taken over as Headmare of the School.”

Trixie snapped back to reality, “Three weeks!? Counselor Trixie has lost three weeks of pay!? How did her students last without her!?”

Luna, horror evident in her eyes, wordlessly mouthed ‘Counselor?’, to which Twilight and Midnight could only nod remorsefully in tandem.

“Ruling Princess!?” Celestia and Sunset said in perfect sync.

Celestia recovered faster, “Wait, you’re actually a Monarch? Like… running a country and everything? A… Principality? A Real Princess?”

“Of... of course I’m a real Princess,” she almost seemed hurt, “I told you that one of the times I was back here, didn’t I?”

“Well yeah! But I didn’t think you… you were…” the Principal started to wonder if it was illegal or otherwise a poor life choice for her to be taking such a tone with an actual, real, really real Monarch and National Leader of an entire dimension whose border happened to be her school’s front yard.

Should she have a diplomat present? A lawyer?

Luna, to the rescue once more, recovered, “We assumed that, due to your apparent age, the title was more honorary than it would appear to have been. Our deepest apologies, your Majesty.”

“Oh please, don’t do that!” the Princess tittered, “The coronation isn’t for months yet. And besides, you look far too much like the other Princesses for me to be comfortable with that.”

“Well, congrats,” Sunset decided to add something to the proceedings instead of merely standing around gawking like everyone else. “Sorry about that. I knew you were on route to become the next Princess… I guess it just hit me right now…”

The Princess smiled, “I only just got used to it a few months ago myself!”

Midnight Sparkle had been standing as still as stone this entire time. Maybe… maybe if she didn’t move, the Princess wouldn’t notice here. Yes, this was a brilliant plan. No need to involve the woman… pony… All-Powerful Alicorn Princess of Magic that she, a creature who had apparently destroyed hundreds of universes in different timelines, was now a real person, really here, and really, really easy to squash with her Goddess-like powers.

That is… that would have been her plan, had Disqord not slipped a small, yellow pegasus feather directly under her nose…

Accursed human nasal-nervous system!!!

Midnight didn’t know how much of her magic was still, well, accessible. What of her old power could she still tap into while trapped in a human shell? Still… she did not need her hyper-sensitivity to magical energies to know that a gaze had fallen upon her.

Princess Twilight Sparkle, alerted by the sneeze, had her in her sights. Eyes that, though not ancient, represented something truly beyond time, beyond magic. And all the weight of such majesty was weighing down on Midnight. She could not even help to look away. All she wanted to do is run.

But before Midnight could bolt for the hills, her traitorous progenitor hooked their arms together, and turned them to face the Principal and the Princess.

“Now is as good a time as any!” Twilight Sparkle giggled, “Principal Celestia? Princess Twilight? I’d like you to meet Midnight Sparkle! My sister.”

Midnight shot Twilight a murderous look, “Sister!?”

“Since I made you,” Twilight grinned mischievously, “I suppose I could instead refer to you as my daughter…”

“Sister is fine,” she snapped, “I am fine with this… arrangement…” Midnight slowed her speech as the shadow of the Princess’ gaze fell back upon her.

Princess Twilight Sparkle took several long strides towards Midnight, and there was nowhere to hide. Her… sister… held her tight. There was not one, but two Lords of Chaos behind her, smirking no doubt. Rarity on her left and Dash on her right, and despite one being half-conscious, more than enough Trixies about.

Midnight closed her eyes. This was it. The end. Banishment or destruction, it didn’t matter now. At least if she were trapped in the moon, it wasn’t currently falling down atop the school. She gripped her sister’s hand tightly, one last…

A hand. A soft, caressing hand settled onto the top of her head and lightly ruffled Midnight’s hair. She opened her eyes, and stared up at the Princess of Friendship.

“It’s nice to meet you, Midnight Sparkle,” she smiled so… serenely. It was intimidating in its own way. “I guess I have a new, and unique case study to write up, huh? Care to help me with an interview later?”

Midnight released a breath she hadn’t noticed she’d been holding. She took several gulps of air as quietly as she could while the Princess continued.

“We can have it here, or would you prefer Equestria? That way, you and Twilight could get in a few magic lessons as well!”

“You…?” Midnight didn’t trust her voice, but there it was jumping ahead of her, “You’re still offering…? To me?”

Princess Twilight’s eyebrows furrowed, like Midnight had started talking in tongues. “Of course. I’d be happy to help you both. You’re both… kinda me, right?”

Midnight eyed Vice Principal Luna rather suspiciously for a few seconds.

“Sis… Twilight?” she turned to the bespectacled girl who shared her face, “Hit me.”

Discord offered a baseball bat with a nail in it. Disqord held up a plumbing pipe. And Fluttershy pinched both their ears and began to lead them away, each loudly protesting their innocence.

“Yesterday? No hesitation,” Twilight said with all sincerity, “What’s wrong?”

“This is a dream, right?” Midnight didn’t like feeling powerless, and right now she was as powerless as she’d ever been, “People don’t act like this except in dreams and those Saturday morning cartoons Pinkie won’t shut up about. No one just… forgives someone for almost destroying the world!”

The Princess laughed, hard. “Oh, Midnight! More of my friends have tried to kill me than not!” Then, with a modicum more control, she added, “If all we did was hold onto grudges, nopony would get anywhere. So why bother?”

Midnight just could not understand. Or… maybe she did, but everything about this whole friendship business was very, very new to her. It would have been so much simpler to just… blast everyone right from the get-go. But maybe this was how it was supposed to work?

“I… I don’t know what to say.”

“Sunset! Twilight! Somebody!”

A high-pitched cry flew over the heads of the students and announced the sudden and unexpected arrival… of four ponies? Right in the lead and pounding up the sidewalk was an orange mare wearing a Stetson and very visibly resembling CHS’s very own Applejack. And right behind her, a regular mare with a dark mane and light brown coat and a bright yellow coated unicorn with a red mane followed closely on the ground, while a mottled white and brown pegasus flew just overhead.

All four looked like Tartarus itself might’ve been at their heels… hooves… whatever.

They skidded to a halt right as they reached the statue, Applejack speaking almost before she’d completely stopped even, “Sunset! Yeh gotta help me! It’s… my… family?”

For somepony who’d missed… evidently a heck of a lot judging by the amount of new and… duplicated faces staring back at her… Applejack simply shook her head and resumed her near-panicked speech.

“Sunset! I know you know all about whatever weird magical chicanery’s been going onabouts today, and I need your help! My horses have turned inta ponies!”

Applejack bolted right up to Sunset and tried, surprisingly successfully, to grab her shoulders with her hooves. “Ponies are People Sunset! It ain’t legal to own those!!!”

Cinnamon, the red-maned unicorn, snarked, “I’m pretty sure even as a dumb horse I knew that!”

“I couldn’t help but notice there ain’t nobody nor anything magical to fight,” said Oakley, the pegasus, now grounded behind Applejack, “Which is slightly disappointin’. I was rarin’ fer another fight.”

“Oh!” Cookie hopped up and down in one place, “Does that mean everypony’s alright? Haw!! That means we can hang out with Applejack all day!”

Applejack whirled back on her newfound kin. “No it don’t! If the magic hoodads’ passed, then that means…” she swallowed, then looked to the Princess Twilight, apparently unimpressed with the appearance of three Twilights, “Princess, please, can my… my family head over through the portal?”

Princess Twilight’s eyes widened considerably, though she was nowhere close to figuring out what this Applejack meant by that. “Wh- why? What’s…?”

“What!?” Cookie cried, “Why would you send us away…?”

“We don’t want to live away from the family,” Oakley stamped one hoof defiantly.

“Ya’ll fixed whatever magic problem was causing this ruckus, right?” Applejack asked.

Sunset nodded, “Eventually, but that doesn’t…”

Applejack raced ahead of the conversation best she could, “Well, that ole Equestrian magic is what made my horses smart, talking, magical ponies! And if that’s all over, then… then…”

Cookie’s eyes welled up, “But… but that means we’d lose our… no. No, no, I don’t want to go back to that!” She burst into full sobs as Cinnamon and Oakley went to comfort the crying mare, even with their own fear shaking each of them to their core.

A moment of silent dread swept over the assembled humans, ponies, and Draconequui. And then, in the next instant, action. Princess Twilight was already pointing towards the portal, Trixies and Sparkles already racing to grab the Apple horses to hurry them through, and Sunset already shouting a warning to get going…

When the white light began to glow again.

Applejack threw herself at her three family members, tears streaming, time slowing down. “Ah no… no!”

If she couldn’t get to them to save them, she wanted to be there with them when it happened…

The light enveloped all…

Snap!

Applejack slammed into what felt like six feet of pure muscle, and toppled over. She managed to get her hands out under her to stop herself from landing directly on her keister, but… wait. Hands? She looked down, and saw… no hooves. She was back to wearing her work clothes, and her riding boots, just like she’d done when…

When…

She couldn’t look up. She didn’t want to see them like that. Not after knowing them.

“Well,” a voice as sweet as chocolate giggled, “This seems awfully familiar.”

Applejack’s heart felt like it’d been torn out of her chest. She could even hear Cookie still talking. Poor girl. She’d never… uh…

She snapped her head up, and took in three teenagers who were the spittin’ image of Apples. Cinnamon really did look just like a fully-grown Applebloom, and Oakley could have passed for Big Mac except for the dappled skin and luxurious long cowpoke hair that poked out from under a mighty fine Stetson.

Cookie, the one who’d spoken first, except for the black hair and a light-brown complexion could have been Applejack’s twin.

Seemed like a lot of that going around these parts all of a sudden.

The Apples picked up their favorite cousin off the ground and held her in an intense, emotional hug, every one of them and her laughing their heads right off! None of them noticed the thumbs-up exchanged between the two Lords of Chaos twins over by Fluttershy.

“That was very kind of you, Disqord,” was all she said.

“I can’t believe it!” Applejack cried, literally cried, “I thought I almost…”

Oakley laughed, and cried back, “Same! But you know what they say? Almost only counts in horseshoes and…”

“Who cares who says what!?” Cinnamon leapt for joy, “We’re people!”

The Princess Twilight sighed happily. She’d only been here a few minutes, and she could already tell this had been an emotionally draining day… morning… half-hour? For everyone, apparently.

“Well,” Applejack and her family had finally calmed down a mite, “I’m gonna sorely miss you three.”

Everyone was quiet again.

Except for Cinnamon, “Oh fer cryin’ out loud will you stop doing that!?”

Applejack removed her hat and looked downcast, “I’m real sorry Cookie, Oakley, Cinnamon. I wish we could keep you at the farm, but ya’ll know we can’t afford to feed three new family members all at once. We can make do, fer a while, but without papers ‘n ID’s, none of ya’ll could get jobs or get schoolin’ done here. If the Princess can, I was gonna ask her ta…”

A golden arm wrapped in a leather jacket sleeve wrapped its way around Applejack’s shoulders. Sunset smirked as she brought her face in close and said, “AJ! Come on girl, you don’t think I’d leave you and your family high and dry on this?”

“Sunset? What in tarnation…?”

“Applejack, how do you think I got my ID and documents? I’m one of the best forgers around!” She smiled and brought up a thumb to indicate the… other Twilight, “And if I’m making Midnight Sparkle over there a real person, you can bet I’d do the same for your cousins. They’ll be legal and ready to go to school or hold jobs in a week, tops!”

Cookie cheered, “Alright Sunny! I knew you were awesome, despite the way you lean too far forward while riding…!”

A cough brought Sunset up short. “Um… Sunset? Forgery?”

The red-haired girl spun around, face plastered with a wide, fake grin that both Trixies found embarrassing to the acting profession. “Principal Celestia! That… that was a joke. I think I’m funny but…”

The pastel-haired principal just smiled and shook her head lightly, “It’s fine, Miss Shimmer. I suppose I’ll be spending the next few days enrolling the four new humans here? Making all that forgery pass muster will require a background check anyway, so we might as well get started.”

Cinnamon looked skeptically at Celestia, “You’d… you would do that for us?”

Even Midnight had to ask, “Why?”

Celestia sighed, “Well, we’re already keeping the whole ‘Magic Conspiracy’ thing under wraps… might as well toss forgery of official documents onto the pile of things we do here.”

Applejack nearly leapt for joy, but then settled for swinging her hat around with a yip and a yeehaw! “Ah thank’ee Miss Celestia! You come around Hearth’s Warming this year an’ I swear we’ll have so many apple fritters for you, ye’ll burst at the seams!”

A smiling Celestia turned back towards the Princess, and looked immensely apologetic as she said, “I’m terribly sorry about this your Maj- Twilight… but it looks like I’m going to be busy today.”

Princess Twilight sighed, “Yeah, it looks like things are… better? But you must be busy with all of this mess to clear up, and you don’t need a foreign ambassador underhoof. Still, it would have been nice to get to chat with everypony- I mean everybody again.”

“Well… what if you could?” Sunset’s eyes were… sparkling…

“Come again, sugarcube?”

Sunset spun around as she spoke, careful to get everyone’s attention. “I know this morning’s been absolutely crazy! But what if we all come back and meet up tonight? All us Rainbooms, the Discords, Trixies, the Princess and her friends, Principal Celestia and Luna, maybe even the Princesses back in Equestria!?”

Starlight, having taken a back seat to the strange happenings thus far, spoke up excitedly, “Oh! We could do a big dinner thing! And talk about what’s been happening! We’ve never actually tried to get everyone together before…”

Celestia… was having a very, very hard time coming up with an objection. She knew she should, but that Monday morning had been a whopper of a morning, and they probably did have a huge list of things to talk about…

“I’m in,” Luna said, simply. “With the statue gone, my whole weekend was wasted anyway.”

Applejack’s ears turned red. “Uh… did the Wondercolt statue happen ta turn into some sort of dragon-type creature and run down the road yonder?”

“I thought it was some sort of snake-pony,” Oakley offered.

Cookie tilted her head, “I thought it was a Draconequus.”

“Don’t be dumb, that’s not a thing,” said Cinnamon, very certain she was right.

Luna’s eyes narrowed. “Miss Apple… did you happen to… ‘hogtie’ the statue? As opposed to smash it into bits of very, very expensive stone?”

“… no…”

“Then I’m down for dinner,” she turned, withdrew a whistle from her pocket, and let loose an ear-splitting peal, “Alright! Let’s get to class so we can destress ladies and gentlemen! Move it!”

The crowds of students jumped as the whistle sounded, and they immediately started off towards their classes, and the waiting comfort of the counselors’ offices. Twilight, Spike awake and at her side, eagerly raced off, with Rarity and Rainbow Dash dragging Midnight between them. Whether they got her to the band room for a wardrobe change, the library to pick up some Daring Do novels, or would simply tear her in half when they got part of the way there, Midnight did not know, though she prayed for the third option... but not too seriously.

Trixie and Trixie hugged one another as if they’d never been apart, and might not see one another again despite their assurances of future meetings and visitations. Starlight led her Trixie back towards Princess Twilight and the portal. Twilight herself gave Trixie a warm hug upon meeting her again, which confused the showpony more than it offended her sensibilities, so she allowed it.

Celestia led Fluttershy, Applejack, and the newest Apple siblings back towards the school, with only a brief word passing between her and Sunset, who assured the Principal she would be in her office inside of five minutes.

Finally, there was only the Princess, Sunset, Starlight, Trixie, and both Lords of Chaos.

Before the Princess could begin, however, Disqord snapped his fingers and produced a scroll of paper, which he handed straight to Sunset.

“What is this?” she asked, opening the scroll. “Wait… the spell!?”

“I might have gotten it in… the separation,” he grinned, a bit sheepishly at that, “And, well… it was so very important to you. Sorry again for my better half’s prank.”

Sunset hardly waited for him to finish before she wrapped her arms around Disqord’s neck in a quick hug, and then rushed to the portal.

Twilight, Starlight, and Trixie parted ways to allow Sunset room, and she eagerly began the casting:

“From mirror to mirror and across time and space,

Let this order prevail, and magic set apace.”

This time, instead of the crimson lightning, or blinding white, a soft, silvery mist drifted out from the parchment. It encircled the portal plinth in a protective layer, like a blanket, before fading away.

And like that, after so long searching for a way… the flow of Equestrian magic was stable. Finally.

Sunset was tired of tears this morning, but she let these last few flow. “Thank you, Discord,” he’d earned that much.

The Princess lay a comforting hand on her shoulder, but said nothing. Nothing was needed to be said now… well, except one more thing.

“So, Discord…” she began slowly, “I know you had something to do with this whole mess. What happened?”

The human Lord of Chaos smiled sheepishly, and seemed to have trouble finding his words, at least until the other one stepped forward.

And in the gentlest, kindest, almost quietest voice, said, “Oh, please don’t blame Disqord or Discord. They were just trying to make their friends smile, and things got a little out of hand…”

Princess Twilight’s hair, normally perfect, let loose a few stray hairs. “Fluttershy!?”

‘Discord’ reached up and gripped what appeared to be a zipper on the top of ‘his’ head, and with a quick stroke downward… the disguise vanished, revealing a slim, yellow-skinned girl with flowing pink hair and the gentlest eyes you’d ever see in your life.

“Um… sorry.”

“W-what is this!?” Twilight’s left-eye started twitching, “How…? Why? Who was that I saw walk into school!?”

Disqord took Fluttershy’s arm into the crook of his own, “Ah, my other half, the Draconequus you know so well. He’s doing me a solid.”

“A what!?”

Fluttershy smiled, “Well, we decided that today was Disqord’s birthday, and he’d be so bored at school with me. So, he’s taking me to see the rainforest instead.”

Sunset started laughing, and laughing, and laughing. Starlight and Trixie only giggled, but they were also exchanging what gossip they could on the subject even now.

Ignoring all that, Twilight continued to protest, “But you can’t! You have school!”

“Celestia even said school was a bit of a waste today,” Fluttershy said matter-of-factly, “Oh! And there’s a heavy metal concert in Rio de Janeighro right now! If we hurry, we can still make it before the opening bands are done.” She winked to Twilight, “I would have gone if we didn’t have school today…”

“But what about your record?” Twilight could not accept this, “You can’t just miss a day of school!”

“But she’s not,” said Disqord, smirking, “Remember? Discord is filling in today. Think of it like a substitute Fluttershy.” The two began to lift off the ground.

Twilight continued to sputter, not finding another means of halting this insanity. Who would go on a stupid date rather than engage in academia? What madness gripped these humans!?

“Don’t worry! We’ll be back in time for the dinner!” Fluttershy called down, then turned to her Disqord. “Ready, baby?”

“Ready, dear!” and with a snap, they were gone.

The Princess merely stood on the grass, staring silently into the empty air where the Lord of Chaos and her human friend Fluttershy had been not a moment ago. And who were now on a date to the rainforest, wherever that was, and going to a heavy metal concert, whatever that was.

“I just don’t understand,” was all she could say. She said it quietly to herself several times, in fact, before Sunset Shimmer walked past.

“Well,” she said, checking her watch, a tiny thing around her wrist the girls had gotten for her, “I got to be going Twilight, or Celestia’s going to be… madder. Is six hours enough time to get everypony together on your end?”

Princess Twilight seemed to come back to reality, “Oh, yeah. I guess that’s enough time. Should we readjust the mirror to keep us the same ages?”

Sunset smiled, softly, “Nah, you wear it well. Catch you later!” and she was off, racing towards the school, Celestia’s office, and a long, long conversation about magic, chaos, and all those other things she’d become the expert for around here.

With that, Princess Twilight, Headmare Starlight, and the Great and Powerful Counselor Trixie passed back through the portal, to make ready for a dinner to remember.

Seconds later, three human freshmen raced past the statue-less plinth, running pell-mell and gasping for breath.

“We can still make it!” Applebloom cried, ribbon held tight in one hand after it’d gotten loose on the run here, “I didn’t hear the bell! We’re not late!”

Scootaloo followed almost right on her heels. “I’m gonna pass out… how does Rainbow Dash do it…?”

“Slow down you too! I’m not as fast!” Bringing up the rear of the Crusader trio, Sweetie Belle ran completely shoeless, swearing to never again contemplate high heels. “I wonder if Rarity has any backup wardrobes with shoes in my size?”

“Keep going ladies!” Pinkie Pie called after them, she herself still prancing leisurely along, “You’re almost there!”

Pinkie stopped by the plinth and took a long, deep breath. It was so long and so deep, in fact, that her hair started to grow out. She released it all back out in a long, satisfied sigh.

Any minute now…

And just like that, the portal flared to life, disgorging an identical copy of Pinkie Pie.

“Hey Pinkie! How’re things…” she paused as she took in the Pinkie from Equestria. Well, technically she was the Pinkie from Equestria, at least originally. This Pinkie was originally from this reality. In any case, something was up, judging by this Pinkie’s mixed look of ‘everything’s-great’ and ‘we-goofed-up’.

The other Pinkie tried to hide it beneath a smile, “Oh, Pony Pinkie! Things are great! Things are…” she knew she wasn’t selling the act, “um… did some weird stuff go on over here?”

“Oh yeah,” Pinkie took a deep breath and began, “Discord tried to play a joke on Sunset, because of that whole ‘Midnight Sparkle’ deal going on back home, but then it backfired…”

“Yeah, yeah, okay!” Human Pinkie slapped a hand over Pony Pinkie’s mouth. “I get it! Okay, so Discord’s prank messed up the portal… and the Equestrian side of the portal is, like, three weeks ahead now.”

Pony Pinkie gasped, “Oh! But I was supposed to spend the week with Cheese!”

“He’s still in the castle, I convinced him to stay another couple of weeks…”

“Oh, thank you Pinkie! I don’t know what I’d do without…”

“… because he’s trying to propose to you.”

“…”

“… yeah, and since I’ve been dodging him this whole time, so I didn’t accidentally steal your special moment, he might be about to take off in a huff and you need to go chase him down for an epic Act 3 turnaround.”

Pony Pinkie set herself into a sprinting pose, aimed right at the portal, “Then I got no time to lose… except…” she turned her head to look at Human Pinkie, “Did you get it?”

Human Pinkie nodded so hard her head made a rattling sound, “Got it! You are officially the Princess Pinkie Pie, Official Gala Party Planner!”

“I knew I could count on you!” Pony Pinkie smiled, “And I hope you’re up to helping me co-plan the Gala?”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world, either of them!”

Pony Pinkie nodded, “Alright, I’ll see you in six hours for the epilogue!”

She leapt through the portal, vanishing into a flash of white light. Human Pinkie smiled, turned back towards the school, and began to skip on her way…

At least, until she saw Flash Sentry waving at her from the roof of the school. She supposed she would have to go fetch the janitor first to help him down…

Epilogue - The Neverending Story

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It was approaching dusk by the time everyone and everypony could be gathered together. They all met up at the statue-less plinth, where those Equestrian visitors who hadn’t gotten it yet practiced walking on two hooves, or feet. Then, after a few ‘hello’s and ‘how-ya’ll-doing’s, everyone and everypony were quite well and thoroughly acquainted.

Then, they went out to Joe’s…

Donut Joe had made his name in pastries… literally. His donuts were the talk of Canterlot City back in the day, and remained a popular treat with a hot cup of coffee, proprietary blends of course. But unlike ponies, humans could only eat so many donuts before becoming sick… allegedly, and so the human Donut Joe had expanded his business opportunities.

Joe’s Diner sold classic, home-cooking at affordable prices. He could afford it, considering his finances were still held up by Donut Money. So, the food would be good and cheap, which meant feeding some two-dozen people was a lot more manageable than one might have thought.

Donut Joe himself was astonished to get the call from the local Principal about a celebratory dinner in his diner. He was also astonished to hear just how many people would need accommodating, but that was the thing about Joe; he liked to deliver for his customers, so he said yes. Of course, it didn’t hurt that it was Principal Celestia asking.

Where Celestia was, there would soon follow her… beautiful sister Luna. Not that Joe was smitten, no. No! He was merely… courteous towards certain customers. Customers who bought his coffee like it was going out of style!

The extra, extra-large party arrived near sundown, and Joe and his staff had worked their metaphorical tails off to get a suitable seating arrangement set up in time. Yet, as soon as the party arrived, Joe was temporarily shocked and confused. It was like a Twins convention had settled into his restaurant. Almost each and every customer came in as a pair, give or take a few differences in clothing or hair-style.

Two stood out most to Joe. The first being a pair of extremely eclectically dressed young men, each with a pink-haired ‘hippy-chick’ hanging off their arms. They would spend the entire evening giggling whenever the Diner’s music switched to jazz, despite there not being a jazz playlist, and despite Joe having turned the music system off for the evening…

And the second, which took Joe’s breath away, were the twin Lunas who walked alongside the twin Celestias. Now… that was a sight indeed. Disappointing, however, was that one Luna seemed to drink cup after cup of coffee, one right after the other, while the other one seemed almost afraid of the stuff.

He wondered if there’d been a cloning accident somewhere? Then again, stranger things happened in Canterlot City all the time. For goodness’ sake, he’d been turned into a pony this morning! Not that he let that stop him dealing with the breakfast rush… no, the Donut revolt had done that all on its own. Ungrateful pastries…

Orders were made, and the long process of acquainting and talking chit-chat had begun as the party settled into the diner’s extended space made for them. Most had decided to pair off with their respective counterparts, if only because that seemed like the most obvious thing in the world to do.

A slightly older Applejack and Rainbow Dash sat with their younger, human selves, who decided to stick with AJ and Dash to keep confusion to an appropriate minimum. Applejack had come through the portal with a rather official-looking duster, now folded off to the side, while Rainbow had appeared with aviator glasses and a flight jacket that Dash assured her looked ‘flippin’ awesome’. The Princess Twilight had assured them it was just a reflection of their jobs as her closest friends and co-rulers.

They’d started talking lives and the differences therein, before it became clear that there really wasn’t much different at all save for details. So, they stuck to what all four would truly prefer talking about:

Gossip and shenanigans. And AJ had just finished retelling how Big Mac had to explain to the store manager exactly why he’d been about to pour gasoline onto his dear old granny.

Amidst the riotous laughter, Applejack finally asked the burning question, “So, eh, what exactly is a jalopy?”

AJ answered simply, “It’s an old truck we got stashed in the barn fer when we need it.”

“Ah, I see,” said Applejack, nodding along, “And a truck is a…?”

“It’s a type of car,” Dash said helpfully, “with space in the back for stuff.”

Rainbow nodded as well, and then asked, “Okay, so what’s a…?”

She was interrupted by the arrival of food. Two stacks of… something was set in front of the earth-pony-and-pegasus-turned-humans. They’d never seen anything like it, hot and greasy strips of something or other. And it smelled delectable.

“What… what is this?” Rainbow asked, her mouth watering from the smell alone.

“This,” Dash said, lifting a strip up with reverence, “Is bacon.”

AJ followed her friend’s example, “And it’s considered to be the greatest food in the entire world.”

Applejack, slightly upset that she just heard an Apple, herself no less, place anything above their fruitful namesake… could not deny the heavenly scent that filled her nostrils. That was something alright. Something scrumptious…

“Granny wraps some apples in bacon on special occasions,” AJ said in a hesitant, hallowed tone, as though she were revealing a family secret, “It’s kind of a tradition around these parts, if’n you know what I mean?”

Whelp. If it was good enough for Granny…

Applejack and Rainbow Dash took an experimental bite of the strange foodstuff… and their eyes snapped open wide as saucers. Each one hungrily took strip after strip in their newly acquired hands and began shoveling the most wonderful, most magical, heavenly bacon into their mouths as quickly as they could.

AJ and Dash, stifling their snickers as only professional pranksters could, high-fived each other under the table…

Vegetarians… heh.

“… so, then, Pinkie Pie said she could get me a job with her as a roller-waitress!” Cookie continued the story she was relating to her siblings, and new little cousin also. “I really like the idea of helping people by getting them tasty treats. Since most of my life’s been getting helped by Applejack and given tasty treats, it’ll be like paying that back to others!”

She licked her lips and began digging into the ice-cream and cookie sundae Joe had placed in front of her.

Applebloom smiled at this, and added, “And ye won’t mind helpin’ me out with my math homework when you’re not working with Pinkie?” As soon as Cookie had heard everyone’s orders, she’d instantly calculated the resulting bill, tip, and sales tax, treating it like a game. Seems as though being the one horse who could count to four by stamping her hoof had translated over… with a vengeance.

While she said nothing, the ice-cream-and-cookie-muffled affirmatives from Cookie seemed to please the freshman.

Cinnamon shook her head at her sister. “You’re gonna get fat.”

“Fat on ice cream and cookies!” Cookie laughed.

Sweetie Belle watched the girl inhale another scoop of chocolate with a mix of envy and horror. “Rarity says that a Lady should look out for her figure whenever possible.”

“Yeah, well,” Cinnamon threw a mocking scowl over towards Oakley, who was sharing a long, mutually blushing stare with the human Rarity across the table, “Tell Rarity to look out for some other things as well. Like romantic idiots…”

“You gonna start a band, Mr. Oakley?” Scootaloo eagerly asked the gentle cowboy. The handsome… gentleman cowboy. The handsome gentleman cowboy with a voice like velvet, hair like a movie star and a look that could melt ice cream…

“Oh, I got some notions,” Oakley’s rich timbre was noticeable even when he was just speaking, “Big Mac reckoned I could practice with the… my new cousins next time the reunion rolls around.” His eye contact hadn’t broken at all, “But uh, Miss Rarity? I heard you were in a band yerself? Could I… get some private lessons?”

“Now I do hope that you will be a lady in all things, my dear,” the ~~elder~~ Pony Rarity (that adjective would never come within a mile of her if she had anything to say about it) advised her human doppelganger, “As handsome as he may appear, that one is still a stallion, and I know how they think.”

Human Rarity was shocked, shocked at the insinuation, “Rarity, darling! How can you think so little of me?”

“Because, darling, I’ve been right where you are now, and I know myself well enough to know I am a hopeless romantic!” She sipped her water daintily, careful not to spill anything on the luxurious purple cloak of office that had appeared on her when she came through the mirror, “Besides, I trust you. I never trust men.”

The younger Rarity, blushing, glanced one more time at the former-stallion-turned-cowboy, then returned to their previous discussion. “I do still have some concerns about the fashion exchange.”

“Oh? Whatever for?”

“Well,” Rarity sighed, “I realize that we aren’t precisely the same person… or pony. But you have to admit, the resemblances are uncanny at times.”

Pony Rarity nodded sagely, “True, true.”

“Well… first off, what if the dresses we design don’t translate through the mirror? It would be a terrible waste not to be able to wear one of your, and I’m sure Twilight’s descriptions of your work are accurate, fabulous dresses because it had been designed for four legs…”

“Saddlebags, darling!” the other Rarity showed off her beautiful purple purse with diamond clasps, “If those change form when they cross the mirrors, then why not dresses? Or other clothes?”

The younger Rarity truly admired the handbag. It was so lovely, like it was designed for her more accomplished self.

“Well then,” she said, “I suppose the only other problem we may have is… well, the fact that you and I might wind up exchanging the same dress!”

The pony Rarity laughed in a very hearty, yet still lady-like fashion, “Oh darling! I would absolutely love to see that happen,” she leaned in and winked, “Afterall, that would be proof, would it not, that Great Minds do indeed think alike?”

“Oh my! He’s adorable!” cooed Fluttershy as she watched the two-toed sloth nibble on a small salad of leaves and apple slices. She had come through the portal dressed, as Disqord described it, as Earth-Mother Fluttershy, all-natural fringed coat and rosy-red sunglasses included. “Where did you find him?”

The younger Fluttershy smiled at the memory, “He was hiding from the metal concert in the rainforest, and he was curious about where I was from. The shelter has an exotic pet’s department now, so if Sprint wants to stay, he’s more than welcome.”

Discord sighed, “Sprint? Really?”

“He’s very quick for a sloth. See?” Sprint held up the bowler hat Discord had been using to distinguish himself from Disqord.

The Spirit of Chaos narrowed his crimson eyes at the little sloth. Then he turned his attention across the restaurant to where Pinkie Pie (both of them) and Cheese Sandwich (ditto) were animatedly talking about a ‘The Universe Wasn’t Destroyed’ party, and whether or not they should count today as Midnight’s birthday, or when she first appeared at the Friendship Games… for party planning purposes, of course.

The Pony Pinkie, distinguished only by a poofier, frizzier, crazier mane than her high school counterpart… as well as a small plastic novelty ring she held onto with a suspicious amount of care whenever she glanced towards her Cheese Sandwich… paused as she reached for another drag on her milkshake.

It had grown a goatee, you see.

“Pinkamena Diane Pie,” Discord warned, “I swear, if you gave that Sloth a taste of the Ponk, there will be me to pay!”

Not losing her sparkly demeanor, Pinkie tilted her head and said, “Silly Discord, that saying goes ‘there will be’…”

Discord snarled, “I think you know for a fact that I can be so much worse. Just promise me you didn’t! We had an acc…” he choked on such an orderly word, “an accord.”

The younger Cheese leaned across the table, one eyebrow raised so high it was barely on his face at all, “Don’t you mean, you had an… accordion?”

Groans filled that part of the restaurant, with the exception of both Pinkies, the pony Cheese, and Cookie, who laughingly added an, ‘I get it!’ to the general atmosphere.

Pinkie, however, returned her attention to her milkshake-turned-Chaos-Lord. “Discy, I didn’t give the sloth the Ponk. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye! Besides,” she grinned wickedly and pointed, “I already know who stole your hat.”

Discord spun about, catching sight of Disqord, bowler hat dancing merrily on the table before him.

“Betrayed by my own!” Discord snarled… then broke out into a mirthful grin himself, “They grow up so fast, don’t they?”

The pony Fluttershy, meanwhile, was still talking with the human one… when she got a strange premonition. It was while they were both doting on sweet little Sprint, and Fluttershy noticed her younger self’s eyes. Despite all the warmth and kindness and friendliness around her, she was still… sad?

“Is… is something bothering you, Fluttershy?”

“Oh,” she shied away, “No. Nothing’s wrong…”

The older stared at the younger. It wasn’t The Stare… but a long enough regular stare could really start to feel like it. Human Fluttershy began to sweat… until she cracked.

“It’s just, I thought you’d be… well, um, a pony.”

Understanding dawned for the other. “Ah,” she said.

Human Fluttershy looked away, “I was just… it was so nice being that adorable for once. It was like hugging a cute pony… but closer. Does that make sense?”

Pony Fluttershy nodded, and laid a comforting hand on the younger mare… uh, girl. “I do. And… if you’re okay with the idea… you’re always welcome to come to Equestria and visit. I have tea with Discord every week. I’m sure he’d be happy to see you and your Disqord there as well.”

“Oh, thank you,” the human Fluttershy smiled back.

Then, the elder Fluttershy thought of something. “Um… if you don’t mind me asking, what sort of music concert did you say it was? Where you found Sprint, I mean.”

The human Fluttershy’s eyes flashed for a moment, and she quickly scoured her purse for… ah! There it was. She held out her phone, earbuds synced up, and quickly pantomimed to the other Fluttershy how to put them in.

Disqord chuckled lightly, then watched in fascination as this Fluttershy stood stock still, eyes shrinking to dots. He could just hear the screeching music, the beat of drums, and the growling, grumbling, guttural vocals.

Eventually, the pony Fluttershy removed the earbuds, turned to the Discord sitting beside her, and declared, “We need to stop at the record store before going home…”

Princess Luna was on her fifth coffee. And it did nothing. The advert has said this was this universe’s Joe’s finest, blackest, and most energizing coffee. And it did… nothing.

“So… you slept for two weeks?” the Vice-Principal asked, nursing a cup of light tea in place of coffee this night.

“Indeed,” the Princess sighed. “I fear that it will be many moons ‘til Our coffee habits return to normal. I do not wish to be beholden to Pinkie’s… Good Stuff, as dear Twilight has done.”

“Mmmm,” Luna audibly agreed with herself, though internally she wondered if she’d have been in a similar boat right now had Discord’s Chaos Wave not made a mess of her morning joe, courtesy of Pinkie Pie. And if it might be worth it. “So… how goes the… dream-business?”

A mysterious smile was all she got. That, and the Princess soon began to hum an odd melody she couldn’t quite place. It would probably bug her all night, not knowing where she might have heard that one before.

Trixie Lulamoon’s ear twitched, but she was currently preoccupied with the Greatest and Most Powerfulest plan she’d ever devised. And it was all because she’d trusted in the Greatness and Powerfulness of the Great and Powerful Trixie.

Both of them.

“So,” the human Trixie was carefully counting out the dates in her phone’s calendar, “If your Hearth’s Warming was only a few months ago, and ours won’t be here for another six-months…”

“Then it’s possible,” pony Trixie nodded along, a serious expression causing her to frown in concentration. “We could actually do this, Trixie.”

“And all because of the time dilap… dimen… thing with the mirror portal, Trixie…”

They stared, determined, into one another’s eyes.

“Double Hearth’s Warming!” they cried as one, and then high-fived. Though Pony Trixie hadn’t learned to open her hand for those yet. Then, noticing the time, they both excused themselves early from the dinner.

While Starlight, clad in her younger, teenaged human form this time, protested, Princess Twilight simply asked the two azure humans to be safe. Well, of course they’d be safe. Not only was Trixie (either of them) in the care of the Great and Powerful Trixie (both of them), they would be with Trixie’s parents tonight.

Trixie was nervous. But with Trixie at her side, nothing could stop the Great and Powerful…

“She didn’t ask about the side effects!?” Principal Celestia was less surprised, and more laughing uncontrollably next to her immortal duplicate.

Princess Celestia found just as much humor in their conversation, at least in part due to hindsight. “And now the Gala is going to be ruined… so it worked out perfectly from my end!”

“Please,” the Principal asked, a gleam in her purple eyes, “Tell me you had a marker at hand, er hoof?”

The Princess snickered, “The guards took turns coming up with mustache designs until we found one we liked…”

The Princess Twilight was having an… interesting night. Yeah. She’d go with that. If Spike were here, he’d call her out on that, but since he and the other Spike were having a ‘Boy’s night’, whatever that meant for dogs…

She, Starlight, and Sunset sat together, observing all the other conversations around them, taking in the laughter, the collaboration, the sheer swelling of good humor and good friends. It was so relaxing for the Princess of Friendship… with the one exception of watching her other self and a walking apocalypse having a spat over fries.

“Wait… Midnight? Did you just pick that up with your left hand?”

Midnight, putting down the strange ‘Reformed Villains Club Card’ Disqord and Discord had given her, raised an eyebrow as she chewed on a fry. “Yeah? Is that important?”

“I just…” how to say it? “I thought I was losing my mind earlier. Usually I have no trouble switching tools from hand to hand, but then while I was cataloguing my lab, I kept fumbling with the calculator when it was in my left hand…”

“So?” Midnight said, taking another fry, “You think I, what…? Stole your ambidexterity?”

“… maybe. I’m just wondering what else got split between us when…”

Midnight munched another fry, “I wouldn’t worry about it. We both know I already got the lion’s share of the IQ.”

“That’s not how that… hey! Stop pilfering my fries! You have your own!”

“Mine are soft, yours are crispy. I claim yours by right of conquest…”

“Midnight, quit that…”

Midnight snatched another fry, but it was quickly snatched back by Twilight’s telekinetic grip.

“Oh, magic! How mature…”

“Well, I didn’t need magic to beat you before.”

“You beat me!? I won, as I recall!”

“Yes! You won through attaining Friendship! Which is like a win for me!”

“Take that back!”

“Death first!”

Princess Twilight might have stepped in another time… but she could practically feel the… sisterly love coming off the two. She wasn’t sure if that was it exactly, but whatever ‘it’ was, it was close enough. And only a day before, Midnight in this same position would probably have been tearing reality asunder.

But she wasn’t. Because reality was where her friends lived. And it took Twilight Sparkle, the high school student, to make her realize that.

Princess Twilight knew that a lot of ponies, ponies close to her even, were quite intimidated by her accomplishments and her… she guessed it was her demeanor. She sometimes wondered if Celestia had to deal with that sort of thing… before realizing that of course she did, especially as I was one of those intimidated…

Not the time to dwell. The point was, the Princess was very well aware of her own myth and how others tended to compare themselves to the legendary Twilight Sparkle. And now, she knew precisely how that felt.

Well done Twilight, she thought. I couldn’t be prouder.

She then took a huge bite of the burger she’d ordered, savoring every bit of it as she chewed. She even closed her eyes to focus entirely on the taste as the sauces dribbled down her chin…

“Uh, Twilight?” Sunset’s voice cut through the fog of tasty burger, “You realize that’s meat, right?”

She shrugged, not even opening her eyes. “Humans need meat to survive. Said so yourself.”

“I think she said humans can eat meat,” Starlight chuckled, “not that they must.”

Twilight sighed contentedly as she placed the burger back down onto her plate, “It’s fine. I’ll issue a royal pardon tomorrow.”

Starlight giggled, “You know, you’re being awfully calm today. What’ve you done with the real Princess Twilight?”

Smiling wistfully, Twilight thought about how best to answer. Happily, this took about as long as eating a hoof… handful of fries. Finally, with some hot, greasy potato in her stomach, Twilight said, “What do you think of when someone talks about the end?”

Sunset and Starlight were equally hesitant to answer.

“Like…” Sunset said slowly, “the End, sort of end?”

Twilight smiled softly, “No, just… endings in general.”

She looked out over the faces of her dear friends, human, pony, and Draconequus alike. Watching their smiling faces was almost like having another meal, warm and filling. “I suppose I’ve been thinking about endings a lot lately. My life in Ponyville will be coming to an end as soon as I’m coronated. You and the Rainbooms are all going off to college and careers. I suppose I’m just getting melancholy over something I can’t change.”

“Or something that doesn’t exist.”

Twilight and Starlight turned to Sunset. “Pardon?” the Princess asked.

The red-and-gold haired girl twirled a fork in between her fingers, and threw her teacher a smug grin. “Endings don’t exist, Twi. They just don’t.”

The Princess was intrigued, as was her school’s Headmare, who asked, “And… how do you figure?”

“Well,” Sunset leaned in while casting her eyes about the restaurant, taking it all in as Twilight herself had done, “I guess you think this is all going to end just because a few of us don’t go to the same school anymore? Sure, I think a couple of us won’t have time for the Rainbooms after school ends, but none of us are moving cross-country. And with you and your friends, I can’t imagine Ponyville is so far away that you couldn’t just pop over if you felt like it.

“I guess I just don’t see what makes it an ending,” she said, spearing another hunk of salad on the end of her fork and shoveling it straight into her mouth. “Everything changes, but we change with it. And then we change the world. It’s… kinda eternal? Like, the magic of friendship doesn’t just exist, begin, or end… it grows…

“I dunno, guess I’ve been thinking about this too.”

Sunset turned back towards the Princess, and nearly jumped from the huge, sparkling eyes that looked back at her.

“Um, Twilight? You okay?”

The Princess regathered a touch of her previous decorum, but just a touch, “Oh, sorry. It’s just… I’m supremely impressed, Sunset. You’ve come so far from where you started.”

Starlight added, smirking, “Literally.”

“I guess,” Twilight resumed, “I didn’t realize that while you’re graduating soon from CHS… you’ve also graduated in another way.”

Before Sunset could glance guiltily towards her back, where she still felt the phantom pain of alicorn wings… should really figure that out sometime… Twilight laid a hand on her friend’s shoulder.

Smiling down on Sunset, she said, “I no longer consider you my student or protégé… but rather my Friend. And one I’d trust with spreading the message and magic of friendship to this world.”

Sunset could see Starlight giving her a thumbs-down… but considering her broad and open smile, she probably just had it the wrong way up. Smiling herself, she could only nod at Twilight’s words. But before she could say anything else, the restaurant bell jingled.

And Rainbow Dash’s voice cut across the generally warm and inviting atmosphere, “Oh fer… who invited them!?”

It had taken a lot longer to walk back to Canterlot City than any of the Dazzlings remembered. With their van’s tires currently lying about in bits and pieces, either in the parking lot around their now immobile van or drifting half-digested in that pond… well, walking was the only solution. Even if Sonata complained the whole way about her stomach.

In the city itself, the Dazzlings got a good look at the chaos that magic had wreaked in their absence. Not every building had moved, but enough had shifted about, spun in place, or flipped end over end that it looked like a great, big Canterlot City model someone had dropped. There were a number of trees warped into strange and eerie shapes, and more than a few people who were still adjusting to not having hooves.

Especially weird was the smashed-up statue of a Draconequus they came across by the road.

“Hey, Sonata,” Aria managed a smirk though her aching feet and legs protesting the waste of oxygen, “looks like your old boyfriend.”

“Just because,” Sonata panted, “he had a crush on me,” pant, “doesn’t mean he was my boyfriend…” She, naturally, said this while blushing deeply. Or that could have been the miles-long march into town. Who knew?

Finally, after marching for what felt like hours, the Dazzlings gave up. No Sunset Shimmer. No Rainbooms. Nothing but rumor and speculation, and most of that merely overheard. No one would give Adagio or her sisters the time of day in this city. And it was no wonder, after all.

Adagio was the first to admit defeat, “Girls… let’s stop.” Her hair hung in tangles down around her shoulders, and she hadn’t really been able to clean out the muck from her clothing. She was hot, sweaty, and miserable. Not to mention, hungry.

She was done. She pulled out a crumbled bill from a hidden place in her shoes, luckily spared from the worst of her swimming adventure earlier in the day. It wasn’t enough for much. Maybe a glass of cold water and… toast? Maybe a toast.

She hoped it could split three ways…

Aria didn’t protest, didn’t tell Dagi that she was giving up too early. She just nodded, and managed to pull out the meagre coins she’d stashed into her wrist-bands. Sonata had about double that, but all in foreign currency.

Oh well. If nothing else… Joe’s was always a nice place to-

“Oh fer… who invited them!?”

…apparently run right into the people who you thought must have been avoiding you all day long. Actually, the universe may have been playing a cruel game on the Dazzlings, since there looked to be two of everyone they’d been looking for, and then some.

“Aria,” Sonata sounded nauseous, “I think I still got a bit of tire in my stomach… cuz I’m seeing double…”

Aria, wide-eyed and slow to blink, replied, “Y-yeah… I’m seeing them too.” The whole restaurant was looking back at them with a mix of shock, anger, and general confusion, and Aria briefly wondered just what in the hay was going on with all these doubles?

A pair of oddly familiar goateed men sitting by the two Fluttershys looked like they were trying to hide behind the same bowler hat. Sonata wasn’t sure who he reminded her of, but she was getting that sicky-sicky feeling again.

But Adagio seemed to take the whole sight in stride. Meaning, she was better at lying to herself than the other two. She took one step forward, and her glare dared the room to challenge her. Despite Rainbow Dash’s outburst, few moved or stirred, most being content to stare.

Except for Sunset Shimmer, who immediately rose to confront the three formerly-Siren sisters.

“Adagio,” she said, simply and without inflection.

“Sunset Shimmer,” Adagio answered in kind.

Sunset looked over the trio with a critical eye, then said, “So, what brings you back around here?”

Adagio struck a fighting pose, “Well, when we saw the Equestrian magic flowing over the city, we knew…”

Aria jabbed her in the side. Sonata in the other. Sunset had noticed, but said nothing.

“… we knew…” Adagio couldn’t really be doing this, could she? Surrendering? Prostration? It was the same as being defeated, beaten. She was not defeated! She was merely… biding time… which was another way of saying beaten…

Her ego was really, really desperate for a win. And realizing that, she knew she had lost. It was like finding a hole in a balloon, at about 1,000ft altitude.

Adagio sighed. “We… need help.”

Sunset wasn’t sure she heard that right. “What?”

But now that the confession was out, it came out like a bursting dam, “We’ve tried to make it on our own… and we’re failing. No one will hire us for gigs in the city, and nothing else pays well enough to live on, and our genre’s dying and Sonata ate our tires and I turned back into a fish and, and…” Crud, she thought. The tears were about to come flowing out. For the first time in one thousand years, she was crying.

This sucked…

A hand fell atop her shoulder. Adagio almost snapped at it… but there was such a warm, warm feeling. It was like a mother’s hand. But since that was weird, she mentally rewrote that to be a friendly hand. She looked up, catching the last flicker of white light in Sunset’s eyes.

The Rainboom tilted her head back towards the tables behind her. “Come on.”

“What?” asked Adagio, complete non-comprehension in her voice. Both Aria and Sonata just stared in silence.

“Let’s grab you a burger and fries. We can talk about that other stuff later.”

Did… did she just hear her correctly? Did Sunset Shimmer, the cause of Adagio’s fall from… no, Adagio was her own cause of failure. Sunset was just… the rock she landed on at the bottom of the cliff…

Sunset clearly understood their confusion. She chuckled, and then pointed over her shoulder, “You guys think you’re the only bad guys we ever reformed? Half a dozen of the people here have either attempted to destroy the world or succeeded at it at least once.”

With no small amount of anxiety, worry, and a little fright… though more at sitting with their old enemies as something almost like friends rather than the apparently apocalyptic nature of some of the girls themselves… Adagio, Sonata, and Aria went with Sunset to the table. And ordered burgers. And as they talked with their former enemies, and the mirror counterparts of their former enemies, and in Sonata’s case the human-world counterpart of her ex, there was a real, palpable sense that a corner had been turned.

It was almost like what Sunset and the Princess had been talking about. With two words, give or take an explanation, Sunset had allowed the magic of friendship… to grow.

Discord, looking on with a twinkle in his crimson eyes, counted out more membership cards for his Reformed Villains Club, punching a tenth hole into the one he’d tried to give Sunset way back at the castle.

“Way to go, Sunset,” he whispered to himself, “That’s gotta be worth a special all to yourself. Or a music video, at least…”

The End

Home Again

by Ninjadeadbeard

Chapter 1 - Home Sweet Home

Chapter 2 - The Midnight in Me

Chapter 3 - Memento Mori

Chapter 4 - Remember

ENOUGH!

Chapter 5 - It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

Chapter 6 - The Last Temptation of Discord

Chapter 7 - Unleash the Magic

Chapter 8 - The Light at the End

Epilogue - The Neverending Story