//------------------------------// // The Beginning of the End // Story: Revisions of Past Mistakes // by SC_Orion //------------------------------// Nightfall lay on her bed in darkness, the only light coming from pale moonlight seeping into the room from the open window, and the faint glow of her horn. She held the Elements of Harmony in her magic, and slowly rotated them around the Element of Magic, which she held in the center. Each gem was inert and darkened. Each Element felt Twilight's pain, and the pain of her friends, and sympathized with them. Her gaze was slowly drawn away from the Element of magic, and she looked beside her at the dress Rarity had made for her. Rarity had given it to her before the whole fiasco had started, and she had teleported it to her room, laying it on her bed, and had left it there after only briefly looking it over. She hadn't tried it on yet, trying it on wouldn't serve a purpose. It was as useful as the Elements were right now. Which was to say not at all useful, though she found a curious desire to try it on. Her eyes trailed over the outline of the dress, even in the darkness she could remember what it looked like when Rarity had presented it to her, and it was very fine work from her, but it still did not compare to the work of her Rarity. Her pupils contracted further into slits as the thought entered her mind. She eyed over the dress again more carefully, and she could not deny that Rarity had made it, even if it wasn't comparable to her later work. She slowly looked away from the dress and at the inert Element of Generosity. She slowly traced over the sharp outline of the gem, then moved on to the Element of Kindness. As she looked over the softer outline, her thoughts were drawn to Fluttershy. Both her own and the one who said she was her friend here. She slowly levitated the Element of Loyalty closer to the Element of Kindness, then looked over the red, lightning bolt shaped gem. She felt a dull ache in her heart and an emptiness as she looked over both crystals and remembered her own friends. Her own friends who bore the Elements with her. Her friends who stood with her against countless evils, and who stood by her side for decades. She tilted her head to the right and levitated her former element closer to the other two. She never knew when the Elements abandoned her. She never felt any change. She didn't know if it was before or after her friends died. She did want to know, however, she knew she never would find out. She pursed her lips and channeled more magic into her horn, then attempted to access the Element of Magic. After a few seconds, the Element flared pink, glowing brightly enough to put the light from her horn to shame, and she felt a sharp pain in her head. She grunted and clenched her jaw. Immediately, her magic failed and she lost her hold of the Elements and brought a hoof to massage her temple. After a second, each of the six Elements landed on her bed, and she eyed them carefully, then closed her eyes and brought her other hoof to her temple. She sat in silence, welcoming the lack of stimuli, fearing that any would cause an inordinate amount of discomfort. After what seemed like an eternity, she felt something warm and wet roll down her nose. She tentatively opened and eye and wiped it away with a hoof. She was about to fling it away when she caught sight of the fluid and stopped. She clenched her jaw tighter and felt disappointment. She pushed the feeling away and quickly cast a spell to stop the bleeding, then tentatively slid off the bed and walked into the bathroom. She shut the door behind her and looked into the mirror. She looked blankly at the crimson streak running from her nose to her upper lip, then turned on the faucet. After she let the water run for a bit, allowing it to warm up. She stuck her muzzle underneath it and rubbed the blood out of her coat with a hoof, then she rubbed the blood off of her hoof. She pulled back and levitated a towel over to herself to dry off with. She carefully ran the towel over her muzzle and nose, then threw it aside and looked at her reflection. The face that stared back at her was her own and not her own at the same time. Over the next few minutes, a scowl slowly grew across her muzzle until she turned away and walked back into her bedroom. She walked over to her bed, then laid down. She carefully picked the Element of Magic up with her magic and stared at it. There was not a single shred of doubt in her mind as to what would happen if the Elements were used against her, or if she tried to use them. She swallowed. She wouldn't let them be used against herself. Princess Cadance sighed as she stepped outside Twilight's room, followed by Shining Armor, who closed the door behind him. Cadance winced, as the door shut and Eclipse turned to them. But at least Twilight had finally fallen asleep. Cadance was about to say something, but before she could, Shining Armor spoke. "Why?" he asked, drawing Cadance's attention. Both Eclipse and Cadance looked at him. His voice held a slight edge to it, but if you didn't know him you wouldn't be able to tell. "Why did you have to tell her that?" Eclipse swallowed, despite finding her mouth dry. "I..." She didn't know how to answer that. Discord may have prodded her into telling, but he wasn't the one to blame. She was the one who chose to tell her tale, despite Twilight being present. She knew she shouldn't have told Twilight... But she couldn't have kept it from her forever, she would have found out eventually. The question was just as much a condemnation as a question, and it hurt, even more coming from her brother. Eclipse looked to the floor, unable to meet his gaze. "Shining..." Cadance said softly. "Taking it out on Eclipse won't fix anything... She's hurting as much as we are... Maybe even more." Shining Armor sighed, and his gaze softened a little. Eclipse still didn't look up from the floor. "I know... It's just... I can't do anything for her, and it's..." "I know... Maybe there's something you can do, Eclipse?" Cadance asked lightly. Eclipse merely shook her head. "I don't know what it would be... And... I'm sorry. I shouldn't have told her..." Cadance shook her head. "She would have found out what you did sooner or later... It's better than she heard it from you rather than from... Nightfall..." Cadance comforted. "She was already under so much stress, though." Eclipse countered. She tentatively lifted her head and met Cadance's eyes. "Finding out what she ended up doing in the future... That I killed Princess Celestia..." Eclipse averted her gaze again. "Why did you kill her?" Shining asked. Eclipse winced, and Cadance shot him a disapproving glare. He ignored it and continued, "There's no way what you told us was the whole story." "No. It's not... But it is a story for another time." Eclipse stated firmly. She slowly looked to the floor. "Regardless, it doesn't excuse what I did." "Eclipse... None of us hate you for what you did." Cadance stated as she glanced over at her husband. Shining Armor remained silent and did not meet her gaze. After a second, she looked back to Eclipse. "You've been nothing but a good pony since you've come back, Eclipse." Eclipse shook her head and remained looking at the floor, but said nothing. Cadance saw that her attempts to comfort Eclipse were failing, and she frowned. "Eclipse..." She didn't react at her name being called. "Twilight..." she directed at Eclipse, earning a wince from her. Eclipse acted like she had hurt her, and Cadance sighed. "Maybe you should go spend some time with-" Eclipse cut Cadance off. "I'm not leaving her alone," she said firmly. She lifted her head and met Cadance's gaze. "She's vulnerable right now, and I would never forgive myself if something bad happened to her because of what I did." "Still hoping to play the valiant heroine?" Nightfall chastised as she silently approached them from behind Eclipse. Everypony was startled by her appearance, nopony had detected her approach. Eclipse slowly turned around to face her. She had not expected to see Fluttershy standing beside Nightfall, but only spared the pegasus a glance before meeting Nightfall's gaze. "Despite being solely responsible for this mess we're in," she said harshly. Fluttershy glared at Nightfall, but she paid it no mind. "Nightfall, that isn't helping. Can't you see she's sorry for what she did?" Cadance said softly, but with an unmistakable firmness. Eclipse tilted her head back to Cadance and glanced at her, "Cadance..." she said softly, but with a clear message. Cadance sighed but nodded. Eclipse slowly turned back to Nightfall. "What do you want?" she asked somewhat harshly. Nightfall lifted her muzzle up and jerked at Cadance and Shining Armor. "They are not alone in feeling that you need a break from this, Eclipse." Cadance and Shining Armor exchanged a glance, then returned to looking at Nightfall. "Go," she said softly. "I will protect Twilight. You need a break." "Hah!" Eclipse scoffed. "Like I would leave her alone with you," she said in a voice that caused everypony present who was younger than her to shiver. Nightfall inhaled deeply, then sighed contentedly as she exhaled. "Aaah hypocrisy," she said with sarcastic joy. Her expression darkened. "I went to find her, and I found her while you were too busy moping. If Starlight had attacked us, I would have defended her until we could have escaped," she said quickly. "It is in my best interest to keep her alive," she said preemptively. She tilted her head to the right at the look the trio gave her. "For now," she added. "But that does not mean I wish her to suffer." "It's that for now part that I am worried about," Eclipse said harshly. "After everything that's happened, after seeing them forgive me, you still want to kill them all." Eclipse couldn't resist the urge to look Fluttershy in the eye as she finished her statement. She clenched her jaw as Fluttershy swallowed and turned to look at Nightfall. Nightfall snorted. "We made our choices centuries ago," she said simply. "Besides, I would not be alone with her. Kindness has offered to stay to keep an eye on me." Eclipse felt a little better at hearing that. Both knowing that Fluttershy was going out of her way to try to be friends with Nightfall, and that Nightfall still wasn't actively pushing her away. Even if she was beginning to doubt anything good would come from it, it was still worth a try. Eclipse glanced at Fluttershy, who weakly smiled at her in response, then she looked back to Nightfall. "I'll stay too." Shining Armor said. Eclipse and Cadance both looked at him. Eclipse bobbled her head, realizing she wasn't going to win this. She turned back to Nightfall. "Why do you even care about protecting her?" she asked, genuinely curious. "We would not wish the suffering we have experienced upon our younger self," she said in a voice reminiscent of Twilight's voice. "We would not wish it upon anypony..." she said cautiously. She tilted her head. "With the possible exception of Celestia," she said with a bit more eagerness. "Our Princess Celestia isn't the same one that... That..." Fluttershy trailed off as both Nightfall and Eclipse looked at her. Nightfall sighed and shook her head, then turned back to Eclipse. "Go take a break," she said in Twilight's voice. Eclipse opened her mouth to protest, but Nightfall cut her off. "You being exhausted is not in our best interests. Rest. Relax. Stop acting like a foal and get over it." she said harshly. Eclipse huffed. "You say I'm acting like the foal when you're the one still throwing a tantrum from having her friends taken away from her." Nightfall tilted her head. "Well then, at least I am in good company." she hissed. "You are not so innocent as you would like to be, foal." "Unlike you, I am trying to make up for my guilt, and I'm willing to pay the price for it." Eclipse shot back. "You still have more blood on your hooves than me." Nightfall snorted. "At this point, Eclipse, that point is moot. The difference between the number of deaths we are responsible for is so relatively little that it doesn't matter in the slightest. You are just as guilty as me." Eclipse swallowed at that statement, seeing the truth of it. "Girls... Please... That's enough." Fluttershy interjected. She cautiously rested a hoof on Nightfall's shoulder, drawing the alicorn's attention. "This isn't helping anything, Nightfall." Nightfall nodded her head once. "You are correct," she said, then turned to Eclipse. "Us fighting right now is not in our best interest. We will settle this after this is over," she said. "Now, go rest," she said firmly. "Talk to somepony you care about," she suggested. "I do not care what you do, only that you take a break." Eclipse looked over Nightfall for a few seconds, then powered up a teleportation spell. She cast her spell and left without saying another word. Cadance shook her head. "Play nice you three," she said as she turned to leave. Fluttershy watched Cadance leave, then turned to face Nightfall after Cadance disappeared around a corner. "You should apologize to Eclipse," she said with a firmness that took Nightfall by surprise. Nightfall turned to her. "Why should I do that? Why would I do that?" she hissed. Fluttershy held her ground and didn't back down from Nightfall's verbal attack. "Because it's not right. You're making her feel worse than she already does! Even you should see that she's in pain because of what she told Twilight!" Nightfall tilted her muzzle up. "I do see that she is hurting," she said calmly. "And I do not care. She should have known better. What she did was foalish." "She wouldn't have told her story if Discord hadn't-" Nightfall raised an eyebrow. "Are you honestly suggesting we shift the blame from her to Discord?" she asked fiercely. She snorted. "Of course you are... You will never fault her, all the while you view me with hatred and despise me, never once giving a buck about how I feel about all of this." She bared her teeth in disgust as Fluttershy shrunk back from her. "I-I don't... Nightfall... I... I don't hate you..." Fluttershy said weakly. Neither Nightfall nor Shining Armor paid attention to what she said. Fluttershy swallowed back growing pain, she needed to be strong. "Nightfall, that is enough!" Shining cut in, immediately drawing the alicorn's ire. "Taking it out on Fluttershy isn't going to change anything. And she actually cares about you! Even despite you being so despicable!" Shining glanced at Fluttershy, and his expression softened. "Look at her," he said firmly and quietly. Nightfall hesitantly obliged him and looked at Fluttershy. She clenched her jaw as he continued, "If you can't tell that she cares about you, then you are truly a lost cause." Nightfall took a deep breath and then slowly exhaled in an attempt to calm down. She blinked and glanced to her hooves briefly, then looked back at Shining Armor. She met his glare with an even gaze of her own, then turned to Fluttershy. Her expression softened as she took in the pegasus's fallen expression. "I am sorry, Fluttershy," she said softly, causing the timid pegasus to look back up at her. Nightfall tilted her head slightly and extended a wing, then tentatively draped a wing around Fluttershy. It felt so very awkward to her, and it showed on her face. Fluttershy shied away from her wing slightly but didn't attempt to escape. Nightfall felt a slight pang of guilt as Fluttershy tensed up as her wing fell over her back. If she had done that all those hundreds of years ago to her own Fluttershy, and she had shied away like that... Nightfall pushed the thought aside and took a deep breath. Shining Armor just blinked and chose not to say anything more. Eclipse shifted her weight as Rainbow opened the door for her. She could tell Rainbow had been sleeping, just from how her mane was, being even messier than normal. She immediately felt another pang of guilt for waking the pegasus. "I um... I hope I didn't wake you," Eclipse greeted awkwardly. Rainbow stifled a yawn and shook her head. "What's up?" Exhaustion made itself known in her voice, and Eclipse felt even worse: like she couldn't do anything right. "If I woke you I can just go..." Eclipse trailed off and looked away. She had wanted to, well she wasn't completely sure what she had wanted to do. She wanted to have company, but she didn't want Rainbow to suffer from it. Rainbow shook her head. "No, it's fine." "Can I... Come in?" Eclipse asked. "Yeah, sure," Rainbow nodded as she opened the door further and stepped to the side, allowing Eclipse to enter the room. Eclipse tried to avoid being nosey by not looking around the room, though she could see how spartan it was despite the darkness. "What's wrong?" Rainbow asked as she closed the door behind Eclipse. "Nightfall said some things that... Well..." she sighed and hung her head low. "It's my fault Twilight's in the state she is in. I came back to fix everything and so far it's just making things worse..." Rainbow frowned and shook her head, "You're not making anything worse... That's Nightfall's doing, not yours." "Both Nightfall and I are responsible for countless deaths. Perhaps millions or more..." Eclipse said softly, almost as a whisper caused by the wind. It sent a chill down Rainbow's spine. "And she's right, I don't deserve any of this. Any of you. Seeing you again. I ruined things in my own reality, and you all forgave me so easily, despite me being a monster..." "You're not a monster, Twilight," Rainbow shook her head and sighed sadly. She was too tired to think, and she never really could think as good as Twilight could, but she had to try. "You're not a monster," she repeated. "You never could be. You just made a mistake, that's all. It happens to the best of us." Eclipse met Rainbow's gaze. "There was a point in time where I was Nightfall, Rainbow. When I fought Celestia, before I killed her... I would have done the same things Nightfall has done," she looked down to the floor and her ears folded back in shame, "I already am a monster..." Eclipse looked back at Rainbow, "You should all hate me for what I did," she said softly. "I know you don't, but-" Rainbow put her hoof on Eclipse's mouth and groaned. "Twilight, seriously. You're starting to worry me. You're not a monster, why can't you believe that?" She slowly lowered her hoof from Eclipse's mouth, awaiting her to reply. "You know why" Eclipse replied at length, barely able to contain her emotion. "I'm responsible for s-so many deaths. I k-killed Celestia, and because of my lack of action, you a-all di-died, along with Ca-Cadance and my brother," she stuttered out, feeling on the verge of tears. "Twilight..." Rainbow said sadly. Rainbow could see she blamed herself for so much. If she was in her position, she might too, but she didn't know. Instead, she just stepped closer to her and wrapped her arms around her and squeezed tightly. After a second, Eclipse returned the hug and rested her head against her shoulder. "You aren't responsible for our deaths..." Rainbow said softly, feeling it was the right thing to say to comfort the still-grieving alicorn. Eclipse felt weak. She fell to her haunches as a sob of pain escaped her body. "I-I couldn't s-save you." "Shh... It's okay..." Rainbow mumbled as she calmly ran a hoof through Eclipse's mane, hoping to comfort her. "You're a good pony..." Rainbow said sweetly, feeling awkward as she did so. Fluttershy or Pinkie Pie were the better choices for comforting Eclipse. Not herself, but for whatever reason, Eclipse preferred her over them, perhaps because she was stronger than them. As she spoke, Eclipse's grip on her tightened, almost to the point of hurting. After a few seconds, her grip weakened, but she still held on tight as she sobbed into her shoulder. There was a flash of lightning far off in the sky. Soon, it was followed by a clap of thunder, which rolled through the city like a gentle wave. Starlight eyed the sky carefully. The storm would hopefully prevent anypony from flying, thus giving her an advantage. If the storm didn't ground them, she had a few spells that should help with that. She smiled as another flash of lightning briefly illuminated the alleyway. After the roll of thunder passed, she sauntered out of the alleyway, channeling magic into her horn as she did. Trailing behind her were two alicorns, a tall white one, and a shorter dark blue one. Both had waves of dark magic flowing away from their eyes, almost giving their eyes the appearance of glowing. As soon as Starlight exited the alleyway, she looked around, searching for anypony foolish enough to be out in the middle of the night when a storm was brewing. The street was deserted, and the only light came from the street lamps which were spaced evenly apart but did little to illuminate the city anywhere near what the sun could do. And since she could move both the sun and the moon now, she could create the perfect backdrop. Nothing like a little bad weather on a dark night to cause fear, plus if it slowed down Twilight, Nightfall, and Eclipse, all the better. Her smile widened as she walked across the street and made her way to Cental Park. It was a perfect place to test out some of those spells she found in that old castle. She turned towards her two alicorn slaves as she reminisced on one of the spells. She had been able to modify her spell and give them some power but managed to retain most of it. They retained most of their physical attributes, and some magical attributes, but for the most part, Starlight had their magic and abilities. And she used them. She made her way to the center of the park, then came to a stop and sat down on the concrete pathway away from any trees which would obstruct her vision of the sky, and bowed her head. Her horn glowed brighter as she prepared a large scale spell, one which would encompass the whole city of Manehatton. Lightning flashed in an almost unnatural fashion as she poured more and more magic into the spell, briefly illuminating the dark park and casting menacing shadows, capable of intimidating even the most fearless of ponies. The glow from her horn grew brighter as she channeled alicorn levels of magic into her spell. Truly, no unicorn before her had wielded such power, and she doubted there would ever be another unicorn to wield a fraction of her power. Not that she intended to find out. Tonight, she would neither set the moon nor raise the sun. She would need her power for the coming battle. She could feel that battle in her very veins, almost like the battle cried out for her to seize it. She eagerly awaited it. The darkness and the storm raging overhead also gave her advantages, and a few aces up her sleeve should the need arise. As the magic she channeled into her horn reached its apex, she felt a drop of rain fall on her from the sky. With speed rivaling lightning, she threw her head up and released the spell. The entire city was briefly lit brighter than if it had been during the day, and just as quickly, the light dissipated, leaving the city in darkness, broken only by the dull glow of street lamps and the occasional flash of light. Starlight smiled, then frowned at a strange popping sound coming from behind her. She turned around and faced down a creature of myth and legend, silhouetted by another flash of lightning.