Perception

"STARLIGHT!" Twilight yelled, gazing upon the blackened ashes that collapsed into a forlorn heap in front of her. "YOU destroyed the time travel scroll!"

Starlight saw the unmistakable look of fear written all over Twilight's face as she nonchalantly trotted forward towards her, grinning deviously. She thought that she would need to forcefully wrest control over the scroll and destroy it to trap Twilight into one of her corrupted, alternate realities, but now, Twilight had already done the job for her.

"Hahahahaha!" Starlight bellowed with hideous laughter. "Now you will be forever stuck in whatever universe that the portal will bring you...without the companionship of your annoying friends!"

Twilight broke down. Tears started to slowly slip off the edge of her eyes, forming a puddle below her head that was a mixture of hot tears and cold sweat. She bowed her head down to the unicorn ahead of her, as if she accepted the fate bestowed upon her by Starlight.

Starlight smirked, finally tasting the sweet fruits of revenge. She brought herself to the pile of ash and knocked it off the edge with her front hooves, causing the scattered ash to eventually sink down onto the ground beneath them. Starlight then walked towards the broken Twilight.

"Now, you will feel how it is like to be in my hooves when you kicked me out of my own village!" Starlight exclaimed proudly, as she approached Twilight with glee.

A crackle of magical energy diverted Starlight's attention to the formation of a white portal just above Twilight's head. Imaginary gears clicked into place to prepare for the expedition to the unknown. A mysterious force grabbed hold of Twilight's body to lift her up into the portal's interior.

Twilight bitterly resisted. Clenching her teeth in the effort, she tried to counteract the unknown force through her sheer body weight. Every muscle in her body was strained to avoid the reality the portal would bring her into.

"Goodbye...Twilight Sparkle," Starlight spoke, as though she was about to deliver the final blow to Twilight. "There's no point in struggling; you will be trapped in there...permanently!"

"NO!" Twilight shouted resolutely, as she continued to try and prevent the inevitable. Magical energy sparked off the corners of the white portal above that appeared to amplify the strength of the force exerted on Twilight. Despite this, Twilight continued fighting on, against her destiny.

Soon, Twilight's muscles were feeling the agony. Although Twilight's mind remained steadfast in her objective, it was increasingly unable to command the raw strength that she demanded from her body. She must know that she could not hold on for very much longer.

"You are right, Starlight," Twilight relented, jerking her head towards Starlight's smug face. "But if I am to be trapped, I WILL HAVE TO DRAG YOU ALONG WITH ME!"

With all the strength that Twilight could muster, she jumped onto Starlight's back and knocked her down onto the ground. Grabbing hold of Starlight for all she was worth, Twilight voluntarily flew into the whirl of black and white above her as swiftly as she could.

"WHAT! NO!" Starlight shouted with horror, as she tried to push herself out of Twilight's unwavering grip.

However, Starlight was too slow to react. Her vision was greeted by the swirl of black and white as she entered the portal, together with her nemesis.

Starlight crash-landed onto a cool, blue surface simultaneously with a loud thump.

Regaining her consciousness, Starlight opened her eyes first to find black patches in her vision. As she shook her head to clear her vision, her eyes were blinded by the bright light emanating from Twilight's crystal table from the bottom of her hooves, that was somehow brought here from the original timeline they came from. Glancing around at her surroundings, she found that the table was in the middle of a jungle clearing. Thick, ancient trees encircled the clearing, except for a dirt path that went deep into the jungle's interior. Mysterious sounds came from all directions around the clearing, sending shivers down Starlight's spine.

"I can't believe Twilight sent me back with her!" Starlight muttered to herself angrily, silently cursing at herself for being so conveniently nearby for Twilight to bring her along to this alternate universe. She stomped onto the robust crystal table with vengeful fury, silencing the ambient sound of the jungle around her. Thinking back to her past, foolish actions, she so eagerly wanted to kick herself in frustration.

In the sudden silence that deafened her hearing, the sound of irregular, shallow breathing could now be sieved out by Starlight's sensitive ears.

A startled Starlight shifted her body back uncomfortably, her eyes sliding from left to right. She began creeping forward as she scanned the dense woodlands around her, oblivious that she had reached the limits of the table. Losing her balance, she fell off the edge of the crystal table, collapsing onto the ground with a faint thud. Fearing of what could be coming for her, her horn shimmered with her weakened magical aura, readying herself for any potential conflict.

From the bottom of the table, she could hear movement from above. She slowly pulled herself up to peek at this unknown figure with trepidation.

It was Twilight. It appeared that she had just regained her senses, especially since she was rubbing her forehead with her two front hooves, as if she had a throbbing headache. Twilight gripped tightly onto the surface of the table for support and dragged herself up to stand on all four of her legs.

Starlight rushed back down beneath the table, beyond Twilight's field of vision, trying to conceal her presence from the weakened purple alicorn. However, in spite of her best efforts, she unknowingly left her conspicuous horn sticking out from the edge of the table.

Twilight noticed a magical glint of light coming from the edge of the table metres away from her. Frowning at the sight, she advanced slowly and uniformly towards the magical illumination.

Starlight could hear the clopping of Twilight's hooves on the table above her ringing into her ears. Spinning round and throwing herself onto the table, she emitted a cyan beam of magical energy at Twilight's approximate location.

"Starlight!" Twilight shouted instinctively, as the beam narrowly missed her head. She tried to gather whatever aura that she had left into her horn, but her horn merely discharged a small spark that flew off its surface. Twilight's jaw collapsed. She had not enough physical, mental or magical energy to cast any spell to retaliate against Starlight. Finding that she was utterly defenseless against Starlight, her eyes widened with horror. She turned back quickly and bolted straight down the dirt path leading out of the clearing.

"How dare you send me here?" Starlight screamed at the top of her lungs, apoplectic with rage. "You will not get away with this!"

With that, Starlight dashed ahead, pursuing Twilight down the meandering dirt path around the thick jungle. Throughout the chase, Starlight continued to summon her magical aura to constantly fire rays of magical energy at Twilight, wishing that a stray beam would be able to catch Twilight off-balance and end this conflict once and for all.

Twilight could feel the waves of magical current surging into her body from the beams emitted from Starlight, allowing her to dodge every single beam as the chase continued down the seemingly endless, winding path. She panted heavily as she continued galloping away from the clutches of Starlight as fast as she could. Not before too long, Twilight's legs began to falter as her leg muscles eventually became worn out. Despite this, the sight of turquoise beams flying around her caused her to press on, even though the pain from her non-athletic legs became excruciating.

Finally, Twilight could see the exit out of this heavily-wooded jungle, giving her much-needed motivation to carry on running. Bursting out of the forest canopy at top speed, she suddenly halted at the unbelievable sight ahead of her.

Twilight gazed upon the Castle of the Two Sisters in awe, with her mouth agape. A primary, central keep commanded control of the battlements below, alongside two secondary keeps that stood next to it. Tall walls surrounded the impregnable castle, with a moat filled with stagnant, murky water surrounding its confines. Translucent emblems of a crescent moon were attached onto the highest points of the three keeps, lit by the brightness of a full moon behind them.

A beam struck centimetres away from Twilight's right hind leg, reducing the visibly anaemic grass next to her into a pile of black powder. Turning her head hurriedly, she saw Starlight rushing out of the forest, charging up her horn for yet another blast.

Without much hesitation, Twilight trotted across the wooden drawbridge over the castle's moat. Before Starlight could step onto the drawbridge, Twilight garnered her recharged magical aura that caused her horn to flare up, smashing the drawbridge into smithereens.

Twilight ran to the back of the castle's walls to avoid being struck by Starlight's destructive beams. Leaning back onto the solid granite construction, she smiled at the thought of her handiwork, believing that Starlight would not be able to cross the moat to pursue her anymore. She breathed a sigh of relief, as she was finally able to catch her breath after being chased down by that determined Starlight.

"Twilight Sparkle...you actually thought destroying that bridge would stop me?" Starlight goaded from above.

"Starlight? How?" Twilight exclaimed fearfully, before she looked up to find that Starlight was surrounded in a veil of magical aura. She must have used her levitation spell to cross the moat unimpeded.

"It's over for you now!" Starlight shouted, firing down a beam of radiant magical energy down towards Twilight's body.

Twilight hurriedly surged her magical aura into her horn to teleport her out to safety behind the second layer of granite walls that surrounded the castle. Even from her current location, she could hear the crumbling of the walls just tens of metres away from her as they bore the brunt of the beam's impact.

Twilight knew that it was only a matter of time until Starlight would discover her hiding spot. She galloped straight for the main entrance of the castle, opening the huge, thick wooden doors to enter the castle's interior.

Closing the door as silently as she could, she crept into the long entrance hallway, as the velvet, carpeted floor muted the sound of her hooves clopping into the castle. Banners were hung symmetrically on both sides of the hallway depicting the emblem of a crescent moon, similar to those outside the castle, but some had emblems of planets and even stars.

Suddenly, the doors behind Twilight slammed open.

"No more running away...Twilight," Starlight trotted in, opening her mouth to expose her stained teeth. Twilight could see that her horn was still glowing with magical aura, but Twilight knew that Starlight was running out of steam after casting so many spells.

"No, both of you are not going anywhere," a sinister, deep voice echoed down the hallway from the shadows ahead.

"Who are you?" Starlight interrogated, her face turning white. "Show yourself!"

"Who am I?" the voice responded, before a tall, darkly toned alicorn stepped forth into the light, revealing her identity to the two. "I...am your greatest nightmare."