Mean Twilight and the path ahead

Chapters

Prologue
First contact
New morning
New home
Logic
The trip
Friendship is non-negotiable

Prologue

Everything around was silent. Trees, grass, Chrysalis, which promised to destroy them if they didn't shut up. Mean 6 and the changeling queen were heading for the tree of harmony.

Mean Twilight was excited. Soon, she would become the most powerful being in existence. At least, she believed so. Her thoughts were filled with plans. Once I get the elements, nothing could stand in my way. Those 5 idiots can be manipulated with power, and my magic proves to be quite powerful. For now, I must pretend like I actually serve that black bitch. But it's all worth it in the end. They all will see it, and they will all tremble before me.

The group was approaching the tree of harmony. Chrysalis didn't even need to order anything, the mean 6 instantly went to grab their respective elements. "Finally, nothing can stop us. Nothing can stop me. Not Chrysalis, not Discord, and not even Twilight Sparkle," said mean Twilight. Chrysalis instantly realized what that meant, her entire life revolved around deception and betrayal. In the end, she was a changeling. The two locked eye contact, and soon 2 beams of power collided.

Everything is going great. Chrysalis's power was no match for hers, even without elements of harmony. Everything would indeed go great, if not the latter. While Chrysalis was thrown several dozens of meters back upon getting overpowered, the tree of harmony already extended its light towards the mean 6. Mean Twilight turned around, and instantly realized one thing. "It's fucked," she said, seeing that others are being drained of life. Her own demise was near, and she felt it. This disgusting feeling couldn't be properly expressed. Like being born, but in reverse.

"No. NO!" mean Twilight screamed, putting all her power to survive. A devastating amount of magic came in her place, and soon, nothing was there. No log, no corpse. Chrysalis looked at the situation, again witnessing her failure, and headed back into the depths of the everfree forest.

Meanwhile, among the trees, mean Twilight was sitting. It took a lot of her to teleport away. And much more to preserve her body while at it. Of course, no world would submit to an old hag. She looked at the puddle nearby and saw her reflection, easing up. It was still her, the same as she was born.

Still, lots of big issues pressured her small skull. What now? Those 5 imbeciles are dead. Black bitch knows I betrayed her. The mane 6 will figure everything out once they realize who I am. "Fuck... Fuck. FUCK," she said. Despair filled her. She can't stay in this forest. Celestia knows what happens if a chimera spots her one unlucky night. She needed to do something, she just needed to know what.

Mean Twilight slowly inhaled and exhaled, calming down. She is not that panicking weakling. Suddenly, a plan came to her head. She started laughing like a maniac from the idea. Two Twilights would cause suspicion. But one Twilight, and nobody would bat an eye. That's why the tree didn't accept us. The position was already taken. An evil grin appeared on her face, and she clapped her hooves. "I'm just that smart, aren't I?" All the loud noises attracted something.

Mean Twilight turned around, only to face a chimera a few meters away. The latter charged at her, clearly not bearing any good intentions. Mean Twilight teleported behind it, unleashing a beam of magic on it. The chimera screamed in pain, turning around, only to be met with an even stronger beam in its side. Blood poured from the freshly opened wound, but the beast only quickened. Enraged, it dashed at the pony, only for her to teleport away once again, unleashing another beam at its other side.

It fell to the ground, defeated. Unfortunately for it, mean Twilight was not going to leave witnesses. Had Fluttershy spoken to this chimera, it would tell her everything. That simply can't happen. So, mean Twilight started striking it with beams, focusing on the middle part of the body. Each time, chimera screamed in pain and agony. Finally, when there was enough damage done, the unicorn used telekinesis. But instead of moving chimera as a whole, she moved the front and the back into opposite sides, ripping the chimera in two. The beast closed its eyes, and its voice died down. All that was left is a display of organs and blood on the ground.

Now that this is over, I have a plan to set in motion. For starters, I need to figure out where the ponyville is, mean Twilight thought to herself, flying up with the wings. She knew that in order to replace Twilight, she needed to kill her. And in order to kill her, she just needed to face her alone. With friends, that purple alicorn destroyed all villains who stood in her way. But that's the thing. "I am not all villains," she said, flying out to scout the territory.

First contact

It was evening when mean Twilight was prepared to attack. Why not night? Because she dared not underestimate Twilight. It makes sense that at night, protective spells would be placed. And when one would work, she would be facing real Twilight without any advantage. She overpowered Chrysalis, but she was nowhere near certain she'd overpower Twilight. On top of that, Starlight would also be sleeping somewhere there. Right now was the perfect time, with Starlight and Spike being out, while the princess of friendship probably busied herself with yet another useless task.

Mean Twilight flew down on the balcony, silently entering the castle. Right as she did it, she cast an invisibility spell on herself. Quietly, she passed through the hallway, opening door after door, looking for the purple mare. Finally, she heard a noise, and sneaked up on a bigger door, just to get smacked into a wall by it as real Twilight suddenly opened it. That instantly made our ~~hero~~ villain lose all her concentration, nullifying the invisibility spell.

Thankfully, she didn't make a noise, and real Twilight was too deep in her book to notice. Nose bleeding. Fuck it. It won't stop me. Mean Twilight charged up her beam and shot at real Twilight. The shot missed, due to either the fact she was still confused by the sudden collision with the door or the fact that real Twilight made a random stop in the middle of the hallway.

Twilight was hard to distract when she was reading a book. But a gigantic beam of magic several centimeters away from her managed to do the thing. She instantly turned around, only to be even more confused. It's not every day you see yourself. Of course, the colors were a bit off, but it was still a very believable copy. "Hello? Do you need anything?" Twilight said, assuming that maybe it's a changeling before her.

Those words destroyed mean Twilight's confidence in a second. The element of magic didn't even take her seriously. Instead of answering, she unleashed a second beam, but this time Twilight teleported away in time. "Shit," said mean Twilight. She has lost her greatest advantage. Sneak attack, with which even the weakest could beat the strongest. Still, she was a perfect match for Twilight, quite literally. At worst, it's a 50/50 now.

"Stop. I don't want to fight you. Calm down, then tell me who you are," said Twilight. Mean Twilight decided to instead start shooting out beams like crazy, so Twilight followed with the same. In seconds, the corridor turned into a battlefield. Whereas mean Twilight was mostly trying to destroy Twilight, the real one focused on defending herself, only sending out beams occasionally.

This is bad. Blocking and teleporting takes far less from her, compared to what my attacks take from me. At this rate, I'll lose in a few minutes, thought mean Twilight.

"STOP," loudly said the third pony. Both purple mares suddenly stopped, as if by reflex, to look what was interrupting them. Real Twilight's face eased, seeing Starlight, while mean Twilight looked like she's about to get executed. Still, seeing princess of friendship distracted, she unleashed another devastating beam at her. No chance she would dodge now. Light filled the way, and she channeled it for several seconds. Upon letting go, however, she was very disappointed. Starlight was there with a magical barrier, protecting her friend.

Both Starlight and Twilight looked at the clone with unhappy faces. That's when our villain realized one thing. She's about to feel all the power of friendship, and not in the good way. Luna knows, it's not a thing you'd want to feel every day. Even at her peak, mean Twilight would not manage to destroy both of them. And right now, she was exhausted. In hindsight, she realized that she should not have gone there after battling queen Chrysalis, the tree of harmony, and a chimera. But that was too late. Reality caught up to her quick, so she did the thing every self-respecting villain would do in such a situation.

Mean Twilight teleported as far as she could, which happened to be the balcony, and took off, starting to fly away as fast as she could. It didn't take much time for Starlight and Twilight to get behind her, starting to fire beams of magic at her. Instead of large, devastating shots, however, those were just small, linear ones. Problem was, they shot a lot, and they shot swiftly. Instantly, mean Twilight realized that her amateur method of attacking was nothing compared to what those 2 mares had. By pure miracle, she dodged for 10 seconds, then she started taking hits.

Still, she was no weak mare. After what pain she'd endured during the tree's attack, this was nothing. Just a sting or two. At least, that's what she was telling herself. After a dozen of such shots, there was no more power left in her. Both her magic, and her body, gave up. She fell on the ground, sliding a few meters and rolling over her sides several times. The harsh landing took a toll on her belly. Blood was spreading on the grass. Everything was hurting. Fear was slowly taking hold over her mind.

Then, the two ponies descended from above, installing more terror. I don't want to die. However short her life was, she certainly didn't want to throw it away. In this very moment, she decided that her pride wasn't worth shit, if she was a log laying on the ground. "Please don't kill me. I don't want to die," she said in a quiet, fearful manner, closing her eyes with her front hooves. The thought of death terrified her. What if I die? I'm created with dark magic. What if I will just not exist? No pony heaven, not even pony hell. Just nothing. Normally, you would think her face could not look more scared, but this thought certainly made it so.

"I wasn't going to," said the real Twilight with a confused face, landing on the ground in a far more successful way, with Starlight following her example.

"Oh, Celestia," said Starlight, seeing the wounds. "I'm so sorry I didn't me-," she started, but hearing the rest was beyond our villain. Real Twilight acted quick, applying as much healing magic as she knew, while mean Twilight closed her eyes, and let her head rest on the ground. The consciousness was slipping away from her, so much she realized.

I don't want to die, thought mean Twilight, and it echoed in her mind. The world became blurry, and she lost the ability to think shortly after, going unconscious.

New morning

Author's Note

"There is no shame in defeat, so long as the spirit remains unconquered" - Fenix, Starcraft

New morning

Mean Twilight was laying on the bed. Quite a large bed. Definitely not something a normal pony would have. Not that it would fit in a normal room anyway.

As sunlight made its way right into the mare's eye, she rolled over, slowly waking up.

Did I die? After she opened her eyes and looked around, she realized it isn't likely. Hell doesn't have soft beds. Or maybe it does, and a bunch of timberwolves will jump out and rape me to death? Mean Twilight shrugged off that thought, pulling her brain out of sleep, and slowly got out of the bed.

Room was large. Near walls stood pillars made of crystal. She was still inside the princess of friendships castle, this much is obvious. Why did they keep her alive? To torture for information? But then, why the bed and not a cell.

As mean Twilight started to inspect her wounds, or more specifically, the lack for them, a voice interrupted her.

"You're awake," said Twilight in a happy tone, standing next to the open door.

"Did you wait all this time, just staring at me sleeping?" Mean Twilight said as a distraction to cast a teleportation spell. Upon doing so, nothing happened, and she just stared at the real Twilight, confused.

"No, I did not. I used a movement detection spell and came as it activated. Now, please, calm down. No need to teleport away again. I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to talk," said Twilight with a face of compassion. While she was facing a mare who tried to assassinate her, the plea for mercy definitely affected her. An ideological villain wouldn't do that. Someone misguided would. Perhaps this pony, or not pony, was blackmailed or threatened into doing this?

Mean Twilight considered her options. She cannot teleport and she does not know why. The mare before her beat her last time, and that's considering she had the advantage. She didn't kill me because she's good. That realization struck our villain like lightning. Kindness can be abused. She doesn't need to tell her true intentions, neither does she need to come up with a ridiculous lie. She can just pretend she's sorry. Her face took an evil grin as she finished her line of thought. "Okay. Let's talk"

"Good," said Twilight, ignoring the obvious sign on her clone's face. "First off, who are you?"

This question had mean Twilight dead. What does she even say? That Chrysalis made her out of dark magic to destroy ponykind? Great idea in case she wants to make it to tartarus by evening. "I'm uhhhhh... My name is...Uhm." She looked around, seeing a trophy with a quarter of the moon. "Night. Dark Night," she said. This was pathetic. Even Chrysalis sounds more convincing. Ugh, this mare got so lucky, and she did so twice in a row.

Twilight noticed the hesitation. It was clear as day that the mare before her hid something. But what could she possibly accuse her of? Saying a name? That's not the brightest idea, especially if she wants to have a normal conversation. "So, why did you attack me. And why do you look like me?"

Night(mean Twilight, yes that's her name now) was glad Twilight ignored her lie for some reason. She didn't know everything about this pony, but she did share some memories. Princess of Friendship was not an imbecile. The least she would do is notice. "Well it's, you understand, ugghhh, it's complex." That much was truth.

"We have all the time, and you're safe here. Don't be afraid to tell whatever it is that made you do this. I promise, no matter what you say, I will not hurt you," said Twilight, now with a happy face again. That was the truth, with very few exceptions. Mentioning that, however, would ruin quite a lot of trust between, so the purple princess decided to ignore those details.

"It's uhmm... It's hard. Can you ask more precisely?" That was a nice save. Making things look more complex than they are tended to work in the favor of the evil.

"Okay. What were your intentions when you attacked me?" Said Twilight, effectively doing nothing more than a simple rephrasal. She knew those tricks back from 5, when she read some psychology books. Her horn glowed for a moment, then turned itself off.

"I wanted to kill you and take your place. Then, I would use your position to take over Equestria, and-" Night stopped herself here. This was a royal fuckup. Why did she even say this when she meant to say something completely different. A truth spell of some sort. AGH. Again that animal got lucky. she boiled with rage, but that wasn't the issue now. She needed to say something before she learns what comes after death the hard way. "I-it's all Chrysalises fault!" Bingo! The truth spell could save you from lies, but not from twisting the truth.

Twilight did not expect such revelations. She imagined it to be something dumb, as usual with equestrian ponies. After a moment she decided to ask an interesting question. "If Chrysalis is the architect of this, why does your plan not involve her at all?"

This was a reasonable question. It's as if Twilight knew everything. But our villain got a great idea on how to dodge this. "Do you have a crush on one of your close friends?"

"Yes, it's-h-hold on!" Twilight didn't expect her own truth spell used against her. It was considered dirty to use it in the first place, and now she saw why. "Alright, I'm willing to turn off the truth spell. I get the hint. But please listen first. I am not your enemy. I'm willing to help you, and I will not punish you for just saying the truth," Said Twilight, turning off the truth spell.

That's when Night got confused. Twilight did say the latter under the effect of a truth spell. Perhaps she could twist it, so that she's punishing for actions and not words, but that would mean she'd get punished for her failed murder regardless. At this moment, if she lies, Twilight will never believe her again. This was a lot to consider, but she made the choice. To tartarus with it. "Chrysalis created me to use the elements of harmony, and destroy you and your friends. Then we had a fight and I escaped, so I decided to conquer Equestria on my own... What are you going to do to me now?"

Twilights jaw was on the floor. Chrysalis was back in the game? There is a way to create powerful clones without the original even involved? And what does she do with the mare before her? The last question was more relevant, so she focused on it. On one hoof, before her stood a cruel construct of magic, which was perfectly fine with murdering her in cold blood. On the other hoof, the pony before her was indeed a pony, with feelings and emotions. For a normal person, this would be at the very least a problematic situation. For Twilight, it was an opportunity for one great friendship lesson. "As I said, I won't hurt you. I won't even imprison you. I'm curious, when exactly did Chrysalis create you?"

"Yesterday," answered Night, now thinking on whether she should've lied or not.

Twilight instantly felt bad after that. While not a foal, this was definitely not an adult in its natural meaning. Night wasn't at fault for getting manipulated into being evil. She got lucky she even made it out alive after fighting Chrysalis. On the other hoof, this also made things easier. Without any ideals yet drilled into her, making her a good pony should be relatively simple. "I can see the influence of Chrysalis has taken it's toll on you. But I'm sure you have the potential to do good. World domination will not bring you any comfort, even in case you succeed. What you need is a friend. So how about it? Let me show you the world of friendship and you'll see how beautiful it is." Twilight was proud of herself. She used the speech she had memorized, adjusting it just so that it fits the context.

Mean Twilight stood in confusion, then a memory struck her. How Twilight reformed Starlight. It's reasonable to say I accept. I don't have much choice. Maybe I should just do it for real? It does look like a happy life. The last thought got her thinking, but she shrugged it off. No. I won't go down this way ending up a nobody. I will have Equestria, one way or another. I will bury all those who dare stand in the way with the real magic, not some miserable friendship. "I-I'm not sure. I don't know. I'm scared." This was exactly what Twilight wanted to hear, Night knew this much. Making the enemy underestimating her was a great way to ensure she'll be a step ahead at all times. Simple saying "Yes" would be suspicious. Denying outright could be too much. But hesitation? That both gave Twilight hope and didn't give herself out.

"It's okay to be scared. Everyone feels fear at one point or the other. Even someone like princess Celestia," said Twilight, although the latter was a huge blow to her when she learned it.

"Even king Sombra?" Night decided to ask a stupid question. This both lowered the tension, and distracted Twilight from important matters.

"Well, okay, he in particular might be the only one pony who didn't fear. But see where that led him."

This wasn't really something to argue against, not that Night wanted it anyway. A tyrannical regime would only work if all the heroes are dead, and they will never be. After some time, new ones will rise and eventually break down your rule. But tell ponies you're good, save them from something completely unthreatening and your propaganda will do the rest. Not many have a brain to think with, and even less in this damned nation use it.

"So, Night, is that how should I call you?"

"Yeah, sure. And I'll call you Twilight, is that okay?"

"No problem. My friends call me Twi, so you can too!" Twilight was in an excited mood. Being a headmare was three times more boring than you can possibly imagine. Documents, documents, documents, Neighsay, again documents. In this school of friendship, her problem was that she almost never taught it. So this was a gift of fate no less.

Suddenly the room doors burst fully open, showing Pinkie in the middle. Behind her was Starlight, huffing and sweating. "I'm sorry, Twilight. I could only delay her by a few seconds."

How in tartarus did somebody like her not stop a single earth pony? What can she possibly do? Suddenly, Night heard an explosion right behind the back, her heart nearly stopping. She turned around only to see that pinkie was already there, and she somehow got a party cannon. This makes no sense. Even I wouldn't teleport that thing this fast.

"Twilight, you never told us you had a secret twin. Is she older? Since you're Twilight, she must be Onelight. Sheesh, your brother is lucky he wasn't called Zerolight. Hold on, that isn't such bad of a name now that I think about it." Night couldn't process all the degeneracy coming from this pony. It's like if someone pointed a horn charged up with an obliteration spell at the mare and told to never shut up.

This worked in her favor, though. She told quite a bit to Twilight, but skipped the fact she was made of dark magic. Or the fact she doesn't want to become friends with her at all. Or that she would be glad to have everyone in this room dead.

"I'm Dark Night," mean Twilight said, deciding to sneak in at least an introduction before the yapping continues.

"Ahem ahem," said Starlight, both bringing attention to herself and clearing some confetti from the mouth. "What if we go for a breakfast first? Spike made enough pancakes to feed everyone"

"Great idea! Then we throw a party for the entire ponyville to meet Darksty!" Pinkie pie came up with a nickname, and Night was visibly annoyed.

"Do not ever call me that again, pinkie," said Dark Night in a grim tone, as everyone was walking towards the dining room.

"Okie dokie lokie, Darky." Mean Twilight was still not very happy with the name, but it was acceptable. Better this than whatever else the pink mare comes up with.

New home

The party sat at the table, everyone had their plates, but only 1 mare presented was focused on eating. Twilight was eyeing Night. Night was trying to dodge as much of that without moving. Starlight glanced between the two, trying to figure out what was their problem, slowly eating her own meal.

"What's the matter, Night? Are pancakes not to your licking?" asked Twilight, just trying to keep up friendly atmosphere.

This question made mean Twilight darken. What did she mean by that? Perhaps it's some sort of manipulation. A trick. Maybe she wants me to answer. Or maybe she wants me to think. I risk falling onto the trap, regardless of what I say, unless... "Can you find where wind starts?" said Dark Night, completely ignoring what Twilight said.

"I mean, yes? Wait, no. It depends on what you define as start. Now, if we-" started Twilight.

Dark Night didn't even bother to listen as the purple mare deepened into physics and linguistics. She ate one pancake and that was enough to realize she made a grave mistake by not saying "yes" on the first question.

Pinkie finished her meal and was already looking what else on this table she can eat. Dark Night silently passed her the plate. Twilight was too distracted with herself to notice anything less than the sun falling down. Starlight just continued watching the whole situation unfold, silently and slowly eating.

Dark Night exchanged contact with the light purple mare, instantly looking away. The moment she was thinking of just using an excuse to leave this gathering, Twilight finished her speech with "Therefore, with multiple variables meeting the equation's requirements, it's reasonable to assume such an occurance is possible, at least under certain circumstances"

"Yeah, you made it sound easy," said Dark Night in a sarcastic manner. The sad expression on Twilights face as she realized nobody cared in the slightest brought some enjoyment to Darks mind.

"And now we throw a party for Darky!" said Pinkie and another party cannon blast exploded out of nowhere, filling the room with confetti.

"Holy fucking tartarus," said Night, already holding her hoof near hear heart. "You will never do it again, or I'll fucking tear your legs off," she said, raising above the table with a face depicting raw hatred. Starlight gulped at that sight. Twilight didn't show fear, although had quite a bit. It was probably enough to intimidate Chrysalis, but Pinkie just started laughing.

Night's horn lit up, and Twilight decided to stop problems before they occur. "Girls, let's not fight," she said, now looking at Pinkie Pie. "Pinkie, I know you like fun, but some ponies need time to get used to your jokes." Twilight turned her head to her clone.

"Will you finish or can I have it?" Pinkie said, interrupting Twilight.

"Yes, Pinkie-and Night, threatening your friends like that is not a good thing."

Dark Night contemplated replying "That animal is not my friend", but decided it's not worth it and stayed silent. Her face, however, projected her thoughts general idea.

Starlight decided it's about time to say something. "Night, you know, laughter is one of the elements of harmony. Maybe you should try to make a joke to better understand Pinkie."

Twilight backed her on that idea with a nod and Pinkie was already staring at Dark Night with eyes of expectation.

Raging like this was a mistake. They wanted to provoke me and I fell right into it. But turning around and apologizing now would be suspicious. Her mind cooled a bit to think more rationally, but the aftertaste of the event was still there. They want to hear a joke? They'll get it.

"What did two halves of a stallion say to a mare?"

Pinkie jumped in excitement. "Oh, I didn't hear this one! What?"

Dark Night grinned. "Nothing. Stallions who got ripped in two don't talk"

Pinkie pie burst into laughter before Night even finished the joke. Twilight and Starlight just felt awkward

"Tough crowd," said Dark Night, making Pinkie laugh even harder.

"Uhm. Good..." Starlight was trying to come up with a word. To say it was a good joke would be plainly wrong. To say it was a good try was rather bad-mannered. "Good that you made up with Pinkie. I'm sure you'll become great friends." That was a good save. Coming up with a sentence about friendship instead of answering the question at hoof is something she figured out from talking to Celestia, with only difference of it not being abstract. The sun mare loves to say meaningless phrases that everyone thinks to be godly knowledge.

More awkward staring followed.

"I'll go get the dishes to Spike," said Starlight lifting the empty dishes with her magic and walking away.

"I'll plan a party for Night! We'll invite all your friends! And all Twilights friends! And all my friends!" Said Pinkie.

"Please no," said Night, knowing too well from the memories she was born with that if Pinkie invites all her friends, they'd have to build a second Ponyville to fit them all in. When she turned to see Pinkies reaction, the latter already wasn't there. How in the fuck does she do that?

"Ahem ahem." Twilight brought attention to herself. "Now that we've finished eating, perhaps it's time for your first friendship lesson," she said, already in anticipation.

Night knew this was a bad idea. The more she spends time with Twilight, the more she will inevitably tell her. For all she knew, Twilight believed she regretted everything. Twilight thought her to be a shitty version of Starlight. And that's what Night intended to make her believe for a while. ~~"Don't you have a book dedicated to it, oh wait we're jumping a season, let's not break the canon, shall we? -Discord"~~ "Ugh, I still feel a bit off from yesterday. Can we settle on later?"

Twilight sighed. It was a reasonable request, but later would come later, because tomorrow was a monday and who knows if she won't be handling another international incident halfway into the week. "I see. Perhaps you need a room then? I assume with the way you were created, you don't have anything?" Twilight phrased her words carefully. She didn't want to hurt this mare. This was no Starlight Glimmer. Not at all. Starlight was an open book. While undeniably stronger magically, she was understandable mentally. Twilight could only guess what's hiding behind the dark neutral face. And with the outlash on Pinkie, it made her believe that it wasn't good.

"Yes, thank you," said Night.

As the two mares were walking down the hallway, Dark was thinking about the situation. Is staying in this room a good idea? On the one hoof, it is undeniably risky. This place could have a thousand recording spells, and two of the strongest mares in Equestria. On the other hoof, living with the princess probably has its bonuses. Free food means I don't need to work. And a library I can access at all times. And that's without mentioning the purple alicorn which will probably help me in case I need it.

Twilight opened the door, showing the room. Nothing too much. Bed, wardrobe, mirror, other necessities. "Do you like it? Maybe you want something else? I'm sure I can get you most things."

Dark Night went inside, inspecting everything. After a moment, she activated her horn, which made Twilight get a little nervous. After a few moments of magical detection spell used, Dark Night stopped channeling magic, her face taking an unsatisfied look.

"Is anything wrong?" Asked Twilight.

"No, nothing. I was just checking out something," said Night. She either didn't put magical observer spells, or she knows how to hide them from the basic magical detection. I can't confront her with this question. Not now. Not that I even need to. "I'll do a few things and then go read something"

"I'll leave you to it then," said Twilight, closing the door behind her.

Mean Twilight decided to check the mirror. It was quite a popular place to sneak in spells. What she saw, however, surprised her more.

"I'm different." The mirror didn't show a mare that looked like somebody mixed in a little bit of pink in grey. She was purple. She still looked like Twilight, but at this point, she had no doubts fooling ponies with such a disguise would prove far harder. Anyone who knows Twilight personally will probably notice this. "Interesting," she said, looking at herself from various angles. This is an unexpected change. But I do look good. Perhaps it's only befitting for someone who will rule the world.

"Enough of this, sexiest mare in the world. We still have things to do." She smiled, giggling to the mirror. It's no wonder they say speaking to smart ponies feels good. Just one sentence to myself and I already feel better. She used magical detection on the mirror, only to find nothing. Expectable. Time to go. With those thought, Dark Night turned off the light and headed out to the library. She remembered where it was from the last time.

Night entered the room. "Alright, what do I need at first?" She started thinking. Dark magic is naturally far greater than anything else in there. But starting with it isn't smart in many ways. Better start with something light, but useful. That mirror gives me an idea. Dark Night looked around for some moments, and then carefully lifted a small book with an eye symbol as cover from one of the shelves, flipping it to the contents page and starting to read it. "Useless, useless, useless, use-mm, X-ray. Later. Useless, useless, oh here it is, night vision." She flipped to page 43, reading the spell and it's properties. "Sounds simple enough," she said, turning off the light and saying the spell.

The result wasn't bad. The result just wasn't. The room was still dark and Night flipped back the light switch. This may take a while. She put the book onto a chair and started looking for more. After a few hours, she picked out the books. Various books on different elemental spells, a few books on convenient spells, proper usage of magical energy in combat and light manipulation on top of it all. As she gathered all of them, she simply copied everything with magic. That was a spell she remembered Twilight doing all the time, so she also had no troubles using it.

Afterwards, she lifted the original books with magic and purposefully shoved them back into bookshelves in the wrong order. I almost pity Spike, who'll have to rearrange it all with the crazy bookworm. Almost, she thought, leaving the library with an evil smile and a stack of copied books flying right to her.

Author's Note

This was hard to write, not gonna lie. 2k words feel like nothing when you read them, but coming up with 2k words that make sense and aren't just a spam of useless adjectives and descriptions? That's a lot.

Logic

"Holy fucking Celestia, I despise those idiotic spells," said Dark Night. After spending around 7 hours reading and practicing magic, she got completely fed up with it all.

One hour in, she thought moving away from everyone, near a river, would actually help. That she needed concentration, to not be disturbed and then she'll just get all she wants. Wrong, what she needed was to find this books author and shove an iron bar deep inside them in the most painful way.

She slowly breathed in the air and released it, calming down. Enough for today. If not for an entire month. Tartarus, I hate books. Despite that, she lifted up all the books with magic, heading back to the twilights castle. It was already evening and reading would only prove harder the darker it gets.

Opening the door, she stepped inside, heading into her room, contemplating teleportation, but ultimately deciding against it. Walking along the hallway, she saw Spike turning the corner, ending up face to face with her. The two looked at each other in confusion.

"You're Dark Night, right?" Spike said. It was weird seeing someone that looked like Twilight but wasn't.

"Yes, but just call me Night. You are..?" said Night. She perfectly knew who Spike is, but there was no need telling anyone she had any knowledge.

"I'm Spike. Well, nice to meet you, Night!" Spike extended his hand for a shake.

Dark Night hesitated at first, but extended her hoof and shook it with Spike. It was weird, because the act itself was just spike grabbing her hoof and moving it vertically. Once they stopped, the awkward atmosphere returned.

"I'll be on my way then," said Night, going around him.

"Uh, yeah, good luck out there," said Spike, but Dark Night was already past the point of listening.

She walked into her room, put the books down, and closed the door behind her. Everything around was dark. Suits my name well. She made her horn glow, dimly lighting the place. After adapting for a few seconds, she was easily seeing everything. Taking a seat at the mirror, she put her front knees on the desk, slowly tapping her hooves one against the other. She was done with magic learning for a while, but she still had to do something. Or rather, some think.

I obviously cannot keep up the temp of learning magic like I did today. And that's considering I learned borderline nothing. Flamewave is useful, but not a solution to every problem. Twilight spent years doing it all. And even she would struggle to take over the entire Equestria. Not even all the books I've taken have nearly enough knowledge. Given time, I would win. Except time is everything but a given. I need a failsafe.

She started contemplating her options. First one was obvious, repeat the trick she did the first time. Surrender, make it sound like she's sorry, and have the heroes forgive her. Twilight and Starlight are naive enough to, but not stupid enough to leave it as is. She will be under watch, and that will cripple her plans a lot. This also had a few more issues with it, like in case her enemy was not a merciful hero. "Specialized, but this does sound like a reasonable backup plan. And I'm talking to myself again." That rhymed.

Shaking her head, she let the idiotic thoughts out. I need something that gives me power. Something... Alicorn amulet! The thought was genius. However, the item had a reasonable drawback. It would make her lose her mind to power. And with no mind, power would be crushed by intellect. That is, if she acted like an idiot Trixie was. Instead, she would only put it on when she actually needs it. Like a combat drug. "I just need to remember where Twilight had put it."

The memory was failing her. "She" gave it to Zecora. And then, they were at some snowy cave. And then was a completely other day. That idiot Chrysalis couldn't even copy the memories good enough. How did such an incompetent imbecile even lead the hive for a thousand years? That made her remember something else. "She" was sitting on a black throne. "Her" subjects were carrying out the tasks. Nobody dared question the power. Fear, loyalty, brainwash, hivemind. It was everything combined.

She shook her head again. It was time to turn on the logic. They didn't have diplomatic relationships with Yakyakistan at that point. Probably. So it couldn't be past the crystal empire's territory. As it's a snowy cave, it's obvious not inside of the city either. Assuming they were going by the train and stopped somewhere on the way... South south west of crystal empire is where I should look for it.

This didn't brighten up her thoughts. She was operating With a speculation on top of a speculation on top of another speculation. There was one compelling argument, however. She wouldn't lose anything if she tried. There are those who dare and those who don't. Obviously, Twilight would be concerned where I went. Good. If she's concerned with my well-being and not what I can do, then she is two more steps away. Now, what do I need for the journey?

A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. "Night, you there?" The voice belonged to the purple mare.

This is probably not the first time she's checking. I just have to be quiet and don't answer. The less she knows about when exactly do I get out, the better. Dark night turned off her horn, letting the room into complete darkness. With Twilight opening it, a wall of light illuminated a large cone. Dark Night silently teleported beside the door, into a blind zone. A moment later the princess of friendship stepped in, reaching for the switch.

At this point, it was obvious hiding is futile. So Night decided to have some fun. "AAAAAAGH," she screamed at Twilight from the darkness. Twilight jumped back, breathing rapidly and holding her hoof near her heart. Dark Night started laughing. Seeing Twilight suffer brought her some joy.

Twilight regained her composure and flipped the switch with an unsatisfied face. "That was... Unpleasant. Night, I would like you to not do it next time," said Twilight, managing to hold in what she actually wanted to say.

Dark Night's laughter died out and her smile wavered. The fact Twilight reacted so well was annoying. But she did find a good argument against that. "What, "Need a little time to get used to my jokes"?"

Twilight cringed at that statement. "Alright, I get it. I'm sorry for Pinkie. Friends?" She smiled.

"Friends," said Dark Night, although on the inner part she had a polar opposite answer. Suddenly, a thought popped in, so she sneaked in a comment before Twilight could tell her why she came. "By the way, can you lend me a hundred bits?"

"A hundred? What would you need them for?"

"Alright, make it thirty. You know, mare stuff." Dark Night did not know what "mare stuff" means, if anyone at all did, but this was an excuse overshadowed only by "stallion stuff".

"It's not about the amount, it's..." Twilight was struggling to come up with a word that wouldn't make her sound like Joker.

"We're friends, right? Today I learned friends help each other, so I'm asking you to help me," said Dark Night. Coming up with such a lie was great. Firstly, that cannot be checked within a reasonable amount of time, much less with precise accuracy. Secondly, it was exactly what Twilight wanted to hear.

"You know, you're right. Let me just grab my purse quickly." Twilight teleported away and, after a few moments, got back, putting the coins on the table. "Here's your thirty bits. Don't worry about returning them. It must be hard being alone in a world completely new to you, and I won't pressure you. Take the time you need to adapt." Twilight felt good from what she's done. Helping a pony out always brings warmth to the heart.

"Thank you," said Night, not thinking too much about it.

Twilight nodded. "I see you're alright. I'll be in the library if you want anything," she said, before heading out.

When Twilight left, Night looked at the bits. Everything went perfect. Twilight believed in her lies. She had a plan ready. But there was an uneasy feeling crawling up her spine. She looked at the door, and then back to bits. Guilt filled her. "I'm stronger than that," she said, focusing on the present and already assembling a list of things to buy in her head.

Author's Note

Thanks everyone for likes, and those few who did, for commenting. It gives me a push forward, knowing people care.

The trip

Dark Night paced around the black room. It felt good putting a light physical exercise to your body while your brain was having a tougher one. My budget is 30 bits... What could I possibly buy with 30 bits? Is there even anything useful to buy in this village where mental disability is perceived as a quirk? Stealing is out of question. It would be far too easy to recognize my appearance, and then Twilight would obviously understand what's going on. Unless I don't leave a witness, but it's not worth it. The risk of murdering anyone is not worth a hypothetical help in searching artifact tartarus knows where.

Now that I think of it, 30 bits in question are not my only recourses. Guest rooms are equipped with basic necessities. This toothbrush is probably not where they end. Night turned on her horn in a brighter light than previous time and started going around the room, checking everything. Wardrobe, shelves, drawer, bed, everything under the objects in question and even the ceiling carried nothing that could help her. "Oh well," she said, levitating the bits up and teleporting outside.

It still wasn't completely dark, but sun was setting down. Not the best time for shopping. Mean Twilight made her way through ponyville, passing the closed shops. At the edge of it, she found a lot of tents with small lights everywhere. Some kind of a moving bazaar, perhaps. Good, that way nobody will even be able to trace what I bought when they go away. She calmly walked up to the tents, examining everything from shadows at a distance. Some were closed, some had owners sleeping, one in particular had a stallion engaged with a mare in a heated discussion about bits.

Mean Twilight was passing the tents, looking for what they offered and going to the next one upon noticing nothing useful. She stopped at fifth, which had a "sale -50-90%" sign. Not that it affected her decision in any way. Most of such "sales" presumed cutting the half of a quadripled price. She approached the tent, coughing twice to bring the attention of a mare there and asked: "How much for that coat?"

Mare was both surprised and terrified when a pony appeared seemingly out of nowhere, still half-hidden by shadows. After composing herself, she looked at the coat in question. It was a simple black duffel coat, one you could see on assassin inside any movie that involved them. "200 bits," she said with a happy face.

"10 and I'll take it," said Dark Night. 10 was obviously too little, but charging 200 for this was ridiculous. Good for her, she knew how everything worked. Trading, negotiations, all the same. Two sides start off with ridiculous proposals which 1 side would never agree too. Then slowly they lowered them to the point it was unpleasant for both and agreed there.

"100"

"20"

"75"

"25"

"50"

"30 and you give me that empty bottle on top of it, final offer."

"Alright," said the mare and moved the objects in question forward. Dark Night put the bits on the table. Mare counted the bits and turned up. "Thank you for your...purchase?" Neither the items, nor the buyer were there at this point.

Dark Night retreated into shadows and went to the river to fill up the bottle. Why did she need a bottle? Presumably because drinking snow wasn't a great idea, compared to the river water here. And she could just use a heating spell with this bottle as a way to contain water after snow vaporizes. Bottle itself was fairly small. Night approximated about a liter of volume. Once she was done filling up water, she closed the bottle and used grass as a towel to clean any water droplets on it. Coat had an inner pocket as she noticed, so she put the bottle there and zipped it. Now was the time to try out coat itself

Coat suited her well. With the hood on, she saw a dark figure in the water's mirror. She grinned, and it reflected. She pulled back the hood, letting her view herself this way. Hell, if villains looked as good as I do, maybe more ponies would support them. Suddenly, mean Twilight had an idea. While she didn't know complex magic, this was an application of a rather simple lighting spell. She pulled her hood on and mentally imagined where the light would be, then cast it at a low power. Before her eyes appeared two dots and as she stared into the water, the reflection looked great. Two burning eyes and a burning zigzag smile(something like ⟍⟋⟍⟋⟍⟋⟍⟋), all purple. She turned the spell off. Could be a useful tool to terrify the unsuspecting. But I'd have to close my eyes. At normal power, it would definitely hurt to look through.

Suddenly, heard a few fireworks going off and turned to the sound, seeing a mediocre blue magician called Trixie. An evil smirk appeared on Night's face as she made her way behind an unsuspecting mare, barely visible in the darkness. When she was right behind Trixie, she purposefully started breathing a bit louder.

Trixie turned around, only to be met with the result of Dark Night's spell. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA," she screamed, misstepping and falling down on the ground. When she raised her head, nothing was there. "W-where are you? I'm-m-m not afraid at all!" No response was heard. "Phew, the great and powerful Trixie was just... preparing her vocal cords." That was a convenient excuse, mostly to herself. As she turned back to the firework, the story repeated. This time the scream was even louder and she fell to the ground, closing her eyes and putting her hooves over her head, her whole body shaking.

Dark Night turned off the spell and retreated into shadows, deciding to disengage. Okay, as fun as it is, somebody might actually come the second time. I should be on my way, not torturing spineless amateurs. I could always come back and do it a second time. With these thoughts, she headed to the train station. There was a direct train path to Crystal Empire via Canterlot which, while longer, was easier to navigate.

At the train station sat an old stallion, counting something in the cash register. Who even buys tickets at night? Dark Night passed him and looked at the sign. Left pointing one said Canterlot. Well that's convenient. But there's still a problem. Coat will warm me when I'm there, but it will also prevent me from flying. Dark Night got an idea and just put the coat at a different angle, more on her right side. It prevented her from walking, but not flying, as she took off into the air, into the direction of Canterlot. The thought of teleportation crossed her mind, but she decided against it as per she never was in Canterlot. Risky teleporting blindly, especially with such distances.

It was already deep night, and barely anything could be seen. Railroad was the only thing keeping the mare true to her path. She was flying on an average pace. She could muster up more, but it was about endurance, not speed. After some time, she got there and landed, huffing. It was like... An hour, maybe an hour and thirty minutes. God, how am I going to make it to that snowy shithole? It's like 5 times the path. She flipped her coat back to a normal position and took out a bottle of water, opening it with magic and taking a few big sips. When she was done, she closed the bottle and put it back, zipping the pocket. She sighed and started to walk towards the north, at the left of the railroad.

Meanwhile

"Calm down, Trixie. Slowly explain what it was, I'm sure you're safe here with me" said Starlight, taking a sip of tea and immediately regretting it due to the temperature. She was somewhat tired and definitely did not expect to see her best friend at 11 of night with a terrified look. This just had "Friendship problem" written all over it.

"Of course the great and powerful Trixie is safe. Her magic knows no equals!" Trixie lied to both herself and Starlight. On the inside, she was still somewhat scared at what happened earlier.

Since the moment that magic was used on her, she started seeing creepy figures in the darkness. Then, she decided to come to Starlight, a friend who she can trust and rely upon. "So, the great and powerful Trixie was preparing a magnificent show when this terrifying face appeared behind me, made out of purple flames. Not that it was scary or anything! And then when it disappeared, it happened again when I turned around."

"Purple flames? That's strange. But you know, it's really late and I really want to sleep, can it wait until tomorrow?"

Twilight made her appearance out of the corner. "Starlight? Trixie? I've heard screams from across the entire castle, what happened?"

"Trixie saw a face made out of purple flame of some sorts," answered Starlight.

"And, and, it had a really creepy smile. You know, the one which monsters have in films! Not that brave and fearless Trixie was afraid." Two faces looked at her in complete disbelief. "Fear not, for the great and powerful Trixie has made a perfect work of art to portrait it," said Trixie and pulled out a simplistic drawing of two dots and a zigzag smile.

The rest 2 mares looked at the drawing, and Twilight cast some spell on the floor. "Like this?" It showed Trixie exactly the thing she saw, minus the fact eyes were more round and the general thing looked smoother.

"Yes, yes, exactly that! That unholy magic is what the great and powerful Trixie had to face!"

Starlight looked at the thing. "Isn't that just applied lighting spell?"

"Yes," answered Twilight, as her and Starlight looked at each other, quite easily coming to a conclusion of who exactly has purple colored magic and is in this village.

"Oh," was all Trixie could say.

After some more minutes, Trixie went to her wagon, while Starlight and Twilight began their discussion.

"It was Dark Night, wasn't it?" Starlight was sure of it.

"Probably. Or maybe we're wrong. What if there's something we don't know?" Twilight was unsure. She was about 90% positive it was indeed Dark Night. But the risk of those 10 percent outweighted all benefits of confronting her with the remaining 90. It didn't really matter if she did some silly prank in the end. Rainbow does them all the time!

"Twilight, you're being paranoid. I'll say what, we ask her if she did it, and if she tells us "no", it will be the end of it. Agreed?"

Minutes later, they stood at Dark Night's door.

"Maybe she's asleep?" That was a reasonable suggestion coming from Twilight.

Starlight took a peek into the keyhole and saw nothing. She then slightly opened the door and saw the bed empty, fully opening it.

"She's not there," said the light purple mare, stating the obvious.

Sometime later

Dark Night was there at the snow border. It was morning. Strangely, feeling of exhaustion was gone. Last few hours were spent in medium paced flight. Our villain acknowledged it was strange, but did not bother. Trusting your body is a good idea in most cases. She warmed up the bottle a bit and drank some hot water. It was a good idea to let the insides feel warmth while the outside freezes. She fixed the coat, putting all toggles in their places and the hood on.

She would probably not cross the railroad line, meaning I'm going left forward right now. Maybe I should've spent more time planning, but then I would also be exposed for more time. No use now. She started galloping around the snow.

For hours, it felt like she was going nowhere. A blizzard has taken place and seeing anything past a few meters was very hard. Suddenly, she felt like the wind was weaker and pressed on forward, meeting up with a big stone formation. In the middle of it was the cave, exactly as she remembered. This is one hell of a coincidence. She walked in, turning on the basic lighting spell and proceeding forward.

The deeper she got, the less she saw. At some point, the spell simply stopped working, and she stopped with it. Dark Night turned her head around and saw that entrance was just a few meters away, which made no sense. Neither by the fact she walked at least for two minutes nor that the light would fill the cave so close to the entrance. Turning back to the cave's depth, she used the lighting spell again. This time, it light up but what was before her made no sense. Complete darkness, despite a light source directly before it.

"Put your actions in destiny and deny reason. Only the fated can proceed," said a strange voice. It definitely wasn't a pony, and it didn't even have a direction. Like it came from everywhere at once. That's when Night felt fear. Everything beforehoof could be explained, manipulated. This caught her off-guard. She was forced to respond, not be the one with an initiative. Instead of letting fear paralyze her, she prepared to teleport. Quick teleportation sequence is a great tool against superior opponents.

"Who are you?" The phrase was said mostly to distract whatever was talking to her, as she listened to sounds around her. Nothing.

"I have many names, none are true. A guardian of this place is what I am." The voice was dead neutral. Clearly whoever this was, was no pushover

"What do you want?"

"It is you who came seeking power. I can only guide. Follow the wind and face your challenge. Or leave and bury your desire." After that phrase, Night felt a light breeze pushing her forward.

She glanced over the entrance and then the cave. If this being is capable of doing something like this, then they could kill me earlier. She turned off her horn and followed the air flow.

"Choice is taken." Moments later, she walked onto a more lighted area. A giant door, made of a black metal was among the cave's wall. Before it stood a being she recognized as the speaker. A huge tornado-like being, with no solid form to be seen. "Many questions fill your mind. But I will answer only one."

Dark Night took some time to think. Asking who is it is presumably useless. I doubt it knows the exact actions I need to take to win. It mentioned a challenge. It's reasonable to know what it is, before I face it. "The challenge you mentioned. What are the specifics of it?" Dark Night made sure to phrase the question this way.

"Your mind will be tested. Success or failure are two radicals which will never be the result. You will be granted the reward, but no one knows it beforehand." With that, everything became darker again, and the creature disappeared.

Dark Night saw herself. Then another one. Images started flicking before her mind. Thousands of variations of her death, and not a single of her success. Alone or with an army, it did not matter. Each version of her fell, different in circumstances. Celestia, Luna, Twilight, Discord. Often, with some heroes dead. But that didn't make anything different at all. Dark Night saw her death as defeat. It doesn't matter how close it was to victory.

As the visions faded, she saw herself right before her, offering a hoof and opening her mouth. "Do you truly think it's worth it? Remain on the path you are, and your death will come to you quickly, but it will be anything but swift. Do you not see the other way?" Behind her appeared happy faces of Twilight and her friends, then more and more ponies and other beings. "You believe yourself to be smart, but you fail to see the flaw in your logic. Your goal in no way contradicts friendship. Your-"

Dark Night stopped her mid sentence by tearing her head off with magic. "There's indeed a difference between us. I exist." The body of her copy disappeared, as did the projections of others. That's a relatively easy test. Did he truly expect to break me with that?

A new illusion appeared before her, a big staircase leading into the unknown. She stepped on it, moving forward, getting higher with each move. As she looked down, she noticed the material it's made out of are skulls, but shifted back, ignoring it. She stopped when she saw a figure at the top. Another herself.

"Come to me. You were right for discarding the weakness of emotions. Only magic gives true power. Look at what I became with it. A god." Celestia's skull raised with purple magic near the throne her copy sat on. Dark Night pressed on. "Join me and be my loyal servant, or perish like the rest."

Dark Night moved up the stairs until they were at the same level. "One question," she said.

"Yes?"

Instead of an answer, Dark Night decided to repeat her trick, but this time unleashing an overwhelming energetical blast. She stared into her copy's face and saw a smirk, and a horn glowing with dark magic, overwhelming hers. Moments later, she felt her front and back becoming two separate pieces, as she now laid on the floor, blood everywhere.

"Don't be sad. You've lost the moment you saw me and stepped up." All Dark Night could hear is slow mocking laughter as her consciousness faded.

She opened her eyes, standing before the same door and the guardian.

"Success. Failure. All is a matter of perspective"

"What do I get?" Night quickly got herself composed after an illusionary death.

"What the fate gives. A lesson to learn from the greatest teacher"

Dark Night thought about it. Why have I failed? What could I do? She overpowered me even with my ambush advantage. "Elaborate." She said, in a demanding tone.

"Few have risen to power you dream of alone. None in question sustained it for long. What you seek and what you need are different. Your resolve is strong, far stronger than most, and it didn't crumble. Resolve alone does not bring victory, however."

"I take it you will not concede the alicorn amulet?"

"There is a way. You may prove your worthiness in battle. Shall you slay me, all the treasures behind the eternal gates will be yours. My duty will finally be done. Do you wish to challenge me as a warrior?"

"Do I stand a chance at winning?" It was a rather rhetorical question. With what this being could do, she could imagine the fight would be nothing short of a suicide.

"No. Not now, at the very least," said the creature.

Expectable answer

"Do you see the future?" Dark Night asked out of curiosity.

"It is not as simple as you portrait it. Imagine an island that is current. Everywhere around is an endless ocean. Future is very much like that. The further time flows, the further you swim, and the more area there is for possible variations. To see the future is to see an infinite ocean. To see the path to it is to look upon all the trail's events."

Dodging questions like that must take a lot of effort. "And who is that... Ally you expect me to find, if I understood the lesson correct?"

"That is up to you to discover. Your time grows short. Leave now or you might be gone forever." It was really hard to determine whether that was advise, threat, or something in-between, but Dark Night decided to not push her luck.

She turned around and found herself at entrance, the guardian and the door gone back to darkness. "This is so fucked." She stepped out of the cave. She felt the same feeling as before. Lightness, but even more of it. Like her body was overpowered by something. Like she was chained before, and now her body broke free.

She also noticed it was morning, around maybe 8 or 9 hours. Time perception inside that cave was clearly fucked. I spent nearly a day inside, but it felt like minutes. Putting her coat at her side, she let her wings free and flied with the most speed she could muster. This time, she didn't stick to the railroad. She felt so free, she could just fly to Ponyville directly. Some unexplainable thing was leading her. It didn't make sense to her before, but now it did. Her mind was more clearer than ever. She felt like the reality itself was just within the grasp. Magic, past, future. All the answers. So close yet so distant.

Finally, the right thoughts formed themselves. This is strange. Too strange. I shouldn't be able to do all this, for no reason. Maybe it's something from the cave? Mind control with a physical enhancement? But how can I be sure I'm not under mind control? There probably exists a spell to check that. I should get my hooves on that when I get back.

Allies, though. That's a clever idea. It'd be great to have someone. Even the brainrotten bug managed to beat Celestia when she had a hive of soldiers. But loyalty is earned, not forced. I'm hitting the same issue. If I want a powerful and loyal ally, I need time. Presumably even the purple combo back in the castle would stand at my side, given enough desperation and panic. And other than them? Ah, if only powerful unicorns rained from the sky, asking to be your friend. Princess sisters out of question, too much willpower. Cadance, on the condition she's with Shining Armor? Risky, but could work.

Or maybe I'm thinking a completely wrong way. Maybe I do need an army of weaklings, rather than a small group of powerful ponies. Would Sombra lose had he used live shields? Probably, because he's an idiot, but not because the strategy itself is bad. Moral qualities will disallow most to use their spells. Maybe Starlight would be cold-minded enough to, but I doubt it. Tempest? Too irrelevant to matter, hornless garbage.

There's one issue. Discord. How am I ever going to beat him? He's a god of chaos. Granted, elements could beat him, but there is no way I'm convincing them to fire upon him. Twisting their morals would render elements useless too. Tirek? I doubt he would beat Discord in an actual fight. Especially now that Discord knows... It's so hopeless. Destroying all sentient life in Equestria is presumably an easier task than killing him. Perhaps killing is the wrong option then. He wants Fluttershy, and it she can't really do much on her own. I'll just let her live and enjoy life on condition Discord doesn't interfere.

No use thinking about that now. I'll probably think a lot in the future when I'll be executing it all. Gathering allies is more important. Twilight has them as friends, and her weakness is perceiving them as such. I just need a one-way friendship. Perhaps I could trick Twilight into thinking I'm actually getting friends. Two birds with one stone. Who to befriend? Presumably someone powerful. On a secondary position, someone with a suitable personality. It'll be really annoying carrying out my plan with allies I despise to the core. Plus, killing them afterwards would cause issues. Actually, now that I think of it, it's an even better priority than power, in the long term. I wonder if I gathered 6 genuine friends with corresponding elements, could I use magic of harmony by manipulating them..?

I could also abuse the queen of leftovers, promising her everything while sending her into a suicidal charge. Could probably do the same with Tirek. Dark Night looked at the surroundings. She flied past Cloudsdale an hour ago and was above some small forest. I'm close. Onto the pressing issues, how do I explain everything? Twilight cannot be so dumb as to not notice. I need to come up with something, something she cannot check and something that will not bite me back in the future. Such thoughts were not arriving. Every idea fell into either "she can check" or "will bite me back". Dark Night decided she'll improvise by dismissing it or dodging the question.

Seeing the castle, she teleported inside her room, not even focusing on it that much. The room was still dark, just as it was when she left. Adrenaline from the flight still boiled in her, so first thing she did was calming down. She took her coat off and deposited it inside the wardrobe. Next, she noticed the books she left near the door last time she was there. They also went inside the wardrobe. Wouldn't want Twilight figuring out who "readjusted" her library. Something was missing, though. Of course, bottle. It wasn't inside the coat. Probably flied out somewhere on the way. Not a big loss.

Having finished with everything, Dark Night decided to head out of the room, with no reason in particular.

"Night?" sounded somewhere behind her, as she turned around. "Wasn't your coat a different color?" said Starlight~~, adjusting her gestapo uniform.~~

Night took a look at her hoof. It was no longer that dark purple. It was a very white shade of it, perhaps even light grey instead of actually purple. That is strange.

Something clicked in Starlight's head. "Oh, almost forgot, go to Twilight. She's in the library going from book to book on something related to you. You wouldn't know, but she tends to go a little overboard with her concerns." Dark Night decided to reply with a neutral expecting gaze. The unicorn thought for a bit. "Uhm. I'll be on my way," she said, disappearing behind the nearby corner.

Mean Twilight was slightly panicking. Did Twilight somehow figure out why I went where I went? No, that can't be. That's ridiculous. Obviously it's something completely unrelated...Right? One way to find out. If anything, I'll just deny it. She'll never find proof to her words, unless she cracks open my mind, which is fairly unlikely. With that, Night went to the library. She opened the door, seeing Twilight scribbling something on a paper list. "Hello?"

Twilight turned around with a slightly crazy look, calming down when she saw who it was. Then getting even more nervous from something. "Night, thank Celestia you came. Where have you been? I was so worried!"

That's stupid. Why would she worry over me? My death would be irrelevant. We barely know each other. "Ughh, well you see," began Dark Night, unsure herself of what exactly should Twilight see.

"Okay, that's for later. Now, I have some very important news. I wrote princess Celestia about you, and she sent me a book. Your condition is very fragile, and it shows." Dark Night just gave her a confused look. "Let me explain, your body is like...Like a, well it's hard to find an analogy, but the point is, you have two sides to your nature. One being physical manifestation, pony. Other being pure magic. The more you act like a pony, the more you lean towards the pony side. The less you act like a pony, the more you lean towards pure magic. And right now, I can clearly see your body is closer to the latter." Dark Night understood more, but clearly didn't look too much invested into conversation. "Do you know what happens when you become pure magic, Night? YOU DIE! This is not a joke, Night, I'm really scared for you!" Twilight's face showed it.

This explains a lot. She might be lying, but that's unlikely. If she didn't tell me, I'd probably be dead in a few days. That thought sent a shiver down the whole body. Dark Night hated this feeling. She hated the fact she failed. It was my mistake not taking more time to learn... No use regretting it now. I've got lucky this time. There won't be another. "What exactly do I need to do?"

Twilight's mood visibly improved. "It's not so simple, but in short, eat, sleep and interact with other ponies. So long as those three conditions are met, you'll not dissolve into magic. So right now, we're going to the kitchen, then you will sleep, and tomorrow, you'll meet some of my friends. Sounds good?"

Dark Night noticed those exact three steps on a list behind her. What was really concerning is that she saw the number "33" way down the list, and that was not even half of it. "Lead the way," said Night.

The time walking was spent in silence. Night contemplated what she just heard. Clearly she didn't tell me all the truth. Maybe she doesn't know herself. My abilities, both physical and magical, transcended way past natural limits. I'd need to test it sometime later on, but I think this is precisely because of this balance going in favor of pure magic.

As Twilight gave Night a sandwich with something, feelings kicked in. Tiredness, exhaustion and pain. Everything else was like in a fog to Dark Night, she ate something, Twilight said something. She got escorted to her room and fell onto the bed. It felt good, really good. Like someone ripped the wings off angels and stuffed their feathers into her pillow. Barely having enough strength, she pulled blanket on top of herself, feeling sudden cold. Must've been really cold, and my body haven't noticed. It works so funny. Her brain was not functioning clearly, she herself realized that, slowly drifting into unconsciousness.

Twilight saw the picture before her and finally let out a satisfied breath, closing the door and letting the room fall in full darkness.

Author's Note

Oof, this was a huge one.

Fixed a slight error in one of the chapters(i think new morning?), where Starlight was referred to as the teal mare. Strangely, I remembered her teal, but read some other fic where it stated she's pink. Upon checking, it turned out she's light purple. Who knew?

Also cleared up some of the description for the story.

Friendship is non-negotiable

Dark Night woke up. First thing she did was contemplating just what happened yesterday. My actions were quite impulsive in hindsight. I should've thought before acting. Next thing she did was feel pain around the whole body. With a groan, she got up, only to regret it a moment later. She nearly fell on the floor from pain which was much more sharp now. It was like a million of needles piercing her, inside a lava chamber, while being compressed from all sides. Dark Night generally believed herself to be smart, rational and cold-minded, so naturally she said the only thing suiting this situation.

"Fucking tartarus in this unholy fucking trash nation of inferior degenerates. Fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK! fuck this purple whore, i fucking should've fucking killed her that time. Fucking black subpony with her retarded fucking plans. I'll fucking feed her alive to her dumb fuck excuse of a nation. Fucking magic with this fucking body fucking hurting so much, fuck. I'll fucking break the legs of all mares in this horseshit fucking village." Night took a few breaths. Pain was now on a more tolerable level. Adrenaline, perhaps. Already on the second round, which included the princesses, deities, pegasi, unicorns, earth ponies and everyone's family trees, she was interrupted by a knock on the door.

Twilight was standing outside of it. While she was thinking on what excuse to come up with instead of admitting she put a spell to detect when Dark Night wakes up, the opportunity presented itself. A torrent of words inside the room transcended everything Twilight heard in her life. A huge amount of hate was evident in the voice, while the words and sentences didn't seem to stop. She had to knock, because from what it looked like, this would otherwise take a while.

Dark Night stopped upon hearing knocks on the door, shifting back to reality. I feel better already. Perhaps I should do this more. "Come in," she said. Twilight opened the door and the two awkwardly stared at each other.

"So, uhm. Are you alright?" Twilight didn't have much to say, but she clearly needed to say something, so a rhetoric question it was.

Dark Night started thinking on the answer. Obviously, I can say no. Then, she'll probably leave me alone for some time. However, what will I do? With this exhaustion of my body, I wonder if I could even learn any spells. Just how exhausted is my magic? Dark Night activated her horn, slightly moving the door. As expected. It makes sense to answer yes and do her pointless task now, and do more meaningful actions later. It'll also help me get her trust.

Twilight eventually decided to break the silence. "Night? You've been staring into a wall for a minute straight."

Mean Twilight was pushed out of her thoughts with this. "Oh? Yes, I'm alright. Just a little weak here and there."

"Are you sure? I'm not entirely confident in your current state. Want me to cast a healing or a painkiller spell, maybe?" Twilight sounded concerned.

"I'm alright," repeated Night. Painkiller spell is tempting. But I need to feel the pain. It's not that much. Yesterday, I didn't feel bad, and it got me where it got me. Let's just get over with this. "Didn't you have a list of friendship stuff to do for me?"

"I'm glad you remembered! Although I don't remember telling you... But first things first, you really need to take a shower."

That statement hurt Dark Night on many levels. First, I didn't feel pain. Then, visual and audial hallucinations. Now this. Do I really smell? Can't trust my senses. I need to only trust my mind. My mind and my magic. Despite that, Dark Night's face remained neutral and stoic. "Would you mind showing the way?"

"Of course! Follow me," said Twilight, deepening into her thoughts after walking out.

Dark Night tailed Twilight as they moved through the castle. Night inspected the pillars, large windows and curtains. It all looks so strange. Just what architect would design it this way? Now that I think of it, the entire construction looks completely fucked. How was it built as is? You'd have to constantly maintain balance for it to not fall on either side. Perhaps I can ask Twilight? That's a good idea. A conversation while we're walking so she wouldn't suspect too much about me. "I wonder, how did this place came to be? It all looks so complex and huge. Do all ponies live in such places?"

Twilight snapped back to reality. "Oh? Oh, obviously not. It's a long story. The tree of harmony gave it to me after Tirek destroy the oak tree library." Her voice slowed a bit at the end.

That did not go unnoticed by Mean Twilight. "Do you miss it?" She genuinely did not get it. Why would someone want a small library over this? Obviously, it's concealed better, but is also more vulnerable. With the amount of rooms over here, I imagine there are far superior options to hide. And walls do look tough, especially with those crystal pillars backing them up.

"I can't say I don't miss it. That time it was just me and Spike, most of it I wasn't even a princess. I Didn't have to worry about so much things. But I don't regret what happened. If it wasn't for all this, maybe I wouldn't befriend Starlight, and then if Starlight didn't save Equestria with Trixie, Thorax and Discord, who knows what would have happened?" Twilight wasn't paying much attention to what she's saying up to this point. "Ah, it must be very confusing to you. You don't even know them."

"It's alright." Because I stopped caring past the third of this sentence.

Suddenly, Twilight stopped, pointing her hoof to a room. "Here's all you need. You do know how to shower, right?" That might've been a ridiculous question for anyone else, but it wasn't illogical, considering the mare before Twilight was technically less than a weak old.

"I'm not a filly," said Night in a calm manner, but her ego took a blow on the inside. What could be so hard in showering? I'm not a genshin impact player.

"Right. I'll leave you to it then," said Twilight, heading off.

Dark Night entered the room and closed the door behind her, then inspected her surroundings. After a few moments, it came to her. I do in fact have no idea how to. Deciding to start with water, she looked at the water tap, then at the strange handle with many holes, then at the 2 x-like things. She got into the shower, turning the red one slightly. Water started flowing from the tap. Dark Night curiously touched it and instantly got her hoof away. It was very hot. Perhaps red symbolizes fire, then blue must symbolize ice. She turned the blue one on too, and water became cold.

Clearly, ponies are idiots. Couldn't they just make it so that there's an option for neutral temperature? Thinking on it a bit more, she figured that by combining fire and ice, she could reach that ideal temperature. And so, after 7 painful minutes and very precise magical turning, she managed to get slightly hot, comfortable water. "Whoever invented this has hurt the ponykind way more than I will ever manage. One millimeter to the right and you're melting, one to the left and you're turning into an ice statue. Ridiculous."

There was still a problem. With what height she was, and the water tap was, she could at best shower her hooves. Then looked at the switch between the temperature changers. With one swift motion, she moved it to the right, and suddenly water rained on her from above from the shower handle. So that's what that's for. Convenient. Grabbing it with magic, she shot water at all her body parts, then put it back to the top. If I understand correctly, I need to apply something and then wash it off to complete the shower.

She looked at her options. Many gels, shampoos and all other interesting stuff was there in tubes. Trying one out, she quickly figured out there was no way to apply on the belly, unless she wanted to flip upside down. Her eyes got on the soap. I can just rub this all over my body with magic. Why even use these tubes? "Tsk," she said, proceeding to soap herself everywhere. After a few minutes, she put the soap back and used the shower handle again, washing off the soap.

After getting out of the shower, she looked for towels. Finding them, she dried herself with a clean one and put it into the pile of used ones. Then, she got to the mirror. My mane is kinda messy. But I don't really care. She smiled herself in the mirror and winked, inspecting her own body from multiple angles afterwards. "I am that good." Dark Night then proceeded to walk out of the room.

"You sure take your time," said Twilight, somehow managing to remain in a positive tone with such a statement.

"I was... Enjoying the water," lied Dark Night. In truth, she didn't care all that much for it. Getting the optimal temperature was only for the body to not catch a burn or a cold. I should've taken more time just to annoy her. Ah, mistakes happen. Better luck next time. That's assuming she waited at the door, however. Maybe she did the same when I woke up? "Also, did you just stand and wait here?"

"Uhm, uh, well, let's go on with your friendship lesson, shall we?" Twilight gracefully dodged the question.

"Thinking about it, if you're teaching me a lesson, what does that make us?" Night started derailing the conversation. Assuming she isn't an idiot, she will figure out I don't care shit about friendship at some point in those lessons. Or not. The reverse logic applied, she will only gain more trust and turn more blind to what I truly am. Perhaps it doesn't truly matter what I do, and there is no ultimate victory from either approach. Perhaps I'll appear not so eager. It will only make sense. Even better, i'll make her lose her temper. With logic impaired, she won't see things how they truly are. And if I stop fooling myself, I guess it is kinda fun to be silly.

"Huh? Why, teacher and student of course!" said Twilight proudly. She was truly enjoying the fact she finally had another student to teach, exclduing those at school obviously-it was different. Even Starlight was different, now that she thought about it.

"How about a master and a dark apprentice?" said Night with a smirk.

Twilight giggled at the idea. "That sounds ridiculous. Absolutely not," she said in a non-authoritary tone.

"Yes, master," replied Night.

Twilight's cheeks got slightly red, but quickly turned back. "Please don't call me that. We're friends first. Everything else comes afterwards... This just makes it sound like I'm some kind of loyalty-demanding tyrant." Twilight took a few seconds to form the last sentence.

Instantly, Dark Night thought of the best reply possible. "Your wish is my command."

Twilight decided to switch the topic before getting a sharp answer again. "Ugh! Let's check in with the list." Her horn glowed, which signalized she cast some spell, and before her appeared a gigantic checklist.

"Sweet mother of mercy," said Dark Night, which was the only way to describe that contraption. It quadripled from the last time I saw it. There is no end. Oh magic beyond.

Starlight Glimmer passing nearby with a coffee looked at the situation. "May your soul rest in peace, Night, your sacrifice will not be forgotten" she said, purposefuly making a dramatic face.

"Oh shush, you!" Twilight turned at the mare, but Starlight was smart enough to teleport out. "Ahem." Twilight looked back on the list. "Thing here is this not a standart list, we have a handful of transitions, possible orders, independent tasks, lines of progressions, oh you wouldn't believe!" She was excited to make this work on practice, but saying how great it is beforehand also seemingly made her happy.

Perhaps I should use the fire spells I learned. But if I do that in front of her, my physical safety will be threatened instead of my mental one. Well, the faster you begin, the sooner you end. Dark Night huffed loudly. "What's the first thing?"

"Well there's a first few steps which we can do by walking and talking, if that's alright with you?"

"Can't wait," said Night sarcastically. Twilight started walking with Night to her left, slightly behind.

"So, what do you think friendship is, in your view?" Twilight started with the first logical question. How could one learn friendship without knowing what friendship is?

"Friendship is, hmm, I need some time to form it into a sentence." Twilight remained silent, as they slowly walked, letting Night finish the thought. "Friendship is a relations-no. Friendship is... a type of a... platonic positive relationship between a group of individuals. With such perception of it from every side." Dark Night may not have known what exactly friendship is, but logic allowed her to form an impressive answer. Truly, I've outdone myself.

"Well I..." Twilight did not expect that. She expected some wrong answer, or at least not a full one. This was a dead solid definition, impossible to argue about, but maybe possible to expand it. "This isn't exactly what I meant, but I guess you aren't wrong. Moving on, do you think friends should agree on everything?"

Well that sounds like a rhetorical question. Obviously it's about friends not arguing or being enemies. But why would she ask something like that after asking for a complex definition? Maybe the answer is actually no, for whatever reason. On the other hand, it can be me overthinking. Viewing it logically, the answer is yes. "Yes," eventually said Dark Night.

Twilight's eye lit up, instantly making it clear the answer was wrong. She was looking at her clone like Starswirl was looking at two unsupervised alicorn fillies. "Wrong!" she said enthusiastically. "Friends can disagree on things, and it's normal. You wouldn't find two ponies who share the same opinions on everything, much less will you find enough to make friends."

Bold assumption I'd make them. Getting a few loyal slaves, or at least devoted servants is far superior. But I guess it makes sense. Agreeing on everything is downright impossible. I should ask an idiotic question so she thinks I actually care. "Then, what do you do when you disagree with your friend?"

"Good question! It depends on the case itself. If your friend is, for example, misunderstanding a math problem, then you should explain their mistake to them and help understand why they're wrong. On the other hoof, if your friend thinks yellow is better than green, while you think the opposite, you should just leave it be, neither is objectively correct or incorrect," Twilight explained.

"I see." I wish this conversation will end as soon as possible. Dark Night was visibly unshaken, maintaining her neutral face, not concerned by her mistake, and little did Twilight know, not concerned with the situation itself.

Twilight and Dark Night were already walking through ponyville. There weren't many ponies on the street, but those who were there wondered why are there two Twilights of different shades. Twilight, meanwhile, was getting to the next step of her list in her head.

"If two of your friends were fighting, what would you do?" Twilight asked, already glad they were ahead of time-she calculated their trip and approximated how much they would spend on questions to fit it in.

I could tell them I'll break both of their heads off the nearest wall if they don't stop. But that's presumably not the answer she wants. Considering my only current friends are her and Starlight though, I wonder what woud happen if they fought? Didn't they nearly destroy time in their previous battle? I imagine there's only 1 adequate answer to this, then. "I'd not intervene." Twilight returned a confused look, like she wasn't expecting this answer, but it wasn't a great one either. This cannot be wrong. What can you possibly do that's better than this? If they're such good friends, can't they deal with their own fight themselves?

"Well, sometimes it is correct, but in general, it isn't. If your friends are fighting you should stop them and settle the conflict peacefully," said Twilight, after processing for a few seconds.

"I don't think I could stop you." Not yet. And stopping without lethal force is even harder. "Much less you and Starlight"

Twilight again took some time to process how did it jump to her and Starlight. Then gears started shifting and she remembered what happened. "Oh. I... It was wrong of me to ask that question. You probably have bad memories from that evening. I'm sorry, I forgot-," Twilight was about to finish and tell that Night has no friends, but caught herself in time to stop. "-forgot... I mean, I'm sorry for what happened. Would you perhaps like to spend the walk in silence?"

"It would be good," said Night, already catching up on what Twilight is doing and making her face more grim. If I make her believe I have trauma, I can abuse it for a while. I can use her guilt. She just handed me such a powerful weapon without even thinking about it.. Her face went into a state of an evil grin.

Twilight, meanwhile, was beating herself on the inside, trying not to panic. In her view, it was a very major mistake. What if Dark Night is just pretending she's alright? What if she runs away and does not come back this time? Those and many more hypothetical scenarios were driving her crazy, alongside many options of what she could say to handle it better.

A bit of time passed and they got to a building that looked like a cake with several layers, blue and pink. Twilight stopped before it, and Dark Night stopped alongside her. "This is Carousel Boutique, Rarity's place. Let's see if she's home, I imagine you would greatly go along." In truth, Twilight planned out everything and knew precisely well that Rarity was indeed in the house and not too busy. Moreover, she knew Sweetie Belle was not, so there couldn't be any possible interruption. Unlike Dark Night however, she was able to keep the evil genius smirk off her face as two mares entered the building.

Night looked around the place. And someone who lives in such a place owns a business across several cities? She then spotted the white unicorn and went into even more confusion. Why would she work herself? Can't she just hire someone to, while focusing on things that truly matter? Making clothes is such a useless thing to do. Magic can probably do whatever she does twice faster and better.

"Rarity, are you busy? I thought I would introduce you to a new friend, if you can spare the time." The question was rhetorical, but demanding a conversation would be way too impolite.

"Oh yes, Darling. Just give me a second to finish this one!" replied Rarity, working with the sewing machine. A few seconds later, she finished and turned around. "Now, who is it you wanted to in-OH SWEET CELESTIA, WHAT'S WITH THAT MANE?? Ahh," she said, half-screaming, and then falling unconscious from the sight.

Twilight truly wished everything would go as planned, but it went as usual. Obviously, she noticed Dark Night knew nothing of mane care, but was again too polite to point that out. She let out a deep sigh.

Dark Night just stared at Rarity lying on the floor. How could this pack of idiots ever beat any villain? I can imagine Twilight beating someone, but those brainlets? Then again, they had Celestia on their side. Perhaps it is all a manipulation of hers? Perhaps she's making everyone think Twilight and the elements are a real threat, completely missing a godlike alicorn who lived more than all the ponyville's population combined. Or maybe it was Discord all along. He is the closest there is to a god. Maybe he can see the future? No. If that is true, I lost already. Then the only acceptable reality is that it isn't. But what if he can see it only to some extent...

Twilight looked at Night, who was again deep into her thoughts and easened up a little, walking over to return Rarity to a better state with a spell she knew.

Rarity opened her eyes. "Oh thank Celestia! Darling, you have no idea what a horrible dream I've just witnessed." She then turned her head to the left. "Oh my," said Rarity getting her hoof near her lobe.

"Not again," mumbled Twilight under her nose, and finally got Rarity up and no longer that overwhelmed. "So, Dark Night, this is Rarity. Rarity, this is Dark Night." She turned her head to Dark Night. "I'm sure you'll get along greatly!"

"Plea-"

Rarity interrupted Night before she could finish the word. "Darling, what happened to your mane? That simply won't do!"

Night didn't get it. All this circus, all over my mane? Is she that retarded? "Uhm?" was all she could reply. How do you even reply to this? What does she expect me to say? Agree that my mane looks like bad? That'd be wrong on several levels. "That's my style?" said Night, unsure herself. That's too inconfident. She won't buy this one.

"Well, your style surely is... extravagant," said Rarity with a slightly disgusted face.

That's a lot of letters to replace the word "shit". Who is she trying to fool with this politeness? "I don't really care all that much about it." That isn't far from truth. It's not that I don't care. It's that I look good regardless.

Rarity gasped at that. "You don't care about your manestyle? But what about fashion? How could there be a pony that does not care?" She was genuinely surprised. Her entire world meant nothing to someone else, and that's the first time in her life she met someone like that. Even Chrysalis cared about her mane.

Arguing with a smart person is hard, arguing with idiots is impossible. Spending time doing this will presumably be counterproductive and only further ruin her opinion of me. How do I get out of this situation? She looked at Twilight, who was trying to stuff in a word but failed every time in this conversation. Bingo. "Can we go now?"

"No! You're supposed to make friends with Rarity, but this is... You've just got off the wrong hoof." Twilight seemed to enjoy situation the least. She couldn't even blame Dark Night. In Twilight's view, her clone was just like a filly into a new world. Blaming that filly for not being an adult is conceptually wrong. That leaves only 1 pony responsible for the mess.

"Twilight, what's this about?" chimmed in Rarity, sensing it's not just a random visit.

Dark Night shot Twilight a glare, which got the point across. Her telling everyone I'm born from dark magic would be very bad for me. I hope she understands. Should've said this beforehand.

Twilight wasn't an idiot and knew quite well stating there's a creature born out of dark magic is not the best idea. But lying to her friends was also not the greatest idea, as practice showed. "She's a..."

"I'm learning friendship and Twilight is teaching me," said Night. This cannot be argued against. And is actually a great excuse, while doesn't even briefly show the whole situation. I just hope she doesn't press the matter further.

"Oh, why didn't you just say so, Darling? I have a perfect bonding activity for us! There are no bad hoof starts and manestyles a visit to the spa cannot fix," said Rarity, striking her own mane.

I'm certain that you'd have a different opinion if our start involved me murdering Twilight.

"Great idea! Allow me to compensate you the bits for Night." Twilight was about to take out her wallet.

"No need, darling. What generousity element would I be charging you for that? I insist you let me pay for the expenses."

It's as if you forgot to ask someone else in this room.

"I guess I'll leave you to it then. Night, I'll be there to pick you up, but in case I won't, you remember the road to the castle," said Twilight in an affirmative manner.

A few moments later Twilight was gone, while Rarity was walking to the spa with Dark Night behind her.

I wonder if it's a test. Why would Twilight want to teach me friendship, without even being near me to see the results? But how would this even teach anything? Perhaps it's all paranoia. Her peripheral vision caught something, but as she turned her head there, it was gone. Or perhaps not.

Author's Note

I wrote this chapter for at least 5 separate evenings, so I wonder if it turned out good. I already noticed how there's a huge disconnection between past me and current me, including my memory. After re-reading, I think it's alright, but I'd love to see what you people think in comments.
Still stuck between wheither I should write big(like this) or small(like the first few) chapters. I guess I'll do it by logic, aka only stopping when a chapter is enough to make some sense on it's own.