Chapters And It Was a Tiresome Dream, But Only Because She Wished It So
“We must destroy this doorway at once!” Celestia said after her inspection.
“You know what’s wrong?” Twilight asked.
“I saw this same interference when Discord ruled Equestria, and in the laboratories of many inventors who never came into their own. Ponies who encountered it too closely were never seen again, and few could remember them. It’s a weakness in reality, a link to total nonexistence.”
“Does that mean that all those people are...” Twilight didn’t want to say it.
“There’s no way of telling.”
“But, but you enchanted the book, right?” Twilight smiled nervously as she waved a hoof at the journal. “You must have some way of bridging the gap.”
“I could enchant it while it was here in Equestria, for the same reason the Element of Magic retained its power in the other world. If that world is lost, I have no method of knowing, but if it isn’t it would be foolhardy to leave this portal activated. It could destroy the very reality of Equestria.”
It said something about how far Twilight had come, that Celestia was trying to persuade her. The Princess had looked concerned from the moment her student mentioned fixing up the portal, though, and Twilight wasn’t fully convinced that this wasn’t what her fellow Princess would’ve counseled in any case. Or, at least, that’s what she told herself to keep from being persuaded.
“But if something’s happened to the human world, maybe it’s not the portal at all. You told me that sending in too many ponies would upset the balance between the universes, maybe that’s what caused it! If I can just work out what’s creating all of this extra entropy, I can set it right! Or maybe it’s something happening to the human world naturally, and Equestrians aren’t affected. Sunset might be there waiting for us to come and rescue her!”
Twilight was getting more and more excited, and was about to start pacing, when Celestia put a hoof on her shoulder.
“I understand that you want to help, Twilight. It’s not easy for any of us to accept a loss on this scale, even potentially. The human world was like our sister, and we shall all mourn for it if it’s truly gone, but for now we can’t allow its disappearance to threaten our world.”
“Are you going to make me destroy it?” Twilight asked in a small voice.
Celestia looked at her, but didn’t say anything.
And It Was a Tiresome Dream, But Only Because She Wished It So
“Are you going to make me destroy it?” Twilight asked in a small voice.
Celestia looked at her, but didn’t say anything.
“Just… just let me check the book. Maybe Sunset’s written something. If she has, then we have to go and save her. If she hasn’t, then...” Twilight swallowed, “Then, I’ll close it down.”
“Twilight, I-”
“Please.” Twilight said, and turned to the portal. The journal was part of its framework, but she could open and close it. It hadn’t vibrated, and gave no indications of writing, but maybe been sent through the intereference had dulled it. Yeah, she might be onto something there.
She opened it gingerly, like it was ancient and could crumble into dust at any moment. She was so afraid it would be empty, as empty as the mirror was, and that there’d be no evidence that there had ever been another world there at all.
Instead, the inside was black. Thick, wet black, with inches of ink that came gushing off of the pages like overripe fruit. Celestia joined her as she wiped the ink away with her magic, and saw the page being filled up again in three dozen different hands.
Dear Princess Twilight,--
I rode a bike today, for the first time.--
couldn’t find an opening in the dome on this sector--
The rest of the world is quiet, as ever. I worked out some new equations, though, in case you ever need some help with thaumaturgy--
I keep feeling like I’ve already died and I’m just waiting for the universe to catch up.--
forgive me--
wonder if that’s how it all started, sometimes.--
and I hope you’re doing well, as ever.--
Your Friend,--
Sunset Shimmer.
It didn’t stop, or even slow. There were more writers, more ink appearing on the page and then falling away, and now the book was vibrating so violently it getting hot. Twilight tried to close it again, and then Celestia joined her, but the ink became hoof-deep, and the book exploded in a shower of unclear messages.
Just after that, the rest of the portal fell in on itself, and the mirror cracked and buckled with the force of the explosion, and then Twilight could see the emptiness like spots in her eyes as it came in from the cold.
And It Was a Tiresome Dream, But Only Because She Wished It So
Even at the apex of her reign, Princess Sunset Shimmer spent every morning looking into one mirror and trying to patch it back together. She let her subjects believe that she was vain, for it kept her from revealing the danger of her work, and the other Princesses’ displeasure at it. She’d contained the danger of it as best she could, but she couldn’t let it disappear.
It wasn’t just Twilight Sparkle on the other side, maybe trapped in the human world and going stir-crazy. Sunset knew that Celestia’s second student would’ve been used to waiting thirty moons for a chance to return to Equestria, and although the world she called home might have been completely ravished by now, she was a tough cookie.
It was when she turned off the portal for maintenance, to set up some extra magical barriers and call in Discord for counsel and supervision, and he’d told her that the portal didn’t move to one place any more. It wasn’t the waypath to one Twilight Sparkle, it led to all of her, each one in turn through the same winding circuits of oblivion.
There were other Twilights in trouble, other worlds this portal could rescue her from, and if there was a way through it than entire nations could be saved. What a boon a thousand Twilight Sparkles would be to any kingdom, and what an evil to leave them to fate. She worked diligently, with all the awareness her alicorn form allowed, and waited patiently for the day it would unlock itself again. She had to overcome that entropy somehow, one of the few things that could still harm her no matter how powerful her magic became.
She never stopped, or gave into despair. She simply continued inscribing magical theory and prodding its nature with experiments. And all the while, her kingdom grew and shrank, and had periods of growth that outlasted those of depression, and her subjects found her a worthwhile ruler.
And It Was a Tiresome Dream, But Only Because She Wished It So
I didn’t really know if I was the original Sunset, or just the latest one. It was a funny kind of thought to think, to be honest, even though I guess there used to be another of me in the human world. In an itchy kind of way I felt like I’d died before, but I couldn’t confirm it, and I never remembered the details. Sometimes I was a little grateful I didn’t have to explain this to anybody else.
The portal wasn’t ever going to open to Equestria. I figured we’d been decoupled like train cars, but whatever happened, I knew there wouldn’t be a way out. There would’ve been escapes to somewhere if I still had magic, but without my friends that was bust. I was just... alone.
Yes, alone. It felt better to admit it than let it hold power over me. I’d been friendless and unnoticed before, and back then this might not have hurt me as much. Maybe I’d have scoured the whole planet for magic, and engineered a way out thirty years after I started looking. I didn’t have that kind of ambition any more. I wasn’t a supervillain, I was a high-schooler, and…
And I was okay with that.
It was important to hold on to the things that mattered, the memories of friendship that I got to keep. But it was equally important to take the only course of action available, and not to mope around for years waiting for a rescue that wouldn’t come. I’d given up on signalling with the journal after the fourth try, and I’d checked as much of the surrounding area as was reasonable, but now the electricity and the internet had gone out, and there was no way there were people out there. Searching around would’ve been childish, like looking for something you’d lost in all the same places in case it showed up.
If the portal was here, maybe I was supposed to break it. Maybe that would destroy me, or maybe it would set me free. Whatever the outcome, I’d accept it.
I flipped through my phone’s photo albums until I found the right picture. The selfie Rarity had taken during the slumber party, that week the Dazzlings had taken over the school. I felt old for thinking it, but if I had one regret, it’s that I wished I’d taken more pictures.
I set it down in the grass, and hefted the sledgehammer over my shoulder.
And It Was a Tiresome Dream, But Only Because She Wished It So
Twilight woke up with the distinct feeling that there was less magic in the air. She thought for a moment that she was in the human world again, and wondered how she’d gotten there if the portal had stopped working.
Then she realized she was still in Equestria, and she felt profoundly nervous.
“Spike?” she called as she left her bedroom. Her voice rang rampant throughout the corridors, but there was no answer. With a little teleportation, she did a full sweep of the castle, and he was nowhere.
When she went outside to look for him, Ponyville was empty, and her stomach sank. It was like being punished as a filly, after a day of waiting for her father and mother to discuss her misdeeds and hoping against hope that maybe they’d forget all about it in the next few hours.
She flew to the train station, to Canterlot’s castle, to Appleloosa and Manehattan, she flew so much that eventually she fell and flagged, and she realized it had been more than a day with the sun still hanging in the morning sky, for there was nopony left to raise or lower it.
When she finally made it back to Ponyville, after resting in the shade, she debated whether to lower it. She had the power if she rested for long enough, and she knew that the sunlight would damage the land after a while, but the thought of an eternal night still brought shivers to her all these years after it should’ve stopped being an issue. She let it be, as a testament to her teacher.
Over the following weeks she gathered more parts. If her portal didn’t work any more, she’d fix it up as best as she could. It took endless assembly and double-checking, the kind that she’d tried to grow out of. If she’d made the mistakes that caused all of this in the first place, she had to make sure to never make them again.
For some of that long and increasingly hot morning, she cried herself to sleep. Her trips to the outside became fewer and fewer, and required more and more magical protection. She wouldn’t bring down the sun, not while Celestia might still come back and turn everything right again, not when there was a chance she could find out where everypony disappeared to and put things right again, like time hadn’t even passed from their disappearance.
When she finished it, deep within the castle and a good distance away from the other, the portal crackled to life on the spot, and Twilight resisted the urge to do a little dance for long enough to check the results and make sure she hadn’t made any fatal mistakes. Then she galloped through as fast as she could.
On the other side it was night. Equestria. She took in a breath of air and knew she’d made it. Then she took to the sky, cheering, and looked around.
She’d been in the Everfree, which was close enough considering she hadn’t been able to search for anypony specifically. It was a piece of profoundly good luck that she arrived so close to civilization, and she swooped towards the light of town while the night air kissed her face.
Nopony. The lights were on, but nopony was home. She beat down doors and teleported through walls, looking for anypony. It was just as empty.
She thought that she might still be in the same world, but her castle didn’t have the portal in it. This was a new world, and just as abandoned as the last.
So were the next eighty-seven.
And It Was a Tiresome Dream, But Only Because She Wished It So
The portal crackled to life on the spot, and Twilight resisted the urge to do a little dance for long enough to check the results and make sure she hadn’t made any fatal mistakes. Then she galloped through as fast as she could.
She’d already packed up everything she’d need, and her bags weighed her down a little with expeditionary gear, but she didn’t want to risk anything.
In the end, all it had taken was tracking her through the book, which maintained a steady link, even if it seemed to be one-way. Twilight had written in it that she was coming, but there’d been no answer. She thought about that fact as she fell through, and came out running at double speed.
The place might have been Canterlot High once, but it was greying now. The sky was being covered by sheets of metal, and mountain crags argued for the horizon. The wind was hot against her face, and she focused on not falling over.
“Sunset!” she shouted into the dimness. There was no answer.
She’d shown up on school grounds again, so she knew Sunset had to be close. She didn’t have enough magic in this world to track the girl directly, but she had to be nearby. It was as easy as locating the book.
Except, part of her she wanted to die reminded her, the book could’ve been left behind. It might still be in her locker with the rest of her things while she ran away into the rest of the world. She might find a skeleton clutching it, or something that wasn’t a skeleton yet. It might just have been dropped on the ground somewhere. Maybe she wasn’t really alone here and something else had gotten to her.
“Sunset!” Twilight shouted again when the wind died down.
“Twilight?” the reply was an echo, yelled but faint, at least a building away.
“Where are you?”
The response was like humming, too faint to make out the syllables, but Twilight ran in its direction. She didn’t see any dust being kicked up, but soon a storm had swallowed her, and she ran onwards as bits of dirt and nothingness pelted at her. The wind roared in her ears and tugged at her hair, but she flailed onwards.
“Sunset, I’m coming! Stay where you are!”
“I can’t see you!” Sunset’s voice came from the left. Twilight twisted, shielding her eyes from the wind and dust in a boxer’s stance, and hit her shoulder against a telephone pole. Biting back the pain, she kept moving, slowing now to a brisk walk.
“I’m coming! I promise I’m coming!”
“I thought I was the only one left!” Sunset shouted.
“I know, I did too! But even when everything else has disappeared, I’ll come for you! We can figure all of this out together!”
There was silence. Twilight felt for a wall and found it, ignoring the gravelly substance pooling in the creases of her clothes. As she edged around a corner, Sunset’s voice was closer, like from the other side of a room.
“There are still other ponies, aren’t there? Equestria’s okay?”
Twilight coughed, and weighed her responses. “No. Equestria’s probably going to turn like this, too. But I can build us a portal somewhere else, where everything’s still working! We can both find out where everypony went, if we stick together!”
“...I don’t know if anything’s working anywhere.” Sunset said quietly, and Twilight stumbled toward the sound.
“I need you, Sunset,” she said to the grey sunless haze around her, “Please come back with me. I can’t be alone any more.”
There wasn’t a response, and Twilight’s heart nearly stopped, but then she thought she saw the outline of a hand in front of her, outstretched and waiting.
And It Was a Tiresome Dream, But Only Because She Wished It So
“I can’t just leave her trapped inside there! Especially when it’s my fault for not bringing her back in the first place!” Twilight shouted, feathers ruffled as her wings stood out.
Celestia looked at her levelly, making no sudden movements but maintaining eye contact. She was trying to be reasonable. Twilight could work with that, if they could both calm down and get away from the portal.
The Princess’ magic was a thousand years more experienced than Twilight’s, and she was quick on the draw. The only warning her student had was the sudden pinprick of light around her horn, and then the room was bathed in golden rays.
“No!” Twilight scrambled for the portal she could hear being annihilated. Celestia grabbed her from behind and held her tightly, keeping her hooves off the ground.
“The light would be fatal, Twilight, even to you. Sunset’s on her own now. I’m truly sorry, but there’s nothing you can do for her that wouldn’t endanger the rest of Equestria. You must look after your people.”
“She’s my friend !” Twilight screamed, beating against her fellow Princess with her wings until the magic ended.
When the room was visible again, only the patch of floor they’d occupied remained. Everything else had been charred, and the ashes scattered, until even the fire-smell had been eradicated. The rest of the castle had survived, it was founded on Eld Magic even the Princess didn’t understand, but this piece was demolished.
Twilight flew out of Celestia’s grasp, took in the destruction, and cried. She couldn’t help it.
“I have one more task, my student. I’m sorry.” Celestia said, as she flew to join her student.
“You can’t do that to me.” Twilight backed away, eyes darting for an exit amongst the new emptiness of the chamber. “I won’t let you! Sunset needs me!”
Celestia drifted closer and Twilight felt the wall pressing behind her. Her vision was streaked with tears, but she could make out her mentor closing her eyes and lowering her head.
“No!” Twilight shouted as their horns touched, and then it was over. Her knowledge of the portal, how it worked, what it looked like, how she would’ve described it to anypony else, was completely gone. Only her memories of going through were left to her.
“I’m sorry. I know you won’t want to speak with me for a long time, but I hope one day you’ll be able to forgive me, Princess Twilight. I did this for all of us.”
WIth that, Celestia departed. Twilight fell to the ground and sobbed.
“It’s over,” Celestia said to herself, quiet enough that the wind would drown it out, “I saved everypony I could.”
However her actions made her feel, she knew they were the right ones, and they brought her a washing relief that made her feel guilty. Bad dreams and false memories had haunted her, and would've plagued the fledgling alicorn with madness even if she'd contained the portal. Now there was no more fracturing, no more false hope. This was the end of the story.
And It Was a Tiresome Dream, But Only Because She Wished It So
Twilight Sparkle was doing a little morning castlekeeping when she entered the portal’s room and found it was giving off strange readings. The apparatus was quickly-constructed, and she’d been meaning to outfit it with better sensors, but she never found the time. For safety’s sake she checked that it wasn’t immediately dangerous, made sure there was nothing new in the book that linked Sunset to her, and pencilled a checkup into her schedule for later in the day.
When she’d finished cleaning, and bought some groceries, and done her regal workload for the day, she finally returned, ready to tinker. And, surprisingly, she found nothing wrong with her work. She wasn’t foolish enough to jump through and investigate what was on the other side, so instead she tried some scrying. It took her two dozen attempts with various spells to confirm her findings.
The other side of the portal was empty. There wasn’t anything there any more.
And It Was a Tiresome Dream, But Only Because She Wished It So
The school halls were empty. So were the streets. Sunset left voicemails on every phone she could, and got no answers. She’d woken up that morning feeling alone, like her world had just become much, much smaller.
There weren’t any teachers, or custodians. She snuck into Canterlot High through the same route as the food got into the cafeteria, and the lights weren’t even on. She checked to make sure it wasn’t a holiday, and then went door to door through the nearby houses, waiting for the moment she could feel embarrassed and explain “No, I’m sorry, it’s just that I thought everyone in town vanished.”
It never came. She checked a dozen at random before ditching the idea, and headed on her motorcycle to the next town over. The driveways had cars on them, but not the roads, and she made it outside of her “hometown” for the first time in her life.
No matter how far, she didn’t see anyone. Once she’d reached two towns over and moved past a series of orchards, she turned around and sped back to CHS; she had to tell Princess Twilight about this. On the journey she brainstormed what could make so many people disappear, and couldn’t come up with anything.
After she reached her locker and sent the message out, she spent two hours waiting, pacing the halls and eventually wandering back outside, hoping for someone to jump out and surprise her. She checked her phone compulsively, and nothing new presented itself. She told herself not to panic, and told herself again a few minutes later.
Finally she couldn’t stand to wait any longer, and she approached the portal. It was still there, she could feel the energy crackling out at her, but it felt like it would bite her if she got too close. It kept her away for a couple minutes, until she ran out of excuses and rushed for it, jamming her hand inside.
The next day, when she’d recovered, found a painkiller and bandaged herself, she got close enough to peer inside without touching it. On the other side of the violent swimming magic was white darkness, grainy with distance.
Princess Twilight never came.
And It Was a Tiresome Dream, But Only Because She Wished It So
Since that day, an old fear had returned to Sunset, something that hadn’t kept her awake in years. It tormented her, until it had stayed longer than it had been gone. What if this wasn’t real at all?
What if the mirror hadn’t been a portal to another world, but a test or a prison? Who would build a mirror like this and then leave it all on its own, except to trap the kind of people who couldn’t live in their own world? Was she being punished for staying here so long, and not owning up to her mistakes and going back to apologize to the Princess she’d abandoned?
She wondered if one day the portal would reopen and all the people would come rushing back in. Or if everything she did was being recorded, down to her thoughts, and one day she’d be forced to watch the highlights of her worst behavior with everyone she’d ever known.
Then again, she realized that she might well be the last human in the world. It was impossible to know for certain, she still tensed up near alleyways, but there was never a sign of someone else. As grass grew and canned food became short, and that journal finally ran out of pages, she knew in the pit of her stomach that no one was coming for her.
It took calculation and days of setup to make the fire happen, like setting up dominoes. The town alarms lost their voices long ago, and the gasoline was easy to come by. It was tedious, and the ultimate blaze was unrewarding, but there wouldn’t be buildings left afterwards. Or grass. It was proof that she’d been there, that this place had seen Sunset Shimmer even if no one else had. The only reason she liked the idea was that she hadn’t needed to explain it to anybody else.
She’d packed long ago, and picked her very favorite motorcycle, sleek and red-orange. With smoke in the air, she went on her way, up and out of town for the first time in her life.
She looked over her shoulder as she dodged through the cars, watching the buildings pump out thick obscuring smoke. Most of it was black, dirty-looking. She didn’t feel anything at that, and sped up to get further away from it.
Then her motorcycle smashed into an invisible wall. Part of an invisible dome, surrounding the entirety of her little world. If she’d been able to get up, she could’ve investigated it, and found it reached all the way around town, with one road open to Crystal Prep Academy. She might even have recognized that it was magical, and then she might have despaired, or explored, or just given up on the spot.
The fire continued until there was nothing for it to eat.
And It Was a Tiresome Dream, But Only Because She Wished It So
“Come out of there, you silly filly!” Twilight said, nudging the mirror. It was tall, especially for her. Sunset was only four months older than her, but she was already using grown-up magic. In a few weeks, they'd both be Celestia's students, and then it'd be a proper race.
“What? Who said that?” Sunset asked, looking around and feigning confusion.
“I did! Over here!”
“Who’s there? All I can see is this mirror,” Sunset pulled a face of mock horror “...Are you my reflection? Am I the reflection?!”
“No, Sunset, we’re both real, and it’s almost time for lunch.”
“But every mirror has a whole world inside it, nameless spirit! How could we both be real?”
Twilight giggled. “It’s a one-way mirror, you goofball. Come on, I’m getting hungry!”
Sunset dropped the act and slumped. “Already? Fine .” Her horn sparked with magic while she closed her eyes, and then the mirror disappeared in a towering puff of orange smoke.
Then they trotted, side by side, towards reality.
