The pitch-black sky laughed at her.
Twilight Sparkle grit her teeth and tried to shut out the sinister chuckling of her own voice. Her hooves pummeled against a compact dirt road, carrying her along for the city of Canterlot up in the mountains. It was a beacon; a safe haven from the madness that chased her. No matter how hard she ran, though, the city never seemed to get any closer.
The sky laughed again. Twilight felt a presence by her side, a sickening chill that sent her heart racing and tore a frightened whimper out of her throat. “What do you think you’re doing?” a voice jeered, crawling up and down her spine.
“Go away!” Twilight snapped, forcing herself to run harder, no matter how much it made her legs burn or her lungs heave. She had to get to Canterlot. She had to get away from this thing that kept haunting her every thought.
“Where do you think you’re going?” the voice pressed on, undeterred. “To Canterlot? Do you really believe the ponies there will take any pity on you?”
There were... things by the sides of the road. Shadowy lumps and shapes that she dared not turn to look at. She didn’t want to see the bodies. She didn’t want to remember the ponies she had hurt. She couldn’t bear it.
“Or maybe you’re not looking for pity?” the voice asked, snickering into her very soul. “Maybe you’re looking for more memories to steal?”
“Sh-shut up!” Twilight barked, screwing her eyes shut and pouring every ounce of power she could into her throbbing legs. “That was you, not me!”
“For one so smart, you really are a willfully ignorant fool, aren’t you?” the voice cackled, slithering into her ears like a mischievous snake.
“I said SHUT UP!”
“You think you and I are any different?” the voice carried on, whispering into her ear, its cold breath howling in her skull like a blizzard. “Truly? Open your eyes, little girl. You can’t be rid of me. I’m a part of you.”
“NO!” Twilight’s eyes flew open. There it was! The front gates of Canterlot rested just ahead, at long last. They were closed, but she could get through them if she had to. “Even if you are a part of me, I will fight back! I refuse to be a monster like you!”
“Adorable,” the voice cooed. “Absolutely adorable. She’s so intent on denying the truth…”
Twilight shook her head, trying to force the voice out of her head. Just a little farther…
She slid to a stop by the gates, trying to open them with her magic. A spark of confusion shot through her when her horn did not respond. She lifted a hoof to rub at her forehead, only to discover that her horn was missing. Her eyes went wide, terror grabbing her already panicking heart in an iron grip. “W-what?! Where’s my horn?!”
“If you are going to deny yourself,” the voice whispered in her other ear. “Then I guess you don’t need all of yourself, now do you?”
“G-give my horn back!”
The voice gave no answer. Twilight’s pupils dilated. She reared up on her hind legs and pounded on the gates with her hooves. “Princess Celestia! Princess Luna! Please, let me in! I need help!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. Her own voice reverberated all around her, echoing in the silence of the night.
There was no answer. No matter how hard she beat on the gates or how loud she screamed, her desperate pleas for aid were left wholly and completely unanswered. She was left well and truly alone, stranded in the open with that thing.
“Did you forget?” the voice taunted her from behind. “You’re not welcome in this city anymore. The Princess of the Moon saw to that. They won’t help you. Nopony will. All you have is me. All you will ever have is me...”
Twilight dropped back onto all fours, coat bristling. The voice was right. Luna had cast her out of the city. She had banished her. Twilight was all on her own, no matter how cruel or unfair it was. Swallowing heavily, she unfurled her wings and rotated to face the owner of the voice.
She blinked. “Huh?”
Instead of the owner of the voice, she instead saw a tree made of blue crystals staring back at her, the Elements of Harmony set into its branches with hers set into the trunk. It glowed brilliantly at her, almost blinding. At the base of its trunk, rising from its roots, was a pedestal that opened like a flower to reveal a six-sided crystal chest. Each face was host to a keyhole.
Twilight swallowed heavily. “The… the Tree of Harmony?” she asked, looking up at the tree with her ears drooping. A hoof subconsciously lifted up to rub at her throat. A phantom pain danced across it, and she shuddered at the memory of having the literal life crushed out of her by its will when she had come back to it, Rainbow’s limp form in tow.
She wasn’t sure how she had moved from the road outside of Canterlot to the cave in the Everfree, but she supposed it didn’t matter now. The voice was gone for the moment. Twilight took a deep breath and slowly began to advance towards the tree.
Suddenly, gouts of flame erupted from the soil around the tree, creating a pressurized wave of heat that rolled over her and seared the interior of the cave. Twilight gasped, lifting a hoof up to cover her nose and mouth while her eyes widened. “My friends! Rainbow Dash!”
Illuminated by the firelight, Twilight could make out the prone forms of five mares and a baby dragon: Spike, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack. All of them were unconscious and the flames were drawing closer to them. Twilight’s heart skipped a beat when she saw something moving in those flames. It was enormous; moving slowly and deliberately with malevolent confidence. Thunderous steps rocked the earth as it went, betraying the raw physical power of the owner.
The flames surged, reaching for Twilight’s friends like a million tiny hands.
“NO!” Twilight cried out, charging forward and reaching out for Rainbow.
Thunk.
“Gah!” Twilight gasped and fell back to her haunches as she ran face-first into an invisible wall. She rubbed a hoof over her nose before looking up in confusion. The air before her shimmered, rippling like the surface of a pond before a mirror materialized before her. She could see her reflection in its surface.
Something was off about it, though. Her eyes were all wrong. Her pupils had narrowed into draconic slits, her fur had darkened considerably, and her wings had turned curved and imposing like poisoned daggers. Peeling back her lips, she saw sharpened teeth and vampiric fangs, and trails of wispy, ghostly blue magic were leaking out of her eyes.
She took a step back. “W-what is this?!” she asked fearfully, her eyes glued onto those of her reflection.
Her reflection smirked at her.
The flames coiled around the bodies of her friends. Twilight cried out as they were all silently yanked back into the flames over the span of a single beat of the heart, vanishing from sight.
Shrieking with grief and confusion, Twilight hurled herself at the invisible barrier again, slamming into the mirror in the hopes of knocking it aside. It held firm, sending her back to the ground.
She rose again, her wings unfurling in a display of aggression. “Get out of my way!”
“Who says there’s anyone in your way?” the reflection asked with a cold laugh. A moment passed before a sharp pain shot through Twilight’s skull. Gasping, she fell to her haunches and clutched at her head.
She screamed in a mixture of pain and fear as she felt her horn growing out again. It wasn’t right, however., being pale blue and aglow with ghostly magic. She could feel her wings contorting and teeth sharpening in her mouth. “No! NO! STOP!”
“Midnight Sparkle is a part of you,” the voice whispered inside her mind, clawing at her senses like an angry lion. “I have always been a part of you. You can never truly get rid of me… you can deny it, and run from it, but you can never be freed of the truth.”
“Stop! Stop it!” Twilight shrieked, tears leaking out of her eyes as her pupils narrowed into slits. “Please, stop!”
“You cannot run from who you are.”
Twilight threw her head back, a long, guttural scream tearing past her lips. Her vision was flooded with darkness, and her soul went dark.
“Twilight, snap out of it! You’re having a nightmare!”
Twilight’s eyes finally snapped open, her terrified scream dying in her throat as the familiar and raspy voice of Rainbow Dash yanked her from her sleep. Rainbow was above her, looking to have just woken up herself. It was dark in their bedroom, and a quick glance confirmed that it was still night outside.
Twilight took several deep breaths to calm herself down, her hoof finding one of Rainbow’s and holding on tight. “R-Rainbow…” she whispered.
“It’s okay, Twi,” the pegasus whispered, leaning down to give her an affectionate nuzzle. “It’s alright. You’re alright. I gotcha.”
Twilight returned the nuzzle, glad for the display of affection and the comfort it gave her. It was just a nightmare. She was safe.
“...Thank you,” she finally whispered, allowing herself to relax into the mattress again.
Rainbow smiled and darted in to plant a quick kiss on Twilight’s lips. “Anytime,” she replied after pulling back.
Twilight blushed. “H-heh. Not used to you starting that…”
“I’m not used to even having it as an option,” Rainbow shot back with a roll of her eyes before flopping with no grace at all back to her side of the bed. Twilight noted that she kept both hooves on her though, effectively primed to yank her into being a little spoon at a moment’s notice.
“Heh. Fair enough,” Twilight mumbled, shimmying back and allowing Rainbow to embrace her fully from behind. The two fell quiet for a short while, giving Twilight the time she needed to calm down the rest of the way.
“So… do you want to talk about it?” Rainbow asked in a softer voice, nuzzling into the back of Twilight’s head.
Twilight didn’t answer right away. In truth, she wasn’t even entirely sure what any of it meant. Dreams were hard to parse at the best of times, especially without Luna’s help, and somehow, a spiteful part of Twilight felt that Luna wasn’t going to be helping her out anytime soon.
After a moment, Twilight sighed and shook her head. “No… no, I don’t. I just want to get back to sleep.”
Rainbow nodded into her mane. “M’kay. If ya change your mind, though…”
“I know, Rainbow,” Twilight said, looking back at her with a tender smile. “Thank you.”
Rainbow returned the look before cuddling a little closer and closing her eyes. “Gnight, Twi.”
Twilight closed her eyes and set her head down, trying to relax. She took in a deep breath and let it out, taking comfort in Rainbow’s hooves curled around her barrel and the pegasus’ fluffy chest warming her back.
“Goodnight, Rainbow. Sweet dreams.”
That was efficient. Our not-an-alicorn princess and not-a-princess alicorn are back!
YISS
And so the 5th chapter of the saga has begun...
Great start!
Could the dream be a premonition for things to come in the future?
I think the art cover for this story in this series is the best one so far!
I am SO hyped for this.
10202120
Each and every one of the mainline Little Flashes stories has opened with a dream sequence, and Keys is no different. Each and every one, in some capacity (with the exception of Choices, because I hadn't consciously decided to retain this motif) is in some way indicative of the contents of the story, hinting at the overall theme and foreshadowing future events and / or ideas.
But I won't spell it out to you. I will let the audience be the detectives and piece it together as we go. More fun that way. ;)
I was about to write a comment speculating on whether there would be any truth to that, but then I actually reread the chapter where Twilight was handed her punishment. Luna might be more...sympathetic in this story. But the banishment remains firm.
Missing the eqiestria girls tag
10202193
But... Equestria Girls has nothing to do with this fic.
10202275
I think they got that idea because Midnight Sparkle is in the description.
10202366
Aaah, yeah that'd make sense.
Not the same Midnight, though. Her name is really just a reference to that Midnight and nothing more.
Excellent, glad to see the next part in this story. Looking forward to more.
10202105
Well, yes, exactly. I'm looking forward to the further development.
Glad to see this latest story in the series started. The exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up are quite well done in all the right places. Yeah, I could see Twilight's nightmare being that rough. And, yeah, I DID love Rainbow being supportive, even if Twilight is still reluctant to talk about the nightmare.
VERY certainly looking forward to more of this.
Harmony plans to get things back on track clearly, but getting Twilight to the place where she can be Princess of Friendship like she's supposed to be isn't going to be easy.
Cool! I'm so glad to see this is finally starting up again. Love this whole series... It's five in the morning where I am, so I can't make time right now, but I'll definitely check out the first chapter tomorrow. Love the cover art, by the way!
It may be 3 AM here in England right now but that won't stop me from reading this! So happy this is coming back!
This is gonna be good, but I have to finish reading Little Memories first. XD
I really like this cover's art style. Cover arts for the earlier stories in this series are good, mind you. This, however, looks absolutely enthralling!
10202782
For a second there I misread your name, and I was so happy.
Then I checked the spelling again...
And I am still happy because another person likes my stuff. :D
Right.
Not sure why Luna would ban her. She did something horrible to family, but Luna has done the same thing. At least Twi wasn’t bad enough to literally be stuck on the moon. You’d think Luna would at least have compassion for someone going through the same things she did. Maybe that’ll change though. Maybe she has a good reason.
Why does Dash have her memories back? Did something happen after the we’re ripped from her skull? Did I miss a vital chapter at the end of the last book?
10202961
It would seem you missed a few...
Luna banished Twilight from Canterlot as a part of her punishment for turning into Midnight and stealing the memories from a lot of innocent ponies, causing them a great deal of psychological pain and potentially long-lasting damage. This sentence will be lifted upon opening of the Season 4 chest and adequately making up for her previous blunder.
As for Rainbow's memories, Twilight was able to restore them by taking her back to the Tree of Harmony and using the Elements in combination with her Failsafe spell to return all of the memories she stole. This act was very nearly lethal, as the Tree openly rejected her in her state as a Fallen Alicorn. It granted her just enough power to undo her mistake and turn back to normal before withdrawing its power from her entirely. Twilight is not currently capable of physically approaching the Tree of Harmony, and will not be able to until she opens the chest. It will cause her physical pain if she tries.
And we know the Tree is willing to get brutal, we've seen it in the show with the Mean six, so this is in character for the old thing.
Neat, thanks for correcting me.
It’s been a while since I’ve read this series. I’m really looking forward to what happens next!
Keep up the good work, and please ignore the haters like me who can’t be bothered to remember the correct storyline
I don’t remember the end of the last book very well, so I’ll need to reread that one, at least--and probably the whole series--but this one seems off to a good start. Looking forward to it.
I did notice one thing that really threw me off for a moment, before I realized it was a typo:
Should be turned I believe.
And here we have another chapter in the Twilight and RainbowDash don't get to be happy series
10203183
Heh, it's sad how accurate that's wound up becoming. I swear, I did not set out with the plan to make this series as sad as it is when I first wrote Glimpses. I aimed for it to be only slightly darker than the show if it were willing to tackle darker themes like adoption, death, and being an orphan. It just kinda escalated when I did Choices, though.
Wait, what? But Little Changes ain't finished yet.
10203185
I don't think anything tops Consequences as far as utterly impossible situation, no light, no hope, no win scenario, Discord mind fuckery, Kobiyashi Maru, characters forced into making awful choices, suffering emotional and mental breakdowns, getting tortured to the brink of death, literally murdered and dying in each other's arms. Everything that's come after has been a cakewalk compared to that! But who knows what kind of tomfoolery Tirek will bring?
Embrace your shadow, Twilight. It's true; it's a part of you, and you must embrace it.
Just as Luna has embraced hers. Just as Rainbow Dash has embraced hers. Just as Celestia, even, has embraced hers.
Deny your shadow, or indulge it at your peril, for each indulgence is another crack in the fortress keeping it out.
Embrace your shadow, or ignore it at your peril, for denying your shadow exists is an invitation through fortress gate, left open wide and unguarded.
What was I talking about?
Alrighty! New "Little Flashes" entry, new mysteries and theories to dissect! The game is afoot!
Okay, so up to this point, I believe all of this is mostly a reference to the End of the last story and establishing Midnight Sparkle as an underlying anatagonist in this story as well. As for the "Shadowy Lumps," considering who shows up later in this dream, I'm theorizing this is either a reference to the the ponies Midnight stole memories from at the end of "Little Memories," OR it's foreshadowing for all the ponies Tirek stole magic from.
The absence of her horn is likely foreshadowing her magic being stolen by Tirek.
I'm guessing this line is foreshadowing for Twilight's central character arc in this story, reckoning with the fact that Midnight Sparkle is a part of her, just like how Nightmare Moon is a part of Luna.
This is a reference to the central plot of this story and Twilight's goal. HOWEVER, I do think that since the "voice" was replaced by the Tree of Harmony, I have to think it's possible Twilight's relationship with the tree, on her end, will get a bit rocky through this story.
Flashback to the end of the last story to establish Twilight's relationship with the Tree of Harmony, but considering who is coming, I have to wonder if this may happen again.
It's motherbucking Tirek, baby! I can only imagine the fire is also a reference to Tirek as well, metaphorically representing him while not revealing him outright, but considering the state of the Mane 5 and Spike, I have to think this is either a worst-case scenario type thing so that Twilight will be spooked into paranoia OR, Tirek will actually gain the upper hand. Twilight doesn't have all the magic of the alicorns like she did last time.
Okay, this is where I think I have the basic premise of the story down. Season 4 plays out roughly the same as the show, with the added parts of Twilight struggling with Midnight Sparkle being a part of her. MAYBE we might get a DIscord return again. That's a possibility. However, considering Twilight ran into an invisible wall (Just like one of Triek's bubbles he used in the S4 finale), I'm theorizing that Tirek will actually WIN at first, since Twilight doesn't have the alicorn magic as last time (I could EASILY see somepony getting a Flash of Twilight getting all the alicorn magic and Luna shoots the idea down of doing it again, due to Twilight being volataile becuase of Midnight Sparkle, which could lead to Tirek getting the upper hand). So, while Tirek has her captive, Midnight Sparkle takes advatage of Twilight being alone with her thoughts to convince her to let her out, considering that Midnight Sparkle is the only way to give Twilight enough power to escape Tirek's capture and defeat him and save everypony.
The fact that her horn grows out again is MAJOR evidence for my previous theory. The horn growing out again represents Twilight gaining magic now that Midnight Sparkle has taken over. However, it's STILL Midnight Sparkle, a Fallen Alicorn that uses Dark magic, so the horn being pale blue and aglow with ghostly magic is used to represent how different Midnight's Sparkle's Dark magic is to Twilight's reguler magic that Tirek stole.
And this is basically the central theme of the story, and also representative of the moment of the story where Twilight finally lets go and lets Midnight Sparkle take control to defeat Tirek, for better or for worse, well, we'll just have to wait and see.
I'll likely be making new theories as new information comes to light, but this is what I have right now.
10203586
I'll have to agree. Consequences was such a gut-punch that I'm kind of ready for anything now for this series. Now that I know Ski is willing to go there, then I was better prepared for it when Midnight Sparkle came out the first time.
I'm ready for whatever this story's got.
10203698
Carl Jung called it "owning your own shadow."
10203842
I will say: Some of your predictions are right, some of them are wrong.
10203474
It doesn't need to be. Changes is a crossover spinoff I co-write with Tom117z and we only ever write it on Mondays. It's not canon to my main series, and it's not really all that time consuming to work on.
10203933
Looking forward to seeing which is which.
10203905
Well, thank God someone knows what I'm talking about. I sound a little bit less pretentious now.
This is a good setup for what's to come.
Okay I am going to call out Luna on this. She should KNOW Twilight us going to have nightmares about this and yet is not monitoring her dreams. Not only hypocritical. Not to mention this will also hurt her niece. The more this story goes on the less I like Luna
10216622
I’m playing devil’s advocate here, Luna has thousands maybe millions of dreams to sift through each night, and as she told Rainbow, even in the dream realm she can’t be everywhere at once
Obvious MLP movie reference is obvious.
10202193
Bruh, did you even read the story?