Just Beyond the Surface

In a shadowy room in Twilight's Castle, something stirred.

The invisible winds of magic began to blow, causing books to flip through their pages randomly and lantern flames to gutter in their bronze and glass cages. There was a rush, not unlike a warm summer breeze, followed by a flash like heat lightning. Then all was silent and still once again.

Well, all save for Sunset Shimmer, who had just stepped hoof out of the Crystal Mirror.

Celestia's former student strode into Twilight's makeshift lab. This was the first time she had come through the mirror since it had been moved from the Crystal Empire. Things had been so busy on her side of the mirror, in the human world, she hadn't had a chance to visit.

At least she was already aware she was in Twilight's Castle, though Twilight's slightly messy lab wasn't the impressive sight she had expected. Actually, the messy lab brought a warm smile to Sunset's face. It seemed Princess Twilight had a lot in common with her human counterpart after all. Both of them might be slightly obsessive compulsive when it came to their daily routine, but they had a bad habit of working in messy spaces, as the state of the makeshift lab clearly attested.

As a good friend, Sunset took it as a hallmark of genius. Although, she did wonder just how messy things would be if Spike wasn't around to clean up after the Princess of Friendship. It would be good to see Spike in his dragon form. Now that she thought about it, Sunset had only ever seen him as a dog. Her last trip to Equestria had been very brief, too brief to get antiquated with everyone in their normal forms, though also very eventful.

But now was no time to reminisce, nor catch up with old friends. No, she was here with a purpose.

The Dazzlings had been up to their old tricks, using some kind of mind control to get a bunch of the boys at school on their side. It didn't seem like they could feed on negative energy without their pendants as they had before, but apparently they had found another source of power that was allowing them to turn the boys at Canterlot High into their mindless slaves. Whatever was going on, it was clear that it was bad news for Sunset and her friends.

Sunset had tried to write Twilight about it, but it seemed that ever since she had taken on Starlight Glimmer as her new pupil, she'd had less and less time to chat with Sunset. Their daily correspondence had become weekly, then monthly, and then finally stopped altogether. Sunset didn't really blame Twilight, but this was an emergency, and she couldn't wait for the Princess to remember to check her messages. She had to see her face to face and ask her advice now. If there was any pony that could help her unravel the new source of the Dazzling's power, it would be Equestria's Twilight Sparkle.

Before Sunset could so much as take another step, however, a silhouette appeared in the doorway that served as the only entrance to the room. "That's far enough!" cried a high pitched voice.

Sunset squinted her eyes against the glare from the hallway. The figure was so tiny. Was this Spike? She knew he was a baby dragon in this world, but she didn't expect his voice to be so... well, girly. As her eyes adjusted, however, she could see that what was standing before her was no dragon, baby or otherwise. Instead, it was a little unicorn filly in a burgundy colored dress.

"Um, hi. I'm Sunset Shimmer," she said, thinking it best to introduce herself given the situation. "And you are...?"

"I know exactly who you are Sunset. I know why you're here too," replied the filly, her eyes blazing with anger.

"You do?" Sunset replied with genuine surprise.

"That's right. You're here to take Twilight away! To steal her back with you to that mundane little dimension where you live out your self-exile," the little unicorn spat the words, as if the taste was rancid in her mouth. "I know all about it. I know all about you, too!"

"Is that so?" asked the fiery maned unicorn, her eyes flashing, and anger creeping into her own words. She didn't like this filly's tone one bit.

"Yes! I know how you tried to steal Twilight's Element of Harmony. I know how you twisted and corrupted its power, and then polluted that other world with Equestrian magic. Magic you don't even understand!" cried the filly, stomping her hooves in fury. "But that's not the worst of it! Oh no! The worst of it is every time you have a problem, you come begging Twilight for answers! You do your best to tempt her into abandoning her friends and responsibilities here, her destiny here, to go gallivanting around with you and your horrible knock off versions of her real friends. And then to top it all off, that world has its own Twilight Sparkle! You already have a Twilight in that world, do you really need two? Isn't that a little greedy? Don't you think you ought to share with the rest of us instead of hogging them all to yourself!?"

"Look, I don't know what your relationship is to Twilight, or what you think my relationship is with her," snarled Sunset, absolutely done with this filly. "But I don't know where you get off saying all of those horrible things! Twilight and I are good friends! We're both friends with the human world versions of Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity. They aren't knock-offs! They're each their own person, each of them living their own rich and fantastic lives! And if you know anything about Princess Twilight, you know that just because there's another version of her in the human world, that doesn't mean she can just be replaced by another version of herself. She's special to each of us, and even if it is 'hogging' her to ourselves, we're going to keep on being her friend and being there for her when she needs us!"

"But she doesn't need you, does she?" hissed the filly, her eyes narrowing to slits beneath her dark bangs. "She never has! You've been nothing but trouble for her from the moment she met you! You've never done a single thing to repay her for the kindness she's shown you!"

"That's... that's not true!" Sunset cried. "I was the one who helped to defeat the Dazzlings when they first appeared at Canterlot High! Twilight needed me! Only with my help were we all able to defeat them, by working together!"

"And would these 'Dazzelings' have ever even been a threat if it weren't for you?" the filly asked, a sneer on her lips. "If it weren't for you stealing Twilight's crown?"

Sunset didn't have an answer to that. It was possible that if things had gone differently, the Dazzelings really never would've posed any kind of serious threat. The same went for the trouble that had come up at the Friendship Games. Maybe if Sunset had never stolen Twilight's Element of Harmony, the human version of Twilight would've never discovered magic and wreaked the kind of havoc that had threatened both the human world and Equestria. Sunset would have been lying if she said she had never thought of that before. The truth was, she secretly felt very guilty for about whatever role in those tragedies she had played. But that was behind her! that was all in the past! Wasn't it?

The unicorn looked down at her own hooves, plagued by doubt.

"I didn't think so. Face it Sunset, in the end you need Twilight far more than she will ever need you," the little unicorn grinned madly. "You're worthless! The best thing you ever did for Equestria was go through that mirror to that dung heap of a world you've made your new home! That is where you belong now! Right along side all of your worthless copies of Twilight's friends!"

"Shut up!" yelled Sunset, her magic flaring along the length of her horn. "You can say what you want about me, but don't you dare say another word about my friends! They aren't worthless!"

"But they are! Just like you! Worthless! Worthless! Worthless! WORTHLESS!" the filly laughed, and then started to sing a ridiculous little sing-song, chanting the same word over and over. "Worthless~! Worthless~! So worthless!"

"I said be quiet!" shouted Sunset, trying to be heard over the filly's one word 'song'. "Stop saying that!" she roared, her horn flaring again. "SHUT UP!" The beam of magic streaked across the room and blasted the filly off of her feet. Sunset's eyes widened in horror. What had she done!? "Oh no! Oh no, no, no, no-no! Are you okay?"

The filly in the burgundy dress was sprawled on the floor. Smoke rose from her still, lifeless form.

Then she coughed.

"Wow! You really are a horrible pony, aren't you?" the unicorn slowly started to sit up. "I mean, I knew the goody-two-shoes thing was all an act! But even I didn't expect you to just outright attack a poor, defenseless little filly! You really are a horrid piece of work, huh Sunset?"

Sunset felt a mix of anger and guilt. But she had been provoked! Surely that counted for something?

As the filly rose to her hooves, all such mitigating notions fled from Sunset's thoughts as she let out a horrified gasp of surprise. A wave of nausea tore through her as she laid eyes upon the damage she had done.

Half of the filly's head was missing!

Sunset could see a cross section of her exposed jaw as it moved, the tongue sliding between her broken teeth. Blood poured down her neck, where the exposed stump of her throat whistled slightly every time she took a breath. She could even see the filly's brain, or what was left of it, quivering gently in the half of her skull that was still intact!

"I hope you realize how much this hurts. It stings something fierce! Anypony else would be dead right now. Unfortunately for you, I'm no ordinary pony." As Sunset watched in revulsion, the filly's horn began to glow with a strange dark light, and the flesh started to knit itself back together. The most disturbing part had to be when the skull reformed and a new, beautiful violet eye blossomed with an awful squishing sound in the exposed socket. Sunset had dabbled in dark magic herself, but this... Whatever it was, was darker and more powerful than anything she had ever studied! As the filly's wounds completely healed, she exhaled a cloud of dark magic from her newly healed throat "Putting me down is going to be harder than you think!"

"Who are you? What are you?" was all Sunset could think to ask.

"Oh, is that all you want to know? The answer to that question is simple," the filly replied as her eyes glowed bright green and her irises turned blood red. A plume of dark magic spilled from within and started to radiate from her horn. "I'm Twilight Sparkle's biggest fan!"

Sunset wasn't expecting what came next. Dozens of arms reached out of the Crystal Mirror behind her, digging sharp glass claws deep into her flesh. Blood spurt wildly as they began to drag the unicorn back towards the mirror she had so recently stepped through, the surface of which had taken on an appearance like molten silver.

Sunset screamed shrilly, and fought to try and shake the arms off. She concentrated, using her magic to try and pry the claw out of her hide, but her spells simply bounced off the glass arms reflective surface. It only seemed to make whatever had hold of her angrier as more and more claws shot out of the mirror. The dagger like talons hooking into her legs, her back, her face, and piercing her face. There was a sudden stab of excruciating pain, and half her world went blood red before going dark. One of the claws had gouged out her eye!

"An eye for an eye. It's only fair Sunset," crooned the evil filly. "Of course, I know you won't be able to regrow yours as easily as I did mine, but hey! Some guys really dig the pirate look! Get an eye patch and you're all set!" She gave a fiendish laugh, clearly enjoying every ounce of Sunset's suffering.

Rage and fear fought for dominance inside Sunset as she felt her hooves sliding slowly backwards. She tried to teleport, to free herself of the claws, but each time she tried the talons would dig deeper, twist, and flay her flesh ruining her concentration.

Sunset was left with only one choice. She focused all of her desperation into one spell. If she couldn't break loose from the claws, she'd just destroy the pony making them! She didn't have to kill the filly necessarily, she could just knock her out, but given how fast she had healed before it was better to ere on the side of overkill. Magic swirled around Sunset, and just before the spell was about to discharge... one of the mirror claws wrapped itself around her horn. The spell's explosive force imploded back inside Sunset's head, scrambling her brains and sent cracks racing through her bones. The concussive force made her ears bleed. The horrible migraine pain in her forehead let her know that her horn was riddled with fractures, and was now largely useless. Sunset would no longer be able to rely on magic to escape.

The claws were relentless. It was almost as if they could sense Sunset's disorientation and pain, capitalizing on the opportunity to drag her back even more forcefully to the Crystal Mirror. Sunset was already touching the liquid glass. As her body slipped past that liquid silver boundary, just beyond the surface, she began to freeze and burn at the same time.

Choking on her own blood as the mirror claws dug into her throat, Sunset hissed through pain gritted teeth, "I'll stop you! I don't know what you're trying to do, but I'll find a way to stop you! I'll be back!"

"Oh, now I really doubt that," said the sadistic filly. As she spoke, her dark magic moved through the mirror once more. Half embedded in the mirror already, Sunset felt the cracks before she saw them. They raced over the surface of the glass, and down the enchanted claws, black and deep, dark magic spilling forth from within. It felt as if Sunset was being sliced apart by a thousand knives as the glass began to splinter, crack, and shatter!

Sunset gave one final shriek as the Crystal Mirror exploded!

Shards of glass sheared through her flesh, shredding her into so many hunks of ragged and tattered meat. Even if that damage hadn't been done, the unicorn was already clearly done for. The back half of her body had been on the other side of the glass when the mirror had exploded. Only the front half of Sunset's body lay in the lab now, in a spreading pool of blood and broken glass. In another dimension, the lower half of Sunset's human body would be found in an equally wide pool of blood beside the statue in front of Canterlot High.

Despite the fact she should already be dead, Sunset raised her one tearful eye towards the filly who had murdered her. Her lips tried to frame a question. "Why?"

"Why!?" cried the filly, her own body now studded with shards of broken glass, though she seemed to feel no pain. "Don't ask stupid questions."

Why was this happening to Twilight!?

Not only had her pupil run out on her, not only had her 'biggest fan' turned out to have a very unhealthy crush on her, but now Twilight couldn't find Spike anywhere!

Twilight had lost track of when her assistant had slipped off. Had it been when the Cutie Mark Crusader's had left? She thought she remembered him walking them to the door, but she wasn't certain.

This was the first time that Twilight had found herself alone in her own castle in some time, and the sensation was unsettling. Her friends had done a lot to brighten things up and make Twilight's castle feel more like a home, but what had really made her comfortable in the towering edifice of crystal was being surrounded by those friends. Trotting through the lonely crystal halls on her own left her feeling like an unwelcome intruder in someone else's home.

She really wished Spike were here.

Now that she was on her own, she found herself noticing all over again just how huge and empty the castle really was. Why did she need to live in a place like this? She had always preferred cozy little nooks in which to conduct her studies, like the Golden Oaks library which had been perfect for her studies. Just because she was a Princess why did that mean she had to live in a place with long cavernous hallways and tall stained glass windows? The place felt more like some kind of cathedral or a cavern than a home.

And the noises!

Twilight had never noticed how creaks and moans seemed to carry so well along the echoing crystal halls. All these strange sounds that the castle made when she was all alone were really starting to get to her. She swore that she had heard a roar of thunder not long ago, but Ponyville wasn't scheduled to have another storm for at least another week. And the screams! At least, they sounded like screams.... But of course that was silly. Why should there be screams, distant and haunting and so tortured? Why should their be wails like the last gasps of a dying mare or the shrieks of pain and betrayal just on the edge of her hearing? Such things were impossible in her home.

At least that was what Twilight kept telling herself.

It was her nerves. It had to be. Twilight was feeling abandoned by Starlight and, frankly, completely creeped out by Violet's unwanted affection. Of course she was in the perfect state of mind to start hearing things...

Things like the sound of distant hoof steps following behind her, or a snatch of high pitched and girlish giggling as she rounded a corner. Twilight thought at first that Violet must be playing a game of hide and seek with her or something, but the sounds of laughter and running hooves seemed to be coming from all over the castle. No matter where Twilight went, things seemed a little darker, the sounds seemed a little louder, and Twilight's nerves became a little more frayed.

Twilight feared that she was going mad.

The castle was driving her mad. She needed to get out. Just to get a breath of fresh air. Just to clear her head. She wasn't trying to run away or anything. Not from something as silly as a few distant sounds.

Then she heard fresh screams. There was nothing faint or distant about these. They were ragged and full of pain. They were crying out and calling Twilight's name!

They were Spike's!

Spike was screaming! Calling out for her help!

Twilight Sparkle burst into a run, galloping at full speed towards the sound of her oldest and dearest friends agony. She had no idea what was going on, but she knew that Spike needed her and that was all she needed to know! In a burst of purple magic, she teleported down the length of one hall and then another, vanishing and reappearing in quick succession. Finally she found herself... Back in the throne room?

The screams had stopped. Twilight could see why.

Spike had been strapped down on the Cutie Map by long frayed ropes. His body looked so tiny on the broad stone surface. A strange sigil, clearly some emblem designed to channel magic of the darkest sort, had been drawn around him in blood.

His blood.

Spike's purple scales were soaked scarlet, and a dagger had been buried deep in his chest.

Twilight's faithful assistant. Her friend. Her baby...

Spike was dead.

As the full weight of that realization struck Twilight, she felt her heart break. She had known him since the day he had hatched. He'd been by her side almost every day of his life. He'd been there at every major event in her own life, from her fillyhood all the way through her marehood. She never thought there would be a challenge she would have to face without him. She never thought the day would come where he would leave her side. To have him ripped away from her like this, with no rhyme or reason, was just too cruel. A wail of sorrow rose unbidden from her throat, racked by sobs.

Who would do such a thing? Who would even want to!?

Spike was no threat to anypony.

"Oh, are you back already Twilight?" asked Violet, sitting in her little plastic desk, facing the cutie map. Her dress was soaked in blood, staining the violet material a vivid scarlet. "That was a short break, huh?"