What Shall be True

It wasn’t until the faintest hints of sunlight peeked through the edges of the blackout curtains that Twilight let go of her friend. Her stomach was screaming angrily at her that it was done digesting, and Pinkie’s was groaning with a need to eat something. So the two of them, by some unspoken agreement, scooped themselves up off the floor of the dark room.

Pinkie shook her head as she stood, as if she could clear away the sadness with physical force. Her legs stopped shaking, but none of her usual life returned.

“Are you gonna be okay, Pinkie?”

She forced a smile. “Of course. But…I mean, are you okay, Twilight? I know this must be a lot to take in…”

“It…it is. But I think I can manage.”

“Good. Now go hide somewhere while I find the disguise for you that I stashed.”

“You have a disguise for me?”

“Well, I have had five years to get ready.”

“Heh. Alright. Well, I’ll be in the bathroom if you need me.”

“Okay.”

As normally as she could, Twilight ascended the staircase to the bedrooms, and the bathroom at the end of the hall. And as she went about her routine, she started planning ahead.

Problem one: No magic for a while, due to an injured horn.

Problem two: Changelings everywhere, who would probably kill her (or worse) on sight.

Problem three: All her friends, with the exception of one, are Celestia knows where.

Problem four: Equestria is probably in ruins, at the very least under hostile occupation.

Problem five: The elements of harmony, her only chance to fix this, are locked away in the Tree of Harmony and unusable without her friends around.

Twilight let out a long, annoyed sigh as she flushed away the remains of her sandwich feast. Did she even want to fix this? After all, wouldn’t just going back to her time be enough? This all happened because she wasn’t around to stop it.

But if she went back, then this timeline would continue on, which would condemn her friends to this awful place until they died a probably-horrible death. Could she really, honestly do that?

‘Focus, Twilight. One problem at a time.’

Twi finished washing her hooves and waited calmly for Pinkie as she thought. Problem two was already in the process of being fixed, just as soon as Pinkie got together her disguise. Problem one would fix itself after a while, provided she didn’t go hitting her head into anything else. As for three, four, and five—

Knock knock knock. “It’s me, Twi.”

She smiled and clicked the door open to let Pinkie inside.

The pink mare slid her saddlebags next to the sink before closing the door behind her. “Okay…we’ve got…black mane dye, a pair of colored contact lenses, and a color-matching skin suit to hide your wings and cutie mark.” She laid out the corresponding items on the floor as she listed them, along with various chemicals and mixing cups.

Twilight just stared. “Where did you get all this stuff?”

“I made it.”

“And you learned how…when?”

“Time’s a-wastin’! Let’s start with the mane dye.” She nudged Twilight into the bathtub before mixing the portions of the dye together. “And you left me with lotsa books and plenty of time. Didja really think I’d just sit there on the floor and stare at the clock for five and a half years?”

“I…I don’t know…” Twilight reached over the edge of the tub and gingerly poked the grey skin suit. It didn’t feel like fur. It felt a lot more like felt. “You said this changes color to match my coat?”

“Mmhm! Not right away, though. It doesn’t work that quick. Oh, speaking of which…” Pinkie reached over and plucked with her teeth a distinctly not-small clump of fur out of Twilight’s skin.

“Ow! What in Tartarus…?!” As she watched, Pinkie spat the little clump of fur into a nearby cup and began grabbing chemicals out of the bag and mixing them in.

“Sorry, Twi. But I have to isolate your fur color and concentrate it into a proper dye. I couldn’t do that without a sample.”

Twilight just rubbed the spot in annoyance. “You could have said something…”

Pinkie continued her work in silence, mixing chemicals in this cup, and cleaning contacts in this other one, poking and prodding and nagging at Twilight until after thirty long minutes Twilight was all set and disguised.

She looked at herself in the mirror, shifting slightly in the less-than-comfortable suit. It was weird to see somepony that was her, and yet was completely different. Her mane and tail were jet-black, with streaks of royal purple left behind. Her eyes were no longer purple, instead colored a rich dark blue that sat harshly against the rest of her colors. And where her wings and cutie mark once sat, she was left featherless and with a cutie mark made of a little constellation of Orion. Well, Orion with two stars out of place, but Orion enough.

“Whaddya think?”

She moved and turned, getting used to the way her legs moved against the borders of the body suit. “It looks great. It’s just weird that I look so…different.”

“Heh, that’s the idea. Now, to finish it all off with a new name! I was thinking Lavender Bloom.”

“I…sorry, Pinkie, but I don’t know if I can get behind that name.”

“O-Oh. Well, that’s okay. What were you thinking?”

Twilight stared at herself in the mirror again, taking in her new identity and trying to work backwards. Dark mane, unicorn…she wracked her brain, trying to fit the pieces together. Then she looked back at the cutie mark, the interjoined stars staring back at her like they had so long ago. Like they didn’t do these days.

And then it clicked.

“Darkest Night.”

That name felt more than appropriate.

“Oooh, I like it. Not bad for your first try at naming a pony.”

“Hah…thanks, Pinkie. And really, I can’t thank you enough for this.”

“It’s the least I could do.” She smiled softly, a smile that quickly faded once her stomach reminded her that it was empty.

“Somepony’s hungry,” Twi chuckled at her. “Come on, let’s get you something to eat.”

“Okay. You too. You must be starving!”

“Not at all. I had those sandwiches, remember?”

“But that was so long ago!” They made it down to the ground floor, where the blackout curtains were drawn back and the midday sun was shining through the windows.

“To you, not to me. For me, it was just a split second.” Twilight glanced around, something not sitting quite right in her brain.

“Oh, right. Time travel and basic subjective reality.”

“Pinkie…What time is it?”

“About seven o’clock.”

“But based on the sun, it’s almost noon!”

“Yeah…the sun rises and sets pretty quick these days. You’ll get used to it.”

Twi just shook her head. “Anyway, what’re you having to eat?”

“Oh, usually I just have an apple.”

“Oh—wait. One apple!?”

“Yup. One apple, for breakfast and dinner.” She leaned over and whispered into Twilight’s ear like she was sharing a dark secret, “Sometimes I’ll splurge and have two.”

Twi just stared at the pink mare as she trotted over to the kitchen. “What happened to the Pinkie who used to eat a dozen cakes in one go?”

“There aren’t enough cakes around for that anymore,” she countered, without even looking back, before disappearing into the kitchen.

Twilight just sat, staring with confused and bewildered eyes at the now-clearly-visible Golden Oaks Library. The shelves were barren, with only the occasional fiction to break up the wooden walls. Most of the surfaces in the room, except her desk, were gone completely. Anything that proved somepony had actually lived here, let alone that this used to be a house of stories and knowledge, was completely absent. And if this was the main room…Twilight shuddered as she imagined what the bedrooms must look like.

How could things have gotten so…different? Sure, this was the future. Some differences were to be expected. But this…? The whole place felt just so…wrong.

‘And it’s all your fault,' Twilight reminded herself, ‘for disappearing when you did.’

Twilight barely heard Pinkie finish her breakfast and reappear as that thought settled into her brain.

“What’s wrong?”

Twilight took a deep breath before responding.

“I need to fix this”

“Fix what?”

“This!” She gestured all around them. “This world, this timeline, this…future! I messed it up, and before I leave I should at least try to help it.”

“Twi, you don’t have to…”

“We just need to find the others, and go get the Elements of Harmony…”

“Twilight, please…”

“…and then it won’t matter where we use them, because they’ll fix Equestria and kick those Changelings right in their little chitinous little—“

“TWILIGHT!”

Twilight immediately stopped, shrinking to the floor. She’d heard Pinkie scream more than a few times. But it was usually because she was excited about something, or just trying to get somepony’s attention. But never, in all the time they knew each other, had Twilight heard Pinkie scream with anger.

She never wanted to hear it again.

Pinkie collected herself with a few deep breaths that Twi immediately recognized as Cadence’s breathing technique. “Look…I can set you up with a place to sleep, and call in a favor with AJ so you’ll have food. And I have Star Swirl’s book for when you can use magic again. But…please. Just promise me you won’t try to change things here. I…” she reaches up with a hoof and gently rubs that X of thick scars, as if reminding herself of whatever injury caused them, “…I don’t wanna see you get hurt too.”

It takes a few tries for Twilight to form a response. “Pinkie, I—“

“Pinkie Promise me. Please, Twilight.”

After a few moments, Twilight sighed and started making the appropriate motions. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

Pinkie nodded. Then smiled slightly. “You look ridiculous when you do that.”

“You thought it up!”

The two of them shared a quiet little laugh. And for a moment…one brief moment…Twilight started to feel like the old Pinkie was still in there somewhere.

And then Pinkie’s leg twitched, and she immediately stopped laughing.

Only moments later, someone knocked on the door.

Pinkie sped over to open it, while a totally-not-frightened Twilight simply stood in the middle of the library with no idea what to do. If everything Pinkie said was true, then she should probably run and hide. Then again, this disguise had a purpose, didn’t it?

Creeeeaaaak! “Oh, hey Lyra!”

‘Too late to run now,’

“Good morning, Pinkie. Who were you talking to?”

“Oh!” She turned aside and Lyra walked in to immediately take notice of Twilight. “Lyra, this is Darkest Night, but I just call her Nightie.”

Lyra offered her hoof, and she bumped it politely. “Hi, Lyra.”

“Hello, Ms. Night.”

“Anyway, what was it you needed?”

“I’m just picking up the medicine for Bon-bon. From yesterday, remember?”

“Of course! How could I forget? Lemme just go get it.” She leaves, leaving Twi alone with a very inquisitive-looking Lyra.

Lyra simply stared Twilight over, as if trying to put two and two together.

“Is something wrong, Ms. Lyra?”

“I’m…I’m sorry, this must sound so strange, but you look very familiar. Do I know you?”

Twilight shook her head, trying to keep a good poker face. “I wouldn’t think so.”

“Oh? Are you new here?”

“Indeed I am. Just got here last night, all the way from Fillydelphia.”

“Last night…? You…” she glances behind her, “You didn’t break curfew, did you?”

The clever thing to do would be to lie and say that it’s just a mix-up of phrasing. But instead, the notion of a curfew took Twilight too far off-guard. “Curfew? What curfew?”

“What…oh, Ms. Night, do you not know about the curfew?”

“No…should I have?”

“Well, I don’t know how they do things in Fillydelphia, but around here, the curfew starts at sundown. You’ll want to remember that. I’d hate to see the Sleepers get you.”

Twilight was all set to ask a million more questions, before she was interrupted by a well-timed Pinkie Pie. “There you are, Lyra. One drop of that with every meal, and she should recover.”

“Thank you, Pinkie. Oh, I hope the poor thing doesn’t have another miscarriage. We need that money badly.”

“Well, that medicine should help things. I won’t be in for a little while, but if she gets any worse or starts getting green freckles, let me know right away.”

“Alright. Where are you going, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Just up to Sweet Apple Acres. I need some more food, and you,” she points an accusing hoof at Twilight, “need to meet Applejack.”

“I-I do?”

“Yep.”

“Alright, well…stay safe, Pinkie.”

“You too.”