Twilight, Soldier of War

3487, that was the number of tiles that made up the ceiling in Twilight’s room. Twilight knew this because she had spent the last four hours lying in bed, failing to sleep, and had resorted to counting tiles. She had counted them eight times now. It was likely due to the drug still in her system; no one ever said taking a combat drug before a nap was a good idea. Then again, she did manage to fall asleep on the train, so this could just be nerves but she couldn’t be sure. She considered going for a walk thinking it may tire her out, but unless that walk involved a ten mile run down the mountain the only thing a walk would do was distract her. Regardless, she had chosen to remain in her room not wanting to miss the pony that was supposed to come get her, and that was four hours ago.

“1, 2, 3, 4, 5,” Twilight counted off the tiles once more. Figuring, if no one shows up by the time she was done counting she would just go find them, surely the Archmage’s lecture were over by now. “6, 7, 8,”

A subtle tapping on the door broke her concentration. In a hurry, she rolled from the bed, nearly tripping on her armor that lay in the floor. She yanked the door open surprising the purple drake at the door. “Oh, it’s just you Spike,” Twilight said unable to hide her disappointment.

“Yeah, they haven’t shown up for me either.”

Twilight stepped away from the door, “Come on in, it’s a real party in here.” Twilight took her spot back on the bed with Spike sitting in a chair across from her. “I guess we haven’t had a lot of time to talk, have we?”

“There was the party but then you kind of disappeared,” Spike said.

“Sorry about that, I wasn’t really in the party mood,” Spike nodded in understanding. “Tell me what you’ve been up to Spike, other than working in the court I mean.”

Spike rubbed the back of his head, “Let’s see, after your funeral I went to stay with mom and dad for a few months.” Twilight wasn’t sure when it started, but some time after Spike started speaking he began treating her parents as his own. Twilight’s parents found it quite adorable seeing as they were already taken with Spike.

“How are they?” Twilight asked.

“Dad threw himself into his work with the guard, so he never made it home most nights. And mom, well let’s just say she doesn’t write a lot of happy books anymore. I think when Celestia asked me to help with the Friendship Court I accepted more because I was tired of waiting,” Spike said. His eyes almost looked happy as he spoke next. “I never believed them you know. When they said you were dead I knew it couldn’t be true, so I made sure to keep your things just as you left them I—”

“Spike, what the fuck!” Twilight interrupted. Spike jumped from her outburst, his eyes a mix of shock and confusion. Twilight rubbed her eyes before padding an empty spot on the bed, signaling for Spike to join her. Happily he did so. “What if I was dead?”

Spike locked eyes with her, “But you weren’t dead.”

“You’re not answering the question Spike. What if I never came back or, heaven forbid, I dropped dead tomorrow?”

“I-I…That wouldn’t happen I knew you would come back!”

Oh how Twilight hated when people beat around the bush. It was times like this when she just wanted to take something sharp and cut out the bush from its roots. That left Twilight with two options: A, she could be more direct with Spike and force an answer out, but this would likely involve a lot of yelling on her part and crying on Spikes. Or B, let him beat around the bush until he spits out whatever the core issue was.

Twilight placed an arm around him pulling him in close. “I know dragons live a long time but you can’t tell me you were going to spend the rest of your life waiting for me to return.”

“Twilight—” Spike tried to speak but the knocking on the door stopped him.

“Miss Twilight, Princess Celestia has asked me to escort you to her once you’re ready.” A voice from the door called out.

Twilight let out a tired sigh, “We’ll be right out,” She looked to Spike. “We’ll talk about this later.”

***

Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, it was a place Twilight had many fond memories of during her childhood. ‘No that’s not right it’s fillyhood. I’ve got to stop using human terms.’ Twilight thought. She and Spike followed the guard down the long hallway; the guard would occasionally look back and shot Twilight a strange looks, like he wasn’t sure what to make of her, but stopped when Spike cleared his throat loudly.

Most of the students were gone for the day, but occasionally Twilight would peek into a passing door to see a group of students working on some project. Apart of her could still see herself arguing with Moondancer over how much chlorine needed to be added to their science experiment. As Twilight remembered the recipe, in fact, didn’t require any chlorine which would explain why it later exploded, filling the room with a foul smelling gas.

She stepped away from the door pushing those memories out of her mind, there was no point dwelling on the past. Before long Twilight and Spike found themselves in one of the schools warded off laboratories. It was a large rounded room with equipment set up at the edge of the room with white robed unicorns operating them. In the center of the room was one of the two Crystal Mirrors, and cords were attached along the edge of the mirror running to many of the lab stations.

Celestia stood close by and watched an aging unicorn stallion slowly trot around the mirror. He had a coat of gray with a mane of blue streaked with gray, although Twilight had a feeling the streaks were not a natural color. And he wore dark blue robes lined with a golden cloth embroidered with a runic design. As he made his way around the mirror his horn would glow with a blue aura only for it to quickly dissipate, as he cast his unseen spell. Some of the Scientist stopped what they were doing and looked as Twilight entered, while the more clever of the lot looked from the corner of their eyes.

Celestia turned and smiled, greeting the newest arrivals to the room, “Twilight,” Celestia said, as the pair made their way to Celestia’s side. “I would like to introduce you to Hearing Colors.” The stallion turned to face them and for the first time Twilight got a clear view of his white coated eyes.

“It’s good to meet you,” Hearing colors said. “But before you ask, yes I am blind, yes I can still see you, and no I will not explain the interworking of the magic that allows me to see.”

“Get asked that question a lot I take it?” Twilight asked.

“I could set my watch by it, I don’t see what’s so fascinating about seeing through magic,” Hearing Colors said with a small sigh. He looked to address Celestia, “I believe I have isolated the transformation spell within the mirror. Are you familiar with a spell known as Sage Mimicry?”

“Why that brings back memories?” Celestia said a look of fondness in her eyes. “Luna used that spell before she developed her Dream Shifting spell.”

Twilight placed a hand under her chin as she thought, “If I remember correctly, I used that spell to turn my friends and me into Breezies, But that spell was only temporary, it wears off after a few hours.”

“Yes, this spell works under the same principles as Sage Mimicry; therefore I have decided to dub the spell Crystal Mimicry. Unlike Sage Mimicry, Crystal Mimicry is a far more advanced version with its transformations being, as far as I can tell, permanent.” Hearing Colors explained.

“That can’t be,” Twilight said crossing her arms. She pictured each piece of information in her mind like a puzzle piece, moving them around until a pattern started to form. “If the Crystal Mirrors has this Mimicry spell like you say then that would imply their original purpose wasn’t communication but travel…Only there would be no need for a spell like that to travel anywhere I can think of in Equus,” Twilight gasped as realization flashed across her face. “It’s a dimensional door!”

Hearing Colors chuckled to himself, “Very good, you figured that out much faster than me.”

“You already knew?” Twilight asked.

“Quite, I wanted to see if you were as clever as I’ve heard, and I’m glad to say you are even more so.”

“Wait, I’m confused,” Spike said, scratching his head. “What does a dimensional door have to do with that spell?”

“It simple Spike, If you were to step through the portal and end up in a world with no oxygen you would die, but the spell changes you to something that can survive.” Twilight explained, and Hearing Colors nodded in agreement.

“Now on to the reason I asked for you here Princess,” Hearing said.

“Just Twilight will be fine,” Twilight interrupted.

With a nod He continued, “You see Twilight, reversing the spell is surprisingly simple, but we need to know more about what you have turned into so we can properly calibrate the spell. Otherwise, you may end up with a few extra parts.”

“Twilight, you should get them to give you dragon scales!” Spike exclaimed with a wide grin.

“What? Spike, no,” Twilight quickly shot him down.

Spike rubbed a claw along an arm as he said “You don’t know what you’re missing, these babies are awesome.”

“Anyway,” Hearing Colors said. As he steered the conversation back on track. “If you have no objections I would like to start the test.”

With no objections from Twilight, other than refusing to remove her armor, but after learning that it could affect the test results she reluctantly relented. They spent the next few hours running Twilight through a gauntlet of test. From simple stuff: taking blood and hair samples. To having Twilight do push-ups and set-ups inside a gravity bubble; set to twice that of normal.

“I believe we only have one more test for you to perform,” Hearing Colors said. As he helped remove the wires from Twilight’s head they were using to read her brainwaves. “We just need to get a reading on your magic capabilities.” He wheeled over a stand with a clear crystal orb on it.

“I’m not sure if this test is a good idea,” Twilight said. “I can already tell you humans don’t have magic.”

“Nonsense,” Hearing color countered. “Every race has some form of magic even if they don’t realise it, and don’t worry this orb will detect even the most unusual magical energy.”

‘This is definitely going to blow up in his face,’ Twilight thought and smiled to herself. ‘May as well make it one hell of an explosion.’ She stepped up to the orb and placed both hands on either side of it. Immediately, she felt the orb pulling on her magic, as it try to gauge her strength. Twilight’s smile reached her eyes as she opened the floodgates to her magic and poured it into the orb. Almost instantly the clear orb began to glow white.

“Just as I said, every race as some form of magic,” Hearing colors said. But Twilight was far too focused to notice.

The more magic Twilight poured into the orb the brighter the orb glowed, but the orb seemed to have no limits to how much magic it could take, and it was starting to piss Twilight off.

“Twilight, I believe that will be enough,” Celestia said, her voice growing concerned.

Twilight ignored her; she was not going to let a rock beat her. Oh, she knew it was really a apophyllite crystal purified and reformed into an orb, but it didn’t deserve that recognition; right now it was just a rock.

“Twilight that’s enough!” Celestia’s voice boomed. Twilight broke her concentration, but for a moment, and looked to Celestia, but that was all it took.

The magic began to go wild within the orb, now free of restraint. Twilight’s hands felt glued to the sides of the orb as it drew out more of her magic and added it to the brewing storm circling within, trying to break free. Cracks formed along the surface and more light poured out. Twilight muttered every curse word she knew under her breath, as she struggled to free her hands. She flowed magic into her palms and held it there by sheer force of will. It took most of her concentration to keep this leech from sucking it away. Yes, the orb had been demoted from a rock to a leech.

With just a thought two spherical shields ripped her hands free, tearing skin along with it. Twilight barely had time to enjoy the feeling of having her hands back when Celestia let out another booming cry “Everypony get down!”

Twilight acted on instinct and threw up a shield in front of her just as the orb exploded outward, sending debris flying. Despite the shield, being that close to the epicenter was enough to knock Twilight on her back. Twilight’s ears rung with a familiar ringing, as she set up with a groan. All around her others were picking themselves off the ground.

“Is any pony hurt?” Hearing Colors called. And was met with variations of ‘I’m fine.’

“That didn’t go as expected,” Twilight said ignoring the looks she was getting. She saw Celestia’s wing coming even without looking, but seeing as it was just her wing she felt no need to dodge it, and let Celestia’s feathers smack against her face. Twilight knew that was the equivalent of a slap in the face, so she played along. She held a hand to her offended cheek and asked “What was that for?”

“What were you thinking? You could have gotten somepony seriously hurt!” Celestia scolded.

“Hearing Colors did want to test my magic,” Twilight defended.

But Celestia was having none of her excuses and retorted, “You could have mentioned you still had your alicorn magic; that would have invalidated this entire test. And were you deliberately trying to break the orb?”

Twilight placed a finger on her chin; more to play up the situation then actually in thought. “I wouldn’t say deliberately, more that losing wasn’t an option.”

“What does that even—” Celestia cut off her rant when she spotted the blood dripping from Twilight’s hands. “You’re hurt.”

Twilight raised and examined her hands. The layers of skin that had been touching the orb were gone and replaced by reddish bloody patches. The smaller spots had already stopped bleeding but the part on her palms looked the worst. “It’s not too bad; it’ll heal on its own.”

Celestia took Twilight’s hands in her magic and Twilight didn’t resist. “The wounds are minor, so a healing spell should work.”

Twilight felt the magic flow into her sores, retracting the blood and growing a new layer of skin. Twilight smirked at her freshly healed hands and said, “Oh, alicorn magic how I miss thee.”

“Miss it? Where you not just using alicorn magic?” Celestia asked. Her anger was gone replaced with genuine curiosity.

Not quite,” said Twilight. “Back there all I did was pour unfocused magic into that…thing.”—She still refused to address it as anything but a leech—“But I can do magic, or at least I can do a simple shield spell.”

“And you say humans can’t use magic?” Celestia asked, continuing her questioning.

Twilight nodded, “I’ve found no evidence to the contrary, and I believe that is part of the reason I can use magic. My working theory is that because humans lack magic there was nothing to stop my dormant magic from seeping out, although I don’t know why I can only use one spells.”

Hearing colors trotted up next to Celestia and said, “In light of this new information I think it’s best to disregard this test.”

“What are the results of all my hard work?” Twilight asked.

“Well, from the early results I can tell you that humans have a near unbelievable level of endurance. I think it’s safe to say you would put any of our athletes to shame. Your brainwaves were higher than anticipated, but now that we know to account for your magic it should fall within reason.”

And the spell, how long until it's ready?”

“If there are no delays, a few days.”

It was about that moment when Twilight realised something important she had left out: the Anizon was still in her system. It was already fading from her system, but she worried a it may have affected the results, and the last thing she wanted was to turn into a hulking version of her pony self. “Hearing, will the spell be affected if the test results are too high?”

“As long as the margin of error is within ten percent it should be fine, unless you have something you would like to add?” Hearing Colors asked.

“No, I was just curious,” Twilight said. Deciding that bringing up the Anizon may do more harm than good.

A puff of smoke formed next to Celestia’s head before a letter popped into existence. She caught the letter mid fall and quickly read it over. A smile hung on her face as she rolled it back up and addressed Twilight. “Cadence and Shining armor were able to catch an earlier train, so they will be arriving in a few hours, and asked if you and Spike could meet them at your parent’s house.”

Twilight’s face went pale, “My parents.” She whispered to herself. How had she forgotten about them? It wasn’t like she was avoiding them, certainly, the fact that even as an alicorn princess they still treated her like a little…filly didn’t help.

“Twilight,” Spike said coming up to her side. “Are you ok?”

“What? Oh…I’m fine. Come on Spike we better get going.” Twilight gathered up her gear and headed to the exit with Spike.

“Have a pleasant time.” Celestia called as they left the lab.

They had just made it outside when they ran into Luna, waiting near the entrance. “Twilight, do you have a moment? I have something I wish to discuss with you.” Luna said, as Twilight approached. At Twilight’s hesitated look she added, “This will take only a moment of your time.”

Twilight gave a nod and turned to Spike “Go on ahead I’ll catch up to you.” Spike gave a shrug before continuing on.

When Spike was out of sight Luna began, “I would like your permission to monitor your dreams.” Twilight shot her an incredulous look but Luna continued, “But as I’m still unfamiliar with humans, I will need to forcibly enter your dreams. You shouldn’t notice anything different while you sleep, and the only real side effect is that I would be able to see more than just your dreams: your memory, your inner-thoughts all of it would be lay bare to me. For that reason it is not something I do lightly.”

“Luna, I appreciate what you're trying to do, but I don’t need someone…pony…whatever, poking around in my head. I’m fine.” Twilight assured her.

“I understand why you may feel that way,” Luna argued. “But think of it as a physical for your mind. You would be putting many minds at ease by allowing this.”

“I’m sorry Luna, but the answer’s no. Excuse me but I need to catch up with Spike.” Twilight said and walked passed Luna.

As Luna stood alone she hung her head and said, “Perhaps Celestia was right; I should have given her more time.”