Friday, September 24, 2021

"Welcome, everypony, to the wonderful land of... Earth!" Twilight's words rang out over the assembled group. "...I was really expecting there to be some humans here. Looks like the random time difference is messing with us again. Oh well, the sun’s up already so we probably aren't too much too early." Twilight turned back to her companions instead of staring at the empty room. "Pinkie? Where did you get a cake?"

"I don't know. I was just thinking about cake, and then there it was! There was ice cream too." Pinkie smiled. "I like that Void place!" She tried to gobble up the entire cake in a single bite, but ended up smearing most of it across her face. She was then unable to just lick it off and had to resort to using her hooves to funnel cake into her mouth. Once that was finished, she pulled out an ice cream cone and stuck it on her forehead. "Look, I'm a unicorn! I can create yumminess out of nothing!"

“You were all supposed to clear your mind and not think of anything while in the Void. I know it’s hard to do, but it’s the safest way. You could have summoned something dangerous.”

Then Rainbow Dash spoke up, ignoring the antics going on nearby. "What's wrong with the air here? Why can't I fly?"

Twilight looked over to see her friend flapping her wings frantically, barely rising off the ground. "Oh! I hadn't thought about that before, but that makes sense," she said. "Magic doesn't work very well in this world. Pegasi use magic to fly because otherwise their wings are too small to carry them. In Equestria that's not an issue because there's a background of magic everywhere, but in this world... It's going to take a lot more effort than you're used to." She stopped to think for a moment, then started reciting a passage from one of her many books.

"Magic in Equestria has two forms: casting and channeling. Casting draws on a unicorn's inner reserves of magic energy to create an effect in the world. Within this category there are many classes of spells, requiring varying levels of... Let's skip this part, it's pretty unicorn-centric.
“Channeling is a fundamentally different type of spellcasting: instead of a unicorn using her own power to perform a spell, she draws on the power of Equestria itself, merely acting to direct it into the desired effect. It can be identified in others by looking at the eyes, which often go entirely white while the connection is open; the horn also glows white regardless of the unicorn’s usual color. Channelling is generally reserved for powerful spells which cannot be done via normal casting, as it is also much more dangerous. The magic background is so strong that if the flow is not tightly controlled it will burn the caster from within, in some cases even killing them.

“Non-unicorns do not have active casting powers, but they still possess internal magic –they use magic all the time, whether they realize it or not. They can even do a small amount of channeling, though their eyes rarely change. The reasons for this difference are still unknown. The most prominent example of such magic is the leaving of trails by pegasi when flying at high speed. Experiments done with Professor Fairy Day’s magic-suppressing cages indicate that pegasi in particular rely on the magic background much more than on their innate power. However, earth ponies rarely channel and derive their strength from their internal magic.

“And so, Rainbow, there’s your problem. This world doesn’t have any magic of its own; all we can use is what’s inside of us. And even that isn’t as easy as it should be, though I’ve noticed I've been getting better at it with time.”

“This place may not have magic,” Rarity interjected, “but it certainly has style. Just look at all this glass! So elegant and neat –though the walls could use a little more color.”

The six ponies heard the sound of a heavy door opening somewhere nearby, and thudding shut again a second later. There was a jingle of keys, and then the door into the room they were in opened as well. A single human walked in, who Twilight recognized as the one in charge of the science that was done here. “Hello,” Twilight said, trotting over to greet the human. “Your name is Star, correct? These are my friends. We am sorry we are too soon; time is not always the same.”

“It’s Csilla. In my native language, ‘csillag’ with a G means star, but I don’t translate my name to anything. How are you today?”

“Oh, good. Let me greet my friends you. They speak not this language.” Twilight went around to each pony in turn, introducing them to Dr. Ziegler. “How time-far is until Chryasor comes?”

"She told me nine, which is when most people get here. Should be just twenty minutes or so."

"Okay. While we wait, would you tell us about what exactly you do here? I know it is science, but I do not know it. It is different to our science."

"Of course! Are your friends interested as well? Can they understand anything I say?”

“They’re not really the sciencey type,” Twilight said, looking over her shoulder at the five ponies talking among themselves. “They can entertain themselves for a time.”

“Okay, then let’s begin. I don’t know how much physics you know, so I’ll start off simple. Basically, what we study here is the smallest building blocks of the universe. So, everything is made up of atoms, and there are lots of different kinds of atoms, all the chemical elements.” So far Twilight was understanding everything, nodding her approval. “But all atoms are made of just three kinds of particles: protons and neutrons in the center and electron clouds in the space around. Electrons can’t be divided further, but protons and neutrons can.”

“Wait, slow down… too many new words here. Sorry, Chry hasn’t taught me any of these technical terms. So, protons and neutrons, that’s the down lightning weight in the center, and the electrons are the up, the part that can leave the atom. They go around in circles, not indefinite clouds.”

“Lightning weight? You mean… electric charge? We call the two kinds positive and negative. Anyway, each proton and neutron is made up of three things we call quarks. Quarks stick to each other with the nuclear strong force, and that’s why atomic nuclei don’t fly apart from all the positive charges there. There are six types of quark but only two are used in normal matter; as far as we know, they’re fundamental and can’t be broken apart. But that doesn’t stop us from trying.

“Here at the SMAC, we take all these tiny particles and smack them together as hard as we can. We make them go really fast and run them into each other –all that energy can’t just disappear, so it goes into creating new particles. We have a lot of different detectors to measure various properties of the stuff that comes out, and we use this data to test theories of how the universe works at its most basic scale. We discover new fundamental particles and new interactions, and use these to revise our theories, and then the theories point us in new directions to either confirm or refute the proposed explanations.”

Twilight was confused. That description of physics didn’t match what she had learned in Equestria. “Are you sure that’s right?” she asked. “In Equestria we have never anything seen to suggest these protons and neutrons are made of anything smaller. They stay together with one side of the magic force: they have black color weight and electrons are white, and opposites push apart while the same pulls together. If we did this in Equestria, I don’t think it would make anything new. We would get space waves and a loud sound. And energy doesn’t need to stay the same; it can always transfer into the background.”

“Hmm… we have really good evidence for quarks and all the rest. Two quarks, a heavy lepton, and a neutrino, all that three times, then all the bosons –the photon, eight gluons, two Ws and the Z, the Higgs, the graviton… and then all the supersymmetric partners of everything, which we’re still looking for. But if you created a portal across the universe, you must know better than we do how it all works. Where did we go wrong?”

"Honestly, I have no idea what means most of what you just said. I came here with magic, and there is no magic here. Our worlds have similar rules, but I think not they are exactly the same. But both of us do not perfectly understand, so we could gain from studying each other's physics."

Twilight heard a sound behind her and turned around to find several humans, including Chryasor, now in the room. She had been so engrossed in conversation that she had not even noticed them enter. Her friends were all staring at her, waiting; as soon as she turned around, all five suddenly looked up at the clock.

“Two minutes eighteen seconds! Who was closest?”

“Ooh, that was me! I said two and a half minutes before she notices.”

Twilight facehoofed. “Really, girls? You’re ready to go, but instead of getting my attention you just wait, and take bets on how long it will be before I see you?” She stopped to think for a moment. “At least you didn’t just leave without me. Though now that I think of it, I might actually want to stay behind anyway. They do some interesting stuff here, stuff I’d like to learn more about.” Twilight turned back toward Dr. Ziegler. “May I stay and work with you today?”

“I’m sorry, what was that?” Dr. Ziegler had a confused expression on her face. Twilight realized she had forgotten to switch languages. I wonder how many languages these humans have, she thought. I should try to learn them all. But master one first before moving on, of course. Twilight repeated her question in English, and was told that the SMAC team would love to have her help out for a day.

“Are you sure you want to stay?” Chryasor asked. “There’s still a lot to see out there.”

Twilight nodded. “There’s a lot to learn in here too.”

“Well, okay then. We’ll come pick you up at five –or maybe earlier, I don’t know –then we can all go out for a nice Earth-style dinner. There’s a good vegetarian place not far from here.”

Chryasor and the five ponies started making their way toward the door. Before they left, Rainbow Dash turned around and said, “You know, Twilight, if you’re going to be here doing this egghead stuff all day anyway, could you work on making the travel easier? That black place was weird. Why do we need that? Can’t you just put it somewhere else?”

“I don’t know,” Twilight replied. “It just happened that way when I made the portal. Maybe there is a shortcut; I’ll see if any of the humans have ideas as well. After all, one end is in their world too so maybe their physics can help.”

Twilight’s friends filed out of the room, and she turned to look for a place to sit and someone to talk to. The black-maned one Twilight recognized was here, but she already had other humans to both sides. But there was an empty chair a few spaces over; Twilight quickly walked over and claimed it before one of the others sat down there.
She looked over at the human next to her; this one had a somewhat darker coat than Chry and the others, and seemed to be male. It was strange having to look at their chests instead of the shape of their heads. Twilight also found their lack of color variety interesting –maybe that was why they all wore clothes all the time, because without them they would all look too much alike. This one also wore glasses; she wondered if they enhanced creativity like the ones Rarity wore when making dresses.

Twilight introduced herself. She was finding conversation with humans a lot easier now, after all this practice. I’m sure I’m still making a ton of mistakes, she thought, but at least they seem to understand me most of the time. My friends all need to learn too –good thing they’ve got Chry to interpret today.

“Nice to meet you, Twilight. I’m Toán. But just call me First; everyone else does. Do you know all the others here? There’s Alex down at the end of the row, then Zai who I’m sure you’ve met, then my sister Ánh Sáng –people call her Second –then me and you. Looks like John isn’t here yet, or he’d have taken that chair you got. On your other side there’s Kenzie.”

“Wow, that’s a lot of people to remember. And that’s just one row. You must be working on something really difficult to need so many.”

“It certainly is. In theory, if we completed everything we set out to do, we would be able to predict literally everything. The entire universe. Everything that’s possible, we would know how it works. But that’s not going to happen any time soon. Unless you’d like to tell us.”

“Sorry, First, but I don’t know either. We’re still working on our own universe; we don’t know how things work in yours or the space between.”

“Space between? You mean… the braneworld hypothesis is correct and we’re confined to a four-manifold embedded injectively into a higher-dimensional space? And you’re from a different brane, crossing through the bulk into ours? That’s really cool. Or do you mean actual different universes –because that would be even cooler. A lot less useful, but cooler.”

Twilight struggled to comprehend what First had said. “What’s a ‘brain world’? I’m pretty sure Equestria and Earth are different universes. What do our brains have to do with it?”

“Branes are… well, it stands for membrane, like a sheet. They’re a generalization of strings to more dimensions. Some people think we live in one and there’s a bigger space outside. But practically by definition we can’t test that… except you’re here. But anyway, we should get to work on our actual project. The great machine down there is giving us data and we have to sort through it and hope we find something interesting.”

Twilight moved her chair closer and looked over First’s shoulder at his screen. She still didn’t understand how these ‘computers’, as they called them, worked without powerful magic. She had to remind herself several times to concentrate on what was displayed on the computers rather than on the devices themselves. First did his best to explain what was going on, but there was significant background knowledge about the human universe which Twilight lacked.

The laws of nature seemed to be very similar across the worlds up to a point, but as soon as the word ‘quantum’ appeared, everything became very strange. First spoke of energy only coming in little packets, rather than the complete range Twilight was used to. And the uncertainty! Fundamental limits on what could be known made Twilight kind of uncomfortable. And then there was the whole business with things being in two places at once… Eventually Twilight became more used to it, at least to the point where she could follow what was going on, if not completely believe it was real.

After a while, the conversation turned to Equestrian physics. There was only so much data analysis one could do at a time before needing a break. Twilight couldn’t help but think about what Rainbow Dash had said as she left that morning –the Void really was inconvenient, and it would be nice to bypass it. She introduced the problem to First, and together they began modelling the situation and calculating how best to proceed.

A short time later:

"Success! I think." Twilight looked up from her work. She had been writing equations for over an hour now, filling many pages with more and more complex and confusing symbols. "I think it's possible after all. We can cross worlds without going through the Void every time!" But she was speaking to a mostly empty room.

Twilight got up and trotted around to stretch her legs after sitting so long. A clock on the wall said 12:30. I guess the humans are all out getting lunch. Food would be good about now, Twilight thought. Chry and my friends must still be out seeing the city somewhere. I’ll pop over to Ponyville and bring something back. And then whenever they come back I can tell them the good news.

Twilight jumped through the portal and navigated back to Equestria with practiced ease. Soon, however, even that minimal effort would not be necessary anymore. Twilight walked up the basement stairs, hoping Spike hadn’t done anything foolish during her absence. Thankfully, there were no empty ice cream tubs laying around –at least, not in this room. She prepared a simple daisy sandwich and slowly munched on it while heading back downstairs.

Upon arriving back on Earth again, Twilight noticed that the clock had jumped forward a few minutes more than she would have expected. The rate of time flow between the worlds seemed to vary wildly, though so far she had not yet observed either running backwards relative to the other. She hoped it would stabilize with the worlds more directly in contact, but there was no way to be sure. Just then the main door opened, and in walked Chryasor, followed by the five ponies.

“You’re back early,” Twilight remarked.

“Yeah –have you seen the weather out there? We didn’t want to be walking around the city in that. And there are too many of us here to fit into my car.”

“Oh, I haven’t looked. But it’s good that you’re back. I think I’ve got a way to get rid of the Void travel every time.”

“Hmm, that’s good. Not needing such careful guiding for new people will be very useful, since I’m sure some world leaders here are going to want to see Equestria soon. Actually, I’m surprised they haven’t tried to barge in already.”

Twilight turned her attention to the ponies standing next to Chryasor. "Alright, let's do this. You five go to Equestria; I'll stay on this end. We need a magic-user in both worlds to pull this off. That means you, Rarity –we need you to handle the Equestrian end of this portal. Here's the instructions for the spell." Twilight lit up her horn and a scroll floated out of her saddlebag. Performing magic in this human world seemed easier now, at least in the vicinity of the portal. It was still nowhere near as easy as in Equestria, but she no longer became exhausted after the simplest levitation.

"Do you want me to guide you back across? I've gotten pretty good at it by now." Twilight offered to help her friends this last time, but the five ponies shook their heads. She had showed them well enough the first time. "Okay then, in two minutes I'll start the spell on this end. That gives you some time to get over there and prepare. Good luck, Rarity. We can do this!"

Twilight watched as her friends disappeared into the blackness. Her pony friends, that is. Chryasor was still here, and Twilight was starting to think of her as a friend as well. She waited patiently as the clock on the wall ticked its second hand around, then around again. It was time.

She walked over to the edge of the portal and carefully placed the tip of her horn just inside. She took a deep breath to calm herself and summoned up a surge of energy. Her horn began to glow, brighter and brighter as more magical energy flowed through it. From purple through a more pinkish lavender, all the way to a brilliant white with just a hint of pink left, so bright it cast shadows of humans working on the far wall. Any sparks given off at the tip were inside the Void and could not be seen, but still several humans looked away from their computers to watch what was going on behind them.

Twilight was concentrating as hard as she could on the spell. She blocked out all sights and sounds from around her and focused on Equestria, and on Rarity. She hoped her friend was doing the corresponding part on the other end. If the spell worked, then they should be able to sense each others' magic as the worlds got closer. Rarity's magic signature consisted of the clinking sound of silverware on a crystal glass and the prickly feeling of tiny needles not quite breaking the skin. So far, Twilight felt and heard nothing.

She was beginning to get tired. Too much magic at once, held for too long, in a place where all magic was weaker already. She held the spell a moment longer, tried one last pull toward Equestria, then let the magic fade. The spell hadn't worked, and now she had to find out why so she could fix it.

"Is that it? Can we just walk straight through now?" Chryasor wondered aloud.

Twilight turned around with a tired smile on her face. "No, sadly not. It didn't work."

"Why not? What happened?"

"That's what I need to find out. Magic is a complicated and precise business; any number of things could have gone wrong. I just hope my friends all made it to the other side. That would mean one of us just wasn't quite casting it right, or we just lacked the power. If they never got there at all..." She trailed off, preferring not to think about it. "I'm going to go over there and find out what happened on their end."

"Okay. I'll stay here for a bit. Good luck; easier travel would be really good to have."

Twilight bid the human farewell and stepped through the portal herself. To Equestria! she thought, visualizing the now familiar disk in her mind. Even after seeing it this many times, Equestria still looked strange from this outside perspective. Twilight couldn't explain why features appeared larger near the middle of the circle and vanished into points around the edge. Even more curious was the fact that the portal's end, her library, was in the exact center. Something seemed off about that, but sadly there were no books on the subject for Twilight to consult.

She hopped out the other end into the basement laboratory. To her great relief, her five friends, and Spike too, were all there waiting for her. Rarity was collapsed on the floor, and part of her mane looked singed. She was also sopping wet and shivering, which likely had something to do with the suspicious-looking empty bucket in the corner.

"Are you all right? What happened here?! Somepony go get her a blanket. And a towel. Or a towel and then a blanket."

"I'm on it!" Spike jumped to his feet and ran up the stairs. At the same time, Fluttershy made her way over to Twilight to explain, quietly, what had taken place.

"She tried to do it, she really did. I've never seen so much magic at once before –aside from you, of course. It's not her fault the spell failed. I mean, not to imply it was your fault or anything..." She trailed off in embarrassment. "I'm so sorry, we just don't know what went wrong. One second she was casting the spell–"

"And looking absolutely fabulous while doing so, I hope," Rarity interjected.

"Oh yes, of course. But she was doing her magic, all sparkly and glowy, and then suddenly she was on fire."

"But we put it out," said Rainbow Dash from across the room. "Well, Pinkie did. I don't know where she got the water."

"I have buckets of water hidden all over Equestria in case of flaming-pony emergency!" Pinkie declared triumphantly. "And now I have to go fill this one up again." She picked up the bucket handle in her mouth and bounced away up the stairs and outside.

Just then, Spike returned, carrying both a towel and a thick blanket. No, two blankets. And a pillow. Walking down the basement stairs while balancing that great stack of stuff in front of him, it was surprising he made it even halfway before tripping and tumbling down the rest of the stairs into a pile of fluffiness. Rarity was quickly dried off and made warm and comfortable.

"Spike, take a letter," Twilight said, and began to dictate what she wanted written. "Dear Princess Celestia, today I learned that you should not assume your friends are good at the same things that you are. Each of us is unique and different, each with our own skills, and it is good to respect that. While pushing our limits is good, we should not try to become somepony we are not –or make somepony else try to be us.” She almost told Spike to send the letter like that, but decided to add a bit more on the end. “Also Spike, tell the Princess that I'd like some magical help here, to review my calculations and help analyze the problem, and to recast this spell if we figure out how." She turned to Rarity. "You should rest. Try to avoid using magic for a while; after a burnout like this it can be painful."

Spike finished writing, rolled up the scroll, and sent it off in a blast of fire. The smoke had to travel all the way upstairs to find an open window to fly out of. Just a few minutes later, Spike coughed up a return letter. He unrolled it and read aloud to the group.

"Dear Twilight, I am sorry to hear about your magical troubles. I hope your friend feels better soon. This kind of magic is unfamiliar to me as well, and I would love to see your work myself. However, royal duties keep me very busy. I am sending a member of the Canterlot Magicians' Guild out to help you; I have one particular pony in mind who will be there as soon as she is available. P.S. Give your friend some hot tea; I have found that helps one recover faster."

Several hours later:

"You think maybe she forgot?" Rainbow Dash was slumped over a desk, propping her head up on one hoof.

"No, she'll come. Whoever she is; the Princess didn't say. She must have gotten tied up in other business. And you know, you don't have to stay here if you don't want to. Everypony else went home a while ago."

"Nah, you need the company. Don't go sitting around in a dusty basement all by yourself. Besides, I'm Loyalty; it's practically my job to stick by you." She yawned. "Even if it means missing my afternoon nap."

"Okay, I suppose I would go a little crazy down here with nopony to talk to. But it isn't dusty. Is my basement really dusty? I thought I cleaned in here just a week ago.”

“I'm sure you did... You really should invest in a nice cloud floor. They're soft, and warm –and self-cleaning! Any dirt is collected into the water droplets and rains out the bottom.”

“Sounds nice, but I'm not a pegasus or an alicorn. And I don't expect to suddenly turn into one either. Is that even possible? I don't think I've ever read about any cases of ponies suddenly sprouting wings before.”

Just then, there was a loud bang from outside, immediately followed by a knock on the front door. Twilight jumped up and ran up the stairs to go answer it. Rainbow Dash followed close behind, curious to see if this was the visitor they had been awaiting. Twilight pulled the library door open, and her eyes went wide in amazement.

“Princess Luna! What are you doing here?” she exclaimed.

“Greetings once again, Twilight Sparkle! And... Rainbow Dash, I believe?” A familiar voice came booming out. “I was told that you hath a magical mishap and required assistance. I am here to assist.”

“Oh, um, well then. Princess Celestia told me she was sending a member of the Canterlot Magicians' Guild.” Twilight was a little flustered, but continued on. “I thought she might send Thunderclap, or maybe old Amber Eye. I never expected you, Princess.”

“But we –I am a member of the Magicians' Guild. Verily, I am the guildmaster! 'Tis just an honorary position, to be sure, but an important one nonetheless. As the original bearer of the Element of Magic, I suppose they thought it fitting to nominate me. I also lead the Astronomers' Guild, which makes sense, though I haven't a clue why I am honorary guildmaster for the Sailors' Guild, or the Basket Weavers'.”

“Oh, well, come on in. The portal's just downstairs.”

Twilight trotted back down to the basement laboratory, Rainbow Dash still following. Princess Luna walked through the door and shut it behind her, then leaped from the top step and spread her wings, spiraling downward onto the basement floor.

“Here are all my calculations,” Twilight said, picking up an enormous stack of papers and levitating them over next to Luna. “The only thing I'm really unsure about is the parameters for the Void, though if you could check the rest too that would be great. Right now I'm using the magic vacuum permittivity constant, and assuming the speed of magic is the same everywhere.

"The spell is designed as a kind of mix between a summoning and a mass teleport. We want to bring the other side to us and push our side to them at the same time. I was thinking it would be easier to focus on the other pony rather than the other world, and bringing us together from opposite sides would result in the portal shortening."

"Interesting idea... What's this part over here? This doesn't look like either summoning or teleportation." Luna flipped through the pages and pulled out one from the middle.

"Oh, yeah. I suppose I did create a bit of my own there." Twilight looked over sheepishly at the Princess. "That's okay, isn't it?"

"Of course! That section is what holds it all together. I am somewhat worried about this integral here, however. Are you certain that it converges?"

"I don't think it does –but I also don't think it really needs to. Leaving one tiny flaw is okay, so we can get back into the Void if we want to. There's still a lot to study in there as well.”

Luna studied the calculations a while longer, still not quite convinced it would work as intended. “Have you considered adding an incantation? It would serve to stabilize the spell and prevent unwanted effects. I cannot understand why ponies do not use them anymore; they really do help.”

“Hmm, okay...” Twilight grabbed a quill and scribbled a few lines onto the bottom of the page Luna was looking at. “How does that sound? Do we have to say the same thing on both ends or can it be different?”

“It should work either way. And I believe we are ready now –that incantation will do very nicely. It reminds me of Starswirl, actually; my sister and I are amazed at how similar you two are sometimes. If you would like to cross over now, we shall begin the spell momentarily. Rainbow Dash, stand back, and no distractions please.” Luna looked over the spell one last time, then sat the papers down on a table and walked over to the edge of the portal.

Twilight stepped out of the portal into Earth, expecting to see an empty room, but all the humans who were there when she had left were still present. "Hello again," she said. "I thought you'd all have gone home by now."

"Hello, Twilight!" Chryasor got up from a nearby table and walked over next to the unicorn. "It's only been an hour since you left. I've just been talking to some of these people here. Did you get the spell sorted out?"

"I think so. We're ready to try it again now. Have everypony stand well back; we're not entirely sure what other effects there could be." Twilight turned around and placed the tip of her horn within the blackness again. "Alright, let's do this.” She took a deep breath, lit up her horn with the first trickle of power, and began the incantation. “From one to another, another to one: two worlds' destinies no longer alone, intertwined. Let us come together, our peoples as one, in learning and in love, in friendship without end!”

Twilight increased the magic flux through her horn, bringing its glow just to the border between purple and white, and sent out her first call toward the other end. She could feel an answering ping from Luna, transmitted instantaneously across the indeterminate distance of the Void, and she worked to isolate that from all the other sensations around her. Luna’s magic felt like a cool breeze over wings –a strange sensation for a unicorn –combined with a flowery smell Twilight could not quite identify. The same lightning that underlay Celestia’s magic was present here as well, but it seemed closer to the surface, not as suppressed. Twilight tried to narrow her broadcast of magical energy and focus it in the direction of Equestria –not that direction really had any meaning in the space between universes, but in Twilight's mind it made sense. She sent out a stronger pulse, again receiving a confirmation and reply from the other side.

Okay, we've definitely found each other, she thought. Now to come together. Twilight focused as hard as she could on Princess Luna, maintaining her part of the magical lock between them, and mentally pulled as if trying to levitate the pony to her. She felt a tingling sensation all over her body, and the portal in front of her took on a slight blue glow over top of its infinite black. Twilight concentrated even harder, practically screaming her thoughts out across the emptiness. Princess Luna! Come to me! Come together!

A point of light appeared in the center of the black region, slowly growing outward. Twilight felt as if she were zooming down a long tunnel, and she closed her eyes to keep it from distracting her. Almost there, she thought. We can do this! She leaned forward a little to make sure her horn wouldn’t accidentally break contact with the portal. Surely the ends had to be almost connected by now. She resisted the temptation to open her eyes and look, fearing she would lose her concentration at the last moment.

Twilight felt something solid click against her horn. The sense of Luna’s magic signature was overpowering now. She felt dizzy and opened her eyes to see if everything was alright. This only made things worse, as the room around her seemed to have vanished. She felt an overwhelming sense of loneliness. She looked up and saw Equestria in the sky; the floor had turned to gray, dusty stone. Twilight was confused. But then, without warning, the loneliness faded away, leaving the confusion to grow in its place.

The ground became checkered with shades of blue. Trees and buildings tumbled aimlessly through the air. Twilight was wearing her Element of Magic, and carrying the Elements of Honesty and Generosity as well. Beside her, her older brother Shining Armor carried the other three. No, not Shining Armor, her sister. Twilight didn’t have a sister. But she felt like she should…

For some reason the thought of having a sister made Twilight inordinately angry. The chaos all around faded, and the throne room of the Canterlot palace appeared around her. Not Canterlot, something didn’t seem right… But her sister was there, challenging her. Taunting her. Laughing in her face about how she was better, how their subjects liked her more. Subjects? Twilight had friends, not subjects.

Suddenly, a new presence materialized behind her. No! it screamed. Not here! Get out! Twilight was picked up by some unknown force and hurled backwards; the walls faded out before she crashed into them. She picked herself up off the ground –a ground which was now covered in grass. There was a book open in front of her, a book she recognized as one of her textbooks from magic school. She remembered this place, this book… but there was somepony else here, and Twilight had always studied alone.

Twilight turned around to look, but there was nopony there. Instead, there was a cart with a spotted purple egg sitting on it, along with a sign indicating the egg was supposed to be opened. She felt the eyes of the magic school admissions judges upon her, and again there seemed to be one more pony there than she remembered, standing beside her and just out of view. Why am I remembering all this now? Twilight wondered. What happened to the outside world, the portal, the spell? A new wave of confusion washed over her, bringing with it fear and helplessness.

And then the scene changed again, to something which only amplified the feelings she was having. Twilight stood surrounded by black crystals at the top of Sombra’s tower, trapped and unable to carry out her mission. And somepony else was with her, sharing in the despair. Twilight was reliving one of her worst moments, and even though she knew that this crystal cage was no more than a memory, she was also trapped in whatever strange flashback phenomenon this was. Could she ever get out, or was she doomed to relive random moments of her life forever? And some of the scenes had seemed so wrong, as if they weren’t even her memories at all. Twilight wanted to get out. She shook her head to try to clear it, but nothing changed. With fear building up in her throat, she reflexively pulled back–

–and blinked in the bright light of the human laboratory. She found herself staring into Princess Luna’s face, barely a hoof-width away. She stumbled a step back so they weren’t so awkwardly close, and asked, “What was that? What happened to me? The spell was working, and then suddenly… I don’t know. I saw…”

“You saw me,” Luna said, looking rather shaken as well. “And I saw you. Our entire lives… but undirected, flashing between moments of the strongest, most pure emotions.”

“But how? Why did this happen?”

“Our horns touched. We both had them inside the portal for the spell, so when the ends came together they must have crossed.”

“But… that shouldn’t… I’m sure I’ve accidentally bumped into somepony before and knocked horns, and I’ve never had that happen.”

“It wouldn’t have. It did here because we were both using magic at the time. Magic which was focused on each other. I am sorry for what has happened, Twilight Sparkle. I should have recognized it in the spell design and said something. I hope thou wilt not think any less of me.”

“Why would I? I should be worried you’ll think less of me, after seeing me like that. On the tower, how completely useless I was.”

“I saw terrible things which were done to you. You saw terrible things that I have done to others. It is not the same.” Luna looked down at the floor. “After everything I’ve done… why am I still here, still allowed to rule? My sister too –why does anypony still trust us to do what’s good?”

Twilight stepped up and gave Luna a big hug. “Oh, Princess, don’t say such things. The past is… well, it’s the past. It’s gone. Learn from it, of course, but you can’t dwell on it forever. You’re carrying so many experiences with you, and they’re weighing you down –things ponies today have never seen. The rest of us are not immortal; we’ve only seen you these last three years. Nopony is judging you for past deeds. You can let it go.”

“Let it go? How? I’ve tried. I can’t go back and undo it, I can’t just forget. But as you saw, it is all still there.” Luna sighed. “I apologize for throwing you out of there so violently. Some places in my mind even I dare not go anymore. Like that day…”

Twilight’s eyes went wide with realization. “That was the day you… oh. But you were forgiven, you’ve returned now. You can move on.”

“But I can’t. It always comes back, haunting me. What if I had done some action differently, or some other? And there’s also…” Luna’s voice dropped to a whisper. “There’s still some part of me that thinks that I was right. That I should have fought harder. That I should do it again.” Twilight could only stare in shock as Luna spoke. "Because I could do it again. It would even be easier now. Neither I nor Celestia can wield the Elements now; if I transformed again I could kill her before you arrived to stop me. And if just a single one of your friends were incapacitated or missing, all of you would be powerless as well. I beg of you, Twilight Sparkle, do not let me do this! Do not let me become a monster again!"

Twilight looked up into the Princess’s face and was surprised yet again. Was Luna… crying? Twilight was speechless. She had no idea how to respond. Nothing like this appeared on her social interactions flowchart, but she didn’t want to just stare awkwardly when there was clearly a pony in need. She decided to go for another hug, this time not letting go. Hugs made everything better, right?

A voice came from behind, calling for her attention. “Hey Twilight, is everything okay there? I see your spell worked, but your partner there doesn’t look like she’s doing so well. Are you hurt? The people here want to talk to you; apparently their measurements started going crazy when the portal locked in.” Twilight knew she ought to pay attention, but she tuned out Chryasor’s voice. Taking care of her Princess was more important.

Author's Note

I was originally intending to follow the Mane 6 on this chapter, but I wrote the spellcasting scene first and it got so long that I decided to split this into two chapters and add more Twilight. The next one will take place at the same time as this chapter.