"Twilight! What happened?!" cried Derpy as she landed.
"I... I can't tell where the blood is coming from!!" Twilight yelled, the growing distress obvious in her voice.
Twilight began casting healing spells a random, but they were useless. The darkness covering his body made it impossible to see where his wounds were. What about internal bleeding? Her normally cool and methodical mind was beginning to give way to panic.
"Tell me what to do, Twilight!" came Derpy's unheeded cry. "Please tell me what to do!"
Twilight tried to think. There had to be away, there must be something she could do to save him.
Then she remembered. "A life spell! I can use a life spell!"
She thought of the day that Princess Celestia taught her to use a life spell. Although powerful, it was not difficult to cast, but it came with a stern warning.
"A healing spell," Celestia had explained, "Simply reverses the damage done to living tissue. A life spell is different; it involves giving a portion of your own life force, a combining of your core self, with that of the pony you cast it on. Their memories and experiences mingle with your own, and there is a real danger that you will lose yourself in the process. It is very important that you hold on to your own memories and never forget who you are when you cast a life spell. The problem is compounded when the afflicted pony has strong magical abilities. With training, you should have no problem with earth ponies or pegasi, but the potential for a dangerous backflow of mana means that you must use extreme caution if you use it on another unicorn. And I hope for your sake that you never have to use it on an alicorn."
The ground next to Darklight began to darken as it became saturated with blood. There was no time left; she made her decision.
Twilight raised herself on her hind legs, and her body began to glow with a brilliant white light. The force of the spell slowed her descent as she came back down onto her front hooves. Her head lowered, and she touched her horn to his.
An unseen force grasped her horn. She immediately lost her concentration and tried to pull away, but the force held her tight. Darklight's amulet glowed with a fiery red color. The flames of darkness went out, revealing a shiny black surface, which began to melt into a thick liquid that grew and pulled her upwards. The amulet moved upwards as well until it stared her in the face with a fiery reptilian eye identical to the ones the golem had. She tried to move her feet, but the black liquid was gathering around her hooves and moving up her legs. Her hooves began to sink...no, melt... into the liquid below her. Derpy, the flaming wreckage of the golem, and the whole valley was replaced by empty blackness that even the bright red light from the eye did not illuminate. The black liquid began covered her waist and back. She tried to yell, to call out for help, but realized to her horror that she no longer had lungs to do so. Her face contorted into a silent scream as the black liquid covered her eyes, filled her mouth, filled her nostrils.
Only her consciousness remained, but she was rapidly losing even this. "I'm Twilight Sparkle! I have to remember! Princess Celestia told me I have to remember who I am. I... wait, who told me again? What was I supposed to remember? Why can't I remember my name?! I.."
"I... "
"I'm... “
"I'm... a monster. I destroyed the lives of many innocent ponies before Father found me, stopped me, changed me into what I am now. I'm a monster, but because of that I have the power to stop her. Then millions of ponies will be free, they will be happy, and I will earn Father's love. I'm a monster, and I have to atone.”
Lights appeared in the dark void and took the form of a small room. The voice took the form of a dark shadow in the shape of a tiny colt. He sat on a low bed facing the door on the opposite wall. The room was tastefully furnished, but there was no fireplace and the winter climate made it very cold inside. The shelves and a table in the middle of the room were covered with books and star charts. On every wall, there were at least two mirrors, so the shadow-colt could see his reflection in all of them: the dark flames that forever danced across this body, the form of an alicorn foal that he knew was not his true form, and the sad, lonely blue eyes. The red-stone amulet with the gold chain and setting was enormous and cumbersome on his tiny body, but he was glad it was there, protecting everyone from what he had been.
He raised his tiny hooves close to his face. Red and orange flames from a fire spell mingled with his own dark flames. Doing this always calmed and relaxed his nerves. He imagined that there was a secret hidden in the flames, that if he looked hard and long enough he could see it.
"Are you awake, Darklight?" asked a voice from the metal funnel on his right. It was Father's voice. He could tell from how the voice sounded that he was in his personal laboratory. Father was in that room a lot, though Darklight was never allowed to go there.
"Yes, Father," replied Darklight. Father always liked simple, submissive responses.
"Did you have any nightmares about our trip to the Empire of the Demon Queen?"
"No, Father."
"Did you have any nightmares about your past? Before I found you and turned you into an alicorn foal?"
"No, Father. I haven't slept all night."
"You need to sleep," Father scolded, "It is very important that you get the rest you need to keep up with your training. You need to be ready to face the Demon Queen. I know from personal experience how powerful she is since I tried to stop her myself, but I am only a normal pony and I wasn't strong enough. You, on the other hoof, are a monster like she is; and someday you will be ready to face her yourself."
Darklight closed his eyes and began to shiver at the thought of seeing her again. "Please don't send me back there, Father."
"I have to Darklight, I am so, so sorry to put you through this, but I have no other choice. I had to take you so you would understand how important it is that you carry out your final mission. You have to remember every detail of that trip so that the teleportation spell will work properly. Think about all the good you will do when you stop her. When I take the throne, millions of ponies will be free from her tyranny and will experience a golden age of happiness and prosperity unlike anything they have experienced in generations. They will be grateful to you for the sacrifices that you made, and more importantly I will be grateful to you."
"Okay, Father."
"And I must remind you that you owe a lot to me. You may look like an alicorn now, but this is because I chose that form for you. The amulet I gave you is the only thing stopping you from reverting back to what you used to be, the terrible monster in your dreams, which is why you must never take it off for any reason. You owe a debt of gratitude to me for my generosity, which is why you must do everything I say and stop the Demon Queen."
"I will, Father."
"And don't ever forget that if you defy me, I have the power to stop you."
"Yes, Father, I remember."
He wasn't saying anything new to Darklight, he said the same thing every day in some form without fail. "Can I count on your commitment to me? To the cause of freedom of countless ponies for generations to come? To the promise of my benevolent rule?"
"Yes, Father, I will keep my promises to you."
"Good, now get to sleep and don't disturb me. I am in the middle of a very important phase of my research. And keep learning your healing spells so you can recover faster after training sessions. I don't like blood stains on my expensive, white bed sheets."
Darklight lay back in his bed, but he couldn't sleep. It was the same room, the same conversation he had almost every day, but something felt different. He felt that he wasn't entirely himself then, that there was an unfamiliar part of him watching, questioning. Why couldn't he remember anything of the visit to the Demon Queen's Empire. The feeling was still there, the revulsion, the paralyzing fear, the resolve to stop her. Why was he having doubts? Father was always right, and he always told him the truth. Didn't he?
The room began to blur again. The lights dimmed and faded away. The silence was replaced by the sounds from Darklight's oldest nightmares, what Father said were the memories of his true self. Sounds of the death cries of ponies drowned out by his own piercing, unearthly shrieks.
The sounds grew louder and louder, than faded into a distant echo. Finally, there was silence, and nothing more.
* * * *
Only darkness remained. No pony named Twilight Sparkle had ever existed, nor was there ever a monster named Darklight. The void was at once everything and nothing. No substance to give form, no consciousness to give purpose. Emptiness. It had always been that way, and it always would...
A small light flickered in the void. There was a voice, a song.
The darkness stirred.
The light grew brighter, the song became more clear. It was a lullaby.
"I know that voice," said the darkness.
The light expanded and took form, the form of a mare. A white alicorn. The song continued.
"I know you."
The darkness began to take shape. Head, mane, body, hooves, tail—a unicorn mare, running towards the light.
"I'm... Twilight!"
The darkness shattered and fell away to reveal a purple coat, mane and tail. She could see the alicorn mare more clearly now: the white coat, the flowing rainbow colored mane, the golden crown and necklace, the outstretched hooves waiting to embrace her.
"I'm Twilight Sparkle! My friends are Applejack and Rarity and Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy and Spike and my big brother Shining Armor and Cadence and Luna and you, Princess Celestia! I love you all, and I'm coming home!!"
Twilight felt Celestia's warm, comforting embrace. It was a mother's hug, with the power to show an astonishing outpouring of love. Twilight was done being brave, done being a hero. She had just been through one of the most traumatic experiences of her life, and for now all that she wanted was to open up the floodgates of her own emotions and surround herself in that love.
The dark void was dispelled by the light of a campfire. Twilight slowly became aware again of her surroundings. It was well past sunset. Derpy was seated between the two sons of Raven's Wind, and all three were lazily watching the hypnotic yellow flames dance and crackle. A homespun blanket covered a dark shadow, which rose and fell in response to a steady and peaceful breathing.
The hug was real, but it was not Celestia. Twilight looked up into the face of the pony that was holding her, and half expected the mare to break her neck at any moment, but there was only compassion in the face of Raven's Wind. "Thank you," she said in her own language.
"Twilight! You're finally awake!" cried Derpy.
"What happened?" Twilight asked, and she stirred in sudden alarm. "Is Darklight all right?!"
"Don't worry, Mister Darklight is okay now. You got all glowy and stuff, then you touched horns and Mister Darklight started to glow too, and you fell over asleep. Raven's Wind flew in and caught you just before you hit the ground and she has been with you ever since. We've just been waiting here for you to wake up (I think her sons have a crush on me too). I didn't catch all of it, but I think Raven's Wind said that it may be a day or two before Mister Darklight wakes up again."
Twilight looked up the valley and saw the smoldering wreckage of the stone golem blocking the narrow valley to the north. "We beat it," said Derpy, "Can you believe it? We actually beat it! I know The Doctor would be pretty freaked out if he found out I did something like this, he's been really protective of me lately."
Twilight chuckled a bit "Yeah, that was pretty amazing, though I don't think any of our friends are going to believe us if we told them. I guess this means we can go home now." There was a hint of sadness in her voice when she said this. She missed her friends and family, but she had formed bonds of friendship here as well. Going home would also mean leaving Darklight, which made her especially sad. "I want to stay here a little longer, just until Darklight wakes up."
"I thought you would," Derpy said with an impish smile. "Well, I'll stay here as long as you do. Whenever you're ready to go."
Twilight had other reasons for staying. Her frightening experience with the life spell left her with a lot of questions. Who, or what, is Darklight, really? Who is this 'Father' that has been guiding him towards this goal, and what does he really want? Finally, who was this Demon Queen? This last question concerned her, and her hunch was that she was not going to like the answer.