http://pastebin.com/ca4M4cim   >Twilight jerked awake, looking around her library bedroom. >Sweat was staining her lavender coat and the plush bed, and her breathing was harsh and ragged. >Tears were streaking from the corners of her eyes. >She had that...dream again. >No, not dream. A nightmare. >Fourth night straight. >Spike was still blissfully asleep and unaware, and Owlowiscious was off...doing owl things at the moment. >She wasn't quite sure and, if the mare was honest with herself, she really didn't care right now. >The window was open, so she simply stood and took a look outside, letting the cooling breeze calm her down. >It wasn't really working. >The mare looked at the nearby clock. >It had been one year, three days, thirteen hours, and twenty-one minutes since Anonymous had vanished, caused by...a spell mishap. >He was immune to magic for the most part, and they were both testing how far that immunity went. >The human was eager to see just what she could hit him with that he could outright ignore. >The mare would have been lying if she had said that she wasn't a little eager too. >More than a little, actually. --- One Year Ago --- "So, where do you want to start, Anon?" >"Hit me with your best shot!" He said, a wide grin plastered on his face. "This isn't a joke, Anonymous." The alicorn had said flatly. >"Pfft. 'The difference between science and fooling around is taking notes', Twilight." The human said, grin never leaving. "Are all humans as reckless as you?" >"Not even half." >Smiling in return, she charged up a fire spell. >The purple flames were completely magical in nature, and there was water nearby. >The fires licked at his skin, but ultimately left him completely unharmed. >"Pfft, c'mon now." Anon teased, chuckling. "Just you wait. We're gonna find something else you aren't immune to, and you're gonna be hurting." >"We already know I'm not immune to healing spells, so I trust you." The human replied warmly. >A blush worked its way to her face. "Er, ri-right, ah, n-next is...Anti-gravity." >"Sounds cool." >Twilight's horn charged up once more, and she unleashed the bolt. >Anon's clothes were pulled towards the ceiling, but he was not. >"Now now, Twilight, if you wanted to get me to strip, all you had to do was ask~!" He teased. >The blush returned tenfold. "S-stop, come on! I need to focus!" The mare whined, and Anon chuckled. >"Alright, alright." >His clothes fell to the ground as the spell wore off, and he put them back on. >Next was the last one today. >A teleportation spell. "Hold still for this one. Don't want to teleport just your arm or leg." >Anon grimaced at the thought, and did as she asked for once. >The alicorn let the pulse of magical energy come from inside once more, building it up. >Judging by his weight and size, she'd need a lot of power to teleport him just outside. >"Uh, Twi, that's kinda getting blinding..." >Twilight simply shouted in exertion, hitting the human with the glowing orb. >He hadn't made a sound, simply winking out of existence. >Twilight smiled and cheered, making some notes in her notepad. >She should have figured that a little extra power was all she needed! >It wasn't the actual effect, it was the magnitude! >Looking outside at the target, her wide grin started to fade. >No human. "Anon?" >She walked outside, looking around. "Anon, hello?" >Next was a search around town. Maybe a teeny bit more power than she intended. "Anonymous, this isn't funny!" ---   >Shaking more tears from her eyes, the alicorn went back to her bed. >Even after asking Celestia for help, he hadn't turned up. >The best thing that anypony could figure was that...Twilight had accidentally sent him back home. >Not his home in Ponyville, either. >Earth. >The grief-stricken mare had begged Cadance to let her use the mirror again, but even after extensive searching THERE, she hadn't found him. >In fact, she noticed differences between the human she knew and the humans from behind the mirror. >It probably wasn't even the right universe, and 'altering' the mirror was impossible. >Twilight had almost completely shut herself off from Ponyville in mourning. >She still went out on occasion, but those were few and far inbetween. >The alicorn was busy researching. >If somepony had enchanted a mirror, surely there must be a way to do it AGAIN. >Perhaps she could find HIS version of Earth, find HER Anon. >And if not...she had a long, long time to do it. >Eternity was a long time for an alicorn, after all. "Buck it. Can't sleep." Twilight said to herself after tossing for a bit. >She hopped off of her bed and went into her lab. >Several mirrors were set up, and the alicorn figured she had the correct spell this time. >She had found the tome with the spell on an old shipwreck, and the boat's name matched the one that Starswirl had last been seen on. >Indeed, the musty, rotting tome bore the stallion's name. >She cast the spell onto each mirror in turn, and noticed that it wasn't reflected. >It had to have worked. >Feeling giddy for the first time in months, she put her hoof to the glass...and was pleased to find that her hoof went through it. >Without hesitation, she leapt through. --- >Twilight landed in a room with...a small bed? >Rain was lashing at the small window outside, the occasional flash of lightning splitting the sky. >The mare also noted that her appearance hadn't changed to any degree. >Perhaps the caster was immune to the changing effects? >She didn't know. "A-Anon?" Twilight said quietly, looking around. >A human filly was definitely in the small bed, peacefully sleeping. >The mare's hooves clopped against the wooden floorboards, and she had to step past the filly to get to the door. >Silently taking wing, she fluttered to the door, opened it, and went into the hall. >The next hallway was tiny. >As in, her room in the treebrary was bigger than the entire hallway. >It was obviously a city apartment, she had seen a few of these in Canterlot and Baltimare. >Though, this one seemed to be almost falling apart. >The smell of mold and mildew was almost overpowering. >Scrunching her snout in an effort to ignore it, she landed and crept through the house. "Anon?" >She heard someone jerk awake upstairs. >"Tw-Twilight...?" >It was him! >Though, something sounded...off. >The mare trotted upstairs, where she had heard her human's voice. "Anon, where are you?" >"Shh...Twi, in here." >The lavender alicorn opened the door...to find her Anon sitting in a chair, waiting. >Her heart leapt into her throat...then immediately sank into her stomach. >He looked...old. Not the youthful human she had seen a year before, but almost middle aged. "Anon, what happened...?" >He chuckled, that same smile lighting his face. >"You sent me home by mistake, Twi." >He sighed, leaning back in the chair. >The human then patted his lap, and you hopped up into it, like you used to. >"It's been fifteen years, Twily." >Fifteen?! "Anon, no, it's been one! One year, 3 days, twenty hours! You KNOW I know time!" The mare half-shouted. >Anon sighed, a tired sigh that almost always was before something unpleasant was said. >"Time must flow differently, then. I last saw you fifteen years ago, right before you hit me with that spell." >He sighed again. >"I couldn't find you or a way to get back, so I...settled down with a woman much like you. Smart, funny, sexy, all of those." >Twilight's blood ran icy-cold. "So that filly downstairs..." >"Is my daughter, yes. I lost my wife during childbirth." "No, no, this can't be...happening..." >Twilight broke down sobbing as the human stroked her back. >"Shh...there there..." >He put his lips to her head, kissing it gently. >"Everything's going to be alright..." >That just made the mare sob louder. >The two sat there for almost an hour, the human letting the mare cry her heart and soul out. "Anon...I wanted f-foals of my own with y-y-you..." She eventually hiccuped, not looking at him. >"I know you did. As dense as I might have seemed, I knew." He replied, tears of his own staining her coat and his cheeks. "I had even...found a spell that would have worked...I wanted to try it that night..." >The storm had cleared out, and dawn was beginning to break. >"Twi...you can't stay here. You know that, right?" "...I know..." >The human picked her up, cradling her as he carried the mare downstairs. >"I usually check on my daughter when I wake up anyway." "...what's her name?" >He paused for a moment. >"Twilight." >A fresh wave of tears threatened to spill over. >Even after so many years, he never forgot. >The lavender mare directed the human to his daughter's room. "I...used the mirror in there." She said quietly. >He simply nodded, pushing the door open and silently striding through the room. >"D-daddy...?" Came a small voice. >"Yes, princess?" >"Who's that...?" >He smiled, then set the mare down. >"Twilight, meet...Twi. Twi, this is Twilight." >"Pretty pony! Can we keep her?!" The child said, going from sleepy to alert in an instant. >"I'm afraid we can't." "I...have to go home now." Twilight said to the little girl. "But...here." >The alicorn then plucked one of her larger wing feathers. "Keep this, tell all your friends you met a unicorn today. I can bet they'll all be jealous." Twilight said with a bright yet intensely sorrowful smile. >"I will! Thank you, pretty pony!" >The child then gave Twilight a hug, and the alicorn nearly burst into tears again. >"Go get ready for breakfast, daddy's feeling like making pancakes and eggs today." >"YES!" >The excitable little human then left the room, presumably to get breakfast. >Waving goodbye, Twilight went to step through the mirror. >"Twi, wait." >She froze. >Turning around, the mare was suddenly picked up and kissed deeply. >For the first time in a year, Twilight felt a fiery blush light her cheeks. >"I've never stopped thinking about you. If I could come with you, I would...but you know I can't." >Twilight merely nodded as Anon sat her down. >"Goodbye, Twilight. I love you." "Goodbye, Anon...I love you too." >She then stepped back through the mirror. >Upon her return, she lit her horn with one final spell. >A white-hot beam slashed through the mirror's frame, letting it fall onto the hard ground. >It shattered into a million tiny shards, taking her heart with it. >The lavender alicorn then collapsed, curled into a ball amidst the shrapnel, and sobbed for hours. ===