Chapters The Mistake
Twilight Sparkle was doing what she did best, aside from lecturing of course: researching! Of course, she couldn't research without cause, it made no sense to do that. Unless she was super bored, then she could research without reason, but that wasn't called researching, it's called studying for no test. Just...reading because she felt like it, there you go.
But she wasn't doing that, Twilight was specifically researching teleportation spells. She, of course, already knew how to teleport, herself and other objects, but she was researching a rather specific type of teleportation spell: a long-distance one.
The longest amount of distance that she had ever teleported was to her Library from across town, and that had taken a lot of energy.
This time, she was going to go even further, but she was going to cast the spell quicker, more efficiently, and somehow, somehow with less energy. She wanted to teleport all the way to Canterlot. Which, if you think about it, really isn't that far, walking distance if you're desperate enough. Then again, anywhere is within walking distance if you're desperate enough. Agh, but that isn't the point
Anyway, Twilight was reading up on ways to use less energy when there was a knock at her door. She was about to open her mouth and call for Spike, but then she remembered that he was away on Canterlot business again. She was going to have to break her studying to answer it herself.
Grumbling a bit, she hopped from her chair and began to walk downstairs. When she reached the bottom, the knock sounded again, only this time a bit more urgent.
"I'm coming, I'm coming..," she said, rather flatly.
She ignited her horn's aura and swung open the door.
"Twilight! Oh thank goodness you're here! I need a trombone, quick!" It was Pinkie Pie.
"A trombone?" Twilight gasped, "Ohmigosh, it the Parasprites aren't back are they!?"
"What? Pfft, no, of course not silly, I just wanted to play a trombone!" Pinkie said and began to mime playing one, making noises with her mouth.
"Well, sorry Pinkie, I can't help you. No trombones here."
"Aww, darn...wellseeyalater!"
And she was off. Twilight, despite her being irritated earlier, just giggled at her friends antics and returned upstairs after shutting the heavy, wooden door.
Oh Pinkie...
She opened her book and was glad that she had remembered to place a bookmark and continued to read. This book she was particularly glad of, because it was a written by Starswirl the Bearded, her most influential role model. Well, aside from Princess Celestia of course.
Twilight checked to see how many pages she had left. Three hundred. How wonderful! Twilight loved it when she had to read a lot. She liked reading anyway, but needing to, like an assignment. For some reason, she just enjoyed it when it was required. Made her feel more accomplishment.
She she read on.
It was early morning when she finally finished.
Nice job Twilight. She congratulated herself.
She now had sufficient knowledge to work on the mathematics to successfully perform the spell! Her eyes lit up, as she set to work yet again. She darted around the library, going from open book to open book, reading, taking notes, devising theorems, you know, sciency stuff.
It took several more hours, and a heavy coffee break, but she did it! She did it! Just a few hours is actually pretty good, work like this usually takes weeks, months, years sometimes. But she did it. Another thing to add to her list of things to be proud of.
Then she did something that he hadn't done for a long time. She wrote a letter to Princess Celestia, that was not thought about. She was so excited about her spell that she didn't spend much time on it. Of course, she checked it for spelling mistakes, but everyone does that...right?
It was a simple letter that told Celestia of Twilight's success, and how she had finally figured out how to do a successful long-distance teleportation spell, and how she was willing to be the test subject.
Then she did something really out of character: she didn't wait for a response.
This spell obviously meant quite a lot for Twilight, as you might have imagined, if she did not wait for a response from the Princess. In hindsight she really should have.
Instead, she braced herself in the center of her room and began to summon of the energy needed, which, despite her efforts, was still quite a lot. But it was far less then she would have had to without her newly-learned mathematics.
Twilight felt it coming. The surge of energy was high, and she braced herself. A buzzing noise began to rise in her ears. A pulsing light came from her aura. The sound became louder and louder, and the light brighter and brighter. Bolts of magical electricity were lashing out against anything they could find. Papers were begins strewn everywhere. but Twilight had her eyelids shut tight to ward off the light, so she was unable to see.
Then, right as she felt herself begin to teleport, a letter came. Since Spike was not there, Celestia had set up a temporary device that received and sent the letters in Spike's stead. But it was too late; Twilight was gone, and gone for a very long time.
Dearest Twilight:
I must urge you to not attempt this spell. I know not where you found it because I had thought it put away long ago. Teleportation is not meant for long distances, and should remain so. The reason is something that I do not have an understanding for. I am not a scholar, nor a scientist, nor a mage, as you and Starswirl were, so I am afraid that I cannot explain to you the exact specifications, but I can tell you that this spell is dangerous, and that it cannot work. It never takes you where you want it to, and it does not work on the way back.
-Princess Celestia
What Have I Done?
What have I Done?
That's the question that refused to stop permeating my mind, no matter where else I tried to make my mind wander, that nagging question always found its way back to me, like a hidden cancer that refused to die away.
The state that my mindset was in was dark, very discouraged, and very cold. I had absolutely no idea where I was, none, zero, zip.
When the spell had ended, I had fully expected myself to be in the bright city of Canterlot, the sun sending its warm rays of light around the majestic buildings. But I got just the opposite.
Where I found myself was, instead... somewhere.
After the the light and the turbulence of my spell faded away, I was assaulted on all sides by freezing wind and heavy snowfall.
Naturally, I was quite surprised. This was not what I had expected at all. But, soon, my surprise was ripped from my mind, replaced instead by an unnatural cold.
It was freezing, a blacker cold then I could have ever imagined, colder then I had ever felt. I couldn't see, far to dark. It was nighttime, as far as I could tell, but it didn't mattered; I needed to find shelter.
I tried what I did best: magic. I still do not know to this day why it never worked.
I could not create a shield, nor could I create a light. I began to panic. I was terrified beyond belief. Not only had I failed to teleport to where I had wanted to, but now my magic wouldn't work whatsoever. For a unicorn such as myself, that is terrifying, especially when my special talent is indeed magic.
What would I do without magic? Would I never be able to use it again? If not, then wouldn't that mean that I wouldn't be able continue my studies with Princess Celestia?
Words cannot explain how I felt at that moment. I felt bare, naked, stripped, helpless, lonely and afraid, just to name a few.
I began to blindly fumble around in the darkness, trying my best to find something, anything, that I could hide behind or under. I found one.
As I was stumbling, I felt a second or two of a lighter wind. I back-tracked a bit and found the area again. Yes, the wind was definitely not as bad here.
I felt around for a bit and my hoof hit something. It was solid, and large enough to hunker down next to, so I gladly accepted its presence.
Despite my fear, and the cold, I found myself drifting into a sleep. I knew that I couldn't, something could get me in my sleep, or I could get hypothermia. But...I couldn't help myself. My eyelids dragged down, ready to shut out all of the cold and the misery, if only for a few minutes.
I knew that I shouldn't have, but I did anyway. I welcomed the black bliss, the illusion of warmth, and I drifted away, there, in that unknown land where my magic was useless, where I was lost and afraid.
I went to sleep.
I awoke to the sound of wind. Of course, there had been wind when I had arrived, but the wind...it was different. It was lighter.
I was alive and well, as far as I could tell. Then I realized that I could finally see. The blizzard was still raging, as was the wind, but it had all died down a bit, much to my thanks.
I turned around and gasped at what I had been leaning against. I cannot tell you what it was, because I have no idea. I can only tell you that it was some sort of machine. It was massive, made from metal. Several severed wires protruded from several broken parts. There was a smashed window and, inside, a seat and a worn control panel.
Whatever it was, three quarters of it was buried beneath the snow and ice, and it was ages old. Something quite advanced had created this, but I was not sure what it was. Where was it now? Hiding? Dead? Who knew?
I looked around and noticed several other shapes in the snow. As I looked closer I saw that they were only trees. Dead, nasty, gnarly trees, dead for a long time, but not permitted to decay because of the constant presence of the ice, freezing them over.
I was still tired, and I decided to see if I could find a safer place to drift away again. I climbed inside the machine, and found that, compared to the frozen outer world, it was still. I explored the small area, and found a hatch.
All attempts to open it were in vain, for it was frozen shut.
I curled up against the wall, farthest from the broken glass, and permitted myself to rest once more.
I. I was the prized student of Princess Celestia, the Element of Magic, and one of the most knowledgeable ponies in Equestria. I am not a boaster, but I am prideful in these things. Yet, all of this, and I was stuck. I was lost. I was lost and afraid, with no way to get home, not way to reassure my friends I was alright, at least for the moment, and no way to get warm. Again, I was assaulted by feelings of insignificance and incompetence. Then, all of that was replaced by hope. Hope that I would find a way back, hope that Princess Celestia would find me, and hope that I would see my friends again.
I looked back outside, and the negativity came back. I was alone. I was lost and I was afraid.
I was going to die all by myself, in the cold, never to be found, no one every knowing where exactly I went. I cried myself into a sleep filled with nightmares and without happiness.
Return
I awoke the next day where I remembered: not home. Only...this time I could see.
The howling wind was no longer attacking my conscious, nor was the cold. Yes, it was still cold, but not anywhere near as much as yesterday.
I crawled out from the machine and my eyes were assaulted with a pain. It was bright. Far too bright. The amount of snow that had fallen in last night's blizzard had created quite an expansive surface for the sun to reflect its light off of.
My hoof darted towards my face, shielding my eyes from the bright attack. When I could finally see correctly, I gasped.
Off in the distance, beyond the trees, there was a city. Or at least what was left of one. I had never seen anything like it! It was massive, stretching out further than I could see. It was majestic, but....meloncholy at the same time...
The entire city was destroyed, not just by the snow. There were old holes and craters, and old husks of machines similar to the one that I had slept in. Speaking of that machine...
I decided to examine it even further. Maybe even get that hatch open...
I crawled back inside the small space and began to dig away the snow. It took hours but I did it. Again, the hatch was un-openable, not because of the snow, but because of the frost; it was frozen shut.
Another attempt at magic was met with the same result as last time: none, so I got an idea. I covered the hatch with my body and lay there. It was cold, but I had grown used to such freezing temperatures over the last day. I lay there until my underbelly was wet, and gave it another go.
It budged. Yes! I pulled harder and harder, my front hooves straining until suddenly, slam!
The hatch flew open and I was buried in...something. A skeleton.
"Ahh!"
I shrieked and climbed out from under the white bones. After my initial shock, I became curious, naturally. It appeared to be bipedal, with four limbs, a lot like a monkey. Its face was what unnerved me. It had four slanted eye sockets, and sharp teeth. Whatever it was wasn't a pony.
"What is that?"
I examined it further but found nothing else interesting. I heaved the corpse aside and climbed back inside of the hatch. Sadly, it was blocked with ice; I could not make it through, not without my magic.
As I turned to leave again, the intention of exploring that desolate city in my mind, something knocked me over. The ground. Something shuttered and I was knocked unconscious on the metal wall.
I came around to voices. Familiar voices. In my excitement, I lurched forward, but bashed my skull on the metal ceiling again.
"Ouch!"
How could I have heard those voices, but still be inside the machine? Then I noticed something else: it wasn't cold anymore. Not one tiny bit. I opened my eyes, but found that my sight was still blurry.
` "Girls? Girls, is that you?"
There was a momentary silence and then I heard the plodding of hooves on grass and a slightly accented voice, "Twilight. You're home darling."
Three hours later, I sat in a hospital cot, with a bandage on my head and a mug of coffee in my hooves. Princess Celestia was in the room with me.
"So...Princess? What...happened?"
Celestia gave me a little smile and answered, "Your curiosity got the better of you, Twilight. Here, read this."
She levitated a scroll over me and, with a pang of guilt, I realized what it was. The reply that I did not wait for. With a sigh, I said, "I'm sorry, Princess, I was just so excited..."
"I do not blame you, Twilight Sparkle."
"But...where was that place?"
"I do not know, nopony does. It is a dark and unknown place, where magic does not work and the aftermath of great war and destruction lives."
"Shouldn't we study it?"
Celestia smiled again and said, "I have been trying too, Twilight, but you are the only pony to ever go to that place and return."
I felt my eyes widen in surprise and I hurriedly swallowed a mouthful of coffee.
"What? Really?"
"Yes. But guess what? That device that you were in when I managed to call you back: it came with you."
I smiled.
"That's good. I'd like to study it later, but, right now, I just need some rest."
Again, I received a smile and Princess Celestia nodded.
"So be it. I will speak with you again. Good Night."
"'Night, Princess."
The majestic Alicorn left the room and I was left to ponder. I had quite a lot of that to do.
