Vengeance of Dawn

by Scipio Smith

Long Dark Night: Twilight of Equestria

Chapter 12

Long Dark Night: Twilight of Equestria

"Princess Celestia, can I ask you something?"

Celestia smiled warmly, "Of course you can Twilight Sparkle, is something bothering you?"

Twilight Sparkle shuffled her hooves. Outside it was night-time, but Princess Celestia's study was lit and warmed by the roaring fire burning in the grate. She felt a little silly to be asking this question, as though the answer ought to be obvious to her, but it was not. The Princess had told her to always ask if there was something she did not understand. She hoped that always really did mean always.

"Princess, why is the world so disorganised?" Twilight asked.

Celestia blinked, though the smile did not leave her face nor even her eyes, "That is a quite a far-ranging question Twilight. Perhaps you had better clarify what you mean, so that I can answer the question you asked instead of the one I heard."

Twilight nodded. Princess Celestia ensured that she was constantly being pressed to apply the lessons she had already learned. In this case: clarity of expression.

"When I file my notes, I arrange them by subject, and then within that by topic, and then within that in the chronological order in which I learnt the lessons," Twilight elaborated. "That way even if I don't know exactly where something is, I know that I can find it without too much trouble. It's organised, it works. If I just stuffed all my notes and essays into folders without thinking about where they were going or in what order they were stored I'd have to search through everything I'd ever written to find what I was looking for. It wouldn't make any sense. But, isn't that how Equestria works? Ponies do whatever they feel like, with no thought to whether it makes sense to do it that way or whether it would be better for everypony to do things differently.
"If Equestria was better organised, if you made everypony do things in the most sensible way for the most ponies, then surely everypony would be better off as a result?"

Celestia sat down, tucking her lithe legs beneath her, and motioned with her head for Twilight to do the same. The Princess said, "This is a very interesting question Twilight. But first, what makes you think that I could make everypony be better organised even if I wanted to?"

Twilight said, "Because, you're the Princess. You can make anypony do anything you want to."

Celestia replied, "Twilight, have you read the Whinny set in your history class?"

"And the Commentaries," Twilight said proudly.

"Then you understand the difference between a monarch and a tyrant?"

"A monarch governs with the support of the people and with their best interests at heart," Twilight recited. "She understands that rulership brings obligations as well as privileges, responsibilities more than rights. She governs for the good of the nation and the people, not for herself. A tyrant is the result of the decay of monarchy as a monarch's descendants become increasingly unworthy. A tyrant has no care for those she rules but exploits the people for her own pleasure and privilege. A tyrant does not enjoy popular support, and is often hated by those she rules."

"Perfect," Celestia smiled. "Now, Twilight, would you call me a monarch or a tyrant?"

Twilight blinked, "Princess Celestia, you're a monarch of course."

"And if I set rules prescribing what ponies could and could not do in all circumstances, restricting their freedoms in the name of order and efficiency, that would be acceptable?"

Twilight frowned, "When you put it like that, Princess-"

"Do you think that ponies would be happy to have me tell them what they could or could not do? In their private lives, their home lives? Shall I tell Shining Armour who it is acceptable for him to have as a marefriend and who is not? Shall I say that there are too many Bakers in Canterlot and they must either move elsewhere or find new jobs?"

"I didn't mean that you should be cruel, Princess Celestia," Twilight said.

"Yet cruelty would be the inevitable result of any attempt to organised Equestria without regard to the wishes of the little ponies who dwell in it," Celestia said calmly. "Everypony has a right to live their live the way they want, provided that they do not cause harm to others in the process. Everypony has a right to be silly, to do things that make no sense viewed from the outside, to be absolutely illogical if they wish. It is not for any other pony, even myself, to tell them to stop. After all, even I do not always organise my life by topic, theme and date order."

Twilight bowed her head, "I'm sorry, Princess."

"None of that Twilight, you meant no malice by your question," Celestia said. "You should never be ashamed to admit your ignorance, and always be ready to increase your knowledge and understanding. And now you know a little more than you did before. Does that satisfy your question?"

"Yes, thank you."

"Good, then we will proceed to tonight's lesson..."

***

Twilight Sparkle burned with rage. It oozed off of her in oily waves, rose from her like steam from a boiling pot, gathered about her like wings of shadow.

The Elements had been stolen? Her crown had been stolen? This was intolerable. This was outrageous. This was a challenge she would not ignore.

"Shame on me for trusting you," Twilight said, her voice deep and harsh. Black lines had spread all over her body now, her cutie mark had darkened to a dull grey. "More fool me, for thinking that you could do something other than be completely incompetent."

She stood in the middle of the palace courtyard. Her guards, her servants, her so-called friends all cowered before her anger. As they should.

"I should turn you all into cockroaches for failing me like this," Twilight raged.

"But, Twilight, there was a fire-" Fluttershy began.

"I care not for your excuses," Twilight shouted with the stregnth of a hurricane wind. "You have failed me, that is all I need to know. Failed me tremendously! Give me one good reason why I ought not punish you?"

Strong winds began to rise all around Twilight. A tempest gathered above her head. She felt so powerful, so in command, that the loss of the Elements registered more as a blow to her pride than a threat to her power. She was beyond the need for such trinkets, it was only the need to show that Twilight Sparkle would not allow insolence to go unpunished that moved her to fury.

Spike held up his hands to protect himself from the winds, "Please, Twilight, this isn't you. Get a hold of yourself."

"Not me? Not me?" Twilight cackled manically as lightning struck behind her. "No, I am not myself. I am not meek Twilight Sparkle, abused and betrayed, mocked and bullied, pushed around and taken advantage of by all. That girl is gone beyond recall and well forgotten. I am Princess Twilight now, and I will be no pony's subject, no pony's slave. No pony will ever use me to their own advantage, soak up my favours, ride me to their own ambitions. Nopony will mock me lest they feel my wrath. I am Princess Twilight, and I will herald the Twilight of Equestria!"

Yes, yes, give in to your anger, your frustration. Now you truly see what trust in friendship has gotten you. There is no right, no wrong, only power and those strong enough to seek it.

Twilight rose up into the air, lightning crackling all around her. Her body had gone almost completely black by now, her horn boiled with oily Dark Magic, her eyes were green.

"I am more powerful than all the unicorns combined. More powerful than the princesses. I will become as strong as it is possible to become, and even Discord himself shall fear me!"

Ponies ran to dodge the lightning strikes raining down around them. Dark clouds spread out from Twilight, thunder rolling across the city, frightened ponies spilled out across the streets of Canterlot to wonder what was going on and who would save them from it.

"In place of Harmony you shall have Order," Twilight bellowed out across the sky. "I shall set this land to work, and everypony shall serve the greater good. I shall stand at the very top and look with wisdom upon the needs of everypony in this land. In place of princesses of sun and moon you shall have a single ruler who unites both! I shall embody the sun and the moon and bend them both to suit my will and use their power to crush all who oppose me. I shall remake Equestria in my own image, I shall bring forth hardy breeds of ponies who worship me as their god. All shall love me and despair."

"No we won't."

Twilight ceased her bombast to see that Fluttershy had flown up to join her, and was now affixing Twilight with a very stern gaze.

"How dare you treat other ponies that way, as though the things that they've gone through just don't matter," Fluttershy flew closer, her eyes bulging as she put the Stare on the would be tyrant over all Equestria.

"Rainbow Dash was hurt trying to protect the Elements of Harmony from whoever took them," Fluttershy shouted. "But you haven't even asked if she's okay, or if she was hurt badly. You don't care, do you? All you care about is how it affects you. You know what you are? You're mean. And despicable. You are a despicable meanie and you ought to be ashamed of yourself. Don't you know how much all these ponies have done for you? Suffered for you? Put up with from you because you were having a rough time? Well you crossed the line now buster and like you said, the free ride ends now."

Twilight quailed under Fluttershy's anger, the darkness covering her body receding under the pegasus' glare.

"We won't ever let ourselves be ruled by someone who thinks that we're just insects, or toys to be played with the way you want. Not in a thousand years we won't! Even without the Elements of Harmony we'll find a way to stop you and get the real Twilight back. Because you were right about one thing, missy: you aren't Twilight Sparkle. The Twilight Sparkle we fell in love with would always put her friends first, above anything else. Where is the mare who encouraged me to fly in the tornado? Where's the mare who was always willing to help out at Sweet Apple Acres? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH OUR FRIEND TWILIGHT?"

The darkness fled in terror, receding from Twilight's body as the black lines faded and her terrible dark aura dissipated. Twilight's eyes reverted to their normal lavender. "Fluttershy," she murmured, before her eyes closed and her body arched backwards to tumble slowly through the air.

Fluttershy caught her before she could fall too far, "It's okay, I've got you."

***

Soarin and Spitfire soon arrived to help Fluttershy bear Twilight back to the ground. Celestia and Luna had arrived and where waiting for them in the palace courtyard, along with Pinkie Pie and Spike and dozens and dozens of other ponies. Spike pushed through the crowd as Fluttershy and the two Wonderbolts placed the still-slumbering Twilight at the feet of the two princesses.

"Twilight!" Spike shouted as he ran to her side. "Are you okay? Is she gonna be okay?"

"That is something none of us can tell," Luna said.

"Sister," Celestia chided.

"They need to hear the truth," Luna responded.

"Um, how long have you been here?" Fluttershy asked, hoping that she would not have to ask the next question: why didn't you do anything to help Twilight?

"Twilight rushed off as soon as she saw the fire, I could not stop her," Luna said. "Celestia and I both felt the magical energy she released. We hurried here as fast as we could."

"But when I realised what had happened, I also realised that you stood a much better chance of saving Twilight Sparkle than I did," Celestia took up the tale. "Your unique ability, coupled with your feelings of friendship for Twilight, did more than any amount of magic from Luna and myself."

Fluttershy looked down at her sleeping friend. You would never guess, seeing her now, that she had just tried to take over Equestria. "What happens now?"

Twilight Sparkle stirred with a groan, her eyes flickering open, "Rainbow Dash?"

Fluttershy smiled, "She hit her head, but the doctor said it isn't serious. She'll be fine."

"Twilight," Spike clasped hold of one of Twilight's hooves, "are you okay? How do you feel?"

"Very sorry," Twilight murmured. "Everypony, I'm so sorry."

"That is good," Luna declared. "Regret is the first step on the path to redemption."

"She does not need redemption," Celestia snapped. She knelt down. "Twilight. Can you use magic? Not dark magic, your ordinary magic?"

Fluttershy put one hoof to her mouth as Twilight closed her eyes and furrowed her brow as she attempted to summon her magic. But in place of Twilight's purple aura, only the oily blackness of dark magic gathered around her horn.

"I can't," Twilight sobbed, sounding close to tears. "I can't find it any more. And I can feel the darkness inside me, waiting for its chance. Princess Celestia what's happening to me."

"It has you in its grip, Twilight Sparkle," Luna sounded even more sombre than usual. "I was wrong. You cannot overcome this purely from your own strength."

"But we can help through it right?" Pinkie Pie asked. "I mean once we get the whole gang back together again-"

"This is one battle you cannot fight at Twilight's side," Luna declared. "Twilight Sparkle, there is only one course open to you now."

"Luna, no," Celestia hissed. "You cannot possibly be serious!"

"If you know another way then let us hear it."

"It has not been done in a thousand years and then it failed," Celestia shot back.

"Because I was uncooperative, Twilight Sparkle wants to be saved."

"Um, Your Highnesses, what are you talking about?" Fluttershy asked.

"You're talking about a Purging, aren't you?" Twilight said softly.

Luna looked resolved, but Celestia looked pained, "I confess. I do not know of another way to rid you of the influence of the dark magic."

"What's a Purging?" said Spike.

"An ancient unicorn ritual, to redeem a mage of the taint of darkness once it was too late for them to simply stop," Fluttershy, Spike, the princesses all looked around to see the Countess Mercedes strolling through the open gates of the Twilight Palace. She did not strut as she normally did. She seemed more diffident, less sure of herself. Fluttershy supposed that all the magic Twilight had been throwing around would make anypony nervous, especially if they didn't know her very well.

Luna glared, "This is no matter that concerns you."

"Oh, but it does," the Countess purred as she walked to stand beside Twilight in front of the princesses. "I offer myself as Firelight to Princess Twilight Sparkle in her Purging."

Celestia's eyes widened, "You know the ritual?"

"I have never performed it but I have studied it," Countess Mercedes said. "And I believe I have the requisite magical power to stand as Firelight to the princess." She smiled, and her horn glowed golden as she lifted Fluttershy, Pinkie, Spike and several other astonished ponies up into the air using her telekinesis. "My apologies," she said once she set them down again.

Celestia and Luna looked at one another. Luna whispered, "You are too close and I am too vulnerable, this may be the best way."

"Wait just a second!" Pinkie Pie yelled. "Purgings and Firelights and unicorns lifting people off the floor? Just what the hay is going on around here?"

"In ancient times," Celestia began to explain, "unicorns were much more powerful than they are now. This was in the time when they had the ability to raise the sun themselves by working in concert. During that era, many unicorns succumbed to the temptations of Dark Magic, for in an age full of mighty mages questing after power there would always be those who sought to use shortcuts to achieve greatness.
"When a pony just begins using dark magic, it can be put aside at any time without issue. But use it too much, as Twilight has done, and it becomes impossible to cast off alone. As you can see, the dark magic has sunk its claws so deep into Twilight Sparkle that it is the only kind of magic available to her.
"To solve this problem, when a unicorn wished to return to the light but could not do so alone, the ritual of the Purging was created. In this act, the penitent is cleansed of all darkness with the aid of a Firelighter, a unicorn who uses their own magic to combine on a mystical level with the penitent and guide them back into the light. Hence the name Firelighter, since they are both a guide and a cleansing fire inside the penitent, burning away all darkness."

Spike said, "But if somepony has to help Twilight to clear herself of all this bad magic, wouldn't Rarity be the best choice."

Luna shook her head, "According to the customs of the ancient unicorns, the Firelighter must be ideally of superior power to the penitent or, if that is impossible, as close to equal power as can be managed. They must also be free from deep emotional connections to the pentitent, for the dark magic will react savagely to any attempt to oust it and it is best for the Firelighter not to have emotional chinks in thier armour for the dark to exploit."

"When Nightmare Moon rose I attempted to forcibly Purge Luna, with myself as her Firelighter," Celestia hung her head in shame. "But Nightmare Moon knew me too well, and she turned my weaknesses against me. The ritual failed, I lost the ensuing duel, and I was forced to use the Elements of Harmony before Nightmare Moon defeated me entirely. I then had to wait a thousand years before someponies who did not know Luna could use the Elements correctly to conduct a true Purging."

If we had the Elements we could have used them to purge Twilight, assuming that it would work, Fluttershy thought.

"I think you may be the best available solution, Countess," Celestia continued. "You have magical power in considerable degree, no real emotional connection to Twilight Sparkle, and of the other candidates who could act as Firelighter I am too attached to Twilight and Luna is too vulnerable to the influence of dark magic. Twilight, are you willing to place yourself in this pony's hooves?"

Twilight nodded, "You gave me the medicine I needed before. I trust you to do the same again."

Countess Mercedes curtsied, "I will endeavour to live up to the faith Your Highnesses place in me."

"The Purging must take place in conditions of calm and isolation," Luna said.

"There is a chalet at the foot of the mountains, a days journey west of Canterlot, we will go there," the Countess said. "I am afraid Your Highness must go alone."

Twilight nodded, "You should all go home. You should have gone home when I first gave you the opportunity."

"She can't be all alone at a time like this," Spike said. "Can't I come with her?"

The Countess frowned, pondering, "Very well. You alone shall also come."

"Return to us as soon as you can, Twilight," Celestia said. "And in the meantime Luna and I shall pursue any evidence to show who might have taken the Elements of Harmony, and defend Canterlot against any attempt to use them for evil." She smiled reassuringly down upon her protege, "Good luck, Twilight, from all of us."

"Thank you, Princess," Twilight got to her feet and bowed her head. "I think I might need it."

Author's Note:

And so the triptych of short chapters comes to an end. Now we'll be back to slightly longer ones, updated at a slower pace.

To answer a question from Xcelli, there are seven chapters remaining under the current plan, not counting this one. Which might make it sound more complex than it actually is, it's full steam to the conclusion from here.

And so as we enter the final act I want to thank everyone who has read this story, liked it, followed it and whose comments inspire me to keep writing. I think this is the farthest I've gotten in writing a fanfic ever

Comments

[Scipio Smith]

2863649

First of all, I can sometimes get a bit defensive, so I apologise if my tone gets a bit snippy.

For the most part, I can see your point, I could have written the chase scene a lot better. Do you have any idea how I could change to make it more explicit that RD was winning the race before Razor used the terrain against her, and that in a fair competition Rainbow Dash would have taken it easily?

However they aren't homeless at the moment, just in the flashback to their childhood showing how they first met, hence the Oliver! references. Chapter two established that Razor, Dawn and Cherry share a flat in the present.

[Rathalos122]

2865000

Now we'll be back to slightly longer ones, updated at a slower pace.

Can you at least tell us when the next chapter may be done?^^ I can wait to know what happens next

[Xaldon Ajide]

I hope the Darkness Takes the Connection of hatred that The Firelighter has for Twilight and Transfers. or at the least Uses Twilight to kill that Bitch.

[terrycloth]

2865348 Yeah, it sounds like she might not have thought that part all the way through. Or else she did and is counting on it; she's seemed to have preternatural pre-planning in every other circumstance.

And she might not be planning to use the firelight ritual at all since her true goal is mind control. Dark Twilight as a mind controlled puppet monster might appeal to her.

[Xaldon Ajide]

2865692 Actually she's most likely winging it off her hind quarters as she goes and is only ahead of Celestia and the others because they don't assume a conspiracy beyond someone harming their friends, when Celestia finds its her former student I hope she brings the wrath of the sun or solar flair upon that bitch.

as for controlling Twilight that will only work for the first half second before Twilight's neurosis and the fact that she is starting to learn the one true rule of life is to trust no one, and once she realizes that Mind control is useless and Twi will kill her like the rest. but Dawn probably has a Trixie complex and has at least several rat hole escape routs to snivel her way out as Twi burns everything in her path to the ground.

[NocturneD85]

go Nightmare Twilight

[lilmagi]

Hm. Is Dawn planing to use the purging to get alicorness? I honestly don't know. She has deep emotional connection with Twilight, so there is that. Maybe use the elements in some way?

[Albi]

Wow, in that one paragraph, I think you've given one of the best reasons why Celestia couldn't save Luna when she was Nightmare Moon. Excellent work.

And go Fluttershy!

[DarkParable]

Wonderful work as always my friend. Honestly, I'd like to see more fics in which Twi falls to the dark side for a believable reason like this. Totally obsessing over trying to save Cadence and turning to the dark due to a logical conclusion based on the poison used is actually the best reason I've seen yet for a Nightmare Twilight.

That said, I hope Dawn gets her flank handed to her in a stroke of poetic justice.

Best wishes
-That one pegasus what has a very deep hat.

[Arzoo]

2865000
my main problem with the race is that Dash was worse at barnstorming, which is basically stunt flying, something she should be amazing at.

Why not just have Razor equipped with something to deter chase, like a flash grenade or a spell making her flight trail poisonous?

[Jordan179]

"In place of Harmony you shall have Order," Twilight bellowed out across the sky. "I shall set this land to work, and everypony shall serve the greater good. I shall stand at the very top and look with wisdom upon the needs of everypony in this land. In place of princesses of sun and moon you shall have a single ruler who unites both! I shall embody the sun and the moon and bend them both to suit my will and use their power to crush all who oppose me. I shall remake Equestria in my own image, I shall bring forth hardy breeds of ponies who worship me as their god. All shall love me and despair."

Yeah, this is pretty much the way I could see Twilight Sparkle descending into Nightmare ... and I like the Tolkien shout-out at the end.

Fluttershy gets a Crowning Moment of Awesome here in Staring down the Dark Magic and forcing it to retreat!!!

Your concept of the Purging is awesome, and redolent of the notion of dark and mighty magics too great to tame to the current civilization.

[Yami Vizzini]

Sooo... is it just that the Firelighter and the one being treated shouldn't both have a strong emotional significance to each other, and a one-sided "connection" won't hurt? Because otherwise this has the potential to go very wrong.

[Dinode]

Why is she letting Spike come? Is she not aware that Spike had dragon fax to warn everyone when things go wrong?

[Carnation83]

And this is why Fluttershy is my top favorite of the Mane 6!!