UNDER THE NIGHT SKY

Intermission: The Lost Days

Author's Fore-note

   Here the be dragons, shipping, and an (un)healthy dose of insanity.

   What am I going to do...? Twilight gazed vacantly into space as she walked the long road back to Ponyville. It was the dead of night, the wind was bitingly cold, cloud-cover blotted out the sky. The tears in her eyes were still welling up, but she fought to hold them back. In the distance behind her, the vague semblance of the area she'd met Nightsky in was still partially visible.

   What if my horn never grows back...? the hornless unicorn monologues to herself, a fear building in her eyes as she raises her gaze up to the distant sight of Canterlot, if I can't use magic...I'm not even her student anymore...I've never done anything else...I wouldn't know where to start...

   A strong lick of the biting cold rushes over Twilight, tossing her mane out of place; it falls back in cover of one eye, without her horn to make a parting under the way she normally brushed it, magic is my special talent...will my cutie mark disappear too...?

   Her mind begins to swell with recollections of past instances when her magic had been of no use; her troubled entry into magic school, her first winter-wrap up when her lack of non-magical skills had made her feel so useless. As she dwells on the memory she begins to fall into a loop, her composure began to visibly dissolve.

   Buried deep in her own thoughts, Twilight doesn't notice that she'd already arrived back at her library, and walks head-first strait into the door, recoiling with a dull thud. The noise rouses her faithful assistant, the young dragon promptly appearing on the other side as the door swings open.

   "Twilight!" Spike begins in half-frantic concern, "oh I was so worried! Where have you been all night? No one knew where you'd flown off.." he trails off as he notices the recently formed wings have disappeared from the unicorn's back, and more alarmingly that her horn seemed to be gone, stuttering in shock "Twilight!?".

   "Take a letter, Spike" the now-hornless unicorn offers as her only response, her done having grown dull and muted as she walks past him into the library. The young dragon doesn't question her instructions, hastily collecting a quill and parchment.

   "My dear Princess Celestia" Twilight begins as she walks across the library to stand in front of her mirror, "I have identified the pegasus you sent me to find; her name is Nightsky. However...", she pauses, fixated on the sight of self without a horn in the mirror's reflection, "as a consequence of a poorly thought-out spell, I have lost my magic, and can no longer be your student".

   Spike's eyes go wide and his mouth falls agape in horror, but before he has any opportunity to say anything to it, Twilight continues with a rapidly deteriorating tone, "I ask that you promptly send a carriage to take Spike back to Canterlot, and forgive me for my failure. Studying under you was the highlight of my life. Your faithful...ex-student, Twilight Sparkle".

   "Twilight..." Spike struggles out, at this point trying desperately not to cry himself, visibly shaken by her words. "Send it, Spike" Twilight returns solemnly, turning to walk toward her bed. "I-..I can't do that! You-" Spike retorts desperately, but Twilight stops and stamps a hoof firmly with a suddenly grim insistence, "I said, send it".

   A dull ribbon of sunlight did its best to pierce the curtains of the library windows, still drawn from the night before, the sounds of everyday life in Ponyville could be heard faintly outside. Twilight slowly rouses to the touch of the sun on her face, but her reaction to it as she woke was more of disdain than welcome. She carelessly kicks the covers back and shuffles over, initially falling out of bed onto her fore-knees, before climbing to her feet and walking to the mirror.

   She stares at the letter attached to its frame, knowing full well it was from Spike, but doesn't even bother to take it down - she reaches for her brush instead and sits back, staring at it in her hoof. I don't even know how to do this properly without magic...what possible hope is there for me if it doesn't come back...?

   "Brushing your mane is overrated" Rainbow Dash announces, posing proudly in the mirror beside Twilight, "I mean look at mine. It's never seen a brush in its life, and it looks awesome!". Twilight furrows her brow at this, "if by 'awesome' you mean 'scruffy'. Some of us actually care about our appearance".

   "I couldn't agree more, darling" Rarity affirms, studying her reflection in the mirror on Twilight's other side, "why if I could not maintain my luxurious mane, I think I would just die". Twilight's eye twitches as a dark loom descends on her face, "not everypony lives or dies on how good they look, either".

   Rarity retorts with an indignant 'hmph' and turns her nose up, looking away, while Dash points and laughs at her. Fluttershy dips into the mirror's reflection from above, hovering just above and behind Twilight, "oh but...but your mane looks so pretty normally. Are you sure that's okay?".

   Twilight gives a frustrated "augh!", closing her eyes and dropping her brush, placing both hoofs to her ears, "why are you all torturing me!? Aren't things hard enough for me already!?" . After a long few moments with no response, she slowly lowers her hooves and opens her eyes - she was the only one in the mirror again...and by this point, she was starting to look unhinged, what do they know...they've never had to live without the thing that makes them special...

   Rainbow Dash retorts this with childish mouth-bubbles, hovering upside-down above Fluttershy, who herself was sitting a short distance behind Twilight. "Just look at this one, huh?" Dash continues tauntingly, pointing down at the yellow pegaus below, "a pegasus afraid of heights? Couldn't fly a pair of pants? There's almost no point to her even having wings, you don't hear her complaining".

   "Her special talent is looking after animals" Twilight retorts with a dark scowl, "she's never lost that. Even the one time she couldn't figure out how to look after an animal, it turned out she wasn't doing anything wrong the whole time". Dash just shrugs idly at this, starting to lazily backstroke through the air around the library.

   "I'm sure you could find something else to do" Fluttershy responds instead, offering a reassuring smile, "I mean, that's what I did, right?". "Oh, please" Rarity suddenly interjects, trotting up to a spot nearby the yellow pegasus, gesturing with a hoof to the walls of books filling the library, "this is all Twilight has ever known. The poor dear simply can't survive without her magic, we all know it".

   Twilight finally retorts with an angry scream, picking up her brush and hurling it at Rarity, "Shut up!". The brush sails harmlessly through the air and hits the floor, the sound of it clattering the only further sound in the otherwise silent, empty library, save for Twilight's own worked up, labored breathing.

   After a long few moments glaring furiously at the empty space where Rarity should have been standing, Twilight finally slumps onto all four hooves again, slouched in posture am I...am I going crazy too...?

   "Sleeping? In the middle of the day?"

   Twilight's eyes open wide as she spasms into an upright seated posture, finding herself surrounded by small piles of books in the middle of the floor. She slowly glances around through one eye from behind her chaotic mane, trying to determine the source of the voice.

   "And here I thought you were supposed to be the good student", the other Twilight Sparkle continues idly, using her magic to brush her mane, as she sat in front of the mirror. Twilight wasn't sure what was more confusing - that there were two of her, or that the other one looked like she was normally meant to, horn and all.

   "Out of all those other unicorns, Celestia chose you" the other Twilight furthers, still idly brushing her mane - Twilight's mind is assailed with sudden memories of Trixie's visit to Ponyville - "other unicorns who were perhaps more deserving, who would have done anything for the opportunity you've squandered".

   Twilight shakes her head, then lifts her fore-hooves up to hold onto it, "you're not real, why should I listen to anything you say!". The other Twilight gives a polite laugh, "well, I don't see any of your friends rushing to your rescue. You always relied on yourself before, why not now?".

   "That's...that's not right..." Twilight begins, lowering her hooves and furrowing her brow, "I didn't know then how important it was to have friends. I'm a better pony for them...". "And yet I still don't see any of them helping you now" the other Twilight retorts, in a mockingly polite tone, setting the brush down and trotting from the bedroom area down into the main area where Twilight was, "even in your own imagination they're no help to you".

   Twilight shakes her head firmly, closing her eyes tight, "no...you're wrong. My friends haven't abandoned me...they just don't know how to help me". "And who can blame them" the other Twilight mockingly agrees with a plainly fake thoughtful look, "I mean, look at you. One day without your horn, and you've already lost it".

   "You're wrong..." Twilight insists again, weaker now, and it seemed more like she was trying to convince herself, "they haven't abandoned me...", she fights to put up a front, but her mind swims, she finds it hard to focus, and suddenly the world tumbles.

   Twilight is once more roused to consciousness by a loud crack of wood, startling her awake. The wagon she was drawing shudders as its wheel comes down off the large rock, drawing her frantic attention back at it in confusion, then promptly up at the autumn sky. It was the middle of the afternoon, on some unknown stretch of tree-lined road somewhere in Equestria - Twilight wasn't even sure where.

   "Twilight, dear? Are you alright?" Trixie calls from inside the stage-wagon, climbing half-way out of the window of the dressing room, "are you getting tired?". Twilight furrows her brow in confusion, at a loss to her current surroundings or situation; she still had no horn, more confusingly she felt stronger than she ever remembered being, and could swear she was taller. None of it made any sense, and yet somehow it seemed normal.

   "I.." she pauses herself, her mind visibly wading through the confusion, "a rock...it was a rock, I didn't see it there". Trixie frowns in concern, disappearing into the window and reappearing from the door at the back, triggering the struts to support the wagon and trotting up to Twilight.

   "You must be more careful dear" she insists with concern, carefully detaching Twilight from the harness, "the wagon can be replaced but you can not. I wish you would not worry Trixie like this". Twilight blushes faintly and steps out from the rails, following Trixie back to the door into the wagon, "I know...I'm sorry. I guess I'm just tired after all..."

   The interior of the wagon was much more homely than one may have expected - it was clearly lived in, but the ponies obviously did their best to make it feel like a home. Trixie promptly sets about pouring Twilight a cup of the tea she had been drinking, as Twilight herself becomes absorbed looking into the mirror - she looked just like an actual earth pony ... but that was right, wasn't it?

   "So the nearest town on the map is Ponyville" Trixie announces warmly, setting the cup of tea in front of Twilight as she resumes her seat at the table, "it is but a small town, who's residents would be easily amazed by Trixie's magic, but the crowd wouldn't be suitably large".

   "Ponyville?" Twilight returns with a faint glimmer of recognition, "actually I think the population there is fairly big...and it's a largely earth-pony town, some real magic would be the highlight of their year". Trixie regards this for a moment and smiles, "so wise to the world, my dear. Perhaps we should make it our next stop after-all".

   Wow...you're actually buying this?

   Twilight furrows her brow in confusion, feeling an unfamiliar pang in the back of her mind. She draws her attention back to the mirror in the wagon, its reflection replaced with a window into her library, and the other Twilight. Surely you realize this isn't real...or are you that desperate to escape your reality?

   Twilight closes her eyes and begins to shiver lightly, feeling an icy chill down her back, she turns her head from the mirror. Yes, that's it. Pretend it'll all go away. Oh how much simpler your life would be, if only this was real. You didn't regard this other unicorn for more than a day, and somehow you've made her the center of an imaginary world

   "Twilight...? Darling...?" Trixie inquires in concern, noting her strange posture. Twilight opens her eyes to look at her, a desperately lost look strode her face, tears beginning to form in her eyes. Oh how precious. You actually had a crush on her. Is that why you felt so guilty when she ran off...crying and alone, after you humiliated her?

   Twilight began to cry and shake, unable to contain the emotions swelling up, or the images running through her mind. The world around her, including Trixie, seemed to have become frozen in time. Just imagine it... the other Twilight peers out from the mirror with a mocking smile, just imagine what could have happened to her. You never knew. You never cared to find out. Did she freeze to death in the wilderness? Maybe she ended it herself, unable to take it...

   "Enough!" Twilight screams at the brink of rational thought, leaping across the wagon and burying a front hoof into the mirror. The reflective glass explodes out, shattering further as it flies out onto the library floor around her, leaving her in a hunched standing posture with her hoof dented into the now split wooden backing, as she breathed heavily and tears fell from her eyes.

   It takes her a long few moments to realize where she was, but when she finally does, she breaks down even more, collapsing to the floor and covering her head with her front hooves, sobbing hysterically somepony...anypony...help me...

   Twilight's eyes fight their way open once more, her mind swimming in the weight of sleep and intense strain. It was day time, that much could be gleaned from the sunlight coming in through the still-drawn curtains, though of what day at this point was not discernible.

   A visible coating of dust had coalesced on the glass of the windows, the many books scattered about the floor, the furniture, parts of the floor itself, even Twilight's bed - which didn't look like it had been used in days now. Twilight herself uneasily picks herself up off the floor, finding herself once more in front of that dreadful mirror. It was shattered now, and the other Twilight was finally silent. Apparently oblivious to the unusable state of the mirror, Twilight picks up her brush in a hoof, shaking the dust from it once or twice, then sets to slowly, awkwardly brushing her mane while gazing into its splintered wooden backing.

   "Y'all really so bad off?" Applejack inquires thoughtfully, standing behind and just to the side of Twilight. "Y'know, ah ain' never had no fancy wings or magic, 'n ah live a perfectly happy life". Twilight pauses at this, furrowing her brow, as if trying to filter out the sound, she continues brushing her mane.

   "C'mon now, y'know ah ain' in the business of lyin'" Applejack continues, extending a hoof in Twilight's direction, "y'all seen for yerself how happy ah am with mah life. ah work hard, 'an yeah maybe magic would help, but have y'ever seen me actually need it?".

   Twilight can't help but pause again and bite her lower lip, slowly setting down the brush and turning to face the earth pony, "no...but then I haven't watched you at home, doing mundane things...". Applejack shakes her head, "but y'reckon that means ah don' do 'em? C'mon now, yer smarter than that".

   Twilight takes a ... unstable, but mostly thoughtful look at this, "it's...true. I haven't seen you do them, but you obviously do. You do all sorts of things without magic that I don't even do with it". Applejack gives an affirmative nod, "thas' right. Now ah reckon that horn of yers is gon' grow back anyway, but even if it don't...y'really think y'can' live a good life without it?"

   "But I..." Twilight begins to sink back into her doubt, "I wouldn't...even know where to start...there's so many things I don't know how to do without magic...". Applejack turns her head and focuses at Twilight with one eye, "ain' you suppose' t'be the one that likes learnin'?"

   Twilight manages a weak smile at this, giving a small nod of her head, "yeah...yeah, you're right. Maybe my magic wont come back ... but I can learn to live without it...right?" she raises her head and stands up more properly, she still looked exhausted, but there was finally a tone of confidence to her gait, "my life doesn't have to be over. I've got four hooves, a brain, and all the reason in the world to learn to use them properly for the first time".

   Twilight realized she was alone in the library still, but this time, she shrugs it off and continues to carry her stride, making her way across the library to the door with a soft smile, "even in my imagination...she knew just what to say..."

Author's Notes

   Devon here. You probably noticed this installment is much, much shorter than the previous. Well, that's because it's a sub-chapter, which I call "intermissions". It's a break in the main story that expands on a part of it that would have over-inflated and misdirected a main-chapter's flow. In this one we see what happened with Twilight during the "missing days" she was locked up in her library, and the reason for her decision afterward. Each chapter will be punctuated by one of these, although the subject and nature of each one will vary.