The cold chill of the room grew as the light of the day filtered less and less through the dining hall’s windows. The wood of the table was as long as it was uninviting. So many things she had done were uninviting. If it weren’t for Twilight’s determination to continue despite that she wouldn’t be here today, she wouldn’t even be alive today.

Celestia’s question was an invitation to continue in the work she had already set out on. Work which by no means was fruitless. It was her friends which gave her meaning to all the work and study she’d poured her life into. It was her friends which gave her new life a chance of succeeding. There was still that chill that ran up her spine and tangled into her mushy brain. The thought of how incapable she was now, how less fit she’d become.

A princess? Me?

The thought of taking the mantle seemed impossible despite having already managed it before. The confounded twisting contradictions of her life bit at her hooves. She wanted to shake, shake away the frustration and cold chill of this damn room. She felt the frown which had poisoned her muzzle, now stretching and bringing stress to her face’s muscles. She fought the pressure building behind her eyes as she stared into Celestia’s gaze with determination.

“Yes,” She said sternly.

“I promise that I will do all I can as Princess of Friendship.”

Celestia’s face showed no emotion, no response to the fierceness of Twilight’s answer.

“That is all I can ever ask of you, Twilight,” Celestia said.

Twilight took in a deep breath, and strength and warmth flooded her body.

“I have a simple assignment for you. Something innocuous, but still a duty befitting a princess,” Celestia said.

Twilight’s response was quick. “Anything.”

Celestia chuckled, and the fire in Twilight’s heart weakened from confusion and worry.

“Twilight, it’s nothing that serious. Like I said, it’s simple and innocuous. The yearly Rainbow Falls trader’s exchange is coming up, and they need a princess to oversee the affair to ensure the fairness of trades. You’ll be the princess to go this year. That is all,” Celestia said with a smile.

Twilight allowed herself a small chuckle after taking in another breath, finally seeing the humor in her own attitude that Celestia had.

“Right, well, I’ll still do my best. You can count on me!” Twilight said.

“I’m sure I can,” Celestia responded.

“Ooooo~ The Rainbow Falls trader’s exchange!” Pinkie entered into the conversation again as she perked up in her chair.

Pinkie looked to Celestia, “What’s that?”

Celestia smiled as she turned to Pinkie.

“It is a yearly opportunity for ponies from all over Equestria to trade anything and everything at one place. Trade, not sell. If you want to get something, you have to give something. It has a well known reputation for being the one place you can find just about anything you want,” Celestia said, calm and motherly.

Spike stood in his chair, leaning forward and arching his head to Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash.

“If Twilights going, why don’t we all go?” Spike said with the first glimmer of excitement he’d shown all day.

His glow only brightened as he continued, “If you can find anything there, then I just know there’s going to be a mint condition comic I can trade for!”

Rainbow looked over to Spike, her eyes threatening to leave their sockets.

“If there’s mint comics there, then maybe I can finally find that first edition of Daring Do and the Quest of the Sapphire Statue!”

Twilight blinked in surprise, leaning back into her chair as wind rushed past her from the sheer speed of Rainbow Dash rocketing out of her seat to hover just before her.

“Twilight, you gotta let us come with you!” Rainbow exclaimed.

Twilight smiled, calming herself down from the excitation of Rainbow’s question.

“Of course you can come, all of my friends can come,” Twilight responded with a giggle.

“Yes!” Rainbow burst out, as she pumped a hoof into the air.

Twilight looked over her gathered friends, each of them beaming with hopeful excitation. It filled her with a soothing warmth. Twilight’s attention was brought back to Celestia as her mentor couldn’t help but to let out a sigh of pride in her student.

Celestia and Twilight’s gaze met.

“Twilight, you are the princess of friendship. Just as it is my duty to raise and lower the sun, Luna’s to raise and lower the moon, and Cadence’s to inspire love in her subjects, it is your duty to foster and grow your friendships and the friendships of others. This will be an excellent opportunity for you to realize that once again.”

“You’re right, princess. Thank you,” Twilight said with a determined smile.

“You’re quite welcome,” Celestia said with a smile, that was growing…playful.

“Oh, and Twilight?” Celestia added.

“Yes?” Twilight was taken aback.

“You haven’t touched your food in ages. We can talk more later, you should eat,” Celestia finished.

Twilight looked between the bowl of greens which had appeared beside her at some point and Celestia with a nervous smile.

“Oh, right,” she said with a nervous chuckle, before finally diving into her food.

***

The fading sun’s last grasp over the castle had left, replaced by the flickering light of oil lamps. Twilight examined the construction as her group passed through the long corridors of the castle. Some talented engineering had been endowed with the mission of setting oil lamps to a light switch system in place of fluorescent bulbs. Twilight couldn’t help but feel this was an obvious case of maladaptation to new technologies. While light bulbs could be considered more harsh in some cases, or perhaps there might be some attachment to oil lamps, this sort of backwards integration of new systems into old technology was…well, really something only the princesses could get away with.

“Here are your rooms,” Celestia knocked Twilight out of her thoughts as a key hovered over to her.

Twilight took her key in her magic. Celestia put a hoof on Twilight before she could go to unlock her door.

“I hate to pull you away right before bed, but may you come to my room to talk some more? There’s much I still have questions about,” Celestia said, looking at Twilight with a furrowed brow.

Twilight perked up in surprise.

“Oh, um,” she mumbled, before turning quickly to spike to float the room key over to him, and turning back to Celestia.

“Sure,” she finished.

Celestia nodded, and wordlessly turned to walk to her room. Twilight arched her head back towards her friends as she followed in her mentor’s hoofsteps.

“I’ll be back Spike,” she said with her gaze focused on the recipient.

“I’ll see you all tomorrow morning,” she continued, looking towards Pinkie and Rainbow Dash.

They all responded their farewells in kind, The sound of doors unlocking, opening, and then closing again was the last major sound Twilight heard for a long while, as the pair traveled their way around the corner and into another hallway. Twilight was given little time to ponder in this absence of answers until they reached Celestia’s quarters. The room was elegant, but cozy. Every piece of furniture or fabric was like a piece of art that still imbued the room in the warmth befitting the pillows nestled around the room’s fireplace. Said fireplace was soon alight from Celestia’s magic.

Yet Twilight found it difficult to breathe, to even let out an utterance. Looking up at Celestia’s towering figure, Twilight managed a weak smile.

“So…what did you want to talk about?” The words choked their way out of her.

Celestia drug herself out of her growing melancholy, as a fleeting thought was allowed to come to the forefront.

“Actually, before I get into what I really wanted to ask you about, if I may be so bold,” Celestia paused, pointing a hoof at Twilight’s rear.

“What’s with the outfit? It’s not exactly something I’d expect from you, not that there’s anything wrong with that,” Celestia asked, her smile growing.

Twilight looked back at her skirt.

“Oh, right. I actually forgot I was even wearing it,” she said, turning back to Celestia.

Twilight tapped her hooves against the carpeted floor.

“Mary, uh, grew up in a society that was always clothed so it’s been…interesting trying to ignore most pony’s constant nudity. Having something to cover myself helps comfort me,” Twilight answered with a shrug.

“I see,” Celestia said, her attention once again turning to the room.

Celestia turned her face away from Twilight as she struggled to suppress a wry smile. Celestia had immediately picked up on what Twilight had meant by everypony’s nudity being ‘interesting’, and the idea of Twilight of all ponies having to control her urges was frankly hilarious.

Twilight couldn’t see Celestia’s expression as she continued her journey further into the room.

“Come join me,” Celestia said calmly.

Celestia folded herself down into a collection of pillows near the fireplace. Twilight noticed the books and scrolls strewn about the spot Celestia sat. This was her reading spot. Twilight pushed herself out of her momentary stupor, moving over to another collection of pillows nearby and emulated Celestia’s position, nestling into the mounds of fluff. Looking over to Celestia, Twilight saw no mention of comfort despite the environment. Celestia was stiff, her face plain.

“Twilight, I apologize in advance, but please sit still for a moment,” Celestia said.

And before Twilight could respond, Celestia had bowed her head towards her, her horn pointing directly at her. A stream of magic came out from the tip of Celestia’s horn like flowing water pooling into the air. Her magic flowed like a river towards Twilight, reaching out and touching Twilight’s neck. It tingled and pulled against her, numbing her skin. More and more of it flowed out and against and all around her. She could feel the area grow, and consume her, covering her mouth and nose not too long in. The image of being pulled down into sand head first came to mind, the tingling numbness not incomparable to what she saw. She held her breath for a long while, she closed her eyes as the magic pulled up over them. It kept traveling all around her, her eyes, her ears, her heart, then her stomach, then her intestines, all feeling like they were being turned off one by one. She wanted to shake, to scream, to claw against the fate of her possible demise.

She gasped for air, as suddenly it was all over. Her throat was dry and hot and cold and burning as she choked in new oxygen. She coughed and finally her body gave out all the energy stored up in one massive shudder. She found a new sense of gratitude in her being placed among a mound of pillows. Slowly she began to breathe normally again.

“Again I apologize, Twilight, I know that spell is not an enjoyable experience. Trust me when I say that I would do nothing to you that I have not had done to myself,” Celestia explained in as calm a demeanor as she ever could, her pain in having to subject Twilight to that spell still evident in her voice.

Twilight was just able to keep up with what was happening, her faculties finally able to rest enough away from reacting to terror and coming back to reality.

“What was that?” She managed to ask.

“An identification spell,” Celestia answered simply.

That took Twilight aback. An identification spell was exactly the kind of thing Twilight would joke about, not something real. Twilight said nothing, but her face involuntarily got across the pure confusion she felt.

“It’s an old spell, and not one I use lightly. However it does confirm to me that you are—indeed—my Twilight…with some additions,” Celestia spoke slowly and calmly.

Twilight was ready to accept that completely. At this point it was the least crazy revelation there could possibly be.

“What that spell did not do, however, was bring me closer to answering another concern of mine, something Discord brought to my attention earlier today,” Celestia continued.

Twilight could hardly react anymore, her eyes now glued on Celestia’s.

“Huh?” She dumbly replied.

“I’m hoping you can help illuminate the subject. That god you mentioned today, even before you brought it up I knew of it through Discord, for he sensed in you a presence, or rather, a connection to some unknown deity. He said it was connected to all of you, not simply Mary. All he was able to tell me was that it was ‘like an invitation in your mailbox’,” Celestia said, the words streaming into Twilight’s head as her full attention laid on them.

Twilight turned the words over in her head. Slowly her gaze traveled away from Celestia. Twilight’s eyes moved around the room, not to observe it, but to search the corners of her thoughts. And then it clicked. Her gaze returned to Celestia, her demeanor suddenly much more sober.

“That’s Him alright. That’s Christ’s covenant,” Twilight said, her tone even and serious.

Her eyes flicked away as she couldn’t help but chuckle. She stared off into some dark corner of the room.

“Discord couldn’t have picked a more fitting phrase,” She said.

Twilight took in a deep breath, her gaze returned to Celestia, though her eyes continued to jump around, never finding a resting point. She straightened her posture.

“That invitation is the invitation to follow Christ, and accept Him as your Lord and savior.”

She let out a final airy breathy chuckle as her eyes finally truly locked onto Celestia’s.

“It’s that simple. You don’t have to accept it, you don’t have to like it. He invites everyone He can, anyone who knows Him. It’s an invitation to eternal life after death in his heavenly kingdom. Accepting it really is as simple as saying and affirming until you die, that He is your Lord and Savior,” Twilight said, her voice soft and low.

Celestia’s mouth twinged downward, as she heard what felt like another creature speak through her protégé with such conviction. There was a power to her words. Celestia had seen incantations and curses, but that didn’t quite fit what this was either. Twilight’s words bore a weight that crashed into her chest.

Twilight just laughed, her head felt like it was spinning. For the second time today, everything she knew felt like it was flipped on her head. The unprovable was proven.

“Wow…proof,” she laughed.

“Proof of God!” she laughed again.

Celestia watched as Twilight continued her mumbling, her words slurred and unorganized. Celestia was glad Twilight was too wrapped up in herself to see her frowning. There was too much to consider, too many ways this could be the worst thing…or possibly the best thing in Equestrian history. Celestia knew nothing of the old gods of this world, if this was one of them, or something else, however she knew she was powerless against it. She felt heavy, like the millennia of graceful aging had finally caught up to her and she’d soon be reduced to a useless stump.

I must care for my subjects, no matter what.

She thought, and so her strength came back through sheer determination.

“Twilight,” she mustered.

At once Twilight ceased her ramblings, looking up to meet Celestia’s gaze. Celestia could see that same childlike innocence she’d seen in Twilight ever since she was little. Her heart could hardly take the strain, yet she smiled through it all the same.

“Let us both go and rest. It has been a long day.”

Twilight nodded.

“Yeah…of course,” Twilight said nervously.

Celestia stood, causing Twilight to follow suit. She watched as Twilight turned and made her way to the door. Twilight turned to Celestia once she reached it.

“Good night,” she said with a smile.

“Good night, Twilight.”

And like that she was gone. Celestia let out the long stressful sigh she’d built up. She wanted to ponder every possible implication of what had happened to Twilight. She wanted to stay up all night and think through the contingencies and future scenarios. With great force, twisting against the grain of that old stump she still felt she could be reduced to at a moment’s notice, she brought herself to her bed and slept.

***

Twilight wasn’t content with sleeping just yet. There was too much to think about.

Proof of God…

But Celestia was right to shove this whole issue away. It simply could not be dealt with now.

If only Discord’s findings could be analyzed, viewed, whatever by something more real.

She didn’t want to deal with this, she didn’t want to deal with most of today.

Can I even trust Discord? I mean…it’s Discord!

The hallways back to her room felt a lot longer than she remembered. Her heavy hooves dragged against the marble, her languid posture exemplified in her devotion to staring at the floor as she walked.

Her room was the leftmost from where they’d first entered the hallway from. The door was a pristine white piece of carved wood.

I’m not going to worry myself over some hearsay of Discord…no matter how likely it is he’s right.

Twilight’s hoof knocked against the door to her room.

“Coming!” she could faintly hear Spike say from inside.

With a click the door unlocked and opened. Spike looked up to Twilight with a smile.

“That didn’t take too long,” Spike said.

Twilight rubbed her foreleg with her other hoof.

“Yeah, it was really just one question,” she replied hastily, as she entered the room.

The cool blue of the moon’s glow blanketed the room and by extension Twilight. Though the accommodations didn’t give the same personal and homely ambience that Celestia’s room had, the simple fact that this wasn’t Celestia’s room—that it was different—filled Twilight with a guilty peace. She could almost imagine she was simply staying at an expensive hotel, and not Canterlot castle.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what was the question?” Spike asked.

“I, uh…” Twilight trailed off, her attention elsewhere.

Twilight’s saddlebags laid against the room’s study desk, having been delivered here sometime earlier during her initial entry. Looking back on it, the pony with the gray coat and black mane who had taken her bags seemed familiar, but she couldn’t place a hoof on what her name was.

Trotting her way over to the desk, she opened her bags and began sorting their contents out onto the desk. She placed a hoof on the book she brought out in front. Combustion and Flames was its title. She pressed her hoof into the hardback, the subtle texturing pressing into the soft inner part of her hoof. She thought about her, now very distant, Bible.

“It was about all that religion stuff. Apparently Discord told her something about sensing a connection in me to an unknown deity and, well, she asked me what I knew.”

Twilight’s speech was slow and quiet as each word was put deliberately into place in her response.

Spike’s chest tightened, his head moving to side eye Twilight.

“And what do you know?” He asked.

Twilight sat down in the desk chair with a huff, her eyes trained on the ground below her.

“Too much, but not enough. If what Discord says is accurate, then there is definitive proof that the God of Mary’s world exists. I don’t know what to do with that information right now, besides just keep praying I guess,” Twilight looked up finally at Spike as she paused.

“I can’t think of a single thing in Equestria I could possibly look to for information,” Twilight huffed, then chuckled which grew to a laugh.

“So I’m not going to worry about it!” Twilight said, throwing her hooves into the air.

Spike shrugged, “Eh, then I guess I won’t worry about it either. There’s been too much of that today.”

Spike pointed at the desk behind Twilight, and the assembled materials now piled on it.

“You gonna stay up and study?” Spike asked without a hint of derision.

Twilight gave a small smile.

“Yeah, just to get my mind off of things. Go back to basics, you know?” she said.

Spike yawned, as he turned towards the bed.

“Alright, just don’t stay up too late,” Spike said, suppressing another yawn.

“Will do, Spike.”

***

Luna’s hooffalls were sure yet careful, as she traveled down the corridors of her dreamscape. It had been a normal night, in that so little was ever normal. She knew the ways of her subject’s hearts, how the inner desires and thoughts of everycreature pulled and worked over the taffy that was one’s imagination. The night was long, in that so much had been done yet in her dreamful state there was nary a notion of restlessness.

She felt a familiar tug, and so she turned to view what had elicited her mind’s eye to perk up. She came over to view the door that led into the pony’s mind. It was Twilight’s…yet it was different somehow. She pondered the shape, texture, aura of that door, yet nothing was at once apparent as to why she felt there was a change. The mind’s creation and representation in dreams was a fickle thing to produce detail in any useful amount. Whatever happened it was too subtle to see.

Opening the door she immersed herself into Twilight’s stream of unconsciousness.

She was surrounded by creatures she did not recognize. Creatures of skin, not fur, on two legs, with fingers and thumbs and clothed all over. Great throngs of them moved through the cramped hallway with the bored uncaring patience only a thinking creature could. She focused on finding Twilight. She flew, unseen, above the crowds, her eyes searching through the gaps of the moving creatures. Twilight was nowhere to be found.

She focused on what Twilight was feeling, what Twilight was seeing and hearing, in order to transport herself there. Her eyes refocused into a view from Twilight’s perspective as she walked through the halls.

Her emotions were overtaken by those of Twilight’s as she experienced the dream. Twilight was one of these creatures. She felt and saw how the body was unfit, how even amongst the growing throng of other similar creatures, Twilight felt outcast in her own body, constantly looking down at herself and checking all was in its proper place. Nervous and jittery, she entered into one of two rooms, which by Luna’s understanding given through this transference of perspectives, were gendered bathrooms. Inside were creatures which she knew as being female, yet still Twilight was nervous to be there, like she didn’t belong with the others of her sex.

The dream shifted once she had opened a stall door. Twilight fell onto the floor and was now back in her normal body. An overwhelming tense pain shook through her, and it took all of Luna’s willpower to pull herself out from Twilight’s perspective.

They were in Twilight’s room, up in her loft during a cold night. Twilight laid on the hard wooden floor beside her bed, wallowing in her pulsing pain, her form barely visible in the darkness. Twilight’s limbs shakily stretched out, as tears streamed from her closed eyes. Her mouth moved, pressing her burning lungs to scream for help, but no sound escaped.

Luna was about to come out of her shock and stop this dream before it all changed again.

Twilight stood in a dark and simple bedroom, facing Celestia who stood at the room’s center. Celestia’s gaze suddenly lurched over to Twilight. Her muzzle was distorted into a terrible frown, her eyes blazing with contempt.

“God is real,” Celestia’s voice boomed through the room.

Celestia’s appearance was replaced by a bush overtaken by a raging fire. Smoke billowed out in massive heaps from the fire. Luna watched as Twilight fell, shaking in terror, down into a deep bow, her forehooves clasped together.

“Forgive me!” Twilight shouted at the fire. “Forgive me!”

Luna snapped out of her shock, and with the concentrated flap of her wings she snuffed out the great fire in a gust of wind. Or she would have, if the bush and the fire with it did not disappear the moment before her attempt came to fruition, yet her gale, already in motion, was let loose all the same.

Twilight was snapped out of her trance of horror, confusion overtaking her as Luna approached from the sky. Luna’s stretched out wings covered the light as she descended, encompassing Twilight in darkness. A pin was pulled somewhere in Twilight’s mind, unleashing the whirr of a great winding machine. The soft click of mental gears began to join more in more in the greater harmony of lucidity. The shroud of dark coming to save her from nightmares suddenly felt all too familiar.

“Luna?” Twilight asked in wonder.

“Twilight, I know it has been a little longer than usual since we’ve last conversed, but I feel like I’m missing out on a great deal of context,” Luna said, her tone casual and unabashed to show her confusion.

“This is a dream,” Twilight said.

This question was so banal to Luna, that it made its otherwise dumb nature slide right off. Yet she was surprised at how slowly Twilight of all ponies was taking to catch up, Luna had the impression that Twilight had become quite accustomed to her dream visits.

“Yes, and this is a dream that I am having a difficult time understanding,” Luna said, taking a few steps closer to Twilight.

Twilight looked down at her hooves. She brought them closer to her face, turning them around before her. Her face radiated the despair of a child, one that slowly died down to a manageable melancholy as the certainty of her form became clear.

Luna watched this display with a frown of worry, a tenseness in her chest growing in sympathy with Twilight’s worsened state.

“What is wrong, Twilight,” Luna said in a hushed voice.

Twilight put her face in her hooves.

“I don’t know where to start,” she mumbled through the massaging motion of her hooves.

Luna carefully made her way over to Twilight. She placed a hoof atop Twilight’s head, and watched as the mare looked up at her with a frown. She thought up a nice chair for Twilight to rest on, and placed Twilight gently upon it with her magic. Making up her own chair, she sat across from Twilight, and simply waited. Twilight took in a deep breath, using a hoof to guide her timing. In and out.

“Last night I awoke to find that my mind had merged with another,” she began.

***

A young boy, alone at his own birthday party. A young adult struggling to find his goal, his career…A young woman, still scared but full of potential, excitement, energy.

Those were some of the many memories of Mary’s life that were replayed before Luna. Twilight had guided Luna through the key moments bit by bit, and Luna had simply sat and listened patiently. She could tell that as the presentation went on Twilight became less upset. Luna had to suppress a giggle at how cute it was that Twilight enjoyed any opportunity to expound her knowledge onto others.

Her thoughts returned to the present as she sat before Twilight, looking at her. The mare before her couldn’t be considered the same Twilight she knew before, that much was clear.

No, this wasn’t Twilight Sparkle, but Twilight Mary Sparkle. Luna had been reluctant to share her reactions, because in her opinion there were none worthy to give until the full context was put together. But now she had that full context. Slowly the pieces formed into one work. True, Mary was not exactly like Twilight, but she could see where similarities began and ended and found that the important aspects were still there. The mare before her had a good heart, and a sound mind, just one that had been rattled by an understandably mind rattling day.

There was a lull in Twilight’s ramblings.

“Twilight Mary Sparkle,” Luna said, catching the full attention of said individual.

“I am proud to say that I know you now. I cannot claim to help you solve all of your quandaries this night, though I wish I had the time, but if there’s one thing I wish to impart on you it is this: You are a wonderful pony, and I’m sure you shall succeed evermore in your role.”

Twilight grinned, fiddling with her hooves at the compliment. That short burst of pride was dashed by a new worry.

“Does that mean you’ll be going? I haven’t even gotten to talk about my dreams,” Twilight’s frown chipped away at Luna’s armor.

“I am afraid so, but I have confidence in you to overcome your fears. Keep the knowledge of my faith in you close to heart, and you shall be safe tonight,” Luna answered, rising out of her chair.

Twilight’s heart sank in her chest. She brought a hoof up to her vision, her imagination filling in a small ball of light representing Luna’s promise of faith as a physical thing. Carefully she brought that light to press against her chest.

Luna walked over to Twilight, and materialized a blanket to cover her.

“Sleep well. Each night will bring you peace to start off your next day well,” Luna said.

Twilight snuggled into her chair, closing her eyes, as she pulled the blanket tighter around her.

Luna leapt out of the dream, and towards the rest of her night.

The door to Twilight’s mind closed behind her, and the sound gave her pause. She remembered her initial questioning of it, how it had seemed to change yet she noticed nothing. She turned back to the door, her vision focusing deeper into it, now determined to figure out something given her new knowledge of Twilight’s experiences.

She peered closer and closer, until finally something caught her eye. Her mind strained to create detail. The wood, the very wood itself, was composed of a jumbled collage of the wood from two different sources. Each piece was so miniscule as to not be visible without this extreme level of deep observation.

She leaned back, and wondered over what could have caused this.

***

A bulbous weight pulled her mind against whatever terrible thing had deigned to interrupt her nothingness. She felt her body shift amidst the pool of blanket and sheet she was immersed in. Her eyes opened, the previously known vast sea of blanket in view, broken only by the wall of pillows to one side.

Twilight was awake in Canterlot castle, the room bathed in the light of a…surprisingly high sun. She wondered why it was already so late.

She propped herself up in bed, and it was then it all came back to her. Her hooves, horn, wings, tail, mind, thoughts, desires, hopes, fears, and her time yesterday all came back to her.

“Ugh.”

How she managed a response to her predicament so beautifully poetic was beyond her.

A book snapped shut right before a short gust of wind blew against Twilight, her eyes darting over to see the cause of this offending wind only to find Rainbow Dash hovering by her bed.

“Hey, you’re finally awake! I was starting to think you’d just sleep the whole day after all that happened yesterday,” Rainbow Dash said, the relief of her now concluded wait evident in her tone.

She landed, taking a step back.

“How’re you feeling?” she asked.

Rainbow Dash began a series of stretches and simple calisthenics, as she awaited Twilight’s answer.

Twilight watched Rainbow for a moment, the motions of the routine capturing her attention amidst the otherwise static room. Her brain was slow, like it was leaking or in a low gear or…something. It was too early to be thinking in analogies.

“I…uh,” Twilight began as her vision scanned across the room.

Nopony else occupied the room besides Twilight and Rainbow Dash. Twilight’s collection of study material and notes looked undisturbed from how she left it last night. The desk chair had been pulled to the side, now facing the bed. A Daring Do book of some description sat in the unoccupied seat.

“Where’s Spike?” Twilight asked.

“He’s out grabbing some grub with Pinkie, they’ve been mostly hanging in one of the other rooms we got so we didn’t wake you. It just happened it was my turn to watch over you when you got up,” Rainbow said in a cool and relaxed tone.

With a final long stretch Rainbow finished her routine, letting out a satisfied moan.

“Huh,” Twilight said as her eyes drifted down to the floor.

Rainbow raised a brow, a wrinkle of worry in her muzzle for a second.

“Twilight?” Rainbow raised her voice as she came closer to Twilight.

Twilight pulled her gaze back up to Rainbow Dash, who now stood right beside her bed. Rainbow’s worried look only served to transfer more worry to her, her mind was too tired and overwhelmed to even consider fully internalizing a register of what Rainbow Dash was thinking about or what Pinkie and Spike were up to. The only gears that turned were focused on the sensations and fundamentals of her reality.

Rainbow continued, “You feeling alright?”

Twilight’s eyes stared deeply into Rainbow’s, as her mind attempted to relay connection and understanding of the social situation. Twilight’s fears grew up from the ground which now lay clean of any usual toxins created by the frontal lobe to dissuade illogical patterns. Fear and despair tainted her tired and unprotected mind.

Twilight stuck a hoof out from her sheets, and pressed it into Rainbow Dash’s chest, feeling her fur. Rainbow cringed, as the situation developed too quickly to handle. Tears welled in Twilight’s eyes as her mind looped a familiar song.

She’s real…I’m real.

Twilight’s chest felt like it was knocked back, as all of her body suddenly sprang into action to avert her coming cry session. Her breathing became short and quick, as her eyes shot wide open.

Rainbow Dash similarly recoiled in shock. She lifted up a hoof and began gently guiding Twilight’s hoof to lie back on the bed.

“Hey, hey, it’s chill, we’re all chill,” Rainbow spoke with an unconfident and squeaky voice.

Twilight focused all of her effort on calming down, but couldn’t stop a small flow of tears from streaming slowly down her face.

A knock came from the door.

“Oh, pony feathers,” Rainbow exclaimed under her breath.

Rainbow put on her best smile.

“You stay right there and just…chill out, okay?” Rainbow’s cheery tone was a thin veneer, and the smile wasn’t doing much either.

In a second, Rainbow flew over and cracked open the door, peeking her head out to see Pinkie Pie and Spike carrying bags of food.

“Hey Rainbow Dash, we—” Pinkie was interrupted.

“Thank Celestia, it’s you two! Get in here,” Rainbow said, flying out and pushing Pinkie and Spike into the room.

The door shut behind them, as Pinkie and Spike took in the image of a softly crying Twilight staring back at them.

In a zip, Pinkie was suddenly at Twilight’s side showing a worried face.

“Hey, this is no time to be upsetti-spaghetti, I’ve got some,” Pinkie paused, tilting her head.

“Well it’s not spaghetti, but it’s food you like way more than that!” Pinkie exclaimed, raising up the bag she carried.

Pinkie held an off-white paper bag which bore the logo of a diner chain Twilight was very familiar with. The tears stopped, as her full attention was locked onto the bag.

“The Hay Burger,” Twilight said in a soft voice.

Twilight extended her arms out, like a foal reaching for its toy, and Pinkie gleefully hoofed over the bag. Twilight greedily opened it up, levitating out the burger and fries. Her shoulders slouched down, her mouth turning to a relaxed grin. She closed her eyes and put her hooves together.

“Lord thank you for this meal, amen!” She joyfully prayed before digging straight into the food.

Rainbow Dash chuckled as she came up beside Pinkie.

“Whew, thanks Pinkie. Really saved my hide there,” Rainbow said with a relieved sigh.

Pinkie laughed, “Uhh, no I didn’t, I saved Twilight’s stomach!”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and chuckled.

Spike came over to the group with a pep in his step and a nervous grin.

“Well, glad that’s taken care of,” he said.

“Eating time!” Pinkie exclaimed.

The group of three each grabbed a chair, circled them around Twilight, and dug into their food. Twilight looked over to her friends in between bites, each time feeling a warm safety in her chest. The taste of the hayburger and hayfries made her mouth water, and taste buds shiver in excitement. A warmth subsumed her body as the food traveled into her stomach.

Spike’s gaze kept careful watch of Twilight, making sure she was truly well. Pinkie and Rainbow were content to put most of their attention to eating, though for Pinkie that didn’t mean much as she finished in record time. Pinkie licked her lips clean of the last bits of ketchup that had spurted out.

“Mmm! Tasty!” Pinkie said.

Pinkie looked over to Twilight, who was still in the middle of enjoying her food.

“Hey Twilight, what’s that thingy you do when you put your hooves together and talk to somepony who’s not there?”

Twilight looked over to Pinkie, her eyes widened.

Pinkie continued unabated, “I mean, I know lots of foals who have imaginary friends, but I didn’t know you had any!”

Twilight swallowed her food, her brows furrowing.

How to explain this to Pinkie…

There was a pause, as Twilight’s eyes searched her thoughts.

“Well first off, it’s not an imaginary friend. It’s the thing I talked about yesterday, you know, God?” Twilight asked.

“Oh, so like Discord, but something else?” Pinkie said, her smile still standing.

Twilight put her face into her hooves.

“Maybe? It’s too early to be answering these kinds of questions,” Twilight said, lowering her hooves again.

“It’s like the old gods right? The ones from, like, before recorded history?” Spike said.

Twilight looked over to him, a feeling of pride in Spike’s ability to at least grasp the basics of what was happening.

“Kind of. We don’t know a lot about the old gods, they’re all just myths and legends, but this still seems different. He’s the God! The God of Mary’s world. I have no clue if He’s here now, if He’s been here in the past, or if He’ll be here in the future, I just don’t know,” Twilight said, finishing her rant with an exasperated sigh.

“All I know is I’m gonna keep up with Mary’s traditions until I get a better understanding of it all, because if Celestia’s right about what Discord said, then He’s real and His covenant is still with me,” Twilight finished.

Spike huffed, “So what, you’re gonna start acting like those weird religious creatures.”

The contempt in Spike’s tone put a stone in Twilight’s stomach.

“No…” she said softly.

“It’s just gonna be little things. Praying before meals, before bed, that sort of thing,” Twilight gave a nervous smile.

Twilight jumped to continue, shaking her head, “And no, if you’re thinking I’m gonna start acting like that one griffon that came to Ponyville proselytizing about her gods, that’s not at all what this is going to be like.”

Rainbow looked at Twilight with a raised brow, “Why? I mean, what’s the point?”

Twilight took a breath as she pondered.

“Well, that’s…kind of complicated. I mean if you want me to give the actual answer it’s to be saved from eternal death and have eternal life in God’s kingdom, but I’m guessing that doesn’t mean much to you,” Twilight said.

“Yeah, you lost me,” Rainbow said.

Twilight shook her head fervently, “Just don’t worry about it.”

“Okay! So when are we going home?” Pinkie said.

Spike looked over to Pinkie, “I’d say as soon as Twilight’s done eating.”

Twilight nodded, “I agree. I need to focus on getting back to normal life…as best as I can.”

With that she returned to her food.

***

Twilight’s eyes squinted through the harsh light of the summer midday sun, her vision fixed on the ‘closed’ sign hanging from the door of the Golden Oaks. A rumbling guilt for having had so suddenly thrown off her schedule fighting for space with the drowning heat. The sound of the door closing behind her, echoed through the empty foyer of the library. Everything was tidy and in place. Relief came over Twilight for Spike and Pinkie’s cleaning up of yesterday’s party. Not enough relief came however to completely overshadow the fact that the upstairs was currently flooded in an unkempt mess of her own work.

“I almost forgot this was here,” Spike said with growing ire as he followed Twilight up to the second floor.

Twilight turned to Spike, raising her hoof in defiance of Spike’s worries.

“You really don’t have to help me clean this up. You’ve already done so much just putting up with me,” she said.

Spike looked around the mess, and back to Twilight with a raised brow.

“Are you sure?” he asked, hands on his hips.

“I’m sure,” she responded with a small smile.

“Great!” Spike exclaimed, jumping down the stairs to the foyer.

Twilight relished the opportunity to flex her organizational muscles. She collated the mess between the unused paper, the finished and unfinished writings, the books, the quills and inkwells, the…miscellaneous things like the pillows and mirror. That last one gave her pause, and caused her to go on what felt like a stealth mission back to the basement to return the mirror.

The time alone felt like a cold shower after a hot day. Just time to herself, she could freely talk to herself as she worked, her thoughts spoken aloud. All that was kept in were thoughts of the time since last morning. Twilight gained strength in her core knowing how well her friends had taken to the new change. It almost felt like it had gone too well! That gave her some pause, she remembered the times her friends spoke very little about certain things. Did anypony truly directly say they approved of some of Mary’s differences?

Before Twilight could continue that train of thought, the last bit of mess was put away.

“Well that didn’t take long at all,” Twilight said with pride.

She put a hoof to her chin, as she thought through how to deal with her friendships.

“I usually end up spending a lot of time with them all each week anyway, so I’ll have time to get used to it all.”

With a satisfied snort, Twilight went over to her study desk and laid out her organizational calendars. Yesterday had shifted things around a lot.

“Right, because I totally needed a separate color coded and non-color coded calendar.”

Twilight grabbed her sets of pens and colored markers.

“I could just fit that all into one with diacritic marks and symbols. Which means I’ll have to make a key!”

Twilight smiled the fullest smile she had since last morning.

Author's Note

Basically two weeks for 7k words is...a little sad, but also not really?
Anyway, I've got the next 2 chapters fairly well outlined, and the next 2 after that roughly idealized.

Again, no promises as to when or if anything else will get done :)

SPOILER: ~~Next mind merge will be 3 chapters from now!~~