Rise and Fall

"Okay, now..." Twilight hummed to herself, checking all of her equipment and notes. Books and notes were sprawled out everywhere in her lab, lying on the floor, in chairs, on tables and desks, all covered in complicated math equations and formulas. This was all her research on the subject of her experimentation...

The Mirror.

It was a powerful and ancient device, whose true origins are unknown even to this day. Twilight had gone through it at least three times, all of those times were to aid her human friend Sunset Shimmer - originally a pony by birth - several times. Of course, she was going to use the mirror for a little experimentation. While it worked perfectly, and she could go to the human world anytime she wished... she had a hunch she needed to explore, an inkling in the back of her mind that persisted day after day and taunted her endlessly.

What if there are other worlds? A little voice had suggested to her one fateful morning when she was eating breakfast. She had thought of it, dismissed it immediately and went about her day.

But the words... the voice persisted again, coming to her in the shower.

You know you're curious. It had told her, over the next couple of weeks she had grown curious of the possibility of other worlds out there... Starswirl himself had even written about traveling to one once, meeting a pony who called himself Commander Shepard, aboard his ship the Normandy.

Thinking about it... she had decided to try and find a spell to travel to another world... but it was a fruitless endeavor, there were no spells... but there was the mirror... the same one she had used to visit the alternate world where each of her friends - including herself - resided and went to school. She thought about the mirror, and its magical properties day after day, and eventually went to work on searching for a way to change the mirror's destination.

Starswirl had done it somehow. Twilight told herself, moving around the mirror and examining it in excruciating detail. She had plugged in several different power sources - most being crystal based - and had altered the book to some degree. She had a few more tests to run, and then her official test run would begin. Twilight ruffled her wings, irritation coursing through her veins as she found her hoof tangled in wires. I bet Starswirl didn't have to deal with this! She grumbled untangling her hoof and moving over to one of her desks.

The Princess of Friendship had contemplated sending a letter to Celestia, informing her former mentor and her friend about what she was doing. But she lacked the time, and felt the experiment wasn't going to work out in the way she hoped. Even if it did, she didn't want to bother Celestia, the older mare having too many problems dealing with the Griffon and Zebra who were at each other's throats over oil and coal disputes. Something she found to be irritating and pointless.

If they just shared the oil and coal, there wouldn't be any problems to begin with! Twilight fussed, shaking her head as she tweeked with a few wires hooked to the mirror's frame. Everything had to be perfect for this little idea of hers to work out properly. She would have Spike helping her, but he was too busy attempting to woo Rarity once more. If only he knew. She mused, thinking about Rarity's tastes in ponies.

After a few more tweeks and adjustments... she was ready. She winked away from the mirror, moving behind a specially made blast shield. Twilight stood behind a small table which held several controls and buttons among various red and blue switches. She turned on a few of them, turning a dial or two and adjusting power outputs and all that fancy sciency jazz before hovering her hoof over a large red button...

No mad creation was complete without a big shiny red button.

A deep sigh, then she said, "Here goes nothing." Then pressed the button.

*Pffffffft*

Was what she heard, making her frown. "Damn it! " She cursed, throwing a book across the room with her magic and storming across the floor, staring at the mirror. She glared at the object in front of her, the reflection showing a lavender mare with bloodshot eyes, ruffled feathers out of place and a tired and angry expression on her face. "I will solve this! And you can't STOP ME!" She yelled, turning about face and storming up the stairs.

She needed coffee.

Twilight sat in her study, just above her lab as she sipped her second cup of coffee, her eyes scanning every piece of parchment she had on the mirror and her observations in power and her modifications. She was tired, angry and aggravated at her slow progress. She didn't know what was going wrong! I'm the Element of Magic, my special talent is magic for crying out loud! You think I would be good at this sort of thing. Twilight huffed, shaking her head as she pushed away the papers and turned to her cup, which sat empty. "Great."

So far the project of hers was going slow, she hadn't made any progress and she was getting tired.

"What went wrong... what went wrong?" She asked herself, looking down at the desk. She rubbed her temples. What do I need to do? What needs fixing? She pulled up another piece of paper, looking at the calibrations she made. They were near perfect! Ugh. She stood up from her desk, going over to the door and back downstairs to her lab. Twilight needed answers and she needed them now.

She traveled down the hall, passing by several guards who bore stony expressions on their faces, they saluted Twilight as she passed by them, giving them no more than a nod. Then, up ahead she saw him. Standing guard to the entrance of her lab. His shiny orange coat and blue mane, his blue eyes centered in on hers and he smiled. "Hello Princess!"  He saluted with a wing.

She gave him a soft smile and a nod disappearing into her lab, she shook her mane and scratched her head. Why do I always feel funny around him? She pondered, shaking her head once more as she trotted over to the mirror. The device hadn't moved one bit, and everything was still hooked up to it, but she was still very frustrated with how her results turned out. She teleported aonther cup of coffee into existence, glaring at the mirror, cursing its very presence within her basement.

A heavy sigh, as she sat down.

"What... is wrong, where did I go wrong..." She asked herself, sipping from her cup slowly and thinking deeply as the hot liquid burned a path down her throat. She thought about the power calibrations, the magical converters, the mana powered crystals powering the device further in an attempt to stretch its reach further. Everything was perfect, everything...

Except for whatever was stopping her experiment.

"Ugggh." She groaned, downing the rest of her coffee before teleporting the mug away and trotting over to the device. She scanned every wire, every button, every single thing attached to it, and frowned. Everything was connected properly, eveything had proper power output, So what is wrong? She continued to ask, stepping away from the mirror and staring at it. Her horn tingled, as an idea slowly began to form. "The power is good... the crystals are at the max... what if... I overloaded them?" She pondered, the lack of sleep clouding her mind as she slowly grinned. "That's it!" She cried, it was the perfect idea.

Overload the crystals!

She cleared away everything on the floor, notes, books, whatever, tossing them aside without a care as she slapped on a pair of goggles and stared. "I got you now!" She told the mirror, as her her began to glow. The alicorn steadied herself, her magic slowly working its way up to the tip, and she concentrated her strongest