//------------------------------//
// Chapter Eight 
// Story: Tainted Twilight 
// by Hammy 
//------------------------------//

Twilight laid on the ground, her spell successfully giving some of her magic to the dummy, restoring its previous magical form. The distraction caught her off guard when the spell was cast, and the force of the spell knocked her off her hooves. As she tried to regain her composure, Celestia came running to her aid.

“Twilight, are you okay? Are you injured?”

“No, no I'm okay. I just goofed at the end there, still new at this and all...” Twilight clumsily said as she tried to make an excuse other than the truth. The voice, it sounded so much like her, as if she was right in front of herself, screaming it into her ear. It had to have been The Void trying to take control of her; trying to manipulate her, bending her to its will, just like Sombra! Twilight refused to be a pawn for some power she couldn't see. She got up, and took a deep sigh. She assumed her training was over.

“Princess, I heard a voice while casting the spell, and I'm sure it was The Void trying to corrupt me.”

There was a moment of shock in her eyes, but they quickly flickered back to calmness, and she spoke very deliberately, “Are you certain Twilight? What did the voice say?”

“It said 'Beware Celestia, Silent and Still' and it was in my voice, only deeper.”

“I see. Twilight, as much as I hate to do this, we are going to have to cancel your lessons for the day. I want to find out what it was meaning by that. The more you expose yourself to The Void, the more likely it'll be for you to be encountered by these voices. We have all heard them, but yours; yours was the first time it ever addressed anypony by name.”

Twilight felt her stomach twist into knots. Why did it pick her to be the first time it addressed somepony, her natural curiosity told her there had to be a reason, and it couldn't have been good. She had to get back in her room and think things through, since all her events had been wiped clean for the day.

Maybe it thinks you're weaker than the rest

Could it be true? The thought filled her with dread. Do the voices really think she's that easy to take control of? So easy they're trying to go through her to attack the Princess? No, that couldn't be it. She was the best student Celestia had, there was no way that she could be so easily susceptible to its tricks. She wouldn't count herself out so easily either. Why would she think something like that? She wasn't acting like herself at all today. She looked up at Celestia, and saw that she was deep in thought, the worried look on her face giving away that she hadn't thought of a contingency plan for this. Guilt poured into Twilight, and she managed to squeak out an “I'm sorry,” before she slowly turned to walk away from her mentor.

“Wait, Twilight. I do not want you thinking that this is somehow your fault. This is The Void's doing, and I'm afraid they may have something planned for this world, specifically me. Remember what I told you about Discord? How he uses a special type of Void Magic? I think now is the time to explain what he really is.

Discord is a...special creature. When he first rose to power, long before you all put him in captivity, he was stronger than both me and Luna, magically speaking. He was the first time we experienced Void Magic, and we quickly found that our magic was of no use. We knew we had to stop him, but no matter what we did, it failed. He knew this well, and mocked us for our shortcomings. He purposely gave us false hope and supposed 'ways' of stopping him, only to take it all away and laugh at us in the end. He was always one to enjoy games, as you are well aware of. We were nearly out of options, until Discord made one fatal mistake.

He knew we were running out of time, and resources, and so he appeared in front of us, and gave us a mock-pity expression. 'Aww, you poor, poor princesses! Two years passed and you still haven't been able to stop my wonderful chaos! Tell you what, I'll give you a taste of what true power really is!' 

And with that, he gave me Void Magic. It was such an..odd sensation. It wasn't like the slow pacing like I'm doing with you, it was a tidal wave hitting me all at once. The emptiness stunned me, the presence of The Void leaving it's mark on my magical aura, and giving me access to indescribable power.

To Discord's power.

And just as soon as he gave it to me, he took it away, like some cruel owner dangling a steak in front of a starving puppy. 'There, didn't that feel nice? Must be a shame not being able to have true power, maybe one day you'll get a fraction of what I can do.' Then he vanished, not a trace of where he was going, and what he was going to do.

Even though he took Void Magic out of me, the mark it left was enough for me to tap into, and I was able to learn exactly what The Void was. Twilight, Discord is from The Void. He uses it like we use normal magic here, and he has a natural ability to use all of its capabilities. The only way we were able to stop him was my will to tap into Void Magic again, and to create the Elements of Harmony, the exact opposite of Discord. Every element has Void Magic embedded in it. Thankfully, it hasn't spread into the wearers, your friends, so we can safely use it to apprehend beings that are beyond the realm of normal magic. 

How he got here, I'm still not sure, and even after Fluttershy was able to reform him, he still refuses to talk about The Void, saying it's something 'ponies would never be able to fully comprehend.' I'm not sure what he means by that, but judging by the fact that ponies can be corrupted by the Magic, I'm assuming it has something to do with the fact that The Void is somewhere that ponies can not go to. It's all speculation of course, as all of this has been gleaned from us actually using the magic, and not being able to study it in-depth. However, Discord proves that there are beings that live in The Void, and that they are able to cross into Equestria. Now, I'm afraid they are going to try to invade us once more, and that they are going to try to cut the head off the snake, so to speak. I'm going to put the guards on full alert, and make sure that we are ready, in case something does happen. Twilight, we will have to speed up your training, as much as I am against it. We shall start tomorrow, and I will show you more practical spells.

Be careful Twilight, they are using you as a channel, and they are going to continue to do so. If anything else happens, be sure to let me know. We are going to stop this, one way or another, I can assure you that.”

With that, Celestia walked down the stairs, and Twilight was left to decipher what she could from all this. She tried to wrap her mind around everything as she idly walked down the stairs. As she thought of the ways The Void can reach her, she thought about the unusual thought she had today. Have they been able to act as my thoughts? She pondered on it for a moment, and realized it all made sense. The fact that she argued about telling Celestia about the reflection, and they won as well. She was being used by The Void. There was no doubt now. She rushed out of the tower, and went to her room to figure out someway to fight against them, to fight for her self-control.

Several hours later, Twilight wrote replies to her friends, with a special note for Applejack. AJ always worried about her, and this time, she wanted her to know exactly what was going on. Maybe she would find a way to help them, and stop this. Twilight knew she wouldn't be able to do it alone. As she hoped for a quick reply, she went back into her bathroom, avoiding the mirror that now plagued her conscious. After she got ready for bed, she took a quick glance at the mirror, and, much to her surprise, there was nothing out of the ordinary. It was just her reflection staring back at her. Nothing unusual, nothing weird. She laughed slightly, falling victim to her frayed nerves. She went to bed, and started to sleep, preparing herself for the hard days to come.





A loud shatter pierced through Twilight's slumber, and she leaned up instantly to see where the noise came from. The room was pitch black, a new moon allowing no light to come in through the window. Twilight panicked as she tried to jump out of bed, but something was holding her back, keeping her restrained. She heard hoofsteps slowly coming towards her, and she frantically looked to find out who was invading. As the hoofsteps came closer, she saw an outline forming, and she tried to shriek, but no voice escaped from her mouth.

You. You haven't been following the rules. We need to fix that.

Twilight flung out of the bed, hitting the wall with a deafening crack. She looked up and saw the figure: the purple fur tattered, the mane knotted and dirty, and the horn glowing black as it levitated Twilight in the air.

She saw her reflection come to life, and the same grin it returned the night before. This time, there was no mirror as a barrier to save Twilight from the evil that was staring at her.