“A thousand years ago, the crystal cracked. Here, far from the castle, the race of Mystics came to live in a dream of peace.”
The Narrator, The Dark Crystal.

Somewhere.

Twilight Sparkle sipped a cup of tea, frowning at the equations she was looking at in her book. Sat on a chair outside her library, a parasol keeping the warmth of the lazy summer sun from reaching her, she could think of no better way to spend her time.

It was a beautiful day in Ponyville, and she couldn’t help but smile at how perfect everything was, here. There were no monsters, her library was looking healthier than ever, all her books were in a sensible order.

Perfect.

“Morning, Twilight!” a voice called out.

Twilight looked up, frowning for a moment, before seeing who it was and smiling widely.

“Good morning, Twilight!” she said to Twilight Sparkle, who sat opposite her with her own identical wide smile. “How are you today?”

“Not so bad, Twilight,” Twilight said, with a little, happy giggle. “How about you?”

“I’m great, Twilight, just great,” Twilight said, smiling again. “Oh, but I’m being rude! Shall I be mother?”

She picked up the teapot and poured them both another cup of tea. Twilight picked up her cup and took a sip, smiling again, even wider than before.

“Perfect,” she said.

“Of course,” Twilight replied, inclining her head. “Isn’t everything?”

“True enough,” Twilight said, bringing her book up. “Say, Twilight.”

“Yes, Twilight?”

“Can you help with this particular conundrum?” Twilight asked, turning the book around and showing Twilight the equations. “I feel like it’s gibberish. I’ve already asked Twilight and Twilight, but they don’t have the answer.”

“Gosh, and you don’t know it yourself?” Twilight said, eyes widening in surprise. “Why, I don’t think that happens very often, does it?”

“Well,” Twilight said modestly, “I don’t like to brag, but… well, this is an exceptional formula I’m trying to solve.”

“It must be, to be difficult for such an exceptional pony,” Twilight replied with a chuckle. She leaned in, frowning at the page. “I mean, it doesn’t look like gibberish to me, but it is very tricky.” She narrowed her eyes. “You need to balance this one and this one.”

She pointed to two points on the page, and Twilight turned it back around.

“Well, darn,” she said, frowning. “I never thought of it that way.”

Twilight gave Twilight a small, indulgent smile. “Perhaps if you go back a couple of steps, take a break, and maybe go see the others, you’ll feel better?”

Twilight nodded. “Maybe. It’s been a while since I stopped in to say hi to Twilight and Twilight. And I have been working very hard.”

“Don’t you always, Twilight?” Twilight asked, still smiling. “Don’t you always?”

Boston, Fenway Park, Checkpoint Beta.

Lieutenant Colonel Cheerilee was rubbing her forehead with her hoof. If Stephan Bauer didn’t know better, he’d think it was a migraine.

Ah, who the hell am I kidding, it’s a migraine alright.

Not that he blamed her. As he spoke, her expression became first disbelieving, then shocked, then tired. She looked so worn down that for a moment he forgot that she was the PHL’s second in command.

“Could you… could you summarise this please?” Cheerilee repeated tiredly when he was done.

“Would ‘all hell has broken loose’ work?” Bauer asked. “It seems as close as I can get.”

“That’s not very helpful,” one of the other officers - a wiry blonde Lieutenant named Becker Kellman - said. “Or descriptive.”

“Well, you tell me how having three Alicorns and a draconequus running around, one of the former with no information on his location does not qualify as ‘all hell has broken loose?!’” Bauer said testily.

There was a momentary silence at his outburst, and then, to his surprise, Cheerilee let out a tired laugh.

“Sounds right to me, Major,” she said quietly. “Shall we focus on the rest of the situation?”

“Well, we have Code Royal and Code Backstabber on the ground with unconfirmed reports of Codes Party Pooper and Speed Demon on the ground,” Bauer said. “I think Kraber went after Party Pooper.”

“I wonder if there is a single person in the next three realities even remotely surprised,” commented Dr Bowman. The redheaded man was standing a little away from the group, his eyes narrowed.

“I’d be more interested if any people in said realities had any suggestions for what to do next,” Bauer replied testily. “We have a lot of problems out here, and not many solutions.”

“We brought a squad of specialists,” Cheerilee said, “along with a platoon’s worth of other troops. But you’re right, Major, this does present a problem.”

“We can’t pull out,” Kellman said quietly. “Even assuming we could bring enough firepower out to kill the Tyrant, we can’t level Boston. It’s too important.”

“Was levelling Boston somehow an option?” Bowman asked, folding his arms.

“No,” Cheerilee said, frowning at Kellman. “Becker, if I want suggestions of that ilk -”

“Ma’am,” Kellman replied, “I’m just stating a fact. The only thing we can do against her that has any chance would be levelling the city… but Boston’s too strategically vital.”

“He’s not wrong about the latter,” Bauer said, “but I have thoughts about the former.”

“Hit me, Major,” Cheerilee said, turning to him with a gleam in her eye that Bauer recognised from half a dozen terrifying situations and precisely three poker games (none of which Bauer had even remotely been close to winning). “Right now, I want every option we have that isn’t levelling this city, short of throwing a truckload of kitchen sinks at her.”

Bauer sighed, before nodding. “First off, I want every available unit to take position around the established battle zones.” He winced. “I can’t promise that it’ll stay there, so we’ll need to make it a wide perimeter. Try and contain it.”

“Solid plan, assuming our new weapons work,” Kellman said, nodding.

“By the stars, something I agree with Becker on,” Bowman muttered. He smirked at Bauer. “Well done, Major, you’ve made a miracle.”

“Shut up, Bowman,” Bauer said. “I need everyone outside that perimeter to find cover and stick to a defensive position. Make sure they got enough firepower to keep the fighting inside the perimeter. Shoot to kill for Celestia.”

“Not the others?” Kellman asked, frowning.

“Apparently the new Alicorn, Galatea, is an ally,” Cheerilee cut in. “One Jim and Hiro Mifune knew about.”

“Hiro’s involved?” Bauer said, eyes widening in shock. “I didn’t even know if he was still alive.”

“He’s involved, alright,” Bowman said, nodding. “Him and the other mystics. This was at least partly their doing.”

Bauer turned to Cheerilee, who sighed and gave him a tired smile. “It’s a long story, Major, assuming we survive it.”

Stephan groaned heavily. “I figured something big was going on. If I'd known it was to do with Mystics and all that crap…”

“It is,” Cheerilee affirmed. “Right now, we need Galatea, Luna, and yes, even Discord alive. We need answers from them. About all of this.”

“Well, from what I've seen, they're not here to harm us,” Bauer told her. “But that might be a trick.”

“It might be, Major,” Cheerilee agreed, “but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Anything else?”

“Yes, actually,” Bauer said. “I want to be there to help.”

Cheerilee paused, before pursing her lips. “You realise that if Trixie was here, she’d hang my guts on a railing for letting you risk your life like that?”

“Which is why I’m thankful she isn’t here,” Bauer said, smiling, though he felt a brief pang or anxiety at the mention of Trixie.

Cheerilee nodded. “And I guess ordering you to stand down will amount to spitting into the wind, right?”

Stephan smiled sadly. “You can still try, ma’am. I promise to at least hear you out.”

“I could try, Major, but since I’m inclined to agree with your assessment here I’d rather not,” Cheerilee said with a heavy sigh. “Do what you think best. I’ll coordinate here and try to keep our defences from collapsing in the meantime.”

Bauer nodded, and turned to go, only for Bowman to step forward, a look on his face that Bauer wasn’t entirely certain he liked.

“I have a thought, Major,” he said, “and I’m hoping it works as well as it did last time.”

Bauer blinked. “Sorry. What?”

“Alright,” Bowman said, clapping his hands together. “Hear me out on this one…”

Checkpoint Delta.

It was Twilight Sparkle.

Oh, she was older - grey hairs here and there, a few care lines Luna didn’t recognise - but it was definitely her. Seeing her was almost as bad as seeing Celestia. Especially since, unlike the maddened copy of her sister, this Twilight was asleep, and so could not help but be so much more like the Twilight Luna knew than the deranged mockery of her sister that she had fought.

“Are you alright?” Galatea asked quietly.

“No,” Luna replied, “I am not.”

Galatea’s expression became almost sympathetic. “Do you wish to discuss it?”

Luna shook her head, willing her emotions to the back of her mind and forcing herself to forget who it was she was looking at.

“We’ve no time, as you made abundantly clear,” she said. “I just…”

The facade broke, and she turned her gaze from Twilight, closing her eyes.

“Luna?” Galatea almost whispered.

“She is Twilight,” Luna whispered. “Not a day ago I saw her, free and innocent like all youth, and yet here she is leading an army, killing beings.” She opened her eyes, and met Galatea’s resolute gaze. “How? How did she become this?”

Galatea’s expression hardened. “We shall discover that truth together, sister.”

Luna took a breath. Sister. Only a short time they had known each other, and yet now they had to rely on one another to answer this most disturbing of riddles. Galatea’s expression seemed sincere enough, at least.

“I hope so,” Luna finally said, speaking so quietly that only Galatea could have heard her. She turned back to the unconscious Twilight. “So: interrogating an unconscious mare - I assume you intend -”

“A mind delve, yes,” Galatea nodded. “I will assist the humans in covering you.”

“Going in alone might not be safe,” Luna said. “Especially when I don’t even know what I will be looking for.” She looked up and met Galatea’s gaze. “I… would rather you were there with me.”

Galatea frowned, before looking back at the collection of humans standing by the barricade.

“Which of you is in charge here?” she asked.

One human in muddy-white, all-enclosing armour turned, before glancing at another human in green battle armour. With all the full-face helmets, Luna couldn’t get a clear impression of these humans.

“Your Checkpoint, Dave,” the second one said in a feminine voice.

“Right,” the first said, before waking up to Galatea. “Then I guess that would be me, ma’am.”

“We need you to protect our bodies while we go on the mind delve,” Galatea said. “I realise that will be difficult -”

“Mind delve?” the man interrupted.

“I am going to go into Twilight Sparkle’s mind and retrieve… vital information,” Luna explained. Would be nice if I knew what vital information I was seeking. “Galatea will accompany me.”

The man didn’t reply for a moment, but finally nodded.

“I, uh, recommend moving into the pre-fab,” he said, motioning to the structure. “It’s more defensible. I can have Taylor and Grit cover you directly in there, while the rest of us remain out here.”

“I’ll have Idle with you,” the human woman added, coming up behind the man. “The more the merrier, right?”

The man folded his arms. “Idle? Really?”

“He’s a good soldier,” the woman chuckled. She turned to Luna. “Just… don’t get on his bad side.”

“Just don’t talk to him,” the man countered. “He’s nothing but bad side.”

Galatea snorted. “If we are quite done discussing the ill-temper of one human soldier, may we proceed? I would rather complete this task sooner than later.”

Luna scowled. “Your impatience is wearing my own patience thin, Galatea.”

“Mine impatience is a product of the situation,” Galatea retorted. “And in case you were not aware, mine other self died in this city. I’ve little wish to have the same experience, at least not without gaining something valuable to our cause.”

This thought was sobering, and Luna blinked. What exactly was there that she could say to that?

“Then let us bring Twilight Sparkle into the ‘pre-fab’ and begin,” she said finally. “Since time is so short.”

“Gotcha,” the man said, nodding. He motioned to another of his troops. “Come on! Let’s get her into the checkpoint!”

Code Royal Ground Zero.

How long will Galway Girl need? Discord thought, hanging in mid-air. Hopefully not too long… He scowled. I mean seriously. ‘Half an hour’ my left foot.

He shook his head, trying to keep himself calm. It was difficult: he felt… angry. That was unusual: he got irritated, he got worried, he was even occasionally scared… but angry? He had never gone that far. Not really, anyway, not in the way he felt now.

I have to remember my strengths, he thought. Brute forcing isn’t it. I’m smarter than this. He looked at a non-existent watch on his arm and raised an eyebrow. Speaking of, I had best time this next one just right.

“Discord!” a demented sounding voice yelled.

“Ah, right on cue,” he said. He held out a hand, and in it materialised a baseball bat, the words Ashley Bat printed on it in bold letters, with smaller writing underneath in handwritten script saying ‘happy purifications, from the Batter’. A moment later, a streak of white light shot toward him, fiery and full of the promise of death.

“Purification in progress,” he murmured, and he swung the bat right as she was about to connect with him, sending her flying off into a nearby building with a loud crash and a scattering of rubble and debris, the bat breaking in two from the effort. He looked at it with a sad smile. “Home run. Thanks, Batter.”

A moment later, she burst from the ruins.

“You are starting to get on my nerves,” she growled.

“Only starting?” he asked. He tutted. “I really must try harder -”

There was a flash of light and he was blasted back. Grimacing, he raised his paw in a warding motion, but she barreled into him again before he could cast a defensive spell. She forced him through a building, before throwing him to the ground in a heap with another spell.

Groaning in pain, he pushed himself to his feet. “Alright, Celly, enough games. Can you and I take this seriously, now?”

“Really?” she said, landing near him, once again smiling. Seriously, why is she always smiling? “This from you, the least serious being I know, the king of games?”

“Ahem,” Discord said, raising a clawed finger and pointing upward. “I am a Lord, not a King, thank you very much. Judging from your ample figure, being an actual monarch would be bad for my general fitness. Is that your vaunted obsession with cake showi -”

He found himself blasted backward again, smashing into a building.

“Ouch,” he said, before collapsing to the ground. She landed in front of him again.

“You know,” she said idly, “the only reason I haven’t just obliterated you where you stand is that I’m eager to see what trap my two wayward sisters come up with while you stall me.” She tilted her head. “I’d like you to think on that for just a moment, please.”

Ah, heck, she figured it out, Discord though, grimacing. But at least she’s gonna help me drag this out. Which… actually might be bad. He winced. But hey, look on the bright side. I get to live a little while longer.

This did not feel like a bright side.

“Oh, I don’t like living for the future,” he said to distract himself, waving a paw as he stood, shakily, to his feet. “I prefer to live in the moment. And at the moment…”

Before he could finish speaking, a giant mallet appeared from nowhere behind Celestia, smashing her into the ground before pounding at her repeatedly.

“…at the moment, I'm enjoying hitting you with everything I can muster,” he finished with a snigger. “It's remarkably therapeutic. I'd do it more often, but I do intend to kill you, so I suppose I won't get the -“

The mallet evaporated in a flash of magical energy, Celestia obliterating it.

“… chance,” he finished, trailing off. “On the other hand…”

“Anything else?” she asked.

Discord grinned. “Oh, plenty.”

He raised a claw and snapped it once again, and suddenly the air around Celestia turned to frigid ice. Her face was frozen in a look of surprise.

“How’s that?” Discord asked, grinning.

The second the words left his mouth, the ice evaporated in a flash of magic, and his smile disappeared (along with his mouth).

“You know,” Celestia said, “that was very -”

She let out a surprised yelp, before looking back at her tail. Sure enough, there was Discord’s mouth, biting her tail.

“What perfume do you use back here?” the mouth asked, letting go. “Because it tastes awful -”

A thin beam of magic shot from Celestia’s horn into the mouth, and Discord’s ears suddenly shot fire. He blinked, his mouth suddenly back on his face.

“Ouch,” he said, opening his mouth and waving away the sudden stream of smoke. “I didn’t need a mouthwash that badly, Celly.”

“Seriously,” Celestia said, scowling at him. “Aggravating as I’m sure they are, are these toys all you have? A foal Alicorn could overcome these pranks.”

“Have there ever been foal Alicorns, apart from you, Galway Girl and Lulu?” Discord pondered. “Were you ever foals? I can’t recall. It was a long time ago.”

Rather than answer, Celestia charged up a spell, and Discord had to teleport himself away before it obliterated him. He saw the building he had been standing in front of simply vaporise in a flash of light, dust and ash falling where it had stood.

“You’re good at dodging at least,” Celestia noted, turning to look right at him. She smiled at his shocked expression. “You know you can’t actually hide from me, right? If you can smell me, I can smell you.”

Something was wrong with her voice, and Discord found himself floating gently away from her, feeling another unwelcome, unusual feeling.

Terror.

“I don’t understand,” he said quietly.

“Of course not,” she said, chuckling now. “You were just a baby when the rest of your kindred were obliterated. You don’t even really know why you exist, Chimera.” Her grin became almost predatory. “But I do.”

This isn’t right, Discord thought, raising a paw. He teleported again as Celestia threw another spell at him, and in turn he threw a ball of raw chaos magic at her. She, too, teleported to dodge it, the chaotic energy transforming the spot she had stood into a chocolate fountain.

“Come on,” he hissed. “That should totally have hit you!”

“Have you lost your touch, Chimera?” she asked in a mocking tone.

Discord growled. “I’ll show you ‘lost my touch’, you utter whorse.”

He raised one claw and snapped it, and suddenly…

… they were somewhere else.

Describing what happened to the immediate environment around them using the English language would have been like describing colour to a fez. Pointless, futile, impossible. Rather like the realm they were seemingly in.

What Discord had done was beyond dangerous: all around him was pure, unadulterated chaos: the raw stuff that his chaos magic was made of. It had transformed concrete in playdough, solids into liquids, gas into particles of salty mineral particles that, surprisingly, wasn’t made of salt. Euclidean geometry had temporarily left the building (and, indeed, the buildings) and the sky was turquoise with polka dots and rippled like turbulent water.

Discord grinned, before bringing both arms up in a pseudo-angelic pose, raising himself up into the sky. Lightning the colour of rose petals shout up from the ground and impacted the sky, splashing against the sky and sending spurts of the turquoise polka-dotted material splashing outwards. Splashes of it ended up everywhere, including a little on Celestia’s nose.

The Alicorn looked up at him, frowning in irritation, and went to fly, but when she sprung up she suddenly hit the floor in a heap. There was a momentary pause where she frowned in confusion, before she looked behind her.

Celestia’s wings had disappeared.

She looked at the empty spaces where they used to be with a vaguely disinterested expression, before looking back up at him.

“What do you think this will do, Discord?” she asked.

“What will it do?” he repeated. “This is my realm, Celestia. You’re surrounded by the very stuff I control. Your powers, your strengths, mean nothing in a reality where they literally don’t exist!”

Celestia looked up impassively for a moment, before she began to chuckle. Discord’s smile faded immediately.

“What are you laughing about?” he asked.

“Only this,” Celestia replied. “I defeated you before, and I defeated Kontagion. Did you really, truly think that you could defeat me with chaos magic?”

Her horn glowed with a pale, sickly light, and suddenly the reality around them snapped back to normal reality like glass shattering. Her wings were suddenly there again, and the streets around them were suddenly back to normal again. Falling from the heavens in shock, Discord hit the ground hard.

“Ouch,” he murmured, looking up from where he lay as he struggled to get to his feet. Her sudden attack had winded him once more.

She chuckled, still grinning at him. “Oh, Discord?”

He blinked. “Wha -”

There was a momentary flash of… something, and he looked down to see she had impaled him with her horn. It had passed right through his sternum, blood seeping from both ends. Red blood, so mundane, and yet even his veins ran with it.

I should really change that, he thought absently, his mind not quite registering the pain yet.

Oh, wait, there it was.

He let out an unearthly howl, screeching out to the heavens.

“What do you think, Discord?” Queen Celestia asked, a dark tinge of amusement under her voice. “Me, inside you. It’s not quite what you’ve always truly wanted, all these millennia, but tell me how it feels.”

She pulled her horn out, and Discord fell to his knees, eyes wide as he looked at the hole in his chest.

“Painful?” she asked. “Good, chimera, good. I was hoping to get more time with you. So much more time with you. For us to do this over…” She put a hoof under his chin, lifting it to meet her eyes. “And over… and over again, until you’ve felt a hint of the torment I’ve suffered over the years.”

Torment? Discord thought weakly. What does she mean?

Wrenching his head away from her hoof, he disappeared, teleporting himself away from her before raising his lion paw. A hail of… hail shot out of his paw, smacking into her head for a moment until she raised a shield. She growled, her expression becoming almost feral for a moment, and then she laughed.

“I must admit,” she said, “you’re doing better than you did in this world. That's surprising.”

“Wait… wait ‘til you hear… my Beethooven,” Discord said grimly. He snapped another finger, and there was a gleam in the sky.

Celestia looked up, raising an eyebrow. “What in the name of all that is…”

A moment later, a giant grand piano landed on her head, another Discord tapping away at the thing.

“You ruined the middle C,” he yelled over at the Discord who was grinning at the scene.

“Sorry!” Discord replied, wincing in pain.

A moment later, the piano (and the playing Discord) was obliterated by a flash of energy. Celestia barreled out, slamming into Discord, and threw him through another building in a flash of power. Before he could react, he was blasted back by another sudden blast of energy, slammed through another building, and then found another bolt of magic bearing down on him, smashing him through three metres of concrete and then leaving him groaning in pain.

“Alright…” he murmured. “We can call it a draw, if you really want…”

He pulled himself out of the crater he'd been left in, and scowled at Celestia, who was standing nearby.

“I’m curious,” she said, raising an eyebrow. “Do you ever get bored of your childish antics?”

“Not… really,” he said, groaning. He held up a clawed finger. “Gimme a minute, please. That last one was a doozy.”

“I don’t think so,” she said. Her horn flared and another spell blasted him through another building, where he lay in a heap.

Okay, Discord, he thought, cracking his neck.

“You might not get bored of this ridiculousness, Discord, but I do. I've been patient enough. It's time for you to lie down and die.”

“Die, huh?” Discord asked, smiling weakly. “Alrighty then.”

He raised and snapped a claw, and suddenly a giant six-sided die dropped onto Celestia, smashing her into the ground, before exploding in a flash of light and smoke.

“Ah, everypony loves a pun,” Discord said with a tired smile.

The smoke cleared, and Celestia was suddenly standing less than four feet from him, and his smile disappeared.

“In that case,” she said, grinning maliciously as her horn glowed, “prepare for your punishment.”

Checkpoint Delta.

Galatea and Luna were standing above the unconscious Twilight Sparkle, who was lying on a table. One of the humans, who had introduced himself as ‘David Elliot’, had put her there himself.

“Alright,” Galatea said quietly, her eyes looking over Sparkle before looking to Luna. “Are you ready?”

Luna snorted. “Are you? This is my forté, sister.”

“You are not wrong there,” Galatea said with a nod. “Very well, I shall follow your lead.”

“What about us?” the soldier called Idle asked. He still wore his full-body armour, and his voice had that metallic timbre as it came from within his helmet. “What should we do while you’re doing… whatever you’re doing?”

“Try not to die?” Galatea replied with an arched eyebrow.

“Make sure nothing gets to us,” Luna added, throwing a quick scowl in Galatea’s direction. The grey Alicorn merely gave Luna a small, unbothered shrug.

“Alright,” Idle said, sounding none too happy.

“Princess Luna,” the Unicorn soldier - True Grit, Elliot had called him - put in. “Good luck, ma’am.”

“Thank you,” Luna said, inclining her head. “I wish you the same.”

And then her horn glowed -

Somewhere.

The sun was shining over their heads, and a quick look around revealed that they were in Ponyville. The village looked almost perfect, save for the fact that the entire town was strangely out of focus. Almost too much so, more than any dream that Luna had entered in all her centuries.

Galatea was there with her, looking around with a frown on her face. Luna suddenly realised that her sister looked more perplexed than she was.

Finally, something she does not have an answer for, Luna thought ungraciously, but she dismissed the thought with a frown.

“This,” Galatea said, “is not quite what I was expecting.”

“And just what were you expecting, Galatea?” Luna asked, looking around the faux-Ponyville with a neutral expression. “Obvious pain, suffering? Chains and blood? Perhaps Twilight Sparkle nailed to a wall?”

“I don’t know,” Galatea replied. “Just… I expected something that fit. Nothing I’ve seen makes sense. None of it does.”

“Then shall we focus on finding Twilight Sparkle, and finding the sense in this place?” Luna asked, arching an eyebrow.

“That may be prudent,” Galatea said quietly. “Lead on, sister.”

Somewhere.

Twilight Sparkle sipped a cup of tea, frowning at the equations she was looking at in her book. Sat on a chair outside her library, a parasol keeping the warmth of the lazy summer sun (praise the sun) from reaching her, she could think of no better way to spend her time.

It was a beautiful day (it’s always a beautiful day) in Ponyville, and she couldn’t help but smile at how perfect everything was, here. There were no monsters, her library was looking healthier than ever, all her books were in a sensible order.

Perfect.

“Twilight Sparkle?”

Twilight looked up at the unfamiliar voice, and blinked as she saw two Alicorns approaching her. One was grey, unfamiliar to her, but the other was -

“Princess Luna!” she said, smiling widely. “It’s been forever! How are you?”

Luna blinked at her. “I… am well, Twilight. And how are you?”

“Oh, excellent, except for this real humdinger of a formula I’ve been trying to solve,” Twilight smiled. She turned her book around, showing Luna and the new Alicorn it. “I don’t suppose you have any insights?”

The new Alicorn stepped up, narrowing her eyes at it. “Twilight Sparkle, this puzzle is nonsense.”

“Oh, well, forgive me Princess, but it’s not nonsense,” Twilight said. “You see, if you look here, and here -”

She pointed to two points on the paper where she had solved the image. Luna looked at the point: to her surprise, the lunar diarch looked utterly perplexed.

“Twilight,” she said slowly, “this really is nonsense.”

“Hm.” Twilight looked at the book again. “Did I make a mistake somewhere? Well, thanks for pointing it out.”

“Twilight…” Luna said again.

“Twilight!”

Twilight looked up, to see Twilight approaching, a smile on her face. “Oh, hello Twilight! Luna and - uh…”

“Galatea,” the grey mare said without inflection.

“Galatea came to visit me!” Twilight finished, still smiling.

“Isn’t that lovely,” Twilight said, smiling at Twilight before turning to the other two. “May I speak with you both, please?”

The two Alicorns exchanged looks, as though considering her request for a moment.

“Of course,” Luna said after a moment. “Please, lead on.”

“Take care!” Twilight said to both of them as Twilight led them away.

“You as well, Twilight,” Luna replied automatically, before stopping. “Please. Take care.”

“I will!” Twilight beamed at them.

As they trotted away, she returned her attention to her equations, before frowning at them.

They’re not nonsense, she thought. Are they?

(Of course they’re not. You’re just smarter than them. Keep trying.)

Smiling again, Twilight kept working on her book.

Something was off about this other Twilight. Something in the way she walked, in the way she held herself, even in the intonation of her voice.

“You really shouldn’t be here, you know,” the other Twilight Sparkle said as they walked.

“And yet we are,” Galatea said impassively from next to Luna. “So are you to explain what you are, or should we take a guess?”

The faux-Twilight laughed. “Oh, good. I was almost expecting you not to understand.”

“A simulacrum?” Luna asked, looking from Galatea to the not-Twilight.

“That’s a very basic way of putting it,” the faux-Twilight said softly, before turning back to them both, an odd gleam in her eye. “I’m Twilight. The perfect Twilight.”

“Speaking as one whose entire role is observation, perfection is impossible,” Galatea countered at once.

“You mistake me,” the faux-Twilight said, smiling coldly. “I am Twilight. I am her thoughts, her memories, her personality. Certain things - the choices she would make - have of course been changed to accommodate the Queen’s wishes. I may seem a little changed…” And here she chuckled. “But I assure you. It is still me.”

Luna’s eyes widened. “You’re a copy. A complete copy of her mind, imprisoning her real mind within its bounds.”

“Indeed,” the faux-Twilight said, smiling again. “And if you’ll forgive my arrogance, it’s a very, very impressive piece of magic. I would have loved, under normal circumstances, to study it more closely, but you must understand that I’ve been so preoccupied with the war and the acclimatising of the Newfoals that…”

“Stop!” Luna hissed. “You… you speak like her, but you are not her!”

“I am, in every way, her,” the copy retorted. “I possess everything she possesses. Her memories, her intellect, her intuition. There is no part of her that was not put into me!”

Galatea remained silent through the exchange, though her brow was increasingly furrowed - whether in concern or thought, Luna neither knew nor cared.

“A complete copy of that kind is impossible,” Luna whispered. “What sorcery is this? What allowed you to exist, thing?”

“Okay. Firstly, ‘thing’ is a very hurtful term,” the copy said.

“I do not care if you feel offended, abomination!” Luna hissed.

“And secondly,” the copy pressed on, ignoring the interruption, “it’s not like I was ever going to tell you everything.” She smiled. “You shouldn’t be here. And indeed, if She knew, she would eject you herself, with pain. But we are allowed leeway from Her, and so you are fortunate in that regard.” Her smile dropped like a stone. “But be warned. You are not welcome in this place. Not now, not ever.”

“Twilight Sparkle will be freed,” Galatea said from next to Luna. “There is nothing that can prevent it.”

“If you say so,” the copy replied, “but I’m afraid that it won’t be right now. Now.” Her eyes gleamed again. “Get. Out.”

And then suddenly Luna’s eyes snapped open.

Galatea was already awake, her brows furrowed thoughtfully. The humans were watching them too - the one in the long coat was smoking some sort of cigarette, looking at them with what might have been a frown of suspicion.

“Well?” he asked. “Anything?”

“Many things,” Galatea said without looking at him. She met Luna’s eyes. “We know, now.”

“What do we know, Galatea?” Luna asked. “That she is possessed?”

“Exactly,” Galatea said. “By something strong and evil. She is trapped in a fantasy within her own mind, while her body is controlled by a copy so perfect that you could never tell it wasn’t the real thing.”

“I’m sorry, human a bit lost here,” the soldier Idle said from by the window. “You telling me she’s not her?”

“That is precisely what we are saying,” Galatea said, before whistling softly. “Well. That answers that.”

“Then now what?” Luna asked, frowning. “What do we do with this information?”

Galatea smiles, though to Luna’s eyes it looked tired and worn out more than anything else.

“Now, sister,” she said quietly, “we finish this fight.”

Because why not.