About Us, Without Us

Twilight Sparkle was bored. Again. Or maybe constantly? She wasn´t sure, as there was noticable lack of anything interesting in her life. She could´ve swear, that there was lot more going on, when she was just an unicorn, whether it was a friendship problem or something as simple as watching Rainbow pick a suitable pet.

But lately it seemed like everypony else were the ones going on adventures to places like Griffonstone, while the most entertaining thing, she has done was wondering, why are others laughing at Discord´s jokes.

Just to be clear, Twilight realized, that lack of adventures meant, that nothing was going wrong and she was happy for that, but still! She did sometimes do something to relax, like reorganize her books, but it was nothing compared to the daily lives of her friends. She was a princess, for Celestia´s sake! Shouldn´t there by something to keep her occupied?

„Twilight! A letter from Celestia!“ Shouted Spike from one of the siderooms. She couldn´t be sure, which one, because of the ever present echo, caused by insanely high ceilings and amount of empty space.

She wasn´t fan of that happening, but listening to Spike´s echoing stomping, as he run to deliver the letter always made her smile. But there was an interesting thing to think about: how does Celestia always seem to know, when Twilight needs an advice, or wants to do something? She had to remember to ask her, next time she´d see her.

„Thanks. I wonder what it´s about. The Map isn´t doing anything, so that can´t be it,“ she said and impatiently unrolled the yellowish list of paper.

„It´s been pretty long, since she actually wanted anything from you. But how funny would it be, if she sended you something annoying, like the tickets for the Galla?“ Wide grin appeared on little dragon´s face, as he recalled old times.

„Funny?! Don´t you remember, how difficult choice it was? I almost went crazy! But what a good lesson it was.“

„What a stupid prank it was,“ responded with one eyebrow raised. „She knew you had five friends, yet she sended just two.“

Twilight patted him on top of his head.

„That´s what made it a lesson.“

„Well, considering the reasons, why others wanted to go there, your choice was pretty dumb, but whatever,“ purple alicorn was about to ask what he meant, but Spike had more to say: „What is in that letter, anyway?“

Oh! The letter! Spike´s nagging comments made her completely forget about it.

Dear Princess Twilight,

if you don´t have too much work, I´d like to ask you to come to the Crystal Empire and take part in a very interesting research, that we are currently doing with other Princesses. Just to entice you a little, let me tell you, that what we found was made by your favourite magician...Starswirl the Bearded.

We hope to see you soon.

Princess Celestia

„Oh my gosh! Spike! This is exactly, what I was waiting for!“ Her companion knew better, then to ask her for details. She would tell him about them sooner or later.

„Celestia wants me to come to the Crystal Empire and take part in studies, she and the others are doing. Just us four, reading old books and discussing magical matters!“ exclaimed, dropped the letter on the floor and ran to the bookshelves to pack things she deemed needed.

„Fascinating,“ whispered Spike with his typical sarcasm. Nopony could deny the usefulness of magic, but he couldn´t care less, about the theoretical part, or about it´s history. But if Twilight likes it, then who was he to judge? As long, as he was left out, he was happy. To be fair, wasn´t lying in a bed all day much better, then reading some dusty old books?

„I expect, that you want to stay here, right Spike?“

„Good guess, I think I will chill out with Big Mac and play some hoofball instead.“

„What else? Well you boys do whatever, but for now, I need you to help me pack my things. Can you please bring my notes on Starswirl the Bearded and the Crystal Empire? Seems like I will be needing both of them.“

Later that day.

It´s been long, since I´ve visited Crystal Empire. I am so looking forward to this. Because of the 1000 years long banishment, there could be informations, unknown to the rest of Equestria. But Starswirl related? Yes, he was around at that time, but what did the Empire have, that the rest of the world hadn´t? Their books are special now, but were they back then?

Twilight was so lost in her thoughts, that she didn´t notice, her train arrived to it´s destination, until the majority of other ponies started getting out. She propably could´ve just fly there, but even after defeating King Sombra, the Crystal Empire was still in the middle of frozen tundra. There were pegasi, who were able to do it, but she wasn´t as confident in her flight abilities. So she went by a train, where it was nicely warm and where she could focus on her thoughts.

But the young Princess had to admit: an alicorn going by a train, would´ve been a strange sight, if she wasn´t wearing a warm coat covering her wings.

When Twilight got out, she headed straight to the castle. One of the guards would surely point her in the right direction. Along the way, she noticed several houses, that definetely weren´t there, when she visited the place last time. It made sense: with the Empire´s return, there were bound to be ponies, who´d like to live there. And for that reason even the new buildings were in the same style, as all the others, so the newcomers would feel accepted.

What a wonderful thing, that anypony could move anywhere they wanted to in order to persue their dreams. If she hadn´t friends in Ponyville, Twilight would´ve definetely loved to live there, so she would be close to the local library. But truth be told, the Empire propably wouldn´t be in such state, if she hadn´t friends to help her in the fight against Sombra. Thinking about about the dark king, was it possible, that whatever princesses were researching had something to do with him? He was an incredibly powerful pony. And not even an alicorn! Twilight would never be able to do half of things she heard he did, or saw him do.

I wish there was a way to study dark magic, without loosing my own will. Maybe today we will discover something.

„Twilight! Over here!“ She looked in the direction the voice came from and saw her beloved sister-in-law, trotting towards her. And wow, she looked good! Cadence was always really slender, but now, she was...curvier. Not that she would be fat by any means, but she was now much more similar to Luna, both of them being of roughly same height.

She looked good, that was the conclusion. But why did she have a ring on her horn?

That´s not the one she got from Shining at their wedding.

„Cadence!“ The two Princesses had a short hug, then Twilight followed her former foalsitter, leading her presumably into the castle.

„Nice ring you got there. A gift from my big bro? Maybe?“

It took a second for Cadence to realize, what she meant, as she clearly forgot, she even had it.

„Oh this? This is a safety measure we all had to undergo in order to do the reaserch. You see, we found an arcane book!“

Pink princess smiled, when she heard Twilight gasp next to her. Arcane books were simply said: books made of magic. They were supposed to be capable of containing nearly infinite amount of informations and could not be damaged by time, nor elements. It was believed that the idea came from Meadowbrook and some even say, that such book was her ninth enchanted item, but it was never found, nor confirmed.

The reason why it was believed, that arcane books could not be created was that they were entirely made of magic, and magic, unless it was bound to an item, disappeared, when the caster died.

But what kind of safety measure?

„You see, it was not created, as Meadowbrook intended it to be. It has a physical core, made of crystal and it actually has a weakness. You remember, how easy it was for King Sombra to corrupt the local crystals? Entire castle and town went black, because of piece of his horn. That´s because crystals are very sensitive to magic.“

Cadence took a deep breath and looked at Twilight, if she was paying attention. Princess of love was pleased to see, that Twilight was all ears to hear the rest.

„The book gets damaged by any aggresive magic, that get´s near, causing it to lose it´s contents. And as you know, there was quite a strong aggresive magic all around it several times and it did not leave the book untouched. That´s why we wear these rings. It´s to block our magic, so that there wouldn´t be any way for us to accidentaly damage the book any further.“

That explained lot of questions, Twilight was about to ask. Starswirl didn´t come to the Crystal Empire to read books. He was here for the crystals. Or a crystal. One that he could use to create one book, that would be capable of informing ponies even 1000 years after his death.

There were just few more questions to be asked, but Twilight decided to wait, until they´d get, wherever Cadence was leading her to. Like how much of the informations was left and more importantly, what was in it?

„How did you find the book?“

„Believe it or not: by a complete accident. We are currently strenghtening our military, and recruits, living in one particular room, were complaining about headaches anytime they were in their room. Turned out, that there was a secret door hidden inside the room, leading to Starswirl´s study.“

That couldn´t be the whole story. Magic was so common in Equestria, that there was no way, simple hidden door could cause any form of harm.

Cadence seemed to notice Twilight´s doubts, because she quickly explained: „That door wasn´t the cause and actually it wasn´t the arcane book either, but let´s talk about that, when we get there. We are almost there.“

She wasn´t kidding. They went just few more meters, until they reached an entry to a building guarded by two members of Crystal guard. The door opened into a long hallway with many doors on both sides. Since all the doors in the hallway were the same, Twilight assumed, that the one they were heading into was also the only one guarded by additional two crystal guards.

The room looked just like she expected it to look. No paintings, nor any kind of decorations. Just a table with four chairs and same number

of beds lined next the the walls. Pretty unsignificant, if not for a hole in the wall in front of them, leading into darkness.

„Well, it´s not how I imagine a door, but sure. Why not?“

As they entered the tunnel Twilight realized, that it had to be made by magic. The crystal walls around them were smooth like a glass. Propably Starswirl´s doing, but why didn´t he just use the room? And when did he visited the place? During King Sombra´s rule? Before that? If before, then why was he so secretive about it?

The light source Cadence conjured, was for at least a minute too weak to show them the end of the tunnel, but eventually they reached another room, which was, much like the way in, just a cubic shaped space with nothing much in it, except for two more alicorns, an earth pony holding a book and pen, this time legit door and spectral looking item floating above a pedestal.

„Twilight! You are finally here!“ Celestia was the first one to notice the newcomers and immediately walked towards them, to give Twilight a hug.

„Greetings,“ said Luna and then returned to the pedestal, clearly more interested in it and in the item it holded.

The earth pony simply bowed and then proceeded to Twilight, pulled a ring, same as Cadence had, from a pocket and handed it to her. It was a strange feeling to not have magic to her disposal, she realized, after putting it on her horn.

„So my student, how much was Cadence able to tell you so far?“

„Not much. Just that we have an arcane book on our hooves and how it got damaged.“

„Fine, this is something you really should see for yourself. Yes, this is an arcane book created by Starswirl. It contains his notes from an adventure into another world.

You see, the mirror, that leads to the human world was created by him, but that´s not what the book is about. He created another one and it seems, that it´s exploration wasn´t a nice experience.“

Twilight stayed silent, knowing that Celestia would continue eventually. But so far she didn´t understand, what was the big deal. What kind of bad exprience could´ve he had? If not for Sunset and the Sirens, the human world, for example, would´ve been fine. And all those dangers originated from Equestria.

„But rather then talking about it, I think you should read the notes, that survived. I just don´t think, it´s possible for me to explain it.“

This doesn´t sound good.

But she listened and walked to the regular book, that the earth pony obviously used to write everything, Princesses told him to. After a short look Twilight couldn´t help, but sigh in disappointment.

„Is something wrong?“ Asked Cadence behind her.

„It´s just that I expected more. More then barely one page,“ and she wasn´t kidding. There was only one list of paper, covered in carefuly written sentences and sometimes just words, without any context.

„You have to remember, that even though, this book would easily contain all the knowledge of the Crystal Empire and Equestria combined, it doesn´t mean, that it was meant for it. We believe that Starswirl made it in hopes, that informations about this new world would prevail, even if there wasn´t much of them.“

It made sense, so with little less doubt and more curiosity Twilight read first few sentences, barely blinking, stopping just to think about, what words were missing.

...mirror from black crystals. It works...first one. My book...not get damaged...black core.

This other Equestria is pony... like ours. ...new, no counterparts. It has very similar, if not...laws. But that´s where the similiarities end. What is the main difference is the...of ponies. Emotions, that...have been chained and used to defend... But they are not evil! No, they... They are just different then us, so much...understand.

But beware...the powers! Politics... The Emperor...servants! Emperor rules all with iron hoof! They...freedom like us. Soldiers are everywhere and...punishment...death. But...judge.

...nothing stronger then pride.

Following part was divided from the rest. Twilight figured, that there was propably huge gap in the book itself. And it seemed, like Starswirl really wanted to stress this part out and used more power, because there were no words missing.

This is my warning: attack what those ponies hold dear and you will beg even King Sombra to save you from them. It is not world for us. They don´t want us there. Do not enter the mirror.

After that, there was whole bunch of single words, or phrases. Some of them uniteresting, but other seemed to have a hidden meaning behind them, but without context to explain them.

feared by all

friendship

Inquisition

Cantergrad

the First

loved by many

Sisters can

arrogance serves

Union

And the list went on, but nothing that could provide any more informations about this „different Equestria“.

„This is...“ There were no words Twilight could´ve think of, to express her emotions. She didn´t forget Starlight Glimmer and how the whole village was living under her tyranny, but an entire world? Why didn´t Starswirl help them, instead of just warning future generations, to avoid it?

„Quite terrible,“ finally spoke Luna and for a minute stopped examining the arcane book. „It´s tragic, that nopony here could´ve gone help them back then. King Sombra wasn´t defeated yet, Discord and Tirek came soon after him...then there was me and before all of that Starswirl alone defeated the Sirens. Our Equestria wasn´t safe and we couldn´t spare anypony.“

„What I don´t understand is why didn´t he tell you two about that. He mentioned „powers“, but if the laws he also mentioned were laws of nature, then ponies there shouldn´t be able to be more powerful, then ponies here.“ Cadence seemingly expected the sisters to know more, as they lived back then and were taught by Starswirl, but he seemingly didn´t tell them anything.

„But we can go help them now. Equestria has been at peace for some time now, and the only real problems are regional. It is our duty to send somepony to at least find out, how are things going. And we have only one option.“

Celestia looked at Twilight, who felt slight feeling of déjà vu. Even though she realized, that if Celestia said so, she had a very good reason,

Twilight still had to ask: „Why me?“

„Princess Cadence has to stay in charge of Crystal Empire, as it has much more problems to take care of then Equestria and me and Luna are not as versatile in the use of magic as you, my student. Your talent is magic, so if there is a very powerful magic using bad guy on the other side, you with your strengh and knowledge of friendship are the best suited for defeating him.“

She was right and Twilight knew that. There just were situations, when she wished she wasn´t the only option, but it also filled her with pride, that Celestia was counting on her. Still, if her friends could...

„I suppose that I can´t take my friends with me, can I?“

„Even though, we have no way of knowing, if multiple ponies entering would cause any problems, like with the human world, it would still be way too dangerous for your friends. Remember, this is a world that forced even Starswirl to run away and write this fear-filled book. I don´t feel good about sending you, let alone anypony else.“

„Then there is only one more thing do find. Where is the mirror?“

Twilight and the other Princesses turned to the door. The only thing in the room left to examine.

„Behind this door. It´s a second reason, why I called you. We don´t know how to open it. But you´ve studied everything that there is to magic.“

Twilight used her power to see the structure of the lock in her head. And what she saw suprised her and made her inner researcher squeel in joy.

The lock on that door was utterly unique. It wasn´t even really a lock protecting that door. It was „door opening spell“ and a very powerful one. What made it hold shut was fact, that it had part missing, so it didn´t work, while at the same time, nothing else could replace it.

„The spell is missing something. Some sort of key. What we have here are four streams of magic, almost creating a cross. The missing part was supposed to connect them and so open the door. But I think there is a way to go around it. If each of us grabs one of the streams and stretches them, we could complete the spell on our own.“

„You never stop making me proud Twilight.“

Horns of princesses all simultaneaously shined with their colors and each magic engulfed specific part of the door. For a random observer it would seem, as if they were just standing there and heavily breathing. In fact each of them were doing what Twilight told them. Holding the streams of magic and pulling on them as hard as they could, until all the ends finally touched and created a cross.

„Well, that was anticlimactic,“ said Cadence, when the door just silently opened, as if they didn´t just used magic powerful enough the destroy the Empire.

„Yes. Typical Starswirl. He had no sense for drama. If a spell worked, then that was all he needed. These things need mare´s touch, I would add some sparkles, and bright light when it opens,“ answered her Celestia and all four alicorns entered the room, which was the same as the other one, only emptier.

And in front of them was a tall dark mirror, with pitch black glass, framed in some grey metal decorated by green and purple crystals. The source of headaches.

„Well, now when that´s done, I should be off to Ponyville to pack my things and say goodbye to my friends. I want to be in one room with this thing as little as possible.“

„Fine, we will see you tomorrow in the morning, my student.“

Canterlot, morning of the next day.

„Are you sure, you have everything Twilight?“ Asked Celestia will truly worried look on her face. Everypony in the room realized, that this quest was more dangerous, then difficult.

„Saddlebags, food supply, bits, coat hiding my wings, pen and most importantly – enchanted diary, just like the one you gave Sunset. I think I am all set.“

This assurance didn´t make Princesses any less worried, but that could be expected. All of them gave her hug and together walked to the mirror.

„Please, do be careful.“

„I will Cadence. I promise.“

With that Twilight took a deep breath and reached with her foreleg to the ebony glass. Upon contact with the hoof, the mirror bubbled and sissled with dark magic, same as the one Sombra used. But unlike when Twilight had to use tiny bit of it to find the Crystal Heart, this time it didn´t hurt. It was actually kind of pleasant, like having a hot bubble bath.

And so, filled with determination, Twilight fully entered the mirror...

...and suddently there was nothing below her. But before she could even realize it, her body fell on the ground. Thankfuly it wasn´t too high

of a drop. Maybe half of meter, not even enough to stagger Twilight, but enough for her to lose her balance.

„Huh, this doesn´t seem too bad,“ whispered to herself when she got on her legs and looked around. Twilight was in the middle of meadow, surrounded by forest that could as well be part of her Equestria. Soothing healthy shades of green everywhere, birds singing in the distance, definetely not a world, she expected to enter through dark and evil looking magical mirror.

When she looked back, there was no sign of portal, instead there was a huge rock, taller then twenty ponies.

Maybe I should fly on top of it and have a look around. Or maybe not. What if there was somepony watching and the secret of me being an alicorn would be blown right away?

Teleporting was out of question. Twilight didn´t know, how the top looked like and if she slipped, the fall from such height would definetely hurt her, if not killed her. But maybe, she could levitate herself up.

Which was exactly what she did. And after a bit of patience and effort she finally stood on top of the rock.

Good thing I did. This forest is massive. It could take days getting out.

It was barely visible, but there seemed to be something to the west resembling houses. After adjusting her eyes a bit with magic, she knew for sure. There was a village there. And where was village, there had to ponies.

*Yawn*

„I have to hurry, getting up here and going through the mirror was kinda exhausting,“ whispered to herself, yawned again and teleported down on the grass. Then headed out in the direction she saw the village.

She felt more tired, then she had any reason being. Figures, that a dark mirror wouldn´t let her through without a price and the tall grass looked so inviting. Perhaps it wouldn´t be so bad to have a small nap.

Just few minutes. What is the worst that could happen?

Her legs just gave up under her and let Twilight fell into the soft grass. She just wanted to sleep for a short while and then she would continue her journey.

That´s funny, I am so tired it looks as if the nature and sky were dark purple. It´s also wavy and... *Yawn* Wait, something is not right!

Twilight mustered up all the energy she had left and casted a magic shield bubble around her, effectively cutting her from anything, that could possibly affect her. Her energy immediately returned and when getting up, she noticed several dark purple magic streams, retreating into the forest. And was it just her imagination, or did she saw something one green and one purple eye?

Whatever it was, she had to focus on escaping and so, once the alicorn was on all four she ran in the direction of the village in hopes of finding safety there.

Her face was constantly being whipped by branches, but she couldn´t stop just yet. There was the option to just face whatever was attacking her, but staying incognito in this foreign world sounded more important. So far her enemy just almost put her to sleep, they didn´t attack her directly, so she might´ve not been in an extreme danger yet. She will fight, but only if there is no other option.

For now Twilight had to focus on the running. The forest was getting really dense and instead of slapping her, the branches seemed to be catching her legs and getting stuck in her fur. Twilight used her magic to protect herself, but she couldn´t block all of them and using bubble shield again would cause her too much precious stamina.

And so, when she tripped over a root, there was nothing protecting her from the fall. She tried to get back up, but her legs were being held by more roots coming out of the ground and wrapping around her limbs like snakes. The pony was stuck just for few seconds, before she felt her energy disappearing again, faster then before. This time, she knew, how to defend herself and immediately focused on casting the bubble shield.

„I am running out of patience,“ spoke voice behind her, the young Princess heard her protection shatter like piece of glass and before she could turn her head around and have a look, she felt something touch her mane. Her vison went black and the last things Twilight heard, before passing out was heavy breathing of something very close to her.