Twilight got home around four in the morning, slumping down on her favorite easy chair and sitting back to relax.  After having not slept for several weeks, the unicorn just loved the feeling of a soft cushion beneath her.  She decided that she'd just take until sunup to have a little time to herself, taking in the comfort of her home and feeling almost like her old self again.  She allowed herself to sink into the plush cushion, to feel every single muscle in her body loosen up and to slowly close her eyes until her entire world was black.

She followed the low and calm sound of her own breathing, feeling almost hypnotized by the rhythmic sound as it slowed and deepened, sending her lower into that relaxed trance.  The noise was eventually interrupted, however, by something that sounded a bit like static on a radio.  She cocked one eye open and realized that she wasn't in her library anymore, but sitting back on a small pile of very dark red sand.  She stood up from the mound and examined it, not quite able to find where she was, nor where the pile of sand had come from.  She checked her surroundings, realizing that she was on a very narrow stretch of ground with what looked like sheer cliff face on either side (though she couldn't see over them) and a peninsula of deep brown granite stretching out into a point behind her.  The sound of static continued to hum in her ears, keeping a low drone that never really drowned out any sound, but was ever present.  

Twilight walked around the pile of blood-red sand and headed toward the peninsula, finding herself curiously drawn to it.  The earth seemed to incline as she walked, shifting gravity's origin behind her as if she were climbing a mountain.  Eventually, as the rock tapered down into a point and the static noise rose to a deafening roar in volume, Twilight found herself clutching the side of a sheer cliff face, forcing herself forward to the rapidly approaching summit.  She had no idea what she would find on the other side, but from the looks of the airfoil wake behind the bits of exposed rock, Twilight could infer that some kind of very powerful wind was blowing.  The granite, fractured and rough as it already was, eventually pulled into a jagged point; the unicorn placed one hoof on either side and pulled herself up, exposing her face to the force behind the mountain.

Her mane was incinerated, and Twilight was nearly blinded by an intense, boundless light that seemed to radiate with the force of a gale from every direction before her.  The unicorn climbed the rest of the way up onto the mountain, feeling gravity relax itself and allow her to stand flat on this pointed, shattered rock.  On her new perch, Twilight basked herself in the light, despite what her better judgment and self preservation instincts told her to do.  Her coat and skin began to smolder, burning away and peeling back as the intense wind and radiation annihilated her physical form.  She felt no pain, however, and couldn't look away from the beautiful, unbound sight.  As her skin left her in large black curls, exposing muscle (none of which existed for very long with this much exposure) Twilight looked down to examine herself and try to figure out her condition.  It didn't hurt, and she could still feel the heat coming from the light, as well as the harshness of the glare even in the absence of skin and most of her muscle.  It was as if nothing was changing, yet her body disintegrated before her very eyes (which, logic would dictate, should have long since burst and evaporated by then).  

Twilight looked back out toward the direction of the wind, feeling her bones crumble and wash away in the intense radiating light.  She could actually feel her hooves disengage from the ground and her annihilated body wisp away into oblivion.  She was floating, then, and moved in toward the light, finding peace in its beauty and destructive force and desiring everything that this power held to be within her grasp.  Her senses (still somehow present) were all overwhelmed: she felt a harsh but pleasing warmth, saw blinding light, heard loud and uninterrupted static, and tasted and smelled a persistent ozone flavor in the air.  As soon as she felt she could take no more, she woke up.

Twilight glanced around, finding that she was safely inside of her library and still in her easy chair.  She looked at her hooves; they were still there, as was the rest of her.  She adjusted her position a little, looking around the room and making absolutely sure that everything was in its place as she came back into reality.  

Please tell me you saw that dream, Iago.  Twilight addressed her mentor in hopes that the situation could be explained.  

I see everything that you see, machinations of your own mind or not.  Iago responded immediately after the thought ended, punctual as always.

Care to explain what that was?  Just a dream or some kind of vision?

It was just a dream, that place doesn't actually exist in a physical representation like that.  Although your mind didn't just invent something so bizarre: that was a beautifully rendered interpretation of the junction of your universe and the Aether.

The junction?  Aren't they separate universes?

Absolutely, but haven't you ever wondered about the true origin of your own realm of existence?

Of course.  I actually went through a little cosmology phase back in my early days of schooling.

Rhetorical question, my student.  Either way, this plane exists because of a freak accident in the various orders of existence.

Twilight gave a little pause and blinked a few times, coming fully out of her sleepy feeling and straightening up in her chair.  Care to elaborate a little for me?

Happily.  The various universes of reality are ordered into several different basic structures.  In the same way that your world is built up of the various elements that are now slaves to your power, your universe is built up of even more basic elements from the four cosmoses.  The Aether is the cosmos of energy: an entire universe that is completely built up of the most raw and basic forms of energy that you could possibly imagine.  The Singularity is the cosmos of matter:  that entire universe is one single infinitely large particle of matter of infinite density and infinite mass.  The Void is the cosmos of space: absolute nothingness, yet physics couldn't survive without it.  If it were even possible to describe a pattern of spatial organization for this, there would be one final cosmos in the center: The Chronum, cosmos of time.  This one is by far the most interesting reality in my opinion, leaving absolutely nothing but passage of time and constant change with no space, matter or energy to constrain it.  Because of the volatility of the medium in which these cosmoses sit, something caused them to collide.  I've yet to find what this event is, be it deliberate or accidental, forceful or delicate, spontaneous or planned...  But each of the cosmoses came together and, through their collision, produced your universe.

That's...  absolutely fascinating.  What exactly is happening to the cosmoses?

The most wonderful thing that could ever be happening to them: destruction.  You sit in the fulcrum of this convergence: the blast wave of a crash and your stars are but the glass and splinters scattered by the impact.  The Aether and the Singularity came together at the borders of the Void.  The Singularity fractured, spilling its contents into something completely foreign to the infinitely dense structure: nothingness.  The Void acted as enough of a matrix to suspend the pulverized matter in a brilliantly disordered arrangement of very tiny particles, but it was the unquantifiable empty space that gave those particles their size.  The Aether spilled its own contents into the Void as well, though they mixed together with the split particles of matter that existed, and brought them into motion.  They utilized the space together, creating the first atoms as subatomic particles were drawn together.  This movement welcomed the cosmos of time, giving the movements just enough order to not tear the rubble apart.  From this, your realm was born, but a fraction of the debris of four far greater things.  What you saw in your dream was the junction between the Aether and the Singularity, as well as the purity of destruction that that place was causing.  Glorious, isn't it?

But that's not a real place, right?  I can't just go fly there on a whim?

It's both real and not real.  Your mind produced a worldly view of it, and that's where the flaw lies.  The universes absolutely are colliding and are doing so at a very specific point, but they exist in more dimensions than just the three spatial ones that you see in and that inconsistent temporal one that you all still don't understand.  Were you to find a way to get to that point, your body would be disintegrated long before you came into view of the phenomena, and that's even if you could see it.  I still don't know if that's possible or not.

I suppose that's not that big a deal...  Seems to me like it would just be a reminder of the frailty of my existence.  Twilight examined her hoof casually during her thought process, taking the most pessimistic view that she could.

It's a problem only worth thinking about after mortality is dealt with, I say.  That said, I figure this is as good a time as any to bring up something that might interest you.  I found that you put nearly a month of study into necromancy, care to tell me a little about that?

What, that old phase?  It's a funny story, actually...  I really only started it because I had a cat who grew old and died and I wanted to bring her back...  Celestia found out that I was looking into the dark arts though and really quickly put a stop to it.  I'm not sure why she keeps the books in the Canterlot library if I wasn't allowed to read them, but I wasn't exactly in the habit of asking questions.

Well if you'd like to continue that research, I'd be happy to help you.

Thanks, Iago, but that cat is waaaay long gone.

I don't mean the cat.  I hate cats...  Either way, I can teach you some rune inscriptions that can bind, for lack of a better word, a 'spirit' into a body.  With a little more advanced inscription you can actually leash their will, but you'll definitely need to practice a little and learn why it works.

What can you just teach me as word of mouth?

Well, apart from the obvious physiological needs, the body is run entirely on the will of its inhabitant.  To understand that, you need to understand the nature of the mind itself, as well as the nature of the magic that you'll be manipulating.  For eons, there have been rumors of a "spirit" or "soul" that is what makes up the essence of the individual.  The truth of that matter, however, is that the individual is entirely based around the flow of energy through the specialized neurons in their brain.  How these neurons interact, the processes that they run through, the very structure of the brain itself is what makes up the individual, and the very progression of energy through that structure helps to define what's similar and different in any living creature's thought process.  To isolate that is to find life itself, and to organize it is to create that life.

I'm guessing that's where the runes come in.  Twilight stood up from her chair and slowly walked into her kitchen, casually opening the refrigerator and glancing around inside.  Nothing in there (abundant as it was) looked appetizing, however, so she just sat down at the table and looked calmly out the window.

Good guess.  The runic language, when physically inscribed, has the ability to channel energy in very precise arrangements.  Spirit binding is a very complex set of runes, but once complete it lasts as long as the medium on which it's inscribed.  Therein lies the problem, however: you have to have a free spirit and an object to bind it to.  That object becomes infinitely valuable to the spirit, and it doesn't take the bound individual very long to realize this fact.  This is why I developed a leash to keep their will in tune with the appropriator of life, in this case you.  Of course, we can't start the practice without bodies.

If you had mentioned that last night it wouldn't have been much of a problem.  Twilight smirked and traced her hoof in a circle on her table.  She guided the appendage with her telekinesis and built a barrier around it, making it as sharp and hard as cut diamond.  The little circle that she traced came into reality as a deep gash in the table.

That wouldn't do, they need to die very quickly before the binding otherwise it gets exponentially more difficult and far less permanent.  To teach you and allow you to have the practice you need before you got it right would leave the body to decompose and the residual mental energy to disorganize completely.

So I'd need a fresh one, then?

As fresh as you can.  If at all possible just have everything ready and then kill them immediately before the incantation.

Like a mise en place... alright I can do that.   Now I just need to find someone that nopony will miss.

You could always go trotting about back alleys again, that didn't seem to be too difficult.

Nah, the police will notice a pattern...  I'm sure I could just go out of town for it, travel isn't an issue and news doesn't travel too quickly.

Good thinking.  Just be prepared for me to give you instruction whenever I feel you need it, and let me know if there's something else you'd like to learn about.

Hmm...  Got any tips on mind control?

That's a far more difficult prospect than you might think.  If you're being direct, willpower tries to expel you.  If you do it subtly, you have to be just soft enough to get past their consciousness, but firm enough to break into the mind and take over.  What might be easier for you is to simply puppet their limbs around against their own body strength...  There tends to involve a lot more bone breaking than the mind control method, but that's only when the targets are physically fit enough to snap their own bones when they resist a forced movement.  Otherwise there's always the good old fashioned option of mental manipulation, blackmail, threats and the like.

I get your point.  So spirit binding is the only way to reanimate the dead, then?

Well no.  Again, you can puppet the limbs of anything as you want, and a dead subject doesn't resist nearly as much as a live one... though it's not quite as fun in my opinion.

I'd have to concentrate for that one, though...  There's no way to make like a zombie?  Mindless but independently animated, and not requiring my attention to maintain living?

There may be, but I can't recall off the top of my head, or yours for that matter.  Go out and bring home a live body and I'll look into it.

Alright...  Mind if I run a personal errand while I'm out?

Do whatever you wish, I don't control you.  I'm just here to make suggestions and somewhat trust in your judgment.

Alright, well...  Thank you I guess.  Twilight stood up from the little chair and turned to leave, catching sight of the potted nightshade flower that Spike had brought home.  She didn't notice it before, but it had bloomed a second flower since last she saw, and each one seemed bigger and more vibrant.  Twilight shrugged and walked by, smelling the beautiful purple and yellow flowers and relishing the earthy, damp flavor.  She started toward her door and, right before she opened it, was interrupted by a series of frantic knocks from the other side.  

Twilight opened the door and immediately squinted her eyes from the sunlight, bringing into focus an overwrought white unicorn.

"Oh thank goodness...  I was so worried!"  Rarity exclaimed and pushed her way into the library entrance, simply pacing nervously back and forth in Twilight's living room.  The lavender unicorn just closed the door behind her and walked silently back to join her.

"Sorry I haven't been over to check in with you yet...  What time is it?"  Twilight rubbed her eye with the back of her foreleg, trying to sneakily set up an alibi of being asleep all day.

"It's almost three in the afternoon.  Normally I'd have given you a little more time, but...  I don't suppose you've read the paper yet?"

"No, I just got up...  Got home pretty late actually...  What's in it?"

"Well apparently something just horrible happened off in the part of town that you disappeared into last night...   A police officer on patrol in the early morning found an alleyway with the street torn up and the... and the trashcans all knocked over and covered in blood..."  Rarity was nearly hyperventilating as she described the grisly scene that Twilight had left behind.  "They think a bear cornered some poor pony back in there, but they haven't found a body yet.  Oh Twilight!  I was so afraid it was you!"  The white unicorn gave up her nervous back-and-forth trotting and jumped over to give Twilight a big hug.  "I never would have forgiven myself if...  If something bad happened the one night I brought you out with me."

Twilight smiled as Rarity buried her nose in her shoulder, gently rubbing her back and cooing into her ear.  "Well I didn't get the paper today, and I'm very sorry for worrying you so much.  If it makes you feel any better I got home safe and sound and wasn't even near there when whatever happened happened.  I actually had a wonderful night, so just relax... okay?"

"Thank you, Twilight... I'll be alright, I just thought that I might have been...  I might have been responsible for something terrible that happened to you."  Rarity pulled away from Twilight with a single tear rolling down her cheek.  She clearly had been having her nerves wracked since she had gotten up that morning.

"Just look at me.  I'm right here and I'm feeling great.  That's the only thing that I can think of you being responsible for."  Twilight stood up proudly and tried to bring Rarity back from her strained and scared feeling.  For such a drama queen, Rarity seemed to have serious trouble switching appropriately between emotional states.  

The white unicorn did, however, give a little laugh and try to bring herself back into a state of happiness.  Both for Twilight's safety and for the fact that she had fun the night before.  "I guess that's true...  So how was it?"

"How was what, exactly?"  Twilight knew what Rarity meant, but wanted to see if she could goad her a little just for fun.

"Well... you know...  Didn't you say you had a 'wonderful night'?  Or did you just mean that in a platonic sense?"

"No, I knew what you meant, Rarity.  It was... interesting."

"He wasn't premature was he?"  Surprisingly, Rarity 'went there' immediately.

"No!  He was a little... sooner than me, but at least I got there.  What about you?  Did you have a good night?"

"Oh... well no, not really."

"Aww, you seemed to be really hitting it off with 'Dawn Ray' right before I left."  Twilight made air quotes with her hooves and rolled her eyes as she pronounced the name.  She still hated it.

"Well after his buddy left he kept ordering drinks.  I assume he was trying to get me tipsy, but he got absolutely sloshed in an hour and a half.  As ready as I was for the company of a stallion last night, I can't say I've ever found it arousing when a guy throws up in the curb on the way home."  Rarity turned and trotted over to Twilight's seating arrangements, sitting down and fidgeting uncomfortably as she brought herself back to a normal demeanor.

"Hah!  Yeah that's not quite the same as a candlelit dinner."  Twilight joined her friend on the sofa and tried to project an air of relaxation to help Rarity calm down completely.

"That and the fact that I had to keep him from falling in the street twice...  I just left him at his front door and headed home myself, couldn't have been too much later than midnight.  Honestly I hope I never see him again...  Was Thunderhead the romantic type?"

"Not really... but at least he wasn't an idiot.  His apartment was disgusting, though...  If I didn't have Spike I might have just turned around and made him walk back here with me."

"Any plans to keep things going with him?"

"No I don't think so, He was kinda... wimpy for my taste.  He's sweet and all but I think he'd have more in common with Fluttershy than me.

"He seemed the quiet type...  At least you had your fun though, I'm still a little pent up."

"Well you should know I stopped by Sweet Apple Acres and had a little conversation with Big Macintosh on your behalf."

"Oh now why in Equestria would you do a thing like that?  I told you how I feel..."  Rarity's discomfort had been slowly melting away up to that point, then being replaced by indignation.

"C'mon, Rarity, just talk to him!  Send him a letter telling you to meet him someplace and have a little talk, it doesn't have to be like a proposal."

"Ugh...  I suppose I could be discreet...  There just aren't many places in Ponyville desolate enough to get away with that sort of thing."

"Get away with what?  You're not robbing a bank together."

"It just feels like I'm going behind Applejack's back.  I feel like she wouldn't want me going out with her brother..."

"I guess the park would be out of the question?  It might be too likely to get spotted unless you're there in the middle of the night."

"While a killer bear is on the loose?  I think not!  What about Sugar Cube Corner?"

"... Pinkie."

"I know, but really it's not usually that bus--"

"Pinkie."

"Maybe she's not the most subtle pony in town, but--"

"Pinkie Pie is the absolute antithesis of subtlety."  Twilight kept a very serious face plastered on as she spoke.

"Maybe so, but she can keep a secret as long as she's asked!"

"Well it's up to you...  I don't really wanna get involved any more than I already ha--."

"I... don't suppose that it'd be too much to ask for you to accompany me?"  

"--ave...  No, not at all, Rarity.  I'd love to join you."  Twilight sarcastically retorted.  "Why do you need me there?"

"Well it was your idea for me to get together with him in the first place.  Besides, I would definitely need somepony to distract our pink friend."

"You could just not go to Sugar Cube Corner."

"It's a familiar place to both of us and, as I said, not usually very busy."  Rarity started to dip into her pleading tone of voice that she always conjured up when she wasn't about to back down from an issue.

Twilight just gave a heavy sigh and dropped her head into her forelegs to massage her forehead.  "Fine...  Just let me know when you need me there and I'll join you as soon as possible."

"Oh thank you!  I'll try to keep it relatively quick, and I promise I won't drag you along if anything happens after.  Just that one time."

"Yeah, I've heard that one before."

"It's been a good talk, Twilight, but I need to get going.  Work starts again tomorrow and I need to go back and clean the boutique a little more, maybe get started on some projects.  I'll just out of your hair before you change your mind, hmm?"

"That sounds like a spectacular idea."

Rarity huffed out a little laugh and stood up to walk out the door.  "Thank you, Twilight.  It really means a lot to me.  Take care of yourself, darling!"

"I will, I promise."  Twilight stayed in her seat and waved her counterpart off, forcing a smile and shutting the door behind her very firmly.  "Ugh... Iago?  How long does it take for a society to die?  I'm sick of this... social dressage that I have to keep doing."  Twilight asked out loud to the voice in her head.

Unless you individually break those involved, the masses tend to cling onto hopes and dreams for several years after they're taken over politically.

"But I want it now."

I'm afraid I can't help you much there, Twilight.  You could always just start up a series of behind-the-scenes high profile assassinations or property destruction.  Loss of a powerful symbol tends to throw a state into anarchy faster than a direct coup.

"Don't tempt me...  Either way, I can think of a few things that might just be cathartic enough to tide me over until then."

Is that so?  Care to enlighten me?

"Let's just say I'll be visiting a few old friends.  One of them will be very helpful with my research."

And if she refuses to help?

"I didn't say she'd have a choice."