Spike threw a clawful of popcorn into his mouth and chewed loudly, making his way down the stairs and walking into Twilight’s laboratory. The dragon wasn't entirely sure why Twilight always
referred to it as her laboratory as there was little more than a few premade focus circles, some books and a single desk, but Spike didn't really care much to ask. Today was different though, today there was a new object in her laboratory, a mirror that had a slight greenish tinge to it stood in the corner. A mirror that Twilight was standing directly in front of, yet didn't show up in.

The dragon placed his popcorn bag on a nearby desk before walking behind the alicorn. Sure enough he showed up on the mirror, but everything else in the room, including Twilight, did not. He waved a claw behind her body, noticing that it showed up on the mirror plain as day. “Spooky,” he muttered.

“Hey, Twi, what's with the mirror?” he asked, only now noticing that Twilight hadn't so much as flinched the entire time he had been down here. “Uh, Twi? You okay?” He waved a claw in front of the alicorn, yet still she didn't do much as blink.

“Code black. Send a priority request for help straight to Celestia,” she said in a flat, toneless voice.

Spike’s eyes lit up and he sprinted over to the desk. “Yes ma’am.” One hastily scrawled letter later and the dragon exhaled a plume of green fire. Consuming the letter and whisking it away to its intended target. “Sent.”

“Would you mind telling me what's going on? You are scaring me, Twilight.” Spike tapped her side, yet the alicorn didn't look away.

“I don't know what's going on, which is why I need to talk to Celestia. She’ll know.” Her features softened slightly. “I’m not in any pain or danger though.”

The dragon tried to smile, happy at least that his caretaker wasn't currently suffering, other than from an intense and apparently all consuming desire to look into a weird mirror. “Whatever you say, Twi…”

He was about to turn and grab his popcorn when a flash of light accompanied by a small explosion made him turn to the centre of the room. Where Celestia now stood with wide panicked eyes, her wings open and ready to move at a moment’s notice. Instantly she scanned the room, her horn ablaze with power, until it settled over the greenish mirror. Her power unexpectedly sizzled and popped, disappearing completely, her panicked expression fading to one of strange calm.

“Spike, please wait up the stairs,” Celestia commanded, looking down at the terrified drake.

“What's going on?” he whispered, glancing nervously at Twilight, who had yet to move.

“It's nothing, I’ll talk to you in a minute. Right now Twilight needs me.” She smiled faintly, placing a hoof on the dragon’s shoulder, filling him with confidence.

“Okay, but after that you are telling me what's going on… right?”

The alicorn nodded. “I promise. Now go, please.”

Spike cast one last glance over his shoulder at the alicorn and the mirror before sighing. “Okay.”

The dragon walked away, unable to bring himself to eat anymore of his popcorn.

When the door clicked shut behind him, Celestia lit her horn and blanketed the room with as many anti-scrying, and anti-noise spells as she knew. After several minutes the alicorn nodded, confident that no one was capable of listening in on them.

With a sigh of pity, Celestia walked next to the alicorn, her reflection appearing in the green mirror. “So, you've learned the truth.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked hesitantly, yet despite her curiosity she couldn't help but feel like deep down, a part of her always knew and a terrible sense of deja vu washed through her.

“Activate protocol 1109, recall. Activation code epsilon,” Celestia intoned.

“What does-”

Twilight was no longer in her castle, she wasn't in Ponyville either, nor did it even feel as though she was even in her own mind. She couldn't move, nor summon up a single bit of magic, yet she felt strangely calm about this realization and she felt her eyes being turned around until they faced a familiar alicorn.

The Celestia she saw seemed haggard, deep bags hung under her eyes and scorch marks littered her fur. On her forehead were a pair of goggles, and around her body was thin white lab coat, from which many instruments and odds and ends poked out of.

“Project Dusk, log date 989, June thirty-first.” She pushed the goggles slightly further up her head. “The project has been coming along smoothly over the last several months. The little snag with the visual processing matrix has been worked out surprisingly easily.”

She stepped to the side, revealing a truly massive array of intersecting spell matrices, around which were secondary and tertiary matrices that interwove with the first. “Isn't she beautiful?”

The alicorn sighed, the barest hint of a smile visible due to the angle. “An almost fully sentient artificial magical construct capable of independent thought and reason. Not quite free, she will be capable of problem solving, but will also lack the true creative freedom that comes with free will. True free will is after all, not possible, but this should be close enough for my goals.”

She pointed a hoof to the centre-most ring, which had so many arcane symbols etched into it that Twilight couldn't even make out any individual symbol. “The origin point will serve as the location where she will first manifest.” She gestured outwards to the second and third layer. “The additional layers will generate the spell’s body over several years. The addition of false memories won't be terribly difficult. The Sparkle family has spent century in poor standing and squalor but with their assistance in my plans they will gain the power they seek and give my spell the home it needs. With a fake background and memories in place I will have the perfect assistant to ensure my sister’s safe return in eleven years time.”

The alicorn chuckled, retrieving a flask from somewhere and taking a swig before turning back to Twilight. “If this works, I will have completed the greatest feat in golemancy the world has ever known.”

She sighed, a sad smile spreading across her lips. “It will take sacrifice though, nothing this powerful comes for free after all.” The alicorn retrieve a familiar amulet from outside her view, one that Twilight instantly recognized as the Element of Magic. “Extracting the piece of my magic tied to the element will be a difficult and painful task, but it is necessary to bind the construct to my will and give it the spark from which its own magic can bloom.”

She placed the element on the table directly in front of Twilight. “This should also bind the element to the construct, fooling the elements of harmony into ‘seeing’ that she has a soul.”

The alicorn slowly paced, her features drawing tight as her mind wandered. “This will be difficult to pull off, but I have spent centuries ensuring the right ponies are where they should be and the rest of the elements have already been detected in Ponyville.”

She shook her head, and retrieved the small silver flask before taking another swig, grimacing at the taste. “Manipulating foals is not exactly something I look forward to. Still, it will all be worth it when Lulu returns and the balance is restored.” The alicorn shook her head and made her way over to Twilight before lighting her horn. “As this will be my last log before the experiment is complete I will include this recording into the entity’s memory in case it discovers its origin.” A thin smile crossed her face. “You would be proud of me, Lulu, I even came up with a fitting name for this creature. We always needed somepony to connect us, to act as a counterbalance and third voice and what better symbolism to bridge day and night than Twilight?”

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