Shadows of Equestria

by Silver Inkwell

Into Darkness

Chapter Five: Into Darkness

“So it is a castle,” he said looking at it, “How strange, Celestia and Luna also saw castles too, but not this exact one, this one would be yours I think.”

“But it’s different, it’s not the same, it can’t be,” she said looking at it.

“Oh, but it is,” he said pointing to the huge large wide vast black castle, that stood before her now, “What you see is not a lie or a dream, it is very real.”

“But why would it be black, and also look so ominous too?” she said.

“Well let’s go inside and see, shall we?” he said with a smile on his face.

“I don’t see how you’re smiling about any of this,” Twilight said with some slight fear in her voice as she slowly followed him to the horrible sight before her now, “I mean don’t you see how scary looking this
castle is?”

“I do, but if you think this is scary, just wait until you see your home town, or rather, what’s left of it, if my knowledge is correct then you destroyed it.”

“But I didn’t,” she said turning to look at the town which lay in ruins before her, and there was no pony to be seen at all, and the sky, it was black, and there was only a slight hint of orange and red and purple on
the horizon.

“No, you did not, but she did,” he said emphasizing almost every word very slowly. “Wait, who’s she?” Twilight said as he entered the castle, “WAIT!” she said trying to catch up with him, “You didn’t answer my question yet!”

“And I won’t, you’ll just have to see her for yourself otherwise you’ll never believe me, and just in case you think I’m trying to dodge or avoid the question, I’m not, I’m just pushing it aside and ignoring it instead,” he said.

“Isn’t that like the same exact thing?” she said.

“That all depends upon how you look at it,” he said.

And with that said they entered the throne room of the castle where another version of herself sat, but it wasn’t an exact image or replica, she was very… different instead, she wore battle armor and had a royal red cape, and her crown, it wasn’t an element of harmony, no, it was also very different too.

And her eyes, they were red instead of purple, and they had green mist around them, almost like she was possessed with the madness and power of dark magic. “Who is that?” Twilight said looking at her with some slight horror.

“That is you, or rather, a different version of you, one that is evil, but what you see now is just a reflection, an image, she can’t see us any more than a blind pony can see, but don’t worry, she can’t hear us either or touch us.

The only way that she ever could interact with us is if we broke the rules, but I’m sure that won’t happen, will it Twilight?” he said looking at her.

“Sure thing, right,” she said dazed at this new sight, “So then, what happens now? What am I supposed to see? Just this or is there more instead?”

“Just wait,” he said, “Don’t worry, there is more here to see.”

And with that said she watched herself stand up as a guard entered the room.

“Queen Midnight, there is an urgent matter that must be dealt with.”

“Well, what is it?” she said with a yawn, “It had better be important.”

“It is,” he said, “We found yet another traitor, and we have them here.”

“Really?” Midnight said standing up and going over to him, “Who is it?”

“I think that you should know him, he’s the captain of Celestia’s Guard.”

“Flash Sentry?” Midnight said with surprise and shock, “Surely it cannot be.”

“It is,” the guard said clapping his hooves together as eight guards dragged in Flash Sentry who was desperately trying in vain to escape from their grasp.

“Well hello there, Flash Sentry,” Midnight said slowly walking up to him, “My, it is very good to finally see you here before me, because now you can pay.”

“If you’re going to kill me then do it already, if not then don’t bother with the useless idle talk, I don’t need to hear it. But no matter what you do my idea and what I represent will live on, you will not win, you will
never win.”

“Oh, but I already have, but I’m not going to kill you, not yet at least, that will come later, first I will make an example out of you, how about I torture you with your worst nightmares, or would you rather prefer seeing dreams instead?

The choice is yours, you can either cooperate with me, or not.”

“I will never betray the true real princess of Equestria, Twilight Sparkle.”

She growled very angrily, “I TOLD YOU TO NEVER USE THAT NAME AGAIN! AND I HAVE TOLD YOU BEFORE THAT IT IS NOT MY NAME ANYMORE!

TWILIGHT SPARKLE DIED WHEN I CAME IN, WHEN MIDNIGHT CAME IN!

NO ONE USES THAT NAME ANYMORE, AND EVEN FOR THOSE THAT DID KNOW THAT NAME, THEY WOULD
NOT DARE EVER USE IT AGAIN!”

“Ah, but it is your name, or rather was, and still technically is, but there are still those who do know your real true name and will still use it.”

“It’s time for you to learn a lesson, I hope that you enjoy being a statue Flash, because you’re going to be one for a very long time.”

And with that said she lowered her horn and spread out her wings as she used her very powerful dark magic to turn Flash Sentry into stone then.

“I know that you can hear me,” she said, “And I just want you to know that I changed my mind about your death, I think that this is far worse instead.”

And with that said she smiled and then went to go sit back down on her throne and then she said, “Take him to the town square and let the ponies see him.”

“NO!” Twilight screamed out when she saw Flash Sentry being turned into stone, but it was no use, she couldn’t change it, and luckily enough for her Midnight couldn’t see or hear her, but soon enough she would.

“Wait, did you hear something?” Midnight said.

The guards shook their heads as Twilight started to cry as Star Swirl went over to her and comforted her by putting his hoof on her shoulder with no words being needed to be spoken. “Okay, now I know that I heard something.”

“Are you sure my Queen? You could be just hearing things not to question your sanity or judgement, and please forgive my manners and rudeness.”

“You are forgiven, but I am not hearing things, someone or something is here that should not be, the only problem is that I have to find them.”

“You didn’t break any rules, did you?” Star Swirl said.

“I tried to, I wanted to, I wanted to save him, and now I just feel so bad.”

“Well stop, your feelings are doing this, she’s staring to hear you.”

“But I can’t stop, I just want to cry, I want to save him, free him, I just wish that I could change the past, just change what happened right now.”

“No, don’t say that, don’t ever say that here,” Star Swirl said, but it was too late, they were suddenly no longer invisible and unheard anymore.

“Well what do we have here?” Midnight said looking at them, “It seems that we have intruders within the castle, but I shall take care of the now very shortly my guards, you don’t need to worry about doing anything at all.”

And with that said they nodded as she slowly approached them.

“Forgive us oh great and wise queen, we were just hoping and wishing to gaze upon your great glory without incurring any of your wrath or fury.”

Midnight smiled very coldly and cruelly, “Oh, thank you for the compliment, but you really need to work on lying better, and now that I think about it you seem very familiar to me, have I ever seen you around here before?” she said going around him as she slowly gazed at his every detail very carefully.

“No, I’m pretty sure that we haven’t met before, it’s very highly unlikely.”

“Yet you still seem so familiar to me…” she said, and that was when she finally looked down and noticed Twilight there, “And as for her… she looks just like I used to be, I demand an explanation right now from you as to how this could ever possibly be, and don’t try to lie to me otherwise I will know if you do it.”

“We’re from an alternate universe and she’s the duplicate copy of yourself that has the exact same image because alternate universes reflect choices and actions made by every pony, and we were just here to observe and then leave, but Twilight here decided that she wanted to change something here and so as a result things here did start to change around her as a result of her thoughts.”

That was of course Star Swirl’s response, brutal honesty to everything.

Midnight looked at him very closely for a very long time to the point where the silence became very awkward and to where the tension could be cut with a knife bef9ore she finally responded, “I believe that you are telling the truth.”

“Wait, you actually believe me?” Star Swirl said in shock and surprise.

“Well of course I do, I am very good at telling who is lying to me, and who isn’t. And I know that you weren’t even trying to lie to me when you talked, which by the way, few ponies who know they face punishment for a crime, well they rarely will ever tell the truth, but you, well you didn’t seem to fear me or telling the truth, even if to me, and I have to wonder why that is so for you exactly.”

“I am a very firm believer that the truth should be told no matter what.”

“Yes, I agree, but I also believe in many more other things as well too.”

“Like what? Rule with fear and power and not love and kindness instead?

Making sure that no pony will ever dare disobey or rebel against you?

If you really truly think this, then you are the only fool within this room.”

“HOW DARE YOU INSULT ME!” Midnight shouted, “But to answer your remark yes, I do believe in all of that, and is it really all that so bad as you say it is?”

“No, it’s worse, and that is because you see what you have around you now, but you have forgotten what you have lost too, family, friends, loved ones.”

“I lost nothing, but now you shall pay for your remarks, guards, take them away to the dungeons until I can decide what to do with them, now please.”

And with that said they started to move forward towards them, but that was when everything started to go very wrong, and it started when the windows within the castle suddenly exploded as an attack suddenly happened.

Author's Note:

Next Chapter: Captured

So (please) stay tuned for more!