Chapter 9: When your Counterpart Royally Screws up (part 4)

Broken Dawn sat with the alicorn named Twilight as she demonstrated some of the stuff you could do with levitation by moving several objects around the room at once. Twilight had been giving her lessons on levitation magic for the past two hours and even when Blackjack and her friends came back she only paused long enough to greet them before going back to the lesson, they were all now sitting around the room either quietly chatting or in the case of Blackjack listening to the lesson.

Dawn didn’t pay too much attention to them as she needed to focus on what the alicorn before her was saying as she made three plates spin in a circle above her head while eight pieces of silverware spun in an opposite circle outside of them. “Now it will take a lot of practice but if you stick to it you will be able to levitate multiple objects and have them do different things at the same time.” The mare said as she watched the plates and silverware move before she carefully stacked them on the table and looked back at the little filly. “Understand kid?”

Dawn sighed when Twilight called her kid again; she had only used her name when she needed her to focus on what she was explaining or when dawn was doing something wrong in her practice that apparently was dangerous. It was clear that refusing to give her name to the alicorn when they had met was the reason for her being called Kid and when Dawn had protested Twilight had been quick to point on Dawn didn’t even come up to her hip, for some reasons he had paused for a moment and gotten a faraway look when she said that, a moment alter she had shook her head and went back to the lesson.

Dawn nodded in answer to the older mare’s question. “Yeah, I think so.’ She said and Twilight nodded and placed a fork and spoon before dawn.

“Ok, try picking both of these up at the same time.” She told dawn who looked at them. She took a deep breath and focused on the two pieces of silverware and as her horn was wrapped in magic so too was the silverware. She focused hard and her cheeks puffed out as they slowly lifted off the table. “That’s in…steady…” Twilight whispered encouragingly. Dawn lifted them about a hoof width off the table and held them there and she was happy to see they didn’t shake or wobble at all. “Good, good, you are getting it; now try moving them about half a hoof apart.” The mare said.

This made her almost lose her focus as she hadn’t tried that yet though Twilight had explained it in detail how to do it and said she was confident the filly could pull it off with practice. Taking a deep breath she focused on both pieces of silverware individually instead of as a whole and thought about moving them away from each other. They started to unsteadily pull apart till they were about where Twilight asked her to put them and they hovered there swaying slightly as it was harder to keep them in the air when they were this far apart.

She felt her magic starting to flicker an before she dropped the silverware she felt another magic wrap around them and her blue aura was replaced by a purple one as Twilight took them from her and set them down. Dawn looked at the alicorn who was smiling at her. “Yes that’s it exactly!” She said happily. “You did very well Dawn.”

Dawn couldn’t help smiling at the praise despite the lessons had tired her out as Twilight had her show her what she could do with her bobby pins by pretending to work on a lock, she then had her do it for about ten minutes and that had been tiresome before she began to explain something and have dawn lift several objects before moving on to more than one object.

As she caught her breath Dawn noticed Blackjack had two bullets wrapped in her magic and appeared to have been following along with the lesson as Twilight taught Dawn though the filly wasn’t sure why a full grown mare would be following a lesson in magic.

Twilight looked at what she called a datapad as it displayed the time before she spoke up. “I think that’s enough for now kid, we’ve been working for a while and I have work to do.” She said looking back at the filly who looked up at her.

“Are you sure?” Dawn asked. “Maybe one more lesson?” She asked hopefully despite being tired as she wanted to get better with her magic as it would help her in her scavenging.

“Yes I am sure kid, you are exhausted magically and it’s not good for a filly your age to push yourself to hard.” Twilight explained. “We can maybe pick up later if there is time.” Twilight said as the object Dawn had broken reappeared from somewhere, as well as the tools from before, Dawn had no idea where they came from as Twilight only explained it as “magic” when asked.

“Can I stay and watch?” Dawn asked looking up at the alicorn who sighed.

“Not my place not my choice, ask Blackjack.” Twilight said and the filly was quick to look at the unicorn in question.

“Uh….I don’t see why not.” Blackjack said hiding the bullets she had been practicing with.

“Yes!” Dawn said pumping a hoof in the air before setting back into her seat.

“Alright, but try not to touch anything, this equipment is delicate.” Twilight said as she lowered her goggles and picked up several tools at once as she went about trying to repair the damaged parts. Dawn watched intently as Twilight worked with her magic, it was like how she picked locks, delicate and precise only with many more objects then a bobby pin and screwdriver.

After a while Twilight looked up. “You all mind if I put on some music? I like working to a bit of music.” She explained and received the ok that it was fine from the gathered ponies, save dawn who remembered the last weird song the mare played when they were tearing across the wasteland in what she called a Warthog though calling it some sort of cat would have made more sense.

The mare wrapped her datapad in her magic and started to go through the menus once more tills he reached what she was looking for and before Dawn could protest selected a song. However unlike the last song the room was filled with a VIOLIN started to play and a voice began to speak about pushing something down and how words will not tire.

Twilight went back to work as the gently song played and Dawn was transfixed by the music as was everypony else in the room, even the weird mare in the spike covered armor and red strips came out of her room to listen. As the ponies were transfixed by the melody Twilight continued to work quietly, lost in her own world of her work as she repaired the replicator.

As the song played the music kept building as the voice was talking about how the truth was more powerful than even war and that words were bulletproof. Dawn had never heard a song like it before, even the upbeat songs DJ-Pon3 played to keep up everypony listening’s spirits never really had any messages to them but this song seemed to. And growing up in the wasteland Dawn was unfamiliar with the concept of anything being seen as more powerful then war, she simply had to look outside at the wasteland to know it, yet this song said that mere words and ideas were stronger and couldn’t be stopped by anything even the fires of war and how ponies united behind those words would be immortal even if killed as their thoughts and words would live on.

It was ridiculous, it was crazy, the thought that anything was more powerful then war and that somepony could be defeated by simple words…and yet……the song was so sure of this simple fact that it made the little filly feel like it was true, that words could withstand even the force of war.

Slowly the song came to an end and the room was silent as Twilight finished what she was working on just another song was start to play, however she shut off the music as she was done for now, stood and stretched, popping sever of her joints as after being hunched over so long had left her stiff.

Looking around she noticed that the ponies in the room were quiet in the wake of the song and dawn seemed to be deep in thought. “Hey Dawn mind showing me around town a bit?” She asked the filly who gave a start at suddenly being spoken too.

“Huh? Yeah sure.” She said before lapsing back into thought. Twilight shook her head at how deep in thought the filly before she used her magic to pick the filly up and place her on her back as she headed for the door.

<<>>

Twilight walked into town with her goggled up as she had left her helmet at the house do to wanting to enjoy some time without. Everyone in the town could see and recognize her as everyone seemed to know what she looked like, it hadn’t been hard to find out why when she saw a poster with her face on it smiling widely while surrounded by books and holding one with the caption “READING IS MAGIC” Twilight had glared at the image of her counterpart for allowing this all to have happened and muttering how she should have done something, spoken up and not have gone along with it.

This counterpart made her actually feel bad about being Twilight Sparkle even though she wasn’t this one who had fucked up so bad it still annoyed her that her name and face was connected to a Mass Extinction Event. Maybe she would get lucky and no one would recognize her do to her mane being cut shorter then she wore it in the poster though the front was still mostly the same.

Walking into town she knew her luck wasn’t that good as several ponies spotted her and whispered to their neighbor and she turned up her hearing to confirm it was about her looking like the Ministry Mare. Sighing she ignored the stares as she had more pressing matters at hand, namely fixing the filly on her back.

Stopping just inside of the town Twilight turned her head around to look at Dawn who had her legs tucked under herself and still looked somewhat far off. “So then my little tour guide, what’s the first stop?” She asked cheerfully and wore a friendly smile.

“Huh? Oh, I guess the Post Office.” The dark blue filly said a little absentmindedly and she pointed to a nearby building. Twilight made her way over surprised there was a postal service at all, however entering the building she found the lobby empty and the area behind the counter was filled with shelves packed with random objects and she was reminded of Liston’s SHOP from years ago, she almost expected to see his smiling face behind the counter.

Instead it was a small pink filly looking over a clipboard with a pencil tucked behind her left ear. The filly looked up and her eyes widened slightly when she saw Twilight at the door before her face became much like a stone and she set the clipboard down.

“Need something alicorn?” She asked simply but Twilight could sense an undertone, the Goddess had sure done a great job making alicorns well liked in Equestria.

“Just getting a tour. “Twilight said gesturing with her head back to Dawn who seemed to be perking up at the voice of the other filly.

Dawn popped up over Twilight head, her back legs standing on Twilight back while her front legs rested on Twilight’s head to steady herself making them look a bit like a totem pole as the dark blue filly looked over Twilights head. “Hey Charity get anything good in?”

The filly, Charity apparently, looked between Twilight and Dawn before focusing on Dawn. “I may have, you got any salvage?” She asked. Wait the filly ran the shop?

Dawn nodded and hoped off Twilight’s back and trotted up to the counter as her horn lite with magic and she pulled out a few random odds from her saddlebags and end and set them on the counter.

Charity began to inspect items as if she were a jeweler and them precious gems. After a bit she finally spoke. “Well this is nothing like what you normally bring it but I suppose do to you being a repeat customer and I know you are good for salvage I can give you….a hundred caps for it all.”

“Only a hundred? Come on Charity I nearly died getting this stuff, there were like forty Raiders between me and it.” Dawn said.

Charity looked at her levelly. “One hundred caps take it or leave it.” She said flatly. Sighing Dawn nodded. With that Charity moved the items behind the counter and pulled out a small bag and tossed it to Dawn who caught it in her magic before moving it into her saddlebags.

Twilight watched the entire exchange from beside the door surprised that the filly acutely seemed to know what she was doing. Her eyes drifted from the two fillies and to the goods behind the counter, there were ammo boxes, weapons, food and various other items apparently for sell. Had the filly really acquired all of that on her own? Thinking about it if this shop was really only one for miles then it would make sense that she would do good business, but still the fact that a filly ran a shop at all was something the alicorn had never thought she’d see in her life.

“Are you going to buy something or just sand there taking up space because there is a standing fee of five caps every five minutes.” Charity said from behind the counter eyeing Twilight.

“Caps?” Was all Twilight asked. “Don’t you mean Bits?”

“Bits aren’t worth much anymore, we deal in Sparkle Cola caps.” Dawn explained and then looked at Charity. “She’s kinda new so don’t really know much.”

“So then she doesn’t have any caps?” Charity asked and looked out at Twilight. “If you don’t have any caps then why are you even in here? Get out.” She said with annoyance and Twilight blinked.

“Uh…ok then….I’ll wait for you outside kid.” Twilight said looking at Dawn before she headed out the door to stand in front of the Post Officer turned shop. She watched ponies go about their days many of them glancing her direction. She ignored the looks and just looked over the town, for being a post-MEE town it looked rather present, the only thing really wrong was the church steeping having collapsed and a few craters.

Over all it looked like a normal Equestrian town, though she was curious about the city across the bridge, looking at it for any length of time made her skin crawl like she was in a sniper’s sights. Maybe she wouldn’t need to explore that particular city while here, best listen to her instincts as they had never steered her wrong before.

A few minutes passed with her watching the town go about its day and the door to the post office turned shop opened and Dawn came out putting something in her saddlebags. “Hey there kid, where to next?” Twilight asked looking back at her.

“Um…well the only other major building in town is the chapel but it’s being rebuilt.” She said as she looked around the small town, there really wasn’t much to it, just a few building built near the Chapel and the graveyard.

Twilight nodded her head and looked around to see if there was anything else to see, she was glad to see the filly had recovered from her stupor but she really didn’t want to head back to Star House right now as she had already mostly repaired the replicator. It had looked far worse than it had actually been and most of the damaged parts were redundant parts to prevent such damage from disabling the replicator.

“So….I guess we could work on another lesson if you want.” Twilight said looking at Dawn who perked up. She was defiantly eager to learn more about magic though to hear some of her stories she was already a master of magic on pare with Twilight herself. Twilight find it rather entertaining listening to the filly’s stories even if they were greatly exaggerated to anyone who thought about it, however the younger foals seemed to believe her and from the loos of their faces it kept up their spirits in this hellish land. “So let’s find a nice place to get to work shall we?” Twilight said as she started to walk off towards the edge of town so that way any accidents would put anyone in danger in case of a mishap.

<<>>

Dawn sat on her haunches in the dirt beside a few small boulders not far from Chapel, her horn was wrapped in her aura of magic as she focused on making two small pebbles orbit a larger rock that Twilight held in her magic as Twilight was explained to her how the sun and moon orbited the planet. “So Celestia raises the sun each day and each night Luna raises the moon. Each one working together to bring about the day and night that we experience.” Twilight was explaining from where she sat watching the orbiting pebbles.

Nearby there was another group of pebbles orbiting another small rock held by Twilight, those pebbled were being manipulated by Blackjack. Shortly after Twilight had started Dawn’s lesson Dawn had noticed Blackjack watching them from a distance and the unicorn seemed to have been following the lesson. She had not escaped Twilight notice even through the purple alicorn had not taken her eyes away from the formulas she was daring in the dirt with a stick she had found and spoke up that it would be easier to learn if she actually was closer so Twilight could more easily monitor her work.

It had startled the other mare that she had dropped the rocks she had been manipulating be she came over and sat in to listen to the lesson. It had also seemed that Twilight saying she was going to give Dawn another lesson had been over heard by some Crusaders as after Blackjack had joined a slow trickle of foals made their way from the town and Dawn soon found herself among not only Blackjack but almost two dozen other unicorns as well as several non-unicorns here to either watch or listen to Twilight explain history or mathematics or whatever tangent she ended up going on as she explained things to the impromptu class.

Even with so many others around Twilight focus was on Dawn and sometimes Blackjack and it was as If for the most part the others weren’t there though she did answer questions and occasionally give some advice to the others when they were having a particularly hard time, nothing seemed to escape the alicorn’s sight even as she seemed to be focusing on one thing. Dawn found herself wondering how she did it and was going to ask her about it later.

After the explanation of how Celestia and Luna raised and lowered the moon the lesson moved onto manipulating two objects about three meters apart, in this case small rocks. Twilight gave a demonstration and then explained how to do it and then sat back to watch dawn and the others try it. Several times she had to put up a shield around someone to block a rock that a foal lost control of and it went sailing through the air.

After a few hours of this, when Dawn was exhausted once more Twilight called and end to the lesson and the Crusaders departed for Chapel While Dawn remained with Twilight and Blackjack, mostly due to Twilight stopping the filly to ask her a question.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you, what’s that around your leg?” She asked pointing at Dawn’s Pip-buck.

Dawn look at the dark green device on her leg. “It’s called a Pip-buck, it’s like a computer you can carry with you and it keeps track of things as well as helps you identify threats with its Eyes Forward Sparkle.” Dawn explained and Twilight looked at it.

“So it’s like my datapad?” She asked and Dawn nodded, she had seen the mare use her datapad several times so knew it was a computer like the Pip-buck but seemed to run differently. “Interesting, how does it track things and alert you to enemies?”

“It displays a compass just below your vision.” Dawns aid, explain as best as she could.

“So it has a visual interface?” She asked and Dawn looked at her in confusion. “It displays things on your eyes.” Dawn nodded. “Interesting, where did you get it?”

“I found it when scavenging an old building; I didn’t realize what it was at the time and thought I could get some caps for it. Needed to test it first so I put it on to see if it worked and well….I can’t get it off.” Dawn said and Twilight looked between her and it. “It takes special tools to remove it and they are rare and it costs caps to get somepony to remove it. Plus the risk of it being stolen because ponies think I’d be an easy mark. So I wasn’t able to get any caps for it but it has been very useful so I think it’s made up for the fact I can’t sell it.”

Twilight nodded and then looked up at the sky.” Strange…..” She muttered and it was Blackjacks turn to speak up.

“What is it?” The unicorn asked looking up as well.

“By my estimation Celestia should have lowered the sun and Luna raised the moon about an hour ago.” Twilight replied looking at the sky still. “I wonder why it is delayed.”

Blackjack hesitated a bit not really sure how to break it to the alicorn, in the end she decided it was best to just tell her. “Celestia and Luna died when Canterlot was destroyed by some kind of megaspell that filled the city with a pink cloud that kills everything.”

The other alicorn looked down at her. “So who raises and lowers the sun and the moon?”

“Eh….nopony, they just move on their own and it’s not really set.” Blackjack said.

Twilight was quiet for a while before looking back up at the sky. “So they died in the war they started, fitting, saves me the trouble of kicking their asses.” The alicorn said before her horn was wrapped in a magical aura.

“What are you doing?” Dawna sked watching the alicorn as her horn glowed brightly.

“I am setting the sun and going to raise the moon.” Twilight replied and Dawn’s eyes went wide.

“You can do that?” She asked in shock.

Twilight didn’t move her head as she spoke. “Yes, I’m as strong as Luna is…was...anyways, point it yes I can and have a few times back home.” She said and the two unicorns watched as it did indeed get dark as what sunlight filtered through the clouds faded and it was completely dark save for the glow from the city. A few moment later the light from the moon shone through the cloud layer. “There we go, decided to go with a full moon so there is more light.” The alicorn said as she looked down and started to head for the town.

Dawn looked after her in awe till she realized she was being left behind and galloped after the alicorn as fast as her little hooves could carry her. “You’re like a Princess.” She explained when she caught up to the other two.

“I am a Princess.” Twilight replied.

This caused both unicorns to stop in their tracks and blinks before having to trot faster to catch up to the alicorn who didn’t slow. “What do you mean you are a Princess?” Blackjack asked.

Twilight gestured with her head to the wings on her back. “See the wings? See the horn?” She asked looking at the mare. “I am an alicorn, a real one, which means I am a princess.” She said. “I am the Princess of Friendship.” She explained as Dawn trotted alongside her looking up at her with a bit of awe. Twilight then tilted her head. “Come to think of it can you answer me a question Blackjack?”

The other mare nodded and Twilight continued on. “What happened to Cadence?” She asked. “Or Princess Mia mor Cadenza if that is more familiar.”

Blackjack thought for a moment before answering. “I don’t know, I don’t think she was really mentioned in history, or she was and I just wasn’t paying attention.” The other mare asked.

Twilight nodded and Dawn thought her mood seemed to have dropped a bit. “Well thanks for answering.” She said as they reached town. Dawn followed the Princess as she walked down the street towards the Chapel and stood beside it looking at the city before she shivered. “What is it?” Blackjack asked.

“Just….something about that city…..looking at it puts all my senses into high gear as if I’m in the middle of a Fed base.” The alicorn said.

Blackjack tilted her head in confusion. “Fed base?”

“Long story, in short the reason I have cybernetics. Something about that city makes me feel like I am surrounded by enemies and being attacked from all sides and I want to both retreat and fight at the same time.” Twilight said shaking her head as she looked back at the town as a wind started to blow.

The ponies looked around but it was Twilight who reacted by smiling wide. “Alright!” She said and galloped off.

“Where are you going?” Blackjack called as she moved to chase after the alicorn.

“To get my helmet from Star House and come back.” The alicorn called back over her shoulder and Dawn moved to follow her as well but she wouldn’t be able to keep up and she said she’d be back.

Sure enough after a few minutes the mare returned with her helmet strapped to her head and carrying her goggles in her magic with Blackjacks friends chasing after her drawn by what they thought was an emergency. At this point the wind was strong enough that ponies were coming out of the buildings to see what was going on as the wind was starting to swirl in the center of town.

“Hey kid catch!” Twilight yelled and tossed the goggles to Dawn who caught them in her magic, much to her surprise, she then looked at Twilight confused. “Relax I have another pair, consider that payment for getting me to the town as well as the tour.” She shouted over the wind.

It was growing strong enough that sever ponies drew weapons in case it was some sort of attack, however what happened was the air blasting outwards as the air split open and bathed the town in light as bright as day.

“Well it’s been real folks, but that’s my ride so catch you alter, Oh and Blackjack, good luck with the whole hero thing” She said as she turned and galloped for the tear in the air.

Dawn watched as she leapt through and it grew brighter as she vanished and she looked at the googles in her magic and back at the rift the Princess had leapt through and then back at the town ponies looking on in confusion at what was happening and at the wasteland around the town before she put the googles on her head, right below her horn and got a look of determination on her face.

Author's Note

Maximum Level Reached