Stars and galaxies burned around us, the dim light that was my namesake was the only illumination in this benighted place aside from the cold fire of hatred that burned from the fragmented mirror in front of me. As I had once before I strode forward on seemingly nothing but starlight. This place, this in-between realm was not a place I'd willingly return to, the memories weren't exactly pleasant.

A great pillar of fractured glass.

A unholy creature with a parody of my face staring out.

A battle of wills to decide the fate of my homeland.

I shook the images away, such memories were dangerous here in a realm of the mind. I had to be careful, especially with that thing sitting on the other side.

“Oh Twilight, how sweet of you to visit me... I've been oh so lonely in this little PRISON!” the last word was a shriek as the false Fluttershy that Pinkie had named Contempt howled hatefully at me. I didn't let it faze me, I had no pity for that thing.

“How are you today Contempt? Ready to talk yet? I hear your screams, I know how much the energy stream of the stabilizer must hurt,” I said calmly, slowly circling the fragment.

“And what if I am, would you shut off your only defense against my sisters? I think not. The only relief I find is in frustrating you as much as possible,” Contempt hissed plaintively, a pseudo-angelic smile that stretched a little too wide perched on her lips.

“Unless you know how to strengthen the veil,” I said softly, stopping my movements to stare directly at it. “If, for instance, we no longer needed this contraption to maintain it our grid...”

Contempt glared balefully at me, I hid a satisfied smile.

“I like your new horn.”

I stopped and stared back at her, a new hate matching hers in my eyes.

“Very stylish, all crooked like your heart, your mind, and your soul,” Contempt whispered venomously. “Oh yes, I spoke to your other half many times, she's as bossy as you, she told me what you did in the farmhouse, naughty naughty, but I suppose so much power was quite a rush hmmmm?”

I let power flow along my new crystalline horn, energy flowed along the base, curling and curving with its shape to gather at the razor-sharp tip. My new horn... yes, I hard to burn out my birth-horn to critically weaken Accursed, I had hoped to kill it but... regardless I had bought Equestria much-needed breathing room. My experiments had yielded a process by which I had regrown my horn, but it was different. Unlike the clean straight natural horn of a unicorn my was curved and twisted, it permanently glowed with a dim inner light that became a supernova when I used my magic. As it did now. I touched my horn to the fragment of glass and let my mind and power flow.

Contempt screamed in agony.

I HAVE HAD A GREAT DEAL OF PRACTICE WITH PAIN, CONTEMPT.

I spoke with all of my senses to all of hers. It may not seem impressive but imagine a great sound, like a dragons roar, from a few inches away. It hurts right? Your ears bleed as their biological mechanisms struggle to cope with the overwhelming noise. Eventually your eardrums burst, your teeth rattle, and your bones vibrate painfully. And that's just one sense out of five, six if you count a unicorns magical sense. Contempt had sensory abilities only I had ever experienced. Well, I knew how to blow those out too. All of them.

I HAVE NO TIME FOR YOUR PETTINESS, my mind roared into Contempt's form, I felt it buckle, its pseudo-bones cracked and Contempt fell gasping to the floor, her eyes clenched shut couldn't prevent the fluid from her splitting and liquefying eyes from leaking across the floor.

DO YOU THINK YOU UNDERSTAND PAIN? Contempt wailed piteously, bringing a dim sort of grin to my features.

“P-please...” she was begging now, I took a slow breath and released the pressure, pulling my mind back into my projected body.

“Will you tell me know?” I spoke with my voice and she, it, gasped in relief. I grimaced as her form regenerated, cracking and popping back into place, skin healing, eyes reforming.

“I-I can't... I can't... what you do, what you did, is nothing compared to the pain I would suffer if I gave you anything,” it spoke truthfully, and I shivered mentally. I had shown it unending pain on a level most ponies couldn't even comprehend. That still didn't frighten it as much as whatever was pulling the strings of the Others.

“Fine, we'll pick this up again tomorrow, or maybe tonight if I have some time,” I said pleasantly, and willed myself back out of the mental no-ponies land.

+=+

I gasped as my senses registered reality again, the cool basement air, the hum of the crystals. The mother-of-all cricks in my neck. Serves me right for going into a trance with my head tilted.

“Hey Twilight! How'd the mind-fight with evilshy go?” a loud boisterous voice met my ears and I smiled a little.

“Hey Scoot, same as usual, nothing but bile and spit,” I said sardonically, I hid the worry I'd gotten from this last session. It was true, I'd gotten nothing and the last times I'd tried I had only gotten insults and threats from Contempt. This time though was different, a little bit anyways. Contempt wasn't holding out because she wanted to, she was holding out because she was terrified not to. That scared me a little.

“Twi', wakey-wakey, you hear me?” Scootaloo asked with a shadow of a smirk on her face.

I snapped back, I hadn't realized how much that battle of wills had drained me, I was getting better but it was still a chore to concentrate for that long. “Yeah, sorry, just wore myself out a little, a few minutes of rest and I'll be fine, sorry what did you say?”

Scootaloo smiled for real this time and nodded, “No prob, get some rest, I was just sayin' the perimeter is fine, the warding runes you and Rarity set up are still holding, not like anything would try to cross with uh... well, yeah, all good though.”

As I had expected, but I still nodded, “Thanks Scootaloo, I really appreciate all you're doing.”

“Hey, don't sweat it, I'm an Element now, I gotta do my part,” she grinned and I swore I saw Rainbow Dash for a moment. Not too difficult of a mistake anymore though. When Scootaloo took up the Element she changed. Before the necklace her little wings could barely achieve lift, but now she had whole new pinions and feathers stretching out from her dark caramel coat. The mystery though, was that the feathers were all various colors of the rainbow. Same with her mane, she had grown it out a little and the tips had taken on the same spectrum.

“Hey hun, me an' sis're done with dinner, ya'll better get up here!” Applebloom poked her head down into the basement and the smell of baked beans and fresh bread wafted down. All four of us grinned, I felt my stomach rumble a little. Magic really took it out of you.

“Ooh, awesome! On my way!” Scootaloo ate like a miniature black hole, a strain on the supplies sometimes but we had enough for a good long while still. She was a growing mare anyway, she needed her strength.

“I'll be up in a minute ok?” I said to Fluttershy and Spike as they made their way up, “Call Rarity in will you Spike? And James, he's probably still working on the shed.”

Spike nodded with an almost imperceptible grimace, “Yeah, n-no problem.”

I instantly regretted my order, but it was too late now. Spike used to have the biggest crush on Rarity but now... Rarity was different and Spike wasn't sure how to handle it.

“Hey Fluttershy, has Pinkie come back yet?” I asked, knowing the answer but needing to hear it all the same.

Fluttershy just shook her head, “No... I'm sorry, she still hasn't come back, I guess she hasn't found what she went out to look for.”

“And you have no idea where she went looking? And what for?” I had asked those questions more times than I could count but all the same I asked. I really don't know why, we both knew the answer.

“No, I'm sorry Twilight...” and she meant it, she meant it every time she said it. Every time I asked.

+=+

Fluttershy and I emerged into the front room of the Library where Applebloom, Applejack, Marelyn, and Sweetie Belle were bustling about, clearing away papers and moving tables with the kind of orderly chaos that comes from a life spent cleaning up in the wake large families. I could hear James big hooffalls in the kitchen, cleaning up no doubt after working on the extension. The Library had an old roomy tool shed and James had been working hard attaching it directly to the Library itself. The ingenuity and workmanship. Melding a living tree with hoof-made materials was something only a rare few unicorns could do but for earth ponies it was part of their lives. I had always suspected that unicorns looked down on magic-less earth ponies too often to be able to see their capabilities clearly and spending as much time with the Apple family as I had simply proved it.

Spike was lingering by the door, every inch of him spoke of nervous reticence.

“Hey Spike, go get washed up, I'll call Rarity in ok?” I said as I stepped up behind him.

“Oh, Twilight I was just about to... I mean, uh, yeah, if you don't mind... sure,” the relief was evident in his voice.

Spike vanished into the kitchen and I stepped outside, a blizzard roared around me and the Library as a whole. I concentrated for a moment, looking for the moving figure I knew was within, and listening for the song.

There.

A echoing, wordless melody rich with grief and sadness.

“RARITY!” I called out, my voice barely heard above the roar, by me at least. The figure seemed to hear it just fine. The torrential snow heaved as the winds slowed and the heavy flakes fell to the ground. As the whiteout conditions faded I saw her, gleaming white like molten silver in the dim illumination of the Zone. Hair that was dark and unkempt whipped and darted around her , wrapped in the forceful winds. Rarity turned to face me, her eyes consumed by blackness and her face stained with tears of pitch. “Rarity,” I said in a softer tone this time, “come in, it's time to eat... you've been holding the perimeter for hours.” Her lips curled into a sneer revealing hundreds of slender, razor sharp blades. “Rarity, come back, remember us,” I whisper as she approaches, tears turning to crystal ice as they fall from her perfect features to strike the ground.

The figure stumbled before righting herself, her head still staring down into the snow. Slowly but surely her coat shifted to take on the healthy white of my friend. The lustrous royal purple of her mane supplanted the wild ramble. More importantly her eyes, the black depthless orbs had filled in to the kind and generous jewels that were my friends eyes. Rarity's legs shook as she came back to herself and the hours upon hours of pacing and weeping caught up.

“Rarity?” I asked as I cantered over to her and leaned in to give her a helping hoof.

“Y-yes darling, I'm back, s-sorry, it's been a long day, three incursions, I must say the brutes are getting bolder,” I barely held back a sigh of relief as my friends' cultured tones answered me.

“Or it's getting stronger...” I said, looking Rarity in the eyes. She knew my opinion on the change that Pinkie had taught her.

Rarity just smiled in a tired manner and shook her head, “No darling, no stronger, but I really do need to pace myself a little better I think.”

I shook my head, then huffed to blow my bangs out my eyes, and smiled. She really was stubborn about her generosity.

“Oh dear, Twilight as much as I love the long-mane look on you we really must do something with it, you look like a wild mare,” Rarity commented as she accepted my help up and we started moving back to the Library. “It's nearly down to your knee's, although I must say it gives you a more mature charm.”

“Rarity, is this really the time?” I ask, my voice doing nothing at all to mask my smile.

“Darling I don't care what anypony says, we may all be heading towards doomsday but, personally, I refuse to make that journey looking anything less than fabulous,” she says proudly and more impressively, with a completely straight face. For a moment anyway. We had to slow down to prevent each other from dropping to the ground as we laughed. It felt good to laugh with my friends again. Too much had changed, I guess it was comforting to know that there were some things that had not.

We stopped at the doorway, our laughter had faded to a companionable silence. “Rarity, I wanted to talk, after dinner of course, but... we've all been working non-stop in the weeks since we all found each other again and we haven't had a chance to...”

“You really want to know so badly darling?” Rarity asked, her voice was absent of any accusation or temper, just a soft sort of sadness.

“I need to, I need to know how... just in case,” she knew what I meant.

“Of course darling I understand but, the story is... deeply unpleasant... to put it mildly,” she responded, I saw a shiver run down her back. “I will darling I promise but not tonight, if for no other reason than sleep, I truly am exhausted.”

I let out a slow breath, to be fair a part of me wanted to let the matter lie but I knew I couldn't, not forever anyway. “Alright, tomorrow though, ok?”

Rarity just nodded sadly, “yes, tomorrow, I promise.”

With the promise of new information secured we entered the Library and joined the others, sitting wherever there was room, tables, benches, and even the floor. From there we ate and talked and laughed and remembered better, brighter times. For a little while it was like nothing had changed at all and we were transported back to simpler days. It was a little slice of peace I feel like I never really appreciated appropriately. Nothing could last forever though, Rarity ate fairly quickly and after a few goodnight's went upstairs to grab a what sleep she could. I didn't envy her dreams and nightmares, I knew she had them though. Sweetie Belle went to bed soon after Rarity, keeping an eye on her sister and taking care of her was becoming a daily routine, one that I knew Rarity disliked, she hated being a burden, but knew she needed the help. Applebloom and Scootaloo left together, Scoot was tired from flying perimeter all day and Applebloom rarely left her side when she didn't have to. I worried a little about what would happen to Applejacks sister if anything ever happened to Scootaloo, she was becoming too attached. I left that to Applejack though. Marelyn, Fluttershy, James, Applejack and I stayed up the latest. Tossing back a few nightcaps and sharing the much needed company. I found it almost hypnotic to watch Fluttershy drink, with those powerful steel hooves she still somehow made eating and drinking look... dainty.

“To our friends out of sight, never out of mind,” Marelyn said softly and raised her glass. Each of us raised our glasses in concert and repeated the toast. “Well, my friends I think that's one too many for me which, in my experience, is just the right amount. Time for this old mare to hit the hay.” Marelyn smiled and, a bit shakily, made her way upstairs.”

“Ah think that'll be all fer me too, ah'm plum tuckered,” Applejack got up and stretched before making her way to her own bunk just alongside the kitchen.

“Eeyup, ah suppose ah should get tah startin' on mah watch, g'nite Miz Fluttershah, Twa'light,” Mac bowed himself out of the room like the gentlecolt he was and went outside to sit on the porch.

I sat there for a little while longer with Fluttershy before speaking up, “Fluttershy, I need a favor,” I started slowly, she looked up a little surprised.

“Oh, uhm, of course Twilight, anything,” she said kindly.

“I need you to stand guard over me for while I cast a spell...”

“W-what? G-guard? Me?” the thought of that obviously made her nervous but I continued.

“Oh, don't worry, it's nothing dangerous, just, I need to make sure I'm not disturbed,” I hesitated a moment before getting to the real reason, “and I need someone to wake me up if things get... bad.”

“Uhm, bad how?” she asked, one delicate eyebrow scooting skyward.

“Remember my saddlebags, the ones you brought back to me when you found me? What was in one of them?” I asked, knowing she must've gone through them at some point. She nodded, understanding what I was getting at. “Well, I'm going to use it, I need to find...” I trailed off, she knew what I was going to say

“That still doesn't answer my question Twilight,” Fluttershy said, her eyes had taken on the more serious tone I had come to expect from her when things got serious.

“I know, sorry, its just that in order to do that I'm going to have to... well... project myself somewhere else... and I won't be alone there, so...”

“So I need to wake you up before you get hurt if something goes bad? Twilight I don't know this sounds kind of dangerous,” I could hear the reproach in her words but I knew she wouldn't stop me. She knew this was important.

“I know, I'll be careful.” I walked over to one of the corners of the Library and touched my horn to one of the knots in the wall. There was a dim lavender glow and the knot unfurled to reveal a simple brown saddlebag. Such an vague and unremarkable package to contain one of the most powerful relics in Equestria.

“You're going to look for Pinkie aren't you?” Fluttershy asked quietly as she sat down behind me.

“I need to find her 'Shy, I need to.”

Fluttershy shook her head in a resigned fashion and sighed, “I know...” she whispered.

With that most unspoken assent I reached into the bag and drew out an artifact known by many names. The Corona Equestria. The Diurnal Crown. Or more commonly: The Royal Crown of Celestia. After a deep bracing breath I focused my magic, emptied my mind, and placed the crown on my head.