The Magic Within

Twilight Sparkle: A Perfectly Ordinary Figurine

Darkness.

Everything had been darkness. Twilight didn't know how long it had all been darkness. There was one day long ago when there was light. She tried to look around, but all was darkness.

Am I dead?

It was something Twilight questioned regularly. Time had no meaning in the darkness. She couldn't even remember the last time she had seen light. Did she have friends when she was in the light? Or had she always been alone?

The darkness had no answer. Her thoughts remained her own.

"Awaken, my little pony, and see the new world. A companion is waiting to meet you, and we shall see the story unfurl."

The darkness spoke to her, Twilight's eyes darted around, trying to find the source of the voice. In the distant darkness, there was a figure she almost hadn't seen. Her body floated through the darkness towards it. "Zecora...?" Where did she know that name from? It came out of her mouth without even she realizing it.

The zebra smirked. "Awaken." She said, and smacked Twilight across the face.

"Ow!" Twilight rubbed her face. Well, it seemed like it hurt, but suddenly there was no pain anymore. She looked around. Twilight was sitting on a small table surrounded by candles that looked like they had recently been put out. The rest of the room was filled with tiki masks, urns, and a large cauldron on one side. A door closed, Twilight yelped out as she saw a large creature, dark like chocolate and very large, maybe even bigger than the Ursa Major.

"Don't be afraid, my little pony. My name is Zelna." The creature spoke. It threw Twilight off-guard.

"Um, hello?"

"What, do you not have a name?" The creature named Zelna gave her a worried look.

"Oh, it's Twilight Sparkle, sorry..." Twilight was unsure if she would rather have the darkness than this. "Um, was I dead just now? What was that darkness?"

"I do not know what you experienced, Twilight. Your spirit has been lost for many thousand years, so you may not be accustomed to 'living' again." Zelna paused as she saw Twilight's puzzled look. "The world has changed much. The Equestria you knew is long gone, as are all of the ponies."

"No..." Twilight took this hard. She sat down and tried to comprehend what Zelna was saying. "The- the Princess and Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash and everypony, gone?" The names came to her memory, but she didn't know the meaning.

"Well, not quite. Your friends are like you, in a stasis, waiting for the right time to reawaken in this new world." Zelna pulled out a chest from underneath the platform where Twilight was standing. She opened the chest for Twilight to see. Inside were Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie, all with not moving one bit, not even a whisper of breath. Seeing her friends, she was able to remember everything. The adventures in Equestria, the Elements of Harmony, and all of the fun she had with her friends. What had happened?

"What... what is this? And where is Fluttershy? And how did I get out of that?" So many questions, but were there answers? "And why are we so small?"

"One question at a time, please. Like I said, the Equestria that you know is gone. The age of ponies came to an end long ago, and in their place rose up the humans. Over time, the humans and everything around them have become much physically larger because they stopped using magic long ago. Everything magical remained small it seems, I do not know why. There are many things I still do not know. As for your friends and how I came by you, that is a unique story. About 30 years ago, someone from a toy company found you while on a jog through some uninhabited forests. To her, you looked like toy ponies that someone had left behind on accident. It inspired her to make her own set of ponies. Flash forward to two years ago now. Someone else at this company finds you six in a vault once again, and makes a TV show based off of you six specifically. I believe it was some kind of divine intervention that caused the inspiration behind this program, but it became a detailed account of the very real lives you once lived. The show was a huge success, and now we are here. You and your friends were sold in a variety of auctions and passed through many hands before I finally recollected all of you."

Twilight was speechless. Was this all true? How could it be? "Then, how am I back? And you still haven't told me where Fluttershy is."

"The TV show did more than just entertain people, it returned some magic into their hearts. But because humans are so unused to magic after so many years, they do not know how to harness it. I was given a... gift, shall we say, that let me find humans who have that magic. I can use their magic to restore you to life, but there are some rules."

"Why am I getting the feeling that you're going to tell me something bad?"

"You have a psychic connection with this young man now, you can't tell as of yet because he slumbers, but when he wakes it will be quite obvious. Also, until the magic in his heart truly awakens, he can not comprehend you being anything other than a toy. When he is with you, you will be unable to move or talk, until he finally accepts magic as real. Finally, if he loses that magic in his heart, then you will return to your stasis. Poor Pinkie Pie here as already lost three of her 'Alters' as I call them."

"That's terrible... so does this mean that Fluttershy is..."

"Yes, Fluttershy is awake as well right now. You may not be able to see her for awhile, who knows. Until your Alter accepts magic, you won't have much free reign."

What a strange world to wake in... thought Twilight. "Maybe I can make the best of this. I'm sure there's plenty of new books for me to read, right? Maybe someday all of us will be awake again..."

"That's the spirit. Don't give up your hope. When you've given up hope, then nopony has hope." Zelna replaced the chest of the other mares back under the table, to Twilight's dismay. "It's safe for them here. I spent much of the past two years finding them, and I don't want to lose them now."

"Alright, is there anything I need to do?"

"You must help your Alter discover magic. I've observed the other ponies trying, and learned that a straightforward approach doesn't work. You have to remember that he doesn't know you're alive, and thus doing things too out of the ordinary will make him question his sanity."

"Sounds rough... Are you sure I can handle it?"

"No, but you don't have much choice in the matter." Zelna looked out a window, "It's nearly morning, we'll see how well you do." Despite any further protesting from Twilight, she was lifted into a box. The box became pitch black as the lid closed over her. Nothing to do now but wait...

“Good morning, Mr. Miller. I give a gift to all of my tenants, and here is yours, I made it last night after my chores.”  Twilight stirred, that was Zelna's voice coming from beyond the box. “Don’t worry, nobody else knows.”

Some movement later and the box lid was lifted. Twilight tried to shield her eyes from the sudden light, but she couldn't move her hooves! "When he is with you, you will be unable to move or talk, until he finally accepts magic as real." That's what Zelna said, right? She was lifted out of the box, her eyes coming into contact with another human. This one was much taller and thinner than Zelna, and he had a pale complexion compared to Zelna's chocolate skin. The human looked around every inch of Twilight. Hey! That's really rude! she thought, as he started to lift her tail. If Twilight were able to blush, she would have, but the human stopped and shook his head, as if he regretted to even think that.

Wait, Zelna said that I have some kind of psychic connection with him... Did I just stop him from doing that? Regardless, it looked like the young man no longer had any plans to get a good look at Twilight's flank. He set her down on a cushy surface, a bed maybe? Twilight couldn't exactly turn her head and look. For the next few hours, all she could see was the young man unpacking boxes.

Twilight was relocated to a desk after the man finished unpacking most of his stuff. The room Twilight was now in looked gorgeous. The walls were painted like the night sky, as if somepony, er someone, had painted the room specifically for her. In her mind, she sighed. There didn't seem to be any nights of carefree stargazing in sight. Where would she even find a telescope her size now.

The human patted her head a couple of times. Twilight enjoyed this affection much more than whatever was going on in his head earlier. "Mr. Miller!" Oh, that sounded like Zelna again. "We're having lunch on the roof if you want to join us!" The human, Miller was his name then? Miller gave Twilight another pat on the head before finally leaving the room.

Twilight's body unstiffened, she was able to move again. As she finally got to look around the room, she remembered Zelna's words of warning: "You have to remember that he doesn't know you're alive, and thus doing things too out of the ordinary will make him question his sanity." Whatever she was going to do, she had to make sure that she did- books.

There were huge books right next to her, even if they were pony-sized they were still considerably larger than most books from the library. She levitated the book on top open, and hopped onto it to read. It described the nature of actions and energy in the world, something Twilight had never stopped to think about. Curious, she continued reading, having to jump down from the book in order to turn to the next page. She quickly lost track of the time.

Physics, motion, energy, and force! They had always been in the world, but back in Equestria, nopony seemed to really worry about "science" like this. If there was something that somepony didn't understand, it was easy enough to just say that magic caused it. Twilight wondered if these terms really were magic, but humans had made them up as part of their history of forgetting about magic. She continued to read the book, absorbing all of the knowledge inside of it.

Suddenly, the door behind her open, and Twilight froze in place once more. "Hey, cool! Twilight Sparkle!" He... he knows my name? Oh right, that TV show thing Zelna was talking about. "Ms. Zelna gave me a Fluttershy. I like how you put her on this Physics book as if she were reading it." Fluttershy? So this must be her Alter. The man lifted her up, giving her a chance to look at his face. His mane was longer than Miller's, and he wore glasses.

Miller took Twilight out of the new guy's hands quickly. "What do you mean reading- when did I open this book?" he closed the book Twilight had been reading and set her on top of it, not thinking twice about it, thankfully. "I've got to unpack the rest of this stuff, so I'll talk to you later, Nick."

"Sure Eddy, don't forget you can ask me for help any time." The other man left. So, Eddy Miller was her Alter's name. He patted her once more on the head before he went back to unpacking. Maybe this wouldn't be such a bad life after all.