Late at night when Spike was put to bed and her ink pot had run dry, Twilight Sparkle pushed herself away from her desk and sighed. The soft sound bounced against the crystal. Echoing off the ceiling and the immaculate glittering glass that made her personal study sparkle before shouting right back into her ear as if another pony was behind her.
Twilight jumped to her hooves, her lips parting to shriek when she turned her head and saw nothing behind her. Of course, it was good that there was nothing behind her. She slammed her lips together, refusing to let a noise escape. That would mean that her castle, the Friendship Spire, was haunted and that wouldn't mean anything good at all. Not that Twilight had any thoughts the castle was haunted in the first place.
That would be unscientific to ascribe to supernatural phenomena without any proof.
'And there was no proof.' Twilight thought to herself. Not any that she could take into the day.
For these past couple of weeks, Twilight had gained herself a hobby. More of a habit if she had to explain this to anyone who was willing to listen to her... ramble about the castle. And no one would hear her ramble because this wasn't something you just talked about without... having enough information to form a opinion. As in Twilight wasn't ready to say whether or not this was something that she should mention to anyone or more specifically Princess Celestia. Not yet. Twilight was now a princess and this was her castle, her domain above all things.
This was something she alone had to... study.
Twilight swept her eyes over the desk, re-reading the last few lines she wrote of a report that could be pushed off to tomorrow. Using the last bit of ink dripping off the quill, Twilight wrote a note to herself. A simple page number and an abbreviation of the horribly inaccurate historical fiction, 23 Methods of Invoking Peace According To Queen-killer Chalice, was written on a pad and then sat aside.
She took a deep breath and then squealed a short, happy cry as she gave in to the bundle of energy rocking her restless hooves. It was time to study. Twilight opened her drawer and pulled up the false plank, taking out her most interesting creation of late. It was only a map. A map made of many maps. Created with simple parchment and standard ink she bought from Davenport's Quills and Sofas but it was a map of rooms and hallways... That did not exist...
Twilight levitated the map to the desktop and then rested her hoof in the center. “As scientific as I may be, I shall respect mysteries as they are seen,” she recited, her voice turning giddy.
In a sense, she was giving herself permission not to question the unknown. If Princess Celestia saw her now, Twilight shuddered and took a nervous glance. She was alone. No guests. No friends. Nothing needing her immediate attention. Twilight flipped the map over, gazing at her hasty and efficient work; the lines drawn, the places invisible during the day and the tunnels that went far, far into the dark.
And it still wasn't everything. Not yet. Twilight could tell that there had to be so much more.
Keeping the map open and floating by her side, Twilight moved around her desk and pulled out with her teeth a metal oil lamp. She wiped the sides of the dusty glass and opened the small hatchet, blowing her breath inside while she lit the candle wick. The lamp came to life, a roaring orange glow with splotches of yellow and purple magic inside.
Twilight sat the lamp down and had a thought to herself- something she indulged in the late hour -; what did she want to do tonight? With her lamp and her ever-expanding map, she could go off into the castle but she had to reasonable about this.
She didn't want to spend the whole night wandering.
But that is exactly would happen if she went to her room to gather her saddlebags. But she didn't want to go bare either; carrying her lamp with her magic or with her muzzle always made her get sluggish after a while. She would get distracted by walking instead of recording where she went. And it seemed, she would slowly began to walk in circles which was no fun way to spend a night she could have been doing anything else.
Ah, she just had the perfect idea.
Twilight walked to her tiny closet and opened the door. Clothing and books that she hadn't gotten around to organizing flew out, momentary burying her in a sea of her own idleness. She flexed her wings, knocking off the dictionaries and striped socks Pinkie Pie told her she would eventually find a use for.
Twilight shuffled through the pile until she came across it. A stylish belt and harness that was a part of a dress ensemble Rarity wanted her to try on a few weeks ago. Twilight remembered the dress but she couldn't find the custom-made harness, even with Rarity's help, to return.
She told Rarity the same thing her mother had told her at the ripe age of closet-destroying foal, “If it's not here now, it will be when it's done its use.” But that involved stomach pumping and Twilight chose not to tell Rarity that thanks to Spike's adamant nodding that she shut her mouth about that. Twilight listened but Spike couldn't tell her if Rarity would definitely have the same reaction as Moondancer. Turning green and hiding a face between hooves.
Twilight quickly attached the harness and tightened the notches on the belt until it felt snug. Then she stepped free of the pile, shoving all of the mess back into the closet with a quick spell. Twilight levitated the lamp over to her side. Hooked it to the harness. Her body tilted a little, unused to the weight but Twilight unfurled her wings and took off.
Twilight tried often not to fly indoors. She couldn't trust the ceilings to not end her night thanks to a well-placed thump to the back of the skull. Like the night before last. But technically, this wasn't flying. Rainbow Dash might call it cheating but gliding was Twilight's speed. Her wings lifted her off the ground with every other thump of her hooves pounding the floor, increasing the space reached than what she could claim running alone.
She sprinted down a few hallways, passed a corridor and fell over her hooves. She slid along the glossy floor, her derriere perched in the air as she groaned to herself. Maybe gliding was cheating because flying never made her feel so bad. When her body met carpet, Twilight rested. Huffing to catch her breath as she saw the sky through one of her wide arching windows.
The moon had yet to reach the middle of the sky.
Twilight relaxed. She had plenty of time to explore and get some shut-eye when she was done. Twilight got back on her hooves and then she was gone, strutting briskly through doors and hallways until she reached the threshold... The place that shouldn't exist.
Finally through a hallway through a door through a corridor and now to a room which should lead nowhere, she had found what shouldn't be. Twilight brought out her map, checking it and what was in front of her eyes. It was the same impossible structure that appeared for every night Twilight decided to check. Twilight put her map away into the harness strap and approached, slowly bending forward until her snout was inches from kissing it. It being a pair of stairs, leading down into the darkness.
Twilight brushed her hoof against the cold marble, expecting to feel something. She ran through the possibilities: the warm touch of someone who must have discovered this long before her or magic pulsating within the stones or something sinister hiding in these walls. All she felt was marble and stone and she giggled because ah, she didn't expect anything different.
Of course, these stairs couldn't lead anywhere logically speaking. They shouldn't lead anywhere based off their size and length of the room they sat in. They would make sense had Twilight's castle came with a basement and some tunnels deep in the ground. And of course, these stairs and this room according to Twilight's personal and thorough measurements and mapping during the day, rested right over the throne room. The stairs should have ended in space or made a hole in where a large chandelier hung in the throne room. But it didn't.
It went somewhere else entirely.
Twilight stood up and ran her hoof along the wall, watching as dirt crumbled and cracked. Her castle was made of crystal and yet this was of soil and stone that wouldn't expect outside of a cave. Twilight allowed herself a moment of reverie.
Yes, this was a mystery. A anomaly. Should she say a unexplained phenomena?
Then with that ritual done, she strutted down the staircase. Her head held high with a swagger that had her smiling. The further she went, the more dense that darkness became. First like steam and then becoming like fog, splitting apart as she passed through. Her oil lamp clattered against her side, swinging into the metal buckles and ringing out. The temperature grew colder. Twilight saw her breath and wiggled her nose at it. A brisk chill ran down her spine but not enough to make her wish for a scarf. Or even stop. Ever stop.
Today, she had to go further than before. And then tomorrow, beyond that.
The tunnel went on and on, stretching out before her as the walls grew narrower and more jagged. Twilight bit her lip and ducked her head as her hooves began to step on things that creaked and moaned. The stairs were up to its old tricks again. Her wings gradually was being pushed to the center of her back as the space grew small and the stairs went on. Twilight's steps slowed, her trot becoming a struggling hoof after another. She pushed herself through as far as she could, praying that she made it even farther than last night. Twilight threw out a limb and found herself stuck, her wings held in place.
The darkness was everywhere, blinding her. Her little lamp was nothing more but a flicking ember, so distant and far. She too was so distant and far. Twilight tried to touch her chest and found only space. Her legs fought against the walls holding her but yet never met each other. There was a light beyond. That light twinkled out.
Twilight quickly pulled out her scraps of paper, quickly sketching and writing how far she made it. Satisfied, she packed her materials away and allowed herself to slump. Twilight closed her eyes, aware of her body being caught and her limbs fighting against air with every twitch.
And then it was over with a blink.
Her hooves were firmly planted on ground, wings free and she was left standing in a decrepit room. She blinked, she did make it further. What now? Twilight stretched her wings and took a look behind her.
There was the end of the staircase, expanding out into broken steps and crooked tiles. The way back up was now lit. Familiar crystal torches glowed the way back. But it certainly didn't look like the way she came. The walls were no longer of soil but of thin and rotting sheets of wallpaper. Huh? Did she finally make it to another floor? Or was this a dream and the staircase was playing with her again?
Twilight pulled out a piece of paper. Wrote quick notes on her progress and the sight of the stairs behind her with her wings arched for flight. This place was interesting. Perhaps too interesting. For all of her nightly strolls, she had yet to run into someone or something else and with phenomena like this, it should be happening all too soon. But still she kept to her notes, repeating them over and over her head.
'Still marble. But wooden walls and wallpaper. Possibly the staircase of a mansion?'
Her eyes wandered to the rest of the room. Aged furniture were turned upside down. Possessions thrown to the floor and broken into little pieces and a faint smell of the fire that must have ate up everything else. Twilight wanted to come up with a clever name for this floor. She did so with the others but reluctantly had to name it 'Fourth Floor: Mansion' until something else sparked a idea.
With her lamp shining bright, Twilight crossed the room and made her way to the barricaded doors. Furniture that must have made up the bulk of this room, possibly a drawing room with all lounge chairs and sofas littered around, was piled as high as it could against the burnt out exit. The room was a shadow of its former self, literally with ash and cinders covering everything. Twilight touched a cushion, feeling it crinkle under the weight of her hoof before it dissolved into dust.
She wasn't sure what to make of this floor yet. It was the first time she seen proof of there have being others that were here.
As always Twilight liked to leave these places the same way as they were. Even if this first time she saw something resembling life and ponies. The other floors were only darkness and spaces and things that cried as she stumbled over them. So she did not bother with moving the furniture aside. Twilight pulled herself up into the air and flew to the door, pressing a hoof against it. With a flash, she teleported to the other side and drifted down to the floor.
Twilight glanced around. This place was hardly different from her castle, size-wise, with the high ceilings and the arching domes for each hallway. There was just more wood built into the ground and walls than hers and different types of rocks painted brown to match the wood. Twilight shook her head at it all, somewhat annoyed.
She wished read more on interior design and how to dress a castle because this place, even destroyed and aging, still looked more homely than hers. Soft beams of moonlight shined through the cracks of the ceiling, giving the lost place a dim yet familiar glow. Some light shined too through the boarded up windows along with the cold that grew with each step forward.
Twilight wandered, marking rooms on her maps and salvaging whatever looked readable. Most books once they reached her hooves turned to dust and even trunks and closets that were untouched by the fire were found picked clean. She explored as much as she could, teleporting her way into blocked off sections of the floor. She flashed up and over piles and piles of ash that made her eyes water the more she came across them. The rooms were caked with soot so cinders and ash were expected but these ashes she found in all sorts of places. Under the beds. In the closets. In the bathrooms. And even in the little shafts of metal and wood that seemed to run through the floors.
Could this place have been a hotel?
And the ash... Little white pieces buried within them. It seemed whatever made the ash, it had to have been of the same material as the others. Twilight thought of wondering about it but pushed it out of her mind. She would let the mysteries be and that was it.
Eventually, Twilight found the grand staircase, a spiraling staircase burnt a crisp black with the remaining crooked metal joints gleaming under the light from the fallen-in ceiling. Snow caked everything below; the desks, the chairs and other little things that must have been loved in another's hooves. Cold air blew in as Twilight decided to fly upwards and look out.
It couldn't be, could it?
The sky outside was covered in thick storm clouds, revealing weather not out of place in the dead of winter. But still, something was wrong. The moon shouldn't be so bright. The night couldn't have ended so soon. Twilight cautiously fluttered over to the hole and stuck her head out. It was daylight. Real daylight. Fresh snow quickly piled on her snout and mane. Twilight sneezed and fell backwards, closing her wings in as she tried to push herself out of her descent.
“You! Stay away!” A voice rang out and Twilight flipped in surprised, failing to spring out of her corkscrew and fell to the ground with a crash. “Changeling!”
Twilight shook of the snow on her face and coat, touching her head. That voice? She must have heard wrong because that sounded exactly like-
“I said, stay away!” Twilight turned her eyes to the voice. “Don't look at me!” The familiar voice, her voice cried. Twilight blankly stared at the young unicorn. Lavender coat. Six-pointed star. A potent spell charging as the mare pointed her horn in her direction.
“Huh, I wasn't expecting that.”
Her doppelganger shot off a spell, a basic magic arrow with far too much energy poured in. Before the spell crossed a single inch, Twilight shot her own and destroyed it. “You know, I don't remember being so attack-first. I usually panic and then attack first.” Twilight said, sitting on her haunches.
“Don't talk like you know me!” The Other-Twilight cried, eyes darting around the place with her knees shaking together. “I am the Princess's student and I refuse to fall here!”
Twilight ignored her. Instead, she studied the place and the snow, clumping it in her hooves. This place was extremely familiar. Twilight pulled her snow covered hooves to her face, this was a clue. Another arrow was shot and Twilight reflectively created a shield without sparing a glance.
“Are you on a trip?” Twilight asked, lifting her head but not yet looking at her counterpart. Her lips wiggled as she tried to force her smile down. Was she sent to the past? Was this that field trip from Trottingham where she got sick from wandering from the others! Oh! Oh! Was she supposed to speak to her past self to encourage her for the future?
Was the castle only messing with her?
Who cares!
Twilight was about to change a life!
Other-Twilight was silent. “Maybe? What does it mean if I am?” She said, studying Twilight as if she was something to be scared of. Twilight blushed, trying to stay presentable. It was Princess-Time!
Twilight cleared her throat. She sat up, slowly getting on her hooves as she tried to think of something. Now firmly on the ground, Twilight felt acutely aware of her messy mane and the snow still stuck to her coat. Using her left wing, she covered herself as she hastily cast a melting spell over her body and on the surrounding area. Twilight cleared her throat again and pretended that she hadn't tried to make herself look good. Then she accidentally coughed and groaned at herself. Why couldn't she-
She turned her eyes to her doppelganger that was in the middle of stepping away. The mare froze in place under her gaze, cringing. What! Didn't she want to hear what Twilight had to say! Twilight racked her head for a reason why she would run away from a winged and horn version of herself and couldn't find one!
“I am you from the future.” Twilight blurted out, forgetting to try and sound cool or interesting or princess-like. She moaned in her head but couldn't stop herself. “The culmination of your destiny!”
Other-Twilight stared. “No, you're not.” Then walked away. She walked away, tugging her threadbare cloak close to her form as if it was more amazing then this grand meeting of minds! Twilight's mouth fell open, squeaking "but- but- but-" to no avail.
“Wait!" She hollered, bewildered why this was happening. "I am you even if you can't believe it. The Princess chose us but it was us that kept going forward, passing trials and making friends and having adventures and saving Equestria.” Twilight said, her voice picking up in strength as she went on. “I remember when I was like you and you don't have to believe me right now but it will happen.”
“But it won't.” Other-Twilight pointed to herself. “Because I'm dead here and you're not Twilight Sparkle.”
“But I am Twilight Sparkle and what do you mean, you're dead?” Twilight gasped. Then she gasped again, louder this time. “Are you a will-o-wisp whose been feeding off my presence and mistook yourself as me?” Other-Twilight frowned. She must not want to reminded of her passing... Oh... “I must be here to guide you to the afterlife. Princess Celestia did say I would have more 'duties' for my position and place.” Twilight nodded to herself, her wings twitching revealing her excitement.
“I am the FRIENDLY reaper of Death!” She whispered, repeating the title. “You will not be alone!” Twilight agreed, raising her voice. “I will aid you, spirit!” A beat. “After you agree to some scientific trials first!”
“No! The Twilight of the place or realm or time is dead. I'm leaping through places because I've faked my death to escape. I am not supposed to meet any Twilight Sparkles.” Other-Twilight shouted, breaking Twilight out of her daze. “Therefore, you are not Twilight Sparkle.”
Twilight tilted her head, unphased. “I am Princess Twilight Sparkle, the destiny you left behind.” She corrected, not understanding the problem. “Wait, that sounded mean. What I really mean is-”
Other-Twilight didn't bother with saying her next objection. She charged her horn, weaving a larger spell and fired a barrage of arrows. Other-Twilight ran to the side, increasing the magic used and ducked for cover. A few slower arrow flew upwards before homing directly on Twilight.
They exploded on impact.
“I am a big fan of beams but you like arrows.” Twilight said as she teleported, landing right next to Other-Twilight. “I feel that there is some similarity between that.” Twilight gestured between them as her doppelganger flinched. Twilight fought her smile, she was the cool one. The mysterious one. Her eyes twinkled as she tried to keep her squealing on the inside. “So you don't believe that I am Twilight or that I am your destiny because of your spell?”
Other-Twilight's horn grew bright and Twilight in a fit, bopped the unicorn's nose.
“Stop that. I'm trying to reach you.”
The mare's horn glowed to a softer level and Twilight thought if the unicorn could teleport to another room, Twilight would leave her alone. But this, this had to be practice for something. The Tree of Harmony did not do things on a whim. But... Twilight shouldn't bring help... Take the mare back with her?
“Accept the mysteries as they are.” She muttered and glanced down at Other-Twilight. Standing this close, the unicorn had lost a lot of weight. Sunken eyes. Thin scars around her horn.
How was Twilight supposed to solve this?
“Listen here Twilight, I don't know the answers that you're seeking. But take me as living proof that you will succeed. For now, you live a long and lonely road where you'll only have Spike by yourself but one day, you find a place where truly belong and make friends that will last a lifetime.”
