Impact Hammer emerged from Twilight’s bathroom a new unicorn. On the road, her definition of getting clean was just jumping into the clearest body of water she could find. Had it really been that long since she’d properly bathed? She didn’t know, and at the moment, she didn’t care. The warm and fluffy white bathrobe felt so soft against her body. Her shimmering silver coat was stain-free. The water had rinsed the dirt from her eyes and face, thus restoring her perfect 20/20 vision. Lastly, her hair smelled like pineapple. She liked pineapple.

“There was more mud on me than I expected.” she called as she exited the bathroom.

“I wouldn’t be surprised.” Twilight chuckled, “You were stuck pretty deep.”

“I rinsed away as much of it as I could and put everything back where I found it. I’ll clean up the rest of the mud after dinner.”

“Hoo.” said an unfamiliar voice.

“Me.” the silver unicorn said, slightly confused, “I said I’ll clean up rest of the mud.”

“Hoo.”

“Me!”

Impact slowly stepped into the kitchen to see Twilight stirring a large pot. A big brown bird was perched on her head.

“Hoo.” the bird called, turning its head a full 180 degrees to look at her.

“Who?” she asked. She pointed a hoof at the bird.

“Don’t start the Abbott and Coltstello routine with her, Owloysius!” Spike scolded, “She’s been through more than enough tonight!”

“Who?” Impact asked again, still pointing at the bird.

“This is my pet owl, Owloysius.” Twilight explained, “He helps me out around the library at night when Spike can’t stay awake.”

“Hoo!” the owl hooted happily.

“Oh…that’s who.” she replied. “Well, ‘Hoo’ to you, too!”

“Your collection is…quite impressive.” she admitted as she perused the unicorn’s vast selection. “It’s so different, yet it feels like it hasn’t changed a bit.” She shuddered unexpectedly at the thought. “Whoa…déjà vu.”

She found several books that piqued her interests, including one on equine anatomy that she’d been dying to read for the past year, and strode into the kitchen, pleased with her choices, when the books she was levitating suddenly stopped. Their auras changed from white to purple and they flew back their respective spots on the shelves.

“Sorry, Impact.” Twilight said as she set the table, “No books at dinnertime.”

Impact glanced at Spike with a look that said ‘Are you serious?’

Spike replied with a shrug that wordlessly said ‘Hey! Her roof, her rules…’

Impact joined the unicorn and dragon at the dinner table, where a plate of daffodil sandwiches, a bowl of carrot soup, and a steaming mug of Rose-Mint Rhapsody tea awaited her.

“Everything smells so wonderful!” she said, levitating the steaming mug of tea to her lips and taking a delicate sip. “Ahhh…” she sighed contently, cooing in serene bliss as the cool, tingly aftertaste tickled her throat, “Delicious!”

“So, where are you from?” Twilight asked, taking a bite of her sandwich.

“It’s a place called Silicanter Valley.” Impact informed, “It’s about two hundred miles northeast of here. It’s smaller than Ponyville, but it’s one of the most technologically advanced villages in Equestria. Silicanter tech is at least thirty to forty years ahead of the rest of Equestria, possibly the entire world, but then again…any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

“Do you mean like jetpacks and anti-gravity boots and stuff?” Spike asked as his eyes lit up.

“Not exactly, but you’re in the ballpark. I once read about this orange earth pony that endured some rather remarkable physics experiments, but barely escaped with her life. She couldn’t speak, but she could write, and she described a homicidal computer system and a device that could make blue and orange holes. What was that place called again?” She racked her brain for the answer. “Fissure? No… Orifice? No… Breach? No…” She shrugged, forfeiting this battle with her memory, and took another bite of her sandwich. “Eh, it’ll come back to me eventually.”

“Sounds like a pretty impressive place.” Spike chimed in.

“It is.” the silver unicorn replied, “I lived there until I was eight, then I spent six years studying in Canterlot, and I’ve been traveling all over Equestria ever since, but I always visit Ponyville every year. It’s a tradition that my parents started and I intend to keep alive.”

“Wait…You went to school in Canterlot?” Twilight asked. “What school did you go to? I go to Celestia’s…”

“…School for Gifted Unicorns? So did I.”

“REALLY!?” Twilight said in shock, “How did you get in?”

“I was hoof-picked by the Sun Princess herself, and she personally oversaw my entrance exam.”

Spike almost dropped his soup bowl mid-gulp.

“NO WAY!!!” she shouted in awe, “What was it like?”

“I had to fix a mirror.” Impact replied, taking a large sip of her soup.

“Huh?” she questioned as her train of excitement jumped the track.

“My instructor presented a full-length mirror and then bucked it, shattering it into dozens of pieces. He told me that I had one hour to fix it, and could only use one spell to do it.”

“That sounds pretty tough.” Twilight admitted.

“And you pulled it off?” Spike asked as he lowered his soup bowl.

“Oh, I did more than just pull it off.” Impact chuckled, nomming one half of her sandwich. “I repaired it in thirty minutes by knocking the frame to the floor, reassembling the mirror like a jigsaw puzzle, using no magic whatsoever, then fusing the shards. Then, just for giggles, I bucked the mirror again and I fixed it in thirty seconds flat by collecting the shards magically and just lifting the glass into the frame.”

“Whoa!” he exclaimed, “That’s pretty fast!”

“I solved his puzzle twice.” Impact finished, “Celestia was sitting in the audience." She drained her soup bowl of every last drop and moved on to her tea. "He didn’t hesitate to pass me.” She sipped it slowly, savoring the flavors and aroma.

“If we went to the same school, then why did I never see you in any of my classes?”

“Actually, you probably did. I just know how to hide in plain sight.”

“When did you make time for friends?” she asked, before she carefully took a sip of her soup.

“I didn’t.” Impact replied, polishing off her sandwich.

Twilight did a chunky orange spit take.

“WHAT!?” she yelled, before levitating some wet rags to clean up the mess she’d made.

“My parents always taught me that education was my number one priority. I tried making friends once or twice, but whenever I showed them my true colors, they just laughed at me, which drove me even further into my studies.”

“Wow…I know the feeling...That’s how I was...at least until Princess Celestia pushed me to make new friends here in Ponyville.”

“I never got that kind of push from anypony, and eventually, I just gave up on friendship altogether. I engrossed myself so heavily in the material that I graduated two years early.”

“Gave up on friendship? Why would somepony like you do that?” Spike asked. “You seem so nice!”

“Because I always wind up scaring everypony, be it with my scars or my personality.”

“If it makes you feel any better, you can show me whatever it is you feel you need to hide.” she said soothingly. “I promise I won’t make fun of you.”

“I can sense your sincerity, Twilight, but I’ve heard that line from a thousand different ponies, and I’m not falling into that trap again. I’m just not ready, but when I am, I promise I’ll let you know.”

“Is that a Pinkie Pie Promise?”

“A what promise?”

“A Pinkie Pie Promise!” Twilight repeated. “If you make one, you can’t break it for any reason, otherwise you will lose the pony you made it with as a friend…FOREVER!!!” She slurred her ‘FOREVER’ just like Pinkie Pie did when she first told her about it.

“Sure. It’s a Pinkie Pie Promise. Show me how to make it official. There’s almost always a song and dance tied into things like this…”

“Just move how I move while repeating after me.”

“Alright.”

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” Twilight said as she mimed the motions of the promise, ending with the infernal eyeball jab.

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye…OUCH!” Impact mirrored. “How can anypony stand doing that!?” she groaned, rubbing her eye.

“Meh.” Twilight replied with a shrug, “You get used to it.” Out of the blue, she yawned. “Wow! I think I outdid myself tonight. That meal was delicious, and I’m suddenly so tired…”

“Me too. We really should get ready for bed.” Spike chimed in, “I’m exhausted from all that pulling.”

“Oh please, Spike. Big Mac did most of the work. You barely lifted a claw.”

“Hey!” he retorted, pointing an accusing claw as he yawned, “I helped and you know it!”

“I’m just joking, Spike…” Twilight giggled.

“Yeah, what she said. You two can head on up to bed. I’ll take care of the dishes tonight.” Impact said as she stumbled and dropped a bowl. “Darn it!” she cried, swearing under her breath. She magically reassembled the broken bowl, filled the sink with warm, soapy water, levitated the remaining dishes into the suds, and started scrubbing away at them with a sponge.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Twilight took a closer look at Impact, “You’re still looking a little…unwell.”

“It’s alright, Twilight! I have everything…under control…”

Impact thoroughly scrubbed and rinsed every dish and utensil and placed them in the sink strainer to dry while Twilight laid out a sleeping bag and a pillow for her guest.

“You can sleep here tonight. It’s not much, but…”

“Trust me.” she interrupted, “This is heaven compared to the conditions I’m used to.”

“Well, good night!” Twilight said as she turned out the lights and walked upstairs.

“Good night.” Impact replied as she snuggled in for the night.

All three quickly fell fast asleep…until several hours later, when a loud scream rocked the library like an earthquake, startling Spike and Twilight so much that they fell out of their beds in fright.

“Twilight…” Spike stammered, “Wha-what was th-that?”

“I don’t know,” Twilight replied, her heart hammering in her chest, “But sounds like it came from downstairs…”

A series of loud crashes frightened them further.

“What are you doing!?” a voice rang out, “STOP IT! GET AWAY FROM ME! NO!!!!”

“Impact!” they gasped simultaneously.

Legs trembling, they quickly made their way downstairs into the main hall and found Impact standing in the middle of what looked like a literary warzone.

“What in Equestria is going on in here?” Twilight gasped.

“I…TOLD…YOU…TO…LEAVE…ME…ALONE!!!” the silver unicorn roared ferociously as her horn glowed bright white.

Standing still in the center of the library, books ensnared in white auras flew off their shelves like rockets, spinning and whirling in every possible direction, leaving welts, bruises, and papercuts as they ricocheted off of her face and body.

Twilight couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Impact Hammer was fighting with herself…and losing!

The unicorn kept shrieking and screeching until she stopped just as abruptly as she started. The floating books lost their magical luster and plummeted to the floor. Impact let out a hoarse, wounded gasp and her body sank to the floor like a stone, her face flushed and her breathing labored.

“What’s wrong with her?” Spike wondered, half-terrified and half-asleep, “Is she…possessed or something?”

“Nope.” Twilight replied. She raised Impact’s eyelids and found her pupils darting about randomly. “Textbook somnambulism. She was just sleepwalking…I mean sleep-fighting, in an attempt to combat her night terrors. It was nothing more than a very bad dream. Let’s go back to bed, Spike. I’ll get the earplugs, just in case…”

As the two retreated to the stairwell, Impact suddenly began to speak between breaths…while still completely asleep.

“Twilight…I’m sorry…I’ll clean this up…please go…back to bed…I didn’t mean…to startle you…” she wheezed with a heavy rasp as she tossed and turned.

Her somniloquy became garbled and unintelligible after that, but her horn started glowing again as the scattered books and other paraphernalia rose into the air and flew back to their original places, completely repaired and undamaged. Her injuries healed instantaneously. Everything that had been moved during her internal struggle was reset as if it had never moved in the first place. As order triumphed over chaos, Twilight gingerly stepped toward the sleeping unicorn and checked her eyes again, reconfirming that Impact was still fast asleep.

“OK…that was pretty impressive.” Twilight whispered. “Now let’s follow her lead...”

They returned to their beds and slept soundly, uninterrupted for the rest of the night.