"Your reign of terror ends now, Princess!" I shouted. My voice... It sounded strange to me. It was mine, but as the same time... It wasn't. It carried with it a coldness that felt wrong, yet I somehow knew that it wasn't. It was like an old friend, calling you up one day out of the blue. Not just any friend, but one of your best friends, one who you just... Sort of grew apart. Maniacal laughter filled the air, I immediately recognized it... But... That doesn't make sense...
Nightmare Moon was defeated! Princess Luna wouldn't let that happen again! Why does... Why is Celestia looking at me like that? And... Luna? What is... But you were Nightmare Moon? How can she exist aside from you? She was just... No... I frowned, Princess Luna and Princess Celestia were larger than that, why were...
"Twilight, don't do this! You will not win if you do this!" Celestia shouted back.
What are you talking about? Princess? What's... What? No, you don't have the Elements of Harmony... I do... Wait, no... How did you get them? "If you think those will stop me, you're sorely mistaken! Even if you succeed in defeating me, I will not be stopped! Equestria will burn!"
What? No... No! That's wrong, what is going on... Princess? What am I... Wait... Laughter filled the room once more as Celestia and Luna brought the Elements to bear, and began spinning them around, until they were just a blur of color.
I lowered my head, and a beam of red magic shot forth, impacting a rainbow colored barrier being projected by the Elements.
What? WHAT!? The Elements flew apart, and the rainbow barrier collapsed. Princess Celestia was struck by the red beam, she cried out in pain. How is that possible!? Nothing is stronger than the Elements!
"Sister!" Luna shouted. She glanced towards Celestia, who was unmoving. She turned back to me, and glared at me. I felt myself shudder under her determined gaze. Her gaze put Fluttershy's stare, and the Royal Canterlot Voice combined to shame, yet I did not back down. "Twilight, how could you do this!?"
"Equestria is shattered because of you two! It is only a matter of time before this chaos spreads outside of Equestria, and then we will be facing a war in which no nation is safe!" I shouted back in that cold, cold voice. It... It wasn't my own, it couldn't be. No.
"If we hadn't fought this would have been avoided... But, we could have re-united! It didn't have to be this way, you didn't have to kill her!"
Kill who? I've never killed anypony... Out of the corner of my eye, Bonbon sauntered through the door, dark magic flowed from her cold, glossed over, lifeless eyes. Bonbon...
No... I didn't kill her... She's still-
"My Queen, why do you hesitate?"
I shivered at her dull voice. Queen? Who-wait, me? What? No, I'm no queen, I'm just a princess-
"Tyrant!" Luna spat, "You're worse than Sombra!"
"Queen Twilight Sparkle... I thought I told you to be careful with that crystal of yours?" Discord mused as he tapped his chin. "But I suppose that doesn't matter now, does it?" he shook his head, "I must admit I'm surprised. Honestly surprised." His expression darkened, "It takes a lot to surprise me, Twilight Sparkle."
What are you talking about Discord?
"This is not my kind of chaos, Twilight." Discord stated darkly, lowering his gaze. The sight of Discord's malevolent glare made me shutter, his eyes... They seemed to scream bloody murder.
"You cannot stop me." I stated. I shivered at the voice that it came out in, so cold and twisted, barely resembling my own.
Discord threw his arms out, and ripped open his claw and paw. Hovering just out of touch, he had two spheres of chaos magic. The magic flared and arced out, even as it swirled violently. The violet blue balls throbbed with power, even from across the room I could feel the maelstrom growing.
I carefully levitated a pitch black six pointed star shaped crystal in front of my muzzle, and glared at Discord. "You cannot match my power." I shivered under the voice. It was no longer my own, but sounded otherworldly, shaking the very air with each word, more than the last. I felt my head throb from hearing the voice.
Arcs of red magic flashed through the air, coming from both my horn and the crystal. The violent discharges scorched the marble where they impacted, leaving it blackened beyond recognition.
Discord threw his arms forwards, launching the spheres of chaos magic at me. I intercepted each with a bright crimson beam of magic, emanating from the black crystal. The two spheres of chaos magic exploded, and reality shifted.
No more were we in the Canterlot Castle Throne Room, no more were we anywhere I recognized. We both seemed to float in a void, bright stars of varying colors filled the sky, but something was wrong... The stars kept turning black. I looked down, passed my hooves and saw a planet beneath us... I could make out Equestria, and-
What... Th.. That's... No, that's not... Wait...
Flashes of light erupted over the surface of Equestria, I could see the atmosphere shifting from the release of energy. As the waves of magic spread out, they collided, producing secondary flashes, creating even more waves of magic. Large plumes of smoke and dust started rising up from the epicenters of the initial flashes of light.
I couldn't even begin to comprehend what was going on beneath me. The fact that the planet was no larger than the moon from where we are, and that I could clearly make out the flashes of light, and waves of magic... It shouldn't have been possible, nothing should have been capable of doing that...
"You did that, Twilight Sparkle." Discord spat. "I told you not to play with those crystals..."
What? What crystals? What are you...
There was a loud banging noise, I looked back down to see... The planet shattering.
DISCORD! WHAT DID YOU DO!? WHY DID YOU DO THAT!? YOU...
"Twilight! Stop pl-please!" Fluttershy cried out. I blinked.
Another loud banging noise, the ground shook.
Twilight Sparkle
I jumped up in bed, heart pounding, and channeled magic into my horn. My head shot left, then right, shining the pale light of my magic all across the room. I pushed back the covers, and ruffled my wings, immediately I was assaulted by cold air. I lifted a shaky hoof to my regalia. To my shock, it wasn't there. I frantically looked down and searched with my hooves for my regalia, nothing. I turned towards my nightstand, and let out a sigh of relief. 'I took it off tonight...'
I pushed the covers back further, noticing how wet they were. I lifted a hoof to my head and grimaced, feeling moisture that was most likely, and hopefully sweat. I lifted my other hoof to wipe away tears I had just noticed forming in my eyes.
My head bolted towards the door as I heard somepony knock on it. I briefly remembered dreaming about... Something... It... It felt wrong. I frowned, suddenly feeling a cold sensation spreading through my core, but pushed it away as a result of my sweating.
"Princess!?" a frantic voice called from beyond the crystalline door.
I sighed as I got to my hooves, and walked passed my nightstand and mirror, dreading to see how I looked. I didn't even bother to put my regalia on, and continued towards the door. I opened it with my magic, and stared at the guard standing there, shifting uncomfortably.
"Pr-Princess? Are... Are you alright? We heard screaming and... You look... W-well..."
I shook my head, "I'm fine... What is it?"
"General Spitfire has called an emergency briefing... She requests your immediate presence...." the guard shifted uncomfortably before adding, "Though uh... You might want to get cleaned up... First..."
I nodded, "Yeah... I think I had a nightmare..." I frowned as I thought about my excuse. The dream I had been having right before I woke... It was... What was it about? All I could remember was a cold sensation, and... Something about magic... A crystal, perhaps? I shook it off as stress. It was both comforting and discomforting to know the spell to block Luna from my sleeping mind worked, I would just have to deal with the nightmares on my own.
The guard shifted again, and I blinked. 'Right...' "Inform General Spitfire that I will be there as soon as I can."
"Yes, Princess." he saluted and started trotting off.
I strode into the briefing room, immediately everypony present stood up, and put on an air of professionalism. I paused after I closed the door behind me with my magic, and glanced around the table, taking note of everypony present. Despite the early hour, everypony present was adorned in their uniform, in the Wonderbolts' case, or armor, in the Army officers' case. My eyes fell upon Spitfire, "General." I acknowledged.
"Princess." she returned.
I nodded, and strode over to my chair at the head of the table, I pulled it out and sat down, an action immediately followed by everypony present. "Alright... Will somepony please tell me what was so important that an emergency meeting was called at..." I grimaced, remembering the time my clock had said, "Two in the morning?"
General Spitfire cleared her throat, "We just heard back from our spy in Princess Celestia's ranks." I felt a smile pull at my lip, I chose not to speak so the general could get to the information I hoped she had faster. "He has informed us of several important developments, along with... Confirming your suspicions that Princess Celestia is holding Rainbow Dash."
*Squee!*
Everypony present immediately stared at me. I felt heat rush to my cheecks and looked away from everypony. I coughed, "Please continue, General..."
Spitfire nodded, "Of course, Princess... As the Princess requested to be immediately informed of any information regarding... Captain Rainbow Dash... I will start with the information regarding her, unless there is any objections." Spitfire paused for less than two seconds before continuing, nopony interrupted her, as to the reason that was... "The spy's report indicates Captain Dash is being held in the dungeons of Canterlot Castle..." Spitfire made eye contact with me, "Rescue will be difficult, but not impossible according to his information."
I frowned, 'So Celestia has her... Canterlot Castle dungeons... Hmm...'
"As to the other intelligence we've received, the Changelings seem to be active once again, doesn't say to what extent. And then, the most pressing issue... Princess Luna captured the Shiny Hills."
'The Shiny Hills? Why does that sound... Oh.' I frowned, 'Oh...' I looked down at the table.
"This is very, very bad." All attention was drawn to Sergeant Bolt. "With the amount of platinum the mines produce on a daily basis... If she can hold them, she could produce at least a dozen powerfully enchanted weapons per day." he shook his head vigorously, "In the hooves of the right ponies, that would be very, very dangerous."
"Not to mention the economic benefit to Princess Luna, and loss to Princess Celestia." said a pony who I was unfamiliar with.
"There was only a garrison of five hundred soldiers there... And with it being so close to Princess Luna's territory, what was she thinking?" Soarin asked.
"She has most of her forces deployed in cities, rather than defending strategic assets." Captain Bolt answered.
I shook my head, "That's... Not good... Although... It's not surprising... It is Princess Celestia, we're talking about after all." I looked up from my hooves and towards Soarin, "Lieutenant Soarin, how long until we can match forces with either Princess Celestia or Pricness Luna?"
Soarin sat up straighter, "It could be several months to years before we can match forces with them, unless something changes, Princess."
General Spitfire spoke up, "Analysis of what's happened so far indicates they're both inclined to conserve forces, so I don't think we can count too much on attrition. I don't currently see any path for us to bolster our forces without outside assistance, or some victories."
I looked up, "What if I could provide our forces with a much needed advantage in battle?"
Spitfire grimaced, "Princess, you can't be everywhere at once-"
I shook my head, "That's not what I meant... I've been experimenting with magic and crystals, granted I haven't had enough time to fully get things to work properly, but I know I can create crystals capable of storing enough magic to power some pretty advanced spells."
Sergeant Bolt bobbled his head, "That could provide a powerful advantage..."
"Producing it on a scale which would make a difference... I don't see how you could do that." the pony I didn't recognize spoke again.
"The research lab I'm having constructed should be finished within a few weeks, once that's finished... I should be able to get some scientists and engineers to work on the problems facing us." I stated with a smile.
"Can you even afford that?" Soarin asked skeptically.
I nodded, "Yes, the Diamond Dog mine has been... Very profitable."
"I think we've gotten a little off topic." Captain Light said.
"Ah, right. Now, back to the matter of-"
"Rescuing Rainbow Dash." I cut in, knowing Sergeant Bolt was going elsewhere.
"Yes... That matter..." Spitfire said unhappily. "I have a team assembled and on stand by, awaiting your command, Princess. I highly advise not rushing this, however. As much as you want to rescue her, getting yourselves captured won't help her-"
Soarin bobbled his head, "Actually it might, if you..." All eyes turned to him, I glared lightly at him. "Never mind."
"I still think you leading the mission yourself is a bad idea, Princess." Spitfire said as she shook her head.
"Noted." I stated with a smile.