In the Twilight of Harmony’s End
Chapter 7
Together Again
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As Twilight slowly regained consciousness, she could hear muffled voices around her. They sounded like they were coming from miles away. But eventually, she could finally identify who was speaking. Startled, Twilight’s eyes snapped open, still desperately hoping for this whole situation to be a cruel joke.
“It is not too late Void… Please! We know what happened to you now, so please stop this. I’m imploring you Scoot-” Rarity was cut off by harsh hoof beats walking towards her, “Void! I mean Void! Please… have mercy...” Rarity’s raspy voice begged, as she tried to hold back sobs.
The only response she got was a snort from Void as the dark alicorn once again walked back to her carved obsidian throne.
“I really shouldn’t… but still, you were not as bad as Applejack and Rainbow Dash,” Void stated coldly, as she lazily draped herself across the cold surface, looking down upon the ponies chained in front of her seat of power. In doing so, she noticed that Twilight had once again regained consciousness.
“Well, well… Our dear Princess is with us once again,” She said with a wicked smile. “So how did you find yourself? Disgusting, right?”
Twilight could only give Void a blank stare in response, unable to remember herself being present at any point during the last memory dreams.
“I… I don’t think I was in that memory,” Twilight said carefully while she looked Void over. There was something different about her, but twilight couldn’t really put her hoof on it.
Then she realized what it was, it was actually so obvious she felt a bit embarrassed about not noticing it sooner. Void’s coat was now even more covered in black than Twilight remembered. Void’s entire head to halfway down her neck was now completely black, just like all four of her legs and wings, leaving only her torso showing a little of Scootaloo’s original orange coat.
Even Void’s stature, though she was lazily lying on her side draped across the throne, was not that of a filly anymore; not even by Alicorn standards. She was definitely bigger and more mature-looking in her body now, much more… Nightmare Moon-looking.
At hearing Twilight’s answer, Void scowled while her eyes narrowed thoughtfully.
“Hmm…” she pondered, “perhaps it’s the next day you come in then… Once you’ve had as many bad days as I have, they tend to blur together, and exactly when somepony hurt me becomes irrelevant.” Void said derisively while she thought back on her life as Scootaloo, trying to pinpoint where exactly in the memories they ought to be.
“Twilight? Oh Twilight, thank heavens you’re up!” Rarity exclaimed, relief evident in her voice.
Twilight lifted herself up and turned towards her friend. Rarity had been lying down almost as far back as the chain would allow her to go, but once she saw her friend standing up, she immediately moved as close as she could.
“Rarity…” Twilight said, taking in the state of the completely filthy unicorn, she smelled horrible and looked worse. Nevertheless, Rarity sat down prim and proper and as gracefully as she could at the edge of her little circle.
Twilight moved up as close to Rarity as she could get before sinking back to the ground. The two of them looked at each other with relief at having a friend at their side once more.
“Well isn’t this touching?” Void said sarcastically, not sounding too pleased. “Perhaps I should put you all back in your own little holes again?”
“NO! Nononono! Please don’t put me back in there! I’m begging you Void! I will do anything!” Rarity screamed in absolute terror, before breaking down into sobs. “Just… don’t… please… I can’t take that filth anymore…” She said between her sobs, literally begging on her knees for Void not to put her back in that dirty pit.
Twilight was looking in absolute shock at Rarity; she had gone from the composed and ever proper, if at the moment filthy, mare she had always known to a complete wrecked shadow of herself at just a few words from Void.
“Void! Let her be! I’m warning you!” Twilight shouted in anger as she stood up and spread her wings protectively in front of the now-weeping Rarity who had prostrated herself before the nightmare.
“No Twilight! Don’t anger her; you’ll only make it worse for us!” Rarity cried out pleadingly from behind a completely speechless Twilight.
“You should listen to your friend,” Void commented, while she started clicking her tongue in disappointment at the behavior of her playthings. “Unlike you, my dear Princess, she has not been sleeping for the last two months or so. She knows what happens when I get annoyed. Don’t you Rarity?”
“Yes! Yes I do Void!” Rarity assured frantically, “I promise you, she didn’t mean anything by it. Dear Twilight has just woken up, after all,” She finished with a desperately fake laugh, trying to brush it all off as a poor pun from Twilight’s side.
Before anypony could say anymore, several groans were heard around them. Twilight turned about gleefully, hope gleaming in her eyes, as several of her friends started coming to.
“Girls! Oh, I’m so happy you’re all okay!” Twilight said, before she looked over towards Fluttershy, grimacing as she briefly saw the scratch and bite marks on her stomach once more. “Well, mostly okay…”
Twilight moved over towards the shy Pegasus, trying to see how severe her injuries were.
“Okay?” Applejack said with a harsh laugh while she staggered up on her hooves. “Ya got a funny definition of ‘okay’, Twilight.”
Frowning, the purple Alicorn looked over towards the orange farmer. Applejack only glanced back, her whole being radiating defeat.
“I refuse to believe this is over… There’s always hope…” Twilight said in a low voice, mostly to herself. She looked back towards the yellow mare. “How are you Fluttershy? Are you alright?…” Twilight grimaced as she realize how poorly thought out that question was, “well… obviously not, but… are you coping?”
The timid little Pegasus looked back at Twilight through her pink bangs, eyes widening as she took in the purple Alicorn’s presence.
“Oh… hi Twilight…” Fluttershy whispered, almost inaudible.
“I’m…” The yellow Pegasus looked down at herself regretfully, “I’m fine… It’s… nothing that I don’t deserve…”
Twilight just looked at her friend, not understanding how Fluttershy could think she deserved to be in her current situation.
“Fluttershy, you’re the nicest pony I have ever met. You definitely don’t deserve anything that’s happening here, none of us do!” Twilight said assuredly.
Fluttershy only stared down at her hooves, hiding behind her pink mane while she shuffled in place.
“No, I… I deserve…” Fluttershy started, but when she saw the way Twilight was looking at her, she eeped and once again hid behind her pink locks. “I mean… if you say so Twilight… I guess that could be… I mean, if that’s the way you see it, I guess it could be true…” The butter-colored Pegasus murmured hastily.
However, before the purple Alicorn thought to respond, she was distracted by a somewhat perky voice from behind her.
“Hi Twilight! Are you here for the party? I like parties! I should really get another one going… yeah… hehe… definitely…” Pinkie Pie’s voice startled not only Fluttershy, but Twilight as well with the sudden and loud proclamation, which nevertheless tapered off towards the end in a very non-Pinkie Pie manner.
As Twilight turned around to look at her once again conscious pink friend, she could see how the pink pony’s eyes started to glaze over; ending with Pinkie Pie staring into space.
The purple Alicorn moved over as much as she could and waved a hoof towards Pinkie Pie, whose eyes has now gone completely vacant.
“Pinkie? Pinkie Pie! Can you hear me Pinkie?!” Twilight yells at the now once again catatonic pink earth pony.
“Don’t bother… She does that all the time now.” Applejack said with a huff.
“I believe it’s her way to cope with this unfortunate situation.” Rarity said demurely, “she goes into her own little world for hours on end…”
“That… That can’t be good?” Twilight said while looking worriedly at Pinkie Pie who just then giggled a bit at something only she could see.
“Ya don’t say, Princess obvious.” Applejack scoffed before turning away in a very grumpy manner.
“AJ?” Twilight said with more than a little hurt in her voice, making Applejack sigh and crouch down in shame.
“Look… Ah’m sorry Twilight; Ah really shouldn’t ’ve said that,” AJ muttered regrettably, while turning her eyes back at her friend, tears running down her cheeks. “But ya gotta understand; the rest of us girls have been here for over two months! We’re at the end of our ropes!”
“Don’t worry Applejack,” Twilight said comfortingly. “If we have been gone for that long, there can’t be many places left to look for us. Some pony is bound to find us sooner rather than later.”
Upon hearing this, Void burst into uproarious laughter, causing Twilight to look back the alicorn. She couldn’t understand what their captor found so funny about what she’d just said.
“What?!” Twilight challenged.
Void just looked down at Twilight before shaking her head, giggling a little more.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Void said as she tapped a hoof against her chest in a show of trying to catch her breath. “I totally forgot to tell you, didn’t I?”
“Tell me what?” Twilight said with a bit more apprehension now.
“No pony is looking for us…” Rarity said forlornly from where she lay.
“WHAT!!!” Twilight burst out, “that’s impossible! Of course every pony is looking for us! They have to!”
Void burst out laughing again, making Twilight glare up at her.
“Why would some pony be looking for you... When you’re not missing?” Void asked coldly, her voice dripping with menace.
“I have a shadow clone filling each of your roles almost perfectly. Even now I am ruling all the lands of Equestria through my shadow image of you, sitting upon the throne of Celestia!” Void proclaimed and started laughing maniacally, causing Twilight’s eyes to widen in understanding. The crushing realization made the purple alicorn lay her ears flat against her head before slumping down and pressing herself against the cold obsidian floor, not even wanting to believe that what she just heard could be possible.
“No! That can be! You’re just lying, trying to make us fall apart! That is your endgame! Isn’t it! Making sure the Elements of Harmony can’t work against you!” Twilight exclaimed, still trying desperately to invalidate Void’s claim.
Void looked at Twilight with a confused expression, suddenly reminding Twilight very much of the filly Void used to be. It was actually hard to see such a ‘Scootaloo’ expression shine through on the features of the dark mare standing in front of her now.
“Wow. I had forgotten, you can be the most stupid smart pony ever sometimes…” Void said in a deadpan. “If my only goal was to destroy any chance you girls had of using the Elements of Harmony, I would just have killed one of your friends long ago. But I have a different end altogether in mind… Besides, just killing you outright would be letting you off too easy,” she said before tapping her hoof against her chin thoughtfully. “Well, maybe I would let Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie die soon… but the rest of you girls? No, you’re going to live for a long time under my… tender care.”
Twilight could feel her blood run cold at Void’s proclamation. Furthermore given that she didn’t have a clue as to how long she would live now being an Alicorn; it could be a long time indeed to suffer.
She could feel despair and hatred towards Void start to fill her heart. Slowly, her eyes turned green with red irises and purple mist starting to leak out from the corner of her now very frightening-looking eyes.
Unbeknownst to Twilight, Void’s own heart started beating excitedly as she sees the transformation taking place on her most problematic subject.
“AHHHHHH!” Twilight screamed out in rage as she stomped down with all her might, cracking that obsidian floor beneath her hooves.
Yes… Soon I will be-
But then, to Void’s frustration, her thoughts were cut off as Twilight’s breathing once again grew calmer while she stood, eyes tightly shut, gathering herself. The purple mist stopped seeping forth from the corner of her eyes while she stood up straight, took a calming breath and performed the motion Cadence had once shown her.
When she was finally done, Twilight opened her eyes, revealing that they were once more purple and uncontaminated by dark magic.
“You will not break us Void,” Twilight said defiantly.
Void only snorted, stepping down from her obsidian throne to walk slowly amongst her chained-down prisoners.
“Break you? My dear Twilight, I have already broken every one of your friends. Why else do you think I woke you up? You are the last piece of the puzzle. Once I have you bowing at my hooves like this,” Void elaborated while standing in front of Applejack, glaring down at her until she could do nothing but meet Void’s gaze. AJ held out only for a mere second before prostrating herself in front of Void, who coldly proceeded to put a hoof on the farmers neck and pressing down mercilessly, making Applejack grown in pain. But still, she did not try to escape her predicament. “When I have you liked this, my dear Twilight, my victory will be complete.”
Twilight was fiercely struggling against her chains, trying to reach out to her friend.
“Void stop it!” Twilight yelled in anger and despair at seeing her proud friend reduced to nothing more than a Hoof wipe for Void.
With a cruel chuckle, Void stepped back from Applejack who only slumped down on the floor, tears burning in her eyes.
“The problem with Earth ponies is they’re so damn durable. During the first two weeks, I would beat them all into an inch of their lives. However, AJ and Pinkie Pie would more often than not wake up a few hours later not being too worse for wear; Their Earth pony magic healing them up right as rain again and again. It was rather frustrating until I realized how to best deal with them,” Void said while she walked over towards Fluttershy who started shaking almost uncontrollably.
“Void ya hateful bitch!” AJ angrily called after the dark Alicorn.
Void, however, only tittered at Applejack’s rather obvious attempt at drawing her attention away from the farmer’s friend.
“Really AJ? That was one of your more pathetic attempts to rattle me up. I must say, just for that I’ll make sure Fluttershy has something to really cry about this time,” Void retorted while AJ launched herself to the end of her chain, kicking and screaming obscenities at Void’s back.
In the meantime Fluttershy had curled up into a little ball of yellow and pink, wrapping her wings around her head in a desperate bid to protect herself.
“Now… What shall we do today Fluttershy?” Void asked as if she wondered what the yellow and pink Pegasus wanted to do during a pleasant afternoon together. Her true intentions were however, completely clear. She wanted Fluttershy to choose her own torment.
“I… I… I guess we could-”
“VOID! LEAVE HER ALONE!!!” Twilight’s Royal Canterlot voice boomed, sending Void tumbling off to the side from the sheer force of the sound.
As Void got back to her hooves, she snapped her head back, glaring down at the now-fuming purple Alicorn who stood defiantly with her wings spread wide in a clear challenge.
“Testy, aren’t we my dear Princess?” Void said to Twilight, but all the same she continued towards Fluttershy. “Why don’t you come over here and stop me? Oh that’s right; you can’t!”
When Void reached Fluttershy, she roughly rolled the timid Pegasus over on her back while she forcibly stretched out her wings to either side.
“Void, I’m warning you…” Twilight continued threateningly.
“If you don’t shut up soon Princess, I will not be satisfied with hurting just one of your friends,” Void snapped back at Twilight, whose wings immediately lowered a bit at the retort.
“From now on, every time you test my patience, your friends will suffer the consequences.” Void stated coldly, as she gazed down at the trembling form of Fluttershy. “Do you understand, my little Princess?”
Twilight gritted her teeth while she looked at her trembling friend. Then she slumped down, hanging her head.
“Yes…” She whispered.
“What was that, I didn’t quite hear you!” Void barked at her.
“Yes! I understand!” Twilight shouted back in utter frustration.
Void chuckled darkly while she brushed her hoof over Fluttershy’s scared stomach.
“Good. Now that that’s out of the way, I think we can continue on a more pleasant note from here. Don’t you agree, little miss murderer?” Void stated and stepped away from a cowering Fluttershy.
“Y… ye… yes…” Fluttershy stammered out.
“How dare you!” Twilight shouted at Void, “Fluttershy wouldn’t hurt a fly! And you know it; she’s the kindest, most gentle pony in Equestria!”
“No, I’m not…” Fluttershy whispered again shrinking in on herself even more.
“Yes you-”
“I killed Angel!” Fluttershy shouted in desperation, cutting off Twilight’s defense of her with tears running down her face.
Twilight just looked back at the yellow Pegasus, not able to process what her friend had just said.
“Wait… What? You did what... to Angel?” Twilight sputtered out.
“I killed him…” Fluttershy said shakily, “I’m such a bad, evil, mean pony…”
“No, yer not Flutter! Ya can’t blame yerself fer what happened,” Applejack called over sounding a bit annoyed, as if this was a conversation they had had many times before.
“AJ is quite right darling…” Rarity said, much more soothingly, “Angel was in an absolute panic: he would have clawed his way right through you if you hadn’t… done that.”
“But he was just so afraid! It was so cramped in there, and so hot, and all he wanted was to get out… And he, he-”
“The white little Tartarus’s spawn panicked, almost clawing straight into your stomach before you broke his neck to save your own life,” Void cut off, chuckling in absolute glee. “Even dear little Fluttershy has quite the survival instinct when it comes down to life and death.”
Cringing, Twilight looked over at the now empty animal-carrying cage she had seen Fluttershy crammed in to earlier.
With a shudder, she understood what had happened, both the timid Pegasus and Angel had been forced in there together. Evidently, it hadn’t taken long for the rabbits to lose it in the cramped compartment.
Or had it? They might have been in that container for weeks before Angel finally broke…
“I’m so sorry Angel… I’m so sorry…” Fluttershy cried, rocking herself back and forth in the protection of her own wings as her sobs started to get louder and louder.
“Oh please, spare me the waterworks,” Void said agitatedly, her horn flashing with black magic as Fluttershy was engulfed in a pillar of absolute darkness. The darkness immediately drowned out the sound of her shuddering sobs.
Twilight stared with wide eyes. She knew her pink and yellow friend was just a few meters in front of her, but even with her now-sharpened alicorn senses, she couldn’t pick up a single sound or see any movement from within the inky blackness.
“Much better,” Void muttered from her throne. “That gets old so fast you wouldn’t believe it. Always going on about poor Angel, and all the other animals in the freaking universe! I swear, if that bunny-obsessed mad mare had to choose between saving, oh I don’t know- let’s say an orphan from a burning building, or some fluffy animal- She would leave the freaking filly to slowly fry in the flames!”
“That’s horrible of you to say Void! Of course she would save the filly!” Twilight shot back angrily.
Void looked coldly down at Twilight before bursting out into a very evil grin.
“Would you bet your friends’ lives on that?” Void said challengingly. “After all, I said I might be willing to part with some of you.”
“What?” Twilight uttered in shock, before realizing her mistake.
“Let’s see,” Void mused thoughtfully while looking between Applejack and Pinkie Pie, “I’ve mostly tortured you two mentally of late... this will be a nice change of pace.”
With that said, the chains securing Applejack and Pinkie to the floor melted away like shadows, before the two ponies were dragged in front of Void on her throne.
“Aw, hell no! Ah won’t let ya do this! Ya darn varmint!” Applejack called out while she struggled against Void’s grip. Pinky Pie, however just lay on the floor, apparently not having noticed anything changing around her.
“No! Void don’t!” Twilight yelled, struggling against her chain while she tried reaching her two friends.
“Oh don’t be like that Princess; it’s just a fun little game after all. You like games, don’t you Pinky?” Void asked contemptuously to the non-responsive earth pony. “I’ll even throw in a little bonus for you:” she continued and turned back to Twilight, “if Fluttershy acts like an actual pony and saves your friends...” Void smiled down at AJ and Pinky, “I won’t torture her ever again.”
“Like we can trust anything you say Void,” Applejack spat up at her captor.
“O, ye have little faith…” Void said smoothly, “look into my eyes, Element of Honesty, when I say this,” Applejack reluctantly obeyed, “I will not torture Fluttershy again if she saves you.”
Applejack’s eyes widened as she stared up at Void before turning away.
“Ya… yer not lyin’,” she said reluctantly, “at least, as far as Ah can tell yer not.”
“But surely, we cannot even think about trusting her?” Rarity croaked out in weak protest from where she still lay chained to the floor.
“So, do we have a deal?” Void asked as she glanced over towards Twilight, who just stood frozen where she was.
Her thoughts were going several million miles an hour. On one hand, she could presumably make sure Fluttershy wouldn’t suffer anymore, but on the other hand…
She had little doubt now that Void would actually go through with it and kill AJ and Pinky if Fluttershy did make the wrong choice.
But this is Fluttershy we’re talking about: she would never leave a filly to die just to save an animal! Would she? Twilight thought, before her eyes went wide. By Celestia! What does it say about me and about how well I know and trust Flutters that I actually have to think so hard about this?!
“Your answer, Princess!” Void snapped, breaking Twilight out of her jumbled thought process.
“I… I-”
“Do it Twi!” Applejack said heatedly. “If there’s a chance to get one of us out of this Tartarus, then ya better take it!”
Twilight’s purple eyes met Applejack’s green ones and, with a last nod from Applejack, she turned back towards Void.
“Yes, Fluttershy will save her friends,” Twilight stated.
“Oh goody!” Void said, prancing like a school filly, “it’s been so boring lately: this will definitely liven things up a bit.”
“Now then: let’s set the scene!” Void chortled.
At once, Applejack and Pinkie Pie were dragged off into the darkness by wrapping tendrils of shadow, electing a last yelp from AJ as she disappeared into the darkness surrounding their prison.
Suddenly, Twilight could feel her eyes starting to droop, and with mounting horror, she understood she was being pulled back down into the nightmarish dream world of Scootaloo’s memories.
“No… Not now!” Twilight croaked as she took a few stumbling steps off to the side.
“Looks like it’s time for you to take a nap again, Princess,” Void said, when she saw how Twilight stubbornly struggled to keep herself awake. “Don’t worry, I will not do anything without you awake to see it. Besides, this will give me some time to come up with the perfect stage for our little show.”
With that, Void disappeared off into the darkness after Applejack and Pinkie Pie, almost giddy with excitement as she thought of all the ways she could play this little wager out.
“No…” Twilight whispered one last time, before darkness once again enveloped her.
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Thanks to Mikemeiers - pre-reader/editor
Thanks to Evanescyan - pre-reader/editor