Return to the Mirror Universe

"So THIS was where you went darling?" Rarity asked. Twilight nodded, still deep in thought.

"That was the scariest moment o' mah life. Thought the spell'd made ya disappear forever!" Applejack remembered with a shudder. "But then ya came back to us all magic like... straight from the sky itself!"

"But why would Pinkamena come here of all places?" Rainbow Dash wondered as she hovered over the starry path.

Twilight thought for a minute. M-Twilight had mentioned a power of some kind, something that Pinkamena would try to take for herself. "I think this place has some kind of special connection to Alicorns." Twilight realized. "Princess Cadence told me once that she was zapped here too, after she defeated an evil enchantress and spread the Magic of Love to her entire village. Just like me, Princess Celestia said she was ready, and made her a princess. Maybe that's what Pinkamena wants... to somehow become an Alicorn!"

"Um but we're here and well um we didn't become Alicorns..." Fluttershy said shyly.

"I don't know how she plans to do it, but we have to find her and stop her." Twilight asserted.

Applejack smiled. "Besides, we got an Alicorn princess of our own right here! Lead the way Twilight."

Twilight felt herself blush slightly, and trotted forward along the starry path. She glanced over the path's edge at endless void below them and gulped. "Keep close to the middle everypony..."

"Hey what're those?" Rainbow pointed a hoof. Rectangles of light zipped toward them, lining up on either side of the path.

"They appeared when I was here last time too. Each window showed a special moment from my life, ever since I was a filly. I saw all the adventures we had, all the friends we've made, villains we stopped... everything." Twilight explained.

Applejack patted Twilight on the back. "Princess Celestia must've been real proud of ya Twilight."

"Oh don't be silly. We did most of these things together. I'm sure she's proud of all-" Twilight's eyes widened. "Wait a second... something's... different." The time windows had glowed pearly white when Twilight was awarded her wings. However this time they looked sinister, with a reddish tinge to the images they showed. Twilight trotted up to one, looking closely.

The image shimmered, and Twilight saw herself as a filly, sitting at a table with a few homework assignments in front of her. Her parents stood behind her, looking very angry.

"An A minus? Far from good enough!" her mother said sternly.

Young Twilight had tears in her eyes. "B-but I thought... I thought."

"You thought what? That such a pathetic score was okay? No more books other than school ones! That's FINAL." her father yelled.

Twilight's mother turned away in disgust. "Waste of space. Honestly..."

Filly Twilight galloped out of the room crying. In the next room, a teenage Shining Armor lay contently on the couch reading a comic book. "Twily what's wrong?" he asked looking up worriedly.

The filly's face suddenly became red with anger. Shining Armor was enveloped in a purple aura, and hurled across the room. "Mom and dad never yell at YOU! They never care if you make a mistake, never take away your stupid comics!" Shining was tossed into a wall.

"OW!" Shining yelled in pain. Tears streamed down his eyes. "Twily stop... please!" he begged, crying pitifully.

Twilight's face contorted with rage. "You're pathetic!" Shining was tossed again. "A waste of space!" Shining was thrown into a corner, where he curled up in a ball, bawling his eyes out.

The scene shimmered, showing a large silver and black building. A board proudly advertised, 'Sombra's Academy for Talented Unicorns, Entrance Exam Today!' The image flashed to a small auditorium. Young Twilight stood next to a purple dragon egg on a cart, her parents behind her. The filly desperately channeled her magic, trying to hatch the egg, but after a moment gave up. She turned to face her parents, tears rolling down her cheeks. Her father frowned angrily, and her mother shook her head and whispered, "Pathetic."

Shaking, Twilight glanced out the window next to her, as if looking for a miracle. Suddenly, a rainbow flash lit up the sky, causing Twilight's horn to start sparking with magic. But rather than turning the magic on the egg, she shot it straight at her parents. In a blast of purple light, Twilight's parents were turned into two dusty books. There were gasps of horror and dismay from the exam judges as they stared in shock. Twilight grabbed the dragon egg with her magic and galloped out of the room, not noticing her flank shimmer as a purple star cutie mark appeared.

The image shifted. Twilight looked ragged and dirty, as if she'd been living homeless for several days. She levitated the dragon egg in front of her, turning it side-to-side. "Pathetic. Waste of space. Pathetic. Waste of space." she repeated over and over. Her lip trembled. "I'll show them. I- I'll become more powerful than any of them!" Another shift.

A teenage Twilight, now wearing glasses, stood on a hill overlooking a grey, drab looking town. A wanted poster floated beside her, with her own image drawn on it. The caption read, 'Wanted for crimes against Equestria, including but not limited to: practicing illegal dark magic, theft of magic books, illegal transfiguration, resisting arrest. If spotted do not approach, alert the nearest guard immediately.'

Twilight burned the poster to ashes. "Ponyville, the one place nopony cares about anypony else. If I am to find some minions, this is the best place." She trotted toward the settlement with a malicious expression. The image changed, showing a burning 'Festival of Love' banner, overturned chairs and a destroyed stage. Twilight shot beams of magic at fleeing ponies, laughing at their screams. Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkamena, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were there as well, each terrorizing the citizens in their own way. After everypony had fled, the six ponies shook hooves in partnership.

Before the time window could change to the next scene, Twilight angrily blasted it with magic. The bolt passed right through, sailing off into the void. Twilight turned away, unable to bear watching anymore. That window hadn't shown her past. It showed the past of her dark counterpart, how she had become a power obsessed criminal.

Twilight's heart felt heavy with pity and sadness. A world where everything was opposite. The first time Twilight had gone through the mirror, she had seen the good side of an opposite world. Villains like Sombra and Chrysalis were heroes, and ponies like Trixie and Sunset Shimmer had never even needed redemption in the first place. But now Twilight realized, this world came at a terrible price. Instead of being kind and supportive, her parents were cruel and mocking. Instead of being strong and brave to protect his family, Shining Armor learned fear and pain from his sister. Instead of having a passion for magic, M-Twilight used magic as a tool to prove her power and superiority.

Sighing, Twilight looked around to see what her friends were doing, as they had been silent for a while. Each of them was standing in front of a different time screen, watching intently. Twilight could only see more images of her counterpart in each screen... but maybe each of her friends saw their opposites. She quietly trotted over to Rainbow and stood beside her. "T-Twilight?" Rainbow asked in a hoarse voice.

"It's okay, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. Mine was pretty horrible." Twilight replied.

"My- my parents... they were awful... I was awful." Rainbow stuttered, her normal bravado gone.

"That's not you Rainbow, and it isn't our world. You don't know any of those ponies."

Rainbow took a breath. "Y-You're right Twilight. I saw myself- I mean I saw her at flight camp. Instead of racing the bullies, she offered to help Fluttershy practice. But because Fluttershy was so slow, she got more and more annoyed. S-She pushed Fluttershy out of the way and went as fast she could, just to prove she was better. And, well, she did manage to do the Rainboom, but she totally betrayed Fluttershy."

Twilight nodded. "And look where it got her in the end. Now come on, Let's go check on our Fluttershy." Fluttershy stood a few screens away, trembling and whimpering.

"Fluttershy are you okay?" Rainbow asked. "What happened talk to us!"

"Oh it's just awful!" Fluttershy cried. "Everypony teased... her in flight camp, but instead of helping the other Rainbow Dash just pushed her out of the way. Everything seemed okay at first, she landed on the ground and started playing with the animals... but then they started to leave and she got more and more frustrated. The sonic rainboom happened and she lost her patience. She grabbed the nearest squirrel and- and-" Fluttershy burst into tears as Rainbow tried to console her.

"Looks like yours were very nasty." Rarity trotted over with a concerned look. "Mine fortunately, or unfortunately I should say, just had a habit of stealing. When she was a filly her horn dragged her away just like it did for me, but the poor dear tripped on the way. There was a small cottage nearby, and the owners just happened to own quite a few choice gems. Well, I guess she was desperate to perfect her costumes, so she stole every last gem in that house. The other Rainbow did her sonic rainboom pretty much at the same time my counterpart left the house. She got her cutie mark, kept stealing whatever she wanted and the rest as they say, is history."

"Mine had a stealin problem too, but even more of a LYIN problem." Applejack joined them. "Granny Smith and the rest o' the, I guess ya could say, 'anti-apples', were high flyin nobles at Canterlot. Mah opposite didn't like the noble life, so she ran away to work at an apple farm. Would o' been a darn right respectable livin, if she wasn't stealin' apples and sellin' em on the side. Got it in her head she could lie her way outta any situation. Nopony caught her so she just kept on lyin for everything, eventually even getting the owners of the farm blamed for some wonky apples. They left in shame and she took over the farm, earnin her disgraceful cutie mark. Can't believe it looks the same as mine!"

After Fluttershy had sufficiently calmed down, they trotted onward down the path. "Why do you think those time window things showed us their past instead of ours?" Rarity asked curiously.

"I have no idea. Magic between universes isn't a well studied topic. If I had to guess, I'd say it's because we travelled here from opposite Equestria instead of our own, so maybe the time windows were confused somehow." Twilight hypothesized.

Rainbow sighed. "This parallel universe stuff can be really depressing... I almost feel bad for my opposite."

"Nopony becomes good or evil on their own, it's a choice influenced by the ponies and circumstances around us." Twilight reflected. "But they still had a choice between right and wrong, and well... they chose to do wrong."

"And what if it wasn't their choice to make?" a voice said. Everypony had been so wrapped up in the conversation, that they hadn't noticed Pinkamena standing just a few yards ahead. Just behind her, a machine twice a pony's size was somehow creating a giant black vortex. "Welcome to the fourth wall, the end of all reality."