That Which Darkness Sends

Twilight, oddly enough, did not feel dead. She felt normal, laying down just like she normally would. She opened her eyes, and sure enough, she was not dead. She was laying on a green field of grass, and there appeared to be a creek running down in front of her. Next to her, she saw an odd-looking lavender filly who looked just as puzzled as Twilight.

Talk about déjà vu.

"Spike, are you in there?" Twilight asked.

The filly sat there, agape. When she did speak, it was something Twilight thought she would never hear.

"Twilight... did we just die... for a third time?"

Twilight hung her head. "I don't know, Spike. Let's head to the Dream Castle."

They didn't get very far before they heard a familiar cry: "It's the Stratadons!" The two ponies once again his in the river as they saw the Stratadons come down and snatch up a unicorn.

It's happening just as it did before, Twilight figured out. The Stratadons once again flew away, the dark clouds pulled back, and the pink body of Firefly once again took to the sky.

The two crested the hill and saw the others already grouped. Twilight was relieved that Pinkie Pie was there too. She walked up to Typer, who seemed to be going out of his mind.

When he calmed down, he started to explain another working of the universe. "Too much dark magic overwhelmed the balance and we got sent here again. Like last time, we seemed to have retained our memories."

"So what you're saying is that every time the Rainbows are unleashed," Fluttershy asked, "we get sent back here?"

"Theoretically, if the RoD wins, then we get sent back," Tesla said. "If the RoL wins, light restores the balance and we go back to the future." She paused. "Theoretically."

"Great," Twilight said negatively. "So life is a big waiting game. Any ideas of how to beat Tirek?"

The group was interrupted by a loud landing by Rainbow Dash. Megan dismounted and stared in awe at her surroundings, just like last time. Rainbow, however, was apparently very annoyed at something.

"All progress with Megan restarts every time we come back, and if I have to sing that stupid song one more time, I'm gonna-"

Once again, thunder came out of nowhere and Stratadons came in for another attack. Everypony protected Megan and Twilight this time, so they didn't get carried off. Another random pony did though. The Stratadons left and everything was safe once more.

"So," Typer asked. "Want to do it the same way we did it last time?"

* * *

The group decided to try defeating Tirek exactly as Typer's 'historical documents' (illegal black market books) said to do. They got all the way to the Mushromp before discovering the first hiccup.

"-unless you want to stumble around in the dark for all eternity," the Moochick was saying.

A crack of thunder echoed throughout the land. A dark shape was rocketing toward the moon.

"That's him!" the Moochick exclaimed. "Tirek is going to bring about The Night That Never Ends! Quickly, come inside!" The Moochick ran inside his house, motioning for the others to follow.

The door slammed shut just as the thick fog from the Darkness covered the house. The Moochick reached into his pocket and pulled out the Light's locket. He pressed it to the door, and a wave of light washed over the house.

"We should be safe from the Night for now. If no one opens this door or any windows, we could last here forever."

"What if we run out of food?" Applejack asked.

"There is an entire farming area downstairs, as well as enough rooms for each of you," the Moochick explained. "I have been preparing for this for a long time."

"Sweet! I did not read about this!" Typer exclaimed. "See Twilight? I told you there would be a time where we could study this world."

"No, you didn't," Twilight deadpanned.

"Yes I did. I said that, like, three seconds ago."

* * *

After the first couple of day periods, everyone got into a pretty good routine. Each being would do their own chores, eat breakfast, then do what they wanted for ten hours before eating dinner and going to bed. Since there was no 'day' or 'night' anymore, they just went by twenty-four hour long 'day' periods.

Megan had been filled in on what was happening. The time machine, the body switching, all of it, and she had taken it pretty well.

"WHAT?" she yelled. "You took me away from my home, just to keep me in a cramped house for the rest of my life?"

"Relax," Typer said. "If one of us opens any way to the outside, we all go back in time to before this all happened, an you would have no memory of this. We are just here this time to practice magic and study. You can help too. Just find a spellbook and somehow learn how to use magic." Megan grumbled and grabbed a random book off the shelf of the nearby bookcase. "That's better, isn't it? Okay, Twilight. Are you sure you can't use magic?"

"No." Twilight shook her head. "The closest I got was short-ranged teleportation, and I'm not even sure how I did that."

A cheery voice spoke up from nearby. "Ooh, this book says that Twilight could teleport by saying 'I wish' three times."

"Pinkie, how did you... You know what? I don't want to know. So, I wish 'I wish', right? I wish, I wish, I wish."

* * *

001.EVR - 10:37

Begin recording

Twilight taps the lens. "What is it? Is it on?"

"It's a camera, but it records video." Typer walks within view. "I'm thinking of calling it a 'video camera'. I'm also working on a computational device to view the videos better."

"What will you call it?"

"A 'computer'."

"Oh. So, does this camera work?"

"Yeah. You press this button to start and stop recording. This light tells if it's on."

"The light is on, so the camera is on, right?" Twilight stands in the center of the room. "Okay. This is teleportation test one. I wish, I wish, I wish."

A flash of light, and Twilight disappears from the field of vision.

"OH GOD TWILIGHT YOU'RE IN THE WALL!!!"

End recording

* * *

036.EVR - 13:04

Begin recording

Twilight once again stands in front of the camera. "Teleportation test 4. I wish, I wish, I wish."

A flash can be seen, but then the view goes dark.

"Good job, Twilight," Typer commended. "That was your first successful teleport."

"Yay! I went from the middle of the room to..." Twilight pauses. "Isn't this where the camera is supposed to be?"

One hoofstep can be heard, then Twilight falls to the ground with an 'oof'. Lens cracks.

"Typer... I think I found it..."

End recording

* * *

089.EVR - 12:14

Begin recording

Twilight is conversing with Megan. Typer tells both of them to get ready. He and Megan walk back to the far wall.

"Teleportation test number eighty-nine," Twilight says. "I wish, I wish, I wish."

Twilight vanishes and reappears next to Megan, rotated at an angle so that Twilight's right foreleg is close to Megan's right arm. Maybe a bit too close.

Megan shakes her arm, and Twilight's leg follows the same motion. "Err... Twilight? I think your foreleg is in my arm."

"I... I think you may be right," Twilight responds. "I'll pull left if you go right."

"Agreed."

The two girls pull, and, after a couple of seconds, their arms separate. After silently screaming in pain, they hold up their forelimbs to the camera. Megan's arm has a patch of fur a couple of inches wide with the same hue of Twilight's. Twilight's foreleg has bare skin the same size in the same place.

Typer suggests that they should probably stop recording.

End recording

* * *

154.EVR - 22:39

Begin recording

Twilight has frazzled mane. The other eight ponies and Megan are standing far away, against the wall.

Applejack yawns. "Why'd we need to be here, Twilight? It's awfully late..."

Twilight ignores Applejack. "Test 154! Girls, Harmony Formation!"

"Uh... What?" Fluttershy asks.

"Twilight thinks she can amplify her magic if all the Elements are involved," Tesla states. "The rest of us are going to stand back, because after that one time we didn't, yeah."

The five ponies reluctantly gather around Twilight. Twilight says the magic words, and the Elements' eyes glow. The Harmony Rainbow is summoned, effectively obliterating the entire house in a multicolored explosion. The Darkness crushes them to oblivion.

End recording