Things start slow...

Neither Twilight Velvet, nor Nightlight planned on having any other children. They thought two children were more than enough. Heck, Velvet was expecting to have grandchildren sometime around the next year, since Shining Armor and Cadance, the dean from Crystal Prep were dating. For about a month and a half by the way.

Shining armor knew about this, of course. He also knew that he didn't have a second sister or at least he had been sure of that fact. His parents never mentioned anything. They never argued about a daughter they left at an orphanage for some reason or other. He also didn't remember Twilight building a cloning device, though that was not out of the realm of possibility. Why else would there be a second Twilight standing in Twilight's bedroom, right next to Twilight? Ignoring the wings, the good looking outfit, and the hairdo, it was the spitting image.

Oh wait! Shining Armor's brain chimed in. Maybe it's just one of Twilight's friends dressing up. She has now like...five, six? Hey, wait a minute! What's one of Twilight's friends doing here at eight in the morning?!

The two Twilight's or as Shining Armor's mind translated it as Twily and the friend of Twily looking, looked at him. The winged one had an eyebrow raised, while the one who was fidgeting with her fingers was definitely his little Twily.

"Er..." was all he got out. He wracked his brain on how to approach the situation, but couldn't come up with anything. Instead, the winged Twilight decided to act. She pointed a finger at Shining, which sparkled in a lavender light. Before Shining could question how the girl installed a lightbulb in her finger, he blacked out.

"What did you do?!" Twilight shouted at Midnight. Before her counterpart answered, Shining's body was levitated up and put inside Twilight's closet. All the doors and windows were closed, as well as the curtains.

"I figured we'd need some peace and quiet." Midnight finally answered, smiling at Twilight. A growl near their feet caught the girls attention. Looking down they found Spike quite adorable fletching his teeth at Midnight Sparkle, his growls not stopping.

The winged girl smiled, levitating the dog up, causing him to yelp in surprise. Midnight took the purple dog into her arms and cradled him like a baby.

"Aw, you're quite adorable, even when you're angry." She snuggled the dog with her face. Spike felt a little lost at the moment, looking over to Twilight and then back to Midnight, who actually acted like Twilight when he and the girl first met. "Now you'll be a good boy" she pushed the dog's snout with her index finger, "and I'll treat you those chicken legs you love so much."

"Chicken legs?!" Spike exclaimed, his tiny tail wiggling between Midnight's fingers. Twilight decided then and there to snatch Spike from Midnight and held him away.

"Stop this!" Twilight shouted.

"Killjoy." Midnight crossed her arms and pouted for a second before her expression turned serious. "But I guess this is not the time."

"Er, Twilight?" Spike spoke up. "Shouldn't we...you know...run for our lives?"

Twilight looked down at her dog, unsure how to respond to that. “It’s….complicated.” The girl bit her lip.

Midnight for her own part sighed, as her other self-said those words. Didn’t Twilight just overcome the fear of talking to her friends about what, a couple of days ago? But at the same time, her counterpart had a point.

“Confusing is one way of putting.” the angel said, looking down at her gloved hands. “Although, you have to admit this is fascinating. I mean, think about it. Most of my life I have been nothing more, than pent up emotions hiding inside your subconsciousness. And unless you have a mental condition we are not aware of, the magic you possess somehow not only gave me life, but also a body of my own. This alone goes against the law of conservation of mass and the law of conservation of energy.” Midnight pointed out.

“Wow, she even thinks the same way as you,” Spike commented of handly.

Twilight blinked for a second. Just one second. Then she let out an ear-piercing squeal, pressing the air out of Spike at the same time.

“You’re right!” Twilight exclaimed, jumping into the air. “This is scientifically not possible, yet here you’re in flesh and blood.” The girl stopped herself all of the sudden, her grip slightly loosening on Spike. The dog used the opportunity to wriggle himself free and drop to the ground. And though the impact hurt, the dog was more than happy to be able to breathe again.

“You are here, right? And not just some kind of holo-projection.”

Midnight shrugged. “It feels real, at least.”

“Hmm.” Twilight stepped up and grabbed Midnight’s arm, her fingers slowly trailing over the smooth skin. The angel for her part just waited patiently, letting Twilight do her thing. The girl even took the liberty of checking pulse and heartbeat.

“80 beats per minute,” Twilight muttered. “Not unusual. Hmm, those wings…”

“They don’t look like they should be able to lift me off the ground, right?” Midnight spoke before Twilight could vocal her thoughts.

“Exactly.”

“Okay, that’s it,” Spike announced. “This gotta be a dream.” The dog walked over to his basket and made it himself comfortable inside, before going back to sleep.

Twilight was too focused on staring at the wings, than paying attention to her dog. Midnight’s wings involuntarily twitched, as her other self-touched those.

“Careful.” Midnight giggled. “They’re sensitive.”

“Fascinating. I wonder what purpose they have if they don’t let you- GAH! What am I doing here?!” the normal human shouted all of the sudden, ready to rip her hair of her head. Spike let out a low grumble from the sudden noise and put his head between two cushions.

“This is not the time for this! I need to figure out what to do with you!”

“To do with me?” Midnight echoed. “Could you at least not make it sound like I’m some animal you sneaked into the house?”

“This is not good.” Twilight ignored Midnight, walking up and down. “What do I tell my parents? What do I tell Shining Armor?! Oh my gosh, he has already seen you! Oh no…” her voice turned into nothing more than a whisper. “Wh-what will my friends think? They’ll-”

“Alright, time out!” Midnight shouted. She put her hands on both of Twilight’s cheeks and forced the girl to face her other self.

“Listen to yourself! You’re freaking out about the same thing you did back before the camp trip! You think those girls will abandon you after all, that happened?!” she shouted.Twilight just stared at Midnight, surprise and fear evident in her eyes.

“I may not show it, but I’m just as confused as you are. What do we do in this situation? What can we do is the question. Shining already saw me. I can use my magic to wipe his memory, but that wouldn’t do much, as I have no idea how to turn myself invisible or change my appearance.”

“B-but-” Twilight managed to shake her head free of Midnight’s grasp. “But why not? You...you have so much power. And back then...at the Friendship Games...you...I...we knew how to do what. We understood!”

Midnight shook her head and crossed her arms once again. “I’m afraid none of us understand how magic works, beyond how to channel it. So far all everything you or I did, be it the Friendship Games or back at Camp Everfree was purely instinctual. Even when I knocked Shining Armor out cold, I just thought about what I wanted to happen. I highly doubt this will work every time, given that Sunset studied magic for most of her life.”

The dark angel performed the breathing exercise Cadance showed Twilight when she was a kid, before continuing. “I can try and use the magic, there’s a high chance I might even succeed. However, what then? Am I forced to stay hidden from the world for the rest of my life or until I accidentally bump into someone?”

“I...I…” Twilight trailed off. “I guess you have a point,” she admitted, letting her head hung. “But what are we going to do?”

Midnight lets out another sigh. She had a feeling she would do this much more often today. “Honestly? The only solution I see is to introduce me to the rest of the family.”

“But what are we going to tell them?” Twilight asked, sounding desperate. “That you’re an evil me, which I created over the course of several years of negative experiences and finally came to life with magic that a unicorn from another dimension brought to our dimension?”

“We may want to leave out the unicorn part.” Midnight joked. “But honestly, at this point? I was going with the clone story and yes, I know, I know” the angel held up her arms before Twilight could say anything “the only way to make a clone has been proven inefficient, as the cloned sheep died, due to half of its genetic code missing.”

“Right…sorry. I tend to-”

“-rant, when you get nervous.” Midnight finished. “I am basically you, remember? I just have a different outlook on life.”

“...”

“...”

None of them knew what to say next. Time was running out of them and with the suddenness of the situation, it was a surprise that none of them had gone into a complete state of panic. Both suspected it was due to the supernatural experiences of the past weeks.

Eventually, Midnight had enough and came up with a proposition. “Look, maybe we should tell the girls first before anyone else.”

“B-but they...they might...do something…” Twilight said lamely.

“Wow, you’re worried about me?” Midnight asked genuinely surprised, a smile creeping up her face. “I guess things will go south pretty fast, but that’s the cards we’ve been dealt with.” The angel stepped up and wrapped her arms around Twilight. “But thanks for worrying. My friend.” Midnight chuckled.

“You’re...welcome?” Twilight replied with a nervous giggle.

…

“This is awkward isn’t it?”

“Yesss?”

“But it kind of feels nice too.”

“Yessss?”

“Mind if we stay like this a little longer?”

“Nooooo?”

“Great! Thank you, my friend!”

Just then the door opened a second time today and none other than Dean Cadance of Crystal Prep Academy walked inside, yet stopped only two steps in, upon seeing two Twilight’s hugging each other.

Midnight quickly turned her head around. “Has anyone in this household ever heard of knocking?!” she asked irritated. “We’re having a moment here!”

Meet Midnight

Author's Notes:

I wanted to thank Circut Breaker for his amazing editing skills.

Midnight glared over at Cadance, still holding Twilight with both of her arms. From an outsider's perspective, it would appear like the winged girl was protecting her not so tough twin sister. As for Cadance, the young woman instinctively took a few steps back, until she hit the wall behind her. It took her mind a few seconds until it comprehended the danger for her and then registered just who Midnight Sparkle was holding in her arms. Did I mention that Twilight had her own arms wrapped around Midnight? The pink woman's eyes shrunk to pinpricks, upon noticing that little detail. Her brain desperately tried to come up with a rational explanation for the scene in front of her. However, the only plausible scenario it could come up with was...disturbing in a romantic way, to say the least. When it came to romance, Cadance had a wild imagination. Once she got started, she couldn’t stop imagining all kinds of scenarios. It understandably didn't take long until the dean hit the floor.

"Talk about a delayed reaction," commented Midnight, who was almost as dumbfounded as Twilight. The two finally let go of each other. The girl without any extra appendages quickly approached the girl on the ground. She sighed in relief when it turned out that Cadance was simply unconscious and didn't receive any external injuries, due to the fall.

As if fate wanted to make Twilight’s life even more complicated, Night Light and Twilight Velvet just happened to go through the hallway on that particular moment and see their daughter kneeling in front of a collapsed Cadance. Of course, they both panicked and came running down the hallway. By the time the two reached their daughter, Shining Armor managed to stumble out of the closet, hitting the ground in front of Midnight’s feet in the process. The resulting noise caused the people in the hallway to turn their heads in the direction of Twilight’s room, where they found Midnight standing in the middle, looking down displeased at Shining Armor’s entrance.

“Next time I won’t hold back.”

It was at that point in time that Spike woke up from all the noise. Grunting, the dog yawned and looked at his surroundings. Seeing Midnight standing in the middle of the room, he asked: “Am I still dreaming?”

Mind you, everyone who was conscious heard him.

After many incoherent phrases and astonished looks, the Sparkle family had eventually settled down in the living room. Shining Armor and Cadance were sitting on one couch, the latter person trembling as she forcefully grabbed Shining’s hands. Twilight Velvet and Night Light were positioned on a second couch, looking pretty much as lost as one could be after finding a mutated clone of their daughter. And to complete the triangle Twilight and Midnight were sitting on the last couch with Spike on his owner’s/friend’s lap. The “real” Twilight looked like she was about to have a breakdown, while her “evil” counterpart was looking smugly over to Cadance, scaring the dean of Crystal Prep even more than she already was.

Shining Armor wished he could rub his eyes right now, because this sure as heck looked like some sort of fantasy game come to life.

“So...uh...mind introducing us to your friend?” he asked, which caused every single pair of eyes to stare intently in his direction.

Hey, at least I try to get a conversation going! The young adult angrily thought to himself.

Midnight had to chuckle at the reaction and since this was an awkward silence situation, everyone was now looking at her.

“I figured something like this might happen.” The winged girl said mirthfully. She pointed an index finger upwards and began charging her magic. A lavender aura surrounded her finger, which a second later shot up and a magical screen appeared, showing none other than Twilight working in her old laboratory back at Crystal Prep. Twilight recognized the scene only too well, as it was there where she built her apparatus to track down the magic at CHS.

“They say a picture says more than a thousand words, so why don’t we simply watch what happened?” But at this point, no one was really paying any attention to her. Be it that this particular generation was especially obsessed with television or the flickering of the magical aura was even more addictive than the flickering of a TV-screen, it didn’t matter. Everyone watched as the events of the Friendship Games played out just as Twilight remembered them, including Principal Cinch’ blackmail attempt, and of course Twilight transforming into Midnight Sparkle. The last particular scene caused Twilight to whimper involuntarily, while Midnight just watched the scene play out with a neutral expression on her face.

When everything was said and done, Midnight let the screen disappear, not bothering to show the family what happened during the trip to Camp Everfree. They were stressed enough already, judging from their facial expressions.

“Any questions?” Midnight asked as innocently as she could.

*thud*

*thud*

*thud*

*thud*

“...Really?”

Around twenty minutes later everyone was back in their seats and with the initial shock almost having passed, it was finally time for some good old family talk.

“So...you’re…” Twilight’s father started, but couldn’t finish the sentence, having a hard time accepting the reality as it were.

“I’m Twilight’s evil self, created through years of neglect, lack of love and friendship, a possible insufficient amount of hugs, suppressed rage, OCD tendencies, loneliness, the feeling of being unappreciated and nervous breakdowns. Did I forget anything?” Midnight asked her counterpart.

“I do NOT have OCD,” Twilight shouted, clearly offended. She didn’t notice that she was pressing the air out of Spike in her rage. Luckily for him, she relaxed rather quickly, allowing the dog to catch his breath.

“I never said that you have OCD, but you have shown small symptoms that are often found by people who suffer from OCD.”

“*Ahem*.” Cadance cleared her throat, getting the attention of the two lavender-skinned girls. While she was just as nervous as the rest of the family, so far Midnight Sparkle hadn’t tried to blast any of them into smithereens. So, she summoned up the courage to ask the all important question.

“But how come you’re...here? I mean, wasn’t it Twilight who...became you?” the pink woman asked, desperately hoping not to offend the demon-girl.

Midnight could only shrug in response. “I’m as surprised by this development as everyone else in this room.”

“We actually have a theory,” Twilight interjected. “Namely that magic somehow gave my subconsciousness a complete consciousness of its own. Of course, it’s just speculation at this point, as none of us had had the time to give it much thought…”

“Okay, okay.” Night Light held up his arms. “You had me going there for a moment Twily and I gotta say, I’m impressed with the special effects. But how about you stop your little joke right here. I know you must have put a lot of effort into this, but I still have a lot of work to do today and I’m really sorry about interrupting this, but you know how life is sometimes.”

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say. Midnight scowled at Night Light and raised her hand, a beam of magic shooting out of it. Everyone screamed in surprise at the display of power and once the magic, where ones sat Night Light, in his place was now a tiny frog.

“Ribbit!” The frog jumped up and down in place as if he had been injected with pure adrenaline.

“Why did you do this!?” shouted Twilight, after having recovered from her shock. Her mother in the meantime was slowly but surely getting away from the frog.

“To make my point.” Midnight said as a matter of factly, before turning Night Light back to his normal self. His hair looked a little frazzled and there was smoke flying upwards from various parts of his body.

“Does anyone still doubt the existence of magic or my humble self?” the angel asked with an evil grin.

“S-S-So, i-i-it’s a-all true?” asked a stammering Twilight Velvet, who was staring at her husband. He in return was checking his entire body, feeling more than just a little tingly on the skin.

Twilight was still too angry at Midnight to register the words her mother had spoken, however, Midnight just nodded nonchalantly, like everything that just happened was just another normal day for her. Twilight’s counterpart noticed both Shining Armor and Cadance looking ready to make a mad dash for the door. They were both sitting at the edge of the couch, as opposed to the middle. They also had the kind of look on their face that was normally worn by teenagers in cheap horror movies.

“Oh, my poor baby!” And on cue the scream of the horrible monster, which was once a beautiful and understanding mother.

Twilight Velvet jumped over the table in the middle of the room and embraced her daughter in a bone crushing hug. Midnight reacted quickly and jumped off the couch, just in time before the soft furniture was thrown over. Both Twilights and Spike ended up kissing the ground, while Midnight caught herself in mid-air and managed to see the scene unfold from above.

“My poor, poor little darling.” Velvet stroked her daughter’s hair, seemingly not aware of the fall she just took.

“Mom-”

“Shh. Don’t worry, my darling daughter. From now on I will be the best mother in the world. You always wanted to go to the Manehattan Museum of Global History, right?” the woman asked eagerly.

“Uh…”

“I know! We could all fly to Romare! There is practically a historic building around every corner. Or- AHH!”

Velvet screamed when she was engulfed in a purple aura and levitated into the air. Midnight calmly placed the older woman a few feet away, allowing Twilight to get up and dust herself off. The winged girl also took the courtesy of putting the couch back into the place it was before.

“And I thought Twilight was the crazy one in the family,” muttered Midnight to herself. Apparently her counterpart and by proxy she herself, had inherited their genes responsible for the occasional freakout by none other than her mother. The woman seemed to be more bothered by the fact that her daughter’s life at Crystal Prep had been anything but pleasant, instead of worrying about the rage incarnate having come out of said daughter!

“How about we have some breakfast?” Suggested Twilight out of the blue. “I’m sure if we have something in our stomachs, we’ll be able to think much clearer.”

“I don’t think any amount of food, be it normal or comfort food is going to help with the brain damage we already caused them to have.” Midnight pointed at each of the nonpurple-skinned girls.

“Well, at least I don’t have to be quiet anymore when I’m in the house,” Spike stated, stretching himself a little. “By the way, I didn’t catch it earlier, but why aren’t you hellbent on destroying the world?” he asked bluntly, as ever.

“That’s...complicated.” Both Midnight and Twilight said at the same time.

“Well, doesn’t look like they’re going to recover anytime soon.” the dog said, looking at the still stunned humans. “But seriously guys, even Twilight took it fairly well that I was able to talk all of a sudden.”

“Leave them be.” Midnight said, landing on the ground. “They’ll come around in time. Either that or I can erase or even possibly rearrange their memories in a way that will make them all more...accepting of the situation.”

This is just the beginning

Author's Notes:

Welp, took some time, but here it is.

“Okay...I know this must be a new experience for you. Considering the unique circumstances of you being here, I can understand a little excitement. BUT WOULD IT KILL YOU TO SHOW SOME TABLE MANNERS!?!?!”

“Hmm?” Midnight looked over to Twilight, her mouth so stuffed that her cheeks were puffing like the ones of a Hamster. A little bit of bacon still stuck out of her lips, but that one was slurped in quickly and then swallowed with the rest of her breakfast.

"What do you mean "show some table manners?" Have you ever seen yourself eat?"

"Yesssss." Twilight hissed. "Just now."

"Exactly." Midnight nodded. She levitated two slices of toast over to herself and burned them in mid-air, before letting them simply fall on her plate. She then proceeded to put butter on them by, again, using her magic.

"And you have to use magic for everything you do, because...?"

"It's convenient." The winged Sparkle replied simply, continuing her breakfast. "Don't look at me this way. You and I both know you would do the same if you had access to this kind of power."

"That's not true!" Twilight shouted, causing Midnight to look at her in a deadpan matter.

"Remember who you're talking to, other me. I know exactly what is going on in that brain of yours." Midnight tapped on Twilight's forehead for further emphasis. "You should know better than trying to lie to me. We may have our differences, but in our core foundation, the two of us think exactly alike."

"That is debatable. With each minute the two of us are separated we experience life from a different angle. We feel different thinks, experience things the others doesn't, which causes us to make different decisions in the near or at least the distant future, not to mention when we get separated -mph, mmm? MMMPH!!!?"

Midnight's horn glowed more brightly than it usually did. At the same time, Twilight's entire head was glowing, which was Midnight's magic holding Twilights lower and upper jaw together in order to silence her. It wasn't exactly a comfortable experience for the poor girl.

"Are you quite done yet?" the angelic figure asked annoyed. "I am well aware that we're bound to think differently, we already do smarty pants! But the fact remains, I still know how you think and no matter how much you or I change, we'll be always able to deduce what the significant other is doing next! We're not just some twin sisters, Twilight. We're more. Remember that."

Midnight finally released her magic, allowing Twilight to move her jaw a little, stretching it like a muscle. The other family members, who watched the entire exchange, glanced at each other uncomfortable. None of them had ever seen Twilight being aggressive in any way, but now they literally watched two Twilights having an argument with themselves. If one of them wouldn't be a very powerful entity that could use magic, it probably would have gone on forever.

"Now, now dearies." Twilight Velvet spoke carefully, getting the attention of both of her daughters? This was a little confusing.

"Let's all just calm down and have a nice little chat. You know...get to know each other." The fake grin was now impossibly big, almost to Pinkie Pie levels. Midnight snorted at the poor attempt of addressing the subject.

"A little chat?" the dark angel echoed. "I doubt we can have something like that when four out of six people in this room are at the edge of a nervous breakdown and the only reason the two of us" she pointed at Twilight and herself "are keeping it together is because these past weeks we've been through some even crazier things, which we'll have to tell you about and probably be the final nail in the coffin of your mental capacities."

"Am I really that obnoxious?" Twilight asked her family.

Ignoring her "twin", Midnight leaned forward and looked at her family. "Well, I guess we have to do something to break the eyes, so let's try it. Let's talk. Ask me some questions. Don't worry, no rush." Midnight held up her arms. "We have all the time in the world."

As if she jinxed it, the doorbell rang all of the sudden, causing Twilight to gasp. "Oh no! I completely forgot Sunset would come over today for a visit!"

"Really? How come I don't remember...oh wait, I do remember now." Midnight frowned at her unreliable memory. "In any event, we're pretty boned. I don't think any of us are ready to explain the situation to her, are we?"

"Oh, what do we do? What do we do?!" Twilight asked frantically, biting her own fingers.

"H-hello Sunset Shimmer."

"Dean Cadance?" Sunset asked, a little surprised to see the dean of Crystal Prep Academy standing in the doorway of Twilight's house. "Are you visiting Twilight as well?"

"You could say that..." the dean replied nervously. "I'm a good friend of the family. Yeah, why don't you come in?" Cadance fully opened the door, inviting the former unicorn inside.

"Thanks! I was afraid I came a little early. I'm not too early, am I?"

"Oh no, no. Twilight simply forgot to mention that you'd come over and now it's a little messy here. We were just having breakfast together."

"Oh, sorry to intrude." Sunset chuckled. "I'm kind of an early riser. But I could come back later if you want me to."

"No, no. As I said, it's really alright. Nope! No problem at all. Haha..."

Sunset Shimmer raised an eyebrow at the nervous behavior of the woman in front of her but shrugged it off a second later. The teenager might have possibly intruded somehow, no matter what the Dean said earlier and now due to circumstances Sunset wasn't aware of, Cadance was like that. Somehow...

"Anyway, Twilight is in her room. She said....she uh...there's something important..." Cadance looked towards the ceiling, desperately trying to come up with some kind of excuse.

"Ah, let me guess." Sunset shook her head in amusement. "The girl tried to invent something new and it exploded in her face again. Hopefully, she left her fingers of the magic this time..." Sunset muttered under her breath.

"Exploded in her face?" Cadance repeated.

"Eh, I don't blame Twilight for never telling you. I sometimes work with really delicate hardware at school. That particular day I was doing some...experiments...for a school project." Even though Cadance already knew about magic, it was better not to stress out the woman any more than she already was.

"I asked her to help me out with it, since, honestly? She's the only one at the entire school who can keep up with me when it comes to academics."

"Yes." Cadance agreed. "She's certainly a smart one. But I remember from the Friendship Games that you are no slouch too."

"Hehe, thanks. You're making me blush. Anyways, as I said, I asked Twilight for help and she happily obliged. While we were setting everything up, she had an idea of improving the performance of the machine. I didn't see any problem with that and went along. Unfortunately" Sunset took in a deep breath "there were some things during the experiment, which...we weren't expecting, let's put it that way. Long story short, the inner machinery melted and that somehow caused a short circuit and the PC screen exploded right in front of Twilight's face."

"Oh dear."

"Luckily, aside from our dignity, we were uninjured. Principal Celestia...uh...let's just say she wasn't too happy about what happened."

"I can imagine." Cadance smiled wryly. "In any event, Twilight must be waiting for you in her room. You know the way, correct?"

"Yup. See you later, Ms. Cadance."

The dean simply smiled politely, as she watched Sunset going down the hallway. As soon as the girl turned around the corner, Cadance almost collapsed on the floor, letting out a breath she didn't know she had been holding.

"Please help us, Sunset Shimmer."

About twenty minutes later, on the attic floor...

"I just hope she can keep her act together." Midnight mumbled to herself. "As if things weren't complicated enough already. How ironic, I always wanted to get out of her and now that I am out, I want to hide again, only to avoid being blasted a second time by Sunset. Twilight, you better hold the line."

Out of nowhere, the trap door to the attic was violently opened and a very angry red and yellow haired girl stormed up the stairs.

I knew I should have tried to make myself invisible.

A little bit earlier (chapter name in progress, better than the tomato joke I assure you)

Author's Notes:

Thanks to Circut Breaker for the really quick edit. Now that this is done, I can write some magic fun for the next chapter.

~earlier~

“Hey, Twilight.” Sunset greeted her newest friend with a casual wave. “How're tricks?”

“H-hey Sunset.” Twilight greeted back, sitting on her still yet to be made bed. “I’m really, really sorry that everything is a mess right now. I completely forgot you were coming over-”

“Relax, Twilight.” Sunset intervened Twilight’s rant before it could fully start. The pony girl put a hand on the human girl’s shoulder and pressed it gently, but reassuringly. “It’s alright. I’m a little early anyways and plus, we have the entire day to ourselves. Unless you want us to visit someone else…”

“No, no!” Twilight waved her hands in a frantic matter. A second later she realized just what she was doing and put her arms behind her back, blushing a little bit. “Um...I mean...there’s something I want to talk about...in private…..just the two of us….you know. I-It’s not like I don’t trust them or anything of the sorts, quite the contrary, it’s just-”

Twilight stopped herself when she noticed that her first friend outside of the family was barely containing her laughter.

“What?” the lavender girl asked.

“Oh, Twilight” Sunset let out a snicker “Rarity was right. You really are adorkable at times. I wonder how Timber would react if he sees you like that.”

“W-what?!” The lavender girl squeaked, taken aback by the comment.

“In fact, I’m pretty sure he’d think that you’re cuter than he initially thought.”

“Stop it, already!” Twilight half-heartily slapped Sunset’s arm. The pony girl just laughed in response and sat down next to her friend.

“Just kidding, just kidding.” Sunset held up her arms. “So, what’s that thing you wanted to talk about?”

“Well…” Twilight fidgeted with her fingers “...last night...I was...thinking."

"Thinking?" Sunset asked, tilting her head. "Is something bothering you, Twilight?" The pony girl asked concerned. "You aren't having nightmares again, do you?"

"No, no! Of course not!" the lavender girl immediately waved her arms in a frantic manner. "I just had a lot on my mind last night. You know, after everything that's been happening. It was... quite a lot to say the least."

Sunset nodded, understanding what her friend was getting at. "Yeah, life's become pretty crazy, huh?"

"Yeah...crazy..." Twilight agreed, thinking about a particular crazy thing that happened earlier today.

"So, what's on your mind?"

Twilight looked uncomfortably to the side, wishing she would have thought of something else to talk about. At the same time, Sunset's visit presented the lavender-skinned girl an opportunity to find a possible solution for her current...predicament.

"Well...I was thinking about her."

"Her?" Sunset repeated.

"...Midnight." Twilight grabbed her arm, feeling very uncomfortable talking about her "other self" as it was. "I was thinking about Midnight, the other "me"."

Sunset had to admit, she was taken by surprise by the statement her friend just made. She couldn't imagine why her friend would- no wait, she could imagine as to why Twilight would think about her darker self. Sunset herself had thought about her darker self a lot for a long period of time. She tried to avoid it to the best of her abilities, but from time to time she couldn't help herself.

The former unicorn proceeded to put a hand on Twilight's shoulder and pressed it gently. "You know, if you still feel uncomfortable about the whole thing, you can talk to us. Believe me, it may not seem that way at first, but it helps a lot."

Twilight smiled, putting her own hand on Sunset's. "Thank you. I really appreciate the help, but this isn't about The Friendship Games or anything. It's...well...how do I put it? I have been wondering what she actually is."

"What she is?" Sunset echoed, blinking in confusion. She definitely didn't see that one coming, nor did she understand what her friend meant exactly.

"What do you mean, when you say 'what she is?'" the former unicorn inquired.

"Well..." Twilight looked to the side "...I'm not too sure myself, to be honest. At first, I thought she was a demon made manifest because I misused the magic of you and the others."

Sunset nodded, understanding. That sounded reasonable in her mind. As much as magic had been studied in her homeworld, it still held many mysteries. Who knew where the true limit of magic really laid?

"But...I'm not too sure anymore," Twilight admitted.

"Really? Why? I mean, I have studied magic all my life and I'm not sure if I fully grasp the situation, but what you offered sounded like a reasonable explanation to me." The yellow girl told her friend.

"Yes, I know, but we can't be sure. What if we're mistaken? What if she was something completely different." Twilight explained, worry being apparent in her voice.

"Something else..." Sunset echoed, seriously considering Twilight's words. "Like what for example."

"Well, what if Midnight is...well me...in a sense."

"You? But you two were completely different!" Sunset argued.

"...On the outside, maybe." Twilight spoke after a little pause. Her words grew her pony friend concerned. "But, after thinking things through (and having one heck of a weird conversation with myself), I think that Midnight just...she just expressed my truly darkest desires, which I suppressed through most of my life."

Sunset halted in whatever she wanted to say, as the meaning of those words reached her. "Your...what do you mean?" the yellow girl asked, now putting both hands on her friend's shoulders. Twilight did her best to not look into Sunset's face and continued.

"When I think back to what I almost did to you and the others...I realized...deep down, I really wanted to hurt you all." Twilight took in a deep breath, suppressing the tears that threatened to come out. "You know, I never really had that many friends, to begin with, and Crystal Prep...it was a nightmare at times. The way some of the students treated me...it sometimes made me wish I could hurt them back in some way."

Upon hearing those words, Sunset pulled Twilight into a hug. "I understand," Sunset whispered gently. "It's only natural to think about stuff like this, especially considering your circumstances. Don't worry about it."

"Thank you," Twilight whispered meekly.

"You know, we can stop now-"

"No, no!" Twilight interrupted Sunset, pulling back from the girl. "It's fine, really." The girl smiled weakly. "I just needed to give you a little context for...."my" hypothesis. You see, I'm thinking that Midnight is somehow me in a way. And I don't mean in an "evil" kind of way, just...I guess more honest is one way to put it."

"More honest with yourself, you mean?" Sunset wanted to clarify.

Twilight nodded. "Yes. It's just speculation, but from the way she behaved, the way she confronted me...I'm not sure if she truly just was after power or if in reality, she wanted me to face the things that I have been holding down all this time. Back at Camp Everfree, when we transformed, there it seemed like for a moment that she had won, that she would take me over. But that's also when I made up my mind to not fear the magic inside me anymore, to not fear that I would abuse it to hurt you or anyone else." Twilight let out a sigh, massaging her temples.

"You know, now that I have said those things out loud, it sounds a lot less convincing. For all I know, she might just be a figment of my imagination, which my subconsciousness made up either in order to face my fears or to blame someone else for my actions back at Friendship Games."

"Wow, that's pretty deep," Sunset admitted. "This is all kinda outside my field of expertise. I never thought about tackling magic in a psychological way, but the way you make it sound...it's a solid foundation." The former pony put a hand under her chin, thinking. "Maybe the way we express ourselves influences the way we use magic and our emotions could give magic a completely different form. It could actually explain a lot of things, like how we transform when we play our instruments. Music is a way of expressing oneself after all. It also explains why the others transformed when they do things in virtue with their respective Element of Harmony. Twilight this is huge!" Sunset grabbed Twilight's arms in excitement, causing the girl to yelp. "This could be the breakthrough I've been looking for months as to explain how magic works in this world! Whatever gave you the idea in the first place?" Sunset asked, still holding her lavender-skinned friend.

Twilight smiled sheepishly. "Oh...nothing in particular. Just....a random thought I had and then the train just went on from there," she explained. However, this explanation didn't satisfy Sunset in the least. For one, it lacked a considerable amount of information, for two Twilight was a terrible liar.

"Oh, come on. Why are you hiding the real reason you thought about this? It can't be some terrible secret that you're desperately trying to hide from- hey, wait a minute. What's a feather doing on your bed?"

Twilight's eyes widened in shock when Sunset spoke those words. Midnight must have lost one of her feathers some way or another and it landed on her bed.

"It looks pretty neat. Wait, is this thing...glowing? Yeah, here on the side."

Twilight's eyes widened even further. Apparently, she had been thinking for so long that Sunset had enough time to go to her bed and study the object in question.

"It looks kinda familiar..."

That was the last straw for Twilight. She quickly spun around, fell on her knees and hugged Sunset's legs tightly.

"I swear, I didn't want to hide anything from you! I just had this dream, where I talked to Midnight! At first, I didn't trust her, I thought it was possibly another nightmare, but then we had a conversation, then we hugged and then she disappeared! I woke up and thought it was just a dream! But then all of the sudden she was standing in the middle of my room! We didn't know what to make of it, I was scared, but she's to a degree harmless! I wanted to call you girls immediately, but she convinced me otherwise, then my family found out, then she freaked my family out and then, then MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMPPPPPPPPPPPHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

It took Twilight a while to notice that Sunset had clapped her mouth shut and waited for the lavender-skinned girl to stop making noise. As she did, Twilight looked up and found Sunset staring down at her with a serious expression.

"Twilight, " the yellow girl spoke in a calm and collected tone. "What is going on here?"

Confrontation

Author's Notes:

No, I have not died of food poisoning as of yet.

"Well, this went south rather quickly." Midnight commented with a grin. "I supposed I shouldn't have expected other me to not to have a panic attack." Midnight pointed out more to herself than anyone else in the room.

The real Twilight looked uncomfortable from behind Sunset, both girls standing on the opposite side of the attic. The fiery haired girl had a mixed expression on her face, consisting of fear, anger and confusion. She had both arms outstretched as if she was attempting from Twilight to get any closer to her winged counterpart.

"What are you doing here?" Sunset asked through gritted teeth. Midnight couldn't help but chuckle at the hostility she was receiving from the girl.

"What?" the former unicorn asked. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing." Midnight replied with a small smile. "It's just cute that you think you can protect the other me, without any magical assistance."

Twilight shrunk back even further, while Sunset tensed up and even let out a small puff through her nose. It was as if she was trying to imitate a horse snorting through its nostrils. From the looks of things, the girl still had some leftover pony behaviors, even after being a human for so long.

"But don't worry." Midnight went on, crossing her arms. A confident smile was now present on her face. "If I wanted to do something to her, I would have already done so."

"Is that so?" Sunset asked rhetorically. "Then what do you want?"

"Hmm..." Midnight put a finger under her chin. "Now that you mention it, I haven't really thought about it. I mean, Twilight over here just brought me into existence without any warning. Did she even tell you what happened last night?"

Sunset quickly glanced back at Twilight, who was still cowering behind her. The Equestrian gave her newest friend a reassuring smile, before returning her gaze to Midnight, who was still hovering in mid-air.

"I know exactly what is going on. I just find it hard to believe that all of the sudden you're not after our magic and had a change of heart from one day to another."

Midnight chuckled after the last word left Sunset's mouth.

"You mean like you had a change of heart from one day to another?" Midnight asked, a hint of mockery entering her voice. "Or have you already forgotten about that?"

Behind Sunset, Twilight visibly flinched at the sheer mentioning of the incident that brought magic into the human world in the first place. She could only imagine how angry Sunset was on the inside, because of what Midnight said.

"How do you know about that?" the former unicorn asked, her voice barely suppressing her anger. For a moment Midnight could have sworn she saw Sunset's hair turning into fire.

"It looks like you're not as aware of the situation as you believe you are."

"As I told you already, I am well aware of the situation," Sunset replied immediately.

"Then I shouldn't have to tell you, that up until a few hours ago, I have been a part of Twilight." Midnight approached the two other girls until she was only an arm's length away from Sunset. Twilight actually ducked, expecting her counterpart to lash out in some way. The Equestrian had her arm raised halfway, also expecting some kind of attack, which never came.

"I was there when you told her about your own incident, I was there when had her first sleepover with you and the other girls. I know everything she knows and vice versa. The two of us are one and the same person, with just one difference." The winged girl explained.

"And that difference is?" Sunset asked, feeling more than a little nervous with the dark angel right in front of her. But she stood her ground, if not for herself, then for Twilight.

"Simple." Midnight grinned, her horn glowing just a bit brighter than usual. A second later, Sunset could hear the familiar sound of an object being summoned out of thin air. Another second later Sunset could feel something light being placed on her head. Given how tense she was, it should have surprised no one, when she jumped to the side, perfectly exposing Twilight to Midnight. However, none was paying attention to the other, as they were distracted by something yellow hitting the wooden ground. Sunset too turned her attention towards the object that fell from her head.

Twilight let out an incomprehensible sound when she recognized the object. It was a badly shaped plastic crown in yellow color and some plastic color "gems" attached to it. Twilight had made that crown when she had been four years old. Her cheeks turned red in shame.

"I prefer to tackle things head on." Twilights "dark" counterpart explained.

"Ngh..." Sunset's nervousness only increased, after she just witnessed a life demonstration of Midnight using magic. It reminded her of the kind of disadvantage she was in right now. She wasn't entirely without magic, but the former unicorn doubted that her ability to look into someone else's memory would help her in any way if it came to a fight. She needed the help of the rest of her friends, in order to deal with Midnight.

"U-umm..." For the first time since they arrived at the attic, Twilight tried to speak up. Emphasize on tried, because she just didn't know what she could say in order to defuse the situation. And from the looks of things, Sunset wouldn't let her, as the yellow girl once again positioned herself in front of Twilight.

"Hmph, look at you. The knight in shining armor trying to protect the princess. Only there is nothing you need to protect her from. I won't do anything to you or anyone else. And to prove that to you, I will even let you call the rest of your friends over here. How does that sound?"

"It sounds like a trap." the Equestrian spat back. "You probably only want us all in one place, so you can steal our magic once again."

"If I wanted to have your magic, I would have stolen it from you the moment you stepped into this house." Midnight pointed out. "Why would I want for the rest to arrive, where the risk is higher that you'll stop me?"

Before Sunset could give an answer, she was stopped by Twilight, who had taken the other girl's wrist.

"Twilight?"

"Sunset..." Twilight took in a deep breath. "Look, I...I know this is...complicated. But... I think we should give her the benefit of the doubt." Twilight's voice became weaker with each syllable passing her lips until she could give Fluttershy a run for her money for being the meekest girl in the world. The glasses wearing teenager looked to the ground as if she was ashamed of what she had just stated. Sunset for her part gave Twilight a hard look, before looking back over to Midnight, who was eyeing Twilight curiously.

Sunset considered the current situation and the circumstances surrounding it. She wasn't happy with it, not by a long shot. But she could definitely say that everything about this current predicament was out of the norm, even for the standards she had gotten used to by now.

"Fine."

"Huh?" Midnight looked over to Sunset, taken a little by surprise. Did she just hear that right?

"But I'll be keeping an eye on you."

"You would be pretty stupid not to do so." Was Midnight's reply. "Still, are you really sure about this?" the Angel asked with a teasing grin.

"I don't trust you." Sunset clarified. She then looked back to Twilight, who was still looking to the ground. "But I trust my friend."

About five minutes later, Midnight, Twilight and Sunset were all seated inside Twilight's room. Her parents, indeed her entire family was unaware of the current situation, as none of them dare to leave the living room at the moment. Sunset could only guess the amount of stress they were going through.

She herself had just finished making the last call to her friends, asking them to come to Twilight's place as soon as possible. She didn't tell them the exact details, not wanting them to panic, just telling them that it was important and had to do with magic.

So now she found herself waiting, sitting on Twilight's chair, while Midnight and Twilight had both placed themselves on Twilight's bed. Sunset wasn't happy with the two being so close to each other, in fact, all of her instincts screamed at her to lash out against Midnight and subdue her somehow. Luckily she had always been more of a thinker than anything else and as such could make a rational decision even in a situation as tense as this one. Gathering information for example.

She had asked the two Sparkles to explain their situation in greater detail. Twilight was, of course, hesitant to tell Sunset about the nightmares she had in the past. The former unicorn mentally kicked herself for not seeing the obvious for so long. After a trauma like the one Twilight went through she should have been more supportive towards her friend.

After the story ended, Sunset took out her own necklace and stared at it. She revised every single thing she learned during her time at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, but couldn't come up with any kind of theory about the current situation. Creating a living being out of magic was nothing new. The transformation spell was one of the things every unicorn who had gone to Celestia's school should be capable of pulling off. Sunset herself had created multiple cats out of plates during one of her tests. But that was transforming a thing into something else.

Midnight for a lack of better phrasing had consisted of nothing more than emotions for the longest. She hadn't even been her own being until Twilight overloaded herself with the stolen magic. And that was what made the situation so hard to understand. If not handled correctly, magic could do literally anything, as long as enough power was put into the spell. What made it even worse was that the Elements of Harmony had been involved. Even Celestia barely knew anything about the artifacts and their magic and she had been one of the original wielders. There was probably not a single tome in Equestria that could help Sunset out. In other words, she would have to start from scratch, if she wanted to solve this puzzle.

"Sunset?"

"Huh?" The former unicorn blinked a couple of times, in order to orientate herself.

"Sorry." Twilight apologized. "It just looked like...you spaced out."

"Oh...that. Yeah, I'm sorry. I've been thinking about... all of this." The yellow girl made a gesture around the room with her right hand.

"Already looking for a way to get rid of me?" Midnight asked with a smirk while flexing her wings.

Sunset gave her the stink eye. "I'm actually trying to figure out whether you are a living being or some form of projection."

"Projection?" Midnight echoed, curiosity dripping from her voice. "In what way?"

Sunset debated with herself, whether she should even talk with Midnight or not. It took her only a couple of seconds to come to a decision.

"I'm just wondering whether Twilight not accidentally projected you into this world like a hologram or not. Better yet, think of it as if you are just an illusion."

"An illusion?" Midnight went with her hand over her own wing. "I feel pretty much real to me."

Sunset got up from her chair and carefully approached Midnight, always keeping one eye on that horn of hers. Twilight watched the interaction from her position, pressing a pillow against her stomach in order to cope with the anxiety that threatened to overwhelm her. Her yellow skinned friend in the meantime stretched out one arm and carefully moved the hand closer and closer to Midnight until it touched her outfit. The former unicorn stroked over the fabric for no more than three seconds, before pulling back.

"Feels real alright..." The rest of the sentence was incomprehensible to the two Sparkles, as Sunset appeared to be busy talking to herself.

"You know" Midnight talked directly to Twilight "the way she is now, she reminds me of us when we're absorbed in one of our projects."

Twilight looked from Midnight over to Sunset, who was busy taking notes on a piece of paper lying on her desk.

"She could have been our best friend." Midnight stated as a matter factly. "Makes me wonder where the Sunset of our world currently is."