Chapter 1: Accidents

Walking down the streets of her home city, Twilight cannot help but smile and breathe deep of the festive feelings and scents that fill the air all throughout Canterlot. All around her ponies walk, run, and frolic through the snowy cobblestone streets of the capital of Equestria, many doing last minute shopping for their friends and family in preparation for the upcoming holiday in a week. Twilight herself had just finished some shopping of her own, a couple of neatly wrapped presents sitting in her saddlebags and hidden by a light bending enchantment to keep certain small dragons from finding them.

Though not all of her shopping had been solely about presents, as much as she wished it could be. Next to the rather book-shaped presents her bags also contain a fair amount of reagents and alchemical supplies, such as specially enchanted chalk and even crystalized dragon scales, the prices of which would likely help the shop she had purchased them from buy a lot of hearth's warming presents themselves, and give the poor pony in the treasury who was responsible for Celestia’s Personal Student’s stipend to have a small heart attack. They would of course complain to the Princess, as her book keepers often did when what they considered negligent spending was done, and Twilight’s teacher would simply smile that warm motherly smile to them, and explain that it was for a task that she herself had put Twilight on. There would be some back and forth, of course, and in the end they’d demand to know what cost so much and if the project was really worth it. She’d likely have to show them the end product, and they’d still grumble but grudgingly accept it.

Turning a corner and onto the main street that runs through the center of Canterlot and straight up to the Castle’s large gate Twilight stops as she spots a large battle in progress, snowballs flying every which way as a platoon of Royal Guards does everything it can to hold its own against the endless hoard of energetic foals on winter break. Chuckling at the sight, but knowing she likely can’t cross without being marked a target -- or worse having to make them pause their game and ruin their fun -- Twilight instead lights her horn and teleports towards the largest group of Royal Guards, which just so happens to have a certain white unicorn wearing the purple armor of the Captain.

“Sir! Mistmane street reports it’s nearly overrun by urchin reinforcements,” a pegasus states quickly as Twilight reappears beside her brother, “and Mane street is losing ground under the assault of the highschool track team.”

“What of Commander Dawn? I sent him to the front a half hour ago,” Shining asks quickly, head ducked low under the roof of his makeshift command center, little miniature models from his favorite wargame sitting in front of him, “He should be bringing reinforcements from the Castle.”

“He was cut off by a group of cape wearing foals with…” the pegasus trails off, coughing, “well, sir, he said a catapult? But there were only three of them, and he’s not sure where they got the siege weaponry.”

“Sounds like the Cutie Mark Crusaders,” Twilight interjects with a laugh, “and don’t ask where or how they got a catapult, I’ve tried and ended up with a headache.”

“Twily!” Shining says breathlessly as he turns around and embraces his sister, “Oh, Celestia, am I glad to see you! We’re nearly overrun, I need help!”

“Of course I’ll help, but where’s Cadence?” Twilight asks, causing Shining to sigh and point over towards a local cafe.

“Sipping hot cocoa and awaiting her victorious husband to return to her in glory,” Shining says with a goofy smile.

“Ah, well, then we must make sure we get you back safely and with a victory under your saddle,” Twilight giggles before saluting awkwardly, “where do you need me, Captain?”

“I need you to help push the lines back, and help us hook back up with Dawn,” Shining says as he places a forehoof on her shoulder, “Can you do that, Sergeant Sparkle?”

“Yes-sir,” Twilight says brightly, horn glowing with her magic and lifting up a collection of snowballs, “just tell the others to try and keep up.”

An hour later, and one furious battle in the snowy streets of Canterlot, Twilight opens the front door to the cafe Cadence is in, a ‘seriously injured’ Shining draped across her back with a comical look of pain on his face, snow sticking out from under his armor.

“W-wh-who knew t-they were s-s-so accurate with that c-catapult!” Shining shivers, snow falling from atop his head.

“I warned you, Shiney,” Twilight giggles as she walks over to the table Cadence is sitting at, her old babysitter turned sister-in-law doing her best impression of an amused Celestia from behind her mug of hot cocoa.

“Clearly you did not warn him enough,” Cadence giggles as her magic wraps around her husband and lifts him from Twilight’s back, “but, I know how to cure a wounded soldier of what ails him.” She then proceeds to kiss Shining gently on the lips, then set him down next to the table as she slides a mug of cocoa over, “I take it your battle went poorly?”

“We won,” Shining offers with a dopey grin as he wraps his forehooves around the mug, shivering, “but barely. If not for Twily… well, we’d have been overwhelmed and I fear all you’d get is a folded flag and my frozen body.”

“I didn’t do that much,” Twilight chuckles as she sits down with her own mug, “I just helped you all do what you already knew you needed to do.”

“You led a valiant charge down Mane Street,” Shining smirks, “snowballs flying all around you and took out the hostile artillery position!”

“I just hit Sweetie, Applebloom, and Scootaloo with snowballs,” Twilight chuckles, “nothing special, even if that catapult they found was.”

“Yeah, I’ll need to talk to the watch commander about that, I think it’s one of ours,” Shining frowns, “not sure how they got their hooves on it, though I if the rumors I heard were true, I might need to talk to Rainbow Dash about ‘ariel insertions’.”

“With Scootaloo?” Twilight asks, “I wondered why it looked like she was wearing her helmet painted black with little wings on the side…”

“Yup, honestly I don’t know what those two were thinking,” Shining chuckles as he shakes the last of the snow from his armor. “Anyway, as glad as I am to have your help, Twily, weren’t you busy in the Castle? Something about Princess Celestia asking you to do something?”

“Study these old mirrors that apparently are portals to other worlds,” Twilight replies, her eyes alight with excitement, “I’ve read about them, Star Swirl made a long time ago, and Princess Celestia used to travel through them after her sister was… well… you know.”

“She told me about it,” Cadence says softly, her smile slipping, “Aunt Tia was so lonely, she sought refuge elsewhere. Apparently she made a few friends, a few enemies, and,” Cadence says slowly, her smile returning and becoming conspiratorial, “apparently, a lover.”

“You don’t think….” Shining starts, his smile matching his wife’s.

“No, no, Princess Celestia would never have me reconstruct a spell just so she could go find her long lost lover,” Twilight states with an unamused glare, “plus, Cadence, you find lovers in everything.”

“I don’t find love everywhere,” Cadence scoffs, gesturing with one forehoof.

“Right, and your insistence that I have feelings for a certain Princess?” Twilight deadpans, raising an eyebrow.

“I await the day I am proven right in that observation, even if you are both too stubborn and clueless to realize your feelings,” Cadence smirks.

Doing her best to hide the blush behind her hot cocoa, Twilight mutters something under her breath which causes Shining to laugh and make her blush even more.

“Well, as fun as it is to torment my sister,” Shining smirks and wink to his little sister, “and as much as I am thankful you have returned me safe and sound to my wife, shouldn’t you be getting to the Castle? I saw the reagents in your bag while we were fighting, should get back while they’re fresh.”

“I really should, yes,” Twilight agrees as she finishes her cocoa. She starts to stand, only for a napkin wrapped in Cadence’s magic to float over and wipe her mouth. “Cadence! I’m not a foal anymore!”

“Mhmm, I know,” Cadence giggles.

“Then why are you-” Twilight starts, only to be cut off by the napkin.

“Because you’ve got chocolate all over your face, silly filly,” Cadence says with a smile, “and, because you’ll always be the little filly I babysat, no matter what.”

“No matter what?” Twilight blushes.

“Yup! You’re always going to be a little book-obsessed filly to me,” Cady giggles as she removes the napkin, “There, clean enough to be seen in the Castle now.”

“Thanks,” Twilight coughs, still blushing brightly as she turns and heads for the door. “I’ll talk to you two later, okay? Don’t go getting into any more pitched battles with foals, Shining, I won’t be able to bail you out again until tomorrow when I’m done with my experiment.”

“No promises!” Shining laughs as Twilight reaches the door and exits back out into the cold.

Once outside again, Twilight adjusts her scarf and sighs. The hot cocoa had fortified her a little against the cold, but she knows all too well the warm glow in her stomach won’t last forever. Not to mention, now that the distraction her brother had offered was out of the way, the draw to return to the space set aside for her by her mentor is strong.

Whistling a carol to herself, Twilight steps back into the street and heads to the sanctuary of knowledge that is her own little slice of Canterlot Castle.

The trip is quick, far quicker than it would have been if the battle was still raging in the street, and before long she has made it to the drawbridge. She pauses in her journey only long enough for the guards at the gate to scan her and make sure she’s not a changeling, a precaution taken after her brother’s wedding to Cadence had resulted in what could only be termed an infestation.

Once beyond the large steel bound oak gates, a leftover from a time far in Equestria’s past in which this Castle would have to withstand siege, Twilight makes her way through the festively decorated hallways and towards her personal room in the Celestial Wing of the Residence. She passes many a friend as she walks, greeting them in passing or stopping for a brief moment to inquire after their family or how their day is going. By the time she reaches her suite, which is situated right next door to her mentor -- in fact if her memory on the old castle’s design was correct the room had at one point actually been a part of Celestia’s personal suite -- she is quite ready to get her winter clothing off and make her way back down to her experiments.

Lost in thought as she opens the door, Twilight allows her mind to wander and start calculating the magical forces she’ll need to balance once she’s back in her makeshift lab. Undoing her scarf and kicking her boots off, makes her way deeper into the room discarding the articles of unneeded clothing as she does. By the time she makes it to the time she makes it to the center of the common room of her suite, which is about the same size as the main floor of the library back in Ponyville, she has discarded her jacket and hat across the back of a chair. She grabs some of the notes she’ll need, and turns to leave.

Only to come face first with the business end of a feather duster held in green magic.

“Miss Sparkle, you really should hang your jacket up,” the jade unicorn the magic belongs to giggles as she removes the feather duster and resumes the work she had been doing when Twilight had come in. “What would your mother think, hm? Or Celestia?”

“They’d likely think I need to pay attention,” Twilight offers with an embarrassed blush and a small smile, “Sorry, Jasmine, I wasn’t thinking.”

“No, you were thinking,” Jasmine offers with a smile as she puts her duster to one side and starts working on the bed, “I know you, Miss Sparkle, you are here on a project and that’s all you’re thinking about.”

Twilight blushes and clears her throat, lighting her horn and levitating her winter wear to the nearby coat stand. “I just… Princess Celestia has asked me to study the magic that Star Swirl used to create the mirror portals; she thinks it could aid us in creating more advanced networks for travel between distant places.”

“Oh? Her Majesty is thinking of taking a vacation somewhere?” Jasmine asks with a smile as she tucks the sheets into the mattress and straightens them out with almost military precision.

“I’m not sure,” Twilight says with a shrug, excitedly going back to the table and picking up her notes, “but if Tia is thinking of going on a vacation I think she’s entitled to, she works too hard.”

“What was that, Miss Sparkle?” Jasmine asks, her smile turning mischievous, “I swear I thought I heard you call Her Majesty by a nickname. But surely you wouldn’t do that, unless I am missing something?”

“Nope!” Twilight says quickly, though the traitorous blush still forms on her face. “It was just a slip of the tongue in my excitement.”

“Of course, Miss Sparkle,” Jasmine giggles, “I’ll be sure to remember that next time Her Majesty orders her favorite evening tea while you are sound asleep against her side, tucked lovingly beneath a wing.”

Twilight’s blush continues to spread all the way to the tips of her ears as she blows a raspberry and shakes her head, “No, no, really she’s just showing familial affection, Jas! Honestly.” She then picks up her notes and makes a b-line for the door, “anyway, I am behind schedule, I should go.”

“Don’t forget your saddlebags!” Jasmine chuckles as she levitates the aforementioned item over, which Twilight accepts without further word as she canters quickly from the room.

She keeps the canter up until she reaches the stairs, pausing only to look over her shoulder before sitting down and taking a calming few breaths. Placing a hoof against her chest she breathes in, then slowly exhales as she extends the foreleg the hoof is attached to.

Once her traitorous breathing and heart are under control, the blush in her cheeks fading back to nothing more than a light dusting that can be explained away by the cold she had ventured into earlier, Twilight resumes her walk. Her route to the area set aside for her by the Princesses is not, unlike the walk to her suite, a short one. It takes her deeper and deeper into the castle’s ancient corridors, deep into the places Celestia’s light rarely touches and the staff venture only with great need. By the time the walls become rough cut stone, the air stale and unmoving, Twilight finds herself alone.

All the better, the powers she will be tapping into will be dangerous, violent and very much explosive should her calculations be even a decimal place off. Which meant being down here, deep in the bedrock that makes up the Castle’s foundation, anything Twilight does will be safe from harming others.

Not that her experiment will harm others, two months worth of careful study, and peer-reviewed research told her that her theories were sound.

Reaching the end of her journey, Twilight lights her horn and dispels the illusion over the ancient doors Celestia had shown her to two months ago, the age-worn wood and polished metal engraved with softly glowing runes in a multitude of hues. The magic imbued into the door reacts to hers, brushing against her mind as if a living being had reached out to touch her gently on the head. Recognizing her as someone who is a friend to Celestia, and thus allowed to enter, the door’s magic fades slightly as it returns to its slumber. Smiling gently, Twilight reaches up and pushes against the door, which despite weighing several tons by her estimates, swings open effortlessly and without noise.

Moving inside her magic once more ignites around her horn, and with a congress of soft pops and sizzles the multitude of torches that line the walls wake, their soft glow filling the room with a gentle light perfect for reading or conducting experiments into the nature of reality. The room itself is plain, simply a large circular room with a few doors that lead to a small kitchen, a bedroom, and a private library, the entire place having once been used by Star Swirl and Clover the Clever to conduct experiments on different things at the behest of both Princess Platinum and later Princess Celestia and Luna. Celestia had taken great pains to keep it in the condition it had been when Star Swirl had vanished, and even now Twilight took great pains to keep it thus. The only thing she had changed about it was the addition of a large alchemical star in the center of the room, and two mirrors flanking it at the north and south poles.

The circle was not finished yet, and would not be until Twilight put the things she had bought earlier upon it.

To that end Twilight deposits her saddlebags on the table near the door and quickly draws forth the pouches she had stowed safely within. Moving swiftly to the center of the complex star in the center of the room, she then opens the bag and levitates the crystals she had imported from the North, inspecting them one more time to make sure they were indeed up to her standards. Finding them to be clear and flawless to her eyes, and also structurally sound to her magic, Twilight floats all eight to the different points of the star.

With that done she levitates a few more minor reagents from a few other pouches, as well as some chalk for some last minute touch up on the circle.

All her preparation done, Twilight takes a deep breath and faces the mirror at the northern pole of the star, her reflection warping and twisting into the infinity created by the secondary mirror directly to the south. Steeling herself, she calls forth her magic once more and closes her eyes, channeling all of her mana, and all the mana she had infused into both the mirrors and the star beneath her, into the crystals at the points. The power grows, and grows, gravity increasing and shifting so that Twilight feels as if she is at the bottom of a great chasm or lake, all the water above pressing down upon her as her coat and mane stand on end. The room creaks and groans, the ancient stones protesting the gravitational abuse, while the flames of the torches bend and stretch towards the center of the magical maelstrom Twilight is whipping up.

Opening her eyes, which glow like twin suns from the sheer magical effort she is putting out, Twilight watches the surface of the mirror in front of her ripple and warp. The gilded and bejeweled edges creaking and moaning like a ship caught in a storm. The surface starts to shimmer, and twist, and Twilight smiles as for a brief moment she catches a glimpse of a verdant orchard, the Everfree in the background.

Then, with the sound of tinkling glass, it all goes wrong.

The north-north-east crystal cracks, and panic grips Twilight as the spell starts to violently unravel. Channeling more power, far more than she should touch on any given day, she pours more of her reserves into the spell, seeking not to contain it but to channel it into something else, a teleportation spell perhaps. Her mind quickly races through the calculations, but before she can properly formulate the math required to appear in orchard of Sweet Apple Aches, another crystal cracks, and the spell lashes out, the mirror behind her exploding violently, the shards stopping just before piercing her skin as they are sucked back through the frame to imbed in the wall. As she realizes the spell can no longer be contained, and anywhere she appears will likely suffer the backlash, Twilight tries to think of somewhere, anywhere, she can send it and herself that won’t hurt ponies.

Nowhere comes to mind, she simply channels the spell’s power out, anywhere but there, and prays that wherever she lands no one will be hurt.

The sound of one more crystal shattering fills Twilight’s ears for a brief moment, before it is replaced by the sound of the entire spell imploding and the energy rushing inward.

Then, there is nothing.

High above where Twilight’s spell is collapsing, Celestia sits upon her throne, a benevolent smile on her face as she listens to yet another noble speak on behalf of ‘concerned friends’ in regards to pegasi flying over their houses, or otherwise positioning or moving clouds and or other such ‘birdlike’ activities in the vicinity of those of superior petogree.

It had been a long day, so far, and Celestia was looking forward to the end of day court in a few hours so she could shed her regalia, put on a nice winter coat, and perhaps walk in the gardens with Twilight and talk about her research. Important research, surely, that would potentially shape the future of Equestria, not to mention redefine and rediscover ancient magic that had been thought lost since Star Swirl had vanished. Of course, all of that was perhaps secondary to the true reason Celestia had invited her to spend a few months here in Canterlot, in the Castle and right next door to her. Simply put, Celestia had found herself missing Twilight far more than she had let on. The saving of her sister was important, and was the whole reason she had sent Twilight to ponyville to awaken the dormant powers of the Elements of Harmony. And while she was proud, far more proud than she let anyone else know, of Twilight’s progress and at how many friends she had made, the Solar Monarch found herself… less without the bubbly, enthusiastic, dorky unicorn around.

She is drawn from her reverie when she realizes the noble has stopped speaking, and is looking at her with a mixture of annoyance and fear to speak out that same emotion.

“I’m sorry, Duke Seawall, I will look over your proposal for redefining the height and size of the no fly zones over private property closely,” Celestia offers diplomatically, her motherly mask firmly in place, “suffice to say, though, it will take some time. And I will need to allow my sister to look it over as well.”

“All well and good, Your Majesty,” Seawall replies with a frown, “though I hardly see why your sister has to-”

“She is the ruling monarch along with me,” Celestia states firmly, her tone no less warm, her smile no smaller, yet the room feels all that much warmer. “It is only fair that I ask her opinion.”

“But that will hold the proposal up for weeks, and I dare say I doubt your sister is hardly up to date on the modern day, let alone the laws and po-”

“My choice is final,” Celestia says gently but still firmly, “unless there is anything else I think yo-”

Stopping mid sentence, Celestia narrows her eyes as the fine hairs along the back of her neck suddenly stand up and a familiar sensation, much like when a limb has fallen asleep, dances along her horn. For a moment she can’t quite identify the source, even though she can feel Twilight’s magic as being the cause, but as the feeling grows a feeling of dread forms in her stomach. The feeling is reinforced when, subtly at first but with growing fervor, the stones that make up her dias start to shake, as does the entire castle.

Within seconds, the shaking becomes a full on earthquake as Guards and civilians in the throne room do their best to keep their hooves beneath them, a few going so far as to cling to the pillars and each other for stability. Celestia herself lights her horn and does her best to stabilize the ground, only to meet resistance as a burst of energy seems to explode up from the farthest reaches of the Castle’s basement, up, and outward into the sky. The explosion of energy does not physically damage, but the sheer power behind it causes all the unicorns, and one very large alicorn, to grip their heads in pain as it overwhelms them.

Then it all just stops, leaving Celestia to blink away the few tears that had formed in her eyes. All around her, ponies are getting back to their hooves and looking around fearfully. Yet, for Celestia the fear is more real, more personal as she quickly gets to her hooves.

“Sergeant!” Celestia shouts, just loud enough to be heard but not using her full vocal might, “Day Court is adjourned, see the petitioners out, and take a list of all who still need to be seen, I shall see them in the morrow.” With that she races from the room, her horn still tingling and painful enough that she does not want to risk a teleport with the magic still energizing the air.

Racing through the hallways and past startled and confused staff, Celestia makes her way down, deep into the bowels and ancient corners of her home until she comes to a pair of doors she knows all too well.

Where once they stood proudly in the doorway the large warded doors are now blown inward, the reinforced wood and metal cracked and burned as if a titanic force had struck them from the inside of the room and then pulled them into the interior of their charge. Advancing into the room, Celestia’s heart starts to slow as she beholds the devastation within, from the twisted and melted metal that once held mirror glass, to the shattered and charred crystals and blacked chalk of the ritual circle in the center of the room.

Yet, she can’t give up, Twilight is smart, she wouldn’t be caught in the explosion, she’d have teleported elsewhere…

“Twilight?” Celestia calls, her voice wavering slightly, “Twilight, you seem t-to have made a slight mess of the ritual chamber.”

Silence, and the smell of burnt ozone and charred metal is all that answers Celestia.

“It’s alright, though, I know you worked hard on this for me,” Celestia offers as she advances further, gilded shoes leaving deep hoofprints in the ash, “we can try again later, perhaps after you and I go for a walk. It’ll help you clear your head…”

She moves to the bedroom off-shoot, which is as pristine as it had been earlier in the day but with no Twilight. She then moves to the library, and finds nothing as well.

With short-ranged teleport out of the question now, Celestia summons forth her magic, fighting through the thick miasma of the magical dead-zone now present in the room, and casts a location spell. It takes far longer than Celestia would have liked, heartbeats and long breaths, before it pings back that Twilight is alive. Yet, it doesn’t really come from anywhere, at least not nearby. The ping is weak, faded.

And not coming from Equus.

By the time Luna reaches Celestia, she finds her sitting in the center of the devastation, face turned up towards the ceiling, eyes fixed on the distant sky. On Twilight.

Author's Note

Twilight did a Science!

Seriously, though, I've been sitting on this chapter and story for over a year now, I had wanted to get chapter 2 done before I posted this, and wouldn't you know in a fit of insanity and inspiration, I finished chapter 2 yesterday! I've moved onto writing chapter 3, so that means this gets published now!

Anyway, this story is likely going to be a long one, and if the cover didn't tip you off is a crossover with the Halo Universe. I blame these two, Commander Applejack and LSTS Connor for being amazing authors and inspiring me to write this.

SO who's ready to find out where Twilight faceplants? Find out next time in chapter 2!