Empty Horizons: The Lost Studentby PsyonicgChaptersPrologue: A Story of TwoChapter I: An Island of TwoChapter II: A Descent of TwoChapter III: The Anger of TwoChapter IV: A Room of TwoChapter V: A Realisation of TwoChapter VI: A Lesson of TwoPrologue: A Story of TwoAuthor's Note Hey everyone! If you're reading this story for the first time then feel free to skip this and start reading! If, however, you remember the original version of this story I'd highly advise you go check out the blog post - Here. Prologue: A Story of Two Pain. Their flank burned despite the icy water that rhythmically washed across the debris they had clambered onto. Their breath rarely came, and when it did, it was weak, and barely alleviated the fire in their lungs. But no matter how much Twilight pushed or struggled, she could not move her body any more than she could reverse time and change what had just happened. Her own words still echoed tauntingly in her head, her brain replaying the scene over and over in an attempt to figure out what she could have done differently. They were power... They were vengeance... They were magic. The ring had buckled beneath their strength like they knew it would, and they had bathed the world in their light, sundering anything that dared to contain their brilliance. The ring, the cell, and then the ship itself had been split apart in the wake of their power. Now they were free. Not only from chains and cages, but free from rules, free from limits, free from anything or anypony who would stop them. A hundred thoughts rushed through their head as they burst from the ship and into the night sky, each one organised and prioritised, a list of objectives to complete before the night was done. They did enjoy a good list. First, the still-crumbling wreckage of the Screech. As enticing as the thought of leaving the callous bounty hunters to suffer the same fate as their ship was, the nauseous feeling it brought them was stronger, and any and all distractions had to be removed. It was an insignificant use of their power to ping the two halves of the ship as it began falling from the sky, her magic showing her clearly where everypony was as they scrambled for safety. A simple teleport, amplified by their power, and the ones who had survived their initial escape were scrambling through the dirt on the other side of the island – groaning in pain, but alive. With that urgent task dealt with, they turned their eyes to the stilled estate beneath them. They had been fighting, that much was obvious, but Twilight’s emergence had brought on a temporary awe-inspired ceasefire, ponies too busy gaping up into the sky at their magnificence to continue their petty battle. For a moment they revelled in the feeling; their mere presence was enough to stop the hostilities! But that wouldn’t last… and those monsters had attacked their friends. They would make sure it never happened again. Awe was replaced by terror as their brilliant light arced out and struck a trio of soldiers gawking inside the courtyard, reducing them to ash in an instant, the echoing thunderclap of their power briefly overpowering the shouts that came a moment later. After that first display of power, their targets scattered like the cowards they were in a desperate attempt to escape justice. But their eyes saw everything, and their power stretched across the entire island. There was nowhere to run, and they had been so kind as to wear such a distinctive green; it was trivial to spot them despite their efforts to hide. It wasn’t a battle, it wasn’t even a game. It was simply what had to be done. And the cowering wretches knew they could not escape. So as a cornered beast does when it realises it is trapped, they fought back. Bullets whizzed through the air, only to be repelled by the sheer immensity of their magic; their body was surrounded by an incandescent glow that bathed the sky in their own lavender twilight, and its strength repelled the projectiles back down to the earth without so much as a thought. In fact, none of it took any thought; it was mindless, it was easy. There was no challenge here, no thrill to be had in the removal of these meaningless pawns. But there were more than just pawns at play, and as Twilight mentally looked down her list, she knew exactly which piece she wanted to deal with next. “Gava!” Their voice thrummed across the island, borne on winds of magic to every corner that the bounty hunter could be hiding. “Where are you?!” There! She caught the faintest of motions from the edges of the island. Did the idiot really think she could hide? An amused chuckle escaped them as they soared across the sky, their horn releasing a searing streak of light that seemed to cut the very world in twain, aimed directly at the fleeing griffon seeking to escape her. “You can’t hide from me, fledgeling!” Twilight smirked in satisfaction as the sheer power their magic gave off was enough to toss the coward from the sky. Good. They would have been disappointed had it ended so soon. They watched as she tumbled through the air before colliding with the remnants of the estate walls, careening off the stone and into the grounds where she crashed into the dirt, leaving a trench of disturbed earth behind her. And yet even then she refused to relent, staggering to her claws and limping towards the mansion. Perhaps if she’d turned to face them, they would have granted her a warrior’s death. But no, she was a coward, just like the rest of them! Twilight growled, soaring down out of the sky and slamming into the centre of the courtyard with a resounding crash. Their magic cleared the area around them in moments, vaporising their immediate surroundings and creating a swirling maelstrom of dust and dirt that flowed around them like a storm, caught in the force of their magical aura. But they didn’t care about that; there was only one thing they cared about. The one who locked them in that cell. The one who chased them across Equestria as a sport! The one who hurt their friends! Rage was in ample supply, and they felt it burning through them as they reached out with their magic to grasp the source of all their pain, a vile satisfaction spreading through them as the little griffon squirmed. “Come to me, coward, I want to see you die!” It felt exquisite. All the anguish and hopelessness they had felt, all being released on someone who deserved it. This monster wasn’t going to hurt anyone ever again. They would wipe her dirty mark from this world. And they would enjoy it. Nothing would stop them. Not the soldiers who screamed in fear beneath them, nor the pegasi who threw themselves forward to try and tackle them. But the distractions were growing tedious—they were not the enemy here! “Do not interfere!” They smiled as the soldiers flinched away, as they should, but the smile became a frown as one of the soldiers stepped forward again, shouting up at her. The storm muffled her words, but she caught the end of it. Something about returning. The idea was laughable, and as they turned their focus back to the one who deserved it, they made sure to make the guard clear that their message had been ignored. “There is nowhere to return to.” And suddenly, there was no more excitement. No more thrill. There was just hate, hate for this griffon who had taken so much from them, who had hurt them for no other reason than her own selfish gain. With barely a thought, their magic swelled up inside of them, ripping the ground away to reveal the churning ocean below. It was time to end this. “Join your ancestors, fledgeling.” But then… then everything had gone terribly terribly wrong. They had been so close. They could have fixed everything: saved their friends, stopped the attacking soldiers, and dealt with the bounty hunters all in one moment! But instead, they were trapped within their own mind, consumed by doubts when their goal should never have been clearer. Inside the library, their anger and frustration manifested as swirling clouds of crimson flames flickering in a black fog, surrounding the two mares as they screamed at each other; both of them oblivious to the way their words caused the energies around them to pulse and writhe. “When we agreed to flee I assumed you had a plan, an idea of where we would go. I did not agree to this!” “You said you wouldn’t hurt them, and you lied. I don’t care what you did or didn’t agree to, I’m the one in control now!” “And you’re going to get the both of us killed with your stupidity! Even as we speak, our body is at risk of sinking beneath the waves. How long before we drown, or worse?” “Well if you’d just! Let! Go!” Arcs of lavender magic crackled against waves, directionless and uncontrolled as the two struggled for control of their power, scaring off the curious denizens of the deep that had come in search of prey. “No! Only I can guide us to our desires! You’re too much of a coward to do what has to be done!” “Cowardice and kindness are not the same thing! Not that you’d ever understand that!” The shifting miasma around them thickened as they argued, creeping across their hooves, sinking into their coats, and darkening the room around them. “Call it whatever you want, it only holds us back! ‘Kindness’ has only hurt us! Or do you not remember?” They awoke with a start. No. Something else had joined them in their slumber. Everything was bright and confusing. They were in pain. They needed to do something! There was power, energy all around them. They could feel it straining and yearning to be called upon. They reached out, slowly. The power burned at their very being, but it also felt good. Safe. They hesitated for a moment before reaching out again. This time it didn’t hurt, and energy flowed through them. But what could they do with it? The question was answered for them, something pulling at the magic insistently. They relinquished their hold and felt the monster retreat. Again, they pulled the power to them and let it flow outwards. They didn’t understand where it was going, but every time they did it, they felt the monster retreat a little further. The creature had forced itself into their dreams, waking them up from an eternity of darkness as it tried to tear their mind apart, but they would stop it! Finally, the shifting energies seemed to relax and the brightness faded away but… the pull was still asking for more. Instinct drove them as they drew on that magic, spells rushing through their mind without understanding. Spells to heal, to rejuvenate, to replenish, and as the pain faded away, they felt calm, relaxed. The sensation was new, but they knew that it was good. They had helped. They could help more. Slowly, they stretched their perception outside of their starry home for the first time, seeking the source of the pull. “It must be those dream creatures,” she said, looking closer at the shrivelled corpse of a Royal Guard. “They’re inducing a coma in anything that wanders in, then feed on their dreams until they die.” I wonder if there are any side effects? she thought as she calmly examined old wounds marked in the guard’s bones. They were a she. She was a she! Feelings and thoughts rushed in, more than she had ever felt before. And they were exhilarating. She felt concern, tension, excitement; all of them were overwhelming in their intensity, but exhilarating enough to make her head spin. Head spin? What did that mean? She didn’t know, but it felt right. Suddenly all of that was washed away by another emotion, stronger than any of the others. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she desperately reached her perception outwards in search of the source. What she saw was beautiful. A goddess, serene and perfect, marred by sickness. A sickness? Red streaks ran down across the goddess’ cheeks. It was wrong. Why? She didn’t understand, why was that wrong? Desperate for answers, she turned her perception back inward. Her once empty world was now full of ribbons of light that swirled and spun through the darkness. And in the middle of it stood a… something. She moved towards it and examined the object. It stood tall, a mighty pillar rising up above her before stretching out wide. It was covered in… smaller softer things. And its surface was broken up by a number of strange items. Slowly, information filtered through to her. Home. This was home? She floated into it and was shocked to see that the pillar was empty. No, hollow! It was hollow. Inside were other items, full of colour and light. Instinct drove her onwards to something in the centre of the pillar. A table. And on it was a… book. That was good. Books were good. She reached out to touch the book, and she was assaulted with more information than she had ever felt before. She wasn’t alone! She had a partner, a companion, an ally? Words rushed to her and each one was discarded in turn until she found the perfect word. A sister! Her sister’s name was Twilight, she was a unicorn, she had five wonderful friends and she was from Equestria. She studied beneath the Princess but—the Princess was gone? Vague sensations of movement and travel filtered down to her from the outside, but she brushed them aside; she needed to understand. Their world was gone. The Princess was gone. A need struck her and she began to scour their home for information. She didn’t even notice that she was no longer just her at first. She moved through the pillar—no, the tree—on hooves. She was like her sister! Excitement rushed through her as she began to scour the library, so much knowledge and so many memories to explore. So caught up in the joy of discovery, she ignored the sound of rushing water and humming mechanisms that filtered from the outside of the tree, the vague notion of travel far less interesting than learning about her sister. That excitement slowly faded as she began to stumble upon more and more feelings of loss and pain and misery that seemed to lurk in every book she read. Something horrible had happened, but whenever she tried to focus on the memory, the feeling of drowning sent her fleeing back. She didn’t understand. But she would. She could do it. They could do it. There was so much more to learn but… something was wrong. The tree was shaking and there was a horrible sensation deep in her… stomach? She didn’t know what it meant, but she knew what she had to do. She had helped her sister defeat the monster before, and she could do it again. Rushing out of the tree, she expanded her awareness and let the sensations of her sister filter though. It was deafening and confusing and it hurt! There was a constant thrum, punctuated by a deep thud-thud-thud that seemed to shake her to the very core, and she could feel her sister’s pain in her own body like they were one and the same. She didn’t know what was happening, but she didn’t need to; she just needed to understand one thing. There was a monster, and the monster had her friend. It was going to hurt her other friends as well. Just the thought of that filled her with fury, eclipsing every other emotion with its strength. How dare they threaten my friends! Power lay all around her, and she summoned as much of it as she possibly could. She knew how to deal with monsters; they had to die! She would destroy them! She would save her friends! But before she could, all of the power was ripped away from her, channelled into a spell she could barely understand, let alone cast. What was happening? Where had her magic gone? Understanding came slowly, but when it did it left her reeling. Her sister had taken it! They had used it to get rid of the monsters with a spell so complicated that it was beyond her own understanding. The realisation made her giddy; her sister was so clever, she didn’t even need all this power to save their friends! Twilight watched with excitement through her sister’s eyes as the evil monsters were dispatched… but their friend hadn’t come back yet. Excitement dropped away and was replaced with a horrible feeling she quickly identified as worry as she saw something lurching away from them. She didn’t understand what it was, but her sister’s worry made it very clear—their friend was on it. They had to rescue her! Her sister clearly understood better than she did because not a moment later and they were standing on the strange object, shouting at the monsters to give their friend back! But the monsters refused to back down, even when the other her had been willing to show Kindness, to let them live. Suddenly, everything shifted. Nothing had hit them, but her chest felt like it was being crushed. Pain lanced through and she screamed into the void as she watched her friend collapse to the floor. “NO!” The pain was unbearable, ripping her apart without mercy. Desperately she reached out for something, anything to stop it. She found anger and rage. Burning hatred flooded her and numbed the pain, giving her clarity, and with it, power. Power enough to destroy every last monster that would ever dare hurt her friends. “I’ll flay him alive! Tear the skin from his flesh, turn his bones to searing fire, plunge him into an unending nightmare of–” “Stop!” The anger was momentarily washed away by the force of her sister’s shout. But it returned easily when she felt all the power she had gathered pulled from her and unleashed upon the monsters that dared threaten them, crushing them against the floor with unstoppable strength. “Yes! Yes! Do it!” But the other her didn’t do it; she teleported down into the depths of the ship instead. Twilight’s confusion was quickly replaced by understanding as she saw her friends chained down. Of course, first, they had to save their friends. Then they could unleash their power on the monsters! It barely took a moment for them to bring all their friends to their side. Now there were only the monsters left to deal with. But the other her didn’t do it. She hesitated. What was she waiting for? “You’ve got your friends. Now crush your foes. You have the power. End them, and they’ll never bother you again!” Why wasn’t she doing it? Why was she casting that spell again? They hadn’t killed the monsters. “No!” Twilight cried out in anger as the other her retreated back to their own ship. There had to be an answer; there had to be a reason. She dug into the other her’s thoughts desperately, but all she could find was that same word. Kindness. What did that mean? “Your kindness blinded you! You let them live, and they came back to hurt your friends again! You should have finished them off when you had the chance!” “And be like you? You’re no better than Gava!” The shroud of darkness thickened, pulsing with a sinister light that reflected off their eyes, making them shimmer red in the barely visible lighting of the library. “How dare you! Everything I ever did, I did to protect you! How can you not see the difference between killing to protect the ones you love and killing as a cruel sport? I am nothing like that monster. Nothing!” “I just watched you slaughter countless ponies, treat Gava like your sadistic plaything, and rip apart the very island my friends stood on! You’re not just like her, you’re worse!” “They were trying to kill our friends. They were the monsters, and I put them down. Just like they deserved!” “And Pinkie? Did she deserve what you did to her?” The deafening sound of magic surging all around them seemed to abate for the briefest moment, a lull that only made its return all the more chaotic. “It was her fault! She got in my way!” “How can you possibly blame her for what you did? How is anything you’ve done been to protect me? You do nothing but hurt ponies and poison my thoughts with your hatred!” “My hatred? You’re the one who pushes down all your anger and fear until it can’t be held back anymore! I’m doing the things you’re too scared to do!” “You’re wrong! I’m not scared to hurt ponies, I’m—” “Better than that? Don’t give me that look. That is what you were going to say, wasn’t it? Tell me, how is letting your friends suffer better than keeping them safe? How is hiding from everything that scares you better than having the strength to face it?” Angry crimson sparks crackled across their horn, vicious red tears staining the rock beneath them ever so briefly before being washed away by the waves. “You hide your weakness behind a veneer of goodness, but that’s all it is, a cover. You claim to be better than me because of your morals, but what about the phoenix?” “...” “Well? What about the monster that wanted nothing more than to kill you, that was nothing more than a mindless creature of magic and hate? Who saved us then?” “I... “ Twilight pushed another book to the side, sighing in frustration as she tried in vain to find an explanation. She’d been searching ever since her sister had let those monsters go, but no matter how many times she looked over the memory, or scoured through her sister’s thoughts, she could never find an explanation. It was illogical, it was stupid. And it didn’t make any sense! Her sister was clever; she was powerful and strong and capable. But she had made such a simple mistake and it was infuriating trying to understand why. There must be something she was missing. But if there was, she couldn’t comprehend it. Was there some sort of line? Everything on one side of the line was okay but everything on the other was ‘going too far’. She had no idea what that meant, but her sister was very determined that it was the right way of doing things. And she trusted her sister. One thing she very clearly comprehended, though, was that she had done something wrong. When she had brought all her power—no, her sister’s power. When she had summoned it all up and given it over, it had been too much. Watching her sister cry into the hooves of their friend had felt like watching that monster attack her all over again, and she’d ended up retreating deep into her home to escape the sensation. But even hidden in the tree, buried far inside of her sister’s mind, the memory of the scene continued to haunt her; and so she continued to root deep within the tomes that lined the walls of their home for answers. Nothing but frustration met her attempts, and it wasn’t long before she began to feel the familiar gnawing of anger at her thoughts. These books weren’t helping, and she didn’t have many other options. Her sister only seemed to be reachable when she slept, and Twilight had watched the beautiful world she lived in twist and bloom into a tapestry of colour and feeling every time it happened. But no matter how much she tried, she couldn’t push herself into those ‘dreams’. She thought that she had come close once, desperately calling out a greeting, but it had only caused her sister to awaken. So she sat alone. Studying. Her reading had taught her that studying was supposed to be fun, but she had never felt worse. Nothing made sense and there was a sickly horrible feeling that made her stomach ache every time she paused to think. She didn’t know what it was, but she was growing to hate it in the tree. Days passed by like that, an endless monotony of trawling through information she barely understood in search of an answer to a question she didn’t even know. Sometimes she wished she could return to the comforting darkness from before she had woken up. Finally, she could take it no more. She had to do something. Pulling back the curtains and throwing open the door of the library, she floated out into the consciousness and reached out to watch her sister’s perception. What she saw, and felt, almost made her retreat back into the safety of their home. The same horrible pain in her chest from before crushed down around her as she watched her sister move through endless murky water. Just the sight of it made her recoil. And as surface memories began to filter in, the pain only seemed to worsen. Her friends were down here, buried under the waves and rock of… a fallen island? She didn’t understand what that meant, but the concept made the tears dripping down her cheeks flow all the more freely. Why was her sister here? Just to hurt them? She couldn’t endure any more of this. She couldn’t understand how her sister was able to; it was unbearable. With a whimper she began to pull herself away, trying to escape the pain before it overwhelmed her. Wait. Something new, welling up in her chest and pushing the pain away. What was that? With wide eyes, she turned back around and sought what could possibly be strong enough to save her from the horrible sensation. An… invitation? “YOU’RE INVITED TO PINKIE PIE’S GETTING-THE-GANG-TOGETHER PARTY AT ALTALUSIA THIS ??? PS: Don’t worry about us, Twilight! I just had a hoof twitch, rump itch, nose flick, and that means everything’s gonna be okay! Just relax and come to enjoy the party!” She struggled to grasp the meaning for a moment, before realising she didn’t need to understand what the words said; the invitation meant her friends were alive! Everything was okay! The feeling in her chest continued to well up and together, she and her sister laughed and laughed until all the pain had gone away. And at that moment, so many things suddenly made sense. Laughter. All the horrible sensations were swept aside, replaced by an indescribable feeling that she wished would last forever. Her hopes were shattered when the world suddenly began to shake. She only had a moment to look around in panic before it twisted. Twilight cried out as she was thrown down, a shrill, warbling cry echoing all around her and causing the stars to blink out; they returned moments later, as ugly pulsing crimson pinpoints in the darkness. The cry only seemed to be getting louder, drilling into her mind and making her writhe in pain. What was happening? Why was it so hard to think? Why did she feel such an urge to listen? Everything was getting darker. Everything except the cry seemed to be fading away. And it wasn’t so bad anymore, almost enjoyable. In fact, Twilight thought it sounded beautiful. She could let all her pain and worry fade away and just relax as she took control– Wait. Power rushed into her and she flung herself upwards. With a scream of anger, she let that power wash out across her home and was proud to see the stars return to their normal purple and white, whatever foul influence the creature had tried to taint her with burning away beneath her strength. The sound was still there, fainter now but no less unnerving. It felt like it was trying to worm its way inside her and... She didn’t know. But she knew that she couldn’t let it happen. She drew on all the magic she could find, shielding herself and her sister from the awful screams before pushing her perception outwards. This time, unlike before, she felt her view shift dramatically. What was going on? Everything was moving without her. What was this feeling? Her body felt so heavy. Realisation suddenly snapped into place. She wasn’t just looking through her sister, she was her sister! She watched as she – as her sister – as they clambered out of the rocky passage and gazed out on the endless water, and the monster floating in it. Reflexively she hissed, anger flaring up in her breast. To her surprise, her sister seemed to hear her, hesitating for a moment before pushing their magic down. Twilight flinched in confusion, what were they doing? They had all this power, they could destroy the monster easily! They weren’t even using their magic to protect their friend, instead slamming into them physically to throw them away from the monster’s attack. Twilight raged inside her mind as they continued to throw themselves out of the way, dodging attacks but never retaliating. They were going to get hurt! They had to do something! The anger only grew as their so-called friends ignored her, acting as if they knew more than her sister. It only made Twilight’s frustration grow, and as the monster suddenly dove down towards them, she did the only thing she could think of. It wasn’t just her sister’s power. It was theirs! Rage drove her to brush aside her sister’s misguided attempts at suppressing their power; she forced the magic they possessed into the first thing she could think off. With a pop, they vanished. To her shock, rather than be relieved that they had moved safely, her sister seemed to panic as they reappeared, pulling the magic away from her forcibly. She was so confused, why wouldn’t her sister just let her help? Stay away from me! The sudden message rang through their mind and instinct drove her to respond. The words came without thought. You need me. I don’t want your help. I can take care of myself! Twilight nodded, trying to project her agreement into words. Of course, her sister could take care of herself, but she could help! They were stronger together. But still, her sister resisted as they tumbled and struggled through the water. The monster was hurting them! Why couldn’t she help? Was there a plan she didn’t understand? Stay away! I don’t need you! Twilight winced as she continued to watch, shivering as she felt the icy water against their body. She had to trust that her sister knew what to do; her sister always knew what to do! But… her sister had never acted like this. Twilight could feel the panic and fear and uncertainty echoing all around her. Unbidden, she remembered what she had learnt from her time scanning through her sister’s mind. ...the only trouble is when she needs help she finds it hard to accept it. So while friendship is about giving of ourselves to friends, it's also about accepting what our friends have to offer. In her panic, she had forgotten the things that made her strong. But Twilight wouldn’t let her sister down. She knew that she could help, and if she had to force her sister to accept that help, then she would; her sister would understand why. Focusing all her thoughts and magic, she started to push. Trying to force the magic into her sister’s grasp. Even when her sister started to struggle – You’re evil! – even when she tried to pull the magic away, Twilight refused to give up and then, suddenly, as if a switch was flipped, she was in control. Complete control. All of their power burst out from them like a tidal wave, sending the monster careening back helplessly. With merciless efficiency, Twilight surged forward and surrounded the monster in magic, crushing it under their power and suppressing any, and all, magic it might try to cast. Impassively she watched as it struggled, expending more and more energy to try and break free from her clutches. But she was stronger, and she refused to relent. With the monster safely contained, she turned her intention inward, to her struggling sister. To her surprise, she found that the connection between the outside world and their home in the starry expanse was only difficult to traverse one way. Glee spread through her as she rushed down, breezing through the door to their tree and up the stairs, only to stop before the simple wooden door. She had never entered her sister’s personal room; it had always felt wrong. But now she couldn’t resist the chance to talk with her face to face! Effortlessly she passed into the bedroom and hesitated, staring at her sister as she struggled under the bedsheets. Even in distress, she couldn’t help but stare in wonder. Never before had she seen something so perfect, it felt like staring at the flowers in the vase down below. But so much more so. She’s perfect. She deserves to rest, to sleep. Instinct drove her forward, urging her to gently push her sister down. “Where are you going, little flower?” Twilight watched as her sister rolled over, looking up at her with confusion. She gave a warm smile and gently patted the bed. “Don’t you want to sleep?” She knew her sister wanted to. She could feel the relief emanating from her, even if she was too stubborn to accept it. “My friends…” “You deserve to rest,” she said as she grabbed the blankets and tucked them up around her sister’s neck. “I can handle everything.” But still she struggled. “No, no… rest… ” She was so strong, so determined. But she had to rest, she needed to. There were a million questions that Twilight was desperate to ask but she couldn’t do that, not now, not when her sister was so exhausted. There would be tomorrow and the day after that. For now, she had a monster to deal with. “Sleep, little flower.” As she stepped away, she summoned forth a number of memories she knew would bring her sister comfort, the sound of her mother’s voice, the smell of rose pudding, and projected them into the room. “You must rest, little flower.” Torn between the urge to reassure and the need to destroy the monster that had caused this problem, Twilight glanced back towards the door, restlessly shifting. “Not… yet.” “Please, sister, for me.” Twilight pushed as much concern and empathy into those words as she could, but to her horror, her sister was nowhere to be found. Her eyes widened as she rushed back into the library, her presence expanding to every corner of their home to try and find that familiar presence. Where had she gone? Where had she gone?! Twilight flung her focus back to the world, where her magic had pinned the monster down against the rock. “WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?” Power surged through her, driven and forged by anger into a spear of energy that would ensure this monster never hurt anyone ever again. It would pay for what it had done! “No! Stop!” Her hoof dropped as her eyes widened. That was her sister! How was she there? But it was too late; the magic had been released, and with a burst of energy that turned the world white the monster was no more. “... I didn’t need saving!” “You were drowning! Freezing! You were trapped by your own fears and panic and you needed help! I thought friends accepted the help of their friends?” The cloud of hatred and anger seemed to shrink away, the genuine honesty in those words momentarily more powerful than their anger. But it couldn’t last. “You’re not my friend! You’re a disease, some construct of dark magic. You’re a sickness!” “The only sickness here is your weakness! If you weren’t so terrified of doing what needed to be done then this would all be over already! I tried to do this the easy way. I tried to show you what we could do together. But now, I’m doing it my way!” This time, the darkness didn’t stretch outwards into their limbs, but inwards; it surged towards the library with dark intent. But to the surprise of both of them, the library refused to open to their touch, chromatic energy shimmering all around it. “Don’t worry, little flower; soon you’ll be able to rest. Like you deserve. And when you awaken, all our problems will be gone. It’ll be like a bad dream. Just. Give. In.” Again and again, that darkness slammed into the tree, but it refused to yield. But it didn’t need her, it just needed the magic. “No! Stop, you can’t have it!” Once again the two struggled, but this time it wasn’t just for immediate control; the magic flowing through was overwhelming, tearing at their very mind with its power. “Give it to me!” It built up, greater and greater within them until it could no longer be contained. It had to be used. “No!” A spell took shape, one formed of instinct and pain and fear. And with a flash of lavender and red, everything went still. The only sound left was the crashing of the waves. Stretching off into the empty horizon. Chapter I: An Island of TwoThe sound of roaring waves. The dying light of the setting sun. The wet rock beneath her hooves. The horizon stretching out all around her. Twilight was tired, impossibly so. She was dirty and injured and would have loved for nothing more than to collapse onto the rock beneath her and give in to the delightful temptation of sleep. But she wouldn’t. She couldn’t. Even now, she could feel the after-effects of her spell pounding inside her head like a drum. The pain had not relented once she had fallen from the sky - a moment that seemed so long ago, back when her head was filled with the furious anger of the Other that she shared her small sanctuary with. But it couldn’t hurt her anymore. She had made certain of that. How, she wasn’t quite sure, but the spell had somehow broken the link that it had with her magic, had cast it out from her body and into the air around her. It had granted her a reprieve from the struggle of trying to retain control of her own body, but with it, a new problem had arisen. The Other had screamed at her when she had crawled onto the middle of the debris, legs trembling with the effort to keep herself moving even when both magical and physical exhaustion demanded she stop. It had demanded to know what she had done. It had shouted at her with fury in its voice when she had climbed from the wreckage onto a chunk of stone, still floating with some of the power left over from the island’s magic. It had reiterated that her actions were meaningless, and only further proved she had lost her mind. But she knew that, deep down, that was the furthest thing from the truth. Even now, her friends’ strength was with her, and as long as they were by her side – in spirit, if not in person – she would stay strong. And so, as Applejack had, she kept her gaze locked onto the waves; steady, resolute, firm. Even as the Other continued its tirade of hatred. Eventually, though, it got tired. And when the sound of its anger finally died away, Twilight replied calmly. “I won't let you control me.” And then the Other had paused. It had stopped its ranting for a moment as if to consider those words, assessing them, weighing them. A different kind of anger sprung forth then, one not of mindless hatred but one borne of frustration and disbelief. The dark magic had rushed through her limbs, pulling at them hard enough to send waves of agony coursing through her as the thing yelled about mistakes and delusions. It was sometime around that point that the constant heat began to get to her. Visions of her friends, of her past, and of the last few days swam in and out of her eyesight as if to mock her and remind her of the mistakes she made. But among them, darker sights lingered; twisted memories and hateful words squirmed between her thoughts as if she was looking at a strange reflection of her own life. But even as she felt the strength start to ebb from her body she hadn’t wavered; she had kept her hooves steady and her eyes locked onto that distant horizon as the early sun had baked the moisture from her coat and then relentlessly beat against her back her until her eyes were blurry with sweat and her flank burned in pain. The Other began to slow down, its words heavy with exhaustion rather than anger. A small part of Twilight considered the relationship between her own weakness and its apparent fatigue but was quickly brushed aside. There was only one thing that mattered. “We had no choice. We were trying to help you! Stop this! You’re going to kill us!” Twilight didn’t reply audibly, but the Other could sense her response all the same. With a snarl, the hallucinations that had plagued her vanished; they were replaced by a floating vision of herself. But this wasn’t her. This was the Other, an almost impossibly identical look-alike, only given away by her sharp fangs and blood stained cheeks. And when it next spoke, the desperation in its voice was clear despite the venom that laced every word. “We did what we had to! And your little stunt is only hurting yourself! Is that what you want? For your friends to never see you again because you were too cowardly to let me help you?” “...” The Other collapsed to the floor, its form flickering and fading in the slowly fading light. Twilight could feel her magic reserves running dangerously low, but still, she refused to give in. “Not even our magic can change the past! What do you expect me to do? Are you really willing to let us die on this miserable rock over a mistake? You have to see sense, little flower! We can only fix this if we survive!” At this, Twilight finally responded. Her ears flicked up as she shifted her gaze to give the Thing a piercing stare. “What did you just say?” The Other’s eyes widened hopefully at the response, her words coming quickly despite how tired they sounded. “That we can only fix this if we survive!” “No, not that,” Twilight replied, shaking her head. “The bit before that. “Are… you really willing to let us die on this miserable rock over a mistake?” Twilight held her hoof up as the Other finished. “So you admit that it was a mistake?” “What? Yes! Yes, of course, why would I ever intentionally hurt our friends?” “If it was a mistake, then you know what I want,” Twilight replied, giving the Other a firm stare for a few more moments before looking away. A scoff, indignant and arrogant. “Apologise? That’s what you want? Some meaningless phrase and you’ll end this silly tirade? You cannot truly be that naive. Actions speak louder than words, little flower, and all I’ve ever done is help you!” Twilight didn’t reply, and the Other’s arrogant glare faded away once more to be replaced by a fearful look, its ears pinned back and its hooves scratching at the ground. “You’re not joking. You...” It stepped back, shaking its head and looking to Twilight with a frown. “Fine. I’m sorry. Good enough?” Twilight refused to even justify the attempt with a response, causing the Other to whine, anger warring with fear as it paced back and forth, occasionally glancing at Twilight for some hint that she’d give in. But Twilight paid it no attention, staring up at the sky as the sun finally dipped below the horizon and the stars began to shine, bathing their small rock in a brilliant Twilight. Fitting, it seemed that she would finally join her family beneath the stars. “Fine! I… I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t intend to hurt her, I only wanted what you wanted. To protect us, to keep them all safe. Please, I don’t want to die.” Twilight’s chest began to ache, her breath growing laboured as she looked back down at the flickering vision of the Other, of herself, staring back at her with wide eyes as it slowly started to fade away. And at that moment, Twilight was forced to admit that the terror and fear in those eyes resonated in her own. She didn’t want to die. She could do it, would do it, if it meant saving her friends. But something in those words struck a chord deep within her. If Nightmare Moon could be defeated… Maybe The Other could, too. Maybe there was another option. She had a duty to try, didn’t she? She had been tasked as the leader of the Elements of Harmony. She had to uphold the virtues of Equestria. She had to be better. “You won’t try to control me without my permission again.” The Other gasped, nodding quickly. “Of course!” “And you will never ever hurt my friends. Ever again.” “I promise!” Twilight sighed, a thing barely audible above the waves, but deafening in its meaning. She knew that the promise was hollow, but it was the best she was going to get, and slowly, she sunk down to her barrel. And as her resolve crumbled, the magic she had been repressing flowed back, just like that. It was enough to let the Other flicker back into full existence, a slightly translucent version of herself. “Thank you.” Twilight opened her mouth to reply but found she couldn’t muster the energy. She couldn’t muster the energy to do anything anymore. Everything was getting blurry, and as sleep forcibly dragged her down into darkness, the last thing she heard was the shimmering of her own horn as the ground rose up to meet her. Chapter II: A Descent of TwoThe following morning was as brilliant and beautiful as the previous; sunlight streamed down onto the chunk of stone that Twilight lay on, forcing her awake with its brilliance. “Nooo, Spike. Five more minutes.” “Do I look like a baby dragon?” Twilight groaned as she remembered just where she was, and slowly she blinked open her eyes to blearily gaze upwards towards the burning blue sky. The view would have been picturesque, if not for the appearance of the Other sneering down at her. “You look awful.” Twilight blinked, whimpering as the bright sunlight made her head spin. With a wince, she turned and reached up to rub her eyes. The simple gesture sent a fresh wave of pain through her muscles and reminded her that she needed far more than one dubiously restful night’s sleep on an exposed rock. In fact, she likely needed an extended stay in a hospital; who knew what her magic had done to her as they floated out to sea? For a moment, she considered the possibility of simply going back to her friends, of once again trying to keep the Other contained within her, but quickly cleared the thought from her mind. She had no delusions that the Other would keep to its promises in the coming weeks and months. As soon as they weren’t in danger, the lies and temptations would begin again. Her suspicions were confirmed when the Other chuckled dryly at her attempts to stand, her aching legs refusing to support her despite her best attempts. “I don’t know what you’re thinking. That fall of ours did far more damage than you realise, and you expending all that magic yesterday didn’t help either. Thanks for that, by the way.” Despite how much she loathed it, Twilight was forced to admit that it was right. She was in bad shape, and the spell that she had cast to keep her little platform from sinking was already causing her head to ache. Still, she could do without the snide comments from her own hallucinating mind… even if they did sound suspiciously real. “Of course they do. I’m the one talking to you.” “You’re talking to me. Directly to me, not in my mind like you usually do. How?” she asked, her ears twitching as the strange echoey version of her own voice spoke back. “That little stunt you pulled in the water changed a great many things between us.” Although I can still talk like this if you’d prefer? Twilight winced at the familiar feeling of The Other’s voice inside her, quickly shaking her head in response. “No thank you. I much prefer you out of my head whenever possible.” “Your choice.” it responded with a shrug. “I wonder what else it might have done. The possibilities are endless. Well done!” Twilight winced at the sarcastic tone, shooting a glare at the Other that made it raise its hooves in surrender. “Don’t give me that look. I’m just trying to help. You’re clearly losing it; one of us needs to be the voice of reason.” The urge to snap at it was almost overwhelming, and Twilight felt the stirrings of anger from their last argument curling in her stomach. With a shudder, she swallowed down the nasty words and focused her attention on her own problems. She had to find some way to heal herself, to find food, water, shelter. And that was all before she could even begin working on her actual mission. Which… was going to be significantly more difficult now that she’d left all her research notes, Princess Luna, and her friends when she’d abandoned Altalusia. Oh Celestia, what have I gotten myself into? Suddenly, the full scope of what she was trying to achieve dawned on her. Before, when she’d been with her friends, she’d taken it a step at a time. Always focusing on the next goal, the next task. But now, she had no next task. What was she going to do? Where was she going to go? The number of things she needed to do before she could even start to work on figuring out what had happened was staggering. And that wasn’t including her own… issues, which she’d have to deal with eventually. And she had to do it alone. It had been difficult enough trying to handle the responsibility of it all with her friends by her side. It would be impossible to do it – “Excuse me! Alone? What do I look like, an unwanted magical construct formed from wild magic that doesn’t exist except as a manifestation of your own consciousness?” The Other asked with a deadpan tone. After a moment its expression deepened into a frown, “Your friends are the reason you’ve made so little progress. You don’t need them. I can help you reach what we seek. When have I failed you before?” Twilight finally looked up to her unwanted companion, the ‘Other Her’ which had plagued her with its presence for many weeks, and the annoyed frown that was painted on its features. That frown turned into a scowl when Twilight looked away, a scowl which was suddenly directly in Twilight’s face. “Aahh!” “Don’t you dare ignore me, little flower. Who knows what I could be planning? You need to get up, and we have to go. The scavengers you scared off with your outburst will return – and soon. ” The Other extended a hoof, confusing Twilight for a moment until she realised that she was still lying on the floor, her body trembling in pain. With an uneasy feeling in her stomach, she reached up to take the hoof and, much to her surprise, found the aching in her legs lessened ever so slightly, giving her the strength to get back to her hooves. It was a feat that brought the slightest of smiles to her lips... “Wow, you stood up. What a brave filly. You’ll be saying words next,” ...which was immediately stripped away again. “Are you actually going to help me? Or are you just going to follow me around, making snide remarks and mocking me?” “Helping? I’ve done nothing but help you. Or did that spell of yours wipe your memory? Here, let me remind you.” The Other’s horn began to glow and Twilight felt its insidious magic clutching at her head. Before she could respond, she felt memories flickering through her head, outside of her own control. “Who gave you the power to rescue your friends from Gava’s ship?” It asked, floating down to Twilight’s level and fixing her with an irritated glare. “Me.” “Who protected you from the Phoenix under the sea?” It placed a hoof on her chest and Twilight felt a tense pressure build, her breathing becoming laboured as she tried to back away. “Me.” “Who broke you free from your captivity, defeated your enemies, destroyed that annoying airship, and would have solved everything if you hadn’t intervened? Me!” Her back hoof suddenly fell out from her under, loose stone splashing into the water as Twilight reached the edge of the rock. “I tried to ask you nicely. I begged you to let me aid you, but you wouldn’t listen. Nothing seems to get through that thick skull of yours. So now I’m not asking; you’re getting the help you need whether you want it or not. So you better get used to it because I’m not go –” “G-get away from me!” Twilight summoned up as much magic as she could muster and pushed, sending The Other floating back a few feet. Where it remained, scowling. “If that’s how you want to do this, fine. I’ll stay right here. You let me know when you need my help. I’ll be waiting.” Twilight shuddered, the uneasy feeling in her stomach intensifying as she stared up into those callous reflections of her own eyes. Turning away, she looked out across the water and took a deep breath. First things first; she needed to make sure she was okay. A simple diagnostic spell was, thankfully, not too difficult to cast and required almost no energy – a blessing for Twilight in her weakened state. Closing her eyes, she let the spell wash over her, wincing as it pinged back with a vast array of minor injuries. Luckily, it seemed that apart from her dangerously low magical reserves and exhaustion, she was mostly okay. She would be fine after a few days. She just needed rest, food, and water. But getting those wasn’t going to be easy. She couldn’t go back to her friends, not after what had happened, which meant both the Argo and Altalusia were off-limits. She didn’t know of many other islands; even if she did, the risk of bringing The Other with her was too great. Which meant there was only one other option. With a nervous gulp, she trod to the edge of her rocky bastion, looking down into the seemingly endless abyss. She quickly realised that the water wouldn’t provide the answer to her issues either; she had no way to traverse the depths without the Argo and their dive suits. Perhaps if she weren’t so tired, her magic might be able to keep her safe, but she was in no position to be using any magic. Unless… Twilight winced, glancing over her shoulder at The Other, who raised an eyebrow and leaned forward slightly, waiting for her to say something. Twilight grit her teeth and turned away. There must be another way. She wracked her brain, trying to organise her thoughts, but the heat of the sun, the aching in her limbs, and the pangs of hunger in her stomach were making it near impossible to focus. She couldn’t swim. She didn’t have the magic to teleport. She couldn’t go up or down. She had no tools to work with and no-one to help her. Once again, Twilight found herself looking back at her reflection, who seemed to be content hovering there and waiting for Twilight to give in. Twilight was loathe to admit it, but that option was beginning to seem more likely than not. But even with The Other’s help, where would she go? She needed someplace remote, where The Other couldn’t hurt anyone. Someplace safe so she could rest. It needed to have food, water, preferably somewhere she’d be able to easily access information that could help her with – “Oh, of course!” Gasping, Twilight looked up to the horizon, scanning the waves for a familiar landmark. “Ahhh, and she finally figures it out.” Twilight resisted the urge to respond to the sarcastic quip, her eyes scanning the horizon for the mountain she knew was out there. Somewhere in the waves was Canterlot. Her only chance. While the city itself was… dangerous and likely infested with changelings. There should still be areas protected by the Princesses’ magic. Areas where she would be safe. Her excitement was soon overwhelmed by the doubt that had lingered in the back of her mind, however. She still needed to get there. And the only way to do that was– “Well, that was quick. Need me already? I must say, I’m so surprised,” the Other sang behind her, making Twilight’s jaw tense in anger. But just because she didn’t like it didn’t change the facts. Twilight had no other option. She had no way to reach Canterlot without the magical boost the Other provided, leaving her stuck here where eventually she’d end up prey to seaponies… or worse. Slowly, Twilight turned around to face the infuriatingly smug gaze of the Other. “Look. We both want to get off this rock. If you don’t help me, you know what will happen.” The Other raised an eyebrow but said nothing, leaning forward with a smirk. “Don’t just look at me! Are you going to help or not?” It laughed, a chilling echo of her own laughter. “That’s a funny way to ask for help, little flower. Is that how you’d ask your precious Applejack to help you? Or Fluttershy?” Twilight tensed, her horn glowing softly. “Don’t you dare talk about my friends.” “Oh, I’m so sorry. Won’t happen again,” the Other replied, rolling over in the air and gazing back at Twilight upside down. “Still, that was awful. Try again.” “Wha – try again? Listen here, you,” she began, before cutting herself off as The Other’s smirk widened. She had to keep it together. Getting angry would only hurt her in the long term. Closing her eyes, she began to take deep breaths. In. Out. In. Out. She shook her head and let the building magic fade away, a shiver of trepidation running through her as she considered just how much of her limited energy she’d managed to muster in her anger. She opened her eyes once again and looked to the Other with a neutral expression. “I need your help.” The Other smiled brightly, an unnervingly genuine expression, and rushed over, lowering her horn until it was almost touching Twilight’s own. Instantly, Twilight felt the uncomfortable squirming in her gut that she had learnt to associate with the Other’s wild magic. “That’s it, little one.” Slowly, reluctantly, she let the feeling wash across her, drawing on that strange magic. But when she tried to draw it to her horn, it refused. Twilight’s face twisted into a confused frown and she pulled harder. But still, the magic seemed to reject her. “What are you doing…? I did what you said!” “...” With a shudder, Twilight realised what it was waiting for. Despite how much her pride told her not to, the squirming darkness inside of her was sickening. With a tight jaw, Twilight looked the Other in the eye and forced herself to speak. “Please?” “Of course.” And the world went black. The pain was gone. Twilight gasped, opening her eyes and scrambling to her hooves. She had been surrounded by the ocean, but now—now she stood at the base of a small hill surrounded by open fields that seemed to stretch endlessly into the distance. If she squinted, she thought she could see the flickering stars and swirling clouds of energy that formed her subconscious in the distance, but it was hard to tell. Twilight looked around the flower-filled meadow, studying the surprisingly realistic scene as the faint sound of songbirds trilled in the distance. She knew it was a trick, a fabrication in her mind, but she couldn’t help but smile at the peaceful scene, butterflies frolicking at the corners of her vision. It was beautiful, and she found herself tempted to just lie down and relax. As the minutes passed, however, the single, massive tree that stood on top of the hill drew more and more of her attention; it seemed to be waiting for her, swaying in a non-existent breeze. Slowly, she started moving towards it. Who knew what secrets lay just beneath the surface. When she reached the base of the tree, she found the Other waiting for her, sat in the grass with a neutral expression. As she approached, the Other motioned for her to sit, scowling when she turned to stare up at the tree instead with awe. “Where are we?” The Other gave an exasperated sigh, shaking her head. “You know where we are, little flower. Do not ask me stupid questions,” “My mind. You’ve brought me into the dreamscape.” “Why did you ask me if you already knew the answer?” Twilight shrugged, sitting down opposite her reflection. “You clearly created this for me.” The Other didn’t reply to that at first, looking around at the meadows around them. “You did create this for me, didn’t you?” “Yes, obviously,” the Other snapped, huffing and turning away as she continued. “You know the basics of dream magic so I know the basics of dream magic, which means either of us can shape this world as much as we wish. “I thought that creating a peaceful scene such as this would help you recover from the stress you are so clearly suffering from.” Twilight blinked, frowning suspiciously at the nice gesture. “Afterall, you’re completely incompetent with your emotions all over the place. Honestly, a foal would be handling this better.” “There it is…” Twilight rolled her eyes and shook her head. “I appreciate the effort, but surely the library would have been a better choice for me to relax?” The Other paused, replying after a few seconds of tranquil silence. “Our little, Argument, caused some temporary damage. I didn’t want to have to deal with your overly dramatic sobbing, so I brought you here instead.” “Damage? You don’t seem very worried. I hope it’s nothing serious.” Twilight lay down, stretching out in the grass. If she tried really hard she could almost imagine that she was back in Ponyville, relaxing under the sun and waiting for her friends. Almost. “Of course not. If it was, I wouldn’t be indulging you in this pointless small talk. I’d be fixing it,” the Other replied curtly. “That makes sense. I guess. So now what happens? We just sit here and talk while you get us to Canterlot?” Twilight asked, suppressing a yawn as she did so. “Actually, what happens now is you stay here and rest while I solve all your problems. You’re welcome. And don’t argue,” the Other said firmly as Twilight opened her mouth to speak. “You know as well as I do that you’ve pushed yourself way too far as it is recently. It might not be a perfect substitute for real sleep, but you need to take a break.” “I’m not going to let you do whatever you want with my body. Knowing you, I’ll never wake up again,” Twilight muttered, blinking her eyes open and struggling to get to her hooves. Her attempts were quickly stopped by the Other’s hooves, pushing her down and holding her there. Were the songbirds getting louder? “You don’t have a choice. You need my help, and staying here is my price.” “Then,” Twilight began with a yawn, “I don’t want your, mmm, help…” The Other watched as Twilight slowly succumbed to sleep, her eyes finally closing. With that finally handled, she vanished, leaving Twilight to sleep in the dreamscape. The next time Twilight awoke it was with a start; she was alone beneath the huge tree, but she could feel strong surges of magical energy being drawn from her reserves, energy that almost immediately started to grow weaker as she shook the grogginess of sleep away. That could only mean one thing: The Other was using magic, and lots of it. When she had specifically told her not to! Anger flared in her breast, unnervingly quick; she should never have given that evil creature access to her body for even one moment without supervision, no matter how tired she was. “Hey! What’s going on?” There was no response, making Twilight grit her teeth and slam her hooves into the ground. “Don’t ignore me!” With a ripple of space, The Other appeared, an irritated expression on its face, “Yes?” “How long have I been out? What’s going on? I told you not to use my magic!” Twilight demanded, stepping forward and jabbing her hoof at The Other’s chest. All around them the meadow seemed to be falling apart, replaced with the starry expanse of the dreamscape, until there was just them and the tree. “Of course I used your magic, how else was I going to—” The Other started to respond before jerking in pain and hissing. Twilight gasped as a sharp stabbing feeling suddenly sunk into her fetlocks. “Ow! What’s going on? Show me!” The Other grabbed her quite suddenly by the hoof and the both of them were pulled abruptly out of the mindscape and back into the real world. Twilight flinched as her eyes were suddenly filled with blinding light. Slowly, her blinking eyes adjusted to the light until she could finally see. And screamed as a scene from her nightmares swam into view. Twilight let out a moan of almost ecstatic relief as the physical sensation of being in control rushed through her. The spray of the waves against her coat, the wind rushing through her mane, even the aching pains of her body were amazing! One by one she tensed her muscles, indulging in the feeling of tightening them to the point of pain before letting them relax again. The sensation was indescribable, and soon she would be experiencing it all the time! Of course, first she had to deal with her Sister. A scowl spread across her face as she considered the situation that had developed. Something didn’t add up. The memories she’d seen, everything she’d found in her Sister’s mind suggested that she was strong, powerful, and brave. But it seemed that after she’d escaped Canterlot, something had happened. Something had made her weak and confused. It was infuriating! But that was something to be dealt with in the future. For now, she had control, and a task to fulfill. With a deep breath, she drew upon their magic; the air around her began to ripple as little sparks of lavender energy arced from her horn. The feeling of it was even better than the sensation of a physical body. She felt so powerful, so strong. She felt unstoppable. She could do anything, solve any problem. But there was something holding her back. She knew her Sister didn’t use the majority of her power normally, and so it was harder to call on, but even when she tried to forcibly pull the magic she knew was there to her horn, she found something… blocking it. Slowly she reached in, probing at her the magical reserves carefully. She found that the magic had been locked away from her; massive amounts of her Sister’s power was flowing into a self-sustained spell which blocked her off. While the complexity of the spell was impressive, the purpose of it was enough to make Twilight scream angrily out at the waves. Trotting over to the edge of their little rock, Twilight stared down into the water, her magic stilling the surface and letting her glare into her reflection. A perfect likeness of her Sister—aside from the red tears gathering in the corner of her eyes. “You stupid mare! You’re so preoccupied with fighting me for no reason, and it’s going to get us both killed! For once would you just listen?!” Twilight knew her Sister wouldn’t hear her; she had built the perfect scene to force her into sleep. But shouting her frustrations out made her feel better. At least a little bit. With that done, she turned back up to gaze over the ocean. Without access to all their magic, she’d be unable to teleport them directly to the mountaintop. But a few smaller jumps would prove easy enough. Her decision made, Twilight let her magic spread out to surround herself, as well as the small piece of rock she stood on, and cast the spell she knew best, vanishing with a deafening pop. With another, similar pop, she reappeared roughly a fifth of the way towards her destination. To her surprise, the rock she had been standing on had been caught up in her magic. Twilight paused, narrowing her eyes and abruptly cancelling her next teleport to turn her attention towards the offending piece of stone. Placing her horn against it, she used the same pinging spell that had served her Sister so well in the past to examine the rock for magical influences, a surprised look briefly flashing across her face before understanding settled in. “Ahh… you’re enchanted to float. Residual magic from the island I expect. It must be some powerful stuff to still be working this long after you broke off. But not very stable. Hmmm.” Twilight paused. At this rate, the stone’s innate magic would destabilise before she reached Canterlot, Likely dropping her into the ocean after her next jump. However, now that the enchantment had been broken, the magic was bleeding away. “What a waste.” With a huff Twilight extended her magic to the rock, sensing the energy that flowed out, and brought it into herself in one big rush. The rock began to sink further and further below the waves as more of its magic was drawn away. When there was barely anything left to stand on, Twilight pulled the rest of it out and, with another flash of light, vanished. Far away from her last location, on the tip of Canterlot’s peak, a red-tinged crackle of magic broke the gentle monotony of the ocean. A moment later a shockwave of energy sheared off the very tip of the tiny island with its power, both Twilight and the now magically-inert rock appearing in the aftermath. Three feet above the ground. For a moment, both her and the rock seemed to remain suspended in the air as the residual magic supported her, giving her just enough time to perform another short hop down to the plateau she had inadvertently created as the rock crashed into the waves and began to sink. Twilight paused to stare at the damaged stone beneath her hooves. “Hmm… I expect she would have something to say about destroying the tip of the tallest mountain in Equestria. ” A smile slowly spread across her lips followed by a short laugh. “Because that’s even remotely important right now.” Twilight shook her head, discarding the silly concept and trotting over to the edge of the island to glance down into the waves. For the briefest moment, she felt the sensation of something staring back, as if the water was going to reach out and drag her down into the darkness. Twilight laughed as she dove into the ocean’s cold embrace. If it wanted her, then who was she to say no? She began swimming, relishing the strain on her muscles as she forced herself down bit by bit. As she did so, her horn began to glow, casting a number of minor enchantments designed to protect her from the cold, provide light and shield her from the water. But the deeper she swam, the harder it was to continue, and eventually Twilight found herself coming to a stop, pausing to catch her breath and staring at the shadow of the Canterhorn, stretching down into the darkness beyond her hornlight. Almost unbidden, memories of the peak rushed to the forefront of her mind. The day Celestia had taken her to the summit along with a small group of her classmates, the day she’d journeyed up a similar peak outside of Ponyville and stared at the mountain from a distance, only fully understanding its size at that moment, and the day she’d approached the mountain for the last and final time. The day she’d uncovered a deadly ploy to take control of Canterlot by controlling her brother… The day she’d failed to recover the elements, and got both herself and her friends captured and imprisoned... The day she’d failed and all Equestria had paid the price. With a gasp, Twilight tore herself away from the images, shaking her head furiously and panting weakly in her little pocket of air. She had no idea that her Sister’s past would affect her so intensely; the sinking weight in her stomach and her racing heart made her head swim and it was all she could do to push down the panic that tried to take control of her. For a moment she remained there, swaying back and forth with the motion of the waves as she forced herself to relax. After a longer wait than she was willing to admit, Twilight felt in control enough to assess her situation. Was this sort of reaction normal? Perhaps she could understand how her Sister kept slipping up if this was how she felt. But she wouldn’t let it stop her; she wouldn’t be weak like her Sister. Twilight went through her spells, assessing them to ensure they were still intact. It was a reassuring thing to find them unaffected by her little moment of panic. One thing that was still an issue, however, was breathing. The small air bubble she’d created would become impossible to sustain at the depths she needed to descend to. Twilight wracked her brain for all the things she’d learned over the last few weeks, pulling up every memory of magic she’d been able to find. There weren’t any spells that would do exactly what she wanted, but… perhaps she could mix a few different ones together. The spells would be a drain. She’d have to be careful with how complex she made her spells. Illuminating her horn, Twilight wove a spell into existence and smiled as she felt the water around her begin to shift as oxygen was pulled from her surroundings to her muzzle, creating a small self-replenishing bubble that would last for as long as her magic did. With that done, she let the bubble around her head disappear; gasping as the ocean rushed in to fill it. Without any barrier between her and the sea, Twilight suddenly became aware of the oppressive silence that lingered all around her; the sound of her own heartbeat drumming in her ears the only sound she could hear. And that wasn’t the only sense that was muted by the ocean. Her damp coat made her feel heavy and slow and the pressure of the ocean resisted her every move. But she wouldn’t let that stop her. With a simple spell she propelled herself downwards into the darkness, her path illuminated by an orb of light that lingered behind her head. No matter how deep Twilight dove, she encountered nothing but empty water and the rocky surface of the mountainside. It was fitting, she supposed, that the oppressive silence be paired with an endless expanse of nothing. But she couldn’t shake the feeling that it was wrong somehow. Surely there should be fish, crustaceans, jellyfish, anything. Was it her presence that had caused the unnatural emptiness… or was it the Canterhorn itself? Twilight floated over to the mountain side, glaring suspiciously at the barren rock. Twilight looked around suspiciously; ensuring she was totally alone before she reached out to press her hoof against the stone; tensing up as she felt the icy stone beneath her. But no matter how cold it was, it was just stone. At least physically. For a moment she considered that maybe this was a waste of time, but if they were going into Canterlot then they needed to know everything they could about the mountain. Taking a deep breath, Twilight sent out a ping of magic into the rock, gasping as her magic was drawn in like a whirlpool, pulling much more of her power than she intended before she could cancel the spell. Shaking away the slight headache her test had given her, Twilight narrowed her eyes. The mountain was… empty. Not physically, but magically. Someone, or something, had drawn the mountain’s natural magic away long ago; leaving it as a dangerous sinkhole for magical energy. The creatures of the ocean had learned to stay away, and it would be best to follow their lead. Floating out further into open water, Twilight continued downwards. Away from the mountainside, there was nothing for her light to reflect off, and Twilight began to feel an unnerving stirring in her gut. How far down was she? Was she still travelling in the right direction? Twilight channelled more magic into her light, the sound of her horn humming loudly in her ears as her magic tinted the water all around her with a lavender glow. No matter how much she brightened it, there was nothing to see. Nothing but the endless water, going on and on for as far as the eye could see. For the briefest moment, she considered waking her Sister up just to have someone to talk to. But the very idea made her grimace in disgust. She was meant to be proving just how foolish her Sister was being, letting her emotions get the better of her. Waking her up would be the same as admitting defeat. And Twilight didn’t lose. Face set in a determined scowl, Twilight continued her descent downwards. Noting how the mountain was beginning to steadily grow larger in her peripheral vision. If she was right, which she usually was, the tunnel should be visible soon. In fact… Calling up her light, she duplicated it and cast it down into the dark; gasping when instead of illuminating an empty expanse of water and then the city it uncovered a mass of writhing creatures that fled back into the shadows. Not all of them ran, and Twilight gasped in shock as the monstrously corrupt eel lunged into her light, huge jagged fangs glinting in its grotesque maw. Twilight froze, her surprise giving the creature enough time to reach her and snap it’s jaw down around her hind leg. Only to writhe in pain as its teeth cracked against a glowing field of magical energy. Twilight stared as it slithered away from the shield she’d instinctively created and went to bite her again. “Oh, no. You had your chance.” There wasn’t any time to think of a spell, so Twilight did the thing that came most naturally to her. Her magic enveloped the creature entirely, pinning it in place before crushing it with a satisfying squelch that muddied the water with its blood. Tossing the remains to the side, Twilight scanned the darkness around her, growling as she saw the shifting silhouettes lurking just beyond the range of her light. With a burst of magic, she increased the power to her light and lit it like a star, revealing dozens of the creatures all around her, waiting with ravenous looks in their eyes. The seconds ticked past. Both sides still, tense, neither willing to make the first move. As they swayed with the motion of the waves, Twilight steadily drew more and more magic to her, pushing at the limits of her Sister’s bindings as she infused herself with energy. When the eels finally felt the flicker of energy and rushed forward, she was ready. Shimmering barriers of energy stopped the majority of the creatures in their tracks, leaving only three to worm their way through and close the distance. Twilight grinned as the magic in her body let her propel herself elegantly through the water, dodging the creatures with ease. They weren’t so lucky, as her magic lashed out and turned them all into paste. With the immediate threat dealt with, Twilight looked outwards and begun flinging bolts of magic into the mass of eels as they writhed and thrashed against her barriers; each strike took out three or four of the monsters with ease, leaving crackling reminders of her power wherever they struck. As the seconds passed and more of the eels were ripped apart or blasted to pieces by swathes of raw mana, Twilight realised that the fight she had been hoping for was unlikely to yield much more than target practice. “Is that it? I thought monsters were supposed to be dangerous!” she yelled into the abyss, her shields dropping for just long enough to let the eels surge forward – directly into the shockwave of magic that she flung out, so hot it boiled the water and turned the closest of the creatures into ash. The ones behind fared little better, desperately swimming away in search of colder waters to alleviate their burns. The rest were sent rolling backwards, their bodies trying to right themselves helplessly as Twilight’s next attack came, razor-sharp shards of crystallised mana that shredded them into so much pulp. Before she could cleanse the evil creatures once and for all, however, she felt the awakening of her Sister inside of her, the disturbance almost immediately limiting the amount of magic Twilight found she could draw upon. Against her better judgement, she flung up a temporary shield and turned her focus inwards, manifesting herself onto the dreamscape with a frustrated scowl. “Yes?” “How long have I been out?” Twilight rolled her eyes at the implied blame in Her Sister’s words, shaking her head. She momentarily considered just leaving her Sister here to be sulky, glancing back to focus on the battle raging outside when she felt her Sister jab a hoof into her chest. Huffing in annoyance she turned back with a scowl. “What? I don’t know. An hour, why does it matter?” With her focus divided between the real world and the mindscape, Twilight missed the eel that slithered up from underneath her. Completely unaware until it latched onto her ankle and bit down. Hard. And still her Sister continued to yell at her in that accusatory tone. Twilight reached out to grab her, pulling them both out of mindscape and leaving her free to turn her attention to the eel on her flank; which was swiftly turned into pulp by a blast of raw mana. Twilight lifted her hooves to her mouth, stifling a scream as a bloodbath swam before her eyes. The gory scene brought bile to the back of her throat and she turned away to vomit; blinking in confusion when nothing came out. Confusion turned to horror as she brought her hooves up and found them flickering with a translucent glow, the sight forcing another scream from her lips. “Oh Celestia! What’s happening?! Oh Luna, oh no! What’s goi–” “Stop distracting me!” Twilight flinched, spinning round to stare at… herself? Slowly, the pieces began to slot into place. She forced herself to breathe while trying to make sense of what was going on. The Other was fighting a mass of strange black eels and—to Twilight’s surprise—seemed to be having little trouble dealing with the swarm, Twilight’s own magic spinning a deadly web of spells that eviscerated, burned or crushed anything that came close. Eviscerating… everything. Woah woah! Stop! Twilight’s brain suddenly caught up. “H-hey! Stop it!” she cried. Her ghostly form surged forward through the cleanest water she could find to come up directly in the Other’s vision, who turned to face her with a murderous scowl – a look Twilight was none too pleased to see on her features. “Stop! You can’t just kill them!” “Actually, you’ll find I can—although you’re not helping!” The Other snapped back, a shockwave of magic emphasising its words and pulverising a group of eels, much to Twilight’s horror. “No! I told you that you couldn’t use my magic like this! Killing is wrong!” Twilight yelled back, her own mournful look distorted by the rippling water. The Other’s glare deepened, and she bared a pair of deadly fangs. “They’re monsters! Evil and cruel. They deserve to die!” Twilight gasped as she felt all the magic surrounding them draw into The Other’s horn, a blinding sphere of light forming at the tip that made Twilight cover her eyes in pain. “They’re just fish!” “You have no idea what you’re talking about. Get out of my way!” The magic began to crackle with power, making Twilight’s coat stand on end as her less than physical form was bombarded by the energy bleeding off from the spell. Twilight rushed forward, holding her hooves out with a tense look. “No! I won’t let you do this! I told you to st–” “I said MOVE!” Twilight watched as The Other vanished in a pop of magic, spinning around desperately as she heard a familiar crackle of magic behind her. Reaching out, she tried to pull at the magic that was gathered, anything to stop the spell. But it was far too late. There was a pulse of magic, and the abyss turned white. Chapter III: The Anger of Two“Why?” Twilight cried out into the darkness, clutching at her head in pain. If there was an answer, Twilight didn’t hear it; her ears were ringing with enough force to make her feel nauseous. How could she even feel nauseous when she was… whatever she was? The thought made her shudder, the urge to look down at her translucent body growing until she couldn’t take it anymore. Opening her eyes didn’t help. “What’s happening? Why can’t I see?!” Panic rose in the pit of her stomach as she desperately strained to try and see something. Anything. Calm down. Relax. Breathe. The voice of The Other, as unnerving as it was, pierced through her frantic thoughts, and Twilight forced herself to take one, two, three deep breaths. With each one, she felt the panic receding and her vision slowly returning. That’s it. In… Out. The spell must have overwhelmed the limits of that form’s magic. Not pleasant, is it? Twilight groaned, blinking rapidly to clear away the blurry afterimages that clung to the edge of her vision. “How would you know?” she tried to say, but the ringing in her ears made it impossible to tell if she’d made any noise at all. How would you know? she repeated mentally. A destabilised spell and a mana starved spell are very similar. The answer did little to assuage Twilight’s confusion, her brow furrowing as she tried to make sense of it. What do you mean? The Other shook its head, waving a hoof dismissively as it moved closer. It doesn’t matter. Are you okay? Twilight narrowed her eyes, pausing for a moment before replying. I’m… getting there. No thanks to you. A scoff and The Other turned away, shaking her head and leaving Twilight to glance around at the consequences of the spell. The ocean depths glittered with residual magic, sparkling like stars all around them in the darkness, and Twilight found herself remembering the sight of her unconscious. It was eerily similar. That would be because it is your unconscious. Your projected form collapsed; we’re inside of your mind again. I just didn’t feel like making it all pretty this time. You go back to sleep. I’ll carry on to Canterlot. Twilight frowned, focusing her attention on the area around them and creating a simple wooden floor to stand on. The sound of her hooves against the wood provided a satisfying sense of weight as she stormed up to The Other with an angry glare. Oh, no. Not happening. I gave you one very specific instruction and the second I left you alone you immediately broke it, killing some poor innocent fish! The Other frowned, its tone callous. Innocent? They were monsters, it was us or them. Your misguided notions of morality do not apply down here. Twilight shook her head, huffing in frustration. They weren’t monsters. They were predators! Just because they’re hungry doesn’t make them evil! You could have easily created a shield to ward them off and just ignored them until we got down to the tunnels! The Other’s smirk twisted into a sneer. Ah yes, that sounds like an excellent way to waste our magical reserves, your genius never fails to astound. How exactly did you become Celestia’s prized pupil again? Twilight flinched back, her anger momentarily faltering from the sudden insult before surging back with more intensity. And that display wasn’t? How much mana did that spell drain from us? What if it attracted something even larger? The Other stopped, staring into the distance for a moment before nodding. Very perceptive. We should keep moving. It vanished from the mindscape without warning. Twilight opened her mouth, an angry retort on her lips, but snapped it shut when she found the target of her ire gone. Quickly she followed The Other out, floating into it’s way with an angry scowl. “You can’t just change the subject when you know you’re wrong! Admit that you don’t have an answer! Admit that you only killed those fish because you wanted to. Because you enjoyed it! “Because you’re the monster!” she finished, jabbing her hoof into The Other’s chest. The Other froze, baring its fangs and illuminating its horn. Twilight flinched, instinctively shying away from the murderous look, but no attack came. When she opened her eyes again, The Other was staring off into the ocean with an unreadable expression. “You can think whatever you want to, little flower. But unlike your sheep friends, I’m not just going to roll over and agree because you throw a tantrum. They were corrupted, and if we hadn’t dealt with them then they’d have hurt somepony else. I did the world a favour.” Twilight shook her head. “How dare you. Get out of my body. Now.” “...” “I said now!” Twilight flailed in the water as her perspective suddenly shifted, the weight of her body and the drain of her magic from her horn momentarily overwhelming her. She quickly reigned in control of the magic, shuddering at the thought of those spells failing her when she was so deep down. Quickly she pushed the thoughts aside; The Other had done what she asked, and she had to get to Canterlot. Getting her bearings, Twilight propelled herself down; stewing in her anger and ruminating on what had just happened. She hadn’t said anything untrue. It was a monster. It was evil! But… that didn’t give her the right to be cruel herself. Her anger slowly seeped away under the relentless chill of the ocean, replaced with a hollow feeling that made her sick. Why had The Other disobeyed her? Why was it so insistent on being cruel at every turn? Why had Twilight let those horrible thoughts make her so angry as well? Why? Twilight sunk back into the mindscape, eddies of crimson and black swirling about as her anger manifested in the void. For a brief instant, she turned her gaze towards the library. Flame licked at the edges of her horn as she considered burning it; if her Sister was so eager to call her a monster, why not show her exactly how much of a monster she could be? But it was her home too. Twilight tensed up, a horrible mess of feelings rushing inside her. Anger, rage. She knew those. But there were other feelings, ones that made her feel empty and alone. She didn’t understand and it only made her angrier. With a scream, she flung herself into the void, a loosely collected amalgamation of all the things she hated coalescing around her. The griffon. Plunged to the bottom of the sea where she belonged. The soldiers. Incinerated as they deserved. The phoenix. Frozen as a consequence of its own actions. Her Sister. Imprisoned so that she couldn’t hold them back. Twilight stopped, the icy grip of fear momentarily rendering her immobile. Is that really what she wanted? She hunched over and shuddered, nausea clutching at her insides painfully. The mental constructs faded away, replaced with a faint green glow that only seemed to intensify the horrible sensations. “What’s wrong with me? I don’t understand.” The feeling abated with time, but the effect it left on her wasn’t as kind. Slowly, Twilight got to her hooves, her legs trembling beneath her, before realising that she had no physical body. This was all just a projection of her thoughts. “Why am I…?” Physical sensation vanished as she furrowed her brow, closing her eyes briefly before opening them back up to the endless void of stars she was used to. Whatever she had felt had gone now, and she never wanted to experience it again. Which meant that whatever had caused it needed to go. Slowly, methodically, Twilight began to retrace her actions; trying to piece together the chain of events that had resulted in her Sister’s heated anger. But she could only think of one thing that might have caused it, and it was ridiculous. “Why can’t she just get it? It’s not complicated. These creatures would kill us if given the chance, so it’s only sensible to kill them first; that’s just logical. And yet she seems infuriated every time I try and bring it up.” Her ranting slowed to an indignant muttering as she aimlessly floated through the mindscape; glancing around at the memories and emotions that flashed up around her. Everything she knew, she knew from her Sister. Which only made her actions more difficult to understand. “She’s a logical pony. The most logical of all her friends by far. So why can’t she realise the rules of the old world can’t apply anymore?” Why was her Sister so devoted to a set of beliefs that no longer had meaning in a new world? Why was she so averse to being shown that she was being irrational? Why did she feel like she was being crushed after every argument they had? Why? Twilight continued her descent into the ocean, so wrapped up in her own thoughts that, when she finally reached the gaping maw of the Canterlot Tunnel, she almost missed it. It was only when she reached the ocean bed, covered in nought but sand and strange purple algae, that she realised she’d gone too far. Anger, long since smothered by the oppressive ocean silence, flared up as frustration. Anger bubbled up inside of her, building and building until she could take it no longer. Rearing up, she slammed her hooves down into the sand and screamed her rage out into the uncaring sea, not stopping until her throat was hoarse and the burning heat in her breast was replaced with a hollow ache. It was only once she’d caught her breath that she noticed what she’d done; the sand all around her turned to glittering glass by her unfiltered release of magic. “You look like you needed that.” Twilight turned, glancing to the Other with a tired glare. She opened her mouth to reply, but thought better of it, turning her gaze upward to look for the tunnel entrance she knew must be there. The Other turned with her, blankly staring up into the darkness as Twilight sent out a ping, her magic echoing out into the darkness. Instead of the small burst of magic she expected to use, however, an almost irresistible tugging sensation overcame her and it was all she could do to cancel the spell before more of her magic was sucked out. “Be careful. The corruption has affected the mountain; don’t touch it with your magic.” Twilight turned to glare daggers into The Other’s side, gritting her teeth and forcing herself to remain silent as she started to float upwards towards the entrance. At least her spell had still worked. Unlike the last time she had made this trip, panicked and confined within the bowels of a submarine; Twilight was able to see the walls within the entrance of the tunnel, and was surprised to find that, unlike the rest of the mountain, the rock here was a glassy, extremely reflective smooth stone. Keeping The Other’s warning in her mind, she adjusted her course; floating into the centre of the tunnel entrance and marvelling at the way her hornlight reflected off the walls; creating a stunning lavender glow all around them, unlike anything she’d ever seen before. This is amazing. For the light to be reflected so cleanly these walls must be almost perfectly smooth. Whoever carved this tunnel must have been using incredibly powerful magic. “Not even we could produce the heat needed to do something like this, let alone control it so skillfully,” The Other responded, gazing at the walls with as much curiosity as Twilight herself. Twilight paused, momentarily caught unawares. For a moment, their anger was forgotten in mutual curiosity, Twilight narrowing her eyes at the walls suspiciously. I wonder… could it have been..? “It might have.” The Other nodded in front of her, reaching out as if to brush the rock before retreating back to Twilight. They lapsed into silence, nothing more to discuss, as they continued deeper into the tunnel, closer and closer to the ruins of Canterlot. And even as their mind became preoccupied with thoughts of what they would discover, challenges they would encounter, and clues they might uncover. The same question still lurked at the back of their minds, their thoughts lining up for the first time since Altalusia. “Why?” “Why?” Twilight gasped for air as she breached the surface of the water, clambering her way up onto the rocks and coughing up water onto the stone floor. Once she had recovered her breath she turned to the Other with a scowl. “You could have warned me we were running out of air!” “Aren’t you Celestia’s prized pupil? Surely you could sense that the spell I cast was wearing out?” It responded with a smirk, watching smugly as the water dripped from Twilight’s mane, down across her chest, and then splattered against the rocky floor below. Twilight rolled her eyes, shaking the water out of her coat before reaching up to push her dripping mane out of her eyes. “Oh, of course, I’ll make sure to double-check that all the spells you cast aren’t secretly designed to kill me. That’s exactly what I need right now.” The Other opened its mouth to retort, before closing it with a frown. Looking away and snapping back half-heartedly, “We both know that I wouldn’t be that subtle.” “You’ve made that very clear when you decided to go and use all of your magic slaughtering innocent fish for sport,” Twilight hissed, stomping up towards the cave with a huff. The Other rolled its eyes, following behind. “Firstly, I don’t have my own secret reserve of magical power that I’m hiding away just to spite you, and second, that’s a funny way of saying ‘saving our life’,” it drawled. “Just stop. I don’t need to hear any more of your twisted attempts at reasoning.” Twilight continued upwards, staring at the same glassy walls that had lined the submerged section of the tunnel. Without the water, the reflected light was less dazzling, yet no less beautiful. In fact, the way her horn light bounced around reminded her of the Crystal Caves. She recalled that the spell she had cast back then had reflected off the walls just like her light was reflecting off these ones. Back when she had been… imprisoned. Twilight winced as memories she had repressed for weeks suddenly came flooding back. She remembered it all: breaking out with Cadence and finally feeling hope that everything might end up okay, confronting Chrysalis and her cruel speech about enslaving all of Equestria, the battle in the throne room and Celestia’s desperate plea to reach the Elements. But they hadn’t made it in time. They’d failed. Not only had she failed her friends, but also her brother. Her Princess. All of Equestria had paid for her mistakes. What was she even doing down here? How could she possibly hope to fix something she’d been unable to stop in the first place? She should run, maybe somepo— Twilight gasped, the sound of The Other’s shouting snapping her out of her panic. When had she fallen over? Why was The Other floating over her with a strange frown? “W-what?” “I said, are you okay? There isn't any water in your lungs, is there?” “What? Why would there be…?” Twilight frowned, pushing herself to her hooves and taking a deep breath just in case. “Well you were on the floor gasping, so I assumed there was something wrong with your breathing,” The Other replied with a deadpan stare. Twilight flinched. She had collapsed. How was she ever going to fix everything if she couldn’t even keep herself from breaking down over the slightest thing. She may as well just give—no. No she could do this. She just needed rest. A few days to recover. Then she’d be ready. “So?” “Oh! Oh, right, yes, there must have been some water.” Twilight replied with a half-hearted attempt at coughing into her hoof. The Other raised an eyebrow, tilting its head. “Or perhaps it was the panic attack brought on by those memories you were thinking about?” Twilight winced, lowering her hoof back down to the floor and giving the Other an annoyed look. “Why… why would you think that?” “We’re bound together by more than just a little magic and we both know it. I know you better than I know myself. You can’t hide anything from me, especially not such strong emotional reactions. Even now, I can sense the anger and frustration you have towards me because I'm ‘reading your mind’.” The Other raised an eyebrow as Twilight’s brow furrowed into a scowl. “Technically it’s my mind as well, you know. Now you’re even angrier because I’m being pedantic and you don’t like it when people get pedantic with you, even though you do it to others all the time. And now –” “I get it!” Twilight snapped, clenching her mouth shut and snorting angrily. The Other shook her head. “You clearly don’t. You’re just trying to push me away so you don’t have to deal with me anymore.” Twilight ground her teeth together, angrily pushing a hoof into the floor. “You’re a parasite. Why would I want you anywhere near me?” “Be careful, some ponies might get the wrong idea. They might think you don’t appreciate the help of a friend. That you would rather have done it all alone. Is that it? Does Princess Celestia’s star pupil want the spotlight all to herself?” “Wha – you can’t possibly think – ugh!” Twilight stormed off, trying to force the anger that had flared up inside of her down. Why was this thing able to put her on edge so easily? What was wrong with her? “I’ve told you. But you refuse to listen,” The Other stated with a deadpan stare, appearing in front of Twilight with crossed forelegs. Twilight stopped and stood up straight, trying her best to look eye to eye with The Other’s floating form. “I’m not listening to anymore of your lies.” “Lies? You’re coming apart at the seams, you idiot. This –” The Other waved her hooves around as if to gesture to everything around them “– is too much for you, and both of us know it. You’ve pushed yourself too far and it’s catching up with you. Just admit it!” “N-no! I can do this! I’m going to find out what happened. I’m going to fix it. And it would be a lot easier to do it without you!” Twilight shouted, pausing to catch her breath. “You wouldn’t have even made it here without me. We both know that.” Twilight froze at The Other’s firm look. She couldn’t deny it. And if what it had been saying was true, there wasn’t any point to denying it anyway. “Fine… you’re right.” The Other rolled its eyes. “Yes, I know. Now if I’m right about that, what else might I be right about? Stop being a foal. If we go into Canterlot now, with you being so adamant on rejecting everything that’s happened, you’re going to have a breakdown and it’s going to get us killed.” “Rejecting—I’m not rejecting anything! What does that even mean?” Twilight scoffed, leaning back with an offended look. “Do I really have to spell it out for you? What do you think happened… back then?” For a brief moment there was silence, and then Twilight laughed. “Back then? Well, obviously we failed to get the elements. But clearly Celestia and Luna managed to win the day; they probably made this tunnel!” The Other stared at her expectantly, causing Twilight to shuffle on the spot. “What? What are you looking at me like that for? Stop. Stop it. I said stop it!” Twilight stomped her hooves angrily and turned away. Only to run straight into The Other, floating before her with that same stare. Twilight locked eyes with her reflection and grit her teeth, glaring back. But as soon as she met those bloodstained eyes she knew that she wasn’t going to win this particular battle of wills. “Fine. Okay. I get it! Celestia and Luna ran away. They left me and my friends alone and they never came back for us! Canterlot is infested with changelings and I’m likely going to find everything I ever loved destroyed and turned to dust! Is that what you wanted to hear?!” Twilight shouted, glaring at the Other with teary eyes as her own words echoed back at her. “No. Not at all.” “What? Then why did you make me say it? Do you just enjoy watching me suffer?” Twilight felt her back legs give way, her front legs barely managing to keep her sitting. “I didn’t want to hear it, but you needed to say it. You need to accept that the world isn’t what you want it to be anymore. Horrible things happened, but you can’t keep hiding from it and hoping you’ll find a way to fix it without facing reality. We’re about to step into your past. You need to be ready. Are you?” Twilight rubbed at her eyes furiously, glaring over her hoof at The Other. “Of course I’m not! How could I be?” “Well, you don’t have a choice,” The Other stated, shrugging its shoulders. “Either we go in there and try to bring back what we lost, or we give up and leave. Your call.” “What I lost,” Twilight muttered into her hoof. “What?” “What I lost!” she repeated, louder this time. “Oh, for crying out loud. You lost, we lost. Whatever. Stop being such a foal and get up! Are you Princess Celestia’s pupil or not?” Twilight winced and nodded. “Yes.” “And are you, or are you not, the element of magic?” Twilight took a deep breath, her jaw setting as she realised what was happening. “Yes, I am.” “And are you going to save Equestria, reunite your friends, and bring back the Princesses. Like you said you would?” “I…” Twilight hesitated, looking down at the floor when she suddenly felt magic enveloping her entire body; picking her up and throwing her up the tunnel with no time to react. She winced as she hit the floor, her barrel sliding across the stone painfully. “Ahh!” “I’m sick of trying to motivate you. The answer is yes. Now get up and start moving.” Twilight pushed herself to her hooves and huffed. “You can’t just—h-hey!” Once again, Twilight was lifted and thrown, her own magic sending her rolling into the dirt a few more feet towards the city. “If I have to throw you the entire way, I will. Your call.” With a little angry growl, Twilight got up and locked eyes with The Other. Who merely returned her gaze with a neutral expression. Huffing, she turned away and started stomping furiously towards Canterlot and, more importantly, away from The Other. “That’s the spirit! Use the anger!” Twilight rolled her eyes at the mocking statement, her ears flickering back as she heard The Other mutter something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like “finally”. For a moment she considered stopping and yelling at her, but the thought of being thrown by her own magic kept her moving. Together, the two of them pushed onwards and upwards through the glassy tunnel. The light from her horn was beautiful in the way it reflected off the walls, but the constant omnipresent glow of lavender made it impossible to distinguish if they were moving at all. Soon the repetitive sound of hoofsteps on stone began to grate against Twilight’s mind and, despite her better judgement, she turned to glance at The Other, who had been silently watching the entire time. “What do you think we’ll find in the city?” “Monsters and ruins… this city has been buried beneath the waves for hundreds – if not thousands – of years. It’s unlikely that anything except the changelings remains.” Twilight frowned, immediately regretting the question. “I saw Spike when we fled; he could have protected some of them?” “What did I just say about avoiding reality?” The Other said with an exasperated look. “Don’t be delusional, you and I both know he’s been corrupted, just like the changelings. I doubt there’s anything left except a monster.” Twilight turned away, blinking back tears. The Other was right, but it didn’t make it hurt any less. But that was what she was here for, to cleanse the corruption and save Equestria. He may have been corrupted but… perhaps she could save him. The idea brought a small measure of hope and Twilight renewed her efforts, speeding up as they continued upwards into the tunnel. Eventually, the glassy walls gave way to more a natural series of stone caverns that opened up into a network of passages and connected cave systems. Before she could even begin to wonder where the caves had come from – these weren’t the Crystal Caves after all – The Other whispered. “Changeling tunnels, be careful.” Twilight paused. It hadn’t spoken at all. Recognising the change, she didn’t respond; giving a curt nod and continuing onwards, dimming her light until it was barely a pinprick. She tried her best to keep going straight, but it seemed the changelings had dug away the original glassy walls since her last journey through, and it was almost impossible for her to be sure if she was following the right path. It became very clear she wasn’t when she came face to face with a flat wall; blocking her progress forward, two tunnels veering off to the left and the right her only options. She stared at the rock for a few moments before sighing, glancing around nervously as a familiar tense feeling settled into her legs. “I’m going to get lost down here. Going to make yourself useful for once?” Not with that attitude, I’m not. The Other said, her flat tone echoing inside of Twilight’s head. “I told you not to talk to me like that!”Twilight hissed, barely managing to keep her anger in check as she turned to glare at her floating companion. The Other turned to her and raised an eyebrow, putting a hoof to her chin and humming. “Oh? Would you prefer I speak out loud and attract the attention of every changeling we come across?” Twilight winced, her anger momentarily overcome by embarrassment. That makes sense. Do you have any ideas? For a few moments, Twilight heard nothing but silence. Then suddenly, Hide. I’ll look around. Twilight watched with a dumbfounded expression as The Other floated away, her mind taking a moment to process just what exactly she was looking at. With a gasp, she realised that she was alone. In a changeling tunnel network. Just standing there! Quickly, Twilight dashed into the nearest entrance and hastily scanned the walls for somewhere to hide. Luckily for her, it only took a few moments of frantic searching before she found a small crevice set into the side of the rock, just large enough for a pony to crawl into. The idea of getting into such an enclosed space made her shudder but, looking around, she didn’t really have a choice. Changelings could show up at any moment. Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to crawl into the hole, and with her eyes tightly squeezed shut, she extinguished her light. As soon as her light vanished Twilight felt the darkness press down on her, the urge to curl up and cry suddenly rising in her chest. With a shaky gulp she forced the feeling down, taking a few deep breaths to calm herself. She could do this. The minutes passed with agonising slowness, the slightest sound echoing through the caves and making Twilight twitch in fear. More than once she thought she heard the sound of hoofsteps approaching, only for them to fade into silence instead. The urge to cast another light spell was almost overwhelming, and Twilight felt a horrible sense of claustrophobia starting to settle in. Had The Other abandoned her? What should she do? Could she make a run for it or would it be better to hide here? Maybe she could teleport all the way to the city? Just as the idea was starting to sound like a viable option, The Other appeared before her, staring at her from the pitch black and beckoning for Twilight to exit. Once the shock of having it appear so suddenly had worn off, she quickly wormed herself free from the crevice and glanced around the tunnel nervously before turning to look up with a glare. Why did you take so long? And when were you going to tell me that you could just float off by yourself, or that you could just appear in front of me? Her reflection simply raised an eyebrow and glanced around. Is now really the best time for us to discuss the exact nature of our situation? I’m happy to if you really want; I’m not the one concerned for the lives of monsters. Twilight winced, wrestling with the frustration of not understanding for a few moments before sighing. Fine. Did you find something? The Other nodded. Yes. A way out. Keep your horn light extinguished, I’ll lead you. Twilight watched as it floated away, her eyes widening. Wait, I’m not going to follow you along in the dark! That would – hey! Hey! Wait for me! Twilight stumbled along after the barely perceptible glow of it’s retreating form, every step making her wince and stumble. Stop! I can’t do this! To her relief, The Other did stop, turning round with a frustrated look. There are changelings ahead. Your light will lead them right to us. We have to do it like this. No. No, I can’t do this. I can’t see where I’m going! What if I trip and hurt myself? Twilight muttered, frozen in the pitch black. Why would I lead you somewhere that you would hurt yourself? Just follow me and you’ll be fine. Twilight shook her head, taking a hesitant step back and casting her spell. The Other growled as the tunnel was illuminated by a soft glow, its ears swivelling back as it floated over to Twilight. Don’t be stupid. Do you really trust me so little that you’d rather take this risk? Twilight hesitated, the idea of outright saying it suddenly significantly less appealing. Slowly she wilted under The Other’s questioning look, desperately searching for an alternative. Oh! Why don’t you go ahead and keep an eye out for changelings, then let me know when I need to hide. That way we can avoid any of the changelings and I can still see where I’m going. Do you know how much that’ll slow us down? We can’t – The Other stopped, sighing in the face of Twilight’s panicked expression. Alright, fine. But you have to listen to exactly what I say. Got it? Twilight nodded quickly, gesturing for The Other to float ahead and taking a shaky breath. Ready? Ready. Together the two of them began to make their way through the changeling tunnels once more. Progress was slow, and it seemed like every other minute Twilight found herself huddled up against the wall listening to the shrill calls of changelings from all around her, their chittering cries echoing down the tunnels with alarming frequency. Couldn’t you have picked a path with less changelings? Have you seen any changelings? Well no— Exactly. This is the path with the least changelings, I cannot stop them from shouting at each other, unless you’d like me to deafen you magically? Twilight grit her teeth at the condescending tone, her eyes digging holes into the back of The Other’s head as it turned the corner. Obviously not, she thought bitterly, following around the bend before gasping in shock and stumbling backwards as she walked right into The Other’s unimpressed face. You know, I don’t ‘see’ things like you do. I can tell when you’re glaring at me, and considering I’m currently going along with your asinine little plan, I don’t appreciate it. With a shaky breath, Twilight pushed herself back to her hooves and frowned. I don’t care. Oh, is that so? Maybe I should just leave you to figure out your way by yourself if you’re so opposed to me being here. How does that sound? The Other asked, crossing its forelegs and raising an eyebrow. Twilight could feel her anger flaring up inside her, the urge to let The Other know just how badly she wanted it to leave almost irresistible. And judging by the expectant look she was being given, The Other knew it. For a few moments they remained like that, both on the edge of snapping. Fine. I’m sorry. I didn’t – Twilight hesitated when The Other opened its mouth. With a huff, she stomped a hoof down and continued more forcefully. Let me finish. I know you’re helping me – Watch out! Twilight flinched, only noticing The Other’s wide eyes at the last moment. Instinct took over and her horn burst into light; a dome of lavender energy surrounded her moments before a dark mass slammed into the back of it with enough force to send Twilight tumbling into the wall of the tunnel. Before she could get her bearings, she felt a spike of pain lancing from her horn down into her head as the changeling slammed its own horn into the shield. Twilight cried out, darkness creeping into the edges of her vision as she collapsed to the tunnel floor, gasping for air and writhing in agony. It hurt. It hurt so much she could barely think, could barely move. If she dropped the shield, she would die. If she kept casting, the pain would kill her anyway. She couldn’t – “Get up!” Twilight curled up tighter, the voice echoing painfully through her head. “I said, get up!” Twilight gasped as she felt The Other grab hold of her, the tingling sensation of magic dulling the pain for just a brief moment. With a pained gasp she forced herself up, staring into The Other’s eyes desperately. “You’ve got to drop the shield. We can kill it!” The pain was already returning and even though the idea of killing made her feel sick, desperation was a strong motivator. “Now!” Suddenly Twilight knew exactly what she had to do, an idea that was both entirely her own but completely foreign springing forth in her mind. With a ragged cry she tore her horn away from the shield and let the magic fade. The pain faded instantly and Twilight was only given a brief instant of relief before the changeling landed and began charging forward to finish her off. But she already saw exactly how it would play out, and adrenaline lent her the speed she needed. Diving to the side, Twilight rolled to her hooves and tossed her horn towards the changeling. Her magic struck just at the apex of it’s lunge and it slammed into the wall a moment later with a sickening crunch before collapsing to floor. Twilight turned away and threw up. “You’re an embarrassment. We need to run. The sound will attract more.” Twilight shook her head, gasping for breath and wiping her hoof across her mouth. “I can’t do this.” “This isn’t optional, you idiot. Either you move or you die, and I’m not giving you the choice.” Twilight whimpered as she felt her own magic envelop her, forcing her forward. This time, it seemed that The Other wasn’t willing to simply throw her down the passage, instead merely pushing her until she moved herself. And to her surprise, she found that the pain that had been so consuming mere moments ago was fading away, the effects of the changeling’s spell as short-lived as its caster. Twilight winced at the intrusive thought, shaking her head and forcing herself to start moving as the sound of changeling wings began to buzz behind her. Simply moving forward quickly became trotting, then became galloping as the sound continued to get closer and closer, her horn blazing brightly as it illuminated her path. “Please tell me you have a plan for when we reach Canterlot. Left!” Twilight winced as her hooves slid across the stone painfully, slamming into the wall with a gasp before pushing herself forward again. “I have an idea,” she panted out, speeding up even as her muscles screamed at her to slow down. “An idea?! We need more than an idea. Duck!” Throwing herself down, Twilight barely managed to avoid the changeling that suddenly leapt out from a nearby passage, fangs bared. Oh, Celestia! Please tell me we’re close! The Other appeared before her, pointing into a passage that seemed to go back down which Twilight quickly rushed into, the sound of her hooves pounding against the stone doing little to drown out the hissing. “We’re close! Get ready to shield yourself.” Twilight winced, summoning up the energy for a shield and keeping it ready as she descended back down. “Now!” With a fearful cry, she threw her shield up and barely a moment later she heard two distinct thuds either side of her. Dropping the shield, she continued to run; the sound of two very angry changelings getting up to pursue her echoed from behind. “You’ve got a jump coming up. Want me to carry you?” W-what?! “I said you’ve got a –” I heard what you said! Twilight mentally shouted, her hooves stumbling as she tried to talk and run at the same time. For a moment she considered the significance of willingly allowing The Other to ponyhandle her, but panic outweighed any sense of dignity and she grit her teeth. Do it. Without warning, the floor vanished from under her. Twilight winced, her body tensing, but the expected drop never came and a second later she felt her hooves connect with solid stone once again. Any thought of stopping was brushed away when she felt The Other’s magic shove her forward again. “Keep moving, you idiot. They can fly!” Twilight groaned as she forced herself to keep going, hope blossoming as they began to ascend once again. But they didn’t come out into the city after the first turn, nor the next one, and Twilight felt her legs beginning to give. I thought you said we were close! “No, you asked me to tell you we were close!” You've got. To be joking. Why? It was becoming hard to even keep her thoughts straight, the pain in her legs and the ache in her horn leaving her vision blurry. “Just a little farther, you’re almost there! I hope you’ve got a plan now!” Twilight nodded as best she could. Castle. Protected. I can teleport. The Other skirted the ground beside her, nodding. “Sounds like a plan to me! I’m gonna need our magic in a second, ready?” There wasn’t time for discussion. Wordlessly, Twilight opened up her magic up to The Other’s grasp and instantly felt her horn light up, magic glowing brightly at the tip. Three changelings suddenly burst from the darkness ahead of them—and were swiftly crushed down against the ground by The Other’s spell. Twilight leapt across the bodies, gasping as the landing sent sharp twists of pain up her legs. With a cry she collapsed to the floor, I can’t… “Get your teleport spell ready!” The Other shouted, floating down into the stone before rising up directly beneath Twilight; lifting her up and racing up the corridor, into the ruined city of Canterlot, and straight into a dozen changelings; all with glowing horns pointed straight at them. “Cast it. Now!” Twilight forced the remainder of her magic into her horn as a dozen beams of sickly green light raced towards her and, just as it seemed like she would be ripped apart, she vanished. A moment later, far above the city in a very familiar tower, a rush of displaced air signalled the other end of Twilight’s teleport spell as her body collapsed unceremoniously to the floor. One last gasp of pain left her before she succumbed to the darkness. Chapter IV: A Room of Two“You cut that far too close. “Honestly I’m impressed by how close you got it. We had practically no mana left at all after that teleport. Any less and we would have been skewered by those changelings before we made it out. “And don’t even get me started on our body. Those legs could barely hold up a cushion. Are you even listening to me?” Twilight groaned, waving a hoof in the general direction of the voice and trying to bury herself back into the bed. Whatever they were talking about could wait until she had slept a little more. “You have to get up, little flower. ” Twilight sighed. She knew it was right and she knew she had to get up, but the warmth of her blanket was so inviting. “If you don’t, we’re never going to wake up again.” And just like that, her blankets seemed far less inviting. With a groan, she forced herself to open her eyes and look up at her dark reflection, floating above the bed with an expressionless look. One that still somehow managed to convey immense disappointment. “Are you going to just lie there until we die?” Grumbling under her breath, Twilight threw the covers off and shuffled off the bed. To her surprise, rather than landing on the wooden floorboards of the library, or the carpeted stone of the castle, she landed on something indescribably soft and simultaneously hard. Glancing down at her hooves with a frown, she realised what was going on as a featureless plane of vaguely translucent white light shone back at her. “Let me guess. Mindscape again?” “Very perceptive of you. I’ve been trying to rouse you from subconscious slumber for hours now. Did you know that you kick your left hind leg when someone pokes the cutie mark on your right leg?” Twilight gasped as she felt The Other’s hoof jab into her cutie mark, grinding her teeth when she felt her leg instinctively twitch out. With a huff she turned to face the floating pony, stepping away to put a little distance between them. “Firstly, don’t touch me. Secondly, why didn’t you just wake me up… you know. Out there?” she said, vaguely motioning upwards with a hoof. The Other didn’t seem particularly bothered by Twilight’s annoyed tone, simply spinning lazily in the air as it replied. “I can’t. You’re out like a light. The sleep of the dead. Sleeping like a foal. Whatever other terms you want to use. You’re exhausted. Utterly.” “So why did you wake me up here then?” Twilight asked with a sigh, moving to lie back down when The Other suddenly swooped down and grabbed her. “H-hey!” “Wake you up? Oh, I think you have it all wrong, little flower. You’re not awake.” Twilight flinched as she came face to face with a disappointed frown that would have put her mother’s to shame, the urge to look away in embarrassment strong enough to momentarily cause her to forget herself. A moment passed before she realised that she shouldn’t be feeling shame that the insidious dark magic in her brain didn’t approve of her actions, and she looked back up. “I’m not?” “No. You’re not.” Before Twilight could respond she felt the ground beneath her vanish and suddenly she was falling down into a swirling maelstrom of colour and light, a panicked gasp all she could muster before she was plunged into the storm. As part of her study into friendship, Twilight had gathered a number of psychological studies to better understand the complex feelings and emotions that went into a pony’s decision-making process. One thing she had learned was that the mindscape was a powerful tool for emotional reading, not least because emotions were capable of physically manifesting as energy within a pony’s subconscious. It was also a dangerous task, as emotions were passionate things and it was all too easy to find yourself swayed by them even as you tried to study them. Twilight was not trying to study them, but as she burst through layer after layer of emotional energy she found herself consumed by the same emotions she’d tried to suppress. The first was a seething cloud of black fog, twinkling with burning embers of crimson and yellow, that clung to her coat and pulled at her mane as if to hold her inside and never let go. But finally it relented to her weight, and as she passed through it she felt her body tense and her teeth gnash, magic flaring up inside her. Why was she the one who had to clean up everypony else’s mess? What had she done to deserve The Other’s poisonous influence in her mind? Why did being a good pony always lead to someone else she cared about getting hurt? It wasn’t fair, she didn’t deserve this! She’d done everything right! Maybe The Other was right. Maybe if she started being a little more hooves-on with her problems they’d finally stay solved. The anger and hatred seemed reluctant to let her go; wisps of the stuff soaked into her coat as she fell, worming inside her even as she was engulfed by another emotional storm. This one was less a cloud than a pool of deep greys and blues that swirled around her, soothing her anger and pain away, sucking her emotions from her until she was empty and cold. She was a failure. A horrible pony who’d hurt her friends. If she’d been able to control her powers, control herself, then none of this would have ever happened. Celestia had been wrong to trust her with the Elements. She wasn’t worth it. Maybe… maybe if she’d worked with The Other from the start, they could have avoided all this pain. Maybe if she’d spoken with her friends straight away it never would have gotten this bad. If she’d only prepared for Fluttershy’s treatment more thoroughly... Without warning the pool vanished, leaving her shivering and alone in the endless expanse. No. Not alone. There was a mist all around her, becoming thicker and harder to see through by the second. When she realised what it was, it was already far too late. Sickly green tendrils swirled around her in the impossibly thick fog, trapping her in an endless expanse of nothing as she stumbled, shivering and lost, in search of an exit. How was she going to deal with Spike? What would she say when she finally saw her friends again? Would they even recognise her, or would The Other’s influence have twisted her into something terrifying and monstrous? It was going to try and put her to sleep again. She was going to have to fight and kill more creatures to complete her task. Her friends were never going to forgive her. There was no solution to her problems and she would die trying to do the impossible. After what seemed like an eternity, Twilight burst from the fog and collapsed to the floor, her body pulsing angrily with reds, blues and greens. It took minutes—or maybe hours—for the voices to fade away, but even when they left she could still feel them in the back of her mind, waiting for her to remember. Slowly, Twilight opened her eyes. How long had she been lying there? “You’re not done.” Twilight gasped in fear, forcing herself to her hooves and stumbling around to stare at The Other and the indigo shroud that enshrouded her, twinkling with stars in every shade of purple Twilight had ever seen. Fear gripped her and she quickly found herself back pedaling. “No, stop. Stop! Why are you doing this to me? I can’t –” “You can’t what?! You can’t do this? If you can’t do it, then why do you think I can?” Twilight’s frantic fleeing slowed. “What are you talking about?” The Other slammed down onto the translucent ground and began to menacingly stride forward, her eyes burning and her horn shining with crimson light. “What am I talking about? Who do you think has been dealing with all these errant emotions over the last few weeks? Who do you think has been helping you keep them all neatly tucked away in the corners of your mind? This is my mind too! And I refuse to let you fill it with poison any longer!” Twilight tried to summon up a shield as The Other bared down on her, but every attempt was shattered by a hammering telekinetic force that sent spikes of pain down her horn and turned her legs to jelly. Finally, she could summon no more magic to protect herself, collapsing to the floor with a whimper as The Other stepped over her. But instead of attacking her as she’d thought, it simply clutched her in it’s magical grip before dragging her up and pulling her along, taking them away from the pools of emotional energy and out into the mindscape. “Where… where are you taking me?” “Here.” Twilight groaned as she was thrown back down, taking a deep breath before pushing herself up to look at whatever it was The Other wanted her to see. The sight almost made her collapse again. The Library, her home, was in shambles. The branches were bare, covered in purple algae, and the leaves lay lifeless around the trunk. The windows were broken and the door lay askew, splintered and barely holding onto its hinges. But the worst part was the water that seemed to have flooded the entire bottom section. And even as she looked, Twilight felt that same icy water on her own hooves, the sight of the library causing the lights all around her to pulse erratically. “What… happened?” “Your emotions happened! I’ve been dealing with them the best I can, but you’re so determined to just push all the nasty hurtful feelings away. Well, this is what you’ve done, and I refuse to fix it for you anymore.” Twilight could have sworn she heard a hint of pain in The Other’s voice, but it was vastly overshadowed by bitter resentment. “That’s stupid,” she snapped, forcing herself to start wading through the icy water towards her home. “It’s far more likely that the hostile parasitic wild magic infection I’ve got is damaging my mind.” To her surprise, The Other didn’t retort. Twilight’s anger drove her to turn around with a snarl. “Oh, run out of lame excuses and witty remarks?” The Other was gone. She was alone with the destroyed remnants of her library. The library which had apparently been destroyed by her ‘emotions’. “Ridiculous.” But even she couldn’t shake the horrible feeling it might be right; the intensity of those emotional clouds had terrified her. Was that really how she felt? The thought was far too worrying to entertain and she quickly pushed it away, focusing back on the library. With a tired sigh she pressed on. The closer she got, the more apparent it became just how bad it had got. The water, which she’d first assumed had been filled with leaves, were filled with the destroyed remains of library books; a sight that made her pause with a horrified shudder. “What did it do…?” Slowly, hesitantly, she reached out to push the door aside and made her way into the library. Inside, the home she’d once known had become something more akin to the library she’d visited alongside the Argo. A grave. Everything she’d expected from the inside of the library was gone, replaced with fragments of broken furniture, waterlogged piles of paper, and a pulsating fog of red and black. Was this really what had become of her own mind? The longer she stared, the more the library began to twist and distort; her vision went blurry and her legs gave out beneath her, leaving her to collapse into the water which seemed all too eager to rush in and soak her coat, weighing her down and stealing her breath away. She wasn’t sure how long she lay there, trying to recover her strength enough to stand back up. It could have been seconds, minutes or even hours, and every moment that passed she felt her anger building up inside of her. But something else was building as well, an electrifying feeling that started in the frog of her hooves and ran up all the way to the tip of her horn. Wherever the spark went she felt the boiling anger fade and, as she watched, the water began to recede away from her—and with it, the crushing weight holding her down. Twilight pushed herself up to her hooves with a groan, wincing as her eyes were inexorably drawn to watch as a spark leapt out from her horn; a spark which arced slowly up before falling back down to explode in a dazzling array of colours. Wincing in pain, Twilight averted her eyes until the blinding light had faded. When she looked back, the sight took her breath away. A shimmering orb of energy hung delicately in the centre of the library, illuminating the walls with beams of every colour under the sun, overlapping and mixing before her very eyes. But that wasn’t what had left Twilight so awestruck. Suspended in the centre of the orb was a familiar tiara. “The element…” Hope surged through her and any rational thought was discarded as Twilight raced forward, reaching out to grab at the solution to all her problems, slamming it down onto her head and praying for something, anything, to happen. Harmony... Hope was quickly replaced by panic as flashes of light and sound began to rush through her head, flickers of tunnels and darkness; a tower and an amulet and dashing lights. The moon hung in the sky, burning with a green light, and throughout it all she could hear a chanting that refused to become any clearer no matter how she strained to listen. The longer she listened the brighter the tiara grew and with it, a burning pain began to sear into her head. Desperation to understand became a panicked desire to escape as she tried to tear the artefact from her, but no matter what she did it didn’t stop. A crack through the world itself, the world falling from the sky, tunnels twisting and turning. Deeper and deeper. Into the abyss. Everything stopped. And she was alone in the darkness. No. Not alone. Something was with her, something dangerous. Twilight, run! She tried to flee, but no matter how fast she ran she couldn’t escape the darkness, and the feeling of something creeping closer and closer. You can’t run from me, Twilight! Fangs burst from the darkness, clamping down onto her throat. “A-ahh!” Twilight jerked up in a cold sweat, grasping at the covers as she tried to slow her racing heart and relax her breathing. What in Equestria had she just been dreaming about? All she could remember was a pair of cold green eyes, and the feeling of being chased. Even now she felt like she was being hunted and her eyes reflexively darted to the corners of the room. But there was nothing here. It was just a nightmare. She was in her room, in Canterlot. Slowly she felt her pulse begin to relax, the trembling in her limbs dying away. With a sigh, she flopped back onto the bed. She’d been so wrapped up in the wedding she’d barely been sleeping, and now nightmares? Her thoughts were interrupted quite suddenly by a painful rumbling from her stomach, and she reluctantly threw the blankets aside and forced herself to roll out of bed and onto her hooves. The second she hit the floor, a spike of pain raced along her legs, prompting Twilight to wince and look down at the floor in tired confusion. She had been very busy the last few days, perhaps she’d pulled something? Come to think of it, how long had she been asleep? It must’ve been late into the night – it was pitch black outside. Had she slept through the entire day? Her momentary concern was quickly slept aside, the guards would have woken her up if she was needed. Twilight paused, glancing upwards with a frown. Questions were springing to mind, ones that left an uncomfortable chill in her stomach. Quickly she pushed them away to be dealt with later. Getting food was very much a ‘now’ problem, so that could come first! With a satisfied smile and a little nod to herself, Twilight strode towards the door with her eyes still half shut, reaching up with a hoof to push the door open. ...to push the door open. ...to push the door open! Twilight stopped, the same horrible chill in her stomach making her hesitate. Slowly she pulled her hoof away from the door and took a nervous step backwards, reaching up to rub at her eyes until she was sure there was no sleepiness clouding her vision. The door was closed and locked as normal, but it was also surrounded by the faint glow of magic, as if it had been enchanted. Which made no sense. Why would her door be enchanted? The answer seemed to be on the tip of her tongue, but Twilight couldn’t find it. Maybe her room would reveal something. Twilight turned to glance around her room, eyes narrowed as she studied every detail she could. Her bookshelves were all neatly stacked, just as she’d left them. Her bed wasn’t exactly tidy, but that was her own fault. Her bathroom door was shut, and her desk was covered in books and sheets of paper covered in jotted notes. Everything was as it should be, besides the magical lock on her door and the muted darkness. Once again, Twilight felt a reluctance to pursue the answer for very long, her hooves pawing at the stone beneath her. What was going on? What was she forgetting? Finally the questions couldn’t be ignored any longer and, with a wave of her horn, she summoned an orb of light that illuminated the room around her—and the pony sitting in the centre of her bed, smirking at her with blood soaked eyes. Twilight gasped, falling backwards and opening her mouth to scream, until suddenly the questions that she’d tried to ignore came flooding in, until she realised that the figure on the bed was her, until she came to the realisation of where she was. She was in Canterlot. She had just escaped the changelings. She was alone. “Are… you okay? I mean, obviously you’re not okay. I take you to the mindscape to resolve your clearly prohibitive emotional issues, and instead you magically repress your own memories, cast another spell on our mind that does who knows what, and then wake up looking like a lost foal crying for her mother.” Twilight squeezed her eyes shut tightly as everything rushed back to her, barely listening to her companion’s little rant as she struggled to control her breathing. In. Out. In. Out. The Other floated up from the bed, crossing the room before landing down in front of Twilight with a frown that seemed as confused as it was angry. “What is wrong with you?” “What?” Twilight opened her eyes, flinching as she came face to face with a bloody copy of said eyes, scant inches away from her. “What did you do, little flower? What was that spell you cast?” A frown spread across her features. Maybe not everything had come back to her. “What spell are you talking about?” The Other scoffed, shaking her head. “Oh, that’s really mature. Don’t play games with me, you lunatic. If you’re not going to tell me just say so and I’ll find out the hard way.” Twilight’s frown only deepened as she watched The Other float back to the bed, muttering under her breath, “Although I expect you have no idea what you did anyway, considering your track record.” For a brief second she considered a retort at the sarcastic mumbling, but her stomach chose that moment to remind her how starving she was, and how close she’d managed to come to killing herself. “Finally. While your display of utter obliviousness is charming, in a sort of pathetic way, I’m expecting us both to end up dead because of it sooner or later. Maybe you should let me take over?” Twilight found her jaw clenching at the patronising tone of The Other in her ear, the faux care doing nothing to mask the clear disdain. “No. You’re not ‘taking over’ ever again. I know what I’m doing,” she finished lamely, eyes turned towards the floor. “Ha! That’s a good one. We’re trapped in a bedroom with no food and… less than a day from starvation by my estimate. And look at you. You’re not even going to look me in the eye when you lie to me?” Twilight tensed as echoing memories whispered from the back of her mind. It wasn’t fair, she didn’t deserve this! She didn’t deserve this. She knew what she was doing. She’d brought them exactly where they needed to go. Was she just going to stand here and let it insult her? “Oh, someones getting a little heated. I can hear you panting all the way from over here. Are you gonna cry?” “Shut up!” Twilight snapped her head up, her horn blazing brightly as she flung the bed upwards, slamming it into the ceiling with a crack. The Other blinked as fragments of wooden bedframe rained down all around her, raising an eyebrow slowly. “Wow. Very scary. Perhaps next time, show our enemies that sort of anger. You know, rather than running away like a scared filly?” With a snarl, Twilight pulled the large chest that had been revealed out into the centre of the room, dropping the bed back down before turning to glare at her reflection’s smug look. She flipped the lid upwards to reveal a week’s worth of magically preserved food and water. For a few moments they stayed like that, staring at each other. Twilight, daring The Other to make another snarky comment, and her reflection fighting the urge to do just that. “Fine. So you have some idea of what you’re doing. Let me guess. The plan is to rest here for a few days, recover our strength, and make a plan before heading out into Canterlot? Twilight gave a curt nod, already beginning to unpack the neatly sorted food and water onto her bed. But the satisfaction of finally getting one over on her companion hadn’t satisfied the rage bubbling below the surface. It wasn’t fair! Twilight watched with a sour look on her face as her Sister spent the next few hours slowly and methodically sorting almost everything that she had hidden away beneath her bed, a few exceptions being consumed as she worked. She had been unable to pick out any sort of flaw in the plan, and that worried her. It was becoming more and more clear that her Sister was losing it. The brief attacks, the strange magic. How long before one of those instinctive spells ended up doing something catastrophic? But she couldn’t solve it head on. It was very obvious now that any sort of force would only be responded to in turn, so Twilight resigned herself to simply studying the room that had once been the home of Twilight Sparkle, idly scanning the shelves for something that might help her better understand. Unfortunately, it seemed that she’d seen the majority of the shelves contents already when she was first emerging within the mindscape. In fact, as she scanned the shelves, she remembered having seen that exact box. Floating over, Twilight cautiously opened the small keepsafe, glancing over her shoulder to confirm she wasn’t being observed, before turning to stare at the single scroll inside. This was her Sister’s first “friendship report.” She remembered when she’d first discovered these, and how she’d struggled to come to terms with what they meant. They appeared to be reports written about friendship and social etiquette, which was understandable at first. Her Sister was a brilliant academic. But the context had confused her. It seemed as if they had been written after actual real life experiences, something that she had confirmed by rooting around in the memories occurring just before they were written. Learning that her Sister had spent a considerable number of months actually studying how making and maintaining social relationships with other ponies worked had confused her immensely, at least initially. When she began to learn about The Elements, however, it had become much clearer. They worked on friendship and ‘harmony’, so it made sense that the ground of friends had to be as well versed in the art as possible. Still, the notion left her uneasy, no matter how many times she approached it. Putting the thoughts aside with a frown, Twilight continued her exploration of the shelves, studying the trophies, keepsakes, memorabilia and books that filled them. To her surprise, Twilight didn’t recognise a vast majority of the items on the shelves, which left her puzzled, as she was sure she’d explored this very room quite thoroughly while studying their memories. I wonder… Perhaps my Sister’s memories aren’t as reliable as I thought. I’ve definitely seen this trophy for ‘foal’s first writing award’ but I don’t remember seeing a medal for magical prowess. How much of my knowledge is based on flawed information? Twilight frowned, continuing to idly toy with the thought as she scanned the shelves. Unfortunately it seemed her internal commentary had caught her companion’s attention, and she quickly spun round with her best disarming smile when she heard the sound of a pony getting to her hooves. “What are you doing?” Wincing at the harsh tone, Twilight gave her best smile. “Me? I’m merely looking over all these fantastic awards. I never realised we were so talented.” “I’, not ‘we’. You weren’t involved in any of this and you never will be. Don’t damage anything. These are the only things I have from my past.” “Oh, wow, I didn’t realise that you cared more about a bunch of useless books you’ve probably read a hundred times then you do about your friends. That’s pretty cold of you.” Twilight grinned as her jab got the intended reaction, her Sister’s face all scrunched up in an angry pout. Something deep inside her urged her on and she plucked one of the books from the shelf, holding it out in her magic and squeezing down on it. “The Basics of Magical Concentration? You don’t need this, little flower. These stupid attachments to your ‘past’ are the reason you keep slipping up. Maybe I should do you a favor and get rid of it?” The bed was roughly shoved out of the way as her companion rushed forward, a look of fear in her eyes. “Don’t you dare! That book is important!” Twilight felt the familiar stirrings of anger inside of her, a disgusted look slowly spreading across her features as she snapped back. “This book is important? More important than your friends? More important than our life?! Barely an hour ago you were practically on your deathbed and yet you still refuse to reorganise your priorities. They’re gone, you idiot! Keeping around some stupid books isn’t going to change that!” Slowly but surely, her magical grip began to crush the book, eliciting a horrified gasp from her companion. “You’re just resentful that I value a bunch of books more than I value you! I know that you think I should admire you, that I should worship you for helping me. But I don’t. You’re a monster, and you taint everything you touch! Now give me the book!” “And what if I don’t?” Twilight felt her Sister’s anger and it only made her own flare brighter. “What are you going to do when I—” She let her actions complete the sentence, her magic igniting the book and reducing it to ash in moments— to the shock of the pony watching. She watched as surprise, horror, and sadness spread across her Sister’s features, waiting for the realisation that it was just a book to settle in. Anger flared up instead, rage stirring inside her Sister’s mind as she was wrapped up in a magical grip and dragged forward to stare straight into a furious glare. Twilight responded with the most condescending smile she could. “Oh, did I do something bad? Are you going to put me in time out?” Her taunt was rewarded with magic squeezing around her hard enough to crush anything that wasn’t, well, her. The action made her pause; she’d never felt this much of their magic used aggressively even when their life was at risk. “Ouch. Careful little one, that almost hurt.” “Good.” Twilight flinched at the vicious look she was given, the heat of her own anger dying away to be replaced by an icy feeling. “Okay, perhaps I shouldn’t have destroyed the book, but my point still stands!” There was no response externally, but Twilight could feel the emotions surging through the pony before her, and every second that passed only seemed to make that anger grow. The magic around her lifted her up into the air and, before she could break free, she felt a very real and very unnerving weight settle down on her limbs, bringing with it the crushing pain of the magic holding her up. “Wait, what are you—nng!” The air rushed out of her lungs as she was slammed into the ground with a loud splintering crack! She could feel the urge to fight back, to indulge in the same anger her Sister was feeling, but there was no telling what might happen then. She needed to stop this. Her own horn lit up as she furiously wrestled for control of the magic, loosening and then breaking her Sister’s grip on her body. As soon as she did, she felt the unfamiliar weight fade away as she became spectral again, quickly rising into the air and looking down to the pony who was still pointing a horn up at her, shimmering with malicious intent. “This is ridiculous!” She shouted as she jerked to the side to avoid a blast of magic, eyes widening as a second shot almost hit her straight between the eyes. “After everything that’s happened, me crushing some stupid little book is the thing that gets you angry enough? You need to take a look at yourself, and what’s important, because this is insane!” Even as she tried to talk her Sister down, Twilight had to admit she was impressed. The blasts of magic that she was dodging were powerful, controlled, and precise; the energy was even dispersing almost immediately after they missed, testament to her Sister’s commitment to preserving the room’s contents. If they’d been aimed at anyone but her she’d probably have been proud. But that wasn’t the case, and it was only making her annoyed. “What are you trying to accomplish? You can’t kill me, you can’t even hurt me!” To prove her point, Twilight floated down to stare her Sister in the eyes, spreading her hooves to make herself an easy target and waiting for the pony to come to her senses. But there was no hesitation and Twilight only had a moment to gasp as the magic hit her, dispelling her ethereal form with a painful zap. She finished her gasp in the Mindscape, her eyes blinking rapidly as she adjusted to the sudden shift in perspective. All around her, angry sparks of red and black swirled and the sight of it made the deep blue haze around her deepen. This was bad. Okay, you did it. I’m gone. Let’s stop now before either of us do something we regret, okay? Twilight flinched as her Sister suddenly appeared before her, taking a step back as the angry pulsing clouds flared brighter. She’d never seen her Sister so angry, so full of rage, and she quickly began to back away as the furious mare stormed forward, the crimson shroud trailing her like a cloak. I know you’re angry, but you’re the one that taught me to— Shut up! Twilight froze. That wasn’t just anger or rage. She could feel the hatred her Sister held. For her? Before she could even begin to process that the shroud of darkness descended on her, burning into her mind and consuming her. You’re a sickness. You’ve ruined my life. Why won’t you just die?! Twilight grit her teeth as the anger tried to take hold of her. But unlike her Sister, she had far more experience with controlling her anger, and refused to let it overwhelm her. Slowly, carefully, she let the rage in, focusing it, letting it build until she couldn’t stand it a moment longer. Then, with a scream, she let it out in a burst of magic; dispelling the haze of anger and replacing it with a cold calculating fury. With an icy glare, Twilight forced herself back to her hooves, locking eyes with the surprised face of her companion. That hate is going to run out, and you’re going to regret what you’re about to do. Last chance. Twilight slowly, methodically, stalked forward as she spoke, magical shields subtly shimmering to life around her. Is this really the thing you want to lose control for? A book? She watched as those bright purple eyes stared up at her, hoping that her shields wouldn’t be necessary as logic warred with hate. But there was only one winner, and she sighed as she saw her Sister’s expression twist into a hateful snarl. All I’m trying to do, she began, her horn flaring painfully bright, “Is get rid of you!” Twilight gasped at the sudden increase in power, throwing her magic into the shields to strengthen them as a beam of lavender energy struck the first straight on. Even with the extra magic, her first and second shield shattered like glass. Her third shield survived barely a few seconds before eventually it, too, broke. With nothing left to protect her, the magic ripped its way through her body. It took a second for the pain to register, a second longer for the shock to jade, and that’s when she screamed. Almost instantly the attack ceased, leaving Twilight to collapse to the floor with a groan. Gasping for breath, she tried to push herself back to her hooves and failed, trembling as agony wracked her. But she refused to just lie there, her Sister needed her. She forced herself to roll over, watching as the hate drained away from her Sister’s expression to be replaced with horror. Don’t worry, you didn’t… get me…just… yet. Purple eyes, already starting to tear up, snapped up to look at her, and Twilight tried her best to give a cocky smile. But judging by the strangled whimper her Sister gave, and the fact that she vanished shortly after, it likely hadn’t been a very good one. With a gasp she collapsed onto her back. Maybe she’d stay here for a while and give her Sister time to work through her emotions. Yes. That sounded like an excellent idea. Stay here and give her space, what a selfless decision, entirely unrelated to the pain coursing through her. She’d be okay; nothing had been hurt except her pride. She only hoped that her Sister would be similarly unaffected. Ha… that’s not gonna happen. What had she done? Chapter V: A Realisation of TwoTwilight whimpered and stumbled back towards the edge of her bedroom, staring at the residual magic that thrummed all around her. What had she done? Her hooves trembled beneath her and her heartbeat pounded in her ears, but even that couldn’t drown out the scream. The horrible scream that wouldn’t stop. No matter where she looked the walls felt like they were closing in, like jaws slowly snapping shut around her. She ran for the door, slamming her hooves against it in a desperate bid to shove it open, whimpering as it refused to budge. “Please, oh please!” Her eyes darted around the room, momentarily pausing on the window before coming to rest on the only other exit. Hey efforts to escape into the wallway were abandoned as she galloped for the bathroom, her magic flinging the door open as she rushed inside. With a loud slam, the door was locked shut behind it, and Twilight found herself hyperventilating over the dusty old sink, fighting the urge to be sick. Minutes passed as she struggled to calm her racing heartbeat, hooves trembling on the edge of the basin as her vision blurred in and out of focus. Over and over the scene played in her mind, only getting worse with each repeat. “Go away. Go away!” Magic rushed through her, coalescing inside of her head, and the images were banished from her thoughts, leaving her to stare numbly down into the splattered dust in the sink. With the panic quelled, she could finally hear herself think. But even that was something she’d rather avoid. When did I get so angry? So hateful? It was reasonable, a small part of her argued. The Other had pushed and pushed until she had no more patience left. It had attacked her, manipulated her, abused her. Any sane pony would agree that she was within her right to defend herself against the corruptive magic trying to taint her mind! But that scream. Discord had yelled out when they had encased him in stone. Even Nightmare Moon had screamed in terror when she and her friends had activated the Elements. But this? This was nothing like those screams had been. It wasn’t filled with shock, or anger, or even disbelief. It was filled with pain. Twilight had caused somepony to make that noise. Intentionally. The thought made the urge to vomit return, even stronger than before, and this time she couldn’t fight it. The dust was washed away by her own sickness. Once she had nothing left to give, she reached out for the taps, hoping against hope that somehow they’d still function even after all this time. Her efforts, however, were only rewarded with the clanking of empty pipes and a trickle of dust. Of course. I wouldn’t be so lucky. With a disgusted shudder, she conjured up some magic to force the contents of the sink down. With that done, she pushed herself away from the sink and collapsed against the bathroom wall, panting weakly. Why can’t it just leave me alone? Why can’t things just be simple for once? She lost track of how long she sat there, staring at the floor and crying. The shock of her actions slowly faded away to be replaced by a hollow aching in her stomach and a burning shame. Had she crossed a line, just now? Was it possible to do something like that, and come back from it? Something deep inside of her said no, that she had let herself succumb too far. That nothing she did would ever undo what she’d done. But she wouldn’t believe that. She couldn’t believe it. If that was true then everything she’d worked towards, all she’d done trying to hold true to her morals, would be for nothing. Giving up wasn’t a luxury she could afford. But if she couldn’t give up, she would have to press forward. And that meant making a decision. What would she do next? What could she do next? Ideas and plans circled around in her head, each one totally different from the others, with one notable exception. One idea that never left her. Apologise. The word jumped to the forefront of her mind and the weight of it momentarily took her breath away. Can I do that? Apologise to that—thing? Apologising wouldn’t just be admitting fault. It would be admitting that The Other was a being that deserved her sympathy, that it felt pain, that it was anything more than a construct of magic that needed to be erased. Even if it didn’t see the apology for what it was, Twilight would. She’d never be able to look at it the same way. But if I don’t… How am I any better than the monsters? She wouldn’t be. She was supposed to be setting an example for this new world, not falling down to its levels. She had to be better. With a firm nod, Twilight pushed herself up from the floor. It wasn’t about if she could do it. She had to do it. But even as determination welled up inside of her, another more insidious voice rose up beside it, telling her that she had already gone too far, that no apology would make this better. She had failed already. The thought made her tense. Was that how she really saw it? That she was a failure, one that could never redeem herself? Forcing herself up, she stumbled back towards the mirror, staring into it and searching for some sign that she was more than a failure. More than this. But the pony that stared back at her looked nothing like the one she knew. The pony she saw was exhausted to the point of collapsing. They had been crushed down by a world that no longer cared for them until they were nothing but a shell of their former self. They had lost. But it wasn’t her fault… was it? Excuses, explanations, rationalizations, all sprung to the front of her mind. It had never been her own failures that had held her back! Every time she had been forced to make a choice, to truly take action, she had succeeded! When her friends were being taken, stolen by that accursed bounty hunter Gava, she had rescued them all without letting anyone be hurt! It was only because she was down below that the hunter’s ship had gotten the upper hand in the first place! And the dream monster! She had rescued Luna from that horrible creature, and overcome the nightmare spell for her and Flint all by herself! She had overcome ancient Equestrian magic when she broke free of the nullifier, and had stopped the fighting by herself. She had bested creatures twisted by dark magic, even if it had hurt her to do so. She had dived down into the depths in search of ancient knowledge, and had made it to Canterlot all by herself! When Fluttershy had been hurt, dying on that bed, her magical talent and quick thinking had saved her from the corruption! The only thing that had gone wrong was... The Other. Every success she’d had, every moment of triumph she’d enjoyed had been tainted its presence. Fluttershy, Altalusia, Gava’s ship, Luna. If it hadn’t been for that thing inside of her head, that manipulative, parasitic, cruel little voice that had ripped her from her friends, taken the last hope she had away and destroyed it! The image of Pinkie Pie slamming into the tree flashed through her head. That thing doesn’t deserve an apology. It deserves to die! The unmistakable sound of cracking ceramic snapped her out of her thoughts, eliciting a gasp as she glanced down to see the sink caught in her magical grip, slowly being crushed under her strength. With a start, she released her hold and looked up, only to come face to face with somepony she barely recognised. Crimson streaks ran down her cheeks, staining her fur and dripping down to splatter the sink scarlet. Her hair hung down, wild and unkempt, dulled by it’s dampness to a colourless mess. But none of that compared to the snarl on her face, the rage in her eyes. The look turned her blood cold, but she couldn’t turn away. Was this her? Was this Twilight Sparkle? Rage flared up inside of her like an inferno, at The Other, at herself, at everything. She had to let it out. With a ragged cry she slammed her hoof into the mirror, shattering it and fragmenting her reflection into a dozen smaller shards. But it didn’t stop those eyes from staring back at her. Judging her. Mocking her! She snarled, tearing the mirror from the wall with a loud ping! as the bolts were sent flying. With the mirror held aloft, Twilight paused for the slightest moment before screaming and hurling it into the opposing wall. “It’s not fair!” The pain in her hoof was negligible next to the relief she felt as the mirror was shattered into tiny shards. It couldn’t judge her now. “It’s not fair.” With a growl, she reared up and slammed her front hooves into the sink edge. The basin cracked with a satisfying echo, the toilet bowl following shortly after as she struck out with her hind legs blindly. “It’s not fair!” She raised her hooves again, glaring down at the sink, but before she could completely destroy the ceramic a sharp stab of pain ran through her legs. The aching in her muscles could not be ignored any longer. With a gasp she collapsed forward, tearing the sink from the wall entirely before tumbling down onto the tile below. Her anger ebbed and died as she lay there succumbing to the pain; her shouts replaced by sobs. “It's… not fair.” She spent more than a few minutes there, desperately wishing her friends were beside her. They’d know what to say, what to do. But they weren’t there. She was alone, cold, and wet. Wait, wet? Blinking her eyes open, Twilight’s ears twitched up to focus on the sound of running water, and the puddle she had found herself lying in. ...when? Hesitantly, she rolled over onto her hooves and pushed herself up. She felt better, if only slightly, for indulging her anger and sorrows, but her muscles hadn’t quite caught up and a sharp stabbing pain nearly caused her to topple as she put the weight onto her right foreleg. The source of the water was very quickly apparent though: the pipes that had once been connected to the sink were pumping water onto the floor of the bathroom. Twilight reflexively reached out with her magic to close the valve. It took a second for her brain to catch up with what she’d just done, her head tilted as she stared into the puddle, but when it finally did, a rush of elation swept through her. The enchantments on the pipes were still intact! Hope flared to life, and she quickly rushed over to the shower. As soon as her aching leg touched the floor though, it came out from under her and she soon found herself slipping across the wet floor and tumbling through the curtain with a yelp, head first, into the tub. As soon as the pain had faded enough to not pull all of her attention, she quickly drew on her magic to turn the faucet, staring up at the showerhead and silently begging that this would work as well. Her patience was finally rewarded after a minute of waiting; a freezing cold spray of water made her scream in shock, her magic frantically tugging the handle of the shower back down and cutting the water off. Maybe a little more caution this time? Slowly, she enveloped the piping with her magic, heating it up bit by bit until she felt the familiar twinge of pain from her horn that told her she needed to stop. She’d gotten used to ignoring that twinge over the last few weeks, but for now, there was no need. How long had it been since she’d had that luxury? A humourless chuckle escaped her. Funny how she’d always been so scared about pushing herself when it came to magic. Over the last few weeks she’d easily pushed past minor aching and even serious headaches in her spellcasting and been no worse for wear once she’d recovered. The hint of a smile faded away as she considered her situation. Maybe she was a little worse for wear. She pushed the shower handle back up, wincing preemptively as the sound of water flowing through the ancient pipes got closer and closer. But there was no need; her spell had done its job. Warm water showered down over her and Twilight gasped as the tension she didn’t even know she’d been holding began to fade away. “Oh, Celestia I’ve needed this…” She spent almost ten minutes mindlessly luxuriating in the flow of water, letting the soothing heat and sound wash away the dirt from her body and mind. Once upon a time, she had enjoyed a shower just like this every day. It had been a point of pride that no matter how busy or untidy she was, she was at least always clean. But ever since she’d escaped Canterlot with her friends, there had rarely been a moment to truly stop and enjoy a shower. The last time she remembered was… at Crazy Rich’s mansion. The thought made her pause. Had she truly become so devoted to the task she set herself that even hygiene was unimportant? Was it that vital? That she not rest for one moment until it was complete? The concept made her frown. Since when was there a time limit on saving the world? Perhaps she’d been approaching it too much like Discord, like Luna. There was no evil villain to defeat, no innocent pony lives on the line. Everypony was already gone, and from what she’d seen the ones that were left didn’t even know what they were missing, which meant they could wait. Twilight winced at the intrusive thought, her anger rearing up again even through the calming sound of the water. Perhaps The Other had been right; maybe she had let her emotions get away from her. If she’d managed to abandon her hygiene so easily, who knew what else she may have forgotten? It’s been too long since I wrote a good checklist. Since I set a schedule. Since I had a plan. As Twilight cast her mind back, she realised that for weeks she’d been struggling to keep up. There was always something pushing her forward. The hunt for her library, Gava, her fear of The Other. She’d never had a moment to truly assess the situation. Until now. The urge to leave the shower, to start planning, to finally get a hold of the situation, was almost overwhelming, but something held her back. How long had it been since she’d had a chance to rest like this? She was relatively well fed, had a heated shower, and was blessed with practically endless time. So why did she want to keep moving so badly? Twilight paused instinctively, waiting for a response, and that pause was the very thing that put it all into focus. The Other. Ever since Philomena, ever since she’d felt her own body torn from her and felt that insidious voice in her ear, she’d been terrified of stopping for even a moment. Afraid of what The Other might do. But she couldn’t keep pushing forever. And even The Other had made it clear that she was getting close to her breaking point. So Twilight pushed down the urge to plan, to move, and simply enjoyed the feeling of the water running down her coat and her brief moment of silence. Magic is a curious thing, Twilight thought to herself as she lay within the mindscape. She was born of magic, bound to her Sister through magic, and was almost invincible to anything that wasn’t magic. So how strange it was that she was beginning to hate magic. It seemed that every time she thought she knew what magic was, something happened that completely changed her entire perception of it while simultaneously invalidating everything she thought she’d learned. She’d just learned that whatever magic her Sister had cast that locked away their magic was completely dependent on the pony’s emotional state. She’d been in no position to use it, but for a brief instant during her near disintegration, she’d felt all their magic at her beck and call. Just like back on Altalusia. But it hadn’t been… the right kind of magic. It had felt wrong, twisted, weaker. She knew Twilight Sparkle was capable of almost incomprehensible feats of power. But when she’d gone through their memories, felt what it was like to wield the magic in those moments, it was almost as if the magic wasn’t even coming from them. Rather, the magic seemed to be all around them, and her Sister had merely opened herself up to it to cast her spells. It was utterly confusing, and Twilight was starting to understand why there had been an entire school dedicated to teaching ponies the magical arts. The desire to go back through and study the moments again was strong, but the potential backlash of bringing up those memories when her Sister was so emotional was far too serious to risk. Twilight shook her head, staring up into the swirling sky of the mindscape and gazing across the many twinkling stars above her. There was a small chance that this anger, this rage, was what her sister would need to survive the ordeals she would soon experience. But… there’s also a chance that same anger will be the thing that destroys her. It was a difficult situation. Twilight had seen the things her sister had accomplished; feats of magic and bravery that even she was impressed by. And never had she seen anger or rage be a part of those actions. The more she thought about it, the more she was convinced. Anger is not the answer. Which meant that they both had a problem, even if a certain pony refused to acknowledge it. There was no doubt in her mind that there was some way to manipulate the situation, some combination of words and actions that would allow her to fix all of their issues her way. But the more she thought about it, the less appealing the idea was becoming. She’d been furious when she’d tried to take control back in the ocean, enraged that her Sister would throw away everything they’d had, right in their hooves, over some silly emotional connection. But maybe there was something she wasn’t seeing. Some important little bit of information about magic, about her Sister, about their friends, that would connect the pieces. And though she loathed to admit it, anger, as much as it seemed to make everything clear in the moment, was likely only further muddling her perception. Strange how almost being killed in a fit of rage can shift your perceptions, she thought, the minor amusement far overshadowed by frustration. She needed a new perspective, one that wasn’t tainted by her Sister’s memories and their shared anger. Perhaps she could find some answers in the bedroom. Carefully, slowly, she focused on creating her form outside of the mindscape. Usually it was a simple as leaving, instinct taking over the magical part of it. Another aspect I don’t understand. But if she wanted to give her Sister the privacy she had so politely requested then she needed to be more precise. Finally she felt her magic activate, and without warning she was floating in the centre of the bedroom, a few feet above the ruined bed. For a moment she remained silent. Still. Waiting for the telltale sounds of a pony angrily kicking open the door and demanding to know what she was doing. But it never came. Once she was certain that there wasn’t about to be an argument that may or may not become a fight, she floated over to the scrolls and books that lined the bookshelves of the room and began to look through them. As she did so, her ears were always open, twitching every time she heard the slightest disruption from the bathroom behind her; alert to the fact that her Sister could come out at any time. With no time to waste, she began to pull anything and everything she could from the shelf, scanning each book, tome or note with as much detail as she could spare before shoving it back as tidily as she could. For the second time that day, she found herself astounded at how different the room was compared to the memories she’d studied. How much of what she knew was a lie? A lot more than she would have liked, she was quickly discovering. On the bottom shelf, one that hadn’t even existed in the memory she’d looked at, tucked away where it wasn’t visible was a box of… was this shampoo? With a note that simply read, “Don’t forget to keep clean. Love, Mom!” Clearly it had been stashed away. But why? Slowly but surely she began to build up a picture as more and more things were revealed. Report cards, as well as one of her Sister’s old diaries, had made it very clear that she excelled when it came to her studies which, lined up with what she knew already, but what Twilight had never seen were the comments about her social life. About how she needed to make friends and get out more. There was even a note directly from the head librarian! “Twilight is a bright filly, and a pleasure to have in the library. But I worry that she spends too much time in here and not enough time with her peers. Perhaps somepony should help her find a hobby other than reading? - Dusty Pages” It was infuriating. The Sister that Twilight knew was practically nothing but her friends. Everything she did was centered around her friends, helping them or protecting them or looking for them or sparing them. What had she been like, back before her friends? Although looking through these notebooks at her teacher’s comments, maybe she’d be better off not knowing. The pony she was seeing here was an anxious outcast, riddled with self-doubt and sheltered to an absurd degree. She seemed prone to panic attacks, terrified of branching out beyond her comfort zone, and far too willing to let things pile up if she didn’t want to deal with them. In fact, that was eerily similar to how her Sister had been acting over the last few days. She’d seen examples of this behaviour as far back as a few weeks! Putting back the notebook she’d been looking at, Twilight sighed and floated back to stare at the entire shelf with a frown, hoping a new perspective would suddenly reveal the answers to her. The Twilight I thought I knew was intelligent, driven, and brave. I’ve seen her be all those things and more since I awoke, so clearly it wasn’t entirely made up. But the version of her I’ve learnt isn’t all there is to know. Slowly, an idea formed in her head. It was ridiculous, unthinkable! The very idea made her angry. But she couldn’t help but entertain it, if only briefly. Maybe my approach has been a part of the problem? Just the thought of it made her angry. She had done nothing but try to help! But maybe, in her ignorance, she had made mistakes. “Maybe I’m the one that needs to change?” Twilight hummed thoughtfully, mulling the idea over in her head when her ears flickered. It was too quiet. With a start, she realised that the constant sound of running water had ceased. Had she been heard, or was it just a coincidence? Regardless of what had caused it, she was about to have company. Taking a deep breath, she forced down all the questions she had and put on the most natural smile she could. “Nice and clean, are we?” As the minutes ticked by, Twilight felt her mane and coat gradually losing the accumulated dirt and grime of the past few weeks and, as they did, the stress and tension that had gripped her thoughts cleared away as well. The shower was making it clear; it had been too long since she’d taken the time to truly relax. To just enjoy the moment without thinking about her next step or worrying about what still needed to be done. And the running water served as excellent background noise to soothe away any intrusive thoughts that might try to pop up. Here, she could block out the rest of the world and be alone. Truly alone. But… it didn’t feel right. She’d always enjoyed being alone, even after meeting her friends in Ponyville. But now it felt different. This wasn’t a quiet, relaxing, silence. This was an empty one. And even though she hated to admit it, she knew exactly what was missing. The Other. The thought of her companion tugged at her attention until she couldn’t ignore it any longer, and soon her head was filled with the thoughts she’d been trying so hard to push aside. The image of what she’d done replayed in her head, bringing with it the same horror she’d felt in the moment. The horror of her actions was nothing compared to the disgust that she felt however, because even she couldn’t deny that if The Other had simply faded away, perhaps with an evil vow for revenge, she would have kept pouring magic into the spell until it had been utterly erased. All she’d have had to do was close her eyes, block out the screaming, and keep casting until her problems were all swept away. The very concept made her stomach churn. When had she gotten so twisted, so stressed, that she’d ever willingly decide to do something like that, that she’d even consider the thought? She’d faced down monsters and magic, the literal embodiment of chaos himself! But she’d never once felt so furious, so angry, that she’d wanted to hurt them. It had always been a necessity. Even as she thought it, another part of her was all too eager to mention that ridding herself of The Other’s presence was just as vital a necessity if she wanted to protect herself and save the princesses. Those thoughts were forced down as deep as Twilight could push them, along with the mental images that had invoked them. Anger, sadness, frustration, all of them slowly drained away with the water until all that Twilight felt was disappointment. In her actions, in her thoughts, in herself. She’d let this new world grind her down so much that she was willing to compromise her ideals, willing to step over a line that should never have even been approached. What would Celestia say? How had she let herself get pushed to this point? It was easy to simply put the blame onto The Other, to excuse her own actions under the facade of twisting dark magic warping her thoughts. But she couldn’t hide behind that excuse anymore. If The Other was really able to push her to the point of these things, she had a responsibility to push back. To prove that she could be better. And while she may not be able to get rid of The Other just yet, that didn’t mean she had to sink down to its level. Clearly the situation was a little more complicated than she’d originally thought and she needed to start treating it – No, her. – she had to start treating her more like an equal if she was to have any hope of coming to a peaceful resolution. And that was what she wanted. A peaceful resolution. Right? A dozen arguments popped up in her mind at the question and she frowned at the realisation that she’d already considered all of them. There wasn’t going to be any more progress made hiding in her bathroom. With a sigh, she turned off the shower and got out, her magic reaching out to grab the dusty grooming tools that lay on the shelf beside her as she walked over to the door. It probably wasn’t going to be easy. But like Celestia always said, doing the right thing never was. Or something like that. I don’t really remember that one. Pushing open the door, Twilight took barely a step before being greeted with a very strange sounding, “Nice and clean, are we?” “Ah!” Twilight had to fight the urge to jump back, settling for a brief moment of panicked shuffling, before glaring at the spectral pony hovering in the middle of her room. “Why are you just hovering in my room like that? You scared me!” The Other rolled its eyes and opened its mouth, before hesitating. “I was… waiting for you. Clearly. You spent a while in there. All clean and ready for adventuring?” Twilight frowned, her brow furrowing. Why was she being so strangely stilted? “What were you really doing?” The Other blinked once, twice, before shaking her head. “Like I said. Waiting for you. Twilight’s suspicion only intensified. “You mean to tell me, you’ve just been… waiting here. After what I did. For me to clean myself?” The nod did nothing to allay her doubts; Twilight shook her head and continued. “Why do I find that hard to believe? And how are you even floating here, after what I did to you?” Twilight couldn’t see any signs of dishonesty on The Other’s face, but that wasn’t reassuring in the slightest. “I told you. You can’t kill me. And you needed the time alone. Even I could sense that. As to your lack of trust, that’s probably because you harbour a significant amount of lingering resentment and hatred towards me. But that’s just a guess?” “I. Well. I mean, maybe. That’s—” Twilight let out a small groan, whinnying in frustration. “Take your time, I’m not going anywhere.” “That! How can you be so calm about this after what I just did to you!?” she shouted, stomping a hoof down onto the floor. “Because it’s not a big deal? You were angry and you vented that anger out on me. No harm was done.” “E-excuse me?!” Twilight’s eyes widened, her words coming out in a shocked stutter. “No harm was done? If I never hear a sound like the one you made again, it’ll still be too soon!” “Okay fine, there was some harm. But it’s not an issue—” The Other held a hoof up, interrupting Twilight as she went to speak “—It’s not an issue because you regret it. Because the instant you saw what you were doing you stopped. Because I heard you in the moment before you ran away. And before you say you don’t believe me, and I know you’re about to, just answer me this. If you could go back, would you change your actions, or would you do it again?” The Other asked, lowering herself down to look Twilight in the eye. “What? No! Of course not” With a satisfied nod, The Other floated back. “Exactly. What purpose would being angry at you serve when you already wish you hadn’t done it? You beat yourself up over your actions enough; you don’t need my help.” Twilight winced, stifling the instinctive urge to refuse the statement. “Don’t hold yourself back on my account. I already know what you’re going to say anyway.” This time she couldn’t resist voicing her thoughts. “Why do you have to be so insufferably smug about everything? It’s like you want me to get angry at you!” “No. I want you to stand up for yourself. I want you to stop cowering and wilting away from conflict like a scared filly. This is the only way I’ve found so far to encourage you to be more assertive, and we’re going to need that confidence if we want to overcome the challenges ahead.” Twilight rolled her eyes. “Your definition of assertive isn’t something I want to be. Despite your oh-so-encouraging words, I still believe that hurting others is wrong.” As she spoke she glanced between the bed and the desk. She had planned to finish grooming but… the idea of doing it with The Other watching sent shivers down her spine. Instead she elected to head to her desk, floating the brushes and combs over to her bedside table for later. “Again with the cutesy moral nonsense. You’re so caught up in the minutiae of the situation you can’t see the bigger picture.” The Other paused, blinking and looking thoughtfully at her hoof. “I like that word. Minutiae. Anyway, the point stands! If you could save 100 lives by ending one, wouldn’t you?” Twilight pulled herself up to the desk, her magic pulling ancient quills and parchment to her, still perfectly preserved by Celestia’s magic. “That’s a leading question and you know it. I could stop them with magic, imprison them, and then listen to their problems and help them overcome whatever had led them to harm other ponies.” The Other floated over, glaring at Twilight from above the desk even as she began to write. “And what if there weren’t any ‘problems’ to solve?” she asked, her hooves mimicking quotation marks in the air. “What if they were just killers, like a wolf or bear?” Scoffing, Twilight paused to scribble something out, pushing the parchment up to continue writing further down the page. “Neither wolves or bears are just killers. Fluttershy told me how they only hurt others in order to protect their young or feed themselves. She explained that the predator prey cycle is a natural one, and while I may find it strange and slightly horrifying, I’ve learned to understand its necessity.” For a few moments the room was silent except for the scratching of her quill. Eventually the silence drove her to look up at The Other, who was floating there with a twitching eyebrow. “What?” “Fine! What if it was an insane pony” —Twilight raised her hoof and opened her mouth— “with an incurable condition? That drove them to attack and kill anyone they saw?” Sighing, Twilight turned back to her paper, crumpling up the piece covered in scribbled out lines and tossing it behind her before pulling another one down. “I’d magically restrain them and get them somewhere safe. Then I’d try and find some way to block the sensory input that drove them to attack ponies so they could continue to live their life?” “You can’t just—arghh!” The Other pushed herself down, blocking Twilight’s view of the page she was writing on and pressing her nose up against Twilight’s own. “Okay. Okay. Pony, with an incurable condition that causes them constant pain, that also makes them bloodthirsty monsters which can—” “Stop.” “What?” “Just stop it. You’re being ridiculous. You’re not going to somehow convince me that killing is acceptable just by coming up with a ridiculous edge case where it would be the only option. You believe that will convince me? Really?” The Other grit her teeth, her face scrunched up in an angry pout that Twilight was shocked to find made her look almost normal, before sighing. “Fine… I guess you’re right.” “I know I am. Now get out of my way. I’m trying to write.” The Other did as she asked, floating up and out of the way before coming back down to hover uncomfortably close behind Twilight’s shoulder. “So. What are we writing?” “Ugh! Can you just leave me alone?” “Oh, you’d rather I go back to looking through your things? Or do you just want me to hover here silently until you’re done, like some sort of pet?” Twilight winced at the implication, turning to look at the disgruntled expression on The Other’s face. Treat her like an equal. “Oh, fine.” Twilight said, blinking at the strangely excited smile she was given before quickly turning back to her parchment. The Other once again decided to lean over her shoulder, reading as Twilight spoke. “It’s supposed to be a checklist for fixing this mess.” “Supposed to be?” Twilight sighed. “It’s not complete. I’ve gotten as far as “retrieve the Elements, escape Canterlot and find Celestia”. But I have no idea where I’d even begin to look!” “Does it have to be?” Twilight stopped. Slowly she turned to look at The Other, fixing her with an offended look. The spectral pony slowly withered under the glare, shifting uncomfortably before finally snapping. “What? Stop looking at me like that! Why does it have to be complete? Why can’t it just be a checklist of all the things you know to do so far?” Shaking her head, Twilight turned back to the parchment and crumpled it up, grabbing another one and starting again. “A checklist is a list of all the things you need to do for something. All the things. From start to finish. In order. The first thing to check off on an incomplete checklist would be ‘complete checklist,’ and that’s just silly!” “You’ve got to be joking.” Twilight glanced to the side and raised an eyebrow. “Of course you’re not. This is ridiculous. You—” The Other paused at Twilight’s expression before floating back slightly. “Woah. You’re not going to try and hit me with another magic beam of death again are you? Over the definition of a checklist?” Twilight had the decency to turn away at that, flushing slightly in embarrassment. Perhaps she was being a little aggressive. “Just… let me do it my way, okay? It’s important for me.” The Other didn’t reply, but she did stop talking as she returned to Twilight’s shoulder, and that was good enough. Once again Twilight began to write, but as the minutes ticked by and she went through page after page of parchment, her frustration only grew. It was only after she’d crumpled up another fully written list that The Other finally said something. “Okay, this isn’t working.” “What?” “You can’t keep doing this. You’re just making yourself angry. And you’re going to run out of parchment eventually. Why do you need to do this so badly, anyway?” Twilight couldn’t keep the sigh from escaping, her hooves tapping against the desk’s edge. “It’s important! How am I supposed to do all of this without a plan? I can’t just keep stumbling forward, hoping that I’ll get it right! What if somepony gets hurt because of me? Again?” “And what if somepony gets hurt because you’re too busy stressing over details instead of taking action? Every second you wait is another second longer before you can save them!” Twilight pushed herself free from the desk, turning to glare at her reflection. “What would you know about it? Almost every pony I’ve hurt was because of you!” The Other floated back, throwing her hooves up. “And I’ve already told you that I didn’t mean it! Yes, I know that I messed up. What do you want me to say?” “I want you to stop acting like you know all the answers. To stop assuming your way is always the right way just because you can’t comprehend the idea of morality!” Twilight shouted, huffing angrily and storming away from the desk. “Morality? No offence, little flower, but in almost every case I can think of, your morality has done nothing but put us and the ponies that we care about in danger! I’ve made mistakes, but do you really think that your actions have always been the best? Do you really think I’m the only one making mistakes here?” she asked, giving Twilight a pointed look. The argument made Twilight freeze. Part of her wanted to snap back the yes that was just waiting to be said, but she knew that it would be a lie. Slowly she turned around and shook her head, wincing at the angry look on The Other’s face. “No. No, I don’t.” “But!” Twilight continued, anger flaring up inside of her. “That doesn’t mean our mistakes are comparable! Mine were made with the best of intentions, but yours—” “Don’t you dare.” Twilight froze at the cold fury in those words, her ears flattening against her head as the room seemed to darken around her, illuminated purely by the phantasmal glow of The Other’s magic. Her anger seemed to shrivel away and in its absence she realised what she had just been about to say. The thought alone was enough to make her shudder. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.” A few seconds of silence passed, the temperature of the room slowly dropping, before the darkness receded and Twilight found the confidence to breathe again. “I don’t want you to be sorry. I want you to stop obsessing over it. Over my mistakes, over your own mistakes.” Twilight frowned, looking up towards The Other in confusion. There was no anger there, just frustration. “It’s incredible how you are both completely tied up in your own emotions while simultaneously refusing to acknowledge them.” “I’m not refusing to ack—” Twilight froze as The Other held up a hoof, her face set in a knowing stare. Whatever she’d been about to say died on her tongue and she frowned. “You’re right. Okay. So… what would you suggest?” The Other seemed to pause for a moment, before relaxing and giving a soft smile. One that caught her thoroughly off guard. Was it that easy? “Really? Or would you like to yell at me some more?” she asked, her smile turning into a more familiar smirk. “Yes, really!” Twilight replied, with just a hint of annoyance. “You wanted to give your advice, so... I’m listening.” Twilight watched as her companion hurriedly floated over to the desk to motion to the pile of crumpled up pages. “Well, obviously you’re trying to do too much at once.” Twilight followed her over, staring down at the pile with a confused frown. “Yes, I know. That’s the point of the checklists, to help you manage lots of work.” “No. I mean you’re doing too much with the lists themselves.” When Twilight only blinked in confusion, The Other sighed and motioned to the pile of scattered parchment. “Why did you keep starting over?” The answer was obvious. “They were incomplete. They had missing steps or I couldn’t figure out what the next step would be from where I got to,” Twilight replied quickly, frowning when she found no fault with the answer. The Other clearly did however. “Urgh. And why did you have those missing steps?” Twilight’s confusion only grew, her brow furrowing as she pulled up some of the pieces and smoothed them back out; gesturing to the pages as she spoke. “Everything. I didn’t know how I’d wake up Luna, or I didn’t know where to find Discord’s statue, or I couldn’t be sure if the Elements would do what I wanted.” The Other sighed and moved over to Twilight’s shoulder, pointing down at the lists. “All of these issues are near the bottom of the page. Why are you worrying about them now?” “Just because they’re at the bottom doesn’t mean they’re not important! I can’t just ignore them and hope I’ll find a solution in time. That’s stupid.” Twilight’s ear twitched as The Other shook her head.. “That’s not what I’m suggesting. I’m saying you need to focus on what you do know, and update the list as you go. This first step, it’s the same on all of your lists. Retrieve the Elements. But how are you going to do that? Make a checklist for that one point, start to finish, and then once we’ve got them we can look at making a second list.” Twilight couldn’t help but see the logic in The Other’s words, but even as she accepted them, doubts sprung up in her mind. “But what if… I run into something I didn’t plan for? What if something goes wrong and I don’t know what to do?” The more she thought about it, the more ways she realised it could go wrong. Without all the information she’d never be able to save Equestria. She might end up making everything worse! What if the best option was to just stay here and— “Shhh.” The Other floated down and pushed a hoof into Twilight’s muzzle, cutting off her train of thought and drawing her attention. “Are you listening?” Twilight tried to open her mouth, but the hoof pressed against her refused to budge, cutting off all sound despite how immaterial it appeared to be. With no other option, she simply nodded. “We’re going to make a plan. And it will be a good one because that’s what we’re good at. And if something comes up that we didn’t plan for, we’re clever ponies and we’ll figure out an answer. You can’t prepare for every possibility, but that doesn’t mean we can’t handle every possibility. Understand?” Twilight nodded silently. While she had been listening to The Other’s words, she’d found herself completely captivated. The hoof against her muzzle pulsed with a warmth she had never experienced before. Was that the feeling of her own magic? Had The Other’s body always been filled with those tiny stars, like a pony shaped hole in the night sky? Questions sprang up in her mind, dozens of them. Why had she never been curious about The Other before? This was a sentient metamagical construct right in front of her and she hadn’t even thought to study it! She needed to— “Now. You’re going to write out a new list. Just for Canterlot. Right now.” —finish her checklist. Sighing, Twilight nodded one last time as The Other backed away. Questions teemed in her head, but she knew that the planning needed to take priority. Write first, questions later. With a determined look she pulled herself back up to the desk and picked up the quill and ink. “So. Retrieve the Elements is our first step? How are we going to do that?” Twilight hesitated, resting her quill on the top of the page. “Don’t rush. The fact you didn’t struggle over that step means you know what you need to do. Just let the thoughts come, one at a time.” She pulled her quill back. Thinking, really thinking, about what she’d need to make it through Canterlot. It took her a few minutes to find that first step, but The Other seemed more than content to wait for her, remaining silent until she finally spoke up. “Okay. Okay, I think I’ve got it.” Twilight began, watching The Other nod and motion with her hoof to continue before doing so. “First we head up to my tower. It’s nearby and full of books which might prove useful in the future, including some that could explain the layout of Canterlot better,” Twilight started, looking at The Other nervously. Relief rushed through her when she was given a nod in response. “Because it’s nearby, easy to access, and will make the rest of the list easier. Sensible… Write it down, then.” Twilight quickly turned to her page, nodding and quickly writing down the first step. “Okay, so we’ve found some books in your tower, we’ve stored them safely back here and got a layout of the palace. What next?” Twilight’s stomach chose that moment to rumble, making her wince and pull her quill back for a moment before writing something entirely different. “Then... we’re going to make our way to the kitchen storerooms. Many of the rooms within the place were enchanted with preservation magic, similar to this one, and I’ll need a source of fresh food and water if I’m going to be down here longer than a few days.” “Covering the essentials is a priority. Smart. Although I get the feeling that wasn’t the intended step two was it?” The Other asked, smirking faintly. “Of course it was! Why wouldn’t it… okay, fine. I didn’t really think about it until just now. “That’s fine. After all, that’s the point of the list. So what was the plan after the tower?” Twilight’s quill continued to scratch across the page, speeding up as her thoughts began to flow. “Next, we make for the Astronomy tower. Canterlot isn’t underwater, which means something must have happened to protect it. The tower is on the other side of the palace so it’ll be a bit of a trot, but we might be able to get a better understanding of what happened to the city from there.” The Other nodded. “Knowledge is power. Good choice.” She motioned for Twilight to continue. “Regardless of what we find, we head down to the Archives next. The journal I found in Ponyville spoke of forts around Canterlot.” Twilight paused, taking a deep breath even as she continued writing. “As much as I hate to say it, it’s becoming very clear that Equestria never took the city back from the changelings. And it seemed the corruption may have originated here as well. That means all that knowledge, the knowledge that could have saved Equestria, sat here uselessly while they died!” Twilight slammed a hoof down into the desk, her horn glowing ever so briefly. “We have a duty to find out everything we can about the corruption. That way, maybe we can find out how to fix it.” “How are you planning on studying the corruption? You’re going to need some sort of reference, unless you were planning to just read through every book in the entire library?” Twilight froze, looking up at The Other with a sheepish expression. “Oh, you’re joking. That’s exactly what you were planning wasn’t it?” Biting her lip, Twilight hid her face behind her mane and went to scratch out a line on the page in front of her. “Noooo…” “Don’t cross it out! If that’s your plan then that’s the plan! This is your plan, remember, not mine.” Twilight paused, her quill hovering just over the page. “I guess.” “And what is the next step of your plan?” The Other asked, pointing to the page with her hoof. Twilight hummed thoughtfully, staring down the list before sighing. “Then… I’m not sure. We need to get into the Element’s Vault, but I know that Celestia enchanted it not to open to anything except my friends and I. My friends aren’t here and neither is she, so I have no idea how we’d break in… I was kind of hoping that I’d figure that out while at the Library.” If The Other noticed that Twilight had brushed over this obstacle while making her original lists, she didn’t mention it. “If we can’t find anything in the library, perhaps there are instructions in the princess’ chambers? Perhaps an item of power that could be used to unlock the doors?” Twilight gasped, turning to look at The Other with wide eyes. “Go into the princess’ personal rooms? We couldn’t do that! Those rooms are private! What would the princess say?” The Other rolled her eyes, shaking her head. “Yes, little flower, if you asked Princess Celestia to go into her chambers because you needed her… bracelet to open the vault and save all of Equestria, what would she say?” “She’d tell me that if it was for Equestria, and if I was doing it for a good reason, that of course I would—” Twilight blushed, nodding and scribbling down the next step. “Okay, point taken.” “So, assuming we find the information we need inside there, the final step is to retrieve the Elements and leave the city?” “Yes! But first we come back here and fill up my saddlebags, and make another checklist. I also want to get some more writing supplies while we’re in the library actually.” Twilight muttered, finishing her sentence before going back up to add the thought; only to find it already added, a quill held in her own magical grip. But she hadn’t used it which meant... “Oh. Thank you.” Twilight turned to give The Other a smile, one that came surprisingly easy. But the sight of her own magic doing something she had no control over only brought the questions from before back to the front of her mind. “Okay, I need to know. How are you doing that?” “Doing… what?” “That! Using my magic without me noticing, and floating off without me in the caves, and… everything! I only just realised it, but I know almost nothing about you or how you work, yet you seem to know everything about me!” Twilight watched as The Other rolled her eyes. “Well of course I know everything about you. I spent weeks trying to understand you, trying to speak with you, after I first learnt who you were. I’ve done nothing but try to learn about you since the first moment I awoke.” “You… did?” Twilight frowned, looking at The Other in an entirely new way as she processed the thought. “So, what did you find out about me?” The Other paused and looked around before giving a nod. Twilight watched with a frown as she floated over to the bed and raised the grooming tools. “You wanted to… tidy yourself up? How about we catch two birds with one seed?” Twilight lowered herself down from the desk, frowning ever so slightly. Could she do that? Let somepony else, something else help her with such an intimate task? “No. I’ll… I’ll do it myself, thank you.” Taking the tools in her own grip, Twilight walked over to the bed and got comfortable, taking the brush and beginning to work on her mane as she spoke. “What do you want to know?” “Everything.” Even without seeing it, Twilight could feel The Other shaking her head. “I hate to burst your bubble, but I don’t think that’s going to be possible. Most of what I ‘know’ is just a feeling, a sense of what is right. And I’ve only really been alive since I bonded with you. I haven’t exactly had a long time to figure it all out.” Twilight shook her head, wincing as the brush caught a particularly knotted clump of hair “Except - ow! - you do! What do you mean by ‘bonded’? You say that word as if it’s a process or a connection of some sort. What does that entail?” The Other paused, frowning and bringing a hoof to her chin in contemplation. “It just feels right. Most of what I say is like that, I know the word is accurate but I don’t know why. But it does feel right. Can’t you feel it too?” “I… I don’t know. What does it feel like, this sense?” Twilight asked, lowering her brush and closing her eyes to try to find any sort of strange sense of connection inside of herself. No matter how hard she searched though, no ‘inexorable bond’ made itself clear to her. Just the faint sense of magical energy that she always felt. “It’s hard to describe. I just know it’s there. I’m part of you; I was born from your feelings and thoughts and I’m still tied to them. I know that for sure.” Twilight’s face scrunched up in concentration as she continued to search for anything ‘off’. Had it been so long that she couldn’t distinguish the feeling anymore? Had she forgotten what it felt like to not have The Other inside of her… or was it simply a one-sided process? “Perhaps… we’d be able to better discern things like this inside of the mindscape?” The Other suggested. Twilight found herself nodding; it did seem like a sensible idea. Before she could voice her agreement though, she felt herself being pulled down, and when she next opened her eyes she was standing in the infinite expanse of her own mind. “Ahh! Don’t do that!” Her hoof materialised as she stomped down, and the rest of her body soon followed, giving her a pair of eyes to glare with as The Other manifested in front of her. “You shouldn’t be listening to my thoughts in the first place, but it’s just creepy when you respond to them like that. As if I just spoke to you.” The Other stared at her with a raised eyebrow. She stared back. “You know what I was just saying about being a part of you?” she asked, an annoyed tone to her words that Twilight couldn’t help but notice. Twilight narrowed her eyes and nodded slowly. “And you know how I said I’m tied to your thoughts and feelings?” she continued in a frustratingly slow manner. “Yes, yes, I did, in fact, pay attention to what you said five seconds ago!” “Sometimes I think you listen to the words and intentionally ignore what they mean. I can’t choose whether or not I hear your thoughts. They’re my thoughts, too!” she shouted, throwing her hooves up in exasperation. “Look around you, this mind isn’t your mind. It’s our mind! Every single thought we both have echoes here. See?” Twilight looked around with wide eyes at The Other’s shout, her body tensed as she waited for whatever she was meant to be looking at to appear. Slowly, as the seconds ticked by, the tension faded and she turned back to look at the floating pony before her with a frown. “There’s nothing there, I don’t see anything?” “Urghh.” The Other dropped down to the floor, shaking her head and walking over to jab at Twilight’s forehead. “That’s because you’re trying to see something. The mindscape doesn’t work like that. Sight isn’t the most important sense in here. In fact, it’s the most restricting. You need to start using your ears as well.” “What? If I need to use my ears then why did you tell me to see?” Twilight shouted, huffing as she strained to hear whatever sound it was that The Other was trying to show her. “I can’t hear anything. There’s just this weird… background… hum” Twilight trailed off as the hum slowly became more and more perceptible. Every time she tried to focus on the sound it seemed to dance away from her grasp, but when she just stopped and listened, it came back. Teetering right on the edge of her vision. It was like mist, all around her but impossible to grasp. If only she could— Her focus was interrupted by the sound of badly muffled laughter, and Twilight’s eyes shot open to glare daggers at The Other, who was giggling a few feet away. “What?!” “Oh, it’s nothing! Pfft, I was just wondering if I looked this silly when I first tried this. You had your tongue stuck out and your face was all scrunched up. And don’t get me started on the way your ears were flicking about.” Twilight turned away, flushing red as The Other laughed behind her. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been faced with a magical problem that she’d genuinely struggled with. And to have The Other, of all things, be the one to laugh at her made her stomach churn. “Maybe if you stopped laughing at me and started helping me I’d figure it out sooner!” She snapped, cutting off the laughter. Silence washed over them and Twilight found herself pausing to listen in as the faint hum began to return, only to gasp when it was suddenly amplified, echoing all around her. Does this help? Wincing, Twilight turned around to glare at The Other who was still floating a few feet above the floor, now with a curious look on her face. “What did I tell you about speaking to me like that?” A sigh. And then, “Look, do you want to get this or not? Because the quickest way to understand it would be to actually start doing it, and if you’re going to get all fussy and weird about it we may as well just stop.” Twilight could feel the annoyance and anger seeping in again and she had to pause for a moment to force it back down, taking a deep breath at the same time. “Yes. I want to understand. But there’s something unnerving about the way it sounds.” Tough. “E-excuse me?” I said tough. Life isn’t comfortable, nothing about this situation is comfortable. Stop being a foal and deal with it. Twilight grit her teeth as the anger that she’d felt began to creep back up, her hooves pawing at the floor. The Other stayed exactly where she was, floating before her, now with a frown and a thoughtful look in her eye. And here’s another example. You can’t keep pushing down your anger like this. Or you’ll just end up having another outburst. I’ve already heard what you’re thinking, so just go and say it. Twilight shuddered at the very idea. She’d given in to her anger and it had been a horrible mistake. She wouldn’t make that mistake again. You won't have a choice. You’re not as in control of your emotions as you think you are, little flower. Even now I can feel the rage inside you. I can see it all around you. Can’t you? Twilight froze, glancing around at the empty expanse all around her, only broken up by the light of the stars. “I don’t see anything…” I don’t understand. It’s like you’re blind, but—it isn’t because you can't do it. No. The Other’s thoughtful look was replaced with understanding. It’s because you’re choosing not to. “What does that mean? What do you mean by choice? I didn’t choose anything! I didn’t even know about all of this until now!” The Other floated down, shaking her head as she landed. You’re so naive. I wonder if you even know you’re doing it. You’ve known about the mindscape, you’ve read about it. I’ve told you about it. But you’re choosing not to remember, you’re choosing to hide your own mind from yourself…” The Other paused, humming thoughtfully before nodding, “...because you’re afraid.” Anger swelled up, fed by her pride, as Twilight slammed her hoof down. “I’m not afraid of you!" No. You’re not. “Wait. What?” The Other smirked, approaching Twilight with a glint in her eye. You’re not afraid of me. Twilight took a hesitant step back, warily looking around her before glaring at the approaching pony. “I know. That’s what I just sa— You’re afraid of yourself. Twilight trembled as she felt the mindscape all around her ripple. Like a strong mist had just been disturbed by a rush of air. It was still empty, but the sudden feeling of a curtain, barely holding back a storm, was impossible to ignore. How long had the faint sound of burning echoed in the distance? “I don’t understand.” Would you like to? The question made the entire mindscape ripple again, and this time the force of it left Twilight on the ground, gasping for air. It took all the strength she had to force her head up, and she immediately dropped it back down at the sight of the mindscape twisting and writhing around her. You can’t run from it forever. But perhaps I can make it easier? Easier? Twilight’s reeling mind grasped onto the lifeline. She nodded desperately, her ears flat against her head as the sound of burning steadily grew louder and louder. Look at me. Twilight shook her head, whimpering. Even with her eyes screwed shut, she could feel the world around her distorting violently. “I can’t!” Yes. You can. The shaking all around seemed to fade, if only for a moment, at The Other’s words and Twilight forced herself to look up. The Other stood there, one hoof stretched out and a warm smile on her face. Take my hoof. Twilight forced herself to focus on that smile, the only stable thing in the twisting maelstrom of her mind. Eyes full of stars stared back at her, full of compassion. She could do this. With a gasp, she reached up and took hold of the offered hoof. The Other pulled her in. And the world went dark. Chapter VI: A Lesson of TwoTwilight’s grip on The Other’s hoof was her only stability as the world warped and twisted around her. There was no light to see, but she could feel the world twisting, hear the mindscape collapsing, nonetheless. It was only when everything finally seemed to come to rest that she found herself able to relax her grip, hooves aching from the strength she’d clutched to The Other. But she didn’t let go; everything was still dark, and it was impossible to ignore the fear coiling in her gut. “Where am I?” You know where you are. “Where are you?” I’m right in front of you. “What did you do?!” I didn’t do anything, little flower. Twilight glared angrily into the darkness, searching for the smug face she knew accompanied that amused reply. “Then why can’t I see?” For a few seconds there was no reply, and then Twilight felt a hoof against her cheek. Open your eyes. “My eyes are open!” Are they? “Of course they are!” Twilight snapped, smacking at the hoof and huffing angrily. “I’d know if my eyes were closed!” Then why can’t you see? “Because you did something with my magic. This is another one of your tricks!” But even as she spoke, Twilight knew that there was no magic at work here. If this is magic, then you would sense it. “Then—then—you did something else! You’re messing with me, twisting my perception to prove your ridiculous point!” If that’s the case, then you have no other option but to do as I say. “I…” Twilight paused before admitting defeat. With a sigh she focused on her eyes, frowning when she found them as open as they’d ever been. “I don’t understand, they’re already open. I can’t open them when they’re al—” Humour me. “Argh. Fine!” It wasn’t easy to pretend to open your eyes, but Twilight forced herself to do it. And suddenly the world was in front of her. More specifically, a very familiar bedroom. “Wait, what? How did I...?” I told you, all you had to do was open your eyes. Of course, opening your eyes was more a physical representation of you accepting what you’d see if you did so, but the outcome is the same. Twilight blinked, turning round to glare at the annoyingly smug expression on The Other’s face with a frown. “What do you mean?” Like I said, you’re not afraid of me. You’re afraid of yourself. Not literally yourself, of course, rather the parts of you that have become more prominent recently such as your anger, your fear, and your regret. As Twilight watched, the spectral pony before her floated over to the walls and pulled out a pair of glasses and a cap, placing them on and pulling out a chalkboard from seemingly thin air. The rational part of her knew that inside of the mindscape anything was possible, but the strangeness of it left her stunned, giving The Other the perfect opening to continue. You’ve been pushing down your emotions, refusing to acknowledge them, and to a greater extent yourself, for too long. These repressed emotions have a magic all their own, and it is interfering with both your ability to cast magic and your mental state. As you can see here… she began, waving her hoof across the board to create a diagram consisting of four pieces. An image of Twilight, a picture of her cutie mark, the Element of Magic, and arrows moving from the cutie mark and element to the depiction of Twilight herself. Once completed, little symbols began to emanate off Twilight’s likeness, a wave of red following shortly after. As more of the red swirls gathered, the glowing arrows started bouncing off, rather than completing their journey. ...the magic that is stemming from your emotions is interrupting your connection to your own natural magic. As well as the harmonic magic that comes from your status as an Element Bearer. Twilight gasped as the vaguely red cloud grew thicker around the drawing of herself on the board, creating a bubble of sorts that blocked the arrows entirely. “If this is happening, then how can I still use my magic?” This is a process. Your emotions build up, weakening your magic, until you release them in an outburst such as the one you had earlier. Your magic would only fully be blocked if you kept pushing down your anger and fear, again and again, until there was too much. If that did happen, I think you might even lose your connection to the Elements. Twilight gasped, her eyes widening in shock, before it was replaced with suspicion. “Wait… you think?” Suddenly, as if a switch had been flipped, Twilight became aware of her surroundings. She wasn’t in school, and she wasn’t being taught a lesson. Her ‘teacher’ was actually The Other, and they were in the mindscape! What in Equestria had just happened? “What did you just do to me? How was I so… captivated by that explanation?” The Other gave a small grin and shrugged. I was hoping you wouldn’t notice. “Wouldn’t notice what? What’s going on?” Twilight demanded, glaring daggers at the pony before her, still wearing the strange glasses that only now Twilight recognised as the pair her old Magical Theory teacher had worn. A small part of her noted that The Other had likely pulled them from Twilight’s own memories as a tool to inspire confidence. Another part remarked that that was a manipulative trick and she shouldn’t be so impressed. I was trying to convey what I’ve been observing in a method that you would accept subconsciously. If you hadn't noticed, this would be a lot easier. “Well, I did notice! And I don’t appreciate you trying to trick me.” The Other sighed, shaking her head and floating over. Twilight jumped as the surroundings suddenly shifted from a classroom back to the Golden Oak bedroom. I’m not trying to trick you, little flower. Dealing with consciousness and the mindscape isn’t as straightforward as it sounds, and sometimes the best option is to use… indirect methods. Twilight’s eyes narrowed. She motioned slowly with a hoof for The Other to go on. We’re inside your mind. Every mental block, preconceived thought, opinion, fact, memory, it’s all in here. Just being inside of your mindscape like we are right now is risky. “Risky?” Twilight looked around nervously, her ears twitching as she searched for some unknown threat. From here, we could theoretically manipulate the way your mind works. Wipe memories, change emotions, even completely alter the way you think. It’s dangerous. Twilight gasped, horrible thoughts of what The Other could do springing to mind before she thoroughly pushed them away. “How is it dangerous if we’re not going to do that?” The Other rolled her eyes with a groan. Once again. I can hear your thoughts. I just felt you push away those ideas, so you already know how it could be dangerous. Twilight winced, looking away. Letting anypony into your mindscape is the most intimate thing you can possibly do. Mental magic performed on an unwilling pony is one of the most grievous crimes you can commit. Mind Magic and Mental Manipulation - An Introduction. The Other sighed, and Twilight couldn’t help but look back out of the corner of her eye, eyes narrowing in thought. Like it or not, little flower, our mindscapes are linked. In fact, as far as I’m aware, they’re the same. Everything we do affects the other; your anger makes me angry. My frustration causes you to lose your patience. But right now we’re torn apart, partly due to our emotions but mostly due to your denial. The confusion must have been evident on Twilight’s face, because The Other’s frustrated look only seemed to intensify. Right now, our mind is split almost entirely in two. There’s your half, she began, waving her hoof and creating a small floating brain. And there’s my half. A second image, hovering next to the first, overlapping it by the slightest amounts. These halves are meant to be connected. They’re meant to be one and the same, and the fact that they’re not is putting strain on both of us. Twilight crossed her forelegs, brow furrowing. “What do you mean ‘meant to be connected’? You’re not meant to be here at all!” The Other’s glare made Twilight flinch. Of course I’m not. Ideally I would be a part of you, we would be one. My voice in the back of your head would just be your voice in the back of your head. But it isn’t. Twilight flinched at the accusatory tone, her misunderstanding making itself clear after a moment of thought. With an embarrassed flush she nodded, ”So how do we fix it?” I’m getting there, The Other snapped, reaching up to rub at her temple and staring down at the image with a look of concentration. Right. So. It’s not that them being separated at all is bad. The amount of overlap is… important. The more our minds overlap, the more we share. If we were to merge our minds more thoroughly— the two images pushed together, phasing into each other and glowing brightly —then our magic wouldn’t be so split apart. We would share more of our thoughts, and we would have less individual autonomy. The further apart we are, the more we’ll clash and struggle to work together. Remember, it’s not just our magic but our emotions at play here. Twilight spent a few moments thinking, and then a few moments more. The silence stretched on for so long that The Other had begun to sway in the air impatiently when she finally spoke up. “How do you know all this? You said you didn’t know much more than I did, but this seems like a lot of nothing to know!” I don’t know much more than you do. Twilight rolled her eyes at the innocent expression on The Other’s face, feeling the frustration welling up inside of her. “That’s not true! I don’t know any of this and you clearly do!” What do you mean, you don’t know this? Twilight paused, frustration dropping away to be replaced by confusion as The Other stared down at her, both of them momentarily sharing the same expression. “Wait… what do you mean?” The two continued to stare at each other for a few seconds before The Other finally spoke up, her words coming slowly. You… do? You do know this. “Saying it like you’re talking to a foal doesn’t automatically make it true. How would I possibly know any of this, it’s not like I’m an expert on magical constructs and shared sub-consciousnesses!” The Other’s confused look only seemed to get more intense, much to Twilight’s annoyance. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?” What do you know about me? “I’m not going to—” Just do it! Stop making it so difficult and just. Do. It. Twilight winced at the way the words seemed to echo around her, as if they had been shouted. Of course, it was impossible for a thought to be shouted. Or is it? Perhaps it’s possible for thoughts to be as varied as speech in here? I’m waiting, little flower. Twilight blinked, her focus snapping back to The Other, and the impatient glare she was being given. “Well you’re a dar—you’re a wild magic construct that was formed from my own mind and thoughts. You seem to share my consciousness to a certain extent and… my own subconscious thoughts and emotions appear to have a significant influence on your personality.” She spoke slowly, trying to catch whatever it was that she was about to be caught up on before it could be rubbed in her face. Just as she was about to respond, however, The Other shook her head and continued onwards. Much to Twilight’s annoyance. It’s not that hard. If I’m formed from your thoughts and emotions then that means I can only know things that you know, or that I have seen since manifesting. Right? Twilight sighed, resisting the urge to grind her jaw together. The Other didn’t seem to intentionally be trying to make her feel stupid. But she was succeeding either way. “Yes, I know, I was just about to say—” And have you come across any books on the mindscape or pony magi-psychology recently? “No, I haven't. And I know what you’re going to say—” Twilight replied, her jaw grinding very noticeably now as The Other interrupted her once again. So, if you haven’t had access to anything on the subject recently, the only time I could have learned this information… Is by finding it in my memories. Yes, I know. But that implies that I have some sort of perfect recall, that you can simply jump back into my brain and look at anything you want! Which is ridiculous! Is it? Twilight paused, the simple question derailing her thought process. The way The Other had said it, it was identical to the way her professors had used to say it. When she had the answer but refused to accept it. With a sigh, Twilight shook her head and started back from the beginning. “So what you’re saying, is that you’ve been studying my mind—our mind—from inside the mindscape this entire time?” Twilight asked, pushing herself off the bed and glancing around at the near perfect recreation of her bedroom. Yes. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. “Okay. Assume I accept that. If that’s true and you’ve been using my memories to learn, does that mean I could go back into my memories and reread every book I’ve ever looked at? Is remembering everything that’s ever happened in your life as simple as learning how to navigate the mindscape?” The implications were staggering. It was like a cheat sheet inside of her own head! Imagine how easy tests would be if she could just look into her own memories for the answer? Unfortunately the memories, while they seem perfectly clear, are not as accurate as you’d hope. I think that your preconceptions, subconscious desires, emotions, and focus or lack thereof affect the contents of the memories to a significant degree. Twilight bit her lip, ideas racing through her mind. “How do you know? Is there some sort of indication the memory isn’t accurate? Could you show me a memory?” I didn’t actually know how seriously they could be affected until today. The statement made Twilight pause, glancing up at The Other with an expectant frown. I’ve looked into memories of your time in this palace, and the memories of your room are very different from the room we’re in right now. Many of the items on the shelves simply didn’t exist in your memories. Twilight hummed, glancing around for parchment and smiling when a scroll and a quill appeared before her. Opening it up, she placed the quill on the page. “Like what?” Lots of things. Some of the report cards were changed, there were fewer books. The biggest one was a number of gifts from your mother that seemed to be missing, mostly shampoo? If the way she froze hadn’t made The Other suspicious, the blush that spread across her cheeks certainly would, and Twilight quickly turned away, coughing into her hoof and laughing nervously. “Oh well, I can’t imagine, haha, why that might be…” I’d assume you are ashamed by your lack of hygiene when you were younger and your memories have gradually been scrubbed clean of reminders to spare you the embarrassment. Twilight turned to give the floating pony a flat stare. “You know, all these unnervingly accurate guesses about my emotions and thoughts are starting to get kind of creepy.” If you don’t want me to point out the truth, then stop trying to hide from it. For a moment the two stared at each other, one with an embarrassed blush and the other with a matter of fact frown. The moment was only broken when Twilight’s curiosity finally overcame her embarrassment and she turned to look at the mostly intact door beside her. “So, if I go out there am I going to end up in the natural disaster I encountered last time?” No. While you were having your little nightmare I did some cleaning up. It was much easier after that little burst of rainbow coloured magic burnt away all of the negative emotions nearby. I’m assuming that was the Element? Twilight blinked, lowering the hoof that had been making its way to the door as another rush of questions sprung up in her mind. “Nearby? How can emotions be nearby? And when did we get to the library anyway? Is that horrible fire going to be out there? What was that awful feeling I got after I grabbed your hoof? Wait, the Elements did what?!” The Other laughed, floating past Twilight and through the door. Her words echoing behind her. So many questions. Good. You need to be willing to question things. Let’s continue this downstairs. Twilight paused. The door in front of her seemed to loom ominously, and for a moment she questioned just what it was she was about to do. Something told her that whatever she was about to learn wasn’t the kind of thing she could come back from. But her curiosity had been piqued, and she wasn’t going to let it go unsated. With a determined huff, she pushed the door open and stepped out onto the stairs. To Twilight’s disappointment, there was no resounding swell of emotion, or an epiphany of knowledge. It just felt like she had stepped out of her bedroom. Although the library she’d stepped into was certainly not the one she knew. The doors were closed and the curtains drawn, blocking any potential view beyond the library’s walls. A strange omnipresent crimson light seemed to filter through them anyway, and Twilight felt a horrible sensation deep in her gut that those curtains were only barely holding back what lay outside. But she couldn’t let that stop her. Tearing her gaze from the shrouded windows, she headed for the stairs, noticing the pair of eyes that were watching her descend only as she reached the final steps. Sitting in the centre of the room, at a very familiar table, was The Other; and Twilight felt the compulsion to take a seat grip her, pulling her along until they were both sat across from each other. The seconds seemed to tick past with glacial slowness, Twilight nervously fidgeting in her seat at the unbroken attention she was given, slowly getting more and more anxious until she couldn’t bear it any longer. “Okay! What are we doing, why did you bring me here?” If The Other noticed the strange tone of her voice, she didn’t show it. You are here so that I can help you understand the bond between us as I understand it. Before you can do that, however, you need to push past this mental block that you have created inside of yourself. So that is what we’re going to do. Just like before, Twilight had to resist the urge to immediately refute The Other’s point. She took a slow breath before responding. “Okay. How are we going to do that?” First, you need to stop talking like that. You need to accept that we are of one mind and recognise that there is no point in trying to arbitrarily put up barriers between us. “While—” Twilight began before being swiftly silenced by a magical glow around her muzzle. The Other seemed to have no remorse when Twilight glared at her, the spectral pony merely waiting with an expectant look. One that made Twilight’s blood boil. While I recognise that for some situations this type of interaction may be advantageous, there is a level of privacy that a pony’s thoughts provide—one that I refuse to relinquish. A pony’s mind should be her last bastion, a place for her to go when she has nowhere else. I won’t give that up. So you’re going to let some silly emotional qualms get in the way of learning? Twilight merely held her glare, unable to speak through the magic holding her muzzle and refusing to respond otherwise. You just don’t understand. With a heavy sigh, The Other released the magic and leant back in her chair, staring up at the roof. Whatever special privacy you think you have, it doesn’t exist. Even if you’re not communicating with me like that, I can still sense your thoughts and emotions. It’s just easier if you direct them towards me. The only time I can’t hear your thoughts is when I actively make the effort to ignore them, and that’s not easy. “Wait, what? But that doesn’t make any sense! That would mean that you know everything I’ve ever thought since—” Twilight paused, looking down at the table and thinking for a moment “—since the nightmare creature!” The Other lowered her head and gave Twilight a flat stare, one eyebrow raised ever so slightly. Nothing was said, but the pieces were coming together. Twilight soon found herself standing up to pace a familiar route around the library, her brain working through the information. “No no no, that doesn’t add up. If you heard everything I’ve been thinking then that means you heard when I—?” Twilight glanced over to The Other and froze at the way her head was slowly nodding back and forth. “But if that’s the case, then all those times I held my tongue but still thought about the things I wanted to say to you, well, you would have—” The nodding continued and Twilight’s ears pinned back, her legs tensing as a horrified shiver ran down her spine. Suddenly the fact that she was alone, in the mindscape, with a powerful creature born of mental magic became very prominent in her thoughts. Ideas of what The Other could do to her ran through her mind. Wipe her memories, change the way she thought. Oh Celestia, why is it getting so hard to breathe? The walls were twisting around her, drawing closer with every second. She was trapped. Caught with no way out! What— You are being ridiculous. Twilight gasped as everything returned to normal, her legs giving out as relief rushed through her. “I don’t know what—” You were about to have a panic attack. Your third in so many days. I forcefully pulled you out of it. “Why?” You’re already an emotional mess as it is, little flower. Even I couldn't handle you in the throes of a panic attack. I can’t imagine what ridiculous nonsense you’d convince yourself of. Twilight winced at the harsh tone, her legs slowly finding their strength as she pushed herself to her hooves. “How?” We’re in the mindscape. Were you not listening to what I just said about affecting your mental state? Twilight winced, blushing faintly and nodding. “Oh. Right. Thank you?” The Other sighed, shaking her head as she floated out of her chair and landed on the floorboards with a small thud. Without speaking she stalked forward, following Twilight as she backed away step by step until there was nowhere else to go. “What are you doing? G-get away, I swear if you don’t—” The Other reached up to place a hoof on Twilight’s chest, and very gently pushed. The pressure from that hoof radiated warmth, and slowly Twilight felt her panicked thoughts calm. Why do you think I’m helping you, little flower? “Wha—” I could see the confusion in your eyes, I can feel it all around us. So I’m asking you to speak your thoughts. Why do you think I’m helping you? Twilight opened her mouth. Because The Other wanted to manipulate her, to trick her into doing what she was told so that The Other could get the upper hoof and take control again. It was just another part of an elaborate scheme to get Twilight to drop her guard and trust The Other so that she could be stabbed in the back! “I don’t know.” No sooner had the words come out of her mouth than a resounding Slap! echoed out. Twilight staggered back from the hoof that had just struck her, her eyes watering from the pain. Stop lying to me! I know when you’re doing it and it’s achieving nothing but wasting time! Twilight reached up to gingerly press a hoof to her cheek, gasping as she saw the traces of blood. “You hit me…” Oh, well done. Next you’re going to tell me that it hurts. We’re in your mind! I can’t actually hurt you with a little slap. Stop being an idiot. The pain was short lived, but the shock quickly melded into anger as Twilight lowered her hoof back down. “You hit me.” The Other paused for a moment, before grinning. Yes, I know exactly what I did. Now what are you going to do about it? Twilight slowly looked up, her horn already alight. “I’m going to do this!” With a cry, a jagged beam of lavender arced out, only to strike at a barrier of crimson that sprung up to block it. All around them the library was bathed in a sea of flickering colours as the magical energies clashed. Is that all? A pathetic little beam of magic? Growling, Twilight increased the flow of magic to her horn, the sound of her spell resonating through the air and shaking her down to her bones. No matter how much energy she put in however, The Other’s shield refused to buckle. Is this it? You’re just going to cast a spell at me with that stupid pout on your face? What’s the matter, too idiotic to cast and speak at the same time? “Shut up!” Even with her shouting, the words were swept up by the overwhelming thrum of magic and rendered inaudible. Something The Other seemed to very quickly pick up on. Amazing. You’re not very good with words to begin with, but that was an impressive level of stupid. ‘Shut up’, that’s your retort? I said, shut up! Twilight’s thoughts echoed out, rippling the air and causing The Other’s shield to flicker visibly. Something which didn’t go past unnoticed by either of the two. Ohh, you almost made a dent there. But I guess that’s all you’re good for, ‘almost’ succeeding and then hoping someone else comes in to save the day! But your precious princess is gone, and you abandoned your friends like an idiot, so all you’re left with is me! And I’m not planning on cleaning up after all your mistakes! Anger that had been building for weeks, that had been pushed down again and again, finally reared up inside of her, and Twilight felt something in her crumble. With a scream she cancelled her spell, her magic twisting into a chain that pulled the shielded Other down into the floor with a resounding slam. Useless? Me? It’s my magic that you’re using to murder everything that you think is an issue, it’s my horn and my hooves that are putting in all the effort! Without me, you’d be nothing! The Other flinched back, ears flattening against the side of her head as her eyes widened in shock. But Twilight could feel the anger inside of her uncoiling, demanding she continue. And you’re right. I was lying. But I wasn’t trying to hide anything, I was just trying to spare your feelings, if you even have any. You’re not a pony, you’re not even a creature. You’re a twisted fragment of my psyche given life by dark magic. I don’t care what reason you have for helping me. I don’t want any of the ‘help’ you’d give me. The shield began to splinter, fragmenting into shards and crumbling beneath Twilight’s anger. But I’m sick of lying. Sick of trying to play nice. You hurt my friends, you tried to steal my body. And now you’re trying to use the same emotions you mock me for having against me? And you think I’m not going to notice? The one-eighty you did was so obvious I’m surprised I didn’t get whiplash. You’re not clever. You’re not subtle. You’re pathetic! With a final flash of light, the shield vanished and Twilight’s hooves slammed into the ground on either side of The Other’s head, her horn aimed directly down at the spectral pony’s thoat. The Other stared up at the horn, a brief shudder running through her before her lip curled into a snarl.So much for ‘not giving into your anger’. It’s been, what, minutes since then and we’re right back where we were. I’d ask you if you’ve figured out anything from that, but I can already tell I’m going to need to spell it out for you. Twilight’s horn began to glow, the tip shimmering just brightly enough to be noticable. Give me one reason I shouldn’t try and finish what I started. I don’t have any. Go on. Do it. The magic flared up, blindingly bright, before vanishing with a pop; leaving Twilight to huff in anger, stomping her hoof against the floorboard. You knew I wouldn’t. You’re still manipulating me! Of course I am. But the question is, did it work? What can you hear, sister? Twilight froze, shock momentarily overriding her anger. “What did you just call me?” The Other’s hoof came up to press against her lips in a shushing motion, her other hoof reaching up to brush Twilight’s ear. I said, what can you hear? The anger inside of her demanded she ignore The Other’s leading question, but her shock kept her stunned long enough for a familiar hum to return to her. But this time, it wasn’t just a hum. Voices echoed all around her, hundreds of them. Thousands of them! And they were all her own. This time, when she focused, the sounds didn’t fade away. Instead, she found herself able to pick out individual voices, listening to what they had to say. And what they had to say was not pleasant. Every one she sought out was her, shouting or crying or yelling. All of them angry. All of them upset. What—is this? Your thoughts. My thoughts. Our thoughts. Every thought we’ve ever had is here, somewhere. Why are they all so angry? You are angry, little flower. What kind of thoughts do you think you have when you’re angry? Twilight frowned, hesitantly responding. Angry ones? The Other’s laughter made Twilight tense up and she snapped, Don’t laugh at— The thought was cut off as the same words echoed all around her, along with dozens of other similar comments. If you laugh one more time… This isn’t a joke! I swear to Celestia if you laugh... For a brief moment Twilight felt buried beneath the wave of angry remarks, but as soon as they’d started, they vanished again. It’s not pleasant. Is it? Twilight turned to look at The Other, who had at some point vanished from under her and returned to her chair. And was now giving Twilight a strange look. Wha— The voices. Hearing all the thoughts echoing back at you. It can be overwhelming. But it’s only overwhelming if you let it be. Let it be? These are your thoughts. The more emotional you are, the louder they’ll be. And the harder it is to ignore them. Twilight winced at the constant background chatter of the thoughts, and how loud they were. She’d felt anger before, but this was different. Are these really all my thoughts? All my anger? The Other simply nodded. Being loud isn’t always bad. You can have loud positive emotions too. It can also be a tool. Twilight recognised what The Other was doing, baiting her curiosity to distract her from the anger, and wasn’t ashamed to admit it worked. A tool? When we talk to each other, it’s the exact same thing. Except those thoughts are projected ‘loudly’ at one another by intention. It took me weeks to figure it out; it was far easier for you because you just copied me. Twilight frowned and opened her mouth but was cut off when The Other held up a hoof and grinned. Yes, I’m aware you didn’t copy me intentionally. Everything I have learnt about the mindscape, you know too. You just instinctively picked this up before your paranoid mental block cut me off. Twilight sighed, shaking away the last vestiges of anger and approaching the table. So that was all… a trick? You were trying to get me angry so my emotions would be strong enough to hear? In a sense. I also wanted you to stop hiding your emotions away. Which, by the way, you’re still doing. The frustration must have been visible on Twilight’s face because The Other sighed. Again. Look, you’re almost there. There’s just one more step. Close your eyes. Twilight paused, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. The Other’s expression seemed mostly genuine, however, and she hesitantly closed her eyes. After taking a step back. Now I want you to listen to the voices again. Focus on them. Twilight nodded, taking a deep breath and focusing on the background hum at the edge of her hearing. Slowly the hum intensified, growing louder and louder as the seconds ticked past. More than once it seemed to recede, much to Twilight’s annoyance, but that irritation worked to her favor as the more irritated she got the louder the hum became until suddenly— If I don’t get this soon… This is pointless, that thing is just trying to… Why can’t I get this? You’re meant to be good at magic, Twilight! The frustrated comments flared up in her head for a moment, and then the realisation that she’d done it swept them away. She’d done it! Her excitement only lasted a moment before she realised that same excitement had broken her concentration and pushed the hum to the background again. Urghhh.. It’s frustrating, isn’t it? I can’t tell you how many times that exact thing happened to me. I found that the best way around it was to focus on the next step. That way, even once you hear it, your annoyance persists until you have achieved the next step, too. Funny how easy it is to manipulate yourself here. Twilight nodded slowly. It made sense in a weird sort of way. And as she was quickly realising, in here, everything worked in a weird sort of way. In fact, perhaps she could use that to her advantage? Taking a deep breath, Twilight focused on the excitement she’d felt every time she’d learnt a new spell. The delight at mastering a new magical skill. To her surprise, the background hum began to grow louder, and the louder it got, the more excited she became—until her head was filled with happy thoughts. I did it! Yes… you did. And not in the way I expected. Well done. Right. What’s the next step? I can do this! This step is easy. Now you’re aware of your thoughts, all you need to do is imagine them as something physical. Something visible. Anything can work, a ghostly version of yourself, a strand of thread— A cloud of coloured fog! Twilight could feel the surprised pause. It was easy to imagine the confusion on The Other’s face as the silence stretched out until— Yes. Or that, I guess? Okay, I’ve got it! Twilight replied, her hooves pawing at the floor in excitement. Finally, something that was easy. If you’re sure then just… open your eyes. The thoughts that you heard should now be… clouds of coloured fog? Twilight paused, biting her lip for a few nervous seconds. What if I can’t see it? Oh, just open your eyes! With a deep breath, Twilight forced herself to open her eyes. The Other sat in her chair, surrounded by a greyish cloud speckled with small sparks of fire. Some part of her instinctively knew that the cloud represented frustration, anger, annoyance. Even that couldn’t stop the smile that spread across her face at the realisation that she’d done it. And to her surprise, The Other’s cloud seemed to brighten ever so slightly, streaks of yellow weaving in as she saw Twilight’s smile, and gave one of her own. Well done. I knew you could do it. And Twilight knew it was the truth. She could hear it, see it. Feel it. Oh, Celestia. That’s strange. Is this what you feel everytime I say something? The Other nodded, stepping down from her chair and walking over. It’s certainly something, isn’t it? You can imagine why I was so frustrated with you when I could feel the emotions in everything you said, emotions which so often contradicted your words perfectly. Twilight nodded slowly, strange bouts of anger and frustration suddenly becoming clear in her mind. Everything she’d done since the island, since Luna! It was all cast in a new light. I… I’m sorry. I never realised. I know. Before you apologise though, there’s something I want you to see. Twilight’s brow furrowed as The Other glided past her, following along with a confused hum. Why couldn’t I… did I mess it up? The Other’s sly smirk was proof enough that Twilight hadn’t been the one to make a mistake, and the reply that came shortly after confirmed her suspicions. I hid them from you. I don’t want to spoil the surprise. Surprise? You’ll see. Trust me. At any other moment, Twilight would have found it hard to trust anything The Other had to say. But this time, this time she could feel the sincerity, could practically see the truth floating around The Other like a haze. Okay. I trust you. The smirk turned into an excited smile as the door was slowly opened by The Other’s magical grip, and Twilight hesitantly stepped forward into the unknown. Oh, Celestia...
Prologue: A Story of TwoAuthor's Note Hey everyone! If you're reading this story for the first time then feel free to skip this and start reading! If, however, you remember the original version of this story I'd highly advise you go check out the blog post - Here. Prologue: A Story of Two Pain. Their flank burned despite the icy water that rhythmically washed across the debris they had clambered onto. Their breath rarely came, and when it did, it was weak, and barely alleviated the fire in their lungs. But no matter how much Twilight pushed or struggled, she could not move her body any more than she could reverse time and change what had just happened. Her own words still echoed tauntingly in her head, her brain replaying the scene over and over in an attempt to figure out what she could have done differently. They were power... They were vengeance... They were magic. The ring had buckled beneath their strength like they knew it would, and they had bathed the world in their light, sundering anything that dared to contain their brilliance. The ring, the cell, and then the ship itself had been split apart in the wake of their power. Now they were free. Not only from chains and cages, but free from rules, free from limits, free from anything or anypony who would stop them. A hundred thoughts rushed through their head as they burst from the ship and into the night sky, each one organised and prioritised, a list of objectives to complete before the night was done. They did enjoy a good list. First, the still-crumbling wreckage of the Screech. As enticing as the thought of leaving the callous bounty hunters to suffer the same fate as their ship was, the nauseous feeling it brought them was stronger, and any and all distractions had to be removed. It was an insignificant use of their power to ping the two halves of the ship as it began falling from the sky, her magic showing her clearly where everypony was as they scrambled for safety. A simple teleport, amplified by their power, and the ones who had survived their initial escape were scrambling through the dirt on the other side of the island – groaning in pain, but alive. With that urgent task dealt with, they turned their eyes to the stilled estate beneath them. They had been fighting, that much was obvious, but Twilight’s emergence had brought on a temporary awe-inspired ceasefire, ponies too busy gaping up into the sky at their magnificence to continue their petty battle. For a moment they revelled in the feeling; their mere presence was enough to stop the hostilities! But that wouldn’t last… and those monsters had attacked their friends. They would make sure it never happened again. Awe was replaced by terror as their brilliant light arced out and struck a trio of soldiers gawking inside the courtyard, reducing them to ash in an instant, the echoing thunderclap of their power briefly overpowering the shouts that came a moment later. After that first display of power, their targets scattered like the cowards they were in a desperate attempt to escape justice. But their eyes saw everything, and their power stretched across the entire island. There was nowhere to run, and they had been so kind as to wear such a distinctive green; it was trivial to spot them despite their efforts to hide. It wasn’t a battle, it wasn’t even a game. It was simply what had to be done. And the cowering wretches knew they could not escape. So as a cornered beast does when it realises it is trapped, they fought back. Bullets whizzed through the air, only to be repelled by the sheer immensity of their magic; their body was surrounded by an incandescent glow that bathed the sky in their own lavender twilight, and its strength repelled the projectiles back down to the earth without so much as a thought. In fact, none of it took any thought; it was mindless, it was easy. There was no challenge here, no thrill to be had in the removal of these meaningless pawns. But there were more than just pawns at play, and as Twilight mentally looked down her list, she knew exactly which piece she wanted to deal with next. “Gava!” Their voice thrummed across the island, borne on winds of magic to every corner that the bounty hunter could be hiding. “Where are you?!” There! She caught the faintest of motions from the edges of the island. Did the idiot really think she could hide? An amused chuckle escaped them as they soared across the sky, their horn releasing a searing streak of light that seemed to cut the very world in twain, aimed directly at the fleeing griffon seeking to escape her. “You can’t hide from me, fledgeling!” Twilight smirked in satisfaction as the sheer power their magic gave off was enough to toss the coward from the sky. Good. They would have been disappointed had it ended so soon. They watched as she tumbled through the air before colliding with the remnants of the estate walls, careening off the stone and into the grounds where she crashed into the dirt, leaving a trench of disturbed earth behind her. And yet even then she refused to relent, staggering to her claws and limping towards the mansion. Perhaps if she’d turned to face them, they would have granted her a warrior’s death. But no, she was a coward, just like the rest of them! Twilight growled, soaring down out of the sky and slamming into the centre of the courtyard with a resounding crash. Their magic cleared the area around them in moments, vaporising their immediate surroundings and creating a swirling maelstrom of dust and dirt that flowed around them like a storm, caught in the force of their magical aura. But they didn’t care about that; there was only one thing they cared about. The one who locked them in that cell. The one who chased them across Equestria as a sport! The one who hurt their friends! Rage was in ample supply, and they felt it burning through them as they reached out with their magic to grasp the source of all their pain, a vile satisfaction spreading through them as the little griffon squirmed. “Come to me, coward, I want to see you die!” It felt exquisite. All the anguish and hopelessness they had felt, all being released on someone who deserved it. This monster wasn’t going to hurt anyone ever again. They would wipe her dirty mark from this world. And they would enjoy it. Nothing would stop them. Not the soldiers who screamed in fear beneath them, nor the pegasi who threw themselves forward to try and tackle them. But the distractions were growing tedious—they were not the enemy here! “Do not interfere!” They smiled as the soldiers flinched away, as they should, but the smile became a frown as one of the soldiers stepped forward again, shouting up at her. The storm muffled her words, but she caught the end of it. Something about returning. The idea was laughable, and as they turned their focus back to the one who deserved it, they made sure to make the guard clear that their message had been ignored. “There is nowhere to return to.” And suddenly, there was no more excitement. No more thrill. There was just hate, hate for this griffon who had taken so much from them, who had hurt them for no other reason than her own selfish gain. With barely a thought, their magic swelled up inside of them, ripping the ground away to reveal the churning ocean below. It was time to end this. “Join your ancestors, fledgeling.” But then… then everything had gone terribly terribly wrong. They had been so close. They could have fixed everything: saved their friends, stopped the attacking soldiers, and dealt with the bounty hunters all in one moment! But instead, they were trapped within their own mind, consumed by doubts when their goal should never have been clearer. Inside the library, their anger and frustration manifested as swirling clouds of crimson flames flickering in a black fog, surrounding the two mares as they screamed at each other; both of them oblivious to the way their words caused the energies around them to pulse and writhe. “When we agreed to flee I assumed you had a plan, an idea of where we would go. I did not agree to this!” “You said you wouldn’t hurt them, and you lied. I don’t care what you did or didn’t agree to, I’m the one in control now!” “And you’re going to get the both of us killed with your stupidity! Even as we speak, our body is at risk of sinking beneath the waves. How long before we drown, or worse?” “Well if you’d just! Let! Go!” Arcs of lavender magic crackled against waves, directionless and uncontrolled as the two struggled for control of their power, scaring off the curious denizens of the deep that had come in search of prey. “No! Only I can guide us to our desires! You’re too much of a coward to do what has to be done!” “Cowardice and kindness are not the same thing! Not that you’d ever understand that!” The shifting miasma around them thickened as they argued, creeping across their hooves, sinking into their coats, and darkening the room around them. “Call it whatever you want, it only holds us back! ‘Kindness’ has only hurt us! Or do you not remember?” They awoke with a start. No. Something else had joined them in their slumber. Everything was bright and confusing. They were in pain. They needed to do something! There was power, energy all around them. They could feel it straining and yearning to be called upon. They reached out, slowly. The power burned at their very being, but it also felt good. Safe. They hesitated for a moment before reaching out again. This time it didn’t hurt, and energy flowed through them. But what could they do with it? The question was answered for them, something pulling at the magic insistently. They relinquished their hold and felt the monster retreat. Again, they pulled the power to them and let it flow outwards. They didn’t understand where it was going, but every time they did it, they felt the monster retreat a little further. The creature had forced itself into their dreams, waking them up from an eternity of darkness as it tried to tear their mind apart, but they would stop it! Finally, the shifting energies seemed to relax and the brightness faded away but… the pull was still asking for more. Instinct drove them as they drew on that magic, spells rushing through their mind without understanding. Spells to heal, to rejuvenate, to replenish, and as the pain faded away, they felt calm, relaxed. The sensation was new, but they knew that it was good. They had helped. They could help more. Slowly, they stretched their perception outside of their starry home for the first time, seeking the source of the pull. “It must be those dream creatures,” she said, looking closer at the shrivelled corpse of a Royal Guard. “They’re inducing a coma in anything that wanders in, then feed on their dreams until they die.” I wonder if there are any side effects? she thought as she calmly examined old wounds marked in the guard’s bones. They were a she. She was a she! Feelings and thoughts rushed in, more than she had ever felt before. And they were exhilarating. She felt concern, tension, excitement; all of them were overwhelming in their intensity, but exhilarating enough to make her head spin. Head spin? What did that mean? She didn’t know, but it felt right. Suddenly all of that was washed away by another emotion, stronger than any of the others. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she desperately reached her perception outwards in search of the source. What she saw was beautiful. A goddess, serene and perfect, marred by sickness. A sickness? Red streaks ran down across the goddess’ cheeks. It was wrong. Why? She didn’t understand, why was that wrong? Desperate for answers, she turned her perception back inward. Her once empty world was now full of ribbons of light that swirled and spun through the darkness. And in the middle of it stood a… something. She moved towards it and examined the object. It stood tall, a mighty pillar rising up above her before stretching out wide. It was covered in… smaller softer things. And its surface was broken up by a number of strange items. Slowly, information filtered through to her. Home. This was home? She floated into it and was shocked to see that the pillar was empty. No, hollow! It was hollow. Inside were other items, full of colour and light. Instinct drove her onwards to something in the centre of the pillar. A table. And on it was a… book. That was good. Books were good. She reached out to touch the book, and she was assaulted with more information than she had ever felt before. She wasn’t alone! She had a partner, a companion, an ally? Words rushed to her and each one was discarded in turn until she found the perfect word. A sister! Her sister’s name was Twilight, she was a unicorn, she had five wonderful friends and she was from Equestria. She studied beneath the Princess but—the Princess was gone? Vague sensations of movement and travel filtered down to her from the outside, but she brushed them aside; she needed to understand. Their world was gone. The Princess was gone. A need struck her and she began to scour their home for information. She didn’t even notice that she was no longer just her at first. She moved through the pillar—no, the tree—on hooves. She was like her sister! Excitement rushed through her as she began to scour the library, so much knowledge and so many memories to explore. So caught up in the joy of discovery, she ignored the sound of rushing water and humming mechanisms that filtered from the outside of the tree, the vague notion of travel far less interesting than learning about her sister. That excitement slowly faded as she began to stumble upon more and more feelings of loss and pain and misery that seemed to lurk in every book she read. Something horrible had happened, but whenever she tried to focus on the memory, the feeling of drowning sent her fleeing back. She didn’t understand. But she would. She could do it. They could do it. There was so much more to learn but… something was wrong. The tree was shaking and there was a horrible sensation deep in her… stomach? She didn’t know what it meant, but she knew what she had to do. She had helped her sister defeat the monster before, and she could do it again. Rushing out of the tree, she expanded her awareness and let the sensations of her sister filter though. It was deafening and confusing and it hurt! There was a constant thrum, punctuated by a deep thud-thud-thud that seemed to shake her to the very core, and she could feel her sister’s pain in her own body like they were one and the same. She didn’t know what was happening, but she didn’t need to; she just needed to understand one thing. There was a monster, and the monster had her friend. It was going to hurt her other friends as well. Just the thought of that filled her with fury, eclipsing every other emotion with its strength. How dare they threaten my friends! Power lay all around her, and she summoned as much of it as she possibly could. She knew how to deal with monsters; they had to die! She would destroy them! She would save her friends! But before she could, all of the power was ripped away from her, channelled into a spell she could barely understand, let alone cast. What was happening? Where had her magic gone? Understanding came slowly, but when it did it left her reeling. Her sister had taken it! They had used it to get rid of the monsters with a spell so complicated that it was beyond her own understanding. The realisation made her giddy; her sister was so clever, she didn’t even need all this power to save their friends! Twilight watched with excitement through her sister’s eyes as the evil monsters were dispatched… but their friend hadn’t come back yet. Excitement dropped away and was replaced with a horrible feeling she quickly identified as worry as she saw something lurching away from them. She didn’t understand what it was, but her sister’s worry made it very clear—their friend was on it. They had to rescue her! Her sister clearly understood better than she did because not a moment later and they were standing on the strange object, shouting at the monsters to give their friend back! But the monsters refused to back down, even when the other her had been willing to show Kindness, to let them live. Suddenly, everything shifted. Nothing had hit them, but her chest felt like it was being crushed. Pain lanced through and she screamed into the void as she watched her friend collapse to the floor. “NO!” The pain was unbearable, ripping her apart without mercy. Desperately she reached out for something, anything to stop it. She found anger and rage. Burning hatred flooded her and numbed the pain, giving her clarity, and with it, power. Power enough to destroy every last monster that would ever dare hurt her friends. “I’ll flay him alive! Tear the skin from his flesh, turn his bones to searing fire, plunge him into an unending nightmare of–” “Stop!” The anger was momentarily washed away by the force of her sister’s shout. But it returned easily when she felt all the power she had gathered pulled from her and unleashed upon the monsters that dared threaten them, crushing them against the floor with unstoppable strength. “Yes! Yes! Do it!” But the other her didn’t do it; she teleported down into the depths of the ship instead. Twilight’s confusion was quickly replaced by understanding as she saw her friends chained down. Of course, first, they had to save their friends. Then they could unleash their power on the monsters! It barely took a moment for them to bring all their friends to their side. Now there were only the monsters left to deal with. But the other her didn’t do it. She hesitated. What was she waiting for? “You’ve got your friends. Now crush your foes. You have the power. End them, and they’ll never bother you again!” Why wasn’t she doing it? Why was she casting that spell again? They hadn’t killed the monsters. “No!” Twilight cried out in anger as the other her retreated back to their own ship. There had to be an answer; there had to be a reason. She dug into the other her’s thoughts desperately, but all she could find was that same word. Kindness. What did that mean? “Your kindness blinded you! You let them live, and they came back to hurt your friends again! You should have finished them off when you had the chance!” “And be like you? You’re no better than Gava!” The shroud of darkness thickened, pulsing with a sinister light that reflected off their eyes, making them shimmer red in the barely visible lighting of the library. “How dare you! Everything I ever did, I did to protect you! How can you not see the difference between killing to protect the ones you love and killing as a cruel sport? I am nothing like that monster. Nothing!” “I just watched you slaughter countless ponies, treat Gava like your sadistic plaything, and rip apart the very island my friends stood on! You’re not just like her, you’re worse!” “They were trying to kill our friends. They were the monsters, and I put them down. Just like they deserved!” “And Pinkie? Did she deserve what you did to her?” The deafening sound of magic surging all around them seemed to abate for the briefest moment, a lull that only made its return all the more chaotic. “It was her fault! She got in my way!” “How can you possibly blame her for what you did? How is anything you’ve done been to protect me? You do nothing but hurt ponies and poison my thoughts with your hatred!” “My hatred? You’re the one who pushes down all your anger and fear until it can’t be held back anymore! I’m doing the things you’re too scared to do!” “You’re wrong! I’m not scared to hurt ponies, I’m—” “Better than that? Don’t give me that look. That is what you were going to say, wasn’t it? Tell me, how is letting your friends suffer better than keeping them safe? How is hiding from everything that scares you better than having the strength to face it?” Angry crimson sparks crackled across their horn, vicious red tears staining the rock beneath them ever so briefly before being washed away by the waves. “You hide your weakness behind a veneer of goodness, but that’s all it is, a cover. You claim to be better than me because of your morals, but what about the phoenix?” “...” “Well? What about the monster that wanted nothing more than to kill you, that was nothing more than a mindless creature of magic and hate? Who saved us then?” “I... “ Twilight pushed another book to the side, sighing in frustration as she tried in vain to find an explanation. She’d been searching ever since her sister had let those monsters go, but no matter how many times she looked over the memory, or scoured through her sister’s thoughts, she could never find an explanation. It was illogical, it was stupid. And it didn’t make any sense! Her sister was clever; she was powerful and strong and capable. But she had made such a simple mistake and it was infuriating trying to understand why. There must be something she was missing. But if there was, she couldn’t comprehend it. Was there some sort of line? Everything on one side of the line was okay but everything on the other was ‘going too far’. She had no idea what that meant, but her sister was very determined that it was the right way of doing things. And she trusted her sister. One thing she very clearly comprehended, though, was that she had done something wrong. When she had brought all her power—no, her sister’s power. When she had summoned it all up and given it over, it had been too much. Watching her sister cry into the hooves of their friend had felt like watching that monster attack her all over again, and she’d ended up retreating deep into her home to escape the sensation. But even hidden in the tree, buried far inside of her sister’s mind, the memory of the scene continued to haunt her; and so she continued to root deep within the tomes that lined the walls of their home for answers. Nothing but frustration met her attempts, and it wasn’t long before she began to feel the familiar gnawing of anger at her thoughts. These books weren’t helping, and she didn’t have many other options. Her sister only seemed to be reachable when she slept, and Twilight had watched the beautiful world she lived in twist and bloom into a tapestry of colour and feeling every time it happened. But no matter how much she tried, she couldn’t push herself into those ‘dreams’. She thought that she had come close once, desperately calling out a greeting, but it had only caused her sister to awaken. So she sat alone. Studying. Her reading had taught her that studying was supposed to be fun, but she had never felt worse. Nothing made sense and there was a sickly horrible feeling that made her stomach ache every time she paused to think. She didn’t know what it was, but she was growing to hate it in the tree. Days passed by like that, an endless monotony of trawling through information she barely understood in search of an answer to a question she didn’t even know. Sometimes she wished she could return to the comforting darkness from before she had woken up. Finally, she could take it no more. She had to do something. Pulling back the curtains and throwing open the door of the library, she floated out into the consciousness and reached out to watch her sister’s perception. What she saw, and felt, almost made her retreat back into the safety of their home. The same horrible pain in her chest from before crushed down around her as she watched her sister move through endless murky water. Just the sight of it made her recoil. And as surface memories began to filter in, the pain only seemed to worsen. Her friends were down here, buried under the waves and rock of… a fallen island? She didn’t understand what that meant, but the concept made the tears dripping down her cheeks flow all the more freely. Why was her sister here? Just to hurt them? She couldn’t endure any more of this. She couldn’t understand how her sister was able to; it was unbearable. With a whimper she began to pull herself away, trying to escape the pain before it overwhelmed her. Wait. Something new, welling up in her chest and pushing the pain away. What was that? With wide eyes, she turned back around and sought what could possibly be strong enough to save her from the horrible sensation. An… invitation? “YOU’RE INVITED TO PINKIE PIE’S GETTING-THE-GANG-TOGETHER PARTY AT ALTALUSIA THIS ??? PS: Don’t worry about us, Twilight! I just had a hoof twitch, rump itch, nose flick, and that means everything’s gonna be okay! Just relax and come to enjoy the party!” She struggled to grasp the meaning for a moment, before realising she didn’t need to understand what the words said; the invitation meant her friends were alive! Everything was okay! The feeling in her chest continued to well up and together, she and her sister laughed and laughed until all the pain had gone away. And at that moment, so many things suddenly made sense. Laughter. All the horrible sensations were swept aside, replaced by an indescribable feeling that she wished would last forever. Her hopes were shattered when the world suddenly began to shake. She only had a moment to look around in panic before it twisted. Twilight cried out as she was thrown down, a shrill, warbling cry echoing all around her and causing the stars to blink out; they returned moments later, as ugly pulsing crimson pinpoints in the darkness. The cry only seemed to be getting louder, drilling into her mind and making her writhe in pain. What was happening? Why was it so hard to think? Why did she feel such an urge to listen? Everything was getting darker. Everything except the cry seemed to be fading away. And it wasn’t so bad anymore, almost enjoyable. In fact, Twilight thought it sounded beautiful. She could let all her pain and worry fade away and just relax as she took control– Wait. Power rushed into her and she flung herself upwards. With a scream of anger, she let that power wash out across her home and was proud to see the stars return to their normal purple and white, whatever foul influence the creature had tried to taint her with burning away beneath her strength. The sound was still there, fainter now but no less unnerving. It felt like it was trying to worm its way inside her and... She didn’t know. But she knew that she couldn’t let it happen. She drew on all the magic she could find, shielding herself and her sister from the awful screams before pushing her perception outwards. This time, unlike before, she felt her view shift dramatically. What was going on? Everything was moving without her. What was this feeling? Her body felt so heavy. Realisation suddenly snapped into place. She wasn’t just looking through her sister, she was her sister! She watched as she – as her sister – as they clambered out of the rocky passage and gazed out on the endless water, and the monster floating in it. Reflexively she hissed, anger flaring up in her breast. To her surprise, her sister seemed to hear her, hesitating for a moment before pushing their magic down. Twilight flinched in confusion, what were they doing? They had all this power, they could destroy the monster easily! They weren’t even using their magic to protect their friend, instead slamming into them physically to throw them away from the monster’s attack. Twilight raged inside her mind as they continued to throw themselves out of the way, dodging attacks but never retaliating. They were going to get hurt! They had to do something! The anger only grew as their so-called friends ignored her, acting as if they knew more than her sister. It only made Twilight’s frustration grow, and as the monster suddenly dove down towards them, she did the only thing she could think of. It wasn’t just her sister’s power. It was theirs! Rage drove her to brush aside her sister’s misguided attempts at suppressing their power; she forced the magic they possessed into the first thing she could think off. With a pop, they vanished. To her shock, rather than be relieved that they had moved safely, her sister seemed to panic as they reappeared, pulling the magic away from her forcibly. She was so confused, why wouldn’t her sister just let her help? Stay away from me! The sudden message rang through their mind and instinct drove her to respond. The words came without thought. You need me. I don’t want your help. I can take care of myself! Twilight nodded, trying to project her agreement into words. Of course, her sister could take care of herself, but she could help! They were stronger together. But still, her sister resisted as they tumbled and struggled through the water. The monster was hurting them! Why couldn’t she help? Was there a plan she didn’t understand? Stay away! I don’t need you! Twilight winced as she continued to watch, shivering as she felt the icy water against their body. She had to trust that her sister knew what to do; her sister always knew what to do! But… her sister had never acted like this. Twilight could feel the panic and fear and uncertainty echoing all around her. Unbidden, she remembered what she had learnt from her time scanning through her sister’s mind. ...the only trouble is when she needs help she finds it hard to accept it. So while friendship is about giving of ourselves to friends, it's also about accepting what our friends have to offer. In her panic, she had forgotten the things that made her strong. But Twilight wouldn’t let her sister down. She knew that she could help, and if she had to force her sister to accept that help, then she would; her sister would understand why. Focusing all her thoughts and magic, she started to push. Trying to force the magic into her sister’s grasp. Even when her sister started to struggle – You’re evil! – even when she tried to pull the magic away, Twilight refused to give up and then, suddenly, as if a switch was flipped, she was in control. Complete control. All of their power burst out from them like a tidal wave, sending the monster careening back helplessly. With merciless efficiency, Twilight surged forward and surrounded the monster in magic, crushing it under their power and suppressing any, and all, magic it might try to cast. Impassively she watched as it struggled, expending more and more energy to try and break free from her clutches. But she was stronger, and she refused to relent. With the monster safely contained, she turned her intention inward, to her struggling sister. To her surprise, she found that the connection between the outside world and their home in the starry expanse was only difficult to traverse one way. Glee spread through her as she rushed down, breezing through the door to their tree and up the stairs, only to stop before the simple wooden door. She had never entered her sister’s personal room; it had always felt wrong. But now she couldn’t resist the chance to talk with her face to face! Effortlessly she passed into the bedroom and hesitated, staring at her sister as she struggled under the bedsheets. Even in distress, she couldn’t help but stare in wonder. Never before had she seen something so perfect, it felt like staring at the flowers in the vase down below. But so much more so. She’s perfect. She deserves to rest, to sleep. Instinct drove her forward, urging her to gently push her sister down. “Where are you going, little flower?” Twilight watched as her sister rolled over, looking up at her with confusion. She gave a warm smile and gently patted the bed. “Don’t you want to sleep?” She knew her sister wanted to. She could feel the relief emanating from her, even if she was too stubborn to accept it. “My friends…” “You deserve to rest,” she said as she grabbed the blankets and tucked them up around her sister’s neck. “I can handle everything.” But still she struggled. “No, no… rest… ” She was so strong, so determined. But she had to rest, she needed to. There were a million questions that Twilight was desperate to ask but she couldn’t do that, not now, not when her sister was so exhausted. There would be tomorrow and the day after that. For now, she had a monster to deal with. “Sleep, little flower.” As she stepped away, she summoned forth a number of memories she knew would bring her sister comfort, the sound of her mother’s voice, the smell of rose pudding, and projected them into the room. “You must rest, little flower.” Torn between the urge to reassure and the need to destroy the monster that had caused this problem, Twilight glanced back towards the door, restlessly shifting. “Not… yet.” “Please, sister, for me.” Twilight pushed as much concern and empathy into those words as she could, but to her horror, her sister was nowhere to be found. Her eyes widened as she rushed back into the library, her presence expanding to every corner of their home to try and find that familiar presence. Where had she gone? Where had she gone?! Twilight flung her focus back to the world, where her magic had pinned the monster down against the rock. “WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?” Power surged through her, driven and forged by anger into a spear of energy that would ensure this monster never hurt anyone ever again. It would pay for what it had done! “No! Stop!” Her hoof dropped as her eyes widened. That was her sister! How was she there? But it was too late; the magic had been released, and with a burst of energy that turned the world white the monster was no more. “... I didn’t need saving!” “You were drowning! Freezing! You were trapped by your own fears and panic and you needed help! I thought friends accepted the help of their friends?” The cloud of hatred and anger seemed to shrink away, the genuine honesty in those words momentarily more powerful than their anger. But it couldn’t last. “You’re not my friend! You’re a disease, some construct of dark magic. You’re a sickness!” “The only sickness here is your weakness! If you weren’t so terrified of doing what needed to be done then this would all be over already! I tried to do this the easy way. I tried to show you what we could do together. But now, I’m doing it my way!” This time, the darkness didn’t stretch outwards into their limbs, but inwards; it surged towards the library with dark intent. But to the surprise of both of them, the library refused to open to their touch, chromatic energy shimmering all around it. “Don’t worry, little flower; soon you’ll be able to rest. Like you deserve. And when you awaken, all our problems will be gone. It’ll be like a bad dream. Just. Give. In.” Again and again, that darkness slammed into the tree, but it refused to yield. But it didn’t need her, it just needed the magic. “No! Stop, you can’t have it!” Once again the two struggled, but this time it wasn’t just for immediate control; the magic flowing through was overwhelming, tearing at their very mind with its power. “Give it to me!” It built up, greater and greater within them until it could no longer be contained. It had to be used. “No!” A spell took shape, one formed of instinct and pain and fear. And with a flash of lavender and red, everything went still. The only sound left was the crashing of the waves. Stretching off into the empty horizon.
Chapter I: An Island of TwoThe sound of roaring waves. The dying light of the setting sun. The wet rock beneath her hooves. The horizon stretching out all around her. Twilight was tired, impossibly so. She was dirty and injured and would have loved for nothing more than to collapse onto the rock beneath her and give in to the delightful temptation of sleep. But she wouldn’t. She couldn’t. Even now, she could feel the after-effects of her spell pounding inside her head like a drum. The pain had not relented once she had fallen from the sky - a moment that seemed so long ago, back when her head was filled with the furious anger of the Other that she shared her small sanctuary with. But it couldn’t hurt her anymore. She had made certain of that. How, she wasn’t quite sure, but the spell had somehow broken the link that it had with her magic, had cast it out from her body and into the air around her. It had granted her a reprieve from the struggle of trying to retain control of her own body, but with it, a new problem had arisen. The Other had screamed at her when she had crawled onto the middle of the debris, legs trembling with the effort to keep herself moving even when both magical and physical exhaustion demanded she stop. It had demanded to know what she had done. It had shouted at her with fury in its voice when she had climbed from the wreckage onto a chunk of stone, still floating with some of the power left over from the island’s magic. It had reiterated that her actions were meaningless, and only further proved she had lost her mind. But she knew that, deep down, that was the furthest thing from the truth. Even now, her friends’ strength was with her, and as long as they were by her side – in spirit, if not in person – she would stay strong. And so, as Applejack had, she kept her gaze locked onto the waves; steady, resolute, firm. Even as the Other continued its tirade of hatred. Eventually, though, it got tired. And when the sound of its anger finally died away, Twilight replied calmly. “I won't let you control me.” And then the Other had paused. It had stopped its ranting for a moment as if to consider those words, assessing them, weighing them. A different kind of anger sprung forth then, one not of mindless hatred but one borne of frustration and disbelief. The dark magic had rushed through her limbs, pulling at them hard enough to send waves of agony coursing through her as the thing yelled about mistakes and delusions. It was sometime around that point that the constant heat began to get to her. Visions of her friends, of her past, and of the last few days swam in and out of her eyesight as if to mock her and remind her of the mistakes she made. But among them, darker sights lingered; twisted memories and hateful words squirmed between her thoughts as if she was looking at a strange reflection of her own life. But even as she felt the strength start to ebb from her body she hadn’t wavered; she had kept her hooves steady and her eyes locked onto that distant horizon as the early sun had baked the moisture from her coat and then relentlessly beat against her back her until her eyes were blurry with sweat and her flank burned in pain. The Other began to slow down, its words heavy with exhaustion rather than anger. A small part of Twilight considered the relationship between her own weakness and its apparent fatigue but was quickly brushed aside. There was only one thing that mattered. “We had no choice. We were trying to help you! Stop this! You’re going to kill us!” Twilight didn’t reply audibly, but the Other could sense her response all the same. With a snarl, the hallucinations that had plagued her vanished; they were replaced by a floating vision of herself. But this wasn’t her. This was the Other, an almost impossibly identical look-alike, only given away by her sharp fangs and blood stained cheeks. And when it next spoke, the desperation in its voice was clear despite the venom that laced every word. “We did what we had to! And your little stunt is only hurting yourself! Is that what you want? For your friends to never see you again because you were too cowardly to let me help you?” “...” The Other collapsed to the floor, its form flickering and fading in the slowly fading light. Twilight could feel her magic reserves running dangerously low, but still, she refused to give in. “Not even our magic can change the past! What do you expect me to do? Are you really willing to let us die on this miserable rock over a mistake? You have to see sense, little flower! We can only fix this if we survive!” At this, Twilight finally responded. Her ears flicked up as she shifted her gaze to give the Thing a piercing stare. “What did you just say?” The Other’s eyes widened hopefully at the response, her words coming quickly despite how tired they sounded. “That we can only fix this if we survive!” “No, not that,” Twilight replied, shaking her head. “The bit before that. “Are… you really willing to let us die on this miserable rock over a mistake?” Twilight held her hoof up as the Other finished. “So you admit that it was a mistake?” “What? Yes! Yes, of course, why would I ever intentionally hurt our friends?” “If it was a mistake, then you know what I want,” Twilight replied, giving the Other a firm stare for a few more moments before looking away. A scoff, indignant and arrogant. “Apologise? That’s what you want? Some meaningless phrase and you’ll end this silly tirade? You cannot truly be that naive. Actions speak louder than words, little flower, and all I’ve ever done is help you!” Twilight didn’t reply, and the Other’s arrogant glare faded away once more to be replaced by a fearful look, its ears pinned back and its hooves scratching at the ground. “You’re not joking. You...” It stepped back, shaking its head and looking to Twilight with a frown. “Fine. I’m sorry. Good enough?” Twilight refused to even justify the attempt with a response, causing the Other to whine, anger warring with fear as it paced back and forth, occasionally glancing at Twilight for some hint that she’d give in. But Twilight paid it no attention, staring up at the sky as the sun finally dipped below the horizon and the stars began to shine, bathing their small rock in a brilliant Twilight. Fitting, it seemed that she would finally join her family beneath the stars. “Fine! I… I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t intend to hurt her, I only wanted what you wanted. To protect us, to keep them all safe. Please, I don’t want to die.” Twilight’s chest began to ache, her breath growing laboured as she looked back down at the flickering vision of the Other, of herself, staring back at her with wide eyes as it slowly started to fade away. And at that moment, Twilight was forced to admit that the terror and fear in those eyes resonated in her own. She didn’t want to die. She could do it, would do it, if it meant saving her friends. But something in those words struck a chord deep within her. If Nightmare Moon could be defeated… Maybe The Other could, too. Maybe there was another option. She had a duty to try, didn’t she? She had been tasked as the leader of the Elements of Harmony. She had to uphold the virtues of Equestria. She had to be better. “You won’t try to control me without my permission again.” The Other gasped, nodding quickly. “Of course!” “And you will never ever hurt my friends. Ever again.” “I promise!” Twilight sighed, a thing barely audible above the waves, but deafening in its meaning. She knew that the promise was hollow, but it was the best she was going to get, and slowly, she sunk down to her barrel. And as her resolve crumbled, the magic she had been repressing flowed back, just like that. It was enough to let the Other flicker back into full existence, a slightly translucent version of herself. “Thank you.” Twilight opened her mouth to reply but found she couldn’t muster the energy. She couldn’t muster the energy to do anything anymore. Everything was getting blurry, and as sleep forcibly dragged her down into darkness, the last thing she heard was the shimmering of her own horn as the ground rose up to meet her.
Chapter II: A Descent of TwoThe following morning was as brilliant and beautiful as the previous; sunlight streamed down onto the chunk of stone that Twilight lay on, forcing her awake with its brilliance. “Nooo, Spike. Five more minutes.” “Do I look like a baby dragon?” Twilight groaned as she remembered just where she was, and slowly she blinked open her eyes to blearily gaze upwards towards the burning blue sky. The view would have been picturesque, if not for the appearance of the Other sneering down at her. “You look awful.” Twilight blinked, whimpering as the bright sunlight made her head spin. With a wince, she turned and reached up to rub her eyes. The simple gesture sent a fresh wave of pain through her muscles and reminded her that she needed far more than one dubiously restful night’s sleep on an exposed rock. In fact, she likely needed an extended stay in a hospital; who knew what her magic had done to her as they floated out to sea? For a moment, she considered the possibility of simply going back to her friends, of once again trying to keep the Other contained within her, but quickly cleared the thought from her mind. She had no delusions that the Other would keep to its promises in the coming weeks and months. As soon as they weren’t in danger, the lies and temptations would begin again. Her suspicions were confirmed when the Other chuckled dryly at her attempts to stand, her aching legs refusing to support her despite her best attempts. “I don’t know what you’re thinking. That fall of ours did far more damage than you realise, and you expending all that magic yesterday didn’t help either. Thanks for that, by the way.” Despite how much she loathed it, Twilight was forced to admit that it was right. She was in bad shape, and the spell that she had cast to keep her little platform from sinking was already causing her head to ache. Still, she could do without the snide comments from her own hallucinating mind… even if they did sound suspiciously real. “Of course they do. I’m the one talking to you.” “You’re talking to me. Directly to me, not in my mind like you usually do. How?” she asked, her ears twitching as the strange echoey version of her own voice spoke back. “That little stunt you pulled in the water changed a great many things between us.” Although I can still talk like this if you’d prefer? Twilight winced at the familiar feeling of The Other’s voice inside her, quickly shaking her head in response. “No thank you. I much prefer you out of my head whenever possible.” “Your choice.” it responded with a shrug. “I wonder what else it might have done. The possibilities are endless. Well done!” Twilight winced at the sarcastic tone, shooting a glare at the Other that made it raise its hooves in surrender. “Don’t give me that look. I’m just trying to help. You’re clearly losing it; one of us needs to be the voice of reason.” The urge to snap at it was almost overwhelming, and Twilight felt the stirrings of anger from their last argument curling in her stomach. With a shudder, she swallowed down the nasty words and focused her attention on her own problems. She had to find some way to heal herself, to find food, water, shelter. And that was all before she could even begin working on her actual mission. Which… was going to be significantly more difficult now that she’d left all her research notes, Princess Luna, and her friends when she’d abandoned Altalusia. Oh Celestia, what have I gotten myself into? Suddenly, the full scope of what she was trying to achieve dawned on her. Before, when she’d been with her friends, she’d taken it a step at a time. Always focusing on the next goal, the next task. But now, she had no next task. What was she going to do? Where was she going to go? The number of things she needed to do before she could even start to work on figuring out what had happened was staggering. And that wasn’t including her own… issues, which she’d have to deal with eventually. And she had to do it alone. It had been difficult enough trying to handle the responsibility of it all with her friends by her side. It would be impossible to do it – “Excuse me! Alone? What do I look like, an unwanted magical construct formed from wild magic that doesn’t exist except as a manifestation of your own consciousness?” The Other asked with a deadpan tone. After a moment its expression deepened into a frown, “Your friends are the reason you’ve made so little progress. You don’t need them. I can help you reach what we seek. When have I failed you before?” Twilight finally looked up to her unwanted companion, the ‘Other Her’ which had plagued her with its presence for many weeks, and the annoyed frown that was painted on its features. That frown turned into a scowl when Twilight looked away, a scowl which was suddenly directly in Twilight’s face. “Aahh!” “Don’t you dare ignore me, little flower. Who knows what I could be planning? You need to get up, and we have to go. The scavengers you scared off with your outburst will return – and soon. ” The Other extended a hoof, confusing Twilight for a moment until she realised that she was still lying on the floor, her body trembling in pain. With an uneasy feeling in her stomach, she reached up to take the hoof and, much to her surprise, found the aching in her legs lessened ever so slightly, giving her the strength to get back to her hooves. It was a feat that brought the slightest of smiles to her lips... “Wow, you stood up. What a brave filly. You’ll be saying words next,” ...which was immediately stripped away again. “Are you actually going to help me? Or are you just going to follow me around, making snide remarks and mocking me?” “Helping? I’ve done nothing but help you. Or did that spell of yours wipe your memory? Here, let me remind you.” The Other’s horn began to glow and Twilight felt its insidious magic clutching at her head. Before she could respond, she felt memories flickering through her head, outside of her own control. “Who gave you the power to rescue your friends from Gava’s ship?” It asked, floating down to Twilight’s level and fixing her with an irritated glare. “Me.” “Who protected you from the Phoenix under the sea?” It placed a hoof on her chest and Twilight felt a tense pressure build, her breathing becoming laboured as she tried to back away. “Me.” “Who broke you free from your captivity, defeated your enemies, destroyed that annoying airship, and would have solved everything if you hadn’t intervened? Me!” Her back hoof suddenly fell out from her under, loose stone splashing into the water as Twilight reached the edge of the rock. “I tried to ask you nicely. I begged you to let me aid you, but you wouldn’t listen. Nothing seems to get through that thick skull of yours. So now I’m not asking; you’re getting the help you need whether you want it or not. So you better get used to it because I’m not go –” “G-get away from me!” Twilight summoned up as much magic as she could muster and pushed, sending The Other floating back a few feet. Where it remained, scowling. “If that’s how you want to do this, fine. I’ll stay right here. You let me know when you need my help. I’ll be waiting.” Twilight shuddered, the uneasy feeling in her stomach intensifying as she stared up into those callous reflections of her own eyes. Turning away, she looked out across the water and took a deep breath. First things first; she needed to make sure she was okay. A simple diagnostic spell was, thankfully, not too difficult to cast and required almost no energy – a blessing for Twilight in her weakened state. Closing her eyes, she let the spell wash over her, wincing as it pinged back with a vast array of minor injuries. Luckily, it seemed that apart from her dangerously low magical reserves and exhaustion, she was mostly okay. She would be fine after a few days. She just needed rest, food, and water. But getting those wasn’t going to be easy. She couldn’t go back to her friends, not after what had happened, which meant both the Argo and Altalusia were off-limits. She didn’t know of many other islands; even if she did, the risk of bringing The Other with her was too great. Which meant there was only one other option. With a nervous gulp, she trod to the edge of her rocky bastion, looking down into the seemingly endless abyss. She quickly realised that the water wouldn’t provide the answer to her issues either; she had no way to traverse the depths without the Argo and their dive suits. Perhaps if she weren’t so tired, her magic might be able to keep her safe, but she was in no position to be using any magic. Unless… Twilight winced, glancing over her shoulder at The Other, who raised an eyebrow and leaned forward slightly, waiting for her to say something. Twilight grit her teeth and turned away. There must be another way. She wracked her brain, trying to organise her thoughts, but the heat of the sun, the aching in her limbs, and the pangs of hunger in her stomach were making it near impossible to focus. She couldn’t swim. She didn’t have the magic to teleport. She couldn’t go up or down. She had no tools to work with and no-one to help her. Once again, Twilight found herself looking back at her reflection, who seemed to be content hovering there and waiting for Twilight to give in. Twilight was loathe to admit it, but that option was beginning to seem more likely than not. But even with The Other’s help, where would she go? She needed someplace remote, where The Other couldn’t hurt anyone. Someplace safe so she could rest. It needed to have food, water, preferably somewhere she’d be able to easily access information that could help her with – “Oh, of course!” Gasping, Twilight looked up to the horizon, scanning the waves for a familiar landmark. “Ahhh, and she finally figures it out.” Twilight resisted the urge to respond to the sarcastic quip, her eyes scanning the horizon for the mountain she knew was out there. Somewhere in the waves was Canterlot. Her only chance. While the city itself was… dangerous and likely infested with changelings. There should still be areas protected by the Princesses’ magic. Areas where she would be safe. Her excitement was soon overwhelmed by the doubt that had lingered in the back of her mind, however. She still needed to get there. And the only way to do that was– “Well, that was quick. Need me already? I must say, I’m so surprised,” the Other sang behind her, making Twilight’s jaw tense in anger. But just because she didn’t like it didn’t change the facts. Twilight had no other option. She had no way to reach Canterlot without the magical boost the Other provided, leaving her stuck here where eventually she’d end up prey to seaponies… or worse. Slowly, Twilight turned around to face the infuriatingly smug gaze of the Other. “Look. We both want to get off this rock. If you don’t help me, you know what will happen.” The Other raised an eyebrow but said nothing, leaning forward with a smirk. “Don’t just look at me! Are you going to help or not?” It laughed, a chilling echo of her own laughter. “That’s a funny way to ask for help, little flower. Is that how you’d ask your precious Applejack to help you? Or Fluttershy?” Twilight tensed, her horn glowing softly. “Don’t you dare talk about my friends.” “Oh, I’m so sorry. Won’t happen again,” the Other replied, rolling over in the air and gazing back at Twilight upside down. “Still, that was awful. Try again.” “Wha – try again? Listen here, you,” she began, before cutting herself off as The Other’s smirk widened. She had to keep it together. Getting angry would only hurt her in the long term. Closing her eyes, she began to take deep breaths. In. Out. In. Out. She shook her head and let the building magic fade away, a shiver of trepidation running through her as she considered just how much of her limited energy she’d managed to muster in her anger. She opened her eyes once again and looked to the Other with a neutral expression. “I need your help.” The Other smiled brightly, an unnervingly genuine expression, and rushed over, lowering her horn until it was almost touching Twilight’s own. Instantly, Twilight felt the uncomfortable squirming in her gut that she had learnt to associate with the Other’s wild magic. “That’s it, little one.” Slowly, reluctantly, she let the feeling wash across her, drawing on that strange magic. But when she tried to draw it to her horn, it refused. Twilight’s face twisted into a confused frown and she pulled harder. But still, the magic seemed to reject her. “What are you doing…? I did what you said!” “...” With a shudder, Twilight realised what it was waiting for. Despite how much her pride told her not to, the squirming darkness inside of her was sickening. With a tight jaw, Twilight looked the Other in the eye and forced herself to speak. “Please?” “Of course.” And the world went black. The pain was gone. Twilight gasped, opening her eyes and scrambling to her hooves. She had been surrounded by the ocean, but now—now she stood at the base of a small hill surrounded by open fields that seemed to stretch endlessly into the distance. If she squinted, she thought she could see the flickering stars and swirling clouds of energy that formed her subconscious in the distance, but it was hard to tell. Twilight looked around the flower-filled meadow, studying the surprisingly realistic scene as the faint sound of songbirds trilled in the distance. She knew it was a trick, a fabrication in her mind, but she couldn’t help but smile at the peaceful scene, butterflies frolicking at the corners of her vision. It was beautiful, and she found herself tempted to just lie down and relax. As the minutes passed, however, the single, massive tree that stood on top of the hill drew more and more of her attention; it seemed to be waiting for her, swaying in a non-existent breeze. Slowly, she started moving towards it. Who knew what secrets lay just beneath the surface. When she reached the base of the tree, she found the Other waiting for her, sat in the grass with a neutral expression. As she approached, the Other motioned for her to sit, scowling when she turned to stare up at the tree instead with awe. “Where are we?” The Other gave an exasperated sigh, shaking her head. “You know where we are, little flower. Do not ask me stupid questions,” “My mind. You’ve brought me into the dreamscape.” “Why did you ask me if you already knew the answer?” Twilight shrugged, sitting down opposite her reflection. “You clearly created this for me.” The Other didn’t reply to that at first, looking around at the meadows around them. “You did create this for me, didn’t you?” “Yes, obviously,” the Other snapped, huffing and turning away as she continued. “You know the basics of dream magic so I know the basics of dream magic, which means either of us can shape this world as much as we wish. “I thought that creating a peaceful scene such as this would help you recover from the stress you are so clearly suffering from.” Twilight blinked, frowning suspiciously at the nice gesture. “Afterall, you’re completely incompetent with your emotions all over the place. Honestly, a foal would be handling this better.” “There it is…” Twilight rolled her eyes and shook her head. “I appreciate the effort, but surely the library would have been a better choice for me to relax?” The Other paused, replying after a few seconds of tranquil silence. “Our little, Argument, caused some temporary damage. I didn’t want to have to deal with your overly dramatic sobbing, so I brought you here instead.” “Damage? You don’t seem very worried. I hope it’s nothing serious.” Twilight lay down, stretching out in the grass. If she tried really hard she could almost imagine that she was back in Ponyville, relaxing under the sun and waiting for her friends. Almost. “Of course not. If it was, I wouldn’t be indulging you in this pointless small talk. I’d be fixing it,” the Other replied curtly. “That makes sense. I guess. So now what happens? We just sit here and talk while you get us to Canterlot?” Twilight asked, suppressing a yawn as she did so. “Actually, what happens now is you stay here and rest while I solve all your problems. You’re welcome. And don’t argue,” the Other said firmly as Twilight opened her mouth to speak. “You know as well as I do that you’ve pushed yourself way too far as it is recently. It might not be a perfect substitute for real sleep, but you need to take a break.” “I’m not going to let you do whatever you want with my body. Knowing you, I’ll never wake up again,” Twilight muttered, blinking her eyes open and struggling to get to her hooves. Her attempts were quickly stopped by the Other’s hooves, pushing her down and holding her there. Were the songbirds getting louder? “You don’t have a choice. You need my help, and staying here is my price.” “Then,” Twilight began with a yawn, “I don’t want your, mmm, help…” The Other watched as Twilight slowly succumbed to sleep, her eyes finally closing. With that finally handled, she vanished, leaving Twilight to sleep in the dreamscape. The next time Twilight awoke it was with a start; she was alone beneath the huge tree, but she could feel strong surges of magical energy being drawn from her reserves, energy that almost immediately started to grow weaker as she shook the grogginess of sleep away. That could only mean one thing: The Other was using magic, and lots of it. When she had specifically told her not to! Anger flared in her breast, unnervingly quick; she should never have given that evil creature access to her body for even one moment without supervision, no matter how tired she was. “Hey! What’s going on?” There was no response, making Twilight grit her teeth and slam her hooves into the ground. “Don’t ignore me!” With a ripple of space, The Other appeared, an irritated expression on its face, “Yes?” “How long have I been out? What’s going on? I told you not to use my magic!” Twilight demanded, stepping forward and jabbing her hoof at The Other’s chest. All around them the meadow seemed to be falling apart, replaced with the starry expanse of the dreamscape, until there was just them and the tree. “Of course I used your magic, how else was I going to—” The Other started to respond before jerking in pain and hissing. Twilight gasped as a sharp stabbing feeling suddenly sunk into her fetlocks. “Ow! What’s going on? Show me!” The Other grabbed her quite suddenly by the hoof and the both of them were pulled abruptly out of the mindscape and back into the real world. Twilight flinched as her eyes were suddenly filled with blinding light. Slowly, her blinking eyes adjusted to the light until she could finally see. And screamed as a scene from her nightmares swam into view. Twilight let out a moan of almost ecstatic relief as the physical sensation of being in control rushed through her. The spray of the waves against her coat, the wind rushing through her mane, even the aching pains of her body were amazing! One by one she tensed her muscles, indulging in the feeling of tightening them to the point of pain before letting them relax again. The sensation was indescribable, and soon she would be experiencing it all the time! Of course, first she had to deal with her Sister. A scowl spread across her face as she considered the situation that had developed. Something didn’t add up. The memories she’d seen, everything she’d found in her Sister’s mind suggested that she was strong, powerful, and brave. But it seemed that after she’d escaped Canterlot, something had happened. Something had made her weak and confused. It was infuriating! But that was something to be dealt with in the future. For now, she had control, and a task to fulfill. With a deep breath, she drew upon their magic; the air around her began to ripple as little sparks of lavender energy arced from her horn. The feeling of it was even better than the sensation of a physical body. She felt so powerful, so strong. She felt unstoppable. She could do anything, solve any problem. But there was something holding her back. She knew her Sister didn’t use the majority of her power normally, and so it was harder to call on, but even when she tried to forcibly pull the magic she knew was there to her horn, she found something… blocking it. Slowly she reached in, probing at her the magical reserves carefully. She found that the magic had been locked away from her; massive amounts of her Sister’s power was flowing into a self-sustained spell which blocked her off. While the complexity of the spell was impressive, the purpose of it was enough to make Twilight scream angrily out at the waves. Trotting over to the edge of their little rock, Twilight stared down into the water, her magic stilling the surface and letting her glare into her reflection. A perfect likeness of her Sister—aside from the red tears gathering in the corner of her eyes. “You stupid mare! You’re so preoccupied with fighting me for no reason, and it’s going to get us both killed! For once would you just listen?!” Twilight knew her Sister wouldn’t hear her; she had built the perfect scene to force her into sleep. But shouting her frustrations out made her feel better. At least a little bit. With that done, she turned back up to gaze over the ocean. Without access to all their magic, she’d be unable to teleport them directly to the mountaintop. But a few smaller jumps would prove easy enough. Her decision made, Twilight let her magic spread out to surround herself, as well as the small piece of rock she stood on, and cast the spell she knew best, vanishing with a deafening pop. With another, similar pop, she reappeared roughly a fifth of the way towards her destination. To her surprise, the rock she had been standing on had been caught up in her magic. Twilight paused, narrowing her eyes and abruptly cancelling her next teleport to turn her attention towards the offending piece of stone. Placing her horn against it, she used the same pinging spell that had served her Sister so well in the past to examine the rock for magical influences, a surprised look briefly flashing across her face before understanding settled in. “Ahh… you’re enchanted to float. Residual magic from the island I expect. It must be some powerful stuff to still be working this long after you broke off. But not very stable. Hmmm.” Twilight paused. At this rate, the stone’s innate magic would destabilise before she reached Canterlot, Likely dropping her into the ocean after her next jump. However, now that the enchantment had been broken, the magic was bleeding away. “What a waste.” With a huff Twilight extended her magic to the rock, sensing the energy that flowed out, and brought it into herself in one big rush. The rock began to sink further and further below the waves as more of its magic was drawn away. When there was barely anything left to stand on, Twilight pulled the rest of it out and, with another flash of light, vanished. Far away from her last location, on the tip of Canterlot’s peak, a red-tinged crackle of magic broke the gentle monotony of the ocean. A moment later a shockwave of energy sheared off the very tip of the tiny island with its power, both Twilight and the now magically-inert rock appearing in the aftermath. Three feet above the ground. For a moment, both her and the rock seemed to remain suspended in the air as the residual magic supported her, giving her just enough time to perform another short hop down to the plateau she had inadvertently created as the rock crashed into the waves and began to sink. Twilight paused to stare at the damaged stone beneath her hooves. “Hmm… I expect she would have something to say about destroying the tip of the tallest mountain in Equestria. ” A smile slowly spread across her lips followed by a short laugh. “Because that’s even remotely important right now.” Twilight shook her head, discarding the silly concept and trotting over to the edge of the island to glance down into the waves. For the briefest moment, she felt the sensation of something staring back, as if the water was going to reach out and drag her down into the darkness. Twilight laughed as she dove into the ocean’s cold embrace. If it wanted her, then who was she to say no? She began swimming, relishing the strain on her muscles as she forced herself down bit by bit. As she did so, her horn began to glow, casting a number of minor enchantments designed to protect her from the cold, provide light and shield her from the water. But the deeper she swam, the harder it was to continue, and eventually Twilight found herself coming to a stop, pausing to catch her breath and staring at the shadow of the Canterhorn, stretching down into the darkness beyond her hornlight. Almost unbidden, memories of the peak rushed to the forefront of her mind. The day Celestia had taken her to the summit along with a small group of her classmates, the day she’d journeyed up a similar peak outside of Ponyville and stared at the mountain from a distance, only fully understanding its size at that moment, and the day she’d approached the mountain for the last and final time. The day she’d uncovered a deadly ploy to take control of Canterlot by controlling her brother… The day she’d failed to recover the elements, and got both herself and her friends captured and imprisoned... The day she’d failed and all Equestria had paid the price. With a gasp, Twilight tore herself away from the images, shaking her head furiously and panting weakly in her little pocket of air. She had no idea that her Sister’s past would affect her so intensely; the sinking weight in her stomach and her racing heart made her head swim and it was all she could do to push down the panic that tried to take control of her. For a moment she remained there, swaying back and forth with the motion of the waves as she forced herself to relax. After a longer wait than she was willing to admit, Twilight felt in control enough to assess her situation. Was this sort of reaction normal? Perhaps she could understand how her Sister kept slipping up if this was how she felt. But she wouldn’t let it stop her; she wouldn’t be weak like her Sister. Twilight went through her spells, assessing them to ensure they were still intact. It was a reassuring thing to find them unaffected by her little moment of panic. One thing that was still an issue, however, was breathing. The small air bubble she’d created would become impossible to sustain at the depths she needed to descend to. Twilight wracked her brain for all the things she’d learned over the last few weeks, pulling up every memory of magic she’d been able to find. There weren’t any spells that would do exactly what she wanted, but… perhaps she could mix a few different ones together. The spells would be a drain. She’d have to be careful with how complex she made her spells. Illuminating her horn, Twilight wove a spell into existence and smiled as she felt the water around her begin to shift as oxygen was pulled from her surroundings to her muzzle, creating a small self-replenishing bubble that would last for as long as her magic did. With that done, she let the bubble around her head disappear; gasping as the ocean rushed in to fill it. Without any barrier between her and the sea, Twilight suddenly became aware of the oppressive silence that lingered all around her; the sound of her own heartbeat drumming in her ears the only sound she could hear. And that wasn’t the only sense that was muted by the ocean. Her damp coat made her feel heavy and slow and the pressure of the ocean resisted her every move. But she wouldn’t let that stop her. With a simple spell she propelled herself downwards into the darkness, her path illuminated by an orb of light that lingered behind her head. No matter how deep Twilight dove, she encountered nothing but empty water and the rocky surface of the mountainside. It was fitting, she supposed, that the oppressive silence be paired with an endless expanse of nothing. But she couldn’t shake the feeling that it was wrong somehow. Surely there should be fish, crustaceans, jellyfish, anything. Was it her presence that had caused the unnatural emptiness… or was it the Canterhorn itself? Twilight floated over to the mountain side, glaring suspiciously at the barren rock. Twilight looked around suspiciously; ensuring she was totally alone before she reached out to press her hoof against the stone; tensing up as she felt the icy stone beneath her. But no matter how cold it was, it was just stone. At least physically. For a moment she considered that maybe this was a waste of time, but if they were going into Canterlot then they needed to know everything they could about the mountain. Taking a deep breath, Twilight sent out a ping of magic into the rock, gasping as her magic was drawn in like a whirlpool, pulling much more of her power than she intended before she could cancel the spell. Shaking away the slight headache her test had given her, Twilight narrowed her eyes. The mountain was… empty. Not physically, but magically. Someone, or something, had drawn the mountain’s natural magic away long ago; leaving it as a dangerous sinkhole for magical energy. The creatures of the ocean had learned to stay away, and it would be best to follow their lead. Floating out further into open water, Twilight continued downwards. Away from the mountainside, there was nothing for her light to reflect off, and Twilight began to feel an unnerving stirring in her gut. How far down was she? Was she still travelling in the right direction? Twilight channelled more magic into her light, the sound of her horn humming loudly in her ears as her magic tinted the water all around her with a lavender glow. No matter how much she brightened it, there was nothing to see. Nothing but the endless water, going on and on for as far as the eye could see. For the briefest moment, she considered waking her Sister up just to have someone to talk to. But the very idea made her grimace in disgust. She was meant to be proving just how foolish her Sister was being, letting her emotions get the better of her. Waking her up would be the same as admitting defeat. And Twilight didn’t lose. Face set in a determined scowl, Twilight continued her descent downwards. Noting how the mountain was beginning to steadily grow larger in her peripheral vision. If she was right, which she usually was, the tunnel should be visible soon. In fact… Calling up her light, she duplicated it and cast it down into the dark; gasping when instead of illuminating an empty expanse of water and then the city it uncovered a mass of writhing creatures that fled back into the shadows. Not all of them ran, and Twilight gasped in shock as the monstrously corrupt eel lunged into her light, huge jagged fangs glinting in its grotesque maw. Twilight froze, her surprise giving the creature enough time to reach her and snap it’s jaw down around her hind leg. Only to writhe in pain as its teeth cracked against a glowing field of magical energy. Twilight stared as it slithered away from the shield she’d instinctively created and went to bite her again. “Oh, no. You had your chance.” There wasn’t any time to think of a spell, so Twilight did the thing that came most naturally to her. Her magic enveloped the creature entirely, pinning it in place before crushing it with a satisfying squelch that muddied the water with its blood. Tossing the remains to the side, Twilight scanned the darkness around her, growling as she saw the shifting silhouettes lurking just beyond the range of her light. With a burst of magic, she increased the power to her light and lit it like a star, revealing dozens of the creatures all around her, waiting with ravenous looks in their eyes. The seconds ticked past. Both sides still, tense, neither willing to make the first move. As they swayed with the motion of the waves, Twilight steadily drew more and more magic to her, pushing at the limits of her Sister’s bindings as she infused herself with energy. When the eels finally felt the flicker of energy and rushed forward, she was ready. Shimmering barriers of energy stopped the majority of the creatures in their tracks, leaving only three to worm their way through and close the distance. Twilight grinned as the magic in her body let her propel herself elegantly through the water, dodging the creatures with ease. They weren’t so lucky, as her magic lashed out and turned them all into paste. With the immediate threat dealt with, Twilight looked outwards and begun flinging bolts of magic into the mass of eels as they writhed and thrashed against her barriers; each strike took out three or four of the monsters with ease, leaving crackling reminders of her power wherever they struck. As the seconds passed and more of the eels were ripped apart or blasted to pieces by swathes of raw mana, Twilight realised that the fight she had been hoping for was unlikely to yield much more than target practice. “Is that it? I thought monsters were supposed to be dangerous!” she yelled into the abyss, her shields dropping for just long enough to let the eels surge forward – directly into the shockwave of magic that she flung out, so hot it boiled the water and turned the closest of the creatures into ash. The ones behind fared little better, desperately swimming away in search of colder waters to alleviate their burns. The rest were sent rolling backwards, their bodies trying to right themselves helplessly as Twilight’s next attack came, razor-sharp shards of crystallised mana that shredded them into so much pulp. Before she could cleanse the evil creatures once and for all, however, she felt the awakening of her Sister inside of her, the disturbance almost immediately limiting the amount of magic Twilight found she could draw upon. Against her better judgement, she flung up a temporary shield and turned her focus inwards, manifesting herself onto the dreamscape with a frustrated scowl. “Yes?” “How long have I been out?” Twilight rolled her eyes at the implied blame in Her Sister’s words, shaking her head. She momentarily considered just leaving her Sister here to be sulky, glancing back to focus on the battle raging outside when she felt her Sister jab a hoof into her chest. Huffing in annoyance she turned back with a scowl. “What? I don’t know. An hour, why does it matter?” With her focus divided between the real world and the mindscape, Twilight missed the eel that slithered up from underneath her. Completely unaware until it latched onto her ankle and bit down. Hard. And still her Sister continued to yell at her in that accusatory tone. Twilight reached out to grab her, pulling them both out of mindscape and leaving her free to turn her attention to the eel on her flank; which was swiftly turned into pulp by a blast of raw mana. Twilight lifted her hooves to her mouth, stifling a scream as a bloodbath swam before her eyes. The gory scene brought bile to the back of her throat and she turned away to vomit; blinking in confusion when nothing came out. Confusion turned to horror as she brought her hooves up and found them flickering with a translucent glow, the sight forcing another scream from her lips. “Oh Celestia! What’s happening?! Oh Luna, oh no! What’s goi–” “Stop distracting me!” Twilight flinched, spinning round to stare at… herself? Slowly, the pieces began to slot into place. She forced herself to breathe while trying to make sense of what was going on. The Other was fighting a mass of strange black eels and—to Twilight’s surprise—seemed to be having little trouble dealing with the swarm, Twilight’s own magic spinning a deadly web of spells that eviscerated, burned or crushed anything that came close. Eviscerating… everything. Woah woah! Stop! Twilight’s brain suddenly caught up. “H-hey! Stop it!” she cried. Her ghostly form surged forward through the cleanest water she could find to come up directly in the Other’s vision, who turned to face her with a murderous scowl – a look Twilight was none too pleased to see on her features. “Stop! You can’t just kill them!” “Actually, you’ll find I can—although you’re not helping!” The Other snapped back, a shockwave of magic emphasising its words and pulverising a group of eels, much to Twilight’s horror. “No! I told you that you couldn’t use my magic like this! Killing is wrong!” Twilight yelled back, her own mournful look distorted by the rippling water. The Other’s glare deepened, and she bared a pair of deadly fangs. “They’re monsters! Evil and cruel. They deserve to die!” Twilight gasped as she felt all the magic surrounding them draw into The Other’s horn, a blinding sphere of light forming at the tip that made Twilight cover her eyes in pain. “They’re just fish!” “You have no idea what you’re talking about. Get out of my way!” The magic began to crackle with power, making Twilight’s coat stand on end as her less than physical form was bombarded by the energy bleeding off from the spell. Twilight rushed forward, holding her hooves out with a tense look. “No! I won’t let you do this! I told you to st–” “I said MOVE!” Twilight watched as The Other vanished in a pop of magic, spinning around desperately as she heard a familiar crackle of magic behind her. Reaching out, she tried to pull at the magic that was gathered, anything to stop the spell. But it was far too late. There was a pulse of magic, and the abyss turned white.
Chapter III: The Anger of Two“Why?” Twilight cried out into the darkness, clutching at her head in pain. If there was an answer, Twilight didn’t hear it; her ears were ringing with enough force to make her feel nauseous. How could she even feel nauseous when she was… whatever she was? The thought made her shudder, the urge to look down at her translucent body growing until she couldn’t take it anymore. Opening her eyes didn’t help. “What’s happening? Why can’t I see?!” Panic rose in the pit of her stomach as she desperately strained to try and see something. Anything. Calm down. Relax. Breathe. The voice of The Other, as unnerving as it was, pierced through her frantic thoughts, and Twilight forced herself to take one, two, three deep breaths. With each one, she felt the panic receding and her vision slowly returning. That’s it. In… Out. The spell must have overwhelmed the limits of that form’s magic. Not pleasant, is it? Twilight groaned, blinking rapidly to clear away the blurry afterimages that clung to the edge of her vision. “How would you know?” she tried to say, but the ringing in her ears made it impossible to tell if she’d made any noise at all. How would you know? she repeated mentally. A destabilised spell and a mana starved spell are very similar. The answer did little to assuage Twilight’s confusion, her brow furrowing as she tried to make sense of it. What do you mean? The Other shook its head, waving a hoof dismissively as it moved closer. It doesn’t matter. Are you okay? Twilight narrowed her eyes, pausing for a moment before replying. I’m… getting there. No thanks to you. A scoff and The Other turned away, shaking her head and leaving Twilight to glance around at the consequences of the spell. The ocean depths glittered with residual magic, sparkling like stars all around them in the darkness, and Twilight found herself remembering the sight of her unconscious. It was eerily similar. That would be because it is your unconscious. Your projected form collapsed; we’re inside of your mind again. I just didn’t feel like making it all pretty this time. You go back to sleep. I’ll carry on to Canterlot. Twilight frowned, focusing her attention on the area around them and creating a simple wooden floor to stand on. The sound of her hooves against the wood provided a satisfying sense of weight as she stormed up to The Other with an angry glare. Oh, no. Not happening. I gave you one very specific instruction and the second I left you alone you immediately broke it, killing some poor innocent fish! The Other frowned, its tone callous. Innocent? They were monsters, it was us or them. Your misguided notions of morality do not apply down here. Twilight shook her head, huffing in frustration. They weren’t monsters. They were predators! Just because they’re hungry doesn’t make them evil! You could have easily created a shield to ward them off and just ignored them until we got down to the tunnels! The Other’s smirk twisted into a sneer. Ah yes, that sounds like an excellent way to waste our magical reserves, your genius never fails to astound. How exactly did you become Celestia’s prized pupil again? Twilight flinched back, her anger momentarily faltering from the sudden insult before surging back with more intensity. And that display wasn’t? How much mana did that spell drain from us? What if it attracted something even larger? The Other stopped, staring into the distance for a moment before nodding. Very perceptive. We should keep moving. It vanished from the mindscape without warning. Twilight opened her mouth, an angry retort on her lips, but snapped it shut when she found the target of her ire gone. Quickly she followed The Other out, floating into it’s way with an angry scowl. “You can’t just change the subject when you know you’re wrong! Admit that you don’t have an answer! Admit that you only killed those fish because you wanted to. Because you enjoyed it! “Because you’re the monster!” she finished, jabbing her hoof into The Other’s chest. The Other froze, baring its fangs and illuminating its horn. Twilight flinched, instinctively shying away from the murderous look, but no attack came. When she opened her eyes again, The Other was staring off into the ocean with an unreadable expression. “You can think whatever you want to, little flower. But unlike your sheep friends, I’m not just going to roll over and agree because you throw a tantrum. They were corrupted, and if we hadn’t dealt with them then they’d have hurt somepony else. I did the world a favour.” Twilight shook her head. “How dare you. Get out of my body. Now.” “...” “I said now!” Twilight flailed in the water as her perspective suddenly shifted, the weight of her body and the drain of her magic from her horn momentarily overwhelming her. She quickly reigned in control of the magic, shuddering at the thought of those spells failing her when she was so deep down. Quickly she pushed the thoughts aside; The Other had done what she asked, and she had to get to Canterlot. Getting her bearings, Twilight propelled herself down; stewing in her anger and ruminating on what had just happened. She hadn’t said anything untrue. It was a monster. It was evil! But… that didn’t give her the right to be cruel herself. Her anger slowly seeped away under the relentless chill of the ocean, replaced with a hollow feeling that made her sick. Why had The Other disobeyed her? Why was it so insistent on being cruel at every turn? Why had Twilight let those horrible thoughts make her so angry as well? Why? Twilight sunk back into the mindscape, eddies of crimson and black swirling about as her anger manifested in the void. For a brief instant, she turned her gaze towards the library. Flame licked at the edges of her horn as she considered burning it; if her Sister was so eager to call her a monster, why not show her exactly how much of a monster she could be? But it was her home too. Twilight tensed up, a horrible mess of feelings rushing inside her. Anger, rage. She knew those. But there were other feelings, ones that made her feel empty and alone. She didn’t understand and it only made her angrier. With a scream, she flung herself into the void, a loosely collected amalgamation of all the things she hated coalescing around her. The griffon. Plunged to the bottom of the sea where she belonged. The soldiers. Incinerated as they deserved. The phoenix. Frozen as a consequence of its own actions. Her Sister. Imprisoned so that she couldn’t hold them back. Twilight stopped, the icy grip of fear momentarily rendering her immobile. Is that really what she wanted? She hunched over and shuddered, nausea clutching at her insides painfully. The mental constructs faded away, replaced with a faint green glow that only seemed to intensify the horrible sensations. “What’s wrong with me? I don’t understand.” The feeling abated with time, but the effect it left on her wasn’t as kind. Slowly, Twilight got to her hooves, her legs trembling beneath her, before realising that she had no physical body. This was all just a projection of her thoughts. “Why am I…?” Physical sensation vanished as she furrowed her brow, closing her eyes briefly before opening them back up to the endless void of stars she was used to. Whatever she had felt had gone now, and she never wanted to experience it again. Which meant that whatever had caused it needed to go. Slowly, methodically, Twilight began to retrace her actions; trying to piece together the chain of events that had resulted in her Sister’s heated anger. But she could only think of one thing that might have caused it, and it was ridiculous. “Why can’t she just get it? It’s not complicated. These creatures would kill us if given the chance, so it’s only sensible to kill them first; that’s just logical. And yet she seems infuriated every time I try and bring it up.” Her ranting slowed to an indignant muttering as she aimlessly floated through the mindscape; glancing around at the memories and emotions that flashed up around her. Everything she knew, she knew from her Sister. Which only made her actions more difficult to understand. “She’s a logical pony. The most logical of all her friends by far. So why can’t she realise the rules of the old world can’t apply anymore?” Why was her Sister so devoted to a set of beliefs that no longer had meaning in a new world? Why was she so averse to being shown that she was being irrational? Why did she feel like she was being crushed after every argument they had? Why? Twilight continued her descent into the ocean, so wrapped up in her own thoughts that, when she finally reached the gaping maw of the Canterlot Tunnel, she almost missed it. It was only when she reached the ocean bed, covered in nought but sand and strange purple algae, that she realised she’d gone too far. Anger, long since smothered by the oppressive ocean silence, flared up as frustration. Anger bubbled up inside of her, building and building until she could take it no longer. Rearing up, she slammed her hooves down into the sand and screamed her rage out into the uncaring sea, not stopping until her throat was hoarse and the burning heat in her breast was replaced with a hollow ache. It was only once she’d caught her breath that she noticed what she’d done; the sand all around her turned to glittering glass by her unfiltered release of magic. “You look like you needed that.” Twilight turned, glancing to the Other with a tired glare. She opened her mouth to reply, but thought better of it, turning her gaze upward to look for the tunnel entrance she knew must be there. The Other turned with her, blankly staring up into the darkness as Twilight sent out a ping, her magic echoing out into the darkness. Instead of the small burst of magic she expected to use, however, an almost irresistible tugging sensation overcame her and it was all she could do to cancel the spell before more of her magic was sucked out. “Be careful. The corruption has affected the mountain; don’t touch it with your magic.” Twilight turned to glare daggers into The Other’s side, gritting her teeth and forcing herself to remain silent as she started to float upwards towards the entrance. At least her spell had still worked. Unlike the last time she had made this trip, panicked and confined within the bowels of a submarine; Twilight was able to see the walls within the entrance of the tunnel, and was surprised to find that, unlike the rest of the mountain, the rock here was a glassy, extremely reflective smooth stone. Keeping The Other’s warning in her mind, she adjusted her course; floating into the centre of the tunnel entrance and marvelling at the way her hornlight reflected off the walls; creating a stunning lavender glow all around them, unlike anything she’d ever seen before. This is amazing. For the light to be reflected so cleanly these walls must be almost perfectly smooth. Whoever carved this tunnel must have been using incredibly powerful magic. “Not even we could produce the heat needed to do something like this, let alone control it so skillfully,” The Other responded, gazing at the walls with as much curiosity as Twilight herself. Twilight paused, momentarily caught unawares. For a moment, their anger was forgotten in mutual curiosity, Twilight narrowing her eyes at the walls suspiciously. I wonder… could it have been..? “It might have.” The Other nodded in front of her, reaching out as if to brush the rock before retreating back to Twilight. They lapsed into silence, nothing more to discuss, as they continued deeper into the tunnel, closer and closer to the ruins of Canterlot. And even as their mind became preoccupied with thoughts of what they would discover, challenges they would encounter, and clues they might uncover. The same question still lurked at the back of their minds, their thoughts lining up for the first time since Altalusia. “Why?” “Why?” Twilight gasped for air as she breached the surface of the water, clambering her way up onto the rocks and coughing up water onto the stone floor. Once she had recovered her breath she turned to the Other with a scowl. “You could have warned me we were running out of air!” “Aren’t you Celestia’s prized pupil? Surely you could sense that the spell I cast was wearing out?” It responded with a smirk, watching smugly as the water dripped from Twilight’s mane, down across her chest, and then splattered against the rocky floor below. Twilight rolled her eyes, shaking the water out of her coat before reaching up to push her dripping mane out of her eyes. “Oh, of course, I’ll make sure to double-check that all the spells you cast aren’t secretly designed to kill me. That’s exactly what I need right now.” The Other opened its mouth to retort, before closing it with a frown. Looking away and snapping back half-heartedly, “We both know that I wouldn’t be that subtle.” “You’ve made that very clear when you decided to go and use all of your magic slaughtering innocent fish for sport,” Twilight hissed, stomping up towards the cave with a huff. The Other rolled its eyes, following behind. “Firstly, I don’t have my own secret reserve of magical power that I’m hiding away just to spite you, and second, that’s a funny way of saying ‘saving our life’,” it drawled. “Just stop. I don’t need to hear any more of your twisted attempts at reasoning.” Twilight continued upwards, staring at the same glassy walls that had lined the submerged section of the tunnel. Without the water, the reflected light was less dazzling, yet no less beautiful. In fact, the way her horn light bounced around reminded her of the Crystal Caves. She recalled that the spell she had cast back then had reflected off the walls just like her light was reflecting off these ones. Back when she had been… imprisoned. Twilight winced as memories she had repressed for weeks suddenly came flooding back. She remembered it all: breaking out with Cadence and finally feeling hope that everything might end up okay, confronting Chrysalis and her cruel speech about enslaving all of Equestria, the battle in the throne room and Celestia’s desperate plea to reach the Elements. But they hadn’t made it in time. They’d failed. Not only had she failed her friends, but also her brother. Her Princess. All of Equestria had paid for her mistakes. What was she even doing down here? How could she possibly hope to fix something she’d been unable to stop in the first place? She should run, maybe somepo— Twilight gasped, the sound of The Other’s shouting snapping her out of her panic. When had she fallen over? Why was The Other floating over her with a strange frown? “W-what?” “I said, are you okay? There isn't any water in your lungs, is there?” “What? Why would there be…?” Twilight frowned, pushing herself to her hooves and taking a deep breath just in case. “Well you were on the floor gasping, so I assumed there was something wrong with your breathing,” The Other replied with a deadpan stare. Twilight flinched. She had collapsed. How was she ever going to fix everything if she couldn’t even keep herself from breaking down over the slightest thing. She may as well just give—no. No she could do this. She just needed rest. A few days to recover. Then she’d be ready. “So?” “Oh! Oh, right, yes, there must have been some water.” Twilight replied with a half-hearted attempt at coughing into her hoof. The Other raised an eyebrow, tilting its head. “Or perhaps it was the panic attack brought on by those memories you were thinking about?” Twilight winced, lowering her hoof back down to the floor and giving the Other an annoyed look. “Why… why would you think that?” “We’re bound together by more than just a little magic and we both know it. I know you better than I know myself. You can’t hide anything from me, especially not such strong emotional reactions. Even now, I can sense the anger and frustration you have towards me because I'm ‘reading your mind’.” The Other raised an eyebrow as Twilight’s brow furrowed into a scowl. “Technically it’s my mind as well, you know. Now you’re even angrier because I’m being pedantic and you don’t like it when people get pedantic with you, even though you do it to others all the time. And now –” “I get it!” Twilight snapped, clenching her mouth shut and snorting angrily. The Other shook her head. “You clearly don’t. You’re just trying to push me away so you don’t have to deal with me anymore.” Twilight ground her teeth together, angrily pushing a hoof into the floor. “You’re a parasite. Why would I want you anywhere near me?” “Be careful, some ponies might get the wrong idea. They might think you don’t appreciate the help of a friend. That you would rather have done it all alone. Is that it? Does Princess Celestia’s star pupil want the spotlight all to herself?” “Wha – you can’t possibly think – ugh!” Twilight stormed off, trying to force the anger that had flared up inside of her down. Why was this thing able to put her on edge so easily? What was wrong with her? “I’ve told you. But you refuse to listen,” The Other stated with a deadpan stare, appearing in front of Twilight with crossed forelegs. Twilight stopped and stood up straight, trying her best to look eye to eye with The Other’s floating form. “I’m not listening to anymore of your lies.” “Lies? You’re coming apart at the seams, you idiot. This –” The Other waved her hooves around as if to gesture to everything around them “– is too much for you, and both of us know it. You’ve pushed yourself too far and it’s catching up with you. Just admit it!” “N-no! I can do this! I’m going to find out what happened. I’m going to fix it. And it would be a lot easier to do it without you!” Twilight shouted, pausing to catch her breath. “You wouldn’t have even made it here without me. We both know that.” Twilight froze at The Other’s firm look. She couldn’t deny it. And if what it had been saying was true, there wasn’t any point to denying it anyway. “Fine… you’re right.” The Other rolled its eyes. “Yes, I know. Now if I’m right about that, what else might I be right about? Stop being a foal. If we go into Canterlot now, with you being so adamant on rejecting everything that’s happened, you’re going to have a breakdown and it’s going to get us killed.” “Rejecting—I’m not rejecting anything! What does that even mean?” Twilight scoffed, leaning back with an offended look. “Do I really have to spell it out for you? What do you think happened… back then?” For a brief moment there was silence, and then Twilight laughed. “Back then? Well, obviously we failed to get the elements. But clearly Celestia and Luna managed to win the day; they probably made this tunnel!” The Other stared at her expectantly, causing Twilight to shuffle on the spot. “What? What are you looking at me like that for? Stop. Stop it. I said stop it!” Twilight stomped her hooves angrily and turned away. Only to run straight into The Other, floating before her with that same stare. Twilight locked eyes with her reflection and grit her teeth, glaring back. But as soon as she met those bloodstained eyes she knew that she wasn’t going to win this particular battle of wills. “Fine. Okay. I get it! Celestia and Luna ran away. They left me and my friends alone and they never came back for us! Canterlot is infested with changelings and I’m likely going to find everything I ever loved destroyed and turned to dust! Is that what you wanted to hear?!” Twilight shouted, glaring at the Other with teary eyes as her own words echoed back at her. “No. Not at all.” “What? Then why did you make me say it? Do you just enjoy watching me suffer?” Twilight felt her back legs give way, her front legs barely managing to keep her sitting. “I didn’t want to hear it, but you needed to say it. You need to accept that the world isn’t what you want it to be anymore. Horrible things happened, but you can’t keep hiding from it and hoping you’ll find a way to fix it without facing reality. We’re about to step into your past. You need to be ready. Are you?” Twilight rubbed at her eyes furiously, glaring over her hoof at The Other. “Of course I’m not! How could I be?” “Well, you don’t have a choice,” The Other stated, shrugging its shoulders. “Either we go in there and try to bring back what we lost, or we give up and leave. Your call.” “What I lost,” Twilight muttered into her hoof. “What?” “What I lost!” she repeated, louder this time. “Oh, for crying out loud. You lost, we lost. Whatever. Stop being such a foal and get up! Are you Princess Celestia’s pupil or not?” Twilight winced and nodded. “Yes.” “And are you, or are you not, the element of magic?” Twilight took a deep breath, her jaw setting as she realised what was happening. “Yes, I am.” “And are you going to save Equestria, reunite your friends, and bring back the Princesses. Like you said you would?” “I…” Twilight hesitated, looking down at the floor when she suddenly felt magic enveloping her entire body; picking her up and throwing her up the tunnel with no time to react. She winced as she hit the floor, her barrel sliding across the stone painfully. “Ahh!” “I’m sick of trying to motivate you. The answer is yes. Now get up and start moving.” Twilight pushed herself to her hooves and huffed. “You can’t just—h-hey!” Once again, Twilight was lifted and thrown, her own magic sending her rolling into the dirt a few more feet towards the city. “If I have to throw you the entire way, I will. Your call.” With a little angry growl, Twilight got up and locked eyes with The Other. Who merely returned her gaze with a neutral expression. Huffing, she turned away and started stomping furiously towards Canterlot and, more importantly, away from The Other. “That’s the spirit! Use the anger!” Twilight rolled her eyes at the mocking statement, her ears flickering back as she heard The Other mutter something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like “finally”. For a moment she considered stopping and yelling at her, but the thought of being thrown by her own magic kept her moving. Together, the two of them pushed onwards and upwards through the glassy tunnel. The light from her horn was beautiful in the way it reflected off the walls, but the constant omnipresent glow of lavender made it impossible to distinguish if they were moving at all. Soon the repetitive sound of hoofsteps on stone began to grate against Twilight’s mind and, despite her better judgement, she turned to glance at The Other, who had been silently watching the entire time. “What do you think we’ll find in the city?” “Monsters and ruins… this city has been buried beneath the waves for hundreds – if not thousands – of years. It’s unlikely that anything except the changelings remains.” Twilight frowned, immediately regretting the question. “I saw Spike when we fled; he could have protected some of them?” “What did I just say about avoiding reality?” The Other said with an exasperated look. “Don’t be delusional, you and I both know he’s been corrupted, just like the changelings. I doubt there’s anything left except a monster.” Twilight turned away, blinking back tears. The Other was right, but it didn’t make it hurt any less. But that was what she was here for, to cleanse the corruption and save Equestria. He may have been corrupted but… perhaps she could save him. The idea brought a small measure of hope and Twilight renewed her efforts, speeding up as they continued upwards into the tunnel. Eventually, the glassy walls gave way to more a natural series of stone caverns that opened up into a network of passages and connected cave systems. Before she could even begin to wonder where the caves had come from – these weren’t the Crystal Caves after all – The Other whispered. “Changeling tunnels, be careful.” Twilight paused. It hadn’t spoken at all. Recognising the change, she didn’t respond; giving a curt nod and continuing onwards, dimming her light until it was barely a pinprick. She tried her best to keep going straight, but it seemed the changelings had dug away the original glassy walls since her last journey through, and it was almost impossible for her to be sure if she was following the right path. It became very clear she wasn’t when she came face to face with a flat wall; blocking her progress forward, two tunnels veering off to the left and the right her only options. She stared at the rock for a few moments before sighing, glancing around nervously as a familiar tense feeling settled into her legs. “I’m going to get lost down here. Going to make yourself useful for once?” Not with that attitude, I’m not. The Other said, her flat tone echoing inside of Twilight’s head. “I told you not to talk to me like that!”Twilight hissed, barely managing to keep her anger in check as she turned to glare at her floating companion. The Other turned to her and raised an eyebrow, putting a hoof to her chin and humming. “Oh? Would you prefer I speak out loud and attract the attention of every changeling we come across?” Twilight winced, her anger momentarily overcome by embarrassment. That makes sense. Do you have any ideas? For a few moments, Twilight heard nothing but silence. Then suddenly, Hide. I’ll look around. Twilight watched with a dumbfounded expression as The Other floated away, her mind taking a moment to process just what exactly she was looking at. With a gasp, she realised that she was alone. In a changeling tunnel network. Just standing there! Quickly, Twilight dashed into the nearest entrance and hastily scanned the walls for somewhere to hide. Luckily for her, it only took a few moments of frantic searching before she found a small crevice set into the side of the rock, just large enough for a pony to crawl into. The idea of getting into such an enclosed space made her shudder but, looking around, she didn’t really have a choice. Changelings could show up at any moment. Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to crawl into the hole, and with her eyes tightly squeezed shut, she extinguished her light. As soon as her light vanished Twilight felt the darkness press down on her, the urge to curl up and cry suddenly rising in her chest. With a shaky gulp she forced the feeling down, taking a few deep breaths to calm herself. She could do this. The minutes passed with agonising slowness, the slightest sound echoing through the caves and making Twilight twitch in fear. More than once she thought she heard the sound of hoofsteps approaching, only for them to fade into silence instead. The urge to cast another light spell was almost overwhelming, and Twilight felt a horrible sense of claustrophobia starting to settle in. Had The Other abandoned her? What should she do? Could she make a run for it or would it be better to hide here? Maybe she could teleport all the way to the city? Just as the idea was starting to sound like a viable option, The Other appeared before her, staring at her from the pitch black and beckoning for Twilight to exit. Once the shock of having it appear so suddenly had worn off, she quickly wormed herself free from the crevice and glanced around the tunnel nervously before turning to look up with a glare. Why did you take so long? And when were you going to tell me that you could just float off by yourself, or that you could just appear in front of me? Her reflection simply raised an eyebrow and glanced around. Is now really the best time for us to discuss the exact nature of our situation? I’m happy to if you really want; I’m not the one concerned for the lives of monsters. Twilight winced, wrestling with the frustration of not understanding for a few moments before sighing. Fine. Did you find something? The Other nodded. Yes. A way out. Keep your horn light extinguished, I’ll lead you. Twilight watched as it floated away, her eyes widening. Wait, I’m not going to follow you along in the dark! That would – hey! Hey! Wait for me! Twilight stumbled along after the barely perceptible glow of it’s retreating form, every step making her wince and stumble. Stop! I can’t do this! To her relief, The Other did stop, turning round with a frustrated look. There are changelings ahead. Your light will lead them right to us. We have to do it like this. No. No, I can’t do this. I can’t see where I’m going! What if I trip and hurt myself? Twilight muttered, frozen in the pitch black. Why would I lead you somewhere that you would hurt yourself? Just follow me and you’ll be fine. Twilight shook her head, taking a hesitant step back and casting her spell. The Other growled as the tunnel was illuminated by a soft glow, its ears swivelling back as it floated over to Twilight. Don’t be stupid. Do you really trust me so little that you’d rather take this risk? Twilight hesitated, the idea of outright saying it suddenly significantly less appealing. Slowly she wilted under The Other’s questioning look, desperately searching for an alternative. Oh! Why don’t you go ahead and keep an eye out for changelings, then let me know when I need to hide. That way we can avoid any of the changelings and I can still see where I’m going. Do you know how much that’ll slow us down? We can’t – The Other stopped, sighing in the face of Twilight’s panicked expression. Alright, fine. But you have to listen to exactly what I say. Got it? Twilight nodded quickly, gesturing for The Other to float ahead and taking a shaky breath. Ready? Ready. Together the two of them began to make their way through the changeling tunnels once more. Progress was slow, and it seemed like every other minute Twilight found herself huddled up against the wall listening to the shrill calls of changelings from all around her, their chittering cries echoing down the tunnels with alarming frequency. Couldn’t you have picked a path with less changelings? Have you seen any changelings? Well no— Exactly. This is the path with the least changelings, I cannot stop them from shouting at each other, unless you’d like me to deafen you magically? Twilight grit her teeth at the condescending tone, her eyes digging holes into the back of The Other’s head as it turned the corner. Obviously not, she thought bitterly, following around the bend before gasping in shock and stumbling backwards as she walked right into The Other’s unimpressed face. You know, I don’t ‘see’ things like you do. I can tell when you’re glaring at me, and considering I’m currently going along with your asinine little plan, I don’t appreciate it. With a shaky breath, Twilight pushed herself back to her hooves and frowned. I don’t care. Oh, is that so? Maybe I should just leave you to figure out your way by yourself if you’re so opposed to me being here. How does that sound? The Other asked, crossing its forelegs and raising an eyebrow. Twilight could feel her anger flaring up inside her, the urge to let The Other know just how badly she wanted it to leave almost irresistible. And judging by the expectant look she was being given, The Other knew it. For a few moments they remained like that, both on the edge of snapping. Fine. I’m sorry. I didn’t – Twilight hesitated when The Other opened its mouth. With a huff, she stomped a hoof down and continued more forcefully. Let me finish. I know you’re helping me – Watch out! Twilight flinched, only noticing The Other’s wide eyes at the last moment. Instinct took over and her horn burst into light; a dome of lavender energy surrounded her moments before a dark mass slammed into the back of it with enough force to send Twilight tumbling into the wall of the tunnel. Before she could get her bearings, she felt a spike of pain lancing from her horn down into her head as the changeling slammed its own horn into the shield. Twilight cried out, darkness creeping into the edges of her vision as she collapsed to the tunnel floor, gasping for air and writhing in agony. It hurt. It hurt so much she could barely think, could barely move. If she dropped the shield, she would die. If she kept casting, the pain would kill her anyway. She couldn’t – “Get up!” Twilight curled up tighter, the voice echoing painfully through her head. “I said, get up!” Twilight gasped as she felt The Other grab hold of her, the tingling sensation of magic dulling the pain for just a brief moment. With a pained gasp she forced herself up, staring into The Other’s eyes desperately. “You’ve got to drop the shield. We can kill it!” The pain was already returning and even though the idea of killing made her feel sick, desperation was a strong motivator. “Now!” Suddenly Twilight knew exactly what she had to do, an idea that was both entirely her own but completely foreign springing forth in her mind. With a ragged cry she tore her horn away from the shield and let the magic fade. The pain faded instantly and Twilight was only given a brief instant of relief before the changeling landed and began charging forward to finish her off. But she already saw exactly how it would play out, and adrenaline lent her the speed she needed. Diving to the side, Twilight rolled to her hooves and tossed her horn towards the changeling. Her magic struck just at the apex of it’s lunge and it slammed into the wall a moment later with a sickening crunch before collapsing to floor. Twilight turned away and threw up. “You’re an embarrassment. We need to run. The sound will attract more.” Twilight shook her head, gasping for breath and wiping her hoof across her mouth. “I can’t do this.” “This isn’t optional, you idiot. Either you move or you die, and I’m not giving you the choice.” Twilight whimpered as she felt her own magic envelop her, forcing her forward. This time, it seemed that The Other wasn’t willing to simply throw her down the passage, instead merely pushing her until she moved herself. And to her surprise, she found that the pain that had been so consuming mere moments ago was fading away, the effects of the changeling’s spell as short-lived as its caster. Twilight winced at the intrusive thought, shaking her head and forcing herself to start moving as the sound of changeling wings began to buzz behind her. Simply moving forward quickly became trotting, then became galloping as the sound continued to get closer and closer, her horn blazing brightly as it illuminated her path. “Please tell me you have a plan for when we reach Canterlot. Left!” Twilight winced as her hooves slid across the stone painfully, slamming into the wall with a gasp before pushing herself forward again. “I have an idea,” she panted out, speeding up even as her muscles screamed at her to slow down. “An idea?! We need more than an idea. Duck!” Throwing herself down, Twilight barely managed to avoid the changeling that suddenly leapt out from a nearby passage, fangs bared. Oh, Celestia! Please tell me we’re close! The Other appeared before her, pointing into a passage that seemed to go back down which Twilight quickly rushed into, the sound of her hooves pounding against the stone doing little to drown out the hissing. “We’re close! Get ready to shield yourself.” Twilight winced, summoning up the energy for a shield and keeping it ready as she descended back down. “Now!” With a fearful cry, she threw her shield up and barely a moment later she heard two distinct thuds either side of her. Dropping the shield, she continued to run; the sound of two very angry changelings getting up to pursue her echoed from behind. “You’ve got a jump coming up. Want me to carry you?” W-what?! “I said you’ve got a –” I heard what you said! Twilight mentally shouted, her hooves stumbling as she tried to talk and run at the same time. For a moment she considered the significance of willingly allowing The Other to ponyhandle her, but panic outweighed any sense of dignity and she grit her teeth. Do it. Without warning, the floor vanished from under her. Twilight winced, her body tensing, but the expected drop never came and a second later she felt her hooves connect with solid stone once again. Any thought of stopping was brushed away when she felt The Other’s magic shove her forward again. “Keep moving, you idiot. They can fly!” Twilight groaned as she forced herself to keep going, hope blossoming as they began to ascend once again. But they didn’t come out into the city after the first turn, nor the next one, and Twilight felt her legs beginning to give. I thought you said we were close! “No, you asked me to tell you we were close!” You've got. To be joking. Why? It was becoming hard to even keep her thoughts straight, the pain in her legs and the ache in her horn leaving her vision blurry. “Just a little farther, you’re almost there! I hope you’ve got a plan now!” Twilight nodded as best she could. Castle. Protected. I can teleport. The Other skirted the ground beside her, nodding. “Sounds like a plan to me! I’m gonna need our magic in a second, ready?” There wasn’t time for discussion. Wordlessly, Twilight opened up her magic up to The Other’s grasp and instantly felt her horn light up, magic glowing brightly at the tip. Three changelings suddenly burst from the darkness ahead of them—and were swiftly crushed down against the ground by The Other’s spell. Twilight leapt across the bodies, gasping as the landing sent sharp twists of pain up her legs. With a cry she collapsed to the floor, I can’t… “Get your teleport spell ready!” The Other shouted, floating down into the stone before rising up directly beneath Twilight; lifting her up and racing up the corridor, into the ruined city of Canterlot, and straight into a dozen changelings; all with glowing horns pointed straight at them. “Cast it. Now!” Twilight forced the remainder of her magic into her horn as a dozen beams of sickly green light raced towards her and, just as it seemed like she would be ripped apart, she vanished. A moment later, far above the city in a very familiar tower, a rush of displaced air signalled the other end of Twilight’s teleport spell as her body collapsed unceremoniously to the floor. One last gasp of pain left her before she succumbed to the darkness.
Chapter IV: A Room of Two“You cut that far too close. “Honestly I’m impressed by how close you got it. We had practically no mana left at all after that teleport. Any less and we would have been skewered by those changelings before we made it out. “And don’t even get me started on our body. Those legs could barely hold up a cushion. Are you even listening to me?” Twilight groaned, waving a hoof in the general direction of the voice and trying to bury herself back into the bed. Whatever they were talking about could wait until she had slept a little more. “You have to get up, little flower. ” Twilight sighed. She knew it was right and she knew she had to get up, but the warmth of her blanket was so inviting. “If you don’t, we’re never going to wake up again.” And just like that, her blankets seemed far less inviting. With a groan, she forced herself to open her eyes and look up at her dark reflection, floating above the bed with an expressionless look. One that still somehow managed to convey immense disappointment. “Are you going to just lie there until we die?” Grumbling under her breath, Twilight threw the covers off and shuffled off the bed. To her surprise, rather than landing on the wooden floorboards of the library, or the carpeted stone of the castle, she landed on something indescribably soft and simultaneously hard. Glancing down at her hooves with a frown, she realised what was going on as a featureless plane of vaguely translucent white light shone back at her. “Let me guess. Mindscape again?” “Very perceptive of you. I’ve been trying to rouse you from subconscious slumber for hours now. Did you know that you kick your left hind leg when someone pokes the cutie mark on your right leg?” Twilight gasped as she felt The Other’s hoof jab into her cutie mark, grinding her teeth when she felt her leg instinctively twitch out. With a huff she turned to face the floating pony, stepping away to put a little distance between them. “Firstly, don’t touch me. Secondly, why didn’t you just wake me up… you know. Out there?” she said, vaguely motioning upwards with a hoof. The Other didn’t seem particularly bothered by Twilight’s annoyed tone, simply spinning lazily in the air as it replied. “I can’t. You’re out like a light. The sleep of the dead. Sleeping like a foal. Whatever other terms you want to use. You’re exhausted. Utterly.” “So why did you wake me up here then?” Twilight asked with a sigh, moving to lie back down when The Other suddenly swooped down and grabbed her. “H-hey!” “Wake you up? Oh, I think you have it all wrong, little flower. You’re not awake.” Twilight flinched as she came face to face with a disappointed frown that would have put her mother’s to shame, the urge to look away in embarrassment strong enough to momentarily cause her to forget herself. A moment passed before she realised that she shouldn’t be feeling shame that the insidious dark magic in her brain didn’t approve of her actions, and she looked back up. “I’m not?” “No. You’re not.” Before Twilight could respond she felt the ground beneath her vanish and suddenly she was falling down into a swirling maelstrom of colour and light, a panicked gasp all she could muster before she was plunged into the storm. As part of her study into friendship, Twilight had gathered a number of psychological studies to better understand the complex feelings and emotions that went into a pony’s decision-making process. One thing she had learned was that the mindscape was a powerful tool for emotional reading, not least because emotions were capable of physically manifesting as energy within a pony’s subconscious. It was also a dangerous task, as emotions were passionate things and it was all too easy to find yourself swayed by them even as you tried to study them. Twilight was not trying to study them, but as she burst through layer after layer of emotional energy she found herself consumed by the same emotions she’d tried to suppress. The first was a seething cloud of black fog, twinkling with burning embers of crimson and yellow, that clung to her coat and pulled at her mane as if to hold her inside and never let go. But finally it relented to her weight, and as she passed through it she felt her body tense and her teeth gnash, magic flaring up inside her. Why was she the one who had to clean up everypony else’s mess? What had she done to deserve The Other’s poisonous influence in her mind? Why did being a good pony always lead to someone else she cared about getting hurt? It wasn’t fair, she didn’t deserve this! She’d done everything right! Maybe The Other was right. Maybe if she started being a little more hooves-on with her problems they’d finally stay solved. The anger and hatred seemed reluctant to let her go; wisps of the stuff soaked into her coat as she fell, worming inside her even as she was engulfed by another emotional storm. This one was less a cloud than a pool of deep greys and blues that swirled around her, soothing her anger and pain away, sucking her emotions from her until she was empty and cold. She was a failure. A horrible pony who’d hurt her friends. If she’d been able to control her powers, control herself, then none of this would have ever happened. Celestia had been wrong to trust her with the Elements. She wasn’t worth it. Maybe… maybe if she’d worked with The Other from the start, they could have avoided all this pain. Maybe if she’d spoken with her friends straight away it never would have gotten this bad. If she’d only prepared for Fluttershy’s treatment more thoroughly... Without warning the pool vanished, leaving her shivering and alone in the endless expanse. No. Not alone. There was a mist all around her, becoming thicker and harder to see through by the second. When she realised what it was, it was already far too late. Sickly green tendrils swirled around her in the impossibly thick fog, trapping her in an endless expanse of nothing as she stumbled, shivering and lost, in search of an exit. How was she going to deal with Spike? What would she say when she finally saw her friends again? Would they even recognise her, or would The Other’s influence have twisted her into something terrifying and monstrous? It was going to try and put her to sleep again. She was going to have to fight and kill more creatures to complete her task. Her friends were never going to forgive her. There was no solution to her problems and she would die trying to do the impossible. After what seemed like an eternity, Twilight burst from the fog and collapsed to the floor, her body pulsing angrily with reds, blues and greens. It took minutes—or maybe hours—for the voices to fade away, but even when they left she could still feel them in the back of her mind, waiting for her to remember. Slowly, Twilight opened her eyes. How long had she been lying there? “You’re not done.” Twilight gasped in fear, forcing herself to her hooves and stumbling around to stare at The Other and the indigo shroud that enshrouded her, twinkling with stars in every shade of purple Twilight had ever seen. Fear gripped her and she quickly found herself back pedaling. “No, stop. Stop! Why are you doing this to me? I can’t –” “You can’t what?! You can’t do this? If you can’t do it, then why do you think I can?” Twilight’s frantic fleeing slowed. “What are you talking about?” The Other slammed down onto the translucent ground and began to menacingly stride forward, her eyes burning and her horn shining with crimson light. “What am I talking about? Who do you think has been dealing with all these errant emotions over the last few weeks? Who do you think has been helping you keep them all neatly tucked away in the corners of your mind? This is my mind too! And I refuse to let you fill it with poison any longer!” Twilight tried to summon up a shield as The Other bared down on her, but every attempt was shattered by a hammering telekinetic force that sent spikes of pain down her horn and turned her legs to jelly. Finally, she could summon no more magic to protect herself, collapsing to the floor with a whimper as The Other stepped over her. But instead of attacking her as she’d thought, it simply clutched her in it’s magical grip before dragging her up and pulling her along, taking them away from the pools of emotional energy and out into the mindscape. “Where… where are you taking me?” “Here.” Twilight groaned as she was thrown back down, taking a deep breath before pushing herself up to look at whatever it was The Other wanted her to see. The sight almost made her collapse again. The Library, her home, was in shambles. The branches were bare, covered in purple algae, and the leaves lay lifeless around the trunk. The windows were broken and the door lay askew, splintered and barely holding onto its hinges. But the worst part was the water that seemed to have flooded the entire bottom section. And even as she looked, Twilight felt that same icy water on her own hooves, the sight of the library causing the lights all around her to pulse erratically. “What… happened?” “Your emotions happened! I’ve been dealing with them the best I can, but you’re so determined to just push all the nasty hurtful feelings away. Well, this is what you’ve done, and I refuse to fix it for you anymore.” Twilight could have sworn she heard a hint of pain in The Other’s voice, but it was vastly overshadowed by bitter resentment. “That’s stupid,” she snapped, forcing herself to start wading through the icy water towards her home. “It’s far more likely that the hostile parasitic wild magic infection I’ve got is damaging my mind.” To her surprise, The Other didn’t retort. Twilight’s anger drove her to turn around with a snarl. “Oh, run out of lame excuses and witty remarks?” The Other was gone. She was alone with the destroyed remnants of her library. The library which had apparently been destroyed by her ‘emotions’. “Ridiculous.” But even she couldn’t shake the horrible feeling it might be right; the intensity of those emotional clouds had terrified her. Was that really how she felt? The thought was far too worrying to entertain and she quickly pushed it away, focusing back on the library. With a tired sigh she pressed on. The closer she got, the more apparent it became just how bad it had got. The water, which she’d first assumed had been filled with leaves, were filled with the destroyed remains of library books; a sight that made her pause with a horrified shudder. “What did it do…?” Slowly, hesitantly, she reached out to push the door aside and made her way into the library. Inside, the home she’d once known had become something more akin to the library she’d visited alongside the Argo. A grave. Everything she’d expected from the inside of the library was gone, replaced with fragments of broken furniture, waterlogged piles of paper, and a pulsating fog of red and black. Was this really what had become of her own mind? The longer she stared, the more the library began to twist and distort; her vision went blurry and her legs gave out beneath her, leaving her to collapse into the water which seemed all too eager to rush in and soak her coat, weighing her down and stealing her breath away. She wasn’t sure how long she lay there, trying to recover her strength enough to stand back up. It could have been seconds, minutes or even hours, and every moment that passed she felt her anger building up inside of her. But something else was building as well, an electrifying feeling that started in the frog of her hooves and ran up all the way to the tip of her horn. Wherever the spark went she felt the boiling anger fade and, as she watched, the water began to recede away from her—and with it, the crushing weight holding her down. Twilight pushed herself up to her hooves with a groan, wincing as her eyes were inexorably drawn to watch as a spark leapt out from her horn; a spark which arced slowly up before falling back down to explode in a dazzling array of colours. Wincing in pain, Twilight averted her eyes until the blinding light had faded. When she looked back, the sight took her breath away. A shimmering orb of energy hung delicately in the centre of the library, illuminating the walls with beams of every colour under the sun, overlapping and mixing before her very eyes. But that wasn’t what had left Twilight so awestruck. Suspended in the centre of the orb was a familiar tiara. “The element…” Hope surged through her and any rational thought was discarded as Twilight raced forward, reaching out to grab at the solution to all her problems, slamming it down onto her head and praying for something, anything, to happen. Harmony... Hope was quickly replaced by panic as flashes of light and sound began to rush through her head, flickers of tunnels and darkness; a tower and an amulet and dashing lights. The moon hung in the sky, burning with a green light, and throughout it all she could hear a chanting that refused to become any clearer no matter how she strained to listen. The longer she listened the brighter the tiara grew and with it, a burning pain began to sear into her head. Desperation to understand became a panicked desire to escape as she tried to tear the artefact from her, but no matter what she did it didn’t stop. A crack through the world itself, the world falling from the sky, tunnels twisting and turning. Deeper and deeper. Into the abyss. Everything stopped. And she was alone in the darkness. No. Not alone. Something was with her, something dangerous. Twilight, run! She tried to flee, but no matter how fast she ran she couldn’t escape the darkness, and the feeling of something creeping closer and closer. You can’t run from me, Twilight! Fangs burst from the darkness, clamping down onto her throat. “A-ahh!” Twilight jerked up in a cold sweat, grasping at the covers as she tried to slow her racing heart and relax her breathing. What in Equestria had she just been dreaming about? All she could remember was a pair of cold green eyes, and the feeling of being chased. Even now she felt like she was being hunted and her eyes reflexively darted to the corners of the room. But there was nothing here. It was just a nightmare. She was in her room, in Canterlot. Slowly she felt her pulse begin to relax, the trembling in her limbs dying away. With a sigh, she flopped back onto the bed. She’d been so wrapped up in the wedding she’d barely been sleeping, and now nightmares? Her thoughts were interrupted quite suddenly by a painful rumbling from her stomach, and she reluctantly threw the blankets aside and forced herself to roll out of bed and onto her hooves. The second she hit the floor, a spike of pain raced along her legs, prompting Twilight to wince and look down at the floor in tired confusion. She had been very busy the last few days, perhaps she’d pulled something? Come to think of it, how long had she been asleep? It must’ve been late into the night – it was pitch black outside. Had she slept through the entire day? Her momentary concern was quickly slept aside, the guards would have woken her up if she was needed. Twilight paused, glancing upwards with a frown. Questions were springing to mind, ones that left an uncomfortable chill in her stomach. Quickly she pushed them away to be dealt with later. Getting food was very much a ‘now’ problem, so that could come first! With a satisfied smile and a little nod to herself, Twilight strode towards the door with her eyes still half shut, reaching up with a hoof to push the door open. ...to push the door open. ...to push the door open! Twilight stopped, the same horrible chill in her stomach making her hesitate. Slowly she pulled her hoof away from the door and took a nervous step backwards, reaching up to rub at her eyes until she was sure there was no sleepiness clouding her vision. The door was closed and locked as normal, but it was also surrounded by the faint glow of magic, as if it had been enchanted. Which made no sense. Why would her door be enchanted? The answer seemed to be on the tip of her tongue, but Twilight couldn’t find it. Maybe her room would reveal something. Twilight turned to glance around her room, eyes narrowed as she studied every detail she could. Her bookshelves were all neatly stacked, just as she’d left them. Her bed wasn’t exactly tidy, but that was her own fault. Her bathroom door was shut, and her desk was covered in books and sheets of paper covered in jotted notes. Everything was as it should be, besides the magical lock on her door and the muted darkness. Once again, Twilight felt a reluctance to pursue the answer for very long, her hooves pawing at the stone beneath her. What was going on? What was she forgetting? Finally the questions couldn’t be ignored any longer and, with a wave of her horn, she summoned an orb of light that illuminated the room around her—and the pony sitting in the centre of her bed, smirking at her with blood soaked eyes. Twilight gasped, falling backwards and opening her mouth to scream, until suddenly the questions that she’d tried to ignore came flooding in, until she realised that the figure on the bed was her, until she came to the realisation of where she was. She was in Canterlot. She had just escaped the changelings. She was alone. “Are… you okay? I mean, obviously you’re not okay. I take you to the mindscape to resolve your clearly prohibitive emotional issues, and instead you magically repress your own memories, cast another spell on our mind that does who knows what, and then wake up looking like a lost foal crying for her mother.” Twilight squeezed her eyes shut tightly as everything rushed back to her, barely listening to her companion’s little rant as she struggled to control her breathing. In. Out. In. Out. The Other floated up from the bed, crossing the room before landing down in front of Twilight with a frown that seemed as confused as it was angry. “What is wrong with you?” “What?” Twilight opened her eyes, flinching as she came face to face with a bloody copy of said eyes, scant inches away from her. “What did you do, little flower? What was that spell you cast?” A frown spread across her features. Maybe not everything had come back to her. “What spell are you talking about?” The Other scoffed, shaking her head. “Oh, that’s really mature. Don’t play games with me, you lunatic. If you’re not going to tell me just say so and I’ll find out the hard way.” Twilight’s frown only deepened as she watched The Other float back to the bed, muttering under her breath, “Although I expect you have no idea what you did anyway, considering your track record.” For a brief second she considered a retort at the sarcastic mumbling, but her stomach chose that moment to remind her how starving she was, and how close she’d managed to come to killing herself. “Finally. While your display of utter obliviousness is charming, in a sort of pathetic way, I’m expecting us both to end up dead because of it sooner or later. Maybe you should let me take over?” Twilight found her jaw clenching at the patronising tone of The Other in her ear, the faux care doing nothing to mask the clear disdain. “No. You’re not ‘taking over’ ever again. I know what I’m doing,” she finished lamely, eyes turned towards the floor. “Ha! That’s a good one. We’re trapped in a bedroom with no food and… less than a day from starvation by my estimate. And look at you. You’re not even going to look me in the eye when you lie to me?” Twilight tensed as echoing memories whispered from the back of her mind. It wasn’t fair, she didn’t deserve this! She didn’t deserve this. She knew what she was doing. She’d brought them exactly where they needed to go. Was she just going to stand here and let it insult her? “Oh, someones getting a little heated. I can hear you panting all the way from over here. Are you gonna cry?” “Shut up!” Twilight snapped her head up, her horn blazing brightly as she flung the bed upwards, slamming it into the ceiling with a crack. The Other blinked as fragments of wooden bedframe rained down all around her, raising an eyebrow slowly. “Wow. Very scary. Perhaps next time, show our enemies that sort of anger. You know, rather than running away like a scared filly?” With a snarl, Twilight pulled the large chest that had been revealed out into the centre of the room, dropping the bed back down before turning to glare at her reflection’s smug look. She flipped the lid upwards to reveal a week’s worth of magically preserved food and water. For a few moments they stayed like that, staring at each other. Twilight, daring The Other to make another snarky comment, and her reflection fighting the urge to do just that. “Fine. So you have some idea of what you’re doing. Let me guess. The plan is to rest here for a few days, recover our strength, and make a plan before heading out into Canterlot? Twilight gave a curt nod, already beginning to unpack the neatly sorted food and water onto her bed. But the satisfaction of finally getting one over on her companion hadn’t satisfied the rage bubbling below the surface. It wasn’t fair! Twilight watched with a sour look on her face as her Sister spent the next few hours slowly and methodically sorting almost everything that she had hidden away beneath her bed, a few exceptions being consumed as she worked. She had been unable to pick out any sort of flaw in the plan, and that worried her. It was becoming more and more clear that her Sister was losing it. The brief attacks, the strange magic. How long before one of those instinctive spells ended up doing something catastrophic? But she couldn’t solve it head on. It was very obvious now that any sort of force would only be responded to in turn, so Twilight resigned herself to simply studying the room that had once been the home of Twilight Sparkle, idly scanning the shelves for something that might help her better understand. Unfortunately, it seemed that she’d seen the majority of the shelves contents already when she was first emerging within the mindscape. In fact, as she scanned the shelves, she remembered having seen that exact box. Floating over, Twilight cautiously opened the small keepsafe, glancing over her shoulder to confirm she wasn’t being observed, before turning to stare at the single scroll inside. This was her Sister’s first “friendship report.” She remembered when she’d first discovered these, and how she’d struggled to come to terms with what they meant. They appeared to be reports written about friendship and social etiquette, which was understandable at first. Her Sister was a brilliant academic. But the context had confused her. It seemed as if they had been written after actual real life experiences, something that she had confirmed by rooting around in the memories occurring just before they were written. Learning that her Sister had spent a considerable number of months actually studying how making and maintaining social relationships with other ponies worked had confused her immensely, at least initially. When she began to learn about The Elements, however, it had become much clearer. They worked on friendship and ‘harmony’, so it made sense that the ground of friends had to be as well versed in the art as possible. Still, the notion left her uneasy, no matter how many times she approached it. Putting the thoughts aside with a frown, Twilight continued her exploration of the shelves, studying the trophies, keepsakes, memorabilia and books that filled them. To her surprise, Twilight didn’t recognise a vast majority of the items on the shelves, which left her puzzled, as she was sure she’d explored this very room quite thoroughly while studying their memories. I wonder… Perhaps my Sister’s memories aren’t as reliable as I thought. I’ve definitely seen this trophy for ‘foal’s first writing award’ but I don’t remember seeing a medal for magical prowess. How much of my knowledge is based on flawed information? Twilight frowned, continuing to idly toy with the thought as she scanned the shelves. Unfortunately it seemed her internal commentary had caught her companion’s attention, and she quickly spun round with her best disarming smile when she heard the sound of a pony getting to her hooves. “What are you doing?” Wincing at the harsh tone, Twilight gave her best smile. “Me? I’m merely looking over all these fantastic awards. I never realised we were so talented.” “I’, not ‘we’. You weren’t involved in any of this and you never will be. Don’t damage anything. These are the only things I have from my past.” “Oh, wow, I didn’t realise that you cared more about a bunch of useless books you’ve probably read a hundred times then you do about your friends. That’s pretty cold of you.” Twilight grinned as her jab got the intended reaction, her Sister’s face all scrunched up in an angry pout. Something deep inside her urged her on and she plucked one of the books from the shelf, holding it out in her magic and squeezing down on it. “The Basics of Magical Concentration? You don’t need this, little flower. These stupid attachments to your ‘past’ are the reason you keep slipping up. Maybe I should do you a favor and get rid of it?” The bed was roughly shoved out of the way as her companion rushed forward, a look of fear in her eyes. “Don’t you dare! That book is important!” Twilight felt the familiar stirrings of anger inside of her, a disgusted look slowly spreading across her features as she snapped back. “This book is important? More important than your friends? More important than our life?! Barely an hour ago you were practically on your deathbed and yet you still refuse to reorganise your priorities. They’re gone, you idiot! Keeping around some stupid books isn’t going to change that!” Slowly but surely, her magical grip began to crush the book, eliciting a horrified gasp from her companion. “You’re just resentful that I value a bunch of books more than I value you! I know that you think I should admire you, that I should worship you for helping me. But I don’t. You’re a monster, and you taint everything you touch! Now give me the book!” “And what if I don’t?” Twilight felt her Sister’s anger and it only made her own flare brighter. “What are you going to do when I—” She let her actions complete the sentence, her magic igniting the book and reducing it to ash in moments— to the shock of the pony watching. She watched as surprise, horror, and sadness spread across her Sister’s features, waiting for the realisation that it was just a book to settle in. Anger flared up instead, rage stirring inside her Sister’s mind as she was wrapped up in a magical grip and dragged forward to stare straight into a furious glare. Twilight responded with the most condescending smile she could. “Oh, did I do something bad? Are you going to put me in time out?” Her taunt was rewarded with magic squeezing around her hard enough to crush anything that wasn’t, well, her. The action made her pause; she’d never felt this much of their magic used aggressively even when their life was at risk. “Ouch. Careful little one, that almost hurt.” “Good.” Twilight flinched at the vicious look she was given, the heat of her own anger dying away to be replaced by an icy feeling. “Okay, perhaps I shouldn’t have destroyed the book, but my point still stands!” There was no response externally, but Twilight could feel the emotions surging through the pony before her, and every second that passed only seemed to make that anger grow. The magic around her lifted her up into the air and, before she could break free, she felt a very real and very unnerving weight settle down on her limbs, bringing with it the crushing pain of the magic holding her up. “Wait, what are you—nng!” The air rushed out of her lungs as she was slammed into the ground with a loud splintering crack! She could feel the urge to fight back, to indulge in the same anger her Sister was feeling, but there was no telling what might happen then. She needed to stop this. Her own horn lit up as she furiously wrestled for control of the magic, loosening and then breaking her Sister’s grip on her body. As soon as she did, she felt the unfamiliar weight fade away as she became spectral again, quickly rising into the air and looking down to the pony who was still pointing a horn up at her, shimmering with malicious intent. “This is ridiculous!” She shouted as she jerked to the side to avoid a blast of magic, eyes widening as a second shot almost hit her straight between the eyes. “After everything that’s happened, me crushing some stupid little book is the thing that gets you angry enough? You need to take a look at yourself, and what’s important, because this is insane!” Even as she tried to talk her Sister down, Twilight had to admit she was impressed. The blasts of magic that she was dodging were powerful, controlled, and precise; the energy was even dispersing almost immediately after they missed, testament to her Sister’s commitment to preserving the room’s contents. If they’d been aimed at anyone but her she’d probably have been proud. But that wasn’t the case, and it was only making her annoyed. “What are you trying to accomplish? You can’t kill me, you can’t even hurt me!” To prove her point, Twilight floated down to stare her Sister in the eyes, spreading her hooves to make herself an easy target and waiting for the pony to come to her senses. But there was no hesitation and Twilight only had a moment to gasp as the magic hit her, dispelling her ethereal form with a painful zap. She finished her gasp in the Mindscape, her eyes blinking rapidly as she adjusted to the sudden shift in perspective. All around her, angry sparks of red and black swirled and the sight of it made the deep blue haze around her deepen. This was bad. Okay, you did it. I’m gone. Let’s stop now before either of us do something we regret, okay? Twilight flinched as her Sister suddenly appeared before her, taking a step back as the angry pulsing clouds flared brighter. She’d never seen her Sister so angry, so full of rage, and she quickly began to back away as the furious mare stormed forward, the crimson shroud trailing her like a cloak. I know you’re angry, but you’re the one that taught me to— Shut up! Twilight froze. That wasn’t just anger or rage. She could feel the hatred her Sister held. For her? Before she could even begin to process that the shroud of darkness descended on her, burning into her mind and consuming her. You’re a sickness. You’ve ruined my life. Why won’t you just die?! Twilight grit her teeth as the anger tried to take hold of her. But unlike her Sister, she had far more experience with controlling her anger, and refused to let it overwhelm her. Slowly, carefully, she let the rage in, focusing it, letting it build until she couldn’t stand it a moment longer. Then, with a scream, she let it out in a burst of magic; dispelling the haze of anger and replacing it with a cold calculating fury. With an icy glare, Twilight forced herself back to her hooves, locking eyes with the surprised face of her companion. That hate is going to run out, and you’re going to regret what you’re about to do. Last chance. Twilight slowly, methodically, stalked forward as she spoke, magical shields subtly shimmering to life around her. Is this really the thing you want to lose control for? A book? She watched as those bright purple eyes stared up at her, hoping that her shields wouldn’t be necessary as logic warred with hate. But there was only one winner, and she sighed as she saw her Sister’s expression twist into a hateful snarl. All I’m trying to do, she began, her horn flaring painfully bright, “Is get rid of you!” Twilight gasped at the sudden increase in power, throwing her magic into the shields to strengthen them as a beam of lavender energy struck the first straight on. Even with the extra magic, her first and second shield shattered like glass. Her third shield survived barely a few seconds before eventually it, too, broke. With nothing left to protect her, the magic ripped its way through her body. It took a second for the pain to register, a second longer for the shock to jade, and that’s when she screamed. Almost instantly the attack ceased, leaving Twilight to collapse to the floor with a groan. Gasping for breath, she tried to push herself back to her hooves and failed, trembling as agony wracked her. But she refused to just lie there, her Sister needed her. She forced herself to roll over, watching as the hate drained away from her Sister’s expression to be replaced with horror. Don’t worry, you didn’t… get me…just… yet. Purple eyes, already starting to tear up, snapped up to look at her, and Twilight tried her best to give a cocky smile. But judging by the strangled whimper her Sister gave, and the fact that she vanished shortly after, it likely hadn’t been a very good one. With a gasp she collapsed onto her back. Maybe she’d stay here for a while and give her Sister time to work through her emotions. Yes. That sounded like an excellent idea. Stay here and give her space, what a selfless decision, entirely unrelated to the pain coursing through her. She’d be okay; nothing had been hurt except her pride. She only hoped that her Sister would be similarly unaffected. Ha… that’s not gonna happen. What had she done?
Chapter V: A Realisation of TwoTwilight whimpered and stumbled back towards the edge of her bedroom, staring at the residual magic that thrummed all around her. What had she done? Her hooves trembled beneath her and her heartbeat pounded in her ears, but even that couldn’t drown out the scream. The horrible scream that wouldn’t stop. No matter where she looked the walls felt like they were closing in, like jaws slowly snapping shut around her. She ran for the door, slamming her hooves against it in a desperate bid to shove it open, whimpering as it refused to budge. “Please, oh please!” Her eyes darted around the room, momentarily pausing on the window before coming to rest on the only other exit. Hey efforts to escape into the wallway were abandoned as she galloped for the bathroom, her magic flinging the door open as she rushed inside. With a loud slam, the door was locked shut behind it, and Twilight found herself hyperventilating over the dusty old sink, fighting the urge to be sick. Minutes passed as she struggled to calm her racing heartbeat, hooves trembling on the edge of the basin as her vision blurred in and out of focus. Over and over the scene played in her mind, only getting worse with each repeat. “Go away. Go away!” Magic rushed through her, coalescing inside of her head, and the images were banished from her thoughts, leaving her to stare numbly down into the splattered dust in the sink. With the panic quelled, she could finally hear herself think. But even that was something she’d rather avoid. When did I get so angry? So hateful? It was reasonable, a small part of her argued. The Other had pushed and pushed until she had no more patience left. It had attacked her, manipulated her, abused her. Any sane pony would agree that she was within her right to defend herself against the corruptive magic trying to taint her mind! But that scream. Discord had yelled out when they had encased him in stone. Even Nightmare Moon had screamed in terror when she and her friends had activated the Elements. But this? This was nothing like those screams had been. It wasn’t filled with shock, or anger, or even disbelief. It was filled with pain. Twilight had caused somepony to make that noise. Intentionally. The thought made the urge to vomit return, even stronger than before, and this time she couldn’t fight it. The dust was washed away by her own sickness. Once she had nothing left to give, she reached out for the taps, hoping against hope that somehow they’d still function even after all this time. Her efforts, however, were only rewarded with the clanking of empty pipes and a trickle of dust. Of course. I wouldn’t be so lucky. With a disgusted shudder, she conjured up some magic to force the contents of the sink down. With that done, she pushed herself away from the sink and collapsed against the bathroom wall, panting weakly. Why can’t it just leave me alone? Why can’t things just be simple for once? She lost track of how long she sat there, staring at the floor and crying. The shock of her actions slowly faded away to be replaced by a hollow aching in her stomach and a burning shame. Had she crossed a line, just now? Was it possible to do something like that, and come back from it? Something deep inside of her said no, that she had let herself succumb too far. That nothing she did would ever undo what she’d done. But she wouldn’t believe that. She couldn’t believe it. If that was true then everything she’d worked towards, all she’d done trying to hold true to her morals, would be for nothing. Giving up wasn’t a luxury she could afford. But if she couldn’t give up, she would have to press forward. And that meant making a decision. What would she do next? What could she do next? Ideas and plans circled around in her head, each one totally different from the others, with one notable exception. One idea that never left her. Apologise. The word jumped to the forefront of her mind and the weight of it momentarily took her breath away. Can I do that? Apologise to that—thing? Apologising wouldn’t just be admitting fault. It would be admitting that The Other was a being that deserved her sympathy, that it felt pain, that it was anything more than a construct of magic that needed to be erased. Even if it didn’t see the apology for what it was, Twilight would. She’d never be able to look at it the same way. But if I don’t… How am I any better than the monsters? She wouldn’t be. She was supposed to be setting an example for this new world, not falling down to its levels. She had to be better. With a firm nod, Twilight pushed herself up from the floor. It wasn’t about if she could do it. She had to do it. But even as determination welled up inside of her, another more insidious voice rose up beside it, telling her that she had already gone too far, that no apology would make this better. She had failed already. The thought made her tense. Was that how she really saw it? That she was a failure, one that could never redeem herself? Forcing herself up, she stumbled back towards the mirror, staring into it and searching for some sign that she was more than a failure. More than this. But the pony that stared back at her looked nothing like the one she knew. The pony she saw was exhausted to the point of collapsing. They had been crushed down by a world that no longer cared for them until they were nothing but a shell of their former self. They had lost. But it wasn’t her fault… was it? Excuses, explanations, rationalizations, all sprung to the front of her mind. It had never been her own failures that had held her back! Every time she had been forced to make a choice, to truly take action, she had succeeded! When her friends were being taken, stolen by that accursed bounty hunter Gava, she had rescued them all without letting anyone be hurt! It was only because she was down below that the hunter’s ship had gotten the upper hand in the first place! And the dream monster! She had rescued Luna from that horrible creature, and overcome the nightmare spell for her and Flint all by herself! She had overcome ancient Equestrian magic when she broke free of the nullifier, and had stopped the fighting by herself. She had bested creatures twisted by dark magic, even if it had hurt her to do so. She had dived down into the depths in search of ancient knowledge, and had made it to Canterlot all by herself! When Fluttershy had been hurt, dying on that bed, her magical talent and quick thinking had saved her from the corruption! The only thing that had gone wrong was... The Other. Every success she’d had, every moment of triumph she’d enjoyed had been tainted its presence. Fluttershy, Altalusia, Gava’s ship, Luna. If it hadn’t been for that thing inside of her head, that manipulative, parasitic, cruel little voice that had ripped her from her friends, taken the last hope she had away and destroyed it! The image of Pinkie Pie slamming into the tree flashed through her head. That thing doesn’t deserve an apology. It deserves to die! The unmistakable sound of cracking ceramic snapped her out of her thoughts, eliciting a gasp as she glanced down to see the sink caught in her magical grip, slowly being crushed under her strength. With a start, she released her hold and looked up, only to come face to face with somepony she barely recognised. Crimson streaks ran down her cheeks, staining her fur and dripping down to splatter the sink scarlet. Her hair hung down, wild and unkempt, dulled by it’s dampness to a colourless mess. But none of that compared to the snarl on her face, the rage in her eyes. The look turned her blood cold, but she couldn’t turn away. Was this her? Was this Twilight Sparkle? Rage flared up inside of her like an inferno, at The Other, at herself, at everything. She had to let it out. With a ragged cry she slammed her hoof into the mirror, shattering it and fragmenting her reflection into a dozen smaller shards. But it didn’t stop those eyes from staring back at her. Judging her. Mocking her! She snarled, tearing the mirror from the wall with a loud ping! as the bolts were sent flying. With the mirror held aloft, Twilight paused for the slightest moment before screaming and hurling it into the opposing wall. “It’s not fair!” The pain in her hoof was negligible next to the relief she felt as the mirror was shattered into tiny shards. It couldn’t judge her now. “It’s not fair.” With a growl, she reared up and slammed her front hooves into the sink edge. The basin cracked with a satisfying echo, the toilet bowl following shortly after as she struck out with her hind legs blindly. “It’s not fair!” She raised her hooves again, glaring down at the sink, but before she could completely destroy the ceramic a sharp stab of pain ran through her legs. The aching in her muscles could not be ignored any longer. With a gasp she collapsed forward, tearing the sink from the wall entirely before tumbling down onto the tile below. Her anger ebbed and died as she lay there succumbing to the pain; her shouts replaced by sobs. “It's… not fair.” She spent more than a few minutes there, desperately wishing her friends were beside her. They’d know what to say, what to do. But they weren’t there. She was alone, cold, and wet. Wait, wet? Blinking her eyes open, Twilight’s ears twitched up to focus on the sound of running water, and the puddle she had found herself lying in. ...when? Hesitantly, she rolled over onto her hooves and pushed herself up. She felt better, if only slightly, for indulging her anger and sorrows, but her muscles hadn’t quite caught up and a sharp stabbing pain nearly caused her to topple as she put the weight onto her right foreleg. The source of the water was very quickly apparent though: the pipes that had once been connected to the sink were pumping water onto the floor of the bathroom. Twilight reflexively reached out with her magic to close the valve. It took a second for her brain to catch up with what she’d just done, her head tilted as she stared into the puddle, but when it finally did, a rush of elation swept through her. The enchantments on the pipes were still intact! Hope flared to life, and she quickly rushed over to the shower. As soon as her aching leg touched the floor though, it came out from under her and she soon found herself slipping across the wet floor and tumbling through the curtain with a yelp, head first, into the tub. As soon as the pain had faded enough to not pull all of her attention, she quickly drew on her magic to turn the faucet, staring up at the showerhead and silently begging that this would work as well. Her patience was finally rewarded after a minute of waiting; a freezing cold spray of water made her scream in shock, her magic frantically tugging the handle of the shower back down and cutting the water off. Maybe a little more caution this time? Slowly, she enveloped the piping with her magic, heating it up bit by bit until she felt the familiar twinge of pain from her horn that told her she needed to stop. She’d gotten used to ignoring that twinge over the last few weeks, but for now, there was no need. How long had it been since she’d had that luxury? A humourless chuckle escaped her. Funny how she’d always been so scared about pushing herself when it came to magic. Over the last few weeks she’d easily pushed past minor aching and even serious headaches in her spellcasting and been no worse for wear once she’d recovered. The hint of a smile faded away as she considered her situation. Maybe she was a little worse for wear. She pushed the shower handle back up, wincing preemptively as the sound of water flowing through the ancient pipes got closer and closer. But there was no need; her spell had done its job. Warm water showered down over her and Twilight gasped as the tension she didn’t even know she’d been holding began to fade away. “Oh, Celestia I’ve needed this…” She spent almost ten minutes mindlessly luxuriating in the flow of water, letting the soothing heat and sound wash away the dirt from her body and mind. Once upon a time, she had enjoyed a shower just like this every day. It had been a point of pride that no matter how busy or untidy she was, she was at least always clean. But ever since she’d escaped Canterlot with her friends, there had rarely been a moment to truly stop and enjoy a shower. The last time she remembered was… at Crazy Rich’s mansion. The thought made her pause. Had she truly become so devoted to the task she set herself that even hygiene was unimportant? Was it that vital? That she not rest for one moment until it was complete? The concept made her frown. Since when was there a time limit on saving the world? Perhaps she’d been approaching it too much like Discord, like Luna. There was no evil villain to defeat, no innocent pony lives on the line. Everypony was already gone, and from what she’d seen the ones that were left didn’t even know what they were missing, which meant they could wait. Twilight winced at the intrusive thought, her anger rearing up again even through the calming sound of the water. Perhaps The Other had been right; maybe she had let her emotions get away from her. If she’d managed to abandon her hygiene so easily, who knew what else she may have forgotten? It’s been too long since I wrote a good checklist. Since I set a schedule. Since I had a plan. As Twilight cast her mind back, she realised that for weeks she’d been struggling to keep up. There was always something pushing her forward. The hunt for her library, Gava, her fear of The Other. She’d never had a moment to truly assess the situation. Until now. The urge to leave the shower, to start planning, to finally get a hold of the situation, was almost overwhelming, but something held her back. How long had it been since she’d had a chance to rest like this? She was relatively well fed, had a heated shower, and was blessed with practically endless time. So why did she want to keep moving so badly? Twilight paused instinctively, waiting for a response, and that pause was the very thing that put it all into focus. The Other. Ever since Philomena, ever since she’d felt her own body torn from her and felt that insidious voice in her ear, she’d been terrified of stopping for even a moment. Afraid of what The Other might do. But she couldn’t keep pushing forever. And even The Other had made it clear that she was getting close to her breaking point. So Twilight pushed down the urge to plan, to move, and simply enjoyed the feeling of the water running down her coat and her brief moment of silence. Magic is a curious thing, Twilight thought to herself as she lay within the mindscape. She was born of magic, bound to her Sister through magic, and was almost invincible to anything that wasn’t magic. So how strange it was that she was beginning to hate magic. It seemed that every time she thought she knew what magic was, something happened that completely changed her entire perception of it while simultaneously invalidating everything she thought she’d learned. She’d just learned that whatever magic her Sister had cast that locked away their magic was completely dependent on the pony’s emotional state. She’d been in no position to use it, but for a brief instant during her near disintegration, she’d felt all their magic at her beck and call. Just like back on Altalusia. But it hadn’t been… the right kind of magic. It had felt wrong, twisted, weaker. She knew Twilight Sparkle was capable of almost incomprehensible feats of power. But when she’d gone through their memories, felt what it was like to wield the magic in those moments, it was almost as if the magic wasn’t even coming from them. Rather, the magic seemed to be all around them, and her Sister had merely opened herself up to it to cast her spells. It was utterly confusing, and Twilight was starting to understand why there had been an entire school dedicated to teaching ponies the magical arts. The desire to go back through and study the moments again was strong, but the potential backlash of bringing up those memories when her Sister was so emotional was far too serious to risk. Twilight shook her head, staring up into the swirling sky of the mindscape and gazing across the many twinkling stars above her. There was a small chance that this anger, this rage, was what her sister would need to survive the ordeals she would soon experience. But… there’s also a chance that same anger will be the thing that destroys her. It was a difficult situation. Twilight had seen the things her sister had accomplished; feats of magic and bravery that even she was impressed by. And never had she seen anger or rage be a part of those actions. The more she thought about it, the more she was convinced. Anger is not the answer. Which meant that they both had a problem, even if a certain pony refused to acknowledge it. There was no doubt in her mind that there was some way to manipulate the situation, some combination of words and actions that would allow her to fix all of their issues her way. But the more she thought about it, the less appealing the idea was becoming. She’d been furious when she’d tried to take control back in the ocean, enraged that her Sister would throw away everything they’d had, right in their hooves, over some silly emotional connection. But maybe there was something she wasn’t seeing. Some important little bit of information about magic, about her Sister, about their friends, that would connect the pieces. And though she loathed to admit it, anger, as much as it seemed to make everything clear in the moment, was likely only further muddling her perception. Strange how almost being killed in a fit of rage can shift your perceptions, she thought, the minor amusement far overshadowed by frustration. She needed a new perspective, one that wasn’t tainted by her Sister’s memories and their shared anger. Perhaps she could find some answers in the bedroom. Carefully, slowly, she focused on creating her form outside of the mindscape. Usually it was a simple as leaving, instinct taking over the magical part of it. Another aspect I don’t understand. But if she wanted to give her Sister the privacy she had so politely requested then she needed to be more precise. Finally she felt her magic activate, and without warning she was floating in the centre of the bedroom, a few feet above the ruined bed. For a moment she remained silent. Still. Waiting for the telltale sounds of a pony angrily kicking open the door and demanding to know what she was doing. But it never came. Once she was certain that there wasn’t about to be an argument that may or may not become a fight, she floated over to the scrolls and books that lined the bookshelves of the room and began to look through them. As she did so, her ears were always open, twitching every time she heard the slightest disruption from the bathroom behind her; alert to the fact that her Sister could come out at any time. With no time to waste, she began to pull anything and everything she could from the shelf, scanning each book, tome or note with as much detail as she could spare before shoving it back as tidily as she could. For the second time that day, she found herself astounded at how different the room was compared to the memories she’d studied. How much of what she knew was a lie? A lot more than she would have liked, she was quickly discovering. On the bottom shelf, one that hadn’t even existed in the memory she’d looked at, tucked away where it wasn’t visible was a box of… was this shampoo? With a note that simply read, “Don’t forget to keep clean. Love, Mom!” Clearly it had been stashed away. But why? Slowly but surely she began to build up a picture as more and more things were revealed. Report cards, as well as one of her Sister’s old diaries, had made it very clear that she excelled when it came to her studies which, lined up with what she knew already, but what Twilight had never seen were the comments about her social life. About how she needed to make friends and get out more. There was even a note directly from the head librarian! “Twilight is a bright filly, and a pleasure to have in the library. But I worry that she spends too much time in here and not enough time with her peers. Perhaps somepony should help her find a hobby other than reading? - Dusty Pages” It was infuriating. The Sister that Twilight knew was practically nothing but her friends. Everything she did was centered around her friends, helping them or protecting them or looking for them or sparing them. What had she been like, back before her friends? Although looking through these notebooks at her teacher’s comments, maybe she’d be better off not knowing. The pony she was seeing here was an anxious outcast, riddled with self-doubt and sheltered to an absurd degree. She seemed prone to panic attacks, terrified of branching out beyond her comfort zone, and far too willing to let things pile up if she didn’t want to deal with them. In fact, that was eerily similar to how her Sister had been acting over the last few days. She’d seen examples of this behaviour as far back as a few weeks! Putting back the notebook she’d been looking at, Twilight sighed and floated back to stare at the entire shelf with a frown, hoping a new perspective would suddenly reveal the answers to her. The Twilight I thought I knew was intelligent, driven, and brave. I’ve seen her be all those things and more since I awoke, so clearly it wasn’t entirely made up. But the version of her I’ve learnt isn’t all there is to know. Slowly, an idea formed in her head. It was ridiculous, unthinkable! The very idea made her angry. But she couldn’t help but entertain it, if only briefly. Maybe my approach has been a part of the problem? Just the thought of it made her angry. She had done nothing but try to help! But maybe, in her ignorance, she had made mistakes. “Maybe I’m the one that needs to change?” Twilight hummed thoughtfully, mulling the idea over in her head when her ears flickered. It was too quiet. With a start, she realised that the constant sound of running water had ceased. Had she been heard, or was it just a coincidence? Regardless of what had caused it, she was about to have company. Taking a deep breath, she forced down all the questions she had and put on the most natural smile she could. “Nice and clean, are we?” As the minutes ticked by, Twilight felt her mane and coat gradually losing the accumulated dirt and grime of the past few weeks and, as they did, the stress and tension that had gripped her thoughts cleared away as well. The shower was making it clear; it had been too long since she’d taken the time to truly relax. To just enjoy the moment without thinking about her next step or worrying about what still needed to be done. And the running water served as excellent background noise to soothe away any intrusive thoughts that might try to pop up. Here, she could block out the rest of the world and be alone. Truly alone. But… it didn’t feel right. She’d always enjoyed being alone, even after meeting her friends in Ponyville. But now it felt different. This wasn’t a quiet, relaxing, silence. This was an empty one. And even though she hated to admit it, she knew exactly what was missing. The Other. The thought of her companion tugged at her attention until she couldn’t ignore it any longer, and soon her head was filled with the thoughts she’d been trying so hard to push aside. The image of what she’d done replayed in her head, bringing with it the same horror she’d felt in the moment. The horror of her actions was nothing compared to the disgust that she felt however, because even she couldn’t deny that if The Other had simply faded away, perhaps with an evil vow for revenge, she would have kept pouring magic into the spell until it had been utterly erased. All she’d have had to do was close her eyes, block out the screaming, and keep casting until her problems were all swept away. The very concept made her stomach churn. When had she gotten so twisted, so stressed, that she’d ever willingly decide to do something like that, that she’d even consider the thought? She’d faced down monsters and magic, the literal embodiment of chaos himself! But she’d never once felt so furious, so angry, that she’d wanted to hurt them. It had always been a necessity. Even as she thought it, another part of her was all too eager to mention that ridding herself of The Other’s presence was just as vital a necessity if she wanted to protect herself and save the princesses. Those thoughts were forced down as deep as Twilight could push them, along with the mental images that had invoked them. Anger, sadness, frustration, all of them slowly drained away with the water until all that Twilight felt was disappointment. In her actions, in her thoughts, in herself. She’d let this new world grind her down so much that she was willing to compromise her ideals, willing to step over a line that should never have even been approached. What would Celestia say? How had she let herself get pushed to this point? It was easy to simply put the blame onto The Other, to excuse her own actions under the facade of twisting dark magic warping her thoughts. But she couldn’t hide behind that excuse anymore. If The Other was really able to push her to the point of these things, she had a responsibility to push back. To prove that she could be better. And while she may not be able to get rid of The Other just yet, that didn’t mean she had to sink down to its level. Clearly the situation was a little more complicated than she’d originally thought and she needed to start treating it – No, her. – she had to start treating her more like an equal if she was to have any hope of coming to a peaceful resolution. And that was what she wanted. A peaceful resolution. Right? A dozen arguments popped up in her mind at the question and she frowned at the realisation that she’d already considered all of them. There wasn’t going to be any more progress made hiding in her bathroom. With a sigh, she turned off the shower and got out, her magic reaching out to grab the dusty grooming tools that lay on the shelf beside her as she walked over to the door. It probably wasn’t going to be easy. But like Celestia always said, doing the right thing never was. Or something like that. I don’t really remember that one. Pushing open the door, Twilight took barely a step before being greeted with a very strange sounding, “Nice and clean, are we?” “Ah!” Twilight had to fight the urge to jump back, settling for a brief moment of panicked shuffling, before glaring at the spectral pony hovering in the middle of her room. “Why are you just hovering in my room like that? You scared me!” The Other rolled its eyes and opened its mouth, before hesitating. “I was… waiting for you. Clearly. You spent a while in there. All clean and ready for adventuring?” Twilight frowned, her brow furrowing. Why was she being so strangely stilted? “What were you really doing?” The Other blinked once, twice, before shaking her head. “Like I said. Waiting for you. Twilight’s suspicion only intensified. “You mean to tell me, you’ve just been… waiting here. After what I did. For me to clean myself?” The nod did nothing to allay her doubts; Twilight shook her head and continued. “Why do I find that hard to believe? And how are you even floating here, after what I did to you?” Twilight couldn’t see any signs of dishonesty on The Other’s face, but that wasn’t reassuring in the slightest. “I told you. You can’t kill me. And you needed the time alone. Even I could sense that. As to your lack of trust, that’s probably because you harbour a significant amount of lingering resentment and hatred towards me. But that’s just a guess?” “I. Well. I mean, maybe. That’s—” Twilight let out a small groan, whinnying in frustration. “Take your time, I’m not going anywhere.” “That! How can you be so calm about this after what I just did to you!?” she shouted, stomping a hoof down onto the floor. “Because it’s not a big deal? You were angry and you vented that anger out on me. No harm was done.” “E-excuse me?!” Twilight’s eyes widened, her words coming out in a shocked stutter. “No harm was done? If I never hear a sound like the one you made again, it’ll still be too soon!” “Okay fine, there was some harm. But it’s not an issue—” The Other held a hoof up, interrupting Twilight as she went to speak “—It’s not an issue because you regret it. Because the instant you saw what you were doing you stopped. Because I heard you in the moment before you ran away. And before you say you don’t believe me, and I know you’re about to, just answer me this. If you could go back, would you change your actions, or would you do it again?” The Other asked, lowering herself down to look Twilight in the eye. “What? No! Of course not” With a satisfied nod, The Other floated back. “Exactly. What purpose would being angry at you serve when you already wish you hadn’t done it? You beat yourself up over your actions enough; you don’t need my help.” Twilight winced, stifling the instinctive urge to refuse the statement. “Don’t hold yourself back on my account. I already know what you’re going to say anyway.” This time she couldn’t resist voicing her thoughts. “Why do you have to be so insufferably smug about everything? It’s like you want me to get angry at you!” “No. I want you to stand up for yourself. I want you to stop cowering and wilting away from conflict like a scared filly. This is the only way I’ve found so far to encourage you to be more assertive, and we’re going to need that confidence if we want to overcome the challenges ahead.” Twilight rolled her eyes. “Your definition of assertive isn’t something I want to be. Despite your oh-so-encouraging words, I still believe that hurting others is wrong.” As she spoke she glanced between the bed and the desk. She had planned to finish grooming but… the idea of doing it with The Other watching sent shivers down her spine. Instead she elected to head to her desk, floating the brushes and combs over to her bedside table for later. “Again with the cutesy moral nonsense. You’re so caught up in the minutiae of the situation you can’t see the bigger picture.” The Other paused, blinking and looking thoughtfully at her hoof. “I like that word. Minutiae. Anyway, the point stands! If you could save 100 lives by ending one, wouldn’t you?” Twilight pulled herself up to the desk, her magic pulling ancient quills and parchment to her, still perfectly preserved by Celestia’s magic. “That’s a leading question and you know it. I could stop them with magic, imprison them, and then listen to their problems and help them overcome whatever had led them to harm other ponies.” The Other floated over, glaring at Twilight from above the desk even as she began to write. “And what if there weren’t any ‘problems’ to solve?” she asked, her hooves mimicking quotation marks in the air. “What if they were just killers, like a wolf or bear?” Scoffing, Twilight paused to scribble something out, pushing the parchment up to continue writing further down the page. “Neither wolves or bears are just killers. Fluttershy told me how they only hurt others in order to protect their young or feed themselves. She explained that the predator prey cycle is a natural one, and while I may find it strange and slightly horrifying, I’ve learned to understand its necessity.” For a few moments the room was silent except for the scratching of her quill. Eventually the silence drove her to look up at The Other, who was floating there with a twitching eyebrow. “What?” “Fine! What if it was an insane pony” —Twilight raised her hoof and opened her mouth— “with an incurable condition? That drove them to attack and kill anyone they saw?” Sighing, Twilight turned back to her paper, crumpling up the piece covered in scribbled out lines and tossing it behind her before pulling another one down. “I’d magically restrain them and get them somewhere safe. Then I’d try and find some way to block the sensory input that drove them to attack ponies so they could continue to live their life?” “You can’t just—arghh!” The Other pushed herself down, blocking Twilight’s view of the page she was writing on and pressing her nose up against Twilight’s own. “Okay. Okay. Pony, with an incurable condition that causes them constant pain, that also makes them bloodthirsty monsters which can—” “Stop.” “What?” “Just stop it. You’re being ridiculous. You’re not going to somehow convince me that killing is acceptable just by coming up with a ridiculous edge case where it would be the only option. You believe that will convince me? Really?” The Other grit her teeth, her face scrunched up in an angry pout that Twilight was shocked to find made her look almost normal, before sighing. “Fine… I guess you’re right.” “I know I am. Now get out of my way. I’m trying to write.” The Other did as she asked, floating up and out of the way before coming back down to hover uncomfortably close behind Twilight’s shoulder. “So. What are we writing?” “Ugh! Can you just leave me alone?” “Oh, you’d rather I go back to looking through your things? Or do you just want me to hover here silently until you’re done, like some sort of pet?” Twilight winced at the implication, turning to look at the disgruntled expression on The Other’s face. Treat her like an equal. “Oh, fine.” Twilight said, blinking at the strangely excited smile she was given before quickly turning back to her parchment. The Other once again decided to lean over her shoulder, reading as Twilight spoke. “It’s supposed to be a checklist for fixing this mess.” “Supposed to be?” Twilight sighed. “It’s not complete. I’ve gotten as far as “retrieve the Elements, escape Canterlot and find Celestia”. But I have no idea where I’d even begin to look!” “Does it have to be?” Twilight stopped. Slowly she turned to look at The Other, fixing her with an offended look. The spectral pony slowly withered under the glare, shifting uncomfortably before finally snapping. “What? Stop looking at me like that! Why does it have to be complete? Why can’t it just be a checklist of all the things you know to do so far?” Shaking her head, Twilight turned back to the parchment and crumpled it up, grabbing another one and starting again. “A checklist is a list of all the things you need to do for something. All the things. From start to finish. In order. The first thing to check off on an incomplete checklist would be ‘complete checklist,’ and that’s just silly!” “You’ve got to be joking.” Twilight glanced to the side and raised an eyebrow. “Of course you’re not. This is ridiculous. You—” The Other paused at Twilight’s expression before floating back slightly. “Woah. You’re not going to try and hit me with another magic beam of death again are you? Over the definition of a checklist?” Twilight had the decency to turn away at that, flushing slightly in embarrassment. Perhaps she was being a little aggressive. “Just… let me do it my way, okay? It’s important for me.” The Other didn’t reply, but she did stop talking as she returned to Twilight’s shoulder, and that was good enough. Once again Twilight began to write, but as the minutes ticked by and she went through page after page of parchment, her frustration only grew. It was only after she’d crumpled up another fully written list that The Other finally said something. “Okay, this isn’t working.” “What?” “You can’t keep doing this. You’re just making yourself angry. And you’re going to run out of parchment eventually. Why do you need to do this so badly, anyway?” Twilight couldn’t keep the sigh from escaping, her hooves tapping against the desk’s edge. “It’s important! How am I supposed to do all of this without a plan? I can’t just keep stumbling forward, hoping that I’ll get it right! What if somepony gets hurt because of me? Again?” “And what if somepony gets hurt because you’re too busy stressing over details instead of taking action? Every second you wait is another second longer before you can save them!” Twilight pushed herself free from the desk, turning to glare at her reflection. “What would you know about it? Almost every pony I’ve hurt was because of you!” The Other floated back, throwing her hooves up. “And I’ve already told you that I didn’t mean it! Yes, I know that I messed up. What do you want me to say?” “I want you to stop acting like you know all the answers. To stop assuming your way is always the right way just because you can’t comprehend the idea of morality!” Twilight shouted, huffing angrily and storming away from the desk. “Morality? No offence, little flower, but in almost every case I can think of, your morality has done nothing but put us and the ponies that we care about in danger! I’ve made mistakes, but do you really think that your actions have always been the best? Do you really think I’m the only one making mistakes here?” she asked, giving Twilight a pointed look. The argument made Twilight freeze. Part of her wanted to snap back the yes that was just waiting to be said, but she knew that it would be a lie. Slowly she turned around and shook her head, wincing at the angry look on The Other’s face. “No. No, I don’t.” “But!” Twilight continued, anger flaring up inside of her. “That doesn’t mean our mistakes are comparable! Mine were made with the best of intentions, but yours—” “Don’t you dare.” Twilight froze at the cold fury in those words, her ears flattening against her head as the room seemed to darken around her, illuminated purely by the phantasmal glow of The Other’s magic. Her anger seemed to shrivel away and in its absence she realised what she had just been about to say. The thought alone was enough to make her shudder. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.” A few seconds of silence passed, the temperature of the room slowly dropping, before the darkness receded and Twilight found the confidence to breathe again. “I don’t want you to be sorry. I want you to stop obsessing over it. Over my mistakes, over your own mistakes.” Twilight frowned, looking up towards The Other in confusion. There was no anger there, just frustration. “It’s incredible how you are both completely tied up in your own emotions while simultaneously refusing to acknowledge them.” “I’m not refusing to ack—” Twilight froze as The Other held up a hoof, her face set in a knowing stare. Whatever she’d been about to say died on her tongue and she frowned. “You’re right. Okay. So… what would you suggest?” The Other seemed to pause for a moment, before relaxing and giving a soft smile. One that caught her thoroughly off guard. Was it that easy? “Really? Or would you like to yell at me some more?” she asked, her smile turning into a more familiar smirk. “Yes, really!” Twilight replied, with just a hint of annoyance. “You wanted to give your advice, so... I’m listening.” Twilight watched as her companion hurriedly floated over to the desk to motion to the pile of crumpled up pages. “Well, obviously you’re trying to do too much at once.” Twilight followed her over, staring down at the pile with a confused frown. “Yes, I know. That’s the point of the checklists, to help you manage lots of work.” “No. I mean you’re doing too much with the lists themselves.” When Twilight only blinked in confusion, The Other sighed and motioned to the pile of scattered parchment. “Why did you keep starting over?” The answer was obvious. “They were incomplete. They had missing steps or I couldn’t figure out what the next step would be from where I got to,” Twilight replied quickly, frowning when she found no fault with the answer. The Other clearly did however. “Urgh. And why did you have those missing steps?” Twilight’s confusion only grew, her brow furrowing as she pulled up some of the pieces and smoothed them back out; gesturing to the pages as she spoke. “Everything. I didn’t know how I’d wake up Luna, or I didn’t know where to find Discord’s statue, or I couldn’t be sure if the Elements would do what I wanted.” The Other sighed and moved over to Twilight’s shoulder, pointing down at the lists. “All of these issues are near the bottom of the page. Why are you worrying about them now?” “Just because they’re at the bottom doesn’t mean they’re not important! I can’t just ignore them and hope I’ll find a solution in time. That’s stupid.” Twilight’s ear twitched as The Other shook her head.. “That’s not what I’m suggesting. I’m saying you need to focus on what you do know, and update the list as you go. This first step, it’s the same on all of your lists. Retrieve the Elements. But how are you going to do that? Make a checklist for that one point, start to finish, and then once we’ve got them we can look at making a second list.” Twilight couldn’t help but see the logic in The Other’s words, but even as she accepted them, doubts sprung up in her mind. “But what if… I run into something I didn’t plan for? What if something goes wrong and I don’t know what to do?” The more she thought about it, the more ways she realised it could go wrong. Without all the information she’d never be able to save Equestria. She might end up making everything worse! What if the best option was to just stay here and— “Shhh.” The Other floated down and pushed a hoof into Twilight’s muzzle, cutting off her train of thought and drawing her attention. “Are you listening?” Twilight tried to open her mouth, but the hoof pressed against her refused to budge, cutting off all sound despite how immaterial it appeared to be. With no other option, she simply nodded. “We’re going to make a plan. And it will be a good one because that’s what we’re good at. And if something comes up that we didn’t plan for, we’re clever ponies and we’ll figure out an answer. You can’t prepare for every possibility, but that doesn’t mean we can’t handle every possibility. Understand?” Twilight nodded silently. While she had been listening to The Other’s words, she’d found herself completely captivated. The hoof against her muzzle pulsed with a warmth she had never experienced before. Was that the feeling of her own magic? Had The Other’s body always been filled with those tiny stars, like a pony shaped hole in the night sky? Questions sprang up in her mind, dozens of them. Why had she never been curious about The Other before? This was a sentient metamagical construct right in front of her and she hadn’t even thought to study it! She needed to— “Now. You’re going to write out a new list. Just for Canterlot. Right now.” —finish her checklist. Sighing, Twilight nodded one last time as The Other backed away. Questions teemed in her head, but she knew that the planning needed to take priority. Write first, questions later. With a determined look she pulled herself back up to the desk and picked up the quill and ink. “So. Retrieve the Elements is our first step? How are we going to do that?” Twilight hesitated, resting her quill on the top of the page. “Don’t rush. The fact you didn’t struggle over that step means you know what you need to do. Just let the thoughts come, one at a time.” She pulled her quill back. Thinking, really thinking, about what she’d need to make it through Canterlot. It took her a few minutes to find that first step, but The Other seemed more than content to wait for her, remaining silent until she finally spoke up. “Okay. Okay, I think I’ve got it.” Twilight began, watching The Other nod and motion with her hoof to continue before doing so. “First we head up to my tower. It’s nearby and full of books which might prove useful in the future, including some that could explain the layout of Canterlot better,” Twilight started, looking at The Other nervously. Relief rushed through her when she was given a nod in response. “Because it’s nearby, easy to access, and will make the rest of the list easier. Sensible… Write it down, then.” Twilight quickly turned to her page, nodding and quickly writing down the first step. “Okay, so we’ve found some books in your tower, we’ve stored them safely back here and got a layout of the palace. What next?” Twilight’s stomach chose that moment to rumble, making her wince and pull her quill back for a moment before writing something entirely different. “Then... we’re going to make our way to the kitchen storerooms. Many of the rooms within the place were enchanted with preservation magic, similar to this one, and I’ll need a source of fresh food and water if I’m going to be down here longer than a few days.” “Covering the essentials is a priority. Smart. Although I get the feeling that wasn’t the intended step two was it?” The Other asked, smirking faintly. “Of course it was! Why wouldn’t it… okay, fine. I didn’t really think about it until just now. “That’s fine. After all, that’s the point of the list. So what was the plan after the tower?” Twilight’s quill continued to scratch across the page, speeding up as her thoughts began to flow. “Next, we make for the Astronomy tower. Canterlot isn’t underwater, which means something must have happened to protect it. The tower is on the other side of the palace so it’ll be a bit of a trot, but we might be able to get a better understanding of what happened to the city from there.” The Other nodded. “Knowledge is power. Good choice.” She motioned for Twilight to continue. “Regardless of what we find, we head down to the Archives next. The journal I found in Ponyville spoke of forts around Canterlot.” Twilight paused, taking a deep breath even as she continued writing. “As much as I hate to say it, it’s becoming very clear that Equestria never took the city back from the changelings. And it seemed the corruption may have originated here as well. That means all that knowledge, the knowledge that could have saved Equestria, sat here uselessly while they died!” Twilight slammed a hoof down into the desk, her horn glowing ever so briefly. “We have a duty to find out everything we can about the corruption. That way, maybe we can find out how to fix it.” “How are you planning on studying the corruption? You’re going to need some sort of reference, unless you were planning to just read through every book in the entire library?” Twilight froze, looking up at The Other with a sheepish expression. “Oh, you’re joking. That’s exactly what you were planning wasn’t it?” Biting her lip, Twilight hid her face behind her mane and went to scratch out a line on the page in front of her. “Noooo…” “Don’t cross it out! If that’s your plan then that’s the plan! This is your plan, remember, not mine.” Twilight paused, her quill hovering just over the page. “I guess.” “And what is the next step of your plan?” The Other asked, pointing to the page with her hoof. Twilight hummed thoughtfully, staring down the list before sighing. “Then… I’m not sure. We need to get into the Element’s Vault, but I know that Celestia enchanted it not to open to anything except my friends and I. My friends aren’t here and neither is she, so I have no idea how we’d break in… I was kind of hoping that I’d figure that out while at the Library.” If The Other noticed that Twilight had brushed over this obstacle while making her original lists, she didn’t mention it. “If we can’t find anything in the library, perhaps there are instructions in the princess’ chambers? Perhaps an item of power that could be used to unlock the doors?” Twilight gasped, turning to look at The Other with wide eyes. “Go into the princess’ personal rooms? We couldn’t do that! Those rooms are private! What would the princess say?” The Other rolled her eyes, shaking her head. “Yes, little flower, if you asked Princess Celestia to go into her chambers because you needed her… bracelet to open the vault and save all of Equestria, what would she say?” “She’d tell me that if it was for Equestria, and if I was doing it for a good reason, that of course I would—” Twilight blushed, nodding and scribbling down the next step. “Okay, point taken.” “So, assuming we find the information we need inside there, the final step is to retrieve the Elements and leave the city?” “Yes! But first we come back here and fill up my saddlebags, and make another checklist. I also want to get some more writing supplies while we’re in the library actually.” Twilight muttered, finishing her sentence before going back up to add the thought; only to find it already added, a quill held in her own magical grip. But she hadn’t used it which meant... “Oh. Thank you.” Twilight turned to give The Other a smile, one that came surprisingly easy. But the sight of her own magic doing something she had no control over only brought the questions from before back to the front of her mind. “Okay, I need to know. How are you doing that?” “Doing… what?” “That! Using my magic without me noticing, and floating off without me in the caves, and… everything! I only just realised it, but I know almost nothing about you or how you work, yet you seem to know everything about me!” Twilight watched as The Other rolled her eyes. “Well of course I know everything about you. I spent weeks trying to understand you, trying to speak with you, after I first learnt who you were. I’ve done nothing but try to learn about you since the first moment I awoke.” “You… did?” Twilight frowned, looking at The Other in an entirely new way as she processed the thought. “So, what did you find out about me?” The Other paused and looked around before giving a nod. Twilight watched with a frown as she floated over to the bed and raised the grooming tools. “You wanted to… tidy yourself up? How about we catch two birds with one seed?” Twilight lowered herself down from the desk, frowning ever so slightly. Could she do that? Let somepony else, something else help her with such an intimate task? “No. I’ll… I’ll do it myself, thank you.” Taking the tools in her own grip, Twilight walked over to the bed and got comfortable, taking the brush and beginning to work on her mane as she spoke. “What do you want to know?” “Everything.” Even without seeing it, Twilight could feel The Other shaking her head. “I hate to burst your bubble, but I don’t think that’s going to be possible. Most of what I ‘know’ is just a feeling, a sense of what is right. And I’ve only really been alive since I bonded with you. I haven’t exactly had a long time to figure it all out.” Twilight shook her head, wincing as the brush caught a particularly knotted clump of hair “Except - ow! - you do! What do you mean by ‘bonded’? You say that word as if it’s a process or a connection of some sort. What does that entail?” The Other paused, frowning and bringing a hoof to her chin in contemplation. “It just feels right. Most of what I say is like that, I know the word is accurate but I don’t know why. But it does feel right. Can’t you feel it too?” “I… I don’t know. What does it feel like, this sense?” Twilight asked, lowering her brush and closing her eyes to try to find any sort of strange sense of connection inside of herself. No matter how hard she searched though, no ‘inexorable bond’ made itself clear to her. Just the faint sense of magical energy that she always felt. “It’s hard to describe. I just know it’s there. I’m part of you; I was born from your feelings and thoughts and I’m still tied to them. I know that for sure.” Twilight’s face scrunched up in concentration as she continued to search for anything ‘off’. Had it been so long that she couldn’t distinguish the feeling anymore? Had she forgotten what it felt like to not have The Other inside of her… or was it simply a one-sided process? “Perhaps… we’d be able to better discern things like this inside of the mindscape?” The Other suggested. Twilight found herself nodding; it did seem like a sensible idea. Before she could voice her agreement though, she felt herself being pulled down, and when she next opened her eyes she was standing in the infinite expanse of her own mind. “Ahh! Don’t do that!” Her hoof materialised as she stomped down, and the rest of her body soon followed, giving her a pair of eyes to glare with as The Other manifested in front of her. “You shouldn’t be listening to my thoughts in the first place, but it’s just creepy when you respond to them like that. As if I just spoke to you.” The Other stared at her with a raised eyebrow. She stared back. “You know what I was just saying about being a part of you?” she asked, an annoyed tone to her words that Twilight couldn’t help but notice. Twilight narrowed her eyes and nodded slowly. “And you know how I said I’m tied to your thoughts and feelings?” she continued in a frustratingly slow manner. “Yes, yes, I did, in fact, pay attention to what you said five seconds ago!” “Sometimes I think you listen to the words and intentionally ignore what they mean. I can’t choose whether or not I hear your thoughts. They’re my thoughts, too!” she shouted, throwing her hooves up in exasperation. “Look around you, this mind isn’t your mind. It’s our mind! Every single thought we both have echoes here. See?” Twilight looked around with wide eyes at The Other’s shout, her body tensed as she waited for whatever she was meant to be looking at to appear. Slowly, as the seconds ticked by, the tension faded and she turned back to look at the floating pony before her with a frown. “There’s nothing there, I don’t see anything?” “Urghh.” The Other dropped down to the floor, shaking her head and walking over to jab at Twilight’s forehead. “That’s because you’re trying to see something. The mindscape doesn’t work like that. Sight isn’t the most important sense in here. In fact, it’s the most restricting. You need to start using your ears as well.” “What? If I need to use my ears then why did you tell me to see?” Twilight shouted, huffing as she strained to hear whatever sound it was that The Other was trying to show her. “I can’t hear anything. There’s just this weird… background… hum” Twilight trailed off as the hum slowly became more and more perceptible. Every time she tried to focus on the sound it seemed to dance away from her grasp, but when she just stopped and listened, it came back. Teetering right on the edge of her vision. It was like mist, all around her but impossible to grasp. If only she could— Her focus was interrupted by the sound of badly muffled laughter, and Twilight’s eyes shot open to glare daggers at The Other, who was giggling a few feet away. “What?!” “Oh, it’s nothing! Pfft, I was just wondering if I looked this silly when I first tried this. You had your tongue stuck out and your face was all scrunched up. And don’t get me started on the way your ears were flicking about.” Twilight turned away, flushing red as The Other laughed behind her. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been faced with a magical problem that she’d genuinely struggled with. And to have The Other, of all things, be the one to laugh at her made her stomach churn. “Maybe if you stopped laughing at me and started helping me I’d figure it out sooner!” She snapped, cutting off the laughter. Silence washed over them and Twilight found herself pausing to listen in as the faint hum began to return, only to gasp when it was suddenly amplified, echoing all around her. Does this help? Wincing, Twilight turned around to glare at The Other who was still floating a few feet above the floor, now with a curious look on her face. “What did I tell you about speaking to me like that?” A sigh. And then, “Look, do you want to get this or not? Because the quickest way to understand it would be to actually start doing it, and if you’re going to get all fussy and weird about it we may as well just stop.” Twilight could feel the annoyance and anger seeping in again and she had to pause for a moment to force it back down, taking a deep breath at the same time. “Yes. I want to understand. But there’s something unnerving about the way it sounds.” Tough. “E-excuse me?” I said tough. Life isn’t comfortable, nothing about this situation is comfortable. Stop being a foal and deal with it. Twilight grit her teeth as the anger that she’d felt began to creep back up, her hooves pawing at the floor. The Other stayed exactly where she was, floating before her, now with a frown and a thoughtful look in her eye. And here’s another example. You can’t keep pushing down your anger like this. Or you’ll just end up having another outburst. I’ve already heard what you’re thinking, so just go and say it. Twilight shuddered at the very idea. She’d given in to her anger and it had been a horrible mistake. She wouldn’t make that mistake again. You won't have a choice. You’re not as in control of your emotions as you think you are, little flower. Even now I can feel the rage inside you. I can see it all around you. Can’t you? Twilight froze, glancing around at the empty expanse all around her, only broken up by the light of the stars. “I don’t see anything…” I don’t understand. It’s like you’re blind, but—it isn’t because you can't do it. No. The Other’s thoughtful look was replaced with understanding. It’s because you’re choosing not to. “What does that mean? What do you mean by choice? I didn’t choose anything! I didn’t even know about all of this until now!” The Other floated down, shaking her head as she landed. You’re so naive. I wonder if you even know you’re doing it. You’ve known about the mindscape, you’ve read about it. I’ve told you about it. But you’re choosing not to remember, you’re choosing to hide your own mind from yourself…” The Other paused, humming thoughtfully before nodding, “...because you’re afraid.” Anger swelled up, fed by her pride, as Twilight slammed her hoof down. “I’m not afraid of you!" No. You’re not. “Wait. What?” The Other smirked, approaching Twilight with a glint in her eye. You’re not afraid of me. Twilight took a hesitant step back, warily looking around her before glaring at the approaching pony. “I know. That’s what I just sa— You’re afraid of yourself. Twilight trembled as she felt the mindscape all around her ripple. Like a strong mist had just been disturbed by a rush of air. It was still empty, but the sudden feeling of a curtain, barely holding back a storm, was impossible to ignore. How long had the faint sound of burning echoed in the distance? “I don’t understand.” Would you like to? The question made the entire mindscape ripple again, and this time the force of it left Twilight on the ground, gasping for air. It took all the strength she had to force her head up, and she immediately dropped it back down at the sight of the mindscape twisting and writhing around her. You can’t run from it forever. But perhaps I can make it easier? Easier? Twilight’s reeling mind grasped onto the lifeline. She nodded desperately, her ears flat against her head as the sound of burning steadily grew louder and louder. Look at me. Twilight shook her head, whimpering. Even with her eyes screwed shut, she could feel the world around her distorting violently. “I can’t!” Yes. You can. The shaking all around seemed to fade, if only for a moment, at The Other’s words and Twilight forced herself to look up. The Other stood there, one hoof stretched out and a warm smile on her face. Take my hoof. Twilight forced herself to focus on that smile, the only stable thing in the twisting maelstrom of her mind. Eyes full of stars stared back at her, full of compassion. She could do this. With a gasp, she reached up and took hold of the offered hoof. The Other pulled her in. And the world went dark.
Chapter VI: A Lesson of TwoTwilight’s grip on The Other’s hoof was her only stability as the world warped and twisted around her. There was no light to see, but she could feel the world twisting, hear the mindscape collapsing, nonetheless. It was only when everything finally seemed to come to rest that she found herself able to relax her grip, hooves aching from the strength she’d clutched to The Other. But she didn’t let go; everything was still dark, and it was impossible to ignore the fear coiling in her gut. “Where am I?” You know where you are. “Where are you?” I’m right in front of you. “What did you do?!” I didn’t do anything, little flower. Twilight glared angrily into the darkness, searching for the smug face she knew accompanied that amused reply. “Then why can’t I see?” For a few seconds there was no reply, and then Twilight felt a hoof against her cheek. Open your eyes. “My eyes are open!” Are they? “Of course they are!” Twilight snapped, smacking at the hoof and huffing angrily. “I’d know if my eyes were closed!” Then why can’t you see? “Because you did something with my magic. This is another one of your tricks!” But even as she spoke, Twilight knew that there was no magic at work here. If this is magic, then you would sense it. “Then—then—you did something else! You’re messing with me, twisting my perception to prove your ridiculous point!” If that’s the case, then you have no other option but to do as I say. “I…” Twilight paused before admitting defeat. With a sigh she focused on her eyes, frowning when she found them as open as they’d ever been. “I don’t understand, they’re already open. I can’t open them when they’re al—” Humour me. “Argh. Fine!” It wasn’t easy to pretend to open your eyes, but Twilight forced herself to do it. And suddenly the world was in front of her. More specifically, a very familiar bedroom. “Wait, what? How did I...?” I told you, all you had to do was open your eyes. Of course, opening your eyes was more a physical representation of you accepting what you’d see if you did so, but the outcome is the same. Twilight blinked, turning round to glare at the annoyingly smug expression on The Other’s face with a frown. “What do you mean?” Like I said, you’re not afraid of me. You’re afraid of yourself. Not literally yourself, of course, rather the parts of you that have become more prominent recently such as your anger, your fear, and your regret. As Twilight watched, the spectral pony before her floated over to the walls and pulled out a pair of glasses and a cap, placing them on and pulling out a chalkboard from seemingly thin air. The rational part of her knew that inside of the mindscape anything was possible, but the strangeness of it left her stunned, giving The Other the perfect opening to continue. You’ve been pushing down your emotions, refusing to acknowledge them, and to a greater extent yourself, for too long. These repressed emotions have a magic all their own, and it is interfering with both your ability to cast magic and your mental state. As you can see here… she began, waving her hoof across the board to create a diagram consisting of four pieces. An image of Twilight, a picture of her cutie mark, the Element of Magic, and arrows moving from the cutie mark and element to the depiction of Twilight herself. Once completed, little symbols began to emanate off Twilight’s likeness, a wave of red following shortly after. As more of the red swirls gathered, the glowing arrows started bouncing off, rather than completing their journey. ...the magic that is stemming from your emotions is interrupting your connection to your own natural magic. As well as the harmonic magic that comes from your status as an Element Bearer. Twilight gasped as the vaguely red cloud grew thicker around the drawing of herself on the board, creating a bubble of sorts that blocked the arrows entirely. “If this is happening, then how can I still use my magic?” This is a process. Your emotions build up, weakening your magic, until you release them in an outburst such as the one you had earlier. Your magic would only fully be blocked if you kept pushing down your anger and fear, again and again, until there was too much. If that did happen, I think you might even lose your connection to the Elements. Twilight gasped, her eyes widening in shock, before it was replaced with suspicion. “Wait… you think?” Suddenly, as if a switch had been flipped, Twilight became aware of her surroundings. She wasn’t in school, and she wasn’t being taught a lesson. Her ‘teacher’ was actually The Other, and they were in the mindscape! What in Equestria had just happened? “What did you just do to me? How was I so… captivated by that explanation?” The Other gave a small grin and shrugged. I was hoping you wouldn’t notice. “Wouldn’t notice what? What’s going on?” Twilight demanded, glaring daggers at the pony before her, still wearing the strange glasses that only now Twilight recognised as the pair her old Magical Theory teacher had worn. A small part of her noted that The Other had likely pulled them from Twilight’s own memories as a tool to inspire confidence. Another part remarked that that was a manipulative trick and she shouldn’t be so impressed. I was trying to convey what I’ve been observing in a method that you would accept subconsciously. If you hadn't noticed, this would be a lot easier. “Well, I did notice! And I don’t appreciate you trying to trick me.” The Other sighed, shaking her head and floating over. Twilight jumped as the surroundings suddenly shifted from a classroom back to the Golden Oak bedroom. I’m not trying to trick you, little flower. Dealing with consciousness and the mindscape isn’t as straightforward as it sounds, and sometimes the best option is to use… indirect methods. Twilight’s eyes narrowed. She motioned slowly with a hoof for The Other to go on. We’re inside your mind. Every mental block, preconceived thought, opinion, fact, memory, it’s all in here. Just being inside of your mindscape like we are right now is risky. “Risky?” Twilight looked around nervously, her ears twitching as she searched for some unknown threat. From here, we could theoretically manipulate the way your mind works. Wipe memories, change emotions, even completely alter the way you think. It’s dangerous. Twilight gasped, horrible thoughts of what The Other could do springing to mind before she thoroughly pushed them away. “How is it dangerous if we’re not going to do that?” The Other rolled her eyes with a groan. Once again. I can hear your thoughts. I just felt you push away those ideas, so you already know how it could be dangerous. Twilight winced, looking away. Letting anypony into your mindscape is the most intimate thing you can possibly do. Mental magic performed on an unwilling pony is one of the most grievous crimes you can commit. Mind Magic and Mental Manipulation - An Introduction. The Other sighed, and Twilight couldn’t help but look back out of the corner of her eye, eyes narrowing in thought. Like it or not, little flower, our mindscapes are linked. In fact, as far as I’m aware, they’re the same. Everything we do affects the other; your anger makes me angry. My frustration causes you to lose your patience. But right now we’re torn apart, partly due to our emotions but mostly due to your denial. The confusion must have been evident on Twilight’s face, because The Other’s frustrated look only seemed to intensify. Right now, our mind is split almost entirely in two. There’s your half, she began, waving her hoof and creating a small floating brain. And there’s my half. A second image, hovering next to the first, overlapping it by the slightest amounts. These halves are meant to be connected. They’re meant to be one and the same, and the fact that they’re not is putting strain on both of us. Twilight crossed her forelegs, brow furrowing. “What do you mean ‘meant to be connected’? You’re not meant to be here at all!” The Other’s glare made Twilight flinch. Of course I’m not. Ideally I would be a part of you, we would be one. My voice in the back of your head would just be your voice in the back of your head. But it isn’t. Twilight flinched at the accusatory tone, her misunderstanding making itself clear after a moment of thought. With an embarrassed flush she nodded, ”So how do we fix it?” I’m getting there, The Other snapped, reaching up to rub at her temple and staring down at the image with a look of concentration. Right. So. It’s not that them being separated at all is bad. The amount of overlap is… important. The more our minds overlap, the more we share. If we were to merge our minds more thoroughly— the two images pushed together, phasing into each other and glowing brightly —then our magic wouldn’t be so split apart. We would share more of our thoughts, and we would have less individual autonomy. The further apart we are, the more we’ll clash and struggle to work together. Remember, it’s not just our magic but our emotions at play here. Twilight spent a few moments thinking, and then a few moments more. The silence stretched on for so long that The Other had begun to sway in the air impatiently when she finally spoke up. “How do you know all this? You said you didn’t know much more than I did, but this seems like a lot of nothing to know!” I don’t know much more than you do. Twilight rolled her eyes at the innocent expression on The Other’s face, feeling the frustration welling up inside of her. “That’s not true! I don’t know any of this and you clearly do!” What do you mean, you don’t know this? Twilight paused, frustration dropping away to be replaced by confusion as The Other stared down at her, both of them momentarily sharing the same expression. “Wait… what do you mean?” The two continued to stare at each other for a few seconds before The Other finally spoke up, her words coming slowly. You… do? You do know this. “Saying it like you’re talking to a foal doesn’t automatically make it true. How would I possibly know any of this, it’s not like I’m an expert on magical constructs and shared sub-consciousnesses!” The Other’s confused look only seemed to get more intense, much to Twilight’s annoyance. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?” What do you know about me? “I’m not going to—” Just do it! Stop making it so difficult and just. Do. It. Twilight winced at the way the words seemed to echo around her, as if they had been shouted. Of course, it was impossible for a thought to be shouted. Or is it? Perhaps it’s possible for thoughts to be as varied as speech in here? I’m waiting, little flower. Twilight blinked, her focus snapping back to The Other, and the impatient glare she was being given. “Well you’re a dar—you’re a wild magic construct that was formed from my own mind and thoughts. You seem to share my consciousness to a certain extent and… my own subconscious thoughts and emotions appear to have a significant influence on your personality.” She spoke slowly, trying to catch whatever it was that she was about to be caught up on before it could be rubbed in her face. Just as she was about to respond, however, The Other shook her head and continued onwards. Much to Twilight’s annoyance. It’s not that hard. If I’m formed from your thoughts and emotions then that means I can only know things that you know, or that I have seen since manifesting. Right? Twilight sighed, resisting the urge to grind her jaw together. The Other didn’t seem to intentionally be trying to make her feel stupid. But she was succeeding either way. “Yes, I know, I was just about to say—” And have you come across any books on the mindscape or pony magi-psychology recently? “No, I haven't. And I know what you’re going to say—” Twilight replied, her jaw grinding very noticeably now as The Other interrupted her once again. So, if you haven’t had access to anything on the subject recently, the only time I could have learned this information… Is by finding it in my memories. Yes, I know. But that implies that I have some sort of perfect recall, that you can simply jump back into my brain and look at anything you want! Which is ridiculous! Is it? Twilight paused, the simple question derailing her thought process. The way The Other had said it, it was identical to the way her professors had used to say it. When she had the answer but refused to accept it. With a sigh, Twilight shook her head and started back from the beginning. “So what you’re saying, is that you’ve been studying my mind—our mind—from inside the mindscape this entire time?” Twilight asked, pushing herself off the bed and glancing around at the near perfect recreation of her bedroom. Yes. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. “Okay. Assume I accept that. If that’s true and you’ve been using my memories to learn, does that mean I could go back into my memories and reread every book I’ve ever looked at? Is remembering everything that’s ever happened in your life as simple as learning how to navigate the mindscape?” The implications were staggering. It was like a cheat sheet inside of her own head! Imagine how easy tests would be if she could just look into her own memories for the answer? Unfortunately the memories, while they seem perfectly clear, are not as accurate as you’d hope. I think that your preconceptions, subconscious desires, emotions, and focus or lack thereof affect the contents of the memories to a significant degree. Twilight bit her lip, ideas racing through her mind. “How do you know? Is there some sort of indication the memory isn’t accurate? Could you show me a memory?” I didn’t actually know how seriously they could be affected until today. The statement made Twilight pause, glancing up at The Other with an expectant frown. I’ve looked into memories of your time in this palace, and the memories of your room are very different from the room we’re in right now. Many of the items on the shelves simply didn’t exist in your memories. Twilight hummed, glancing around for parchment and smiling when a scroll and a quill appeared before her. Opening it up, she placed the quill on the page. “Like what?” Lots of things. Some of the report cards were changed, there were fewer books. The biggest one was a number of gifts from your mother that seemed to be missing, mostly shampoo? If the way she froze hadn’t made The Other suspicious, the blush that spread across her cheeks certainly would, and Twilight quickly turned away, coughing into her hoof and laughing nervously. “Oh well, I can’t imagine, haha, why that might be…” I’d assume you are ashamed by your lack of hygiene when you were younger and your memories have gradually been scrubbed clean of reminders to spare you the embarrassment. Twilight turned to give the floating pony a flat stare. “You know, all these unnervingly accurate guesses about my emotions and thoughts are starting to get kind of creepy.” If you don’t want me to point out the truth, then stop trying to hide from it. For a moment the two stared at each other, one with an embarrassed blush and the other with a matter of fact frown. The moment was only broken when Twilight’s curiosity finally overcame her embarrassment and she turned to look at the mostly intact door beside her. “So, if I go out there am I going to end up in the natural disaster I encountered last time?” No. While you were having your little nightmare I did some cleaning up. It was much easier after that little burst of rainbow coloured magic burnt away all of the negative emotions nearby. I’m assuming that was the Element? Twilight blinked, lowering the hoof that had been making its way to the door as another rush of questions sprung up in her mind. “Nearby? How can emotions be nearby? And when did we get to the library anyway? Is that horrible fire going to be out there? What was that awful feeling I got after I grabbed your hoof? Wait, the Elements did what?!” The Other laughed, floating past Twilight and through the door. Her words echoing behind her. So many questions. Good. You need to be willing to question things. Let’s continue this downstairs. Twilight paused. The door in front of her seemed to loom ominously, and for a moment she questioned just what it was she was about to do. Something told her that whatever she was about to learn wasn’t the kind of thing she could come back from. But her curiosity had been piqued, and she wasn’t going to let it go unsated. With a determined huff, she pushed the door open and stepped out onto the stairs. To Twilight’s disappointment, there was no resounding swell of emotion, or an epiphany of knowledge. It just felt like she had stepped out of her bedroom. Although the library she’d stepped into was certainly not the one she knew. The doors were closed and the curtains drawn, blocking any potential view beyond the library’s walls. A strange omnipresent crimson light seemed to filter through them anyway, and Twilight felt a horrible sensation deep in her gut that those curtains were only barely holding back what lay outside. But she couldn’t let that stop her. Tearing her gaze from the shrouded windows, she headed for the stairs, noticing the pair of eyes that were watching her descend only as she reached the final steps. Sitting in the centre of the room, at a very familiar table, was The Other; and Twilight felt the compulsion to take a seat grip her, pulling her along until they were both sat across from each other. The seconds seemed to tick past with glacial slowness, Twilight nervously fidgeting in her seat at the unbroken attention she was given, slowly getting more and more anxious until she couldn’t bear it any longer. “Okay! What are we doing, why did you bring me here?” If The Other noticed the strange tone of her voice, she didn’t show it. You are here so that I can help you understand the bond between us as I understand it. Before you can do that, however, you need to push past this mental block that you have created inside of yourself. So that is what we’re going to do. Just like before, Twilight had to resist the urge to immediately refute The Other’s point. She took a slow breath before responding. “Okay. How are we going to do that?” First, you need to stop talking like that. You need to accept that we are of one mind and recognise that there is no point in trying to arbitrarily put up barriers between us. “While—” Twilight began before being swiftly silenced by a magical glow around her muzzle. The Other seemed to have no remorse when Twilight glared at her, the spectral pony merely waiting with an expectant look. One that made Twilight’s blood boil. While I recognise that for some situations this type of interaction may be advantageous, there is a level of privacy that a pony’s thoughts provide—one that I refuse to relinquish. A pony’s mind should be her last bastion, a place for her to go when she has nowhere else. I won’t give that up. So you’re going to let some silly emotional qualms get in the way of learning? Twilight merely held her glare, unable to speak through the magic holding her muzzle and refusing to respond otherwise. You just don’t understand. With a heavy sigh, The Other released the magic and leant back in her chair, staring up at the roof. Whatever special privacy you think you have, it doesn’t exist. Even if you’re not communicating with me like that, I can still sense your thoughts and emotions. It’s just easier if you direct them towards me. The only time I can’t hear your thoughts is when I actively make the effort to ignore them, and that’s not easy. “Wait, what? But that doesn’t make any sense! That would mean that you know everything I’ve ever thought since—” Twilight paused, looking down at the table and thinking for a moment “—since the nightmare creature!” The Other lowered her head and gave Twilight a flat stare, one eyebrow raised ever so slightly. Nothing was said, but the pieces were coming together. Twilight soon found herself standing up to pace a familiar route around the library, her brain working through the information. “No no no, that doesn’t add up. If you heard everything I’ve been thinking then that means you heard when I—?” Twilight glanced over to The Other and froze at the way her head was slowly nodding back and forth. “But if that’s the case, then all those times I held my tongue but still thought about the things I wanted to say to you, well, you would have—” The nodding continued and Twilight’s ears pinned back, her legs tensing as a horrified shiver ran down her spine. Suddenly the fact that she was alone, in the mindscape, with a powerful creature born of mental magic became very prominent in her thoughts. Ideas of what The Other could do to her ran through her mind. Wipe her memories, change the way she thought. Oh Celestia, why is it getting so hard to breathe? The walls were twisting around her, drawing closer with every second. She was trapped. Caught with no way out! What— You are being ridiculous. Twilight gasped as everything returned to normal, her legs giving out as relief rushed through her. “I don’t know what—” You were about to have a panic attack. Your third in so many days. I forcefully pulled you out of it. “Why?” You’re already an emotional mess as it is, little flower. Even I couldn't handle you in the throes of a panic attack. I can’t imagine what ridiculous nonsense you’d convince yourself of. Twilight winced at the harsh tone, her legs slowly finding their strength as she pushed herself to her hooves. “How?” We’re in the mindscape. Were you not listening to what I just said about affecting your mental state? Twilight winced, blushing faintly and nodding. “Oh. Right. Thank you?” The Other sighed, shaking her head as she floated out of her chair and landed on the floorboards with a small thud. Without speaking she stalked forward, following Twilight as she backed away step by step until there was nowhere else to go. “What are you doing? G-get away, I swear if you don’t—” The Other reached up to place a hoof on Twilight’s chest, and very gently pushed. The pressure from that hoof radiated warmth, and slowly Twilight felt her panicked thoughts calm. Why do you think I’m helping you, little flower? “Wha—” I could see the confusion in your eyes, I can feel it all around us. So I’m asking you to speak your thoughts. Why do you think I’m helping you? Twilight opened her mouth. Because The Other wanted to manipulate her, to trick her into doing what she was told so that The Other could get the upper hoof and take control again. It was just another part of an elaborate scheme to get Twilight to drop her guard and trust The Other so that she could be stabbed in the back! “I don’t know.” No sooner had the words come out of her mouth than a resounding Slap! echoed out. Twilight staggered back from the hoof that had just struck her, her eyes watering from the pain. Stop lying to me! I know when you’re doing it and it’s achieving nothing but wasting time! Twilight reached up to gingerly press a hoof to her cheek, gasping as she saw the traces of blood. “You hit me…” Oh, well done. Next you’re going to tell me that it hurts. We’re in your mind! I can’t actually hurt you with a little slap. Stop being an idiot. The pain was short lived, but the shock quickly melded into anger as Twilight lowered her hoof back down. “You hit me.” The Other paused for a moment, before grinning. Yes, I know exactly what I did. Now what are you going to do about it? Twilight slowly looked up, her horn already alight. “I’m going to do this!” With a cry, a jagged beam of lavender arced out, only to strike at a barrier of crimson that sprung up to block it. All around them the library was bathed in a sea of flickering colours as the magical energies clashed. Is that all? A pathetic little beam of magic? Growling, Twilight increased the flow of magic to her horn, the sound of her spell resonating through the air and shaking her down to her bones. No matter how much energy she put in however, The Other’s shield refused to buckle. Is this it? You’re just going to cast a spell at me with that stupid pout on your face? What’s the matter, too idiotic to cast and speak at the same time? “Shut up!” Even with her shouting, the words were swept up by the overwhelming thrum of magic and rendered inaudible. Something The Other seemed to very quickly pick up on. Amazing. You’re not very good with words to begin with, but that was an impressive level of stupid. ‘Shut up’, that’s your retort? I said, shut up! Twilight’s thoughts echoed out, rippling the air and causing The Other’s shield to flicker visibly. Something which didn’t go past unnoticed by either of the two. Ohh, you almost made a dent there. But I guess that’s all you’re good for, ‘almost’ succeeding and then hoping someone else comes in to save the day! But your precious princess is gone, and you abandoned your friends like an idiot, so all you’re left with is me! And I’m not planning on cleaning up after all your mistakes! Anger that had been building for weeks, that had been pushed down again and again, finally reared up inside of her, and Twilight felt something in her crumble. With a scream she cancelled her spell, her magic twisting into a chain that pulled the shielded Other down into the floor with a resounding slam. Useless? Me? It’s my magic that you’re using to murder everything that you think is an issue, it’s my horn and my hooves that are putting in all the effort! Without me, you’d be nothing! The Other flinched back, ears flattening against the side of her head as her eyes widened in shock. But Twilight could feel the anger inside of her uncoiling, demanding she continue. And you’re right. I was lying. But I wasn’t trying to hide anything, I was just trying to spare your feelings, if you even have any. You’re not a pony, you’re not even a creature. You’re a twisted fragment of my psyche given life by dark magic. I don’t care what reason you have for helping me. I don’t want any of the ‘help’ you’d give me. The shield began to splinter, fragmenting into shards and crumbling beneath Twilight’s anger. But I’m sick of lying. Sick of trying to play nice. You hurt my friends, you tried to steal my body. And now you’re trying to use the same emotions you mock me for having against me? And you think I’m not going to notice? The one-eighty you did was so obvious I’m surprised I didn’t get whiplash. You’re not clever. You’re not subtle. You’re pathetic! With a final flash of light, the shield vanished and Twilight’s hooves slammed into the ground on either side of The Other’s head, her horn aimed directly down at the spectral pony’s thoat. The Other stared up at the horn, a brief shudder running through her before her lip curled into a snarl.So much for ‘not giving into your anger’. It’s been, what, minutes since then and we’re right back where we were. I’d ask you if you’ve figured out anything from that, but I can already tell I’m going to need to spell it out for you. Twilight’s horn began to glow, the tip shimmering just brightly enough to be noticable. Give me one reason I shouldn’t try and finish what I started. I don’t have any. Go on. Do it. The magic flared up, blindingly bright, before vanishing with a pop; leaving Twilight to huff in anger, stomping her hoof against the floorboard. You knew I wouldn’t. You’re still manipulating me! Of course I am. But the question is, did it work? What can you hear, sister? Twilight froze, shock momentarily overriding her anger. “What did you just call me?” The Other’s hoof came up to press against her lips in a shushing motion, her other hoof reaching up to brush Twilight’s ear. I said, what can you hear? The anger inside of her demanded she ignore The Other’s leading question, but her shock kept her stunned long enough for a familiar hum to return to her. But this time, it wasn’t just a hum. Voices echoed all around her, hundreds of them. Thousands of them! And they were all her own. This time, when she focused, the sounds didn’t fade away. Instead, she found herself able to pick out individual voices, listening to what they had to say. And what they had to say was not pleasant. Every one she sought out was her, shouting or crying or yelling. All of them angry. All of them upset. What—is this? Your thoughts. My thoughts. Our thoughts. Every thought we’ve ever had is here, somewhere. Why are they all so angry? You are angry, little flower. What kind of thoughts do you think you have when you’re angry? Twilight frowned, hesitantly responding. Angry ones? The Other’s laughter made Twilight tense up and she snapped, Don’t laugh at— The thought was cut off as the same words echoed all around her, along with dozens of other similar comments. If you laugh one more time… This isn’t a joke! I swear to Celestia if you laugh... For a brief moment Twilight felt buried beneath the wave of angry remarks, but as soon as they’d started, they vanished again. It’s not pleasant. Is it? Twilight turned to look at The Other, who had at some point vanished from under her and returned to her chair. And was now giving Twilight a strange look. Wha— The voices. Hearing all the thoughts echoing back at you. It can be overwhelming. But it’s only overwhelming if you let it be. Let it be? These are your thoughts. The more emotional you are, the louder they’ll be. And the harder it is to ignore them. Twilight winced at the constant background chatter of the thoughts, and how loud they were. She’d felt anger before, but this was different. Are these really all my thoughts? All my anger? The Other simply nodded. Being loud isn’t always bad. You can have loud positive emotions too. It can also be a tool. Twilight recognised what The Other was doing, baiting her curiosity to distract her from the anger, and wasn’t ashamed to admit it worked. A tool? When we talk to each other, it’s the exact same thing. Except those thoughts are projected ‘loudly’ at one another by intention. It took me weeks to figure it out; it was far easier for you because you just copied me. Twilight frowned and opened her mouth but was cut off when The Other held up a hoof and grinned. Yes, I’m aware you didn’t copy me intentionally. Everything I have learnt about the mindscape, you know too. You just instinctively picked this up before your paranoid mental block cut me off. Twilight sighed, shaking away the last vestiges of anger and approaching the table. So that was all… a trick? You were trying to get me angry so my emotions would be strong enough to hear? In a sense. I also wanted you to stop hiding your emotions away. Which, by the way, you’re still doing. The frustration must have been visible on Twilight’s face because The Other sighed. Again. Look, you’re almost there. There’s just one more step. Close your eyes. Twilight paused, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. The Other’s expression seemed mostly genuine, however, and she hesitantly closed her eyes. After taking a step back. Now I want you to listen to the voices again. Focus on them. Twilight nodded, taking a deep breath and focusing on the background hum at the edge of her hearing. Slowly the hum intensified, growing louder and louder as the seconds ticked past. More than once it seemed to recede, much to Twilight’s annoyance, but that irritation worked to her favor as the more irritated she got the louder the hum became until suddenly— If I don’t get this soon… This is pointless, that thing is just trying to… Why can’t I get this? You’re meant to be good at magic, Twilight! The frustrated comments flared up in her head for a moment, and then the realisation that she’d done it swept them away. She’d done it! Her excitement only lasted a moment before she realised that same excitement had broken her concentration and pushed the hum to the background again. Urghhh.. It’s frustrating, isn’t it? I can’t tell you how many times that exact thing happened to me. I found that the best way around it was to focus on the next step. That way, even once you hear it, your annoyance persists until you have achieved the next step, too. Funny how easy it is to manipulate yourself here. Twilight nodded slowly. It made sense in a weird sort of way. And as she was quickly realising, in here, everything worked in a weird sort of way. In fact, perhaps she could use that to her advantage? Taking a deep breath, Twilight focused on the excitement she’d felt every time she’d learnt a new spell. The delight at mastering a new magical skill. To her surprise, the background hum began to grow louder, and the louder it got, the more excited she became—until her head was filled with happy thoughts. I did it! Yes… you did. And not in the way I expected. Well done. Right. What’s the next step? I can do this! This step is easy. Now you’re aware of your thoughts, all you need to do is imagine them as something physical. Something visible. Anything can work, a ghostly version of yourself, a strand of thread— A cloud of coloured fog! Twilight could feel the surprised pause. It was easy to imagine the confusion on The Other’s face as the silence stretched out until— Yes. Or that, I guess? Okay, I’ve got it! Twilight replied, her hooves pawing at the floor in excitement. Finally, something that was easy. If you’re sure then just… open your eyes. The thoughts that you heard should now be… clouds of coloured fog? Twilight paused, biting her lip for a few nervous seconds. What if I can’t see it? Oh, just open your eyes! With a deep breath, Twilight forced herself to open her eyes. The Other sat in her chair, surrounded by a greyish cloud speckled with small sparks of fire. Some part of her instinctively knew that the cloud represented frustration, anger, annoyance. Even that couldn’t stop the smile that spread across her face at the realisation that she’d done it. And to her surprise, The Other’s cloud seemed to brighten ever so slightly, streaks of yellow weaving in as she saw Twilight’s smile, and gave one of her own. Well done. I knew you could do it. And Twilight knew it was the truth. She could hear it, see it. Feel it. Oh, Celestia. That’s strange. Is this what you feel everytime I say something? The Other nodded, stepping down from her chair and walking over. It’s certainly something, isn’t it? You can imagine why I was so frustrated with you when I could feel the emotions in everything you said, emotions which so often contradicted your words perfectly. Twilight nodded slowly, strange bouts of anger and frustration suddenly becoming clear in her mind. Everything she’d done since the island, since Luna! It was all cast in a new light. I… I’m sorry. I never realised. I know. Before you apologise though, there’s something I want you to see. Twilight’s brow furrowed as The Other glided past her, following along with a confused hum. Why couldn’t I… did I mess it up? The Other’s sly smirk was proof enough that Twilight hadn’t been the one to make a mistake, and the reply that came shortly after confirmed her suspicions. I hid them from you. I don’t want to spoil the surprise. Surprise? You’ll see. Trust me. At any other moment, Twilight would have found it hard to trust anything The Other had to say. But this time, this time she could feel the sincerity, could practically see the truth floating around The Other like a haze. Okay. I trust you. The smirk turned into an excited smile as the door was slowly opened by The Other’s magical grip, and Twilight hesitantly stepped forward into the unknown. Oh, Celestia...
