Dreams' Horizon

On most occasions for schoolponies, unexpectedly getting the day off from school would be cause for celebration, especially if it was a Monday.

However, instead of celebrating the rare fortune of learning that all classes had been cancelled at the SGU, there was a feeling of ominous dread floating in the air.

“Did anypony hear why?” Twilight looked between her friends as the six sat in the cafeteria. The main campus building had been closed shortly before the announcement, but the other buildings remained open, so a few groups of students had chosen to mill about there.

Twinkleshine shook her head. “I figure it must be pretty major, though. They don’t cancel classes for just anything.”

“It could be a problem with some of the equipment in the classrooms, like the weather machine last time,” Luster suggested.

“Unlikely.” Moondancer pushed her glasses up her muzzle. “If it was something small, it could be contained and confined. And they’d be upfront with the problem since it wasn’t a big concern. Being vague means something is wrong.”

“Yeah.” Minuette leaned in and spoke in a hushed voice. “There’s rumors that it was because too many of the teachers were sick or something.”

Twilight tilted her head. “Sick?”

“Apparently, there’s a lot of ponies around the school who have been having problems with their magic. And it doesn’t sound like it’s just an outbreak of horn flu.”

“Yeah, that tracks.” Twinkleshine frowned and reached up to tenderly rub the tip of her horn. “I had trouble eating breakfast this morning and almost dropped a glass of juice. Luckily, Twilight has quick reflexes.” She looked at her roommate, and Twilight nodded back.

Lemon murmured in her throat. “I think it’s more than just that. Apparently, some of the transit students have been arriving late or had to wait longer hours for the chariot home. I have another friend who uses the chariot and she said the pegasi have been having trouble flying it on some days.”

“Okay, that’s extra-weird,” Twinkleshine agreed. “Magic failure happens now and then, but pegasi falling out of the sky? That ain’t right.”

“Definitely not.” Moondancer nodded. “I wonder if the earth ponies have been suffering similarly. Their magical aptitude usually manifests in agricultural skill and cultivation, so it may be less apparent with them.”

“But if it has been, we likely wouldn’t find out yet,” Luster said. “This is the first I’m hearing about the pegasi having any problems. If the earth ponies are having trouble with their magic, it would be even more subtle. No one may have taken notice at all, maybe not even them.”

“Very strange…” Twilight looked down at her bag on the ground next to her chair. Have these magical failures been occurring in Sunset’s world? No way to tell yet if this is related to the dimensions, but if it is… Her horn lit and a flap on the side clipped open. She took out the magical journal and set it on the table, and opened it to write.

The void…the eyes…

She stopped as her pencil touched the paper.

If she says yes, do I tell her? I think I have to. Whatever I saw, even if it isn’t related, it can’t be something good, and magical failures make it even worse.

“Twilight?”

She looked up and saw Luster giving her a concerned look. Luster pointedly turned her eyes at the table and gave a small tilt of her head. “Writing to Sunset?”

Twilight nodded. “Yes. I want to ask if magical failures are happening in her world too.”

“I’d never thought of that.” Lemon frowned. “But if it’s true, what could it mean?”

Moondancer held up a hoof and shook her head. “Let us not jump to conclusions. Without concrete evidence of some ominous, hitherto unknown cause behind these problems, we shouldn’t start worrying as though there were.”

Twilight tapped her pencil and glanced off into space as she pondered how to phrase her inquiry to Sunset. She did a double take when she noticed a pony crossing the cafeteria, looking right back at her.

A unicorn of the royal guard was approaching the table, and the other girls clammed up when they took notice. He gave a curt nod and looked around at the six.

“Princess Celestia has requested your presence, immediately.”

The halls of Canterlot castle echoed with the hoofsteps of seven ponies, idle chatter from two or three of them, and the panicking rambling of one.

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh.” Moondancer pressed a hoof to her forehead. “I think I may be feverish. Someone catch me if I faint.”

“Calm down.” Twilight glanced back at her. “Celestia isn’t nearly as intimidating once you get used to being in her presence.”

“Says the mare who’s become used to being in her presence already,” Moondancer replied.

Twilight didn’t have a response to that and clammed up. Despite her reassurances, she was uneasy herself, she just hid it better. Celestia summoning all of us? This has to be about the other dimension, maybe my telepathy experiment. But if it's good or bad, I’m not sure. Maybe both, all things considered.

The guard escorting them approached a set of doors with a large golden sun on them, flanked by two more guards. The two saluted him, he returned it, and they then grasped the handles to pull them open.

The guard stepped inside and saluted again. “As commanded, princess. Twilight Sparkle and her friends.”

“Very good, Lieutenant Plasma. Thank you.”

Within the doors was a small sitting room with much of the pure white furniture with gold trim that Twilight recognized from Celestia’s office. Two sofas and four chairs surrounded a large circular table with a chandelier of crystal hanging from above, golden light radiating from enchanted stones on its branches.

Celestia turned her attention to Twilight. “Twilight, everypony, thank you for coming. Come in and have a seat. You may go, Lieutenant Plasma. Please inform the guards at the door that they are to take their breaks now. I do not wish to be disturbed until further notice.”

The guard bowed his head and turned to walk down the hall, while Twilight led her friends into the room and the doors closed behind them. She looked behind her and smiled at their reactions. She had gotten used to meeting with Celestia the last few months, but before that, all their interactions were in public, at school events and ceremonies. She remembered how nervous she felt the first time she had been summoned to the castle, and she saw the same nerves reflected in her friends. Some of them hid it better than others, or it was less severe, but there was no mistaking it.

I should break the ice. Twilight cleared her throat and stepped aside to allow the princess a full view of the six. “Princess Celestia, allow me to formally introduce you to Minuette Chassé, Lemon Hearts, Twinkleshine Glint, Moondancer Crescent, and of course you already know Luster Dawn.” She gestured her hoof to each of them as she said their name, and they paused and stared at the princess when they realised they were being put on the spot.

“Indeed.” Celestia smiled at them and briefly bowed her head. “It is a pleasure to meet you, girls. Twilight has told me a lot about you all.”

“Good things, I hope,” Minuette said with a wide smile.

“Of course. From the stories she’s told and the comments I’ve heard from teachers, I daresay nopony could hope for a more supportive group of friends.”

“Darn straight!” Twinkleshine said proudly. She realised what she had said and flinched and shrank back, her ears flattening. “Er, pardon the expression, princess.”

Celestia chuckled slightly and put a hoof to her mouth. “Certainly.” When she lowered her hoof, her face was more serious. She gestured around the table. “Everypony, please have a seat. There is much to discuss.”

The other five did as told; Minuette sat next to Twilight with Lemon beside her, and the others all took an individual seat.

No sooner had Lemon Hearts settled in, she blurted, “Is something wrong, Princess?” She clamped her mouth shut, cleared her throat, and tried again. “I just mean, it’s unusual for you to call a group of students to the castle for a personal meeting. At least, I haven’t heard of it happening very often.”

“You’re not in trouble, if that’s what you mean,” Celestia replied. “But, ‘wrong’...that is a more complex question than I think you intended. But, let us start at the beginning. I’m sure Twilight has told you about her experiences with a pony named ‘Sunset Shimmer’, and where she believes this mare is located?” She looked each of them in the face, but none voiced a response until she got to Luster.

Luster fidgeted but didn’t look away. “She’s mentioned some stuff about…dimensions…”

“I thought so.” Celestia nodded and gave Twilight a knowing look out of the corner of her eye. “I did ask her to keep such things to herself, but I recall being told that you girls helped her with that telepathy spell. In hindsight my request of her was redundant. All the same, let’s be clear that we all understand what I mean.”

She stood and began walking around the table, eyes to the ground, deep in thought, not speaking to any of them directly. It was almost as if she was talking to herself out loud.

“Somehow – through means I have not been able to deduce as of yet – Twilight Sparkle made contact with a mare in another dimension by the name of Sunset Shimmer. The two have communicated through dreams, save for that one instance of a trans-dimensional telepathy spell, and now through an enchanted journal I have gifted her.”

She stopped and lifted her head and stared directly at Twilight. “However, although you had made these discoveries on your own and confronted me about my own efforts to keep them secret from you…I still did not tell you the whole truth.”

“What?” Twilight couldn’t help herself from putting her hooves on the table and pushing herself forward. “What do you mean?”

“As I once said, Twilight, you have many important questions with dangerous answers. Answers I have kept from you for your own safety. But now, I believe fate has led us to this moment, where I must reveal them to you for the safety of both our worlds.”

Celestia looked Twilight in the eye. “Twilight, you did not make contact with another dimension. You made contact with an alternate aspect of this one.”

Twilight blinked and gave a quizzical look. “What do you mean ‘an alternate aspect’?”

“I mean that you made contact with this dimension’s other half.”

Celestia tilted her head forward and fired a bolt of golden magic into the air. It formed into the image of a planet, hovering above the table with a single moon orbiting it.

“One thousand years ago, Equus as I knew it then was in peril. A force we could not hope to stop threatened to rip the world apart, and even the greatest mages of the era could not prevent it. Instead, they pooled their knowledge and found a way to save our world. They crafted a most powerful spell, the likes of which has never been seen before or since. Using the moon as an anchor point, they could rip the fabric of reality itself, and split our dimension into two.”

Above the table, the magical image of the globe flickered and duplicated, and the two slowly slid apart and continued to rotate.

Celestia sighed deeply and lowered her head. “They explained to my sister Luna and I that this was the only way to save our world from disaster. After much deliberation, we agreed. Luna would remain in one half, I in the other, to watch over the two for the rest of time. They cast the spell, and it was done. Two worlds came into existence, alike in geography at the time, but the original world’s populace and creatures were divided in two. And we have lived this way ever since.”

Twilight gasped. “Now it all makes sense! The single moon, the ancient stories! I knew there had to be something to fill in the gaps between it all!”

“Gaps created with purpose, to conceal this truth.” Celestia looked up and nodded firmly. “Those who lived through the division were told that there had been a great disaster, and they accepted that explanation easily enough. Though it was distasteful to lie to them, it was necessary. Especially in the early days, none of us were sure if this spell would last. It was agreed that ponies could not know the truth, and could not be permitted to tamper with the magics keeping the dimensions separated and the void sealed.”

“Erm, a moment.” Moondancer raised a hoof as if in class. Celestia gestured for her to continue. “If I heard you two correctly, you said ‘moon’, singular. And there’s only one per planet there.” She pointed at the magical hologram over the table. “So why are there two now?”

“There is still only one moon, and only ever has been. What we perceive as the secondary moon of Equus is merely a shadow, in a metaphysical sense.” Celestia’s horn glowed again, and the planets slid back together, but this time moved at different speeds. “As I said, the moon was the focal point of this spell that split the world. All other aspects of Equus’ cosmology would be distinct between its two halves, either through being outside the division’s power or being unaffected by it. But the moon is the exception, and the single constant. To ensure the two worlds remained apart and the void continued to exist, they were ever so slightly out of sync in time. At first it was subtle, but over the centuries the moon and its shade came further apart, and were perceived as two objects.

“Apart?” Lemon Hearts spoke up. “Then what about the eclipse?”

Celestia’s face darkened. “The idea of such an occurrence was mere speculation when the division occurred, but a century ago, I realised it was an inevitability. The moon still orbits our planet, so as a natural course they drifted so far apart that they began to circle back and come together again. It has taken a thousand years, but it is upon us. The two worlds are going to come into a trans-dimensional alignment, a synchronisation, on the day of the dual eclipse. The moon and its shadow will be as one again. And then…”

She inhaled deeply and didn’t finish. Twilight didn’t need her to. The terrifying wrenching in her gut knew what it meant.

“Then, what?” Twinkleshine asked.

Twilight swallowed the lump in her throat. “The portal to the void will open again.”

Celestia nodded. “I believe this is why so many ponies have been experiencing disruptions with their magic. The void is a place of non-existence where magic does not and should not exist. But now and then a crack between realms will open ever so briefly, and a bit of the magic is siphoned away. With the dual eclipse approaching, the disruptions have become more and more frequent, and are beginning to affect more than just unicorns. I have to accept the very real risk that when the eclipse occurs, all magic may fail, including the spell connecting our worlds.”

“So where do we come in?” Minuette asked. Her eyes narrowed. “You’ve known this is coming, you must have a plan. That’s why you want us, right?”

“I have a plan, yes. But that plan is not why you are here.” Celestia frowned, looking away. “I have spent the last several centuries discretely arranging for mages of considerable power and skill to investigate these disruptions and find ways to counteract them and protect us from them. If their efforts will be enough, we won’t know until that fateful day comes. But you six, I have another task for you.”

She circled back to her chair and looked across the table. “Twilight, your bond with Sunset Shimmer may be the key to saving our worlds, and our magic.”

“Huh?” All present looked at Twilight. She sputtered as her eyes flitted between them. “Why? How?”

“Luna and I have the means to sever the connection between our worlds entirely. We would be permanently, irrevocably, split, and the two halves of our dimension would truly become separate dimensions. If they were split, they would be disconnected from each other, but also from the void, and these magic disruptions would likely cease. Given this is such a drastic action, we had been considering using it as a last resort. But your connection to Sunset may give us an alternative.

“We still don’t know exactly how the two of you formed this bond, but if we can learn more about it, we may be able to use that knowledge to bridge the dimensions in another way. A loophole of sorts. Sever one connection but create another.”

Moondancer put a hoof to her chin and hummed for a moment. “That is a valid theory, on paper. But none of us understand how Twilight and Sunset have their connection.” She lifted her head and pushed her glasses up. “Or, do you?”

“I’m afraid not.” Celestia shook her head. “But, that is why I called all of you here. Twilight, you said your vision had Sunset surrounded by five stars, and that this may refer to a ‘group of six’ you need to find?”

“Yes.” Twilight’s ear flicked. “You said you had an idea on what those six are?”

“Indeed. They’re right here.” Celestia swept her hoof across the table. “In Sunset’s world, she also has a group of five friends. Six of you here, six of them there. Perhaps this is not a coincidence.”

Minuette tilted her head. “Uh, okay, I think I’m following, here. But none of us have had dreams like Twilight and Sunset have. At least, if the others have, nopony has said anything.” The others all shook their heads and voiced denial.

Celestia let out a small sigh. “I am afraid that was my next question. A mild disappointment, I admit. I was sure I had thought of something…”

Twilight snorted out a giggle and did her best to muffle it. Still, the sudden sound got six pairs of eyes looking at her. “Sorry!” She smiled sheepishly. “I just…you look so let down that your theory was wrong, and…you kinda reminded me of me.”

Celestia chuckled softly. “I’ll take your word for it.”

“Hang on a sec.” Twinkleshine pointed a hoof towards Twilight. “You gave Twilight that special journal that can talk to Sunset, right? Why not use some of that magic to create a new connection or whatever?”

“I’m afraid that the spell behind the journal is based on the same spell that connects us now. The only reason I was able to gift such a journal to Twilight is because I have a similar method to talk to Luna in the other world.”

Twilight looked down at the floor where her bag sat, the journal in its front pocket. “So this is what you meant about how you can communicate with her? You have your own journal?”

“Yes, connected to an identical one in Luna’s world. Though your journal connects only to Sunset’s, I merely duplicated the spell.”

“I see.” Twilight nudged her rear hoof on the bag and eyed the edge of the journal. This journal is so limiting compared to the dreams. But it’s the only way Celestia has been able to speak to Luna for a thousand years. How did they deal with that? I wouldn’t have become so close to Sunset so quickly if I could only talk to her like this.

Luster cleared her throat before speaking, getting Twilight’s attention. “So, um, sorry to have let you down, but is there anything else maybe we could do to help you?” She gave a short, nervous laugh. “I know that trans-dimensional magics are a bit beyond what you expect of six schoolponies, but…”

“Normally, yes. But you six specifically?” Celestia gave her a knowing look. “For all the well-educated scholars and researchers I know, I daresay you six are the only ones with any practical experience with trans-dimensional magic. Unauthorised and experimental as it may have been.”

Moondancer’s eyes widened. “You know about that?”

“As I said, Twilight has told me a lot about you.”

Twilight winced and shrank back in her chair. “Thank you for not expelling us.”

Lemon Hearts gasped sharply. “Well there’s an idea! If you know about that telepathy spell, why not try it again?”

“NO!”

The other mares in the room reared back in surprise as a pair of hooves slammed the table.

Twilight blinked, gave a nervous laugh, and sat back down. “I mean, not without the princess’ permission, anyway. It was a dangerous spell to attempt.”

“Agreed.” Celestia nodded. “I’ll see what I can do about arranging a controlled environment where, with proper support, you may try again. But for now, none of you are to think about that spell any further. As Twilight said, it’s dangerous.” She looked at her with a small frown. “Sending your mind across dimensions is something never tried before. There are…unknown risks involved.”

I bet I could tell you. Twilight swallowed heavily. “Assuming we’re thinking of the same thing, princess, I already told them about that.”

“Er, ‘that’, what?” Twinkleshine asked.

Celestia murmured and pressed a hoof to her forehead beneath her horn. “Twilight, do you recall all the times we spoke privately about these subjects, and I stressed the importance of keeping those discussions private?”

Twilight laughed awkwardly. “In my defense, most of the stuff I’ve told them, I told them before you asked me not to tell anypony else. But I haven’t told anypony else since then. So technically I’ve kept my word.” She held up her hooves, giving what she hoped came off as a bright smile.

Celestia groaned again.

“What are we talking about?” Minuette asked.

“Remember, the night of the telepathy spell? I mentioned I saw something creepy?”

“Oh, right.” Luster nodded. “You were pretty freaked out by it. Something about a voice and eyes?”

Twilight’s jovial mood vanished in an instant. She shuddered as she remembered again. “Yes, but more than that. I was in a dark void. I heard something call out to me, and it laughed. Then there were these eyes…just, giant, white, staring.” She took a shaky breath. “I’ve never felt anything like it.”

“Most ponies never will,” Celestia whispered. The six turned back to her. Her face was dark as she spoke. “I did say that Equus was nearly destroyed, necessitating its split. I had hoped to spare you the burden of knowing how it was nearly destroyed, by what and why. Or, to be more precise, by whom.”

“That thing?” Minuette asked.

Moondancer leaned forward. “What is it?”

Celestia sat in silence, her eyes closed. Enough time passed that the students thought she wasn’t going to answer until she stood up, towering over them. “They were once an ordinary pony, who sought knowledge and power they were not prepared to wield, and they were consumed. Now, they are nothing recognizable as a pony. They are a force of purest evil, not merely in the moral sense. Their very existence is antithetical to the concept of life and magic, which is why they have become a terminus for the latter. As the portal to the void cracks open, more magic is siphoned to them and erased from existence. And when it opens fully, all magic would be drawn in and destroyed, and our world cast into lifeless darkness.”

“Who are they?” Twilight breathed out.

Celestia looked her in the eye. Twilight flinched back.

“I couldn’t tell you their original name, even if I wanted to. It has been lost to history. But the creature that dwells in the void now is known to Luna and I as the Pony of Shadows.”