1 - The End

Succession

Chapter 1 – The End

Warmth. Light. Safety. Celestia.

A hearth crackling with burning wood. The mentor’s serene voice. Sweet laughter.

Darkness. Cold. Danger.

“You… when did you..?”

Fear.

“You disappoint, Celestia…”

…

Celestia. Pain. Bones snapping. Breathing, but no air to breathe. Unbearable agony. Gasping. Grunting. Screaming.

“NO! It’s impossible!”

Celestia screaming.

“Step aside.”

Blackness. Freezing. Burning. Pain!

Searing, numbing pain! Red and black. Blindness. Pain! Unrelenting pain! Flesh burning, skin ripping. Screaming. Coldness flowing through the blood, ripping at lungs, heart, brain and mind. Ice and fire everywhere. Dying. Not dying.

…

Pain!

“Farewell.”

The sun blazing brightly at night. Inside the palace? Beautiful and terrible. Dying. Heat, horrible heat. Light, blinding light.

Pain! Boiling flesh, coat on fire. Masonry melting and cracking. Glass shattering. Light becomes darkness. Deafening noise, Celestia screaming. Agony. Cold, burning agony. Death.

Pure power and fire rips at the skin. Hurtling. Flying. Falling. Bricks and stone. Bones snapping. Pain! Unbelievable pain!

Screaming.

Stone breaking apart. Marble collapsing. Fires burning. Echo of Celestia. Ruin and destruction. Smoke and sulfur. Dry air. Burning air.

Boiling flesh, hide on fire, unrelenting heat. Merciless. Heart and mind in icy clutches, squeezing and ripping and tearing. Ruthless.

Blood. Drowning. Coughing. Screaming without sound.

…

Panic and screaming. Terror. Smoke and fire. Fear. Approaching hooves.

“By Celestia, this one’s breathing!”

“Get her outta here!”

“But how did she..?”

“Now!”

Pain! Screaming. Ribs on fire. Leg blazing. White-hot needles pressing against skin.

“Argh! She’s white-hot!”

“You’re hurting her! Let me!”

Magic. Floating. Pain!

Shadows.

Darkness.

Blackness.

Oblivion.

“Twilight?” The voice was faint and distorted, barely hearable. It echoed in her mind. She could not see anything; she could barely hear anything except a loud ringing noise in her ears. The noise became more pronounced as Twilight started to gain consciousness. The unicorn tried opening her mouth, but her lips had dried together. Her mouth was dry as a bone, and she tried licking at her chops with a parched tongue.

“Girls!” The voice yelled. This time Twilight could hear it more clearly. “I think she’s waking up!” It was one of her friends speaking. Rainbow Dash?

Feeling returned to Twilight’s body, and with it came unbearable pain. She felt as if somepony had spent several hours stabbing her with burning needles all over her body. As she became more conscious, it even felt as if the needles had been left in her skin. She had been burnt by something, but she did not remember what. The pain kept building as Twilight became more and more aware of herself and her surroundings. As far as she could tell, she was lying in a bed.

After peaking for a few seconds, the ringing in her ears finally began to subside, and the lavender unicorn heard the sound of many hooves approaching. The pain all over her skin kept intensifying, and every time Twilight thought the pain could be no worse, the waves of nauseating heat that rolled through her every nerve escalated. She felt sick. Her stomach convulsed painfully, but Twilight could only cough up small amounts of foamy spittle. Her sense of taste returned to her, and she realized she must have thrown up several times while she was asleep. The inside of her throat was burning with the pain of hundreds of tiny cuts, the metallic tang of blood was everywhere in her mouth, and she could clearly make out the sharp taste of gastric acid.

Her stomach convulsed again. The pain kept growing. She tried opening her mouth and winced as her lips cracked in several places, tearing some of the skin apart.

“Um, I think we should get her some water…” a barely audible voice suggested. Fluttershy?

Seconds later, a glass was held roughly against Twilight’s sensitive broken lips and cold water filled her mouth. No drink had ever seemed to taste as good as that one sip. With a painful effort, she swallowed the sweet water and felt the liquid run down her throat, lessening the pain she felt there significantly. The unicorn wet her lips, renewing the taste of blood she had already begun to grow accustomed to.

But the pain kept building. It was horrible! Twilight had never known one could feel such pain and live. She tried screaming, but her vocal cords seemed to have been too badly damaged, her cry of pain becoming no more than a muffled squeak. Her stomach convulsed yet again.

She tried opening her eyes, but quickly shut them again. The world outside her mind was blindingly white.

The glass was pressed against her lips again, and Twilight drank greedily.

“Twilight, dear? Can you hear me?”

Twilight inclined her head a fraction of an inch in affirmation. Her neck exploded in unimaginable pain. She screamed, but only a quiet and rough hiss exited her lips and her throat was once again set on fire. She opened her eyes again and shut them. The brightness was still unbearable. She felt like dying. Anything but the pain she felt now.

The pain at the base of her neck didn’t go away, but kept growing just as the other pains in her body, only more intense. Her neck seemed to be in an awful state, but she had no idea what was wrong with it. It was not broken, but it did not feel like any of the burns either. She moved her consciousness from the extreme agony in her neck and toward her left foreleg, trying to focus on one type of pain at a time. She wiggled it slightly, and pulses of fire ran through her body. As far as she could feel however, the leg was burned as badly as the rest of her, nothing more.

She tried moving her right foreleg, but found the task very hard and extremely painful. As far as she could tell, it was suspended in a sling. Definitely broken. She found her left hind leg encased in a plaster cast. Also broken. The bones in her right hind leg and left foreleg seemed unbroken, but the skin there seemed to be in a worse state than she could currently bring herself to think about.

“How’re ya feeling?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Twilight realized she had been wincing from the pain of exploring the various fractures in her body. She relaxed her facial muscles, which took away some of the pain. She took a deep breath to try to calm herself, but as her lungs expanded, she made the painful discovery that quite a few of her ribs were broken. She coughed violently, which only served to increase the agony. Her stomach convulsed again, and water dribbled out of her mouth.

The glass was pressed against her mouth again, and Twilight dutifully drank.

She opened her eyes again, and caught a glimpse of Dash’s multicolored mane before being forced to shut her eyes against the brightness of whatever room she was lying in.

“Darn lights are too bright,” Applejack grumbled as if reading her mind. How many of her friends were present? A moment later, Twilight felt something heavy being put on her head: The apple farmer’s stetson.

Twilight tried once again to open her eyes and found it much easier with the shade the hat provided. After a few seconds of blinking, her eyes adjusted to the light. To her right, Rainbow Dash lowered her head so that the unicorn could see her beneath the brim of the stetson.

“Gave us a pretty bad scare there, Twi,” she said, smiling warmly.

The unicorn didn’t reply, but tried instead to focus on the cyan rainbow-maned pegasus, her blurry vision eventually clarifying. Rainbow Dash looked tired. Not physically, but something about her posture suggested to Twilight that the pegasus had been going through some tough times since they had last met. But as far as she knew, only two weeks had passed since the fast flier had last visited Ponyville. What could have happened to make her fiercest friend look so hopeless?

Despite the unicorn’s best efforts at focusing, however, the pegasus before her still looked very fuzzy, meaning her vision must have been damaged along with the rest of her body. It seemed to be healing rapidly, though, and so Twilight decided that she had quite a few more important concerns to address before she worried about the quality of her eyesight. She took her eyes off the Element of Loyalty and smiled weakly at the other ponies around her.

Applejack stood next to Rainbow Dash. The orange farmer’s blonde hair had not been bound up in its usual pony tail, and it looked as if she had spent the last few days bucking every single apple tree in one of her fields. All in all, she looked as tired as the pegasus, except the earth pony seemed physically exhausted as well.

Rarity stood on Twilight’s left. The Element of Generosity looked far from her usual self. Her usually pristine mane was unkempt, seemingly untouched for days. Twilight frowned slightly at her unicorn friend’s very odd behavior, but she decided that her throat was in no condition to be asking any questions right now, and so decided to let her gaze wander once more.

Fluttershy, the Element of Kindness, stood next Rarity. The yellow pegasus had the most worried look of Twilight’s friends so far; her eyes were brimming with tears that had already dampened most of her face. Twilight realized that with the cast and burns all over, she must be looking like a complete mess. She looked like somepony in desperate need of Fluttershy’s care.

The lavender unicorn began to take in her surroundings. She quickly realized that she was in some sort of hospital. She was lying in a wide bed, covered by a warm cyan blanket. The only parts of her body sticking out from under the blanket were her head and her right foreleg, which was suspended in a sling. The unicorn wiggled the limb experimentally and reconfirmed that it was indeed broken. As she grimaced at the sight of her burned-beyond-recognition foreleg, Twilight was unsure of whether she wanted to see the state the rest of her body was in. Leaning against the foot of the bed was Pinkie Pie, who was flashing the hospitalized unicorn an optimistic smile. During their friendship, Twilight had only seen the pink pony without a smile three times. No matter what, it seemed Pinkie Pie could always find the bright side of things and make those around her see it as well. But something about Ponyville’s top party pony told the unicorn that something truly terrible had happened. Her smile seemed genuine enough, but the pony’s usually frizzy and vibrant mane seemed to have deflated slightly, something Twilight knew almost only ever happened when her pink friend was very unhappy or bothered by something.

Behind the party pony, Twilight could see a white wall and a sink. To her right was a dark window and to her left an open door. She could hear the sounds of nurses and doctors pacing quickly up and down the hall outside.

Twilight tried speaking, but ended up croaking out indecipherable sounds. Her voice seemed to be returning now, but not as quickly as the she would have wanted.

She returned her gaze to her foreleg to study the severity of her burns, trying her best not to panic. Every inch of her skin was covered in unhealthy-looking splotches of red and nearly black, and the leg seemed to have been burned clean of any fur. In fact, Twilight was unable to see any fur at all on the parts of her body not covered by the blanket. Curiosity overcame the unicorn, and her horn sparked to life. Her magic seemed to function properly as her covers were soon enveloped in a bright magenta aura. But then again, her horn felt strange. It was burned like the rest of her body, but there was something else, something the unicorn could not identify. She would have to find out later. Right now, she needed to find out how bad of a shape the rest of her body was in. Upon seeing her horn glowing, Rarity raised her hoof wordlessly as if to stop her, but then backed away from the bed along with the others as Twilight threw off the blanket, revealing what was underneath.

There was not a single tuft of fur to be seen from the tip of her horn to the bottom of her hooves. Even her beautiful tail had been reduced to a pathetic furless appendage. Her skin was pink, but mottled with red and black burns all over. She had severe scrapes on her right side and all the way down her back, where her skin had almost been peeled off. The skin on the rest of her body had cracked in several places, and some sort of liquid had been oozing out of the wounds before coagulating.

Wincing with the pain of movement, Twilight lifted her left forehoof to the back of her head and found that her mane had burned away as well. She gasped sharply as she touched one of the places where her skin had cracked.

She whimpered slightly, and tears started running down her cheeks. What had happened? How had she been burned so thoroughly? How had she even survived? It had been only yesterday Rarity had dragged her along to the spa for a full makeover, sparing no expenses in the pursuit of making the librarian look as ‘presentable’ as possible. She had been ready… ready to go to Canterlot.

Realization dawned on her. She was in Canterlot. This was the Canterlot hospital. What were her friends doing here? Had they all come to visit her? What had happened to make them all so worried?

Twilight summoned the blanket again and covered herself up. The soft blanket grated painfully across her sensitive burns and fresh lances of pain were driven into her body, but she was starting to freeze. Straining her mind, the unicorn fought to recall what had brought her here.

“Twilight? Are you alright, dear?” Rarity asked with concern as the burnt unicorn’s brow creased in concentration.

“Does she look even remotely alright?” the cyan pegasus countered pointedly, but Twilight ignored her as she delved into her memories.

Celestia. The princess had had something important to tell Twilight. She had received a letter from her mentor, summoning her to Canterlot, and she had left only a few hours later, travelling by train. The letter... No, the letter had been extremely vague; it hadn’t told her anything of importance. She had left for Canterlot and she recalled walking through the streets of her old home city. She had met her brother and Cadance, visiting for some reason Twilight had failed to ask them about. She remembered seeing Celestia, and the two had entered into the princess’ private study.

Her memories became hazy after that. She was sure she had been with Celestia until well after dusk. They had been talking, but Twilight could no longer remember what the princess had wanted to say, why she had been summoned to Canterlot on such short notice.

Try as she might, that was as far as her memories would take her.

“Well, she is awake. As far as I am concerned, that is at least preferable over some comatose...”

Twilight groaned in frustration, interrupting the white unicorn’s argument. The pain all over her body was no longer escalating, but the burning waves of agony kept pulsing through her body with nauseating intensity. “He… Ho… How… long?” she managed to half gasp in a hoarse voice. Her throat was still burning. She summoned her magical powers and brought the glass of water at her side to her lips.

“How long you’ve been unconscious?” Rainbow Dash inquired, and Twilight nodded, wincing as her neck exploded in agony once again. The unicorn exhaled sharply, but her friends failed to notice. “Five or six days, I think.” The pegasus frowned, and the hospitalized unicorn saw a hint of sadness in her eyes. “It’s… it’s getting hard to tell…”

Twilight’s brow furrowed as she removed the empty glass from her lips. “Hard... to tell?” she asked in a very sore voice. “What’s that... mean?" She coughed violently, causing her lungs and everything around them to explode in pain. “What happened?” she asked after a long pause.

“We… we were hoping you could tell us,” Rarity admitted. Tears came to the white unicorn’s eyes. Beside her, Fluttershy suddenly burst into tears and ran out the door. Pinkie’s smile had vanished completely, and she looked uneasily at her hooves.

“Ah’m not sure we should tell ya, sugarcube,” Applejack tried, but Twilight shook her head.

The unicorn quickly regretted the motion as another massive wave of agony washed over her. She bit down hard on the blanket to muffle her screams. The glass of water floating next to her was shattered in her tightened telekinetic grip and Rarity jumped back in surprise. “I… need to know,” Twilight gasped after recovering from the pain.

The orange pony sighed and cast a glance at the others, who either nodded hesitantly or shrugged. “Alright, Ah guess. But ya ain’t gonna like it.” Applejack took a deep breath. "Ya sure?" she asked, hoping for a no. Twilight gave the pony a hard stare, and the farmer's eyes started watering along with the others'. “Honey, Celestia... she's dead.”

…Horrible heat, blinding light. Celestia screaming in agony. Dying. The intense light blinds her and a deafening noise assaults her ears. Masonry breaks apart and glass shatters. Death. Hurtling through the air. Falling. Crashing. Bones snapping. Fire everywhere…

“She’s back again, folks!” Applejack called out, and Twilight heard a nurse make a shushing sound as she passed by the room. “Oh uh, sorry ma’am,” the farmer apologized in a quieter voice.

As the unicorn returned to her senses for the second time, waves of pain tore through her nerves once again, and she whimpered weakly. This time, however, the pain was only the lesser of two evils. While she slept, she had had that terrible nightmare. One that seemed horribly real yet was unbelievable. As she recalled the dreadful and chaotic mess of images and impressions, she realized she had seen it all before. Had it been a dream then?

She had been with her. She had been sitting together with Celestia in the princess’ private study, discussing what Twilight had recently learned of friendship and magic. But something had happened. Something awful had happened.

“What… what happened?” Twilight groaned. Her voice had already improved considerably, but it was still hoarse. She must have fainted after Applejack, the Element of Honesty, had said something that could not possibly be true. Celestia was dead.

“Ya fainted,” Applejack stated, confirming the unicorn’s suspicions, but not answering the question she had really been asking. The farmer was wearing her stetson again, but the light in the room had become easier for Twilight to bear. “Ah told ya you weren’t ready for such bad news.”

Celestia had died... They must be mistaken.

“This doesn’t make any sense,” the burnt unicorn complained. “Celestia is more than a thousand years old! She’s immortal, she can’t... she can't just die!”

“Every one of us thought the exact same thing,” the orange pony replied with a downcast gaze. “None of us could believe it.”

She didn’t just die. There was something else.

“Farewell.”

In her dreams, there had been an intruder in the princess’ study. One who was not welcome. But Twilight could remember no face, no body. Only darkness and fear. She could remember the words the intruder had spoken, but not its voice. Somepony had been there. Somepony had done it. Somepony had killed Celestia. That made no sense either. Nopony could kill Celestia. Nopony would kill Celestia.

“She’s not dead,” Twilight stated dryly.

“I’m sorry, Twilight,” Rarity said as she appeared by her unicorn friend’s side. Her three other friends appeared shortly afterwards. “But Applejack is right. The terrible news is all over Equestria.”

“She’s not dead.”

“We… we all saw it…” Fluttershy muttered sadly.

“Twi,” Dash pleaded with her friend. “You’re not making this any easier. The sun’s disappeared. We haven’t seen it since the explosion six days ago.”

“What? What happened!? What explosion?”

Heat, horrible heat. Celestia screaming, dying. Masonry melting and breaking.

“The explosion you survived!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed impatiently, gesturing at the unicorn’s crippled body.

“Miss Dash?” Twilight and her friends looked toward the door to see a nurse peering in from the hall. The unicorn still found it slightly unsettling that complete strangers knew their names. But the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony had become famous over the last few years. And Rainbow was more than the Element of Loyalty. For the past one and a half year, the pegasus had also been known as the most talented flier in the Wonderbolts. Everypony knew the pegasus’ name and she had obviously been enjoying it sorely. “You’ll have to lower your voice,” the nurse told the Wonderbolt. “Many of our patients are sleeping.”

“Uh, sure,” the pegasus said, a slightly annoyed look on her face for having been interrupted. “Sorry.” The nurse nodded her head and and shut the door. Everypony turned back to Twilight again.

“The palace is gone!” Rainbow Dash continued in a quieter voice. “Don’t you remember anything? You’re the only one who made it out of there alive! What happened?”

“Now settle down, Rainbow,” Applejack reprimanded her friend. “Twi’s obviously been through some terrible business! Don’t you make it worse! We're all grieving for Celestia, but Twi must be taking this harder than all of us combined. Heck, the princess was like a second mother to her!”

The rainbow-maned pegasus frowned, but then sighed and hung her head. “Sorry, Twilight. It’s just… hard. After all these years… Celestia’s… gone.”

“She’s not dead,” Twilight repeated and Rainbow gave a frustrated groan before storming off into the hallway outside the room.

The other ponies around the injured unicorn shuffled their hooves awkwardly, but Twilight ignored the pegasus’ outburst. She needed to know what had really happened. She needed to know where Celestia had gone. She needed to know what was going on outside. She needed to get out of the hospital.

Twilight’s horn started glowing. The magic still felt strange, but it had definitely not weakened. The blanket was thrown off the bed, and the sling that held Twilight’s right foreleg was detached from where it was suspended, hanging instead from Twilight’s magical grip.

“Rarity, can you help me adjust this sling?” Twilight grunted with pain as she scooted her hindquarters toward the right side of the bed. Her skin felt unbelievably tight, as if it might rip at any moment and her various wounds felt like they were bleeding freely. She breathed heavily a few times before continuing the motion.

“Twilight, wait! Whatever are you doing!?” Rarity protested, but as Twilight inched closer to the edge of the bed, the sling was enveloped in a sky blue aura nonetheless. The fabric shortened in length and was expertly draped around the burnt unicorn’s neck. The injured unicorn winced and whimpered as the fabric passed over the extremely sore spot at the base of her neck, but fortunately, the sling was fastened a few inches below the odd wound. “You are in no condition whatsoever to be out of your bed!” the unicorn scolded her friend. “I don’t want to force you, but...”

Twilight’s broken bones screamed in protest as she gingerly crept off the hospital bed to stand on the cold marble floor. Her right foreleg was held in a slightly comfortable position by the adjusted sling, and her ribs hurt a lot less than they had when she had first awakened, though every breath she took still pained her greatly. Her broken hind leg was in screaming agony, forcing her to lift the leg a few inches off the ground, lessening the pain, but also forcing her to balance herself on only two hooves.

She was about to topple over when Applejack leaned her body against Twilight for support. The unicorn gasped with the pain of the pony against her ribs and raw skin, but she supposed it was better than hitting the floor.

“Good thing Ah ain’t afraid o’ forcin’ ya then!” Applejack said angrily as she supported the unicorn, but at the same time tried herding her onto the bed again. “Twi, what in tarnation d’you think yer doin’?”

“I’m going to the palace,” Twilight said with determination. “I’m gonna find Celestia.” She hobbled forward on her two hooves, but Applejack barred her way with an extended foreleg.

“Darn it, Twilight! There ain’t nothin’ you can do!” the farmer insisted, but Twilight ignored her, stubbornly pressing weakly against the earth pony’s strong legs. “Listen ta me, Twi! Git back in bed right now! Ya got two broken legs fer Pete’s sake!”

“No!” was Twilight’s only reply. She clenched her eyes against the pain as she started pushing harder against Applejack. “I need to find the princess!”

“The princess is dead!” Applejack sighed angrily. “Ah hate ta say it, but Ah doubt there’s anything left ta see of ‘er!”

Twilight struggled on for a few seconds before finally relaxing, slumping against the orange pony once again. “I... I’m sorry, AJ... But I just can’t believe it. I refuse to believe it. It doesn’t matter how many of you tell me or many times you tell me; until I’ve seen it for myself, I can’t believe she’s dead. Celestia being dead is... it’s an impossibility.”

“Ah know it is,” Applejack said, calming down as the unicorn’s struggles subsided. “But it happened anyways. We were in the same situation as you just a few days ago. We all thought it was impossible. But the sun’s gone, Twi. The palace’s gone. We got officials sayin’ that the princesses are dead. That they found Celestia’s body.”

A shiver went down Twilight’s spine, and she started leaning even more heavily against the farmer. “A body? Wh-where? Did you see it?”

“They say it’s in the palace. Ground zero, they called it.” The pony sighed. “But no, we ain’t seen nothin’ for ourselves. The whole palace’s been shut down tight. Even after we told ‘em who we were, the guards still wouldn’t let us in.”

Twilight was silent for a moment, thinking on what her friend had said. “What if you’re wrong?” she suggested, and Applejack gave an exasperated sigh. “What if everypony is wrong? Nopony knew the princess like I did. I have to go see her!” The unicorn renewed her struggle to get past her friend.

“Oh yeah?” The orange pony lifted an eyebrow. “How’re ya gonna get all the way over there? You can hardly walk and Ah sure as hay ain’t gonna help ya. None of us are. So, git back in bed!”

Twilight looked across the bed and gave the yellow pegasus a pleading stare. “Fluttershy? Can’t you help me?”

“Well, I don’t... Maybe I...”

“No, Fluttershy!” Applejack ordered the pegasus sternly. “Twi’s stayin’!”

“Oh, okay.” The pegasus gave the injured unicorn a look of compassion. “Sorry, Twilight.”

Twilight sighed. “Rarity?” she tried, but the white unicorn shook her head. “Pinkie?” The usually cheerful pony was silent, her forehooves resting on the foot of the bed again as she stared at them sadly. Her fluffy mane had decomposed even more since the first time Twilight had seen her. “Pinkie?” Twilight repeated, but again the pony showed no signs of hearing her. “Ugh, fine!” She gave the farmer an annoyed glare as she tried herding her back into bed again. “This would have been easier with your help, but I’m perfectly capable of going on my own!”

Twilight’s horn flared, and the unicorn vanished in a bright flash. Applejack yelped as the fur that had been in contact with her friend became slightly singed from the sudden release of energy.

The farmer rushed to the door and opened it, spotting Twilight as she materialized only twenty feet down the corridor to her left. “Hey! That was uncalled for!” the farmer shouted at the unicorn.

“I’m going, Applejack,” Twilight said. Her horn glowed, and a magenta force field materialized between her and the farmer.

“Twilight!” Applejack groaned in frustration. She put her weight against the magical barrier, but it was unyielding. She could only watch helplessly as the unicorn began limping away on only two hooves. The farmer looked to her side as Rarity came to stand in front of the wall as well. “Can’t ya do something ‘bout her?” Applejack asked the white unicorn desperately.

“Maybe,” Rarity replied without much conviction. “But... I won’t.”

“But...” the earth pony was at a loss for words. “She’s got two broken legs and who knows how many broken ribs! She can’t just walk outta the hospital like that!”

“She needs to see her, Applejack,” Rarity replied, looking at the injured unicorn limping away pathetically. “I doubt she’ll stop until she knows for sure.”

While Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie came to join them, the orange pony sighed in defeat. Suddenly, the wall against her hooves disappeared and Applejack fell onto all fours. Near the end of the hall, Twilight had fallen onto her side and was gasping with pain. The earth pony and unicorn came to her aid quickly and helped her back on her hooves.

Applejack shook her head in surrender. “Ya ain’t stoppin’ till you seen her, huh?” She sighed again. “Guess Ah might as well tag along then. Make sure you don’t get in any trouble.”

Twilight smiled weakly. “Thanks.”

Applejack positioned herself so that the unicorn could lean against her, and the two started walking slowly toward the end of the corridor while Rarity joined the others in an effort to cheer them up.

The five ponies entered into another corridor and started following the exit markers leading left down the hallway. There were large extravagant windows lining the wall to her right, suggesting that she was in one of the more luxurious wings of the hospital. Outside, it was still night or it had become night again. Twilight did not know for how long she had been unconscious this time, and she was not sure if she wanted to know. She tried looking out the windows, but could only see featureless blackness because of the sharp lights within the hospital.

Behind Twilight, Rarity struck up an idle conversation with Fluttershy, trying to calm the pegasus’ nerves. Pinkie Pie was trailing behind all of them; her head hanging so low the pink mane was touching the floor.

“What happened to Pinkie Pie?” Twilight whispered to Applejack.

“She felt it,” the farmer explained. “That pinkie sense of hers went bananas and she knew exactly what was about to happen just a few minutes before. She was mightily distraught and kept cryin’ and screamin’. We... we couldn’t believe her at first, but then... then there was that explosion and the moon just... stopped moving…”

“Wait, the moon? Wh-where is Luna? What happened to her?” Twilight inquired.

“Nopony’s seen her. At least not what I’ve heard of. Ah reckon she’s as gone as Celestia.”

“She can’t be dead,” Twilight stated. “I mean, I doubt Celestia’s dead, but if the sun really has disappeared... I don’t know… Something has probably happened to her... But the moon’s still here. Luna can only be alive.”

“It’s hard to say, really,” Applejack tried arguing. “Celestia used ta move the moon around way before the six of us became friends. Perhaps Luna lost her, I dunno, connection with the moon? That’s what Rarity’s thinkin’ anyways.” The friends kept walking for a few more seconds, slowly making their way to the exit. Rarity and Fluttershy’s conversation had quickly died down and Twilight was pondering Applejacks argument. “Besides,” the orange farmer continued. “Fact remains that with Celestia’s death…”

“Her possible death,” Twilight insisted, but was otherwise quiet.

Applejack rolled her eyes. “…with Celestia’s possible death, Equestria has more need of Princess Luna than ever, and she ain’t here.”

“Hmm…” was all Twilight could reply. There was so much for her to consider, and she didn’t have nearly enough information.

The five friends exited the corridor and entered into the main lobby of the hospital. The lobby of the Canterlot Hospital was two or three stories high and almost ridiculously exuberant, not unlike the majority of buildings in the capital. The ponies stood on the ground floor, vaulted ceilings stretching out more than twenty feet above them, and large glowing crystal chandeliers lit up the scene of wretchedness before the five friends.

The hospital’s reception area was flooded with ponies. Many wounded sat or lay on the chairs lining the walls of the lobby, and even more were lying scattered around the floor. Some wore bloodied bandages around their heads, some around their legs. A few unfortunate ponies had only bandage-wrapped stumps in place of their limbs.

The air in the whole lobby was thick with calamity and suffering, and Twilight realized that the explosion at the palace had been far worse than she had at first assumed. In the lobby alone there were almost a hundred ponies in need of medical attention. The five friends found themselves at the far end of the lobby, and they started slowly weaving their way through the throng of bloodied and injured ponies.

“Can’t help but wish there was at least one doctor out here,” Applejack commented as she stepped over a sleeping or unconscious stallion. “He might be able to talk some sense into ya.”

Twilight looked around worriedly. “Now that you mention it, where are the doctors? All of these ponies are in desperate need of help!”

“There ain’t no vacancy in the hospital,” Applejack explained. “A whole bunch of ponies have been hurt, but there are only so many here to treat ‘em. I reckon they’re all in some other part of the hospital, tending to the really seriously wounded.”

“Exactly how large was that explosion?” Twilight asked of Applejack, wincing as the two passed a pegasus missing half of his left hind leg.

“Well ‘cept the rubble strewn all over Canterlot, there ain’t nothin’ left of the royal palace the way I hear it. An’ when Ah say nothin’, Ah mean there’s a huge smokin’ crater where the palace used ta be.” Tears once again came to the farmer’s eyes as the unpleasant memories returned to her. “We all saw it, too. All the way from Ponyville. We were arguin’ with Pinkie, tryin’ ta make sense of her premonitions, when we noticed a bright light comin’ from the direction of Canterlot. A huge column o’ fire appeared where the palace oughta be. I saw the flames break through a layer of clouds! It was unbelievable! Then something what sounded like thunder could be heard loud and clear, and poor Pinkie started cryin’ her heart out.”

“This doesn’t make any sense,” the unicorn complained again. “I-I was in the palace, wasn't I? I must have been right at the center of that explosion, yet... here I am.”

“When we came here about two days ago, we met a doctor who was checking up on you,” the orange pony said as they passed a unicorn crying over her broken horn. “You were in a right sorry state after that explosion ‘ccording to him. Barely had any skin left on your body. The paramedics an’ palace guards had to magick you to the hospital because you were scaldin’ly hot. That’s why you haven’t been put in bandages; they just started burning up every time they touched you. ‘Twas only yesterday they was able to put your leg in that cast and your foreleg in the sling.” Applejack paused for a moment as they walked. Twilight’s limping pace was slowly quickening, and the ponies had almost reached the exit of the hospital. “I dunno what happened to ya, Twi, but it sure ain’t natural. Most of your skin grew back in those few days you were asleep and you can almost stand on your own now. Nopony in the palace survived that explosion. Not a trace of ‘em has been found, ‘cept Celestia, of course. How did you live through all that?”

“That’s what I’m going to find out…” the unicorn promised herself and the farmer as she passed through the open doors of the hospital to the dark world outside.

The moon shone faintly in the night sky above the five ponies as they exited the large Canterlot hospital. Twilight was unable to tell whether the heavenly lights had dimmed because of Luna’s grief or because of the smoke rising from the area around the Canterlot palace. From where she stood, she was unable to see the palace because of the tall houses surrounding the hospital, so the unicorn went left, heading toward the Princess Road which would lead her straight to the royal palace.

Twilight was slowly regaining her lost sense of balance, walking more confidently on her two unbroken legs, although she still leaned heavily against Applejack. As they walked, the injured unicorn gaze in awed silence at the massive amounts of destruction all over the city. Huge chunks of white or brightly colored marble from the palace had plowed deep tracks through the streets and houses, several buildings were on fire, and half of the windows Twilight saw had been shattered completely. Ponies by the side of the streets were busy erecting small lantern posts to help light the dark city. Even more ponies were simply wandering the streets aimlessly, looking in dumpsters or trash cans for food. From the state of things, Twilight would have guessed that the blast had occurred only yesterday, but according to her friends, it had happened more than five or six days ago. She shuddered at the thought of how things must have initially been.

“Hey! Where do you think you’re going?” Rainbow Dash’s voice cried out indignantly at Twilight. The pegasus swooped down from above and hovered in front of the unicorn. “What are you doing out of bed? You've got two broken legs!”

“We’re going to see Celestia.”

Applejack only shrugged, signalling to Rainbow Dash that she might as well give up on convincing the unicorn.

The pegasus groaned in frustration but let Twilight pass by her. “The palace grounds have been sealed off, ya know. There are guards everywhere, and I don’t think they’re letting anypony in. The Element of Loyalty wasn’t allowed in, anyway.”

“What about the most talented flier in the Wonderbolts?” Twilight asked with a slight smile despite the circumstances.

“Nopony,” Dash repeated sullenly. “Only those helping with the investigation or whatever.”

“Well, I’m the princess’ most faithful student, and I’m the Element of Magic,” the limping unicorn reasoned. “That has to count for something.”

“No,” the guard answered flatly.

The six friends were standing at the drawbridge which provided the only access to the palace grounds. The wall around the palace gate had survived the explosion, but had suffered major damages. The tall walls that surrounded the palace grounds had cracked in several places, and whole sections of the masonry had crumbled. One segment had even been demolished by a fallen tower, almost damming up the moat which would usually stream out into one of the waterfalls that plummeted from the city.

At the far end of the drawbridge, the gatehouse seemed to have endured the blast. Large chunks of its marble exterior were missing, but the gate itself was intact, allowing access to anypony... if they could get past the guards.

The drawbridge was wide enough for four ponies to walk across side by side, but currently, ten royal guards were blocking the way entirely. The guard in front was scowling at Twilight.

Above the ponies, low-hanging clouds brimming with pegasus guards protected the entire perimeter from the air.

“I beg your pardon?” Rarity exclaimed, jumping to her unicorn friend’s aid. “In case you should have failed to notice, we are the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony, and every one of us is a very close friend of the princesses.”

“The princesses are dead,” the lead guard replied mechanically. “Investigations are being made as to the cause and possible perpetrator of this event. Until such investigations have been finished, no extraneous ponies are permitted to enter the palace grounds, no matter their rank or position.”

“Who gave that order?” Twilight asked critically.

The guard’s eyes narrowed as he looked back at the injured unicorn. “That is none of your concern. Leave these premises." He eyed her burnt skin. "Why aren’t you being treated for those burns? You should be in a hospital.”

Twilight scowled at the guard, and a dangerous gleam shone in her eyes. The air around her horn began shimmering. Applejack opened her mouth to protest at the guard, but the unicorn spoke instead. “As the protégée of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, and the Bearer of the Element of Magic, cornerstone of the Elements of Harmony and Heroine of Equestria, I am ordering you to stand down!”

The furless unicorn, who was leaning against her friend, was hardly imposing, but the look she gave the guard and the undertone in her words caused him to step back nonetheless, intimidated by the impressive powers known to be wielded by the Element of Magic. The guards behind him shuffled slightly forward, taking a defensive stance.

“I am the only survivor of the explosion you are investigating,” the unicorn proceeded to reason. “Stand aside and let me in.”

There was a moment where Twilight thought she had succeeded in her persuasion, but the guard regained his composure and stood fast again. “I’m sorry, Twilight Sparkle. But I can’t let anypony through.”

After a moment of hesitation, the unicorn’s horn flared brightly and the ten guards flinched. When they looked toward her again, Twilight was no longer standing among her five friends.

She reappeared at the other end of the drawbridge and started limping quickly through the gates. Four unicorn guards in golden armor appeared from behind the marble arch, stepping forward while exerting their magic upon the injured unicorn in an attempt to restrain her.

The Element of Magic's powers swatted them aside easily, and the guards were thrown into the open palace gates with enough force to stun them momentarily. Exclamations of surprise and anger came from behind her, and Twilight knew that the ten guards must have seen her by now.

Ignoring the searing and agonizing jolts of pain reverberating throughout her entire body, Twilight started running. The cast on her hind leg was bothersome and every time she touched down with the leg she screamed in agony, but adrenaline and purpose kept her going.

After passing through the open gates, Twilight followed the cobblestone path left across a short marble bridge that led across a small scenic creek, the palace gardens stretching out before her. Most of the vegetation was gone, replaced by thick clouds of smoke and fire that was somehow still burning after six days. Looking through the dark fog and skeletons of trees that remained, the unicorn could still not see the palace. Behind her, the guards’ shouts were growing louder. They were gaining on her, but only slowly. She could also hear the shouts of her friends, some encouraging her to run faster while some wanted her to stop for her own safety.

She cleared the bridge and soon passed into the burning palace gardens. Everything around her was smoking badly, and Twilight's visibility was greatly reduced. She sprinted past the remnants of the palace hedge maze and the Canterlot Sculpture Garden as well as numerous other parts of the vast palace grounds, running blindly as the pain in her leg numbed her mind to the point of not being able to focus on anything but finding her mentor.

After what seemed an eternity, Twilight finally reached the royal palace, or what was left of it. As Applejack had said, most of the walls had been blown apart and scattered across Canterlot. The walls that hadn’t had been melted completely, solidifying again in great heaps and slabs of marble. Some parts of the palace ruins were still slightly aglow with heat.

Twilight went left and skirted the palace remnants, finding a path to the epicenter of the blast. Unlike the rest of the site, there were no remains of the palace whatsoever within the immediate area of the center of the explosion. In fact, Twilight could make out a large ball-shaped volume of space in which everything had been either completely vaporized or liquified, leaving a deep depression in the ground.

In the center of that crater, Twilight saw a white and pink shape.

Celestia screaming. Dying.

No.

“No,” Twilight muttered to herself. Tears started streaming down her face. She shook her head in disbelief, not even registering the pain in her neck that would usually paralyze her.

Stationed around the depression were scores of royal guards, and as they caught sight of the injured unicorn, they charged, seeking to apprehend her.

“No!” Once again, Twilight ignored her leg as she started dashing toward the the immobile white form and the rows of guards approaching her.

One of the guards cried out a warning at the intruder, but Twilight’s horn flared again, and she teleported herself behind the ranks of guards. The unicorn lost her footing as she materialized on the hot surface of the crater, and she tumbled down the decline to the center of the depression where the white form lay. With a whimper of pain, Twilight crawled the rest of the way to the large pony in front of her, trying her best to ignore the unbearable heat that still pervaded the pit and the unbelievable agony pulsing through her mangled and abused legs. As she approached the body, Twilight noticed that the pony did indeed have a horn and a pair of wings. As much as she hated admitting it, the lifeless alicorn in front of her was without a doubt her old mentor. But she could not possibly be dead.

“Princess? Princess Celestia?” Twilight sobbed. The princess’ eyes were closed, and her sides were still. Her mane and tail had lost its strange ethereality and had become the pink strands of hair she had usually been depicted with in the histories. Her coat seemed gray in comparison to the brilliance that usually surrounded her.

Twilight put her hoof under the princess’ head and lifted it so that it was facing her. The muscles were stiff and the coat was much colder than the blistering heat of Twilight’s surroundings. The unicorn touched horns with her mentor, but she felt nothing. No warmth, no magic, no life. “Celestia!” Twilight wailed and hugged the corpse around its neck, crying into the pink mane.

She sat in that position for a long time, thinking only of Celestia and not of the guards that had come to a halt around her, her friends who had managed to enter the palace grounds, or the overwhelming pain of her broken legs. Tears streamed freely into the dead princess’ mane as the student kept sobbing.

Celestia was dead. The princess of Equestria, the alicorn who raised and lowered the sun, the mare who had once defeated both Discord and Nightmare Moon, the one who had lived for more than a thousand years. Dead. Even now, seeing and feeling the corpse of her beloved mentor, Twilight could not make herself believe it was possible. Celestia was practically a goddess, she could not die. She must be in a coma or something similar. Why had Twilight survived where Celestia had not?

A faint pulse against her skin brought Twilight out of her grief. She lifted her head from the princess' mane. The pulse had been different from the pain she was ignoring. She had felt something coming from Celestia's body. A warmth. Some sort of spark.

The unicorn’s hopes returned. Her mentor had survived! It was exactly as she had suspected. Twilight squealed in excitement as she felt another pulse from the princess. The tip of the unicorn’s horn tingled slightly. Celestia’s coat started slowly shining, her entire body glimmered, and the guards gasped in shock. Twilight’s friends, who had just arrived, made exclamations of surprise at the sight.

The student touched horns with her mentor again, and she felt the familiar exchange of energy the two always shared.

Celestia’s body shone even brighter, and a nonexistent wind rippled through her mane and tail, restoring them to life. The light emitted by the princess changed from white to the pastel colors of her usual mane, enveloping Twilight in a warm, multichromatic halo.

The unicorn hugged Celestia even tighter, ignoring her screaming bones, and increased the flow of magic she poured into the alicorn. In response, even more magic surged into Twilight. The student smiled and closed her eyes against the princess’ mane. Everything was going to be alright. Celestia would return. She would bring back the sun. She would explain exactly what had happened, and they would find the one responsible for all of this.

But then the unicorn’s hooves suddenly held nothing, and she fell forward into the space where Celestia had once been. Twilight opened her eyes. Celestia’s glow was rapidly fading away, and the body was sagging unnaturally. She backed away from her mentor's body and watched in horror as it turned into a multitude of small bright sparkles the color of Celestia’s mane. Within only seconds, the entire body had decomposed into a large pile of sparkling dust.

Twilight was speechless while others around her cried out in anguish. Before she could react, another nonexistent wind swept away the glowing dust. The sparkles whirled around the unicorn for a moment before dissolving into nothingness, leaving Twilight sitting alone in a dimly glowing hole amidst the ruins of the palace.

The warmth that had possessed the injured unicorn turned to ice. She tried standing, but collapsed again as she started shaking uncontrollably. She tried fighting back her tears, but started sobbing violently. The pain that had momentarily been kept at bay returned in full force, bringing merciless agony and waves of fire throughout every nerve in her body, adding to the torment of her heart that felt as if on the verge of bursting. She threw her head back and screamed her frustration and pain at the dark skies, hoping for some answer, but none came. The night sky was dark. The moon was barely visible.

She screamed until her voice broke and she once again tasted blood in her mouth. The pain, both physical and emotional, became too much for the unicorn to bear. All became dark and sweet oblivion enveloped her mind.

2 - Company

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Succession

Chapter 2 – Company

The folds of darkness that had enveloped her mind were slowly drawn away, and the painful light of reality set in. Twilight’s skin was still burning mercilessly, and her various wounds felt like they had been ripped wide open. The metallic tang of blood had returned to her mouth, much stronger than before and the odd point in the base of her neck was blazing with white-hot agony, but above all, the unicorn felt the incessant throbbing of her left hind leg. A new cast held the leg in a slightly different position, and the swollen flesh pulsed painfully against the unyielding plaster.

The sheer pain caused Twilight to throw up again, but as her mouth once again filled up with nothing but foamy bile, she realized just how empty her stomach was. A loud growling noise confirmed her thought and she groaned out loud.

She was lying in the hospital again, though she was unsure of whether she was in the same room. It seemed a little larger, and there was a vacant bed to her left. Her right foreleg was once again suspended in a sling, and her broken hind leg was also held in a somewhat elevated position.

“Oh, hi there, Twi!” Pinkie Pie’s upbeat voice greeted the unicorn.

Twilight jumped slightly and turned her gaze toward her friend. The pink pony had just gotten up from a chair near the dark window to Twilight’s right and was beaming at her. The unicorn tried speaking, but instead produced a hoarse grating sound that set her throat on fire.

“Careful with the voicy,” Pinkie chimed. “You hurt it pretty bad back at the palace!” The pony’s bright mane had returned to its frizzy and disorganized shape, and her smile was more genuine than the one she had been sporting the first time Twilight had woken up in the hospital. Pinkie stepped over to the bed and put her forehooves on the blanket, leaning in across Twilight so that the unicorn would not need to strain her neck to look at her friend. “Y’know, after Celestia died, I could hardly smile for a week. And it just hurt so much, it felt like I couldn’t talk about it with anypony at all! It was like I was back at the rock farm...”

Twilight first frowned at her friend’s changed behavior, but then lifted one of her burnt-off eyebrows as the pink pony trailed off. “But?”

“But then I had so much fun chasing you around the palace! I mean, wowee, for a girl with two broken legs, you can really run! All of a sudden, I couldn’t stop laughing! Then there was that thing with Celestia and the crater and the rainbows and we all went ‘aww’, but after a while, I didn’t feel so sad anymore. You know why?”

“We’ve... been over this before, Pinkie,” Twilight sighed in her barely audible voice. “I have no idea... what goes on inside your head... and I probably never will.”

“You!” Pinkie Pie said with a smile, booping the unicorn softly on her nose. Twilight, however, pulled away sharply as the pink pony’s hoof was pressed against her sensitive skin, wincing at the pain. As she pulled away, her neck once again sent lances of fire coursing through every nerve in her body and she screamed, only increasing her torment as her raw voice was strained to the limit.

“Ooh, sorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorry!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, panicking as the unicorn convulsed in pain.

“It’s al-” the unicorn began, suppressing a groan as the pain in the base of her neck spiked. “It’s alright, Pinkie... Just don’t... touch... please...”

“They brought you a big ol’ box of ice,” the pink pony informed her bedridden friend, brightening up almost immediately as only Pinkie Pie could. “Think that would help?”

As if in reply, the cast around Twilight’s left leg seemed to suddenly tighten against her throbbing flesh, and the unicorn winced again. “I think... I think my hind leg could use some.”

“Sure thing,” the earth pony replied, diving off toward the foot of Twilight’s bed and beyond her field of vision. “Which one?” she asked rummaging around in the box of ice.

“Umm, the left one?” the unicorn replied, smiling slightly at the question. “The one that’s broken and I ran around the palace grounds on.”

“Okey dokey lokey!” the pink pony sang, folding away the blanket to expose the broken leg in question and dropped three plastic bags of ice onto it. “Better?”

“Much better...” Twilight purred as the throbbing was quickly banished by the cold ice.

“Anyway, like I was saying,” Pinkie Pie soon continued, returning to the unicorn’s side. “Even though Celestia was dead and we had just seen her disappear, looking at that whole crater and everything that happened to the royal palace made me realize that for a whole week, I had only been thinking of all the bad things that had happened. I should’ve thought of the few good things that happened!”

Twilight gingerly shook her head in bewilderment. “The good things? What in Equestria are you talking about? She’s... she’s dead.”

“Aw, don’t be such a mopey-dopey!” Pinkie complained with a frown. “We should celebrate you! You survived that blow-up-the-whole-palace-and-ruin-Canterlot explosion! And the doctors say you won’t have any lasting injuries! That’s a good thing, riiight?” The pink pony leaned close to Twilight’s face for an answer, but the unicorn could still not see the bright side of things. If there were any, they were hugely overshadowed by the tragedy of the regal sisters’ deaths and the extinguished sun. Equestria was most likely doomed, and Twilight was unsure of whether her own survival had been a good thing. She turned her head away from her friend, ignoring the jolts of pain that shot up her neck.

“Miss Pie,” the voice of a stranger called out. Twilight looked toward the door to see that a unicorn of a dark brown coat had entered the room. There were dark circles around his eyes, and he wore a severe frown, suggesting to Twilight that he was a doctor. The medical staff in Canterlot were most likely twice as stressed as they had ever been, Twilight thought.

“Howdy!” the pink pony greeted obliviously. “What’s wrong?”

“Please leave, Miss Pie,” the doctor ordered flatly. Pinkie Pie glanced at Twilight, who nodded, and then went past the doctor.

“We’ll be back and hold a party later, Twi!” the pink pony promised before leaving.

The doctor shook his head slightly and mumbled something under his breath. He trotted over to Twilight’s bed and gave her a stern glare. From his white uniform, he pulled out a small clipboard, hovering it between the two ponies so that Twilight could only see his eyes as he read her files.

“As you’ve no doubt noticed, Miss Sparkle, we are at the moment more than overburdened with ponies that need treatment,” the doctor began, eyeing the injured unicorn again. “None of the staff appreciate your little excursion yesterday. Now, I know that you and Celestia shared close bonds with each other, but you should have waited for one of our personnel to check up on you before you left.”

“Would you have let me leave?” Twilight whispered in her broken voice.

“Most likely not,” he admitted. “But then again, look at what it did to you.” The brown unicorn flipped his clipboard, allowing Twilight to see an x-ray image of her hind leg. The injured unicorn was not too well versed in the skeletal system of ponies, but she could clearly see the many black lines that laced her bones. Some places, the bone seemed to have skewed dramatically.

“With your exceptional and frankly baffling rate of healing, you would most likely have healed your bones over the course of only one and a half months,” the doctor explained. “But with these multiple fractures... you’ll be hospitalized for at least half a year, I’d wager. You’re lucky the bone will heal at all. For most ponies, your leg would be unsalvageable.”

“As I said, we’re very busy at the moment, and we want to send off as many patients as we can as quickly as possible. You prolonging your stay by five or more months isn’t helping us at all.” The doctor pulled a large black bottle out a pocket in his uniform with his magic and put it on the nightstand by Twilight’s bed. “These will help your bone growth; just take one pill with each meal. And this…” the unicorn pulled up a smaller bottle with a red etiquette. “…will help lessen your pain, should you need it. I trust your magic functions well enough for you to administer the medicine yourself; we’re simply far too understaffed to help you with that. If nothing else, I suppose you have your friends.” The doctor proceeded to explain the correct dosage of the painkiller before moving on. “We are preparing a treatment for your burns, but I’m afraid it’ll take a while. I would examine you, but there are hundreds of seriously wounded ponies that need my attention right now.” He gave an annoyed sigh as he turned toward the door. Whether his frustration was directed at his increasingly stressful job or at her, Twilight was unable to tell. “I’ll be back some time later.”

The doctor left the room, leaving Twilight to lay alone in her bed with no idea of what to do. After what felt like an hour, two ponies entered with a stretcher. The nurses were carrying a white unicorn stallion, and Twilight noticed that his sides, head and right hindleg were wrapped up in bandages. The injured stallion slept peacefully as the two ponies drew covers onto his bed.

“What happened to him?” Twilight croaked at one of the staff.

“Got attacked by some unicorn,” one of the nurses replied. “As far as I know, he was tossed against a colleagues’ horn, which stabbed him in the thigh. Besides that, he broke a few ribs, I think. Might’ve gotten a concussion too, I didn’t get the full diagnosis.”

Twilight frowned at the nurse's explanation. Citizens of Canterlot attacking each other? Why would a unicorn attack a fellow pony? Is the panic in Canterlot really that bad? Perhaps the death of Celestia has brought with it more than just the extinguishing of the sun.

The nurses covered the new patient up with a blanket. “Lunch will be here in about an hour,” one said before the two ponies left the room, closing the door behind them.

Seeing as how she had absolutely nothing else to do, Twilight began to study the new patient more closely. It was a stallion, that much was clear, and he looked to be the same age as herself, perhaps a year or so older. His coat was pure white, though it had become dirty on one side of his face where he had probably been lying on the ground before receiving medical assistance, and from what she could see beneath the blanket, he was of a very muscular build.

Although she knew absolutely nothing of her new companion, the bald unicorn found herself wishing the stallion were awake. She couldn’t say that she looked forward to half a year in bed with nothing to do but looking at the ceiling. She knew sleeping wouldn’t grant her any respite either. Doing so would only bring back the odd, fragmented nightmare of what had happened inside the palace. She could still not make any sense of the chain of events which to her seemed to have little connection. All she knew was that something horrible had appeared before herself and Celestia and taken the princess’ life. Somepony had killed the princess.

Memories of the alicorn she had held between her hooves came back to Twilight more abruptly than she could handle, and she began sobbing silently. She remembered how the princess had turned to dust as she watched, and tears began streaming down her face. Though she didn’t feel tired, she soon managed to cry herself to sleep.

...Fire and agony. Marble breaking apart. Deafening noise. Hurtling, flying, falling, crashing, bones snapping...

A shrill honking noise interrupted the injured unicorn’s terrible nightmare, and Twilight sat up with a sharp gasp, wincing as her broken foreleg bent awkwardly.

“Surpriiiise!” Pinkie Pie shouted, removing a party horn from her lips. Twilight’s friends laughed merrily as she looked around the room in astonishment. They had all apparently snuck into the room while she was asleep and decorated the whole place with colorful streamers and balloons. There was a large cake sitting on the nightstand next to Twilight’s medicine, and beside it was a bowl of salad and various vegetables, no doubt the lunch promised by the nurse. Twilight wondered what time of day it was, and if such even mattered when night was eternal.

“How're ya doin'?” Applejack asked, and the unicorn forced a smile.

“Better. Well, except for my legs... Doctor says it’ll take at least half a year before they’re fully healed...”

“Oh you poor dear,” Fluttershy sympathized, fluffing up Twilight’s pillow. “You really shouldn’t have been running around on a broken leg.”

“Yeah, lesson learned,” the unicorn replied with a hint of sarcasm. “But if it meant seeing the princess before she… before…”

“Hey!” Pinkie cried out. “No talking about you-know-who! We’re here to party! Remember, Twi: the good stuff! That’s what’s important right now!”

“Pinkie is right,” Rarity agreed. “However much we may have lost, we should be grateful for what we have. And we still have you, Twilight.” She smiled affectionately.

The party pony ducked down beneath the bed and reappeared on Twilight's left, next to the cake. “Whaddya want first? Boring ol' vegetables, ooooor my super tasty partylicious glad-you-didn’t-die cake? Huh-huh-huh?”

Twilight couldn’t help herself from giggling. “As delicious as your cake sounds, Pinkie, I think I need some proper food first.”

“Proper food!?” While Pinkie Pie started protesting and ranting about the deliciousness of her baked goods, the unicorn levitated a few leafs of lettuce into her mouth. Fluttershy helped her sit up straight without jolting her front leg so that Twilight could eat more comfortably. “I’ll have you know I eat nothing but cake! And candy... And cookies...” the pink pony grumbled as she started serving cake for the others. “Point is, I turned out just fine!”

Twilight couldn’t help herself from giggling as she magically unscrewed the cap to her bottle of pills and pulled one out. She popped the white pill into her mouth and washed it down with a glass of water. She quickly finished her bowl of salad, and the pink pony immediately gave her a generous slice of cake.

“So who’s your friend?” Rainbow asked through a mouthful of cake, motioning toward the immobile white unicorn in the bed next to Twilight’s.

“I’m not sure,” the unicorn admitted. “I didn’t get a name or anything; he’s been sleeping ever since he arrived. The nurses who brought him in said he’d been attacked by a unicorn. Weird, huh?”

“Most peculiar indeed,” Rarity mused, stepping closer to the stallion. “I simply can’t believe anypony from Canterlot would stoop to such lows.”

Snickering, Rainbow Dash whispered something involving ‘stuck up’ into Applejack’s ear, and the farmer chuckled.

Rarity shot the two an annoyed glare before continuing. “Judging from his physique, I do believe he is a member of the Canterlot Guard. Maybe even the Royal Guard.”

“A guard?” Twilight frowned. “So some unicorn attacked a guard? I wonder if the one responsible was also the one to…”

Pinkie Pie cleared her throat loudly, and the unicorns realized that they had begun to touch upon the subject of the princesses’ death.

“So, uh, how’s Scootaloo doin’?” Applejack asked the cyan pegasus to change the topic. “I hear she did pretty well at the Best Young Fliers Competition last week.”

“Second place.” Rainbow Dash shrugged but allowed herself a proud smile. “Pretty impressive for a late bloomer, right? But what’d you expect? I taught her everything she knows! She’s got some talent. And determination, lots of it. She kinda reminds me of myself at that age.” The pegasus smiled with self-satisfaction. “…though she’s not nearly as fast as I was!”

“You need more than speed to win that competition, as far as I know,” Rarity pointed out. “I came fairly close to winning that title…”

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash snickered. “Until you knocked out the Wonderbolts and took the express way outta Cloudsdale! But hey, you’re right. Speed’s not always the important thing in a competition. No matter what competition you’re talking about, the important thing is winning, am I right?”

Twilight snorted with laughter at the pegasus, and soon everypony else was laughing.

“What!?”

None of the ponies had kept track of how long the party lasted. All they knew was that while the festivities had still been going strong, the nurses brought dinner for Twilight and the other patient, suggesting that quite a few hours had gone by.

Eventually everypony but Pinkie Pie began yawning, and they soon bid their farewells, dragging the pink pony with them out of the hospital.

“See ya tomorrow! Or... well, y’know what Ah mean!” Applejack said, yawning as she closed the door.

Twilight sighed heavily as she lay back in bed again. The party had helped improve her mood a lot, but now that her friends were gone, her thoughts inevitably turned back to Celestia.

“Twilight Sparkle, what are the odds?” an oddly and vaguely familiar voice called out, providing a merciful, although surprising, distraction for the unicorn’s mind.

She whipped her head to her left to see that the white unicorn was looking at her. He had a pair of powerful blue eyes and had a smug smile on his face for reasons Twilight didn’t know.

“Umm, hi,” she replied nervously. “How long have you been awake?”

“Not sure…” the supposed guard frowned. “Ten minutes I’d guess. Nice of your friends to throw you a party. Don’t you all live in Ponyville?”

“Yeah, we do. But they all came here when they heard what happened. I was visiting the princess when… when…”

“I know,” the stallion interrupted her. He sighed heavily.

Twilight couldn’t shake the feeling of having heard the white unicorn’s voice before. “I’m sorry, but have we met before? Your voice sounds kinda familiar.”

“Hmm… We’ve met fleetingly a few times before. You might not recognize me without my armor...”

“So you are a Canterlot guard,” Twilight confirmed. “My friend thought as much.”

“I’m a royal guard, yes,” the patient corrected her. His brow furrowed and he looked at the ceiling as he thought back. “But I don’t think I’ve ever spoken in your presence, so I don't see how you could recognize my voice... Unless…” His eyes widened in horror and he looked back at the bald unicorn. “W-were you conscious? Your flesh… i-it was practically boiling! One of the emergency workers got scalded just by touching you!”

“By Celestia, this one’s breathing!”

“Get her outta here!”

“But how did she..?”

“Now!”

Pain! Screaming. Ribs on fire. Leg blazing. Skin covered in white-hot needles.

“Argh! She’s white-hot!”

“You’re hurting her! Let me!”

“You... you were there?” Twilight asked in disbelief, and the guard nodded solemnly.

“I was the one who carried you away,” he explained. “The earth pony who tried carrying you is still hospitalized with second degree burns.”

“Oh…” the unicorn muttered. “I’m sorry.”

The guard snorted. “Compared to you, he got off easy. How did you survive that!? I could hardly see any skin on you, and your flesh was... it was glowing with heat! You were blasted from the palace and all the way onto the cobblestone path in front of the palace gates. That fall alone would have killed anypony, not to mention your speed; you plowed through rock and earth for almost twenty feet before coming to a stop!” The white unicorn shook his head. “To be honest, I thought you were a goner and that I was just wasting my time on you. Of course, once I found out who you were, I realized that you might actually make it. You Elements sure are tough.”

“Kinda wish I hadn’t survived,” the burned unicorn replied sullenly. “A world without Celestia... I can’t bear to even think about it.”

“Don’t say that,” the guard complained, frowning slightly at the other unicorn. “The way I see it, there must be some reason you survived, right. If there is such a thing as fate, it has something big planned for you.”

“I’m already the Element of Magic,” Twilight replied with a smile. “How much greater can my destiny be?”

“I can’t say. But Equestria will definitely need you in the time to come.”

“Probably,” the unicorn replied with a frown. There was silence for a moment before Twilight spoke again. “I never got your name.”

“Amber Vane,” the guard replied. Another silence ensued in which Twilight waited for the guardspony to tell her more of himself. After a moment, Amber Vane spoke again. “Y’know, I’m pretty sure we once went to the same class.”

“Huh?”

“Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns,” the guard explained. “Basic Spellcasting or something like that. I remember you because you were one or two years younger than everypony else.”

“Oh!” Twilight exclaimed. “Yeah, I advanced to Basic Spellcasting a few months after I was enrolled because I, well, excelled at magic.” Twilight smiled a little, but then frowned again. “Wait, you attended Celestia’s school? I thought you were a guard.”

“Royal guard,” Amber Vane stressed. “But hey, just because I’m a royal guard doesn’t mean I can’t be smart!” The stallion only smiled mischievously as Twilight apologized and shook his head with a chuckle. “Joking! Joining the Guard wasn’t always my ambition. You ever heard of Diamond Spark?” he asked her.

Twilight thought hard for a moment. “I think my friend Rarity has mentioned him a few times. Some kind of tycoon in the gem and diamonds business, right?”

“Indeed,” the guard confirmed, giving a short nod. “My dad.”

“Your dad!?” Twilight exclaimed. She was unsure of whether she had ever met a pony as rich as Amber Vane must be. There was always Celestia, but that was not quite the same. “But... So you are the son of one of the richest ponies in Equestria and you attended Celestia’s school, but you became a g-...” she managed to catch herself this time. “...a royal guard? I thought guards went to some kind of academy.”

“The Canterlot Academy of the Royal Guard,” the white unicorn said. He then shrugged at the question that had come before. “When I was a colt, my father wanted me to follow in his hoofsteps. Still does, most likely. I got enrolled at Celestia’s school and got decent grades in most of my subjects, especially economics and mathematics. My family was proud, my teachers were amazed, but... well, math has a bad habit of boring me. My cutie mark seemed to be all about managing money and stuff like that, so I felt kinda... lost.” Twilight nodded her understanding. At least, she was pretty sure she understood. She had of course never experienced it herself, but she had read plenty of books about ponies with the same problem. The royal guard continued. “I wanted some more excitement in my life, something away from desks and papers, so I decided to join the Canterlot Guard. Did pretty well and before I knew it, I was accepted into the academy of the Royal Guard. The training was tough, but here I am. Or, well...” He glanced at his bandages and the hospital room in general and gave a small chuckle. “Yeah, here I am. To think, I’ve been a royal guard for only a few months and something like this happens.”

“So Celestia’s school and The Canterlot Academy of the Royal Guard. You’ve really accomplished a lot for somepony your age.” Twilight whispered with amazement.

“You and your friends have saved Equestria several times, if I’m not mistaken,” the white unicorn pointed out.

“I was hoofpicked by Princess Celestia to be her student,” Twilight half-shrugged. “I had a pretty easy life compared to others.”

“And I had one of the richest ponies in Equestria as my father,” Amber Vane smiled. “I guess we’ve both had a fair amount of luck.”

“I guess in some ways we have, but then again… I’m the Element of Magic and the personal protégée of both the alicorn sisters. And the Heroine of Equestria to boot. Ponies will be expecting a great deal of me once I get out of this hospital. As you said, I’m destined for something big, and I’m afraid I don’t have much choice but to rise to that task. And what if I can’t?”

“The burden of power…” the royal guard mused. “Glory in exchange for responsibility. I think I know how you feel. My father’s business is huge. I can’t even begin to imagine having to run it.”

“I see,” Twilight said. She used her magic to summon another one of her pills and swallowed it together with a drink of water. She then proceeded to eating her dinner, while Amber Vane did the same.

They would have continued their conversation after their meal, but were interrupted by a nurse, telling them to go to sleep.

Twilight woke at the sound of a sharp gasp. She opened her eyes groggily, squinting against the lights that had been turned on again. She heard Amber Vane exhale sharply as if in pain. Her eyes focused on the bed next to her, and she saw that the guardspony was having the bandages on his thigh exchanged. He had a nasty-looking gash underneath his cutie mark; an image of a quill rimmed with gold. The gash was deep and still bloody, and Twilight wondered again at who could have committed such violence against a royal guard. Could it have been the one that killed Celestia?

After the nurses treated Amber Vane, they left, promising that breakfast would be served in half an hour.

“How did that happen?” Twilight asked, gesturing at the royal guard’s various bandages.

Amber Vane gave her the same smile she had noticed when they first spoke. “It was a little more than six days after the explosion,” he told her. “I was standing guard at the palace gates, making sure only ponies involved with the investigation of Celestia’s death were allowed in. My three fellow guards and I were guarding the second perimeter, which was right by the gates themselves. We heard some shouting from the outer perimeter, which was at the far end of the drawbridge, and we went out onto the bridge to investigate.” The guard shook his head with amusement and the burned unicorn’s ears flattened in embarrassment as realization dawned on her. “Imagine our surprise when we saw some half crazed bald unicorn with two broken legs running straight at us.”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “You can’t be serious! I-I’m the unicorn who did that to you?”

Amber Vane nodded, still smiling. “We tried stopping you, but you swatted us aside with no effort at all!” For reasons Twilight couldn’t fathom, the guard laughed.

“I’m so sorry,” Twilight cringed. “I thought I was only using enough force to stun you.”

“Nice to know you weren’t trying to kill us,” Amber Vane replied. “I was thrown against the gate, broke my ribs and, according to the doctors, suffered a minor concussion. Then one of my colleagues smashed his horn into my thigh.”

“How bad is it?” the bald unicorn asked nervously. “You’ll be able to walk again, right?”

“Definitely,” Amber Vane tried calming the distraught unicorn. “I’m the one who wanted more excitement in my life. Guess I got a little more than I bargained for. If you ask me, you should have been allowed to see the princess. You were one of her closest friends.”

“Thanks,” the bald unicorn smiled warmly.

“I just wish you hadn’t taken it out on me,” he muttered, and Twilight was unable to tell whether or not he was joking.

“I’ll need to make it up to you one day,” she promised. “You saved me from the palace explosion and six days later I smash you into a wall. I owe you.”

“Alright,” the unicorn guard chuckled. The two patients were quiet again for a while, lost in their own thoughts. Staffers brought them breakfast, and they ate in silence.

“So, I told you how I got here,” the white unicorn offered after finishing his meal. “But now I’m curious as to how you ended up here.” His expression suddenly turned very serious. “What happened inside the palace? And how did you survive? Are the six of you immortal or something?”

Twilight frowned as the jumbled and painful memories came back to her. “I can’t remember a thing,” she admitted. “Or, you know, I remember a little. I was called to Canterlot on very short notice and for a long while, I was with the princess in her study but after that, everything is like a dream… or a nightmare. I barely have any visual impressions, and I only heard small parts of a conversation, I think. Most of my memories are from things I felt.” She tried recalling her nightmare and shuddered. “Something else was there; it made me feel cold and afraid. Celestia was scared of it as well. I remember seeing her for a moment, but then the air was driven out of my lungs, and I think I broke my hind leg and my ribs. The thing said ‘step aside’, but I don’t know to whom it spoke. The next thing I remember is this unbelievable pain. It spread like both fire and ice throughout my body, and the pain grabbed at everything inside of me, even my mind. It was the scariest and most painful thing I’ve ever experienced. Not even the explosion was as bad as that.” Twilight drew a shaky breath. “I think I blacked out for a short while then. The next thing I heard was the intruder saying ‘farewell’. I guess that's when the palace exploded, and… the princess died.”

Amber Vane was silent for a long while, digesting the information. “And you have no idea who or what this murderer could have been?”

“No,” Twilight sighed. “I feel like I should know, though, as if the answer is on the tip of my tongue. Am I really the only survivor from the palace?”

“Yeah,” the guard admitted. “You’re the only one to have seen this enemy and lived.”

“Then I guess I have an even greater responsibility…” the burned unicorn murmured. She was silent for a few minutes, thinking. Suddenly, she began sobbing. “I was there! Why didn’t I do anything? How could I just let it kill her?”

“Step aside.”

The murderer must have been speaking to Twilight. Had she simply obeyed it? Had she willingly abandoned the princess, or had she been forced away? She did not remember using any magic. Had she even tried fighting the apparition?

There was also a slight probability of the murderer speaking to Celestia. Had it wanted to hurt Twilight? Had Celestia sacrificed herself so that she might live?

“Hey!” Amber Vane broke in. “There was nothing you could have done! Whatever broke into the palace, it murdered Princesses Celestia and Luna and blew up the whole palace in a matter of minutes! I doubt even you could have done anything to stop it. You should be grateful you're not on the list of casualties.”

“But why aren’t I? I was with Celestia, I… I must have tried defending her… And how did I survive that explosion?”

Amber Vane hesitated. “Nopony knows.”

Twilight sighed in frustration and turned her head toward the window. The pain in her neck was almost nonexistent by now. She lay there for an hour or so, thinking about the murderer. Suddenly, the answer she had been looking for came to her. “Do you think Nightmare Moon has returned?” the burned unicorn suggested, though she still did not face the guardspony.

“Nightmare Moon? Are you suggesting Princess Luna did all of this?”

“I don’t know… but it’s a possibility, isn’t it?”

“I guess…” Amber Vane replied uncertainly.

“Nightmare Moon is vastly different from Princess Luna,” the unicorn explained. “The princess would never hurt her sister… but the Mare in the Moon is a different story. Facing her was… scary.”

“I can imagine,” Amber Vane sympathized. “To face one of Celestia’s strength, and at such a young age…”

“I’ve thought about Nightmare Moon quite a lot after defeating her,” Twilight interrupted the royal guard. “Sometimes I get the feeling she was actually stronger than Celestia. I think that’s why my friends and I were sent out to recover the Elements of Harmony and Celestia didn't get involved.”

“Stronger than Celestia…” The royal guard shook his head in disbelief. “Such things are beyond my imagination.”

“But do you think it’s possible that Nightmare Moon has returned?” Twilight pressed. “I’ve been thinking about it, and it seems the only logical answer. Somepony has… killed Celestia, destroying the sun and thus ensuring eternal night.”

“Killing your sister isn’t easy,” Amber Vane reasoned. “No matter what evil spirit possessed Luna when she became Nightmare Moon, I don’t think she’d be capable of that.”

“I doubt we know anything about the nature of Nightmare Moon,” Twilight sighed. “I need to get out there and find out what happened.”

“But if Nightmare Moon really killed Celestia, why hasn’t she made any attempts at claiming Equestria?” Amber Vane asked the bald unicorn. “If she really has returned, wouldn’t she want to regain her lost throne or something?”

“I don’t know. None of this makes sense!” she groaned.

The guardspony opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by somepony knocking on the door. “Come in,” he said instead.

“Hiya, Twi!” Pinkie Pie greeted the unicorn as she opened the door wide and entered. Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Applejack soon entered as well. “Ooh, your friend’s awake!” the pink pony chimed with interest as she noticed Amber Vane. “What’s his name? Where did he come from? What happened to him? What does he do?”

“Calm down, Pinkie!” Applejack told her friend, pulling the pony by her tail away from the royal guard.

“My name’s Amber Vane. I’m a royal guard,” the white unicorn answered, confirming Rarity’s initial verdict. “It’s an honor meeting the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony.”

“Likewise,” Rarity replied, nodding politely at the unicorn.

“Wowee! Didya hear that? A royal guard who actually talks, Dashie!”

“You don’t meet a lot of royal guards in Ponyville, do you?” the pegasus asked of the earth pony, giggling.

“Just ignore her,” the farmer pony advised the guard. “So what happen’d to ya? Twilight told us you were attacked by another pony?”

“A unicorn,” Amber Vane confirmed, but then hesitated. He looked at Twilight, who then sighed in resignation.

“I… ugh. I knocked him into the palace gates on my way to see Celestia. A little too hard, it seems.”

Rainbow snorted and laughed, but the others managed to remain respectful to the guardspony. “You took out four royal guards by accident?” the pegasus fell onto her back and laughed uncontrollably for a few more seconds before finally rising to her hooves, wiping a tear from her eye. “No offense there, Amber, but that is kinda funny.”

“I suppose it is…” the guard murmured with a slight frown, but he seemed to take the pegasus’ snickering with good humor.

“Ah guess ya oughta just ignore her too,” Applejack muttered, rolling her eyes at Rainbow Dash.

“Wait, what happened to the others?” Twilight asked Amber Vane, suddenly worried. “Are they as badly hurt as you?”

The guard shook his head. “One of them broke a rib, but other than that, they were just bruised pretty badly. I was just… unfortunate.”

Twilight half expected Fluttershy to start mothering the injured guard before she noticed the timid pegasus was absent. “Wait, where’s Fluttershy?”

“Oh, right…” Rainbow smiled sheepishly. “She told me to tell you that she had to head home right away. Somepony mentioned her pets back in Ponyville!” The cyan pegasus cast an accusing glare at Applejack and then shrugged at Twilight. “Y’know how she gets. She panicked and had to go home to her ‘babies’ right away. She said she was sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Twilight said dismissively. “As long as she isn’t hurt.”

“Oh no!” Pinkie Pie suddenly exclaimed, horror plain on her face. “I forgot your present, Twi! How could I forget?” She brought a hoof to her forehead with a smack, which only served to confuse the injured unicorn. She became even more confused when the pink pony began dragging Applejack and Rarity out of the room. “C’mon you guys, quick! Oh, and we should get a present for Amber too!” Before anypony could react, the three ponies had disappeared out the doorway, the sound of Rarity’s protests quickly fading away.

Rainbow Dash cautiously closed the door behind her three friends, hoping the pink pony would not return for her. “Well, at least we have the old Pinkie back…” she murmured with a faint smile.

“Her attitude has, well, changed from when I first saw her here…” Twilight noted. “…considerably.”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Nothing cheers her up like seeing us smile, I guess.”

The friends were quiet for a while, lost in their own thoughts and not knowing what to talk about. After a few minutes, they realized that Amber Vane had fallen asleep.

“So, what’ll happen to the Wonderbolts?” Twilight asked the pegasus, breaking the silence. “I mean, with Celestia gone, will you keep performing, or..?”

“We’re talking it over right now actually,” Rainbow sighed.

“Does that mean you’ll be leaving for Cloudsdale?”

The pegasus shook her head and forced a small smile. “Man, you have no idea how cool the Wonderbolts are. When I told ‘em about what happened to you and how I couldn’t leave one of my best friends hangin’, they set up a temporary headquarters right above Canterlot!” Rainbow Dash’s smile soon evaporated. “But... there’s been talk… about disbanding the team…” Tears welled up in her eyes and she looked away from the unicorn. “Equestria will be going through some rough times real soon; I mean, we lost a ruler we’ve had for centuries and the sun’s gone. That’s bound to mess things up a whole lot, right? I guess we won’t be needing any stuntponies all that much…”

“Rainbow, come here,” Twilight told the pegasus, stretching out her left foreleg in an embracing gesture as she gave her a comforting smile. She scooted over so that the Wonderbolt could lie next to her, wincing at the pain in her raw back. Tears began running down her cheeks as the pegasus made her way to the unicorn’s side. She got into the bed next to Twilight and welcomed her embrace.

“It’s just... I worked so hard...” the pegasus whispered morosely. “I can’t remember a time I didn’t want to be a Wonderbolt... Joining them has been my biggest dream since forever!”

The unicorn stroked her friend’s mane soothingly. For as long she had known the cyan pegasus, joining the Wonderbolts had indeed been her greatest ambition. The Wonderbolts seemed to be an integral part of Rainbow Dash’s personality; a goal that had always helped drive the pegasus to be the best she could be.

“But now... I don’t know, Twi! I just feel like everything’s being taken away from me... I trained for so many years before even entering the tryouts...”

“I sure remember that,” Twilight grimaced. “You drove us all insane with your endless training routines! Especially when you tried your hoof at flying backwards and upside down at the same time; I’m not made of windows, you know! I don’t know how many times I told you to just go try out for the team, but you insisted on being the best the Wonderbolts had ever seen.” The unicorn sighed. “So you trained and you trained...”

The pegasus smiled a little. “Year after year.” She sighed, some of her sadness melting away. “But I did it, didn’t I? I got accepted into the Wonderbolts on my first try. How many can say the same?”

“You sure were happy,” Twilight smiled. “We all were. I don’t think Pinkie has ever thrown a party quite like the Wonderbolt Dash Party.”

“Yeah... can’t believe it lasted a whole week...” Rainbow’s smile faded, and tears returned to her eyes. “And I can’t believe it lasted for only one and a half year...”

The rainbow-maned pegasus buried her head in Twilight’s shoulder, and she soon felt the wetness of her friend’s tears. The unicorn had never really thought about it, but Rainbow Dash was right. She had only been a Wonderbolt for less than two years. A whole life of vigorous training had resulted in only eighteen months of living the dream.

“It’s not fair!” the Wonderbolt sobbed into Twilight’s shoulder. She calmed a bit, sniffing loudly. “I-I’m sorry, Twi... The princesses are gone and there are hundreds of dead, and here I am, crying about the Wonderbolts being disbanded.” She pulled her head up from the unicorn’s shoulder. “I’m being selfish.”

Twilight wrapped her forehoof around the pegasus and pulled her down again, wincing as she accidentally stretched her back. “You’re not being selfish, Dash. Dreams are important, and yours might just have been crushed,” she pointed out. “That’s plenty of reason to cry. Just... let it out.”

Rainbow Dash was silent for a moment, resting her head against her friend. Soon, tears came to her eyes once again and she began sobbing.

Twilight let her friend cry for a minute. “You know, when you joined the Wonderbolts, the team was pretty much full; they’ve never had twelve members before. It takes a lot of skill to do something like that. Not only that, but you did while their standards were pretty much at their highest and in your first try! There’s a pretty good chance you’re the most talented flier to ever fly with the Wonderbolts, which probably means you’re the most talented flier Equestria has seen in generations.”

Twilight noticed that her friend was no longer crying. After letting the information sink in, she continued. “You may very well be the best flier in the history of Equestria. Maybe... maybe the Wonderbolts isn’t your destiny. When Amber Vane first woke up, we actually talked a bit about fate and what was expected of us. He seemed to think I’m meant to do great things. And I think the same goes for you.”

“What do you mean?” the pegasus sniffed.

“I mean... well, maybe you aren’t supposed to be a Wonderbolt. Maybe you’re meant for something… greater. You’re the Element of Loyalty, you’re the Heroine of Cloudsdale, you’re the awesome Rainbow Dash; those are things that will never change, and you are who you are, Wonderbolt or not. One day, ponies will look toward Rainbow Dash. You, not the most talented flier in the Wonderbolts.”

“But what am I then? If I'm not a Wonderbolt, who am I? I'm… I’m Rainbow Dash, yes... but Rainbow Dash is a Wonderbolt! I’ve always wanted to be a Wonderbolt!” the rainbow-maned pony said. “I never wanted to be anything else! It was my life! I’ve enjoyed every second of my time with the other fliers… I can’t go back to just being a weather mare!”

“Then don’t,” the unicorn encouraged her friend. “Be what you want to be.”

“But… I don’t know… I don’t know what I want to be…”

“I think I do,” Twilight smiled at the pegasus, and Rainbow Dash lifted her head from her friend’s shoulder so that she was looking into the eyes of the unicorn. “The princesses are dead,” Twilight said with a heavy heart. “The sun is gone and our land will never be the same. You’re the Element of Loyalty, Dash. You’ll be what Equestria needs. You’ll stand by the side of those who need you. You’ll be a hero.”

The pegasus couldn’t help but smile through her tears. “You really think so?”

“I know so.”

Rainbow Dash sighed. “Thanks, Twi.” The two friends lay there for a while, resting against each other. Eventually, Twilight fell asleep, and the pegasus followed suit.

A loud snore woke Twilight, and the unicorn slowly opened her eyes to a world of pink and a huge smile. “Good morning!” sang the party pony. “…or good evening… or night…” Pinkie Pie’s head retreated so that the unicorn could have a look around.

Rainbow Dash was still lying beside her, her head resting on the unicorn’s shoulder. She snored again, and Twilight smiled. All of her friends except Fluttershy were standing around her. Next to each of the ponies was a tall stack of books.

“Surprise!” the pink pony yelled gleefully. “We brought you books! That way you won’t be bored whenever we’re not here!”

“Wow, thanks, Pinkie!” Twilight exclaimed, smiling at the ponies gathered around her. “And Rarity and AJ.” She turned her head toward the sleeping pegasus. “And I guess Rainbow helped as well.”

“Fluttershy helped out too, ‘fore she left,” Applejack added. “We spent most of, uh, yesterday, I guess, findin’ these here books.”

Twilight looked out the window. The sky was still the same shade of black, and the moon seemed to be in the exact same position. “How long has it been?” she asked.

“A few ponies are keeping track of time for Equestria,” the white unicorn said. “According to them, ten days have passed since… The Great Tragedy. That’s what ponies have taken to calling it.”

The injured unicorn sighed. “Ten days…”

“Hey!” Pinkie called out. “Why do we keep talking about you-know-who, and... you-know-what..? And you-know-when?” She grabbed Applejack’s lips and pulled them up into an awkward smile. “Let’s be happy!”

“La’ ga a mah maith, ‘Inkie!” the farmer huffed and broke free of the party pony’s grip.

“Sorry, Pinkie, but now’s not the time for smiles,” Twilight told her friend. “I need to know what’s going on out there.”

"Not a time for smiles?" Pinkie Pie started muttering discontentedly and sat in the corner, frowning.

“Well, I guess the best news from out there is that we ain’t no longer got an anarchy on our hooves,” Applejack started. “Some sorta council’s been elected to rule instea’ o’ the princesses.”

“Nine ponies, as far as I have been informed,” Rarity added. “Three earth ponies, three pegasi and three unicorns, although most of the names I do not recognize.”

“I reckon they got their hooves full, though,” the farmer muttered. “Ponies are only now seein’ how serious this situation is, and a lot o’ them are startin’ ta panic.”

“When’s the… funeral?” Twilight asked.

“Three days,” Rainbow Dash answered, and the unicorn jumped with surprise. “The Wonderbolts will be performing.” The pegasus got up from the bed and Applejack shook her head with a smile.

“A shame,” the farmer teased. “Y’all looked real cute like that.”

The pegasus only murmured something indecipherable, too lazy to think of a proper rebuttal.

“Sweetie Belle will be coming too,” Rarity said proudly. “She’ll be singing at the funeral.”

“Wow,” Twilight exclaimed. “That must really be an honor.”

“Ah still can’t believe she was surprised at her talent!” Applejack laughed. “Ah can’t remember how many times Ah complimented that filly on her voice, but Ah guess she was a bit shy ‘bout it.”

“At least she was the first among the Crusaders to get her cutie mark,” the white unicorn defended her sister. She gave the farmer pony a teasing smile. “And I daresay Sweetie Belle has been met with more success than any of her friends.”

“Scootaloo almost won the Best Young Flier competition,” Rainbow pointed out, her voice taking on a hint of competitiveness. “Only reasons she didn’t win was because she was too young and because she was up against Fleetfoot’s kid! You can’t do much better than that as a young pegasus!”

“How about being one of the most popular singers in all of Equestria?” Rarity countered. “She sang with Sapphire Shores only a few weeks after finding her talent!”

“Because of your connections!” Rainbow Dash spluttered.

As the two mares began bickering with each other, Applejack sighed and retreated to Twilight’s side. “Ya’d think Rarity woulda calmed down after two years,” she muttered to the injured unicorn with a smile. “But she’s as proud as ever.”

“Well, you can hardly blame her, can you?” Twilight giggled as the pegasus and unicorn began arguing more loudly. “How many awards has Sweetie Belle won? I’m having a hard time keeping up.”

“Ah can’t say,” the farmer admitted. “But Ah bet Rarity’d be able to list ‘em all both alphabetically and chron’logically.”

“Yeah, they really have grown close, haven’t they?” the unicorn smiled. By the foot of the bed, the two arguing ponies were calming down. Apparently, they had come to some sort of agreement. “I remember a time where Rarity and Sweetie Belle could hardly stand being in the same room.”

“Ugh, please don’t remind me o’ that,” the orange pony grimaced, remembering the time the white filly had adopted her as her older sister.

“Oh, Twilight!” Rarity suddenly exclaimed from the other side of the room. “While we are on the subject of the funeral I should tell you that Civil Tenet would like to see you before the ceremony.”

“Civil Tenet?” Twilight raised a non-existent eyebrow. “Who’s that?”

“A close friend of Princess Celestia with impeccable taste in fashion,” Rarity explained. “But more importantly, a member of the new ruling council. Hers was one of the few names I recognized. As far as I’ve understood, she’ll be acting as some sort of cultural minister in the times to come. She is also the one arranging the funeral.”

“I see. But... what does she want with me?” the injured unicorn inquired.

“She failed to tell me exactly what she wanted,” Rarity admitted. “Something to do with arranging the funeral, I believe.”

The door opened and Twilight’s doctor entered the room, looking as tired as ever. “Everypony please leave the room,” he said drily, and the ponies did as they were told. After the four friends had gone, the doctor’s horn started glowing, and a wheelchair was pulled into the room by his magic. “I apologize for having kept you waiting, Miss Sparkle, but we are ready to begin treating your burns now. We have been very busy with patients since The Great Tragedy as I have told you before, and you have rarely been awake when medical staff have visited.”

“I understand. Where are we going?” the injured unicorn asked as the blanket was levitated off of her and she and the doctor’s magic lifted her from the bed and into the chair. The unicorn winced as her foreleg shifted and her skin came into contact with the wheelchair.

“One of the zebras working here has managed to prepare some sort of ointment that should do wonders for your skin,” the doctor explained as he moved Twilight out the room and down the hall. “We will need to coat you in it and wrap you up in bandages.”

“A zebra? I didn’t know there were any of those in Canterlot,” Twilight commented as the two rounded a corner and started going down a windowless white corridor.

“Well, only a few,” he admitted. “But most of them have exceptional skills as potion brewers.”

“I know a zebra in Ponyville,” Twilight said. “I’ve never met anypony with such an intimate knowledge of nature.”

“Quite amazing, yes.”

The two were silent for a while. The only sound they could hear was the steady grinding noise of wheels against marble. “We would have treated your burns sooner,” the doctor apologized again. “But when you first came here, you were… blazing. Nopony could even touch you without getting burnt, whenever we tried applying any kind of bandages to your wounds, they caught fire. It was days before we could put you anywhere but on the stone floor without starting a fire.” The doctor sighed. “You are an oddity, Miss Sparkle, if you don't mind me saying so.” He stopped the wheelchair. “Ah, here we are,” he said and opened a door to their right, leading into a small room with an adjustable surgical table in the middle. To her right was a counter holding a wide array of surgical tools, and a bright light shone in the ceiling.

“We’ll have to clean your wounds before treating your burns,” the doctor explained. “I’ll wager it'll hurt a lot, so I suggest anesthesia. Seeing as how you wounded four royal guards on accident with your magic recently, it would put the staffers at ease while operating,” he pointed out.

Twilight nodded her consent, and while she worked on transferring herself from the wheelchair to the table, the doctor used his magic to summon a mask with a tube attached to it from behind the surgical table. After Twilight had gotten into a comfortable position, the mask was fastened around her muzzle.

A sweet smelling odor filled her nostrils, and within moments Twilight felt herself starting to drift off.

I’ve been sleeping a lot recently…

3 - Pain

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Succession

Chapter 3 – Pain

Twilight tried to see, but found it difficult to move her eyelids. With some effort, her eyes opened to the expected sight of her body wrapped from head to hoof in white bandages with only her eyes and muzzle exposed. She could move the limbs that were not broken, but the bandages were wrapped so tight around her that any movement was made difficult. She had been lying quietly in bed for five minutes or so, trying to decide whether her treatment had started to take effect, when she heard the door open.

“Good evening, Twilight. It’s nice to see your treatment went well.”

“Hi, Rarity,” Twilight muttered sleepily. “How long was I gone this time?”

“A day or so,” the white unicorn replied. Twilight tried moving her head to face the unicorn on her right, but her neck exploded in agony and she screamed. “Twilight! Are you alright, dear?”

Twilight didn’t answer at first, breathing heavily for a few seconds as the edges of her vision momentarily darkened.

What’s wrong with my neck!?

“I… I’m alright. I think…” the injured unicorn sighed as the pain began to fade. “There’s something in my neck that keeps hurting. More than anything else!”

“Oh… You should have told somepony before you were wrapped up like that,” Rarity pointed out. “I guess the doctor can take a look at it after your bandages are removed.”

“When’s that?” Twilight groaned. The pain in her neck had lessened, but was no longer fading. It kept throbbing mercilessly.

“You’ll get cleaned up before the funeral,” the white unicorn assured her friend.

“Uh, when’s that again?” Twilight asked. She was quickly getting tired of not having any sense of time.

“A little more than two days,” Rarity answered. “Rainbow Dash is out rehearsing with the Wonderbolts; recently it seems to be the only thing that’ll put a smile on her face. I’ve heard rumors that this might be their last performance, though, so it won’t last for long, I wager. And last time I checked, Pinkie Pie was making sure the, uh, party, if you could call it that, met her standards. Oh, and Fluttershy came back a few hours ago. She’s helping with the songbirds’ performance for Sweetie Belle’s song.”

“What about you and AJ? Am I supposed to do anything?”

“Applejack and I have been keeping an eye on you, trying to make sure somepony was there to greet you whenever you woke up. I apologize for being late; I had some business that I had to take care of. As for you, you’re not supposed to do anything other than stay in bed, Twilight. You really need to act more like a mare with two broken legs and less like, oh, I don’t know! Daring Do or whomever!”

“But I have to do something to help with the ceremony!” Twilight complained.

“Explain that to your doctor, then,” the white unicorn countered. “You will not be leaving this hospital on my watch again, I guarantee you that. Besides, I mean, no offense, dear, but you are hardly in any fit state to help us out. The best you can do in your condition would just be to attend, which means you shouldn’t strain yourself in any of the days to come.”

“You want me to stay in this stupid bed for another two days without doing anything?” The injured unicorn moaned.

“You’re sounding like Rainbow Dash! Yes, that is exactly what I expect you to do, Twilight. And you better get used to it; you are after all staying here for half a year, aren’t you?” Rarity pointed out. “You’ve been here for eleven days already, are another two days really that horrible?”

“Yes…” Twilight grumbled. “The more time I spend in this hospital, the more it feels like a cage. I mean, I may very well be the only pony who knows what happened to Celestia and Luna; I might be the only pony who can find the murderer, but here I am: stuck in the hospital while the world outside seems to be ending.”

“Well, it’s not that bad,” Rarity said without much conviction.

The unicorn gave her friend a reproachful look. “The sun has been extinguished, Rarity.”

“Oh, alright,” the alabaster unicorn conceded. “It is pretty bad out there, but the world isn’t ending, Twilight.”

“Yet,” the unicorn countered grimly. “It’s only been eleven days. You can’t expect the full impact of something like The Great Tragedy to take effect instantly. I don’t think things are getting better anytime soon. Not by a long shot.”

“You’re sounding rather grim, Twilight,” Rarity said worriedly. “Perhaps I should go get Pinkie Pie. I’m sure she will be happy to cheer you up,” she suggested.

“That’s not what I want,” Twilight grumbled. “I’m not sad, or well, yes I am, but I have a reason to be. I’m just making observations, Rarity. Unlike Pinkie, I’m seeing the world for what it is. I know it’s good she’s happy and all that, but it’s not right. It’s kind of unsettling to see her live her life in a bubble like that. But I’m not gonna do that; I want to know what’s going on. I want to help.”

“Twilight, Pinkie Pie isn’t living in a bubble!” Rarity defended her friend. “She’s taking The Great Tragedy a lot worse than you think! She’s trying to deal with it the best she can.”

“Well, I’m taking it the worst of all!” the bandaged unicorn snapped, her temper flaring suddenly. “Pinkie hardly knew Celestia! She was like a mother to me! I saw it happen! I heard her scream! I lived through what killed a god! I felt my skin melt away, I felt my flesh become incandescent! You have no idea what that even feels like! Pinkie doesn’t have the faintest idea of what pain is! None of you do! So don’t tell me I can’t be sad!” As Twilight ended her tirade, the pain in her neck suddenly exploded in excruciating agony, much worse than it had ever done before. The unicorn spasmed violently and screamed louder than she thought she had ever been able to.

Amber Vane woke with a start, and while Rarity panicked, nurses burst through the door. Twilight, however, registered nothing as the pain became too much to bear and her mind simply shut down.

“Step aside.”

The white one wavers. The sun whimpers and cries. In the end, light gives way to darkness.

The strange presence approaches, standing over her. Evil and terror fills the air as the intruder draws close. She cannot breathe. Everything becomes colder than ice.

“And thus the seeds of the only future are planted, taking life to preserve it in its purest. I hereby release you, Twilight Sparkle, and place the heavy burden of our world upon you.”

“Wait, what are you..?” The princess’ words are drowned out. They mean nothing. Darkness fills the world.

A sword slides through the skin of Twilight’s neck. Sharpened ice descends into her flesh. Vivid agony in its most consummate form rips through her spine. The princess cries as she screams, but the unicorn hears nothing except her own agony. Sweet soft darkness begins to envelop her mind, dampening the immeasurable pain. The sword explodes, shards of ice take root and grow, cold blackness fights back sweet darkness.

Burning cold moves through her body like hungry snakes, tearing at and swallowing all they come upon within her. Her lungs fill with chilled air, and her throat is full of sharpened ice. Her skin freezes over in less than a second, and needles dig into every square inch of her body. Icy clutches grab onto her heart, and it stops beating. She gasps for air, but her lungs have frozen and she tastes blood instead.

The frost spreads to her psyche, coating and saturating it with dark coldness. All of her memories, her thoughts and her feelings darken and fade. She sees two terrible eyes; two globes of cold brilliant whiteness that chase her away from her own mind.

The blade slides out of her neck. She can breathe, but as her heart starts beating again, she feels the coldness travelling with her blood throughout her body. She collapses. She gasps with the pain that still pulses through her body. Nauseating and excruciating agony all originating from one point in her neck. She breathes raggedly. Light draws near, but the shadows envelop her.

Twilight woke with a loud gasp as she sat up in the bed. She winced as her broken foreleg was once again twisted in a weird angle. Although she had already forgotten most of her dream, the sensation of burning agony somehow remained fresh in her mind.

With a deep sigh, she lay back again. Her neck was no longer hurting, and for the moment, that was all she could think of. She took a deep, shaky breath and sighed again, enjoying the lack of pain. She tried turning her neck, and still the hurt remained absent. Amber Vane was awake, staring anxiously at her, but other than the guard, nopony else was in the room. Outside, the sky was still dark, but Twilight noticed that the window had been shattered by something. Even more worryingly, there were several black marks all over the white walls and ceiling around her.

“What happened?” Twilight whispered in an extremely quiet and hoarse whisper. It seemed her screaming before fainting had once again had its consequences for her voice.

“You freaked out,” Amber Vane replied in a serious voice. “You screamed so loud my ears were ringing for an hour. Lightning bolts flew from your horn. They almost hit your friend Rarity.”

“There was this pain in my neck,” the bandage-wrapped unicorn explained, wincing at the memory. “You can’t imagine how much it hurt. It was unbelievable.”

“What happened to it?”

“I… don’t know…” Twilight murmured, and the royal guard had to strain his ears to hear her words. “It happened just before the explosion, I think. Maybe it was the explosion.”

“How are you feeling now?” he asked.

“Better,” the unicorn replied hoarsely. “My neck isn’t hurting and my skin doesn’t burn as much as before.”

“Good,” the guard nodded. “I guess that means the ointment is working.” Before Twilight could ask, Amber Vane told her. “The funeral will be held about a day from now.”

The door to the hospital room opened, and a doctor, though not Twilight’s, stepped in, addressing Amber Vane. “Ah good, you’re awake. I’d like to see how your leg is doing, Mr. Vane. Would it be possible for you to take a stroll through the hospital with me?”

“Sure,” the guard replied. Wincing a bit, he rose from the bed and stepped onto the marble floor.

“How are you feeling?” the doctor asked, studying Amber Vane’s movements closely.

“I won’t be running around after you, that’s for sure,” the guard half laughed. “Thigh’s not feeling that great.”

“Understandable,” the doctor muttered, stepping back toward the door. “Please come with me, Mr. Vane.”

The guard nodded at her with an encouraging smile before the two ponies exited the room, leaving Twilight with nopony but herself. Nothing but the white and slightly charred walls surrounded her. Although she was feeling better, she still felt uncomfortable stabs of pain every time she moved, and after only five minutes of lying in the bed, the unicorn was breathing heavily with pent up frustration.

She was about to pick up one of the books her friends had brought her when somepony knocked at the door.

“Come in,” she said, hoping for a friendly face.

The unicorn who entered, however, was not anypony Twilight recognized. The mare was one of the larger unicorns that typically lived in Canterlot or Manehattan, and she had a sparkling silver coat. Eyes as bright pink as her mane seemed to light up when she saw the bedridden unicorn.

“Twilight Sparkle! Good evening!” her soft voice greeted the unicorn. “My name is Civil Tenet.”

“You’re the pony from the council who wanted to speak with me?” Twilight inquired, and the silver unicorn nodded.

“As you might know, I was a very close friend of Princess Celestia, though indubitably not as close as you and she were.” She looked sadly out the dark window for a moment before continuing. “I came to ask you to take part in the ceremony, Miss Sparkle. Perform a task to show your last respect to our great princesses.”

“I… I’d like to, but I really rather not make a speech,” Twilight admitted. “I doubt I can talk about any of the princesses without tearing up, and my voice is still sore…”

“A speech was not what I had in mind,” Civil Tenet smiled. There was something about that smile that filled the injured unicorn with warmth. Something that reminded her of Celestia. “…although it would have been lovely if you shared with us your feelings toward the regal sisters.”

“Sorry,” Twilight replied, but the silver unicorn waved a hoof in dismissal.

“No need to apologize. There will be plenty of ponies speaking at the ceremony. I might, in fact, have accepted a few too many speakers…” Civil Tenet shook her head as she veered off subject. “Actually, Twilight Sparkle, what I had imagined you to do would be erecting Celestia and Luna’s memorial. Here.” From out of nowhere, a scroll unfurled next to the silver unicorn’s head. On the paper were several detailed drawings of some sort of spire or tower.

“It will be nearly thirty feet tall, and the graves themselves will be inside the structure,” Civil Tenet explained with some excitement in her voice. “Made from pure silver.”

“Did you draw this yourself?” Twilight asked, studying the intricate arches and spires that made up the miniature tower.

“Oh no, Penning Draft whipped this up for me.” Seeing the smaller unicorn’s confused expression, Civil Tenet quickly added, “he’s one of the council ponies. A very skilled architect who will now be handling renovation and construction all over Equestria. Truth be told, it won’t be much different from what he did under Celestia’s rule.”

“Sounds like a big job,” Twilight commented, not taking her eyes off the draft in front of her.

“These first few months will be a true nightmare for the council,” the silver unicorn admitted. “After this funeral, I’ll have to have a look at how much of our history and cultural heritage has been lost to the Canterlot explosion. I’m afraid there won’t be much left to salvage…” She sighed unhappily. “I really liked that library…”

“I practically grew up in it,” Twilight agreed.

“It won’t be any easier for the other members either,” Civil Tenet said. “Scarlet Bolt, our head of military and security, will have her hooves full dealing with the rising unrest all over Equestria. The same goes for Quiescent Atonement; he’s the head of all the government’s judiciary duties…”

“Are they all unicorns?” Twilight asked, and Civil Tenet shook her head.

“No, Scarlet Bolt and Quiescent are both pegasi, actually. Penning Draft is an earth pony,” she explained. “The unicorns in the council are Artemis, whose expertise lies within both magic and science and Lucre, who will be handling the government’s funds. The third pegasus in the council is Rain Dancer, whose duty it will be to organize the Equestrian weather. Amity Macoun is an earth pony. She is in charge of our foreign relations. And then there’s Bramley.” Civil Tenet gave an exasperated laugh. “He will be in charge of our country’s agriculture…” she shook her head at the thought. “What he plans to do without a sun I cannot say.”

“Actually, Princess Luna once told me that the moon is also able to help grow crops,” Twilight said. “It was a spell she cast during her… well, suffice to say it was a little more than a thousand years ago.”

“Ah,” the silver unicorn nodded her understanding. “Well that is most excellent news. I can’t believe I didn’t know!”

“I don’t think it’s nearly as effective as the sun, though,” Twilight warned her. “But it shouldn’t be impossible to grow our food.”

“It is still much better than nothing,” Civil Tenet smiled. “Thank you for the insight, Miss Sparkle. I will have to see whether or not Bramley already knows this. Might also help abate the unrest we’re facing.”

“Well, thank you,” Twilight replied. “I was getting very curious as to who this council was. It’s nice to know which ponies will be in charge. But sorry, we were talking about the funeral and this memorial, right? How am I supposed to build it?”

“Oh yes, that’s right,” the silver unicorn smiled again. “I’m imagining that it will be erected during the ceremony actually. Initially, I planned on having a team of ten or twenty unicorns do it. They would lower the coffins…”

“The coffins? But I thought…”

“Yes, I know,” Civil Tenet sighed. “They’ll be empty, of course. The whole funeral will be more or less symbolic.”

“I see...”

“The coffins would be lowered into their graves, and the unicorns would begin heating up one or more large blocks of silver. When the metal has softened, they would be able to ‘weave’ the silver into any shape they desired, thus building the memorial.” Civil Tenet gave Twilight that Celestia-like smile. “But from what I’ve heard of your impressive feats, I suppose you could do this singlehoofedly.”

“Uh,” Twilight replied, not quite as confident. “How much silver are we talking about?”

“Well…” The silver unicorn scrunched up her nose and looked toward the ceiling, running the numbers through her head. “A little more than… a hundred tons? Hmm, that is a lot of silver isn’t it?”

“Well, normally I would be able to do it…” Twilight muttered. “I mean, you’re right; I should do something for the princesses… But in my current state I might need a little help from somepony else.”

“Of course,” the unicorn nodded. “I’ll pitch in my own magic as well if you want.” Civil Tenet repositioned herself so that both unicorns could look at the scroll with the drawing upon it. “Now, I really should inform you about the details of this structure, or Penning will have my hide. I hope for your sake that you do this thing exactly as he envisioned it,” she said jokingly.

The two unicorns spent the next hour going through every single detail of Penning Draft’s drawing. After going through the sketch more than ten times, Twilight had finally memorized almost every detail of the structure.

“Now, the final thing I want you to do is take this message…” Civil Tenet made another scroll appear out of thin air and offered it to Twilight. “…and engrave it into the blank part of the memorial’s façade.”

The injured unicorn took the scroll and unfurled it with her magic. “Did you write this?” she asked while scanning the text.

“I did,” the silver unicorn said. “Let me know if you believe anything should be added or edited.”

“No, I like it the way it is,” Twilight assured the council pony. “You really knew the princesses well. I don’t think anypony could have done them as much justice as you do.” The unicorn finished the parts about Celestia and Luna, but was surprised to find that she had only read half the scroll.

She continued scanning the text, but soon caught on one sentence. “Our beloved princesses Celestia and Luna will remain with us forever, but may we never forget the names of any of the multitude of ponies we lost to The Great Tragedy,” the unicorn read out loud in a voice that quickly began quivering. “Every one of these untimely deaths is as great a tragedy as the loss of our immortal rulers. May we never forget the noble Blueblood, Prince of Equestria. May we remember always the name of the beautiful and benevolent Princess Cadance... and her husband… the brave and valiant... Prince Shining Armor…” Tears prevented Twilight from reading any further and she began sobbing.

“You… you didn’t know?” Civil Tenet whispered in shock. “I-I’m so sorry, Twilight Sparkle! I... I assumed Amber Vane had told you…”

“I don’t know what I expected, really,” Twilight cried. “Of course he’s dead. Of course he was in the palace! And Cadance too! I should have realized... I saw them in the palace... Why were they visiting!?” She began shaking violently as her grief for Celestia and Luna returned, accompanied now by the fresh pain of having lost her brother and sister-in-law. As her skin started burning and her neck once again sent jolts of pain throughout her body, Twilight’s crying turned to screaming.

“Twilight!?” the silver unicorn began panicking. “Doctor! Somepony, please, I need help!” she called out toward the hall, but her pleas went unanswered. Meanwhile, Twilight’s screams only grew louder. “Oh dear…” Civil Tenet muttered, and her horn glowed purple. Small tendrils of the silver unicorn’s magic extended toward the screaming pony, enveloping her mind and body. Within seconds, Twilight’s screams were cut off as she fell into blissful sleep.

Darkness was below; a bottomless abyss of black. Above was a night sky devoid of stars. Where the two met was impossible to say.

Connecting the two expanses were massive pillars in black, white and shades of gray. Branches and roots spread from all over the pillars, connecting with each other to form a chaotic tangle of ebony and ivory.

Attached to the pillars was what could best be described as the color red. Some of it seemed solid, forming almost muscle- or flesh-like clumps that hung suspended between two or more monochromatic limbs. What looked like blood flowed freely from both the fleshy masses and the colorless pillars, falling in cascades not only downwards, but upwards, to the sides or diagonally, filling the strange world with warmth. The redness, both solid and liquid, pulsed as if alive.

Multihued trees and strange tendrils grew everywhere, emerging from both grayness and redness and nearly drowning out all other features of the world. From the rainbow colored limbs hung odd lanterns that shone in every thinkable nuance and shade. Some even shone black.

Spread out all over the infinite world and hovering in empty space were several thousand or million orbs of brilliant magenta light. From them exploded cascades of sparkles the same color. Like the streaming redness, the flow of magenta did not obey gravity, instead constantly changing course erratically, weaving in and out among the gray pillars and redness or flowing straight through them. Everywhere the cascades went, a loud humming noise remained, and anything near the brilliant sparkles began shining with power.

A wave of magenta passed through a shining pillar of black and white which soon thereafter shattered into countless pieces that fell both up and down. Somewhere else, a huge expanse of red caught fire and a rainbow tree withered and turned to dust as an onslaught of bright sparkles rushed by.

Far away from the scenes of chaos and destruction was another orb of magenta. This one, however, was inside a golden crystal shell that seemed to radiate the power of the very sun. The magenta lights flowed through the glass-like material, but the cascade was slowed down by the cage, and the sparkles harmlessly caressed the other elements in the world instead of barreling through them.

Black branches covered in thorns grew out of the dark ether itself right next to the crystal cage. The creeping blackness reached out to the golden cage and soon enveloped it. The thorns pressed into the glass while the branches suddenly jerked away, shattering the gleaming shell. The fragments of crystal were blasted away as the orb of magenta exploded forcefully, venting a cascade of sparkles equal in power to the ones that were already tearing the world apart.

The whole world was aglow and humming with barely contained power. Another monochromatic pillar crumbled into nothingness.

Twilight opened her eyes groggily, the details of her dream quickly fading from her mind. She was still lying in bed, though she had a feeling that quite a few hours had passed since she was last conscious. She looked to her left, but for some reason, Amber Vane’s bed was still empty. Returning her attention to herself, she was surprised to find that all of her bandages had been removed while she was sleeping. To her relief, much of the unicorn’s skin had been healed by the zebra-doctor’s ointment. Her fur had even started growing back most places, covering Twilight’s body in light lavender fuzz. Most of her pains had also disappeared. Even the pain in her neck was momentarily gone.

As she thought of the incident that had caused her to faint in the first place, the memory of Shining Armor came rushing back to her, opening the floodgates for the multitude of painful memories Twilight had collected over the course of less than two weeks. Trying in vain to fight back the overwhelming grief that soon washed over her, it didn’t take the unicorn long before she once again broke down sobbing.

Everyone I love are being taken away from me! How could it happen? I’ll never see Celestia again... Luna only returned to us for a few years before being brutally murdered... Or worse... And Shining Armor... My BBBFF, Captain of the Royal Guard, and my oldest friend, just... just gone! I won’t ever see him again! There won’t even be anything left of him! Nothing to bury just like the princesses!

She groaned with frustration and started banging her head against bed’s headboard, unable to think of any other way of physically venting her frustration. “Why... did... they... have to... visit!?” she grunted in her sore voice. “That day of all days! Why didn’t Celestia and Luna go to them? Why did the murderer attack just then? Killing every ruler we had and plunging our entire world into chaos? Who would do that!?”

The lavender unicorn stopped for a moment, considering what she had just said. Could it be him? He has the power to... not many others do... No, Discord isn’t entirely evil like that; he wouldn’t do something like The Great Tragedy. Even if he did, he’d make sure we all knew who did it, right?

“Oh Twilight! You’re awake! Marv-” Rarity greeted her as she entered the room, but upon seeing the state her friend was in, the alabaster unicorn trailed off. “Are you alright, dear?”

“No...”

Without another word being spoken between the two, the white unicorn went to the lavender one’s side, and the two pulled each other into a tight embrace. Twilight grunted as she strained her right foreleg, but eventually relaxed as she felt her remorse seeping out of her, banished by the potent friendship of magic.

“I heard what happened with you and Civil Tenet. You gave us quite a scare.” Rarity gave her friend a comforting squeeze. “I can’t put into words how sorry I am, Twilight. I really should have told you about Shining Armor and Cadance. You had been through so much already, though, and I couldn’t bear upsetting you any further...”

“Don’t be sorry, Rarity. None of this is your fault,” Twilight replied, whispering so as not to strain herself. “It’s... It’s probably for the best it happened as it did. If Civil Tenet hadn’t been there to put me to sleep, who knows what would have happened to this place?” she pointed out, gesturing at the increased number of black marks on the walls around her. “But still... I lost my sister-in-law and I lost my big brother...”

“It must be absolutely horrible,” Rarity sighed. “I can’t imagine ever losing Sweetie Belle.”

The two ponies were silent for a while, drawing comfort from their embrace. Finally, the lavender unicorn spoke. “I’m sorry I yelled at you. About Pinkie Pie.”

“Think nothing of it, dear,” the white unicorn said, breaking the hug and waving her hoof dismissively. “You have been under quite a lot of stress, and you were right; none of us can imagine your pain.”

“It’s still no excuse…” Twilight murmured, looking at her blanket shamefully.

“Oh, come now, Twilight!” Rarity argued. “It’s a perfectly valid excuse! You needed to vent your feelings. That’s only natural.”

“But yelling at a friend? There are better ways…”

Rarity sighed, slightly frustrated at the other unicorn’s self-critique. “Granted, there are more elegant ways of expressing one’s feelings, but, really, all you did was raise your voice. I am not at all offended. In fact, I have been quite worried. What exactly happened to you? Was it your neck again? Have the doctors looked at it?”

“I don’t know if they looked at it. It just… started hurting… a lot. Right after I finished yelling at you. And later, after I realized he was dead. It was at its worst when you were there, though, so maybe anger has something to do with it. I haven’t felt such pain since… since The Great Tragedy.”

“May I see your neck?”

Twilight nodded and turned her head so that Rarity could see the base of her neck. The white unicorn was silent for a moment, and Twilight felt somepony breathe against the painful spot.

“Hmm, it doesn’t look very good,” Rarity concluded. “You have a completely black… stain just below where the bottom of your mane would usually be. It’s almost completely circular and a little wider than a horn’s breadth.” A blue light began shining behind Twilight. “It’s really hard to make out the texture, though. It looks burnt around the edges, as if somepony has held a fire against that exact spot until it blackened, but in the center of the wound, everything is just featureless blackness, no matter how much light I shine on it.” The unicorn hesitated. “Can I… touch it? I can’t see much of it, but perhaps I’ll be able to feel something.”

Twilight bit her lip for a moment. “No. If it starts hurting again like it did before, I’ll probably miss the funeral. When is it?”

“Good point,” Rarity admitted, and drew back from the injured neck. “It’s being held in just a few hours, actually, so we should probably start getting you ready. Speaking of which, I finished your dress.”

The two ponies looked toward the doorway as the fashionista summoned her latest creation. A large black gown floated into the room, carried by Rarity’s magic. Twilight had never really been that interested in fashion and thus did not know many terms applying to that trade, but she had learned a little from her friendship with the dressmaker. The dress had a simply cut inner layer of what looked like chiffon, dyed completely black. Near the bottom of the dress, the fabric neatly curled upwards, a feature Twilight suspected only an expert dressmaking unicorn would be able to invoke. Most of the inner layer, however, was obscured by wide ribbons of a very light, semi-transparent material. This material was made of various shades of purple that complimented what little color Twilight’s coat currently had. Most ribbons were only fastened in one end and were loose near the back of the dress, although every single piece of fabric seemed to be kept in place by some enchantment Rarity might have placed on the garment. There were ribbons near the shoulder area that arched beautifully in a way that defied gravity. These ribbons almost made it look like the dress had wings. Near the back part, the dress exploded in a magnificent plumage of purple ribbons, no doubt making up for and concealing Twilight’s hairless tail. The face of the gown and its short collar were decorated with glinting amethysts the color of the injured unicorn’s eyes.

A floating hat soon accompanied the gown. It was black like the garment it matched, and had a very wide brim, extending almost a full foot from the crown. A large dark purple feather had been attached to the hat, and on the front of the crown was a medium-sized violet gem. From the back of the hat hung a veil made of the same material as the ribbons in the dress, no doubt made to conceal Twilight’s lack of a mane.

“You like them?” Rarity asked with a smile. “I know you like your dresses simple and practical, but I just had to add these ribbons, and the amethysts were a must…”

“I love it,” Twilight assured her friend, returning the smile. “Can you help me into it?”

“Naturally,” the Rarity replied. As the lavender unicorn got out of bed, the fashionista swung the gown over Twilight’s head. “I have been calling around the entire city for a few days lately,” the white unicorn revealed while outfitting her friend. “I simply can’t believe you never told me where in Canterlot your parents lived, but I eventually found it.”

“Lived!?” the lavender unicorn exclaimed, taking a step back as panic began to set in. “Wh-why the past tense!?” No, no, no, no, no! Not mom and dad too!

“They’re fine! They’re fine!” Rarity interjected quickly. “Almost, at least. Ugh, hold still, will you? I’m afraid their house is in a rather grim condition, though; it was struck by some of the debris from the palace explosion. Half of it has been demolished completely.”

“And my parents?” the lavender unicorn asked anxiously, half of the question coming out as a gasp as the fashionista tightened as series of laces around her chest.

“Well, according to the neighbors, nothing happened to your mother. Your father might have received a concussion and was hospitalized, though I don’t know where. Not here, at least.”

“But you’re looking?”

“Of course, darling. Knowing her, Applejack is probably out asking around right now instead of getting some sleep. After the funeral, I’ll have Rainbow searching too. There,” Rarity said, stepping back as she finished adjusting the ribbons on Twilight’s new garments.

The dress was even lighter than she had expected and did nothing to impair her movements. “Black suits you rather well, dear,” Rarity mused. “But then again, light colors compliment you as well; I can never decide. Perhaps I’ll try a gainsboro gray next time, or something even lighter…”

As the two ponies left the room, the white unicorn continued voicing her considerations, most of which Twilight was unable to fully comprehend. The injured unicorn breathed deeply with trepidation. In only a few hours, the end of a millennial era would be marked.

4 - Empty Coffins

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Succession

Chapter 4 – Empty Coffins

“…but as your earthly remains have ceased to exist, we hope that your spirit may still be with us. May you continue to guide us on the path to true harmony and may those who defend your beliefs find strength in your presence. The fire shining in the sky has gone out, but the light you kindled in every pony’s heart lives on and it shall shine until we may one day rejoin you in the Great Beyond. Princess Celestia, your death has brought us much grief, but may you rest assured that we will carry on. We shall persevere, we shall survive, and we shall live. Your memory will be honored always…” The speaker hesitated. Sitting on the front row, Twilight could see that he, like most other speakers that day, had begun to tear up. Excusing himself briefly, he ended his speech and left the podium he had been standing on.

A moment later, yet another speaker stepped onto the podium to deliver his speech. This one, however, was not a pony, but a griffon. Twilight had at first been surprised at the many non-ponies who had come to pay their respect to the princesses, but after a diamond dog had spoken of the princesses in a crude dialect and two dragons had landed by the podium and each given a speech, Twilight could hardly be phased by the appearance of a griffon.

Though she felt guilty for having the thought, she supposed Civil Tenet might had been right when she admitted to having allowed too many speakers. The silver unicorn, Applejack, and Rarity had already spoken, along with a large number of creatures varying in species from ponies and zebras to dragons and minotaurs. She had lost count, but the injured unicorn was pretty sure at least fifty speakers had been to the podium by now. Hopefully, there would not be many more.

The funeral was being held in a slightly secluded part of the palace grounds, not far from the remains of the molten ruins. There were more than a hundred rows of benches in front of the podium where the griffon was speaking, and not a single seat was vacant. Even more creatures were scattered across the palace grounds, all looking toward the podium. Talented unicorns and earth ponies had been working for several days on bringing life to the grass as well as a few flowerbeds and trees in the immediate vicinity of the ceremony, creating an odd contrast between green, flowering fields and ashen waste.

The podium upon which the griffon was now reciting a poem had been positioned slightly off-center relative to the benches, making room for a large square slab of silver set into the ground beside it, approximately twenty feet across on both sides. Inside the square was a deep indentation, seven feet wide and at least twelve feet long. On all four sides of the large square slab was a large block of pure silver, the silver that Twilight, at some point in the ceremony, would transform into the memorial Penning Draft had designed. Every one of the metallic surfaces seemed to gain a radiance of its own as the full moon above shone onto the ceremony. Through her tears, Twilight smiled at the sight. She doubted she had ever seen the moon shine as brilliantly as it did now; a fitting honor for the two princesses. On the left side of the silver structure was a white marble coffin decorated with gold and rubies, and on the right side was a coffin of black marble decorated with obsidian and sapphires. They were beautiful, but empty, Twilight knew, feeling another pang of sadness. There were no physical remains of the princesses. Nothing but memory remained of the immortal sisters that had been with Equestria longer than anypony knew.

Dark clouds surrounded the area, shedding a grey veil of water that separated the ceremony from the rest of the world. Within the palace grounds, however, pegasi had ensured clear skies. As the griffon on the podium finished his speech, there was a not so distant rumble of thunder.

The lavender unicorn used her magic to wipe her tears away as she spotted eleven gold and marine shapes emerging from above the dark clouds ahead of her and behind the podium. Apparently, the speeches were now finally over, and the Wonderbolts’ performance was starting.

In honor of the departed Solar Princess, the Wonderbolts were leaving bright trails of golden sparkling powder, reminiscent of some sort of fireworks, instead of the usual black thunderclouds. The eleven fliers dove down at the burial site and veered up sharply only ten feet above the ground, leaving a golden canopy above all the seated ponies. The crowd gasped in both amazement and shock as the eleven stuntponies performed their acrobatics underneath the bright pyrotechnical trails, somersaulting wildly and dancing about each other gracefully only one or two feet above their audience. After only a few moments, the onlookers’ view of the famous performers was soon completely obscured by their golden trails, and the ponies below were forced to wait impatiently for the air above them to clear.

When it finally did, only ten Wonderbolts were left, meeting in the air above the podium and entering into a tight spin around each other, forming a shining circle of golden sparkles. From behind the podium, the eleventh Wonderbolt, Spitfire, reappeared, launching herself with an astounding acceleration into the air and above her fellow stuntponies. Flipping and twisting around in a pattern that seemed familiar to Twilight, the captain of the Wonderbolts dove, flying straight at the center of the circle formation beneath her. Performing a final two rapid backflips, the orange pony flared her wings as she reached the altitude of the still revolving pegasi. As soon as she stopped, Spitfire was enveloped in a crackling flash of electricity that momentarily blinded the onlookers.

“The Buccaneer Blaze!” Pinkie Pie cheered enthusiastically. “Alright!”

As the glare of the flash subsided, the captain of the flying stuntponies found herself hovering in the center of a golden halo, the other Wonderbolts having become lost in the brilliant golden circle they were trailing in the sky.

“Rainbow Dash certainly has made her mark on the Wonderbolts,” Rarity commented, gazing up in awe at the shining display of both pyrotechnics and pegasus magic. “She must have taught Spitfire that particular technique. Oh! Speaking of which!” The white unicorn pointed a hoof at the clouds in front of them and Twilight noticed a rainbow-colored streak running across the sky, although the twelfth Wonderbolt had already flown across the sky and was out of sight.

In perfect unison, the eleven pegasi broke free of the ring formation, spiraling upwards in a widening column. When they neared the same height as the surrounding clouds, the aerial acrobats converged, and as they crossed paths, a brilliant explosion of golden sparks erupted from the Wonderbolts. While the stuntponies dispersed, the glittering gold remained hovering in the air, creating the image of a small sun. As the eleven pegasi withdrew to the rim of the palace ground and started flying alongside the surrounding mass of clouds, a multichromatic blur whizzed through the aisle running in between the benches on the ground, passing by only a few feet from Twilight. The unicorn wisely grabbed hold of her hat as the entire area was suddenly hit by the powerful gust of wind following the near supersonic flier, sending hats flying and ruffling ponies’ manes beyond recognition. The twelfth Wonderbolt pulled sharply upwards as she reached the podium, leaving a multicolored streak trailing behind her as she lifted herself up towards the miniature sun with amazing speed.

Only now did Twilight notice the sharply pointed mach cone surrounding the star flier as she closed in on the orb of golden sparkles. The unicorn tried to cover her ears as best she could with only one hoof as Rainbow Dash entered the shimmering sun. A distinctive crack could be heard all over the palace grounds as the golden sun suddenly exploded and the star flier was launched vertically into the air at an impossible speed, leaving a golden-tinged rainbow in her wake. The glittering sparkles were spread far and wide by the sonic rainboom, and a wave of gold washed across the sky, passing effortlessly into the clouds, lighting them up and somehow banishing the rain pouring down from them. As the crowd below applauded and cheered on the talented flier, momentarily forgetting their grief, Rainbow Dash looped around until she was once again flying horizontally, on perfect level with the glittering sphere of golden fire and approaching it rapidly from the audience’s left. To Twilight’s amazement, another cone of compressed vapor formed around the pegasus, resulting in another of the rare sonic rainbooms detonating exactly within the center, sending yet another sparkling shockwave ripping through the air. Again, the crowd gasped in shock as the wave hit the exact center of the aisle between the benches, leaving a fine line of powdered gold running from the podium and all the way down to the rows in the back. The lavender unicorn almost found herself laughing at the absurdity of her friend’s endurance as she saw Rainbow Dash perform a wide corkscrew around the sun, yet again bringing her on a collision course with the orb of fireworks as she rushed toward the seated ponies from behind the podium.

“She can’t possibly...” Rarity muttered in a low whisper, but soon enough, another mach cone formed around the star Wonderbolt and another sonic rainboom sent a shockwave rushing out from the center of the miniature sun.

The majority of the crowd went wild as the blue blur dove down among the onlookers, zooming across them and cackling almost manically as another series of hats and loose clothing was swept up by a powerful gust of wind from the supersonic flier.

As the rainbow-maned pegasus became nothing more than a speck of blue against the full moon, and the jaws of ponies below dropped, Twilight noticed the eleven other Wonderbolts starting to draw the surrounding clouds into the sky above the palace grounds.

“A triple sonic rainboom!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed excitedly. “That was amazerrific!”

“I don’t know how the Wonderbolts will ever top a performance like that,” Twilight said, shaking her head slowly in wonder. “But I guess maybe they don’t have to.”

After the effects of the sonic rainboom died away, everypony below gasped as they realized that by some pyrotechnical miracle, the cloud of golden sparkles still floated in the air above them, the recent explosions caused by Rainbow Dash having transformed it into an almost perfect image of Celestia’s cutie mark. A few seconds later, the Wonderbolts finished pulling in the clouds across the palace grounds, leaving a crescent-shaped hole for the moon to shine through. The eleven pegasi disappeared shortly within the clouds, but then twelve returned, carrying bouquets that had somehow been collected from above the clouds.

Spitfire was the first to land, and as she placed her collection of gold and blue flowers, Civil Tenet, who had ascended the podium while nopony was looking, announced loudly, “The Wonderbolts pay their respects in remembrance of the immortal alicorns!”

Next, Rainbow Dash touched ground, leaving a multicolored bouquet by the coffins. “The Elements of Harmony wish their princesses happiness in whichever afterlife they may find!” the silver unicorn declared.

Fleetfoot joined the two on ground and deposited a third bouquet. “We, the Council of Nine, say farewell to our predecessors! May we carry on the legacy of princesses Celestia and Luna!”

One by one, the Wonderbolts swooped down, each depositing a bouquet, and Civil Tenet announcing who the flowers represented. The earth ponies, unicorns and pegasi races all gave a bouquet each. The diamond dogs, the griffons and the zebras showed their respect, and the dragons of both north and south were represented as well. Finally, a last bouquet was given to the princesses in the name of Equestria and all the known world, and the Wonderbolts withdrew to the clouds above, exhausted after their taxing performance.

“And now,” Civil Tenet called out as the aerial acrobats left the palace grounds. “An intermission. We shall resume the ceremony in twenty minutes. Feel free to walk about the grounds, but I ask you to please keep clear of the palace ruins as investigations are still under way.”

“I’ll go see if any of the dragons attending hail from Dragoncrest,” Rarity informed her friends, leaving the benches and making her way toward a group of the large reptiles. “It’s been so long since I’ve heard anything from Spike.”

“I’ll go see how many friends I can make in twenty minutes!” the pink pony chirped happily and bounced into a crouching position. “Ready-set-go!”

After Pinkie Pie had vanished in a blur of pink and left behind a trail of confetti, both Applejack and Fluttershy excused themselves, leaving the unicorn sitting on the bench. She briefly considered summoning her wheelchair, but for the moment, wheeling about the ruined palace grounds didn’t appeal to her.

Instead, she closed her eyes and started thinking of the future. What would happen to Equestria now that the sun was gone? Food would grow scarce unless the council pony Bramley found some ingenious solution. Equestria had plenty of food reserves in case of bad harvests, but with the coming shortages, the reserves would at best last for only two years. There would be starvation. And what of the temperature? How much warmth had the sun provided for the world? How much could the moon provide alone? How cold would Equestria become? Would the ponies survive?

And then there was the matter of the murderer. What had been his or her purpose? Why would anypony want to kill Celestia and Luna? How could they have killed them? Why had the one behind all of this not shown him- or herself?

But most importantly, she found herself wondering, why had she not done anything herself? She could travel through time. How could she have allowed something like this to happen? She could have apprehended the murderer before the crime could be committed.

Could I? I’d have to travel almost two weeks back in time. Travel too far, and I miss the murderer. If I don’t travel long enough, I’ll end up in the middle of the explosion. Again. And the murderer... Whoever they were, they killed Celestia and Luna. What can one unicorn do against such a force? But a warning... I could have warned us. I can warn us.

She toyed with that idea for some time. It would take a lot out of her and there was a certain risk involved, but it should be possible to go back in time. She could find Celestia and herself in the princess’ study and warn them before the murderer appeared.

But...

Twilight did not remember seeing her future self. As far as she knew, she hadn’t gone back in time to warn herself. Even if she had and she had simply forgotten it along with everything else that had happened within the palace that night, it didn’t seem to have changed anything. Twilight was still sitting on a bench at the princesses’ funeral. If she indeed had gone back in time, it had helped nothing. If she was going to go back in time, it would help nothing.

“First row, huh? Lucky you.” Twilight opened her eyes and looked to her left. Amber Vane had seated himself right next to her without her noticing. “What’s bugging you?”

The lavender unicorn sighed. “Time travel.”

The royal guard blinked. “What?”

“Not many ponies know that,” Twilight said, smiling a bit at the memory of her first trip through time. “Even fewer believe it. I can travel in time, but only for short amounts of, well... time. I bet I could go back in time to a few moments before the Great Tragedy.”

“You… you can travel through time?” Amber Vane asked, disbelief tinging his voice.

“It’s hard. Very hard.” Twilight answered. “I’ve only ever done it four times. And it usually ends up backfiring.”

“So,” the golden maned unicorn began, trying to understand. “You’re saying you could, right now, go back in time to before the Great Tragedy? What would you do? Warn the princesses? Are you even allowed to talk to anypony while time travelling?”

“I can do whatever I want while time travelling. It’s… complicated,” Twilight tried to explain.

“So if you can go back in time and warn Celestia... why don’t you?”

“Because she died,” Twilight pointed out.

“Uhm..?”

Twilight smiled and shook her head at her friend’s lacking comprehension. “Sorry. When I travel back in time, I create a loop. Future Twilight does something to alter the timeline, but for some reason, no matter what Future Twilight does, Present Twilight will eventually become Future Twilight and travel back in time. If that doesn’t happen, Future Twilight can’t travel back in time in the first place.” Twilight noticed that Amber Vane still didn’t seem to understand, so she tried a different approach. “Let’s take an example: My first try at time travel. I was visited by a Twilight from half a week into the future. She tried warning me about something that would happen in the future, but because of the short duration of the spell, she didn’t manage to tell me exactly what I should try to prevent. I spent the rest of the week going crazy trying to avert what I thought would be a huge disaster.”

“But it didn’t work?”

Twilight laughed at the memory. “Turns out Future Twilight wanted me not to worry too much about what would happen in the future. Once I found out, I tried going back in time to warn Past Twilight, but I ended up doing the exact same thing as Future Twilight, meaning that Past Twilight was put in the exact same situation as my own. You see?”

“I… think so?” Amber Vane replied doubtfully. “I can see the loop at least. But if you went back in time to warn your past self about the warning from the future, why did your future self go back in time? Did something serious happen to her?”

Twilight shook her head. “What happened to me happened to Future Twilight. A Future Future Twilight tried to warn Future Twilight not to worry about the warning she herself had received from Future Future Future Twilight. There never was a disaster. All the Twilights tried to warn their past selves not to worry too much about the future, which ended in the past Twilights driving themselves crazy, which in turn ended in them going back in time to warn their own past selves.”

“But… then how did the whole time travelling thing start? Something serious must have happened to the very first time travelling Twilight. Right?”

Again, the time traveler shook her head. “That’s why I called it a loop. It has no beginning, and it has no end. Nothing bad ever happened. The cycle of time travelling Twilights was infinite.” Amber Vane only wore a blank expression, and Twilight giggled. “It didn’t make any sense to me either for several weeks. I studied the fabrics of time for months. I still do, occasionally. And I’m pretty sure time travel works just like I told you.”

“I guess I’ll take your word for it then,” the guard said, shaking his head in bewilderment. “So, just to make it stick, would you mind telling me again why you won’t go back in time?”

“If I had gone back in time and prevented the Great Tragedy from happening, we wouldn’t be sitting here. In a way, you don’t change a thing when you travel back in time. The things you do while travelling back in time have already happened in your past. Actually, you just kinda end up ensuring that they do happen.”

“And you’re sure you can’t stop the Great Tragedy?”

Twilight nodded. “If I went back in time now and somehow prevented the Great Tragedy, I would, what? Erase this time line? If the Great Tragedy doesn’t happen, I won’t be there to travel back in time and prevent the Great Tragedy. I can’t tell you what would happen if such a paradox were to occur or if such paradoxes can even happen.” The unicorn sighed heavily. “Sometimes I hate time travel. At least the practical bits. The theories can be fun, though.”

“It sounds complicated,” Amber Vane simply commented.

The lavender unicorn smiled playfully at him. “I gave you the easy version. You should see the papers I’ve written on the subject. Even Celestia begged me to stop after I sent her my fiftieth letter about the things I learnt of time travel. I guess she’s mostly interested in my friendship reports.”

The two laughed for a moment before the guard continued. “So what is the deal about those friendship reports? Most of the Canterlot court and the guards have heard about them, but we’ve never known why you wrote them or what exactly you wrote.”

“I’ve never been too sure either why I wrote them,” Twilight murmured. “It was just something the princess asked me to do, so I did it. Every week, I would write to her about my discoveries on friendship. She rarely commented on the reports, though. But I’m glad she asked me to do it. If it hadn’t been for her, I would never have met any of my friends. I would only have had…” Twilight trailed off. She was silent for a moment before suddenly casting an accusing glare at Amber Vane. “Wait just a minute! Why didn’t you tell me my brother was killed!?”

“I…” the guard was silent for a while. “I didn’t think you really needed it.”

“I didn’t need to know!?”

“No!” Amber Vane defended himself. “It’s just… you’re still dealing with Celestia’s death. We all are, but I figure you’re the one taking it the hardest. Whenever you haven’t been with your friends, you’ve been pretty depressed. I... I couldn’t bear telling you something like Shining Armor’s death. I’m... I’m sorry.”

“Rarity told me the same thing,” the lavender unicorn grumbled. “I had to find out about it from Civil Tenet when she quite casually gave me a list of the ponies that had died! She assumed you had told me!”

“I’m sorry,” the guard repeated. “I just didn’t know how or when to tell you.”

“I thought guards were supposed to be brave,” Twilight murmured sourly, refusing to look at Amber Vane as she stared at her hooves. A few moments of silence passed before the guard finally rose from his seat as the intermission ended.

A few seconds later, Rainbow Dash returned to the ceremony. The pegasus, not one for fancy dresses, was wearing a black variant of her Wonderbolt uniform. “Did I miss anything?” she panted.

“Just the intermission,” Twilight replied sourly. Reminding herself that Rainbow Dash had done nothing to anger her, she changed her tone. “Please don’t tell me that’s your Nightmare Night costume!” she commented teasingly as she prodded at the latex suit.

“‘Course not!” she replied defensively, giving the unicorn a playful shove against her good leg. “Gimme some credit! I had it specially made for the occasion and everything!”

“Alright, alright, sorry.” Twilight gave a small smile as she regarded the pegasus, her chest still heaving from her previous exertions. “I don’t often see you out of breath like that.”

“I’m getting a lot better at my sonic rainbooms, but three in a row like that? That won’t ever get easy!” Rainbow Dash huffed. She took a few deep breaths to steady herself. “It’ll be a while before I do something like that again.” By now, most of the ponies had seated themselves once more, and the ring of a bell announced the end of the intermission. “So, what happens now?” the pegasus asked.

With a deep sigh, Twilight rose shakily from her seat. “Sweetie Belle sings, and I... bury Celestia and Luna.”

While Rarity’s younger sister rose silently from the second row, Twilight started limping toward the two coffins. Sweetie Belle ascended the podium and faced the audience with a calm expression. She closed her eyes and started taking deep breaths. A wide variety of birds joined the young unicorn, settling on the podium’s railings or the few surrounding trees. Twilight stopped a few feet from the gleaming metal structure and her horn shone with magic, enveloping the two marble coffins on either side of her in a bright magenta aura.

Twilight shuddered slightly as she lifted them. She kept expecting them to be heavier, but she had to remind herself that there was nothing within them. She lifted them above the silver blocks and carried them into the center of the silver square so that the coffins hovered above the indentation in the silver plate. As Twilight began carefully lowering the coffins into the grave, the birds around Sweetie Belle started singing a slow tune for the lead singer.

The two coffins silently touched down on the silver floor of the grave structure, and Sweetie Belle’s voice followed almost immediately after.

“The final hour dawns upon us
And with it comes the dusk.
Tonight the night will last forever
Now that the day has faded away.”

The coffins had been laid into their graves. Twilight sighed. Now came the hardest part. Her horn, whose glow had only briefly been allowed to subside, blazed as Twilight started channeling vast amounts of energy into the four silver blocks surrounding the grave. She shut her eyes tight in concentration just as the metal blocks began to glow with heat. Smoke rose from the grass burning underneath the hot metal.

She felt Rarity’s magic flow into her channeling efforts, and a moment later Civil Tenet joined her as well, lightening her strain.

“Hearts be true, hearts be pure
When laughter is tears
And when naught is sure
Love is glass; nothing will last,
Now that the day has faded away.”

Even Amber Vane joined her and by now, the metal had become almost liquid and definitely malleable. Twilight began extracting thick tendrils of liquid silver from the blocks, pulling them onto the plate itself. In her mind’s eye, Twilight saw columns and walls forming, and she let the same happen to the silver she held.

Behind her, ponies gasped in amazement as the liquid silver began rearing up and forming a tall structure.

“Where are they now?
Where are we now?
Who will come to save the day?
Now that the day has faded away?

The future has dawned
And darkness it spawned,
We look to the heavens and in them we see
A sunset eclipsed
And buried in fear.
Now that the day has faded away.”

Tears were streaming freely from Twilight’s eyes by now, but she kept at her task. She envisioned glittering spires, and such objects came into being above her. Her mind built shining buttresses and the silver bent to her will. Strands of glowing metal weaved together and solid walls appeared. Columns were topped by sharp arches, and lines and indentations were imprinted upon every feature of the structure in perfect concordance with Penning Draft’s instructions.

“We see it stretched across the sky
An age of shadow is nigh
Above, an eternal veil of night
Will it lift? Will it stay?
Now that the day has faded away?
Faded away…
Where are we now that the day has faded away?”

The last note was held for several seconds, and as Sweetie Belle and the birds fell silent, Twilight drew out the heat from the soft silver, turning it hard once more and dimming its glow. The unicorn breathed heavily as she opened her eyes to look at her work.

Where before there had been a large slab and four blocks now stood a small tower made purely from silver. At the bottom of the tower, near the corners, buttresses rose up to carry intricate arches and carved figures of alicorns, ponies, and celestial bodies. Succeeding the arches in height were long delicate spires of gleaming silver and in the center top of the structure, a large spire constituted the tallest part of the tower, its tip being almost twenty-five feet above ground.

In the center of three of the four walls of the tower were images of Celestia, Luna and the pony race, displaying scenes of both happiness and sadness, fictional and historical. Upon the wall of the façade, etched into the silver, were the words Civil Tenet had composed, praising and grieving the passing of not only the princesses, but the hundreds of ponies lost in The Great Tragedy.

Twilight started panting heavily as exhaustion caught up with her, still crying uncontrollably. It was done. Celestia and her sister had been buried. The oldest beings in the whole world had passed away, and the age Twilight and everypony else had been born into had ended. She turned away from the structure to find Applejack by her side, lending the tired unicorn support. Leaning against the farmer, Twilight slowly limped back to her seat.

While Sweetie Belle returned to her place and the birds dispersed, Civil Tenet returned to the podium, which had now been dwarfed by the newly erected tower beside it. “And now, if you please, join me in a moment of silence. Let us think not only of what we have lost, but also of what we have gained. Not what you have gained today or yesterday, but what life under our princesses’ blessed rule has granted you, and of what shall remain with us even as we carry on from one age to another. Think of your most precious light and hold it close to your hearts in this dark hour, so that the night we face may be that much brighter as we lift our gaze toward the future.”

All were silent. As the quiet wore on, the rain returned to the palace ground, its faint pattering seemingly the only sound in all of Canterlot. The raindrops thrummed against Twilight’s hat and sizzled against the dragons’ scales, creating a small symphony of almost oppressive silence.

The peace lasted for a full ten minutes until Civil Tenet cleared her throat. “Thank you. The service has now ended; Celestia and Luna are buried, and we must now carry on without them. You are welcome to leave the palace grounds or remain here to pay your last respects to our princesses.”

Twilight remained silent on her seat for a minute longer, quelling her tears, before she focused her magic and summoned her wheelchair from beside the benches. Rainbow Dash and Applejack helped her get seated, and together the six friends made their way toward the princesses’ tomb.

“Twi? It’s been two hours… Don’t you think you should be going back to the hospital soon?”

Twilight sighed. She opened eyes and looked at the uniformed pegasus next to her. “I already told you. I need some time alone.”

Rainbow Dash frowned. “You’ve been sitting here for four and a half hours straight. I don’t think the weather’s getting better anytime soon.” The unicorn had no reason to doubt those words. After the downpour had gotten worse a few hours ago, Rarity had been kind enough to relieve her of her sopping wet gown and hat. With her fur gone, Twilight’s magic was the only thing keeping her warm in the grey drizzle. “How much longer you gonna be out here?”

By now, Twilight and Rainbow Dash were the only ponies left by the tomb. Everypony had long since left, seeking shelter from the rain, but the unicorn had remained sitting in her wheelchair in front of the silver tower she had erected, and the pegasus had stayed by her side. Through the crescent-shaped hole, the moon shone through the dense cloud cover, although its light had dimmed slightly after the ceremony had ended. Fittingly, the small golden sun created by the Wonderbolts had long since faded away.

“However long it takes,” Twilight answered her friend. “I don’t know. You’re tired, Dash. Just go grab some sleep. I can get home on my own.”

“C’mon, Twi! You know I can’t just leave you here! It’s a long way back to the hospital and you’ll just get a cold from this rain. Your skin’s only barely recovered and you’ve broken seven different bones or something, right? You don’t need to be sick too.”

“You don’t need to worry about me,” Twilight replied, still staring at the silver monument. To prove her point, the unicorn’s horn glowed, and something that looked like a magenta umbrella opened above her head, shielding her from the weather. Her wheelchair seemed to gain a life of its own as it started to go forwards and backwards and do a few spins. After a while, Twilight teleported herself and the wheelchair back to her original position in front of the monument. “Even in a wheelchair, I could beat you to the hospital. Please, Rainbow. Celestia was like a mother to me. All I’m asking for is a few hours alone with her.”

The pegasus frowned, but eventually gave a playful smile. “You can beat me to the hospital? In a wheelchair? You’re on!”

“Just go, Rainbow. I’m staying here,” the unicorn insisted.

“Nope,” the Wonderbolt replied, shaking her head. “C’mon, I heard a challenge! Let’s go!”

“You wanna race a pony in a wheelchair? Really?”

“Well, nnyeah... uh... Yeah. But you can teleport! That makes us equal, right?”

“You’re not convincing me. I’m staying. The rain’s not as bad as you think.”

“Well, then I guess I’m staying too,” the pegasus replied stubbornly, sitting down on her haunches.

Twilight shook her head with a sigh and gave her friend a sidelong glance. She realized that it was incredibly rare to see Rainbow Dash sitting down like she was. Especially willingly. After only a few minutes, she noticed the pegasus fidgeting, her wings twitching faintly as she began gazing at the sky and the direction of the hospital.

“Ugh, fine!” Twilight finally exclaimed. “Race you to the hospital.” Immediately, Rainbow Dash was on her hooves, her wings flared and ready for takeoff.

“Alright! Three, two, one... go!” The Wonderbolt rocketed off the ground and through the air, leaving a bright trail of rainbows that quickly dissolved in the heavy rain. The unicorn sighed as she turned away from the sight of the receding pegasus and returned her attention to the silver tower before her. Finally, she sighed within her mind, feeling slightly guilty for having the thought. Hopefully she’ll take a hint and leave me alone this time.

The unicorn regarded the monument for some time, staring at the plaque set into the wall without reading it.

“What should I do?” she whispered to the dead alicorns. “Where do I go?”

For almost her whole life, Twilight had been Celestia’s protégé. For as long as she could remember, she had been studying magic, taking up the study of friendship in her later life as well. After having been named the Heroine of Equestria, Luna had adopted her as her student and protégé as well, surprising Twilight with her deep knowledge of magic. Knowledge that often seemed to exceed that of Celestia. The unicorn’s understanding of magic had grown with every passing day, and her mentors had always told her that she was progressing rapidly.

Progressing towards what?

“What is my purpose, Celestia? Why did you choose me? Why am I the Element of Magic? What did you train me for?”

Again, the horrible memory of Celestia’s death crept into Twilight’s mind, and she winced.

“Was I supposed to stop it? Prevent your deaths?” Again, there was no answer, and the unicorn began crying. She had thought her eyes would have dried out by now. “I failed you, didn’t I? Of course I did. You weren’t supposed to die! I should have done something! Please, tell me I did something! What happened!?”

How did Celestia die!? How did I survive? What could have been strong enough to destroy the palace?

Discord. Discord could have done it. But he wouldn’t do it like this. Everything’s a game to him. And according to Rainbow, he’s still trapped in stone.

Then there’s Chrysalis. She’s the only one to have ever directly confronted Celestia and won. But she had my brother’s love to aid her and even then she was nowhere near able to finish her off. No, Chrysalis is too weak.

Pan, the nature spirit. He hates ponydom. But even if it had been angered again and even if it could kill Celestia, it would never think to extinguish the sun, would it? No, not Pan.

The Blazebringers from Tartarus... It’s a stretch, but their united strength might be enough to do the deed. They certainly hate Celestia enough, but Luna? Their loyalty used to lie with Nightmare Moon. Besides, they were reimprisoned only two years ago, they couldn’t already have escaped. And that... leaves only their master...

The abandoned student lifted her gaze to the full moon.

“Please be dead, Luna,” Twilight begged the skies. “Please don’t be Nightmare Moon. Please don’t be the murderer of your own sister. Let it be a monster who killed her, who killed you. A monster that can be hunted down. A monster that can be punished. A mindless beast without emotions or remorse. Please!”

Twilight closed her eyes again, letting her mind rest. She may have dozed off; she couldn’t be certain, but when she opened her eyes again, she had an idea.

“I have to go back. Not to act, but to observe,” she told herself and the two princesses. “I... I can’t prevent your deaths. I know that. You’re gone, and...” She sniffed as tears once again flowed freely from her eyes. “...And there’s nothing I can do about that. But I can learn, right? I can go back, see what happened. I’ll know who killed you.”

But she would have to do it now. For each passing moment, the time of Celestia’s death faded further into the past. If she did not go now, she would lack the required power to make the jump.

She debated the matter for a moment, but eventually Twilight’s magic took hold of the wheels of her wheelchair, and she started off toward the remains of the palace.

A few minutes later, the unicorn arrived at the broken palace and the magical grip on her wheelchair faded. The ruins looked even worse now than they had when Twilight had first seen them. Back then, they had looked somehow alive, glowing with the heat of the explosion even six days after it had occurred. Now, the clumps of molten marble and scattered debris were cold and lifeless, a faint mist rising from the gray stones. The earth around her was burnt and blackened and did nothing to absorb the pouring rain; Twilight doubted anything living would ever grow here again.

Despite her surroundings, Twilight smiled at what she would see. One last time, the unicorn would see the palace in all its splendor.

She took a deep breath, and summoned the Time Travel spell she had long since committed to memory. She closed her eyes as she concentrated her whole being and all her magic into the tip of her horn. Through her eyelids, she saw the world around her steadily grow blindingly white. The short hairs of her fur stood on end as she felt the unpleasant tingle of a rift in time opening around her body.

With a final grunt, Twilight sent herself plunging into the strange anomaly she wielded, hurtling through the timeline for a few relative seconds. The light faded from her eyes, and she lost all sense of where or when she was. As quickly as the light had disappeared, it reappeared, blinding the unicorn for a few seconds.

When she opened her eyes, Twilight found herself lying in front of the Canterlot palace. The walls towered above her, and the unicorn became nostalgic at the sight of the brightly colored marble façade. She had ended up exactly where she had travelled from, standing insecurely on two hooves.

She wished she could have brought her wheelchair, but at the same time realized that it would have been useless to her. A great deal of magic was required to send a pony through time, and she had to constantly exert her power to keep herself in this instance of time. All of her remaining magic was left in the point of time she had travelled from, acting as an anchor for her to return to, and because of this, Twilight was unable to use any magic while travelling in time. Since she only had one functioning forehoof, it would be impossible for her to operate her wheelchair physically.

Twilight scanned her surroundings, making sure no royal guards had seen her arrive. It was nearing midnight, but despite the bright flash that had heralded her appearance, there were no guards in sight. The unicorn turned to face the palace again. Only now did she notice the two gold-clad ponies slumped against the main entrance. As Twilight approached, she was relieved to see that they were moving. They both seemed to be asleep, but their brows were furrowed and their bodies were shaking, as if they were having a nightmare. The unicorn went to one of them, a gray pegasus guard, but no matter how hard she poked him with her horn, the guard would not wake. After a few seconds, she had to give up.

She thought desperately of a way to help the guards. After all, the entirety of the palace grounds would very soon become consumed in fire. But she could do nothing to wake the two pegasi. She lacked her magic, which would usually be able to easily move two ponies out of the danger zone, and with two broken legs, there was no way she was going to be able to physically carry a heavily muscled and armored royal guard.

“Sorry,” she whispered with a heavy heart as she passed by the sleeping ponies and pushed open the door to the palace. They’re already dead, she tried comforting herself as she entered the large entrance hall.

Within it, Twilight noticed a deep blue unicorn lying on the stairs, sleeping like the guards. At the very top of the stairs, at the far end of the hall, Twilight noticed something moving left into a corridor. All the unicorn managed to see was the silhouette of a hoof before the mysterious being disappeared out of Twilight’s line of sight. The murderer?

“H-hello?” Twilight called out in a shaky voice. “You there! A-at the top of the stairs! Show yourself!”

No answer came from the corridor. If it was the murderer, he or she was going the wrong way, it would seem; the only way to Celestia’s study would have been through the east wing of the palace. Of course, Luna usually resided in the west wing, Twilight realized. There was no way she would be able to catch up to the murderer in her current state. She would have to make her way to Celestia’s study before the murderer; only that way would she be able to catch a glimpse of him or her.

Grunting with the pain of the exertion, the crippled unicorn worked her way up the stairs and went right down a large hallway decorated with stained glass depictions of great historical events. After hobbling down the hall for a minute, the unicorn flinched as she heard the front doors to the palace burst open and a set of hooves galloping loudly through the entrance hall. Twilight looked back at the stairs leading up to the hallway she was currently in, but noticed that the new arrival seemed to neglect the stairs.

Realization dawned upon her, and Twilight cursed herself. The servants’ corridors! They provide the most direct route to pretty much everything in the right wing! Why didn’t I think of that? But who’s the murderer? The one heading toward Luna or toward Celestia? Are there two? Perhaps it is the Blazebringers after all...

Taking a deep breath, Twilight forced herself into a trot, and as a result almost bounced off the royal guard appearing from behind a corner.

“Halt!” the white stallion shouted, assuming a defensive stance. “What are you... What happened to you?”

“There’s no time to explain!” the lavender unicorn said impatiently, sidestepping the guard and continuing down the hall. “I need to get to Princess Celestia’s study as soon as possible!”

“T-Twilight!? Twilight Sparkle!?” the guard exclaimed in surprise, keeping up with the crippled unicorn easily. “I was told you were with the princess! What’s going on?”

“Something bad is about to happen,” Twilight explained through gritted teeth. “It’s a matter of utmost importance I get to the study right now. The security of all of Equestria is at stake.”

“The princesses..?” the guard asked uncertainly, and the unicorn shook her head.

“It’s too late for them.” As if on cue, a faint muffled scream broke the silence around the two ponies, and they both glanced toward the west wing. Twilight suppressed a sob. “L-Luna...” The sound of marble breaking apart carried from Luna’s chambers all the way to the ponies’ ears. The murderer had taken care of the younger princess first, it seemed. Driven by an augmented sense of urgency, the unicorn redoubled her efforts, breaking into a gallop.

“What do you mean ‘Luna’!?” the guard demanded, trotting to keep up with the crippled mare.

“She’s gone!” Twilight shouted at him, growing frustrated with his lacking comprehension. “Celestia and Luna die tonight, and there’s nothing we can do about it! I need to know who does it, meaning I have to get to Celestia before the murderer does!” The unicorn took a deep, shaky breath, trying to collect herself as she reached a flight of stairs. A spark of electricity curled up one of her legs and she quickly reached out to her connection to the anchor point, strengthening the bond to prevent the whiplash effect that would send her hurtling back to her own time. “Alright, in case you haven’t noticed, my legs are broken,” she told the guard. “Either you carry me up these stairs to Celestia, or you evacuate the palace in five or ten minutes!”

The stallion hesitated for short moment, but just as Twilight began debating whether or not to punch him, he scooped her up on his back. The unicorn barely managed to hook her good foreleg around his neck before the stallion started bounding up the stairs.

“How do you know all of this?” the guardspony panted as he neared the top of the stairs.

The lavender unicorn said nothing at first, fighting to hold back her screams as every single joint in her body was jolted around violently. Only when the stallion had cleared the stairs did she answer. “That’s not important right now...”

Most likely, you’ll be dead in a few minutes anyway.

Before long, the two ponies were nearing the princess’ study, both breathing and sweating heavily; one from exhaustion, the other from nearly overwhelming pain.

Wouldn’t a fight with the royal guards have made a little more noise? Twilight thought nervously as the guard drew to a halt. Just who is this intruder? And where’s the other one? As fast as he or she was running, they should already be here. Perhaps the murderer is already inside the study.

The unicorn shushed her companion and approached the door as silently as she could, listening intently for any sounds coming from within the study. All she could hear, however, was Celestia speaking to the past Twilight. Apparently, the time traveler had beaten the murderer to the princess’ study. Perhaps there had never been a second murderer.

And where’s the first one?

Every muscle in the unicorn’s body was locked in place as something of vast power suddenly exerted its magic upon her. She tried screaming, but neither her lips nor her voice would obey her. Without making a single sound, the intruder had snuck up on both the injured unicorn and the royal guard and was now standing directly behind them. She could clearly feel its presence now; waves of fear and evil radiated from the creature behind her, washing over the unicorn.

An odd odor filled the unicorn’s nostrils. It was the rare scent of power, of magic so powerful that the very air was ionized purely by the excess energy that had nowhere to go. Twilight had only experienced such once, while speaking with Luna. During a rare emotional outburst, the princess had momentarily lost control of her faculties. Nothing serious had happened, but the sharp odor had for some reason imprinted itself upon the unicorn’s mind.

Whoever the murderer standing behind Twilight was, she or he must have magical powers equal to or greater than Luna. It became more and more likely that Nightmare Moon was the one behind the Great Tragedy, but still the unicorn could not believe it. If only she could turn her head. If only the murderer would speak.

Neither wish was granted to the unicorn. As she was hoisted up by the stranger’s telekinetic grip, it occurred to her that she might very well die. She would like to think that it was impossible to be killed while time travelling, but there really was no guarantee of her returning to her original point in time. She could just as easily die here and now.

The fear was only augmented as she was brought to hover next to the guard that had helped her up the stairs. Although no sound escaped the stallion’s lips, he was obviously screaming and convulsing in pain. The lavender unicorn began hyperventilating as she could only look on with complete horror as the guard was suddenly consumed by blood red flames, reducing him to ashes in less than a second.

Not like this... No!

She thought of her friends. All they would ever find of her would be an empty wheelchair. Rainbow Dash would never forgive herself for leaving her unsupervised. Nopony would ever know what had happened to her. She would vanish without a trace, just like everypony within the palace. Just like the insignificant pile of ashes beside her.

Twilight once again strained her neck to look behind herself, but the murderer’s magic was greater than anything she had ever experienced. Suddenly, the world became a blur as she was hurled backwards. She flew past the murderer, but as she made a final effort to identify the murderer, all she saw were two eyes, blazing with cold whiteness and staring directly at her for the split second she was beside the figure.

Twilight crashed into the floor, somersaulting awkwardly as she bounced, and hit a wall hard. Every limb in her body screamed in agony, but still she could not open her mouth. Unbearable pain clouded her senses, and eventually, all became dark.

“Is that you, Twilight Sparkle?” The injured unicorn’s eyes sprang open. Pain beyond her imagining filled her mind as she moved her mangled legs. Her broken hind leg simply hurt too much for Twilight to ignore any longer, and her right foreleg was bent at a sickening angle. Red clouded her vision, making it impossible for her to determine where she was. “I cannot say I am surprised at you being here!” the threatening voice spat. Twilight heard a set of hooves approaching.

The redness in her vision faded, and blurry darkness took its place. The unicorn gasped and huffed as she fought to stand. She had been lying on marble. She was still in the palace. “You really are in a wretched state, my dear student!” the voice laughed in a condescending tone. The unicorn looked toward the source of the voice and saw a blurry mix of blue and black moving toward her. And in the center of the approaching form were those terrible white eyes.

The unicorn’s vision finally cleared and the shape before her clarified. She was indeed standing in the Canterlot palace of the past. Behind her was the wall she had been smashed into only moments before. Along the wall to her right were a row of windows that looked out upon the palace gardens. Rain lashed against the glass, reducing everything outside the palace to a blur. To Twilight’s left was an empty corridor leading out to one of the larger hallways of the palace.

In front of her was the murderer; an equine the same size as Celestia. A deep purple fog extended from where its mane and tail should be, flowing and whirling about chaotically as the dark creature advanced. Ebony wings extended from its body, and a sharp horn protruding from its forehead gleamed dangerously. A flash of lightning from outside illuminated the alicorn further, revealing a helm and chest piece of pale blue. The terrible white light in the creature’s eyes faded away, replaced by slitted pupils. Nightmare Moon gave the unicorn a dangerous smile.

“What’s wrong, my trusted protégé? Did you not expect to see me again?”

“You… you’re not… Why!?” Twilight cried desperately at her old foe. “How did you come back!?”

“Does it matter?” Nightmare Moon laughed, approaching steadily. “From the way you look, I’d wager that what I am about to do is all in the past! Celestia will die, and you can do nothing to stop me!”

The unicorn began limping left, heading toward the corridor that would lead her away from the dark creature before her.

“But you do not die,” the dark alicorn added with mild interest in her voice.

“Why?” Twilight gasped at her enemy. “Why didn’t I die? Why am I still alive?”

Again, Nightmare Moon smiled. “Does it matter?”

All the questions swarming about in the unicorn’s head were effectively banished as the alicorn’s horn glowed with darkness, and Twilight bolted. Running on only two hooves, she ran with surprising speed down the dark corridor that would lead her to safety. Behind her, Nightmare Moon laughed. Over the sound of her own galloping, Twilight heard the steady taps of the dark princess walking calmly toward her. She dared not look back.

After agonizingly long seconds, Twilight reached the end of the corridor, only to be met by the dark alicorn. “Do not think you can escape the nightmare!” she hissed, but did nothing to apprehend the unicorn as Twilight turned, running down the hallway and away from the murderer.

A flash of darkness missed the alicorn’s prey by mere inches, and Twilight felt the fur along her right side burning away. The black bolt continued its path until striking the far end of the hallway, producing a deafening explosion. The unicorn turned left and barreled through a set of wooden doors leading to yet another corridor. As soon as she passed through the doors, a rushing cloud of dust and debris filled the hallway she had just been in.

“This is how it ends, Twilight!” Nightmare Moon warned. “You simply vanish from your present time! None will know your fate! None will know of your sacrifice!” Twilight risked a backwards glance and saw the alicorn stepping out of the billowing dust, maintaining her close but casual pursuit. “But then again, what has your sacrifice earned you?”

Again, the princess’ horn glowed, and the unicorn threw herself up a spiral staircase that had appeared to her left. This time, she felt a terrible and unnatural chill following in the black bolt’s wake. “You die in vain, little one!” Nightmare Moon cackled over the noise of another explosion. “Is there any worse fate?” Twilight did not know how, but she managed to climb up the stairs on only two hooves. Tears streamed down her cheeks and she sobbed as she ascended the steps as quickly as she could. The dark alicorn was right. Her travel in time had yielded her nothing. She knew the murderer, but now she would die. Nopony would know her true fate.

She tried reaching for her connection with the present time, but it was impossible to find. Was it Nightmare Moon’s doing, or was it her own fear disrupting her concentration? Regardless of why, Twilight was trapped in the past. Trapped in the palace whose only inhabitant seemed to be her pursuer.

She knew that death was inevitable; the dark princess was merely toying with her, but still the unicorn pressed on.

“Do you even know where you are going?” Twilight heard the alicorn laugh from the bottom of the stairs.

She had no idea. The unicorn had never been to this part of the palace, but she knew one thing: She was climbing a tower. Once she reached the top, there would be nowhere to go. Despite the hopelessness of the situation, it was all she could do to carry on while Nightmare Moon’s laughter rang in her ears.

Where were the guards!? Where was Celestia!? How could nopony have heard the explosions and the dark princess’ shouting? The unicorn cried at the despondency of the situation she was facing. Nopony was coming to help her. She was alone. She was as good as dead.

Finally, she reached the top of the stairs, panting with exhaustion and heart pounding with fear. The top of the tower was nothing but a large empty room. Despite the lacking furniture, it reminded Twilight of her old home in Canterlot before she had moved to Ponyville. The room was circular, more than fifty feet across and fifteen feet high. The walls were lined with enormous windows that granted a stunning view of Canterlot and beyond. In only a few minutes, the downpour outside had transformed into a violent thunderstorm. The glass around her reverberated with the harsh onslaught of rain and lightning laced the black sky with brilliant white every few seconds. Would this be where she died? Would the roaring thunder drown out her screams?

Twilight heard the sound of approaching hooves, and she backed away from the staircase toward the far end of the room. When Nightmare Moon finally emerged, the unicorn had her back against one of the large windows.

“And so it ends,” the alicorn declared, smiling coldly as she strode toward her cornered prey. “Ironic that I shall kill you now but that you in only a few minutes shall evade death at my hooves.” Nightmare Moon gave another short laugh.

Twilight cast her head about desperately, looking for anything that could save her from her current predicament. “No tests and trials as in the Everfree this time, my little pony; tonight you die, and tonight the eternal reign of Nightmare Moon shall begin!” The unicorn looked behind herself. They were much higher up than she had expected. A frightening drop of three hundred feet separated her from the ground below. “I told you. You cannot escape the nightmare!” the alicorn whispered menacingly as she drew near, her horn already glowing.

Twilight looked back at Nightmare Moon. For a moment, her breathing calmed. “Watch me!” The unicorn swung her head into the window at her back, her horn breaking through the thin glass with relative ease. Before the alicorn could react, Twilight had thrown herself out the window.

The wind howled in her ears, drowning out all other noises as the unicorn plummeted toward the ground below. The rain seemed to freeze in place around her as she quickly gained the same velocity as the falling drops of water, and her tears were forced from her eyes as she looked downwards at the hastily approaching palace gardens. Some part of her hoped for a pegasus to swoop in and rescue her, but another part of her knew that would never happen.

This is how it ends… I’m sorry…

Twilight clenched her eyes together as the ground rushed up to meet her with a sickening crunch.

5 - Growing

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Succession

Chapter 5 – Growing

Twilight groaned. Her broken legs pained her greatly, but considering the circumstances, she supposed it could be worse. After all, she could be dead. She should be dead. She considered that for a moment, but eventually decided that being alive was definitely preferable despite the pains.

She opened her eyes. She was inside the hospital, lying in a comfortable bed. Again. Instead of hanging from a sling, her right foreleg was now held in a plaster cast like the one on her hind leg. She had broken two additional ribs, adding to the pain she felt in her chest, and she had once again been wrapped up in bandages to help treat her skin.

“Twi! You’re awake!” the unicorn heard a relieved Rainbow Dash sigh. Twilight looked to her right and saw the pegasus getting up from a chair near the window. The unicorn gave her a faint smile, but instead of smiling back, Rainbow Dash suddenly scowled at her. As soon as she had gotten near Twilight, the unicorn received a somewhat sharp tap on her horn.

“Hey!” the unicorn cried out with indignation. “What was that for!?”

“You tell me!” the pegasus exclaimed angrily, gesturing at Twilight’s bandage-wrapped body. “What the hay did you do to mess yourself up like that!?” She stomped the floor hard. “Why can’t I leave you alone for five minutes without you doing something stupid?”

Twilight opened her mouth to answer, but the pegasus wasn’t done. “You told me you could take care of yourself! You were just sitting in front of the memorial! Then you wheeled over to the palace and the next thing I know, you’re unconscious and bleeding all over the place! What in Equestria happened!?”

Rainbow Dash quieted down, although it was still clear she was furious, waiting impatiently for an explanation.

“I, uh,” Twilight said nervously, knowing that the truth would do nothing to calm her friend. “I… I think I jumped off a tower.”

A long silence followed the unicorn’s confession.

“This would be the part where you tell me you’re joking,” Rainbow Dash finally pointed out, a skeptical look in her eyes. Twilight, however, said nothing. “You jumped off a tower?” she remarked dubiously, but skepticism was soon replaced by rage. “You jumped off a tower!? Are you insane!?”

“Miss Dash, please!” a nurse in the doorway pleaded to the Wonderbolt. “There are patients trying to sleep!”

“They’re always sleeping!” the pegasus countered almost venomously. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself. “Sorry,” she said to the nurse. She then turned to the unicorn in bed. “I’m gonna go outside, blow off some steam. I’ll get the ones who’re still here. You’d better have a good explanation ready for us by the time I get back!”

Avoiding the nurse, Rainbow Dash opted for the window instead, opening it and leaping gracefully through the narrow opening before taking flight. Twilight noted that the glass had been replaced, and most of the black stains on the walls had been concealed.

How long have I been sleeping this time?

Before she could think of asking anypony, however, the nurse left and she was alone in the hospital room. She wondered briefly where Amber Vane was. Most likely, he was in the middle of one of his exercises.

Right, she thought. My explanation.

The unicorn began wincing merely at the thought of her fall from the tower.

I went back in time and I found the murderer, who turned out to be Nightmare Moon. She chased me through the palace and blew everything to pieces while doing so. We climbed a tower… and then I fell more than three hundred feet to my death. Yeah… At least it’s more believable than surviving the explosion that ripped apart the Canterlot palace…

After less than half an hour, the pegasus re-entered Twilight’s room, closely followed by Rarity and Pinkie Pie.

“Where are the others?” the unicorn inquired as Rarity shut the door behind the pink pony.

The fashionista opened her mouth to speak, but Rainbow Dash cut her off. “Hang on! We’re gonna ask the questions here!”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Alright! Alright! Where do you want me to start?”

“Where did you go after Rainbow flew off?” Rarity asked worriedly, giving the pegasus a brief icy stare.

“I was gone for two minutes!” the Wonderbolt defended herself. “It’s not my fault she suddenly decided to mess herself up with a weird spell!”

“My spells haven’t backfired in a long time...” the injured unicorn insisted weakly.

“What happened?” Pinkie Pie pressed growing more impatient by the second. “Tell us, tell us, tell us!”

“I sat in front of the memorial for a while,” the unicorn explained. “I’m not sure for how long, as I might have fallen asleep. Then I… got an idea.”

“Here we go…” Rainbow Dash muttered, rolling her eyes. A quick jab to her side from Rarity silenced the pegasus. “I don’t think you were sleeping, though,” she added in a more helpful tone.

“I wanted to know who killed them,” Twilight explained. “So I figured I’d travel back in time to… see what happened.”

The pegasus opened her mouth again, but a white hoof silenced any interjections the rainbow maned mare may have had. “Go on,” Rarity encouraged her friend.

“I went to the palace… and I used my time spell. I arrived at a moment which must have been a few minutes before The Great Tragedy. There were two guards positioned in front of the palace, but they were both asleep, and I couldn’t do anything to wake them. It looked almost like they were having a nightmare.”

“You were pretty much the same way,” the pegasus said. “Except your front leg looked pretty... grotesque...” Rainbow Dash eyed the cast with something bordering on revulsion.

“Stop staring, Rainbow,” Rarity sighed. “It’s rude.”

“But her bone was sticking...”

“Realizing I could do nothing for the guards,” Twilight interjected loudly, cutting off whatever the pegasus had had to say. “I decided to head into the palace. Inside was another sleeping pony and I saw something that looked like a black hoof disappearing down a hallway at the far end of the room. I tried calling out to her, but there was no answer…”

“Hang on,” Rainbow Dash said, raising a hoof. “You called out to her? The one who killed Celestia and Luna and blew up the Canterlot palace? The one who could, and would, most likely kill you without a second thought?”

“The whole purpose of me going back in time was to see the murderer,” the bedridden unicorn pointed out. “I was afraid she would make it to Celestia before I did.”

“Right, that’s what you were afraid of,” Rainbow Dash remarked, but was fixed by an icy stare from the fashionista. “Hey! Just sayin’.”

“I have another question, if you don’t mind,” Rarity carried on after making sure the pegasus was done. “You said the murderer was a she?”

“I’ll get to that later,” Twilight promised. “I went as fast as I could into the east wing of the palace and met a royal guard. As he began following me, we heard... we heard Luna.” The unicorn shuddered. “She was screaming, and I heard walls breaking apart, but I guess it was too muffled to wake anypony up. A few minutes later, we arrived at the study. And that’s when the murderer found us… She had snuck up on me while I was approaching the study. She... she killed the guard. He just burst into flames and disappeared.”

“Oh my...” was Rarity’s only reply as a brief silence settled on the four ponies.

“Next thing I know, she throws me into a wall and I black out.”

“But who was it?” Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie demanded desperately.

“Nightmare Moon,” the unicorn answered promptly, and everypony gasped. “When I came to, she was walking towards me, boasting about her power and the fact that she would kill Celestia.”

“She didn’t reveal any motive or reasoning for what she was about to do?” the white unicorn asked, and Twilight shook her head.

“None!” she exclaimed irritably. “I tried getting answers from her, but she ended up chasing me through the palace. She kept shooting these magical blasts after me, tearing down the palace as I ran.” The unicorn shook her head. “I don’t know why nopony noticed. Perhaps she’d put the whole palace to sleep.” She sighed. “We ended up at the top of a tall tower. Nightmare Moon must have just been toying with me the whole time.” Tears began running down Twilight’s face. “I had nowhere to run. I had no way of fighting her.”

“And that’s when you…” Rainbow muttered, realization dawning on her face.

“Yes. I threw myself out one of the windows.”

“Whaaaat!?” Pinkie Pie exclaimed in a drawn-out, shocked gasp.

“Just how far did you fall?” the white unicorn demanded.

“Three hundred feet, I think.”

“Three hundred!?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed incredulously. “That… that doesn’t make any sense. Take it from a stuntpony, Twi; you don’t survive something like that.”

“I’ve had worse…” the lavender unicorn pointed out.

“Even so,” Rarity murmured. “It does seem a bit farfetched, does it not? You would have thought everypony in the entire castle would have been awakened by that racket. It certainly does not seem like Celestia, failing to notice the palace being invaded by Nightmare Moon like that.”

“I only know what I saw,” Twilight said. “As far as I can remember, the past me didn’t see or hear anything out of the ordinary until Nightmare Moon stood right in front of us. I’m not sure how much sense it makes, but Celestia might have cast some muffling spell on her study. She wanted to talk to me in private.”

“Perhaps you’re right,” the white unicorn admitted. She shook her head. “Oh, what am I saying? You always seem to be right about these things, Twilight.”

“Usually,” the rainbow-maned pegasus allowed. “But it makes sense what with the eternal night and all. It’s a much better explanation than Rarity’s at least.” The white unicorn gave the pegasus a dirty look, but Rainbow Dash ignored her. “And I guess Nightmare Moon is the only one who could kill Celestia. I always had the feeling she went easy on us back when we first met.”

“Pinkie?” Twilight asked, looking at the pony who was suddenly looking very sad. “You’re not saying much... Are you alright?”

The pony’s shoulders sagged, and some of her natural exuberance seemed to evaporate. “Why would she do that? Luna’s our friend!”

“I haven’t got a clue,” the unicorn repeated sadly. “But we’ll find out.”

Pinkie Pie only sighed heavily. “I wanna go home.”

“You told us you wanted to stay, dear,” Rarity pointed out. “You went with neither Fluttershy nor Applejack when they left for Ponyville.”

“Well, I couldn’t just leave Twi like this, could I?” she defended herself stubbornly. “But now she’s all better, right? And we can go home?”

“Sorry Pinkie…” Rainbow Dash said with a pained look on her face. “But, y’know, she’s pretty messed up right now.”

“While Twilight is recovering at an amazing speed, the doctor says it will be a few months before she can walk,” Rarity elaborated to the party pony.

Pinkie Pie was quiet for a while, seemingly debating something within herself. “Fine,” she sighed as she headed for the door. “I guess I’ll just throw a party here, then.”

“You don’t have to…” Twilight’s words were cut off as the door slammed shut. “…if you don’t want to…” She looked at her two friends with worry. “Last I saw her... I don’t know, she was Pinkie Pie; she might have been one of the only ponies smiling at the funeral. What happened?”

“Well, we have all been worrying about you,” Rarity explained. “For a long time, we thought you were dying. And just as with Celestia, Pinkie Pie took it worst of all.”

“A long time?” Twilight frowned, although it was hard to see through her bandages. She sighed as the inevitable question returned. “How long was I unconscious?”

“Oh jeez!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “We forgot to tell you, didn’t we?”

“What do you mean ‘we’?” Rarity huffed. “I assumed you told her when she woke up.”

“No, I hit her on the horn for almost getting herself killed and going into a coma and then I went and got you guys.”

“A coma..?”

“You hit her on the horn!?” the alabaster unicorn exclaimed in indignation. “You do not hit a unicorn on the horn, Rainbow! It’s very disrespectful!”

“So is travelling back in time and getting your flank kicked without telling anypony! I swear, I can’t leave that mare alone for five minutes without her doing something stupid!”

“Girls?”

“She had a deeply traumatic experience! And you’re exaggerating.”

“Oh yeah? First off, I let her go to Canterlot alone. We all know how that went!”

“That was hardly her fault,” Rarity stated, but the pegasus continued.

“Six days after The Great Tragedy. I leave her alone with you guys and five, literally, five minutes later she’s prancing about in the streets with two broken legs!”

“She had her reasons…”

“And after the funeral,” Rainbow Dash carried on, determined to drive her point home. “She goes back in time to ‘have a look’ at the murderer that blew up the palace!”

“Girls..?” the unicorn tried again, but to no avail.

“Not only that, but she jumps off the top of a freaking tower!”

“Shut up, Rainbow Dash!” Twilight exclaimed in frustration, finally silencing her two friends. “How long?”

The pegasus sighed uncomfortably. “Well, you know how you say those guards you saw were asleep, tossing about as if they were having a nightmare?” she began, and Twilight nodded. “As I said, you were doing the same thing. I found you sprawled across your wheelchair, jerking around pretty violently. No matter what I did, you just wouldn’t wake up. I brought you to the hospital, and you’ve been sleeping here... sleeping for a whole month.”

“A month!?” Twilight spluttered. “I’ve been sleeping for a month!? How is that even possible!?”

“Impossible seems to describe your situation a lot these days,” Rainbow Dash remarked with a small smile. “Look at the bright side; you’ve been healing up like crazy while you were sleeping. Doctor said it would be only three months until you were well enough to walk if you keep it up.”

“And he added something along the lines of not running around on your broken legs anymore.” Rarity added. “He used quite the… colorful language.”

“Please don’t let me be alone with him,” Twilight whimpered, wincing at the thought of her doctor’s wrath.

“I don’t know…” Rainbow Dash snickered. “I am still pretty ticked at you for going after Nightmare Moon on your own. An angry doctor might just settle the score.” Her smile faded. “Seriously, though, don’t ever do something like that again. You gotta understand you’re not the only one affected by your actions. We can’t lose you, Twi. Not now. Not ever. Don’t go risking your life like you did in the palace.”

“Alright…” Twilight sighed, but the pegasus leaned in over the unicorn.

“Promise me. Pinkie promise. If you ever see Nightmare Moon, don’t go after her on your own. Find us. And if you can’t find us, you leave her alone, okay?”

“Sure,” Twilight said. The pegasus eyed her suspiciously, and the unicorn sighed. She drew a cross over her heart and put her left hoof to her eye. “Pinkie promise.”

It was the dark abyss again. White and black pillars covered the world in its tangle of gray chaos. Redness grew from everywhere, flowing and pulsing with life, and drowning out the former were the odd trees made from rainbows.

The magenta light was there as well. Cascades of sparkles roared through the ether, tearing through all that came in its way. Off in the distance, another monochromatic pillar collapsed, ripping apart vast amounts of redness and rainbows.

No.

Her consciousness reached out to the nearest magenta cascade and grabbed hold of it. The sparkles were almost blisteringly hot, but she maintained her grip. In time, the torrent of magenta slowed, and it moved exactly as she commanded it.

She directed it toward the broken gray pillar, and the bright light enveloped the space in which the pillar and its branches had once been.

Slowly, very slowly, something amid the rushing sparkles began growing. After a long while, the magenta light had replaced what it had taken; where before there had been a gray skeletal mesh, there had been emptiness. Now, however, a purple pillar had taken its place, connecting to the branches that had once joined to the monochromatic tangle.

That which destroyed could also rebuild.

Twilight opened her eyes, feeling surprisingly well rested. She had a hard time remembering the last time she had woken up to anything but immense pain. The lack of it was almost disturbing, like an empty void within her mind. She looked to her left at the empty bed beside her and sighed. Amber Vane had most likely been released while she had been in a coma and had rejoined the Royal Guard. Her room was empty, but she hoped it wouldn’t be long before one of her friends arrived.

She turned her attention toward the stacks of books to her right. She still had a hard time believing her friends had bought her seventy books just like that. She noticed a very faint layer of dust that had gathered on most of the books, and she frowned. It was nearly impossible for her to accept she had been asleep for a month. She supposed that by throwing herself out of the window, she had finally put enough distance between herself and Nightmare Moon for the unicorn to find her connection to the present, warping ahead in time just as she struck the ground. It would explain why she had been injured, but not killed, and the mental shock of the experience could have triggered a coma. Or perhaps she had been struck by the same sleeping spell Nightmare Moon had used on everyone else in the palace.

Dismissing her troubling thoughts of her enemy, Twilight decided to finally make some use of her friends’ gifts. She directed her magic at one of the top books in the pile and the volume was enveloped in her magenta glow. Instead of floating towards her, however, the book launched itself at her face as soon as she tried moving it, smashing into her muzzle with enough force to leave her dazed for a few seconds.

“Ow!” she exclaimed loudly, putting her left hoof to her nose to stem the sudden flow of blood. She tried directing her magic at the book which was now lying on the floor, but ended up flinging it at the ceiling and then the wall with a loud thud. As she tried catching it in midair, the book crumbled in her telekinetic grasp. “What are you doing!?” the unicorn yelled at the mangled book, shaking it violently before dropping it to the floor with an exasperated sigh.

What’s happening!? Why isn’t my magic working!?

Twilight began hyperventilating as she considered the implications. Her body had already been hugely impaired, but she had never worried herself seriously over that fact. The one thing she was dependent upon was her magic. It was her special talent, it was her Element of Harmony, it was practically everything that made her Twilight Sparkle!

This must have been what Rainbow Dash was going through when we talked about the Wonderbolts...

If I can’t control my magic, I can’t use it for anything. If I can’t use magic, then who am I? I’ve already lost my identity as the princesses’ student and protégé. Without my magic, I’ll no longer be one of the most magically adept unicorns in Equestria, I’ll never act as the Element of Magic again. Will I even be able to stop Nightmare Moon? Did she do this to me!?

No! No! I’m not losing my magic!

She pointed her horn at another book, but ended up ripping it in half, creating a small explosion of pages that scattered across the room. Refusing to give up, she tried gently gripping one of the floating pieces of paper, but curled it into a small ball instead. She directed her magic at another page in the far end of the room but set it on fire. Panicking, she summoned a magical wind to blow out the flames. However, the fire was instead spread to nearby pieces of paper, and soon a small inferno was burning near the door. After only a few seconds, the door caught fire as well. The lavender unicorn flinched as alarms somewhere outside her room went off, intent on letting everypony in the hospital know about her magical mishaps.

Doing her best to remain calm, her horn glowed as she decided to use a Cooling spell to quell the blaze. Normally it would only help against the heat of a hot summer afternoon, but the unicorn figured that the way her magic was acting now, it would be enough to put out a fire. There was a quick sizzle and a few sharp cracking sounds, and the inferno was gone, replaced by a thick layer of ice that coated half the room.

I wonder what would happen if I actually tried to break something, she thought morosely to herself.

The light in her horn went out and she lay down against her pillow again, sighing deeply. “It’s not over,” she told herself. “I just need some training. Learn to control my power. Tune everything down. Every single spell I know. That’s all.”

The sound of the blaring alarm outside was suddenly cut off, and a loud knocking on the frozen door caught her attention.

“Twilight?” Rainbow Dash’s extremely muffled voice called. “What’s going on? Why’s the door locked?”

The unicorn was unsure of how to answer that question. “Uhm, it’s kinda… stuck? You’ll need to force it open.”

A few seconds later, the door shook as the pegasus tried to force it open and pieces of ice around the doorframe loosened and shattered. After six attempts, the ice broke apart completely and the door flew open. Rainbow Dash, unable to stop as she entered the room mid-lunge, careened across the ice uncontrollably, coming to a sudden halt as she crashed into Twilight’s bed.

The stuntpony was quick to recover, however, and rose to her hooves with a low groan. She cast her head about, taking in the chaotic scene around her. There were pages scattered everywhere, half the room was covered in ice, the wooden door was badly scorched, and blood was dripping from the unicorn’s nose.

“Okay, I give up,” Rainbow Dash sighed. “What the hay happened?”

Twilight smiled sheepishly. “You left me alone for five minutes.”

The pegasus couldn’t help herself from laughing, and the unicorn joined her.

“You’ll…” The pegasus wiped a tear from her eye. “You’ll have to tell me what happened later. Me and Rarity found two ponies you might want to see.” The pegasus opened a drawer in the nightstand next to Twilight’s bed and pulled out a tissue. After wiping away the blood on the unicorn’s face, she called out to somepony at the door. “Alright, come on in!”

Twilight gasped as a white unicorn mare with a striped lavender and white mane stepped into the room, followed by a blue stallion with a dark blue mane.

“Mom! Dad!” she exclaimed excitedly, and her parents’ worried expressions turned into looks of pure joy.

“Twilie!” her mother, Patina, cried at the sight of her and rushed to her daughter’s side. “You’re finally awake! Oh, we’ve been so worried!”

“How are ya?” Azure Glimmer, her father, asked with concern, eyeing her broken legs and the blood running down her face.

“I’m fine,” Twilight assured the ponies who now embraced her tightly. “Mostly.”

“I’ll just let the staff know that the fire was a false alarm.” Rainbow Dash smiled as she headed for the door. “Think I’ll just leave you guys to it.”

“How did you know I was in Canterlot?” the bedridden unicorn asked her parents as the door closed behind the pegasus.

“We didn’t,” her father answered. “The explosion up here hit us pretty badly. Our living room got hit by a piece of debris from the palace and I suffered a concussion. I was treated in a different hospital... I think?” The father glanced to the white mare while chuckling slightly. Patina nodded her head, and Azure Glimmer continued. “We sent you letters while I was being treated, but you... never returned any of them.”

“We were inspecting the damages on our home when your friend Rarity found us. Oh, I was so afraid something had happened to you!” her mother began crying again, burying her head in Twilight’s mane. “Why are you in the hospital, dear? Rainbow Dash said it’d probably be best if you told us yourself.”

The bandage-wrapped unicorn took a deep, shaky breath. “I was there, mom. The Great Tragedy. I was in the middle of it all.”

“The explosion!?” Azure gasped. “H-how? What happened!?”

“I don’t know!” the injured unicorn cried. “Nopony knows! I was sitting with Celestia in her study and then… then Nightmare Moon came in and killed her! She blew up the palace and killed everypony inside!”

“Nightmare Moon!?” Patina gasped, her words slightly muffled by her daughter’s mane. “I thought Luna died in the explosion!”

“Nopony ever found a body. Besides Celestia, there were no bodies. Everypony was vaporized along with the palace.”

“But you..?”

“I don’t know why I’m still here,” Twilight answered her father, tears still streaming down her face, mingling with the blood from her nose and staining her bandages. Patina summoned a tissue and wiped her daughter’s face. “I broke two legs, my skin was burnt off, I broke my ribs, I got this odd pain in my neck and now my magic is out of control!” The unicorn gestured at her surroundings.

“Reminds me of your entrance exam to Princess Celestia’s school…” Azure Glimmer commented as he took in the icy walls and scattered remains of books.

“You will get better, won’t you?” Patina asked in a worried tone.

“That’s what the doctors keep telling me,” Twilight sobbed. “So at least I got that. I’m healing much faster than anypony anticipated.”

“And you’re feeling alright?” her father pressed. The daughter nodded her head.

“You... you heard about Shining Armor and Cadance already, right?” the bandage-wrapped unicorn asked her parents in a shaky voice.

“Yes!” Patina, who had just extricated her head from her daughter’s mane, almost exploded with grief and buried her head against Twilight’s neck again. Azure Glimmer began crying as well.

“I… I just can’t believe they’re gone,” he muttered. “They were so young, so strong. They were good ponies, but now? We haven’t even a body to bury. Wh-who could find it in their heart to kill hundreds of innocent ponies?”

“A monster,” Twilight replied, her tears giving way to anger. “A monster carrying a thousand years of hate and jealousy in its heart. A monster that believes that all are guilty of hating and despising her. If I ever find Nightmare Moon…” She trailed off.

What? I’ll kill her? Could I really kill the one who used to be Luna, the one who could once again become Luna? Does she deserve to die? Does she deserve to live? No doubt this is why Celestia banished her to the moon in the first place…

The reunited family stayed together for several hours, mourning the loss of a brother and a son and whatever friends they had had within the palace. When the ponies’ tears had been spent and their tales told, Patina and Azure Glimmer excused themselves; they had been awake for nearly twenty hours and desperately needed sleep. Promising to visit every day, they returned home, leaving Twilight alone in her bed.

“Alright. One last time,” she told herself. “If it explodes again, I’m just gonna go to sleep.”

By now, the hospital room looked very similar to her library back in Ponyville whenever she entered one of her more intense study sessions, only more chaotic. Books lay scattered everywhere, bent and bruised from several collisions with walls, ceilings and floors. The top book on the dwindling stack to her right began glowing with Twilight’s magic as she began carefully exerting her telekinesis upon the somewhat fragile paperback. As gently as she had ever done anything before in her life, she began lifting the book.

And tore it in half.

With a frustrated scream, she set the volume on fire and compressed the mass of paper until only a solid lump of charcoal remained. She slumped against her pillow for the fifteenth time that hour and sighed deeply.

“No! I’m not giving up!” she told herself sternly. Her gaze returned to the twenty books beside her.

Alright. Telekinesis obviously isn’t working out for me right now, no matter what I try. But it’ll return to normal later. Hopefully. I need to try a different approach. Perhaps a modified Come to Life spell…

Again, Twilight directed her magic at the stack of books, focusing on a large tome. She carefully began weaving a complex spell around the book, making absolutely sure she wasn’t making any mistakes. She had been careless with the spell during her first Winter Wrap Up, and that had had disastrous consequences. She could only imagine what would happen when her magic was as empowered and out of control as it was now. It was all she could do to hope that she wouldn’t make the book permanently sentient or something like that.

After a minute of concentration, the unicorn finished, and the book immediately lifted itself into the air by a few inches.

I can’t lift a book, but the book itself can, Twilight thought sourly to herself as the tome slowly made its way to the unicorn with a few jerky movements, coming to a standstill in front of her face. After a moment, the book adjusted its position so it was at a comfortable reading distance from the unicorn.

“The Principles of Fusion – The Miracle of the Sun,” she managed to read aloud to herself before the book flipped open. “Really? That’s the book I get to read?” Convincing herself that anything would be better than nothing, she allowed the book to flip ahead a few pages to the actual content, finally allowing her to read.

6 - Letters of Past and Present

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Succession

Chapter 6 – Letters of Past and Present

”You’re doing great, Twi!” Rainbow Dash encouraged her from a few feet ahead. “Just another few steps and you’re there.”

The unicorn took her eyes off her wobbly front hooves and looked toward the pegasus. Sure enough, the rainbow-maned wonderbolt was hovering next to one of Canterlot’s pegasus-drawn flying carriages just fifteen feet ahead of her. Secured to the front of the aircraft was a team of four brawny-looking pegasi, shivering slightly in the cold wind.

Twilight glanced backwards, taking in the sight of Canterlot, and sighed.

The skyline has changed. The whole city has changed. This was the capital of Equestria, home of the sun. Some would even call it the pinnacle of our civilization. Now it’s a shell; a haven for terror and memories best left forgotten.

The unicorn shivered violently while Rainbow Dash opened the door to the chariot.

It used to be warm too. So much has happened in just three months without Celestia.

Twilight awkwardly hobbled into the wagon and found a seat next to the twenty books she had managed to not destroy during her time in the hospital. Her friend soon entered the chariot as well and closed the door after her. As the two ponies were cut off from the howling winds of Canterlot’s airfield, the cabin immediately felt much warmer. The unicorn’s heart sank as she looked out the window set in the door of the flying vehicle. The airfield of Equestria’s capital was not much more than a small plaza on the outskirts of the city, just large enough for the flying chariots favored by the nobility to take off and land safely. As Twilight watched, she saw several other of the aircraft taking off all over the area, each of them full of both ponies and huge amounts of luggage.

“They’re really all leaving, huh?” she whispered sadly.

Rainbow Dash took a glance out the window as well. “Not all of them... Not right away... But yeah... It’s weird, I know. But what can we do? It’s summer, and Canterlot is already freezing. It won’t be long before nopony can live here at all. I know I’d hate to be here during winter.”

“But abandoning the city!?” the unicorn pressed as their chariot jolted into motion. Even though she had known about the decision for a week, the very idea of deserting her birthplace still outraged her. “What about when Trottingham gets too cold!? Or Manehattan or Ponyville? Or the entire Vyatkiev province!? Canterlot is the capital of Equestria for pony’s sake!”

“Well, not anymore,” the pegasus tried reasoning. “The council rules from Manehattan now.”

“I know… All of this is happening so fast. Sometimes I feel like it was just last week that I helped Applejack get rid of fungal infections on her trees or rescued Fluttershy’s rabbits from a cockatrice.”

“Three months is a long time,” Rainbow Dash pointed out. “I mean, it’s a short time to heal two shattered leg bones and regrow your skin from scratch, but things outside the hospital were pretty crazy the entire time.”

“Unlike Pinkie, I’m seeing the world for what it is. It’s kind of unsettling to see her live her life in a bubble like that.”

Twilight suddenly found herself wondering who had really been the one living in a bubble. Perhaps things had been much worse for her five friends than she originally thought.

Can I really blame anypony for trying to live in a bubble under such circumstances?

The pegasus seemed to sense her friend’s discomfort and decided to change the subject. “So what are you planning to do now?” she asked curiously. “I mean, I assume life isn’t just going to return to normal now that you’ve healed up, right?”

Twilight pondered the question for a few seconds. Outside, the chariot left the ground, and the ride became much more even, although the unicorn had to rescue her books from falling as the wagon began ascending. Finally, she answered. “The way I see it, I, or perhaps we, being the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony, have two major tasks ahead of us. One is to somehow bring back the sun, the other is to defeat Nightmare Moon.”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “Well, you aren’t lacking in ambition.”

“I’m being serious, Rainbow.”

“I know, I know. But c’mon! You want us, six ponies, to do what only Princess Celestia could do? Do you know how to build a sun? ‘Cause I sure as hay don’t!”

“I’m working on that.”

“We might be able to take down Nightmare Moon if we have the Elements, but then again, she seems to be playing pretty serious this time around. And how do you plan on finding her? She kills Celestia and then disappears without a trace for three months. She could be on the moon for all we know.”

“What I’m going to do,” Twilight explained, “is to study up on solar magic the best I can with the books at my disposal. Hopefully, I’ll be able to learn the basics of building a sun or at least what a sun is composed of. I already have a fairly good idea of the latter, so I don’t think it’ll take too long.”

“Hold on,” Rainbow Dash held up a hoof to stop the unicorn. “You’re talking about making a sun. A sun! You don’t think that’ll take long? Don’t you think Celestia spent a long time making the first one?”

“The way I heard her tell it, she was born with the knowledge,” Twilight explained. “Actually, the sun rose the same moment she was born. So, no, she didn’t spend any time on learning how to make one.”

“Oh, okay then,” the pegasus replied with mock relief. “So in a matter of weeks you’re just gonna learn to do what Celestia, the all-powerful sun goddess, was naturally capable of doing from the moment she was born. Fair enough.”

“It’s not impossible,” the lavender unicorn insisted. “I’ve spent a lot of time with Celestia. She tutored me. I’m one of the most magically adept unicorns in Equestria. My special talent and Element of Harmony is Magic. If anyone can, I’d like to think I’m the one who can recreate the sun.”

“You’re pretty good at what you do, yeah,” the pegasus granted. “But c’mon! Celestia! She’s way out of our league!”

“Like any magic, like any art, all it takes is practice,” Twilight once again insisted. “I’ll start out with small suns; the size of a hoof or a grain of sand, whatever is possible. After that, I’ll just start working my way up. The larger I can make these suns, the more likely it is for Nightmare Moon to notice my progress and try to stop me.”

“So you’ll force her to find you?” The pegasus raised an eyebrow. “Is that really a good idea? I mean, she destroyed the entire palace.”

“And we haven’t seen her since,” Twilight said. “You said it yourself. Isn’t it obvious?”

“Uhm, no?”

“In one night she kills Celestia and she vaporizes several thousand tons of marble and stone and kills hundreds of ponies. Now she’s gone. She’s hiding, Rainbow. The Great Tragedy obviously took a lot out of her. She needs to rest. If all goes well, I can draw her out before she’s fully recuperated. Force her into a confrontation while her powers are drained. My magic, on the other hoof, has never been stronger.”

“That might actually work,” the pegasus mused, putting a hoof to her chin as she thought the scheme over.

“Well, I definitely didn’t spend this month sleeping all the time.”

“It’s good to have you back, Twi,” Rainbow Dash said with a grin. “I bet you’ll sort this mess out in no time!”

Two hours later, the two friends landed in Ponyville’s town square. While the chariot pullers unhitched themselves and took a much needed break, the unicorn and the pegasus exited the vehicle and stepped out into their hometown.

Twilight closed her eyes and breathed in the familiar scent of home. It was cold here as well, but compared to the freezing winds that plagued Canterlot upon its mountain perch, the weather in Ponyville felt almost summer-like.

The pegasus next to her sighed happily. “It’s been too long.”

“It sure is good to be back,” Twilight agreed.

Despite the darkness around them, it seemed to be the equivalent of daytime in Ponyville, as the square and the surrounding streets were full of ponies wandering about, talking or selling their wares. Acting as a poor replacement for the lacking sun, torches, lanterns and electrical lamps provided the town with a small level of illumination, dotting an otherwise dark Ponyville with patches of yellow and white. The various landmarks in the area stood out, however. Beside the two ponies, the town hall was lit up by an odd combination of Nightmare Night and Hearth’s Warming decorations along with a few colored lanterns. Carousel Boutique had been outfitted with white, indigo, and blue lights that seemed to have been selected solely to match its owner’s colors. Beyond the small houses of the town, Sweet Apple Acres was speckled with small dots of glowing green from lanterns shining through the leaves of the many trees. It was obvious Pinkie Pie had been in charge of illuminating Sugarcube Corner; pink lanterns hung from every cusp and the walls were draped with pink string lights.

“Twilight!” Just as the unicorn was about to remove her gaze from the confectionary, a pink blur appeared from the other side of the town square, weaving expertly through the crowd and finally launching itself at her. Twilight reared up in alarm but instead ended up catching Pinkie Pie with her forelegs. The pink pony lay sprawled across the unicorn’s extended forehooves and wrapped a foreleg around her neck, giving Twilight a huge grin. “You’re back!”

“So are you!” the unicorn laughed, taken aback by the party pony’s assault. “But could you please go easy on my legs?”

“Sure can!” Pinkie Pie replied confidently and bounced out of Twilight’s grasp, landing neatly on her hooves. Next, she embraced the pegasus tightly. “Oh, Rainbow, it’s been such a long time since you’ve been in Ponyville, I mean Twi’s been gone awhile and me too, but you’ve been gone a super duper long time, I haven’t had anypony to prank ponies with for so long we have a lot of catching up to do, don’t we, oh, oh, ooh, I have so many ideas like switching the labels on Zecora’s potions or putting glue on the apple trees during the Applebuck Season, hah could you imagine Applejack’s face when she gets her hoof stuck on a tree, ooh and that’s when she’ll be totally defenseless and the real fun can-“

“Twilight, dear! Wonderful to see you back on your hooves!” Rarity called out as she approached the three friends, breaking Twilight’s wavering concentration on the pink pony’s ramblings. “Or, you know, back on your hooves with healthy legs. How are they feeling by the way? And your magic?”

“Well, legs are still a little shaky since I haven’t gotten quite used to walking yet,” the lavender unicorn replied happily, leaving Rainbow Dash to deal with mellowing Pinkie Pie. “And I finally got a hang of my magic two weeks ago.”

“I really wish I could have been there to help you with that,” the white unicorn apologized, but Twilight waved a hoof dismissively.

“No need to apologize, Rarity. You can’t just leave your shop unattended for three months straight, can you?”

“At least y’all stayed with her till she woke up!” Applejack added as she arrived by the chariot, panting heavily from a long run. “Ah’m sorry Ah had ta go, Twi, but, ya know, farms don’t run ‘emselves.”

The lavender unicorn rolled her eyes. “It’s okay, girls! Really, I don’t expect you to put your life on hold while I’m in the hospital.”

“Alright. Nice ta know ya’nderstand,” the farmer pony smiled. “How’re the legs doin’? An’ one o’ your letters mentioned sumthin’ ‘bout your magic goin’ crazy?”

“They’re both fine,” the unicorn replied, appreciating her friends’ concern but starting to feel she was answering the same questions over and over.

“Oh, Twilight! You’re back,” came the soft voice of Fluttershy from above as she landed beside Applejack. “I’ve been so worried! How’s your-“

“My legs are fine,” Twilight cut off the pegasus, her patience quickly wearing thin. “My magic’s fine. And my skin’s fine, too,” she was quick to interject when Fluttershy opened her mouth again.

“Oh, okay. Well, that’s… nice,” she replied in a slightly confused tone. “How did you..?”

The unicorn smiled and shook her head. “Never mind. Thanks for almost asking, though.”

“Hey!” the pink pony suddenly exclaimed. “We’re all together again and none of us have any broken legs or ribs or burnt skin and we’re all in Ponyville! You know what this calls for?”

“A party!” the friends answered in unison, laughing as they did so.

“Exacterrifictly!” the pink pony announced, pounding a hoof resolutely into the ground while wearing a determined expression. “Gimme... one hour, and then we can meet up at Sugar Cube Corner!”

The ponies bid their temporary farewells to each other, and Twilight headed back to the Ponyville library.

Having spent the better part of three months in her bed at the Canterlot hospital, she still couldn’t shake the oddness of seeing ponies walking about freely in the streets while the moon shone brightly above. All the noises that usually belonged to the realm of day had simply moved on to the night without much change.

Ponies were a highly adaptable species, she supposed, but she also knew that, sooner or later, the consequences of the absent sun would show themselves. In only a few months, the harvest at Sweet Apple Acres would begin, a harvest that would no doubt be greatly affected by this sunless summer.

She forced the bitter thoughts of starvation from her mind as the door to the Ponyville library glowed and swung open to let her in. The library felt empty, somehow; there was no Owloysius to greet her, no Peewee to offer her a warm welcome. The two birds must have been taken to Fluttershy’s cottage after their owner had been hospitalized. And of course, there was no Spike.

The books haven’t been reorganized for almost four months… a small part of her mind despaired as she dragged her hooves across the floor. She soon reached the steps that lead to her combined bedroom and study.

She briefly considered lying down in her bed, but thought better of it. After she had begun having her odd surrealistic dreams, she had become a heavy sleeper, and more often than not, she would sleep for whole days.

A fair enough trade-off, I suppose, the unicorn shrugged. The look on the doctor’s face as I regrew completely shattered bones in a matter of weeks was priceless.

The unicorn seated herself at her desk and gazed sadly at the single piece of parchment she had fixed to the right side of the desktop; a farewell from one of her oldest friends.

Dear Twilight,

By the time you read this, I’ll be well on my way to Dragoncrest Valley. Don’t follow me this time, alright!? This is just something I have to do, more so than when I decided to join the dragon migration.

Most of my life I’ve been living as a pony, and my life’s been great! As a pony, I’ve grown more mature than half the dragons I’ve ever met. You taught me about the importance of being kind and loyal and most importantly true to yourself, and I couldn’t be more grateful.

But as mature as I may be, I still find myself still standing little more than two feet tall while everypony else is growing up around me, finding lives of their own... I mean, two feet isn’t too bad of a size if you’re a pony, but I’m a dragon; I ought to be twice your size by now! As much as I’m a pony, I am also a dragon, and I feel like I’ve been denying that part of me all my life. I wanna grow up, you could say. That’s why I’m going to Dragoncrest Valley. Besides, there’s not really that much left for me here in Ponyville anymore.

Don’t worry about me; as I’m sure I’ve shown you on plenty of occasions, I can take care of myself.

Your #1 assistant, Spike.

PS: Watch out for her, okay? Fancy Pants seems nice enough, but... just in case.

PPS: I’m serious, though; DON’T FOLL

Twilight had walked in on him early in the morning, finding him nearly buried under a pile of scrapped letters, writing desperately on what appeared to be the last remaining piece of blank parchment in the library. Without realizing it, the dragon had spent the entire night trying to get his words out right.

Now the unicorn found herself wishing that she hadn’t decided to let the dragon go. For two friends that had been virtually inseparable since fillyhood, two years was an agonizingly long time. And now, with Celestia gone, Twilight needed Spike more than ever.

He must have noticed the missing sun by now, the unicorn reasoned with herself. It won’t be long before he comes back.

She looked longingly out one of her windows toward the southwest, where she knew the dragon valley to be situated, and sighed deeply.

Several hours later, by the time most of the inhabitants of Ponyville had gone to sleep and light bulbs and candles had given way to darkest night, Twilight stood upon the confectionary’s balcony, leaning her front hooves against the railing as she gazed out upon the Everfree Forest. Below her, the party was still going strong. She had excused herself to go to the bathroom a few minutes ago, but instead, she now found herself outside, staring at the dark and forbidding forest thoughtfully.

“Twi?” Rainbow Dash called out to her as she appeared from below the balcony, hovering next to the unicorn. “What’re you doing out here? The party’s inside, you know.”

“I’m thinking.” Twilight motioned toward the forest with her head. “That’s where we first faced her. That’s where we beat her.”

“Yeah… It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?” the pegasus said, turning her head toward the forest as well. She hesitated for a moment before speaking again. “You know, as scary as she was, that night was one of the best moments of my life.”

“She brought us all together,” the unicorn agreed. “Helped us forge something that would last forever.”

The two were silent for a while. Off in the distance, Twilight could make out the faint silhouette of a familiar owl prowling the fields between Fluttershy’s cottage and the forest.

“What do you plan on doing with her?” the pegasus finally asked. “Can we turn her back into Luna? Will she stay Luna?”

“I don’t know…”

“Then what? Trap her in Tartarus? Turn her to stone? Banish her to the moon?”

“I really don’t know, Rainbow,” Twilight sighed. “I guess that when the time comes… we’ll do whatever it takes to keep Equestria safe. We might even have to…”

Whatever the unicorn had wanted to say was lost to her as an odd sight caught her attention. A bright white light shone from the Everfree Forest, shining for four or five seconds before winking out with a bright flash. Near the edge of the woods, Owloysious fled into Fluttershy’s cottage. Twilight saw the shockwave before she heard it; a wave rushed toward the town, causing the trees to rustle slightly and laid the grass flat.

“What the…” Rainbow Dash’s words were washed away as an almost deafening snap rang in the two ponies’ ears and the gust of wind swept over them, carrying a faint hint of magic that only Twilight could sense. “What the hay was that!?” the pegasus exclaimed.

“Might be her,” Twilight replied, refusing to take her eyes off the area that had lit up. “We need to go take a look.” Remembering to keep her promise, the unicorn briefly turned to her pegasus friend. “I’m about to go after Nightmare Moon. I found you. Are you coming with me?”

“I’m not letting you go alone; that’s for sure,” the pegasus muttered. “And I ain’t about to chicken out of a fight with the mare who killed Princess Celestia!”

The silence of Ponyville was soon broken by frightened whispers and nervous chatter as the town came to life again. Below the two ponies, Rarity and Pinkie Pie were calling out for the missing partygoers.

With a flash, Twilight vanished from the balcony and appeared before her four friends on the street, Rainbow Dash soon joining the group.

“Please tell me that wasn’t you, Twilight,” Rarity frowned as she drew to a halt in front of the lavender unicorn.

“What?” The unicorn shook her head. “No, of course not.” She motioned toward the Everfree Forest with a hoof. “I think Nightmare Moon’s doing something out in the forest. Rainbow and I are gonna go after her, but we’ll probably need some help…”

“Say no more,” Rarity declared, smiling reassuringly. “We’re with you.”

“She doesn’t stand a chance!” Applejack added confidently.

“Well, I guess… If everyone else is going...” Fluttershy mumbled, showing obvious discomfort with the planned foray into the forest.

“Ooh, I’ll get the party cannon!” Pinkie Pie added in a singsong voice.

The Everfree Forest was well known to be one of the most hostile areas in all of Equestria; it held a diverse palette of vicious and deadly creatures and even the flora of the forest seemed to lash out at visitors given the slightest chance. As dangerous as the Everfree normally was, however, it could be downright lethal at night.

And yet Twilight now found herself standing at the outskirts of the gloomy forest, surrounded by her friends as they prepared to pass through the otherworldly borders.

“Uhm, wh-where exactly did you see that light?” Fluttershy asked nervously, inadvertently taking a step back from the dark forest.

“About eight miles in,” Rainbow Dash replied, and the other pegasus squeaked.

“We’ll stop by Zecora’s on the way,” Twilight assured her. “She might know something.” With that, the unicorn stepped forward, and the others followed.

Everything around the six ponies darkened as they passed between the first few twisted trees of the forest and an oppressive silence settled over the colorful intruders almost immediately. The unicorn always found it odd how the Everfree seemed to be a separate world from Equestria; a place where none could control the weather and where even the sun and moon would occasionally disobey the princesses. Tonight, however, the full moon hung over the ponies just as it had done in the rest of Equestria for three whole months.

After a minute, Fluttershy spoke. “Listen. They’re all frightened. The animals are quiet.”

The pegasus’ observation was met by murmurs of agreement from the others, but otherwise the party was too affected by the atmosphere around them to make any further conversation as they made their way to Zecora’s hut.

The hollowed out tree her zebra friend called home seemed much the same to Twilight as the six ponies approached the small clearing. Unsurprisingly, the lights in the small house were all on, and the unicorn caught a brief glimpse of a shadow passing by one of the windows.

As she neared the front door to knock, Twilight noticed that several of the flasks hanging from the boughs of Zecora’s tree had shattered completely from the not so distant explosion, spilling their brightly colored contents onto the grass below.

The door opened before Twilight could knock, and the zebra smiled warmly at the guests.

“Zecora! It’s good to see you’re alright,” the lavender unicorn greeted the potion brewer, but was met by a raised a hoof.

“You shall have to speak a little louder, I fear!” the zebra almost yelled. “At the moment there is not much I can hear!”

What had been a loud snap in Ponyville must have been literally deafening for somepony so close to the explosion, Twilight realized.

“We’re glad yer okay!” Applejack yelled from behind the unicorn, causing a slight ringing in Twilight’s ears. “D’ya know what happened!?”

The zebra shook her head. “There was a noise from somewhere west by south! It left an odd taste in my mouth!”

She could taste the magic? That explosion must have been more powerful than I realized, Twilight thought to herself as the zebra pointed them in the general direction of the blast site.

“The culprit I cannot help you pursue!” she yelled, gesturing at her ears. “But the best of luck I wish to you!”

“Thanks…” Twilight began, but then remembered she had to shout to be heard by the zebra. “Thanks! We’ll see you later when we’ve finished investigating!” Twilight responded as she galloped off in the direction Zecora had indicated.

As the six ran, the quiet of the forest soon gave way to panicked screeches and guttural roars all around them. It seemed the Everfree had recovered from its initial shock, panicking and raging now rather than staying silent.

“Are ya sure this is safe, Twi?” Applejack asked nervously as the noise of the forest began growing in volume.

“We’re trying to chase down Nightmare Moon!” Twilight replied, shouting to be heard over the sound of their pounding hooves. “Of course it’s not safe!”

As the unicorn took her eyes off the orange pony to once again look forward, a broken tree caught her eye off to her right. The bright shade of the splinters protruding from the mangled trunk led her to believe that it might only recently have been felled. She veered toward the damaged vegetation and soon noticed similar looking trees and bushes in what had now become a small clearing. In the center of the clearing, a large patch of grass seemed to have burned away.

Aside from a small indentation in the ground and the few fallen trees, however, Twilight could see no signs of the blast she had seen from Sugarcube Corner. The damage she beheld now had definitely been caused by some sort of explosion of some sort, but it had seemed a lot bigger from Ponyville. Surely it would have done more damage than just knock over a few trees.

No, I can still sense the hint of magic. This is exactly where it happened.

The unicorn sighed. “She’s not here.”

“Is this it?” the rainbow maned pegasus exclaimed, more than a little frustrated. “I was totally geared up for a showdown with Nightmare!” She stopped flapping her wings and dropped to the ground with an annoyed grunt. “Told you I should have flown ahead! So what do we do now? Chase her down? Can you track her down with some sort of spell?”

The unmistakable roar of an angered ursa minor cut into the ponies’ conversation, leaving them silent for a while barring a quiet ‘eep’ from Fluttershy.

“She could be anywhere by now,” Twilight answered, hanging her head low in defeat. A few miles west, the ursa roared again. “And I get the feeling we should get back to Ponyville as soon as possible.”

A few hours later, the door to the Ponyville library swung open as Twilight entered, completely worn out. Twigs and leaves stuck to her disheveled mane and tail and streaks of dirt had given her half as many stripes as Zecora.

“Timberwolves,” she muttered to herself. “Not squirrels, not rabbits. We had to run into a pack of timberwolves!”

Her pet owl, Owloysius, and the younger phoenix, Peewee, both of whom she had picked up from Fluttershy’s cottage a few minutes ago, swooped into the library before the unicorn shut the door again.

She yawned as she climbed the stairs, her mind almost completely preoccupied with how soft her bed must be. She pushed those thoughts away, however, and instead called out to her pet owl perched atop the railing ahead of her. “Owloysius, could you please get any books we have on solar magic and anything relating to the subject? Get Peewee to help you.” With a confident hoot, the owl took to the air again, rounding up the phoenix.

I wonder what happened to Philomeena, she thought as she looked at her two pets’ antics. Phoenixes are immortal, but then again, so are alicorns.

As she once again seated herself at her desk, she couldn’t help reading through the letter at her side once more, feelings of loneliness soon overcoming her.

She was brought out of her reverie as a book detailing the mythology of the sun’s birth landed in front of Twilight with a heavy bump, soon followed by Starswirl the Bearded’s collection of notes on solar mechanics.

Taking her mind off of her missing friend, the unicorn set to work on studying up on one of the greatest tests of her life.

“Come on, you stupid wisp of heated gas, burn!” the lavender unicorn hissed at a patch of air in the middle of the room. She had been reading up on and experimenting with her solar magic for a whole month now without any useful results, and her exertions were starting to leave their mark on the unicorn’s patience. “And keep burning this time!” Her horn blazed brightly, and a fireball twice the size of her head flared into existence in the center of the library. Bright daylight bathed the room and a wave of heat washed over her, but Twilight remained focused on the task at hoof. Her horn shone even brighter as she began pouring scores of enchantments into the fire, trying desperately to sate its suicidal hunger.

But where bright light and sweltering heat failed to distract the unicorn, a sudden loud knocking on her door succeeded.

“Closed!” Twilight tried dismissing the interrupting pony, but she was already too late. A split second of wavering concentration had caused the solite, as the unicorn had taken to calling her experimental mini-suns, to destabilize and collapse, and she threw an opaque force field around the tiny supernova before any damage could be done to the library. She applied her augmented cooling spell to the astronomical temperatures within the force field before cancelling all of her magic, releasing a pleasantly warm breeze that swept through the library.

Again, somepony knocked at the door, and Twilight’s ear twitched. Hiding her frustration behind a forced smile, the unicorn used her magic to unlock and open the door, allowing a gray pegasus mare to enter.

“Hi there, Twilight!” Derpy Hooves greeted the unicorn happily, accidentally dropping the letter she had held clenched between her teeth as she did so. She managed to catch it between her front hooves, though, her wings beating quickly to prevent her from falling over. “Mail’s here!”

“Thanks, Derpy,” Twilight replied politely, using her magic to relieve the mailmare of the envelope. “But I was kinda in the middle of stabilizing a fusion reaction. I do have that combined mailbox and book deposit outside, you know.”

“It was all full,” Derpy frowned, one eye glancing back out the door at the overflowing mailbox. “But then I saw the pretty lights from in here and figured you must be awake. You’re up early, huh?”

“Early?” Twilight glanced out her window before remembering that the sky would tell her nothing of the time. “Ugh.” The unicorn massaged her forehead with her hoof. “Not again.”

“It’s really warm in here,” the grey pegasus commented, ruffling her feathers a bit. “Were you lighting a fire? Are you allowed to do that in a library?”

“I guess you could call it a fire,” the unicorn muttered sleepily, the revelation of her having once again stayed up all night making her feel suddenly tired. “But I’ve got it under control.”

“Alrighty, then!” the mailmare beamed. “Still got a lot of deliveries to make, so I guess I’ll see ya around!”

The unicorn saw the pegasus out, shaking her head slowly as Derpy took wing.

How can she be so happy-go-lucky at times like this? You’d think she didn’t know Celestia is dead. But then again… It’s been almost four months…

Before going inside again, Twilight emptied her mailbox, yielding her a dozen books and a huge pile of letters from her parents. She couldn’t believe she had neglected her mail completely since she had returned to Ponyville, and yet she now stood with four whole months’ worth of turned in books and letters.

As she made her way toward the stairs, the books separated themselves from the mass of letters and floated to their respective places on the shelves around her. The unicorn ascended the stairs to her study once again, getting a nagging feeling in the back of her mind that she had been spending too much time there lately. When had she last eaten? When had she last slept?

The letters from her parents held little interest to the unicorn as she skimmed through them. Azure Glimmer and Patina’s concern for her was touching, but the letters failed to tell her anything she didn’t already know. What interested her now was her latest letter; an envelope carrying the seal of The Council of Nine, as the new rulers of Equestria had taken to calling themselves. She unsealed the envelope and pulled out a short letter. As she read, she was fairly certain she recognized Civil Tenet’s writing.

To Twilight Sparkle,

Bearer of the Element of Magic and Heroine of Equestria.

The ruling body of Equestria, The Council of Nine, hereby requests your presence in the private conclave of The Council of Nine in Cristallum in Manehattan.

As the only survivor present at the ground zero of The Great Tragedy, your testimony of the event would be of utmost importance to the investigation of this disaster. We hope that a month at home has provided you with enough time to recover from this tragedy, and that you will be able to speak freely of the terrible event without causing you pain. The hearing will be held in private, meaning that only you and The Council of Nine will be present.

In the envelope containing this letter you will find an enchanted hourglass showing you the time of the inquiry.

We look forward to your participation.

Civil Tenet of The Council of Nine.

Twilight sighed as she finished the letter. This was not at all what she needed. She had hardly ventured outside during the month she had spent in Ponyville; she had barely found time to eat or sleep. Studying and practicing the art of solar magic took up all of her time, and rightly so, but now the council wanted her to waste her time on a trip that would take several days.

I haven’t told them about Nightmare Moon... she realized, wincing at her own forgetfulness. Maybe that’ll keep them occupied for some time while I finish my research.

The unicorn promptly summoned a quill and a blank piece of paper and began writing her reply, casting a Come to Life spell on the quill before dictating the contents of the letter. Although she had long since learnt to control her empowered magic, Twilight preferred this spell to simply using her telekinesis. A life with Spike had caused her to grow accustomed to dictating letters instead of writing them. “Dear Civil Tenet and honored council,” she began, and the quill wrote down her words. “While I can understand why you may think my testimony is of importance to your investigation, I believe I have suffered from such severe trauma both physically and psychologically that I hardly remember anything relevant of what happened at the time of The Great Tragedy. I have since the funeral done some investigation into the matter, though, and can without a doubt conclude that the pony that murdered Celestia is none other than Nightmare Moon.”

“I am afraid, however, that I cannot attend this hearing of yours as I am currently in the middle of some very important arcane experimentation that can prove to be crucial for Equestria’s continued existence. Ergo, I respectfully decline your invitation to Cristallum. If you or any of the council members have further questions, it will be my pleasure to continue this correspondence. Sincerely, Twilight Sparkle.”

The quill retreated from the paper and laid itself down on the desk next to Spike’s old letter before the Come to Life spell faded away. Twilight read her letter through several times, making a few revisions here and there before opening a drawer, summoning an envelope, and folding away the letter. Maybe she could still catch Derpy Hooves on her rounds. One of the last places the mailmare usually visited was Applejack’s farm. There was that, and Twilight had to admit that the gray pegasus had been right when she commented about the safety issues of constructing a small sun inside a tree full of paper. It would be best if she continued her experiments somewhere outside Ponyville.

Once again forgetting all about her bed, the unicorn left her desk and exited the library.

Outside, the dark town was slowly coming to life, ponies emerging from their hovels and getting ready for a long night’s work. The unicorn found herself wondering what the others thought of the bright flashes of daylight that would occasionally emerge from inside her own house. Did they know what she was doing? How much were they expecting of her?

Contrasting the sleepy civilians, scores of Ponyvillian guards were patrolling the streets vigilantly. Since the explosion in the Everfree, the town’s level of security had risen remarkably due to worries about the panicked creatures within the dark forest.

A steel-clad guard saluted shortly to the Element of Magic as she walked by, but Twilight failed to notice, her thoughts preoccupied with the mechanics of her solites as they had so often been for the past month.

“I have the fuel constituent; I don’t think I can improve that anymore than I already have,” the unicorn muttered to herself, eliciting odd glances from the sleepy ponies around her. “But that might be the problem. It burns up much too fast. But if it burns any slower, it will never be able to create the necessary amounts of heat and light to serve as a sun. I keep adding to the fuel component and my preservation spell should slow the process down, yet the solite keeps exploding despite all my wards designed to prevent just such an outcome. Why?”

After several minutes of walking, Twilight entered into the more sparsely populated area around Ponyville. A few miles ahead, Sweet Apple Acres came into view. The orchards themselves had become a strange sight after The Great Tragedy. Lanterns hung from branches and large candles littered the grass between the apple trees, trying futilely to light up the deep darkness of the massive orchard. According to Applejack, the candles were far from a luxury the family had allowed itself. Critters and wild beasts, most of them from the Everfree, had taken to settle in the orchards where food was so abundant. The candles did little to scare them off, but it made it easier for the farmers to spot potential threats. Only a few weeks ago, Big Mac had been attacked by a lone timberwolf, and it had taken him a week to recover.

Twilight turned her attention back to her solite problem as she neared the apple farmers’ home. “There must be some incompatibility issue with my spells.” She sighed heavily as she started envisioning every single spell she usually poured into her solite. Using her spell for spell system visualization, small glittering webs and strings appeared before her, forming intricate patterns that only skilled mages would ever be able to make any sense of. “It’ll take ages to sort this out!” she despaired at the glowing mesh of strings in front of her. Even so, she began meticulously sifting through the complex structure, looking for anything that might be out of place.

By the time Twilight reached her farmer friend’s house, she had come no closer to solving the problem that hindered her solite construction. She let the spell model in front of her fade away as she gave a short knock on the door. A few seconds later, Applejack appeared in the doorway.

“Well, howdy there, Twilight! How come you’re up this early?”

“I, uh, didn’t sleep,” the unicorn answered, waving a hoof in dismissal at the farmer’s reproachful glare. “I’m fine, just been studying on creating a sun. You know? Saving Equestria?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Applejack sighed. “But that don’t mean you shouldn’t sleep, ya hear? Ah don’t much like the thought o’ you doin’ your fusion-whatcha-mah-call-it-spells when ya’re all frazzled like that.”

“I can practically do my Lockdown spell in my sleep,” Twilight assured the orange earth pony. “I came to hear if Derpy’s been by here yet? I have a letter I need to get to Manehattan.”

“Mmnope, haven’t seen her.” Applejack frowned. “You writin’ to the council?”

“They wanted some sort of testimony about The Great Tragedy,” the unicorn replied disinterestedly. “A complete waste of my time.”

“Ah see. Ya’ll told ‘em ‘bout Nightmare Moon already, right?” When the unicorn shook her head, the farmer brought a hoof to her forehead in shock. “Tarnation, girl! Ya found out almost two months ago! Why didn’t ya tell nopony else!?”

“I’ve been busy!” Twilight defended herself. “Besides, what good would it do? Remember back when we first met her? The guards were totally useless! And it’s worse this time, AJ, you know that. If anyone gets in her way, she won’t just swat them away like last time. She... incinerates them. We’re the only ones who can defeat her, and she knows that. We’re her top priority; she won’t make a move against Equestria before we’re dealt with.”

“That’s an impressin’ bunch o’ assumptions…” Applejack remarked dubiously, but was interrupted by a voice from above.

“Hi, girls!” Derpy called out above the two ponies, and a second later, the gray pegasus landed on the porch where the two other ponies stood with a thud, her hind legs smashing through a wooden board in the process. “Whoops! Sorry, Applejack,” she apologized as she extracted herself from the hole.

“Don’t fret yaself none about it, missy,” the farmer sighed. “Ah’m sure Apple Bloom’ll fix it up lickety-split.”

“Oh, Derpy!” Twilight exclaimed. “I have a letter that needs to get to Manehattan. Can you take care of it?” As the mailmare nodded, the unicorn levitated the letter into her bag. “Thanks. Are you okay, though?”

“Yeah.” came the muffled reply as the pegasus dipped her head into her saddlebag to retrieve the Apple family’s mail. “Why’d ya ask?”

“Uhm, no reason, I guess…” the unicorn answered, eyeing the hole Derpy Hooves had punched through the wood. Shaking her head slightly, she turned to face the earth pony again. “Applejack, I wanted to ask you if it’s okay I continue my solite experiments a mile east of here. Derpy helped me realize fire in a wooden library wasn’t all that smart.”

“’Slong as ya don’t go burnin’ down mah apple trees,” the farmer shrugged. “But ya sure it’s safe to wander around alone so far from Ponyville? Animals’re startin’ to get mighty hostile, y’know.”

“I’ll be blowing up a small sun every ten minutes,” Twilight reasoned. “I doubt anyone would want to get near me.”

“Alright, Ah guess,” Applejack sighed, obviously not too happy with letting the unicorn go. “Ah’ll let Rainbow know where yer at, though.”

“Fair enough.” The unicorn jumped off the porch, already summoning her spell model. “But tell her to be careful; trust me, supernovas may look amazing, but they aren’t any fun up close.”

7 - Separation

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Succession

Chapter 7 – Separation

The train bound for Manehattan slowed to a halt with an unpleasant screech, enveloping the Ponyville station and the six ponies standing there in a cloud of steam. Despite it being late summer, chilling gusts of wind buffeted the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony, driving away the swirling mists around them as they said their farewells.

“And you’re sure you have to go?” Twilight asked in an almost pleading tone.

“We have been over this already, Twilight,” Rarity replied, tears starting to well up in her eyes as she gazed at her hooves.

“I know, it’s just… last time you left…”

“You know I regret what happened, Twilight, but it’s not like we’ll see a repeat of that this time around, will we?” Rarity pointed out, a single tear falling to the ground as unpleasant memories bubbled to the surface. “Fashion is drawing me away this time, not… personal matters.”

“No one’s running off to Dragoncrest this time, no,” the lavender unicorn granted, but still persisted. “But… it still isn’t right, Rarity.”

“I can’t run my business in Ponyville anymore,” the fashionista explained as she had done so many times before. “None of my regular customers live here, and while transport was never a problem earlier, you just can’t imagine how expensive it has become lately. If I don’t move to Manehattan... well quite frankly, I’ll go bankrupt. Besides, it’s been a while since I last saw my family... and... there’s the matter of these beastly creatures acting up all over Central Equestria. I fear Ponyville is no longer safe. I really wish you girls would come with me.”

“Well, ya know Ah can’t just pack up,” Applejack sighed in response.

“We belong in Ponyville,” Rainbow Dash said. “That’s something I’ve realized after eighteen months with the Wonderbolts. You belong here too, Rarity. Pretty sure you said that yourself two years ago.”

“Please don’t be that way, Rainbow,” the unicorn pouted. “Fleur de Lis has generously offered me quite an attractive position in her little business. Actually, she’s been asking me about it for a whole year now.” Rarity chuckled nervously. “I’d say it’s about time I finally obliged.”

“Ya’ll be careful out there, then,” Applejack warned the unicorn, drawing the fashionista into a tight embrace. “Ponyville may be full o’ mean-spirited critters, but Manehattan has its fair share of, err, ‘ruffians’.”

A sharp whistle echoed throughout the almost empty platform, indicating that the train would depart in a matter of seconds. Rarity was quickly swamped as all of her friends hugged her tightly, wishing her luck and safe travels. The white unicorn boarded the train, and Twilight used her magic to help her with the luggage.

With another great hiss and several loud clanking noises, the train slowly set into motion, carrying away the fashionista as it had done two years ago.

“So many years we’ve lived together in Ponyville,” Twilight said to herself, but loud enough for the others to hear. “I mean, she’s left before, but this time it’s... different. I can feel it. It’s like it’s just the beginning of something.”

“The beginning?” Rainbow Dash frowned. “Come on, Twi, it’s not like we’re all just gonna pack up and leave just because Rarity did.” She threw a critical glare at the unicorn. “Right?”

“All I’m saying is that it’s more likely,” she defended herself. “She was right about the animals, though; the smaller towns are more at risk than cities like Manehattan and Las Pegasus. What if a pack of timberwolves wanders into town?”

“The wolves ain’t that tough,” Applejack said. “Besides, Ponyville’s got the Elements of Harmony and a score o’ guards to defend it. We’re safe enough ‘slong as we don’t go wanderin’ off by ourselves.”

“But Rarity just left!” Pinkie Pie, on the verge of tears, pointed out. “And she’s all alone! We were finally all together again, and then she just left!” The pink earth pony pouted and gazed at her hooves. “That’s not fair at all...”

“She’ll be alright,” Rainbow Dash assured her friend. “If she stayed here, she wouldn’t be, right?”

“She... she could have stayed with one of us,” Pinkie Pie suggested, lightening up a bit. “We could have sleepovers every day of the month!”

The ponies were silent for a few moments before Fluttershy finally said what was on everypony’s mind. “I... I don’t think she’d like that, Pinkie Pie... at all...”

“Have you ever tried lending her money?” Twilight asked the pink pony. “You’d have an easier time convincing her to stick her head in a trash can.”

“Ooh! I did that once!” Pinkie Pie shouted with glee. “I bet I could get her to come back here, too! I’ll write her a letter!”

“But she’s already...” Twilight tried, but the party pony had already left the station. “She’s gonna be disappointed,” she sighed.

“Better later’n now, Ah s’ppose,” Applejack pointed out. “If anypony can let ‘er down easy, it’ll be Rarity, right?”

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash agreed, taking to the air. “Sorry for bailin’ on you all, but I’ve got another Wonderbolts meeting in, uh, fifteen minutes! Better get going!” In a multichromatic flash of light, the pegasus was gone; putting Ponyville behind her in less than ten seconds.

“I should go too; I think one of my rabbits caught a cold the other day,” Fluttershy whispered almost apologetically. “Oh dear, they might all have caught it by now...” Still muttering quietly to herself, the pale yellow pegasus flew off in the opposite direction of the Wonderbolt.

“It’ll be weird not havin’ Rarity around,” Applejack sighed after she and the lavender unicorn had left the station. “You’re right, too; it’s different this time. Ya think she’s ever gonna come back?”

“Maybe...” Twilight replied somberly. “Once all of this blows over, she might come back. If it blows over.”

“Speakin’ o’ which,” the farmer said, chuckling teasingly as she attempted to lift the mood. “Ah bet y’all are off to blow up some more suns, right?”

“I don’t try to blow them up…” the unicorn grumbled. “But... maybe work will help take my mind off of all this. Besides, none of this will blow over until I make a sun.”

“Ah guess you’ll be accompanyin’ me to the Acres, then?” Twilight nodded again, and the two ponies plodded on for some time, eventually reaching the outskirts of town. Beyond the apple orchards, the long, drawn-out howl of a timberwolf called out a warning to all potential prey in the area. Both friends shivered slightly. “So, come up with any bright ideas ‘gardin’ the animals?”

The lavender unicorn shook her head, looking toward the source of the howl. “I don’t claim to be an expert on animals. If anything can calm them down, I bet it’s Fluttershy, but, well…”

“…ya ain’t ‘bout to send ‘er into a pack o’ bloodthirsty timberwolves alone.”

“Nope,” the unicorn concurred.

“And yer suns? How’re they holdin’ up?”

“No longer in a dead end.” Twilight allowed herself a small smile. “I found out which of my spells is interfering with my solites. Now I’m working on replacing it. You’ll probably be hearing quite a few explosions,” she giggled at herself. “But it won’t be long now. Soon I can make a lasting solite, and then it’ll just be a matter of scaling up the spell.”

“And defeating Nightmare Moon,” Applejack reminded her. “Ah hate ta say it, but we’re only halfway. Or, well, Ah guess you are halfway. Ah haven’t been to much help, have Ah?”

“Don’t beat yourself up about it, AJ. Even if you were a unicorn, solar magic is some pretty advanced stuff. Even Rarity couldn’t do anything to help.” She paused for a while before continuing. “And like you said, creating a sun is just one step. We’ll need all the Elements of Harmony to defeat Nightmare Moon.”

“So where are those Elements anyway? You’d think they’d just give ‘em to us what with all the disasters we need ta take care of all the time.”

“They were still inside the palace by the time of The Great Tragedy, I think,” Twilight said. “In Celestia’s enchanted chamber. But the council must have recovered them before… leaving Canterlot…”

“Y’alright, sugarcube?” Applejack frowned, looking with concern at her friend. “Canterlot still buggin’ ya?”

“Yeah,” the unicorn admitted. “I mean, you’d think they would at least try to hold onto the capital! To my home!”

“Ah can’t imagine ever abandonin’ Sweet Apple Acres,” the farmer said, stopping as the two ponies reached the crossroads where their paths split. “Ah could leave it in the care of Apple Bloom or Big Macintosh or one o’ mah cousins, but abandonin’ it all together?” Applejack shook her head and put a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “You just come talk to me if’n you need it, alright?”

“Thanks, AJ.” The unicorn smiled, giving the farmer a small hug. “See ya later.”

It wasn’t long before Twilight arrived at the burnt field she would usually practice her solite construction in. Hovering just within her sight were the lights of Ponyville and Sweet Apple Acres, far enough for no ponies to be overly disturbed by her experiments, but close enough for Twilight to get back safely should she encounter any threats.

Alright, so I need to improve the containment constituent of my spell, she thought. The three subspells I used from the beginning formed some unforeseen synergistic effect that destabilized the solite. Every combination I’ve tried seems to be either too weak or too strong. I might be able to calculate which spells I need and how to apply them, but… no, that would probably take at least two weeks. I guess nothing’s left but the good old trial and error method.

Her horn glowed brilliantly, and the air in front of her promptly turned into a raging inferno. Acting on a split second’s notice, the unicorn managed to erect a nearly impenetrable magenta wall in front of her.

More containment. Definitely more containment.

Twilight tried again, this time producing a smaller and more intense explosion.

Far from what I want, but better.

Again and again the unicorn lit the air in front of her with powerful solar magic, resulting in both explosions and implosions. No matter what spell she tried using, every experiment seemed to end in failure. Twilight practiced her fusion for several days, and although every solite burned for but a few seconds, she told herself that each failure was a step closer to success. Had it not been for her dedication to the goals of defeating Nightmare Moon and bringing back the sun to Equestria, she might very well have given up.

A week of trial and error. Almost there. I have the right set of containment spells, and I should have the necessary level of intensity for each of them. Unless my containment spells aren’t the only problem, this next solite should hold for quite some time.

Like it had done so many times for the past week, the lavender unicorn’s horn was wreathed in what looked like magenta flames as her magic surged into a patch of air not far from her. The air rippled and began glowing until a large fireball appeared in front of Twilight. The glow in her horn only intensified as the many spells of stabilization, efficiency, preservation, burning, light, and heat rushed from her and into the glowing orb before her.

The unicorn soon began panting as the exertion and the heat radiating from the solite threatened to overcome her, and her knees began shaking violently. A good sign, she supposed, as she rarely made it this far.

After ten whole minutes, Twilight had finally cast the last spell upon her solite. Although the glowing orb had collapsed to the size of nothing more than a hoof, the fires still burned brightly, gracing her and her surroundings with heat and light much akin to that of Celestia’s sun.

Ten minutes of burning. No visible signs of destabilization. That’s a new record. But will it keep burning? Once I break our connection, will the solite remain?

While the unicorn considered her options, her decision was very abruptly made by somepony else.

A huge bang behind Twilight broke her concentration and caused her to lose her grasp on the solite. To her luck and vast satisfaction, however, the solite remained hovering and burning in the air in front of her. After having made certain that her sun was no longer in danger, she turned toward the source of the noise behind her.

“Twilight!” came the scream of Rainbow Dash as she approached the unicorn at an inconceivable speed, trailing a glittering rainbow behind her. The pegasus flared her wings and looped around Twilight once before coming to a skidding halt.

Noticing her friend’s panicked expression, the lavender unicorn quickly grew very worried. “R-Rainbow? W-what? What is it?”

“Fluttershy!” the pegasus half-gasped and half-screamed. “You need to come quick!” Saying nothing more, the star flyer of the Wonderbolts grabbed Twilight and yanked her off the ground, lifting her into the air with incredible ease. The unicorn’s world lurched as Rainbow Dash spun around the way she came, and Twilight soon found herself flying through the air at what she could only imagine as being near supersonic speed.

“Rainbow! What’s going on!?” the unicorn demanded, though she felt her words being driven straight back into her lungs as soon as she spoke. Her mane whipped mercilessly against her neck in the wind and the areas on her forelegs where Rainbow Dash was holding her were screaming with agony.

“Timberwolves!” was all the pegasus could manage as she beat her wings furiously, rapidly approaching Fluttershy’s cottage.

Twilight’s heart went cold as she laid her eyes upon the shy pegasus’ home. Not a single torch or lantern was lit, plunging the whole scene into a darkness broken only by the bursts of magic from four of the unicorn guards of Ponyville. The guards, however, were nowhere near the cottage, driven back by a pack of twenty or more timberwolves. While Rainbow Dash came in for a landing, the unicorn was quick to avert her gaze from the large, fenced-off area behind the cottage, where there seemed to be nothing but bared fangs and gore.

The two ponies touched down upon the ground a few feet behind the guardsponies, and the pegasus promptly collapsed from exertion. The unicorn noticed quite a few cuts and even a bite mark on the Element of Loyalty. “We don’t know if Fluttershy’s in there,” she panted, motioning toward the besieged home.

Letting the pegasus rest, Twilight ran forward, passing by the four guards. Although she had just spent ten minutes on fabricating a small sun, the unicorn found that her powers came easily to her, spurred on by the fear of losing a friend.

A crackling bolt of electricity struck a timberwolf square in the chest, sending it hurtling into the walls of the very house it attacked with a crunch. A second and third wolf were grabbed by the power of the Element of Magic and tossed like ragdolls into the Everfree Forest. As two more of its members were struck down by lightning, the pack’s attention turned to the lavender pony challenging it.

A small bubble of magenta light appeared around the unicorn as the first of the timberwolves approached, providing ample protection for Twilight. She ignored the crowd of predators gathering around her and the bloody canines scraping at her barrier, focusing instead on the edge of the Everfree Forest. Twin trails of purple fire erupted from there and quickly began approaching the unicorn. When the flames finally passed by Twilight, they converged, surrounding herself and her attackers with fire, but leaving a path going straight into the Everfree.

The unicorn teleported out of her own force field and began manipulating the fire to drive more than a dozen timberwolves back into the forest where they came from, setting their tails on fire for good measure.

With the help of the four unicorn guards and Rainbow Dash, it took only an additional few moments to clear away the rest of the wolves.

“Is that the last of them?” Rainbow Dash panted as the remaining timberwolf melted into the brush of the Everfree, limping and whimpering.

“I think so,” one of the guards replied, sighing with relief. “Thanks for the…” The pegasus galloped toward the dark cottage, threw open the door and vanished inside before Twilight or the guards could even move.

“Fluttershy!” the purple mare heard the desperate Wonderbolt cry out from somewhere upstairs as she entered the house herself. “Twilight, she’s not here!”

The interior of the animal caretaker’s home was almost pitch-black, lit only sparsely by the few windows in the living room. Twilight flinched and then shivered as she stepped on something sticky and decided to provide the house with illumination herself.

The glow from her horn, however, soon faded away as quickly as it had been summoned, and with a horrified whimper, the unicorn backed out of the living room and out through the front door.

“Twilight!?” She turned her head weakly to see Pinkie Pie rushing up to her. As the pink pony came to a halt, Twilight noticed a thin trail of blood running from the earth pony’s nose, one of the worst signs the Pinkie Sense had been known to produce. “Wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-what happened?”

“Timberwolves,” she whispered, fearing that she might break down sobbing any minute. Inside the house, Rainbow Dash’s voice grew steadily more and more desperate, calling out for the pony that obviously was no longer there.

Pinkie Pie’s eyes grew wide and her hair deflated completely when she saw the red stains on the unicorn’s hooves, and before Twilight could do anything to stop her, the pink pony joined the pegasus inside. Before long, the unicorn guards recovered from the fight with the wolves enough for them to enter Fluttershy’s home as well. The lavender unicorn averted her gaze as the ponies inside, provided with the light of the guards, discovered the grisly scene in the living room.

It didn’t take long before Twilight was bowled over by Rainbow Dash, followed by Pinkie Pie, who pulled each other into a tight, comforting embrace.

“How could they do that!?” the pegasus sobbed into the unicorn’s mane.

“So… much… blood…” Pinkie Pie whispered, too shocked to even cry.

“And yellow feathers… her feathers…” The lavender unicorn shuddered. While the guards investigated the area, the three ponies held onto each other desperately, the pegasus, the unicorn, and the earth pony shedding their tears together.

“She’s… gonna be heartbroken,” Rainbow Dash whispered after her own sobbing had calmed down. “All of her pets… Angel too, I think. Gone.”

“Dash,” Twilight began in a worried tone after a minute more of crying. “Fluttershy… She’s not…“

“No!” the pegasus screamed defiantly, breaking out of their embrace. “She’s not dead! She got away! She’s hiding somewhere!”

The unicorn opened her mouth to try to reason with her friend, but thought better of it.

This isn’t much different from when Celestia died. Rainbow Dash won’t accept it... and perhaps... maybe she’s right? We only saw her feathers. Unless she was torn completely apart or dragged into the Everfree, she might very well have escaped. She must have.

“What’s... What’s your Pinkie Sense say?” Twilight asked the pink pony, fearing the answer.

“S-s-s-somepony died..!” Pinkie Pie muttered, wiping her nose with a bloody hoof. “B-b-b-b-b-but i-it wasn’t her... It can’t have... No! I’m... I’m sure... she’s still...”

“Okay, Rainbow,” Twilight surrendered as the earth pony broke down sobbing. “We’ll search for her. I’ll go get the Apple family and go through Sweet Apple Acres, Pinkie, you go to Ponyville and get as much help as you can. Search the town. Rainbow, you go to Cloudsdale.”

The pegasus saluted solemnly and blasted off into the air, the crack of a sonic rainboom following not long thereafter. As the pink pony galloped off in direction of the town, the unicorn vanished in a flash.

“She ain’t here, Twi,” Applejack sighed as they, Big Mac and Apple Bloom met in the middle of the dark Sweet Apple Acres. “Ah know these parts like the back o’ mah hoof and so does Macintosh. If’n we can’t find her in five whole hours, she either ain’t here or she’s hidin’ from us fer some reason.”

“Eeyup.”

“I guess you’re right.” The unicorn shook her head sadly. “Let’s head on back to Ponyville. Somepony might have found her there.”

The four ponies exited the dense orchard and started down the path leading to town. The entire area was ablaze with lanterns, torches and flashlights moving about frantically both inside and outside Ponyville, and Twilight could hear the search parties’ shouts from several miles away. What looked like the entire population of Ponyville was marching about in the fields and woods south of town; a swarm of fireflies calling out the name of the missing pegasus.

“They haven’t found her,” Twilight concluded despondently.

“Can’t say Ah expected much else, really…” Applejack shook her head sadly.

“She’s gonna be alright, ain’t she?” Apple Bloom whimpered from behind the two leading ponies. The question went unanswered.

As the unicorn and three earth ponies drew near one of the closest search parties, coincidentally led by Pinkie Pie, a rainbow seemed to grow out from the southern horizon in the direction of Cloudsdale. The rainbow zigzagged violently as it lengthened, the Wonderbolt scouring a huge area as she returned from her search.

After only a few seconds, Rainbow Dash landed in front of Twilight and Applejack, panting heavily. As a throng of ponies gathered around the cyan pegasus, she shook her head. “Not a sign of her in all of Cloudsdale. I don’t think she’s anywhere between here and there either.”

It wasn’t long before every gaze turned to Twilight, the recognized master of organization and planning. “What do we do now?” Pinkie Pie asked, and the unicorn sighed.

“I think we’ve looked everywhere Fluttershy would run off to if she was in danger. It’s time we focused on the places somepony or something would take her to.” With that, the ponies’ gaze turned from the lavender unicorn to the dark reaches of the Everfree Forest. “If we find her anywhere tonight, it’ll be in the Everfree.”

Once again, Twilight found herself standing before the twisted trees of the huge forest. This time, however, a good third of Ponyville stood behind her, though for some reason, it did not seem to make up for the absence of Rarity and Fluttershy.

The lavender unicorn and her three friends led the search party through the odd border that surrounded the forest and soon hundreds of ponies fell silent all at once.

“So what?” Rainbow Dash whispered to the unicorn after some time. The speedy pegasus was very uncharacteristically walking beside her friends instead of hovering somewhere above them, limping slightly on the leg where she had been bitten by a timberwolf. “Do we head over to Zecora’s first like last time?”

“It’s a start…” Twilight replied, gazing off into the darkness ahead of them. Behind her, the Ponyvillians were starting to liven up once again. “To be honest, I don’t think we’ll find her out here, Rainbow. At least not alive.” She waited for a reply, but none came. “I want to believe she’s okay, Dash, and something tells me she isn’t gone, but evidence seems to point in the opposite direction.”

“I know, I know,” the pegasus muttered dismally. “But we can’t just give up on her, can we?”

“O’course not, sugarcube,” Applejack interjected quickly. “We’ll keep on looking for her as long as we can. What Ah think Twi’s sayin’ is just that… well, y’all shouldn’t get your hopes up.”

“At this point, no news is good news,” Twilight agreed.

The four ponies stepped into a small clearing, and Twilight frowned. Even through the darkness of the Everfree, Zecora’s house should have been in sight by now, but the unicorn could see nothing.

“Don’t worry about it, Dashie!” Pinkie Pie encouraged the pegasus with a smile. “I’m sure Fluttershy is alright. We just need to find her! Of all the ponies I’ve ever met, Fluttershy must be the very bestest at hiding, so it might take a while, but we’ll find her for sure! Besides, the Pinkie Sense says she’s just fine! Oh wait, I feel something coming on now… My knee’s getting pinchy!”

“Uh, girls?” Twilight began while the pink pony underwent one of her clairvoyant spasms, the lavender unicorn’s voice on the verge of breaking. “Please tell me I’m the only one seeing this.”

Before the four ponies were the remnants of Zecora’s home. The giant hollow tree had been squashed flat by something huge, and splinters and branches littered the entire clearing. The unicorn shook her head in disbelief, tears coming to her eyes as she once again felt her world being turned upside down.

That was the nosebleed... Not Fluttershy... How many tragedies can happen in one night? First Fluttershy, and now Zecora…

“It’s her!” Pinkie Pie sobbed, confirming the unicorn’s beliefs as her optimistic attitude melted away in a split second. “Nononono! Not Zecora!”

“Mah stars…” the farmer pony muttered as the friends approached the ruin. Behind them, the rest of Ponyville was slowly entering the clearing, gasping at what they saw. “What could’ve done somethin’ like this?”

A loud, earth-shuddering yawn answered Applejack’s question. Everypony in the clearing turned to their left and saw a huge area of trampled trees. In the center of that area was what could best be described as a massive chunk of the night sky. The hill of slightly translucent and starry purple heaved mightily, and limbs extended from the ethereal mass, digging into the ground as the creature fought to rise to its feet.

“Ev-everypony…” Twilight stammered, taking a step back. “Everypony!” she yelled. “Get back! Back to Ponyville! Run!”

At first, nopony seemed to heed her warning, but then the ursa major rose and turned to face the ones who had interrupted its slumber. The beast’s lips parted in a savage snarl, and growled loud enough to once again shake the ground beneath Twilight’s hooves.

“I-is that an ursa major!?” Applejack half screamed as she started backing away as well.

“It’s more than a hundred feet tall!” somepony behind them shouted, and panic broke out among the Ponyvillians.

The enormous ursine reared up on its hind legs, reaching a terrifying height of more than two hundred and fifty feet and let out a guttural roar that threw half the ponies off their hooves and sent the rest into a mad stampede.

“Applejack! Pinkie Pie!” Twilight shouted over the roar of the crowd. “Get everypony out of here! Rainbow and I’ll keep it distracted!”

Before the farmer could say anything, the Wonderbolt took off, flitting about the giant’s head and stopping it in its tracks. She did, however, manage to stop Twilight as she took a step forward.

“That thing’s got toes the size o’ six o’ us! You don’t stand a chance!”

“I defeated Inferno, the leader of the Blazebringers,” Twilight tried reassuring her friend. “He was actually a little bigger.”

“Y’all had your brother and half o’ Manehattan behind ya then!”

“Just go, AJ!” the unicorn hissed as she wrestled past the farmer. The ground shook once more as the ursa major fell down upon all fours again. “We don’t have time to argue! We’ll be fine! Go make sure everypony else is too!” Seeing the earth pony hesitate, Twilight quickly added, “That’s an order!”

Applejack rolled her eyes at this, but left her nonetheless, an angry scowl set into her face.

“Come back, okay?” After giving her friend a final hug, the pink pony galloped off to join the farmer.

Twilight returned her attention to the problem at hoof. The ursa was rearing up on its hind legs again, attempting to swat away the annoying cyan pegasus in front of its face. The unicorn gulped as she sized up her opponent. The bear was at the moment so tall that it blocked out the moon, its pale glow passing through the translucent creature to bathe Twilight in a purple spotlight. Her stomach lurched as one of the bear’s razor-sharp claws came within mere feet of slicing apart the pegasus.

“Be careful, Rainbow!” the unicorn screamed desperately, but was answered by an almost maniacal laughter.

“Are you kidding!? I’ve seen quicker moves from Tank! This guy’s got nothing on a Wonderbolt!”

“Try to get behind it!” the unicorn suggested, quickly forming a plan. “I’ll try to knock it out of balance!”

Rainbow Dash quickly dove beneath one of the ursa’s flailing limbs and managed to get around the giant creature, positioning herself a few feet from its shoulder blades. As Twilight had suspected, the beast twisted around to face its pest, and as it tried to reposition its legs, the unicorn summoned all of her powers and focused them into a single powerful telekinetic blast aimed at her opponent’s hind leg.

Although the limb only budged slightly, it was still enough to bring the ursa out of balance. With a frustrated roar, it toppled over, landing with a mighty thud on its back. Twilight fell to her hooves as the ground once again shook violently, and Rainbow Dash cheered triumphantly, hovering above the dazed giant.

Not wasting any time, the lavender unicorn summoned her remaining powers and drew a crackling chain of magenta light across one of the bear’s forelegs, trapping it against the ground.

The ursa major’s eyes sprang open, and its red pupils locked onto Twilight. The unicorn could have sworn there was some sort of recognition in the look the ursa gave her, but she had no time to dwell upon it as the bear yanked its foreleg upwards. Instead of being restrained by her magical chain, the ursa major uprooted a huge clump of earth, flinging it at the unicorn as it rose to its feet once again.

Twilight yelped in surprise and managed to dodge the enormous projectile by teleporting, cancelling her chain spell as she did so to conserve her dwindling magic reserves.

“Rainbow!?” she called out nervously as the hundred foot tall creature began barreling toward her with unrestrained fury. “Help!”

Right on cue, the cyan pegasus swooped down in front of the charging giant. Working with blinding speed, the Wonderbolt grabbed a splinter of wood the size of a small tree and heaved it up into an upright position, managing to escape just before the ursa brought down its paw upon the improvised stake.

Yowling in pain, the bear twisted around and took a surprisingly quick swipe at the pegasus at its side as it crashed to the ground. For a horrifying moment, as the pegasus fluttered about wildly in the air, Twilight thought the Wonderbolt had been hit, but she seemed to have instead dodged in between two of the ursa’s claws, escaping without a scratch.

Although it was no longer running, but sliding along on its side, the giant creature’s momentum was hardly disturbed as it now came plowing through the ground straight at Twilight. Something hard smashed into the unicorn’s side, and she soon found herself being hoisted into the air by Rainbow Dash, narrowly avoiding being crushed between the surrounding trees and the ursa major.

“I haven’t got much magic left,” the unicorn panted as the two ponies made their way to the opposite end of the devastated clearing.

“And I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up,” the pegasus admitted, panting as well. “Kinda wish I hadn’t done three sonic rainbooms and fought a pack of timberwolves before going up against that monster.”

Behind them, the ursa major was already getting to its feet again. “I don’t think we can do much else than try to knock it down like we did the first time and making a run for it,” Twilight suggested, and the pegasus nodded as they landed in the edge of the clearing. “I don’t have enough magic to do it right now, though, so you’ll have to distract it for a while.”

“Sure,” Rainbow Dash replied, still a little out of breath. “You can count on me.” She flapped her wings lazily a few times before lifting into the air.

Not wanting her friend to be near the enraged giant longer than absolutely necessary, Twilight tried summoning as many of her powers as she could as quickly as she could. Her concentration was broken, however, when a sharp light in front of her caught her attention. The star-like insignia on the ursa’s forehead had taken on a bright white hue, and as the beast roared, a shaft of what looked like pale moonlight shot forth from the star. The pegasus, halfway between Twilight and the ursine, dropped out of the air as the light fell upon her. The bear’s odd magic faded away as quickly as it had appeared, and Rainbow Dash hit the ground with an audible thump, lying on the ground unmoving. She hadn’t even braced herself as she crashed. Slowly, the ursa major approached the downed pegasus, licking its chops greedily.

“Twilight!” the Wonderbolt screamed desperately, the fear of death overcoming her. “I can’t move! What’s going on!?”

“No!” Twilight screamed at the top of her lungs, abandoning all plans, reason, and judgment as she began charging the ursa major recklessly. “Don’t you dare hurt her!”

Suddenly, the stars above her winked out, and the ground she ran upon melted away into darkness. The broken trees around her turned pale, varying in shade from black to white, and red fleshy clumps and rainbow-colored trees holding multihued lanterns appeared out of nowhere.

Finally, she felt her body fade away as she entered the odd realm of her dreams where nothing but herself existed. In her absence, many more of the broken pillars had been reconstructed by the chaotic cascades of sparkles; by now, there were almost more of the magenta pillars than there were of the monochromatic ones. Some of that which had once been red also seemed to have grown purple, eradicated and rebuilt by her powerful and barely controlled magic.

My magic.

Celestia… Shining Armor… Cadance… Fluttershy… Zecora… So many ponies… Not..! Not Rainbow Dash!

She reached out to a mass of sparkling magenta and grabbed it tightly, ignoring the burning sensation it caused in her invisible limb. She gathered up another cascade and another and another, bunching it together in a huge blazing ball much akin to Celestia’s glorious sun. And still she kept collecting every scrap of magic she could find within herself until there was nothing left, forming a huge vortex of magenta in the very center of her being. Exerting force beyond her own imagination, she threw the sparkles upwards and through an invisible surface, every single ounce of her latent powers made suddenly manifest.

Twilight opened her eyes which were now blazing white-hot with barely contained energy and quickly noted that she had made it to the immobile pegasus, somehow paralyzed by the ursa’s magic. The bear itself stood only a few feet from Rainbow Dash, its jaws opening slowly to welcome its easy meal. Every hair on the unicorn’s body stood on end, crackling with electricity, as she leapt over her fallen friend and faced the beast that was easily more than a thousand times her own size.

Twilight kept running until she was directly underneath the ursa major’s chest. Her horn sparked to life, flaring with white fire and crackling with purple lightning that arced all across her body, burning at her fur and scorching the ground beneath her hooves. Soon, the white flames enveloped her body as well, creating a blaze that reached up to tickle the bottom of the ursine’s chest.

The earth quaked violently as the unicorn was lifted into the air by her own magic, and the ursa stumbled slightly. “I said: Don’t you dare hurt her!” Twilight screamed as the ground exploded upwards, energy in its purest form erupting from beneath her and pounding into the titanic beast with inconceivable force.

Deafened by the sound of the explosion, Twilight saw the two hundred and fifty foot tall creature being catapulted into the air by her own magic. The beast seemed to flip backwards in slow motion as it ascended and hung in midair for several seconds before falling to the ground again. Only now did the unicorn realize that she was falling herself; a shallow crater had appeared beneath her, formed by the earth she had displaced when unleashing her unbridled magic. She landed hard on her back and gasped in pain, and then bounced violently and was thrown to her side as the ursa major smashed into the ground head first almost a hundred feet away from her, making the earth heave violently one last time. The bear slumped down, just as dazed as Twilight, its left hind leg brushing by dangerously close to the unicorn.

Twilight struggled to move, but found that she couldn’t, too drained by her massive release of energy; it was all she could do to remain conscious.

“Twi? Y’alright!?” The unicorn fought to turn her head toward the sound of the apple farmer’s voice, but found that even such an exertion was beyond her. She soon felt herself being scooped up and slung across Applejack’s back as if she weighed no more than a pair of saddlebags. “Just hang tight, sugarcube. Ah’m gonna get us outta here.”

Twilight was carried away from the hind leg of the great ursa major, which had begun to spasm slightly as the creature started to regain consciousness. She felt the farmer’s head dip again as Rainbow Dash was picked up and slung across her back like Twilight. With a grunt, Applejack set into a gallop, carrying the two ponies east, away from the huge bear and toward Ponyville.

“Wh-wh-what th-the hay was that!?” Rainbow Dash gasped as they exited the clearing. The pegasus was shivering violently, a sign of her paralysis wearing off.

“Which one?” Applejack grunted. “The ursa’s weird beam-thingy or the fact that Twilight just tossed and flipped over somethin’ a thousand times bigger ‘an herself?”

“B-both!” Rainbow Dash stuttered, but nopony seemed able to answer her.

As her adrenaline finally abated, Twilight was overcome with exhaustion. She closed her eyes and quickly fell asleep to the rhythmic pounding of her friend’s hooves.

8 - Responsibility

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Succession

Chapter 8 – Responsibility

Twilight groaned as her eyes fluttered open. She felt like she was back at the hospital, burnt all over and drained of all energy. But as her vision gradually returned to her, revealing a carved wooden ceiling above her and a large stack of books to her right, it soon became clear to her that she was lying in her own bed. She sat up with a start when her memories of the Everfree Forest came rushing back to her.

I knocked out an ursa major! Only for a few seconds, granted, but… I threw it into the air!

Her head began to swim as she remembered her impossible magical exertion brought on by the fear of losing her friend.

Rainbow! Is she okay? Did Applejack really carry us both through the Everfree Forest all by herself?

After spending a few seconds orienting herself, she swung her hindlegs over the edge of the bed and, in doing so, winced as she remembered the series of burns all over her body. Small blackened streaks of fur decorated her coat, and the area around her hooves had once again been burned clean of any hairs, the skin underneath red and swollen. Her thoughts flickered briefly to the purple arcs of electricity that had surrounded her as she unleashed a burst of pure energy at the beast, providing her with a reasonable explanation for the current state of her body. Whatever she had done back in the forest, she wouldn’t want to be doing it again anytime soon.

Her attention turned to a small note lying on her desk. As she summoned her magic, however, her horn only sputtered out a few sparks before going dark again. The unicorn frowned.

This had better be temporary, she thought, struggling to quash the panic welling up within her. It must be that spell. Something like that would probably leave me drained completely for days. Yes, just a temporary shortage of magic; nothing to be worried about.

“Ow,” she exclaimed quietly as she lowered one of her hind legs to the wooden floor. Another hoof came down on the floor, and once again the unicorn yelped. “Owowowowow!” Twilight trotted to the desk as quickly as she could, grabbed the piece of paper in her mouth and hurried back to the much appreciated softness of her bed. After some fiddling, she managed to prop the note up against her blanket so she could read its contents.

From Applejack.

I’m writing this letter to you in case I’m not there with you when you wake up. First thing you’d probably wanna know is that you‘ve been sleeping for a long time again. Five days, actually. I haven’t fed your birds, but it looked to me they took care of that themselves as long as I let them out once in a while.

Thanks to you and Rainbow, we all made it out of the Everfree Forest safely. I guess that ursa doesn’t have a clue where Ponyville is. You don’t need to worry about Rainbow either. She’s pretty blue about Fluttershy but other than that and a few bruises from the ursa, she’s perfectly fine. We still haven’t found Fluttershy though... We got guards all the way from Manehattan leading the investigation, but they’ve been telling us not to mention any of what happened to ponies outside Ponyville. I don’t really know what to think of that.

I really hope you wake up soon. We could all use your help around here.

“Five days...” Twilight sighed as she finished reading. “And Fluttershy’s still gone.”

Could she be dead? Can a Bearer of the Elements of Harmony really die? What would happen to us? No, she’s alive. Pinkie Pie would've said so. She’d know. I can ask her...

She tucked the note underneath her pillow and, not wanting to torture her hooves any further, lay back down in her bed. As she forced herself not to dwell for too long on Fluttershy’s fate, her thoughts eventually returned to the fight with the ursa major.

I have never used magic that powerful! Where did it all come from? Was this the kind of power Celestia spoke of all those years ago?

“You have a very special gift. I don't think I've ever come across a unicorn with your raw abilities,” Celestia’s words echoed in her mind. “But you need to learn to tame these abilities through focused study.”

Focused study and the princess’ enchantments, the unicorn thought, and as she did, her eyes snapped open with realization. Princess Celestia’s spells! That’s it!

Memories of her odd dreams returned to her in clear flashes.

The magenta sparkles, they are my magic; they are what I summoned in force right before I faced the ursa! The pillars, the red stuff, the rainbow-colored trees, the lanterns, they must all, in some way or another, be a part of my body; after my magic began rebuilding those back in the hospital, I started feeling much better; my shattered bones reknitted themselves in only a few weeks. And the golden cages of glass…

“I am afraid that before we can begin your training and studying of magic, I must place a few spells upon you, Twilight Sparkle. You see, your raw power is just simply too much for a young filly such as yourself to handle, and that can be very dangerous. I will put a lid on some of your power, so to speak. Don’t be afraid; it will only take a moment and you won’t feel a thing. Is this alright with you?”

Such a long time ago… I had almost forgotten. But yes, the golden cages around the magenta sparkles must have been Celestia’s enchantments, dampening my powers so I could control them. Enchantments that have now been broken. Is it because she died? Probably. And that’s why my powers have been growing. But an ursa major!? No single unicorn should be able to do that. Only Celestia and Luna wield that kind of power. Something must have happened. Some kind of synergy or alignment of celestial bodies; it can’t all have been me.

Twilight remained in bed for several hours, doing nothing but piecing together and attempting to make sense of not only the events of the Everfree Forest, but of everything that had happened since The Great Tragedy. But while she could now explain incidents such as her knocking out four royal guards without even meaning to, the most important questions of all remained unanswered, such as why Nightmare Moon had returned and what happened to Fluttershy.

When simply lying in her bed had become almost unbearably boring, she decided to get up, despite the pains in her hooves, to go get a book and something to eat.

Twilight put her bestiary of the Everfree Forest down when she heard her door open in the main part of the library. Having returned to her bed on the second floor to read, she couldn’t immediately see who had entered.

She was pretty sure she recognized the heavy hoofsteps coming up the stairs, though, and soon enough, Applejack entered the unicorn’s study.

“Twi!” she exclaimed in surprise when she saw the unicorn was awake, breaking into a warm grin immediately. “Nice ta see y’all back among the livin’! Again...”

“Well, I guess I owe that to you, don’t I? Galloping at full speed with two ponies on your back and outrunning an ursa major! I can’t think of many others able to perform such a feat!”

“Aw, shoot.” The farmer blushed slightly and looked away. “Mah friends were’n danger; what’s a pony ta do but help?”

“Thanks for coming back for us,” Twilight said with a warm smile. “I don’t know if I could have done the same after seeing how huge that thing was.”

“You could and you would,” Applejack waved her off. “Even Fluttershy would face an ursa major if’n it meant savin’ your lives. ‘Sides, we faced worse than that, haven’t we? An’ Ah just swooped in at the last minute; you ’n Rainbow are the real heroes. Heck, you’re prolly the most heroic one of us all! You’re the one who defeated an actual ursa major!” She glanced at the unicorn’s desk. “You read mah note, right? You saved a huge chunk of Ponyville from being gobbled up bah that thing! An’ you saved Rainbow Dash too.”

“Like you said, what’s a pony to do? I couldn’t just watch her get… eaten.” Both friends shuddered at the thought.

“Ah don’t believe she’s ever come that close ta actually dyin’. An’ Ah don’t think she’s takin it much lightly either.”

“What do you mean? Is she alright?”

“Well, as Ah said, there ain’t nothin’ wrong with her physic’lly,” the farmer started, a hint of sadness creeping into her voice. “But, well, Ah can’t be sure on account o’ her sittin’ up’n her clouds all the danged time, but Ah think she’s been beatin’ herself up about the whole Fluttershy thing. It didn’t seem so bad when I first wrote your letter, but it’s just been gettin’ worse ever since then. You know she’s been that way a few times before; takin’ responsibility for somethin’ that’s just way outta her league. If’n Ah had to wager a guess, Ah’d reckon she’s blamin’ herself fer not seein’ the timberwolves comin’, and fer failin’ ya, so to speak, when it came to that ursa.” She shook her head. “Y’know, the mayor is plannin’ on rewardin’ the two of you with the title of ‘Heroines of Ponyville’ or some such, but Rainbow wouldn’t have it. Didn’t deserve it, she said.”

It was one of those days again, the lavender unicorn decided. One of those days where the word ‘heroine’ left a bad taste in her mouth. Twilight pushed the thought from her mind and joined her friend in her head shaking. “She doesn’t want to be named a hero? That doesn’t sound like her at all.”

“Ah’ve been wantin’ to talk to her, but as Ah said, she ain’t comin’ down from her cloud house. I doubt even Pinkie Pie could come up there, even if she wanted to, but with your magic…”

“What do you mean ‘even if she wanted to’?” Twilight raised a half-singed eyebrow.

The farmer only sighed. “Suffice ta say Rainbow ain’t the only one o’ us what’s depressed.”

“I was afraid of that... I mean, the very idea of losing her friends has driven her nuts before. And now Fluttershy... losing her in the worst way imaginable...”

“It’s The Great Tragedy all over again, only worse,” the earth pony revealed. “She’s spendin’ most of her time up top in Sugarcube Corner. Been meanin’ ta talk to her, but between workin’ the orchards, seein’ ta y’all, and yellin’ at Rainbow ta get down, Ah haven’t had time to do much more than bang on her door.”

“Won’t be long before I’m up and about again,” Twilight assured her friend. “When I get my magic back, I can help you with Rainbow and Pinkie. I might even be able to help out at Sweet Apple Acres.”

“Git your magic back?” Applejack’s tone became a tad more concerned. “Is it actin’ up again?”

“No, I’m just… completely drained. Unless it’s completely and absolutely necessary, I am never, ever, ever, ever pulling a stunt like that again.”

“Can’t blame ya none fer that,” the farmer chuckled nervously. “From where Ah stood, it looked like that spell o’ yours packed one heckuva recoil. An’ when you had that look in yer eyes…” Applejack shuddered. “Well, fer a moment, Ah was a little more scared o’ you than Ah was o’ that monster.”

“I hardly remember any of it,” the unicorn admitted. “I blacked out while running and everything else just happened too fast for me to register.”

“’Twas nothin’ short of amazin’, Ah’ll tell ya that much. Never knew you had that kinda stuff in ya.”

“Me neither. Still wasn’t enough to save Fluttershy, though. Still no sign of her?”

The orange pony shook her head sadly. “The guards are investigatin’ her house, and, well, doin’ some cleanin’ up while they’re at it. They, uh… they found some blood.” When Twilight gave the farmer a confused look at the painfully obvious statement, Applejack sighed. “Pegasus blood,” she clarified. “Ah think that’s what set RD off most o’ all.” Applejack’s eyes turned stern. “And don’t you go blamin’ yerself like her! Ah can tell ya a third time if’n you need it; y’all saved Ponyville from an ursa major!”

“I know...” Twilight muttered. “But it’s still another step back from where we started. Rarity leaving will make it hard to unite the Elements quickly and now... unless we find Fluttershy soon, it’ll be impossible. And I still need to complete my sun.”

“Ah know, Ah know. Made any progress with that? Oh, speakin’ o’ which, we all heard this giant bang back at the orchards four days ago. That place you practice your suns in had been burnt completely to cinders! More so than usual. I kinda hope that was you, even though you were sleepin’ at the time.”

Twilight thought for a moment, then allowed herself a small smile. “Yeah, I think so. I’d just created my first stable solite when Rainbow told me about Fluttershy. I guess it kept burning for two whole days before destabilizing. That’s a huge step forward! If I make a few more minor adjustments and scale the whole thing up, I’ll be able to provide sunlight for all of Ponyville. With the Elements of Harmony, we might even be able to recreate Celestia’s sun!”

“Oh mah, well ain’t that somethin’!” Applejack exclaimed, cheering up almost instantly. “Looks like we’re finally startin’ to see some light at the end o’ this here tunnel!”

“But we still haven’t got the Elements,” Twilight pointed out, her smile fading. “And they won’t be anywhere near powerful enough to stop Nightmare Moon without Fluttershy.”

“I just don’t understand!” Applejack despaired, stomping a hoof in frustration. “Why would any animal wanna hurt Fluttershy? D’ya reckon Nightmare Moon is behind this somehow?”

“No,” Twilight whispered almost inaudibly. “At least I really hope not. Nightmare Moon killed her sister and destroyed the Canterlot palace without a single thought. I can’t imagine what she would do to Fluttershy.” The unicorn looked to the earth pony and the two locked eyes. “She’s not dead, AJ. I’m sure of that now. We just… can’t find her…”

“Not that I don’t wanna believe the same thing, sugarcube, but that’s what y’all said about Celestia too. I mean, there’s Pinkie, but... not callin’ her a liar, but if Fluttershy’s gone, Ah don’t think Pinkie’d be able ta face it. We all saw the state Fluttershy’s house was in, what happened to her critters. She would never let anythin’ like that happen to ‘em. She’d defend ‘em with her dyin’ breath. They found her blood...”

“That doesn’t mean she’s dead, just hurt. And you said it was pegasus blood, so it might not even be hers. Maybe she was forced away,” the lavender unicorn suggested. She gestured at the bestiary at her side. “I’ve been trying to read up on the beasts of the Everfree, see if any of them are known to abduct their prey or something like that. Rainbow hadn’t seen her for a full day before the timberwolf incident; for all we know, she could be lying out in the Everfree somewhere, petrified by a cockatrice or captured by a creeper or a swarm of changelings!”

“Ah guess that’s… possible.” The farmer scratched the back of her head. “But if that’s so, then howd’ya plan on findin’ her? We can’t just go stormin’ into the forest again like we did last.”

“Agreed. We need some kind of plan… The Element of Kindness is a gem,” the unicorn replied, improvising a strategy as she spoke. “And Fluttershy is closely connected to it. If we get the Element, I think I can tweak a Gem Finding spell to track her down. Speaking of which, have you heard from Rarity since the incident? I could need her help with the spell.”

“She’s already been an’ gone,” Applejack said in an apologetic voice. “She came as soon as she heard what had happen’d, but she couldn’t really do anythin’ ta help, and she had ta leave again three days later.”

“I guess I’ll have to send her a letter, then. And another to the Council of Nine to ask for the Elements of Harmony. But first of all, I’ll just have to wait for my magic to return before I can do… anything, really.”

It was another full day before the unicorn’s powers started returning to her, at which point she wrote her letters and sent them off with Applejack to the post office. By the time she had read through the entire bestiary of the Everfree Forest and formulated more than fifty theories as to where Fluttershy could have gone as well as strategies to deal with any creature they might encounter while rescuing her, Twilight’s burns had almost completely healed. At least she could now walk without pain. Furthermore, her magic now seemed to have recovered fully. The powers she had forced to become manifest had, to the unicorn’s relief, gone latent again, working on repairing her body instead of electrocuting her.

All she had to do now was wait for the Council of Nine to give the Elements of Harmony to Rarity, who would then, as per Twilight’s instructions, bring them back to Ponyville. That, and make sure her friends were ready to use the Elements when they arrived.

So when the unicorn finally felt well enough to walk, she immediately went to the southern outskirts of town with Applejack.

“So, uh,” Applejack began as they drew near one of the only cloud domiciles in all of Ponyville. “How’re ya gonna git her down?”

“She’s been up there beating herself up about something that wasn’t her fault for more than a week now,” Twilight grumbled. “I think we’ll just have to yank her outta bed and set her straight.”

The lavender unicorn exerted her magic, and after a few seconds, a dazed, rainbow-maned pegasus flashed into existence before the two ponies.

“Huh? What? Hey!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed indignantly, quickly orienting herself as she picked herself up from the grass and got to her hooves. “Not everyone likes teleporting, y’know!”

“Then ya shoulda come down when I told ya to!” Applejack scolded the pegasus, who only rolled her eyes.

“Look, I told you already! I don’t wanna talk about it!” Rainbow Dash said dismissively, flaring her wings for takeoff.

“Rainbow!” Twilight grunted, grabbing hold of the pegasus’ tail with her magic. “We need to talk! What happened to Fluttershy isn’t your fault!”

“Let... go!” the pegasus shouted, the unicorn’s hold on her weakening as the Wonderbolt’s wings kicked into overdrive. “I should have been there! I’m the fastest flier in Equestria!” With an odd snap, Rainbow Dash broke free of the magic holding her in place, rocketing into the sky and somehow outrunning Twilight’s attempts at restraining her.

The lavender unicorn stomped a hoof in frustration as she watched the cyan pegasus dip below Ponyville’s modest skyline. “Stupid! What’s gotten into her!?”

“Calm down, Twi,” the farmer told her friend, putting a hoof on her shoulder. “You know how hotheaded she can be. Ah reckon she just needs a little more time ta recover.”

“But there’s only two of us left know!” Twilight insisted, raising her voice as frustration gave way to panic. “If Rainbow and Pinkie won’t talk to us, Rarity’s in Manehattan, and Fluttershy has disappeared, how are we supposed to use the Elements when the time comes?” She gestured at the general direction in which Rainbow Dash had flown. “When she’s acting like that, she’s letting Nightmare Moon win!”

“Now listen here, missy!” Applejack interjected, giving the unicorn a reproachful stare. “Rainbow and Flutershy’ve been pals since flight camp; longer than any o’ the rest of us’ve been friends. Fer a long time, RD was Fluttershy’s only friend, y’know. They grew real close. She ain’t letting any villain win; she’s actin’ like any other pony would under the circumstances. If you hold that against her... well then you’re letting Nightmare Moon win.” The farmer sighed. “So take a deep breath and just calm down, Twi. Ah’d hoped we could convince her once ya got her down, but Ah guess it’s still too soon.”

The lavender unicorn was silent for a long moment, lost in thought at the apple farmer’s stern but true words. “You’re right...” she finally admitted, averting her gaze from Applejack. “I’ll go work on my solites.”

Before the orange pony could say a thing, Twilight had disappeared in a subdued flash. “Time’ll heal any wound,” the farmer reassured herself as she cast a final gaze at the cloud house above her before heading back to Sweet Apple Acres. Already she could see the bright flashes that signalled Twilight’s failures with her solar magic. “Ah sure as heck hope so, at least.”

While Applejack’s words made sense and had probably prevented Twilight from doing something she might later regret, Rainbow Dash’s behavior still bothered her. In fact, it seemed most of her friends had completely forgotten how they had pulled through hardships in the past. Chrysalis, Pan, The Blazebringers of Tartarus, Discord, and Nightmare Moon herself, as long as the Elements of Harmony had stood together and worked as a team, nothing had been able to stop them. But if that was true, how come it was so easy to split them apart? Their adversary hadn’t even shown herself and already Rarity had left them and Twilight had considered physically restraining one of her closest friends. As the lavender unicorn kept at her practice in solite construction, however, her temper gradually seemed to cool and her worries abate as her suns grew hotter and larger. And so it was that a few days after the failed confrontation with Rainbow Dash, Twilight found herself wandering through the darker reaches of the Apple family’s vast orchard, struggling to contain her excitement.

“Oh! Howdy there, partner!” the farmer greeted Twilight as the unicorn finally found her and Big Mac in the southern reaches of the apple orchard. “Ya really shouldn’t be sneakin’ about here like that, y’know; me ‘n Big Mac almost mistook you for some sort o’ varmint.”

“Sorry. Apple Bloom said you were out here patrolling the orchards, and I really wanted to ask you something,” the unicorn replied, barely containing her smile.

Both Apple siblings raised an eyebrow almost simultaneously. “An’ what might that be?” the orange pony inquired.

Twilight grinned. “Where... do you want your first solite?”

Again, brother and sister moved as one as their jaws dropped.

“Uh, well, Ah guess anyplace will do,” Applejack answered in a rather dumbfounded tone after she had recovered. “Ya really finished yer solites?”

“Not finished, per se,” Twilight admitted. “There’s always room for improvement. They’re still not quite as big as I would have hoped, but on the bright side, I believe I should be able to create more than one. According to my calculations, they should hold out for at least four days before collapsing.” At the farmer’s sudden look of worry, the unicorn merely raised a hoof to silence her. “No need to worry; I improved my spell so that the solite will automatically form a force field around itself before exploding. You do not want to know how difficult that was.”

“Fair enough.” The orange earth pony copied the unicorn’s smile. “Well then, let’s see y’all work yer magic.”

The Apples took a few a steps back as Twilight’s horn was enveloped in its magenta glow. Before long, large wisps of fire began appearing out of thin air above the apple trees, dancing about each other as Twilight’s magic began compressing them. After a few minutes, the flames seemed to liquefy completely, melting together into a large sphere. Both farmers looked with worry at the unicorn as gouts of flame began erupting from the surface of the solite under construction, but Twilight showed no signs of panic or loss of control. Several minutes later, the eruptions finally ceased, and the miniature sun began decreasing in size until it was roughly seven feet across.

As the solite briefly flashed magenta, the unicorn finally sat back on her haunches, panting with exhaustion and regarding the two earth ponies that were now looking up at the sky in awe. With Twilight’s final spell, the fiery orb above them had almost doubled in brilliance, bathing the entire area in something very similar to the light of Celestia’s sun.

“Mah stars…” the orange pony murmured, her eyes watering as she broke into a smile. “Ah’d almost forgotten what daylight looked like!” She closed her eyes and sighed happily as the warmth of the sun finally reached her.

“Eeyup,” Big Mac concurred.

Even Twilight, who had seen her sunlight hundreds of times before, found herself almost as amazed as the farmers, having gained a new perspective of its beauty as the brilliant orb hung above her friends and herself.

“It’ll be a while before I can create another one,” the unicorn explained, breaking the two siblings out of their reverie. “But maybe we can coax Pinkie out of hiding with a small celebration?”

“Okay girls,” Twilight said, interrupting Pinkie Pie in her game of Pin the Tail on the Pony. To the Cakes’ delight, Ponyville’s party pony had made a surprisingly quick recovery as soon as she had seen the solite hovering above Sweet Apple Acres, arranging a celebration in a matter of minutes; a party the three ponies had now been holding for five hours. “I think I’m ready to make another solite now!”

“Finally!” The pink pony exclaimed, giving a mock frown of impatience although a wide grin quickly replaced it. “This is gonna be sooooo exciting! If you make a second sun, we can hold a Twilight-made-a-second-sun celebration!”

“And we can make sure the harvest goes alright,” Applejack stressed. “Won’t be long till autumn. If’n that even exists anymore…”

“You got it, AJ! We can have a make-sure-the-harvest-goes-alright party too!” Pinkie cheered, rushing to the door. “Buuuut, to be honest, a Twilight-made-a-second-sun celebration sounds a lot funner!” The two other ponies followed after her, albeit at a slower pace, resulting in the pink pony bouncing in circles around her friends as they exited Sugarcube Corner and walked down the empty streets of Ponyville. Twilight couldn’t help but shake her head at her friend’s quick recovery.

“Where is everypony?” Applejack wondered out loud, gesturing at the completely vacant town square. “Big Mac’s s’pposed to be out here sellin’ our corn cobs now!”

“So Big Mac is making bits for the farm while you’re off partying with the girls?” Twilight teased her friend.

“Says the pony who slept fer six days straight!” the farmer retorted with a playful smile.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” the lavender unicorn murmured, her brow creasing as she glanced at the big clock that had recently been mounted on the town hall. “But you’re right; it’s pretty late in the afternoon. You’d think somepony would be out.” The unicorn glanced toward Sweet Apple Acres, where her small sun was blazing brilliantly. “You know what? Never mind. I think I know where they went.”

Sure enough, the lavender unicorn’s suspicions were confirmed as soon as they drew near her solite and the Apple family’s orchards. Although nopony was yet within sight, the excited chatter of what sounded like the entire population of Ponyville could be heard from among the many apple trees.

“What in tarnation are all those folks doin’ in mah orchards?” Applejack grumbled as she began to catch sight of a few pastel hues amid the brown and green of the trees.

“They must all have seen my solite,” the unicorn explained as she clambered over a wooden fence to take a more direct route toward the source of commotion.

Like moths to a flame, everypony had gathered below the small sun, drawn in by its warming rays and memories of better times. A huge throng of Ponyvillians had amassed in the middle of Sweet Apple Acres, and in the crowd’s center, directly below the solite, stood Big Mac, sweating visibly, though Twilight suspected that was caused by being the center of attention rather than standing underneath the sun that hovered little more than fifty feet above him.

As soon as he caught sight of the three approaching mares, he pointed a hoof almost accusatively at the lavender unicorn. “Twilight Sparkle, there ye have ‘er! She’s the one what made this ‘ere sun. Now leave me alone!”

As the large red stallion slunk off, more than a hundred heads turned simultaneously to gaze at the newcomers in an eerie display of synchronicity and for an awkward moment, all was silent.

“Hi, everypony,” the solite constructor greeted the crowd nervously.

The silence lasted for a few more seconds until a particularly large white pegasus raised a hoof in the air victoriously, roaring his approval and triggering an almost riotous cheer from the ponies around him.

“Ah’ll just go check on Big Mac; poor feller ain’t used to utterin’ much more than five syllables in a row, much less handlin’ a crowd like that!” Applejack excused herself, zipping away from the unicorn as the crowd rushed forward and enveloped her.

Before she knew what was happening, Pinkie Pie and three other ponies were tossing Twilight into the air, still cheering loudly while the pink pony broke into one of her impromptu songs.

“Twilight is our bestest friend, whoopee, whoopee!
The cutest, smartest all around best pony, pony!
She made us all another sun as you can see, can see!
And now she’s gonna create a number two, maybe threeeeeeee!”

“Put me down!” Twilight half-screamed, half-laughed as she was carried to the spot Big Mac had occupied only moments earlier.

“What’s it made of?” Orchid Dew asked excitedly.

“How’d ya make it?” Daisy chimed in.

“Did you really make it all alone?” Pinkie Pie asked, amazement clear in her voice, to which Twilight lifted an eyebrow.

“Pinkie, I already told you about that several hours ago. We looked at it from your balcony, remember?”

“Tell us how you did it!” the pink pony exclaimed, ignoring Twilight’s observation. “Tell us, tell us, tell us!”

Twilight sighed softly in mock defeat as the chant was taken up by everypony around her. “Well, if you insist…”

Nearly an hour later, the lavender unicorn finally gave up, cancelling her Spell System Visualization spell as even Pinkie Pie began nodding off.

“Who wants to see me make another solite?” she deadpanned, immediately eliciting an excited cheer from the Ponyvillians who had been nearly comatose only seconds before. Twilight sighed and began making her way toward one of the gloomier areas of the apple orchards, the crowd parting neatly before her as she walked.

The ponies behind her were relatively quiet as Twilight walked, only a few mutterings and hushed whispers of anticipation escaping the group. It wasn’t long before they had put the light of the solite fairly far behind them, entering into a darkness that reminded all too much of the Everfree Forest. Somewhere off in the distance ahead of them, a lone timberwolf howled, and the ponies began murmuring a little louder.

They all fell silent once more, however, when Twilight halted and her horn began to glow. Just as it had before, a bright flame flared into existence far above her, liquefying and slowly forming into a small sphere over the course of fifteen minutes or so. The Ponyvillians gasped in amazement and then once again cheered as Twilight finished her spell and the solite increased in brilliance to match its older twin.

“That was so fanexcterrifficulent!” Pinkie Pie proclaimed triumphantly, rushing to the lavender unicorn’s side. “At this rate, we’ll be back to good ol’ sunny Equestria in no time!”

“Sure,” Twilight said in a detached tone of voice, completely out of breath. “I think I’ll have to wait… quite a while longer… before I make a third one…”

“Why? You okay?” the earth pony asked, eyeing her friend with a mix of concern and disappointment.

“I’m… fine…” the unicorn half-slurred in an unconvincing reply, beginning to sway slightly. She sat down heavily to prevent herself from toppling over. “I just need a few moments…”

“Miss Sparkle!” a voice exclaimed happily from behind the unicorn, who almost groaned out loud at the thought of interacting with any more ponies than absolutely necessary. At this point there was nothing she wanted more than a soft bed to lie in. Twilight glanced to her left to see the mayor trotting up beside her. “I cannot put into words how amazed I am by this magnificent display of magical skill! I can definitely see now why you were Celestia’s most prized student!”

“Thanks,” the unicorn replied with a small smile, although a hint of sadness tinged her voice. There was something about other ponies than her friends speaking about Celestia that always struck some chord within her. Perhaps that was why she had been so fond of taking refuge within her library since she had come home.

The mayor failed to notice the unicorn’s sadness, however, and carried on briskly. “I just had this sudden impulse to ask you, well, would it be possible for you, seeing as how you are doing such an excellent job here in Sweet Apple Acres, to perhaps make another sun? Only bigger? For Ponyville?”

“I…” Twilight started, thinking of a polite way to decline, before she noticed the hint of desperation hidden behind the mayor’s smile. She noted the ponies gathered around her, just waiting for her to accept the proposal. And she realized that she could not say no. No matter how much of a strain it would put on her, she was now the pony that could create suns. She had never considered how huge a responsibility she was taking upon herself when she decided to study solar magic; everypony in Ponyville now depended upon her and her alone to banish the darkness that had plagued them for so long. She could no longer solely use her magic as a means to draw out and defeat Nightmare Moon. She would have to provide for her fellow ponies. Twilight bit her lip, desperately thinking of something to get her out of her predicament, but finally sighed. “Of course.”

9 - The Sun and the Sword

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Succession

Chapter 9 - The Sun and the Sword

Twilight’s ears twitched as somepony banged at her door. Loudly. With each knock, she spasmed with annoyance at the unwelcome interruption. For a moment, she considered ignoring the pony outside the library, but knew that would only result in another series of knocks and called out to the visitor instead, annoyance clear in her voice.

“What is it?”

From her vantage point at the railing of the library’s second floor, through a mesh and maze of glowing chains, Twilight saw Applejack open the front door and close it behind her as she entered. For a moment the farmer just stood there, jaw slightly agape as she regarded the odd structure that floated in the air before her.

The unicorn supposed the sight might be surprising to most ponies; spanning the entirety of the main part of the library was a hugely magnified version of the model of her solite spell, its multihued glowing strings forming a three dimensional cobweb of such complexity that only a mage who had followed the spell from the beginning could begin to understand its many different mechanisms and interactions.

“What is it, AJ?” Twilight asked again, her irritation palpable.

The earth pony was brought out of her momentary stupor and cast her head about, looking for her friend. She finally spotted the unicorn through the glowing tangle of illusory strings. “Ah, uh, just came ta let ya know the last of our solites at Sweet Apple Acres has gone out... Again.”

Twilight’s left eye twitched slightly. “I lit it two days ago. It can’t already have gone out. Who’s tampering with my solites!?”

“Now, Twi, remember what I told you about calming down?” Applejack said in a tone that Twilight could only perceive as condescending, circling the spell model to better see the unicorn. “An’ it’s been five days, not two! Tell me again how long you’ve been studying up on this giant solite thingy?”

The two ponies were quiet for some time. When the farmer had traversed the stairs to stand before Twilight, the unicorn finally spoke. “That… was a rhetorical question, wasn’t it?”

Applejack shook her head. “Nope. Ah wanna hear ya say it, ‘cause Ah reckon you’re wrong. Ah mean look at you! Rarity would prolly faint if’n she saw your mane, your eyes are more red than white. Twitchy too. An’, well, you’re shaking all over! Last time you were this upset, ya made half the town fall in love with a stuffed animal! And now you’re workin’ on makin’ a giant ball o’ fire right above Ponyville! Ah reserve the right to be just a tad worried. So tell me. When do you think the mayor ask ya ta make a sun fer Ponyville?”

“A little more than a week ago?” The unicorn tried, her annoyance melting away before the earth pony’s stern gaze. “Ten days, maybe?”

“Three weeks,” Applejack answered flatly. “It ain’t just time you’re losing track of Twi... Ah mean, what happened to finding Fluttershy? She’s been gone fer five weeks now!”

“I don’t know!” Twilight hissed with irritation. “I can’t do a thing without the Elements, and the council is really dragging its hooves; it hasn’t answered any of my letters! That’s why we’re waiting! And waiting, and waiting and waiting!”

“Well, maybe we just oughta git on over there and git ‘em ourselves!” Applejack reasoned. “But before we do any o’ that, Ah’d say you’re in sore need of a good rest!” She began pushing her friend backwards. “You don’t look like you’re doin’ much else than starin’ at that thing anyways. Off to bed with ya!”

“But I’m not tired!” the unicorn whined, her sleep depraved body struggling feebly against that of the strong farmer.

“Ah don’t care! It’s midnight!”

“It’s always midnight!”

“Ah don’t care!” With a mighty heave, the earth pony threw the unicorn onto her bed. “Sleep!”

“But my spell…”

“…can wait. Now, Ah’m real busy with the farm an’ all, but you’re forcin’ ma hoof; Ah’m gonna stay right here until ya git the rest you need.”

“But...”

“Don’t make me dig out your first friendship report!” Applejack warned her sternly, seating herself on a nearby chair. “Y’know, the one ya wrote ‘bout me?”

With a frustrated sigh, the unicorn buried her head in her pillow, and the enormous spell model faded away to nothing.

She stood upon a path made up of a luminous band that stretched off into the vast darkness around her, arcing and curving through a landscape she could not see. Most of what she saw, besides the path before her, was nothing but nearly featureless darkness. She did, however, notice three prominent features around her.

To her right, near where the horizon would be if the ground were present, were the sun and moon, the two celestial bodies on the verge of entering into a full solar eclipse and shedding only a minimum of light.

To her left, on the opposite side of the sky, was an enormous six-pointed star glowing a brilliant magenta light. A smaller silver star could be seen behind the magenta one and positioned in a crude circle around the stellar formation were five even smaller stars of silver. All in all, what she saw to her left was an exact replica of her cutie mark emblazoned upon the dark sky, shining much brighter than both the sun and moon.

Immediately behind her, seemingly floating in midair since the ground was invisible to her, were the remains of the Canterlot Palace, the bright marble ablaze with roaring flames that sent almost suffocating waves of heat rolling over her.

With nowhere else to go but forward, she began walking down the winding path of light that led into the darkness and away from the smoldering ruins. She noticed that she could see no more than forty or so feet ahead of her before the impenetrable darkness shrouded the glowing band from her sight.

After what felt like an eternity of walking through a featureless landscape, the darkness suddenly dissipated, revealing a fork in the path before her. The path to her left led to a steep set of stairs that ultimately terminated at the top of a tower made of the same ethereal and luminescent material as the path she stood upon. The top of the tower was several hundred feet above her, while the base pillar of the structure seemed to stretch downwards forever into the infinitely deep abyss below her.

To her right, the path sloped downwards, leading down to the top of a huge pillar that, like the tower to her left, seemed to have no bottom. The top of the column featured a large platform upon which stood her friends and Princess Celestia, all of them looking at her expectantly.

She was about to step forward onto the path to her right when a voice called out to her.

“All that which you know cannot be. None shall be spared. None can be saved.”

The voice belonged to a male, his words laced with such power that she shivered. She looked around, but could not find the speaker.

“Know that only one path will lead to salvation,” the disembodied voice said, and the path to her left brightened remarkably. “The road is not an easy one to walk. You will face many challenges, you will be broken, but it is the right path.” The left path’s glow faded to its natural luminescence. “The plague is coming. When the shadow strikes, all shall fall.”

The presence vanished, and she stood alone at the crossroads once again, not knowing what to do. The left path seemed the most difficult to take by far, but, according the voice, also held the greatest reward. But if it was true that all would fall, could she leave her friends behind? She debated the matter for several minutes, but just as she was about to reach her decision, she was interrupted by a sinister growl from behind her.

She whirled around only to be met by a dark maw. She saw the blackness open up around her and before she could even scream, it had consumed her.

Twilight woke with a start, finding herself lying on the floor halfway between her bed and the second floor’s railing, wrapped completely up in her covers.

For the first time in weeks, the odd point in her neck was throbbing incessantly, and the unicorn groaned from the discomfort. Although the pain was far from as unbearable as it had been in the first few weeks after The Great Tragedy, she had by now grown accustomed to living without such constant pains.

Why hasn’t that thing healed yet? I really need to remember to have somepony take a look at it…

Twilight threw a longing gaze at her bed, but eventually turned her back on it, draping her front hooves across the railing as she summoned her enormous solite spell model.

Resting had helped her a great deal, and she now found working with the finer details of her spell much easier. In fact, it took her just a few moments before she realized that she was on the verge of a breakthrough; a few additional adjustments, and she could create her largest solite to date.

Only three hours later, a triumphant unicorn emerged from the Ponyville library, sporting a confident smile as she trotted toward the town hall. The clock atop the hall and the number of ponies walking about in the streets told Twilight that it was early morning in the small town. Could she have timed a sunrise any better?

For a brief moment, she considered going to her practice fields near Sweet Apple Acres to make sure her new solite spell would work properly. However, doing so would drain her energy too much for her to be able to repeat the procedure before the day was over. Besides, if anything should go wrong, the solite would automatically erect a force field around itself. Even if that failed, she could create a force field manually. And so she decided to just surprise her fellow Ponyvillians by creating the sun right above the town hall.

As the unicorn drew to a halt in front of the building, it wasn’t long before a fairly large crowd had gathered around her, eager to see what the sun pony had in store for Ponyville. Murmurs of excitement rose from the ponies as Twilight’s horn sparked to life, and everypony’s fur stood on end as she poured her powers into the air above the town hall.

A small burst of lightning erupted from her horn and raced far into the sky, striking some invisible point in the air, resulting in a small explosion. Instead of dissipating, however, the fire above Ponyville kept burning fiercely, growing slowly as the lavender unicorn below sent spell after spell into the powerful furnace. As it had done so many times before, the flames turned liquid and condensed into the spherical form of a solite, brightening until all of Ponyville was bathed in weak sunlight.

Twilight’s knees buckled as her magic continued pouring out of her. She was far from done, however, so she pushed on even as her legs gave away beneath her.

It was another ten minutes before, with a scream, Twilight unleashed her final spell, and the solite above everypony doubled in its intensity, turning the dark of night into broad daylight and providing the chilly town with generous amounts of heat. With a deep sense of satisfaction, the unicorn noted that the giant orb in the sky had reached the size of an average house.

Pink hooves wrapped around Twilight and helped her stand on her weakened legs as loud cheers erupted from the crowd around her. “Oh gosh, Twilight, that was amazing! You just created a huge-mongous sun! I mean just look at it! I guess it won’t be long before you can light up all of Equestria, huh?”

“Thanks, Pinkie,” the unicorn panted with a smile. “Can we go to Sugarcube Corner? I need to rest my hooves, and I could really use some sugar right about now.”

“Sugarcube Corner, here we come!” the pink pony cried exuberantly. “Cupcakes for everypony!”

Twilight soon found herself being literally carried toward the town’s most popular confectionary. Ponies still half asleep opened their shutters to see what all the commotion this early in the morning was about, only to join the crowd as they saw the sun shining in the sky above them. The door to Sugarcube Corner was thrown open and within only a minute, the entire shop had been flooded with ponies.

“You sure the Cakes can handle this many customers?” Twilight asked her pink friend as the two settled down by a table, the unicorn glancing around at the increasingly crowded confectionary.

“They’ll be fine!” Pinkie smiled, producing a platter of cupcakes from beneath the table they sat at.

“How..?” Twilight began, but decided to just let the matter go and take a bite out of one of the pastries instead. Only now did she realize that she had neglected not only breakfast, but dinner and lunch as well. When had she last eaten?

“Wowee, you must be starving,” Pinkie Pie commented as she watched the unicorn singlehoofedly wolf down more than a dozen cupcakes in less than two minutes. “Need any more?”

Twilight smiled sheepishly. “No, I’m… I’m fine now, thank you.”

“So what’s it like being the new Celestia, huh? Exciting? Do you want a tiara? No, wait, you already have one...”

“Pinkie,” Twilight said, giving the pink pony a disapproving frown. “Please don’t call me that.”

“But you are!” Pinkie Pie insisted, pulling out another platter of cupcakes. “You just made a sun, right? And you’re gonna make a sun for Equestria, right?”

“We are gonna make a sun,” Twilight pointed out. “As powerful as I may be, Celestia’s sun is far beyond my abilities.”

“So the Elements of Harmony...” for a moment, the party pony was lost in thought, visibly becoming more and more confused. “But the Elements can’t be princesses! That’s silly! They’re just jewellery! We should have a pony princess for ponies, right?”

“We aren’t gonna have another princess!” the unicorn retorted, sighing at the earth pony’s strange logic. “We have a council now, remember? A council that doesn’t seem to be of any help when you want the Elements of Harmony. Maybe we should just go to Manehattan like AJ said. I mean, it’s been almost a month, and they haven’t even replied!”

“Ah reckon they’re still mighty busy, what with takin’ over after the princesses and all,” Applejack offered as she appeared behind the three ponies. “Howdy y’all! Came as soon as Ah saw that giant ball o’ fire hoverin’ above Ponyville.” She nudged the unicorn with a grin. “Told ya you just needed a good rest.”

“Hopefully, I’ll keep that in mind during my next experimental session,” Twilight answered with a smile. “But you’re right; the council’s probably too busy to answer every letter they receive. I would have hoped they’d prioritize a letter from the Element of Magic, but I guess not…”

“Then we just march right up to them!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, slamming a hoof down on the table much to the surprise of her friends. “Fluttershy’s been gone for five weeks now! We can’t just wait around anymore! We have to save her!”

“Ya still think she’s alright?”

“‘Course she is!” the pink pony answered Applejack defiantly. “I haven’t had any nosebleeds and knee jerks! Well, I have, but that was about Zecora…” The ponies around the table were silent for a moment before Pinkie slammed a hoof down again. “And I’m not gonna wait around for it to happen to Fluttershy!”

“Pinkie’s right,” the lavender unicorn decided. “We’re the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony; we’ll march right up to Cristallum and demand an audience with the council.”

“Yeah! let’s go!” the party pony exclaimed excitedly, grabbing a large mouthful of cupcakes before jumping off her seat.

“There’s just a single train a day that goes from here to Manehattan,” Applejack informed the others. “Leaves at nine.”

“An hour then,” Twilight concluded before getting up next to Pinkie Pie. “AJ, can you arrange for somepony to take care of Owloysius and Peewee? Pinkie and I’ll try and see if we can’t talk Rainbow into coming with us.”

A few minutes later, the two ponies stood almost thirty feet above the ground outside the front door to Rainbow Dash’s sizeable abode, both ponies held up by Twilight’s Cloudwalker spell.

“How do you even knock on these cloud doors?” Twilight complained as she soon began pounding away at the fluffy door, her blows muffled by its softness. She was soon herded away by the pink pony, however, who calmly gave the door a quick rap, producing the desired sound of a hoof knocking against wood.

A crack of thunder sounded from somewhere in the back of the house before they heard Rainbow Dash’s voice shouting at them. “Go away! No more visitors, no more fans, no more mail!”

“Pinkie and I are standing on a cloud thirty feet above the ground!” Twilight shouted back. “Open the door!”

“Twi? Wha- No! Leave me alone!”

“That’s obviously not working out for you!” Summoning her powers, the unicorn teleported herself and the earth pony through the door. As they reappeared in the Wonderbolt’s small but lavish entry, Twilight once again found herself wondering just how cheap cloud residences were.

“Dashie!” Pinkie Pie called out in a singsong voice as she hopped through an archway into the living room. “We’re here to cheer you up!”

“You’ve been up here for a month, Rainbow!” Twilight half-pleaded, half-scolded. “The gang’s leaving for Manehattan to go get the Elements!”

“You don’t need me...” The soft sound of hoofsteps emerged from somewhere above the two non-pegasi, and after a short moment, Rainbow Dash walked down the stairs to the living room. The pegasus’ mane was ruffled to the point where her multicolored streaks were no longer separate but completely blended together, and she was sweating and panting heavily.

“What happened to you?” the unicorn asked, her frustration suddenly replaced by worry.

“Pretty much everything that could go wrong, that’s what.” she croaked. Whether it was perspiration or tears that had made her face damp, the unicorn couldn’t tell.

“C’mon, Rainbow,” Twilight pressed. “Talk to us.”

“We all want you back!” Pinkie Pie added.

“What do you want me to say?” the pegasus demanded, a hint of frustration creeping into her voice. “That I didn’t let Fluttershy down? That I’m helping save Equestria? ‘Cause that would be lying!”

“For Pete’s sake, Rainbow!” Twilight groaned at her friend. “Whatever happened to Fluttershy, it wasn’t your fault! There was nothing you could do.”

“That’s a lie too!” Rainbow Dash insisted. “I could’ve saved her! I could’ve carried her out of there or chased the timberwolves away if I had only been there in time!”

“You mean before it happened. You can’t be everywhere at once, you know.”

“I could’ve been someplace else than lounging around in here!”

“Well, you were,” Twilight told the pegasus. “I was out practicing solites, Applejack was... doing whatever she does at her farm this time of year, Rarity was designing dresses in Manehattan and Pinkie was...”

“Eating cupcakes!” the pink pony added helpfully.

“Point is, we were all busy doing something,” Twilight continued. “Fluttershy disappearing is as much your fault as it’s mine or Pinkie Pie’s, or... Bon Bon! If anything, I should be blamed; I’m the time traveller! I should’ve kept calm and travelled back to warn Fluttershy or something when I saw the wolves. Instead I wasted all my magic on the fight with the ursa.”

“I’m a hero, Twi; you told me that yourself,” Rainbow Dash insisted. “What kind of a hero sits around at home while her friends are in danger?”

“You didn’t know!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed angrily, startling the two others. “Sorry! It’s just, we keep saying it all the time! So listen already!”

“Alright! Maybe that whole thing wasn’t entirely my fault...” The pegasus sighed, falling back on her haunches. She gestured at a window overlooking the town hall. “But look at that! While I’ve been lying around here crying, you’ve made a sun, Twi! A sun! You guys should just go ahead and get the Elements; you don’t need me.”

While Pinkie Pie was at an uncharacteristic loss for words, Twilight frowned. Eventually she decided to try a different approach. “So that’s how it’s going to be, huh?” she asked the pegasus, disapproval palpable in both her tone and expression. “You’re just gonna stay here, kicking around your furniture...” She gestured at the broken sofa and table she had only recently noticed. “...while everypony else tries saving Equestria?”

The pegasus opened her mouth as if to protest, but held her tongue, averting her gaze from the unicorn.

“While we go save Fluttershy? While we defeat Nightmare Moon?”

“N-no...”

“The hero who did nothing? The Bearer who didn’t stand with her friends when she was needed the most, who let Nightmare Moon win and let half of Equestria starve to death? Is that how you want to be remembered, Rainbow!? After the four of us rescue her, do you want Fluttershy to see you as the pony who ‘didn’t really feel up to saving her’?”

“Of course not!” Rainbow Dash defended herself angrily, but remained sitting.

“Tell me, Rainbow,” Twilight said, stepping closer to the pegasus until they were face to face. “If you choose to stay here now, will you ever be able to look anypony in the eye again?”

The pegasus once again exhaled heavily. “No...”

“I didn’t know you did pep talks!” Pinkie Pie commented on the whole exchange after the two ponies had been silent for a while. “You coming with us to Manehattan now, Dashie? There’s no better way to turn a frown upside down than having all of your bestest friends around!”

“I guess you two are right...” Rainbow Dash got to her hooves and shook her head. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have let it bother me that much...”

“We need to carry on,” Twilight agreed. “Especially when we’re the Elements of Harmony.”

“C’mon! Let’s turn you cyan again!” the earth pony shouted exuberantly to the confusion of the two others.

“Uhh, what?”

“Well, you’re all blue now, and you’re cyan when you’re normal, so if we make you happy you won’t be sad and blue any more and you’ll be cyan! Duh!”

“Okay... The train leaves at nine,” Twilight carried on before the silence following the earth pony’s statement became too awkward. “If you need to bring anything, get it now and we’ll head on over to the station.”

“So,” Applejack sighed as she plopped down on her seat in the nearly empty carriage. “Y’alright now, Rainbow?”

“Well enough, I guess,” the pegasus muttered, gazing out the window as the train drew away from the Ponyville station.

“We helped her see she wasn’t doing much good locked up in her house,” Twilight explained, giving the pegasus next to her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “Don’t worry; we’ll find her.”

“I know, I know...” Rainbow Dash was quiet for a long while. “But... it’s not the only thing bugging me. Yesterday... I got a letter from Spitfire.”

Once more, the ponies became silent. “The Wonderbolts?” Twilight finally offered, and the pegasus’ muscles seemed to tighten all at once, though she still gazed vacantly out the window at the dark landscape passing by.

“Disbanded.”

“Are you alright, Dash?” Twilight asked, worried once more.

“I already told you,” the cyan pegasus pointed out. “I’m fine.”

“But the Wonderbolts...” Pinkie began, although she was cut off by Rainbow Dash almost immediately.

“...Were a sinking ship. Ever since Celestia died, I knew we would have to stop sooner or later. It’s gonna be a hard time for the pegasi with temperatures dropping all over Equestria, and we’re gonna need the best of the best pretty soon. We can’t just entertain anymore. I mean, of course I was frustrated when I first got the letter...”

“I guess your furniture can attest to that,” Twilight added, and the ex-Wonderbolt gave a little smile.

“Yeah. I wish it hadn’t ended so soon, though. I worked pretty hard for just two years with my heroes.”

“Well, look on the bright side!” Applejack tried. “You’re now Rainbow Dash: The Last Wonderbolt! Or The Final Wonderbolt!”

“You’re still the fastest flier in Equestria!” Pinkie Pie added encouragingly. “When all this is over, you can just start a new team, right? Ooh, ooh! Twilight could give us all wings and then we could be the, uh, the Rainbowbolts! Or the Harmonybolts!”

The apple farmer gave a short chuckle. “Ah think Ah’ll pass.” She sighed again, looking out at the now barely visible lights of Ponyville. “Y’all really think this’ll ever be over? That everything’ll just return to normal?”

“’Course it will!” the pink pony replied with a smile. “Or, you know, almost. We’ll go get the Elements of Harmony, go find Fluttershy, Twilight makes a new sun for us, and then we beat Nightmare Moon! Then Twilight can be the new Princess Celestia since she made the sun!”

“How many times do I have to tell you!? I can’t just replace Celestia!” the unicorn chastised her friend. “She was a one-of-a-kind pony.”

“Well, so are you,” Applejack reminded her. “So are all of us. We’ve took down more monsters than Ah can count on mah hooves. Both together an’ on our own.”

“But we aren’t-”

“But nothin’!” the farmer said sternly, cutting off whatever Twilight had to say. “Take it from the Element of Honesty: We’re exceptional ponyviduals, alright? We beat Discord, som’thin’ only Celestia and Luna could do. We took on those Tartarus guys one on one, just like Celestia, an’ we lived ta tell the tale, didn’t we? Even more importantly,” Applejack pressed on, driving her point home, “we fixed Nightmare Moon; we brought back Luna. That’s something Celestia couldn’t do! Now, Ah doubt things’ll go back to normal, but we’ll make the best of it. We always do. Ya ain’t replacin’ Celestia, Twi; Pinkie didn’t mean nuthin’ bah that. But you sure as heck can follow in her hoofsteps.” The farmer’s gaze dropped to her hooves. “Y’know, if’n it turns out Luna can’t.”

Twilight was silent for a long while, effectively shut up by the farmer’s both scolding and reprimanding words. “I guess only time will tell,” she sighed after a moment.

Six uneventful hours passed within the carriage before Twilight was poked in the ribs by one of Rainbow Dash’s feathery wings, interrupting her nap. Looking first at the seats facing her, she noted with envy that Applejack was fast asleep, leaning back in her seat with her stetson shading her eyes from the lights in the train. Pinkie Pie’s seat was vacant, meaning she must still be prowling the rest of the train for snacks. Casting a slightly annoyed glance at the pegasus, the lavender unicorn caught her staring intently at something outside.

“Rainbow?” she muttered sleepily, breaking whatever trance that had held the pegasus. “What is it?”

Rainbow Dash folded her wings together and nodded her head out at the window. “There’s something weird out there. It’s all shiny, and it’s moving pretty fast.”

The unicorn frowned and leaned in close to the window to get a better look. Sure enough, a bright light was emanating from somewhere behind a long chain of hills; a pale yellow glow that silhouetted its surroundings.

“Weird,” she concurred. “Mind going checking it out?”

“Not at all,” the pegasus replied, pushing past Twilight to get to the aisle. “Needed some exercise.” The ex-Wonderbolt disappeared into a doorway in search of an exit, and within only a minute, Twilight saw a black shape zooming off toward the horizon.

After another five minutes, the pegasus returned, accompanied by Pinkie Pie, who was carrying a dozen bags of peanuts and an assortment of lollipops.

“Guess!” Rainbow Dash offered after leaping over Twilight and into her seat.

“No,” Twilight sighed, impatient. “What was it? Is it dangerous?”

“Remember those two cider guys? It’s a few years back, so I can’t really say I remember their names…”

“Ya ain’t talkin’ ‘bout those Flim’n’Flam fellas are ya?” Applejack groaned. With her stetson covering up her face, it was hard to see whether she was awake or asleep.

“Yeah! Flim and Flam! Apparently, they quit the cider business.”

“Good riddance,” the farmer grumbled.

“Guess they wanted to annoy Twi more than you and any apple farmers out there,” Rainbow Dash said, smiling teasingly at Twilight.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” the unicorn asked anxiously. “What are they doing now?”

“Making suns. Or solites or whatever you call them.”

“What!?” the unicorn shrieked loud enough to make Applejack jump in her seat. “Those two are making solites!? How’s that even possible!? It’s taken me months to learn to make them, and I’m probably the most talented unicorn mage in Equestria! Flim and Flam… aren’t! How!?”

“I think they built them,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “They were driving one of their weird car-thingies. It was carrying two of these huge crystal balls, though the car could carry a lot more. I guess they already sold a few. Flim… I think… one of them, anyway, said that they were powered by unicorn magic.”

“They’re resourceful little buggers, Ah’ll give ‘em that,” Applejack commented, still hidden beneath her stetson.

“But now we have even more suns for Equestria,” the pink pony pointed out. “That’s good, right?”

“Yeah.” The pegasus nodded. “I mean, they were jerks back with the cider an’ all, but those sun-thingies could be a good temporary solution until Twi gets the big one up and running. Might just prevent the whole place from freezing over.”

“Provided they don’t drain Equestria dry of money first...” the skeptical farmer said.

“I really wanna know how they did it, though…” Twilight muttered, gazing after the bright flashing light as it turned away from the train and disappeared from view.

As it turned out when the four ponies arrived in Manehattan the next day, the Flim Flam brothers’ newest business venture was based in the new capital of Equestria. Hundreds of crystal orbs, about fifteen feet across and apparently lighter than air, hovered all over the bustling metropolis, anchored to the ground or buildings by sturdy iron chains. Although not as bright as during Celestia’s reign, the city was still lit up much better than Ponyville.

“Whoah, Nelly,” the farmer gasped, craning her neck as the ponies exited the train station and found themselves amongst the famous skyscrapers of Manehattan. “D’ya still reckon we even need that sun o’ yours, Twi? Ah’m surprised Nightmare hasn’t tried ta shut this place down yet.”

“Rarity mentioned in one of her letters that ponies were working on solites in Manehattan,” the unicorn said, squinting in an effort to study the bright suns hovering above the streets. “I didn’t think much of it, though; I mean of course somepony’s bound to try it out like I did. I just didn’t expect them to be so… successful…”

But then again, as far as I know, all the brightest minds of Equestria are gathered right here. I wonder what I could do in a place like this…

She snapped out of her musings as the bright orbs above her suddenly dimmed at an alarming rate, turning daylight into twilight, and after a few minutes, only the light of Nightmare’s moon lit up the city, reflecting off the lifeless crystal spheres and the glass-and-steel façades all around the four ponies. Another few seconds later, the city’s street lamps flickered on one by one.

“I’m guessing it’s nighttime?” Rainbow Dash offered. “At least I hope this was supposed to happen…”

“Ah think it is pretty late in the, uh, evenin’, so ta speak,” Applejack agreed. “They probably shut ‘em down for the night. Ah know Ah had trouble sleeping with Twi’s solites shinin’ all the time.”

“Getting an audience with the council won’t be easy at this hour,” the lavender unicorn sighed.

“Oh, I know!” Pinkie Pie chirped happily from behind the three other ponies, bouncing ahead of them as they stopped to hear what she had to say. “We can have a sleepover at Rarity’s!”

It took almost an hour of navigating the darkened city before the friends stood before Les Couturiers d'Albâtre, the recently founded fashion boutique run by both Rarity and her friend Fleur de Lis. The shop took up almost the entirety of the street level of the skyscraper in front of them, its window displays full of ornate and elaborate coats, dresses, and boots that seemed to have been designed specifically with the threat of a cold winter in mind.

“The door to the apartments is further down the street, I think,” Twilight informed her friends as she peered in through the glass door of the boutique. “But I think I can see Rarity inside the shop.”

“Workin’ late on a new dress?” Applejack commented as she drew near, giving the door a quick rap to get the white unicorn’s attention. “Sounds just like her.”

The door glowed violet, clicked, and swung open, allowing the four ponies in before shutting again. Instead of Rarity, however, they found Fleur de Lis standing before them, giving them a warm smile. “The Elements of Harmony! Welcome to Le Couturiers d’Albâtre! What brings you all ‘ere to Manehattan at this hour?”

“We were getting the Elements of Harmony from the council,” Twilight explained. “We were looking to see if we could stay the night at Rarity’s. Do you know where she is?”

“Eh oui.” The tall unicorn gestured at an archway behind her. “She’s in the back room. See if you cannot convince ‘er to go to bed at a decent hour for once. She’s a bad habit of staying ‘ere until sunrise.”

“I can hear you perfectly fine from in here!” Rarity called out from inside the back room. “Somepony has to make the money around here, fainéant!”

“See what I must deal with?” Fleur de Lis giggled, shaking her head at her colleague. “Excusez-moi, but I have an appointment elsewhere. I will have to leave ‘er to you.”

“Don’t ya worry none ‘bout it!” The farmer grinned slyly at Twilight. “Ah got some experience with those kind o’ unicorns.”

“And remember to have a look around!” the dressmaker said, gesturing at the mannequins on her way out. “A long winter is coming!”

The four ponies said their farewells to the ex-model before filing into the back room in search of their friend. There they found the master fashionista of the establishment, surrounded by mannequins and long sheets of fabric, needles, and threads, all darting about her in an organized chaos as Rarity put the finishing touches on seven thick gowns at once.

“Darlings!” the white unicorn trilled at the new arrivals, the sewing articles around her slowing down as she split her concentration between working and socializing. “Welcome to the fashion capital of Equestria!” She ducked beneath a roll of white satin and neatly dodged half a dozen sewing needles as she exited the circle of mannequins to greet her friends. “I was wondering when you would come by to visit our little boutique.”

“Little?” The cyan pegasus scoffed. “This place is pretty huge, y’know. Do you really need all this room for… fashion… stuff?”

“Why, yes,” the unicorn replied, taking her friend’s obvious distaste of her profession in stride. “In fact… we have been considering expanding to the first floor as well!”

“Seems like business is going swell,” Twilight commented, glancing at the many clothing articles around her. “So when are we supposed to get you to bed?”

“Oh, the shop’s been closed for almost three hours now,” Rarity replied, waving a hoof dismissively. “I swear, Manehattan must be running one or two hours later than Ponyville. I just have to finish up these dresses here. And this tuxedo for a Mr. South Pole.” She turned her attention back to the dresses, causing the various sewing appliances to once again pick up their pace. “So, finally became fed up with waiting, did you? I must admit, I have more than occasionally felt the desire to simply march straight up to Cristallum and demand that the Elements of Harmony be given to me. Alas, the Council of Nine refuses as of yet to have any audiences with anypony! Really, it’s been half a year! One would think nine ponies of the council’s experience would have gotten some sort of control over the situation by now.”

“If they won’t talk to anypony, how are we gonna get the Elements?” Pinkie Pie asked, but Rainbow Dash just snorted.

“C’mon, we’re the Bearers of the Elements, right? We were on a first name basis with the princesses. They can’t ignore us!”

“Even if they do, this is about Fluttershy and Equestria’s safety,” Twilight said. “I doubt they can prevent us from just teleporting inside.”

The pegasus chuckled. “Can we please do that no matter what they say? I’d like to see their faces when five mares appear out of nowhere in the middle of their throne room or wherever they’re holed up!”

“Speakin’ o’ which,” Applejack said, turning towards Rarity. “We were hopin’ we could hole up here fa tonight if’n it’s alright with ya.”

“Of course!” the white unicorn replied. “Go ahead and make yourself at home, I’ll be with you in a few moments.” From somewhere near the cash register, a small silver key appeared, held aloft by the fashionista’s magic. As it floated toward her, Twilight took hold of it with her own magic. “I do have one condition, however,” the white unicorn added, casting a glance of mock frostiness at Applejack. “With some logistics, there should be enough room for three in my bed, although I do believe it is for the best if it is not shared by Applejack and myself.”

The farmer chuckled and shook her head. “Fair ’nough, partner.”

A few hours after the artificial dawn had broken over Manehattan, the five friends from Ponyville were on their way to Cristallum, leaving Fleur de Lis in charge of the fashion boutique. The palace, built in honor of the Lunar Princess a few years after her return, was the only remaining piece of gothic architecture in the bustling metropolis, and was most likely the only gothic building in the world made from steel, glass, and concrete. Where the outer walls of the Canterlot palace, which most ponies had come to consider as Celestia’s domain, were white marble etched with gold and every color of the rainbow, the outer façade of Luna’s palace consisted almost solely of matted windows of sapphire blue and a black steel frame, molded into the shape of the ancient buildings Luna must have called home a thousand years ago.

“So, anyone ever been in there?” Applejack asked, nodding at the sparkling blue palace as they trotted towards it.

“Once…” Twilight murmured, her ears flattening as unease crept into her voice. “This was where I was named the Heroine of Equestria…”

“Oh, right.” When the farmer noticed the unicorn’s unease, she gave her an almost disapproving look. “Ah thought we’d agreed you’d stop feelin’ bad about that!”

“I know,” Twilight sighed, hanging her head. “I’d just never been away from you all for so long. Sometimes that title leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Too many bad memories.”

“Ya know all that was our fault, not yours,” the farmer insisted. “Ah’d be lyin’ if’n Ah said Ah didn’t envy you defeatin’ that dragon; that was mighty impressive, but Ah don’t envy you having ta actually fight the guy; he could’ve swallowed a house whole!”

“I too must admit I was more than relieved when you told us you would deal with that Inferno character,” Rarity said, backing up Applejack. “Just as I must admit I was more than jealous of you when none of us were named heroines… At least not nation-wide…”

“Heroine of Coltdoba!” Pinkie Pie boasted teasingly.

“Coltdoba is province, dear,” the alabaster unicorn pointed out.

“I know. But it’s still a lot bigger than Las Pegasus!” The pink pony stuck her tongue out.

Rarity gave a frustrated sigh as the other ponies chuckled. “Las Pegasus is such a dirty city, though,” she complained. “I almost wish that Pyre fellow had attacked Prance. Heroine of Prance sounds so much better. It would have done wonders for my business…”

“Ah think Ah’m fine with Appleloosa,” the farmer sighed, and the pegasus nodded in agreement.

“Heroine of Cloudsdale’s pretty sweet too, I’d say. Equestria would have been better, but hay.”

“We don’t envy ya no more, Twi,” Applejack reassured the lavender unicorn. “If anythin’, Ah envy Pinkie and Fluttershy for bein’ there for ya when Ah weren’t…”

“If I can’t feel bad about it, then you shouldn’t either!” Twilight chided her friend, poking her playfully in the ribs with a hoof. “Now that I think about it, it happened two and a half years ago! Why are we even discussing it?”

“Because it was the first time we were on our own against the serious kind of bad guys,” Rainbow Dash pointed out. “No Celestia or Luna to tell us what was going on, and us having to split up to deal with all of the Blazebringers. That was pretty tough. And to wrap it all up there was that whole business with the rest of us getting pretty much ignored while you were named Heroine of Equestria.”

“Frustrating indeed,” Rarity concurred. “But it wasn’t your fault Twilight, and we never should have let you suffer for it.”

“I understand,” Twilight assured her friends. “I mean each of you defeated a Blazebringer, the most vicious and feared enforcers during Nightmare Moon’s rule! You should have gotten at least as much recognition as I did.”

“Maybe not as much recognition,” Applejack reasoned. “After all, yer the one who defeated the leader o’ the bunch.”

Their conversation ended as the ponies finally arrived at the heavy iron gates that led into the palace area, the guards parting respectfully before the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony.

“Well, that was easy enough…” Rainbow Dash commented as soon as they were out of earshot of the guards.

“I am sure getting into Cristallum shouldn’t be a problem for us. It’s gaining an audience with the council that could get difficult.” Rarity reminded the pegasus.

The ponies crossed the plaza and entered the palace, asking around for directions until they finally stood before the doors leading to the alleged conclave of the Council of Nine. After some persuasion, the guards stationed there reluctantly let the five ponies enter.

The council’s chambers were almost as grand as any throne room, though it lacked the many alcoves and decorative pillars and arches Twilight had grown accustomed to from the palace of Canterlot. Instead, ornamental buttresses adorned the walls, accompanied by beautiful, twisting patterns of silver engraved into the black marble walls and floor. At the far end of the room, an arched ceiling of glass constituted the back wall, curving up and above the newly arrived ponies before terminating at the wall behind them. Tall windows, that were really just a series of less matted panes of glass, topped by pointed arches had been set into the curved ceiling, allowing in the pseudo-daylight of Manehattan. As Twilight craned her neck to take in the surroundings, she noticed two staircases set into each of the walls to her sides, providing access to some hall above the one she and her friends had come from.

Several lines of silver curved around each other in a spiral on the floor, meeting at the center where a round table of solid black marble stood as if carved from the floor it stood upon. Around this table were nine chairs, and upon these chairs were nine ponies, some of which were looking rather irately at the intruders. Spread out on the table were more than a dozen stacks of official-looking papers.

A smile soon formed upon Civil Tenet’s face, and an elderly stallion of white coat and a short, graying mane, whom Twilight judged to be Penning Draft, grinned at her as well.

“Twilight Sparkle,” a female, heavily scarred, pink pegasus simply stated, looking the new arrivals over with watchful eyes. She sported a neatly trimmed scarlet mane with a few visible strands of gray in it. “Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie. The Bearers of the Elements of Harmony. To what do we owe the honor of the Equestrian heroes’ presence?”

Twilight couldn’t tell whether the mare simply had a very flat, stern voice, or if she was being ironic. Before she could answer, however, a young female earth pony sitting next to Civil Tenet broke in. She had a faded red coat that reminded her of Big Mac’s and her long, curly mane was blonde as Applejacks. “No need ta hurry, Scarlet,” she said, casting a warm smile at both parties. “Perhaps we should introduce ourselves first, am Ah right? Ah doubt they’re as familiar with us as we are with ‘em!”

The five ponies approached the table as the mare gestured at the silver-coated unicorn beside her. “Y’all must’ve seen Civil Tenet before; she’s our head o’ all things cultural and historical.” The unicorn in question nodded her head politely before the earth pony tapped herself on the chest. “Head o’ foreign relations, Amity Macoun, pleased ta meet y’all! Ah like ta think Ah can make friends out o’ anyone!” Behind her, Twilight heard the distinct ‘squee’ of a certain pink pony.

Next, Amity Macoun gestured at a stallion on her left hoof. This one had a green coat and a short, wild mane that alternated softly between red and orange. As he turned to face them with a smile, he also revealed a bushy moustache the same color as his mane. “This here’s Bramley off o’ the Fillydelphia orchards. There ain’t a thing he don’t know ‘bout farmin’, so he’s mighty useful here in these sunless times!” The head of foreign relations pointed at the stallion sitting next to Bramley. This one was a dark gray pegasus with a spiky mane of shockingly bright yellow. As the five ponies looked toward him, he gave each of them an apathetic glance through dull, amber eyes. “Lil’ Mister Sunshine o’er there goes by the name of Quiescent Atonement. He don’t say much, but his words are golden nonetheless, or mebbe because of it. He’s our head o’ judicial matters.”

“My name is Artemis,” the next pony in line said, opting to introduce herself. She was a reddish violet unicorn with an indigo mane set in much the same style as Rarity’s. Fixed to the bridge of her nose was a pair of glasses. “Former Arch Mage of Canterlot, and now this council’s expert on both the arcane and mundane.”

“Magic’n’science,” Amity Macoun explained, earning her a reproachful look from unicorn.

“I have been looking forward to meeting you, Twilight Sparkle,” Artemis told her, smiling winningly at the lavender unicorn. “If you recall, you and I were both nominated for the position of Arch Mage little more than a year ago. I was both sad and relieved to see you decline. Perhaps we can discuss this sun problem sometime in the future.”

“That’s gonna have to wait, I’m afraid,” the battle-scarred pink pegasus cut in, regarding Twilight acutely now. “Scarlet Bolt, military operations and Equestrian security. We have recently discussed your abilities, Twilight Sparkle, and-“

“We’re still short three introductions,” Amity Macoun pointed out, giving the scowling pegasus another of her warm smiles.

“Let us hurry then,” the dark brown unicorn sitting next to Scarlet Bolt said in a tone that could best be described as a well articulated growl. His golden mane fell down loosely around his face and shoulders. “Lucre. Finances.”

“Rain Dancer,” a female pegasus introduced herself. Her coat had a deep blue color and her long, flowing mane was pure white. “I’m in charge of organizing the weather in Equestria.”

“And finally, I’m Penning Draft. Pleased to meet ya!” The elderly stallion seemed to emphasize his own compliment either to compensate for or draw attention to the previous ponies’ mannerisms. “Newly appointed Grand Architect of Equestria! Our princesses’ monument, Cristallum in which we now stand, heck, I even designed your library, Twilight!” the stallion laughed.

Scarlet Bolt opened her mouth to speak, but Amity Macoun beat her to it. “So, what brings our famous Ponyvillians all the way to Manehattan?”

“The Element of Kindness, obviously,” Artemis answered for the five non-officials. “They still believe Miss Fluttershy is alive. Not to call into question the credibility of the… ‘Pinkie Sense’, but all evidence presented in the official report seems to suggest that she has been devoured by timberwolves. Traces of the pegasus’ blood as well as… some thirty of her feathers, I believe, were found in her cottage.”

“Despite the evidence, we are all quite sure she is still alive somewhere,” Twilight started, explaining the situation. “Given the nature of our bond to the Elements of Harmony, I should be able to locate her using the very Elements we are connected to.”

Artemis gave a short nod. “That should indeed be possible. Go on.”

“Well, uh, that’s why we’re here,” Twilight replied, unsure of what more to say. “To retrieve the Elements of Harmony.”

The silence that followed was almost more than Twilight could bear. She could feel her heart pounding as Civil Tenet gave her an apologetic look.

“I regret to inform you of this, Twilight,” she said. “But… we haven’t been able to recover the Elements.”

“What!?” What should have been a gently voiced question came out a shriek as the unicorn’s world began to reel. “You haven’t found them!? How can you not have found them!? They were right there in the ruins!”

“They were not,” Scarlet Bolt said in a reprimanding tone. “We spent weeks, months digging through the molten remains of the palace, but found nothing. The Elements seem to have been destroyed in The Great Tragedy.”

“B-b-but that’s impossible..!” Twilight insisted, her words trailing off as she spoke them.

Nightmare Moon raised her hooves and brought them down on the stone floor with a crack that echoed throughout the palace of the alicorn sisters. The five stone orbs around her bounced into the air and shattered as the black alicorn laughed triumphantly.

Twilight’s claim, however, was backed up by Rainbow Dash. “Yeah, the Elements are too powerful! Nothing can destroy them!”

“They have to be somewhere in the palace!” Pinkie Pie reasoned, but Scarlet Bolt rose from her seat, putting both hooves on the table as she leaned across the table toward the other pink pony, an almost dangerous gleam in her eyes.

“Are you questioning the competence of my retrieval team?” she hissed. “The one I hoofpicked and on several occasions assisted myself?”

The party pony flinched and took a step back, but Applejack took her place. “Ah guess we are. Ah’m sorry, but the Elements disappearin’ like that just don’t make sense. Didn’t y’all at least find the chamber o’ the Elements?”

Twilight nodded in agreement with the orange pony. “Celestia herself designed and enchanted the chamber to be nearly indestructible. If you didn’t find the chamber, then no wonder you didn’t find anything!”

“Nothing,” the battle-scarred pony repeated. “We dug and drilled through every last ounce of marble left in the ruins. After our search, nothing but a hollow, and I assure you, completely marble-less crater remained. Not a single chamber, no walls, no ceilings, no floors. We found no remains of the palace but melted marble and gold. We searched through the entirety of Canterlot and the surrounding area for any scattered debris, but none of them resembled the chamber of the Elements.”

“Let us look,” Twilight offered. “What could it hurt?”

“You. Canterlot is an abandoned city by now,” Scarlet Bolt said, relaxing into her seat again. She gestured at the windows in the conclave. “You’ve seen our progress on solite production. Why do you think we would not have moved to reclaim Canterlot?”

Twilight had to admit that she hadn’t thought about that. After a few seconds, the pink pegasus carried on.

“Pegasus scouts suggest that our once great capital, for reasons none of us have yet discerned, has become the home of a particularly savage assortment of wild beasts. Ursas, timberwolves, rocs, you name it. When ponies moved out, they moved in. My scouts have declared the area within and up to ten miles outside the city to be even more dangerous than the Everfree.”

“Now wait just a minute!” Applejack interjected critically. “Canterlot? Infested by ursas? How come we ain’t heard a thing?”

“It is a recently discovered development,” the pink pegasus explained. “And not the kind of news we are comfortable with blaring out to the rest of Equestria.”

“Like Fluttershy’s disappearance?” the farmer asked, giving the head of military a reproachful look.

Scarlet Bolt returned the stare. “Exactly.”

“The Heroine of Equestria.” The pegasus known as Quiescent Atonement regarded the lavender unicorn with his apathetic gaze. His voice was no more than a soft whisper that she had to strain herself to hear. He spoke slowly, however, making it easier to discern his words. “The Heroine of Cloudsdale,” the gray pegasus looked at Rainbow Dash. “Heroine of Coltdoba.” Pinkie Pie shuffled awkwardly under the gaze of the head of justice. “The Heroine of Appleloosa, and the Heroine of Las Pegasus.” Quiescent Atonement’s gaze regarded Applejack, and finally Rarity. “The Council of Nine considers you all to be public figures of the utmost importance. Any foray into the heart of Canterlot has been deemed suicidal by several independent parties.” The pegasus paused, taking a moment to glance at each of the council members, earning nods from them all. “With the authority given to us by the ponies of Equestria, the Council of Nine forbids you to approach the danger zone known as Canterlot.”

“How can ya even say that!?” Applejack demanded of the council, attempting to stare down the gray pegasus. “We’re the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony, fer pony’s sake!”

“We’ve fought all the bad guys on our own!” Pinkie Pie added defiantly. “Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis were way more scarier than Canterlot!”

“What happened to Fluttershy was a mighty eyeopener fer all o’ us,” Bramley offered. “I know I had some kind o‘ idea of you girls being beyond any kind o’ danger, but a few timberwolves seemed to be enough to cripple our most powerful weapon against any threat to Equestria.”

“We have already lost our Heroine of Vyatkiev,” Civil Tenet pointed out. “We have tried to put a lid on it, but once Fluttershy’s death becomes public knowledge, Equestria’s morale will suffer a heavy blow. We are at the brink of mass panic already.”

“She’s not dead!” both Twilight and Pinkie Pie insisted, but the council members were far from convinced.

“Even if the Pinkie Sense should be wrong,” Rainbow Dash added. “Which would be the first time since forever, there’s still a slight chance of Fluttershy being alive! There’s a slight chance of the Elements still being somewhere in Canterlot! And I don’t know about you guys, but if there is the tiniest chance, any chance whatsoever of finding her, then you can’t stop me from going in after those Elements!”

“Don’t be too sure of that,” Artemis revealed, but said no more.

“The beasts of Canterlot are of no threat to us as long as we stay away from the city,” Scarlet Bolt stated. “And I ask of you to trust in my more than forty years of experience with problems like this when I say the Elements of Harmony aren’t there. The five of you going there would be a completely unnecessary risk and a regrettable waste of your abilities, Twilight Sparkle.”

“My abilities?” Had they heard of her solite experiments?

“Twilight, you took down an ursa major almost singlehoofedly,” Artemis pointed out. “A feat of magic I would have previously only accredited to Princess Celestia or Luna or the Elements of Harmony.”

“You have served as the leader of the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony for years,” Penning Draft said. “Under that leadership, you have all vanquished Nightmare Moon, Discord, and the Blazebringers of Tartarus, to name but the most prominent of your foes.”

“You played a major role in Queen Chrysalis’ defeat as well, the way I heard it,” Civil Tenet added. “And brokered a lasting peace with Pan.”

“I saw you with my own eyes stand before Manehattan, facing that great dragon, Inferno,” Rain Dancer told her, adding to the list of Twilight’s accomplishments. “One by one, the ponies fighting with you fell, and you helped carry them to safety even as you yourself carried on for much longer than any other unicorn should have been able to. I’ve never seen anypony as resourceful as you either. The way you used Inferno’s own fires to disorientate him was amazing!”

“You are an invaluable military asset, Twilight Sparkle,” Scarlet Bolt concluded. “The council has for a long time been debating on whether to recruit you.”

“Recruit me!?” The unicorn took a step back. “For what? Defeating Nightmare Moon?”

“We read your letter, and had to agree with your theory,” Artemis answered, “but the alicorn is untraceable, is she not? I am working on devising defensive measures should she reappear, but until then, we can do nothing.”

“While Nightmare Moon is dangerous, she is, at the moment, not our biggest concern,” the head of military continued. “Fluttershy has been killed in her own cottage by a pack of timberwolves, and you had to defend the inhabitants of Ponyville from an ursa major. All over central Equestria, animals are behaving erratically, straying beyond their territories and showing highly aggressive behavior. Every day, more ponies are lost and families are crippled due to these animal attacks.”

“The roads are no longer safe,” Lucre observed. “Transport fees are skyrocketing.”

“We suspect the absence of a sun is to blame for this change in behavior,” Artemis explained. “The creatures of the night are becoming bolder and bolder with no sun to shun them.”

“And this is where you come in,” Scarlet Bolt said, once again studying the unicorn. “We are assembling a team, The Sword of Equestria; a team consisting of the most skilled battle mages and royal guards available to us. You are to lead this team, Twilight Sparkle, and deal with threats as they arise.”

Twilight was silent for a long while, mulling the proposition over. “You want me to be in charge of some kind of glorified pest control?”

The council members more friendly inclined to Twilight smiled while Penning Draft burst with laughter. “Haha! Ya hit it on the nail, young’un!”

“Not the term I would prefer, but you could call it that, yes,” Scarlet Bolt allowed. She turned to the other members of the council. “All in favor of recruiting Miss-“

“Wait a minute!” the lavender unicorn shouted, frowning at the pink pegasus. “What happened to me being an important public figure!? You’re just gonna send me out into the middle of the Everfree to fight monsters?”

“It is a calculated risk,” Scarlet Bolt explained. “You will be constantly surrounded by mages and soldiers who, during the last few months or years, have demonstrated remarkable combat skills. The best of the best.” She gave a small nod to the pegasus standing beside Twilight. “With the possible exception of Rainbow Dash, who will remain in Ponyville.”

“Do I have a say in that?” the cyan pegasus grumbled.

“We are not allowing you into the Sword of Equestria if that’s what you mean,” Scarlet Bolt said. “We assumed your second choice would be to help defend Ponyville from any further animal attacks.”

Civil Tenet turned her attention from Rainbow Dash to give the lavender unicorn a pleading look. “Twilight, this is important. Equestria needs your abilities.”

“It does,” Twilight said. “But not to take care of out-of-control animals.” She braced herself for the flurry of questions that would no doubt follow the next thing she said. “I’m working on recreating the sun.”

“A sun..? There have been reports of a… peculiar solite above Ponyville,” Artemis said after a short silence. “The size of a house, I believe. Is it a modified version of the Flim Flam Brothers Solite 1000?”

Twilight wrinkled her nose at the name. “Uhm, no, mine aren’t solid. I make them of magic and air.”

“Now that is interesting,” Lucre broke in. “The Flim Flam model requires numerous diamonds to construct; a costly affair. Making them of magic and air, though…”

“Could you use the air in here?” Rain Dancer asked curiously. “Make one now?”

“Now?”

“A small one.” Civil Tenet smiled reassuringly at the lavender unicorn.

Twilight blinked, but eventually nodded. “I guess I could provide a demonstration.”

“Should we go outside?” Penning Draft asked, looking with some worry at the walls of the palace he had designed.”

“I used to make these inside the Ponyville library,” Twilight reasoned. “This place should do. Now, if everyone’ll just go to the far end of the room…”

The unicorn walked past the large marble table and was soon followed by her friends and the council members. The ponies positioned themselves with their back to the glass wall and regarded the black marble wall from which Twilight and the others had originally come. The lavender unicorn hunched down, and her horn blazed to life.

As she began feeding power into the air above the black marble table, Twilight did not fail to notice how easy it turned out to be, having not performed any strenuous magical activities for almost a full day. It had been a long time since she hadn’t felt drained.

A burst of lightning flew from her horn, and the air erupted into bright flames that, as Twilight over the course of a few minutes saturated them with spells, coalesced into a burning orb more than ten feet across. As she fought to hold back tendrils of liquid fire, the lavender unicorn gazed into the contained inferno of the solite.

And saw Celestia.

“Farewell.”

Thick tendrils of unbridled red energy lance into Celestia, pinning her to the wall with a loud crack while she cries out in anguish, although she does nothing to resist the assault. Her horn is drenched in red lightning, and its whiteness soon begins blackening. Another, larger tendril of energy strikes her, drilling into her exposed but unyielding chest as she truly begins screaming. The horrible scene continues for an unbearably long time, until the tendril at her chest begins inching forward, Celestia’s scream cut off abruptly as she gasps in pain.

Huge gouts of fire erupt out of nowhere inside the room, rushing towards the princess as she suffers, enveloping her gilded hooves and trailing up her body. More and more flames appear until the princess’ study is nothing but an inferno and Celestia herself has transformed into a roaring column of flame. Still she screams and still the murderer’s assault continues.

The blaze grows brighter and hotter, consuming everything. The marble walls crack and begin to fall apart. The windows are long gone.

“Twilight! Snap out of it!” A sharp pain in her horn and a pained yelp brought the unicorn back to reality.

Coiling tentacles of fire were lashing out from the hugely destabilized solite, carving deep gashes into everything around it, setting the very marble on fire and roaring like a waterfall. The solite collapsed, and Twilight instinctively threw a force field around it, aided by Artemis only a second later. Although the fires were contained, the initial shockwave of the explosion evaded the two unicorns. Every single pane of glass in the room shattered and the ponies were thrown to the ground and deafened momentarily.

Twilight breathed in the painfully hot air in ragged gasps as she fought to stand. It took a few more minutes for the ponies around her to start recovering. The lavender unicorn glanced about at the destruction she had inadvertently caused, but was interrupted by a sound of both anguish and anger from Scarlet Bolt.

“What… What in the blazes was that!?” she screamed angrily at Twilight, taking step after shaky step toward her, her scarred face twisted into a mask of red fury. “You could have killed us all!”

The other ponies had gotten up now, all except Rainbow Dash, who was clutching a bloody hoof and wincing in pain. The doors to the conference room burst open, and a score of armored guards streamed in.

“Guards,” Civil Tenet commanded shakily. “Please escort Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Applejack to the nearest hospital and make sure the pegasus’ injuries are tended to.”

“Wait, what about Twi?” Pinkie Pie cried out as she and the others were promptly encircled by the twenty guards and herded toward the doors.

“Leave us,” the silver-coated unicorn commanded of the remaining guards, who dutifully obeyed. Within only a few seconds, Twilight stood alone with the Council of Nine in the ruined conclave. There was a very long, uncomfortable silence in which Twilight desperately feared to speak at all. As the silence continued, however, she realized everypony was waiting for an explanation.

“I’m… I don’t know… I’m sorry-“

“You’re sorry!?” Lucre erupted. “Sorry!? This could very well be classified as an attempted assassination!”

“You vandalized the palace,” Penning Draft pointed out, a mixture of anger and regret plain on his face.

“Economic plans of action for the next two decades!” Lucre gestured bitterly at the ravaged, and very empty marble table. “Took me weeks to finish!”

“Notes on possible improvements on the Flim Flam solite,” Artemis added. “Seeing how this magical experiment went, I suppose I shall have to recreate those.” She gave a frustrated sigh. “Point is, we, the ruling body of Equestria, were almost all killed. Valuable papers containing plans, information, and calculations constituting weeks of hard work have been lost. Our conclave has been damaged nearly beyond repair. This is indeed very serious.”

Twilight flinched at the verbal assaults, knowing full well that she deserved every word of it.

“Ponies have been thrown in the dungeons for milder offenses than this!” Scarlet Bolt sneered aggressively, starting to circle the lavender unicorn. “Don’t think your status as Bearer of the Element of Magic will get you out of this!”

“Given the nature of the incident, however,” Civil Tenet spoke up, interrupting the fuming head of military. “I suppose we can offer you a loophole of sorts.”

Scarlet Bolt gave the silver unicorn an annoyed glare before catching her drift. “Ah, yes indeed.” She trotted over to stand in front of the cowering Twilight, smiling smugly. “Perhaps you would like to reconsider the opening we have for our ‘glorified pest control’, hmm?”

10 - For Equestria

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Succession

Chapter 10 – For Equestria

She was in her study, looking out across the reading room of the Ponyville library, her hooves draped across the railing of the first floor as she focused her magic. Flames erupted out of nowhere as she fought to construct another sun for Ponyville. For Equestria. More and more flames appeared, never extinguishing, but growing bigger and hotter until the entire library was full of dancing fire. She tried to control them, to push them into the spherical form of her solites, but to no avail.

“So what’s it like being the new Celestia, huh?”

All around her, the fire spread to books, scrolls and the wooden walls. Already the ceiling was completely obscured by billowing smoke.

“…Twilight can be the new Celestia since she made the sun!”

The floor beneath her gave away, consumed by the hungry flames of her failed solite. Although she fell, she remained standing, untouched by the flames surrounding her or the clouds of smoke swirling about her.

“…You sure as heck can follow in her hoofsteps.”

She walked forward, the wood beneath her hooves burning away as she did, the walls around her falling apart as the fire consumed them.

Beyond the wooden confines of her library there was no Ponyville. Instead, bright white marble and sapphire blue glass materialized out of nowhere as the smoke and flames subsided. She stood within a throne room, its walls and floor an odd amalgam of both rock and glass, changing even as she looked. Pillars and columns were there and gone, rising out of the almost liquid floor or drooping down from the smoke and fire that still constituted the ceiling.

She kept walking, keeping an eye on the floor immediately in front of her in case her surroundings were as liquid as they looked. Before long, she ascended a few steps and stood before a set of gold-shod hooves.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, staring only at the hooves whose hoofprints she would never be able to follow in. “I failed you, Celestia, I can’t be...”

“Well, lookie what we got here, brother of mine!”

She flinched and for the first time noticed that the pony she stood before did not have the white coat of Celestia, but instead one that was a pale olive. She gazed up at the being before her and instinctively backed away at the strange sight. Above Celestia’s golden chest piece sprouted not one, but two necks, the heads of Flim and Flam glaring mockingly at her.

“What a sad, truly sad sight to behold, really!” Flam laughed.

Their red and white manes flowed upon a wind that wasn’t there, much akin to the Solar Princess’, and their two huge wings flared as they laughed. Only now did she notice that their gilded hooves were connected to chains that stretched up far into the smoke-filled sky, anchoring a truly enormous sun to the ground.

“You? The new Celestia?”

“Don’t make us laugh!”

The now conjoined twins cackled as the nine council ponies rose out of the glass and marble floor all around, surrounding her. She stood petrified as they shackled her hooves and fastened a bit around her muzzle, giving the reins to the two brothers. Finally, the nine ponies took away her horn and replaced it with a sword.

They all laughed as she began stumbling around, fighting futilely to balance herself with the heavy weapon protruding from her skull. Every time she regained her bearing and was about to raise her head, the Flim Flam brothers would jerk violently on her reins, pulling her to the floor while the peals of laughter all around brought tears to her eyes.

The new prince of Equestria finally handed the reins to the scarred pink pegasus, who began walking back the way she had come, dragging her roughly along the shifting floor. Eventually, racking sobs turned to quivering rage. Her tears evaporated into nothingness. Her cries of anguish turned into roars of anger. The sword flashed before her eyes, and her reins were severed. Before the pegasus could react, streams as scarlet as her mane flowed from her chest and unto the white and blue floor beneath her. Again and again she swung the sword given to her by her enemies, bathing the throne room in red and scarlet until finally the nine were gone, sinking into the marble and glass from whence they came.

Although her vision was blurred with the blood she had drenched herself in, there was one thing she saw clearly. Her eyes were fixed on the golden chest piece as she marched toward the prince, who was still laughing mockingly, blind to the terrible carnage around him. The laughter was soon choked off, however, when she plunged her sword through the purple gem in the center of the collar, the scarlet streams soaking into gold and white. She looked up at Flim and Flam, but instead of two heads there was only one. Princess Celestia looked upon her with tears in her eyes.

“My most faithful student… Why?”

Twilight woke with a scream, her magic instinctively ripping apart the blanket wrapped around her. She lay there, gasping for air for several seconds before a palace guard opened the door to her chambers.

“Is anything wrong, Miss Sparkle?” he asked after scanning the room for any potential threats.

“I’m fine,” she assured the guard, taking a deep breath to steady herself before continuing. “Just... a bad dream.”

“Very well. You should try to get some sleep. Introductions will begin in about five hours.”

Twilight gave an exasperated sigh after the guard had closed the door. The introduction of my new team! Bah! Give me Rainbow Dash, the fastest flier in Equestria, give me Applejack, the strongest mare I’ve ever met, give me my friends! I don’t need any top-trained battle mages or soldiers!

Yesterday had been a horrible day altogether. The council that kept insisting upon Fluttershy’s death, her solite destroying the conclave, her being forced into service as nothing more but a military asset, and her having to explain the situation to her friends, how she would not be able to return to Ponyville, how she would no longer be able to provide them with solites. Applejack and Twilight had had to keep Rainbow Dash grounded for a full hour before she had calmed down.

First Rarity, then Fluttershy, and now me. It’s as if some greater force is trying to keep us all apart... And I know which one.

The unicorn rose from her bed and walked across the black marble floor to her window, looking out upon the city of Manehattan. How different it was from both Ponyville, where she had been living for several years, and Canterlot, the beautiful city in which she had grown up, now nothing more than a dead ruin. And how strange it was to gaze out a short lancet window and see towering skyscrapers of steel and concrete. Manehattan wasn’t quiet as Ponyville, nor did it possess the composed grandeur of Canterlot. It was noisy. As if to emphasize her current thoughts, something somewhere among the imposing superstructures of the capital fell to the ground and shattered, the ensuing cacophany echoing throughout the dimly lit streets. Twilight fixed a hard gaze upon the full moon, locked in place far above as it had been for more than half a year now.

“You’ll pay for this,” she warned the pale orb, tears forming in her eyes. “Someday, you’ll have to show yourself, and then I’ll make you pay.”

Twilight never got around to sleeping, pacing around in her chamber and muttering curses at Nightmare Moon instead. By the time the unicorns of Manehattan made their rounds to light up Flim and Flam’s crystal solites, the lavender unicorn was standing at her window again, watching the pony-made day dawn. She scowled at the crystal orbs suspended in the air amongst and above the city’s skyscrapers. She had to admit that Flim and Flam had bested her this time; while her solite was easily more powerful than four or five of the artificial ones, the unicorn brothers produced theirs by the hundreds. As if that wasn’t enough, theirs even lasted longer than hers.

She knew she could do better, though. If she just had the time to study, she would one day be able to make a solite that could light up all of Manehattan. Give her a team of master mages to help her, and she could light up the central part of Equestria.

But no, she thought bitterly. Instead I’m off fighting stupid, cranky animals! Because creating an actual sun isn’t important at all, apparently! That Flim Flam Solite 1000 isn’t going to cut it in the long run, Artemis has to know that. In a few months, we’ll start feeling the heat from Celestia’s sun fading.

But I suppose Flim and Flam can improve their solites just like I can. And while they’re racing ahead, I’m stuck in some forest or on a mountain, fighting who knows what kind of monster! Perhaps I should have mentioned to Lucre that I would work for free. Got the feeling he didn’t like me much, though… Not that any of them like me after that solite failure.

Her train of thought snagged on the strange flashback she had had while staring at her solite.

Why can’t I remember anything from that night!? Nightmare Moon must have said something of importance! Why was she disappointed in Celestia? Why did she kill her? How? How did she get the power to destroy the entire Canterlot palace when she couldn’t even harm me the first time I met her? Why did she give me this stupid wound!?

As if sensing her thoughts, the odd black burn below her mane started throbbing slightly.

Not a burn, though…

“It doesn’t look like an infection,” the doctor said after going through her health check. “Not a burn either. Sorry, Miss Sparkle, but right off hoof I can’t say what it is. But considering you’ve had that wound for half a year, and that it did not prevent you defeating an ursa major, I’d say you’re good to go for now. I’ll let you know if I find out what it is.”

Not very helpful at all. ‘I can’t say what it is’, sheesh! I could have told him the same thing!

The unicorn fumed silently for another hour or so before a golden-armored palace guard opened the door to her new bedroom, summoning her to the chambers of the Sword of Equestria.

Like the conclave, the chambers Twilight now found herself in sported a single round table in the center of the room, though this room was quite a bit smaller than the council’s now ruined chamber. Carved into this table, however, was a detailed map of Equestria, showing its mountain ranges, forests, rivers, lakes, and towns, as well as the neighboring land of Buteos, where the griffons lived. As she drew close to the map, Twilight sensed the lingering aura of some sort of enchantment on the table.

“This is where you will be discussing and planning your moves against Equestria’s foes,” the palace guard explained, gesturing at the marble table. “The map is enchanted to allow unicorn magic to color it without much difficulty.” The guard demonstrated, his white horn glowing a dull green, and a second later, a circle of the same color appeared around Manehattan. Next, he pointed his horn at a set of doors to their left and right. “Dressing rooms for the mares and stallions who require armor or other equipment.” He gestured at the door in front of them, opposite of where they had entered from. “A few of the training facilities lie behind that door, and finally we have a passage for the convenience of the pegasus soldiers.” The white palace guard gestured at a large portal set into the ceiling above them, covered by a glass arch to shelter against any downpour.

“Ah, thank you, Mr...?”

“Centurion,” the guard replied, taking off his helmet and shaking his chestnut mane. “I am to serve under you in the Sword of Equestria.”

“Oh!” Twilight exclaimed, sounding a little more surprised than what was probably polite. “Well, uh, welcome aboard, I guess.”

Centurion nodded his thanks stiffly. “The remaining members of the task force will join us shortly.”

No sooner had the unicorn soldier spoken than the door to the chambers opened, allowing in three additional unicorn soldiers. The white one introduced himself as Iron Sword, the deep blue one was called Starburst, and the pale yellow mare identified herself as Lightning Rod.

The next pony to enter was another white unicorn in the armor of a palace guard, although Twilight broke into a huge grin as soon as she recognized him.

“Amber Vane!” She would have broken into a run and embraced him were it not for the other ponies around her. Somehow, the chamber no longer seemed as empty as it had before. “I haven’t seen you in a while!”

The golden-maned unicorn smiled back at her. “I was hoping I’d see you here. A friendly face always makes it more enjoyable to battle monsters ten times your size, right?”

Before any more pleasantries could be exchanged, however, a pegasus in heavy bronze and gold armor dropped down a few feet in front of Twilight, who couldn’t help herself from jumping back in surprise. The chocolate brown pegasus extended a hoof and once again surprised the unicorn as she revealed herself to be a mare, her voice coarse but still definitely feminine. “Coup de Grâce. Call me Coup. I’m gonna be your second-in-command here, and I guess I’m supposed to throw in my two bits about military tactics too.”

“Alright, uh, good to know!” Twilight replied with a smile as the tank-like pegasus shook her hoof firmly. “I’ve kinda just been tossed into this position, actually, so any advice would be appreciated.”

“I’m sure you’ll do fine,” Coup answered gruffly, her grin partially obscured by the helmet she wore as she left the lavender unicorn and joined Iron Sword and Lightning Rod.

Another three unicorns in palace guard armor followed the brawny pegasus, and finally six unarmored unicorns entered, all of whom Twilight recognized as former master mages from Canterlot, bringing the total number of unicorns in the task force to fifteen. Next, the pegasi entered, some marching through the doors the unicorns had entered from while the majority entered through the passage above.

I was a librarian last month. Now I’m the captain of the Sword of Equestria! How can I be responsible for fifty ponies’ lives? Twilight asked herself despairingly, quickly growing overwhelmed as more and more pegasi fluttered down from the opening in the ceiling.

The final pegasus dove through the opening above, bringing the total to thirty-five pegasus elite soldiers, including Coup de Grâce.

The captain now found herself sitting on one of the twenty chairs surrounding the marble table, the unicorns and five pegasi seated around her while the remaining winged ponies sat upon small platforms set into the walls overlooking the table.

“So,” the lavender unicorn began, catching the attention of forty nine soldiers and mages. “We are the Sword of Equestria. Our objective is to deal with exceptional threats to Equestria’s security, the most pressing of which right now…”

…is Nightmare Moon.

“…is the many angered beasts of the wild attacking pony settlements all over Central Equestria,” she said instead, speaking for the council instead of herself. “I’m not going to sugar-coat it; many of you have already seen how it’s like out there by the great forests. Fluttershy, my very good friend and the Element of Kindness, was... killed inside her own home just last month by a pack of timberwolves.” Again, she spoke for the council, telling her subordinates what the nine regents believed to be the truth and what she knew to be a lie. The ponies around her gasped in shock and muttered amongst themselves, shaken by the revelation of the death of the Heroine of Vyatkiev.

“I believe this is something you need to know, but it is not something I want spreading to the general population of Equestria,” Twilight continued, eyeing the ponies seated around her. “Nor does the council. Anyway, the same night Fluttershy... was killed, I was forced to defend the inhabitants of Ponyville from an angered ursa major who had killed another close friend of mine.”

Once again, she allowed her words to sink in before continuing. “Things are bad out there, and more often than not we will be going to the heart of it all. For the good of Equestria.” This time, she was met by murmurs of approval. “I am told you are the best of the best. We will spend the rest of today and the day tomorrow inside the training facilities,” she decided, nodding toward the appropriate door. “I want to know exactly what you can do; what your strengths are and what your weaknesses are. We leave for Trottingham in three days.”

That day and the next, Twilight walked through the surprisingly numerous areas of the training facilities located both inside and outside Cristallum, observing her new subordinates and attempting to categorize each of them and how to deploy them strategically in battle.

Iron Sword, Amber Vane, and Centurion, they were no doubt chosen for their skill at wielding swords, not magic. Should they fight in the front, then?

In her mind, she replaced the dummy her golden-maned friend was slicing to pieces with a timberwolf and gave herself an approving nod. As she replaced it with an infuriated ursa minor, however, she couldn’t help but shudder.

There is no one strategy I can use, she concluded. Different lineups for different enemies. I’ve got my work cut out for me, then.

She continued her rounds, analyzing the soldiers’ and mages’ combat styles and weighing them against what she had read in her bestiary of the Everfree. She spent hours upon hours of writing up different lineups and formations, placing her soldiers where she believed they would do most good, earning either an approving nod from Coup de Grâce or a shake of the head. By the end of each day, the captain found herself just as exhausted as her team, although nightmares seldom let her sleep.

As the third day dawned, Twilight had prepared a small number of general strategies that she presented to her team, using that day to rehearse each of them until every member of her team knew their positions by heart every time Twilight called out an order.

By the fourth day, the Sword of Equestria had been honed and readied for battle, travelling to Trottingham by flying chariot.

Trottingham, a city that lay considerably farther to the north than both Ponyville and Manehattan, was also considerably colder than anywhere else Twilight had been since The Great Tragedy. As she and a select number of her task force made their way towards the city hall, she even noticed the remains of snow drifts melting away in the sides of the streets.

Snow in autumn, Twilight thought to herself, her face grim. Once winter is upon us, wrapping it up will be no easy task. Not without an alicorn’s magic. Unless of course Flim and Flam are able to improve their solites and set thousands upon thousands up all over Equestria. But if those giant globes are made from diamond... Lucre must be out of his mind. What kind of head of finances decides to build lamps of diamond when you can build them of air!?

When Twilight and her entourage of unicorns and pegasi reached the city hall, they found the mayor waiting for them outside the main entrance.The mayor, a portly earth pony who went by the name of Big Ben, looked visibly relieved to see the arrival of the Heroine of Equestria. “Ah, thank goodness you could come, Twilight Sparkle!” he greeted the captain as he trotted ahead to meet the group. “Those timberwolves have been a dreadful nuisance for weeks now! I do trust you are here to help us with them?” He frowned for a fraction of a second when he glanced at the ponies standing behind the Element of Magic. “Pray tell, where are the other Elements?”

“They aren’t with me,” the unicorn replied briskly. “I’m not here as the Element of Magic, but as Captain of the newly formed Sword of Equestria. We’re fifty unicorns and pegasi dispatched by the Council of Nine to deal with your pack of timberwolves.”

“Very well,” Big Ben answered after processing her words. “Is there... anything I can do for you?”

“The trip from Manehattan to here has been quite long,” the lavender unicorn responded after a moment’s consideration. “Any food and shelter you could provide for my soldiers and I would be appreciated.”

My soldiers… That still sounds so odd.

“We will also want the last known whereabouts of the timberwolf pack,” Twilight added.

“Of course, of course!” the large mayor replied with a grin. “Give me a few moments, and I’ll have accommodations ready for you all!”

The purple had faded from the pillars of ebony and ivory and the organic masses of red, washed away by the sands of time as the magic had once again gathered itself in its airborne form. Once more, the cascades held billions of magenta sparkles as they rushed about the dark void between black, white, and red.

Two cascades met, for a moment coalescing into a white-hot sphere of pure power before breaking apart again with a thunderous roar, a shockwave rippling through the black void to strike at the skeletal structures everywhere. The small pinpoints of light within the monochromatic branches as well as the lanterns hanging from the rainbow trees all flashed purple as the shockwave passed by them, returning to their former colors a few seconds later.

Another thunderous roar and another shockwave rushed by, turning all lights purple once again, except for one, which lit up with a sickly yellow color instead. She focused on the odd speck of light even as it once again hid behind its false veil of neon green. Another shockwave passed, and again the yellow light shone forth.

The hue reminded her of a lion, or perhaps an eagle’s claw. A griffon? Whatever it was, it was not part of her, and so she decided to remove it. A bright wave of magenta swept across the area, and within only a few minutes, the speck of yellow had eroded away.

In its place, a veritable maelstrom of power flowed forth from the self-inflicted wound, trillions upon trillions of sparkles sweeping up and down the pillar from which they had erupted, scouring away its blackness and grayness until only white remained.

Another thunderclap, another shockwave, and a lantern shone with that same yellow, wrong light.

It was late in the evening when Twilight woke. She was beginning to wonder whether Rarity was right about the cities running after different time schedules. They should have arrived at the small city some time after Manehattan’s midnight, and yet practically everypony had been out walking the streets alongside the lavender unicorn, going about their daily business. Twilight could have sworn it was morning now, and yet every clock in Trottingham said nine in the evening. As she stared out the window of the quarters assigned to her, the golden glow of Flim and Flam’s crystal solites faded rapidly away as it had done when she and her friends had first been in Manehattan, plunging the city into a momentary darkness before the electrical lights switched on.

The Sword of Equestria had been lodged in one of the Trottingham barracks, and within less than fifteen minutes of Twilight passing on the order, the soldiers of the task force had assembled outside the city. A little less than half an hour after the commanding unicorn had awoken, the task force set out from Trottingham toward Greengloom, a forest which the timberwolves had supposedly run off to less than a day ago after attacking a nearby farm.

An uneventful four hours later, the Sword of Equestria and its small fleet of flying chariots landed near the outskirts of the forest, the main body of the task force taking a few minutes to stretch their legs while a small team of pegasus scouts were sent ahead to discern their quarry’s position.

“We received the report of the pack running in there more than a day ago,” Amber Vane said as he fell in beside Twilight, nodding toward the dark forest. “For all we know, they could be off on some raid again in some villages miles and miles away. What do you think we’ll find in there?”

“No idea. If we’re lucky, a huge pack of timberwolves,” the unicorn answered as she trotted toward the edge of the Greengloom. Somehow, the forest looked almost inviting to her; it seemed to carry none of the Everfree’s savagery or strangeness. “If we aren’t, either nothing at all or a huge pack of timberwolves with a lot of friends. But I guess we’ll find out soon enough,” she said, spotting the two scouts she had sent out to scour the relatively small forest from above.

Two pegasi, one dark lavender and the other deep blue, detached themselves from the night sky and landed in front of the pair of unicorns. “Cap’n, the timberwolves’ location has been confirmed; they’re within the Greengloom, a mile east northeast of here,” the lavender pegasus reported. “I got the rest of the team circling the location for you.”

“Please, Night Flight, I’ve told you already. Just call me Twilight,” the unicorn insisted wearily, but nodded approvingly at both Night Flight and Featherbeat. “Great work, though. Alright, we’re going in. Pass along the order; I’ll take the lead.” Twilight set off toward the woods that held her quarry, the three ponies around her galloping off to summon the rest of the team.

By the time the lavender unicorn was passing through the first trees of Greengloom, she was being tailed by twenty pegasi and fourteen unicorns, the rest of the soldiers hovering above her. Hopefully the airborne pegasi would be able to break through the increasingly dense foliage above, should the ground forces need it. At the very least, they would be able to navigate Twilight and the others toward the remaining scouts and the timberwolves’ location.

As they proceeded into the deeper recesses of the forest, Twilight was soon able to easily discern which of her subordinates had been to the Everfree and which hadn’t. A number of the pegasi and unicorns kept casting furtive glances at everything around them, showing considerably more caution than soldiers like Amber Vane or Coup de Grâce. It was an excellent way of determining the experience of her various soldiers, she found, as their overall objective was comparable with waging a war against the Everfree Forest.

A few hours after entering the woods, the deep blue pegasus, Featherbeat, dove into a nearby clearing and landed beside Twilight almost soundlessly. “The wolves are a hundred feet ahead of our position,” he whispered. “They’re coming this way, but we don’t know if that’s because they heard you guys or not.”

The lavender unicorn nodded. “Tell the ground forces to stay here and await my signal. I’ll go on ahead and draw out as many as I can, try to turn their backs on you.”

“Alone?” the pegasus whispered back. “Is that wise?”

“They’re timberwolves,” she replied, showing no concern. “I can hold my own against them for five minutes, thank you very much.” The last words came out a little harsher than she had wanted, but the pegasus fell back all the same, passing on her order to those on the ground. The fourteen pegasi positioned in the sky would await the captain’s signal beam before joining the battle.

Twilight sighed heavily as she began climbing a small incline, steadily approaching the clearing. Featherbeat must be one of them, she decided. How many of my soldiers are nothing more than my bodyguards? How many have been instructed by the council to give their life for me? Why have they even made me the captain of the Sword of Equestria if they’re so concerned with my safety!? Why am I a captain in the first place? I’m the Bearer of an Element of Harmony, not a soldier! I can resolve conflicts, yes, but not like this...

“They’re just timberwolves,” she whispered to herself as the clearing came within sight. “Nothing but beasts made of wood. They don’t think, they just hunt and eat. They kill ponies. They killed Fluttershy.”

The lie did little to comfort her, though. Even if they had, Fluttershy would not like this. Even if the timberwolves I slay tonight were the very ones to have feasted upon her pets and killed her, she would cry if she saw them die.

If I don’t do it, though, if I don’t serve in the Sword of Equestria, I’ll be thrown in the dungeon, or banished from Equestria.

Let them try, a small part of her mind insisted, but Twilight pushed that thought away, sensing movement in the brush ahead of her.

The brush snarled and pounced, leaving Twilight with only a fraction of a second to throw up a wall of magenta that repelled her attacker. Before the wolf could recover, she grabbed it with her magic and threw it ahead of her, hoping to catch the attention of the rest of the pack. She teleported ahead to where the timberwolf hit the ground, finding herself in a clearing teeming with the wooden beasts.

A quick burst of fire sent the nearest wolves scurrying, and six telekinetic blasts in each direction shoved away even more while carving deep trenches in the soil around her. The unicorn spun around to face the direction from which she had come, raising a small force field behind her to discourage any wolves trying to attack through her blind spots. The glow in her horn intensified, and soon powerful gusts of wind blew through the clearing, producing long, drawn-out howls very much similar to that of the timberwolves, confusing and distracting her enemies as they tried circling their prey, though even that task was made difficult by the trenches Twilight had dug in the ground.

While the unicorn easily fended off the wolves attacking her head-on, it didn't take long for the rest of the large pack to position itself in front of her, where neither trenches nor shields blocked their path. As more and more wolves slowly learned to flank her defenses, it became increasingly difficult for Twilight to protect herself as wave after wave of timberwolves lunged at her.

Finally, after all of her enemies had positioned themselves so that they faced the lone unicorn but turned their back on the almost fifty soldiers behind them, the unicorn sent a bolt of magenta lightning flying out in between the trees from where she had come, giving the signal for the ground forces to attack.

The rest was a complete slaughter. The thirty-five ponies took the disorganized wolves from behind, most of the soldiers slashing and hacking apart the wooden creatures with swords and spears, while unicorns like Starburst and Lightning Rod spread death and destruction with fire and lightning. After a few moments, Twilight found herself joining the carnage as well, suppressing her primary instinct to just toss away the timberwolves and instead flattening them against the ground with huge bursts of telekinesis or blasting them apart with lightning. When she felt the first waves of fatigue roll over her, she lit the signal beam without even thinking about it, and soon the carnage intensified as the pegasi above joined the fray, the timberwolves’ savage snarling soon replaced by their pitiful whimpering.

After what to Twilight seemed only a few minutes, the Sword of Equestria stood victorious in the small clearing, the lifeless remains of their enemy scattered all around them. The unicorn took a deep shaky breath as her adrenaline-induced frenzy abated, giving way to nothing but guilt and immediate regret as she stared with revulsion at the blood-like sap pooling around the wooden corpses and her own hooves.

Do timberwolves have families? Do they have a mother, or do they sprout from the ground like plants and trees? Will anyone miss one hundred timberwolves? One hundred dead timberwolves… Ugh, what have I done!?

“Twilight?” Amber Vane called out to her as if he had tried to get her attention for some time. The captain blinked and faced her friend, fighting back her tears. “The threat has been neutralized,” he announced obliviously, even smiling a bit. “We suffered no casualties; nopony was even hurt. I’d say your first mission was quite a success, Captain!”

Twilight was at a loss for words, staring at Amber Vane blankly until she felt something wet trickle down her cheek. The lavender unicorn turned her head away with a whimper and vanished from the clearing in a bright flash.

She lay down next to a tree more than a hundred feet from the scene of carnage, burying her head in her hooves as the tears began running freely and her body was wracked with sobs. “A success…” she muttered scornfully. “We just killed one hundred woodland creatures. One hundred dead wolves… That isn’t a success!”

“A hundred dead enemies, all of one’s allies unscathed. Many would name that a success.”

Twilight flinched and lifted her head, peering into the darkness before her in an effort to see who had spoken. The voice belonged to a male, deep and somehow ominous. It was slightly familiar, though the unicorn could not remember where she had heard the voice.

“Through the ages, few have achieved greatness without suffering. If you believe you are any different, you are much too ambitious for your own good, Twilight Sparkle.”

The unicorn got to her hooves, alarmed at the stranger’s knowledge of her name. Her horn was wreathed in magenta, and a bright light shone forth, banishing the darkness of the forest. But still she could find no signs of life.

“Discord’s rule was preceded by the greatest slaughter this world has ever seen, Nightmare Moon was feared for a reason. Even Celestia’s conscience is burdened by a murder.”

The image of Celestia appeared in Twilight’s mind. Sweet and kind-hearted Celestia, who did all she could to make her subjects happy. “Celestia never killed anyone,” she answered the stranger. The princess would have told her, wouldn’t she?

“Never is a long time,” the voice said from somewhere to her left this time. Twilight caught sight of a pair of amber eyes and focused her light on them. The darkness shrouding the speaker, however, persisted, refusing to yield before Twilight’s light. “How old do you think Celestia is, little unicorn? Time brings change. Nothing is forever. Celestia was not always the kind ruler you knew. She regretted it until she died, but she did it all the same. I was there. I saw it. I felt it!”

“Don’t talk about her that way!” Twilight yelled, advancing upon the speaker in the shadows. “You didn’t know Celestia! Who do you think you are?”

Although she drew closer, the darkness still did not recede. The creature hiding within it was quiet for a while, and the unicorn could almost sense him smiling at her words. “I shall not burden you with that just yet. The important question is, who do you think I am? A friend or a foe? Consider that question carefully.”

“Twilight?” the worried voice of Amber Vane called out, and the unicorn turned her head to see the white stallion making his way toward the magenta light she wielded. She looked back toward the unknown speaker, but the amber eyes were gone, and the shadows now gave way to her light, revealing nothing.

A friend or a foe? Who was that? Why do I recognize his voice? Why does he claim to know Celestia? Is he an old friend, an enemy? Was he even real, or was I just imagining things? Perhaps Nightmare Moon is somehow tampering with my mind. How else would she weaken my resolve than by weakening my faith in Celestia?

Twilight was so preoccupied with her thoughts of Nightmare Moon and the newly revealed danger she could pose that she only noticed Amber Vane when he shook her gently by the shoulders. “Hey, are you alright?”

The lavender unicorn shook her head as she once again thought of the timberwolves she had killed, the memories of the slaughter temporarily pushing aside her questions about the speaker in the shadows and her worries regarding Nightmare Moon. “No,” she whimpered, her tears resuming their path down her cheeks.

The white unicorn hushed her comfortingly. “There, there. Sit down.” Twilight did as she was told, and Amber Vane joined her, sitting face to face with her under the leafy canopy of a small oak tree. “This was your first time,” he stated.

Twilight took a deep, shaky breath. “Yeah.”

“Before the Great Tragedy, I had only ever killed once,” Amber Vane revealed, looking at his hooves thoughtfully. “I had been sent off with a bunch of scientists who wanted to study the timberwolf in its natural habitat or something. I have to admit I was more interested in going into the Everfree than in what the others were doing at the time.” He smiled a little at himself, still looking at his hooves. As he continued, however, the smile vanished. “Never made it that far, though. One of the mornings when we broke camp, two ponies were missing. It didn’t take long for us to find the culprit; a creeper had carried them off while we slept.” He looked back at Twilight. “Ever met one of those?”

“Not really, no,” she sniffed.

“Well, don’t be alarmed, but I think I can see one right over there, to your left.”

Twilight looked, but saw only a clump of trees.

“The lighter one,” Amber Vane said, pointing. “Its bark is mostly smooth and it has those willow-like branches.”

“So that scar running down its trunk is its mouth?”

“Yeah. You can’t see them from here, but it has tiny eyes all over its body. The leaves conceals its… stomach-thing. Don’t worry, I think it’s here for the timberwolves, not two very much awake unicorns. Anyway, those branches pack one heck of a punch, I can tell you that much. One of the more experienced guards took a hit that would have struck me if he hadn’t been there. He was hospitalized for several weeks with broken ribs. After a few minutes, it was just me, a very tired creeper, and five frightened scientists.”

“And then you killed it?”

“A lucky shot,” Amber Vane admitted. “Distracted it with my sword and then plunged one of my colleagues’ spears into its back and twisted. I still remember its screams…” He looked towards the clearing they had come from. “I killed a single beast that day, but you… You were thrown pretty abruptly into this. The whimpers of those timberwolves’ll follow you for the rest of your life, I bet.”

“That’s not very comforting,” the lavender unicorn muttered almost accusingly.

“Well, good,” the white unicorn replied, shrugging. “I hadn’t taken you for a killer.” He smiled at the lavender unicorn’s confused expression. “Killing feels horrible for a reason, right? It’s to remind us of how immense an act it is. To end a life… the enormity of it would slip by most of us if not for the guilt, I think. To take another creature’s life should be one of your last resorts if you ask me. That feeling you have now? That’s you knowing murder is a bad thing, that you should only do it when all other options fail.”

“I guess you’re right,” Twilight said after a while. Even so, her sobbing continued. She froze when she felt his horn touch hers, shocked at the intimate act. When she felt the warmth flooding into her, however, she was quick to welcome it.

“Promise me you won’t push away your guilt,” Amber Vane insisted. “Now, I can’t do much with it; I’m just a royal guard…”

“…And heir to one of the richest companies in Equestria,” Twilight added, closing her eyes and allowing herself to smile at the warmth coursing through her.

“…And heir to one of the richest companies in Equestria,” Amber Vane allowed. “Point is, when it comes to an alternative, I don’t have a clue. I don’t know how to keep ponies safe without killing these monsters, but I bet if anypony can figure it out, it’ll be you. But until we figure something out, this is the harsh reality of it; we have to kill to not be killed ourselves. For Equestria, right?”

“Captain Sparkle!” a voice called out loudly, causing the two unicorns to flinch and pull their horns away from each other. Coup de Grâce strode out from among a cluster of trees, regarding the two frostily. “The Sword of Equestria is ready to return to Manehattan, I believe.”

Well, that was embarrassing, Twilight thought as she nodded at the armored pegasus and returned to the clearing. That could only have looked like the captain and one of her subordinates flirting with each other. At least Coup doesn’t seem like the blabbering type…

“For Equestria,” she announced grimly, and she let the fire rain down upon all of her enemies, her cold gaze sweeping across the screaming and burning creatures of all shapes and sizes…

For the fourth night in a row, Twilight woke with a start, though this time she did not scream. With an annoyed grunt, she kicked the covers off of her and stood, trotting to her window as she had done the previous three nights.

“You won’t let me sleep in your palace, will you?” she muttered darkly at the ever-present moon above. She winced and gritted her teeth. “And you won’t let my neck heal either, will you? It won’t work, though. If you want me out of Cristallum, you’ll have to throw me out yourself. The council won’t do it; I’m Captain of the Sword of Equestria. I kill for them. I take care of all their little problems.” She sighed deeply. “I’m their little pony puppet.” She looked up at the moon remorsefully for almost a full minute. “I don’t want to be like you, Nightmare. I don’t want to kill. I hate you, I hate the council, and I’ve torn apart ten or twenty timberwolves. Where do I put all these feelings? The hatred, the anger, the guilt, the grief, the confusion? Do I welcome them like Amber said? Do I stow them away, hoping they’ll fade with time? What did Luna do?”

Luna succumbed to Nightmare two or three times, she thought dismally. She doesn’t know what to do.

She pushed herself away from the window and left her bedroom, ignoring the guard standing next to her door.

I miss the white marble, I miss the red carpets, I miss the gold and the colors of the rainbow, she thought as she walked the corridors of Cristallum, staring at her hooves and the black marble beneath them. I miss the stained glass, always telling me stories of the distant past, she said to herself as she looked out the blue windows. I miss the sun and I miss Celestia...

“Twilight Sparkle.” The lavender unicorn was brought out of her reverie and saw Scarlet Bolt standing right in front of her, having just passed around a corner. “What are you doing up? It’s the middle of the night.”

“Nightmare,” Twilight replied dully, not having the greatest interest in talking with the scarlet-maned pegasus.

“I heard of your problem in Greengloom,” Scarlet Bolt said, a hint of sympathy in her voice. “Walk with me.”

Seeing no other option but to follow, the unicorn fell in beside the scarred pegasus as she turned to walk back the way she had come.

“Ask any soldier in the palace guard, and they will say they remember the face of their first kill,” Scarlet Bolt said as she turned and trotted briskly down a set of stairs. “Every single one of them will tell you that killing is a disturbing business indeed. Every single palace guard has at least one life resting on their conscience. It has been a long standing tradition that a pony need not only prove their mettle in combat, but also understand the nature of killing to ascend to the rank of royal guard, palace guard, solar guard, lunar guard, foreign guard… any position of honor and esteem, really.”

They reached the door leading to the chambers of the Sword of Equestria, and the pegasus led the way in. “Your friend Amber Vane showed great understanding on this matter,” she continued, shaking her head with a small smile. “He is a remarkable stallion, that one. A good head on his shoulders and not half bad with a sword either.”

“I know,” Twilight agreed. “He helped comfort me after the slaughter.”

Scarlet Bolt nodded her understanding. “I had a feeling you were still unfamiliar with the concept of death. I always found Celestia a bit too... soft, if you don’t mind me saying, so I put Amber Vane on the Sword. You’ll have noticed he’s not as talented as your other subordinates when it comes to combat, but that’s not all that matters, is it?”

“Thank you,” Twilight said, finding herself smiling at the mare that had been plaguing her dreams.

“I take good care of my soldiers,” Scarlet Bolt replied modestly, sitting down in one of the chairs surrounding the marble table and motioning for Twilight to do the same. “I walked you all the way down here, so I might as well finish this talk, even if Mr. Vane most likely already did it better than I could.” She gestured at the map in front of her as Twilight seated herself. “You’ve heard the story of how we ponies travelled from here,” she gestured loosely at the western parts of Equestria. “To Equestria, or what we now call Central Equestria. Now, the Hearth’s Warming Eve stories always present Equestria as some sort of sugared paradise, when the fact is,” she pointed at the massive green expanse next to Canterlot and Ponyville, “for the first few decades or perhaps centuries, they ended up being neighbors to the Everfree; the most savage forest throughout all of pony history. They didn’t move into Equestria and build Canterlot just like that, no, they fought with hoof and tooth for every square mile of our land. They died and they killed so that ponydom could go on, and here we stand, centuries upon centuries later, living in a country that stretches from ocean to ocean, east to west, and south to north.”

Scarlet Bolt turned from the map and faced Twilight. “Now, would it be such a stretch of the imagination to see what you’re doing as pretty much the same thing? Doing bad things for what is right? For Equestria?”

Twilight concealed her flinching at those exact words by pretending to casually lean against the table. “I suppose you’re right.”

And I suppose you decide what is right, she muttered within herself, but all in all had to agree with the pink pegasus’ words.

“Speaking of the Hearth’s Warming Eve stories,” Scarlet Bolt said, trotting to the other side of the table to where the land of griffons was marked. “There have been rumors of windigoes up in the north. So far, I’ve only had reportings from Buteos; nothing in Vyatkiev as of yet. Until I have confirmed those rumors and can give you a specific location, though...” She pointed at a forest northeast of Manehattan. “An ursa major has just been spotted out in the open. It destroyed a small hamlet and seems to be moving south toward Manehattan. See to it that it doesn’t get here.”

“Do I have to kill it?” Twilight asked morosely.

“As long as it stops rampaging, I don’t really care what you do with it,” Scarlet Bolt replied. “Before you start treating it to tea and cookies, though, keep in mind that thing is already behind six confirmed fatalities. If you can stop it without killing it, I’d say go for it. As long as you don’t risk the lives of your comrades, that is.”

“Thanks… and… I’m sorry for calling the Sword a glorified pest control.”

“Apology accepted,” Scarlet Bolt replied, nodding solemnly. “Not everypony can understand the gravity of what a soldier must do. You enjoy learning, don’t you?”

As the crystal solites in Manehattan were lit one by one, the small fleet of flying chariots carrying the Sword of Equestria set off once more, flying northeast this time instead of northwest. Where the trip to Trottingham had taken a full day, only half the time had passed before Twilight and the others caught sight of the ursa, a large splotch of blue radiating against the darkness below. Within a few minutes, the chariots had landed within a mile of the beast, allowing the chariot pullers a safe distance as the Sword of Equestria set off after the bear.

An ursa major... Although she had faced such an opponent before, Twilight was still very much aware of the difference in situation. It took every last scrap of magic I had to knock one of those things over for just a few seconds, but everypony seems convinced that I can actually kill one! And I might have to. I mean, how do you stop a rampaging ursa major? A quick hit-and-run like last time won’t do much good here. I have to actually stop that thing.

But how do you stop something that can blot out the sky just by standing up? We can’t restrain it; we’d need at least a hundred unicorns working together. Perhaps we can put it to sleep, but that’ll most likely be a whole lot more difficult than making a cranky minor take a nap. And dragging it back to the forest? Forget it. Killing it? I can’t do that. There is the obvious physical issue of piercing a hide that’s probably thicker than the length of my body, and the moral issue... I can’t kill an ursa major. Despite everything, it’s a magnificent and majestic creature, right? Who knows what kind ecological balance it maintains? It’s a piece of the night sky, for pony’s sake!

It’s angry. Something has made it go crazy. The eternal night messing with its sleeping patterns, Nightmare Moon... something has driven it over the edge, otherwise it wouldn’t be attacking ponies. It’s almost like it’s been put under Discord’s spell. Of course, he’s still trapped in stone, but..!

My Memory spell. Remove whatever trauma has affected the ursa and return it to its peaceful self...

“Lightning Rod has fallen quite far behind, Cap’n,” Night Flight revealed as he dropped out of the sky and trotted to the lavender unicorn’s side, interrupting her train of thought. “Permission to go give her an encouraging shove?”

“Denied,” Twilight replied, having given up on the whole ‘Captain’ issue. She looked back to see if she could spot the yellow unicorn behind the main body of her force and sighed as she put two and two together. “I think I know what’s bugging her. Keep going, I’ll be back in a moment.”

“Sure thing,” the lavender pegasus replied as the unicorn vanished in a bright flash, reappearing more than a hundred feet behind the rear of the Sword of Equestria and startling Lightning Rod, who was now right beside her.

“Sorry. I’m being too slow, aren’t I?” the yellow unicorn with her spiky blue mane asked after having recovered from the initial shock of Twilight materializing right next to her.

“Kinda,” the captain admitted. “But I figured there was something bothering you, right? You always tended to show a little... restraint when it came to our ursa practice sessions.”

“That obvious, huh? I, uh, tried talking it over with Coup, since we’re old pals and all, but... didn’t help that much.”

“Nervous about your first showdown with an ursa. Can’t blame anypony for that,” Twilight commented.

“Not just an ursa,” Lightning Rod pointed out. “A major. Is it true they’re bigger than dragons?”

“Uh... yeah. A lot bigger. You won’t believe it until you see one. But if it’s of any help, I can tell you that we’re headed toward an ursa minor right now.”

“I thought we were chasing one of the big ones!” the yellow unicorn exclaimed, both relief and a small hint of outrage tinging her voice.

“I think we are,” the captain explained. “This must be its child or something, wandering around in search of its parent. The major must be farther ahead.”

“Oh...”

“I don’t get why you’re this afraid of it, though,” Twilight told the unicorn. “You’ve got fourteen other unicorns and thirty-five pegasi watching your back. You’re one of my most talented mages, too.”

Lightning Rod snorted. “Says the Element of Magic and the princesses’ protégé...”

“You don’t have to fight any of the ursas if you don’t want to,” the lavender unicorn said after a while. “At least not today.”

Lightning Rod only pouted. “I can’t just sit on the sidelines while everypony else goes off to fight a hundred-foot bear.”

“Well, that’s not exactly what I had in mind... You’ll know in just a moment,” she assured the yellow mare as the company drew to a halt after having drawn very close to the ursa minor, allowing the two unicorns to catch up. Twilight went to the front of the crowd, addressing them in a voice loud enough for them to hear, but quiet enough to go unnoticed by the nearby ursa. “Those of you more familiar with the ursa species will have noticed by now that what lies behind this hill is not an ursa major, but a minor, a baby.”

She let the more undisciplined mages exchange mutterings of awe and apprehension before continuing. “Most likely, the reports of an ursa major were true; not even a minor could have completely destroyed a hamlet. This minor has probably gotten lost looking for its rampaging parent. Because of this, I don’t want to see that creature hurt, okay?” This was met by a bit of murmuring from her soldiers, but the captain raised a hoof to silence them. “Here’s the plan: Night Flight and Featherbeat will fly ahead and attempt to locate the major. Meanwhile, any of the unicorns able to, including myself, will use a sleeping spell to subdue the minor. Is anyone familiar with this spell?” she asked, summoning a spell model of the enchantment Civil Tenet had used upon her all those months ago. She was surprised she already knew it so intimately, let alone had identified it in her at the time panicked and almost crazed state.

A dark blue stallion raised his hoof confidently. His mane and tail were of a light blue and had a number of small silver and gold bells attached to them.

“Alright, Bluebell and I will approach the minor and try to subdue it,” she said, signaling for the two pegasus scouts to leave. “The rest of you will stay here; being surrounded by fifty soldiers won’t help calm it. I’ll signal you if we need backup. If all goes well and the ursa minor is incapacitated, Bluebell, Amber Vane, Iron Sword, and Lightning Rod will carry it back to the forest while the rest of the force goes after the major. At that time, it hopefully won’t be long before our scouts return. Is everypony aware of their duties?”

The soldiers nodded and shouted their affirmation, and Twilight turned towards the hill where she had seen the ursa minor, Bluebell following after as she began walking. It didn't take long before the giant bear came into view, tearing furiously at a pear tree in an effort to uproot it, an effort that was soon successful. Not far from the ursa was a noticeable trail of destruction running through a large orchard of pear trees, the clear sign of something much larger than an ursa minor having come through.

“It looks hungry,” Bluebell commented, grimacing slightly as the ursine chomped down on branches, leaves, and fruits alike.

“Well, if it’s full, it will fall asleep easier,” Twilight observed. “If not, things might be a little harder than anticipated, though we should be able to tranquilize it no matter what.”

The lavender unicorn approached the minor, catching its attention and receiving a threatening growl. When the blue unicorn joined her, the bear gave a small snarl, clutching the mangled pear tree protectively. As her horn flared to life, Twilight called out to her companion. “Alright, let's go!”

The spell she had formed in her mind was for a brief moment brought out of balance as the blue mage’s own spells were added to hers. After a few moments, however, Bluebell’s magic began reinforcing her own spells, forming a synergy that she was sure would bring down the beast. A wispy tendril of magenta flowed out of her horn and connected with the star-like insignia on the ursa’s forehead, and its eyes glazed over almost immediately as the magic took hold. Even so, it took almost ten minutes before the minor toppled over, snoring loudly while suckling on the tree it had plucked out of the ground.

“That went much better than expected!” Twilight observed, breathing a bit heavier than before. Bluebell seemed to be a little worse for wear, though, the bells jingling lightly as his torso heaved and fell repeatedly with his heavy breathing. “Are you up for dragging the minor back home?” the lavender unicorn asked worriedly, to which the stallion nodded.

“Rather that than face a major,” he reasoned.

“Good, I’ll leave you to it then,” Twilight replied, nodding curtly as she turned back toward the hill they had come from. “Lightning Rod, Amber Vane, and Iron Sword will join you shortly.”

It was another four hours before Twilight, along with ten unicorns and thirty-four pegasi, passed over the edge of Wild Weald, one of the larger forests north of Manehattan. As requested by Featherbeat, the team had returned to its flying chariots in order to get to the major in better time. As the blue pegasus returned to the main body, Coup de Grâce had decided to accompany the team handling the ursa minor in case the four unicorns needed any help.

“I think we’re here!” Twilight called out from the chariot she was riding as she caught sight of Night Flight, almost invisible against the dark night sky as he circled above a small clearing. Starburst, who was riding in the chariot with her, winced as she magically amplified her voice to address the Sword. “We will perform an aerial disembarkation; pegasi will ferry the unicorns down and surround the target! Now, since I think killing that thing is going to be pretty darn hard, I say we take a different approach! Try your best to bring it down without injuring it, then I’ll see if I can’t use my Memory spell to restore it to its calmer self.” Her subordinates’ reply was drowned out by the howling winds around them, but they seemed to have understood the message.

As they drew closer to Night Flight, the truly massive body of the ursa major came into view. To the lavender unicorn’s disappointment, the bear wasn’t asleep, but was clawing furiously at the ground for some reason, yowling at nothing in particular.

It can’t be just the eternal night bothering it, Twilight observed. It’s gone completely insane!

As with the one in the Everfree, the major below her had knocked over all the trees in its immediate area. She noticed that the trees all around the improvised clearing were still intact; there were no signs of the ursa’s passage to be seen anywhere. Although it seemed strange, she dismissed it as some sort of ursa magic; she had never seen any destruction caused by ursas in the Everfree either.

“Get down as fast as you can. I’ll try to keep its attention on the ground,” Twilight told Starburst, vanishing in a flash of white and reappearing beside the enormous ursine before he could object.

Alright. The bestiary says ursas’ main source of sustenance is the moon, she told herself. Let’s see how it likes a healthy dose of sunlight!

As the unicorn began feeding the air beside the bear with solar magic, her enemy noticed her, snarling ferociously and growling so loudly that the ground vibrated. Abandoning her usual spells of stability and longevity, Twilight unleashed a powerful thunderbolt into the pocket of magically augmented air right beneath the ursine, causing a powerful explosion that made the bear roar out in pain, bringing Twilight out of balance as the earth shook. The beast’s coat momentarily changed color from dark purple to the bright blue of a pre-dawn sky, and for a few seconds, it looked frailer than usual, the sunlight working against the moon and draining the bear’s powers.

She teleported away with only a few seconds to spare as a huge paw hammered down on the spot she had occupied while casting her spell.

“Really wish you wouldn’t do things like that, Cap’n,” Night Flight complained as he swooped down beside her, keeping a watchful eye on the slightly confused giant. “Distracting a pack of timberwolves? Not much of a problem. But an ursa major? That’s just asking for a unicorn pancake.”

“Well, it’s working, isn’t it?” she grunted as her horn glowed again, summoning a bright light among the trees on the opposite side of the clearing, distracting the ursa further. The unicorn gestured at the sky, where the ten unicorns were already halfway down.

“Why are we even landing?” the dark lavender pegasus asked. “Couldn’t you all just shoot at it from the chariots where it can’t reach you?”

“We could… if we wanted to shoot pointlessly at a naturally and magically reinforced hide several feet thick,” Twilight replied, shifting the position of her light just before the ursa lost interest. “Its underside is its only weakness as far as I know, though even that isn’t vulnerable per se. There are several other reasons, but now isn’t really the time,” she said as the ursa finally turned around to face the two ponies.

The pegasus took off quickly as the ursa approached, and the unicorn sent a crackling bolt of electricity straight into the bear’s chest, though the arcane blow went unnoticed by the massive creature. She once again dodged a swipe from the ursa by teleporting and took a step back to recuperate as the pegasi began swarming around the bear, swords and lances opening ridiculously small cuts in the side of the giant. By now, the unicorns had all been ferried to the ground, and they too began their assault, peppering the ursa with fire and lightning.

“Its belly!” Twilight instructed both the unicorns and the pegasi. “It won’t feel a thing on the area around its back! Remember our routines!”

She took a step back as the ursa turned toward her and snarled again. Out of the forty-five ponies present in the clearing, it somehow singled out the lavender unicorn and charged her, disregarding the attacks of the other ponies. Before Twilight could react, though, the bear’s progress was brought short as a score of pegasi flying in a tight formation pounded into the side of its head in rapid succession, managing to steer it away from the captain.

As the last pegasi was about to deliver a kick, the bear twisted its head around and would have swallowed the pony whole if Twilight had not teleported her out of harm’s way. The beige pegasus landed roughly beside Twilight, thanking the captain before taking off again, visibly shaken by her near-death experience.

A blindingly white ray of light shot forth from Twilight’s horn and struck the ursa square in the eyes, blinding it momentarily. “‘Stop, Drop, and Roll!’” the captain shouted out, giving the signal for one of the organized attacks she had established during the training sessions.

The eleven unicorns all pointed their horns at the ground beneath the major, and within only a few seconds, an intense fire had sprung to life, licking at the ursa’s underside while the pegasi flew upwards, gaining as much altitude as they could. Roaring in pain at the flames beneath it, the ursa sought to avoid the agony by rolling away from the fire and onto its back. While its belly was exposed, however, the thirty-four pegasi dive-bombed its weakest spots, attacking with either sharp blades or precise kicks.

“Everypony together now!” Twilight shouted, summoning her magic. “Hammer the air out of its lungs!”

The pegasi dive-bombed the creature again, this time using only their hooves and focusing on its chest. Just as the flying ponies impacted with the beast, the unicorns sent a joint blast of telekinesis into its lungs as well. The attack didn’t have the effect Twilight had hoped for, though, as the bear only exhaled a little more sharply than usual.

Waste of energy! she mentally chastised herself, desperately thinking of anything to stop the major before it could get back on its feet.

“Trip it!” she yelled as the bear tried to rise. She pointed at the left foreleg of the beast, and the joint power of the present unicorns once again struck out as one, causing the paw to shift and the ursa to stumble.

The unicorns are getting weaker, Twilight noted with a grimace. We can’t keep this up for very long.

“Unicorns, pull back and recharge! Pegasi, distract it!” she ordered, and the enormous ursine soon found itself orbited by the many pegasi as the ten unicorns discreetly drew away from the ursa’s immediate range.

After five minutes, a sharp cry caught Twilight’s attention. Apparently, the ursa’s flailing forelegs had finally found one of its targets and she saw the same beige pegasus she had saved before crash into a tree, her wings bending at an awkward angle before she collapsed. Reacting far faster than the giant bear, the lavender unicorn enveloped the nearly unconscious pegasus and unceremoniously dragged her across the ground before another paw could flatten her. “Night Flight!” she screamed, catching the lavender pegasus’ attention. “Catch!”

She flung the downed pegasus at Night Flight, who was soon joined by two other pegasi, catching the mare and carrying her to safety.

That was way too close. I’ll have to try to end this now.

Walking backwards, the captain once again called out to her soldiers. “Unicorns, get back in! Pegasi, turn its back on me! When I give the signal, the fliers will do their best to get it on its hind legs and the unicorns will push it back toward me!” When Twilight had gone far enough back to no longer be in danger of being crushed under the ursa, she gave the signal, and within only a minute, the pegasi had lured the ursine into a standing position. Just as it reared up, however, a glowing band materialized around its throat, pulling back sharply and disrupting the bear’s balance.

Although Twilight saw it coming and braced herself, she still lost her balance as the ursa major fell onto its back, making the ground shudder violently with the impact. She was soon on her hooves again, however, galloping towards the ursa as multicolored bands of light were drawn across its limbs, the pegasi resuming their attack on the bear’s weak spots.

Twilight reached the now flailing ursa and got as close to its head as she dared, her horn lighting up as she summoned the very spell that had once cured her friends of Discord’s madness. She could practically feel the enormous beast tensing up in front of her as her magic delved into its mind, sifting through blurry memories and the various components of its psyche.

As she had expected, the giant’s mind was a complete mess; some strong emotion had sent everything roiling and it was up to her to sort through it all and try to restore the ursa. Images of what must be a forest, other ursas, and a pony settlement being crushed underfoot all rushed past her in an erratic pattern Twilight could make no sense of. All the while, the unicorn felt her magic being slowly drained away as her spell kept the minds of the two vastly different creatures connected.

Through the haze of her own magic, she could see the ursa lying still, paralyzed by the effects of her Memory spell as she spent a whole minute looking at the alien mind. Finally, she gained the necessary overview she required and realized that there was in fact a pattern in the disorderly images and memories scattered about. They all seemed to, in one way or another, revolve around a specific cluster of memories, the dark aura of what Twilight recognized as fear seeping out of it and drenching the entire mind in madness.

As she tried to get a closer look at the root of the troubles, a sudden burst of what looked like lightning fended her probe off. Pouring large amounts of magic into her spell, she managed to bend the unruly mind to her will, slowly forcing away the obstacles over the course of several minutes until finally she gained access to the darker cluster of memories.

The ursa major began once again thrashing against its bonds as Twilight opened up the cluster, and both minds were overtaken by the strange shadows and distorted shrieks that had plagued the ursa for days. The unicorn gritted her teeth at the bear’s mental trauma that she had now forced herself to endure in bits and pieces, trying to remove the memories or destroy them in any way possible.

Back in the physical realm, one of the ursa’s hind legs broke free, but the unicorn took a step closer, determined to get the ordeal over with as the connection intensified.

The images clarified in short bursts, revealing little more than the darkness of the forest. Suddenly, the shape of what looked very much like a pony, most likely a changeling given the surroundings, appeared within the ursa’s memories, leaping about in a blur as it bore down upon all manner of smaller animals. The creatures’ screams reverberated through the giant’s and Twilight’s mind, and the bear began thrashing even more violently. Through the ursine’s eyes, the lavender unicorn watched as the pony-like creature turned towards the bear, plunging all other memories into obscurity as the pair of large, red, glowing eyes fixed upon the major. With a mad cackle, the creature lunged at the ursa, and all became dark.

The lavender unicorn shivered at the image, but stiffened when the blood red eyes reappeared. “I know you’re there, Twilight!” the distorted voice of the creature called out before trailing off into insane laughter.

What? What!?

The last of the ursa’s bonds gave away and the giant roared furiously while Twilight’s mind reeled. She heard shouting and a loud thump as the ursa major got to its feet again, but before she could react to either, she felt her connection to the bear being taken from her as another unicorn took her place.

Her attention turned back to the real world just in time to see a lightning bolt of monstrous size flow from the sky, straight through the star on the ursa’s forehead and into its very mind. A shriek of unimaginable pain escaped the giant’s mouth, causing the entire clearing to shudder violently again. It reared up on its hind legs, but to no avail, the huge arc of electricity still streaming down from above without mercy. As she lifted her gaze to find the source of the bolt, Twilight saw one of the flying chariots belonging to the Sword of Equestria circling above the clearing, though she couldn’t see who was riding it through the glare of the powerful spell being cast.

She felt two pairs of hooves wrap around her forelegs and found herself being lifted into the air and away from the ursa as its miserable howl was suddenly cut short, its glowing fur dimming to complete blackness as the vast creature slumped forward, collapsing upon the spot Twilight had been standing only a few seconds before.

She barely felt it as she was lowered to the ground again, the shock of what she had seen numbing all other feelings.

It saw me? H-h-how could it see me looking through the memories of the ursa? That doesn’t make any sense! What is that thing!? Did it know I would use my Memory spell? Did it intentionally traumatize the ursa, knowing that I would be looking at its memories and seeing it? Why would it even do that?

Worried by the look of horror on Twilight’s face, the unicorn was soon surrounded by a small crowd of pegasi.

“Cap’n, what happened?” Night Flight asked, raising an eyebrow at the trembling unicorn. “You look like you saw a ghost.”

Twilight shook her head, forcing herself to push away her questions for later. She took several deep breaths before speaking, causing the pegasi to give each other puzzled glances. “I’m… I’m not sure. But I’m going to find out.” She sighed. “Where did the lightning come from?”

“The team handling the minor came back,” the lavender pegasus replied with a smile. “I guess there’s a reason they call her Lightning Rod!”

Twilight looked back at the dead ursa which now disintegrated, the black fragments floating away into the night sky. She blinked. “She did that?”

“I think the other unicorns helped out, but yeah,” Featherbeat explained.

“How’s that for a dramatic entrance?” the yellow unicorn asked, grinning as she approached the captain, the pegasi parting before her in awe.

Twilight gazed again at the spot where the ursa had been lying. A deep impression had formed in the ground, but other than that, there was no sign of the titanic creature. “You... you weren’t supposed to kill it...” she muttered, both sadness and anger welling up within her. “I was trying to cure it!”

“Well, no offense, but it didn’t look like it was working,” Lightning Rod defended herself, her confidence deflating almost visibly.

“There were complications,” Twilight admitted.

“…That Lightning Rod solved,” Coup de Grâce said, coming to the yellow unicorn’s defense as she shouldered past a group of pegasi.

“…That I would have dealt with!” the lavender unicorn insisted. Sensing the enmity between the three ponies, the soldiers began backing away. Twilight turned back to Lightning Rod “Instead you took away my connection and used it to incinerate the mind of that ursa! Do you have any idea what you just did? The gravity of this situation? You killed an ursa major! That’s as impressive as it’s horrible!”

“Horrible!?” the large pegasus mare’s eyes narrowed. “You might have been too busy with your worthless spell to notice, but that beast almost had its jaws around you! Lightning Rod saved your ungrateful life!”

“That is no way to speak to your captain, soldier,” Twilight warned, but Coup de Grâce snorted.

“Then perhaps you should start acting like a captain. Tell me, what is the purpose of the Sword of Equestria?”

The lavender unicorn gave the pegasus a cold stare which was equally returned. “I am not having this conversation with you. All you need to know is that I am your captain, and you need to do as I say. When I say you aren’t allowed to injure our targets, then you do not. Injure. Our. Targets!” She once again fixed Lightning Rod with a furious stare. “You fried that poor ursa’s mind!”

“‘Poor’?” Coup de Grâce interjected with equal outrage burning in her eyes. “‘Poor’!? That thing destroyed an entire village and killed at least six ponies! It could knock down a skyscraper if it wanted to! It was about to eat you! There is nothing poor about that ursa!”

“Good riddance, huh?” Twilight shot back, surprising herself as she took a menacing step toward the mare almost twice her size. “It wasn’t acting as we wanted it to, it wasn’t dealing with The Great Tragedy as well as we were, so we should just go ahead and kill it? Is that it? Kill whatever doesn’t agree with you?”

“Cap’n…” Night Flight began, but Twilight silenced him with a raised hoof, pointing into the forest.

“Due east,” she ordered with a sigh. “Get back to the chariots, all of you.” She fixed the yellow unicorn with a stare. “Except you.”

“As you say, Captain,” the armored pegasus spat, and followed the other ponies as they left the clearing and headed east, leaving Lightning Rod and Twilight alone on the now almost crushingly empty battleground.

“What’s your problem!?” the yellow unicorn hissed with frustration. “You were the one who told me not to be afraid of these ursas! I killed an ursa major! Nopony’s ever done that before! And you chew me off in front of everyone!? Are you jealous!?”

The lavender unicorn took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. “No, I’m not jealous.” She pointed a hoof at where the ursa had died, wishing that there was some sort of grotesque corpse lying there. Instead, there was only that terrible emptiness that reminded her all too much of Celestia and Luna’s coffins. “How could I be jealous of that? The ursa isn’t a mindless carnivore like the timberwolf; it’s a sentient being. It has memories, it has emotions, it has dreams… it has families.” She stomped a hoof on the ground. “What’s going to happen to that minor you just dragged back to the woods?” Again, she pointed a hoof at the empty space. “You killed its parent!”

“It’s an ursa,” Lightning Rod insisted, her voice losing some of the confidence she had gained through anger. “I-it’s a huge bear, for pony’s sake! It’ll be fine.”

“Then why did it chase after its parent?” the captain pointed out. “Are you sure a baby like that can find enough food on its own? Believe it or not, that little ursa meant the world to the one you just killed, and I’m pretty sure it’s reciprocal. That’s what I gained from the Memory spell. I was about to cure it; if I’d had just a few minutes more, that thing would have returned to normal!”

“But you didn’t have a few minutes!” Lightning Rod shouted back. “I know the Memory spell; you can hardly see anything but the mind you’re working with. Coup was right; that ursa practically had its jaws around you when I intervened!”

“You didn’t have to kill it!” Twilight groaned. “This may be called the Sword of Equestria, but as the captain, I say we do not kill. We do not put ourselves above the ones weaker than us.”

“But when they threaten us…”

“Celestia never killed anyone;” Twilight told Lightning Rod. “Not a thief, not a murderer, not Discord, not Nightmare Moon.”

Unless you want to believe some weird creature in the Evergloom...

“Celestia was the best of us,” she continued. “She moved the sun and moon for a thousand years, wielding powers that could make us all look like ants. Never once did she hurt us, never once has she sentenced anypony to death. It would be so easy for her, but she knew better. Celestia was the best thing to happen for Equestria. Because she knew her place. She wasn’t an executioner and neither will we be.”

Lightning Rod bit her lip and was quiet for a long while. “Fine, if you insist,” she sighed at last. “No more killings. Unless I see no other alternative,” the yellow unicorn stressed, but the captain decided not to pursue the matter any further.

“That’s all I wanted to hear.” Twilight gave a half-hearted smile which disappeared when she looked back at the ursa’s death bed. “What’s done is done. We should get out of here.”

Twilight threw herself out of bed, her magic ripping apart her covers for the fourth time since she’d been named Captain by the Council of Nine. As the waking world chased away the last remnants of her nightmare, the lavender unicorn gave a shuddering sigh, using her magic to throw the useless pieces of fabric into her trash can. Looking back at her bed, she noticed that it was covered in feathers that had erupted from a ruptured pillow and frowned. She broadened her focus and strained her concentration as she enveloped every single feather along with her ruined pillow in her magical grasp, depositing them in the trash as well.

The clock on her desk told her the time was half past one, meaning she’d had five hours of sleep since returning from the ursa assignment. She winced as the wound in her neck throbbed painfully for a few seconds before going numb again.

“Another nightmare, Captain Sparkle?” The palace guard at her door peeked in, making sure that the noises came from the lavender unicorn and not an intruder.

Twilight got to her hooves shakily, grimacing at the layer of cold sweat that had formed all over her coat. “Yeah. Apparently I have a very vivid imagination.”

“Council member Scarlet Bolt said she wanted to speak with you when you woke up,” the unicorn guard revealed. “There are urgent matters that the two of you must discuss.”

“Now? In the middle of the night?” the captain raised an eyebrow. “You don’t think she meant sometime in the morning?”

“She’s waiting in the main chamber of the Sword of Equestria,” the guard said. “I guess she assumed you would have another nightmare.”

“Well, she was right. I’ll just take a quick shower and be right with her.”

The guard nodded politely as Twilight exited her chamber ten minutes later, making her way down the dark, blue-tinted halls of Cristallum before she arrived at the task force’s headquarters. As the palace guard had said, the pink and scarlet pegasus was seated at the large table in the center of the room, waiting patiently.

“Twilight Sparkle. I trust you slept unwell?”

The unicorn couldn’t help but smile at the unusual greeting. “Very. You know, I never had these problems in Ponyville.”

“I’m sure you didn’t,” the head of military replied. “But you’re still staying.” She pointed at the map carved into the table. “The ursa was taken care of?”

“There were two of them,” Twilight answered. “The major was being followed by its baby. We put the minor to sleep and four unicorns dragged it back into the forest while the rest of us went after the major.”

“Did you manage to subdue the ursa major without injuring it?”

“I tried,” she muttered. “I was performing a Memory spell, a spell that would return the ursa to its former self before it went crazy, but there were complications. Lightning Rod ended up taking over the connection I had with the ursa and used her own and the other unicorns’ magic to send a bolt of lightning straight into its mind. It was killed.”

“That certainly takes care of that problem,” Scarlet Bolt remarked. “Though not in the way you wanted, I take it.”

“Its very mind was electrocuted... I’m not sure there’s anything more painful than that.” Twilight sighed at the disturbing memory. “Have you ever seen an ursa major die? The life of something so majestic being cut short?”

“I’ve seen much worse,” the pegasus said. “We called it The Great Tragedy.”

None of you saw it; I did, Twilight thought, but nodded her head. “True,” she admitted.

“You’ve already had this discussion with both me and Amber Vane,” Scarlet Bolt reminded her. “You know why it is we must kill.”

“Celestia never killed,” the unicorn pointed out. “She did everything that was needed of her and maintained peace in Equestria without ever having to take a life.”

“Yes, but sadly, none of us are Celestia,” the pegasus countered. “She is gone and so are our times of peace. With the death of our princess, it hasn’t taken the world long to return to how it once was. You wouldn’t imagine the troubles we are dealing with, Twilight. Coltdoba is taking steps towards independence, potentially cutting off one of our largest supplies of food, the smaller settlements are being abandoned because we can’t protect them from the dangers of the forests, we are seeing huge increases in crime in all of the larger cities, and windigoes have returned.”

“Windigoes?” Twilight asked in an alarmed tone. “You were able to confirm the rumors?”

“Almost,” the pegasi admitted. “Everything we’ve seen so far indicates the presence of windigoes. I believe the griffons of Buteos are dealing with the current times a little less… harmoniously than the Equestrians, prompting this strange outbreak.”

“So is that our next task? Track down and get rid of the windigoes?”

“I’m afraid not,” Scarlet Bolt said, shaking her head almost sadly as she went to the southern part of the map. “The sightings have only been made in Buteos, and so technically it falls upon their authorities to deal with the problem, not us. Under any other circumstance, I would have sent you, but we’ve suddenly got a much bigger problem on our hooves. Are you familiar with the town Orange Valley?” She pointed at a spot near the southwestern part of Equestria beneath the mountain range that separated Central Equestria from the west, and the unicorn shook her head. “It was completely destroyed this morning. Just received the report a few hours ago. I’m giving you an additional force of fifty unicorns and seventy pegasi for this mission.” At the lavender unicorn’s look of surprise, the pink pegasus gave a grim smile. “Tell me, Twilight, what is the only creature in Equestria that by itself poses an even larger threat to ponies than a fully grown ursa major?”

Twilight was silent for a while before venturing a guess. “Dragons?”

11 - The Dragon Hunter

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Succession

Chapter 11 – The Dragon Hunter

Twilight gritted her teeth against the snowflakes that, at her current speed, cut into her face like tiny razors, forcing her eyes shut as her chariot pullers fought to break through the cloud cover above Manehattan.

Winter came so suddenly, she reflected, weaving together a spell that would shield her against the frigid weather.

“You’d think the weather patrol would schedule the snow storm for sometime after almost a hundred flying chariots needed to take off!” one of the pegasi pulling the captain’s chariot grumbled to his partner, who only shook his head.

“Manehattan needs water!” he shouted over the howling winds. “It hasn’t rained around here for weeks! Just be glad it’s snowing and not hailing! My sister says everypony in Cloudsdale has their hooves full turning their water supplies into something less substantial than... you know, giant chunks of ice!”

“But today of all days!?” the first pegasus asked despairingly as a violent gust of wind shook the chariot.

“It’s four days, actually.”

“Besides,” Twilight added, expanding her protective field to her two chariot pullers. “We left in a notice of just a week. A blizzard this size must have taken much longer to plan, right?”

The second pegasi cuffed his partner on the ears good-naturedly. “See that? Even the unicorn knows more about weather than you do!” He grinned over his shoulder at Twilight. “No offense, Captain.”

The unicorn smiled and shook her head, turning her head to see what lay behind her before she would vanish into the thick layer of clouds above. Flying in a loose formation behind her own leading chariot were more than eighty similar flying vehicles, all carrying either supplies or the total of the one hundred and seventy soldiers Scarlet Bolt had given her for her current assignment.

One hundred and seventy ponies, Twilight thought, still unable to wrap her head around it. One hundred and seventy unicorns and pegasi loyal to me, ready to do whatever I tell them to. All of them counting on my wisdom and leadership.

Below her was the huge city she now called home, covered in at least an inch of snow after just a few hours of enduring the storm. Amid the white landscape, Twilight saw a variety of tiny specks of color. No doubt the citizens of Manehattan venturing out into the blizzard to see the spectacle of nearly a hundred flying chariots taking off simultaneously.

She briefly wondered if Rarity might be down there as the clouds enveloped her chariot and obscured her view of Manehattan. Most likely, though, her friend knew nothing of the Sword of Equestria’s assignments and had no idea that the creatures of Dragoncrest had gone as crazy as everywhere else in Equestria. Perhaps that was for the better.

Not for the first time since her talk with Scarlet Bolt, Twilight felt fear and worry creeping into her heart as she thought of her oldest friend. I’m coming, Spike. You’d better be your good old self.

Delayed by the huge blizzard around Manehattan and having to fly around a violent lightning storm above the Everfree Forest, it took the Sword of Equestria and its additional soldiers three full days to reach Orange Valley, which had become nothing more than a smoldering ruin.

“Sure am glad to have the Heroine of Equestria on my side...” Amber Vane said as he stood beside Twilight, looking out upon the completely decimated town. “Because defeating something that did this sounds almost impossible.”

“This could have been Ponyville,” Twilight muttered, awed at the destruction. Not a single building had been left standing, and not a scrap of wood seemed to have been spared the dragon’s fury. Deep trenches had been carved into the earth where Twilight suspected the dragon had landed or taken off, and large trails of soot-stained earth bore witness to the titanic bursts of fire that had leveled the small town.

During Nightmare Moon’s reign, it was said dragon raids were a common occurrence, but I guess Celestia must have done something back then to protect her kingdom. But what? Can I do it?

“This place was even bigger than Ponyville,” she added, “and now everything’s gone. There’s nothing we can do about it. Nothing we could have done.”

“We’ll get everything sorted out in the end,” Amber Vane assured her. “Eventually. We just have a lot on our plate right now, dealing with Celestia’s death and Nightmare Moon’s return.”

Nightmare Moon... Not for the first time, Twilight wondered if the dark alicorn somehow could be involved with the dragon attacks, yet again plunging Equestria into fear and uncertainty. But why? Why does she need us to be so afraid? She could take over all of Equestria if she wanted. Unless she’s still weakened by The Great Tragedy, of course. It seems unlikely that she’d be incapacitated for more than half a year, though. Are the dragons her allies then, or have they truly gone insane? And if they have gone mad, is it because of her?

“Don’t spend too much time worrying about Ponyville though,” Amber Vane continued. “They’ve got the Elements of Harmony, right? I’m sure they’ll be fine.”

“There are only three of them left,” Twilight countered. “Without the rest of us and the Elements themselves, we really aren’t that special. Besides, Canterlot had both princesses and the entire Royal Guard. I don’t really think anywhere’s safe...”

“That’s what we’re putting a stop to, right? Taking care of all the timberwolves, ursas, and dragons so nopony gets hurt?”

“And yet we’re still standing outside the burnt-down ruin of Orange Valley,” Twilight insisted, but was soon distracted by an approaching pegasus.

“Sorry, Cap’n,” Night Flight said, landing in front of the two unicorns. “It’s obvious there was a dragon here, but it’s impossible to say where it went. Do we expand the search area?”

The lavender unicorn shook her head. “Dragons can fly halfway across Equestria without having to stop. If we can’t discern the direction in which it travelled from where it took off, we most likely won’t be able to find out at all. For all we know, it could be on the other side of the continent by now. Our main focus should be finding out what’s causing this disturbance and putting a stop to it. The rogue dragons will just have to be second priority, I’m afraid. Round everypony up; we’re leaving in half an hour.”

Only a few hours after leaving behind the remains of Orange Valley and flying north toward Dragoncrest, however, the fleet of chariots was met by the ominous beating of leathery wings, suggesting that the dragon wasn’t as far away as anticipated.

For a long moment, both soldiers and chariot pullers were quiet, the silence punctured only by the rhythmic beating of the dragon’s wings that almost drowned out the lavender unicorn’s own heartbeat as she and the others scanned the skies above for the hidden giant. “Pegasi, take to the air,” she commanded, refusing to let the cloud banks around her position out of her eye as she spoke. “Pegasi chariots and supply wagons, find a safe place to wait out whatever comes next.”

Her subordinates did as they were told, the pegasi warriors disembarking from the chariots in midflight while the very same chariots turned sharply, seeking the shelter of ground from the winged predator.

No sooner had the chariots and wagons left than a monstrous gout of fire erupted from the inside of a cluster of clouds to Twilight’s left, the vivid brightness of the inferno revealing the silhouette of the Sword of Equestria’s newest adversary. Having already prepared the spell, the captain summoned a large screen of magenta that deflected the oncoming tidal wave of flames, which instead rippled out in every other direction and completely obscured the image of the dragon’s shadow with its fiery, almost blinding brilliance.

“Ground it!” Twilight shouted at the top of her lungs, blinking against the spots that danced before her eyes and growing dizzy as she held back the fires that threatened to consume herself and her soldiers. “Pegasi and unicorns together! Attack the wing..!” Whatever else she had had to say was lost in a sharp gasp as an enormous, orange, reptilian head reared up above her barrier, its claws easily smashing through the much smaller pony’s spell. As it passed by overhead with a thunderous roar, Twilight quickly assessed the dragon to be quite a bit larger than a typical ursa minor. With wings and the ability to breathe fire, however, it could very well prove far more dangerous than any ursa. She had no delusions as to why Scarlet Bolt had granted her so many soldiers; some of them would not be returning to Manehattan. How many depended solely upon her.

While she attempted to reclaim the energy of her broken shield, a swarm of no less than one hundred and five pegasi enveloped the fire breathing reptile, beating down on the spot where the dragon’s wings met its body in an effort to disrupt its flight.

The orange titan twisted around, spraying a jet of fire as it swept its head back and forth. By some miracle, not a single pegasi swarming around it was hit.

Twilight found herself wincing as the winged ponies vanished between clouds of smoke and blasts of fire only to reemerge unscathed. This isn’t working! We’ll need a different approach before anypony gets hurt. Twilight turned to face the majority of the unicorn fleet as the chariots circled in place at a safe distance from the raging dragon. “The primary attacks have failed!” she called out to the mages and soldiers, using her magic to amplify her voice. “We’re switching tactics! One-pony show! Initiate one-pony show!”

Sixty-four unicorns should be able to replace the Element of Magic, Twilight assured herself as she winked out from the chariot and appeared within the densely wooded area beneath. Hopefully.

A ray of magenta light erupted from her horn and soared upwards for all to see, signalling the change of tactics to the pegasi engaged with the dragon.

The pegasi broke free of their struggle with the orange giant, kicking into overdrive as they fought to reach their captain before the dragon could get a clear shot of them. Meanwhile, the chariots carrying the unicorns that would be supporting Twilight lifted higher into the air, making sure the mages weren’t close enough to the ground to warrant the approaching dragon’s attention, but still close enough for them to reach their captain and her immediate area with their magic. “Prepare redirect!” she ordered of the ponies above her, and the black sky sprung to life in a myriad of different colors as sixty-four horns began glowing. “Clockwise!”

Looking past the flying soldiers, Twilight could see the roaring dragon approaching fast, its jaws parting slightly as it prepared to roast the flock of pegasi flying in a tight formation straight at their captain. Twilight dug her hooves into the ground in anticipation as the dragon came within fire breathing range of her, preparing to give the order at the slightest sign of danger.

A bright light blazed to life within the winged lizard’s maw, followed by a violent eruption of fire that rushed toward the one hundred pegasi directly between the dragon and the captain of the Sword of Equestria. The winged ponies pulled away sharply, scattering completely while Twilight gave the order. “Now!” she screamed, her own horn flaring magenta as her magic reached out toward the oncoming wave of fire. A split second later, the magic of her subordinates joined her in her efforts, grabbing hold of the flames and twisting them free from their original path. As the jet of fire passed harmlessly through the space where the pegasi had been only seconds before, it began to veer off course as the unicorns’ magic took hold of it. The flames that would have engulfed Twilight curled around her instead, encasing her in a blazing incandescent cocoon with only a few square feet to spare before the jet of fire exited its orbit around the lavender mare and leapt off the ground, hammering into the dragon with full force, bright fiery tongues licking at the beast’s head and underside.

With a venomous snarl, the dragon locked eyes with Twilight who now stood in a small, burnt-down clearing, the monstrous reptile forgetting all about the pegasi as it landed a hundred feet ahead of her, knocking over a large group of trees. Twilight took an involuntary step back as the ground shuddered beneath the dragon’s weight and yelped as her hoof touched the scorched ground that had appeared all around her.

Okay, no walking. Calm down. This isn’t your first dragon, Twi. There was the red one right outside of Ponyville, there was the hydra, the one that attacked Spike, the other ones that attacked Spike, a-and Inferno, of course.

The dragon loosed another burst of fire and Twilight shouted “Barrier!” summoning a small force field that deflected the dragon’s attack, the unicorn doing her best to take in her surroundings in the meantime, searching for anything that might help her. Before she could think of anything, however, another long jet of fire was unleashed straight at her, and Twilight barely managed to envelop herself in a magenta force field as the flames swept over her and the entire clearing. As grass and trees alike were consumed by the dragon’s rage, smoke erupted unnaturally from every fire in the area as Twilight’s magic took hold, utilizing one of the strategies she had used when fighting Inferno at Manehattan. “Smoke veil!” she ordered, and while it hadn’t been one of the commands she and the unicorns had rehearsed, she was relieved to see them realizing her intent. Great billowing clouds of black soon enveloped the entire clearing, making it impossible for the dragon to spot its prey. Twilight, however, could easily hear her adversary’s heavy breathing and see the occasional gouts of fire that were released as it snorted and growled with frustration.

To the captain’s vast satisfaction, she soon heard the dragon yowl in pain and increased frustration as the pegasi resumed their assault upon the grounded dragon without her even having to order them to do so. As she saw the faint outline of the orange reptile’s head rearing up out of the smoke, she gave the order, and sixty-five lightning bolts of varying intensity were launched at where she suspected the dragon’s exposed underside to be, obviously scoring a direct hit as her adversary choked on the fire it had been preparing to breathe at the pegasi.

The scaled giant began flapping its wings, clearing away the smoke, but as it did so, the pegasi once again bore down on the reptile’s wing joints, their attacks finally succeeding as the right wing seemed to either dislocate or become somehow paralyzed, flopping limply to the ground.

“Uppercut! Hammer!” The combined force of every single unicorns’ magic delivered a hefty telekinetic blow to the weakened dragon, followed by a crushing downwards thrust that managed to stun the creature. Twilight vanished from the only patch of green left in the newly formed clearing with a flash, appearing on top of the dragon’s head. “Attempting Memory spell! Bind me! Keep me stable!” It took a few seconds for the other mages to process her strange order, but they were soon able to focus on forging a series of magical bonds that wrapped around the captain’s legs and the dragon’s horns and jaws, keeping Twilight lashed firmly in place upon the giant reptile’s skull.

Let’s see if this doesn’t work better the second time around.

Her horn flared to life once more as the equine mind connected with the draconic, Twilight once again venturing into the mind of her foe in an attempt to cure it of its insanity. At least she hoped it was insanity and not alliance to Nightmare Moon.

It took her even longer to gain any sense of direction or orientation within the dragon’s mind than it had when she had been within the ursa major’s, the ancient and alien workings of the reptile’s thoughts much too strange for Twilight to comprehend at first. Though it was hard to recognize, Twilight found that the dragon’s mind, like the ursa’s, revolved around a specific cluster of memories, although the pattern of the orbit seemed to be beyond any mammalian comprehension. As far as she could tell, however, the dragon’s mind didn’t seem to be quite as chaotic as the ursa’s, suggesting that it was perhaps salvageable.

Taking a deep mental breath, Twilight opened up the cluster and immediately felt her body being tossed about as the dragon shook its head desperately, images of what Twilight identified as Dragoncrest Valley spilling out all over both minds. Although there were no visual impressions that explained the dragon’s distress, there was a general sense of wrongness over the memories; much like her own ability to feel magic, it seemed this dragon could sense some kind of evil presence within the valley it had come from.

Nightmare Moon might have been there, but she hasn’t been directly involved with the dragons, Twilight thought with relief as she began taking hold of the evil memories. At least not this dragon. And no changeling thing or whatever it was to freak me out.

Working slowly but steadily, her Memory spell destroyed the dragon’s mental trauma, the roiling mind calming with every memory banished. Eventually, there was nothing left within the dragon but its usual thought pattern and Twilight finally withdrew, cutting off the connection between the two minds. With a deep and tired exhalation, Twilight blinked for a few seconds as she adjusted to her own body once more.

“Alright, everypony!” she shouted to the soldiers all around her, using her magic again to augment her voice. “Everything should be alright now. Let the dragon go and we’ll see what happens.” The bonds around her vanished and so did she, reappearing in front of the dragon who was slowly awakening from its momentary stupor caused by the spell. “You... You shouldn’t by any chance understand Equestrian?” she asked of the dragon, though the reptilian giant only looked at her with confusion. Giving the pony soldiers around it a suspicious glance, it spread its wings, flexing the one that had been paralyzed a few times before launching itself into the air and making the ground shudder as it did so.

A moment of silence followed their previous enemy’s departure before the Sword of Equestria cheered loudly, celebrating their first victory over a creature as formidable as a fully grown dragon. Another moment later, Twilight’s chariot landed beside her, and as the captain lifted into the air once more, flying north toward Dragoncrest, Coup de Grâce fell in beside her in midair.

“You did pretty good,” she told the captain, sounding genuinely impressed. “Don’t know what the council’s gonna say about you going up against a dragon all on your own like that, but it worked.” Coup de Grâce sighed. “You do know that Scarlet Bolt’ll have our hides if anything happens to you, though, right? I mean, it’s probably not even that good of an idea to tell her about your stunt here.”

“I won’t say anything if you don’t!” Twilight replied with a small smile, although it was not returned by the armored pegasus. “Did we lose any pegasi? There were some pretty close shots from what I saw.”

“Three,” the large mare replied. “Cloud Stroke, Whistler, and Sky Darter. They were among the newcomers.”

Twilight was silent for a while, her joy of victory effectively dampened by the sad news. “I’ll be faster next time,” she finally assured her second-in-command. “And I should have realized pegasi alone wouldn’t be able to bring down an adult dragon.”

Coup de Grâce mimicked her captain’s moment of silence as she thought of a reply. “If you’re gonna blame yourself for everyone who dies on this trip, you’re gonna have a tough time as Captain. Things like this happen, but we need to carry on.”

“I know,” Twilight sighed, gazing out upon the dark forest passing by below her. “I knew this was why Scarlet Bolt gave me all these soldiers. I just didn’t know I would lose any already.”

“We lost them,” Coup de Grâce stressed, showing some annoyance at her captain. “We aren’t your soldiers; we don’t fight for you. We fight with you just as you fight with us. You might be our captain, but we’re still a team. We share our victories and our defeats... A pretty good Captain of the Royal Guard told me that once.”

Twilight returned her gaze to the mare gliding beside her. “You... You knew Shining?”

“Yeah...” Without any further explanation, however, the armored pegasus broke away from the chariot, returning to the main body of the flying fleet.

It took the Sword of Equestria another four hours of flying before they finally reached their destination, the peaks surrounding Dragoncrest Valley towering above the rest of the mountainous area the soldiers had entered a while ago. Tired after their long journey and the recent battle, the ponies decided to make a rough landing on a relatively flat plateau not far from the valley, taking a much needed rest.

While the majority of the soldiers slept, however, Twilight found herself unable to do so. Instead, she wandered about the hastily set up camp, pretending to check up on the soldiers posted along the perimeter of the encampment, her eyes wandering back to the tall peaks a few miles away every five minutes.

Spike’s right behind those peaks. Dragons in this area have been acting crazy for the past week if not more. Something was there in the valley... something wrong. How can I just sit around here? He could’ve been attacked by whatever it was that dragon had sensed, or been driven as crazy as all the other animals in Equestria. I haven’t seen or heard from him for more than two and a half years... Twilight sighed at herself. The guards are starting to give me strange looks. Can’t blame them, though; this is the fourth time I’ve passed them. Just... calm down, Twi. We’re going in there tomorrow, right? Just a few more hours.

“Captain Sparkle?” one of the unicorn guards called out almost in a whisper as she passed him, a look of worry in his eyes. “Is something wrong?”

“No, I’m alright,” Twilight replied almost automatically. As she looked the guard over, she bit her lip guiltily, considering whether or not to act on her urges. Just as the guard was about to speak again, she finally caved. “Could you... Could you wake up my chariot pullers? They should be in the large green tent near that ramp-like cliff. Tell them to meet me by the captain’s chariot.”

The unicorn guard saluted shortly and set off toward the other side of the camp at a brisk pace. In the meanwhile, Twilight decided to pay a visit to Coup de Grâce. No doubt the second-in-command would be beside herself with anger if the captain decided to leave without telling her.

At least Coup doesn’t seem as paranoid about my safety as the council is. She might even think it’s a sane plan.

“What?” came the sleepy and perhaps slightly annoyed grunt of the pegasus who emerged from the darkness of the tent almost immediately. It occurred to her that she had never seen Coup de Grâce without armor; the mare looked much darker in just her brown coat when she wasn’t encased in gold and bronze, but somehow just as imposing.

“I need to go in now,” Twilight explained promptly. “I keep worrying about Spike; if I don’t get some kind of closure, I’ll go crazy!”

“Dragoncrest? You want us to go now?” Coup de Grâce inquired, trying sleepily to follow while casting a gaze back at her tent where her armor lay. “I’d suggest waiting a few more hours. You know? Let everypony rest up like we agreed? We don’t even have a course of action planned out.”

“I do,” Twilight said. “I’ve been thinking it would be a pretty bad idea for a large force to enter the valley. We don’t know how many dragons are in there, and defeating one was hard enough.”

“In that case, a pegasus would be better suited for the task,” Coup de Grâce pointed out. “Getting you in there would be... difficult. A chariot, even flying, is far from suited for stealth.”

“I need a chariot to get Spike,” Twilight insisted. “I need to get in there and make sure he’s alright.”

Coup de Grâce frowned at the captain. “You said yourself we don’t know how many dragons are in there. If an immediate investigation of Dragoncrest is really your order, I’d suggest sending in a team of pegasi to scout out the area.”

“What if they get spotted?” Twilight argued. “Once the dragons are alerted to our presence, it could be impossible for me to get in there!”

“This isn’t about you!” Coup de Grâce hissed back at the captain, sighing as she motioned for Twilight to enter her tent. “Contrary to your belief, Captain, we’re here to find out why all these dragons have been acting so hostile,” she continued as she closed the tent flap, making sure nopony could hear their discussion. “Arranging a meeting with your dragon friend isn’t a priority!”

“But it’s the easiest way to do things!” Twilight countered. “Spike knows Equestrian, so instead of spying on the dragons, why not just ask one of them? It’s the best and the quickest way of completing the assignment!”

“You’re talking about taking a flying chariot into the heart of a valley full of dragons to search for a guy that may or may not be there and may or may not be hostile! That is not the best solution!” the pegasus pointed out angrily. “I agree, stealth is the best way to go, but what you’re suggesting is not stealth! It’s charging into a valley full of dragons alone! I was put on this team to help you with the decisions, so let me give you this piece of advice: Use our pegasi. Scout out the area, and see if that doesn’t tell us what the problem is. If not, we’ll find another way based on the reconnaissance. It’ll take a few days, but no one will be in danger.”

“Our supplies will only last us another week,” Twilight reminded her. “Flitting around the edges of the valley and looking for a solution will take a while.”

“That’s why our supply carts can fly,” Coup de Grâce said, waving off the captain’s argument. “It’ll only takes us a few days to restock.”

“Sending a team of scouts into the valley isn’t all that safe either,” Twilight continued. “No matter what, it’s still a valley full of dragons. If they get spotted, those scouts would be in much more danger than I would be. My approach is less subtle, yeah, but at least it won’t be a whole team of scouts that’s put at risk...”

“It’ll be the captain,” Coup de Grâce finished flatly. “There are times when a captain must stand on the front lines, encouraging her soldiers, and there are times when the captain should remain in the background, coordinating the forces at her command. There are not times when the captain should be out scouting behind enemy lines! That task belongs to our scouts! Like it or not, the council doesn’t want you to die, so please don’t try to kill yourself! I’ve told you before, and I’ll tell you again, you need to start acting like a captain!”

“Fine!” Twilight sighed angrily. “As the captain, I say that I should be the one to enter Dragoncrest!”

Coup de Grâce shot her a venomous glance and turned her back to the unicorn, taking a series of deep breaths before responding. “A chariot then, and two pegasi to pull it,” she said in a much calmer voice.

“I’ve already got that covered,” Twilight revealed. “They’re being woken up as we speak.”

“Can I at least convince you to take a small team of pegasi with you?” Coup de Grâce asked, her back still turned to the unicorn and annoyance creeping into her voice again. “When you get spotted, you’ll want somepony to distract the horde of dragons coming at you. I’d suggest you take Night Flight and Featherbeat; they’re our fastest scouts. For the remaining three... Squall, Twister, and Horizon Bloom were one of our best when it came to taunting and distracting the dragon back there; they’ll be able to help you out if anything goes wrong.”

“If it’ll make you more comfortable, sure,” Twilight agreed impatiently. “As long as it won’t take too long to mobilize them.”

“Your dragon is small, right?” Coup de Grâce inquired as she went to the tent flap and opened the entrance. “If there’s room, I’d say bring a unicorn. Your magic is strong, but you’re going up against dragons.”

Twilight was hesitant at this, but decided disagreeing wasn’t worth another argument with the large pegasus and followed her out the tent. “Fine. I’ll get Night Flight and Featherbeat and find a unicorn. You get the other three.” Coup de Grâce nodded back at the captain and went off in search of the three soldiers while Twilight did the same.

The question is, which one do I take? Amber Vane would definitely be the best company and I’d definitely rather have him around when I find Spike, but if I need any kind of backup, Lightning Rod is the strongest unicorn and the best choice by far... I guess there won’t be much talking on the trip regardless... Lightning Rod it is then.

A few minutes later, Twilight and Lightning Rod were standing together in the captain’s chariot lifting up between the steep peaks that surrounded Dragoncrest Valley, the five pegasi accompanying them flying in a tight formation in front of them.

“Any idea where we can find Spike?” Night Flight whispered back at the captain who shook her head.

“I only followed him out here; I haven’t seen him since he crossed the mountain ridge. He could be anywhere, really. But you know, most likely a cave or something.”

“Right...” the scout muttered, eyeing the hundreds of cavern entrances adorning the cliff faces all around them.

“This’ll be like searching for a needle in a fire breathing haystack!” Horizon Bloom whispered despairingly.

“At least none of them seem to be awake,” Featherbeat pointed out optimistically.

“Don’t say stuff like that!” One of the chariot pullers hissed at him.

“Why? It’s true, isn’t it?” If the scout had had anything else to say, it was lost to him as the distinct roar of a dragon sounded from not far below them, echoing throughout the large valley.

“Now look what you did!” the puller scolded Featherbeat angrily. “You just don’t tempt fate like that!”

“Quiet, all of you!” Twilight ordered in a hushed whisper. “It might not have seen us. We need to find somewhere safe to land and set up some sort of base of operations for our search.”

The party was quiet for a while more, the ponies flying through the silent night air above the shadowy valley below as they listened for any activity from the dragons that could come at them from practically anywhere.

“Why do we always have a full moon?” Lightning Rod whispered nervously. “We must be in plain sight for anything on the ground!”

Before she could reply, Twilight’s ears perked up at the sound of a deep inhaling sound. Her horn sparked to life within a fraction of a second, and a force field of magenta formed around both the chariot and the pegasi flying alongside it just before a violent burst of cyan fire enveloped them. The fire abated, and the captain removed the force field, yelling orders at her subordinates. “Spread out and distract it! We need to land the chariot!” She turned to Lightning Rod as the aircraft pulled into a gentle dive to gain speed. “How are you at force fields?” she asked, trying to find their adversary below. Her eyes locked on to an aquamarine dragon, its yellow eyes riveted on the chariot as the ponies fought to escape.

Lightning Rod shook her head. “Didn’t have Shining Armor as a brother, I’m afraid. I mostly do lightning and telekinesis.”

“Alright. Uhm... do what you can to keep it grounded, I’ll block its fire.” She summoned a wall of solid energy, deflecting a second jet of fire as she finished her sentence, banishing it again as the flames subsided and Lightning Rod’s horn began crackling with lightning. Eventually, the chariot moved over a small forested area, and the dragon chasing them was slowed down considerably by both the vegetation underfoot and the bursts of lightning flowing from the yellow unicorn’s horn.

“Ten o’clock!” One of the chariot pullers cried out and Twilight turned her head to see a wave of bright crimson fire rushing straight at them. The captain gritted her teeth as she summoned her third magical barrier, her energy deteriorating quickly from holding back the fires hot enough to melt rock. Once again, the stream of flames ended, revealing a light gray dragon closing in on them from the opposite direction of the blue one behind them.

“Get us back to the Sword!” the captain shouted at the pegasi, straining herself to be heard over the grey dragon’s furious roars and the sharp crackling of electricity coming from Lightning Rod. “We’ll have to shake off these two before we can do anything!”

“Incoming!” everypony seemed to yell at once in response to the captain’s order, and Twilight threw a force field around the entire chariot once again. She fell to her knees with a grunt as the ponies were encased in both red and blue flames, stealing away her powers at an alarming rate. She screamed as she felt an immeasurable force smash through her wards, the aquamarine claw of a dragon grazing the side of the chariot immediately afterwards, tearing off the guard and wheel on Twilight’s side of the aircraft and causing it to jolt violently as it was almost plucked out of the air by the predator.

The captain hardly had any time to regain her balance before the gray dragon lunged at the chariot as well. Fortunately, the pegasi were able to lift themselves and the unicorns above the dragon’s leaping range in time by swerving violently upwards and to the side. Unfortunately, the sharp turn threw Twilight out of the chariot, sending her flying into empty space as the three other ponies flew off without her, too distracted by the dragons to notice anything else. For a moment, she felt like she was back in the Canterlot palace, falling to her death as she fought to escape Nightmare Moon’s fury. This time, however, the fall wasn’t nearly as long, and she had magic at her disposal.

Doing her best to remain calm under the circumstances, plunging through the cold night air toward a sparsely forested area, Twilight summoned her waning powers and directed them at the birch tree she was currently about to crash into, focusing her seldomly used transformation magic. The tree glowed brightly, collapsing in on itself as she applied her magic while the white of its bark spread to the entirety of the birch until the tree had been replaced by an enormous pillow. With a dull thud, the unicorn dropped onto the summoned cushioning, terminating her spell almost immediately to preserve her magic.

“Incoming!” Twilight, who now found herself lying by the the base of a birch, heard her chariot pullers shout out, and she turned her gaze to the sky only to see the aircraft be consumed in a third dragon’s fire. The captain inhaled sharply and averted her gaze, but as she did so, she caught sight of Squall, the moonlight reflecting off of his silver wings just as he too was caught in a blast of fire.

No, Twilight muttered to herself, shaking her head slowly in disbelief. No, no, no, no! Why did I go in here!? Why did I take anypony with me!? Should’ve listened to Coup! Stupid! Worst captain ever! Realizing that the dragons might come looking for her, the unicorn pushed herself into a gallop, finding a suitable temporary hideout in the alcove formed by the roots of a large oak. You don’t bring ponies who trust you with their lives into a valley you suspect is infested with insane dragons! What was I thinking? My chariot pullers, Lightning Rod, Squall... What about the others? Did they make it? Will they bring in the entire Sword and be burned alive to find me? And why in the name of Equestria did the Council of Nine send me out here!? If they wanted to keep the Bearer of the Element of Magic alive, they shouldn’t have sent her off to battle what’s probably equivalent to a city of dragons!

“I highly doubt they wish to kill you,” something among the shadows of the forest said. “Perhaps they wish to see you grow.”

Twilight flinched at the voice and she looked out the alcove at the dark trees surrounding her, seeing nothing.

“To harden you. To carry you as a shield against that which they cannot face themselves as the world they once knew marches into the shadowy realm of an uncertain future.”

Twilight now recognized the voice as belonging to the thing or hallucination that had spoken to her in Greengloom after the timberwolf slaughter. But just it had been back then, it was impossible for her to find the creature speaking.

“Or perhaps they are but foolish and mortal ponies; prone to mistakes as they wander around blindly in the darkness left by the absence of your Solar Princess, ruling a country with naught but incompetence and ignorance.”

“Who are you?” Twilight hissed at the speaker, speaking in a hushed whisper in order to not catch the attention of the nearby dragons.

“I have told you already. Who I am depends solely on the choices you make.”

“Are you Nightmare Moon?” Twilight challenged the creature or apparition. “Some kind of servant of hers? Give me a straight answer this time!”

The thing hiding in the shadows chuckled at her last question. “Nightmare Moon... Yes... That was my name once.”

“Once?” Twilight sighed and shook her head, convincing herself that there were more important questions. “Are you here to kill me then? Or just to taunt me?”

“Neither.”

“Then why are you here!?” Twilight asked angrily, stepping out from under the oak. After a few moments of searching, she finally caught sight of the same amber eyes she had seen in Greengloom. “What’s with the weird voice? Why are you hiding from us all? Why don’t you just take over Equestria and be done with it?”

“Equestria?” the creature that was apparently once Nightmare Moon said, sounding disappointed. “You insult my ambition, Twilight. I have better things to do. More important things.”

“I’ll stop you,” Twilight stated determinedly. “Whatever you’re planning, I’ll be there to stop you. As long as I’m alive and able to fight, you won’t win!” Her horn flared to life, the light it emitted once again seeming to bend around the spot where the creature stood. “Face me!” she shouted, loosing a bolt of energy at the amber eyes, although even her spells warped around the hidden enemy.

“Soon, my impatient unicorn,” the voice promised gravely. “We shall meet underneath the full moon when the northwestern skies are stained with the blood of the innocents, their doom inevitable. You will have no choice but to be drawn to me. What happens from there depends upon you. Until then, I wish to assess you. You have grown stronger since I destroyed Celestia, have you not?” The amber eyes closed, completely obscuring the thing that had once called itself Nightmare Moon. “I suggest you run.”

The unyielding shadows finally gave way to Twilight’s light, suggesting that the alicorn had vanished. Before she could even begin to consider her enemy’s mysterious words, a warm, yellow glow fell upon her. She looked up and saw the hungry eyes of the aquamarine dragon staring intently at her. The massive maw parted, and Twilight vanished in a flash as bright blue fires washed over the area, drawing in the attention of all other dragons within sight.

Solid cover! Something that can’t burn! Twilight cast her eyes about frantically as she ran through the small forest, doing her best to ignore the branches and undergrowth whipping and tearing at her as her eyes darted about in search of both safety and any pursuers. Several trees came crashing down in front of her as a large but not quite adult dragon stumbled into her path and the unicorn teleported once again, changing direction as she materialized when she heard the blue dragon snarl at its escaped prey. I’m just one unicorn! Why are so many dragons intent on catching me? Are they that desperate for food?

She heard the roar of an oncoming wave of dragon fire and threw a force field around herself just before the entire area was blanketed in scarlet flames, reducing everything around her to ashes and setting an even larger expanse of the forest on fire. As the flames subsided and she set into a gallop again, ignoring to the extent of her abilities the pain of running upon the scorched ground, she cast a glance backwards only to see the blue and gray dragons that had almost brought down the chariot closing in on her rapidly, the smaller dragon following not far behind. She twisted around to face her pursuers just as the gray dragon was about to unleash another wave of fiery death at its tiny adversary, who cast as powerful a force field as she could muster around its jaws, trapping its fire within its mouth and choking it. As the beast stopped up in confusion and tried to regain its breath, the younger dragon crashed into its elder and was sent careening off course and into a cluster of particularly large and thorny trees.

Using the very last scrap of her magic, Twilight teleported herself as far upwards as she could only a second before the aquamarine dragon’s jaws could close around her. She rematerialized atop the dragon’s outstretched neck, fighting to retain her balance as her overly enthusiastic would-be predator’s momentum carried it plowing into the ground head first.

Almost there! Twilight cried to herself triumphantly as she realized she had escaped the small forest and stood before a steep cliff jutting out from the mountains surrounding the valley. Only a few hundred feet ahead of her was a small fissure in the rock that would easily accommodate one of her size, but prevent any of the dragons chasing her from sticking their head in.

Her horn, however, sputtered uselessly as she attempted to close the distance instantly, and so Twilight found herself galloping down the slightly dazed dragon’s neck, every muscle in her body screaming at her to stop as exhaustion began making its mark on her in earnest. As she reached the blue dragon’s head, a vicious snarl from behind suggested that her second pursuer had recovered from choking on its flames. Throwing herself to her side and off the first predator’s head clumsily, Twilight once again narrowly dodged becoming a snack as the gray leviathan’s jaws closed around the blue dragon instead. A flailing neck and a pair of forelegs furiously scrabbling for purchase missed her by mere feet as the aquamarine giant roared its disapproval at the gray, its prey temporarily forgotten as it retaliated upon its competitor, the two dragons soon locked in a deadly struggle of razor sharp claws and blistering flames.

Willing herself to continue, the unicorn got to her hooves, limping on bruised legs for a moment only to enter into a full gallop again as she heard and saw the younger dragon bursting out from among the cluster of thorny trees, continuing where the two larger beasts had left off. Roaring and screaming in desperation, Twilight pushed herself beyond her physical limits, seeing the crevice looming ever closer, but hearing her final pursuer closing the distance between the two at an alarming rate. Grass and earth gave way to rock and the captain made a final desperate leap across the much welcome border between open terrain and closed-off cavern. Scrambling off into a corner of the pitch black cave, Twilight could do nothing but take deep shuddering breaths of relief as she saw first a large claw poke uselessly into the opening, followed by a lance of fire that seemed to be nowhere near of hitting its target.

“I’m safe,” she panted as the dragon eventually left, falling over onto her side as she let every muscle in her body relax. “Stuck in a valley full of crazy dragons... but for now, I’m safe.”

12 - Predator

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Succession

Chapter 12 - Predator

I... I am sorry for your losses on this night of the night. I want to be with you... I do, but... I cannot. He is there... He... is always there... But I could have given you my aid nonetheless. I should have... I shall be more vigilant in the future and I shall pray that you may one day forgive me.

With a shuddering sigh, Twilight opened her eyes, finding herself near the entrance to the cavern that had saved her life. Every muscle in her body was stiff from both the exertion they had been put through while fleeing the dragons and from sleeping on the cold stone floor. Adding to her troubles, her nose was completely stuffed and she felt terrible in general.

Yep, winter’s here too, the unicorn thought to herself as she fought to stand on almost useless legs, sniffling pathetically. Oh come on, you galloped up a spiral staircase with two broken legs! A cold and some sore muscles won’t stop you now!

As if realizing the truth of her words, her joints limbered up, allowing her to rise to her hooves. After having stood for a moment and orienting herself, however, she ended up sitting back down on her haunches.

She was alone in a cave with a valley full of bloodthirsty dragons waiting for her outside. The manner of her escape would most likely have lead whatever pegasi had survived the attack to believe she’d been killed along with the other ponies in the chariot, assuming anypony had survived the attack.

Her horn sputtered and Twilight was sent into a painful coughing fit as she tried summoning her magic, her cold hampering her arcane focus with surprising efficiency. It only took her another try, however, before her horn started glowing, lighting up her surroundings.

The first thing she noticed were the scorch marks left behind by her pursuer’s fire, coating almost the entire cavern in soot except for the one corner Twilight had dragged herself to. As she studied the small cavern further, she frowned at the discovery of a trail of blood running from the far end of the cavern to beyond its entrance. Her worry and fear only grew when she realized that the crimson trail was on top of the soot, meaning whatever creature had shed its blood in the cave had done so while she was asleep.

Another coughing fit seized her, and the unicorn cancelled her illumination spell begrudgingly. After clearing her throat, she crept toward the entrance of the cave, the light of the full moon outside allowing her to see the trail of blood clearly as it continued out into the open. It didn’t do so for long, Twilight soon realized, the trail terminating in a splatter of blood three times the size of herself.

Something died there, that’s obvious enough. Twilight grimaced at the sight and turned her gaze back to the cavern she stood in, trying to follow the trail in the other direction through the pitch-black darkness of the cave. Whatever killed it must have dragged it in here. But what kind of predator was it? Too small to be a dragon... And... what was its prey?

Grunting with effort, then groaning at the fact that it was even an effort to her, Twilight lit her horn again, following the wide streak of blood running straight through the cave. It continued to the far end of the cavern, but instead of stopping, the trail crept up the wall, and as Twilight’s spotlight followed it upwards, she found a large opening in the top of the cavern.

“H-hello?” she called out in a hoarse whisper, trying to either determine whether the predator was still there or to get some kind of response from whatever had been attacked, provided it was still alive. Only now did she notice the dryness in her throat and how her cold had affected her speech. Wincing, she cleared her throat and called out again, this time a bit louder.

Receiving no response, Twilight decided to approach the opening, directing her beam of light up into it to see what might lie beyond. One side of the opening was dotted with spatterings of blood, and she could almost see the unknown predator scaling the vertical passage with the carcass in tow, slapping it carelessly against the wall as it focused on its ascent. Almost fifteen feet above her, the shaft opened up into another cave where Twilight had no doubt she would find the corpse of whatever had been dragged past her.

She hesitated for a moment as she stared up into the other cave, but finally decided that it would be a better idea to confront the potential threat above rather than sleeping in the lower cave and risk getting ambushed.

Her horn flared and made a frustrated whirring noise as she tried teleporting, causing Twilight to fall to the floor in exhaustion. She tried again, but without a better result. After a minute or so, she got to her hooves again and relit her horn, glaring up at the obstacle as she tried to think of a way to overcome it. A piece of wood near the edge of the other cave’s opening caught her eye, and with some effort, she managed to grab onto it with her telekinesis. She pulled it out into the center of the opening and found that it was a crudely constructed ladder. Curious as to who could have crafted such a thing in a valley full of savage dragons, Twilight tugged at the ladder, eventually getting it through the shaft and lowering one end to stand in front of her.

She put a hoof against the bottom rung experimentally, making the entire ladder creak dangerously. But as it held, Twilight soon rose to her hind legs and put both forehooves on the ladder, leaning heavily against it as she grew dizzy from standing up. Still, the wooden construction held, and so the unicorn started slowly climbing. The stench of blood grew stronger and stronger as she ascended, making her gag by the time she reached the top of the ladder.

The light in her horn had been extinguished once again while she climbed, but after poking her head into the upper cave and catching her breath, she managed to relight it. Twilight’s face paled immediately at the sight only seven feet ahead of her. The bloody trail seemed to have been shed very recently near its end, to the point where the blood was still liquid and slowly flowing back the way it had come toward the unicorn. The trail itself stopped at the corpse of a young teenaged dragon, roughly the same size as the ones she, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Spike had dealt with long ago.

The dragon before her, however, was unfamiliar to the unicorn, having scales that varied in color from dark purple to indigo. Furthermore, the dragon was very much dead. Blood still poured out of a gaping wound that almost constituted its entire underside, pooling around the mutilated corpse and trickling down the incline that led to the opening Twilight currently found herself in.

She shuddered at the grotesque sight, but forced herself to remain calm. With all the noise she had made in the cave below, even the dullest predator would have noticed her presence by now. Since she had yet to be attacked, she could only assume that she was alone. She tore her gaze off the body and looked around, finding herself in a large alcove of a cave that, judging by the light ahead of her, connected to the valley outside just as the lower cave did.

She remained where she was for some time, slowly redirecting some of the magic she spent lighting the cave to instead ready a defensive spell should the need arise. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she climbed the final rungs of the ladder and entered the upper cave. She scanned her surroundings once again, her light sweeping over the walls immediately within sight in search of any hiding places for the missing predator. Still nothing.

She left the alcove and entered into the main part of the cavern, finding it to be roughly the size of the main reading room of her library. In a corner to her right, as she had expected, another opening connected the upper cave to the rest of the valley, bathing half the cave in the relative brightness of the full moon outside.

As she walked along the wall to her left, she spotted a set of footprints leading away from the pool of blood surrounding the dead dragon and out the opening ahead of her. While she was fairly certain the footprints belonged to a quadruped, she was unable to determine whether the predator had hooves or claws.

She reached the moonlit part of the cavern and slowly made her way to the opening, hoping that no dragons would be there to spot her. There was no ledge beyond the opening, only a sheer drop leading straight down to the entrance of the lower cave. Just below her, Twilight saw the enormous spattering of blood where the trail had begun.

Frowning, she returned her gaze to cavern, and on the wall just opposite the opening, she now noticed another, lighter spattering of blood as well as a web of thin cracks spreading out from the bloodstains.

“So the dragon was up here,” she said to no one in particular, trying to make sense of the situation, “got smashed up against that wall by something very powerful, then thrown out the opening here.” She gazed down at the spattering of blood beneath her. “But then got dragged back through the cave and up here again?”

A chilling breeze whistled through the opening and ruffled the sick unicorn’s fur, forcing her to retreat further into the cave as she began shivering uncontrollably. An altogether different kind of shiver went down her spine, however, when she heard something akin to a growl or groan coming from yet another alcove of the cave which she had somehow overlooked. She hurriedly directed her beam of light at the source of the noise and found a dragon, the same size as the dead one, curled up in sleep.

Fairly certain that it had yet to notice her, Twilight slowly approached the dragon, dulling the light in her horn as she studied it closer. No blood stained its claws or its jaws, suggesting that it wasn’t the missing killer. Its scales were a light lavender, very much similar to her own fur, while its underbelly was a pale lime and its spines were bright green. Twilight’s eyes widened as she took in the dragon’s very familiar appearance, and her horn sputtered and went dark from her sudden loss of focus, leaving the cavern lit only by the dim moonlight.

“Spike?” she murmured, more to herself than to the sleeping dragon. “Is that really you?”

As she approached, it became more and more apparent to her that the dragon three or four times her own size was indeed her old number one assistant, having somehow grown monumentally over the course of the two and a half years they had been apart. Another cold breeze blew over the two when Twilight reached him, and Spike shivered along with the unicorn, emitting another low groan of displeasure. Twilight’s lips curled into a faint smile at the dragon’s antics, unchanged even though everything else about him seemed to have.

Her smile vanished when something above the two caught her eye, however. Clumsily scrawled across the wall in the other dragon’s blood was a message written in the Equestrian alphabet.

OH, HOW I WOULD HAVE LOVED TO DEVOUR HIM, TWILIGHT

IT WOULD HAVE BEEN SO VERY

VERY

EASY

Twilight threw a wild-eyed gaze at Spike, then looked at the message, and then back to Spike again. Panic easily overcoming the limitations the cold had put upon her, her horn flared to life, and the large dragon flipped around and uncoiled in her magical grip, exposing his underside to her. She sighed in relief when she found no blood, and after inspecting the rest of the dragon, she put him down again, confident that he hadn’t been hurt by whatever had killed the other dragon. The exertion of levitating the dragon catching up to her, the unicorn simply fell down upon her friend, pulling him into as tight an embrace as she could muster.

“Oh... oh thank Celestia!” The unicorn panted, trying in vain to chase away the idea that Spike might very well have been killed only hours before she found him. “You’re okay! Okay... We’re okay.” Her hoof brushed against a strange protrusion on Spike’s back and only now did she become aware of the fact that he had managed to grow wings during his time amongst the dragons.

“What in the world happened to you?” she whispered in amazement, taking in the elongated shape of his head, his fangs, the hardened, more bone-like spines on his back and his all in all more lizard-like appearance. Elation finally overcame the short moment of heartwrenching fear, and she felt the sudden urge to laugh. “Look at you! You’re huge! A-and you’re okay...”

“Whuh... Twilight?” The unicorn lifted her head in time to see Spike slowly open his eyes, blinking a few times before adjusting to the darkness. “What’s going on?” he asked sleepily.

She hesitated for a moment, not quite knowing where to begin. “Uh, well, I came to make sure you were okay. I heard the dragons here were growing restless, maybe even insane. A couple of them have attacked Equestria. I came here to find out why and get you out of here.”

The large scaly body beneath Twilight shifted a fraction of an inch, and Spike’s eyes went wide. He flipped onto all fours and immediately fell over, knocking back a confused Twilight roughly. He threw a panicked gaze at one of his claws before bringing it to his face, gasping in shock as he touched his elongated jaws. “Gah! T-Twilight, quit putting spells on me!” he exclaimed accusatively, craning his long neck to take in the rest of his body.

“I... haven’t put any spells on you,” the unicorn answered, puzzled by Spike’s alarm. “Wait, are you saying all these changes happened just now!?”

“I-I don’t know!” Spike stuttered, grabbing onto his tail which began waggling uncontrollably. “I guess! I-I mean, I w-was re-regular old Spike when I fell asleep!”

“Well, how long have you been sleeping?” Twilight inquired, almost just as curious as to what had happened as Spike. “Maybe someone else came by and cast a spell on you.” Her eyes were drawn to the letters of blood above the two as she said this, but she quickly returned her gaze to the dragon, who was now trying to stand on all fours.

“I don’t know!” he replied again, one of his back legs giving away beneath him. “Wandered around the valley for two and a half weeks before finding this cave... Uh, must’ve been the twenty-second by the time I fell asleep here.”

Twilight gave the dragon an incredulous stare which only made him panic more. “Are you telling me... the last thing you remember is falling asleep here two and a half weeks after we said goodbye?”

“Yeah?” Spike answered uncertainly. “Wh-why? What day is it?”

Twilight sat down and breathed a long sigh. “I don’t even know anymore. But... it’s been... Spike, it’s been two years and seven months since I came with you to Dragoncrest.”

If possible, Spike looked even more shocked for a few seconds, before a nervous smile spread across his lips. “F-funny... You’re joking right? I can’t have slept for two years! That’s ridiculous!”

“I’m not joking,” Twilight insisted. “Maybe it’s some sort of dragon thing,” she suggested. “Older dragons occasionally take those century long naps. Maybe you did something similar.”

“But I didn’t do anything!” Spike tried to counter. “Just went to sleep! Like I always do!”

“Except you slept for two and a half years,” Twilight said. “Must’ve been some reaction to you spending time with other dragons.” She swept her gaze across the empty cave. “Unless of course you’ve been hoarding things again.”

“I think it’s pretty obvious I haven’t,” Spike defended himself. “But, if you really say so, I guess I must’ve been gone for that long... Still a lot of growing, though.”

“But that’s a good thing, right?” Twilight attempted, forcing a smile despite all the blood surrounding them which Spike somehow still hadn’t seen. “I mean, before you left, you were always going on and on about how you hated being so small.”

“Yeah...” Spike agreed, his features brightening. “And look at me now! I’m twice the size of you, Twilight! I’m finally a real dragon!”

“More like, three or four times my size!” Twilight laughed. “But you know you've always been a real dragon, Spike,” she insisted comfortingly. “Now you just look the part, I guess.”

“Can't wait to show Tacker!” Spike laughed, feeling up the spines on the back of his head. “I bet I'm bigger than him now!” He turned his head toward the entrance Twilight had come from, but thankfully didn't see the body hidden in the shadows. “Did you see him? He should be around here somewhere.”

“Tacker? A-a dragon? That was two and a half years ago,” Twilight answered nervously, trying to convince herself more than Spike that the dragon near the entrance wasn't anyone he knew. “He... he could be anywhere by now, right?”

“Naw, I'm sure he's here,” Spike insisted. “Maybe he’s just out looking for something to eat.”

The dragon turned away from her and started toward the cavern exit but was stopped by Twilight. “Spike! Wait!” The exclamation triggered yet another coughing fit which almost brought her to her knees, but it was enough to distract Spike.

“Whoah, you alright?” The dragon turned back to her and helped her to her hooves as she recovered, giving her a concerned look.

“It’s just a cold,” Twilight assured him. “Slept in the cave beneath us before coming up here.” She cleared her throat before continuing. “Look, Spike... A lot of things have happened since you came here. A lot of bad things.”

“Is... is Rarity alright?”

Despite everything, Twilight smiled at her friend’s persistent infatuation. “She’s fine, Spike. She moved to Manehattan because of some financial troubles, but she’s doing alright now.”

Spike frowned at the last part. “She’s having trouble with money? I thought Fancy Pants was one of the richest stallions in Canterlot!”

“Things didn’t really work out between them,” Twilight explained hastily. “They broke up a few weeks after you left, actually, and Rarity came back to Ponyville.”

“Oh,” Spike responded, looking a little crestfallen. “Makes ya feel kinda silly for leaving Equestria for two and a half years...”

“She’d be very happy to see you,” Twilight encouraged him, then tried her best at a teasing smile. “Couldn’t find any dragonnesses around here?”

“Ugh, no way,” Spike replied, grimacing at the thought. “The dragons around here are all jerks! Tacker’s the only nice guy I met in this place. He showed me this cave he’d found and let me sleep here. Heh, hope I didn’t overstay my welcome...”

Twilight sighed as she forced herself to tell Spike what he needed to know before it was too late. “Tacker... he’s a blue and purple dragon, right?” Spike nodded, and Twilight pointed her horn at the wall behind him. “The wall was like that when I found it. Something was here right before me.”

“‘Him’? who’s ‘him’?” Spike asked nervously as he read the blood scrawled across the wall.

“You. That thing must have been practically standing on you when it wrote that.” She bit her lip, then looked toward the entrance to the cave. “And... Tacker’s dead, Spike. I’m sorry.”

The dragon turned toward where Twilight was looking, and the unicorn cast a soft magenta light to reveal the body of Tacker. Twilight could only watch helplessly as her friend was overcome with anguish, waking up to nothing less than his first draconic friend being brutally murdered. “What happened to him?” he asked, his voice shaky as tears welled up in his eyes. “Who did this!?”

“He got thrown out the opening there,” Twilight answered, drawing close to Spike and putting a comforting hoof on his shoulder. “And then he was dragged back in here for some reason. As to the ‘who’... I’m starting to think it’s Nightmare Moon.”

“N-Nightmare Moon?” the dragon stuttered in confusion, trying to tear his gaze off his dead companion but failing. “Wh-why would she... Wait, Nightmare Moon!? Since when did she come back!? What about Luna!?”

“That’s the bad news,” Twilight explained, trying her best to hug the large dragon standing beside her. “The really, really bad news. Nightmare Moon came back more than half a year ago. We haven’t seen the sun since.”

Spike was struck dumb for several long seconds, simply staring at the body ahead of him. “But... how come she’s still around? Y-you beat her way back during the Summer Sun celebration, right? Luna wouldn’t..! A-a-and if Nightmare Moon really is back, then how come you haven’t stopped her yet? You have the Elements of Harmony! And Princess Celestia! And Cadance and Shining Armor!”

Almost immediately, Twilight broke into tears, and it soon became Spike’s turn to comfort her. He turned away from Tacker and sat down, wrapping his arms around the smaller unicorn as she pressed herself up against him, sobbing violently and heaving for air. “What? Sh-she took the Elements!?”

“No!” Twilight sobbed, coughing into the dragon’s chest a few times before continuing. “I-I mean... ye-yes, but...” The coughing turned into convulsions and she gasped for air, not knowing how to deliver the news to Spike. “She’s dead...” she finally managed, so quietly that Spike almost didn’t hear.

“Who?” the dragon breathed, obviously afraid to know the answer.

“Celestia. And Cadance. Even Shining Armor!”

The grip around her tightened. “W-what?”

“Nightmare Moon blew up the Canterlot palace,” Twilight explained amidst wracking sobs, finding it somewhat easier to continue now that she had told him the worst. “Everypony inside got killed. The entire royal family was wiped out, and the sun’s been destroyed.”

“Celestia’s... dead?” Spike whimpered, sounding both like he didn’t believe it and that he didn’t want to. “A-and Shining Armor?”

“I saw her die,” Twilight said, sensing the other’s disbelief. “The moon’s been stuck on the sky ever since it happened.”

“She... No, that can’t be... No!” Spike’s breathing grew ragged as he started panicking, and it seemed the unicorn in his arms was the only thing preventing him from leaping onto his feet again. “Celestia’s immortal, Twi! S-she can’t..!” He fell unto his side, pulling Twilight with him and just lay there on the cold stone, shaking his head in a state of disbelief and horror. “She can’t die...” he whispered, grasping the unicorn even tighter.

She, in turn, buried her head into his shoulder. “I’m sorry, Spike. I’m sorry you had to wake up to this. And... I’m sorry I’m like this. I mean, I’ve known about this for seven months; I shouldn’t be the one crying!”

“‘Course you should cry!” Spike exclaimed in a voice on the verge of breaking, and Twilight felt the first of many tears fall onto her mane. “If she’s... if she’s really... I mean, no reason we can’t... both be sad.”

Twilight awoke to the sound of a loud grumbling right next to her. She was about to flinch away from the sound when she realized it was just Spike’s stomach. The large dragon lying next to her grimaced as he too woke up.

“Ugh... so hungry,” he moaned, rubbing his eyes sleepily. “Don’t suppose you have any gems?”

Twilight shook her head. “I could try a Gem Finding spell, but I’m not sure I can cast it properly when I’m like this.” As if to emphasize her point, she sneezed loudly, falling back against Spike.

“Could you try?” the dragon plead, his stomach rumbling loudly again. “I haven’t eaten in two and a half years!”

“You’ve been doing nothing but sleeping for two and a half years,” Twilight grumbled as she rose to her hooves, her horn flickering on and off. “Just... ugh, give me a moment.” Her horn finally flared up properly, and her head automatically jerked toward the large opening leading out to the rest of valley. She walked over to the precipice and looked down upon the dried-out spattering of blood marking the spot where Tacker had died. Right next to it, she saw the semi-transparent image of a large cluster of gems buried a few feet under the ground. “Some just outside the cavern,” she informed Spike, who walked up next to her on all fours. “Just to the right of the, uh, bloodstain.”

“Thanks,” Spike sighed, leaning out over the edge experimentally. “Think I could make it out this way?”

“It’s fifteen feet, Spike,” Twilight warned him, terminating her spell. “The last thing we need is either of us getting hurt in a valley full of insane dragons.”

“Right,” Spike surrendered, forcing himself to turn back toward the entrance.

“We’ll have to do something about him sooner or later,” Twilight told him, following the dragon’s gaze. “We’ll find something to eat, then I’ll see if I can’t carry him out of here so we can bury him.”

“Has she done a lot of things like this?” Spike asked the unicorn, trying not to look at the corpse that had only gotten more grotesque while the two had wept and slept in each other’s arms. “Murdering ponies for no reason?”

“Apart from The Great Tragedy, no,” Twilight sighed, shaking her head. “Not as far as I know, at least. Looks like all she’s been doing is drive the woodland creatures insane for some reason.”

“To get rid of Fluttershy?” Spike suggested, moving the ladder he and Tacker had built into place so that he and Twilight could get down.

“I guess...” Twilight muttered. “She could have easily kidnapped her herself, though. She could have blown up her cottage if she wanted to, or just marched straight into Ponyville and destroy everything. But I suppose there’s some kind of irony to having animals attack Fluttershy. It’s just... the way she went about it with the Canterlot palace, you’d think she’d just kill Fluttershy if she wanted to get the Elements of Harmony out of the way.”

“But then we’re lucky she hasn’t,” Spike offered as he reached the lower cave, helping Twilight down the ladder.

“Except Nightmare Moon has Fluttershy!” she stressed. “I’m tired of her being in control. She’s gonna use Fluttershy as a hostage before this is all over, I know it. I’m starting to think she hasn’t taken the Elements of Harmony. That must be why she’s holding Fluttershy captive, to have some kind of bargaining chip in case we find them before her.”

“And the Elements are in, what, Canterlot?” Spike said, trying to make sure he had properly absorbed the loads of information Twilight had bombarded him with last night. The unicorn nodded as they both set off toward the cavern entrance. “And Canterlot is too dangerous to visit now, right?”

“That’s what the council says,” Twilight sighed irritably. “And yet they’re willing to send me into this valley full of crazy dragons! Honestly, how much more dangerous can Canterlot be!?”

“Doesn’t make a whole lotta sense to me either,” Spike concurred. “But you said you’d convince them to let you go there anyway?”

“I’m afraid Nightmare Moon will be doing the convincing. Gems are there,” she said, pointing at the spot next to the giant bloodstain. As Spike set to digging, she continued. “The day before yesterday, just after I fell out the flying chariot and landed here, she told me she’d be attacking Equestria soon.”

“Right, the whole ‘staining the sky with blood’ thing,” Spike said, worry plain on his face as he dug out the gems. “What’re we gonna do about that? We need to warn somepony!”

“I know,” Twilight groaned, frustrated at the situation. “But I’m the only pony in this entire valley! The ones just outside probably think I’m dead, and after what happened to the latest expedition, they probably won’t come looking for me anytime soon. I can’t teleport with this cold, so unless you know to use those things,” she gestured at Spike’s newly acquired wings, “we’re not going anywhere soon.”

“Huh, maybe I should try ‘em out,” Spike commented, retrieving the last of the gems.

“Probably wouldn’t be a good idea for you to fly straight into the Sword’s camp,” Twilight pointed out. “I’m not sure they’d recognize you.”

“So what? We just sit here and wait for you to get better?” Spike asked critically.

“I’ll think of something...”

Spike was about to shove the first of the gems into his mouth when he thought better of it and nodded at Twilight. “So, uh, what’re you gonna eat?”

“I’m not sure I should stray too far from the cave,” Twilight replied, gazing out at the dark valley that undoubtedly held the dozens upon dozens of dragons waiting to devour her. “I was hoping you could go out and find something once you’d eaten. I guess... grass would be okay.”

“I’ll see if I can find any of the flowers you like,” Spike assured her, shoving the entire cluster of gems into his mouth. He tried rising to his legs, but ended up falling back on all fours. “Gowwa geth the hang of thath...” he muttered through his mouthful, then went off in search of the nearest patch of unburnt grass.

“Thanks, Spike! Be careful out there!” she called after him as he left. “We don’t know what those dragons will do to you if they see you!”

A few hours later, Twilight awoke to the sound of a crackling fire, smiling at the warmth permeating her body. She opened her eyes and found Spike sitting across from her, a large fire between them.

“Hi Spike,” she greeted the dragon sleepily. “What took you?”

“Sorry, I, uh, ran into a dragon.”

“A-a dragon!?” The unicorn rose to a sitting position to get a better look at Spike. “Are you alright!?”

“I’m fine,” Spike assured her. “Turns out that, well, I don’t think the dragons have gone insane, they just... really have it out for ponies right now.”

“Why? Do they think we did something to them?”

“Apparently, somepony’s been slashing up their wings,” Spike revealed, still looking rather confused himself. “All of them. I mean, every single dragon in this whole valley, except me, have had their wings ruined. They can’t leave this place, and they’re really not happy about it. They think ponies have declared war on them or something.”

“Ponies attacked a valley full of dragons?” Twilight asked incredulously. “Who? How many?”

Spike shrugged. “They didn’t exactly see who did it. That’s kinda the problem. Whoever cut up their wings did it while they were asleep. Those who woke up only saw a shadow or a silhouette. Pony-shaped, they all agree.”

“Nightmare Moon,” Twilight guessed. “So she’s not allied with the dragons. But why would she trap them here?”

“She used... ‘foul magic’ to cut up their wings,” Spike explained, shrugging at her question. “The one I met had these huge gashes across his wings, all black and nasty around the edges. He said it’d take years before he could fly again. Before any of them can fly.”

“I guess that’s for the best,” Twilight replied reluctantly. “For Equestria, at least. Not for the dragons. Or us.”

“Huh?”

“Coup de Grâce will be sending in scouts,” Twilight explained to him. “They’ll be careful, so careful that neither we nor the dragons will see them. No doubt they’ll discover the dragons’ wounds sooner or later and when they do, they’ll decide they aren’t a threat. Once that happens...”

“They’ll leave,” Spike finished, realizing the problem. “Took us almost a week to get to Dragoncrest two and a half years ago.”

“Making the same trek during the night won’t be easy,” Twilight agreed. “I wish there was some way we could get those scouts’ attention!”

“I’ve got nothing,” Spike admitted, then gestured at a huge pile of grass and assorted flowers beside Twilight. “There were a lot of weird flowers I didn’t know what was, but I did recognize some of them. Found a bunch of daffodils.”

“Thanks,” the unicorn said, straining for a moment to activate her magic before grabbing hold of a mouthful of grass and flowers. “Must’ve taken you several trips to get all of this. You got food for both of us and built a fire.”

“I also got this,” Spike revealed holding out a thin sheet of bark for Twilight to see. “I figured we could try and send a letter.”

“But... Celestia’s dead,” Twilight objected when she had gotten past her first mouthful. “I don’t think that spell of yours will work anymore.”

“We could always try,” Spike argued. “What’s the worst thing that could happen? A piece of bark getting burned up?”

“It might get sent to Nightmare Moon,” Twilight suggested. “But I guess that wouldn't really hurt either. If there’s a chance it gets sent to anypony in Equestria, it’s worth a shot.”

“Good. We don’t have anything to write with, though.”

“Shouldn’t be too much of a problem,” the unicorn assured him as he handed her the piece of bark. She spread it out in front of her and, while she ate, a thin beam of light shot out of her horn and struck the bark, leaving blackened furrows wherever it went and slowly forming letters and words as she continued. “I noticed something while I was waiting for you,” she told the dragon. “The moon is waning.”

“Is that weird?”

“The moon hasn’t changed since Nightmare Moon returned,” Twilight explained. “But now all of a sudden, it’s waning. It got me thinking... When I met her, she didn’t just tell me that thing about staining the sky with the blood of innocents, she specifically said we’d meet each other under the full moon.”

“So she’s withdrawing her challenge?” Spike suggested, to which Twilight only shook her head. “I don’t think so. The moon will continue waning, and when it’s dark, it’ll start waxing again until it becomes full. I’m pretty sure it’s some sort of countdown. Once it’s full again, she’ll strike.”

The dragon left the fire behind and went to the opening in the cave to look at the moon. “It’s turning dark pretty fast,” he said with a worried frown. “What if we don’t make it out in time?”

“We will,” Twilight insisted stubbornly, finishing the rest of her meal and the letter. “She said she would meet me... wherever it is she’s going to attack.”

“Then what?”

“That’s up to me, apparently. Which means she’ll probably just be looking for an excuse to kill me.”

“You say that like it’s a good thing,” Spike observed, even more worried.

“I want to fight her,” Twilight told the dragon. “She’s been avoiding me for seven months now, hiding in the shadows and taunting me. It’s about time we faced each other.”

“But you can’t defeat her, Twilight!” the dragon argued, returning to the fire. “She killed Celestia!”

“They used to say nopony can defeat an ursa major!” Twilight countered. “But I did! Twice! I defeated the dragon outside Dragoncrest, and I defeated Inferno and sent him back to Tartarus! I’ve defeated Discord, who was defeated only by Celestia and Luna, and I defeated Nightmare Moon once, I can do it again!”

“You had help all of those times,” Spike pointed out. “It sounds a lot like you’re thinking about facing her alone.”

“I’m stronger this time,” Twilight insisted. “I’ve proven I can take a hit. Few unicorns can survive depleting their magical reserves completely. I did that. Nopony can survive falling out of a three hundred foot tall tower. I did that! And not even Celestia could survive that miniature supernova that destroyed the Canterlot palace! I made it through all of those things! Nopony else should risk their lives if I can deal with this.”

“It’s still not a very good idea,” Spike persisted. Twilight didn’t answer, and after sitting still and shivering for a moment, the dragon plunged his hands straight into the fire and sighed contentedly. “It’s so cold outside! What time of year is it!?”

“Autumn,” Twilight sighed. “At least, it should be. But it’s started to snow all over Equestria lately. I don’t think we’ll be able to wrap up this winter without a proper sun.”

“And those council ponies really think Flim and Flam’s gizmos will work?” Spike asked skeptically and Twilight sighed in response.

“Thank you! It’s as if everypony’s convinced it’s a permanent solution!” Twilight exclaimed frustratedly. “I mean, sure, it prevents all of Equestria from panicking, but that won’t help us when the entire continent freezes over and we starve to death!”

“You really think it’ll come to that!?” an alarmed Spike asked worriedly, removing his hands from the fire to rub some warmth into his legs.

“No... No, I’m not going to let that happen,” Twilight declared with determination. “I’m going to find the Elements of Harmony, I’m going to find Fluttershy, and I’m going to bring back the sun. Somewhere along the line I’m going to defeat Nightmare Moon too. I can’t help but think this is why I was chosen as Celestia’s protégé. Maybe I’m supposed to be her successor or something.”

“You think she knew she was going to get killed?” Spike asked again, disbelief tinging his voice this time. “By Nightmare Moon? Wouldn’t she have done something about it if she knew?”

“I don’t know!” Twilight defended herself. “Nopony knows how she really thinks, do they? Perhaps there wasn’t anything she could do. Maybe it was the best of the available options.” At the confused look on Spike’s face, Twilight decided to elaborate. “As far as I remember, there wasn’t really much of a fight. Only the deathblow, and that alone wiped out the entire Canterlot palace and killed hundreds. What do you think would have happened if they had actually fought? How many ponies would have been killed by the collateral damage of such a battle? I’m not saying she gave up, but... I don’t know...”

“I know what you mean,” Spike assured her. “There’s something fishy about her dying. Maybe she didn’t?”

“The sun is gone, Spike,” Twilight reminded him. “Her corpse disintegrated while I held it... I don’t... I don’t think she’s ever coming back.”

The two friends were silent for a long while, both struggling to keep the grief they had only so recently fought off at bay. “So... a succession, huh?” Spike finally offered, giving the unicorn a small smile. “You gonna be a princess?”

Twilight chuckled. “I don’t think it’ll go as far as that. A lot of honorary titles and all that for saving the world, but I’m going to take Celestia’s place as the bringer of the sun, not Princess of Equestria.”

“Aw, c’mon, Twilight! You could totally pull it off!” Spike encouraged her teasingly. “You’re the personal protégé of Celestia and Luna, you’re pretty much Celestia’s adoptive daughter, and you’re the sister of a prince!”

“Still a no,” Twilight replied stubbornly. “I would have a nervous breakdown if I was responsible for something as huge as Equestria. I’ll leave that to the council, thank you very much.”

“But they sound so dumb!” Spike lamented, plunging his hands back into the fire along with his feet.

“They’ve kept Equestria from falling apart after Celestia died,” Twilight pointed out. “They might’ve made a few mistakes, but they probably know what they’re doing.”

“Well, maybe...” Spike conceded, growing quiet again as he stared at the flames. Twilight scooted closer to the fire as well, the movement eliciting another painful coughing fit from her.

For a few moments, the dragon and pony simply stared at the fire, lost in their own thoughts whilst enjoying the company of one another after two and a half years of separation. The silence between them, broken only by the occasional snap and sizzle of the burning wood and gust of frigid wind outside, was a welcome change from the noise of Manehattan, Twilight found.

“Thank you, Spike,” she suddenly found herself saying, breaking the minutes-long silence.

“Huh?”

“For... well, being you. For taking all of this the way you do,” she tried explaining. “I grieved for weeks and weeks and could hardly bear to talk about Celestia for months. And yet here you are, having been told only the day before yesterday, and you’re laughing and joking as if nothing’s wrong.”

“Well, to be honest, I don’t think I’ve quite... understood it yet,” Spike admitted, frowning into the fire. “It’s hard to relate to the rest of the world when you’ve been in this valley for... what, two and a half years?”

“Let me know if you need to talk about it, alright?” Twilight told the dragon and gave a little smile. “If you finally do flip out, it can’t be worse than me.”

“I’m not gonna run away from Rainbow and travel back in time, no!” Spike replied with a laugh. He pointed at the piece of bark lying next to Twilight. “You done with that?”

Twilight nodded, and the dragon grabbed the makeshift letter. “It’s a little lacking in details, but if this works, I guess we can always elaborate.”

“Alright, here goes,” Spike declared, then pursed his lips and blew a large green flame across the sheet in his hands. Contrary to Twilight’s expectations, the piece of bark didn’t burn to a crisp, but dissolved exactly as her letters to Celestia always did, transforming into a sparkling mist. The letter, however, didn’t travel particularly far, zipping over to Twilight and reforming just in front of her.

“Uh, are you sure you did it right?” Twilight asked, grabbing hold of the piece of bark with her magic to make sure it was unchanged.

“What do you mean ‘right’?” Spike grumbled. “There’s only one way to do it.”

“So the spell got transferred to me somehow?” Twilight asked, discarding the letter.

“Looks like it. I guess that means she really is dead...” the dragon murmured sadly. “Maybe the spell passed on to you because you were standing right next to her?”

“Or because I originally hatched you,” Twilight suggested. “Might be some sort of connection we share. Or because I’m her student or something. Could be anything, really.”

“Either way, it looks like we’re stuck here,” Spike concluded with a sigh. “So, I guess you need a lot of rest if you’re going to teleport us out of here. What do I do?”

“Practice some flying,” Twilight told him. “It’d be easier if I just have to teleport myself.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Spike replied somewhat uncertainly. “Think I’ll take care of Tacker first, though.”

“Need help with that?” Twilight asked, getting to her hooves.

“Uh, well... If you can, it’d be nice if you carried him out of the cave. That dragon I met told me I should burn him instead of burying him. He said dragons usually catch fire when their heart stops beating, and they just burn away to nothing.”

“What? Does that mean Tacker’s heart is still beating?”

“Well, no, of course not. But... that’s kinda the weird thing,” Spike explained. “There’s been five other murders besides Tacker, all of them young dragons. None of them caught fire, which the dragons think is because of this ‘dark magic’ the murderer used.”

Twilight shuddered at the thought as she grabbed hold of Tacker’s corpse, carrying the stiff body out the opening leading straight out to the valley and gently lowering it to the ground fifteen feet below. “I’m starting to think Nightmare Moon has gone crazy. Not crazy with jealousy or with power, but just plain, out-of-her-mind crazy. Like she’s possessed or something.”

“What’s the difference exactly?” Spike asked, climbing down the ladder and once again helping Twilight descend as well.

“Her goals,” Twilight replied. “She seemed pretty straight forward when we met her the first time. She interrupted the Summer Sun Celebration, did who knows what to get rid of Celestia, and then tried stopping the girls and me from getting the Elements. Same goes for what she did a thousand years ago; she overthrew Celestia and made the night eternal. She’s not exactly subtle. And yet we haven’t seen her since The Great Tragedy. She’s been all over Equestria and randomly killing or maiming everything she meets, including the dragons here, as if her only goal is spreading misery wherever she goes.

“I just don’t see what purpose that serves,” Twilight continued with a shake of her head. “I know Luna, and I know she’s not like that. And neither should Nightmare Moon be. She’s not a sadist, she’s a tyrant, and tyrants don’t go killing off their subjects and destroying their own kingdom without reason.”

“Then what do you suppose she’s doing?”

“That’s the thing that’s been driving me crazy!” Twilight exclaimed in annoyance. “Nightmare Moon is the agent of Luna’s... not so savory subconscious desires. She does the things Luna’s sense of morals won’t usually let her do, but... ugh, I don’t know. I don’t see how any of this helps Luna achieve any of her goals! If it weren’t for the fact that the moon is still here and that I saw her with my own eyes, I’d think we were dealing with someone completely different! Which is why I think something is... wrong with her. Either she’s contracted some sort of disease or been struck by a spell that affects her sanity, or she’s been possessed by some kind of spirit. Hopefully I’ll find out when I meet her.”

“Still doesn’t sound like a good idea,” Spike murmured as they reached Tacker. “Facing her, I mean.”

“She’s going to kill innocent ponies, Spike. I need to do something. The least I can do is show up and accept her challenge.”

“If you say so...” The dragon and pony were silent for a while as they simply stared at the dead body in front of them. “I didn’t really know him,” Spike offered, nodding at Tacker. “But... I wish I had. He took me in when no one else would. He didn’t mind I smelled like ponies or that I didn’t act like other dragons. He even didn’t mind me falling asleep for two and a half years inside his cave. He was generous, and that’s not something you see in a lot of dragons. I’m glad I met him, and... I’m glad he was my friend.”

Twilight put a comforting hoof on his shoulder as Spike arched his long neck and blew a sweltering blast of fire straight into Tacker’s open wound. For a few seconds, the flames only washed over the still body, but when Spike finally stopped, it flared up on its own, the green flames turning bright blue as the fires took hold.

Twilight’s heart caught in her throat as the dragon became lost in the blue flare and she hugged Spike closely. “It could have been you,” she whispered. “It could’ve so easily been you. Don’t ever leave me, Spike. Promise me that.”

A scaly arm wrapped around her, and Spike sat down to better hold her. “I promise,” he whispered, gazing at the pyre. “As long as you don’t ever leave me.”

Twilight spent the next day trapped in the upper cavern, her cold serving to immobilize her completely as it hit its peak. With the warmth provided by both the fire and Spike himself, however, she pulled through, and after three or four days of drifting in and out of sleep, she finally started to regain proper control her higher magical faculties.

Spike, when he was not caring for the unicorn, practiced his flying as instructed by Twilight. Much to her amazement, the dragon went from having little to no muscle control in his wings to being able to glide through the air when he leapt out the opening in the upper cave, learning the basics of flight in only six days.

Meanwhile, as the days passed, so did the moon darken, until only a thin sliver remained visible on the sky by the eighth day of Twilight’s entrapment within the valley. On that day, both she and Spike strode out from the cavern, gazing up at the sky as they waited.

“Even the stars have dimmed,” Twilight said worriedly, returning her gaze to the ground which had turned utterly and completely dark. The mountains surrounding the two friends were just as black, and the unicorn shook her head at the sight. “Are you sure you can climb in this light?”

“We don’t have much of a choice,” Spike pointed out. Even though he was standing right next to her, Twilight found it hard to see whether he looked nervous or determined. “And as you said, we might as well take advantage of Nightmare Moon’s countdown.”

“It definitely doesn’t look like they’ll be able to see us climbing out of here,” Twilight replied. “With any luck, they won’t get too suspicious of of the flashes of light from my teleportation.”

“Let’s hope so,” Spike agreed, grabbing onto the nearest handhold on the cliff right next to the cavern entrance. Flapping his wings to provide a small amount of lift, he started scaling the wall at a surprising speed, vanishing out of Twilight’s limited field of vision within seconds. A moment later, a small burst of green fire from above signalled that he had found a place for her to stand.

Her horn sprung to life and she smiled at the ease with which she could now call upon her magic. With a dull pop and a flash, she closed the gap between herself and Spike instantly, finding herself on a narrow ledge more than thirty feet above the cavern entrance.

“Sorry,” Spike said, steadying her with an outstretched claw before she toppled over. “There’s not much room up here.”

“It’s fine, Spike,” Twilight assured him with a smile. “What’s important now is getting out of this valley.”

Spike nodded and half-flew, half-crawled up the mountain, marking ledges for the unicorn in the dark, who in turn followed after him, slowly making her way up the steep mountainside in a rough zigzag pattern. After half an hour of this repeated process, the two friends finally found themselves standing atop one of the rocky ridges separating the valley from the rest of the world.

“That wasn’t so bad,” Twilight remarked, slightly out of breath as she gazed back at the valley they had just escaped. “Doesn’t look like any dragons noticed us, so I guess we’re clear.” She returned her gaze to what lay in front of her, taking in the enormous mountains and pitch-black valleys that stretched out before the pair with mixed emotions. “Now it’s just us and miles and miles of... wait...” The unicorn pointed toward something bright below the two, and Spike followed her gaze, squinting into the darkness to identify the source of light.

“A fire?” he suggested, and Twilight’s features lit up.

“That’s where we landed! The Sword of Equestria! They’re still here!”

“That one little fire?” Spike asked dubiously. “I thought there was a hundred ponies with you.”

“Well, not all of them, obviously,” the unicorn replied, her horn lighting up again. “But it looks like someone stayed behind!” With a flourish of her horn, she sent forth a brilliant beam of magenta, easily visible for anypony below.

The pony and dragon waited for a few minutes before the shape of a pegasus became recognizable against the darkness surrounding them. “Twilight! Captain!” a somewhat familiar beige pony called out to the unicorn as she landed next to the two friends. “I-I can’t believe it! They said you were toast!”

“Almost was,” Twilight admitted with a smile.

“Oh! Oh! You can’t believe how relieved I am to see you! Most of the Sword thinks you got killed! I mean, after all of those warnings we got from the council about not letting anything happen to you, not letting you out of our sight...” The pegasus looked close to hyperventilating but carried on nonetheless. “Oh boy! Whew! I-I-I had a feeling you’d made it, but after a whole week, I was starting to think we’d gotten Princess Celestia’s protégée killed!” She looked behind Twilight to stare at the large dragon, who only waved at her awkwardly. “Is that Spike? I thought he was a lot smaller!”

“Was,” Spike chuckled.

“This is Pale Pass,” Twilight introduced hastily, motioning for the two others to follow her as she started down a path that lead at least some of the way down the mountainside. Safely out of the valley, the unicorn finally found it safe to keep her horn lit, illuminating the deep darkness surrounding them. “You’re the one who almost got eaten by that ursa major, right?”

“Must’ve been inside its mouth!” Pale Pass breathed, shuddering at the memory. “Don’t wanna think about what could’ve happened if you hadn’t been there! Felt I owed it to ya to at least stick around here for a while.”

“Hadn’t really expected to see any of you here,” Twilight admitted, then gave the pegasus a pleading look. “You do have a chariot, right?”

“Amber Vane insisted he should stay behind,” Pale Pass said, nodding. “Even if you hadn’t come back, we still would’ve needed one for him!”

“So, what exactly happened after that disaster?” Twilight asked curiously after a sigh of relief. “Did anypony make it out?”

Pale Pass nodded again. “Night Flight is an amazing flyer! I mean, not only did he make it out of there without a scratch, but he saved Horizon Bloom after she got grazed by a blast of fire and carried her outta there! Nopony else came out, though, and none of the other scouts Coup sent in found any survivors. The day after you, uh, went missing, they found out none of the dragons could fly. Coup decided to leave with most of the Sword. Night Flight and Horizon wanted to stay behind, but since they were the only survivors and all, they kinda had to go. To report to the council.”

“Makes sense,” Twilight replied. “Ugh, looks like I’m going to have a whole lot of explaining to do once I get back to Manehattan.”

“Well, what did happen?” Pale Pass asked curiously, looking first at her then Spike. “You were gone for a week. A lot of us were starting to think you really were dead.”

“I’d rather wait until we get back to camp,” Twilight answered. “Might as well tell all of you at once, right?”

“Oh, right... Uh, I should, uh, probably tell them the captain’s alive!” Pale Pass said, laughing at her own forgetfulness. “Stay right here, I’ll be back with someone to give you a lift!”

As the white pegasus vanished in a bright blur, Twilight felt her eyes drawn to the moon, which had already started waxing, the thin sliver of light growing ever so slowly even as she watched. Can’t be much more than a day or two now, she thought with worry. And then I’ll have to fight Luna. Maybe even... Twilight shuddered and tore her gaze off the moon, giving Spike a small cheerful smile to comfort him. The worried eyes carefully watching her only grew more concerned, mirroring Twilight’s own growing nervousness at the trial ahead of her.

13 - The Speaker in the Shadows

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:: Warning: Following chapter is fairly dark. ::

Succession

Chapter 13 - The Speaker in the Shadows

She was back in the emptiness again. Not in that which was her being, but that which was unknown. She stood upon the bridge of light that spanned the strange abyss surrounding her. As they had been before, the burning palace of Canterlot lay behind her, floating in the tenebrous void while the solar eclipse hung upon the invisible horizon to her right, its light duller than she remembered from her previous visit. The light of her own cutie mark, however, now rising above the horizon to her left, had strengthened considerably, more than making up for the dying light of Celestia as it was devoured by Nightmare Moon’s darkness.

She started walking, seeking both to reach the fork in the road she knew lay ahead of her and to escape the beast that had devoured her the last time.

Strange, she thought as she traversed the vast hills and deep valleys she knew were there but couldn’t see. I’m completely aware of this being a dream. Being attacked by that monster won’t hurt me. Jumping off this path and into the abyss wouldn’t either. So why do I continue?

“Because this is no dream,” the voice she had encountered previously spoke, and suddenly she stood before the two different paths, one sloping lazily downwards and terminating where all of her friends and Celestia stood, the other leading up the perpendicular stairwell that vanished into the brilliant tower so far above all else. “This is a message. And so I say to you once more: You choose the path.”

“Your voice was familiar,” she began, finally realizing to whom the mysterious voice belonged. “But now I recognize it...”

“Only one path leads to salvation. I have told you which.”

“You say the left. You say that I should reach out to the heavens and leave everyone I love behind. You would want me to do that, wouldn’t you, Nightmare Moon? No doubt you plan for me to break my neck going up those stairs!”

“The path is difficult. The choice is yours.”

She scoffed and took the right path, descending toward the bottom of the invisible valley in which all of her friends stood, waiting for her upon a bright plaza of that same, strange light. What had first been a calm and dignified pace, however, soon turned into a desperate gallop as she heard it: the ragged panting of a beast in pursuit of its prey and the skittering of claws upon the lustrous path behind her.

“Well, howdy there, partner!” Applejack greeted her happily as if she couldn’t see whatever beast was trying to devour all of them.

“Where’ve you been?” Rainbow Dash asked in an equally carefree manner, but had the air driven out of her lungs as Twilight tackled her out of the way, doing her best to save her friends.

“Run!” she screamed desperately at the ponies around her but was soon picked up by the thing chasing her and thrown to the far edge of the large platform, skidding to a halt before the hooves of Celestia herself. She was stunned for only a moment before gazing fearfully back at the thing chasing her. A dark cloud rolled across the plaza, swallowing her friends one by one as it expanded to cover the entire plaza, drowning out the light. She lay paralyzed in fear as Celestia stepped over her, putting herself between her student and the monster. She turned, and faced the unicorn as the all-devouring cloud reared up behind her.

“The choice was yours,” the princess said in the strange voice of Nightmare Moon before darkness washed over her.

The monstrous cloud finally enveloped the unicorn, and she was plunged into a world of impenetrable darkness. She searched frantically for any sign of her friends, but instead found a pair of amber eyes staring back at her.

“The time is upon us. Are you prepared to face me?”

Twilight gasped loudly as she woke, breathing in huge gulps of air to expel the dark cloud that had been suffocating her only moments before. She threw her head back and banged her horn against a wall, but at least the pain of doing so prevented her magic from lashing out at her surroundings as it had done so often lately.

One of her front hooves underwent one final spasm before she recovered from her dream, striking something that immediately pulled away with a surprised yelp. Still panting shallowly, she opened her eyes and found Amber Vane standing over her, both unicorns occupying what little space the flying chariot had to provide.

The white unicorn rubbed the hoof Twilight had inadvertently struck and gave her a worried look. “Bad dream?”

“Weird dream,” Twilight muttered, rubbing her head with a hoof as she rose. “Sorry.” Behind her, Spike was holding on to the safety railing in the back of the chariot, looking miserably cold as he glided through the air.

“Are we there yet?” he moaned, his teeth chattering in the cold wind rushing past the chariot and the small group of pegasi accompanying it.

“Yes,” Amber Vane sighed, giving Twilight the impression that this wasn’t the first time Spike had asked. “We’re getting close to Ponyville.”

As if on cue, the faint sound of a one-pony band playing at full volume drifted into Twilight’s ears. She looked ahead and was at first blinded by the light of one of Flim and Flam’s solites hovering not far ahead of them above the town hall. She turned her gaze downwards and found a large gathering of ponies assembled in the town square. Upon a podium, under a banner reading ‘Welcome back-’ and then splitting off into ‘Spike’ and ‘Twilight’ respectively, stood Pinkie Pie, clad in ten different instruments and dancing around.

“There’s no surprising Pinkie Pie, is there?” Twilight laughed even as the ponies below finally spotted the chariot, eliciting a collective cheer and starting off the rest of the musicians gathered there.

“I see a gem buffet!” Spike exclaimed excitedly. “Land!”

The chariot pullers were already doing so, pulling into a spiralling descent above the town square, and within two minutes, all ponies were safely upon the ground. Twilight had barely stepped out of the chariot before a clatter of metal drew her attention to Bon Bon, who had been buried beneath a pile of instruments. Pinkie Pie fell upon her a second later, pulling both the unicorn and the dragon into a strangling hug.

“You brought Spike back!” the pink pony exclaimed excitedly. “And you brought you back! I’m soooooo happy!”

“Pinkie!” Twilight choked out, teleporting herself out of her grip so she could breathe. “Thanks, Pinkie,” she breathed, smiling at the many lights and streamers all over the place. “I can’t believe you...”

“Oho, no you don’t!” a voice from above cackled, and Twilight found herself set upon by Rainbow Dash this time. “You’ve been gone for too long to not get a group hug!”

“Agreed!” Applejack concurred, embracing Twilight from behind. The unicorn could do nothing but laugh as the two groups melded together into one big hug, with her and Spike in the center. “Whoo-wee, Spike! Pinkie said you’d gotten bigger, but Ah wasn’t expectin’ this! Yer huge!”

“Got wings, too!” Rainbow Dash observed, giving Spike a playful grin. “You need to work on your landings, though!”

“Look who’s talking!” Spike shot back as the hug broke up.

“Who indeed!” Rainbow Dash returned. “Star Wonderbolt, here!”

“How’ve you girls been holding up?” Twilight asked Applejack as Rainbow Dash started giving Spike a few pointers on flying. “How’s Ponyville?”

“Without you? Pretty darn cold,” Applejack admitted, nodding at the solite hovering above the town hall and another one out over Sweet Apple Acres. “Ah remember yer solites bein’ a lot warmer. But we’re doin’ just fine, o‘erwise. Timberwolves’ve been leavin’ us alone and that ursa major hasn’t shown its ugly head since ya fought it off!”

“Ooh! How’s Rarity?” Pinkie Pie broke in, bouncing in place as if she needed to catch Twilight’s attention. “Is she coming back to Ponyville soon?”

“I, uh, I haven’t really seen her since the accident in the conclave,” Twilight admitted sheepishly.

“Seriously?” Rainbow Dash broke in, forgetting her conversation with Spike for a moment. “You’ve been in Manehattan for, what, a month, and you haven’t met up with her once? What gives?”

“I’ve been busy!” Twilight defended herself. “Leading a task force isn’t easy!”

“Yeah, speakin’ o’ that. How’s it been treating ya?” Applejack asked with concern. “Ya seem a bit... edgy if you don’t mind me sayin’.”

“I am,” Twilight answered, casting a nervous glance up at the sky and flinching when she saw the full moon. “I’m afraid I can’t even stay. I really need to be somewhere else. Now. Sorry.”

“You just got here!” Rainbow Dash protested. Pinkie Pie, meanwhile, gave the unicorn a sad, knowing look.

“You really shouldn’t go...” she muttered.

“Sorry, Pinkie,” Twilight repeated, putting a comforting hoof on her shoulders. “You must’ve put a lot of work into this party...”

“I’m not talking about the party,” Pinkie Pie sighed, her excitement from the arrival of her two friends deflating quickly. “You shouldn’t go. But you’re gonna go anyway. And something bad’ll happen. Really bad.”

“Maybe, but... I can’t stay.” She turned toward Amber Vane, who was headed for the buffet lined up near the town hall entrance. “Amber! I’m taking the chariot! Sorry! Round up the rest of the soldiers and get the council to send a relief effort off to the northwest!”

“What’s going on, Twi?” Rainbow Dash asked with concern. “Where are you going?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted, turning away from the group and marching toward the chariot, signalling for the pegasi pulling it to get back into position. “Spike,” she called back to the dragon who was still standing with Pinkie Pie and Applejack, “explain what’s going on to Amber and stay in Ponyville.”

The large dragon nodded reluctantly and went to a very confused-looking Amber Vane. Rainbow Dash, on the other hoof, put herself between Twilight and the chariot. “Hey! What’s up!? Why are you leaving?”

“Somewhere north of here, Nightmare Moon is going to attack Equestria,” Twilight said, teleporting past the pegasus and onto the chariot. “I’m pretty sure it could happen any moment now, and I need to be there. She’s issued a challenge, and... I’m going to stop her.”

For a short moment, Rainbow Dash was at a loss for words, but as Twilight’s chariot set into motion, she took wing and followed after her. “Twilight... Nightmare Moon? You’re going up against her alone? Didn’t you make a promise to me to not do that?”

“I’ve been over this with Spike already!” Twilight groaned. “She’s going to kill ponies, Rainbow! I’m not letting her get away!”

“Not saying you should,” Rainbow Dash argued, easily keeping up with her even as the chariot took to the air. “Just that you shouldn’t face her alone.”

“No.” Twilight shook her head stubbornly and stared the pegasus straight in the eyes. “Absolutely not! You don’t have any way of protecting yourself from her magic! The last guy who was with me when I faced her got incinerated! Without the Elements of Harmony, I won’t let any of you near her!”

“That’s not what you said a few months ago,” Rainbow Dash complained. “What happened to going up against Nightmare Moon together?”

“That was before...” Twilight’s words caught in her throat at the unpleasant memories.

“Fluttershy?”

“Not just her,” Twilight explained. “Ponies have been dying all around me during these missions with the Sword of Equestria. Especially this last one. Ponies that tried helping me.”

“Well, I’m not just your average pegasus soldier, am I?” Rainbow Dash countered. “And you can’t order me around like one either! I’m not letting you fight Nightmare on your own!”

“Technically, I’m the Captain of the Sword of Equestria,” Twilight pointed out. “I only answer to Scarlet Bolt and her immediate advisors, making it one of the highest ranks in the Equestrian military. I can order you around if I do so to protect the nation.”

“Protect the nation?” The pegasus scoffed.

“I’m sure keeping the Element of Loyalty safe qualifies as that,” Twilight said. “Just... stay in Ponyville, alright?”

“You can put me in jail or whatever when we’ve defeated Nightmare Moon,” Rainbow Dash insisted stubbornly. “But something tells me you don’t really have time for that now.”

“I can put you back in Ponyville where you belong,” Twilight declared impatiently, her horn glowing. “I can do that right now.” Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to protest, but vanished in a bright flash.

Twilight glanced backwards and rolled her eyes at the sight of the approaching cyan pegasus. “Ha! Nice try!” Rainbow Dash laughed as she drew up to the side of the chariot again. “You’re gonna have to try...” Again, the pegasus vanished in a flash. “...Lot harder if you...” Rainbow Dash continued as she caught up with her before winking out yet again. “...Wanna stop me!” she finished, giving Twilight a cocky grin.

“Rainbow, I can keep doing this for a very long time!” Twilight groaned. “Can’t you please just stay in Ponyville?”

“Why can’t you let me fight her?” Rainbow Dash retorted. “If you keep teleporting me, you won’t have any magic left to defeat her!”

“I already told you why!” Twilight replied angrily. “And if I use all my magic teleporting you around, Nightmare Moon’s gonna end up killing both of us! Is that what you want?”

“It’s not what you want either!” Rainbow Dash defended herself. “Which is why I say you’re bluf...” Again, the cyan pegasus vanished in a pop and a flash.

“Stay in Ponyville,” Twilight prayed silently, refusing to look behind her.

“How come you’re fine with letting us go near Nightmare Moon?” one of the chariot pullers asked of her, raising an eyebrow critically.

“I’m not,” Twilight answered. “As soon as we find her, you need to get the hay out of there.”

“...Bluffing,” Rainbow Dash whispered into Twilight’s ear.

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight exclaimed in exasperation. “Please! Just let me do this!”

“I’m not gonna let you get hurt,” Rainbow Dash answered, her tone more serious. “If we lose you, Equestria’s done for.”

“And what about you?” Twilight returned. “And AJ and Pinkie? What if whatever happened to Fluttershy happens to them while you’re gone? I’m not saying you can’t fight, Rainbow, I’m just saying that hoof-to-hoof combat is... really not a viable option against somepony like Nightmare Moon! She’ll destroy you before you get anywhere near her! You need to fight magic with magic! Please, Rainbow, stay safe, and make sure AJ, Spike, and Pinkie are too. We need all the Elements of Harmony to recreate the sun, not just me.”

“We need you too,” Rainbow Dash pointed out quietly, slightly swayed by Twilight’s arguments.

“And we need Fluttershy too,” Twilight countered. “Which is why I need to face Nightmare Moon. She has to know where she is. I’ll get Fluttershy, you just keep an eye on everypony else, alright?”

“What if she kills you this time? She’s chosen the when and where; she’s bound to have the advantage.”

“If we stop fighting her, she wins,” Twilight answered. “I won’t get killed, Rainbow. I know.”

“I still don’t like it.”

“I’m sorry you don’t,” Twilight sighed, then teleported the pegasus again. This time, she didn’t return.

“And you’re completely sure it’s happening tonight?” the snow white pegasus pulling her chariot asked for maybe the third time that night as they passed yet another village, so small that it was no more than a handful of cottages grouped loosely together. Like all other settlements the three ponies had passed since leaving Ponyville, there was no sign of Nightmare Moon.

“I’m almost completely certain the attack will happen tonight.”

“You’re ‘almost completely certain’?” the other pegasus asked, glancing back at the unicorn.

“Yes,” Twilight replied lamely, unable to think of anything better to say.

“So how long are we gonna keep flying around out here?” the white pegasus asked the captain in an almost challenging tone. “We’ve been flying nonstop for five hours now!”

“I know, I know,” Twilight relented, sighing deeply. “We’ll land in Hoofington; you can rest, and...” The lavender unicorn trailed off as a brilliant red light to her left caught her eye, drawing the attention of both herself and the two pegasi. Several miles west of where they flew, was a small town, wreathed in a strange dark red mist that swirled about the shadow-steeped buildings as if a violent storm had taken hold of the immediate area.

“What the hay is that!?” the left chariot puller exclaimed, almost bumping into his colleague as he instinctively drew away from the tremendous display of magic.

“It’s the reason we’re out here,” Twilight told the pegasi, growing both excited and worried as the ominous lights pulsed with life. “Get us over there. As close as you‒” A sudden, low-pitched sound cut through the air, much like a large bell being struck, slowly growing in volume while the brightness of the red fog dulled in intensity, the strange motes of magic becoming steadily darker and darker as the sound grew ever louder.

The screams of ponies panicking began to mingle with the cacophony emanating from what appeared to be the center of the town, and as they approached, the soldiers flying above could make out the faint outlines of hundreds of fleeing townsfolk.

“Ya sure we should be flying toward that... whatever it is!?” the white pegasus shouted over his shoulder. “What is it even!?”

Another layer of glowing red mist formed around the now fully blackened magical mist, enveloping the majority of the town Nightmare Moon had targeted.

“What do we do?” the other pegasus asked of Twilight as the outer shell of magic began dulling as well.

“I can’t stop it if that’s what you mean,” she replied guiltily. “It’s a much too powerful spell and we’re too far away.”

“Then‒!” The white pegasus’ protest was interrupted as the enormous swirling mass of magic contracted and grew silent, as if taking a final breath before unleashing whatever destruction it had in store for the defenseless town.

The three ponies could only stare in awed silence as the now solid black dome exploded upwards in a pillar of scarlet fire, sending forth a deafening roar and a barrage of shattered rock and debris.

“Whoah!” the white pegasus nearly screamed at the sight, rearing back as a shockwave shook the chariot. “Whoah, whoah! Tha-that... Th-the whole town! Just like that!”

“Calm down, Snow Flake!” Twilight ordered the pegasus, whose panicked flailing was bringing the aircraft out of balance. “This is exactly what we came for!” The unicorn gazed upwards and confirmed that a large veil of glowing mist had been blasted skyward by the explosion, covering a significant portion of the night sky with red.

“Th-the whole place just got... leveled!” Snow Flake stuttered, seemingly completely out of his mind. “We ain't g-getting near that thing!”

For a moment, the white pegasus tried to pull the chariot around on his own, though his efforts were quickly thwarted by his companion, who gave him a smack across the face. “For pony's sake, Snow! Pull yourself together!”

“You are getting near that thing!” Twilight backed the pegasus up, pushing Snow Flake into his proper position with her magic. “And that's an order! From the Captain of the Sword! I just need to be within teleportation distance of that town...”

“Neighbury,” the pegasus who wasn't Snow Flake added helpfully, and Twilight nodded her thanks.

“Once we're within distance of Neighbury, I'll go down there and you two run for the hills. Or fly for them, whatever.”

“Alright... Uh, sounds like a plan!” Snow Flake replied, his spirits lifted somewhat. The other pegasus, however, gave the unicorn a worried glance.

“That... thing just leveled Neighbury with a single spell. Rainbow Dash was right; you can't go alone.”

“I don’t have a choice,” Twilight answered, looking ahead nervously at the giant column of smoke rising out of what was once Neighbury, the base of which was still lit up by the alicorn's magic. The echoes of the explosion still filled the entire area, a constant, thunderous roaring competing with the shrill, hot winds rushing past the ponies. Large, uneven streaks of destruction extended out from the center of the smoking column, running past farms and roads and small cottages and leaving only a barren, flattened, gray wasteland, while other areas around the site of the explosion were left completely untouched. To Twilight’s relief, it seemed that all or at least a majority of the townsfolk she had seen fleeing had survived the explosion. Most of them, however, seemed to have entered into some sort of mad stampede to put as much distance between themselves and Nightmare Moon as possible. “That could have been Ponyville.”

“It could also end up being you,” the pegasus pointed out. “I don’t know how you survived The Great Tragedy, but aren’t you pushing your luck now?”

“This won’t be the only time she does this,” Twilight told him, eyes still on the ruins. “It was Canterlot first, then it was Fluttershy, and now it’s Neighbury here. Who’s to say Manehattan isn’t next? Nopony else can stop her. I have to face her.” She took a deep breath. “I’ll be fine. I’ve faced her several times already.”

“Are you completely sure about that?” he pressed. “The council will have our heads if anything happens to you.”

“I’m sure,” Twilight lied. “And you’re answering to me now, not the council.”

“I suppose we are.”

“We’re close enough now,” Twilight told the pegasi, ending the discussion and lighting her horn as she prepared to teleport. “Go help the refugees. Get them as far away from me and Nightmare Moon as possible.” The pegasus she had been speaking with nodded his head, and the unicorn winked out.

The sudden shift in momentum as she left the chariot was almost enough to send her toppling forwards, but her balance was compensated for by a powerful gust of wind rushing against her from the source of the explosion. The wind tore at her coat and howled in her ears as she squinted ahead into the darkness of the night, seeing nothing but smoke and fire. She shuddered at the sight. Neighbury hadn’t been much smaller than Ponyville, but now it looked more like the ruins of the Canterlot palace. Lush green fields and fair weather had in less than a minute been turned into something that seemed straight out of Tartarus.

“Nightmare Moon!” Twilight called out as bravely as she could, returning her attention to the task at hoof as she marched toward the enormous column of smoke. “You wanted to face me, didn’t you!? Well, here I am!” She reached the pillar and crawled across a veritable wall of ruined masonry and burning lumber, reaching a large area in which the ground was completely smooth. A flash of red from somewhere ahead of her pierced the veil of smoke surrounding her, and Twilight made her way toward it and what she believed to be the center of the explosion. “Show yourself!”

“Twilight Sparkle!” the voice that had so often plagued her dreams called out to her in what could almost be perceived as a friendly greeting. “You are earlier than I would have expected. Come.”

The smoke ahead of Twilight thinned considerably, revealing the silhouette of Nightmare Moon standing some two hundred feet in front of her. The dark alicorn's horn had been lowered to the ground, but her head now rose to face the unicorn expectantly. “I trust you have thought long and hard upon the question I put forth. There is much and more that depends upon your answer.”

“Q-question!? What do you mean!?” the unicorn challenged Nightmare Moon, her horn glowing as she readied both a spell of great destruction and one of shielding, slowly approaching her enemy.

Nightmare Moon gave a long and disappointed sigh. “Twice I asked you. Millennia old am I, and yet you have somehow worn out my patience. Very well. I shall ask of you one last time: What am I? Friend or foe?”

The odd question stopped Twilight in her tracks, though only for a moment before she once again began taking guarded steps toward the dark being. “You... killed Celestia.”

“Yes. A necessary sacrifice.”

“You destroyed the sun.”

“Indeed.”

“You wiped out the entire Canterlot palace.”

“Yes.”

“You imprisoned Luna within her own mind.”

“Hm. Yes.”

“You killed hundreds of ponies, including my brother and sister-in-law!”

“Thousands of ponies,” Nightmare Moon answered, shaking her billowing mane. “Now, answer me.”

“How..?” Twilight shook her head as she failed to comprehend the alicorn's logic. “How can you possibly think I would ever be your... friend!? Why do you even want that!? You killed half the ponies I've ever truly cared about! You've doomed Equestria with your stupid notion of eternal night! No! You're not my friend! You're Nightmare Moon! Possibly the biggest threat to all of Equestria!” She scowled at her enemy for a few moments before the alicorn’s silence grew too unsettling for her to bear. Refusing to lose her composure before an enemy as dangerous as Nightmare Moon, Twilight adopted a more guarded expression, turning around to circle her foe in a different direction.

Finally, the alicorn chuckled. “You are afraid. It has been entertaining to watch you form your theories, to hide behind them to shelter yourself from the misery I have wreaked upon your world. But you are wrong. You insist I am Nightmare Moon. You will find I am something far worse.”

The thing that was not Nightmare Moon took a single step forward, and the final wisps of smoke between the two were driven away, revealing to Twilight a being that, although similar in appearance to the dark princess, was very much different from the Nightmare Moon Twilight knew.

The being before her was no doubt and alicorn, standing nearly a head taller than Celestia and thus dwarfing the diminutive unicorn. From the equine’s physique, Twilight judged the powerful being before her to be male, finally explaining its voice that had been so far from Nightmare Moon’s. He shared his black coat with the wicked princess of the night, although the stallion’s fur seemed somehow even darker than black, and where Nightmare Moon was constantly wreathed in her mane of starry fabric, the alicorn before her bore simply billowing clouds of black for a tail and mane, the darkness curling both up against him and away from him with the consistency of something between smoke and fire.

The dark creature sported those same amber eyes Twilight had seen both in Greengloom and Dragoncrest, confirming the stallion’s identity as the one who had been tormenting her. Unlike any other alicorn Twilight had met, however, the stallion bore no regalia; should he close his eyes, the stallion could in fact no doubt be easily mistaken for a shadow or a silhouette.

“You...” Twilight began, losing her nerve almost instantly as she locked eyes with the stallion. She took an involuntary step back, and the creature smiled dangerously. “You’re not Nightmare Moon.”

“A very astute observation, Twilight.”

“Who are you?” the unicorn challenged her new foe weakly, the light in her horn flickering out for a brief moment as she lost her concentration.

“You told me but a moment ago,” the black alicorn reminded her, a faint red flickering surrounding his needle-pointed ebony horn as he took another step closer to the unicorn. “I am not your friend.”

At the exact same time, both opponents managed to simultaneously raise a shield to protect themselves and unleash a bolt of lightning to destroy the other. While Twilight’s bolt vanished upon the surface of the alicorn’s ward, however, the bolt that struck her shattered every single one of her defenses and sent her skidding across the burnt ground and smashing into the ring of ruined masonry that had amassed around the epicenter of the explosion.

Twilight’s magic was enveloping her even before she rolled off the broken stone, dulling the pains that now tore through her entire right side. Desperate to avoid a similar blow from her adversary before she had erected the necessary defenses, the unicorn grabbed hold of the dense smoke she had been thrown into. She wrapped it tightly about her own position and the area in which she believed the alicorn stood, employing the strategy that had proven successful during her dragon encounters.

The alicorn only chuckled, and the world shifted around her, carrying her to the center of the crater once more. Six pairs of amber eyes appeared in the darkness, surrounding her and closing in on the unicorn as half a dozen horns ignited at once.

Twilight’s horn glowed as well, wrapping herself in shield after shield in a desperate attempt to deflect whatever might come next. Six trails of crimson fire extended from each of the dark alicorns surrounding her, racing across the ground and meeting each other as they collided with Twilight’s force field. Her defenses once again shattered easily, but left her relatively unharmed. Her horn still brightly lit, Twilight unleashed a six-pronged burst of magic, skewering and disintegrating all but one of her enemies and thus banishing the black alicorn’s summoned copies.

Her enemy said nothing as he deflected a second blast of lightning, showing no signs of fatigue. The unicorn soon felt her fur stand on end and hurriedly teleported around to the back of the alicorn only a second before a lightning bolt of monstrous size split the earth upon which she had been standing, bringing her to her knees although there was more than a hundred feet between herself and the explosion.

She loosed another bolt at the alicorn, but although his back was turned, the attack was still deflected long before it reached his body, flying off into the night.

The entire column of smoke rising up out of the ruins of Neighbury stirred unnaturally, bunching up and swirling downwards as the alicorn worked his powerful magic upon his surroundings. The smoke amassing behind him turned into a pure black, writhing tentacle that towered above him, and as he spread his wings, the magical construct struck.

Twilight tried teleporting out of the way as the massive dark tendril lashed out at her, but found that she couldn’t, her magic somehow hampered by her enemy’s. Instead, the tentacle punched through her wards and into her side, further battering her bruised ribs as it drove her off the ground and into the air at a sickening speed. The darkness pushing against her dissipated almost as soon as it had struck, but the force was still enough to send her rocketing out of what remained of Neighbury. The sensation of falling was at first lost to Twilight, but as she increased the feed to her pain-dulling spell and cleared her mind, the ground rushing up to meet her became frighteningly apparent. She managed to teleport out of her fall and reappear safely upon the ground, standing upon what had once been a farm but was now full of the debris of the fallen town.

A lot stronger than I thought. I can’t overpower him, that’s for sure. I could try exhausting his powers, but I’m already nearing my limits from just protecting myself against his attacks. And who knows what else he would destroy in the meantime? I’ll have to catch him with his guard down.The smoke veil tactic didn’t work, though, so how do I distract him!?

She looked to the skies and found the alicorn silhouetted against the full moon as he flew toward her. A volley of small red orbs were launched from his horn, flying alongside him for a moment before gaining a life of their own and homing in on Twilight.

She answered with a series of magenta beams flying from her own horn, cutting through and detonating the majority of her opponent’s projectiles, before blocking the rest with a sturdy force field, the force of the impact throwing her backwards as her defenses shattered once more.

“Did you walk into this battle expecting to win?” the alicorn questioned her as he landed with a thud, taking lengthy strides toward her. “Even now I see your confidence withering, your mind trying desperately to find a solution. And behind it all, I see the fear welling up within you, its essence pouring out of your being as you come to the realization: There is no hope.”

“I’m not afraid!” the unicorn insisted, picking herself up from the ground and advancing upon her enemy, her horn lighting up as she began drawing several shields across the front of her body.

“Neither of us believe that lie,” the dark alicorn stated with disinterest, although he ceased his advance all the same, folding his wings to speak with the unicorn.

“You’re the liar here!” Twilight countered, discreetly slowing down her fabrication of wards and diverting the excess flow of magic to begin charging a powerful burst of magic. “You told me you were Nightmare Moon!”

“Lying is beneath me,” he answered in a tone that brokered no argument. “Many have suffered fates worse than death for questioning my honor.”

Well, he’s not conceited at all, is he?

“Did Celestia question your honor?” Twilight said instead, braving a step forwards.

“No.” The alicorn’s lips curled into a smile, almost imperceptible in the dark. “But, oh, you were there, Twilight. Deep down, you know what happened. And I will tell you, the pain caused by her death, neither physical nor emotional, is why you repressed those memories. The truth terrifies you. While you tell yourself and others that you wished you knew what happened, the reality is quite different. You know what happened. You know why she died. You know for whom she died.” The last words came out a whisper in her ear and Twilight yelped as she realized the alicorn had walked right up to her while speaking, the unicorn too distracted by what he had said to notice.

“N-no!” she stuttered, backpedalling wildly and reaching out to the spell she had charged, but it was already gone. Instead, she took the energy of her wards and threw it desperately at the alicorn. A burst of raw energy enveloped the alicorn, and Twilight was quick to narrow the blast, focusing it into a concentrated beam that finally managed to strike him directly. To her horror, however, the spell that could have blasted apart any rock had virtually no effect on her enemy, failing to even make a scratch.

“Killing an alicorn is much harder than you would think,” he commented dryly, smiling at Twilight’s expression as his horn was once again wreathed in red. “I should know.” The ground heaved beneath Twilight, and she was thrown to her knees as a huge slice of the farm was torn into the air, carrying the unicorn with it as it rose to a height of thirty or forty feet in only a second. “Although you have yet to realize it, I have been the undisputed master of this realm ever since the death of your dear princess.”

The plate of earth Twilight stood upon flipped around, revealing a pit of sharpened stakes below her. As the ground above pressed down upon her, threatening to crush and impale her upon what lay below, the unicorn quickly teleported to safety, only to find herself in a small bubble of her adversary’s magic.

“Remind me, Twilight. Just how brittle are unicorn bones?” The bubble began shrinking, shattering her remaining wards almost instantly and pressing against every part of Twilight’s body while she cried out in pain.

She gasped, the air driven out of her lungs as her hind legs pressed painfully up against her ribs and jaw, her forehooves pushing against the barrier in a failed attempt at holding it back. Her horn was blazing like mad, but for some reason she was unable to teleport. “Stop!”

“A friend might have listened.”

Twilight was soon forced into a fetal position as the bubble contracted further, and before long, she found the length of her left hind leg jammed up against the relentless barrier. “Stop...” she wheezed again, her lungs emptying of air. The alicorn answered only by tightening the bubble further, and Twilight screamed soundlessly as the her leg gave way with a loud snap, the splintered bone stabbing painfully into her flesh for a moment before the black alicorn finally ceased his spell.

The unicorn fell to the ground, filled her lungs with much needed air, and screamed for all she was worth, clutching her left leg and almost throwing up as she saw its twisted shape and the bulge of the bone nearly penetrating her skin.

She felt herself be enveloped in her enemy’s magic and flung into what had once been a column adorning the town hall. Twilight’s head smashed against the unyielding stone, and for a long moment, her vision darkened and the sounds of burning and rumbling thunder around her faded away into a dull ringing.

I can’t do this, she thought obtusely, barely feeling anything as she dropped off the ruined pillar and onto the ground. I need to get away... Elements of Harmony...

“Come now, Twilight,” the dark alicorn chastised her as her hearing slowly returned. When her vision returned as well, she found the humongous equine towering above her, his amber eyes burning into her soul. “I know you are capable of so much more.” Twilight was lifted into the air once more and slammed into the ground, the unicorn feeling at least one of her ribs break as her vision fogged again. “Unlock your true potential. Rid yourself of your curses and destroy all that stands in your way. Pain is the key, and I am only happy to provide.”

Twilight shivered with dread as she felt the black mark on her neck tingling, the alicorn’s magic grabbing hold of the wound he had inflicted upon her so long ago. Needles of fire exploded from the scar and into her body, stabbing and writhing within her as if alive while multiplying and growing with blinding speed until Twilight could know no other thing than pain. The icy grip that still haunted her to this day returned, latching on to her mind and squeezing, threatening to smother and crush her very identity.

If you do not stop me, the alicorn’s voice echoed in her roiling mind, you are lost. You will be mine, body and soul. Your mindless husk will plunge Equestria into total oblivion, and a lavender horn wreathed in the white-hot fires of demented madness will be the last thing your friends see.

“N-no...” Twilight whimpered pathetically, froth dripping from her mouth as she felt her frozen mind become steadily eclipsed by her adversary’s power.

“Would I lie to you?” the alicorn asked, his voice sounding in both her ears and mind.

Deep within her, Twilight felt a faint surge of power, reminiscent of when she had faced the ursa major to save Rainbow Dash. It grew within her, roaring to life in response to the pain she felt, her magical power suddenly increasing exponentially even as her eyes were lost in that white blaze she knew as well. The liquid fire coursing through her veins turned to blood once more, the icy grip that held her mind prisoner melted away, and her bones and flesh reknitted themselves in a second as the unicorn rose to her feet. Her magic pulsed, and a shockwave pushed the alicorn standing over her several feet back.

“Get away from me!” Twilight hissed, displacing the earth beneath her enemy’s hooves while sending bolt upon bolt of lightning flying from the sky and smashing into her enemy’s shields as he sunk into the ground, taking the unicorn’s punishment stoically. “And don’t touch my friends!” she shouted, unleashing a discharge of magic that burned away anything within a mile of the two combatants.

“Excellent,” the alicorn commented as he leapt from the pit Twilight had created, soaring across the unicorn before landing behind her. Twilight had already drawn several shields across her entire body when the dark alicorn launched a crackling burst of red lightning, her wards finally holding firm. “Truly marvelous. But you shall have to do quite a bit better than that if you wish to survive.”

A dark red blade of energy swept across the unicorn, shattering her defenses, and another quick burst of magic sent her hurtling even further away from Neighbury. Twilight caught herself in the air with her telekinesis, righting herself and dropping her gently to the ground before she unleashed another bright beam of magenta at her foe. The alicorn answered with a similar spell, and soon the two powerful beings were locked in a deep arcane struggle, the point of collision between the magenta and red streams of magic spawning spells of vast destruction that flew off at random, causing violent tremors and colossal fires.

It wasn’t long, however, before the unicorn felt herself being pushed back by her adversary’s magic, the crackling beam of red nearly extinguishing her own. Finally, the unicorn admitted defeat and ceased her spell, the dark alicorn’s magic enveloping her instantly and burning her to the core. The searing stream of unrestrained power curled upwards, punching the unicorn into the air before finally ceasing.

The glare of the spell she had been struck with had hardly faded from her eyes before she saw the alicorn coming straight at her, his enormous wings beating furiously as he ascended with an inconceivable speed to meet her several hundred feet above the ground. The unicorn forged a shield several inches thick before her, but the black equine broke through it without effort, nearly skewering her head with his horn. She dodged the best she could while flying through the air and found herself locking horns with her enemy, the dark alicorn pushing her even further into the skies as his eyes riveted upon hers.

“You have not the faintest idea who I am, the things that I am capable of,” he told Twilight, crackling red streaming from his horn and all across the unicorn’s skin, burning and freezing her at the same time. “The millennia I have seen!” Twilight tried countering her enemy’s spell, but only managed to stem the pure pain rushing into her. “How could you hope to ever defeat me?”

Twilight only grunted in reply, trying in vain to wrench her horn free of the black alicorn’s unbreakable grip, but her adversary met her every move, locking her horn in place as his own was wreathed in shadow and maroon. Twilight’s horn was bathed in flames of magenta as well, the unicorn summoning the same amount of power she had once used to knock out the ursa major in the Everfree Forest.

As one took on the brilliance of the sun itself and the other was enveloped in a darkness that surpassed that of the night sky, the two combatants vanished in a burst of unimaginable power that tore apart the land below them.

He’s too powerful, even now, with all this power at my disposal, I’m fighting for survival, not victory! Twilight despaired as she woke up and, upon realizing she had been asleep, panicked. When did I fall asleep!? What happened!? Where is he!? Where am I!?

A sharp pain enveloped everything below her knees, and the unicorn opened her eyes to find herself somehow half buried in the pavement of a large abandoned street.

Agh! Gah! No, not buried! That would imply displacement of matter! Twilight realized, the pain growing to the point where it was all she could do not to scream. Instead of her legs being encased in the elaborately carved stone tiles of a street that seemed familiar to her, the stone was still there, overlapping the same space as her legs. How in the name of Tartarus did I end up teleporting blindly!? she raged as her magic sifted through the reality-warping area surrounding her legs, sorting through flesh and stone and separating the two. Calm down. Concentrate. Focus on the isolation of matter. Don’t lose any limbs.

The pavement and her left forehoof finally became two distinguishable entities, and the unicorn breathed a sigh of relief as she cast a short Ethereality spell on the stone, allowing her to safely pull her hoof out of the ground. She repeated the process on her remaining legs and was soon lying flat in the middle of whatever street she had appeared on, gasping for breath as the pain finally began subsiding.

I was able to match his power... Almost, at least. So I guess we were combining two alicorn-level spells whose effect even I couldn’t fully comprehend. I suppose it’s plausible I ended up here... The unicorn gasped and leapt to her hooves as the pain that had clouded her mind finally abated, allowing her to recognize the empty city she found herself in. Canterlot!? That’s five hours’ flight from Neighbury!

Twilight started up the sloped street, heading toward where she knew the ruins of the palace to be. It couldn’t have been random I’m here. Not now, when I’m facing one of my most powerful adversaries yet.

One of them? Twilight, you have never faced a being that could match my power.

!!!

Chrysalis was an insect, Pan a shadow of a threat, Nightmare Moon a puppet, the Blazebringers but puppets of puppets, and Discord a demented obstruction. I am eternal.

Get out of my head!

I am part of your mind already. You may not see me, but I am all around you. I see you. And I am coming.

The Elements of Harmony!

Twilight broke into a run at the final revelation of her enemy, determined to reach the only weapon that could stop the alicorn before he stopped her. It wasn’t long before the damage done to her hooves had been completely repaired by her now immense magic, and the unicorn was soon teleporting ahead regularly, clearing the distance between herself and the palace a hundred times faster.

One: Get the Elements. Two: Go to Manehattan and get Rarity. Three: Go to Ponyville and round everypony up. Four: Use Elements to find and rescue Fluttershy. Five: Take down the alicorn...

Twilight passed what little remained of the gates to the palace grounds and, following another teleportation, found herself standing before the crater of The Great Tragedy. Acting without hesitation, the unicorn’s horn burned magenta, and the remains of the palace and its very foundation were blown sky high, opening a massive hole in the ground that led straight to the crystal caverns she had once been imprisoned within.

Subitem one point one: I can now teleport across vast distances. Establish spatial link between Ponyville and myself while the town is in sight.

Beneath her, the crystals all lit up one by one as they became saturated with the light radiating from the unicorn’s horn, the shadows of every nook and cranny soon banished by her magenta light. Twilight teleported from where she stood to a ledge further down, casting her gaze about for any sign of the Elements.

Scarlet Bolt couldn’t find the Elements in Canterlot or within the palace, the unicorn reasoned with herself as she travelled to another ledge in the seemingly bottomless crystal well she now found herself in. The chamber containing them must have sunken through the deepest reaches of the palace while they were melting apart. It would have ended up down here somewhere.

She peered down a glowing tunnel, but saw nothing but the twisting, faceted corridors that had once served as her temporary prison.

She let her horn go dark, leaving the crystals to be lit only by the full moon above.

C’mon... the unicorn thought impatiently, scouting the darkness for the faintest glimmer of anything without the violet-blue hue of the crystals surrounding her. Show yourself...

A faint glimmer of orange from within a narrow tunnel at the far end of the cave caught her attention, and Twilight almost leapt with joy at the sight. She winked out from where she stood and appeared in a bright flash within the narrow tunnel, lowering her head as she realized just how small the tunnel was. How did the Elements end up here? she thought suspiciously as she started walking toward what had now become glimmers of pink, red and blue, glittering softly in light that wasn’t there.

The tunnel opened up into a small cavern, the center of which was occupied by a strange pedestal not unlike the one she and her friends had encountered in the castle of the royal pony sisters all those years ago when they had sought to stop Nightmare Moon. The pedestal she now stood before, however, seemed to be carved out of the violet-blue crystal of the caves and had six spokes containing six elements instead of just the five. Upon them rested the five necklaces and the tiara Twilight had been so sorely missing ever since The Great Tragedy.

Get the Elements. Check, the unicorn noted as her telekinesis grabbed the six powerful artifacts, setting the tiara upon her head. Now to get to Manehattan. Without running into that alicorn.

Twilight turned and trotted out the narrow tunnel, but froze in her tracks when the enormous cave ahead of her suddenly dimmed briefly, a large shadow of something passing by beneath the moon and signalling the arrival of Celestia’s murderer. In an effort to slip by her enemy without being noticed, Twilight quickly wove a semi-transparent screen in front of her, blocking the light from her side of the tunnel while allowing her to see the main crystal cavern.

As the unicorn wondered whether or not she would be able to perform a direct teleportation to the surface, she noticed the light ahead of her dim once more, almost as if the very presence of the dark alicorn robbed the world of its light. The stallion beat his wings rhythmically, descending steadily through the cavern in his search for his enemy. Without even thinking about it, Twilight stopped breathing as the alicorn hovered into view, worried that even the smallest sound might draw the attention of her enemy. She took a silent step backwards as the amber eyes seemed to suddenly pierce her magical veil, staring directly at her as the dark being’s horn became wreathed in red.

Before she could even think about reacting, a powerful telekinetic blast punched her back the way she had come, colliding heavily with the crystal pedestal. “Hiding is not an option,” the alicorn stated as the narrow tunnel seemed to gain a life of its own, the crystals stretching and shifting to accommodate the larger equine. Above her, the sparkling ceiling lurched as a phenomenal force began pressing down upon it. The unicorn quickly drew a powerful force field across the crystal surface, repeating the spell several times as the walls began to close in around her as well. “You will regret choosing me as your foe.”

“What if I do regret it?” Twilight gasped as she held back the encroaching walls, trying again to gain time by luring the alicorn into a conversation. “What if I want to be your... friend?”

“I would doubt your sincerity,” the alicorn replied, the pressure on Twilight’s force field steadily increasing as he approached. “This little dispute has already torn quite a rift between the two of us.”

“I will stop you,” Twilight promised him, then ceased her force field spells. Just before the cavern could implode with her inside it, she teleported almost a hundred feet upwards, reappearing on the rim of the hole she had blown through the ground. Another long distance teleportation carried her to a tower outside the ruined palace grounds, giving her a direct view of Ponyville far away. A lance of magenta flew from her horn, arcing across the sky before finally striking the distant town and fading away to nothing. Establish spatial link between Ponyville and myself. Check.

The palace grounds exploded in a flurry of crystal shards, red sparks, and one black alicorn, who hovered in the air far above the city for only a few seconds before spotting Twilight. Two fireballs flew at her, and while she managed to deflect one, the other struck the base of the tower she stood upon, decimating its base. The tower had hardly started falling before the section just above the ground floor exploded as well, followed by a series of detonations similar to first one traveling up the length of the tower.

She teleported off the tower to a new one not far away, but her enemy had apparently anticipated this. A third fireball struck her, and while her personal force field protected her from the resulting explosion, she was still thrown through the air. She twisted around in midair so her horn pointed forwards, teleporting again to just in front of the alicorn so that her horn was on a collision course with his chest.

The alicorn dodged her effortlessly, however, and his magic grabbed hold of her, using her momentum to swing her around himself several times, increasing her speed to nauseating levels. He let go, and Twilight found herself hurtling toward the peak of Canterlot mountain. She teleported again, and reappeared on the northeastern side of the mountain, flying at breakneck speeds in the general direction of Manehattan. In fact, although it was hard to concentrate given her current situation, she was fairly certain she could see the lights of the huge city on the horizon ahead of her.

Behind her, a bright red glow appeared from behind the mountain, separating into more than a dozen lights. A series of red spheres of energy, the same as those the alicorn had used in Neighbury, homed in on her, but with her much improved magic, Twilight was able to not only defend herself against them, but harness their energy for herself. She accelerated even further, bringing her that much closer to Manehattan.

Out of nowhere, a cold hoof pressed against the wound in her neck and she screamed as the unnatural pain returned, paralyzing her entire body.

“You may believe yourself capable of facing me,” the alicorn told her as she began immediately decelerating, her trajectory ever so slowly curling into a steep drop. “In their blindness, the common, mortal pony has proclaimed you an expert on magic, but you are inexperienced and lacking, Twilight. I bent mountains and snapped minds like toothpicks before the first pony saw the light of day! I have told you already; this realm is mine to do with as I please. Any effort on your part to change that is futile. Try as you like, you cannot best me as you are!”

“And that’s what friends are for!” Twilight returned fiercely, shaking herself of the alicorn’s touch and teleporting forwards again. Anticipating a swift retaliation from the alicorn, Twilight managed to absorb the energy of her enemy’s destructive spells, once more using them to fuel her speed, breaking her out of her fall. Before the alicorn could catch up to her, she closed her eyes, envisioning the lights of Manehattan before vanishing in a blinding flash of light.

“Twilight!? Twilight!? Can you hear me!?” As darkness and numbness was replaced by light and pain and the familiar voice became more distinct against the ringing in her ears, Twilight grunted weakly, trying to move a crushed limb from underneath her chest. “She’s alive... Well don’t just stand there, Fleur! Get some help! Now!”

“Rarity?” Twilight muttered, her horn flaring up as her magic almost automatically started repairing her body.

“I’m right here, darling!” the fashionista assured her, her voice coming from somewhere to Twilight’s right. “Are you al... No, that’s an absolutely inane question! Are you going to make it!?”

“Yeah,” she replied, opening her eyes to see a white floor covered in glass shards and broken pieces of concrete. “Where... where am I?”

“Mine and Fleur’s boutique! You crashed right through the display windows and woke us both! From the looks of it, you went straight through the building across the street!”

“When..?” Twilight turned her head to look at her friend, whose distraught expression took on a hint of confusion.

“What, the ambulance? I don’t know...” Rarity turned to look in the direction her colleague had gone, yelling her name.

“No! No. When did I crash?” Twilight clarified, lifting herself up on shaky, but otherwise healthy hooves. “We need to get out of here.”

“You shouldn’t be walking, Twilight!” Rarity hissed in a confusion of worry and annoyance, about to force Twilight to sit before thinking better of it. “You smashed through that building less than a minute ago! You can’t be walking! Not even you!”

Twilight half ignored her friend’s words as she realized she was no longer carrying the five Elements. The Element of Magic, however, was still safely perched upon her head, held in place by her magical connection to the tiara. After a quick scan of the area, she quickly found the necklaces partially buried under a pile of rubble. Using her magic, she retrieved the Elements, fastening that of Generosity about Rarity’s neck.

“The Elements..!” Rarity gasped, gazing at her own necklace and then at Twilight’s tiara. “How did you..?”

“I found Celestia’s murderer, and he’s on his way right now,” Twilight said hurriedly, cutting off Rarity’s questions. “We need to get to Ponyville and unite the Elements against him. Hopefully, I have time to explain everything once we’re gathered.” Without another word, Twilight’s magic reached out to the spatial link she had established in Ponyville, enveloping herself and Rarity before disappearing in a bright flash.

They materialized on the southern outskirts of the town they had once both called home, standing underneath Rainbow Dash’s house.

“That was... surprisingly accurate,” Twilight noted as she gathered her senses after the long distance travelled, taking a moment to catch her breath after the exertion. She lit her horn again, and in another bright flash, the cyan pegasus stood before them, the Element of Loyalty fastening about her neck almost immediately.

“Wha... Twilight!? Rarity!?” Rainbow Dash stuttered, nearly falling over backwards in surprise as she was abruptly pulled out of her home. “What’s going on!? What about Nightmare Moon?”

“No time to explain,” Twilight interjected, handing the pegasus the Element of Laughter. “Get Pinkie. We’ll meet you outside the town hall after we get Applejack.”

“You found the Elements!?” the pegasus exclaimed with disbelief, a wide grin soon plastered across her face. “The timing couldn’t be better! W-we finally found Fluttershy! She’s out at Applejack’s!”

“S-she is!? Really!? Great!” Twilight sighed in relief, rivalling the pegasus’ smile. “Then... then get Pinkie and meet us on the road leading east out of Ponyville.”

“Got it!” Rainbow Dash replied, saluting shortly before shooting off across the town.

Before Rarity had a chance to recover from the previous teleportation, the two unicorns were off again, winking out and reappearing just outside the main entrance to Sweet Apple Acres. Once again, Twilight valued urgency above manners, using her magic to summon her two friends.

“Wut in tarn... Twilight! And Rarity!” the orange earth pony greeted the two, her confusion melting away quickly. Fluttershy, who was standing beside her, however, looked as if she was having a heart attack. “Ah reckon y’all heard about Fluttershy, huh?”

“Uh, yes,” Rarity replied, obviously more than a little dizzy from the two successive teleportations. “Just.”

“We’re here to reunite the Elements of Harmony,” Twilight explained presenting the remaining two necklaces to her friends before fastening them about their necks. “Sorry, Rarity, one more time.”

Before the white unicorn could utter more than three words of protest, all four ponies were enveloped in Twilight’s magic once more, finding themselves on a desolate road a quarter of a mile from Ponyville.

“Please don’t do that again...” the pale yellow pegasus muttered almost inaudibly as she regained her bearings along with Applejack. By the time Rarity recovered, Twilight caught sight of her remaining two friends, one speeding along the road with surprising speed while the other zoomed across the sky, trailing a bright rainbow that was in stark contrast to the night sky above.

“Alright, so what’s up?” the cyan pegasus asked as she landed in front of the gathered group, Pinkie following soon after. “I thought you were fighting Nightmare Moon?”

“I was. I thought I was. I mean... Ugh. I was fighting Celestia’s murderer. Turns out it’s not Nightmare Moon.”

“What!?” both Rainbow Dash and Rarity exclaimed as the three other ponies exchanged looks of confusion and, in Fluttershy’s case, absolute terror.

“Ah thought ya saw her with your own eyes back at the palace,” Applejack pointed out dubiously.

“I did. But apparently there’s more to it than I first thought. I don’t know his name, but he’s an alicorn. Black coat and black... smoke for a mane. His power is... astronomical. More than enough to destroy the Canterlot palace. I’ve thrown everything I had at him, but it hasn’t made a scratch.”

“So you got the Elements of Harmony.” Rainbow Dash gathered, and Twilight nodded.

“If anything can beat him, it’ll be the six of us, right?”

“But I thought the Elements were gone...” Pinkie Pie mused out loud, scratching her head. “Where’dya get ‘em?”

“Canterlot. I’ve... been around.”

“Speaking of which,” Rarity interjected, a worried look on her face. “How did you manage to teleport the two of us all the way from Manehattan to Ponyville? You showed up in my boutique no more than two minutes ago, and you have done half a dozen quite impossible things already! What’s going on!?”

Twilight sighed as she remembered the first part of her encounter with the mysterious alicorn. “He’s the strongest opponent I’ve ever faced, girls. He had me beaten within an inch of my life after half a minute, and I think I survived only because he was toying with me. I’ve unlocked my magic like I did when the ursa almost ate Dash. Only much more powerful this time. I hope I can suppress it again once we’re done here.”

You fear this power that is your own. Is it the unknown that frightens you? The lack of control? Or the fear of what you may become?

“Might want to hold onto it if you’re gonna make a sun, right?” Rainbow Dash remarked after an awestruck pause, oblivious to the sudden look of horror upon Twilight’s face.

This farce has gone on for long enough. Our confrontation is at its final stage, and the conclusion of your life draws near.

“He’s here...” Twilight whispered, and her friends went quiet. “You alright, Fluttershy?” she asked the cowering pegasus who was lying flat on her stomach, hiding her head behind her hooves.

“No...” she whimpered through her front hooves. “But... you know.”

“We’re with you all the way!” Rainbow Dash translated, the others nodding their consent.

“Whoever he may be, the Elements’ll set him straight!” Applejack declared confidently, helping Fluttershy up on her hooves.

“Will they?” the alicorn’s voice echoed about the six ponies, causing the pale yellow pegasus to yelp. The darkness of the night gained a life of its own, gathering upon the road before the assembled Elements of Harmony. The black stallion stepped out of the shadows, almost invisible against the dark countryside behind him. “Very well then. I will allow you all one final attempt at survival. Realize the futility of your resistance.”

“Don’t listen to him!” Twilight encouraged the others, her tiara shining with untold brilliance as she was lifted into the air, pulling the other Bearers with her as they too activated their Elements. “You’re gonna regret killing Celestia!” she told the stallion as she fixed him with a pair of blazing eyes, her friends assuming formation behind her, the light growing to a nearly blinding radiance that lit the darkness for miles and miles.

“I will not.” the alicorn stated, his dark figure remaining steeped in shadows even as the Elements of Harmony took on their full brilliance.

Gleaming rainbows sprouted from each of the six ponies, bridging the gaps between them and forming a complex, swirling pattern of countless colors, Twilight floating in the center of it all. She solemnly lowered her horn and, in extension, the Element of Magic so that it pointed straight at her adversary. She felt the millennia old magic of harmony welling up within her, filling her with that strange, imperceptible yet infinite energy she had experienced so rarely.

Without a word, she unleashed the power, an enormous rainbow flowing from her horn, branching out a multitude of times before finally finding its mark, the veils of color wrapping him in hundreds of tight cocoons of blinding light. The pure white confines tightened as the six ponies continued their spell, channeling more power into the magic than they had ever done before. The Elements hummed loudly as they neared the end of their impossibly powerful spell, and Twilight could feel it: After seven months of despair, they were finally winning.

Without warning, however, the light their enemy had been encased within suddenly cracked loudly, solidifying and splitting in two as darkness poured forth, quelling the light of harmony and throwing its six wielders to the ground. Before Twilight could recover, five blood red tendrils of unbridled energy lashed out at her friends, the five ponies’ wordless screams abruptly cut off as they were reduced to nothing but horrible flurries of ash and fire.

Twilight stopped breathing. Her world lurched as she fell onto her side, her whole body completely and utterly paralyzed as the murderous black alicorn stepped forth from the darkness, completely unharmed by the Elements of Harmony. Time slowed as she watched the final specks of ash settle upon the Element of Honesty, the brilliant glow fading and leaving only the dull orange gem. The echo of their screams remained in her mind, haunting her for that eternity she spent... lying there, watching their ashes settle as that demonic alicorn drew ever nearer.

A vice-like grip around her neck brought her back to reality, that unforgiving, atrocious, unimaginably cruel reality, and she was wrenched back onto her hooves by his magic. As soon as it left her, however, she simply collapsed once more.

“Come now,” he told her in a despicably carefree manner. “You were going to defeat me.”

The pain finally struck. She felt her heart break; the emotional shock of losing her five closest friends to such a horrible fate translating into a physical pain that made The Great Tragedy seem like the prick of a needle. She spasmed weakly and clutched at her throat, choking out a sob as violent cramps seized her chest, reminding her to breathe. She gasped for air, and screamed in despair as he began circling her.

“Where is that strength of yours now?” he asked, ignoring Twilight’s shriek of pain. “Was it in your closest friends? Were they your final bastion? Your last resort? When all else failed, you would call upon these... very mortal creatures?”

Twilight was lying in front of one of the piles of ash, not even remembering how she had gotten there, crying into the lifeless dust. She swept a hoof across the gray pile and uncovered the Element of Loyalty, just as a black hoof descended upon it with a thud, shattering the dulled ruby as if it were glass.

“And these Elements of Harmony were your ultimate weapon?” He clicked his tongue in disappointment. “Relying on such tools will lead you nowhere.” He walked on, disappearing from her field of vision which was still riveted to the pile of ash just in front of her.

They can’t... she thought haltingly, her mind struggling to function even as it tore itself apart trying to absorb what she had just seen. They can’t be gone! No! No! No! No, no, no, no, no! H-h-he can’t have done it! The E-Elements... N-no! Oh, Celestia, no! I shouldn’t have brought them into this! They should have lived, I should have died, no, no, he should have died, he should suffer, he should burn, he should regret! Ever! Breathing!

From her broken heart, blazing fires poured forth, a terrible red mist clouding a frozen, determined mind as her breathing grew to a shuddering halt. It resumed again seconds later, shallow and erratic. Blood vessels popped in her eyes even as they began glowing with the fire within her. She fought to stand, turning to face him. “You...” she croaked, funneling all of her rage and misery and grief into her horn, now burning with humongous flames of magenta, black, and white. “You!” she screamed, causing him to stop, turning his head slowly to regard her with the hint of a smile on his lips. Oh, how she was going to wipe that away. Burn it away. Blast it to smithereens and erase the ashes from the very fabric of existence!

“Are you going to destroy me, Twilight?” he asked almost mockingly.

Her body went numb as she poured everything she had, her entire being, into the roiling sea of pure hatred that was now her magic, her horn exploding with a power the likes of which she had never used, never seen, before. A cone of liquid energy rushed across the road and enveloped him, burning and tearing at him with beyond-incandescent claws and barrages of near-solid fire. The ground beneath her hooves melted away and evaporated, but through sheer force of will, she remained standing upon nothing, even as she felt her hooves cracking and bubbling from the monumental heat of her spell of pure, primal destruction. “Die!” she screamed with such force that she tasted blood, her words lost in the colossal roaring of the unlimited energy flowing from her horn. Her fur evaporated, but the pain she should have felt became lost in the venomous ocean of fury that consumed her mind, only adding to the power of her spell as she called down a flurry of titanic bolts of lightning upon where he stood.

Her merciless and unbridled onslaught lasted for several minutes before the self-mutilated unicorn’s rage finally burned away, her ruined body falling to the ground and sizzling as she struck the incandescent earth beneath. Half of her front legs were now nothing more than charred stumps, burned away by the recoil of her own spell, as was her fur and large parts of her skin. And yet... she felt nothing. Ahead of her was nothing but blazing fires and the trail she had carved through the ground, glowing with heat and the residual magic of her spell. He was gone, not only killed, but... erased.

“No.”

It took the unicorn a moment to register that one word, but when she did, she screamed until blood poured forth from her throat in thick streams.

The alicorn chuckled softly as he lifted the unicorn out of her crater with his magic. “So much emotion. Such hatred and blind rage!”

Twilight hacked up a clot of tissue she didn’t want to know what was before being brought face to face with her hated enemy, his coat still as pristine as when she had first seen him. What remained of her horn sputtered uselessly as she growled and hissed at him, her vocal cords long since destroyed.

“Such destruction you have wreaked upon yourself, all in the name of love. A beautiful and terrible force; it gives rise to such an endless ocean of emotions that it can be nothing more than one of the most fundamental elements of life. The love for your friends, the love for your mentor... It is beautiful to remind you how precious it is, and yet, when that love is threatened, it inspires such dark resolve, such hatred and enmity of the magnitude you just displayed. All so that you may defend that which you love. Or perhaps ‘avenge’ would be more fitting.

“You, who champion harmony. You, who champion love. Tell me this. What good is love when you in its name sacrifice those closest to you?” he challenged her, gesturing at the five piles of ashes surrounding them. “When it abandons you as it has now? What good does love do you when it fuels the hatred that burns your world to ashes?” He turned the unicorn, allowing her to see the trail of destruction she had carved through the earth. For as far as the eye could see, there was nothing but fire.

“Your hatred had eyes only for me, and so you unleashed your fury blindly and decimated everything in your path. A truly marvellous and impressive display. Only... there once was a town here, was there not? How many more of your friends have been burned to ashes in the name of love? Did you not notice the hundreds of ponies you so abruptly robbed of life? How many families have been ruined because you put yourself at the mercy of your emotions, your basest of base desires of hatred and bloodshed? Did you not notice the demise of your oldest friend?”

Twilight let forth a strangled choke and sob that sounded much like “Spike,” blood dribbling down her chin as she opened her mouth.

“By your own hooves, no less,” the alicorn affirmed, dropping Twilight to the ground. He was silent for a while, allowing her to fully absorb all that she had done. “But do not despair, for I am merciful. Simply close your eyes, and I will end you now.”

There was nothing she could do. Never before had she felt so helpless. He had coaxed out every last ounce of power she had, destroyed everything she loved to strengthen her resolve. All to amuse himself. She had unleashed her full potential upon him, the power that would have been able to forge a sun, level a mountain, but he had brushed it aside as if it were nothing. Her enemy was invincible and ruthless, and she could do nothing to stop him. She shuddered and sighed. She had lost everything, and so, hoping she would be able to reunite with those she loved... she closed her eyes.

“Remember,” he whispered, leaning down to speak in her ear. “The choice was yours.”

Twilight took a deep breath, and welcomed the abrupt and cold darkness as his magic lanced through her neck.

14 - Scars of a Nightmare

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Succession

Chapter 14 - Scars of a Nightmare

The hated alicorn’s magic lanced into her neck, and sweet darkness overcame her, the blinding agony replaced by a dull throbbing in her neck. For an eternity it seemed, she just lay there, at an odd sort of peace with herself as she wondered what awaited her in the life after death. Would her friends be waiting for her? Would Celestia be there? The idea of an afterlife had always seemed implausible to the unicorn, but with death coming for her so suddenly, she found herself wishing she had been wrong.

And yet, although her body was gone and with it the searing pains of her fatal, self-inflicted wounds, she was still burning all over. The pain, the true pain that ate away at everything she was, the pain of watching her friends reduced to nothing but ashes was still there, the remains of her existence smoldering in its burning, vice-like grip.

She had failed. She had failed Celestia and her friends. By giving up, she had doomed Equestria. Without her, ponydom was at the mercy of her enemy. The peace she had found in death turned brittle and shattered, but as it did so, the memories of her friends ceased burning her, serving instead to feed her resolve and bolster her strength. After another eternity had passed, she opened her eyes.

She found herself in a strange void, lying on some sort of metal surface, one which hummed softly when she got to her hooves, as if in response to her movements. She winced as even the slightest of movements triggered the odd, sharp pains in her neck that had been plaguing her since The Great Tragedy, but it was nothing compared to what she had just been put through, to what she was still being put through.

“Wh-where am I?” she asked out loud, hoping for some answer. She had her hooves, all four of them, as if she had never burned them away. The rest of her body was there as well, unblemished by her horrible battle with the alicorn. “Did I... die?” She lit her horn and discovered that she was not standing in an empty void, but in a small square room without doors, each and every surface coated in a strange, violet-tinted alloy.

Had he been so cruel? Had he allowed her not even the mercy of death?

I survived. I think... But how!? I... I’m trapped... No, no! I can’t let him win! I can’t let him get away with killing everyone I love! I can’t let him do the same to Equestria!

A magenta beam of light flew from her horn and into the nearest wall, but instead of cutting through the metal, it vanished into it, pulling at her magical reserves until she ended her spell.

I don’t care if I’m dead or alive! He... is going... to suffer! I don’t care if he’s stronger! I don’t care where I am! If he thinks this cell is going to stop me, he’s dumber than he looks! Another beam shot forth from her horn, this time striking the wall properly as she adapted her spell to the strange metal’s arcane resonance. His walls won’t stop me!

A small fissure opened in the metal, and with a deafening screech, her magic peeled away the coating, revealing a wall of concrete. “Nothing will stop me!” she shouted at the black alicorn as she stepped back to the opposite side of the cell, her horn taking on a bright glow as she charged a third spell. “I’ll kill you!”

“T-Twilight!?” a panicked voice called out from somewhere to her right just as the unicorn unleashed an explosive charge that blew apart the wall before her. She had underestimated the spell’s power, however, and was thrown to the floor by the recoil of the explosion, coughing and hacking as the entire room filled with dust and chunks of concrete. A door, perfectly concealed in the wall to her right, clicked and opened up. Somehow, Spike was there, filling out the entirety of the doorframe as he stood upright and looked at her with worry. “You... you’re awake, right? You’re alright?”

“No...” the unicorn muttered as she struggled to her hooves, half-crawling and half-walking toward the exit, completely oblivious to the fact that Spike was alive. “Not until I find him! I need to find him!”

“S-slow down, Twi!” the dragon begged of her, taking a few steps back and allowing her to leave the ruined cell before barring her way. He crouched down in front of her, trying to look her in the eye, though the unicorn was quick to avert her gaze. “What’s going on?”

Twilight sniffled as the dragon held her, debating whether or not to just push him out of the way. For a moment, however, her fierce determination crumbled and she went limp in his grip “I... I... You’re dead, Spike! He made me kill you! I-I killed you! You’re... you’re dead! You’re dead, Spike!”

“Whoah, whoah, Twi!” Spike exclaimed as she promptly collapsed into tears. “I-I’m not dead! I’m fine! Look!”

“Ponyville’s gone!” Twilight continued, gasping for air as the full force of her emotional trauma returned. “He made me do it! I killed everyone! Apple Bloom, Big Mac, Cheerilee, Lyra, Derpy, Spike, Carrot Top...”

“I’m not dead!” Spike repeated comfortingly, stroking the unicorn’s mane gently. “Ponyville’s fine too. C-calm down.”

“No!” Twilight insisted, her sorrow once more turning into rage and resolve. “He needs to pay for what he’s done! I have to kill him!”

“Kill!? Kill who!?”

“Him! The alicorn!” Twilight shouted, twisting out of her friend’s grip. “You didn’t see him! He’s the one that killed Celestia and Luna! Shining and Cadance! He just killed AJ and Rainbow and Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie! Made me destroy Ponyville!”

“But I just got a letter from Rainbow!” Spike countered, following the unicorn as she left behind the cell. “She’s not dead!” Putting the cell behind them, the pair found themselves in a dimly lit concrete passageway devoid of any windows, the only light illuminating their path coming from small lightbulbs set in the ceiling. The hall stretched on for a hundred feet in each direction before vanishing behind a corner, lining both walls were a series of numbered doors, and immediately to her left, there was a staircase blocked by a solid-looking metal mesh. As the unicorn approached what seemed to be the only exit in the area, she noticed a score of unicorn guards standing with horns at the ready. They all seemed to relax upon seeing Twilight, however, and the glow in their horns was quickly cut off.

“Where are we?” the unicorn demanded impatiently as she came to a halt in front of the iron grating.

“Dungeons of Cristallum,” the dragon muttered uneasily, eyeing the twenty guards in front of Twilight. He leaned down and whispered into her ear. “So you should probably stop shouting and calm down. They might throw you back in that cell.”

At this, Twilight’s gaze only hardened as she looked the guards over. Without warning, her horn erupted with magenta as she grabbed hold of her would-be captives, slamming them against the walls and restraining them with magical chains. As she did so, a concentrated beam of energy shot forth from her horn and cut a hole in the metal mesh. Twilight groaned as the wound in her neck responded to her magical exertions by throbbing even more. “We’re in Manehattan? I just destroyed Ponyville!” she argued, stepping through the hole and past the struggling guards gasping for air as her restraints tightened against their throats. “He just killed them! You can’t know if everyone’s alright!”

“Twilight, the guards..!” the dragon pleaded with her as he struggled to get through the narrow opening the unicorn had cut for herself.

“They won’t stop me!” she screamed back at the dragon as she started up the stairs. “I won’t let anything stand in my way! If it’s the last thing I do, I. Will. Destroy him!” She reached a corner and with a scream, she took out her frustrations on the wall in front of her, firing another explosive charge at the concrete. The recoil surprised her once more, and she was thrown back the way she had come and directly into Spike’s arms.

A claw immediately locked around her horn, blocking her magic before she could teleport, while the dragon’s other arm grabbed hold of her chest and held it so that her flailing hooves couldn’t reach him. “Twilight..! Please!”

“Let me go!” the unicorn only screamed, her horn blazing futilely against the dragon’s fireproof hands. All around her, the guards were released from her magical hold, falling to their knees and gasping for air.

“Twilight, stop!” The sudden seriousness in the dragon’s voice was finally enough to bring the unicorn out of her frenzy, and as the guards got to their hooves, she momentarily ceased her struggles. “You didn’t just get here,” he revealed. “You can’t have destroyed Ponyville because you’ve been in that cell for two months.”

“No!” Twilight insisted shaking her head as best she could in Spike’s grip. “I just...”

“It was just a nightmare.”

“No!” She screamed this time, making one of the guards jump in surprise and the wound in her neck pulse painfully. “It was real!” she gasped. “Don’t you dare tell me that nightmare was... was a nightmare! It was real!”

“Rainbow Dash followed you to Neighbury to make sure you were okay. And that’s where she found you,” the dragon tried, trying to sound as calm as possible. When he unintentionally loosened his grip on Twilight’s horn, however, she was quick to use her magic to break out of his grip.

“You’re not real!” she practically screamed at the dragon before vanishing in a dazzling flash that blackened the concrete she had been standing on.

“He can’t trick me! He didn’t kill me, and he’s going to regret it!” she told herself as she reappeared on the roof of Cristallum, near the runway for flying chariots reserved for emergencies or unusual situations. “You!” she shouted at the two pegasus guards on duty, pointing first at them and then to the vacant chariot they were lounging up against. “Ponyville! Right now!”

“Seven hours!” she muttered to herself as she teleported onto the chariot, groaning with frustration at what had just happened, forcing the crushing thoughts of what she had lost away and focusing instead on the task at hoof: Annihilating the alicorn. “It takes seven hours to fly from here to Ponyville! I’m gonna lose him! He’s going to run away again!”

“Cap‒ err, Twilight..?” one of the pegasi began, giving the unicorn a worried look. “You alright? I heard‒”

“Now!” Twilight ordered impatiently, fitting the harness onto the pegasi and setting the chariot into motion with her magic. “We’re after Celestia’s murderer!”

“Where’s that spatial link!?” she whispered with annoyance. “What did he do to my magic!? It’s back to normal! No, no, no!” Already, she had tired herself out from her simple teleportation, and she slammed a hoof against the chariot angrily. “How am I supposed kill him now!?”

“I thought we were after Nightmare Moon?” one of the guards asked with confusion. “Who’s ‘he’?”

“I don’t know!” Twilight hissed. “Can’t we go any faster? We’re going to lose him!”

“We need to leave the ground first,” the pegasus shot back, obviously irked by the captain’s behavior.

Twilight rolled her eyes and turned around before sitting, watching Cristallum as the chariot took to the air and flew off in a southwesterly direction. “I can’t overpower him,” she muttered to herself again, this time low enough for none of the two pegasi to hear. “I can’t hide from him. That makes surprising him hard. He’s impervious to my destructive spells. He’s impervious to the Elements of Harmony...” Twilight’s breathing quickened. “Oh Celestia, Rainbow Dash! Rarity! Fluttershy and Pinkie and AJ!” Her rapid breathing crossed into hyperventilation and she pressed her hooves against her temples as if to force away the evil, maddening memories. “Focus! Focus! N-no breakdowns! Not again! You can’t allow yourself to let him kill you again! He let you live! Make him regret it! Make him scream just as they did! Whatever I did in Neighbury, I need to do it again! Unlock my true potential! Destroy him! Destroy the one who hurt those I love! That’s... what... matters!”

“Faster!” she cried out at the chariot pullers, the mere fact that Cristallum was still within sight annoying her to no end.

“You can’t expect us to double-time it all the way over to Ponyville!” the pegasus who had spoken before protested, although he and his partner did pick up their pace.

“The alicorn who killed Celestia and Luna is in Ponyville!” Twilight shrieked with frustration. “He just murdered the Elements of Harmony for pony’s sake! Give it all you’ve got, or he’s gonna get away! Is that understood!?”

“They’re dead!?” the other chariot puller exclaimed incredulously, looking back at Twilight before she shot him an icy stare that told him to keep flying. “Are you serious!?”

“Do you think I would joke about that!? No! Just... fly! Shut up and fly! As fast as you can!” She took a deep breath to try to calm herself and turned away from the two pegasi again.

Seven hours. Seven hours. Seven hours to replenish my magic. Seven hours to unlock my potential again. Seven hours to figure out a way to defeat something that’s beaten the princesses and the Elements of Harmony. Argh! Seven hours for him to get away! He’s not gonna be there!

“Twilight!” Having followed her from Cristallum, Spike was now flying toward her, somehow gaining on the chariot until he reached her and landed beside her. “What’s wrong with you!?” he demanded after catching his breath. “You can’t just strangle a score of guards and run off like that!”

“You said they were going to throw me back in that cell!” Twilight defended herself. “They’re fine! I didn’t hurt them!”

“Since when is strangling ponies not the same as hurting them!?” Spike insisted. “Now, lucky for you, they were pretty understanding of your condition, so they’ll keep quiet about what happened.” The dragon sighed and looked at Twilight, expecting an answer. When none came, he continued. “How about a ‘thank you Spike for smoothing things over with the prison guards I assaulted’?”

“You’re not Spike!” Twilight stated defiantly. “Spike’s dead! He was in Ponyville when it got destroyed!”

“Ponyville’s been destroyed too!?” the chariot puller who spoken previously exclaimed again.

“Fly!” Twilight demanded once again. “There’ll be plenty of time for explaining later!”

“Won’t you please just listen to me?” Spike plead. “Ponyville is fine! Just this morning, I got a letter from Rainbow Dash! Who’s in Ponyville!”

“Then it was destroyed after that letter was sent!”

“And according to you, you’re the one that did it?” Spike asked making sure he’d gotten it right.

Twilight sighed heavily. “I... I didn’t mean to...”

“Whatever you think happened didn’t really happen,” Spike tried again. “You’ve been in some sort of coma for two months. Rainbow said it was a lot like something that happened to you when you travelled back in time to The Great Tragedy.”

“Just... shut up, Spike! I mean... not-Spike! Whatever you are! Spike’s dead! All of my friends are dead! He killed them and he killed me!”

“He... killed you?”

Twilight threw him an angry glare. “You’re just one of his... things!” She prodded a hoof at the dragon and confirmed that he wasn’t just an image. “Some kind of weird, solid illusion! The only reason I haven’t destroyed you already is because you look like Spike! So... stop mocking me!”

“I’m not mocking you, Twilight, just trying to talk some sense into you.”

“The real Spike can’t fly!” Twilight exclaimed triumphantly, having found solid proof of her statement. “You just flew! Ergo, you aren’t Spike!”

“Rainbow taught me,” the dragon countered. “During the two months you were sleeping.” He lifted himself up on his legs and spread out his arms demonstratively. “Taught myself to stand upright again too!”

“Yeah? If Rainbow taught you, where is she now?”

“She went back to Ponyville. Three ponies there have gone missing, so she went to check it out. From the looks of that letter she sent me, she not only found those ponies, but Fluttershy too. Said she needed the council’s help rescuing them.”

“Fluttershy had already come back!” Twilight retorted. “But now she’s... she’s...”

“She came back...” Spike said, sounding unconvinced. “In your dream?”

“Nightmare!” Twilight corrected him. “Which was real!”

“I’m not convincing you, am I?” Spike sighed with exasperation, and Twilight shook her head. “Fine. You’re going to Ponyville? I guess you’ll see for yourself soon enough.”

Almost eight hours after having left Cristallum, Twilight and Spike were finally within sight of Ponyville. The unicorn, however, was too busy fuming over the lateness of their arrival to feel any kind of relief at the sight of the town being utterly unharmed. Rather, the only thing it seemed to do was make her even angrier at the fact that she’d been somehow tricked by the alicorn.

Speaking of which, the dark stallion was nowhere to be found. Ponyville was idyllic, as it always was, even with the eternal night besetting Equestria. She was certain she had met the alicorn, but with the revelation that at least the final moments of their encounter had been nothing more than a horrible nightmare, Twilight found herself growing more and more stressed trying to piece together and verify the hundreds of things that had happened to her after leaving Dragoncrest. Only adding to her woes was the pain in her magical wound, which had built to the point where it was hammering away at her neck relentlessly.

“Whoah, Twilight!” The unicorn turned her head to see Rainbow Dash pull up next to the flying chariot. The pegasus, just like the town, was perfectly fine. No injuries, no fear or misery or anything else that suggested she’d experienced the things Twilight had. She was even smiling. “Finally woke up, huh?”

“Woke up!?” Twilight snapped, the pegasus’ smile quickly vanishing. “Woke up!? I have not been sleeping!”

“I know it’s hard to believe, Twilight, but look!” Spike gestured first at Rainbow Dash and then at the town. “Rainbow’s alive and Ponyville is fine! What else do I have to do to convince you?”

“I’m ‘alive’?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “Am I missing something? And if you weren’t sleeping, then what were you doing?”

Twilight snorted irritably, knowing full well that Spike had managed to prove her wrong. It did not improve her mood. “I’ve had a nightmare,” she growled. “A plain old, regular nightmare!”

“Ooookay?” Rainbow Dash shot Spike a glance, but he only shrugged in response. “Are you alright?” she asked Twilight.

“No! Where’s Fluttershy? Spike said you’d found her, so I’m guessing she’s alive too! Everypony’s alive, apparently! No doubt Celestia’ll come prancing out of her grave and raise the sun any minute now!”

“Uh... whoah.” Rainbow Dash gave her a wide-eyed stare. “What happened?”

“It’s... a long story,” Twilight told her dismissively. “According to Spike here, I’m going crazy!”

“I never said that,” Spike broke in defensively. “I’m just saying you had a nightmare.”

“It was real, alright!?” Twilight exclaimed angrily, then gestured at her friends. “Since you’re all still around, it apparently didn’t happen, but it was real! I-I felt it! For all I know, this isn’t real! Or maybe I’m still having a nightmare! All I know is that it hurts!” Her eyes began to water and she stomped a hoof furiously against the chariot to focus. “Where’s Fluttershy!?”

To her great frustration, Rainbow Dash didn’t immediately answer, continuing to eye her with worry instead. Before Twilight spoke up again, however, she finally complied. “Well, just these past two months, we’ve had three other disappearances here in Ponyville. Orchid Dew, Twinkleshine and Blue Harvest just vanished without a trace. But... a while after I came back, just two days ago, guess what happens? I manage to save Golden Harvest from being carried off by a pack of diamond dogs!”

“Diamond dogs!?” both Spike and Twilight exclaimed in unison, one in surprise, the other in outrage.

The pegasus nodded her head excitedly. “I went back to Fluttershy’s cottage and did an extra thorough sweep, and sure enough, I find one of those holes the diamond dogs always leave behind not far from the house! Really hid it well, too! They musta kidnapped her before the timberwolves came!”

“The diamond dogs took Fluttershy!?” Twilight exclaimed. “They’ve held her for two months!?”

“Uh, four,” Rainbow Dash corrected her, the statement doing nothing to lighten the unicorn’s hostile mood.

“But why would they start kidnapping ponies again?” Spike asked. “Didn’t they learn their lesson last time?”

“Only one way to find out,” Rainbow Dash reasoned, punching her hooves together.

If they’ve hurt her... The very distinct memory of Fluttershy screaming in pain floated into her mind, and Twilight’s eyes twitched.

“Land over there,” Twilight told her chariot pullers as they reached the northern outskirts of Ponyville, pointing toward the large field in which she and her friends had first encountered the diamond dogs. Her tone was no longer as heated as it had been throughout the entire flight from Manehattan to Ponyville, but frosty and detached, both her rage and the pain in her neck growing to the point where they simply numbed her.

And while the chariot pullers complied, Rainbow Dash noticed the sudden change in temper. “Twi? Are you sure you’re up for this right now? You seem really...”

“Angry?” Twilight pressed her, glaring at the cyan pegasus. “Furious!? On the brink of insanity!? Yes! All of those things! Nothing at all makes sense right now, and I don’t have time to figure out what the hay is going on because there’s always something getting in the way!” The unicorn groaned with frustration at... everything. “Not that saving Fluttershy is ‘in the way’, but... ugh, there are so many other things I need to deal with right now!”

Impatient with the slow descent, Twilight teleported off the chariot and onto the ground below. She promptly fell over from the abrupt change in speed and buried her head in one of the many mounds littering the torn up field that hid the lair of the ponynappers. She quickly got to her hooves and spat out a mouthful of dirt, only just quelling the overwhelming desire to blast a crater in the ground. After having flown over the bright lights of Ponyville, it took her eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness that dominated the majority of the small town’s countryside. By the time they did so, Twilight was joined by both Rainbow Dash and Spike.

“I don’t get it,” Spike complained, still very much worried. “How can you still be mad after eight whole hours? Why don’t we just, I don’t know, calm down a bit before doing something rash?”

Rainbow Dash, however, disagreed. “No way! If Twilight’s up for this, I say we do it ASAP! Fluttershy’s down there! Every minute she spends with those chumps is a minute they force her to dig up diamonds or something!”

“You aren’t helping...” Spike deadpanned, but Rainbow Dash apparently didn’t care, turning her attention to Twilight instead.

“So how do we do this?” she asked as she followed the unicorn to a partially filled hole near the center of the clearing. “Charge in and buck everyone out of the way, or isolate a dog and interrogate him to find out where everypony is?”

“You two stay up here,” Twilight ordered, the hole before her erupting in a fountain of dirt as she used her magic to excavate the tunnel. “I’ll deal with them!”

“Twilight...” Spike pleaded of her once more. “I don’t think that’s a good idea! Not when you’re... like this!”

“You can’t go alone!” Rainbow Dash protested, blocking the unicorn with an outstretched hoof. “They know I saw them! They’ll be expecting a rescue! What if they capture you?”

Twilight only snorted at the suggestion and vanished in another burst of light.

The glow of her horn blazed brightly as she appeared in the tunnels below, the outraged cries of her pegasus friend soon silenced as she refilled and sealed the entrance once more.

They took her! They enslaved her! Kept her locked underground for two, no, four months! the unicorn told herself, rekindling that terrible ocean of hatred her enemy had given rise to, the pain in her neck escalating and stoking the fires burning in her mind. I thought she was dead! Every day I feared Pinkie would get that nosebleed! I even saw her die! And I am not letting that happen again! I can’t believe those things were even admitted to Celestia’s funeral!

As the magenta glow of her horn transformed into flames, a howl from somewhere ahead of her told her that the diamond dogs had already noticed her presence. Good, Twilight told herself, pressing onwards in the direction of the howl. Those things are no better than the alicorn! And... And it’s time I sent him a message... He needs to know what happens if he ever thinks about hurting my friends again! She soon entered into a large stone cavern with several exits dug into the walls all around her. A large stalactite drooping down from the center of the ceiling carrying a cluster of torches provided a moderate amount of lighting for the scene.

Surrounding the entrance from which she had just come were a horde of diamond dogs, some heavily armored while others were armed with crude spears and maces. Twilight frowned at the savage display of might, but showed no fear, her enemy’s show of power only serving to increase her building rage. I slaughtered a pack of timberwolves in a matter of minutes, I’ve brought down ursas and dragons. These dogs should be cowering! They should be parting before me! They should have left my friends alone!

“Ponies aren’t welcome here!” a voice from among the crowd shouted, the exclamation met by a series of snarls of approval.

“Leave!”

“Nohoho!” a third voice chuckled. “Perhaps you should stay!”

“Where’s Fluttershy?” Twilight growled through clenched teeth, assuming a defensive stance as the magenta flames of her horn brightened another notch.

“Who?” a dog asked mockingly.

“Is that the quiet one?”

The whispered question was met by a hissed “shut up!” before the first dog spoke again.

“We don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“Don’t lie to me!” Twilight warned the crowd. “Don’t you dare lie to me! I’m here for Fluttershy! Her and any other ponies you have captured!”

“Ponies takes dogs!” a voice to her left cried out.

“Ponies takes diamond!” a dog to her right shouted.

“So diamond dogs takes ponies!” the voice to her left concluded, met by several howling cheers.

The unicorn’s eyes locked on to the final speaker, a diminutive mutt dressed in oversized armor, and a blast of magic knocked him against a wall, temporarily silencing the others. “Consider that a warning shot! Show me where the ponies are, or you’ll regret it!”

“No!” a diamond dog clad in a red vest declared, stepping out in front of the crowd. “You will regret!” He eyed her blazing horn cautiously before continuing. “You leave! If not... diamond dogs hurts ponies!”

She was silent for a while, her gaze hardening, the threat fuelling her anger, not her fear. “Say that again...” Twilight growled, the already rampant sea of rage within her lighting up as an image of Fluttershy screaming in pain filled the unicorn’s mind, the image of all of her friends burning to death soon lost in the red mist of rage that eclipsed her mind. The agony in her neck, plaguing her from when she had first woken up, rose to an excruciating crescendo, somehow adding to the power that was rushing into her horn.

“Pony heard,” the diamond dog repeated, sounding a little less confident this time. “You leave, or... or we hurt friend!”

“No...” the unicorn stated, taking a step forward. “No you will not!” she bellowed, the very force of her voice pushing back the ringleader as her bulging eyes were lost in a white blaze. “You will not hurt her, you will not hurt my friends, you will not hurt a single creature ever again! Do you want to know why!?” The leader, now thrown back against the bulk of the crowd, trembled at the suddenly very intimidating pony before him. “Do you!?”

“Be... be-because we’ll be good?” he offered nervously, doing his best at a placating smile as he tried to crawl backwards, only to be blocked by the dogs behind him.

“No.”

The tunnel from which she had entered was suddenly lit up brightly, a dull roaring growing louder and louder as the pony stepped out into the center of the cave. A roiling wave of flame, one that seemed to be taken directly out of her nightmare, erupted from the opening behind the unicorn, splitting apart instantly and rushing along the walls of the cave where all the diamond dogs stood. As the two waves of fire met before her, Twilight’s enemies cried out in panic and agony, but the unicorn did nothing, the diamond dogs’ words still echoing within her hollow mind and robbing her of any mercy she should have had.

This is wrong.

This is right!

The fires died down and, panting heavily with exhaustion and rage, Twilight set after the few that had evaded her, confident that the survivors would lead her to Fluttershy. She stomped across the charred remains of the creature that had threatened her friends and let loose a thunderbolt that struck down a dog just as he was about to turn a corner.

It’s high time someone did this, the unicorn told herself, a series of howls warning her that reinforcements were on their way. They prey upon ponies when we are at our weakest, when they think we are at our weakest! I’ll show them! her mind hissed vehemently, twisting her neck in a hopeless attempt at dulling the pain as she teleported ahead to the corner where the remaining diamond dogs had disappeared. A spear missed her by an inch, and the unicorn summoned an impenetrable barrier of magenta in front of her. As half a dozen more primitive projectiles bounced off of her defenses, Twilight growled. Her magic grabbed hold of the spears and sharpened rocks that had struck her shield, blindly flinging them into the darkness of the tunnel ahead of her, resulting in a series of pathetic whimpers.

“You should have stayed in your caves!” she roared furiously at those ahead of her, breaking into a gallop at the sound of skittering claws. “But no, you’d much rather die!” A glimmer of metal in the darkness ahead caught her eye, and a bolt of lightning struck a diamond dog in the back of the head. She rushed past three dogs with spears protruding from their chests, blood pooling around what Twilight already considered corpses.

Her tormented pursuit took her down a winding staircase carved from stone, the primal grunts and roars of diamond dogs preparing for war growing ever louder as she descended. Several squads of spear-wielding dogs tried apprehending her as she drew closer to where she sensed Fluttershy was being held. Every enemy that stood in her way, however, was met with much the same fate; as Twilight reached the bottom of the stairs and entered into an enormous cave, she was accompanied by a number of lifeless bodies rolling down the steps alongside her.

The cavern she now found herself in was much better lit than any chamber she had seen during her short, crazed vendetta and was apparently some sort of gathering place for the inhabitants of the underground passages. Enormous stone tables that she suspected had once taken up the majority of the floor space had been shoved back roughly against the walls, and in their place stood an even larger horde of warriors than the one Twilight had initially encountered, the majority of which were armed with much more deadly weaponry. Lining the walls everywhere the unicorn looked were primitively crafted works of precious metal and glittering gems, and at the far end of the cavern was her goal. The four ponies were standing upon a podium carved from the floor, their front hooves shackled to the walls they stood against while an armed diamond dog stood by each of them, snarling at the intruder.

“Now, pony, you will‒” The speaker, holding a crude axe against Fluttershy’s neck, was abruptly silenced as a crackling bolt of magenta took off his head, all four captives screaming in horror as the three remaining hostage takers followed suit.

A wall of magenta rose out of the ground and enveloped the podium, protecting the panicked ponies from further harm as Twilight stepped into the cave fully, eyeing the gathered throng before her with cold hatred. “You don’t seem to get how things work!” she told the diamond dogs, her gaze sweeping over each and every one of them. She was met by expressions of fear, hatred, rage, and shock, none of which touched her. “You don’t get to hurt ponies! You don’t get to loaf around in your caves while others do your work for you!” She spotted a small group of dogs inching toward an exit set in the wall between a pair of overturned tables, and even more magenta walls materialized, blocking every opening in the cavern but the one Twilight had come from. “And you don’t get to run!”

“No running!” a diminutive diamond dog agreed with the unicorn, screaming frustratedly at those around him. “Stabbing and cutting, yes! One pony, sixty diamond dogs! Attack, attack, attack!”

Twilight felt a monumental wave of blood rising out of the whirling sea of anger within her as she quickly conjured a shield that blocked the first volley of projectiles. As her horn was wreathed in blazing flames of magenta, the wave crested, and as the first wave of diamond dogs fell upon her magical barrier, the ocean within her heaved violently as the wave crashed, triggering a final, blinding stab of pain that caused her mind to become consumed by bloodlust.

When she regained her senses, she could see nothing but smoke and, through its veil, the dim glow of the force field that still held the four captive ponies. Shaking her head with confusion, the unicorn teleported to the far end of the cavern, the ache in her neck finally abating. She lowered her barrier and was immediately assaulted by the sound of Orchid Dew and Blue Harvest’s panicked screaming, Twinkleshine only staring at her savior in absolute horror. Fluttershy, suspended against the wall to her right, had already fainted.

“Be quiet...” Twilight muttered at the two screaming mares as her magic reached out to the four prisoners, the exhaustion of whatever she had done to her opponents making even that task difficult. With a final effort, the five ponies vanished in a bright flash, reappearing on the surface far above.

That’s done... she told herself as she once again found herself in the relative brightness of the moonlit night, refusing to simply collapse with exhaustion as she left behind the four ponies and headed for the chariot not far from her position. That’s done... It’s done... Oh, Celestia... What have I done!?

“Twilight!?” Sensing something was very wrong with the unicorn and seeing the screaming ponies she had just left behind, Rainbow Dash rushed to her side. “Wh-what happened!? What happened down there!?”

The unicorn only shook her head lightly, remaining silent as she forced herself not to burst into tears. With shaky hooves, she stepped onto the open chariot and locked the safety railing in place behind her.

“Twilight! Why’s everypony freaking out like that!?” Rainbow Dash demanded, trotting up alongside the chariot, eyeing the unicorn suspiciously. “Why are you freaking out?”

“Go,” Twilight told her chariot pullers in a voice on the verge of breaking and after a moment’s hesitation, they complied, taking to the air and leaving behind the Ponyvillians and Spike.

“H-hang on, Twi!” the dragon called out worriedly, and soon the chariot heaved violently as the large reptile landed beside her, a pair of scaled arms wrapping around the little unicorn as Spike pulled her into a comforting embrace. “What’s wrong?”

Twilight shuddered and sobbed, trying for a few moments to pull free, but as the dragon persisted, she finally relented. “I... I-I-I... I-I’m broken.”

“Huh?”

“I’m broken, Spike... H-he broke me!” The unicorn burst into tears and slipped out of Spike’s grip, falling to the floor of the chariot and burying her head between her hooves.

“Although you have yet to realize it, I have been the undisputed master of this realm ever since the death of the Solar Princess,” she suddenly remembered the alicorn say. “I have told you already; this realm is mine to do with as I please.”

We weren’t in Equestria, she realized, and began visibly shaking as a chill ran both up and down her spine, rooting itself in that strange wound in her neck. He wasn’t talking about Equestria. It was a nightmare, it was all me. He was talking about my mind! He can make me sleep for months! He can make me believe anything he wants! He makes me feel anything he wants!

I can’t trust reality. Not anymore... I can’t trust what I see, I can’t trust my own mind because... because it’s his... It’s been his since The Great Tragedy!

Suddenly, every little inconsistency she had encountered so far became shockingly obvious to the unicorn and she clutched her temples as realization inspired vivid agony.

I went back in time, I went through the palace door, and I saw him! His hoof! Not Nightmare Moon! It was only after that I heard Luna scream! How could I be so stupid!? No! Luna is dead! Dead as Celestia! He killed Luna! That was the scream! He went to Celestia afterwards. He found me. He killed the guard and threw me against the wall...

And he planted... a nightmare... Nightmare Moon was never there! It was all something he made me see! With that one spell, he made me believe Luna was evil! Made me believe it for more than half a year! He destroyed my faith in her! And that’s why I slept for a month in the hospital! Not from shock, not from injury, but because of his spell! In Greengloom and Dragoncrest... He knows where I am because he knows everything I think!

I talked to him in Neighbury, sky was still stained red there, afterwards... the sky was black again. That power surge I felt while fighting him was unrealistic; I would’ve burned myself to a crisp... Teleporting to Canterlot is nearly impossible; it only happened because it was convenient for his little ‘story’! I have no idea how to establish spatial links, I don’t even know if there is such a thing! That whole battle was an illusion. I never fought him... I never stood a chance..! He sent me into a two month coma and I didn’t even realize it!

“He’s broken me!” she repeated to the dragon, her tears forming a small puddle beneath her. “I’m not Twilight Sparkle anymore! I-I’m not Celestia’s student! I... I don’t champion harmony or love anymore!”

“‘Champion’? What are you talking about, Twi?” Spike asked worriedly, but the unicorn could only shake her head in reply.

She now pressed her hooves against her head as hard as she could, hoping against hope that she could physically drive the alicorn from her mind somehow. “Get... out! Get out, get out, get out! Get out of my head!”

“T-Twilight!? You’re starting to scare me! What’s happening? Is there any way I can help?” Try as he might, however, the dragon could do nothing to gain the attention of his friend, and so he decided to simply sit at her side, stroking her mane gently as she sobbed and spluttered, ranting over things that Spike could barely comprehend.

15 - The Hunt

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Chapter 15 - The Hunt

Twilight gave a long and heavy sigh, and the book in front of her snapped shut. The book, describing in acute detail the nature of magical duels throughout history, was nearly thrown against the wall as Twilight felt the familiar surge of anger and frustration that had been dominating her mind as of late. She resisted the urge, however, and instead dropped it onto one of the growing stacks of books she had already gone through.

A gentle knock at the door to her quarters in Cristallum made half of her despair the many daily interruptions she received from both Spike and various palace guards, while the other half welcomed the distraction from her fruitless research. Expecting the worried dragon, Twilight opened the door with her magic and instead found Artemis, the council’s head of arcane and mundane sciences.

“Hope I’m not interrupting anything important,” the reddish violet unicorn greeted her, eyeing the numerous books stacked both on and beside Twilight’s desk.

“It is very important,” Twilight replied, shaking her head. “But I’m not making a lot of headway. What do you need?”

“I came here to talk,” Artemis said, conjuring a chair out of nothing and sitting down so she faced the other unicorn. “We’ve all been pretty worried about you, Twilight. First, you almost died in Dragoncrest, and then...” She shook her head. “We still don’t know what exactly happened in Neighbury. The coma happened, and, by all accounts, you suffered from some sort of nervous breakdown just two weeks ago. And that didn’t really end well for... anyone involved. Apart from your recent excursion to The Manehattan Central Library, you’ve kept yourself locked away in here for two weeks. I think it’s time you told us what happened in Neighbury. And outside Ponyville.”

“You don't understand,” Twilight replied, averting her gaze from Artemis. “Just the memory of it hurts. I can't tell you how much.”

“You should talk about it,” Artemis insisted. “We can keep it just between the two of us, or we could get you a professional.”

“I can’t.” Despite her best efforts, Twilight’s voice was noticeably strained. She summoned another book from a stack to her right and set it down in front of her with a resounding thud, whipping it open violently. “I feel a lot better now,” she told Artemis, unsure of whether the unicorn was genuinely concerned for her or not. “As long as I don’t think too much about what’s been going on.”

“We can’t just pretend like nothing happened,” Artemis argued.

“I need time,” Twilight defended herself. “Time to get my thoughts straight and clear my head. And I can’t do any of that before I finish this!” She waved a hoof at the books littering her desk with an annoyed sigh.

“So what are you working on?” Artemis inquired, her gaze sweeping over the many titles with curiosity.

“Mind magic.”

Artemis frowned. “That’s... Twilight, the majority of the spells in that school have been illegal for centuries.”

“Celestia’s murderer doesn’t seem to care!” Twilight shot back. “I’m working on a way to counteract them, not cast them.”

“Ah, so you did meet... her? Him? Spike said something about you thinking an alicorn stallion had killed Celestia. I couldn't make much sense of his account.”

Twilight nodded. “I recognized his voice from The Great Tragedy.”

"Spike?"

"No! The murderer!"

“But if the murderer is a stallion, what about Nightmare Moon?”

“She was a fluke!” Twilight slammed her book shut and pushed it to the far end of the desk.“She was never real!”

“But... Oh. Mind magic, huh? So, the few times you’ve seen Nightmare Moon, it was him tricking you?” Twilight nodded, and Artemis looked thoughtful for a second. “Do you... need any help?”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Help? Why?”

Artemis gestured at the piles of books. “Couldn’t you use a hoof with all this? Rediscovering mind magic?”

Twilight shook her head. “No, I mean why are you offering to help me out? What’s the catch?”

“I just want to help you, Twilight, really,” Artemis insisted. “We got off on the wrong hoof when we first met. I shouldn’t have lost my temper and I definitely shouldn’t have let Scarlet draft you into the Sword of Equestria. I want to make it up to you.”

Twilight didn’t answer, but instead kept looking at the other unicorn, eyeing her suspiciously. After a few moments, Artemis hung her head in defeat.

“And... I was hoping that... that me helping you could be the start of something. A partnership of sorts.”

“You want me to work for you instead of Scarlet Bolt,” Twilight concluded.

“With me!” Artemis stressed quickly. She rose from her seat, and the conjured chair vanished in a puff of smoke. “You shouldn’t tell anypony in the council about this, but you’re a bit of an idol to me.”

“An idol?” Twilight asked skeptically, turning her head to look at the pony now behind her.

“When we were both nominated for the position of Arch Mage, everyone assumed you’d be taking the title. I knew you’d trounce me in pretty much any field of magic, maybe even the ones I’d specialized in! The way you can just outperform almost any unicorn in Equestria, without you even realizing it, is... amazing. I’ve always envied your abilities, and even though the thought of you wiping the floor with me in the Arch Mage’s trials wasn’t all that appealing, I was looking forward to finally meeting the unicorn that had saved Equestria time and time again. Of course, you never showed up.”

“I didn’t want to move from Ponyville,” Twilight explained.

“Indeed. And yet, here you are in Manehattan. I’m really sorry, Twilight. Let me make it up to you. Let me help you deal with whatever’s troubling you.”

“Fine,” Twilight finally relented. “I don’t suppose you have access to some sort of restricted section of The Manehattan Central Library? I’m pretty sure I won’t find what I’m looking for in anything available to the public.”

“I do, but that’s mostly just dusty old texts and such,” Artemis admitted. “The kind of books that are too fragile to be handled by just anypony. There wouldn’t be anything about outlawed arcane practices in them.” She gave a deep sigh. “Something like that would have been in Canterlot. Everything important was stored in the palace, where it was safe. In comparison, Manehattan’s literary collection is pretty underwhelming.”

“So the knowledge is lost,” Twilight concluded, hanging her head. “He’s the only one who knows how to use it.”

“Maybe there’s a way to solve your problem with conventional spells?”

Twilight shook her head. “I haven’t come up with anything in two weeks.”

“Two heads are better than one,” Artemis encouraged her. “Might be you overlooked something. What’s the problem exactly?”

“Don’t you have other things to do?” Twilight pressed. “I mean... sorry, that didn’t really come out right, but... you’re a ruler of Equestria. You must have a lot on your plate already.” She gave another heavy sigh. “I can deal with this. It’ll just... take a while.”

“Something tells me you’ll want to deal with it as fast as you can,” Artemis told her. “Despite everything, I bet you’ll want to be part of the Sword’s next mission.”

“Why’s that?” Twilight asked suspiciously.

“They’ll be going to Canterlot,” Artemis revealed, and the lavender unicorn’s eyes widened. “Well, the caverns beneath it, at least. I’ll admit, I kinda agree with Scarlet when it comes to whether the Elements are still there somewhere, but if anypony can find them, it’d be you.

“You’ll have to pull yourself together, though,” Artemis warned her. “Scarlet’s considering letting you sit this one out because of Neighbury... and Ponyville.” The unicorn gave Twilight an uneasy look. “Guards investigated the diamond dog burrows after you retrieved Fluttershy and the three others, and all they found were corpses. Most of them looked as though they’d been burned alive. You’ll have to tell the Council of Nine what happened if you want any chance at going to Canterlot.”

Twilight bit her lip nervously, an uncomfortable silence forming between the two unicorns, growing only lengthier as Twilight’s mind worked furiously to come up with some excuse. Slowly, however, those thoughts were pushed aside by the much more commanding, and terrifying, memories of what she’d done to the diamond dogs. Before she even knew it, her lip was bleeding, and she decided to change the subject.

“My problem,” she said, running a hoof against a nearby stack of books to align it properly, “is that my enemy, this alicorn, can use a spell to put me to sleep. For any length of time, I think. And then I have a nightmare. Except... it’s so much more real than a nightmare. As long as I’m under the influence of his spell, I see whatever he wants me to see. I hear it, feel it, smell it, taste it. He traps me in a false reality that holds more horrors than you can imagine, but he does it so seamlessly that you never realize you’re dreaming. He did it to me when I travelled back in time. He made me see Nightmare Moon instead of himself and that ended with me trying to commit suicide... It never made sense how I survived falling from that tower, but now it does, I suppose. Makes me wonder if what I remember of The Great Tragedy even happened at all.”

“You remember something about that night?” Artemis asked, taking her eyes off Twilight’s books to look at her curiously. “What?”

Twilight shuddered. “Just the deathblow. I remembered it while I was creating that solite in the conclave.”

“Ah. That explains a lot. Alright, so he puts you to sleep, and he traps you in a nightmare. I suppose that’s what happened to you in Neighbury? The reason you were in that two month coma?” Twilight nodded. “What did he make you see then?”

Twilight shook her head. “The worst things imaginable. The Great Tragedy was nothing compared to what that... thing put me through!”

“What?” Artemis pressed. “What did he do?” Twilight didn’t answer, only staring at her desk as she shook with silent anger. Eventually, Artemis gave up. “Something really bad, I suppose. What about the diamond dogs? Were you under his spell when you killed them?” The unicorn caught herself. “That is... you did do it, right? I don’t think anypony else would have been able to do something like that.”

“Yes,” Twilight answered, almost choking on the words. “To both,” she lied.

I was under his spell, though, wasn’t I? That anger wasn’t my own...

“He casts this spell subtly,” she continued, growing calmer as she left behind the haunting memories as quickly as she could. “And traps you in this nightmare, which at first seems like reality, but slowly turns into your worst fears. How do you protect yourself from something like that!? At any moment, your enemy can put you to sleep, and you won’t realize it until two months later!”

“Normally, I’d say an Anti-Sleep charm,” Artemis answered hesitantly, “but if you’re up against an alicorn, you’d be hard pressed making it powerful enough to block his spell. Perhaps some sort of shield?”

Twilight shook her head. “He can smash through my shields without a second thought.”

“Really?” Artemis sounded both impressed and frightened. “He can do that to Shining Armor’s sister?”

“The trick doesn’t lie in blocking the spell,” Twilight offered. “I don’t think so, at least. Any obstacle would only slow him down. I need to be able to dispel its effects after it hits me.”

“While you’re sleeping?” Artemis’ brow furrowed as she thought. “That’s tricky... The dream is lucid?”

“I think so. At least, I seem to be conscious of my decisions.”

“Then we should be able to think of a spell which can detect whether you’re dreaming or not,” Artemis suggested. “If that spell says you are, you have nothing to fear from the nightmare you’re experiencing, right?”

“That would work if I was in control of the dream,” Twilight sighed. “It was one of the first things I thought of as well, but the fact is that this alicorn has complete control over what happens in the nightmare. I’m not even sure if I am conscious of my decisions, or if he just lets me think I am. Even if I can cast the spell, he’s in complete control of my senses; I can’t trust any feedback from that spell. If he doesn’t want me knowing it’s a dream, he’ll ensure I get a false negative.”

“Ah, yeah. Well, then it sounds like you need an outside influence to break you out of the spell if you can neither detect it nor block it.”

“You mean another pony should wake me up?” Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow. “If that were possible, wouldn’t I have been woken up as soon as you found me?”

“It’s a strong spell,” Artemis admitted. “But it’s cast by an alicorn, so that’s no wonder. What makes you think you can break it, though? Are you that powerful?”

Twilight shrugged. “I don’t know. If anyone can, I suppose it would be me.”

“But you’re unconscious when the spell hits you,” Artemis argued. “How do you propose to cast any kind of spell when you’re in this fake reality of his? Wait...” The unicorn tapped a hoof to her chin. “Hmm, what exactly happened in that dream?”

“Why?” Twilight asked, uncertain of whether she wanted to tell Artemis.

“In your dream, you cast a lot of destructive spells, right? Lightning bolts, a few gouts of fire and stuff like that? A ton of force fields too?”

“Not sure I would call it a ‘gout of fire’” Twilight replied, shuddering at the memory of the spell that had destroyed both herself and Ponyville. She felt a sharp pain in her neck, and she shook her head to clear her mind of the thoughts. “How did you know?”

“Your dream spells translated into the real world,” Artemis revealed. “It took three hours to secure you after you were found; you were shooting bolts of lightning and flinging force fields at high velocities everywhere at random. Every now and then, you’d... erupt. Everything around you ignited, and you screamed in pain. They eventually managed to block your magic by putting a ceratic seal on your horn. They put you in a steel crate, put that steel crate inside another steel crate, and carted you back to Manehattan, depositing you, crates and all, inside one of my magic proof cells.”

Artemis shook her head and snorted. “You broke the ceratic seal. By the time you woke up, those crates had simply been... erased.” She gestured at the lamp set in Twilight’s ceiling. “The magic that cell absorbed powered the majority of appliances in Cristallum for almost a week. And then you managed to break out of my magic proof cell... using your magic.” She shook her head again. “Sorry. Off topic. My point is, the spells you cast in your nightmare seem to be cast in the waking world as well. If you cast an Awakening spell on yourself while you’re dreaming, there’s a good chance the real you will cast that spell as well, waking you up.”

“Hmm, I didn’t know about the spell translation,” Twilight admitted. “It might work, but there are still a lot of uncertainties. What if I wake myself up and he just puts me back to sleep? What if I can’t control where my spells go? What if I target myself with a destructive spell instead? And it still doesn’t solve the problem of how to find out whether or not I’m dreaming.”

“I was about to suggest you just cast the spell on yourself whenever you weren’t sure if you were dreaming or not,” Artemis offered. She went around Twilight again to stand between her and the door. “As to the other issues... If you give me a few days, I could enchant you an amulet of some sort. Something that could charge up on any spare magic of yours and release it in the form of an Awakening spell if you should fall asleep. This alicorn might just put you back to sleep, but I doubt we can do anything about that.”

“An amulet,” Twilight mused, shaking her head lightly. “I think I discarded that idea because of that exact problem, but maybe it is the best solution after all. It’d be best if we could enchant it so it would activate after he’s gone, though.”

“I’m the best enchanter Equestria has to offer!” Artemis boasted, giving her a grin that reminded her of Rainbow Dash. “I’m working on an artificial intelligence at the moment, so an amulet like the one you’re asking for won’t be a problem at all!”

“You have that much time on your hooves? I should make it; it’s my problem.”

Artemis shook her head. “I said I’d help you. Besides, you don’t have too much time on your hooves. Not if you want to go to Canterlot, anyway. The Sword has been preparing for that mission for three days now,” Artemis revealed. “They’ll be leaving tomorrow night. If you wanna go with them, I’d focus on getting up to speed and convincing Scarlet Bolt to let you go.”

“And how do I do that?”

Artemis smiled and shrugged. “It’s one of the most dangerous areas in all of Equestria, and you’re the most powerful unicorn in all of Equestria. It shouldn’t be hard.”

“Why are they going to Canterlot anyway?” Twilight asked curiously. “You wouldn’t let me near that place even to get the Elements of Harmony.”

“The council is convening to discuss just that. Among other things. I was hoping I could convince you to deliver some kind of statement about what happened to you as well.” At Twilight’s look of worry, she quickly added, “don’t worry about the diamond dog thing. It wasn’t your fault. Equestrian law clearly states that the target of mind magic like you experienced can’t be prosecuted for any crimes they commit while under the spell’s influence. Culpability falls upon the caster. Besides, it was a rogue burrow; they kidnapped the Element of Kindness, so I doubt the dogs in the western mountains will want to be affiliated with them in any way. And if talking about the details of your nightmare is too personal, I think the general idea you’ve given me will suffice.”

Twilight nodded uncertainly and followed Artemis as she turned toward the door. Before opening it, however, Artemis stopped and gave Twilight a mischievous grin. “I hope you don’t get too comfortable in the Sword, now; I’m getting close to breaking you out.”

“Breaking me out?” Twilight gave Artemis a puzzled look. “You can’t just convince Scarlet Bolt to... I don’t know, ‘hand me over’?”

The violet unicorn snorted at that. “Not a chance. She’s been wanting to have you underhoof for a while, Twilight. Now that she’s got you, she’s not letting go. Just you wait,” she warned her. “She might’ve drawn you in with the title of captain, but I bet she’ll demote you given half a chance. She wants you to be a soldier, nothing more.”

“It is good to see you have recovered, Twilight,” Civil Tenet opened after the Twilight and the council ponies had seated themselves. The table in front of them had been replaced since the last time the ten ponies had met, and the deep gashes Twilight’s failed solite had burned into the marble floor had been filled and coated with silver, adding them to the elaborate patterns that already adorned the large chamber’s walls and floor. “The surviving citizens of Neighbury may well owe you their lives for confronting Nightmare Moon when you did.”

“Not Nightmare Moon, though,” Scarlet Bolt offered curiously, looking Twilight over thoughtfully. “I hear you fought a stallion.”

“A ‒?” Civil Tenet began, but fell silent of her own accord, turning instead an expectant gaze to Twilight.

Twilight couldn’t bear to meet any of the nine gazes directed at her, and so she stared glumly at the table. “Turns out... It turns out Princess Luna is dead after all.”

“You said you saw her during The Great Tragedy,” Lucre observed suspiciously. “When you travelled back in time.”

“I know. I’ll get to that,” she promised the head of finances. “Nightmare Moon didn’t destroy Neighbury. It was a stallion. An alicorn.”

“There hasn’t been a male alicorn in Equestria in nine hundred years!” Civil Tenet exclaimed. “A predecessor of the late Prince Blueblood, but he also died nine centuries ago. Who is this stallion?”

“He didn’t give me a name,” Twilight admitted. “He has a black coat like Nightmare Moon, but his mane and tail are black as well, and his eyes are amber, not Nightmare Moon’s cyan.”

“And now you tell us this alicorn is behind The Great Tragedy, I assume,” Lucre gathered, “since you now tell us Princess Luna is dead.” He eyed her critically. “I found it a hard pill to swallow when you first told us about Nightmare Moon, but you insisted you were right! That you saw her with your own eyes!”

“The alicorn is an illusionist,” Artemis broke in calmly. “Please let Twilight finish, Lucre.”

The brown unicorn rolled his eyes, but shut his mouth, allowing Twilight to continue. “I think he wanted me to join him, but I refused, which prompted him to attack me. At least, I thought he did. The coma I was found in was his doing; he trapped me in a nightmare for those two months, and I think that’s exactly what happened when I travelled back in time to The Great Tragedy. He uses his magic to manipulate other ponies’ minds.”

“An alicorn that uses dirty tricks, then,” Scarlet Bolt said, shaking her head. “I would have preferred Nightmare Moon.”

“I’m glad he didn’t finish off the survivors, but I can’t help but wonder why. Do you know where he went after... defeating you?” Rain Dancer pressed.

Twilight shook her head.

“Do you know anything about the inscriptions this alicorn left in the ruins of Neighbury?” Scarlet Bolt followed up almost immediately, and Twilight shook her head once more, this time a little confused.

“The inscriptions were left some time after Twilight was recovered,” Artemis reminded the pink pegasus.

“What inscriptions did he leave?” Twilight asked. “Is it the reason for why he destroyed Neighbury?”

“We believe so,” Artemis answered, then shrugged. “But we haven’t had any luck in deciphering them yet. He did speak Equestrian, right? He certainly doesn’t write in it. Or any other known language.

“I’ve seen him write in Equestrian,” Twilight grumbled uneasily, her thoughts drifting back to Dragoncrest Valley.

“So an alicorn was in Neighbury. That explains the explosion there and your coma, so I suppose those’re the most pressing questions about Neighbury answered,” Amity offered, eyeing Twilight uneasily as everypony realized where the conversation was headed. The earth pony’s familiar drawl seemed to have been strongly diluted over the course of the two months Twilight had been sleeping, conforming instead to the mix of Canterlot and Manehattan dialects predominant in Cristallum. “I’m sure there’s a lot more to it, but... what I really wanna know is, well... There is still the matter of the, ah, diamond dogs.”

Amity hesitated, uncomfortable with the topic herself, so Lucre finished for her. “All evidence points toward you killing them off.”

“Few would doubt you have the power to commit the murders,” Quiescent Atonement explained slowly, as if to excuse the bluntness of Lucre’s words. “You were angry at the diamond dogs for kidnapping, perhaps hurting, a close friend of yours. You entered the burrow alone, allowing no witnesses. Means, motive, and opportunity are all present, Twilight Sparkle. Please, tell us what happened.”

Twilight didn’t answer, too busy staring intently at the moon instead. The sight of the bright orb shining through the blue-tinted glass ceiling helped take her mind off of the sights of dark tunnels, fire, and screaming that were clouding her mind’s eye, but it was a losing battle. Artemis, sitting beside her, was the first to notice when the her breathing started quickening, and she quickly broke in.

“Twilight told me of what transpired in the burrow, Quiescent. I think it’s fairly obvious that the memories still pain her greatly.”

“Then you tell us,” Lucre prompted her impatiently. “Is she guilty or a victim?”

“A victim,” Artemis answered almost immediately. “But she did kill the diamond dogs.”

Murmurs of confusion broke out amongst the council ponies, but Scarlet Bolt seemed to be the only one to catch Artemis’ meaning. “Mind control,” she stated simply, and the violet unicorn nodded.

“A two month coma was not the only effect of this unknown alicorn’s spell, it seems. Although Twilight did kill those diamond dogs, the crime was committed by him.”

“So this alicorn... forced Twilight to kill?” Civil Tenet asked, eyeing the unicorn in question with a mix of shock and pity.

“Forgive me for saying this, but... that’s awfully convenient.” An uncomfortable silence fell upon the council as all eyes fell upon Lucre, who in turn rolled his eyes at the others’ reaction. “Look, all I’m saying is that this mysterious enemy of ours is, according only to Twilight’s testimony, to blame for everything that goes wrong around Twilight.”

“Surely you aren’t blaming‒” Civil Tenet began, but Lucre promptly carried on.

“Neighbury,” he started. “We know Twilight was there when it blew up; two pegasi can confirm that. Nopony in the town can confirm what exactly it was that attacked Neighbury, though, but Twilight claims it’s this alicorn. Dragoncrest: Twilight insists on going into the valley despite Coup de Grâce’s advice. In there, she manages to get Lightning Rod, a unicorn rivalling Twilight in power, killed, along with three other pegasi.”

“Dragons did that!” Twilight insisted, scowling at Lucre.

“And pray tell, who, do you claim, set those dragons off?”

“Nighmare Moon,” Scarlet Bolt answered, though it was hard to determine if she was siding with Lucre or not. “But I suppose it is this unnamed alicorn instead.”

Artemis snorted in derision. “Forgive me for saying this, but what you’re saying is absolutely idiotic, Lucre. First, Lightning Rod is nowhere near as powerful as Twilight; that’s why we wanted her to be a part of the Sword so desperately in the first place. And even if the two were comparable in terms of magic, do you seriously believe Twilight would want her killed out of, what, jealousy?”

“Is it impossible?” Lucre challenged the other unicorn.

“That Twilight took control of half a dozen adult dragons’ minds and made them attack her subordinates out of spite? Yes! That’s insane!”

“I think we all agree this is pretty far fetched, Lucre,” Penning Draft observed. “Did ye have a point, or were ya just throwing accusations around for the heck of it?”

“My point is we shouldn’t trust Twilight blindly!” Lucre groaned in response. “For all we know, she could’ve even caused The Great Tragedy. That too happens to be one of those catastrophes where we only have her word for what happened.”

“What!?” Twilight erupted, glaring daggers at the brown unicorn. The scar on her neck pulsed painfully in response to her anger and only a subtle hoof against hers from Artemis kept her from leaping forwards. “Did you just imply I killed Celestia!?”

“Calm down, Twilight,” Scarlet urged the unicorn in a no-nonsense tone of voice. “And shut up, Lucre. We have more important things to discuss than your little conspiracy theories.”

“It’s fairly important to find out who this here fella is,” Bramley pointed out. “He is goin’ around blowin’ up our cities, after all.”

“I don’t care who he is!” Scarlet Bolt sneered. “The only thing about him we need to worry ourselves with is how to kill him! And to do that, we need to not freeze to death!”

The outburst was met by a brief period of silence, broken by Artemis. “Well, now that we seem to be on the subject: Twilight has... offered to rejoin the Sword of Equestria, Scarlet.”

“She wants to go to Canterlot,” Scarlet Bolt immediately surmised, eyeing the unicorn in question. “The Elements of Harmony won’t be there, Twilight.”

“You’ll need her help,” Artemis insisted. “This is Canterlot we’re talking about.”

“I didn’t say I didn’t want her help...”

“You aren’t considering letting her back on the Sword?” Lucre pressed of Scarlet Bolt, disbelief tinging his voice. “After her breakdown? After she killed a burrow full of diamond dogs!?”

“We have just been told it was not her,” Civil Tenet pointed out. “It was the work of this alicorn.”

“So she says. Did you pay any attention to the discussion we just had, Civil?”

“Regardless of who killed them, fact remains those diamond dogs had held the Element of Kindness for four months,” Artemis broke in.

“And as much as we may dislike that incident, it did end up saving the lives of four ponies,” Scarlet Bolt offered, agreeing with Artemis. “If what Twilight says is true, this stallion did us a favor. In a way.”

“A favor!?” Lucre rose from his seat in outrage. “A favor!? I see! You’re all so afraid of stepping over the diamond dogs’ toes that instead of acknowledging that Twilight might actually have gone crazy, you’re more inclined to believe that a rogue alicorn stallion that we’ve never heard of before is suddenly waltzing around Equestria killing everyone he sees for no reason whatsoever! If you’re going to reward a unicorn who murdered more than half a hundred defenseless diamond dogs in cold blood, you’ll have to do it without me!”

“They weren’t defenseless!” Twilight defended herself. “They were armed! One of them was holding an axe against Fluttershy’s neck for pony’s sake!”

“Could they defend themselves against you?” Lucre pressed, glaring at her as he left the table and headed for the exit. “You’re a powerful unicorn, Twilight. But your sense of responsibility is sorely lacking!” He eyed the other gathered ponies when he reached the doors. “And you aren’t the only one, apparently. I find that a great deal more frightening than any alicorn, real or not.”

Civil Tenet gave a deep sigh as the doors closed behind Lucre. “I’m sorry, Twilight. I think it’s safe to say that none of us believe you were responsible for what happened with the diamond dogs. Or any of the other incidents Lucre accused you of for that matter.”

“Now that he’s gone,” Rain Dancer offered, “Tell us more about this alicorn you met. What’s he like? And what exactly did he do to you? I’ve been waiting two months to find out!”

“You’ll have to wait a little longer,” Artemis responded. “These past events haven’t been easy on Twilight. Whatever he did to her, it’s not easy to talk about.”

“I’m happy to wait,” Scarlet Bolt said, waving a hoof dismissively. “I don’t have time for an explanation now; when I’m done here, I need to make the final preparations for the Canterlot mission, which is what we should be discussing.” She nodded at Twilight. “Are you sure you can handle that? You’ve been out of commission for almost three months.”

“To me it’s three weeks,” Twilight reminded her, and Scarlet Bolt chuckled and sighed.

“If I knew what those soldiers were up against, I’d probably say no, but fact is, anything could be hiding away in those caverns. Alright. If nothing else, being there while the caverns get searched will shut you up about finding those Elements, I suppose. Coup will remain Captain, though.”

Beside her, Artemis gave Twilight a knowing look which nopony else seemed to notice.

“At least until we can evaluate the extent of damage your encounter with this alicorn has had on you,” Scarlet Bolt reasoned. “Coup has proven herself an excellent captain during the recent windigo battles up north.”

“Windigoes!?”

Scarlet Bolt smiled grimly at Twilight’s expression. “Winter’s here, Twilight. With a vengeance. I suppose you’d have to be under an evil alicorn’s spell to not notice the shifts in temperature.”

“To say nothing of the wild weather accumulating above Canterlot,” Rain Dancer added. “For some reason, hundreds of those windigoes have flown all the way across Equestria to settle in the former capital.”

“Discord,” Civil Tenet hissed, sounding very much similar to Celestia when she, Twilight, and the rest of her friends had confronted the spirit of chaos for the first time.

“Discord is still in Canterlot?” Twilight asked with confusion. “Nopony’s keeping an eye on him!?”

“Wasn’t an easy choice,” Penning Draft replied. “But in the light what had happened to him, we thought it best to leave him there.”

“Some of us would have preferred to toss him into the deepest part of the oceans,” Scarlet Bolt remarked.

“In light of what happened to him?” Twilight repeated. “What? Last time I checked, he was fine!”

“When’s the last time you checked?” Scarlet Bolt asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Uh, I had Rainbow Dash check sometime around the funeral...”

“From the air no doubt,” the pink pegasus sighed. “The statue was still there when we evacuated Canterlot. But... it was damaged in The Great Tragedy. All other statues were destroyed completely, so it’s just our luck Discord was left standing.”

“But he was... damaged?”

“A big hole in the chest area,” Amity explained. “Didn’t go all the way through, though. I guess he must’ve been hit by some kind of debris.”

“We determined that the damage could mean one of two things,” Scarlet Bolt continued. “Either that with three quarters of his chest gone, Discord had been killed along with everypony else in the palace, or that the damage had only affected his prison, meaning his escape would be made easier. We figured that the less strife and chaos surrounded him, the less chance he’d have of escaping.”

“Which is why we left him behind,” Civil Tenet finished for the pegasus. “Of course, that was before Canterlot was overrun with every beast imaginable.”

“We performed every kind of magical scan of the statue we could,” Artemis reassured Twilight. “Discord himself has always been undetectable, so I can’t say if he’s alive or not, but last we checked, the spells keeping him locked up were still active.”

“But he’s attracting quite a bit of attention regardless,” Civil Tenet murmured unhappily. “I feel like we’re doing nothing but waiting around for him to break free!”

“We’d have to secure most of Canterlot to get that statue out of there,” Scarlet Bolt countered. “It would cost us too many lives.”

“And we can’t fly in?” Rain Dancer asked, and Scarlet Bolt laughed.

“There’s a roc in Canterlot. If you’d been stationed in Zebrica with me, you’d know such a thing was suicide. I’ve seen a roc. It’s the size of an ursa major, but I suppose only Twilight can really appreciate how utterly enormous that is. The freak storm that hit Manehattan several months ago? That was the roc landing in Canterlot. And I’ll tell you, nothing annoys it more than a crowded sky...” The pegasus grimaced at some unknown memory and shook her head. “We can’t approach Canterlot yet. Hopefully, the cold will drive the roc away in time, but until then, the closest we’re getting to that place will be its caverns.”

“Perhaps we should move onto that point now,” Bramley suggested. “You’re not the only one running on a tight schedule.”

“Of course,” Scarlet Bolt replied before turning her gaze back to Twilight. “How much did Artemis tell you of the mission?”

“Just the destination,” Twilight admitted. “What are we looking for?”

“Well, as you might have noticed, Equestria’s gotten a lot colder in your... absence,” Scarlet Bolt explained. “Not only are we missing the sun, but the windigoes just had to show up as well. Flim and Flam’s solites can’t keep up anymore. Now, before you can say ‘I told you so’,” she warned Twilight, “we anticipated this a long way off.”

“The design and the spells themselves have gone through some major improvements, and we’re ready to begin production of the Flim Flam Brothers Solite 2000,” Artemis revealed.

“Almost,” Bramley corrected her, and she nodded.

“While the previous solites could be constructed from almost any type of magically active crystal melded into the hollow-cored spherical shape you see all over Equestria, this design is a bit more particular. The spells are much more powerful, but only because they are more precise. Without the proper crystalline microstructure, the solite doesn’t work. Converting the structure is a process that requires extensive chemical, electrical, thermal, and magical treatment, and it would make the solites more expensive than the farms they’re supposed to light up. Lucre hasn’t found a way of continuing the production without draining the entire nation of its resources in a matter of months. The geological archives have been searched, and just one type of crystal fits the structure we need perfectly. With a supply of this crystal type, we could eliminate the restructuring process entirely.”

“And the crystals are only found in the caverns beneath Canterlot,” Twilight gathered, and Artemis nodded her head.

“It’s convenient yet... terribly inconvenient.”

“During your coma,” Scarlet Bolt continued, getting to the point, “we’ve dug an underground passage from a relatively safe zone in the vicinity of Canterlot and into the heart of the mountain. A week ago, we breached the caverns themselves, but as could be expected, it’s not exactly a safe working environment. We need the entire area secured.”

“The question is what else needs to be done,” Civil Tenet said. “I still do not think it’s a good idea to destroy the entrances leading into Canterlot. With them, we can travel directly from the base of the mountain to the city’s suburbs once the caverns have been cleared out. If we want to retrieve Discord...”

“We don’t want to retrieve Discord,” Scarlet Bolt argued. “I just told you it was too dangerous! Clearing out the caverns will serve no purpose if we don’t close all openings between Canterlot and the caverns while doing so.”

“A door, then,” Civil Tenet argued. “Close all openings except one, and block it somehow. Don’t destroy it. If we think ahead now, getting Discord will be much easier once we do decide to approach the old capital.”

“And how do you propose we block the entrance?” Artemis challenged the silver unicorn. “The windigoes up there can slip through any crack and crevice; they’re even known to pass through solid walls. Once ponies start mining, they’ll be attracting a lot of attention and they won’t be safe unless they’re fully isolated from the creatures above.

“We’d need a very, very solid door to keep out an ursa,” Scarlet Bolt agreed, “and building one there? Right next to Canterlot?” She shook her head. “We’d be better off drilling through the rock once the time comes to secure Discord.” She then turned her head to Twilight, as if remembering she was still there. “You have my permission to participate in the mission, Twilight. I’m afraid the rest of this meeting doesn’t really concern you. Go to the Sword of Equestria and report to Coup. You’ve got quite a bit of catching up to do.”

Twilight nodded her head appreciatively and rose from her seat. As she turned to leave, however, Quiescent Atonement spoke up without warning. “This alicorn... Until we know more, until we can... ascertain his existence, we should not speak openly of him. We seem to have, prematurely, declared the return of Nightmare Moon a reality, and it is not a mistake any of us would prefer to repeat, I am sure.”

Scarlet Bolt nodded her head, soon joined by the rest of the council in her agreement. “True. Keep a lid on it for now, Twilight. Lucre might have been a bit too blunt about it, but we do need more evidence before we can make any decisions regarding this alicorn. It would be best if you didn’t mention this meeting to anyone in the Sword of Equestria. Good luck with Canterlot. You just might need it.”

Centurion snickered as Twilight’s whole body shivered violently despite the heating spell she had been casting on herself. She stomped her hooves against the ground, but the ankle-deep layer of snow blanketing the entire area only served to further steal away what little body heat she possessed.

They had arrived at the base of the Canterlot mountain an hour ago, but had been forced to wait for the remainder of the force in the freezing cold. Since they had only been allowed to fly in teams of four chariots at a time in order to avoid attracting the attention of the roc, the arrival of the entire Sword had been a lengthy process.

Twilight had spent her chariot ride with Centurion, who seemed remarkably unbothered by the freezing temperatures that had only dropped lower and lower as they approached the former capital. The two, along with three scores of other soldiers, now stood within the flimsy force field surrounding the mining outpost, a barrier that seemed to do nothing more than keep out the brunt of the chilling winds.

The outpost was situated within a rocky formation that helped hide it from any roaming predators of the Canterlot area, keeping it relatively safe despite its proximity to the enormous mountain, which rose steeply into the sky only a few miles ahead. The outpost itself seemed to only hold the bare necessities needed for those who worked there: a bunkhouse, a small dining hall, an outhouse, some sort of storage facility, a simple train station, and something that looked like a barn, most likely the entrance to the underground tunnel that led into the heart of the mountain. Twilight had yet to meet Coup de Grâce as the captain had apparently gone straight to the bunkhouse to discuss some kind of details with the residents of the outpost, ordering the other soldiers to remain outside.

Twilight already missed being Captain.

“You really weren’t built for this kind of weather, were you?” Centurion remarked with a teasing smile upon his lips.

Twilight shook her head and increased the feed to the spell keeping her warm. “Who is!? When did it get so c-cold!?”

“Probably sometime during the two months you were sleeping,” he observed. “We’re in the middle of winter now and hundreds, maybe thousands of windigoes are loose all over Equestria. Once you’ve faced those things in a place like Vyatkiev, you won’t be complaining about the cold here.”

Twilight nodded grudgingly as she turned her gaze toward the mountain, still two or three miles away. A truly gigantic mass of clouds had formed just above Canterlot, swirling around with surprising speed like a minor hurricane. A tiny break in the clouds gave away the center of the formation, which seemed to be positioned someplace above the ruins of the palace, or more precisely, Twilight did not doubt, directly above Discord’s statue. A thin shaft of moonlight shone down through the center of the pseudo-hurricane, giving Twilight the disconcerting impression that the many windigoes’ eyes were all fixed on the lone statue. Not for the first time, she wondered what connection was shared between the spirit of chaos and the lesser winter spirits feeding on the strife of others.

“If I’d told you ten months ago Canterlot would look like that,” Twilight said, nodding at the frozen ruin barely visible from their position, “what would you have said?”

“‘Over my dead body’, most likely,” Centurion scoffed, looking disappointed. “In fact, that’s probably how it would’ve gone if it hadn’t been for Shining Armor. He ended up dismissing me a few hours early that night so I could get to a friend’s bachelor party. I should have been there when it happened.”

“Be glad you weren’t,” Twilight said with a grimace, still not taking her eyes off Canterlot.

“Right,” Centurion replied, forcing a light chuckle. “I keep forgetting you were there. You’re tougher than you look.”

Twilight sighed. At least she had Centurion fooled, it seemed. Contrary to him, she was certain her appearance was the toughest thing about her at the time. Her insides were quivering. Quivering with hatred, fear, rage, and sorrow, emotions she had all kept bottled up for weeks now. Part of her couldn’t bear seeing what had become of Canterlot, but another, stronger part of her forced her to keep looking, to take in what the black alicorn had done to her old home, to remember it the next time she faced him. To never again allow herself to give up as she had in the final moments of that nightmare.

“You alright?”

Twilight blinked and took her eyes off the distant maelstrom of clouds. “Y-yeah.” She stomped her hooves against the ground again and groaned. “How much longer do we have to wait!?”

“Three, two, one...” The door to the bunkhouse opened, and Coup de Grâce and an earth pony emerged, the latter carrying a set of keys between his teeth. “Hey, it worked!” Centurion chuckled, he and Twilight trotting up to the entrance to the tunnel along with the rest of the Sword.

“We’re going in!” Coup de Grâce announced unceremoniously as she went to the front of the group of soldiers. The earth pony with her unlocked the large door, and with a grunt of effort, she slid it aside, revealing a large elevator within the barn-like construction. Steel cables and winches in the ceiling all connected to the mobile platform that made up the majority of the building’s floor, and a number of rails ran from the platform and outside to vanish under the snow. With the exception of those features and a simple lever in the left corner, the building was empty, the many hoofsteps of the entering soldiers echoing all over the place.

“So what do you reckon?” Centurion asked of Twilight as they all stepped onto the elevator which easily accommodated the twenty unicorns and hoofful of earth ponies. “Will it be colder or warmer underground?”

“At this point, I don’t think there’d be much difference,” Twilight complained. “I’m completely numb from standing out there.” She prodded at her skin to affirm her lowered sensitivity. She almost lost her balance when the elevator set into motion, and her eyes widened when the first few gusts of wind from the tunnel beneath them swept across the gathered ponies.

“What do you know,” Centurion remarked indifferently. “It’s even colder.”

“This is ridiculous,” Twilight muttered, powering up the spell keeping her warm. The noticeable difference in pressure between surface and underground tugged forcefully at the ponies for a few seconds as the tunnel hovered into view, and a moment later, the elevator came to a sudden halt. Ahead of them was a long, straight tunnel that seemed to go on forever. The three sets of rails set into the elevator continued into the tunnel, and not too far ahead were a small number of minecarts.

Coup de Grâce was walking even before the elevator stopped, pointing a hoof at three of the minecarts as she passed them and barking out orders. “Centurion, Amber Vane, Iron Sword, Oak, Vigilance, and Sunburst, I want you at those carts. Twilight Sparkle, Starburst, Orion, and Fire Streak, you’re up front! These tunnels should be safe, but I’m not taking any chances.”

As pegasi started flying down the short elevator shaft to join the rest of the task force, Centurion and Twilight split up, the latter striding forwards to walk by the captain’s side, soon joined by the three other unicorns.

The Sword walked on for an entire hour before the large tunnel they were traversing took on a gentle incline, suggesting that the ponies were entering into or nearing the mountain. After another two hours of keeping up with Coup de Grâce’s surprisingly brisk pace through an increasingly steep tunnel, a huge set of steel doors reinforced by three heavy crossbars loomed into view. The armored pegasus nodded wordlessly at the heavily fortified opening, and Twilight and the three unicorns used their magic to slide aside the steel bolts and push open the doors with a deep, rumbling creak.

Ahead was nothing but darkness, illuminated only faintly by the light of two electrical lamps set into the walls of the cavern immediately beyond the doors. A very faint keening sound could be heard from somewhere ahead, a sound that Twilight attributed to the howling winds rushing about Canterlot far above them.

“Unicorns! Give us some light!” Coup de Grâce shouted back at the soldiers behind her as she walked resolutely forward, Twilight following as her horn began shining brightly. Visible now in the myriad of lights cast by the group of ponies, the granite of the tunnels very soon gave way to the sparkling crystal of Canterlot’s caverns. The walls that had been surrounding them for three hours quickly receded as they kept walking, the cave finally opening up to the newcomers, and Twilight found herself walking along a large shelf set into a crystal wall, a deep, dark abyss below her, and nothing but blackness above. Although it was hardly noticeable at first, Twilight soon realized that the majority of the surfaces all around her were coated by a layer of ice, varying in thickness everywhere she looked.

No sources of water as far as I can tell... Is it just moisture in the air that’s formed the ice, or something else entirely?

After another ten uneventful minutes of walking, the wall to Twilight’s right receded as the Sword walked out onto an enormous crystal plaza surrounded by a deep chasm. The three sets of rails ended abruptly near the middle of the large platform, but a multitude of natural crystal bridges spanned the distance between the plaza itself and the many surrounding shelves and tunnelways that led further into the caverns.

Coup de Grâce spun around as she reached the end of the tracks and once more called out to her subordinates. “Alright, welcome to our base of operations! I, the four lead unicorns as well as Primrose and Aloe and ten pegasi, I don’t care who, will remain here! The rest of you will split up into ten teams! Two unicorns in each! Now!”

As the soldiers quickly did their best to oblige, the three minecarts reached the end of the tracks, coming to a halt in front of Coup de Grâce. From the center one, the captain produced a green, elongated crystal roughly the same height as herself. “We’ll be going through our procedures one last time, so listen up! This here’s the aggregating crystal, courtesy of the Manehattan mages! If they’re any good at what they do, all of you unicorns should be able to lock onto its magical signature by touching your horns to its surface or something like that. You know how it works. What’s important is that this’ll be our hub of communications! The reason you’ve been practicing those telephonetic spells the last few days! You encounter a threat, you report to base camp! You need backup, you report to base camp! See something out of the ordinary, you report to base camp! Anything at all goes wrong, you report to base camp! Is that clear?”

At the shout of affirmation from the majority of the soldiers, the large pegasus continued. “There’s no two-way communication here! If you encounter a problem, either remain where you are or, if necessary, fall back! If you need backup, I want a detailed description of your threat so I can assign reinforcements accordingly! The ten pegasi remaining here will be our only way of reaching you and they will serve as backup if needed. The four unicorns will be serving as reinforcements only! Also, and I cannot stress the importance of this enough: Place markers! Place markers everywhere you go! If you come upon a junction, mark whatever path you choose! If you run into a dead end, mark it twice so anypony can see you’ve been in and out! The markers are the only way we’ll know what we’ve scouted out and what we haven’t, and it’s the only way for reinforcements to track you down!”

As she spoke, the captain gestured at Iron Sword, who demonstrated the marking technique, his horn glowing a bright cyan before a small flare of the same color appeared on the floor in front of him. “Now,” Coup de Grâce continued, “killing off whatever threats are down here is just half the job! Some of you will be reaching the surface of Canterlot which is the source of all our problems! Under no circumstance, I repeat, no circumstance, are you to leave the caverns! It’s simple; Canterlot is a danger zone and is off limits for unauthorized personnel, these caverns are not! Not only will you sign your death warrant by going up there, you’ll be bringing the rest of you fellow soldiers in danger! The last thing we want is for the predators up there to know we’re down here! Do not go outside! If you find an opening leading to the surface, report to base camp and do whatever’s in your power to destroy the entrance! Once you’ve done so... report to base camp!”

The captain reached a hoof into one of the adjacent carts and pulled out a small flashlight fitted onto a headband. “Soldiers without horns will be wanting these! Finally, we have no idea how large these caverns actually are or what you’ll encounter along the way, so you’ll have to improvise while searching! Pegasi will ferry fellow soldiers across chasms, unicorns and earth ponies remove loose boulders, so on and so forth! Now, unless there are any further questions, you’d better gear up and get going!”

One by one, the teams went by the minecarts, the unicorns touching their horns to the green crystal while the other types of ponies took a headband each. After only two minutes, all ten teams had left the base of operations, leaving behind the four unicorns, two earth ponies, and eleven pegasi.

After touching her horn to the crystal as the last of the unicorns, Twilight seated herself near one of the minecarts, wincing at the freezing crystal surface. After waiting around for half an hour and realizing that she probably wouldn’t be called upon any time soon, her horn sprung to life with a violent blaze of magenta as she summoned a powerful version of her Awakening spell. The giant mote of crackling energy barely left her horn before rushing back into her, giving her a strange tingling sensation all over her body. She closed her eyes and opened them, confirming that she was indeed inside the crystal caverns beneath Canterlot.

“What was that?” Coup de Grâce asked suspiciously, eyeing first the unicorn and then her surroundings in an effort to spot any effects the spell might have had.

“It’s... a long story,” Twilight tried answering dismissively, but failed to persuade the pegasus. “You’ll be better off not knowing. Trust me.”

“If there’s anything that might interfere with the performance of the most powerful unicorn soldier I have at my disposal,” the captain argued, “I think it’s my business to know.”

“It’s an Awakening spell,” the unicorn sighed. “By casting it regularly, I either assure myself I’m not in a coma, or I wake myself up.” Twilight irritably returned the disapproving and slightly confused look she got from the pegasus captain. “Look, you fight timberwolves and the occasional ursa, I fight mindcontrolling deicidal monsters, it’s as simple as that!”

“Mindcontrol?” an orange and red-maned unicorn whom Twilight could only assume was Fire Streak interjected, looking slightly apprehensive.

“I’m dealing with it!” Twilight insisted, waving a hoof in dismissal as she felt the eyes of everypony on her. “Can we just... focus on the mission at hoof?”

“This... business won’t affect your performance?” the armored pegasus inquired finally, and Twilight nodded impatiently.

“I can handle whatever’s down here.” Coup de Grâce gave a hesitant nod at the unicorn and returned to the green crystal, waiting expectantly for any report from the teams.

And now everyone thinks I’ve gone insane, Twilight sighed to herself. Or they think I’m still insane... Maybe I am...

I see things that aren’t real and believe they’re real. He made this thing inside me that... that’s angry... that wants to kill. He broke me. I’ve defeated Discord, I’ve defeated Nightmare Moon, I’ve imprisoned a giant dragon in Tartarus, I’ve successfully negotiated peace with an extremely stubborn spirit of nature, I’ve saved my friends more times than I can count, I’m the Heroine of Equestria, the Element of Magic, but with one spell, that guy broke me.

Will the Elements of Harmony even work? He was too powerful last time, but that was in his dream, he controlled everything then.

“Team Lime reporting threat number one,” a voice emanating from the green crystal spoke, interrupting Twilight’s train of thought. “Nest of spiders. Like, pony-sized ones. Shouldn’t be a problem, though.”

“Alright, things are getting interesting!” Coup de Grâce told the soldiers around her. “I want the carts emptied and ready for wounded!”

Twilight absentmindedly grabbed the spare headbands with her magic and removed them from the cart she was sitting up against, diverting some of her magic as she did so to heat up the floor she was sitting on.

The Elements of Harmony don’t kill, she thought to herself, continuing her musings on her enemy, and he needs to die. He must have been imprisoned long ago, probably by Celestia and Luna who did it in a time long forgotten by history. But imprisoning means he’ll break free. Like Nightmare Moon. Like Discord. Like the Blazebringers of Tartarus. It might be a hundred years, a thousand or even a million, but if we imprison him, he’s going to break free sooner or later. And he can’t be allowed to run free again. Ever.

But then how do I kill him?

“Team Cyan here,” a second voice said through the crystal. “Got a giant nest of... well, we’ve agreed they’re large spiders. The size of ponies, maybe bigger. All dead, though. Something’s killed them. We’ll try and track whatever it is down.”

How do I kill something stronger than Celestia? How did she die? How did he do it? Sheer power? A secret weapon? If only I could remember what exactly happened at The Great Tragedy! It has to be there somewhere! Locked away deep inside my brain, a trauma that I’ve suppressed... It should be possible to dig out.

“Team Green,” Amber Vane’s voice said through the crystal. “We’ve got some large snakes here. Nine.. ten of them. Bluish, flat-headed, quite a few yards long... Not anything I recognize. We’ll try and isolate them and dispatch them one by one.”

An earsplitting shriek followed by a thunderous explosion rang through the cavern, and the pegasi and unicorns were on their hooves in an instant, looking ahead into the unrelenting darkness from which the disturbance had come.

“I need a light on that!” Coup de Grâce ordered, and Fire Streak was quick to oblige, shooting ahead a beam of light that swept back and forth in the general direction of where the armored pegasus was pointing. A cloud of dust was caught in the light, soon followed by a group of ponies standing upon an exposed shelf, all of them lowered into a ready battle stance.

“Cut the light! Cut the light!” a stallion hissed through the crystal, and Fire Streak’s horn immediately darkened.

A series of bright flashes of yellow and blue appeared where the group of ponies had previously been visible, followed by another loud explosion and an unearthly screech. The ponies standing near the minecarts were silent, waiting for some sort of sign from the soldiers up ahead.

Just as Coup de Grâce opened her mouth, the green crystal behind her came to life with the voice of the stallion that had spoken before. “Alright, we’re clear... Team Yellow’s clear... Sky Shiner’s gone, though. Something came out of the wall. A creature made of ice and walking on two legs. It grabbed her and just... snapped her like a twig. We got it, though. The second one too. Warn the other teams, though. They’re pretty darn strong and you’ll only see ‘em if you know what to look for. Team Yellow will be moving on.”

“Pegasi!” the captain shouted in response to the unicorn’s suggestion. “You heard him! Find the other teams! Spiders, snakes, and bipedal ice creatures! Everyone needs to be on the lookout! I’m not losing anypony else in these caves!”

The pegasi quickly dispersed to fulfill the captain’s orders, and the soldiers remaining fell silent once more. Fifteen minutes later, Amber Vane’s voice returned to the crystal next to Coup de Grâce. “Team... Green reporting in. Snakes were tougher than expected. Flitterfly, Cloudy Runner, and Starmist are dead. I guess that means we’re Team Gold now. Skyswirler was bitten, but she’s not dead... yet. She’s not looking good, Captain.” The unicorn was silent for a while before speaking again, this time with a more urgent voice. “Seems there are half a dozen more snakes all of a sudden! Pulling back! If you got her, I could use some backup from Twilight Sparkle!”

Coup de Grâce frowned as she looked to the lavender unicorn, who was quick to get on her hooves. The captain, however, quickly turned to the three other unicorns present. “Starburst and Orion! Get to Team Gold immediately! Orion, you’ll get Skyswirler back here! Alive! Fire Streak, you track down Team Yellow and lead ‘em to Gold! Once the teams are merged, you and Starburst return to base!”

Doesn’t she trust me? Twilight thought to herself suspiciously as the large armored pegasus saw the three unicorns off. What does she think I’ll do?

“Team Purple,” a voice Twilight recognized as belonging to Bluebell, the mage who had helped her pacify the ursa minor, called out through the green crystal. “We’ve found two large snakes, both dead. No sign of a predator, but we’ll keep a lookout.”

“Must be those ice creatures,” Coup de Grâce muttered to herself as the message ended. “Killing spiders and snakes and ponies alike...”

The Elements of Harmony, Twilight thought, ignoring the pegasus and focusing on her most pressing problem. That’s the only ‘secret weapon’ I know of. It’ll probably be what I’ll end up using against that monster. I can’t see why it shouldn’t work. The Elements always work. If they defeated Nightmare Moon and Discord, they can defeat him. If the Element of Magic allowed me to defeat something like Inferno, if Kindness allowed Fluttershy to face down a pegasus imbued with Nightmare Moon’s power, if Loyalty gave Rainbow the determination and perseverance to race a griffon around the world... Then the combined power of the Elements can stop any threat.

But is he just any threat? Is he like Discord? Or Nightmare? Discord was almost peaceful compared to what that alicorn has done. He never hurt anypony. Nightmare Moon never got the chance to either. If only I could be certain! If only I could use the Elements without my friends getting anywhere near that murderer! But... can we even use the Elements?

Celestia would tell me to trust in the power of harmony... But can I? After what he did to me? Perhaps he was just buying time when he made the diamond dogs take Fluttershy. Now I’m the one who’s crippled... Maybe. I hope not.

The silence between the five remaining ponies wore on for almost an hour, broken only by the occasional report transmitted through the green crystal. Eventually, Orion returned with Skyswirler in his magical tow, placing her gently on a small cot the two earth ponies had prepared. Another few minutes later, the ten pegasi and two unicorns finally returned to the base of operations.

“Team Cyan here. Uh... Cerulean’s gone... No scream, no sign of where she went or what carried her off. Think we might’ve found out what killed those spiders... Will report if we find her... or it.”

“Whitewing, Sky Sweeper.” Coup de Grâce called out, and the pegasi in question stepped forward. “Make sure Team Cyan has the eyes they need to look out for their silent killer.”

“Team Silver’s found their first threat,” a mare whispered in the crystal. “One of the ice things. At least we think so. We’re gonna go ahead and shoot first and ask later.”

“How long are we gonna keep at this?” Fire Streak asked. From what Twilight could tell, it sounded as if the unicorn had exhausted herself while helping Team Yellow.

“Till we’ve searched every nook and cranny of this freezing cave,” Coup de Grâce sighed. “Dealt with every threat down here, and sealed off any entrance leading to the surface. Could be hours, could be a week.”

The gathered ponies let out a joint sigh of displeasure at this, soon interrupted by yet another report from one of the teams in the field.

The minutes of yet another hour had sluggishly ticked by before Twilight’s ears perked up at the sound of Team Cyan’s leader speaking through the crystal again, his voice an agitated whisper this time. “Uh... again... Argh! It happened again! We lost sight of Iron Sword, Coup. We just searched through this giant cave, and we think we’re getting close to the surface. Iron Sword and Pale Pass were the first to go through the tunnel, but by the time the rest of us were there, Pale had a giant gash in her side and had been knocked unconscious! Iron Sword’s... Ir-Iron Sword! Oh, Celestia! We found him! I-I-Iron S-Sword! We found Iron Sword! He-He-He’s dead! Very dead! Wh-where is his head!? Wait, where... Where did Waterbreeze go!? Where in Tartarus is she!? Hail Trail, you were right beside her! Coup, Cap’n, we need backup now! Everything you’ve got!”

“Twilight Sparkle!” the armored pegasus shouted at the already alert unicorn. “Whirlwind! Cloud Slicer! Get to Team Cyan! Destroy whatever’s picking off our soldiers! Stay with ‘em until you do!”

The two pegasi saluted as Twilight set into a gallop, teleporting toward the first of the cyan markers and after the pony hunter that somehow seemed eerily familiar to her.

16 - Dark Powers

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Succession

Chapter 16 - Dark Powers

“Another cave down, still no Team Cyan,” Twilight sighed as she reached the dead end of a cave that had seemed a mile long. “It’s been... what, four hours? Ugh, we’ll check the next one.” Her connection to the green crystal faded once more, and she and the two pegasi turned to begin their trek back through the cave.

“We aren’t gonna find them, are we?” Cloud Slicer asked despondently, flitting ahead of the pair.

“They’ve been gone for too long,” Twilight agreed, teleporting across a minor chasm. “If nothing else, we’re at least clearing out this part of the crystal caverns, I suppose.”

“‘Cept there’s nothing at all around here,” Whirlwind observed.

“Kinda creepy,” Cloud Slicer agreed, peering down a small crevice he had missed the first time. “How could they all just disappear like that?”

“Magic,” Twilight suggested. “I think we’re chasing the thing that maimed all the dragons in Dragoncrest Valley. Making half a dozen ponies vanish shouldn’t be beyond its capabilities.”

“There’s hundreds of miles between Dragoncrest and Canterlot,” Cloud Slicer observed, frowning with confusion at Twilight. “What makes you think it’d come here?”

The unicorn shrugged. “It just seems like the same guy to me.”

“Sounds like you’ve met it,” Whirlwind offered. “What exactly happened in Dragoncrest? Never heard.”

“I... met the dragon hunter.” The ledge Twilight had been walking along tapered off ahead of her, and she teleported a few hundred feet forwards to where the cavern floor became more easily traversable. “I don’t know what I can tell you about it. The council doesn’t want me revealing any details until we know for sure he’s real.”

“W-wait up!” Cloud Slicer called out, rushing to Twilight’s side along with Whirlwind. “We need to stick together, remember?”

“Sorry. But we’ve been here for four hours without anything happening,” Twilight pointed out. “I doubt it’s even here anymore.”

“Or maybe it’s waiting for us to lower our guard,” Whirlwind warned her, wary eyes scanning what little of the cavern was visible from the light shining from Twilight’s horn. “How can you not be sure this thing’s real? After you saw it for yourself, after what it’s done here?”

“It’s complicated,” Twilight brushed him off, resuming her trek back through the cave.

“Easy for you to say,” Whirlwind scoffed. “Shouldn’t we at least know what we’re dealing with?” He paused, then pointed a hoof at something near the opening of the smaller cavern they were within. “Gimme a light on that.” Twilight obliged quickly, extending the reach of her illumination spell to reveal a regular crystal outcropping sticking out of the wall. The pegasus sighed, either in relief or disappointment, and continued. “And if you think you know what’s been killing Team Cyan, shouldn’t you tell Coup?”

“It’s... an alicorn,” Twilight relented. “But I’m not even sure it’s actually here, so I don’t see the point in telling Coup.”

“You don’t think she should know Nightmare Moon might be down here?”

“It’s not like she can do anything about that!” Twilight argued. She shook her head. “I’m not even sure I can...”

“Now that you mention it... how’re we gonna get an alicorn out of here?” Cloud Slicer asked of the two, none of which could offer any answers.

“It might not be an alicorn,” Whirlwind offered somewhat optimistically. His gaze fell on Twilight. “Right?”

“I might be mistaken,” she admitted. “Whatever the case, I’ll...”

Kill him.

“I won’t give up,” she amended, rubbing her head as a brief surge of pain rolled through her skull.

The three ponies eventually entered into the enormous main cave they had arrived at almost four hours ago, now speckled with tiny magenta stars, Twilight’s magical flares marking the countless passages they had already searched. What had begun as a frantic race against the clock through the crystal caverns had quickly turned into a tedious search when the three of them had reached the giant cave, the trio overwhelmed by its sheer enormity. For reasons they had yet to discern, the breadcrumb trail of cyan flares had ended abruptly near the entrance, forcing the ponies to go through each and every passageway connected to the large cave in search of the missing team and their mysterious killer.

“At least we’re getting there,” Whirlwind observed as Twilight marked down the tunnel they had just come from. “I only see thirty-something caves left!”

Twilight was about to answer when she saw something moving just outside the area lit by her horn. A loud thump echoed throughout the cavern, and Twilight quickly pulled the two pegasi by their tails towards herself, barricading all three of them within a force field before whatever had just appeared had a chance to strike.

“What is that!?” Whirlwind demanded, but nopony answered him. When the creature ahead of them failed to move any further, Twilight created a second force field around it to trap it. Still, it didn’t move.

“It doesn’t seem to be alive,” Cloud Slicer muttered as the three ponies started approaching the new arrival. Upon drawing closer, the light shining from the unicorn’s horn finally revealed a white pegasus mare. “Is that‒?”

“Whitewing,” Whirlwind confirmed. He didn’t immediately continue, his expression hardening as his gaze swept across the corpse again and again.

“Do... Do you think she made it to Team Cyan?” Cloud Slicer asked him. “Before... this?”

“Sirius said as much before the three of us left,” Whirlwind reminded the other pegasus.

“Right...”

“Something’s bitten her in the neck, severed her spinal cord,” Whirlwind told the two others, gesturing loosely at Whitewing’s neck. “Most likely, that’s what killed her. I’m guessing what we just saw and heard was her corpse falling down from somewhere above. Twilight?”

The unicorn nodded, and a cone of light shot forth from her horn, revealing a narrow opening in the ceiling above. “They’d just searched through a giant cave,” Twilight muttered, remembering the last words they had heard from Team Cyan. “Pale Pass and Iron Sword had gone first, which must mean Iron Sword had to be flown.”

“So it happened up there,” Whirlwind gathered. “And it looks like the killer’s still‒”

“Twilight!” something called out in a playful, singsong voice before cackling gleefully, the echoes of its laughter coming from everywhere at once. It wasn’t the alicorn, yet to Twilight, it sounded no less menacing. “I’ve got something to show you!”

Whirlwind turned to Twilight. “Someone you know?”

She nodded, staring at the opening in the ceiling of the cave in search of whatever had just spoken. “I’ve heard that voice before. During the ursa major mission.”

“That was before I joined,” Cloud Slicer admitted. “What happened?”

“I tried performing a memory spell on it, but I couldn’t get through to it. I did see one particular memory, though. Some creature, it looked like a pony, slaughtering everything around it while laughing. When it had finished, it jumped straight onto the ursa’s head, looked it in the eye, and spoke to me, as if it knew I was going to perform my memory spell on that exact ursa. I think it’s the alicorn, but I can’t be sure.” She lowered the force fields she had formed about herself and the pegasi as well as Whitewing’s corpse. “Whatever it is, we can’t let it get away. We need to get up there!”

“Need a lift?” Whirlwind asked, lifting into the air.

Twilight shook her head. “We’ll be too exposed if you’re carrying me. I’ll protect the two of you while you fly up there. Once you’re inside the tunnel, I’ll create a force field for me to stand on and teleport up to you. We’ll figure out what to do from there.”

“You sure going straight up there is the best option?” Cloud Slicer remarked nervously as a magenta force field formed about him and Whirlwind.

“There’s no other way up there,” The other pegasus pointed out. “And our orders are to kill that thing.”

“I’ll make sure nothing happens to you,” Twilight promised Cloud Slicer, setting the protective bubble around the two pegasi in motion.

Beating their wings a bit more forcefully, they lifted upwards at a steady rate, reaching the ceiling and passing into the tunnel after a few seconds. As soon a they did so, a horizontal, disc-shaped force field appeared a few feet below them, providing Twilight with a surface to teleport onto.

“See anything yet?” Twilight asked hurriedly as she appeared within the tunnel, eager to get to solid ground instead of holding herself airborne. A raised hoof from Whirlwind silenced her, however.

The unicorn listened intently, but through the lingering echoes of her own question and those of the mysterious predator’s laughter, she was unable to pick up on anything. “I heard hoofsteps,” the pegasus explained in a hushed whisper, never taking his eyes off the narrow opening at the top of the vertical tunnel. “It’s pulling back, but slowly.”

“Then we need to go after it!” Twilight insisted, lowering her voice as well. “If this is the alicorn I think it is, then we can’t afford to lose him!”

“Why do you keep saying ‘him’?” Cloud Slicer tried asking, but Whirlwind didn’t seem to care about that.

“I think we need to give this a little more thought than just barrelling forwards,” he objected. “Whatever it is, it can speak, and it took out Team Cyan without being seen. If it can do that, chances are it can set traps as well. And if it’s confident that it can take you on, Twilight, I don’t like our odds. Even less if it’s Nightmare Moon.”

“Well, what do you suggest we do?” Twilight challenged the pegasus. “Just turn around? As long as this thing is on the loose, nothing in these caves is safe!” She lowered her head and focused her magic on the rim of the tunnel just below her, marking it down with a dozen flares so nopony would miss it.

“That doesn’t mean we need to walk right into its trap,” Whirlwind countered. “We should contact Coup and call for reinforcements.”

“It’ll take them at least half an hour to get here!” Twilight argued, raising her head again. “He could be anywhere by then!”

“Can we at least contact Coup first?” the pegasus demanded, quickly growing tired of the argument.

“I need to get to solid ground first,” Twilight explained. “It’s not easy to magically suspend yourself like this. We’ll go up there,” she said, pointing at the opening above, “secure the area, and send a message.”

“Fine,” Whirlwind grumbled. “You go first. We’ll watch your back.”

With a nod and a flash, Twilight vanished from the tunnel and appeared at the mouth of the cavern above. Judging from the smooth crystal walls of the tunnel she had just been in, Twilight had assumed it had been carved out naturally by a source of water long ago, and she now found herself standing on the bed of what had once been a small waterway. The sleek crystal underhoof was covered in a layer of ice, making it hard to balance, so she teleported herself further into the cave and out of the dried up waterway, forming a protective shield about her instantly.

The cavern was just small enough for Twilight to be able to light the area up completely without too much effort. There were only two paths leading out of the cave, the first being the one Twilight had just emerged from, and the second being a continuation of the dried up waterway that apparently cut straight through the cave, creating a very narrow tunnel that seemed unlikely to fit anything larger than a pony.

“Anything up here?” Whirlwind asked as he hovered into the cave along with Cloud Slicer.

Twilight was about to shake her head when she found yet another lifeless pony, this one tucked into a corner on the far side of the cavern. Her nose wrinkled in disgust at the sight, and she pointed out the corpse to the two others before turning her gaze away. “Iron Sword. This has to be where Sirius really started panicking.”

“And that was four hours ago,” Whirlwind muttered grimly, he and Cloud Slicer approaching their fallen comrade carefully. “Celestia... It’s not even a clean cut. Coup and Iron Sword were in the same squad back before The Great Tragedy,” he spat, stomping a hoof on the ground angrily. “She won’t be happy about this.”

“All the more reason for us to stop this thing,” Twilight insisted, her prior determination returning after recovering from the sight of Iron Sword. “If we don’t stop him now, he’ll keep murdering innocent ponies!”

“It ripped Iron Sword’s head off without anyone noticing!” Whirlwind objected. “If it’s waiting to ambush us, we don’t have a chance!”

“I’m not gonna let that stop me!”

“How can you not be worried?” Whirlwind asked of the unicorn critically. “That monster could be anywhere at this point. There’s a good chance it can hear everything we’re saying.”

“If I give up, I lose!” Twilight insisted stubbornly. “Everything...” She gave a deep sigh. “But... I shouldn’t ask you to come with me. We’ve cleared out everything between here and the camp. You can take Iron Sword and Whitewing back; I’ll take care of whatever’s up ahead.”

Cloud Slicer didn’t seem to agree, but looked to Whirlwind, who in turn looked at Twilight for a long moment, deep in thought. “What we should do is contact Coup,” he finally said. “Tell her what we’ve found and... and that we’re going in after this monster together.”

Cloud Slicer nodded his assent, and Twilight found herself nodding as well, albeit grudgingly, summoning her connection to the green crystal far below. “Twilight here. We finally found Whitewing and Iron Sword. I’m afraid they’re both dead. We found the place Sirius started panicking too, and the killer is still fairly close. Most likely, it’s set a trap, so we’ll proceed carefully. Whatever’s prowling around here is the same thing that freaked out the ursa major near Wild Weald, and I think it’s responsible for The Great Tragedy and Dragoncrest as well, but I’m only guessing. We seem to be getting close to the surface,” she added, taking note of the significant drop in temperature between the enormous cavern below and where she currently stood. “You’ll probably hear from us again in a minute. Twilight out.”

The glow of her horn dimmed, and a cone of bright light shot forth instead, illuminating the tunnel ahead of the trio and revealing a sticky trail of blood left behind by the killer.

“Pale Pass was the one that died with Iron Sword, wasn’t she?” Cloud Slicer asked of the two, taking an uneasy look back at where they had come from.

“She was wounded,” Whirlwind corrected him. “And knocked unconscious.”

“But she’s not here…”

The other pegasus frowned as he realized what Cloud Slicer was saying and threw a cautious gaze at the tunnel ahead of them. “So either they pressed on…”

“Or the bodies were moved,” Twilight finished for him, stepping toward the tunnel.

“That thing isn’t Nightmare Moon, is it?” Cloud Slicer gathered as he followed after Twilight into the tunnel.

“No,” Twilight admitted. “It’s much worse.”

“No talking,” Whirlwind urged, squeezing ahead of the two others as they walked. “We can at least try not to spring this thing’s trap.”

“If it doesn’t hear us, it’ll see us,” Twilight whispered, shaking her glowing horn for emphasis, but she received only a shush in response.

Sighing, she decided to simply comply with the pegasus’s wishes. The protective force field around her expanded to envelop all three ponies as they plodded on ahead and up the steep incline in silence, the crystal walls surrounding them soon receding in favor of plain granite. The change in scenery forced the unicorn to further intensify the light shining from her horn as the ponies put behind the many reflective surfaces. The trail of blood they had been following eventually diverged from its path through the tunnel and curved around and up the wall to their left, the footprints somehow reaching the ceiling only a few feet above them before becoming too faint to discern in the darkness. The tunel terminated soon after the trail of footprints did, ending in a narrow crevice. The winds rushing through it created a constant series of unnerving whispers, and Twilight shivered.

A soft chuckle emanated from whatever lay beyond the tunnel, alerting them all to the presence of the predator up ahead. Twilight glanced back at her companions, both of whom nodded their head seriously, before she continued, stepping in through the narrow fissure and into yet another cave.

Most of the area was littered with huge chunks of rock, all of which seemed to have emanated from the far side of the cave. There, a large opening marked the only other way out of the cave, and the faintest hint of moonlight shone through it, telling the three ponies that they had finally reached the surface. It was colder as well; every square inch of the area was coated in a thick layer of ice, and despite long since having acclimatized herself to the chill underground, Twilight’s breath was fogging again.

She stepped forwards, treading carefully on the ice and preparing to increase the feed to her illumination spell to light up the entire area. Just as her horn began brightening, however, it went dark without warning, robbing the ponies of their only light source as well as their force field.

“Twilight!” Whirlwind hissed at the unicorn, pulling closer to her immediately and assuming a defensive stance.

“I-I dunno!” Twilight tapped at her horn in panic, but received no response. Before she could lower her hoof again, something hard smashed into her side, knocking her away from the others and into a pile of granite rubble. Twilight screamed out in pain, but was cut short as her assailant struck her square in the face, following up with a sharp blow to the horn that broke what little arcane focus she could muster.

The exclamations of both Cloud Slicer and Whirlwind were drowned out by the guttural roar of whatever was attacking her as it began truly pummeling the downed unicorn. After a few seconds of the merciless beating, it started pressing down on her throat in an attempt to either strangle her or crush her windpipe.

“Get... off her!” Twilight’s assailant was pulled off of her and slammed against the ground by Whirlwind, who immediately threw himself at the attacker to restrain him. The creature howled and screamed back at Whirlwind, and now that they were both caught in the faint moonlight of the cavern, the unicorn realized that Whirlwind was holding down a light blue pegasus, not the killer.

“You...” Whirlwind grunted as he fought to restrain the maddened pegasus. “You alright?” he called back at Twilight, who could only gasp for air in response. “H-Hail Trail!” the pegasus shouted, turning his attention back to his captive. “Shut up and calm down! That’s Twilight! Twilight Sparkle!”

“Get off of me!” Hail Trail only shouted, nearly breaking free of his captor’s hold as his struggles increased. “It’s coming! It’s here! It’s everywhere!”

“It’s not here!” Whirlwind insisted. “And you aren’t helping us find it!”

“I-I’m alright!” Twilight finally managed, fighting to get back on her hooves. She had started bleeding profusely from the nose, and she wiped her face sloppily with a hoof. “Sorta... He’s with Team Cyan, right?”

“They’re dead!” Hail Trail screamed. “All dead! We waited and we waited! One by one it took us!”

“We’re here now!” Whirlwind tried reassuring him, but Hail Trail shook his head. “The reinforcements you asked for!”

“Too late!” he screamed. “Get off of me!”

“It’s me, Whirlwind!” the pegasus holding him shouted. “We went to The Canterlot Academy of the Royal Guard, remember!? Cloud Slicer’s here too! And we’ve got Twilight Sparkle with us! The old captain of the Sword! The most powerful unicorn in Equestria! We’re your friends, Hail! You’re safe!”

The light blue pegasus stared at Whirlwind with wild, crazed eyes, breathing shallowly and rapidly as he fought to comprehend the other pegasus’s words. Eventually, he seemed to calm down, casting furtive glances at the darkness surrounding the ponies before speaking. “Everypony’s gone, Whirlwind! It hunted us down one by one. It killed Iron Sword and it all went to Tartarus after that! We tried continuing, but it started laughing. Icarus went next. Th-then Skysweeper’s head came rolling out of the darkness. And it laughed. It laughed! Sirius kept screaming at you to get here! We called for help so many times, but you never came! We waited and died for hours!”

“Calm down,” Whirlwind insisted gently, holding back the light blue pegasus as he steadily became more and more agitated. “We tried finding you, but we had to search that entire cave below. Took hours.”

“We left the markers!” Hail Trail broke free of the pegasus’ grip and got up, pointing an accusing hoof at them both. “We left the markers! Just like Coup said! So you could find us! You should have been here! You should have saved us! Instead I’ve been... I’ve been hunted around like a wild animal for... for... f-I don’t know how long!”

“We’re sorry,” Whirlwind interjected. “It’s that thing’s fault. And we’re gonna make it pay, right?”

“Did you see him?” Twilight asked, once again wiping away the blood on her face, though only more came flowing from her nose. “Did you see the killer?”

“No!” Hail Trail shouted, fixing his wide-eyed gaze on the unicorn. “We didn’t see it! We heard it! It whispered and cackled as it took us all. Everyone felt it in the end... But we didn’t see it!”

“We will soon enough,” Whirlwind stated, laying a comforting hoof on the pegasus’s shoulder. “Twilight’ll stop it.”

Hail Trail eyed the unicorn critically, still breathing heavily. Eventually, the pegasus shuddered violently before calming down. It only lasted a moment before he tensed up again, though. “Where..? Where is he?”

Whirlwind raised an eyebrow. “Who?”

“Y-you said Cloud S-Slicer...” Hail Trail muttered, trembling again. “Wh-wh-wher-where is he!? Don’t tell me he came with you!”

Whirlwind swore as he took a quick check of his surroundings. “Cloud Slicer!” he called out, but upon receiving no answer, he muttered an impressive string of obscenities and stomped a hoof against the ground. He eyed Twilight, who could only shake her head helplessly.

The unicorn tried reaching out to her magic again, and this time succeeded, summoning enough light to drive away the shadows in the entire cave.

“He’s gone! What in Tartarus happened!?” Whirlwind demanded of Twilight.

“I don’t know! Something blocked my magic! How about asking him!?” she countered, gesturing angrily at Hail Trail.

“This is bad,” Whirlwind muttered, ignoring Twilight’s suggestion. “At this rate we’ll end up like Team Cyan.”

“It can’t have gotten far,” Twilight reasoned. Without further warning, she grabbed hold of the two pegasi with her magic and teleported all three of them to the moonlit opening on the far side of the cavern, creating a force field around them as she did so.

“Are we sure it didn’t go back the way we came?” Whirlwind asked the unicorn as the three of them climbed the loose rocks scattered all over the exit of the cavern.

“If it did, we’d never find it in that giant cave,” Twilight answered, then nodded her head at a small, but fresh spatter of blood on the icy rocks they were traversing. “I think it’s already too late for Cloud Slicer.”

Whirlwind muttered something under his breath and shook his head. “You should let Coup know what’s going on.”

Twilight nodded, and her horn brightened a bit. It took her a while to lock onto the green crystal far below, but she managed to establish the connection all the same. “Twilight again. We found Hail Trail. Alive. He must’ve mistaken me for the killer when he saw us. He attacked me, and while Whirlwind subdued him, the killer made off with Cloud Slicer. We think it’s headed towards the surface, but it might have slipped past us, so stay on your guard down there. We’ll try and catch this thing, but we might just end up chasing it out of the caves.”

“So what exactly happened back there?” Whirlwind asked almost as soon as Twilight’s connection to the green crystal had faded. “Why did your magic cut off like that?”

Twilight shook her head. “I still don’t know. The killer must’ve blocked my magic somehow. Or maybe it’s because we’re so close to Canterlot and whatever’s going on there.”

“Well, is it going to happen again?”

“I don’t know!” she groaned. “It’s not happened before!” The moonlight surrounding them brightened as they walked, and soon the cavern ceiling above receded fully, revealing the ominous, swirling clouds in the night sky and the brilliant full moon shining through their center. The cavern walls surrounding the three ponies remained, however, and Twilight realized that the canyon they now found themselves in must have been the result of the cavern’s ceiling collapsing fairly recently, explaining the piles of loose rocks covering the ground.

“Coup was pretty serious about us not leaving the caves, ” Whirlwind commented nervously. “Does a collapsed cavern like this still count as being underground?”

“It does if we want to find Cloud Slicer,” Twilight answered, picking up her pace. Ahead of her, the canyon split in two, and she could see what looked to be a pony lying in the middle of the intersection. Immediately after catching sight of what she could only assume was Cloud Slicer, she saw a golden light emerging from the smaller of the two passageways up ahead.

“Is someone there?” a familiar voice challenged the three ponies, coming from somewhere far ahead of the group and echoing throughout the canyon.

“Twilight!” the lavender unicorn called out, and the golden light dimmed enough for her to make out Amber Vane and a group of ponies following behind him. The two teams met each other at the intersection and at what turned out to be a skeleton of a pony, almost completely picked clean of any flesh. A green horn protruding from its skull identified the skeleton as Sirius. “Are you alright?” she asked the other team.

“Just about to ask the same of you,” Amber Vane replied, glancing nervously at the skeleton and giving Twilight and those behind her a worried frown. “We ran into the corpse of Icarus a minute ago. Found a skeleton of somepony too.” His frown deepened “What happened to your face?”

“Nothing,” Twilight groaned, doing another attempt at wiping away the blood covering her face. “Team Cyan’s been hunted down by... something,” she explained. “We were sent as reinforcements, but we’ve only found Hail Trail so far. Of those that are alive, at least. You haven’t seen anything out of the ordinary?”

“If they had, they’d probably be a lot fewer,” Whirlwind observed, casting a sideways glance at the completely traumatized Hail Trail.

“Apart from the two casualties, no.”

“We found Cerulean not that far from base camp,” Whirlwind muttered, more to himself than anyone else. “Then Whitewing and Iron Sword...”

“Iron Sword’s dead?” Amber Vane asked in disbelief, but Whirlwind ignored him, leaving Twilight to give the other unicorn a sad nod.

“Hail Trail makes four,” the pegasus continued. “Sirius and Icarus too, along with somepony’s skeleton. That’s seven, which leaves us one final member of Team Cyan yet to be found. Either Pale Pass or Sky Sweeper. And Cloud Slicer too.”

“How could this happen?” Amber Vane questioned Twilight worriedly. “I mean, we had trouble with some snakes, but... how did something wipe out Team Cyan? What was it?”

“We don’t know,” Twilight answered, nodding at the passageway yet to be explored. “It probably went this way, though. Unless it’s managed to scale the walls here while carrying two ponies.”

Whirlwind cleared his throat loudly, making Twilight stop in her tracks and look back at him. “Coup?”

“Oh. Right.” Yet again, her horn began to glow as she summoned her connection to the crystal by Coup de Grâce. “Twilight Sparkle here again. We’ve reached the surface and met up with Amber Vane’s team. They found Icarus’ body and somepony’s skeleton, either Pale Pass or Sky Sweeper. We found the skeleton of Sirius as well, so it’s Cloud Slicer and one more from Team Cyan missing at this point. We’ll explore the area together and see if we can’t find the last two and whatever killed them.”

As soon as Twilight severed the connection, a loud cackle sounded throughout the large fissure, its echoes almost immediately drowned out by the scream of Hail Trail. “No! No! Nononono! You won’t get me!” Before anypony could react, the pegasus had turned tail and was galloping down the way he had come, Whirlwind following soon after in an attempt to catch him.

For a moment, Twilight hesitated, but eventually turned away from the receding figures of the two pegasi and turned her attention to the path she had been heading toward just a few seconds earlier. “C’mon!” she shouted, teleporting ahead of the gathered ponies before setting into a gallop herself. Jagged stone walls passed by her in a blur as she barreled on ahead, but she was almost immediately met by a dead end.

Both Cloud Slicer and Sky Sweeper sat propped up against each other, both of them displaying a small, but fatal-looking wound in the neck.

“Where’d it go?” Amber Vane asked as he arrived at Twilight’s side, his eyes darting about in search of the unknown killer before his gaze settled on the two corpses. As soon as he spotted the grisly sight, Sky Sweeper’s head detached itself from the rest of the body and fell to the ground with a dull thud, reminding Twilight of what Hail Trail had said about the unfortunate pegasus’s demise. “How is it doing this!?”

“I don’t know!” Twilight replied, frustrated with her elusive target. Before the unicorn could react, a large projectile sped right past her head and landed between her and Amber Vane. Twilight’s gaze was pulled toward the ground long enough to identify the projectile as a now shattered skull, and she immediately returned her attention to the top of the cliff face, trying to spot whoever had thrown it. “It’s up there!”

“Wait!” Amber Vane urged her, putting a hoof on her before she could vanish. “Coup said... we...” He was trembling badly, his eyes darting back and forth between Twilight and the two corpses as he spoke. “Coup said that… we weren’t supposed to go up there,” he managed. “It’s too dangerous. And you’d be going directly against her orders.”

“This is the closest I’ve ever been to catching that thing!” Twilight hastily argued, her gaze returning to the area from which the head had been thrown. “I need to know if it’s him or not!”

“Him? What are you talking about!?” Amber Vane demanded, but as soon as his hoof left her, Twilight disappeared in a flash, reappearing above the canyon.

A series of mangled train tracks and a giant pile of rubble was the first sight that greeted her. The Canterlot Central Station, located just outside the city proper, had not only been decimated, but flattened completely by something of monumental size. No doubt whatever did this also caused that cave to collapse... the unicorn observed as she swept her gaze across the rest of the city, her heart growing heavier with every second. The skyline’s changed again.

No matter where she looked, Twilight could see none of the many towers of Canterlot, and it seemed everything within her limited line of sight had been destroyed in the same manner as the Central Station. In her absence, Canterlot had become a ruin. A frigid wind blew across the area, nearly throwing the unicorn off her hooves, and she groaned at the cold. Her horn sparked to life as she summoned a spell of both heating and illuminating, a cone of light soon extending from her horn and sweeping across the immediate area in search of the killer.

“Twilight! Get down!” Amber Vane called out from far below her. She looked back to see the nine ponies gathered near the terminus of the giant fissure, all calling out to her desperately.

“Head on back to the base of operations!” Twilight shouted back at them. “I’ll be fine!”

A vantage point, she instructed herself, ignoring Amber Vane’s protests. It can’t have gotten that far. The unicorn set into a swift trot, heading toward the closest building that had been left standing by what Twilight began to suspect had been an ursa major.

A thunderous avian screech boomed out across the ruined wastes of the outskirts of Canterlot, and Twilight ducked her head down as she ran, cutting off the light shining from her horn. The roc, wherever it was, didn’t seem to be interested in the pony, however, and so she reached out to her magic again only moments later. Hoping that the flash of light would attract no unwanted attention, the unicorn teleported to the top of an abandoned brick house, for once appreciative of the perpetually full moon shining far above as she surveyed the area.

No sign of it, she concluded dismally after a minute of searching, shaking her head with frustration. What was it? The alicorn? Why did he kill all those ponies? Why was he down there!? Did he find the Elements before me, or did he just want to kill a handful of soldiers? Once again finding no answer to the questions surrounding the dark alicorn, Twilight turned her gaze to the palace grounds, still several miles away and hidden from view by the rest of the mostly ruined capital. Coup de Grâce won’t be happy I went to the surface, she reasoned with herself. Neither will the council. This might just be my last chance at searching this place. If the Elements are somewhere in the caverns, the teams will retrieve them and give them to my friends and I. If they’re still up here somewhere, I’m the only one able to find them. I have to try.

“You cannot find them.”

Twilight whirled around and leapt away from the source of the voice in one swift motion, only to find a few wisps of smoke evaporating into nothingness. “Show yourself!” she shouted at the alicorn, but received no response.

“When the time is right,” the alicorn finally continued, this time from somewhere to her right, “no sooner, no later, you will find them within the heart of Canterlot.”

The unicorn scowled at the empty air next to her, and her horn started glowing dangerously. “You led me all the way up here! What is it you want?”

The alicorn did not answer, and Twilight was instead thrown off balance by a powerful gust of wind from behind her. She immediately turned around and groaned as she found herself standing before an ursa minor that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. Twilight took a silent step backwards as she held her breath, the enormous bear eyeing her with a mix of interest and mild hostility.

She attempted a placating smile as she took another step back, but bumped into something unexpectedly. Turning once again, she found the alicorn standing right behind her. “Would you like some help?” he offered, a menacing smile upon his lips.

Twilight stepped back toward the ursa cautiously, lighting her horn. “Your help? Like what you did when I faced the diamond dogs?”

The alicorn lifted an eyebrow, and his smile remained. “You blame me?”

Twilight glanced back at the ursa, only to find that the bear had stopped moving, surrounded by the red shimmer of the stallion’s magic. “You said you never lie,” she said, turning back to him. “Tell me you didn’t... mess with my head while I was down there!”

“I awakened something within you, nothing more. I am afraid you slaughtered those dogs on your own.”

“What did you do?” Twilight demanded. “Why... ‘awaken’ this... whatever!?”

“You will see.” He nodded his head at Canterlot. “After all, it is why you are here. Now, this creature...” The ground shuddered, and warily, Twilight took her eyes off the alicorn to look back at the ursa, which now floated in midair, a helpless expression on its face. “Say the word, and I shall end it.”

“It’s a baby!” Twilight objected.

“It’s an obstacle,” the alicorn countered coolly. “If you continue to avoid the walls that surround you, you will find that you are trapped. I am offering to help you.”

“Clearing the way for the path you want me to take,” Twilight concluded with a sneer. “What if I want to go in another direction?”

“I thought your dreams had shown you the folly of such a decision. But by all means‒” He put a hoof on his chest and bowed his head briefly “‒knock this wall down.”

Twilight needed no further encouragement, her horn lighting up immediately and firing a bolt of lightning at the alicorn. As she had expected, the spell struck an invisible shield and vanished, rendering her attack completely ineffective.

“You can do better.”

“You’re not invincible!” Twilight told herself more than the stallion. “Not outside the nightmares!” A concentrated beam of light escaped her horn next. Even though it stopped at his barrier again, she kept at it, sweeping the beam back and forth across the shield in search of weaknesses. When she failed to find any, she tripled the power of her spell, causing an explosion that rang out across the ruined city. Wincing at the noise, the unicorn stopped. An ursa major had appeared near the canyon from which she had come, she realized, and it regarded the two equines and the floating minor with bewilderment.

“One day, perhaps,” the alicorn sighed before the unicorn could resume her assault. “But not today. You lack the power to shape your destiny, Twilight.”

He stepped closer to the unicorn and extended a hoof toward her. Twilight was about to shy away from his touch when something about the dark alicorn’s eyes changed. The amber color intensified suddenly, and whatever lay beyond those eyes became drained of all color and muddled to the point where everything but those eyes fell into complete obscurity.

His hoof touched her lightly on the forehead, and she found herself unable to move away. “And for now, I remain the undisputed master of this realm.” His hoof pressed against her forehead a little firmer for emphasis before drawing away. He blinked his eyes, releasing the unicorn of whatever trance held her. His eyes left her and turned instead to the helpless ursa behind her. “The choice is not there. Not for beings like you and me. You are not free. You can knock down this wall,” he said, nodding at the ursa, “or you can perish.” He gave her a knowing look. “And you cannot perish, can you? You cannot allow yourself to give up,” he whispered into her ear, standing suddenly at her side rather than in front of her.

Twilight took a shaky step away from the alicorn, reaching the edge of the ruined building they stood upon. She shuddered, both at the spell he had just cast on her and his touch. “What’s the catch?” she demanded after recovering. “Why do you want to help me... knock that wall down?”

The alicorn chuckled. “The catch? I kill the child.” Twilight’s gaze went to the ursa minor, whose entire body distorted wildly before disintegrating, leaving nothing but the lingering echoes of its pained howl cut short. “I kill the father.” Without taking his eyes of the unicorn in front of him, a scarlet fireball launched backwards from the tip of his horn, tearing through the air in a wide arc and with a loud hiss before striking the ursa major poking around near the canyon. The ground shuddered as soon as the fireball impacted, enough to make Twilight’s teeth rattle, and the distant ursa major became immediately engulfed by an inferno that dwarfed even the titanic bear.

Dust and pebbles between the unicorn and the explosion were thrown into the air as a shockwave rolled across the area and toward her, and Twilight had no time to react before she felt something akin to a giant fist smashing her off the building and into the air.

The next thing she knew, she was lying in a large, abandoned garden atop a flattened, withered bush, cuts and scrapes all over her body and a loud ringing in her ears. She couldn’t hear herself groan as she slowly rose to her feet, but the alicorn’s voice was crystal clear within her mind. But I don’t kill the mother, he finished. Very faintly, Twilight registered a terrible roar of anger that carried across his point perfectly, and the unicorn looked back the way she had come, through a ruined hedge she had nearly torn down while flying through the air. A third ursa, the same size as the one killed in the explosion, had appeared at the ruined building she had been standing on a moment ago. Although she could barely hear it through the ringing in her ears, Twilight felt the vibrations in the ground from the ursa major’s second roar. There are walls that guide you, that you need, the alicorn told her, and upon looking closer, Twilight realized that he had already vanished. With the stallion gone, the ursa’s head turned instead toward Twilight, snarling ferociously. And there are those you don’t, limiting you in your growth and progress. Learn to tell the difference, and I will see you in a few days.

Behind the enraged ursa, the alicorn’s destructive spell had left nothing but a smoking crater, wiping out not only the father ursa, but erasing all signs of the canyon Twilight had come from. She had little time to ponder the fates of the pony soldiers she had left behind there, for the mother ursa now closed the gap between herself and the unicorn in a single step. As a monstrous paw swept across the garden, crushing everything in the area with ease, Twilight narrowly managed to teleport almost a hundred feet backwards and out of the ursa’s immediate range.

Safety’s out the window, the unicorn concluded, firing a powerful explosive charge at the ursa before her. It was struck square in the forehead, but the massive bear only grunted in response. If I can’t get back to the Sword of Equestria, I’d better make the most of what I’ve got. I’ll grab the Elements and get out of here. She teleported once more as the ursine lunged at her, setting into a gallop toward the heart of Canterlot as soon as she rematerialized. She threw back another explosive spell at the ursa, following up with a lightning bolt that did little to slow it down, and she resumed teleporting rapidly from place to place in an erratic zigzag pattern in a failed attempt at throwing off her pursuer. The ruined buildings rushing past her in a blur became larger and larger and the cracked and crushed paved streets became wider and wider as she made her way through the very suburbs in which she had grown up and into the older parts of the city. And as the ruined houses and shops around her increased in size, so too did the giant pieces of debris scattered across the roads, making it harder and harder for the unicorn to navigate the city.

She had made it to one of the major streets of the capital when a patch of slick ice unexpectedly found itself under her hooves, and the unicorn crashed head-first into the pavement. She groaned as her nose and the few scrapes she had gotten from her encounter with Hail Trail began bleeding even more, using her magic to wipe away the blood running down past her lips. Simultaneously, she quickly summoned a sharply angled triangular force field about herself, somehow managing to hold it as the ursa major tailing her slammed its paw down on top of her.

The beast howled at the heavens as it cut itself on the pointed force field, and Twilight unleashed the most powerful bolt of lightning she could muster, aiming to curve it around in midair to strike it within its exposed maw. The dizziness brought on by her recent faceplant onto the concrete surface of the street, however, robbed her of her accuracy, causing her to hit the ursa’s eyes instead.

At least that should blind it for a while, the unicorn observed, and cast her gaze about for an adequate hiding spot. A partly collapsed but solid-looking marble structure that Twilight recognized as one of the city’s banks proved itself a favorable candidate. Before the ursa could recover, Twilight cast a come to life spell on a quartet of rocks that quickly dashed off down a side street, mimicking the sound of hooves fairly well. With the distraction in place, Twilight then teleported inside the bank, allowing herself a moment of respite as she leaned against a cracked wall within the ruined building.

Before long, the heavy footfalls of the ursa echoed all over the city as it set in pursuit of Twilight’s decoy, and the unicorn let out a sigh of relief. That could have gone better. If only that alicorn didn’t try sabotaging me everywhere I went! Still, could have been a lot worse, I suppose. At least no one else...

The unicorn paused as the temperature surrounding her suddenly dropped, far more drastically than was natural. The entire building creaked dangerously as a monumental gust of wind buffeted its broken walls, the small cracks and holes in the marble walls producing a high-pitched howling as the wind tore through them, undoubtedly loud enough to draw the attention of every single creature in the Canterlot area.

Before the unicorn could rise, her hind legs were already glued to the floor by a thick coating of ice, and she gritted her teeth at the sudden cold. By the time she had freed herself, every single exit in the bank had frozen over, windigos diving in and out among the ice as they howled at the intruder.

“And there goes any chance of stealth,” the unicorn sighed, using her magic to blast apart the ice in her immediate area as it sought to envelop her again. She aimed her horn at the nearest exit and unleashed an explosive charge, managing to blow the icy barrier apart without much difficulty.

The sight of a frozen alleyway greeted her, and she galloped on ahead into the icy passage and away from the hostile windigoes, not noticing the strange figures in the ice all around her before it was too late. With a guttural ape-like roar, a fist appeared from a wall right next to her and struck her square in the face, sending her flying backwards to an already gathered pack of the bipedal ice monsters. Although she was blinded by pain, the unicorn remembered what Team Yellow had said of the strange creatures’ strength and immediately summoned a force field about herself, assessing her injuries as the monster pounded away at her defenses.

Why the face!? she complained as her mouth quickly filled with the huge amounts of blood flowing from her nose, gagging at both the smell and taste. She prodded gingerly at her muzzle, and although the pain was dizzying, it didn’t seem like anything was broken.

Without warning, the shield around her shattered under the ice beasts’ assault and Twilight narrowly managed teleporting her way out from the middle of the angered throng before they could catch her. She reappeared near the end of the alley and unleashed yet another explosive charge aimed at the ice monsters, blowing apart half of the pack before she set into a gallop once more, struggling to orient herself in the ruined city. She turned left and found herself running up a minor street that was hardly wider than the alley she had just been in, the task of running uphill made all the more difficult by the increasingly abundant patches of ice covering the ground.

Taking her eyes off her hooves for an instant, Twilight saw another swarm of windigoes flitting about above her, leaping from rooftop to rooftop as they left behind trails of solid ice, soon forming a white, glittering overhang for the street she was currently galloping through. The unicorn quickly realized the winter spirits’ intent as needle-sharp icicles grew out of the ice above her, and she summoned her force field again as the makeshift roof began to collapse on top of her.

Can’t keep this up for much longer, the unicorn thought, grimacing as the path ahead of her was overrun by windigoes, the ground icing over immediately and growing sharp spikes everywhere.

Seeing nowhere else to go, the unicorn teleported off the street and onto the rooftops overlooking it, thankful that the buildings in this area had been left relatively untouched. The flat rooftops provided her with a large, somewhat steep staircase as she continued uphill. From her position, it was hard to determine how close she was to the palace, but spotting the remains of the hospital she had woken up in after The Great Tragedy a few hundred feet to her left, she figured she was getting close. Standing next to the hospital, however, was yet another ursa major, this one even bigger than any of the ones she had previously met. It seemed to have noticed the commotion caused by both the bipedal ice creatures and the windigoes, as well as the bright flash of the unicorn’s teleportations, for its eyes were currently riveted on her.

Knowing it would be able to close the gap between them in just a matter of seconds, Twilight sighed as she came to a halt, spending the little time she had on gathering her energy for another bout with one of the enormous ursines.

This is getting out of hoof. Scratch that. It got out of hoof five minutes ago. Now it’s complete and utter chaos. The unicorn bit her lip as she came to the inevitable conclusion. I have to turn back.

The barely perceptible sound of ice against ice caused the unicorn to turn her head, providing her with just enough warning to dodge out of the way as one of the bipedal creatures lunged at her. They can scale buildings. Noted. By the time she had blasted apart the one before her and three others behind it, the ursa was upon her, one of its monumental paws smashing the building she stood upon to pieces. Twilight herself proved once again to be too elusive for her enemies, teleporting onto a neighboring building and firing a continuous bolt of lightning at the star-like insignia upon the massive bear’s forehead. The spell was enough to significantly slow the ursa, but as she concentrated on holding back the large creature, another flock of windigoes caught her by surprise, appearing out of nowhere to whirl about her legs and encase them in ice.

The unicorn gasped at the sudden stab of pain as the ice materialized out of nowhere and quickly crept up her belly and along her sides, threatening to completely envelop her in a matter of seconds. Forsaking her lightning bolt spell, Twilight summoned a wave of fire that swept around her immediate area, vaporizing the windigoes and halting the hastily advancing ice. Before she could manage to free herself, however, the ursa had recovered from her attack and was once again preparing to crush her. Realizing she couldn’t dodge in her current state, the unicorn summoned her telekinesis instead. The paw bigger than her own library bore down upon her and, screaming with the effort, Twilight barely managed to push it aside in midair. The roof she stood upon sagged dangerously as the ursa’s paw grazed and demolished one of its underlying walls, threatening to bury the frozen unicorn in a shower of bricks and mortar.

Quickly noting that the ursa had been close to losing its balance, however, Twilight summoned a magenta glowing rope that looped around the bear’s huge fangs before both ends connected with her horn again. She tautened the magical rope just after the ursa regained its footing, and as it lifted its head just slightly, the unicorn was ripped out of her icy cage and away from the encroaching ice monsters. She now hung freely below the ursa’s jaw, but manipulating the magical rope, she was able to swing herself onto the top of its massive head, taking a moment to recover and orient herself from the new vantage point.

A moment was all she had however, as the ursa suddenly shifted beneath her as its left foreleg gave way without warning, the bear grunting in pain just as Twilight’s magical rope disintegrated. Moving with remarkable agility, a strange creature leapt onto the head of the ursa major, standing only a few feet from the unicorn.

The creature was not like anything Twilight had ever seen or heard of, which in itself was enough to confound the knowledgeable unicorn. Like the ice creatures, the being before her was a biped, standing upright on thin, multi-jointed legs that ended in a series of wickedly sharp, jet-black claws that served as feet. Its chest was elongated almost to the extreme, with ribs clearly visible against its mottled midnight blue and olive skin, giving the creature a starved appearance that only served to further unsettle the unicorn. The arms, all four of them, had much the same appearance as the legs, having at least six joints, but were remarkably longer. As the creature stood there and stared at her, its arms hanging loosely at its sides, the razor-sharp points of its foot-long sickle-like claws nearly touched the ursa’s scalp. It had no visible head nor mouth, and its four eyes were instead located on its chest, two of which were staring Twilight in the eye while the other pair took in the rest of the unicorn’s body. Spikes ranging in length from an inch to half a foot jutted out from the creature’s skin at random all over its body, quivering as the creature breathed. All in all, Twilight’s newest potential foe stood almost eight feet tall.

For five seconds or so, the two were silent, assessing each other and looking for any weak spots. Finally, the unknown creature made its move, leaping gracefully across the ursa’s head and swinging its two bladed right arms at the unicorn. In response, Twilight erected a sturdy barrier between herself and her enemy, but, to her surprise, her force field disintegrated as soon as her opponent’s claws came in contact with the shield. She backpedalled desperately, but failed to fully avoid the creature’s attack, its long claws cutting three deep gashes into her left foreleg, slicing through the flesh as if it were butter.

Twilight screamed in agony, but managed to teleport out of reach before the thing could follow up with a swipe of its left arms. As she materialized on the ursa’s back, the bear, spooked both by the presence of the odd creature on its head and the unicorn’s scream, threw itself to the ground, attempting to crush the creatures standing on it by rolling around. Twilight teleported once more, ending up on the nearest building, the Canterlot hospital. The clawed creature proved to be equally evasive, floating through the air as it leapt across the hundred foot gap between the ursa and the hospital.

The thing hardly had enough time to land thirty feet ahead of her before Twilight switched to a more offensive tactic, firing lightning bolts, explosive charges, and fireballs at it in rapid succession. Whatever magic-cancelling effect the creature’s claws possessed, however, worked just as well on offensive as defensive spells. Waving its four limbs about gracefully, it neatly parried every single one of the unicorn’s spells, advancing steadily. Making matters more difficult, the ursa’s attention had now returned to her, and a hastily dropping temperature suggested the presence of windigoes.

Trying to focus on the present situation and not the horrible memories her spell brought to mind, Twilight used her magic to call upon the same, violent fires she had used against the diamond dogs. The roaring flames flowed freely from her horn, spinning about her body protectively for a few seconds as it grew more and more powerful. Breaking free of its orbit finally, the fire lashed out at the clawed thing, overwhelming its defense as it struck its side. The biped was thrown off its feet and driven straight into the face of the ursa major, who roared angrily as the flames struck its eyes.

Another roar from behind her drew Twilight’s attention away from the enemies to her left, and she spotted that night’s fourth ursa scowling at her as it recognized her as the one attacking the other bear. Looking ahead of her again, she saw a swarm of windigoes appear on the other side of the hospital building, rushing straight at her and leaving behind a crackling trail of solid ice.

I can’t do this.

The two ursas, one charging at her and the other preparing to pummel her with a massive paw, slowed suddenly, and the clawed creature leaping at her and the windigoes rushing along the roof of the hospital froze in midair. All around her, time ground to a halt as the unicorn in her desperation reached out once more to the core of her being, her surroundings melting away in favor of the white skeletal structures, the strange organic structures, the multicolored trees and lanterns, and most importantly, the cascades of magenta and blindingly white sparkles. Doing her best to grab hold of every single scrap of magic she could find within herself, she flung them at the surface, once more making her latent energies manifest in an effort to ward off her many attackers.

Time resumed its normal pace, and the unicorn’s eyes opened to reveal two globes of incandescent white. Her horn took on a blazing brilliance of not only magenta, but white and black as well as her body lifted into the air, a powerful whirlwind forming about her. Her entire being flashed briefly before an orb of pure energy appeared at the tip of her horn, exploding outwards in all directions as it expanded blindingly fast, completely destroying the hospital she stood upon and driving its rubble into its foundation. All of the creatures within two hundred feet of her were blasted away, and the windigoes howled in pain as they were blown to smithereens.

Instead of dropping to the ground as she had done the last time, the unicorn instead floated gently downwards, touching down in the center of the crater she had just formed. As the magic left her and she accidentally put weight on the leg sliced up by the clawed creature, however, she fell over with a grunt of pain, clutching at the heavily bleeding limb.

Eventually, the dust all around her settled, and as it did so, Twilight was overcome with despair. The four-armed monster was still standing, and not alone were the two ursas relatively unhurt by the explosion, they had also been joined by the ursa major Twilight had lured away in the first place. The bipedal ice creatures had arrived in a force numbering at least a hundred, and several swarms of windigoes had gathered overhead, summoning a thick coat of ice that crept along the still warm surface of the crater, threatening to envelop her in just a few seconds. A long series of roars announced the arrival of a hydra, and after just a few moments, three quartets of the reptilian heads appeared at the rim of the crater. By the time the unicorn had managed to get to her hooves again, another booming avian screech told her the roc somewhere was watching the scene closely.

Despair turned to an overwhelming panic as she threw her gaze about, realizing that the creatures of Canterlot had her completely surrounded. She tried teleporting, but the powerful spell had drained her of nearly all of her powers, her horn sputtering uselessly when she tried summoning her magic. I could run, she suggested to herself, eyeing the small army of beasts gathered about her. It’ll be hard with the state of my leg, but I’ve tried worse. Which way though? Without teleportation, I can’t dodge the ursas’ paws; they’d crush me if I got any nearer. The claw... thingy won’t allow me to pass by. Too quick. Same goes for the ice creatures. That leaves the three hydras. What I wouldn’t give for wings in a situation like this. Ugh, hydras it is, then. The one near Ponyville was pretty clumsy. If I can get past any of the monsters here, it’ll be them.

Refusing to worry herself with the details of what to do after escaping the crater, Twilight tried to turn around to face the reptiles. A sudden stab of pain in the three hooves she stood upon, however, told her that she had underestimated the speed of the advancing ice brought on by the windigoes’ presence. Grunting with exertion, the unicorn barely managed to pull her front hoof free before it became fully frozen, but as she sought to free her hind legs as well, her foreleg slipped out from underneath her. She collapsed on the frozen ground and the ice coating quickly seized her chest, locking her in an awkward position just as the creatures all around her began to advance. She pushed furiously against the ground with her two forelegs, screaming as her left leg became covered in the blood gushing out of her deep wounds. Her efforts were met with nothing but pain and failure and soon all four legs were trapped, the ice having already encased her hindquarters and rapidly creeping toward her head.

Realizing that any physical solution to her predicament was now beyond impossible, the unicorn returned to her magic, her horn fizzing and sputtering violently as she tried desperately to find a spell that would save her. She poured more and more effort into her magic, but the buzzing only intensified and the horn grew steadily hotter as if it were overheating. The heat quickly turned excruciating and produced a splitting headache that only grew more horrible by the second, but still she pushed on, confident that if anything would save her, it would be her magic.

And finally, something somewhere inside of her stirred. As if recognizing its significance, as if instantly knowing that this and this alone would save her life, Twilight turned to it, doing everything she could to unleash its secret power. And as she did so, her entire being shifted monumentally and irreversibly.

Her horn ceased its useless sputtering, and the stream of tiny magenta sparks leaping from its tip died away. Instead, an almost deafening crack rang out all over the ruined city, shattering her icy cage and stopping the hostile monsters dead in their tracks. Twilight was pulled to her hooves by her horn as whatever spell she had set in motion began to take effect. A series of wispy tendrils extended slowly from her horn, snaking about in the air and fluttering about gently despite the massive bursts of wind plaguing the crater. The winds died down quickly in response to Twilight’s magic, and the monsters all around her fell silent as well, save for a few that were growling nervously.

Like snakes, the tendrils suddenly lashed out at a number of her enemies, striking mostly the ice creatures and windigoes but latching on to an ursa and the clawed monster as well. A strange feeling came over the unicorn as the tendrils all connected to her enemies. A sense of despair, several of rage and confusion, and multitudes of fear and suffering overwhelmed her without warning, but her spell continued without interruption.

A loud rushing sound erupted from each of the magenta tendrils, growing steadily higher and higher in pitch as all of the alien emotions bombarding her all transformed into pure, insurmountable fear, soon followed by excruciating pain. The unicorn paled when her spell continued its work, the tendril ripping and tearing not at her enemies’ flesh, but at the innermost core of their beings, pulling mercilessly as the creatures all around continued their unbearable suffering. And somehow, she felt every ounce of pain she inflicted upon them, not experiencing it so much as remembering, the agony sickening her rather than crippling her. Two of the ice monsters suddenly collapsed, and the tendrils withdrew from the corpses and retracted into the unicorn to fill her with a surge of power that felt both welcome and disturbing beyond measure.

Twilight tried to move, to end her spell, but she was paralyzed, frozen in place as she stood at the center of a crowd howling at the pain she brought upon them, all of them suffering far worse than she had ever done herself. She knew it somehow, could feel it. The hundreds of voices echoed in her mind as they screamed and roared, their pain somehow experienced firsthoof by the unicorn as a punishment for what she had begun. A dozen more ice creatures fell over and just as many windigoes evaporated into nothingness as she ripped the very essence of their being from their bodies, consuming it to fuel her own magic which had by now already reached astronomical levels.

The clawed creature began advancing despite the tendril sucking it dry of everything that made it what it was, swinging its claws blindly as it sought to put an end to the source of misery. Without directly wanting to, Twilight focused her powers on the strong creature, the tendrils spreading out from her horn all leaving their chosen targets and grabbing hold of the biped instead. The clawed thing fell to its knees, and although it possessed no mouth with which to scream, its pain was still crystal clear to the pony. It was far from enough to stop her merciless onslaught, though, and soon its physical remains were all that was left of the clawed creature. Whatever had driven it, whatever had animated it and been at the core of its being was now a part of her, part of the crackling energy buzzing at the tip of her horn. Her terrible spell finally ran its course as the last of the nightmarish tendrils retreated into her, but her horn continued to shine, overflowing with the energy it had stolen.

Twilight opened her eyes, realizing that she had held them tightly shut the whole time, watching the scene somehow through the eyes of her prey. The four-armed being had collapsed just a few feet from her, its claws no more than an inch from scraping her left hind leg. The corpses of the strange ice beings were strewn all around her, but plenty more had survived, watching the unicorn in awed silence. Twilight felt as though her mind had been split into countless pieces during her spell, and although it had been made whole again, it seemed as though it had taken on an alien shape, no longer welcome within her own body. As she slowly regained her awareness, so too did the remaining monsters surrounding her, and a hundred hostile gazes settled on her.

The unicorn, however, was beyond worrying. With a dazed expression, she looked at her own horn, growling and blazing with the power it now held, stolen from the beings she had killed. Acting more on instinct than anything else, she seized that power and shaped it into a teleportation spell, one that would carry her far away from the dangers surrounding her. Thus, with a loud pop and a blinding flash, Twilight vanished from Canterlot.

Having spent the last minute furiously trying to squeeze every single speck of magic she had into her spells, the unicorn quickly realized that she had overshot her teleportation spell. Canterlot, with its bloodthirsty denizens and beyond freezing temperatures, was gone, its massive but ruined brick and marble structures replaced by the much smaller rustique houses adorned with thatched roofs that she had come to miss so sorely.

“Ponyville...” Twilight muttered to herself, casting her gaze about in wonder. “I went all the wa-gah! Argh!” In her distraction, she accidentally put weight on her left foreleg, and the still heavily bleeding wound pulsed painfully before the unicorn toppled over, clutching at the leg as she stifled a scream.

“T-Twilight!?” a slightly familiar, but mostly startled voice called out as the unicorn fell, the sound of galloping hooves soon reaching her. “Where’d you come from!? What happened to your leg!?” The unicorn finally remembered the voice as belonging to Davenport, owner of the Quills and Sofas shop. As Twilight lifted her head weakly, she saw the earth pony hurriedly take of his vest and wrap it around her injured leg, carefully helping her to her hooves again.

“Thanks,” the unicorn managed, suddenly feeling very tired from teleporting several miles. She winced as she experimentally wiggled the maimed limb. “Could you..? A hospital...”

“Of course!” Davenport stuttered in panic as he saw his vest get soaked in a matter of seconds. The stallion was soon joined by an equally worried Lyra, both of them positioning themselves at Twilight’s sides for support and helping her limp forwards.

Twilight glanced at her surroundings again, this time noticing a rather large crowd that had simply stopped dead in their tracks in shock at the sudden appearance of the bleeding unicorn.

Must be strange for something like that to appear in the middle of the town square, Twilight reflected, gazing back at the trail of blood she was leaving behind. I wonder... she thought idly, her mind becoming steadily more and more fuzzy. I wonder how much blood I can afford to lose. Her vision darkened, and a dull thump as she hit the ground along with somepony shouting her name was the last thing she registered before losing consciousness.

17 - Wounds of a Nightmare

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Succession

Chapter 17 - Wounds of a Nightmare

Celestia screamed in agony as her murderer’s magic dug mercilessly into her flesh, tearing her apart from the inside and setting the world on fire. She could do nothing but watch in horror, and her inaction was soon punished, a wave of immeasurable heat washing over her and boiling away her skin as flames rushed toward her. She was thrown through a marble wall, blinded by the brightness of the explosion as she soared across the sky.

The glare of the fires engulfing her dulled somewhat, and she opened her eyes to find herself standing in Cristallum, her solite roaring fiercely as it tore apart the council’s conclave. She fought to gain control of the liquid orb of fire, but was too late.

The solite erupted into a pillar of all-consuming flames that decimated the Canterlot palace and tore into the night sky, destroying all that she held dear.

“Incoming!” The fiery column spun around and became the flames spewing forth from a dragon’s maw, incinerating the flying chariot above Dragoncrest Valley. She found herself running through the dark woods, the roars and growls of pursuing dragons surrounding her wherever she went. She reached a cavern, dark at first, but then illuminated by letters of blood written upon the stone wall. “I could have killed him!” a distorted voice gloated as the glowing words illuminated the grotesque corpse of Spike, blood pooling about his cold body. “It would have been so very, very easy!”

Her vision distorted as she began seeing with eyes that were not her own, the crimson letters on the wall becoming the blazing red eyes of her enemy, leaping about savagely and bearing down upon all manner of prey. The scene shifted constantly between the Canterlot caverns where Team Cyan was slowly killed off one by one, to Wild Weald where bears, foxes, and timberwolves alike were brought down by the merciless predator. “I know you’re there, Twilight!” the creature cackled as the unicorn stumbled out of her connection with the enormous ursa major. Lightning poured forth from the sky, flowing straight into the ursine’s mind and she once again found herself staring helplessly as the creature was killed in cold blood.

The lightning shifted and pivoted about until it was rushing out of her own horn, knocking back the pack of timberwolves threatening her while Rainbow Dash’s despairing pleas for Fluttershy to be safe echoed in her ears.

The cottage she sought to defend melted away into the underbrush and was replaced by hundreds of pine trees shooting out of the ground, and Twilight found herself blasting apart the horde of timberwolves within Greengloom.

The savage beasts’ snarling was replaced by whimpering as she proceeded with her slaughter, and she found herself in the diamond dog tunnels beneath Ponyville. The disgusting creatures before her were blasted to pieces as the timberwolves had been, and she felt the fires of hatred and misery well up within her, that terrible redness overcoming her and relieving her of all mercy.

The redness in her vision was blood, she realized, forming an enormous pool about her hooves as it gushed forth from her front leg. She raised her head and found herself standing in the ruins of Canterlot, surrounded by innumerable foes. She summoned that terrible spell, ripping out the very souls of her enemies so that she might sustain herself, torturing them beyond imagination and bringing them infinite pain so that she might live.

“You’re up!” Twilight heard Applejack exclaim as she opened her eyes and lifted her head to investigate her surroundings, slightly on edge after the veritable medley of nightmares. “Ah was half expecting ya ta stay asleep for another two months!” Twilight’s eyes finally focused, and she immediately recognized the interior of the Ponyville hospital.

“Two months!?” the unicorn exclaimed in a panic, raising herself up into a sitting position. Her vision fogged over, and she didn’t resist when a cyan hoof gently pushed her back into a lying position.

“Cool down, Twi,” Rainbow Dash urged her. “You’ve only been out for half a day or something this time. No comas.” Twilight’s vision cleared, and to either side of the bed she lay in, she saw Applejack and Rainbow Dash looking back at her, the former smiling reassuringly at her while the latter gave her a worried look. A catheter inserted into her right foreleg was connected to an IV bag filled with some sort of clear liquid, and her left leg had been wrapped completely in bandages. “Pinkie had one of her twitches, said you’d be waking up soon half an hour ago, and went off to gather some party supplies,” the pegasus continued. “Guess she got held up somewhere.”

“Fluttershy couldn’t come either,” Applejack explained. “Said she was busy.” Without the earth pony noticing, Rainbow Dash gave Twilight a sad, but knowing look.

The unicorn propped herself up against the bed’s headrest, grunting from the exertion of only using her right foreleg for the task. “What happened?” she finally asked of her two friends, bringing a hoof to her head as she already began feeling dizzy.

“Ah was out sellin’ apples when Ah saw a bright flash from somewhere on the other side of the town square,” Applejack told her. “Couldn’t quite see what was goin’ on account of so many ponies crowdin’ around ya, but then Ah saw Lyra and Davenport helpin’ you to the hospital. Didn’t make it that far before you collapsed, though.”

“Lyra says you just popped up out of nowhere with these massive gashes in your left leg and started bleeding all over the place,” Rainbow Dash continued. “We got you to the hospital as soon as we could. Doctors patched up your leg and gave you a blood transfusion. They said you might be suffering from some sort of circulatory shock because of all that blood you’ve lost, so they got you hooked up to...” the pegasus gestured at the IV bag next to her. “Whatever that is.”

Twilight nodded her head dimly, her vision blurring for a while before returning to normal.

“You alright, sugarcube?” Applejack asked worriedly of her, and she nodded her head again. The three were silent for a while more before the earth pony spoke again. “So, uh, d’ya know what happened? Ah mean, before you teleported to Ponyville? Some kind of timberwolf or bear attack ya? Or a small dragon?”

“A monster,” Twilight replied. “From Tartarus,” she added almost automatically, frowning at her own words. “I... I didn’t know that...”

“Huh?”

“I don’t know,” she told Rainbow Dash. “It came from Tartarus, the gates are weakened, Cerberus is dead, it stayed in the Everfree Forest for a while... but then it went to Canterlot and found me.”

Her two friends shared a worried look with each other before Applejack spoke. “In Canterlot? What were ya doin’ there?”

“Sword of Equestria mission,” Twilight replied. “It’s a long story, and I’m really not up for explaining the whole thing right now.”

“Ah hear ya, sugarcube,” the earth pony comforted her. “Whatever happened, it took a lot outta ya. Rest up some more and we’ll talk later.” Applejack looked to Rainbow Dash and motioned toward the door, but the pegasus shook her head.

“Go on ahead, AJ. I need a moment alone with Twi.”

The farmer raised an eyebrow, but when no further explanation seemed forthcoming, she left all the same.

As the door clicked shut, Twilight’s eyes turned apprehensively to Rainbow Dash, knowing full well what the pegasus had on her mind. “We need to talk,” she told the unicorn, her eyes fixed on the IV bag next to the bed. “About the diamond dogs. I-I’m sorry I didn’t write you back when you finally answered, I mean, I don’t think you’re a...” Rainbow Dash hesitated and gave an annoyed huff as her words failed her, and she locked eyes with the unicorn instead. “We’re still pals, Twi. No matter what happened or what happens. I don’t want you believing anything else. I just didn’t know what exactly to write and... kinda figured it’d be better to talk about it face to face.”

Twilight averted her gaze from the pegasus. “I told you everything, Rainbow. I don’t know why I did it, but...” The unicorn shook her head. “I can’t dwell on it. The more I think about it, the more it... the more it breaks me.”

“Well then stop thinking and start talking,” Rainbow Dash urged her. “What you did... It’ll eat you up if you let it. And not just you. Fluttershy’s a lot worse off than AJ let on. So whatever’s gnawing at you, tell me. I’ll listen, and then we’ll help Fluttershy.”

“You will not hurt her, you will not hurt my friends, you will not hurt a single creature ever again!”

Twilight shut her eyes tight in concentration as she saw underground passages flooded with searing fires and once ferocious diamond dogs bleeding to death as she marched past them. She saw Fluttershy, she saw the axe, and she saw the captor’s head explode as it was struck by lightning, the fragments of flesh and bone burning away to nothing within a fraction of a second.

She released a deep shuddering sigh as she finally drove away the vivid images, taking a few deep breaths before opening her eyes. She was dismayed, however, to see her horn aglow, preparing some spell she didn’t know what was. The glow was quickly cut off, and Twilight shook her head slowly at Rainbow Dash.

“I... I can’t.”

“I’ll help you then,” Rainbow Dash said simply. “It must’ve started with that nightmare you had, right? You thought you saw us all die.”

“Rainbow, don’t.”

“What did you feel?”

Twilight sighed with exasperation and closed her eyes, gritting her teeth against the onslaught of painful memories. “Bottomless grief, Rainbow. He took away my entire world and crushed it underhoof!”

“And then... you got angry?” Rainbow Dash pressed.

“Die!” The scream was choked off as blood filled her mouth, but she didn’t care. The endless vortex of energy pouring forth from her horn and tearing across Ponyville turned the air around her to fire, burning away her fur and skin, but she didn’t care. The venomous ocean of pure hatred that propelled her, that now constituted all that was left of her being, was blind to everything but the alicorn.

With an audible grunt of exertion, Twilight forced away her memories. “Rainbow!” she pled with the pegasus. “Don’t! I am literally going to explode!”

“You don’t want to hurt me!” Rainbow Dash assured her. “You don’t want to hurt anypony! Just...”

“You will not hurt her, you will not hurt my friends, you will not hurt a single creature ever again! Do you want to know why!?”

Twilight practically snarled as she arched her back, the distinctive smell of ozone becoming readily apparent to both ponies as her horn began humming intensely, begging for release.

“Open the window!” she shouted at Rainbow Dash, who, sensing her urgency, quickly obliged. She levelled her horn at the small opening as the pegasus quickly got out of the way. A bolt of lightning streaked across the room and into the sky as Twilight released her pent-up anger, sighing as she felt control return to her.

“What in Tarnation are you doin’!?” Applejack shouted over the sound of crackling lightning, throwing the door open wide as she and two nurses appeared.

Rainbow Dash could only stutter in response as the burning stream of energy flowing from Twilight’s horn tapered off, the unicorn slumping backwards with a deep, shuddering sigh.

“Mind tellin’ us all what that‒?”

“Out,” Twilight groaned at Applejack, holding a hoof to her head dizzily. “Please... just... get out,” she groaned again when none of the ponies seemed to immediately comply. She closed her eyes and pressed her hooves against them, as if physical pressure could help suppress the rampant emotions within.

“N-now hang on...”

“AJ, I think it’s best if we just... give her some space,” Rainbow Dash cut the farmer off. “Like you said, right?”

Applejack grunted in response, suggesting that the pegasus was trying to push her out the door again. “Ah heard shoutin’, and Ah sure as heck saw Twilight shootin’ lightning outta the window! Ah wanna know what the hay is goin’ on!”

“It’s... complicated,” Rainbow Dash panted, obviously still trying to make the others leave.

“Nuh-uh, there’s somethin’ y’all ain’t tellin’ me! True friends don’t keep these kinds of secrets from each other, ya hear?”

“We’re not keeping secrets!” Rainbow Dash protested in defense. “It’s just... well, Twilight’s obviously not ready to talk about it right now. Give her some time to wind down!”

The two ponies’ argument was cut short by the sound of marching hooves and the halfhearted protests of a nurse. “Captain de Grâce, she really is in no fit state to travel!”

Twilight lowered her hooves and opened her eyes in time to see none other than Coup de Grâce shouldering roughly past the two nurses and Applejack standing in the doorway, her expression positively livid. Centurion, Fire Streak and nurse Redheart followed in her wake as the captain’s eyes fixed on the bedridden unicorn, the sheer intensity of the glare telling Twilight that she wasn’t the only one on the verge of exploding. “Somehow, I just knew I’d find you here!” she hissed, continuing in a more formal tone of voice. “Twilight Sparkle, you stand accused of insubordination and desertion, jeopardizing the lives of your fellow soldiers, three of which are now dead thanks to you! Given your special status,” she sneered, “you are to be brought to Cristallum and incarcerated while the Council of Nine decides your fate! You will be taken to Manehattan by the Sword of Equestria as our prisoner. We leave immediately.”

“Hang on!” Rainbow Dash protested, putting herself between the captain and Twilight. “Open your eyes, for pony’s sake! She was in Canterlot! She got attacked by some monster from Tartarus!”

“She’s suffering from severe hypovolemia!” Redheart backed the pegasus up, pushing past the other guards and nurses. “We performed a successful blood transfusion a few hours ago, but you can’t pull her out of treatment yet! In her current state, she’s much too prone to hypothermia, dehydration, or even cardiac arrest!”

“This is the unicorn who found herself in the center of the Canterlot explosion and was running six days later!” Coup de Grâce countered, pushing aside Rainbow Dash. “We’ll take the IV supplies with us along with a blanket. I’ll have a medic at her side and several unicorns and pegasi keeping an eye on her for the duration of the entire flight. I’m sure she’ll be fine!”

“Well it ain’t up to you!” Rainbow Dash insisted, succeeding in pushing the captain back a step. Coup de Grâce reclaimed the lost ground immediately, nearly bumping into Rainbow Dash and using the fact that she was nearly a head taller than the smaller pegasus to stare her down.

“Don’t think I won’t punch a former Wonderbolt,” Coup de Grâce growled menacingly, but to no avail.

“Try me!” Rainbow Dash challenged her aggressively.

“Rainbow, don’t!” Twilight pled with her friend, but the cyan pegasus ignored her.

“I’d listen to your friend,” Coup suggested with another growl.

“Element of Loyalty, pal!” Rainbow Dash shot back, pushing her head against Coup’s. “If you want her, you’ll have to go through me!”

“I ain’t your pal, blunderbolt!” Coup hissed. “Now get out of my way!”

Rainbow Dash didn’t move, however, and with both ponies too stubborn for either to step aside, the staredown continued for a few moments longer.

Twilight sighed in defeat. “Rainbow...”

“If you want her that bad,” Rainbow Dash suggested, “whaddya say we take it outside, pal? If you manage to beat me, you take Twilight to Manehattan! When I kick your flank, Twi stays!”

“Whoah there, partner,” Applejack tried to cut in, but standing at the back of the small crowd that had gathered in the small room, she failed to catch anyone’s attention.

Coup de Grâce chuckled, pushing back against Rainbow Dash, who stumbled into Twilight’s bed. “I have a few frustrations to vent. Want me to take it out on you? Fine!”

What are you doing, Rainbow? Twilight silently despaired as she, Applejack, and nurse Redheart turned a corner and arrived at the area behind the Canterlot hospital. She’s twice your size! A small throng had already amassed around the two pegasi standing before each other, consisting mainly of the soldiers of the Sword of Equestria, but despite their initial protests at the idea, a significant portion of the hospital staff had gathered as well. The spectators had formed a large circle around Rainbow Dash and Coup de Grâce, who were at the moment preparing for the fight, the ex-Wonderbolt hopping in place to warm herself up while the chocolate brown pegasus was busy stretching her heavily muscled limbs.

Nurse Redheart sighed as she started working Twilight’s wheelchair into the midst of the gathered ponies. “I’m not sure you’re ready for this kind of excitement, Twilight. But...”

“But it’s Rainbow,” Twilight agreed as they reached the front row of the circle. “If she’s going to have herself beaten up for me, the least I can do is be there for her.”

“Hey, now,” Applejack reprimanded her as the trio came to a halt. “Give Rainbow some credit. Fastest pegasus alive might just surprise ya.”

“Coup’s an elite soldier hoofpicked by Scarlet Bolt,” Twilight whispered back at the farmer. “She specializes in hoof-to-hoof combat. As far as I know, Rainbow doesn’t have all that much experience with this kind of thing.”

“Twilight!” Amber Vane called out to her in a whisper as he made his way to her side, as if afraid to be overhead by the colleagues surrounding him. “What happened to you?” he asked worriedly after having looked her over.

“Pretty much everything I deserved,” Twilight sighed. “Coup says three of you died because of me.”

“Oak and Bolt Basher got caught in that explosion that wiped out the canyon,” Amber Vane replied. “We lost Blitz when the ceiling came down on top of us. Most of us had already pulled back to avoid the ursa major poking around our position and to seal the opening we’d come from, so I guess we were lucky.” The unicorn soldier put a reassuring hoof on Twilight shoulder. “But unless you’re the one that blew us up, it’s not your fault they died. Coup’s just... going through a lot. She, Lightning Rod, and Iron Sword were pretty close and she’s lost both of them. Especially with Iron Sword... the way he went...”

“I was trying to chase down the thing that killed him,” Twilight pointed out with an annoyed sigh. “But I think I’ll have a better chance at convincing the council of that than Coup.”

“Yeah, she’s really got it out for you,” Amber Vane admitted. “Had us going through the caves double time after she heard what you did so she could come after you.” He gestured subtly at the scene before them. “And now look at her. She’s about to beat up an Element of Harmony.”

“Beat up Rainbow Dash? Yeah right!” a voice said from above, and Scootaloo dropped down to stand next to Amber Vane. “Rainbow’s got this!” she declared confidently, waving a hoof to catch her idol’s attention. “Kick her flank, Rainbow!”

“Scootaloo? How did you...” Twilight’s question was interrupted by a pair of pink hooves wrapping around her shoulders in a comfort-seeking hug.

“Is it over!? Has it begun!? Why are they fighting!? I can’t watch!”

Twilight turned her head to see that nurse Redheart had vanished, somehow replaced by Pinkie Pie who stood behind her wheelchair.

“So what exactly’s going on?” Scootaloo inquired of the unicorn. “Didn’t really get that much out of Pinkie.”

“Coup’s my captain,” Twilight explained to new arrivals. “She’s accusing me of insubordination and desertion and wants to take me back to Manehattan to put me in jail... I think... Rainbow wants me to stay, which led to... this.”

“I thought you were the captain,” Pinkie Pie spoke up, her discomfort momentarily replaced by confusion. “What gives?”

“It’s a long story, but... technically, she’s got every right to accuse me.”

“So ya weren’t s’posed to be in Canterlot,” Applejack gathered, and Twilight nodded.

Before the unicorn could answer, Coup de Grâce spoke up as she finished warming up. “Alright! You ready, Wonderbolt? I’ve got places to be.”

“You’re the one that kept us waiting!” Rainbow Dash jeered as she entered into a combat stance. “Let’s do this!”

With no further encouragement needed, Coup de Grâce lunged at her opponent, who easily dodged to the side. The captain seemed to have anticipated this, however, as she did a quarter turn while leaping, landing with her back to Rainbow Dash. A powerful kick from her hind legs sent the ex-Wonderbolt flying ten feet before crashing onto her side with a pained grunt.

Coup de Grâce was upon her almost immediately, but Rainbow Dash was quicker, rolling onto her back and slamming her hind hooves into the captain’s chest. Carried both by the momentum of her own charge and the upwards force of the smaller pegasus’ kick, Coup de Grâce was effectively flipped over in midair, and although she managed to recover before landing, Rainbow Dash had been given enough time to get back on her hooves.

“Send her packing, Rainbow!” Scootaloo cheered as Coup de Grâce lunged again. In response, Rainbow Dash did half a cartwheel to the side, moving her forehooves and shifting her weight onto them before swinging her hindquarters around and delivering a swift kick to the larger pegasus’ head with a back hoof, pivoting about on one forehoof and facing her opponent again. Coup de Grâce only grunted in response, unfazed by the blow, and swung a forehoof at Rainbow Dash, who once again dodged nimbly to the side. The captain, however, followed up with an unexpectedly quick thrust of her other foreleg, connecting with the chin and causing Rainbow Dash to stumble backwards. Coup de Grâce leapt at her again, but since her opponent had been thoroughly stunned this time, she had ample opportunity to bring both forehooves down upon the back of the smaller pegasus’ lowered head.

“You okay, sugarcube?” Applejack asked softly of Twilight as she flinched at the sound of her friend’s pained yelp as she collapsed to the ground. Twilight gritted her teeth, but nodded, unable to take her eyes off Rainbow Dash. “It’s just... yer horn’s glowin’...”

“You will not hurt her!”

As the light in Twilight’s horn faded, Coup de Grâce seemed to show a measure of restraint, backing away from Rainbow Dash and allowing her to recover from the skull-rattling blow.

“That all ya got?” the smaller pegasus taunted her opponent as she got to her hooves, shaking her head to clear her mind. “I’ve had worse from Fluttershy!”

“I’m just getting warmed up!” Coup de Grâce promised her, stopping ten feet from the rainbow-maned pegasus.

In response, Rainbow Dash started advancing, taking slow tentative steps toward her foe in order to close the gap between them. Displaying her legendary speed, the pegasus feinted first right then left in order to confuse her opponent, finally leaping straight forward to strike at Coup de Grâce. The captain, however, was either able to recover with blinding speed or simply feinted confusion. Either way, Rainbow Dash was met by a powerful blow that struck her square in the face.

Again, Twilight cringed at the sight of her friend being hurt and her horn flickered for a brief moment before she regained control of her faculties. The dark area of her mind she had banished all things unpleasant to stirred, the faint echoes of timberwolves and diamond dogs howling and whimpering starting to fill her mind.

Coup de Grâce moved in for another blow, but Rainbow Dash retaliated with a hefty uppercut that forced the larger pegasus back a step. Before Coup de Grâce could recover, Rainbow Dash had spun around and delivered another powerful blow to her enemy using her hind legs.

While Applejack and Scootaloo cheered her on, Rainbow Dash circled her enemy with blinding speed, punching her forehoof into the area just below the root of her opponent’s right wing. Coup de Grâce grunted and swung at the smaller pegasus’ legs with her forehoof. Rainbow Dash avoided the attack by jumping, striking the captain twice in the face with her front hooves, using the pushback of her own blows to distance herself from her foe.

“Slowing down a bit there, champ,” Rainbow Dash taunted Coup de Grâce, breathing heavily. “Can’t blame ya; you are fighting the pegasus who won the mother of all marathons!”

The captain grinned as she wiped a trickle of blood from her nose. “Please! Why don’t you throw a proper punch instead of poking at me with those tiny hooves of yours!”

Both pegasi began pacing toward each other, but before anyone could react, the larger one set into a charge, knocking her shoulder into her foe and driving her backwards. The crowd parted before the two combatants as Coup de Grâce continued bulldozing into her opponent, Rainbow Dash finally managing to break away from the captain as they exited the circle of spectators.

The smaller pegasus threw a punch at her opponent, but Coup de Grâce turned to face her with surprising speed, using one forehoof to redirect Rainbow Dash’s attack and, using all her strength, smashed her other hoof into Rainbow Dash’s exposed ribs. The pegasus gasped in pain but was interrupted by a swift headbutt that knocked her to the ground. The captain bit onto her enemy’s mane and lifted her up by it, swinging her head around and throwing the pegasus back into the center of the broken circle formed by the onlookers. Coup de Grâce spat out a large tuft of red and green hair and trotted calmly toward the downed pegasus.

“You will not hurt my friends!”

Twilight’s breathing grew ragged as redness began clouding her peripheral vision, the death howls within her mind growing louder and joined by the despairing roars of the ursas from both Wild Weald and Canterlot.

Rainbow Dash got to her hooves slowly, rubbing her neck where the captain had torn out a large portion of her mane. Before she could do anything to take in her surroundings, however, she was suckerpunched to the ground. The blow seemed to somehow bring the smaller pegasus out of her stupor, for she immediately counterattacked, ramming head-first into Coup de Grâce’s chest. The larger pegasus only sighed at the attempt before bringing her front hooves down hard on Rainbow Dash’s back, causing her to collapse as she uttered another pained yelp. In response, Twilight flinched and the pink hooves that were still around her shoulders tightened noticeably.

“Ready to give up, lightweight?” Coup de Grâce asked of her opponent, once again backing away from the pegasus to let her recover.

“Twilight’s saved Equestria at least four times!” Rainbow Dash replied as she stood up, determined eyes locking onto her enemy. “You aren’t throwing her in jail on my watch!”

The smaller pegasus set into a gallop, sidestepping quickly just as she reached Coup de Grâce in an effort to confuse her. The effort was ultimately unsuccessful, however, and as Rainbow Dash reared up on her hind legs to strike at her foe, Coup de Grâce rose with her, knocking away the cyan pegasus’ forelegs with her own before thrusting her forehooves into Rainbow Dash’s exposed chest, knocking the wind out of her and forcing her back on all fours.

Coup de Grâce fell back on her forehooves as well, headbutting her opponent in the process. She followed up with a swing of her right forehoof that connected perfectly with Rainbow Dash’s jaw before turning around and delivering a devastating kick to both of Rainbow Dash’s shoulders that sent her hurtling backwards with a strained scream of pain.

“You will not hurt a single creature ever again!”

Twilight twitched and spasmed violently, causing Pinkie Pie to let go of her in shock. Redness clouded her vision fully as she saw Coup de Grâce lunge at the downed pegasus and she shut her eyes tight, putting every ounce of her will into extinguishing her horn, which had abruptly sprung to life.

“Twilight!?”

She was hungry. She had not fed for weeks, months perhaps. It was too hard to tell. All around were only spirit creatures, things and beings of ice and darkness, but a unicorn had wandered into its territory. She tried to kill it, dig its claws into those thick, pulsing arteries and drain her of all it had. Her prey was strong, however. Never before had she encountered something her claws could not cut through, and the unicorn’s defenses were no different, but its sheer power was unlike any of the ponies her ancestors had once fed upon. When it had been cornered, it unleashed a blast of magic that not even she could withstand. And then it began feasting.

The ice people were the first to feel it, falling to their knees as the unicorn tore at their essence. Then she felt it. The invisible, ice-cold claws that dug into her body, making it feel as if her flesh was being slowly parted, although no visible wound was made. For hours and hours the torture wore on, the unicorn’s vile magical grip not tightening, but simply extending further and further into the core of her being, working with infinite slowness. Then, with an abruptness that made her mind explode with indescribable pain, the wicked magic seized her very soul, its vice-like grip unbreakable and the agony it inflicted upon every aspect of her being challenging her very will to live.

Ever so slowly, the magical grip inched its way out of her body, taking her soul with it. This time, it felt as if the flesh not only parted before the unicorn’s magic, but clawed and tore at itself in an effort to get away from the terrible spell, the already unbearable pain doubling and tripling in intensity. In a final desperate attempt to rid herself of the evil ripping her insides apart, she stumbled toward the prey turned hunter. She swung her deadly claws, but was too far away. Finally, after an eternity of torture, emptiness overcame her and she fell to the ground.

Twilight opened her eyes and saw only redness, felt only the agony of those who had died at her hooves in Canterlot. She grew vaguely aware of her surroundings, noting with surprise that she had hardly moved a muscle during her excorporeal flashback. Through the red haze clouding her vision, she saw Coup de Grâce catch Rainbow Dash in a fierce headlock, the smaller pegasus’s choked scream barely noticeable among the hundreds of shrieks and howls that echoed about in her mind.

Every single muscle in the unicorn’s body tensed in reaction to Rainbow Dash’s pain, and she felt her horn buzzing fiercely, begging once more for release.

I can save her, she whispered to herself. Coup may be stronger than Rainbow, but me? She wouldn’t see what hit her! Once again, the nightmarish vision of her friends burning away to nothing appeared before her, blocking out all other thoughts for the briefest of moments. I could just kill her, she suggested to herself, her legs cramping up as muscles kept tensing. She’ll never hurt anyone again. I don’t have to go to Manehattan. If the other soldiers try to arrest me... She suppressed a chuckle. What can they do!? I would be the most powerful creature they’ve ever fought! I can hold my own against a dragon, an ursa, anything! I could‒

No! The redness, the screams, the memories that were not her own, her own poisonous thoughts abruptly vanished as Twilight regained control, forcing it all into the farthest, deepest recesses of her mind and sealing it away. Her aberrant hatred, born of the dark alicorn’s magic and nourished by all that had transpired since Celestia’s death, pulsed violently as it struggled against her, and the unicorn visibly flinched in her wheelchair.

“Ah think something’s wrong with Twi, we need ta git her outta here!”

The unicorn opened her eyes for a brief moment and saw Coup de Grâce deliver another well-aimed kick of her hind legs to Rainbow Dash’s side, the dull thud of hooves against ribs loud enough to be heard over Applejack’s panicked voice. In response, the red ocean of rage pulsed once more, nearly breaking free of her grip, and Twilight grunted with the effort of quelling it.

She sensed movement as nurse Redheart took control of her wheelchair again and pulled her away from the fighting, Applejack and Amber Vane positioning themselves in front of Twilight to block the view as they followed.

“What’s going on!?” Amber Vane asked of the nurse as they turned the corner around the hospital, heading for the main entrance.

“I told her she’d be better off staying in bed!” Redheart muttered, more to herself than the soldier. “It’s just too much excitement for somepony in her condition!”

“She’s not been good about listening to doctors since The Great Tragedy,” Applejack observed, opening the door for the others.

“We... can’t leave Rainbow,” Twilight muttered, her vision blurring as it had done when she first woke up.

“She’ll be...” Applejack began, but thought better of it. “She’ll make it, sugarcube. Maybe we oughtta stow you away, though. Ah can’t just let ‘em cart ya off to jail like that...”

“Uhm,” Amber Vane interjected. “That’s really not a good idea.”

“Ah’ll hogtie ya if Ah have to, Amber.”

“No, no,” Twilight protested weakly, her voice slurring slightly as she felt her exertions take their toll on her not yet fully recovered body, her rage receding as exhaustion replaced it. “I’ll be fine, AJ. The council needs me to... to...” Her vision darkened and blurred, and her body went almost completely numb as her sentence trailed off.

“Twi!? Twilight!” Feeling slowly returned to the unicorn and with it the sensation of somepony nudging her shoulder with a hoof. “Wakey, wakey, Twi!”

“Pinkie...”

“Twilight!” the pink pony called out to her in a singsong voice despite Applejack’s halfhearted reprimand, encouraged as the unicorn began to stir again. “I know you’re there!”

“I know you’re there!”

“I know you’re there, Twilight!”

The unicorn’s eyes shot open, her pupils lost in an intense white blaze as she summoned her powers, aiming them at the source of the harrowing voice.

“Oh, how I would have loved to devour him, Twilight!”

“Twilight?”

“I’ve got something to show you!”

She unleashed her powers just as the blaze in her eyes faded, allowing her to see Pinkie Pie leaning down in front of her.

Pinkie! Nononono! Pinkie, Pinkie! No!

Twilight screamed, and a searing pain in her horn robbed her once again of all sensation as unconsciousness claimed her.

“Ah, so good to see you haven’t forgotten me! I admit, I was starting to have my doubts... Hah, I mean, it’s been more than a thousand years since I last saw any of you...” The hint of danger tinging the last few words melted away instantaneously as her father continued. “But here we are, my little children of strife. So good to see you all pulled through a millenium of harmony without me.”

She opened her eyes for the first time and found herself encased in ice. Rather, she was part of the ice. Only faintly could she distinguish her limbs from everything else surrounding her.

“It’s been so terribly dull under Celestia’s rule, but now...” an unseen force took hold of her, outlining her body and shattering everything around it. Freed of the ice, she rose to her feet, finding herself standing in one of the alleyways of Canterlot. “Now, we change things.” To her mild surprise, a lavender unicorn had just galloped past her, but it wasn’t long before another being of ice apprehended the pony. “Let’s make things a little... unpredictable. Let’s make things as they once were. Before Celestia and after... Luna. When nothing made sense and everything made sense...”

It was cold by the time she woke up. She was greeted by the sound of wind rushing past her and the sight of Primrose, one of the field medics of the Sword of Equestria, sitting beside her. She found herself lying in a flying chariot, cocooned in a multitude of blankets. She grit her teeth as she realized her horn had been somehow injured, the sensitive appendage throbbing painfully in tandem with the magical wound in her neck.

“Twilight,” the earth pony beside her greeted her hesitantly, eyeing her with worry. “I need you to remain calm. Don’t use any magic. Nopony’s sure exactly what happened, but you’ve suffered from a bad case of ceratic overload.”

“Where are we?” Twilight asked, her mind still foggy from sleep.

“About halfway between Ponyville and Manehattan,” Primrose answered her, sighing. “I’m afraid your friend didn’t win that brawl.”

Twilight’s eyes suddenly shot open as she remembered what had happened before she lost consciousness. “P-Pinkie! I-is Pinkie Pie alright!?”

Primrose hesitated for a second. “You mean... Rainbow Dash?”

“No! Pinkie Pie! Pink all over, poofy mane, bounces around..!”

“I know... who the Element of Laughter is...” the field medic answered her haltingly, clearly confused at the unicorn’s outburst. “Pinkie Pie is fine. She’s a little shaken at the thrashing Rainbow Dash received, but I’m sure she’ll be alright.”

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief and closed her eyes, guilt quickly replacing her overwhelming worry. She’s okay. I didn’t shoot her. I cancelled my spell in time, or... at least managed to force it to misfire. Which would explain why my horn is hurting.

But... I almost did it... Oh Celestia, I almost shot Pinkie Pie! I could have killed her! My magic’s spiralling out of control! First the diamond dogs, then... whatever I did in Canterlot, and now Pinkie... Almost Pinkie...

Twilight let out a choked sob as she briefly considered the consequences of what might have happened. It’s all his fault! she concluded, remembering the visions she had had of her inner being, the golden cages of glass that had been shattered by the alicorn’s magic. Whatever he did at The Great Tragedy, it destroyed all the wards Celestia had placed upon me. It was slow at first, but after running into him during my time travel, my powers escalated. I could barely control them then, but I pulled through. But since we met in Neighbury... I’ve become even more powerful. I’ve got more magic than I can deal with, so much that it’s starting to mess with my emotional responses. All that anger... killing the diamond dogs, wanting to kill Coup, chasing after the alicorn back in Canterlot even when I knew it was too dangerous... it’s his fault. Not just because of that nightmare, but because he’s been amplifying my magic every time we’ve met.

But why? Why would he want to make me stronger? Did he really expect me to accept his friendship? To join him!? He wiped out Neighbury with one spell and destroyed the Canterlot palace! What can I do that he can’t? Why is he doing this to me!?

“Is something the matter?” Primrose asked worriedly, and Twilight realized tears were running down her face.

“My magic,” she sighed, gazing out the back of the chariot at dozens of similar vehicles behind her. “It’s what caused my ceratic overload. I’m losing control of it.”

“You?” Primrose remarked dubiously. “The Element of Magic losing control of her... magic?”

“You must have seen my horn lighting up while Coup and Rainbow were fighting. It... it wasn’t me. It’s as if my magic had a will of its own, trying to lash out at Coup for hurting my friend.”

The earth pony was silent for a long while. “I’ve heard of unicorn health disorders caused by a deficiency of magic, but not a surplus... Maybe there’s some kind of therapy you could go through, somepony has to know something about it.”

“I doubt it.”

Whatever his reasons are, I can’t allow him to make me lose control. Not again. But... this is why I was taken on as Princess Celestia’s personal student, right? She’s the one who taught me how to use my powers in the first place. How to control them and how to keep them from exploding out of my horn. There are hundreds of exercises that can help me, all I need is some time alone.

Twilight reached out to her magic tentatively, but winced when her burnt horn sputtered and crackled in protest.

Hearing the noise, Primrose turned her attention from a neighboring chariot to the unicorn lying at her side. “I told you not to use your magic, Twilight,” she sighed. “It’ll heal by itself, but you need to give it some time. I’m sure you’ll be getting plenty of that when we reach Manehattan.”

“Coup said I was going to prison... For how long?”

“I really don’t know a lot about those kinds of things,” Primrose admitted. “It’ll just be temporary at first, of course. Normally, it’d be officials within the Equestrian military deciding this, but the council’s decided to involve itself directly in your particular case. Which is probably a good thing,” the earth pony added reassuringly. “If you’re lucky, you’ll find yourself serving under the council for quite a while. If things go south, I think the highest level of punishment you’re looking at would be five or six years prison. In any case, there’s no way you’re getting back into any branch of the Equestrian military again.”

“That not much of a loss...” Twilight muttered, somewhat relieved at the field medic’s statement.

“Oak, Bolt Basher, and Blitz died,” Primrose snapped at her, her temper flaring for a second before she began massaging her temple with a forehoof. “Could you please just take this seriously, Twilight? Most likely, the council’s going to interrogate me since I’m spending this entire flight with you. I’m going to tell them what I think is true, and right now, it seems to me like you’re not overly concerned that your actions killed three of your fellow soldiers.”

“It’s not my fault!” Twilight insisted angrily. “The only reason they died is because they were standing too close to an ursa major! An alicorn wiped out the entire area! There was nothing I could have done!” With a sigh, the unicorn let her head drop to the floor of the chariot as she too forced herself to be calm. “I am sorry. I don’t think I’ve ever met any of those three, but I didn’t want them to die. I just can’t... look back at things like I used to be able to... Because of my magic. I allowed myself to get angry a few weeks ago and... I’ve been regretting it ever since. I can’t even look back at that without my magic beginning to flare. I should never have rejoined the Sword. Scarlet should never have let me back on.”

In fact, I should never have been on the Sword to begin with. I would never have been forced into killing in the first place, and I’d never have run into that alicorn. That one misfire with the solite in Cristallum changed everything! It’s been months! I could be lighting up all of Manehattan with my solar magic by now!

No. No. It’s not the council’s fault. It’s not anypony’s fault. It’s... done. Calm down. Twilight sighed with frustration at herself.

Primrose was silent for a while following the unicorn’s explanation, gazing at something ahead them that was outside Twilight’s field of vision. “It sounds like you’ve got a lot on your mind,” she finally sighed. “Honestly, I have no idea what happened. You say Nightmare Moon destroyed that fissure, most of Team Gold was certain the ursa did it. You were forbidden to enter the Canterlot zone, but you’d also been ordered to kill that thing hunting Team Cyan. Really, you should tell the council, not me.” The pony was silent for a while more before speaking again. “There’s still three or four hours until we reach Cristallum, and you look pretty worn out. Might as well get some more rest.”

18 - Bound Anew

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Succession

Chapter 18 - Bound Anew

Silence. She touched her palms to her ear holes, verifying that they were actually still there. Silence. She felt a perverse desire to turn back, but it was quelled when she found that the passageway from which she had entered had been replaced by a black stone wall. Silence. The eternal, tormented screams of ancient spirits, their ever present mutterings, the shrieks of fury and fear that came from nowhere and everywhere at once, the demented cackles that had kept her awake day and night… all of them gone.

Her multi-jointed legs folded together as she fell to her knees, as if weighed down by the sudden, heavy stillness that surrounded her. Her surroundings too had mellowed from what she was used to. The stone around her was smooth. Still. The jagged, twisting, screaming tunnel through which she had been wandering for weeks or perhaps just minutes had opened up into a cave nearly fifty feet tall and many times wider. The stone surrounding her was bright, almost glaring, and when she turned to look at the source of light, she was blinded by its intensity.

“Sure you’ll be alright?” Spike asked worriedly as the palace guards parted before Twilight and the doors behind them swung open. The dragon had met her just outside her temporary cell, and the two of them, along with an escort of a dozen soldiers, now stood before the council conclave.

Twilight took a deep breath to steady herself. “I’ll be fine, Spike. They’re not happy with me, but I’m sure they won’t imprison me.”

“It sure sounds like they want to.”

“They won’t. Besides, it’s not like they even can, right?” she tried joking, but failed to cheer up Spike. “I’ll find you as soon as I’m done with the council,” she promised him. “Just to say ‘I told you so’.”

The dragon managed the slightest, fleeting hint of a smile and nodded as Twilight limped through the open doorway, wincing with every movement her left foreleg made. Her escort followed her inside, and the doors closed behind them almost immediately, allowing Twilight only a quick glimpse back at Spike before they were separated. The soldier standing between her and the door motioned for her to keep going, and the unicorn returned her gaze to the council table. At the moment, the conclave was almost empty, save for Artemis, who had already found her seat. The head of Equestria’s sciences gave Twilight an uneasy smile as she noticed the new arrival, skimming through a few papers in front of her before making them vanish into thin air.

The chairs reserved for the council members had been rearranged for the occasion, standing now in a wide semicircle around the table and facing a single chair on the opposite side, no doubt intended for the defendant of the trial.

“How’s the leg, Twilight?” the violet unicorn asked, shifting into a more comfortable position on her seat.

“Full of bone-deep gashes,” Twilight replied with a grimace, sighing as she reached her designated seat and was finally able to sit down.

Artemis winced and nodded her head understandingly. “The horn? I heard about your ceratic overload.”

“Better than the leg. It’s healed pretty quickly.”

“I suppose that’s always something,” Artemis observed, flashing her another nervous smile before turning her attention to the escort. “You can all leave now, thank you. She isn’t going to run off.” The guards nodded their heads stiffly and retreated, and Artemis watched them carefully as they went. “Feel ready for the trial?” she asked as the doors to the conclave closed once more.

“Well, I haven’t really had a chance to prepare anything,” Twilight grumbled. “I’ve been locked up since Coup brought me here yesterday. Don’t I get a lawyer?”

“Uh, no. Not per se,” Artemis admitted guiltily. “The council wanted to resolve this matter discreetly, so we’ll treat this more like a regular, private council meeting and less like an actual trial.”

“That doesn’t seem fair.”

“Quiescent Atonement will be the judge,” Artemis told her. “The alternative would be a court-martial directed by Scarlet Bolt. I shouldn’t need to tell you which scenario would suit your interests best. Besides, I’ve got your back.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow, but Artemis didn’t get a chance to elaborate before the doors to the conclave opened. ‘Trust me,’ she mouthed silently before Scarlet Bolt strode into the chambers, followed by the two other pegasi of the council, Rain Dancer and Quiescent Atonement as well as, to Twilight’s dismay, Coup de Grâce. It wasn’t long before Penning Draft, Lucre, and Civil Tenet, one by one, came down the stairs set into the walls and seated themselves at the table with the others, filling out the last of the eight seats facing Twilight.

On the center chairs sat Quiescent Atonement and Scarlet Bolt, the former’s calm eyes carefully scrutinizing the lavender unicorn, his face a mask of apathy indecipherable to her. Lucre sat at the gray pegasus’ side, both he and Scarlet Bolt looking less than pleased with Twilight. Coup de Grâce sat beside Scarlet Bolt, her face set into a scowl so deep it made Twilight wonder whether the pegasus had allowed herself even a hint of a smile since departing Ponyville. The unicorn mares of the council, Civil Tenet and Artemis, were seated next to Lucre, and the two remaining seats next to Coup de Grâce were occupied by Rain Dancer and Penning Draft.

“Where are the rest?” Twilight asked in confusion, regarding the eight ponies before her. “Amity and Bramley?”

“Yesterday morning, we got a piece of bad news,” Penning Draft explained sadly. “Coltdoba’s finally made good of its threat. They’ve declared complete independence from Equestria and have ceased all export of crops to the rest of the nation. Our two farmers are off ta salvage the situation.”

“The heads of military and justice, however,” Quiescent Atonement offered, his voice as painstakingly slow and dull as ever, “are still present, and have been deemed sufficient to make a decision on this matter regarding your... insubordination and subsequent desertion.”

Twilight nodded her head grudgingly.

“Then let’s get to the point,” Scarlet Bolt cut in, leaning in across the table. “You sit here accused of entering the Canterlot danger zone, which goes against the orders of not only your acting superior at the time, but the Council of Nine! Both of us have expressly forbidden you to do so! Your actions led to the death of three soldiers under your protection, and at an unspecified time, you left Canterlot and headed for Ponyville, effectively abandoning the duties set before you. How do you plead?”

Twilight sighed and looked at her hooves for a moment before answering. “Guilty, I suppose. But not without reason.”

“Indubitably,” Quiescent Atonement said. “No crime without a motive. Enlighten us.”

“It’s not… Ugh, the alicorn, the one from Neighbury, was down in the caverns,” Twilight tried explaining, but was almost immediately cut off by Lucre’s snort of derision.

“The alicorn? Again? You keep seeing this creature, but conveniently enough, nopony else seems to be present when you come upon him! Everything that goes wrong, including, it would seem, your desertion, you blame upon this stallion of whom we have no records or eye witnesses!”

“He does exist! What about the citizens of Neighbury?” Twilight countered. “Don’t they count?”

“The few that caught sight of the perpetrator do indeed describe an alicorn standing in the town square,” Quiescent Atonement explained. “But every witness describes this creature as Nightmare Moon.”

“They look alike!” Twilight insisted with frustration.

“You will forgive us if we are more inclined to believe half a hundred witnesses over your own testimony!” Lucre shot back, but the gray pegasus held up a hoof to silence him.

“When it comes to the existence of this alicorn, I, for one, remain undecided. The witnesses of Neighbury all claim to have seen Nightmare Moon, but... I must agree with Twilight Sparkle on this matter. When frightened ponies fleeing their home see a dark alicorn, and the Council of Nine has, prematurely, declared that Nightmare Moon has returned, some degree of bias is to be expected. There is evidence suggesting Lucre is right to question the belief of this alicorn of yours, but there is also reason to question whether the return of Nightmare Moon is a reality.” The judge was silent for a while, deep in thought, before he continued. “A discussion will likely prove inconclusive, so I question the relevance of the identity of this… creature in the caverns.”

Twilight shook her head slowly, letting the matter go. “It’s not irrelevant, but fine. Something was down in the caverns, and that something was killing off a lot of ponies. You can’t deny that,” she told Lucre. “I’m of the belief that this creature was the one behind The Great Tragedy, Neighbury, and Dragoncrest, but most importantly I suppose, the creature was the one Coup had ordered me to kill. I left the caverns in order to do just that.”

“And did you?” Coup challenged the unicorn. “Did you kill the creature?”

“No,” Twilight admitted, giving the pegasus a glare that was promptly returned. “It got away. But I bet you didn’t have any trouble with it after I left! I chased it into Canterlot!”

“Fact remains you went against an order given to you both by me and the council!” Coup insisted, but Twilight wouldn’t hear it.

“That thing was laughing while it murdered everyone in Team Cyan!” she insisted angrily. “It was probably laughing as it decapitated Iron Sword! He was one of your closest friends, right? Don’t tell me you wouldn’t have done the same thing in my situation!”

“This isn’t about what Coup would or wouldn’t have done!” Scarlet Bolt countered. “This is about what you have done, and why you have done it!” The scarred pegasus gave a sigh of exasperation. “So, you entered Canterlot in order to track this... whatever it was, down. Because you wanted to follow Coup’s second order?”

“Yes.”

“So you had no qualms with killing on this particular mission?”

Twilight’s brow furrowed, and her gaze fell to her hooves again. “Not with him. Not after what he did.” Her left foreleg twitched involuntarily as she dwelled momentarily on the black alicorn’s crimes, and Twilight winced at the pain that immediately gripped the torn muscles. Something within her, something that was part of her and yet not, enjoyed the sensation, and Twilight felt a surge of anger replace that of pain.

This is my body!

“And what did ‘he’ do?” Scarlet Bolt pressed, interrupting Twilight’s minor battle with the stray mind within her mind. “Is this about Neighbury?”

“You have to respect that she’s not ready to talk about that,” Artemis broke in, noticing Twilight’s darkening mood.

“I do not see why!” Lucre objected. “She’s here to defend a crime she committed! If we ask her to tell us why she went against one of our most important orders, she had better tell us!”

“Surely you must understand,” Civil Tenet offered unexpectedly, looking at Scarlet Bolt. “You refused to talk to anypony about your scars for the first few months after getting them if I recall.”

“I didn’t kill a burrow of diamond dogs after Zebrica,” Scarlet Bolt muttered.

“He killed Celestia!” Twilight erupted, suddenly and belatedly, as if the answer to Scarlet Bolt’s question had been dammed up for the past few seconds. “He killed half of the ponies I knew and loved! I know you don’t know, I know some of you don’t even believe it, but I know! Yes, I want to kill him!”

While most of the council members seemed to be at a loss for words immediately following the outburst, Scarlet Bolt found it within herself to chuckle. “Fair enough. So you do admit that this was a personal matter rather than a misguided attempt at following Coup’s orders?”

“N-no, it was more than that!” Twilight insisted, her anger dissipating when she realized Scarlet Bolt was using it against her. Temporarily, at least, the mind within her mind was forced away by an instinctive need to defend herself. “I did it for Equestria! As long as that alicorn is around, things won’t get any better around here!”

“We still haven’t agreed upon the existence of your alicorn,” Lucre pointed out, eliciting a glare from Twilight.

“Someone was there when the Canterlot palace was destroyed!” she hissed through clenched teeth.

“Someone indeed,” Lucre replied drily, giving the unicorn a disdainful sniff.

Twilight’s eyes narrowed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing,” Scarlet Bolt cut in. “You went to Canterlot to kill this creature, and you failed. But then you went to Ponyville instead of returning to the Sword of Equestria. Why?”

“Her path back was destroyed,” Artemis reminded Scarlet Bolt. “She couldn’t have gone back.”

“I’m asking Twilight, Artemis!” Scarlet Bolt growled at the unicorn. “I’m sure she has a much better idea of what happened than you do!” She returned her gaze to Twilight. “You got down the mountain somehow, but the mining outpost would have been a lot closer to you than Ponyville.”

“Miss your friends?” Lucre remarked, his tone more than a little mocking.

“How did you get there with you leg looking like that?” Rain Dancer asked, eyeing the bandages on Twilight’s leg.

“I… didn’t mean to go to Ponyville.” Twilight explained. The rebellious mind within her returned and was joined by more of its brethren, all rushing out from the dark corner of her mind she had allocated them to, all of them clinging to the memory that Scarlet Bolt’s question had now brought to the forefront of her mind. “I was being hunted by hundreds of creatures from… from Canterlot, and I just... wanted... to get away from them! So I… teleported!”

Artemis raised an eyebrow both at the statement and the increasing difficulty with which Twilight seemed to speak. “All the way down the mountain?”

“To Ponyville.”

Several ponies’ eyes widened. Rain Dancer leaned over the table to look at Artemis. “Is that possible?”

“If you can recall the destination with sufficient clarity, the teleportation is... possible,” Artemis explained to the pegasus, her own eyes not leaving Twilight. “Twilight’s hometown qualifies. But the distance... That requires a monumental amount of magic. Did your magic increase again somehow?”

Twilight nodded, but didn’t say anything.

Not… now! She felt her horn vibrating slightly, not nearly enough for anyone to notice, but enough to fill her head with a soft humming noise.

The humming grew louder as she approached the only source of light within the cave she had lost herself in: A gate large enough to fit a dragon, wrought entirely of an alloy she had never seen before. But through the incredible brightness of whatever lay beyond the gate, she could see the metal bars glowing softly in a myriad of colors, warning her that they were more than they seemed. The colors themselves, for a reason she could not quite understand, brought to the forefront of her mind a name she had occasionally heard, a growl emitted from the ground itself when one was listening for it.

Celestia.

Abruptly, the glow of the gate flickered, and a segment of a nearby metal bar, as thick as her arm was long and many times longer than she was tall, was cut loose from something beyond the gate and blasted into the cave, sailing over her in a short arc before landing on the ground with a clatter that made her wince and clutch her ears.

She looked back to the hole in the gate, but the light was gone. In the center of her vision, she found instead a pair of amber eyes, shining with… darkness, it seemed, draining the surrounding world of its color and brightness, sucking it all in until the eyes were all she saw.

A loud thud brought Twilight back to reality, and she looked at Lucre, whose hoof had just been slammed against the table.

“I said, care to elaborate?” he hissed.

Twilight blinked. “W-what?”

“She’s hopeless!” Lucre grimaced and looked at Scarlet Bolt and Quiescent Atonement. “So, what? We skip this too?”

“We are straying from the purpose of this meeting,” Quiescent Atonement replied. “How Twilight Sparkle escaped Canterlot - beyond her teleporting - is of little relevance. She admitted herself guilty of both insubordination and desertion, and she committed both crimes deliberately‒”

“I told you I didn’t mean to go to Ponyville!” Twilight objected, managing to once more push away the other occupants of her mind for the time being. “It just happened!”

Now it was Quiescent’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “Are you not the unicorn who studied under Princess Celestia herself? Is your special talent and Element of Harmony not magic? I find it difficult to believe that one such as you would overshoot a teleportation spell by such a wide margin unintentionally.”

“Captain Coup located Twilight partly due to a lightning bolt being fired from the Ponyville hospital,” Artemis broke in. “During or shortly after the captain’s… disagreement with the Element of Loyalty” ‒ Artemis threw a dissatisfied glare at the chocolate brown pegasus, who seemed entirely unaffected by the subtle hint of accusation in the unicorn’s voice ‒ “Twilight suffered from some sort of self-inflicted magical overload. I’m reminded of the episodes following Twilight’s comas, both the one from Neighbury and the one she suffered under while in the Canterlot hospital. Twilight walked away from both of those events with higher magical power than before, and I believe the same is true here. All three instances involve mishaps caused by out-of-control magic.”

“Slaughtering diamond dogs is a mishap now!?” Lucre demanded incredulously.

“Primrose, a medic on the Sword, did mention something about Twilight having too much magic,” Scarlet Bolt added reluctantly. “But entering Canterlot in the first place still counts as willful desertion in my book, even if you didn’t mean to go to Ponyville afterwards.”

“I was chasing the alicorn!” Twilight insisted, slamming a hoof down on the table.

“That doesn’t matter!” Scarlet Bolt returned. “The fact of the matter is that you went directly against our‒”

“It doesn’t matter!? That alicorn is the root of all of our problems! You can kill all the crazed animals you want, make as many solites as you please, but as long as he’s around, he can take away all of your progress on a whim! Despite the danger, I went into the depths of the Everfree Forest to defeat Nightmare Moon several years ago, and I went into Canterlot to defeat that alicorn!”

“But did you succeed?” Lucre asked of the unicorn, shaking his head. “He got away, didn’t he? Provided he’s real, that is.”

“I met him,” Twilight revealed, staring pointedly at Lucre. “And I’m one step closer to defeating him. That’s more than can be said of any of you!”

“He melted the Canterlot palace!” Scarlet Bolt objected. “What do you want us to do!?”

“Not imprisoning me for trying to kill him would be a good start!”

“Your ability to… perhaps end the threat of the murderer of Princess Celestia and Luna does not raise you above the law,” Quiescent told the unicorn. “No matter our status or power, we are all required to follow the rules of society. You broke one very important rule, and three ponies died for it.”

Twilight shook her head angrily. “I refuse to be blamed for that! The alicorn killed those ponies!”

“Of course he did,” Lucre sighed.

“Shut up!” Twilight snapped at the brown unicorn, who bristled at her words. “You don’t know anything about it, Lucre! I’m the one who’s been out there! You haven’t faced that monster like I have! You haven’t seen his magic! If you had, you would know. That thing murdered Celestia and Luna, my big brother, my sister-in-law, and destroyed Canterlot and the sun! He’s traumatized me out of my mind and ruined the relationship I had with some of my closest friends! He is a monster through and through! I’ll kill him if it’s the last thing I do, and none of you would get in my way if you… just… knew!” She slammed the table with her hoof again as she finished her tirade, and had to hold back a groan of pain as the movement triggered a sharp pain in her left leg. Once the pain had passed, she looked back up at the gathered council ponies only to find that the majority of them were regarding her with shocked expressions, her outburst having been met with complete silence again.

“What were you thinking when you let her back on the Sword!?” Coup de Grâce hissed quietly at Scarlet Bolt, who glared back at the large pegasus.

“After what you did in Ponyville, you are not going to criticize my judgment, Coup!” the pink pegasus hissed back.

“Twilight?” Civil Tenet asked worriedly of her, the silver unicorn’s expression reminding her all too much of Celestia. “What... happened to you?”

Twilight shuddered at herself, but before she could begin to form any sort of coherent explanation, Artemis answered. “We’ve abused her. That’s what.”

“Abused her?” Civil Tenet echoed, looking at the unicorn next to her with surprise. “Why, what do you mean?”

“Princess Celestia was killed and we lost her sun in the process,” Artemis explained, her gaze fixed on the rim of her glasses rather than anything else. “The mission to Canterlot confirms that our capital, something that survived even Discord’s reign, is now in ruins, and that we’ve lost the Elements of Harmony. With everything else gone, you could say that Twilight here is all that remains of Princess Celestia’s legacy.”

Scarlet Bolt’s brow furrowed. “And so?”

“Celestia’s legacy shouldn’t be used as a weapon, Scarlet. It’s a waste of her potential and a bad idea.”

Scarlet Bolt snorted. “A bad idea!? If that ursa from Wild Weald hadn’t been stopped, you’d be whistling a different tune, I can tell you that much! It’s easy to wave off everything the Equestrian Guard does for you ponies when you’re living in a palace!” She threw a hoof at the large window behind the council ponies. “Ponies die out there every day! And I don’t just mean soldiers dying for their country, I mean regular old, innocent ponies! Mugging and murdering is almost a common sight nowadays! On top of that, there’s the ursas, the wolves, the windigoes, the dragons, you name it! Without the ponies under my command, none of you would be here! I can tell you, the Sword of Equestria is not a waste of Twilight’s potential! The effects of her service may not be apparent to you, but they are there!”

“Then enlighten us,” Artemis challenged the pegasus. “The way I see it, the windigoes in Vyatkiev are being dealt with entirely without Twilight’s help, and from what I read of the crystal cavern mission report, Twilight’s powers were hardly employed. The ursa major was destroyed by Lightning Rod, Dragoncrest was scouted out by pegasi, and I daresay the timberwolves would have been dealt with easily with or without Twilight Sparkle. I don’t know why you didn’t realize this sooner, Scarlet, but Twilight doesn’t seem all that ‘invaluable’ to these missions of yours. She saves you some time, but that seems about it.”

“That is an incredibly abridged recount of those missions,” Scarlet Bolt grumbled in response. “What you say is a half-truth at best!”

“At the opening of this very session, you accused Twilight of being responsible for the deaths of three soldiers,” Artemis reminded the other coolly. “Her decision at Dragoncrest got a hoofful of Equestria’s best soldiers killed. That doesn’t sound like an invaluable asset to me. More like a liability. She’s a failure as a military commander, her combat contributions are negligible, and all this killing is clearly getting to her.”

“Her usefulness as a soldier has nothing to with what we’re discussing now!” Scarlet Bolt argued heatedly. “Did she do it, why did she do it, and what should we do about it? That’s what this is about!”

“In her own roundabout way, I think that is exactly what Artemis is trying to discuss,” Civil Tenet responded in place of Artemis. “What to do with Twilight? I cannot say whether it was right or wrong to draft her in the first place, but seeing as how she obviously will not be serving in the military anymore, we should focus on how she should service Equestria in the future.”

“You mean outside of being locked away in the dungeon?” Lucre asked of the silver unicorn, raising an eyebrow at her.

“Well, of course!” Civil Tenet exclaimed, her eyes widening at the idea.

“She’s responsible for three soldiers’ deaths!”

“We cannot seriously consider imprisoning Celestia’s only legacy!”

“It would be a monumental waste,” Artemis agreed. “One we cannot afford as things currently stand.”

Lucre rolled his eyes. “You make her out to be some sort of saint! She’s not! Feel free to visit that diamond dog burrow if you disagree!”

Civil Tenet grimaced, but did not yield. “Even so, you cannot deny Twilight’s services could be put to better use. Not only her sheer magical power, but her status as well. Who better to publicly condemn the actions of Coltdoba than the cornerstone of the Elements of Harmony herself?”

Twilight was about to voice a halfhearted protest at the idea of being turned into a political figurehead when Quiescent Atonement finally spoke again. “It seems everypony agree that Twilight Sparkle is guilty of the crimes of which she stands accused. As could be expected. What remains to be decided is what disciplinary course of action should be taken.” The other council ponies stopped their bickering and nodded, and after a moment’s hesitation, the gray pegasus continued. “As I see it, two parties of conflicting interests have formed: Lucre and Scarlet Bolt wish to see Twilight incarcerated, while Civil Tenet and Artemis want her services transferred to one or more members of the council; community service somewhat similar to our initial punishment for the solite incident.” Quiescent Atonement turned his attention to the two ponies sitting to his far right. “Which leaves us with Penning Draft and Rain Dancer.”

“And yerself,” the elderly earth pony shot back, clearly debating the matter with himself as he brought a hoof to his chin.

“There are some purely practical problems with imprisoning Twilight as far as I can see,” Rain Dancer offered as she too considered the choice. “I mean, do we have a cell that can hold her? Unicorns aren’t supposed to be able to break ceratic seals, but Twilight did… somehow.”

“I can think of several ways to contain her,” Lucre assured the pegasus confidently. “One of them involves a cockatrice.”

Rain Dancer shook her head. “In most cases, I would’ve probably gone with imprisonment, but these are hard times. We need Twilight’s help. I’d rather have her making solites than sitting around in a prison.”

“I can’t let Twilight go with a clear conscience,” Penning Draft sighed as he too came to his conclusion. “My gut tells me something’s... off about ya, Twi.” He turned to the rest of the council. “I say she needs to slow down for a few months and get her problems sorted out, not experiment with solar magic or what have you.”

Beside him, Coup de Grâce nodded her approval while Quiescent Atonement closed his eyes, once again retreating into deep thought. The silence wore on as everypony waited for the head of justice’s verdict, and after half a minute, he finally opened his eyes, looking straight at Twilight. For a full minute, the pegasus simply stared, as if gazing straight through her, his amber eyes disconcertingly reminiscent of the dark alicorn’s.

“You are keeping something from us,” he finally said, his voice so calm that Twilight was unable to tell whether it was an accusation or a statement. A shiver went up her spine, however, as she briefly considered what secrets the pegasus might be referring to. “Something that so very easily justifies some of my colleagues’ mistrust in you.” Quiescent Atonement fell silent again, his eyes still boring into Twilight’s. “But when I look at you, deep within you, I see the light of Princess Celestia. It is clouded by this darkness you keep from us, but I believe you when you say you wish to help Equestria. The question, then, is whether you are capable of doing so...” The pegasus closed his eyes and leaned back in his seat.

After a moment, he spoke again, his eyes still shut. “A decision has been made. Prison... does not seem a viable solution; not for Equestria’s sake, and not for the sake of Twilight Sparkle’s rehabilitation. I believe she suffers from several undisclosed emotional traumas, and as Primrose informed us, it seems her magical powers have somehow risen to a level in which they have become a burden to her, threatening her mental stability. Is it so?” His eyes opened, waiting for the unicorn’s answer.

Twilight gulped at the question, unsure of what the best answer for her would be. Her eyes found Artemis’s, and Twilight noticed the other unicorn nod her head ever so slightly, staring straight back at her. “Y-yes,” Twilight answered Quiescent Atonement timidly, hoping that Artemis knew what she was doing.

The pegasus nodded his head slowly, closing his eyes for a few seconds again before speaking. “Then I must leave Twilight Sparkle to serve under council member Artemis, who may use her services as she sees fit, provided these duties reduce Twilight Sparkle’s available reserves of magic to a manageable level.”

Attention turned for a moment to Artemis, who nodded at Quiescent Atonement’s decision. “Equestria has plenty of uses for Twilight’s magic. I’ll keep her busy.”

“Are we seriously going to let a deserter do exactly what she wants!?” Scarlet Bolt demanded angrily. “She defied her superiors! That calls for disciplinary action!”

“Which is why we are assigning her community service,” Artemis countered.

“I know you’re going to use her for your solite research,” Scarlet Bolt argued, “and we all know that’s exactly what Twilight wants! It’s not a punishment!”

“If we reward this kind of disobedience,” Lucre backed the pink pegasus up, “it’s no wonder we’ve lost Coltdoba!”

“Twilight Sparkle’s interests align with those of Equestria’s,” Quiescent Atonement offered calmly. “Such is a rare trait in a criminal. I am therefore disinclined to treat her as one. My ruling is not meant as a punishment, Lucre. Its purpose is serving Equestria and rehabilitating Twilight Sparkle.”

“I can’t help but doubt the wisdom of yer decision, though,” Penning Draft opted as the rest of the council fell silent. “As you yerself said, Twilight’s... not stable.”

“All evidence points to this, yes,” Quiescent Atonement agreed. “So, if you will allow me to finish: Twilight’s service under Artemis will continue for a trial period of one week, during which time Artemis and two impartial ponies appointed by myself will take note of Twilight Sparkle’s behavior and mental condition. Should it be deemed necessary, a psychologist will be assigned to Twilight Sparkle, and her service under Artemis may or may not be discontinued... depending on the potential severity of mental disorder disclosed during the trial period. Should Artemis have any complaints with Twilight Sparkle’s services, or should Twilight Sparkle violate any Equestrian law while working under Artemis, the council will reconvene on the matter. I will reevaluate my ruling and be more inclined to agree with your standing,” he finished, nodding at Penning Draft.

The earth pony leaned back into his seat as he considered the decision. “So we give her a chance to pull herself together and then crack down on her by the end of the week.” He sighed and then nodded slowly. “A’right. It’s a compromise I’m willing to make.”

“We too are in agreement with the ruling,” Civil Tenet spoke for herself and Artemis.

“As am I,” Rain Dancer added.

“I was right about throwing Discord in the ocean,” Scarlet Bolt sighed as she surrendered to the majority, “and I’m right about this. But it seems the council has spoken.”

Lucre said nothing, only rose from his seat and gave Twilight a frosty glare as he strode out the doors to the conclave, soon followed by Coup de Grâce.

“It’s decided then,” Quiescent Atonement concluded after the doors were shut by the guards posted outside. “Twilight Sparkle, you will be left in the custody of Artemis, effective immediately. Your trial period will commence as soon as I have appointed the two adjudicators, who will then follow you wherever you go.” The gray pegasus gazed at each of the remaining council members and Twilight. “Any further questions?”

“Not one that has anything to do with this,” Twilight replied, “but... I never found out what happened to Rainbow Dash.”

“She’ll be alright,” Scarlet Bolt assured her. “Coup broke her nose, and she’ll need a few stitches, but she should be back on top in a week or two.”

“We will need to decide what to do about Coup de Grâce before the week is out,” Civil Tenet told the scarred pegasus, who nodded grudgingly.

“We will leave that to you,” Quiescent Atonement declared, giving Scarlet Bolt a nod before he rose from his seat. “I suggest one hour of recess. We will allow Lucre to calm down before we finalize our emergency plans should negotiations in Coltdoba fail.”

“Which they will,” Scarlet Bolt remarked cynically, she too rising from her seat. “We have little to offer them and we ask for a lot.”

With a satisfied smile, Artemis rose from her seat and headed toward the stairs set in the side of the chamber, gesturing for Twilight to follow. “That went pretty well,” the head of science remarked as she and Twilight started up the stairs, the former trotting up the steps at a brisk, excited pace while the latter struggled with climbing them due to her maimed leg. “No more wasting your time with the tasks of a common soldier, but working to secure a better future for Equestria. We have so many options...” The violet unicorn reached the top of the stairs and opened the door leading out of the conclave, standing by the exit and waiting somewhat impatiently for Twilight to catch up. “I’ve waited a long time for the opportunity to work with you!”

“Thanks,” Twilight could only reply, her three healthy legs still shaky from facing the council. “It was a pretty close call.”

Artemis waved it off like it was nothing as they both passed through the doorway, her pace down the hallway beyond picking up to the point where Twilight couldn’t possibly keep up. “I was partly responsible for roping you into that whole mess to begin with. Consider this a way of apologizing. If it’s not enough, I even have a gift for you. If you’re still interested in that amulet we talked about before you left, that is. Should be ready by tomorrow.”

“Could you, uh, slow down?” Twilight asked of the other unicorn that was now twenty feet ahead of her, wincing in pain as she tried to close the gap.

“Oh. Sorry, sorry.” Artemis trotted backwards so she could once again walk at Twilight’s side, this time at a much slower pace. “I guess I am a little excited. There’s just so many opportunities! I-I was thinking we’d start off with Neighbury: I’d like you to take a look at the markings this alicorn, whoever it is, left. It’s definitely not Equestrian, nor is it any older kind of known pony script. We’ve had griffon historians and zebra shamans of ten different tribes out looking at it, but none of them recognize a thing. A diamond dog will be looking at it in two days’ time, but I doubt he’ll find anything of use either.”

“What makes you think I’ll find anything?” Twilight asked of the other unicorn who now stopped at a door fairly close to the conclave entrance. “Historical linguistics isn’t exactly something I’ve ever studied.”

“Well, whatever script it is, the symbols themselves exude large quantities of magical energy,” Artemis explained as she opened the door, and Twilight realized they had reached the head of science’s private quarters. They entered a darkened, modestly sized circular living room, and Twilight assumed that they now stood within one of the palace’s smaller towers. A tiny mote of indigo light zipped from Artemis’ horn to a small crystal set into the center of the ceiling, and it immediately lit up with the same color. “Different symbols have different frequencies and patterns... It’s as if the markings are... spells given physical form.” Narrow columns set into the black marble wall behind them and between the floor-to-floor blue-tinted glass panels along the far side of the wall lit up as the indigo light in the crystal was transferred to them, illuminating the room completely. “And if anyone knows spells, it’s you.”

Artemis gestured at two cushioned armchairs on the other side of the small living room, and Twilight raised an eyebrow as she hobbled toward one of them. She could have sworn there was only one when they had entered. Reminding herself that she was in the company of Equestria’s former Archmage, Twilight dismissed the thought. As she and Artemis seated themselves, a circular marble tile between the two detached itself from the floor and became a table as it hovered a few feet into the air. Twilight couldn’t help but smile at Artemis’ satisfied grin.

“It’s an impressive setup you’ve got here,” she remarked, lowering her head briefly to confirm that nothing physical was supporting the tabletop hovering in front of her.

“I bet it’s nothing compared to your library,” Artemis returned, waving a hoof at the compliment.

Twilight shook her head. “Ponyville mostly follows traditional earth pony values, and the library is an iconic building. Even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t be allowed to change anything. The lightning rod is the only magical thing about it.”

“Took a while for me to convince Penning to let me modify this place,” Artemis admitted, “but I’d just grown too accustomed to living with my gadgets to take no for an answer.” She gestured at the table in front of her. “Can I interest you in a drink? Snack?”

“Uh, water, I guess,” Twilight replied. “I ate just before the court session downstairs.”

Artemis nodded, and the tabletop departed, moving ‒ it seemed ‒ not as a result of the violet unicorn’s magic, but the magic infused in the home itself. An indigo circle appeared on the ceiling just above the two, and the tabletop moved through it, passing through the black marble ceiling as if it weren’t there.

“Kitchen’s upstairs,” she explained, once again smirking at Twilight’s surprised expression. “Used to be the stairs took up the majority of all but the top room of this tower, so when I took the whole thing as my living quarters, nopony really objected. Would you mind if I took a bite of lunch? I’ll probably be stuck in the conclave the rest of the afternoon once this break is over.”

“Uh, sure.”

Artemis nodded appreciatively and leaned back in her chair. “Alright, back to business. As I said, the symbols in Neighbury seem to constitute some sort of spell. Or spells; I have no idea. Given that these markings cover approximately the same area as the entirety of Neighbury did, however, I suspect the magic’s pretty potent. I’d rather find out what the nature of this magic is first, but if all else fails, the council’s agreed the markings should be destroyed.”

“That sounds like the best course of action,” Twilight agreed. “Whatever that alicorn wants, it’s probably not in our interest.”

“You’re an astronomer, right?” Artemis asked of Twilight, who nodded.

“It’s a hobby of mine, yes. Why?”

“This alicorn destroyed Neighbury and placed his markings there shortly afterwards,” Artemis explained. “Not directly on top of where the town used to be, but slightly askew. Either he’s a complete sadist and destroyed the town for no other reason than to destroy the town, which isn’t entirely unthinkable, or the location of those symbols plays an important role in their function. Lately, I’ve been thinking the symbols might require some sort of special stellar configuration above for them to activate or something.”

Twilight considered the suggestion for a while. “Might be. But unless there’s some direct connection with the pattern of the symbols and the stars above, it would probably be impossible to find out which constellation would trigger an effect. It might also have something to do with the underground. Maybe there’s a large deposit of crystals underneath Neighbury?”

“Scans haven’t shown anything, but I doubt spells like that are entirely reliable given the huge amount of magic radiating from those markings. We’ll excavate the area once we’ve destroyed them,” Artemis informed her, nodding her agreement. She paused for a moment before speaking again. “Would you be up for leaving Manehattan later today to go to Neighbury? I figured the sooner we did it the better, right?”

“Uh, well, I wouldn’t mind,” Twilight replied, “but what about Quiescent Atonement? He wanted two ponies to go with me wherever I went, right?”

“They’re supposed to do that during your trial period,” Artemis clarified with a mischievous grin. “And the trial period doesn’t start until he’s assigned someone to follow you. Either we go now and study the markings in peace, or we go later and try to study the markings while two psychologists ask you how you’re feeling every five minutes.”

Twilight chuckled. “When you put it like that, going now sounds like the best option. As long as you deal with any mad council members when we come back.”

“‘The fluctuations in the energy emitted by the markings seemed to suggest that the magic might dissipate over time, perhaps even at an accelerated rate. This would of course make the symbols unreadable, so time was of the essence if Twilight and I were to decipher the meaning of the markings,’” Artemis said in a tone of mock professionalism and smiled at Twilight. “And then we tell them you found out my predictions were inaccurate and that we can’t actually conclude anything about the symbols’ longevity. They’ll eat it raw. Knowledge is our brand of power, Twilight,” the violet unicorn told her as the tabletop reemerged through the ceiling. “And with it, we rule the ignorant.”

The table moved in between the two unicorns, now laden with a plate of two daffodil sandwiches and two empty glasses. Artemis frowned at the latter. “Ugh, the matter transition spell tends to bug around entities of water,” she complained. “Just a moment.” The glasses were enveloped in her indigo magic and swiftly flew through the air and up through the ring in the ceiling, returning a moment later full of water.

“So we’re just gonna trick the others?” Twilight asked, slightly worried at the boldness with which the unicorn sitting across from her had just told her so.

“Welcome to politics,” Artemis replied simply, smiling wryly. “Or more specifically, the art of sharing a country with eight other ponies. Everypony wants something, and you don’t always get it by playing nice. I can usually convince my colleagues of pretty much anything if I use enough technical terms, Lucre tends to bully the others into getting what he wants, Scarlet Bolt will occasionally drop one or two subtle hints about who controls the Equestrian military, and Civil Tenet is good at making friends. I used to think she was on Scarlet’s team, but the way she backed me up just now makes me think she’s more interested in you.”

Twilight sighed at the thought. “I’ve done a pretty good job of staying out of politics throughout most of my life. Guess I’m done with that, huh?”

“You’re practically part of the council by now,” Artemis told her, sounding almost apologetic. “A lot of us need your help and frankly, this community service of yours is a great opportunity for all us. Hopefully, the jobs I have for you won’t be too far off from what you’d prefer to be doing. We’ll be taking a look at Neighbury first, then I’ll give you full access to the Ancient Texts wing of The Manehattan Central Library; I want you to find out who this alicorn we’re dealing with is and whether or not history has ever mentioned him. I’ll talk to Civil at the meeting later, get some of her people to do some research of their own and narrow the field down for you. If we’re lucky, we might even find out where he’s been all this time and how we can put him back there.”

“What if I can’t find anything?” Twilight asked. “If you ask me, Equestrian history has a bad habit of not mentioning evil tyrants and villains.”

Artemis shrugged. “Then we tried, I suppose. We’ll have to put our minds to an alternate solution when we have the time. Whether you find anything or not, I’m planning on sending you to Cloudsdale next. We’ve already got a small army of unicorns up there working on melting their supplies of rainwater. I want you to use your magic to provide a temporary boost to that operation, but primarily you’re there for your spellwriting skills; we need to improve the standard Cloud Walker spell. The ones who know it are capable of helping Equestria in so many more ways and improving the duration of the spell will free up some additional horns.” Artemis leaned down to take a bite out of a levitating sandwich before continuing. “Once you’ve improved the spell to last, say, a month, I don’t have anything that needs urgent attention. I’ll be setting you to work on your solite research again. If that’s alright with you.”

Twilight nodded her approval. “Sounds better than Scarlet Bolt’s missions.”

“Good. Hold on to that when you come to Cloudsdale,” Artemis chuckled. “Even with unicorn magic to power the water heaters, the main contributions come from thunder farming. It’s cold, wet, and noisy up there. That place has become a floating Tartarus if you ask me. But you’ll notice Rain Dancer was able to tip the scales in your favor today.”

“Because you promised her my help?” Twilight inquired and Artemis nodded.

“As you said, it was a close call getting you out of Scarlet’s clutches. I had expected Penning to side with me, but at least Civil compensated. Quiescent might have vetoed the decision in your favor if Rain Dancer hadn’t helped, but I didn’t wanna risk it.”

“Well, thanks,” Twilight told the unicorn again, and the two exchanged a smile.

“If you want to thank me, you could always satisfy my curiosity. Quiescent Atonement insisted that it had no relevance to his verdict, but how exactly did you escape Canterlot? I don’t think anyone in the council but me really appreciated the amount of magic you’d need to teleport across such a great distance. Where’d you get that magic from?”

Twilight sighed and took a sip of her water. “I’m... not entirely sure.”

“Give it your best shot,” Artemis encouraged her, but Twilight shook her head.

“Some weird stuff happened, I mean really weird. I still can’t say for certain what exactly. I need some time to digest.” Twilight winced at her own choice of words, but of course Artemis noticed nothing amiss. “The information,” she clarified, for her own sake if nothing else. “Until I get this all sorted out, I’m not sure it’s a good idea I tell anypony.”

Artemis nodded her head in understanding. She apparently had no objections, for she promptly started on her lunch again. A long moment of silence formed between the two ponies, but was broken when the violet unicorn finished her first sandwich and cleared her throat.

“I’ll let you in on a little secret, Twilight,” she said, gazing at the glass of water floating in her telekinetic grip. “It’s in my best interest if it’s deemed unnecessary for a psychologist to treat you. I get the feeling that’s something you’re interested in as well. You get to make solites, I get to… let you make solites, and Equestria gets its sun back sooner rather than later. So, unless you hold a knife against my throat during this trial period of ours, I’m gonna give you the all-clear to continue working with me. You don’t need to be afraid of me thinking you’re insane or anything like it; any... irregular behavior is no doubt the result of your recent surges in magic and encounters with this alicorn, the former of which is a problem easily solved. So I assure you; I’m not asking to find out if anything’s wrong with you, but purely out of my own selfish interests. I’m really curious as to how a lone unicorn can walk into an area infested with windigoes, ursas, rocs, and who knows what else and simply walk away again unscathed. Or,” Artemis gestured at Twilight’s bandaged foreleg, “almost unscathed.”

Twilight bit her lip, still reluctant to share the events with anypony else. While Artemis seemed to have her interests at heart, she hardly knew the pony, nor why she was being so friendly. She had said that she admired her, but how far did that admiration extend? Enough to see past what Twilight had done in Canterlot? Her musings were interrupted by a knock at the door, and after a disappointed sigh from Artemis, the door opened of its own accord. Spike stood in the doorway, giving Artemis an awkward wave.

“Oh. Come in, Spike,” Artemis told him, obviously surprised by the dragon’s visit.

Spike nodded his thanks and fell onto all fours, allowing him to walk through the doorway without problems. He gave Artemis a smile, but his expression turned into a frown when he looked at Twilight. “What happened to finding me as soon as you were done with the council?”

“Oh.” Twilight brought a hoof to her forehead, causing her to almost overbalance on the armchair, and she grimaced in pain when she jerked her left foreleg. “Sorry, Spike. I completely forgot.”

“Technically, she’s still with the council,” Artemis defended Twilight, giving the dragon a mischievous smile. “We were discussing what exactly happened in Canterlot. Would you like to join us?”

“Sure.”

“You two sound like you know each other,” Twilight observed, and both pony and dragon nodded.

“He came to Cristallum as soon as he heard about what happened to you in Neighbury,” Artemis explained. “When he decided to stay and wait for you to wake up, I helped him settle in. He ended up sleeping here in my living room for the first few days before we were able to fix him up with something more permanent.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “There weren’t any available rooms in Cristallum?”

“This place is a lot smaller than the Canterlot palace. And we have, ah, ambassadors, I suppose you could call them, coming in from cities all over Equestria.”

“From the cities? What for?”

“Coltdoba’s declaration of independence isn’t exactly a standalone case,” Artemis explained, giving the unicorn a sad smile. “Some places aren’t happy with sharing their surplus of crops with the rest of Equestria, and other places want to implement a few stricter laws in order to deal with crime and wildlife that we can’t really approve of. While we can’t always help them, we wanted to show them that we listen to each and every one of them, so we invited representatives from all over Equestria to Cristallum.”

“But it didn’t help you with Coltdoba,” Twilight observed and Artemis shook her head.

“Amity and Bramley are off to have a talk face to face with the leaders there, but as Scarlet pointed out, they aren’t likely to succeed.”

“You’re letting her change the subject,” Spike remarked idly, and Artemis chuckled.

“So I am! Hungry, Spike?”

The dragon’s face brightened. “Always!”

Artemis smirked at Twilight. “He’s expensive. How did you afford feeding him for all those years?”

“Celestia financed part of his… diet,” Twilight answered, shaking her head at Artemis. “You don’t need to feed him. He found most of his food on his own back in Ponyville.”

“Speak for yourself…”

“It’s alright,” Artemis assured Twilight, waving off her concerns. “I do a lot of experimenting with crystals, and I end up ruining a fair deal. Can’t use them for magic, and they’re not worth quite as much, but apparently, they taste just fine.” A platter full of sapphires, most of them mangled and twisted beyond any gems’ usual shape, fazed through the ceiling and came to rest upon the table between Twilight and Artemis, and the dragon parked himself by their chairs, grabbing a handful of the sapphires.

“So, Canterlot?” Spike offered before stuffing his face with the gems.

“Canterlot,” Artemis agreed, turning her attention to Twilight again.

Twilight sighed in response, her gaze shifting from Spike to Artemis and back again. “I… went to Canterlot, I mean, left the caverns and the soldiers I-I was with. And went to Canterlot. I’d been following the alicorn, but I couldn’t find him anywhere. An ursa found me, but then he showed up and killed it-”

“He?” Artemis echoed. “The alicorn?” Twilight nodded her head, her gaze dropping to the floating table. “And he killed the ursa threatening you?”

“H-he wasn’t helping me,” Twilight insisted. “He… killed the minor… and a major, its parent. Father. He blew up the father and killed those three soldiers, which made the mother angry. I had to run into Canterlot but I got attacked by windigoes and then a vampire showed up, and I blew up the hospital‒”

“You’re going a bit fast, Twilight,” Artemis broke in again. “A vampire? Like, suck your blood and hate the sun? They actually exist?”

Twilight shook her head. “No. No, of course not. Undead ponies don’t exist. Vampire is just… their name. They do suck blood and they’re nocturnal, but they aren’t harmed by the sun. I-it’s not important. I blew up the… th-the hospital. Because I was surrounded,” she clarified when she noticed Artemis’ confused look.

“By… vampires?”

“Everything!” Twilight groaned. “Ursas and windigoes and a vampire, yes!”

“I’m just trying to understand,” Artemis assured the unicorn, holding her hooves up placatingly as Twilight seemed to get more and more tense. “I know it’s hard to talk about, but if no one can follow you, it’s kinda pointless.”

“Then maybe I just shouldn’t talk about it,” Twilight grumbled, downing her glass of water. “Fine with me. We should work on solites and helping Equestria instead of… this! Isn’t that what you wanted?”

“If we find out what boosted your magical powers, we’ll be able to help Equestria that much more,” Artemis argued.

“It won’t help.”

“Well, how can you be sure?” Artemis pressed. “Why not?”

Twilight’s eyes narrowed, but she kept staring at her empty glass of water. “I’m not doing it again!”

“Doing wh-?”

“Twilight,” Spike broke in, putting a claw on her shoulder. The unicorn flinched at the touch, and the glass in her telekinetic grip imploded, forming a little ball of glass powder and shards.

“Do you know how hard it is!?” Twilight almost shrieked, though she didn’t know if she was addressing the dragon, the unicorn, or the piece of glass she now dumped onto the table. “I have to focus so hard on not crushing things when holding them, on not ionizing the air around me constantly, on not hurting ponies who want to throw me in jail!”

The claw on her shoulder didn’t leave her, and even grabbed her a little tighter in an effort to calm her down. “You’re doing just fine, Twilight,” Spike told her, but she shook her head, twisting out of the dragon’s grip and rising from her chair.

“I’m not,” she muttered, limping away from the table. “I just… I-I’m not.” The air around her crackled with power as she released her magic, and the unicorn winked away.

She flashed into existence on an unfamiliar street within Manehattan, but she couldn’t have cared less about where she was. The flash of light that had announced her arrival had hardly subsided before Twilight was walking again, hobbling down the sidewalk whilst silently cursing the city for being all around her. The magical pressure within her body was building more rapidly than she had expected, and she wanted nothing more than to simply vent, but with the buildings surrounding her, there wasn’t much she could do without drawing any sorely unwanted attention to herself.

Fortunately, her teleportation hadn’t been seen by anypony, and only now did Twilight really seem to take in her surroundings. The narrow street she stood on, clearly not meant for anymore than one lane of traffic, was completely deserted. No solite was within sight and, with the full moon hidden behind the densely packed surrounding buildings, most of the area was completely dark, lit not even by the many street lights that all seemed to have been systematically vandalized by one or more ponies.

Despite it being early in the afternoon, the eternal night seemed to have crept well and truly into this part of Manehattan, and Twilight realized that she had most likely teleported into one of the more crime-ridden neighborhoods of the capital. Twilight frowned and shook her head in disgust.

I’m out killing timberwolves and battling monsters underneath Canterlot while Scarlet lets things like this happen!?

Her eyes adjusted to the darkness as she limped on, and she became increasingly aware of ponies watching her, catching fleeting glimpses of eyes hidden in alleys to either side of her.

She came to a halt and glared down a nearby alley, her eyes narrowing when she caught sight of the silhouette of a pony. Her horn flared to life, but despite her volatile temper, she hesitated for a moment, thinking better of getting into a fight in her current state. She went on her way instead, vanishing in another flash of light.

Her second teleportation brought her to one of Manehattan’s main streets, this one brightly lit by solites and street lamps and bustling with ponies milling about during the late morning hours. Her sudden appearance drew dozens of gazes, and Twilight shuddered before teleporting again. And again. And again. By the sixth teleportation, she had made it all the way out of Manehattan, and she appeared in the middle of a barren farm. The hard, frozen soil she now stood on was a clear indication of no solite having been set up within the vicinity, meaning the farm had most likely been abandoned by its cultivators a while ago. This, of course, led to a significant drop in temperature between the farm and the city, and Twilight couldn’t help but shiver as she experimentally prodded at the ground with a back hoof, finding it hard as rock.

A sharp pain in her horn and the snap and crackle of electricity about her head reminded her of her current problem, and she cast her gaze around, looking to see if anypony was nearby. She found only an empty-looking farmhouse and a suburban neighborhood on the other side of the farm two miles away, and so decided to relieve herself of the building pressure in her horn. With some difficulty, she summoned the mental notes on solite construction to the front of her mind, and soon dozens of spells were flying from her horn and into the air a few feet ahead of her.

Twilight frowned as she shut her eyes tight in concentration, finding it much more difficult to concentrate on balancing the power of the preliminary spells than she remembered. With a frustrated sigh, she abandoned the first attempt, scattering the spells already cast. Again and again she tried, but the very first - and the most complex - stages of the solite’s construction proved too delicate for her to handle. By the sixth attempt, she was glaring daggers at the empty air mocking her, and instead of dispelling the imperfect arcane framework, she continued with the casting, bombarding the air with her usual fuelling spells.

Upon ignition, however, as she had half expected, the containment spells overcompensated, and the ball of fire twice the size of a pony collapsed to the size of an apple. The fuelling spells responsible for ventilation went into overdrive as well, drawing air into the superheated nucleus of the solite at a rate that almost swept Twilight off her hooves. Aside from taking a step back, the unicorn was unaffected by the powerful vacuum, focusing her magic instead on the dwindling flame that was now the solite, nearly extinguished by the tempestuous winds bombarding it from all sides.

Fuelling that fire directly with her magic, Twilight was able to not only maintain the flame, but increase its size as well. The ventilation spells seemed to register this, for they grew even more powerful as the fire grew larger. The battle between the unicorn’s two spells wore on for almost half a minute until the influx of magical energy finally destabilized the solite, cancelling its containment spell.

The other spells remained in function, however, resulting in the diminutive flame rapidly evolving into an enormous and sustained inferno, feeding off of the power Twilight was throwing into it in a blind rage and the air supplied by the howling winds that grew only more intense as the solite exploded. Somehow, Twilight remained undeterred, summoning a wedge-shaped force field to part the fires rushing at her and to keep her from being sucked into the deadly sea of fire. She was bent on stabilizing the solite, too much so to realize that it was a lost cause.

A disturbingly familiar whimper managed to draw her attention away from the maelstrom of flames and toward the ground to her left. A diamond dog sat there, just a few feet from her, with a spear protruding from its chest. The creature screamed in pain, and Twilight’s eyes widened in fear. “N-no! No!” She took a step back, which brought her hind leg outside her force field’s area of protection.

With a pained hiss, she drew back the hoof before it was burnt too badly, and her attention was drawn now to a second diamond dog, this one standing beside the first and laughing at her. Twilight acted faster than she could think, and a tendril of fire grew out of the inferno to her right and enveloped the laughing diamond dog, silencing him instantly. The fire kept going, sweeping over the injured diamond dog, but instead of burning away, his screaming only intensified. “Shut up!” the unicorn screamed at her tormentor, but was answered only by an excruciating stab of pain in her maimed foreleg. She looked down and found the head of an axe buried there. The image was almost surreal; she felt disconnected from the giant, gaping wound that should be causing her so much more pain than it did, disconnected from the head that slowly turned to follow the handle of the axe to its wielder, a diamond dog, the one that had threatened Fluttershy, its leering, lifeless face inches from hers.

“Don’t hurt me,” it said mechanically, and in a bright flash of white from Twilight’s horn, the creature was turned to ashes.

More of the diamond dogs appeared, as if conceived by the darkness surrounding Twilight and her globe of fire, some half dead, others alive, and still others all dead, shuffling toward her slowly but surely. In a panic, Twilight seized the inferno next to her with her magic and stretched it around herself, burning away the dogs nearest her and forming an impenetrable barrier against the encroaching darkness and its unearthly minions.

And only now, with all else replaced by fire, did Twilight notice the dark equine standing on the far side of the fiery circle, looking at Twilight wordlessly. A beam of light erupted from its horn, striking Twilight, who found herself becoming suddenly exhausted.

No, no! “No! No!” The alicorn’s tranquilizing spell was broken by a powerful pulse of magic, and Twilight focused her now blazing white eyes on Celestia and Luna’s murderer. The ring of fire reared up all around them and dove toward the alicorn, only to be shrugged off by an indigo bubble shield forming about him. The shield distorted wildly when Twilight struck it with a bolt of lightning, and shattered upon the second hit. A quickly summoned force field protected the alicorn from the brunt of the third lightning bolt, but the impact sent him hurtling out through the surrounding fires.

The flames parted for Twilight, and she pursued the alicorn as quickly as her injured leg would allow her, gathering up the fires in her magical grip and preparing another blast of lightning. Ahead of her, the alicorn got up slowly, muttering something the unicorn couldn’t hear. The inferno she was holding morphed into a giant, sharp talon, poised above the alicorn and ready to strike in unison with Twilight’s charging lightning bolt. Finally, it seemed the tables had turned. He was at her mercy.

That… That was too easy, she realized suddenly, and with a crackle of energy, her two readied spells dissipated. Her horn lit up with an illumination spell instead, revealing not Celestia’s murderer, but Artemis.

The violet unicorn was breathing heavily from defending herself against Twilight’s attacks and was holding up a hoof in front of her eyes to shield them from the sharp light currently shed by Twilight’s horn. Artemis shot her a crooked smile. “You alright?”

The question rendered her almost speechless, and Twilight fell back to sit on her haunches, shaking her head. “I… M-me? I-I almost killed you!”

“No you didn’t,” Artemis insisted, approaching her so that Twilight could get a better look at her. The violet unicorn had a few scrapes and her coat was covered in spots of soot, but other than that, Twilight had to admit that she looked just fine. “It’s kinda my fault. I suppose tranquilizing you while you were like that wasn’t the brightest idea.”

“I thought you were the alicorn,” Twilight muttered, shivering at the thought, and Artemis’ eyes widened.

“Oh. Oh. Well then it was a really bad idea. Yeah, I can see why you’d think that. Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Twilight almost groaned. “I’m sorry. I guess I do need some professional help.”

“Only if you want to,” Artemis told her, and Twilight raised an eyebrow.

“S-seriously? You wouldn’t… You wouldn’t tell Quiescent about this?”

“You didn’t hold a knife against my throat.”

“I was a second away from burning you to a crisp!”

“I already told you; my goal for this trial period is walking out of it with you as my partner. It’s the only way things are going to get any better around here, right?” Artemis put a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “Nopony in the council but me realizes just how powerful you are, Twilight. If the council locks you up because they’re afraid of those powers, Equestria won’t evolve. The night will last forever, and we’ll all freeze to death. Equestria needs you to succeed Celestia, and that’s not gonna happen if you let ponies like Scarlet and Lucre lock you up.”

“I can’t succeed Princess Celestia! I-I’m nothing like her. She’d be horrified to see what I’ve done lately.”

“She’d understand,” Artemis assured her. “I understand. This alicorn is messing with your mind. But, you know, maybe you should talk. About the diamond dogs, your nightmares, and Canterlot.”

Twilight wasn’t able to answer her, her recent face-off with the diamond dog apparitions too much for her to bear to recall.

Artemis sighed, and nodded instead at the badly scorched ground where Twilight had created her solite. “A little out of practice? It looked like you were having trouble.”

Twilight gave a dry chuckle. “What gave it away?”

“Well, I meant before you... lost it,” Artemis clarified gently. “It looks like you’ve gotten a bit rusty.”

“I’m not the problem.”

“Then what is?”

“The vampire. The windigoes.”

“Oh.” Artemis gave her bandaged leg a look. “It must hurt a lot.” Twilight opened her mouth to correct the unicorn, but words failed her, and she shut her mouth again. Artemis didn’t immediately respond to Twilight’s reaction, but when it seemed apparent that the lavender mare wasn’t about to continue, she spoke once more. “What d‒?”

“I did something horrible in Canterlot,” Twilight relented finally, releasing the admission as if she had been holding her breath. “I killed the vampire. I killed more than twenty windigoes. And I… I mean… I didn’t just kill them. They didn’t just die!”

“You… murdered them?” Artemis tried, attempting to understand her.

Twilight gingerly stepped down with her left foreleg to lift the right, looking at it as if she literally had the blood of her most recent victims on that hoof. “You didn’t exaggerate when you told me about how dangerous Canterlot was. I almost died. I ran out of magic, completely out, and I was surrounded. Ursas, the vampire, windigoes, and hydras. I should have died. Instead, I… I… Some kind of connection formed between myself and everyone around me. M-my magic dug into their beings.” Twilight shook her head. “Except I didn’t have any magic left. It was a… a lack of magic. Something very empty, something very hungry, very… wrong... crawled out of me and latched onto everyone. Not their flesh, not their... physical bodies, but... their souls, their life force. We connected. I began seeing what they saw, I heard what they could hear, and I could feel everything they felt. When I began pulling, it felt as though I were tearing out my own soul. It hurt more than you can imagine. The connection made me as much one of them as they were a part of me, and I was violating the core of their essence and tearing it apart. I felt it a hundred times over, saw lives that weren’t mine flash before my eyes. We merged; their hatred and fear of me became my own as I saw myself in their eyes. I was a monster... I still feel like one...”

“You’re not,” Artemis assured her. “You... were trying to survive.”

“I robbed t-twenty-seven creatures of their souls!” Twilight insisted, stomping her hoof on the frozen ground. “I devoured them to feed my own power! Nothing justifies that!”

“You survived. That justifies almost anything if you ask me. You wouldn’t have made it out of there if you hadn’t done... that, right?”

“I would have preferred…” The words caught in Twilight’s throat. “I… I don’t know.”

“Dying?”

“No!” She remembered lying there, outside the ruins of Ponyville, her body all but destroyed and her spirit extinguished. She remembered closing her eyes, welcoming the alicorn’s offer. “I can’t!” She frowned as she calmed down somewhat, looking up at the moon while recalling another encounter with the alicorn. “The choice isn’t there. I can’t perish. I can’t allow myself to give up. Like you said: Equestria needs me.” Her eyes narrowed. “But that doesn’t excuse what I did to those creatures!”

“What do you want me to say, Twilight?” Artemis asked softly, trying to calm the lavender unicorn down. “Do you want me to agree? Call you a monster?”

“I’ve already got twenty-seven voices in my head doing that,” Twilight sighed sadly. “Make that twenty-eight,” she corrected herself. “I just... want to use their sacrifice for something... worthwhile. Like creating a sun. But none of them are really keen on that.”

“So these creatures you, what do you call it, drained? They’re still... conscious?”

Twilight shook her head. “What they were, everything they were, is me now. Only common sense is keeping me from believing I grew up in Tartarus or that I serve Discord. Part of me is worried about the eggs I left behind to hatch outside Tartarus, another part is terrified of the fact that I know where those eggs are.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Artemis broke in. “What!?”

“The vampire was female,” Twilight explained. “It laid eggs almost as soon as it got out and put them inside… Cerberus’s carcass. Who’s dead. The gates of Tartarus have been damaged by the alicorn.”

Artemis sat down next to Twilight with her mouth half open in shock. She was speechless for a moment before regaining her composure. “Oh... wow. Okay...” The unicorn gave a frustrated sigh. “I was asking about Discord actually, but... Really? The gates of Tartarus are broken?” She brought a hoof to her temple and started massaging the side of her head. “We don’t need this. We really don’t need this. We’ve got windigoes in Vyatkiev, we’ve got a military presence in Coltdoba to enforce, the border between Buteos and Equestria needs reinforcement, and almost every town and farm in Equestria needs support! We can’t spare troops to hold back the gates of Tartarus itself! It’s...” Artemis sighed again, this time in defeat. “It’s Scarlet Bolt’s problem. I’ll let the council know,” she assured Twilight. “Scarlet Bolt’ll do... whatever needs doing to hold back... Tartarus...” The violet unicorn groaned. “Anyway, what..? You were saying something about Discord?”

“He’s not free,” Twilight assured Artemis. “He’s plotting to break free, but it doesn’t look like it’s happening anytime soon. Apparently, the windigoes are loyal to him. They’re all flocking around their master now, trying to find a way to help him.”

“So we should’ve thrown him in the ocean,” Artemis gathered. “I can’t help but wonder if Celestia was holding Equestria together by the seams all this time, or if every possible disaster is just hitting now.”

“Both,” Twilight sighed, then rose to her hooves. “I’m getting really cold.”

“Well, if you’ve got anymore energy to burn, you can take us back,” Artemis offered, smiling up at her.

“Not much,” she admitted. “That ‘solite’ took a fair deal out of me.”

“You can take us as far as you can. We’ll hoof it the rest of the way. Or hitch a ride, maybe. That sounds better.”

“Whoah!” Spike exclaimed in surprise at the two bright flashes of light that heralded the return of Twilight and Artemis. “Where were you? It’s been more than half an hour!”

“I see you helped yourself to the rest of the gems,” Artemis observed lightheartedly, walking past the dragon and the empty platter on the table to sit back in her chair and relax. “I tracked her down to outside of Manehattan, and we, uh, talked. She told me about Canterlot.” She looked back at Twilight, who still sat at the entrance to the living room, wincing as she rubbed her left foreleg. “And Spike should know too, right?

“Of course I should!”

“He deserves to know,” Twilight agreed, teleporting onto her chair instead of limping across the room and continued her ministrations of her sore leg.

“How’s the leg?” Artemis asked with concern, eyeing the bandages that had by now been colored a faint pink.

“Still full of bone-deep gashes,” Twilight repeated with a grimace.

Artemis nodded. “Let me know if you want someone to take a look at it. Anyway‒” she turned to Spike “‒in Canterlot, Twilight was outnumbered and generally outmatched, so she somehow, by accident, I guess, used some sort of magic none of us have heard of. She connected her… ‘soul’ to the creatures chasing her, and she… ripped out their essence, killing them.” Twilight looked as though she were about to protest, so Artemis quickly corrected herself. “Not only killed them, but tortured them horribly. And she felt everything they felt because of the connection she had formed between herself and them. And by taking their ‘soul’ or whatever you want to call it, she seems to have gained their memories too. It explains why she suddenly knows what a vampire is and why windigoes are flocking around Canterlot.”

“You do?” Spike asked of Twilight, raising an eyebrow. “Why?”

“Something about freeing Discord,” Artemis answered him dismissively, eager to get to the point, addressing Twilight now. “And you didn’t just absorb their knowledge, did you? You took their power too, added it to your own. That’s why you were able to teleport all the way to Ponyville. And it wasn’t just a temporary boost either from what I can see. All these problems with magic you’ve been having since leaving Canterlot have been the result of your magical reserves rising to well beyond what you’re used to. Your magical reserves grew, Twilight.”

“Twilight always told me that wasn’t possible,” Spike observed, and Artemis shook her head, adopting an excited grin.

“She was right. It’s not! For as long as unicorns have studied magic, they’ve tried to find ways to permanently increase their own magical reservoirs. For centuries, millennia, even, nopony has been successful. Twilight has just found the holy grail of magic.”

“At the cost of killing another living being in the most excruciating way possible!” Twilight reminded the other unicorn, growing nervous at Artemis’ brightened features. “And experiencing that pain for yourself.”

Artemis almost didn’t seem to hear her. “But, moral aspect aside, you are able to rip the soul out of any living creature and increase your power. Permanently!”

“I’m not doing it again,” Twilight warned her. “You’re free to complain to the council about how I’m not willing to devour the souls of the living, but I’m not going to put anyone through that again.”

“I know, I know, I’m sorry, but hear me out,” Artemis interjected quickly. “Hypothetically, your magical potential is only limited by the amount of life present in... the entire world. That’s a lot.”

“I’m not draining the entire world!” Twilight exclaimed, horrified at the notion. “That’s crazy!”

“That’s not what I’m saying,” Artemis excused herself. “You... have no idea where the Elements are. And without them, you don’t really know what to do about this alicorn, do you? Now previously, you believed the Elements were the only thing capable of defeating this stallion, but now... now you have another option. Instead of using the Elements of Harmony, you can quite simply just rise to his level of power. You might even be able to surpass it. You could destroy him! You could... recreate the sun! One for the entire world! You could move the heavens, you could rebuild Canterlot, unify Equestria once more! The possibilities are endless! At least, hypothetically they are,” she added, doing a poor job at masking her enthusiasm.

“I’m not willing to pay the price,” Twilight repeated, on some level understanding Artemis’s slight disappointment. “Besides, I did it on instinct more than anything; I don’t know if I could do it again.”

“It’s your decision. But it’s a big one,” Artemis warned her. “You shouldn’t make it lightly.”

“She’s not,” Spike backed Twilight up. “If she lived through The Great Tragedy and she says draining someone really hurts, it’s probably pretty bad.”

“You’re both right,” Twilight sighed unhappily. “The Elements are gone, and I might never find them. As horrible as it is, this draining thing might be the only weapon that could work against the alicorn. But... it is horrible. And it’s not just the pain I’m afraid of. If I start killing, not to protect other ponies, but only to become more powerful, I’ll be exactly like that alicorn. Maybe even worse. I’m not going to go down that path.”

“You’re probably right,” Artemis agreed. “But it was a path out of this disaster, and I wanted to at least consider it. And I’ll keep doing so. I won’t tell anyone about this power,” she assured Twilight, “but I’ll be thinking this over day and night. If we can circumvent the mental trauma and the necessity to kill, this has a lot of potential. I mean, it seems so wasteful just killing the beasts threatening Equestria now. The power you could get from a fully grown berserking ursa major... And windigoes, they return if you try to destroy them using conventional means, but if you were to take away their soul...”

“Windigoes are living creatures,” Twilight interrupted her. “They’re driven almost solely by instinct, but... Ugh, I don’t know. I suppose they are bred only to destroy and serve no other purpose, but it still feels wrong to kill them.”

“We’ve been killing them all this time by living in harmony, haven’t we?” Artemis pointed out and Twilight nodded grudgingly.

“In a way. ‘Kill’ isn’t the word I would use, though. They cease to exist. It’s peaceful. They certainly don’t get their souls ripped out of their bodies.”

“Noted,” the violet unicorn sighed. “Alright then. This draining business isn’t really a feasible option at the moment. Not until we find some way of improving it.”

“And you’re not telling the council, right?” Twilight pressed.

“It’ll be our secret,” Artemis assured her.

“I don’t like all of these secrets,” Spike grumbled. “But I guess I won’t tell anyone either.”

“Well, that’s my curiosity sated,” Artemis declared, getting up from her chair again. “Did you want to see the rest of the tower? We’ll probably be working here, so you might as well get to know the place.”

“I… Well, sure,” Twilight replied, confused by the sudden change in subject but welcoming it all the same. Artemis went to where she and Twilight had appeared just a moment ago, and with a pulse of her horn, a circular tile not unlike the table but larger rose out of the floor, lifting the unicorn a foot into the air before stopping. A large indigo circle in the ceiling directly above Artemis told Twilight that another matter transition spell had been activated, and she realized that Artemis was standing on an elevator.

“I’m afraid I didn’t build this thing with adolescent dragons in mind,” Artemis told Spike as Twilight teleported from the chair and onto the floating platform. “We’ll be back in a minute.”

Spike nodded his head. “Got any more gems?”

“She gave you a platterful!” Twilight protested.

“I’m a growing dragon!” Spike shot back, rising to all fours and gesturing at the body that was several times larger than it had been three years ago.

“You’ll be growing a lot bigger if you keep being greedy,” Twilight reminded him. “Eat some vegetables or something if you’re still hungry.”

Spike rolled his eyes and left the table he had been lying by. “Fine, I’ll be in the kitchens if you need me.”

“So will we,” Artemis declared, and the platform she and Twilight stood upon set into motion again, lifting the two unicorns through the black marble ceiling and into Artemis’s kitchen, lights like the ones in the living room switching on automatically. The room held the most basic of appliances from what Twilight could see, but was almost buried in cardboard boxes that covered the floor in stacks that almost reached the ceiling, making most of the area completely inaccessible.

“Yeah,” Artemis chuckled. “Technically, I suppose it’s a kitchen, but I mostly just use it to store the stuff I don’t have room for elsewhere. I mean, the kitchen’s almost fully automated, so I hardly spend any time in here.”

“What does all of this run on?” Twilight wondered out loud, gesturing at the lamps and the refrigerator. “Except with the glasses, I haven’t seen you use any magic.”

“I charge the place up with my magic during the night while I sleep,” Artemis explained proudly. “Everything in this tower is outfitted with a pseudo-intelligence of my own making; it registers its inhabitants’ actions and reacts accordingly. It still needs to go through a whole lot more testing before technology like this can become commercially available, but I’m getting there.”

“It’s pretty impressive,” Twilight observed as the small elevator set into motion again.

“Imagine what we could do together...” Artemis sighed dreamily. “We could make machines that made solites. We could make machines that made machines that made solites. Automatons that could serve in our military, public teleportation stations, city-sized force fields for all of Equestria, there’s no end to what we could achieve.” The elevator came to a halt again, this time inside a small, dimly lit bedroom. “Not much for you here,” Artemis remarked, gesturing at an even smaller room to their far right. “Except the restroom of course.”

They ascended again, entering a room devoid of the usual glass panes but with black marble walls instead. Not a single spot on the wall seemed to be vacant, however; a plethora of tools of all shapes and sizes took up every space that wasn’t occupied by a lamp and a counter laden with even more tools and half-finished gadgets lined the walls all around the two ponies.

“My workshop,” Artemis declared. “It’s got pretty much everything I need for my tinkerings. Mostly just hobby stuff; I’ve got a bigger facility in the eastern part of Manehattan that’s for more professional use. I have to share that, though.”

Once again, the elevator set into motion, and the two ponies arrived at the top of the tower, its domed roof made out of completely transparent glass that allowed full view of the night sky. One half of the room’s walls were made of the same transparent glass while the rest of the wall was of the more common semi-transparent blue glass panes. The only furnishing in the room immediately visible was a large, tripod-mounted telescope standing near the clear glass wall.

“An observatory. Of sorts,” Artemis stated, her tone becoming almost reverent. “Completely useless in the middle of the second brightest city of Equestria, of course, but... It was one of Princess Luna’s personal chambers. It’s her telescope, actually. I could never really bring myself to take this room for myself.”

Twilight nodded her head in understanding and turned her gaze to the full moon. “I miss her... I don’t know if I can ever forgive myself for thinking she’d killed Celestia.”

“Given the circumstances, I’m sure she’d understand,” Artemis comforted her, her hoof once again coming to rest on her shoulder. “She can’t blame you for an alicorn messing up your mind like he did. In fact, I’m sure she’d be proud that you’re still willing to fight her murderer, despite everything he’s done to you. And despite everything that’s happened to you, you’re still trying to help Equestria as much as possible.”

“If only I could,” Twilight muttered. “No Elements of Harmony, and I can’t even make solites anymore.”

“Hey, now. I can’t make solites, but that doesn’t make me a burden to society. You’re out of practice, that’s all.”

“I’m losing my mind! That’s what’s wrong!”

“That’s probably just temporary. Maybe you need time to fully subsume the essences you consumed. Digest, if you will.”

“Don’t say things like that,” Twilight muttered, shuddering as she shook off Artemis’s hoof and wandered away from the elevator and into the center of the small observatory.

“Regardless,” Artemis insisted, following after her, “I’m sure you’ll be feeling better soon enough. Once you do, you’ll be a huge help to Equestria. Imagine the size of the solites you could create with the sort of power that allows you to travel instantly between Ponyville and Canterlot!”

“I hope you’re right...”

Artemis sat down next to Twilight and shook her head softly. “You’re doing better than you might think you are, Twilight. Ponies like us are under a lot of pressure after The Great Tragedy. We have tons of more responsibilities, and we have a thousand more eyes watching us. I do what I can, and you do what you can. Nopony can expect anymore of you. You aren’t Celestia; you can’t save Equestria all on your own.”

“Equestria needs a Celestia, though.”

“Maybe,” Artemis allowed. “You must admit, given the circumstances, we’re doing pretty well. Equestria is evolving as we speak, adapting to the changes this alicorn has brought. Things’ll get better eventually, and once they do, we’ll have learned how to actually rule our own country.”

“If things get better.”

“Ponies have survived many things over the course of our history. Nightmare Moon, Discord, windigoes, The Everfree Forest, and those vampires you met as well as whatever else has been locked away in Tartarus over the last many centuries. We’ll make it through this alicorn too.”

“Maybe it’s the windigoes speaking,” Twilight responded, shaking her head as she walked away from Artemis again and toward the other side of the room, “but unless we kill that alicorn somehow, ponydom is doomed.”

“You’ll find a way to beat him, then,” Artemis assured her, but Twilight gave a noncommittal shrug in response, stopping at the silver telescope at the end of the room.

“Mind if I take a look through it?” she asked of Artemis, gesturing at the instrument.

“Sure. I’ve done so myself. Not much to see, I’m afraid.”

Twilight stretched her neck to look through the telescope that had been adjusted to the taller alicorn, and saw only the night sky, stained a faint brownish yellow by the lights from Manehattan. “Sirius,” Twilight stated, identifying the only star visible through the glare of the city lights.

“No hidden messages or anything of the like,” Artemis concluded with a sigh. “Do you think they knew what was happening? Saw this alicorn coming?”

“Celestia recognized him. I think... I wish I could remember what happened. I used to gradually recall bits and pieces of The Great Tragedy, but it hasn’t happened for a long time. Last time was when I was making that solite in your conclave.”

“Well that explains a lot.”

“Celestia knew who he was,” Twilight continued. “She was afraid. Or maybe I was. I remember… fear, but I don’t know whose it was. Either way, Celestia definitely saw him as an enemy.”

“Most ponies would, I suppose,” Artemis observed. “A stranger shows up in your study in the dead of night, wielding powers that dwarf any other’s…”

“He wasn’t a stranger,” Twilight insisted, shaking her head. “Celestia... said his name.”

“What was it?”

“I don’t remember.”

“Well, we’ll figure it out. Who he is, what he’s planning, how to defeat him, how to save Equestria, all of that. Small steps first, though. Like your living arrangements. Your previous quarters were reserved for the captain of the Sword of Equestria, so you’ll have to find someplace else to sleep.”

Twilight didn’t immediately answer, her mind still dwelling on her foe as she cursorily inspected the telescope for any markings Luna might have left for somepony. Finding nothing, she returned her attention to Artemis, but kept her gaze on the telescope, as if it might reveal its secrets the moment she looked away. “Are the guest rooms still in use?”

“Every last one. But if you want, you could have this room. It would make working with each other much easier, don’t you think?”

Twilight nodded vaguely before taking her eyes off the telescope. “It would.” Her gaze went to the sky and then the skyscrapers surrounding Cristallum. “For a room of glass, it’s pretty sheltered.”

“It is, isn’t it?” Artemis agreed. “I doubt Luna would have enjoyed having half of Manehattan watching while she was… stargazing. I wonder if even the princess of the night could see anything from here... Oh well, I’ll have somepony move a bed up here for you along with whatever else you need. We could move Spike out of the boiler room and up here with you if you want, but I’m not gonna let him use my bathroom…”

Twilight followed Artemis back to the elevator wordlessly as the other went on, and she threw a last glance up at the moon, suspended in the night sky far above, before she and Artemis were swallowed up by Cristallum once more.

19 - His Spell

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Succession

Chapter 19 - His Spell

“Finally! I can’t b-believe all of th-the c-closed chariots were taken!” Artemis complained as she stepped out of the chariot that had taken her and Twilight to Neighbury, doing a little dance on the spot to get her circulation going again.

“I understand the ambassadors traveling to and from Vyatkiev,” Twilight offered, backing out of the chariot awkwardly in order to spare her injured leg any pain. “I hear it’s even colder than Canterlot, and that place was crawling with windigoes. Besides, we’re unicorns; we can heat ourselves with magic.”

“Provided you can k-keep doing that all the way from Manehattan to N-Neighbury,” Artemis returned, resuming the heating spell she had abandoned sometime during the flight. “C-could’ve heated me up if you still had energy to burn.”

“The way my magic’s been acting, I wasn’t sure that would do you any good,” Twilight defended herself, following after Artemis and leaving the pegasi to deal with the chariot. “That solite didn’t take well to getting ‘heated up’.”

“G-good point,” Artemis admitted, stopping and allowing Twilight to catch up. “So, where do we start?” she asked, gesturing at the massive crater that had replaced Neighbury.

“I can’t believe it’s been three months,” Twilight muttered, her eyes widening as she took in the vast destruction the alicorn had wrought. Although the debris had long since been cleared away, the area surrounding Neighbury, even after so long, was still scarred beyond repair by the alicorn’s spell. While snow had fallen over most of Central Equestria, it was sparse in this area, growing vacant altogether near the crater. Twilight poked a hoof at the slightly blackened, barren ground, finding that the soil was noticeably warmer than the frigid air about her.

Looking ahead, she found the crater’s rim before her to be was almost ten feet tall, making it the only part of the crater itself that was visible to her and Artemis. The sheer enormity was more than enough to make Twilight gulp in apprehension. Without the obscuring smoke that had dominated the area the last time she was there, it was much easier for her now to appreciate its size. It had to be at least a quarter of a mile in diameter, a strange red glow emanating from within it giving it an all too familiar and sinister appearance. “I can’t believe I thought I could face him after he did something like this. It’s even bigger than The Great Tragedy.”

“Not as powerful, though,” Artemis pointed out. “Didn’t even make a proper crater, just this flat... canvas. I just hope he doesn’t come by again.”

“You mean he’s been here before?” Twilight asked with worry. “After the explosion?”

“I didn’t tell you? He was here twice while you were in your coma,” Artemis explained. “At least, I assume it was him. There were only a few hundred symbols on the ground when we recovered you. But during the second week of your coma, the soldiers and scientists investigating the scene all fell asleep for three days straight. When they woke up, they found that something had added… a lot more symbols. Two days later, it happened again, but for five days. By then… well, maybe you should see for yourself.” Artemis vanished in a flash and reappeared atop the rim of the crater, gesturing for Twilight to join her.

A second later, Twilight flashed into existence beside Artemis, her jaw dropping as she looked ahead into the interior of the crater. The entire area within the rim of the crater was covered in strange symbols etched into the burned ground, weaving in and out among each other in a barely perceptible pattern. Each symbol glowed the same red color as the alicorn’s magic, pulsing as if alive and covering the area in a myriad of winking lights.

“A quarter of a mile in diameter,” Artemis told her, “giving a total area of point oh five square miles. Average area of one symbol is about one square foot, equalling approximately one million three hundred and ninety-four thousand symbols total. That’s a big spell.”

“I… I see,” Twilight replied weakly, a chill creeping up her spine. “Are you sure you can destroy this?”

“We haven’t really tried yet,” Artemis admitted with a frown. “It’d be best to figure out what we’re dealing with first. There’s a good chance this thing is boobytrapped. But if neither you nor the diamond dog coming in tomorrow night can make sense of it, we’ll have to try.”

“The faster we do this, then, the faster we can get rid of it,” Twilight replied, her gaze hardening as she teleported down the rim of the crater to stand before the symbols closest to her. “Besides glowing, have they done anything else?”

“Prolonged exposure seems to make you nauseous,” Artemis explained, approaching Twilight on hoof. “If you put something on top of a symbol, look away, and look back again, the object will either have been moved so it’s no longer obstructing the symbol, or disappear entirely. Using magic near some markings might give you an electrical shock. It gets worse the closer you get to the center, so be careful about teleporting.”

Twilight nodded her understanding and stopped in front of one of the symbols. “It’s not even close to looking like the Equestrian alphabet,” she concluded.

“Nor any zebran or griffonic,” Artemis added. “It matches no know writing of the three ancient pony tribes and they are almost all completely abstract in form, ruling out the possibility of them being pictograms.”

“Do you know how many different symbols there are?” Twilight asked, lowering her horn to an inch above one symbol to try and scan it.

“Thousands,” Artemis sighed despairingly. “We have found twins, some more common than others, but there are also near-identical symbols containing tiny variations. Most likely, the markings are words, not letters.” The violet unicorn gestured in a roundabout motion with her hoof. “One of the linguists determined that the whole thing was written in a counter-clockwise spiral pattern from the center out. Unfortunately, there seems to be thousands and thousands of subpatterns that complicates things.”

“It’s definitely exuding some kind of magic,” Twilight concluded as she raised her horn again. “But I don’t see a… shape. It just seems like raw energy.”

“Got the same impression when I was here last time,” Artemis sighed, shivering as the cold started leaving her body, partly due to her own heating spell, but mostly because of the energy surrounding her. “I was hoping you’d be able to sense something I wasn’t, but maybe it just is energy.”

“Or maybe I just need some context,” Twilight suggested. “If you’re supposed to read this thing from the center, then maybe we should start there.”

“Best if we walk there,” Artemis warned her before Twilight could teleport. “Wouldn’t wanna get shocked. Or worse.”

Twilight grimaced and felt a twinge of pain in her foreleg, as if it were already voicing its protest at the idea.

“We’ve built a small lodge near the eastern edge of the crater if you need to rest a bit,” Artemis offered, noticing Twilight’s look of discomfort.

“I’m fine. I’ve been resting on the way over here.”

“And been heating yourself up the entire way.”

“I’m fine,” Twilight repeated. “Besides, I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep much right next to Neighbury.

“You should have told me if you didn’t want to come here…”

“Look, I’m fine!” Twilight groaned at Artemis. “I don’t like being here, but I have to.”

“You sure?”

“I thought we ran off from the rest of the council so I didn’t have to deal with ponies asking me how I’m feeling every five minutes!” Although her gaze was fixed on the center of the crater and not the unicorn standing beside her, Twilight could sense Artemis falling silent, more affected by her words than she had meant for her to be. “I’m sorry. I didn’t…” She gave a deep sigh and teleported away from the unicorn and into the center of the crater.

“Twilight! No!” she heard Artemis call out to her across the sizeable gap that had formed between them, but she didn’t look back. Contrary to Artemis’s warnings, the inscriptions beneath Twilight offered no reaction to her sudden arrival, allowing her to take in her surroundings in peace.

The air around Twilight felt much heavier now, laden with the magic seeping out of the glowing symbols all around her. Like a thick fog, the red light saturated the air as well, making it impossible for Twilight to make out the rim of the crater and dulling the brightness of the stars above. As such, it was difficult to determine where she was relative to the center of the crater.

A sudden pulse emanated from somewhere ahead of her; a brightening of the symbols’ glow that spread like rippling water outwards and toward the rim. The light didn’t dim, and another brightening pulse spread out from what Twilight now assumed to be the center of the inscriptions, beckoning for her to come closer. She did so apprehensively, not blind to the fact that the symbols’ behavior seemed to be caused by her presence. The inscriptions pulsed again, and this time Twilight was able to identify the central symbol. She hurried toward it, wincing as she disturbed her right foreleg but ignoring the pain as best she could.

When she came within sight of the central inscription, however, her pace slowed, her eyes widening at the sight. Etched into the center of the enormous crater was a large, solid, six-pointed star, not unlike her own cutie mark. “M-me?” Twilight asked herself, frowning at the symbol. “Or… no. Magic. If you’re writing a spell like this, I suppose you’d start with ‘magic’, right?”

“I suppose you would,” Artemis answered, and Twilight turned her head to see the head of science approaching her from behind. “What do you think it signifies, though? Magic, yourself, or something else?”

“I hope it’s magic,” Twilight murmured uneasily. “It would make sense to put in a spell. But if it’s linking this spell to me...” She hesitated for a while, uncomfortable with voicing her thoughts. “It might be. It would explain why he’s been making me become more and more powerful since The Great Tragedy. If… I’m a power source.”

Artemis’s eyes widened. “Oh Celestia. That never crossed my mind! If you’re right..! We need to get you out of here!”

Twilight nodded dully, the words not having quite the impact they should have had, and she found that her eyes remained glued to the central symbol. “Then l-let’s go.” She let her magic take hold of herself and Artemis, and the two vanished in a flash of light.

They reappeared in the exact same spot, however, and were hurled backwards toward the star symbol in the center of the crater by an unseen force. Twilight grunted and grimaced in pain, and as she lay upon the ground, looking up at the sky, she paled.

“A force field,” Artemis whispered fearfully, pointing a hoof up at the shimmering red barrier Twilight had just noticed above them, curving down all around them and forming an inescapable dome no more than a hundred feet in diameter. “I-I told you not to teleport!” she all but shrieked, scrambling to get back on her hooves and search for a way out. “The symbols keep brightening, the forcefield… they’re both responding to your magic! Your presence!”

“Or… the presence and magic of their creator,” a third voice suggested and Twilight, who was halfway onto her hooves again, stumbled forwards in shock, away from where she heard the voice come from. She regained her footing and turned around quickly to discover that the alicorn of her nightmares had indeed appeared before her once more.

Artemis gasped as she too turned away from Twilight and faced the newcomer. “Thi-th‒ i-is this..?”

The alicorn hardly spared Artemis a glance, his amber eyes locking onto Twilight’s instead. “I would appreciate if you would cease desecrating my spells,” he warned her, taking a step toward the two unicorns, who in turn took two steps back.

“What is it!?” Twilight demanded, drawing a defensive barrier over herself and Artemis and beginning the casting of a dozen more. “What does this spell have to do with me!? What are you using it for!?”

“So many questions… They say that knowledge is power,” the alicorn mused as he continued to approach the two, somehow gaining on them no matter how fast the unicorns backed away. “But all power comes at a cost” ‒ there was a glint in the alicorn’s eyes as he looked at Twilight ‒ “and believe you me: You are not prepared to pay the price.”

“Which is?”

“Life.”

“Run,” Twilight whispered to Artemis, moving herself in between the council member and the alicorn.

“Stay,” the stallion said, and Twilight heard a dull thud from behind her. Looking back, she found Artemis lying unconscious on the ground, twitching and grimacing as she was taken by nightmares.

“Leave this inscription and all future ones you might encounter alone, Twilight,” the alicorn warned her again. “I do not threaten, it is a statement of fact: Learn the purpose of this spell, and you will doom this world.”

“Why should I believe that?” Twilight challenged her enemy, changing directions as she walked backwards to lead the alicorn away from Artemis.

“I have told you nothing but the truth since we met.”

“I’m not going to trust an honest murderer.”

“I wish you would,” the alicorn responded with insincere sadness. “It would make things so much easier if you would only cooperate.”

“I bet it would!”

The stallion stopped advancing upon the unicorn and was silent for a moment, gazing idly at Artemis’s unconscious form that now lay a few feet to his right. “I have done what I came to do. Know that if you attempt to discern the meaning of these markings, your friend’s nightmares will last forever. Leave, and she may awaken.”

Twilight, however, stood her ground. “What are you so afraid of me knowing?”

“Afraid?” The alicorn gave a toothy smile, and Twilight took a cautious step backwards. “I do not yield to fear. On the contrary, as you may have noticed, fear is my weapon.” His wings unfurled suddenly, and the unicorn flinched. “It is ‒ and has always been ‒ my nature.”

“Your special talent…” Twilight whispered to herself, momentarily distracted by the long awaited answer to at least one of the questions surrounding the alicorn. Her gaze went briefly to his exposed cutie mark, but found only a foreign abstract symbol, glowing red like those underneath her hooves. She regained her concentration and gave him a defiant scowl. “Well, you’re not very good at it are you!? I’m not afraid of you! I’m still standing up to you!”

The alicorn returned the scowl. He took a step toward her, and Twilight took another step back. “I can see your fear. I can smell it... I taste it. And although you continue to defy me, you do so with futility. And you do so alone.”

Twilight steeled herself and stepped forwards. “I’m not alone.”

There was a faint sneer upon his lips as he raised an eyebrow. “Oh?” A red aura, barely perceptible in the already glowing red atmosphere, formed about Artemis’s unconscious form, and she was hoisted into the air between Twilight and the alicorn. “Do you consider this a worthy ally? Do you believe her capable of standing against my power?”

“Leave her alone!” Twilight shouted at him, trying to overcome his grasp on Artemis and bring her to safety.

Try as she might, the alicorn’s grip remained, tightening as he dispelled Twilight’s efforts at wrestling with his magic. “You are beginning to understand real power. You must realize how easy it would be for me to destroy this unicorn.”

“Don’t!”

“Perhaps you do not understand how little I care…”

Twilight stepped forward with her right hoof, her nostrils flaring as she held back the pain of using that leg. “Stop it!”

“Why should I go through the trouble of putting her down? I can just as easily erase her and be done with it.”

“I said, stop!” Twilight lowered her horn at the alicorn, but, thinking better of it, she pointed it at one of the symbols next to her. The ground surrounding the symbol started glowing magenta, and was blown to pieces, wiping out the red marking and a dozen of its neighbors. She turned back to the alicorn, returning his angry glare.

“Do that again,” he warned her quietly, “and I shall destroy the very memory of this pony.”

“Kill her, and I’ll keep sabotaging your inscriptions!” Twilight retorted. “Every time you leave this place, I’ll be here! It took you weeks to make all of this, right? I bet I can destroy it much faster!”

The alicorn said nothing, only narrowed his eyes at the unicorn, who for once managed to hold her ground against his stare. Then, his lips curled into a smile, and he chuckled. “Very well.” He tossed the unconscious Artemis at Twilight’s hooves unceremoniously. “It is good to see you go beyond shooting at me with lightning bolts and fireballs. I shall grant you the life of your precious friend. In return, I ask that you never disturb this site or any like it.”

Twilight’s brow furrowed. Her horn glowed again, and Artemis was moved behind her and away from the alicorn. “You mean there’s more of these?”

“In turn for your promise never to disturb these spells, I shall grant you not only the life of Artemis, but a promise of my own,” he told her, ignoring her question. Something in his gaze shifted, and the atmosphere between alicorn and unicorn changed in an instant. The glowing fog of red that coated the entirety of the crater faded from sight as the stallion’s amber eyes acquired that same glint she had momentarily seen in Canterlot. He took a step toward her, and Twilight managed to take a step back despite the paralyzing fear threatening to overtake her. She tripped over Artemis, but as the alicorn closed the distance between them with another step, she had no time to right herself and fell onto her back. The alicorn was standing over her as soon as she hit the ground, his glowing, amber eyes boring into hers. “Disturb any of these symbols, or allow anyone to so much as touch them, and I will extinguish all life in this world.”

“Wh-what?” Twilight asked breathlessly, shivering beneath the giant alicorn standing over her.

“Do you believe me incapable of doing so?”

Twilight gulped. “No…”

“Would I lie to you?”

Twilight grimaced in pain when her neck began to pulse uncomfortably, and she managed to tear her gaze away, pressing the side of her face against the ground to avoid the amber eyes as much as possible. “N-no,” she muttered, sighing as color returned to her vision.

Her sigh was cut short and her body went rigid when she felt an incorporeal presence push against the wound near her neck.

“Good.”

The alicorn’s magical influence pushed through her skin and into her body, leaving no physical damage, but causing Twilight to gasp in pain, gritting her teeth as his magic travelled up the length of her spine and settled around her skull. A familiar coldness formed at the edges of her mind, and her body went completely numb.

“Now leave this place and never return.”

The numbness disappeared, and Twilight felt her muscles twitching and tightening of their own accord. She tried moving her limbs, but they proved unresponsive. Even her face was frozen, but the chilly grip the alicorn was exerting on her mind encroached no further upon her psyche. Acting on an impulse that wasn’t her own at all, her entire body rolled onto its stomach and out from under the alicorn. She gave an internal gasp of pain when she, without wanting to, stepped down on her right foreleg and rose to her hooves.

The freezing grip about her mind wasn’t attacking her, she realized, but isolating her from the rest of her body, allowing the alicorn to magically control her limbs as he saw fit. Her head turned stiffly to look at the alicorn standing beside her, and she saw him hoist Artemis into the air with his magic, dumping her onto Twilight’s back. Her foreleg screamed in protest at the added weight, but the alicorn’s influence forced her to turn around and face him, despite the pain that would have made her collapse.

“We shall part ways for now,” he told her, his mane growing to envelop Twilight and Artemis in complete darkness. “But already, our reunion draws near.”

The darkness clouding Twilight’s vision parted, and she found herself standing outside the crater again, appearing directly in front of the two chariot pullers that had taken her to Neighbury in the first place.

“Twilight!?” one of the pegasi exclaimed as they both jumped back in surprise, bumping into the chariot they had been in the process of pulling and shrugged out of their harnesses. “What happened to Council Member Artemis!?”

“We need to leave,” Twilight answered, although it was still the alicorn controlling her actions, including, it seemed, her speech.

“Why? W-what happened?”

“That was an order,” Twilight only answered, stepping around the confused pegasi and onto the flying chariot. She shrugged Artemis off her back and dumped her onto the floor of the chariot, then engaged the safety railing with her back hoof. “Go!”

“Back to Manehattan?” the second pegasus asked of her incredulously as he and his partner hooked themselves up to the chariot again. “We just came!”

The icy grip that had held her mind trapped finally released her, returning her muscle control suddenly and unexpectedly, and Twilight fell onto her side next Artemis, gasping loudly in pain and clutching her aching leg.

One of the pegasi noticed the sudden movement and gasp and turned his head back at the chariot. “Now what? What’s going on!?”

“Just… go!” Twilight hissed out through clenched teeth, breathing rapidly as she tried to fight back the pain that threatened to overcome her. “I’ll explain later!”

“And we’re going to Manehattan?”

“Yes!” Twilight closed her eyes, still gasping and clutching at her injured leg, but she felt the chariot set into motion, lifting into the air within moments.

Eventually, the unicorn’s breathing calmed, and she opened her eyes again, looking out through the back of the chariot at the giant, glowing crater. She had hardly opened her eyes, however, before a flash of light drew her gaze to the western edge of the crater. A dull boom reached her ears a moment later, and she realized what had happened.

“What was that?” one of the pegasi asked with exasperation, too preoccupied with pulling the chariot into the air to look back.

With a groan and a wince, Twilight rolled onto her back, averting her gaze from the crater. “The lodge. With the scientists studying the symbols. It’s gone.”

“Gone!? Do we… do we turn back?”

Twilight shook her head, although the pegasi had no way of seeing it. “No. We can’t help them.”

She faintly heard the pegasus mutter a curse. “What’s going on, exactly? What happened to you in there?”

“We got attacked by the owner of those markings,” Twilight answered, sighing as the pain in her leg finally wore off. “He put a spell on Artemis, but it should wear off if we put enough distance between us and that crater.”

“You sure?”

“No.” Twilight closed her eyes again and yawned. “If she wakes up, land immediately and try to calm her down. I’m going to… take a rest.” A kick to the ribs made her open her eyes again, and she noticed that Artemis had begun twitching more violently than she had at first. Her horn too was flickering on and off, and Twilight gave a groan of displeasure. “This is gonna be a long night...”

“N-nuh… No!”

Twilight cracked an eye open from where she lay on the black marble floor to look at Artemis, seated awkwardly on the single armchair of her living room. The violet unicorn had finally begun to stir, and so Twilight pulled herself up onto her hooves grudgingly, bracing herself for whichever mood the other unicorn might wake up in.

With a sudden gasp, Artemis opened her eyes wide and leapt out of her seat, knocking her armchair over backwards in the process. A wild gaze flickered about the modestly sized living room, taking in her surroundings before settling on Twilight, standing near the front door to her quarters. Bright indigo flames enveloped Artemis’ horn, and Twilight summoned the force field she had already prepared, shielding her from a quick volley of fireballs and an armchair that shattered against the magical barrier.

A veil of smoke and splinters obscured Twilight’s vision of Artemis, but she saw a bright flash of light indicating a teleportation spell. The confused unicorn reappeared with a thud against the wall to Twilight’s right, however, and the lavender unicorn cleared away the smoke.

“I’ve enchanted the walls,” Twilight explained to Artemis, who was momentarily stunned from the impact, rubbing her head sorely. “You need to calm down, Artemis. I know you’re confused ‒” another volley of fireballs struck her carefully prepared force field “‒ and angry‒”

“Let me go!” Artemis screamed, attempting another teleportation but once more colliding with Twilight’s protective enchantments midjump.

“Not until you calm down!” Twilight insisted.

“Where am I!?” Artemis demanded fiercely, pointing her crackling horn at Twilight and assuming as threatening a stance as she could. “Tell me!”

“Cristallum. We’re in your quarters. Your living room.”

“You destroyed Cristallum!”

Twilight paused for a moment. “Maybe you should tell me what happened. Everything from when the two of us went to Neighbury and now.”

“No! I won’t let you do that to me again!” Artemis’ eyes bulged with anger, but instead of shooting at Twilight, tiny indigo fireballs launched from her horn all over the place, settling on the floor and walls and beginning to smoke profusely. “Unless you want us both to choke to death, you’ll have to dispel those enchantments!”

With her magic, Twilight opened a window and expulsed the smoke forcefully. Artemis hurried after it, but gave a loud groan of frustration when she found that the protective barrier was still spanning the opening of the window. “This barrier has been in effect for two hours, Artemis. If I didn’t allow air to pass through, we’d have suffocated…” Twilight trailed off when she saw Artemis collapse in front of the window, shaking her head in surrender and sobbing uncontrollably.

Twilight sighed and sat down. “Listen to me, Artemis. The two of us met the alicorn, and he put you in a coma‒”

“No! No! You killed me!”

“I won’t hurt you.” Twilight attempted an encouraging smile, but it vanished when a large fireball struck her barrier again. The force field Twilight had spent fifteen minutes preparing, however, remained undamaged.

“Stay back!” Artemis shrieked.

“You had a nightmare!” Twilight plead with the panicked unicorn. “I know it seems real, too real to be discredited just from what I’m saying, but whatever you think I did to hurt you, it wasn’t real!”

“I’m not stupid!” Artemis retorted. “You aren’t fooling me! Stay right there! Pl-please!” Again, the unicorn scanned her surroundings. “Where’s the alicorn!? No-not you, but the other one!”

“I’m not an alicorn, Artemis,” Twilight tried reasoning, gesturing at her wingless back.

“Where is he!?” The violet unicorn only shouted, a bolt of lightning flying from her horn and striking Twilight’s force field.

“He’s long gone by now. He threw us out of Neighbury, and I took you straight home. We’ve been in Cristallum for more than two hours.

“You drove him off!” Artemis insisted frantically. “Your eyes were glowing, a-and there was fire everywhere!”

“He was telling us something about not… desecrating his spell,” Twilight explained. “I told you to run, and then he put you to sleep.”

“No! He ordered me to stay and blasted my horn to pieces! He-he-he almost t-tore off my leg!” Her right foreleg stiffened as she shuddered from the fabricated memory. “I can still feel it!” Artemis sighed as she managed to calm down slightly. “I... I know my leg’s still here. And you look normal. It’s just...”

“Nothing makes sense right now,” Twilight said, trying to level with the traumatized unicorn. “Whatever horrible thing you just experienced, it was much too real to be something you imagined. That’s what was going through my head when I woke up. And it kept going through my head for hours.”

Artemis remained at the window a while longer, hunched over and staring at the floor. “Alright,” she finally relented, lifting her head and rubbing it again. “I guess if you wanted to kill me, you would’ve done it already...”

“I’m not going to hurt you,” Twilight repeated, relieved at how easy it had been to calm down the other unicorn.

“Just... stay still,” Artemis told her. “I need to piece it all together. When... when do you say I was put into this... nightmare coma of his?”

“Must’ve been twelve hours ago,” Twilight answered, wondering how long Artemis’ nightmare had felt to her.

Artemis nodded her head thoughtfully. “And then what?”

Twilight shrugged uneasily. “He teleported us out of the crater, and we flew away in the chariot. He… blew up the outpost a few seconds later.”

“He ‒?” Artemis slammed a hoof against the ground angrily. “Why!?”

“He doesn’t want anyone reading those inscriptions. I had to promise him I’d never touch them again in order to save your life. In fact, if anyone ever touches them again, he told me he’d wipe out Equestria.”

The violet unicorn shivered. “Part of me really wants to know what could be so important to him.” She gave Twilight a wary look. “And another part is afraid he just told me.”

Twilight gave her a confused look, but Artemis looked away from her again immediately. “What? Why? What’d you see?”

“I don’t know,” the other unicorn admitted, shaking her head. “There are some things I need to… sort out? Is that what you called it?”

Twilight nodded her head. “I understand.”

“Just… do as he says. Stay away from those inscriptions. C-can I leave now? I need some fresh air.”

“Of course.” A brief glimmer of light surrounded the walls, and the door opened immediately at Artemis’ wordless command. “I don’t suppose you want some company?”

Artemis shook her head, rising onto all fours. She looked at Twilight warily, hesitant to walk past her to get to the door. After a moment’s deliberation, she closed the distance by teleporting, stopping in the doorway. “Does… does anypony know? About this?”

“The chariot pullers promised to keep quiet about this until further notice,” Twilight answered, and she could see Artemis visibly relax. “Not that they really understand what happened.”

The head of science and magic nodded her head dully, and the door closed behind her, leaving Twilight alone in the living room. While the light had somehow magically come on as soon as Artemis had entered the room, her exit immediately led to the glowing buttresses set along the walls of the room going dark.

Left in the living room lit only sparsely by the solites outside and full of the wreckage of her and Artemis’ brief fight, Twilight gave a yawn before turning her gaze up at the ceiling. A flash of light, and she stood in Luna’s old observatory a few stories above. She was surprised to see the chamber completely changed, however. A bed had been moved into the room during her absence, along with a nightstand, a desk and chair, an empty bookcase, drapes for the windows near where Luna’s telescope still stood, and an empty closet.

“That was fast,” Twilight muttered to herself before her eyes riveted on the bed. Having slept only sparsely here and there since leaving the Ponyville hospital, it wasn’t long before Twilight was crawling onto the soft mattress, uttering a contented sigh as she allowed herself to collapse. Only when she buried the side of her face in a sizeable pillow did she notice something lying on her nightstand. She grabbed it with her magic for closer inspection, and discovered that it was a simple rope necklace, a small, sharply faceted emerald serving as its pendant.

The amulet Artemis promised me, Twilight realized, probing the gem and sensing the enchantments placed within it. Wonder why she didn’t bring it along. Certainly could’ve used it.

Shaking her head lightly, Twilight dismissed the speculation from her mind, closed the drapes, and, despite the faux sunlight filtering in through the matte glass all around her, closed her eyes and fell asleep.

With a cough and a choke, Twilight awoke to find a stranglehold about her neck, the pressure quickly spreading to her torso to expel what little air remained in her lungs. She opened her eyes wide only to find her blanket, wreathed in the magenta aura of her own magic, wrapping itself around her throat and throwing her off the bed and into the nightstand. Twilight growled back at the blanket, fighting for air that wouldn’t come. Her already glowing horn took on a brighter hue, and a loud tearing noise sounded throughout her new bedroom as the blanket fell apart into shreds.

Gasping for air, she tried to stand, but fell over when she put weight on her injured foreleg. “I’m so tired of this!” she screamed, slamming her right hoof down on the ground and watching on defiantly as her bandages reddened. Tears welled up in her eyes when the pain became too much, and she rose to her hooves, stumbling away from the bed and toward her desk. She didn’t know for how long she had slept, but the light filtering through the matte glass panels and the curtains told her the solites of Manehattan had already been put out.

“Why can’t I sleep in this stupid palace!?” she groaned, seating herself at the table and slamming her healthy forehoof down upon it. She was met with silence, and her attention soon shifted to a stack of papers and and inkwell placed near the far left corner of the desk. A single sheet soon moved itself to the center of the desk, and a quill streaked across it rapidly, forming the image of Twilight’s cutie mark. The one she had seen in the center of the crater. The one that had been branded into the forefront of her mind by her most recent nightmare.

“Why me?” she whispered, her eyes boring into the star as if it might somehow speak to her. “What does he want? If he would destroy the world to preserve those markings, then what do they do? What could possibly be worse? And why am I a part of it?”

Because I k‒

“No!” Twilight shouted at herself, the part of her that wasn’t yet entirely her. “I didn’t kill her,” she muttered to herself more quietly. “He did it. He did everything. He ruined everything! The fire was his... or Celestia’s... not mine. Only the diamond dogs, not her. Not even if I lost control.”

“Nightmare?” Artemis whispered from across the bedroom, and Twilight flinched in her seat.

She turned her head and saw Artemis phasing through the floor on the elevator, giving her an indecipherable look. Twilight nodded. “You too?”

“I’m afraid of sleeping,” Artemis admitted, approaching the desk and Twilight slowly. “What if I…” Her tone went from uncertain to cautious when she looked at what Twilight had drawn. “Wait, what are you doing?”

Twilight looked at Artemis, who seemed to be growing more afraid by the second, and then back at the symbol she had drawn. “Uhh, I don’t know‒”

“Oh Celestia!” Artemis closed the distance between the two and pulled back the bottom of Twilight’s mane roughly, then drew her hoof away immediately. A subtle crackling alerted Twilight to just how afraid Artemis was, and she quickly summoned a magical wall between the two unicorns. An instant later, a powerful explosion destroyed half of Twilight desk, and everything on Artemis’ side of the shield became obscured by fire and smoke.

Gritting her teeth in anger, Twilight folded the barrier into a bubble around herself and magically cleared away the smoke. Artemis had been thrown across the room by the recoil of her own spell, and sat against a cracked glass pane, shaking her head to regain her senses.

“What in Tartarus was that?” Twilight demanded of the violet unicorn, drawing glowing, magenta chains across Artemis’ limbs to keep her from attacking.

“I told you not to read the inscription!” Artemis shrieked, and a bolt of lightning flew out of her horn.

Twilight met it halfway with a bolt of her own, and the two streams of energy wrestled with each other for half a second before Twilight’s superior power shone through. The point of impact between the two spells moved toward Artemis rapidly, but instead of hurting her when it hit, Twilight’s spell wrapped the other unicorn’s horn in a tight force field, preventing further spellcasting.

“Tell me what happened in your nightmare!” Twilight ordered her.

“Or what!?” Artemis returned angrily, tears in her eyes as she struggled against her bonds.

“Or I won’t be your partner anymore!”

“Fine!”

Twilight bristled. “What do you mean ‘fine’!? You told me yesterday you’d waited a long time to work with me!”

“That was before you… y-you…”

“Before I what!?”

Artemis gave her a defiant glare, refusing to say anything.

“You need to tell me,” Twilight told Artemis, speaking more softly to the panicked unicorn. “I’m going to show you the kindness you’ve shown me and not tell anyone about this, but if you keep attacking me randomly, someone’s gonna notice sooner or later. If they find out what’s happened and how much it’s affected you, there’s a good chance you could lose your job. You may be afraid or angry with me, but you don’t want that to happen, do you?”

Artemis didn’t answer immediately, but the defiance in her expression faded over time until she finally hung her head. “He… he showed me what would happen if you read the inscriptions. Y-you told me to run, but he told me to stay, and he s-shattered my horn. He broke my leg. But then you did that… thing where your eyes start glowing and your magic hits its peak, and you… chased him off.” Artemis shook her head, and Twilight decided to release her from her bonds. “Your eyes didn’t stop glowing… When he was gone, you went right past me even though I was bleeding and crying… like you didn’t care. You went straight for the center of the crater and just stared at the central symbol.” Artemis gave a soft whimper. “And you smiled.”

“Ah.” Twilight nodded her head and looked back at the desk. The piece of paper still resting on the ruined table curled into a small ball and was thrown into a nearby trashcan. “I don’t know exactly why I drew that symbol…”

“That doesn’t make me feel any better…” Artemis shuddered before continuing. “When you finally stopped looking at the symbol and turned your attention to me, your eyes were still glowing. You were giving me the largest grin I’ve ever seen… You started saying… horrible things, your fur blackened, and you sprouted wings! You started growing, a-and‒”

“The alicorn…” Twilight muttered, understanding what Artemis was trying to say. “I became him in your dream.”

“H-h-h-y-you killed me! Y-you tore off my leg!” Artemis shrieked, clutching her foreleg protectively. “You have no idea how much that…” Artemis trailed off when she noticed the sympathy in Twilight’s eyes.

“I had my forelegs burnt to stumps,” Twilight revealed, unable to hold Artemis’ gaze any longer. “I had my skin burned clean off, both in reality and in his nightmare. He killed my friends. I lost everything I had and he took away my hope, made me beg for death before I woke up in Manehattan.”

Twilight teared up and shuddered, forcing back the darker presences within her mind trying to take advantage of her momentary vulnerability. Before she could be overwhelmed, however, Artemis embraced her suddenly, hugging her tightly and causing Twilight’s breathing, having quickened during her brief retelling of the nightmare, to slow down again.

“I guess... I understand you better now,” Artemis muttered sadly. “I’m… I didn’t mean to attack y‒ I mean… I’m sorry.”

“You’re doing better than I am, honestly,” Twilight replied, finding herself smiling a little as she returned the embrace. “It’s confusing at first, but once you manage to convince yourself that it’s just a dream, it gets… manageable.”

Due to their proximity, Twilight could feel Artemis hesitate, and the warmth of their embrace faded. “What if it’s not just a dream?”

“A nightmare, then,” Twilight corrected herself.

“No.” Artemis broke free of the hug. “I mean, what if… there was some kind of truth in it? Like, a vision?”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “What are you saying?”

Artemis took a deep breath to steady herself, wiping a stray lock of indigo mane from her face before looking Twilight in the eyes. “That… thing on your neck. It’s...”

“I’ve had it since The Great Tragedy.”

“I know. I, uh, read your medical files. Sorry. B-but he gave it to you, right? In my dream, when your fur turned black, it started from your neck, from where that wound is.”

Twilight frowned, trying to touch a hoof to the black mark. “You don’t really think he showed you the truth, do you?”

Artemis hesitated, looking at the floor and rubbing her foreleg self-consciously. “What if he did, though? If he is willing to destroy the world to preserve those spell inscriptions, they must be really, really important to him. They must serve a purpose greater than or equal to destroying the world, right?” She lifted her gaze again, her expression dead serious. “What if they’re paramount to his own existence?”

“You’re saying that the alicorn is me, corrupted by that spell?” Twilight asked of Artemis incredulously. “That’s… No! That’s crazy!”

“It’s not!” Artemis insisted, circling Twilight. “You can travel through time! What if this alicorn is you!? Maybe he travelled back in time, caused The Great Tragedy to get rid of those closest to you and is now working on transforming you into himself... to create himself!? That’s... doable, right? According to your theses on time travel?”

“He’s older than ponydom, remember? And he is a stallion!”

“If you can grow wings and destroy the Canterlot palace, you can change your gender,” Artemis countered. “And who knows how far you travelled back in time? Maybe you went all the way back to before the age of ponies!”

“Stop that!” Twilight insisted angrily. “Stop saying I’m the one who did it! Who’s... going to do it! Don’t even dare suggest I would ever kill Celestia! However much that nightmare affected you, how big of an impression it left on you, it was just that: A nightmare! A figment of your imagination!”

“Maybe it was a clue!” Artemis answered defensively. “You can’t know what the future holds! What if he keeps doing whatever he’s been doing to you since The Great Tragedy? It’s driving you over the edge already!”

“I wouldn’t. Kill! Celestia!” Twilight shouted, punctuating each word with a stomp of her bad hoof. “Not Luna, not Cadance, and not my own brother, for pony’s sake!”

“If I’d asked you before meeting that alicorn, you’d say you wouldn’t ever kill the diamond dogs,” Artemis insisted, her voice cooler now.

Twilight’s eyes narrowed. “How can you say that!? How can you only see me as a murderer now!?”

“I’m not!” Artemis insisted.

“Nopony understands!” Twilight practically shrieked. “I wouldn’t ever hurt anyone innocent! The diamond dogs abducted four ponies and were about to kill them! Th-they had it coming!”

“But killing..?”

“Don’t even go there!” Twilight warned the other unicorn, pointing a hoof at her in accusation. “You’re the one who didn’t say anything when Scarlet and Civil drafted me into the Sword of Equestria! All of you thought it was a great idea! None of you bothered to listen to what the Elements of Harmony had to say! You wanna know something? Every one of those ‘threats to Equestria’s safety’ experienced the same thing as you; a close encounter with an alicorn whose special talent is spreading fear! They weren’t evil, they were frightened out of their minds! You tried shooting me when you woke up from that nightmare! Twice! Does that mean I should have killed you!?”

Artemis took a step back. “N-no!”

Twilight followed her gaze and noticed that her horn had, as it had during her trial, once again lit up without her permission. Extinguishing the magenta glow with an exasperated groan, she continued, a little calmer. “And even further down the line, there’s me. He stabbed me through the neck with his horn! And I recognize the kind of pain I felt now! He invaded my soul, the core of my innermost being and cursed me! He put me in the nightmare coma for two whole months! Everywhere I turn, I see him! You don’t know what it’s like! I have the deity of fear himself breathing down my neck constantly!”

Twilight averted her gaze as she felt tears trickling down her cheeks. “After everything he’s done,” she sniffed, “how can you say we’re the one and same?”

“I’m not saying you are the same,” Artemis tried. “Just that... it’s not... entirely impossible.”

“Well, I’m telling you it is!” Twilight replied, annoyed with the other unicorn’s stubbornness. “Besides, I can’t use magic while time travelling! That includes killing Celestia and blowing up the palace!”

“Maybe you found a way. If anyone can‒”

“He’s not me!” Twilight shouted, the force of her voice driving the other unicorn back a step and nearly knocking over the closet behind her. Redness crept into Twilight’s peripheral vision, and she turned away from Artemis with a loud groan. “He’s not me,” she repeated before vanishing in a bright flash.

How can she say that? How can she say that!? Twilight fumed as she reappeared upon the roof of one of the skyscrapers overlooking Cristallum. To even suggest that I killed Celestia!? That I killed my brother!? She has no idea what’s she’s talking about and yet she says it like it’s a fact! Like I’m the one who’s wrong when we’re talking about me! She doesn’t know anything about me! Nopony knows a thing about what I’ve been going through! Not even her!

Venting the minor magical buildup within her, Twilight unleashed a lightning bolt into the air, emitting a thunderous boom throughout most of Manehattan. “I didn’t kill her,” she whispered, walking around a large air handling unit and toward the center of the roof. “Not her. Not my brother. The diamond dogs, yes. And the timberwolves. A-and the windigoes!” Twilight stomped a hoof against the ground. “And where has that gotten me? I’m the most powerful unicorn in Equestria, but I still don’t have a clue as to how I’m going to beat that monster!”

“Twilight.”

Twilight whirled around, eyes bulging, to see Artemis approaching from the same way she had come just a few seconds ago. “Leave me alone!”

“Look, I’m sorry, Twilight,” Artemis told the other unicorn before she had a chance to teleport off the building. “I didn’t mean it the way it sounded. It wasn’t a statement of fact, but a statement of… well, a theory, I guess.”

“You said I killed Celestia.”

“I didn’t…” Artemis hung her head and sighed. “I’m sort of an inventor,” she explained. “I get ideas, sometimes really strange ideas, and sometimes ideas that seem impossible. I live in one,” she said, waving a hoof back in the direction of her tower in Cristallum. “I don’t throw away ideas, so… well, I’m really, truly sorry if I hurt you, but I’m putting this theory of you being that alicorn in my ‘maybe’ folder.” She tapped the side of her head with a hoof.

Twilight scoffed and turned away from Artemis. “So you think I maybe killed Celestia. That makes everything much better!”

“This alicorn is thousands of years old if we can believe what he told you,” Artemis argued. “He’s been around for a long time, and most likely, that means he’s smart. It’s been more than nine months, and we still don’t know what he wants! Until we find out, we have to keep all options open, Twilight!”

“What we have to do,” Twilight returned, “is trust each other!”

“I… I do,” Artemis answered, and Twilight heard the other unicorn approaching her slowly, though she still refused to spare her a glance. “I was being confused back in the tower. You said so yourself. And… while it is a valid theory, I-I think it’s highly, highly unlikely. That’s what I came here to say. I’m sorry.”

Artemis trotted up to Twilight’s side and sat down, and Twilight glanced at the other unicorn through the corner of her eye, weighing her words. She sighed. “Fine. I’m sorry I… almost threatened you. I guess.” Artemis nodded her head and gave her a soft smile, but Twilight couldn’t find it in herself to return it. “But what do we do now? Two unicorns, driven to the brink of insanity by an unstoppable monster… What can we do?”

“We see if Civil’s people have come up with anything,” Artemis answered her. “We find that alicorn’s weakness, and the two of us figure out a way to destroy him for good.”

20 - Change of Plans

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Succession

Chapter 20 - Change of Plans

The dull thump of a large book being closed and an annoyed sigh drew Twilight’s gaze away from the tome she was reading herself and toward Artemis. As they had been doing every late afternoon for the past three days after their heated argument, the two unicorns were sitting in The Manehattan Central Library’s Ancient Texts wing, a place that had thoroughly disappointed Twilight from day one. The ‘wing’ was nothing more than a fifteen by ten foot archive room hidden deep within the basement of the library. Three of the walls were almost entirely composed of drawers, all unlabeled and all full of dusty books with blank covers. A table took up the center of the room, seated at which were Artemis, Twilight, and her two newly appointed adjudicators, a unicorn stallion going by the name of Glitterhoof, and an earth pony mare, Sweetums.

Spike lay toward the far wall of the room, snoring gently. The young dragon had insisted on joining the two unicorns and helping with the research, but as Twilight had expected, the dull work and dusty atmosphere had sedated him quite thoroughly.

Both adjudicators would likely have been in the same state had they not borrowed a few books from the fiction section of the library, providing them with a small measure of entertainment while keeping an eye on their charge. Twilight and Artemis, meanwhile, sat buried in ancient history books and a few texts on miscellaneous subjects they had thought might help.

“That book is probably older than this library,” Twilight observed worriedly, returning her gaze to her own tome on myths and legends. “You should be more gentle with it.”

“That was the last one,” Artemis sighed, pushing the book away to the corner of their shared table as she had done so many times during their three days of study. The book bumped against a stack of dozen books, and only a gentle nudge of Twilight’s magic kept it from toppling off the edge of the table. “Nothing. There’s not gonna be anything on him here. All the really old texts were in Canterlot. I’d wager everything in this room is post-Nightmare Moon.”

“Maybe...” Twilight mumbled to Artemis, skimming through a section in her own book that had caught her attention. After a moment, however, she hung her head in defeat and sighed. “Nevermind. It sounded like him, but it was just another poem about Nightmare Moon.” She closed the book and dropped it onto the table with a thud. “You’re right; he’s not here.”

“So much for Civil’s help,” Artemis remarked, casting a sidelong glance at the sizeable stack of useless books that had accumulated on either side of the two ponies. “No mention of him whatsoever.”

“There’s been plenty of deities of fear revered or… well, feared through history,” Twilight offered, teleporting the book out of the dusty old room and back to where she had found it in the main library. “But none of them are him. Mostly just Nightmare Moon.”

“And you’re sure the two of them aren’t the same thing?”

Twilight nodded hesitantly. “He said so. In Neighbury.”

“And you believe him? He’s not exactly on our side.”

“I don’t know. I’ve met him a few times now, and... He’s evil and vicious, definitely, but he’s not… deceptive. I don’t think so, at least. He won’t give me any straight answers the few times I’ve talked to him but he doesn’t outright lie. He told me it was beneath him.”

“Well, these books aren’t giving us anything.” Artemis sighed, setting to work on levitating the texts into their appropriate drawers one at a time. “What has he told you? Vague answers are better than none.”

Twilight took hold of the sizeable remainder of books, shelving them all simultaneously.

“His special talent is spreading fear,” she answered, starting out with the most recent information. “We’ve both seen he’s capable of some pretty exotic magic, namely that giant spell inscription and his mind magic. He’s very interested in...” Twilight fell silent, and Artemis raised an eyebrow at her.

“Interested in what?”

Twilight shook her head and grimaced slightly, and Artemis caught her meaning, nodding her understanding. If the two adjudicators had noticed anything amiss, they didn’t show it, content with simply listening. “Anything else?”

A deep rumble resounding throughout the entire library’s basement interrupted the conversation, and the three ponies besides Twilight rose to their hooves in alarm as the entire room shuddered. Even Spike woke up, though his sleepy murmuring went unheard as the doors to the Ancient Texts wing burst open, a trio of guards standing in its opening.

“Council Member Artemis!” The one in the front called out. “Manehattan is under attack!”

“Attack!?” Artemis echoed incredulously, raising an eyebrow again. “What’s going on?”

Another tremor, this time closer, shook the basement, and the lead guard winced. “It’s windigoes. There’s a swarm of ‘em attacking the city.”

“We reckon they’re the ones from Canterlot,” the guard to the left chipped in.

“Windigoes…” Artemis muttered in disbelief, falling back onto her chair.

“We should be alright if we stay down here. They’re only targeting the surface.”

“What do you mean ‘only targeting the surface’!?” Twilight demanded, rising from her seat. “We can’t just let them attack the city! We have to do something!” Her eyes went briefly to Artemis, who looked halfway between backing Twilight up and simply complying with the guards’ commands. “I have to do something!” she corrected herself.

“The situation’s under control‒” the lead guard tried explaining, but a third, more violent tremor interrupted him. The unmistakable sound of a section of the library collapsing reached the seven ponies’ ears.

Twilight looked up at the shuddering ceiling before returning her gaze again to the guard.

“It’s... not under control,” he admitted. “Yet. Look, my job is to keep the five of you safe. There are hundreds of soldiers up there whose job is keeping the city safe.” Another tremor hit the library, and Twilight nearly lost her balance. The guard winced, but gave Twilight a stern look when she opened her mouth to speak. “I know what you’re going to say, so don’t. They’re handling it!”

“I can help!”

“Twilight,” Artemis broke in, giving her injured leg a worried look. “Maybe it’s best you sit this one out. Just this once?”

“The entire Sword of Equestria is up there with the local guard,” the lead guard insisted. “They have experience with windigoes. It’s gonna be alright.”

“The entire Sword isn’t there!” Twilight retorted. “They’re missing one very important member, aren’t they?”

“Look, I don’t know what to tell you,” the guard sighed with exasperation. “Manehattan’s a war zone right now. You’re a civilian. Even if I wanted to, I don’t have the authority to let you out there. Right now, only Council Member Artemis or Scarlet Bolt have that authority, and I doubt Artemis wants you anywhere near...” The guard trailed off as his gaze went to the council member, seeing her thoughtful expression.

Artemis gave a reluctant sigh and rose from her seat to go to the door, motioning for Twilight to follow. “Twilight, can I... have a word with you?”

Noting the many eyes upon her, including those of her two adjudicators, Twilight was more than happy to leave, following after the unicorn into the dark, dank corridors of the library’s basement.

Upon her first visit to the so-called Ancient Texts wing, it had been clear to Twilight that the hallways in the library’s cellar were not intended for public use. It was a fact that only further cemented itself in her mind as she followed Artemis, who wordlessly set off toward the eastern portion of the building, bringing them both deeper into the basement. Cardboard boxes full of unsorted books littered the floor wherever Twilight looked, and sections of low-hanging piping under the ceiling forced her to bow her head as she walked, waiting for Artemis to speak her mind.

“You aren’t a member of the Sword anymore,” she finally said, keeping her gaze fixed on the floor in front of her.

Another rumble sounded from somewhere above ground, and the accumulated dust atop the piping overhead fell down around the two unicorns in thin rivulets. The sparse lighting flickered off for a moment, and Twilight nearly tripped over a cardboard box in the middle of the corridor.

“Maybe not,” Twilight said, shoving the box up against a wall with her magic. “But they need me now.”

“Equestria needs you more.” Artemis stopped and looked back at her. “I need you. You’re not with the Sword; you’re with me.”

“So I should do what you say?” Twilight observed drily, to which Artemis immediately shook her head.

“No! Why won’t you believe me when I say I see you as an equal!?” Her gaze fell to her hooves. “You’re probably far above me, actually... You’re far above us all, Twilight. You can’t die.”

“I won’t.”

“How can you be so sure!?” Artemis demanded of her, turning to face the lavender unicorn. “Why do you keep doing this!? You barely got out of Canterlot alive, but now you’re ready for more!?”

“It’s my responsibility‒”

“Why!? You aren’t on the Sword anymore, Twi! You aren’t a guard, you aren’t a soldier..! You’re my partner now! We don’t have to deal with all this!”

“This isn’t just some random raid,” Twilight argued, standing her ground against the agitated Artemis. “They aren’t gonna go away on their own! I’ve seen the windigoes in Canterlot; the local guard ‒ even with the Sword ‒ won’t be enough.”

“Can’t you stay out of harm’s way at least once?” Artemis plead with her. “Can you be sure that alicorn’s mind magic isn’t putting you up to this? He seems awfully fond of almost getting you killed.”

“Key word being ‘almost’,” Twilight pointed out. “I’ll survive.”

“If you keep assuming that, you’re gonna wind up dead,” Artemis observed worriedly. “You might have to use your… that power. Are you prepared to do that?”

Twilight hesitated, and she found herself unable meet Artemis’ gaze. “I know what their weak points are. I can probably destroy any of them with a single spell.”

“I bet you can, but you’ll have to cast that spell a lot of times.” The light flickered again, and a deep boom sounded from somewhere above the two ponies. “That’s not the sound of just a hundred windigoes, Twilight. Unless they’re all focusing on taking down this library, there has to be thousands up there.”

“You’re saying I should let a thousand windigoes destroy Manehattan? I might not be able to take care of them all, but… but I can save a lot of lives.” Her eyes found Artemis’ again. “The two of us could save even more.”

Artemis shook her head. “I can’t do that, Twi. I’m the head of arcane and mundane sciences in Equestria. I have too many responsibilities to risk getting myself killed like this. If you had any sense, you’d see the same goes for you.”

Twilight averted her gaze for only a brief moment as she gave a heavy sigh before locking eyes with the unicorn again. “Maybe I have a few more responsibilities than you, then.”

Artemis’ gaze fell, taking on a decidedly more pained expression. “Maybe you do…” She was quiet for a while before giving a sad smile. “I still wish you’d remember to take care of yourself once in a while too.”

“But you’re letting me go?”

The violet unicorn gave a hesitant nod. “Make sure the Element of Generosity and the other council members are alright.” Another tremor hit the corridor, and a stack of boxes toppled to the floor, spilling books all over the floor. “And try to keep this library from coming down on top of me.” She grimaced at her own words. “At least, that’s what I told you if anypony asks.” She sighed and waved Twilight off. “Go do whatever it is you have to do. Just… don’t die. Please.”

“I won’t,” Twilight promised her, giving her a nod of thanks. “Thank you.”

“Good lu‒” Twilight teleported in the middle of Artemis’ next sentence, and the sound of her voice was replaced by the wind screaming at her face as she reappeared on the street outside the library.

Manehattan had been cold ever since she had first arrived in the city four months ago. It had been colder still when she had awoken from her coma three weeks ago. But now the city was freezing. The frigid wind stung her all the way down to her lungs as she breathed, and she shut her eyes tightly out of fear that their moisture would freeze within seconds of exposure to the wicked elements besetting Equestria’s capital.

She formed a force field about herself to stave off the brunt of the murderous winds threatening to lift her off her hooves, but by the time she found it safe to open her eyes, her shield was covered in a layer of snow. It was gone with a pulse of her magic, allowing Twilight just enough time to see a rampant herd of windigoes stampeding through the street outside the library, galloping on the wind as they swept straight past Twilight and covered the entire street ‒ as well her force field ‒ in a thick layer of ice.

With the ice now surrounding her and protecting her from the blizzard outside, Twilight lowered her force field cautiously, gazing at the strange sight of all the ice surrounding her. Curiosity quickly turned to fear when the ice began encroaching on her, growing needle-sharp points all over that lunged out at her and came dangerously close to impaling her before she teleported away.

She reappeared within the reception of a large hotel a few blocks down the street, drawing several gasps from the huge crowd gathered there. Almost a hundred ponies seemed to have amassed in the large lobby, but from Twilight’s impression, they were anything but safe inside the building. The entire main entrance of the hotel was covered in the same, several feet thick coating of ice that had enveloped the street, and a dozen unicorns, both civilian and guards, were frantically trying to hold it back from spreading into the lobby. It was a losing battle from the looks of it, but with a few quick spells, Twilight drove the ice back and stopped its advance with a force field spanning the entire front of the lobby.

“Twilight Sparkle!” one of the unicorn guards called out, spotting her in the crowd of frightened ponies. “What are you doing here?” he asked urgently, galloping over to her.

“I’m here to help,” Twilight answered, letting her gaze roam the lobby, taking in the surroundings. “Isn’t there some basement you can take these ponies to?”

“It’s already full,” the guard explained.

“I work in the building behind this one,” a nearby earth pony stallion offered. “It has several basement floors.”

“But we’re trapped here,” the guard added. “We’d really appreciate any help you could offer.”

Twilight nodded. “Of course.”

The unicorn nodded his thanks and motioned for her to follow as he hurried through the crowd of ponies and the reception to get to the back of the hotel.

“So… what happened to your leg?” the guard asked once they had left the lobby, noticing Twilight’s limping and her slower pace.

“Long story,” she brushed him off, trying to catch up to the guard. Once they had passed through the kitchen and a large storage room, he stopped at a set of double doors covered in frost.

“The place that guy was talking about should be straight through the alley and across the street from here,” he explained. “We just need to get the civilians across.”

“Just,” Twilight echoed, grimacing.

“Aye,” the guard chuckled. He turned his back to the doors and kicked them open, breaking apart the ice that had been coating both sides of them. The winds outside threatened to slam the doors shut immediately, but Twilight managed to hold the doors open with her magic. She could see an alley leading straight ahead from the door she stood at, but the blizzard made it impossible to see the street the guard had mentioned.

“I’ll bridge the gap!” Twilight told the guard, shouting to be heard over the wind. “Get everyone through as fast as you can!”

The guard nodded and ran off to the lobby while Twilight stepped forwards, forming a force field that spanned the doorway but bulged outwards like a soap bubble when she approached it, slowly forming a shielded corridor as she progressed down the alley. She winced as a violent shower of hail rained down on her force field, slowing her down as she had to concentrate on maintaining the growing field. When she heard the ponies of the lobby following after her a minute later, she cancelled the shield she had left across the front of the hotel, allowing her to take quicker strides through the alley and out onto the street as she stretched out the corridor.

The street beyond the alley was covered only in a knee deep layer of snow and scattered hailstones which was easily pushed aside by her magic, and the air was for some reason a lot clearer out in the open, granting Twilight the visibility she needed. She saw the frozen entrance of her destination, and to her right, she was surprised to see the outline of Cristallum half a dozen blocks away. It faded from sight within seconds of her spotting it as the storm got worse, and Twilight pressed on, eager to get the ponies to safety so she could focus on finding Rarity.

Movement in the snow to her right caught her attention again, and Twilight paled when she saw the icy bipedal monsters she had seen in Canterlot trudging toward her and the ponies she was ferrying, numbering at least two dozen.

Her force field surged forward and connected to the main entrance of the building on the far side of the street, and she stepped to the side, motioning for those behind her to hurry up. “Keep going!” she shouted. “As fast as you can!” She backed out of the protective corridor, forming a protective bubble of her own as she did so, and turned to face the constructs. They seemed to sense her intention, for they all set into a charge at once, only for a burst of chain lightning from the unicorn’s horn to tear them apart. And as the bodies of ice exploded, Twilight could swear she saw a windigo erupt from each body, spiralling upward out of Twilight’s reach to join the gigantic herd that had conquered Manehattan’s sky.

Only now did she really look at the sky, she realized. It was as if she was back in Canterlot, with the night sky above aglow with countless windigoes. As they had done in the ruins of the old capital, the spirits were in a formation similar to the spiraling cloud patterns of hurricanes, with the eye in the middle of the storm letting in the light of the full moon.

As she watched, a group of several hundred of the spirits detached itself from the main force and swooped downwards, galloping around and ‒ as she looked more closely ‒ through a single floor of a skyscraper. The windows all shattered from the sheer cold, and within moments, the steel support beams of the structure turned too brittle to carry the skyscraper’s weight. With a loud groan and then a screech of metal, the skyscraper collapsed in on itself and toppled over in the opposite direction of Twilight.

Why are they doing this!?

Twilight recovered from the strange, terrifying sight, blasted apart another dozen of the icy constructs that had appeared out of the blizzard’s veil, then hobbled back to the fugitives within her force field, grabbing hold of a guard as she entered into the corridor once more.

“Can you tell me where I can find…” Twilight struggled to recall the name. “Le Couturiers... de… d’Albâtre? It’s a fashion boutique.”

The stallion raised an eyebrow, but smiled. “You’re lucky I live in that neighborhood, or I’d have no idea what you’re talking about.” He pointed down the street in the opposite direction of Cristallum. “Down that way, left at the second corner and four blocks down. Thanks for your help here, Twilight. Stay safe out there.”

Twilight nodded her thanks. “You too.” She motioned for the guard to get going, and once he and the last ponies had reached their new shelter, Twilight dispelled the large force field, once more forming a personal bubble around herself to protect against the blizzard.

The flurries around her cleared somewhat for just a moment, and a series of drawn out howls drew Twilight’s attention upwards, where another bunch of windigoes were dashing over the rooftops of the buildings right next to her, once again bringing with them a thick sheet of ice. The windigoes continued down the street toward Cristallum which had once again become visible to the unicorn. As they had with the skyscraper only moments before, Twilight could just barely see the ethereal herd sweep straight through a section of the palace, causing an entire tower to collapse.

Twilight forced herself to turn away from the sight and teleported down the street to the corner the guard had pointed out before leaving. She stopped there only long enough to make sure the path was clear before teleporting four blocks ahead. The intersection here had obviously been visited by the same windigoes that had galloped past the library, for the entire area, including Rarity’s fashion boutique, was covered in ice.

Worry started clawing at her heart as she approached the buried shop, but a part of her was sure her friend was still alright. With that in mind, she took a careful look at her surroundings to make sure no windigoes were nearby before melting a path through the ice and into the shop. From what she could see atop the ice, the windigoes’ magic had already shattered the boutique’s windows and overtaken most of the now freezing store.

Teleporting inside, Twilight confirmed that there were indeed no signs of life to be seen anywhere. On the bright side, she found no bodies either, meaning Rarity and Fleur de Lis must have sought shelter somewhere else. Taking another cursory look at the interior of the shop, Twilight noticed that most of the mannequins, all trapped within various, abstract sculptures of ice, had been stripped of their attire. In fact, the entire fashion boutique was remarkably empty of clothes.

She can’t have gotten far with all those dresses, Twilight observed, and her gaze soon settled on the back room, its double doors shut tight and almost completely free of any frost.

“Rarity?” Twilight called out, hobbling towards the doors and opening them with her magic. Beyond them, she found Rarity’s workshop, completely unrecognizable now as nearly every piece of clothing had been heaped into the center of the room in one great pile. Rarity lay within the center of said pile, using the many clothing articles to keep warm while using her magic to keep the frost from reaching the dresses. A symbiotic relationship of sorts, Twilight supposed.

“Twilight!” Rarity cried out when she spotted the other unicorn entering. “Thank goodness! What in Equestria is going on out there?”

“I don’t know much myself,” Twilight answered her as Rarity climbed out of her makeshift fort. “Something about the windigoes in Canterlot coming here.” She took another look at the pile of clothes. “Where’s Fleur?”

“Out shopping,” Rarity replied worriedly, sneaking a glance outside the shop as she approached Twilight. “I do hope she’s safe.”

“Ponies seem to be doing fine if they’re underground,” Twilight reassured her. “I’m sure she found shelter somewhere. Speaking of which, Artemis sent me to retrieve you… after I told her to. We’re going to the central library.”

Rarity gave her pile of clothes a longing look. “Is it safer there?”

“Artemis is there,” Twilight answered, motioning with her head for Rarity to follow as she limped toward the hole she had melted in the ice.

“What about you?”

“I’ll have to check on the council members too. And I bet they’re a lot worse off than you.”

“Is it that bad out there?”

Twilight didn’t answer, grabbing hold instead of Rarity and herself and teleporting out of the shop, establishing a force field instantly to shield them from the blizzard. “Hang on,” she said, closing her eyes and focusing. “I’m gonna jump us straight to the library.”

When she opened her eyes again, she and Rarity stood upon the iced-over street outside the library. Or rather, what remained of the library, the majority of which had collapsed in on itself due to the monumental quantities of ice accumulating all over its walls and roof. To the unicorns’ left lay the remnants of the skyscraper Twilight had seen collapse, having toppled onto the street they now stood upon, missing the library by only a few yards.

“Are you quite certain it’s safer here?” Rarity remarked, though she almost had to shout to be heard over the blizzard.

“Maybe not,” Twilight admitted, grimacing at the sight. Movement atop the fallen skyscraper caught her attention, and she saw another pack of the ice constructs headed their way. “But it’s the best we’ve got!” she said, teleporting the two into the basement of the ruined building. They appeared within the corridor she and Artemis had last spoken in, which had not gone unaffected by the blizzard topside. Both the far ends of it were blocked off by collapsed ceilings, and the water pouring from a broken pipe overhead had covered the floor in ice.

Twilight went left, toward the room she and Artemis had spent the past three days studying in, and threw open the door to find the head of magic and science along with her entourage of a dozen palace guards, Spike, and the two adjudicators.

“Twilight! And Rarity! You made it!” the unicorn exclaimed, rising from her seat at the table with a smile. “Are you alright?”

“Cold,” Twilight replied with shuddering sigh, only now realizing how the blizzard had chilled her. The basement was a pleasant exchange, however, its warmth no doubt provided by Artemis’ magic.

“You look more than cold to me,” Spike offered from the back of the room.

“‘Freezing’ may be a more appropriate word for it,” Rarity agreed, her teeth clattering as she bowed her head politely at Artemis and entered the chamber fully.

“But we’re alright,” Twilight finished, then frowned with worry. “The library seems to be in a pretty bad shape. I think we’ll have to move someplace else.”

Artemis nodded, gazing apprehensively at the ceiling. “I get the feeling they know we’re down here. I just can’t figure out if they’re after you or me.”

“They might be targeting the council,” Twilight offered. “They tore down a tower in Cristallum while I was out there.”

Artemis sighed and shook her head, reseating herself and rubbing a temple with her hoof. “I suppose you were right. We can’t just wait this out, can we?” The unicorn hesitated a moment before looking Twilight in the eye. “You’ll have to stop them.”

“Hold on,” Rarity interjected, stepping between the two. “Council Member Artemis, you cannot send Twilight out to fight all that alone!”

“No need for titles, Rarity,” Artemis replied, giving her a smile despite the interjection. Overhead, another part of the library fell apart, and the howl of the blizzard’s winds grew more noticeable. “I think you underestimate Twilight.”

“I know she had her leg savaged by a… a vampire in Canterlot! I know she has limits!” Rarity looked to Spike for confirmation, and the dragon gave an awkward shrug.

“I don’t know…”

“Those limits go beyond what either of us can comprehend,” Artemis returned calmly. “And she has responsibilities too. Not to me‒”

“But everyone,” Twilight finished, drawing Rarity’s attention away from Artemis.

The fashionista opened her mouth to speak, but the beginnings of her next sentence was drowned out by a rumbling above. The ceiling shifted violently, giving Twilight just enough warning to establish a large force field about everyone present in the small archive room, followed seconds later by one of the guards’ force fields forming just before the ceiling came crashing down.

Twilight didn’t have to keep the debris at bay for long before a monumental gust of wind swept away the large chunks of rock as if they were made of paper, exposing the ponies fully to the brunt of the storm.

“Whoever it is they’re looking for,” Artemis shouted, her voice nearly drowned out by the frenzied blizzard directly above them, “they found her!”

Twilight teleported the group of ponies and Spike out of what remained of the basement and onto the street just outside, allowing them all a short glimpse of a massive herd of windigoes having joined together to create an enormous whirlwind centered directly atop the decimated library. A glimpse was all they got, however, before the whirlwind recentered itself right on top of them.

Twilight withdrew the energy of her force field, leaving only the one guard’s remaining as she focused on her offensive magic. A bright beam of magenta shot through the force field and up into the cone of windigoes. The spirits struck by the specialized spell howled in pain as their ethereal bodies reddened and fell apart, leading, Twilight was sure, to their permanent destruction. She moved the beam along the sides of the cone the windigoes had formed, striking and destroying most of them and forcing the rest to disperse.

“That’s... a pretty handy spell,” Artemis observed, watching in awe as the remaining windigoes retreated back up into the sky.

Twilight could only give an exhausted sigh in response, falling back on her haunches before the freezing ice she sat on forced her onto her hooves again. “We need to get to cover,” she muttered, shaking her head slowly.

“Are you alright?” Rarity asked of her, her worry showing yet again as she and Spike rushed to the other unicorn’s side.

“It’s not an easy spell...”

“Hostiles!” One of the guards shouted out in warning, pointing a hoof at the fallen skyscraper down the street. Standing atop it were the ice constructs Twilight had seen before entering the library, their numbers bolstered to at least fifty. Half of them were quickly taken down by the ten unicorns amongst the squad of guards, however, leaving Twilight with at least some repose to regain her strength. Another volley from the unicorns took out half of the remaining force of attackers, and a final spell from Artemis finished them all off.

The fragments of the last ice construct had barely touched the ground before they were swept toward the ponies by a powerful gust of wind. The temperatures dropped again as the wind kept growing stronger and stronger, and Twilight noted Artemis’ horn growing a little brighter as she tried to heat up the inside of the force field.

“Don’t think I can keep this one going much longer,” one of the guards muttered, and Twilight noticed the forcefield flickering faintly before replacing it with her own.

“Can we get off the street now?” Rarity commented, shuddering despite Artemis’ efforts as the force of the wind assaulting them kept increasing.

The white unicorn’s question went unanswered as the source of the beyond hurricane level winds finally revealed itself. A horde of windigoes, much larger than the one Twilight had just defeated, erupted from behind the fallen skyscraper, rushing toward the fifteen ponies and reaching them within just a second. They refrained from attacking the ponies outright, galloping in a tight circle around them instead.

“Twilight?” Artemis remarked nervously, inching closer to her just as Rarity and Spike had done a moment ago. All around them, the ice was creeping up the sides of Twilight’s force field, and the magical shots fired by the unicorn guards and Spike’s occasional gouts of fire seemed completely insignificant in the face of the hundreds of windigoes whirling about them.

“There’s too many!” Twilight told the violet unicorn, yet fired up her horn all the same, hoping that a minor blast of the spell would scare away the windigoes it didn’t kill. A wide spread of magenta energy burst from her horn and through the protective force field, striking at least a dozen of the spirits and killing them.

Despite her hopes, however, the windigoes all but ignored the negligible blow to their numbers, and the ice kept thickening around them while the winds were starting to make it hard for Twilight to maintain the shield.

“I can’t do much more without cancelling the force field,” Twilight explained to Artemis, her breathing quickly growing labored as her recent spells started catching up to her. “And even that won’t do much good.”

“Maybe we should retreat?” Spike offered, but both Twilight and Artemis shook their heads.

“They’re obviously not letting us go,” Artemis said, stepping toward the center of the ponies’ formation. “But maybe we can discourage them.” She closed her eyes before an indigo blaze took hold of her horn, and the same light soon spread to the surface of the icy bowl that threatened to encase the fifteen ponies. The horn pulsed, and indigo flames burst forth from thin air, blowing apart the ice and driving back the nearest windigoes as the force field became surrounded by fire. The unicorn guards, realizing Artemis’ intentions, soon joined their own magic to her efforts, widening the circle of flames and causing it to burn in a multitude of colors. A moment later, Rarity joined in as well.

But although the fires did serve to drive the windigoes back, they didn’t retreat, lingering instead at the edge of the flames. “Now what?” Rarity demanded, but once again, her question went unanswered as a huge chunk of ice came sailing out of the air from somewhere behind the fallen skyscraper, scoring a direct hit on the force field. The shield flickered, causing the temperature to take another drop, but with a grunt of effort, Twilight kept it active.

“Something big’s coming at us!” one of the pegasi warned the rest, somehow able to see past the obscuring flames and windigoes to whatever new arrival had just challenged the ponies. “And it’s got friends!”

Another chariot-sized chunk of ice hit them, causing the force field to almost give out. “Twilight!” Artemis plead of the unicorn, and Twilight was all too well aware of what she was asking for.

She shook her head. “I can’t!”

“You have to!”

“I don’t know how!”

An ice construct appeared through the haze of windigoes, leaping recklessly through the fire and striking the force field before being blasted to pieces by the guards.

“Find out!” Artemis demanded, shooting a bolt of lightning at another approaching ice construct. “Unless you have any more magic tricks up your sleeves!”

“I see it too!” the second pegasus declared, and this time, Twilight was able to make out the silhouette of something much larger than the ice constructs clambering across the skyscraper. It seemed to be made entirely of ice, but unlike its bipedal cousins, the larger construct sported eight asymmetrical arachnid legs, all ending in wickedly sharp points that dug into the ground. As the ponies watched, the larger construct lifted a huge pincer, and a third clump of ice formed directly within its grasp. With a mighty heave of its arm, the ice was thrown at the ponies, but this time, it was blown to fragments by Artemis midair.

“Twilight!” she shouted again, turning her gaze on the lavender unicorn. “I know it hurts, but is the alternative really any better?” A pair of the bipedal constructs attempted to make their way through the fire, and the blaze strengthened momentarily under Artemis’s direction, melting the two creatures instantly. “If you don’t do it, Manehattan’s gone! You die, I die, the council dies, Rarity dies!”

Twilight flinched at the words. “N-no!”

No. No!

“You will not hurt my frie‒”

“No!” she repeated, squeezing her eyes shut and shaking her head to drive away the thoughts.

Artemis, however, quickly caught on. “They’ll kill Rarity, Twilight!”

The angry thing inside of her was breaking loose of the bonds she had imposed upon it, and Twilight was powerless to stop it. Perhaps it was for the best, a small part of her thought, but everything else remembered the diamond dogs, Fluttershy…

“Just like he did!”

“Stop it!” Twilight half screamed, half snarled, and her horn lit up brightly. She pointed it only momentarily at Artemis before directing it at the cloud of windigoes and the eight-legged construct.

“Artemis, what are you doing!?” Rarity demanded, trying to put a comforting hoof on Twilight’s shoulder, only to have it shrugged off instantly.

“Are you going to let it happen!?” Artemis pressed, ignoring Rarity’s protests. “Are you going to let her die again!?”

Twilight took a step forward, gritting her teeth as she stepped down on her bad leg. Flaring her nostrils and taking a deep breath, however, she continued. The red haze she both feared and welcomed at this point had crept into her peripheral vision, serving somehow to highlight the spider-like ice construct, its right pincer pointed straight at her.

Twilight failed to realize what the position of the construct’s arm meant before her force field buckled under the impact of another lump of ice. The magenta shield finally shattered, and Artemis’s taunting words, everything around her, was suddenly drowned out by the roar of the blizzard. Everything, that was, except Rarity’s scream as she was swept off her hooves by the force of the blizzard.

Without directly thinking it, Twilight’s magic whipped through the crowd of windigoes and struck the giant ice construct, splitting it in half. The attack did nothing to slow the wind tearing past her, however, and only a quickly cast spell on her hooves kept her from being carried off. Without missing a beat, the magical whip that had halved the giant arachnid split in four. Two of the whips swept across the ground and took out the majority of lesser ice constructs and a few unlucky windigoes, and the other pair went skywards, flailing about wherever there were more spirits and cutting straight through them. The lower coils retracted when they had swept the ground clean of enemies, and Twilight focused instead on the air, supplementing her whips every now and then with a burst of chain lightning, ignoring her waning magical reserves completely.

She didn’t see the chunk of ice before it was too late, and could only brace herself as it struck the ground right in front of her before careening into her. The force of the blow was staggering, and through the stars in her vision, she only vaguely registered her hooves snapping free of the ground they’d been magically glued to. The free falling sensation of being carried away by the blizzard at breakneck speeds quickly brought her out of her stupor, however, and she caught a glimpse both of the eight-legged construct, which had somehow reformed, and of Artemis’ indigo force field further down the street, Rarity and Spike being among its occupants.

Her line of sight was quickly broken as Twilight was hurled off the street by the blizzard, carried further and further into the air at a speed that would have had Rainbow Dash hard pressed to keep up. A barrage of sharpened hailstones going the other way struck her head on, and Twilight became even more disoriented as she was forced to shield her eyes with her good hoof, her horn sputtering uselessly in an attempt to ward of the projectiles. The wind that had thrown the hail at her took hold of her as well, and her entire world lurched as she was suddenly carried in the opposite direction. She narrowly missed the top of a skyscraper before the violent roar of the blizzard lessened suddenly, turning her tumultuous ascent into an equally out-of-control descent.

It seemed familiar, Twilight noted, dwelling on the thought briefly despite the situation. The way the snowflakes and hailstones seemed to stop in midair all around her as she hurtled downwards at the same speed they did, the wind screaming at her ears, the ground lunging up towards her to crush her body.

Drawing upon the very last of her reserves, Twilight quickly wove a protective bubble about herself and managed to put together a complex gravity spell just before striking the frozen ground, the impact of her force field sending shards of ice flying everywhere and leaving a deep depression in the icy mantle covering the street. The gravity spell negated the shift in momentum that would have otherwise left her a stain on the inside of her force field, and Twilight cut off both spells as her reserves emptied, landing heavily on her hooves before collapsing in pain from stepping on her bad leg.

A series of clacks against the ice told her that something was approaching, but between clutching her bleeding limb and trying to shield her eyes against the blizzard, Twilight failed to realize what it was before a pincer of solid ice closed about her midsection. She was hoisted out of the crater, and through the freezing tears and red mist clouding her vision, she caught a glimpse of Artemis’ force field before she was brought face to face with the arachnid ice construct. The creature resembled a scorpion most of all, save for the lacking characteristic tail, but the murderous intent she could read in its cold, blue eyes told her it had plenty of other ways to destroy her.

The pincer about her ribs tightened, and Twilight gasped with pain, struggling feebly to free herself of the construct’s vicegrip. An indigo burst of lightning tore clean through the arm holding Twilight, but just as quickly as the ice shattered, the windigoes surrounding the arachnid reformed the limb, leaving the unicorn no better off. The giant construct opened its other pincer, and the windigoes obliged by conjuring up a massive chunk of ice which was promptly thrown in Artemis’ direction.

“Do it, Twi!” she heard the violet unicorn shout at her, struggling to be heard over both the blizzard and Twilight’s choking noises. “Do it or die!”

The grip about her tightened, and she felt her ribs bend almost to the point of snapping, squeezing the remaining air out of her lungs. Deciding that she had little choice but to do as Artemis wanted, Twilight shut her eyes tightly in concentration, searching herself for the monstrosity she knew lay within.

It was eager to show itself, she found. Much too eager for her liking. It burst forth from the darkest corner of her mind as soon as she called its name, unleashing the torrent of memories, both her own and those of strangers, that she had kept locked away. And while she struggled to resuppress them, the Hunger tossed her to the side callously, seizing control of her every faculty.

An earsplitting crack rang through the air as the strange, abominable magic began to leak out of her own being, and the pincer that was crushing Twilight stopped squeezing, loosening a little, even. Twilight opened her eyes, and through the ice that made up the scorpionesque construct, she saw the life energy within, saw the six windigoes that animated the large construct, all of them racing about within the ice, panicking at the mere taste of the unnatural magic in the air.

The magenta tendrils, deceptively airy and silent in appearance, sprouted from her horn and lunged outwards much quicker than they had before, quickly finding their targets within the ice construct and latching on to their life force. Many more tendrils sprang forth from her, seeking out and ensnaring the surrounding windigoes with frightening efficiency. The tendrils burrowed through what little body the windigoes had, and the pain began in earnest. The giant scorpion released Twilight of its hold and stumbled backwards, only for its legs to crumble to dust and collapse. Before long, the invisible fingers of her magical grip, infinitely sharp and much colder than the blizzard could ever be, wrapped themselves around more than a dozen cores of more than a dozen windigoes’ innermost beings.

A loud rushing noise, akin to that of a great beast sucking in a lungful of air, erupted from each of the tendrils, and they started pulling. Twilight, still hanging in the air where the icy construct had released her, drew in a sharp breath as both her and the windigoes’ worlds filled with pain, and she grit her teeth so hard she tasted blood. The first of the souls was swallowed by her magic, greatly replenishing the emptied reserves. A second, and her magic was back to its high, but manageable level. A third, and her horn was crackling with energy begging to be released.

She would need more to save Manehattan.

Manehattan needed more.

She needed more.

Her gaze, divided across a dozen different perspectives, swept across the area, and within moments, another life force caught her eye. It shone like a little star, its brightness leaving the windigoes’ nothing but shadows in comparison. It was a richer, fuller essence than any windigo could hope to possess, much like the vampire’s had been, and so she was drawn to it instantly. A new tendril emerged from her horn, gliding through the air swiftly towards its target, passing through the force field separating the two with ease…

Wait.

Focusing through her own eyes and looking past the brilliant shine of life, Twilight saw Artemis’s indigo shield.

Wait!

The Hunger failed to heed the alarm bells going off in Twilight’s mind, and the tendril fastened itself to its target, immediately bombarding her with her prey’s feelings of panic and fear.

Rarity.

Stop! she screamed at herself, rushing to the forefront of her mind to seize control, to end the spell. The Hunger proved adamant, however, and her efforts to cease the spell were met with as much success as they had been in Canterlot. As soon as those fingers closed about Rarity’s essence, she knew she would not be able to let go.

A fourth soul was broken down into energy for her to exploit, and her body quivered, shuddering both from pleasure and horror. The spell’s progress through the depths of Rarity’s being proved to be slower going than with the windigoes, extending the agony of both prey and predator, but hopefully providing Twilight with enough time to think of a solution.

Reluctantly, she shifted her focus away from her friend and toward the windigoes inside and around the scorpion construct, forgotten by the Hunger in the excitement of devouring Rarity. She tugged at the bonds connecting her to the spirits’ souls, and found that the spell did not resist her control.

As long as I help it, at least, Twilight observed grimly, tightening the excruciating grip on the windigoes. What kind of a spell is this? I’m the one casting it; why is it controlling me!?

The cores of the windigoes were finally released from their respective hosts, and both the spirits and the large ice construct melted away to nothing before the magenta tendrils retracted, nearly overloading her senses as the dozen souls all joined her at once. As she had hoped, the Hunger was far from as prepared for the sudden shock of shameful euphoria as she was, and she immediately seized the opportunity its momentary distraction provided her.

Shifting her focus back to Rarity, she found the invisible grasp only seconds from clamping down on her essence. She grasped the tendril with her mind, found its weakest point, and with a massive effort of will, just as the first finger drove itself into Rarity, she severed the connection.

Twilight’s whole world lurched at the interruption, and she was thrown backwards as the tendril snapped back at her like a rubber band, leaving her sprawled against the base of a streetlamp, rubbing her head sorely. Within her mind, the Hunger screamed with dismay at the meal it had been denied, but with the spell ended, its influence had waned. With a small grunt, Twilight forced it, and the new arrivals, into the back of her mind where they belonged.

As the pain brought on by the spell eventually faded, Twilight noticed a lingering burning sensation in her horn. Looking up, she found it wreathed in a bright magenta blaze, begging for release. She rolled back onto her hooves and stood, pointing the horn toward the center of the windigoes’ formation in the sky. Reshaping and scaling up her windigo destruction spell, Twilight unleashed the massive surplus of magic in the form of a compact, pulsating sphere of energy. It streaked across the sky with blinding speed, hammering into the very center of the gigantic herd of windigoes far above before exploding in a shower of magenta sparkles, raining death upon any windigo within Manehattan. A thousand cries of the spirits’ anguish or anger rang out across the entire city, and the negligible fraction of windigoes that had survived the initial blast dispersed almost immediately, some, but not all, managing to escape the capital of Equestria without vaporizing.

Manehattan had been freed of the windigoes’ siege.

“You did it!” Artemis cheered triumphantly before Twilight could even manage to fall back on her haunches, and she was nearly bowled over by the violet unicorn, giving her a tight hug before backing off. “I knew you could!”

“Well, I’m not doing it again,” Twilight spat, her disgust aimed at herself more than anyone else. Artemis’ face fell, but she couldn’t care less at the moment. Her gaze went past the head of science and settled instead on Rarity, still standing where she had stood when the spell had first seized her. The fashionista was shivering slightly, the only indication that she was still alive, and Twilight doubted that she was doing so from the numbing cold alone.

“Sh-she’s fine,” Artemis assured her, following her gaze.

“She’s anything but,” Twilight breathed, giving a sigh before teleporting to Rarity’s side.

The white unicorn jumped at flash of light and, as she seemed to recompose herself, gave Twilight a nervous smile. “W-well! You… you certainly t-took care of that, didn’t you, Twilight?” She looked briefly at the night sky, now free of invaders, and her smile seemed a bit more genuine for a moment. “Ah… well done!” A hoof went to her mane as she lowered her gaze again, fidgeting with the hairdo ruined by the blizzard. “I certainly didn’t know you had... that... in you…” she murmured, and Twilight winced internally.

“Rarity… are you alright?”

“Of course, darling!” the unicorn assured with a wave of the hoof, giving a barely convincing titter of amusement at the question. “I mean, of course, I shall have to draw myself a long, warm bath when I get home, but I’m just fine otherwise!”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure?”

“What exactly happened?” Spike asked worriedly, joining the two unicorns.

“Nothing!” Rarity told the dragon reassuringly. She smiled warmly at them both and put a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. A badly shaking hoof. “I’ve been living here for four months, Twilight. I can handle myself. You really should worry more about yourself.” Somehow, the concerned gaze the white unicorn gave her helped Twilight realize that she was bleeding from several tiny wounds all over her face and right foreleg where she had been struck by the hail.

“It’s nothing.”

Rarity shook her head and gave a sigh. “It’s not‒… Just promise me you’ll take better care of yourself.”

“You too,” Twilight returned with a smile, and the two gave each other a tight hug. It had been a long time since she’d hugged any of her friends, Twilight reflected. Neither did it last for very long before Rarity broke it, giving her another smile.

“I should get back to the shop,” she explained. “Need to do some damage control and make sure Fleur is alright. Get some rest, darling; you look exhausted.”

Twilight nodded her head, realizing the truth of the words quickly. “See you soon.”

“We haven’t been seeing nearly enough of each other lately,” Rarity agreed, turning halfway back toward her shop. “Come by the boutique anytime, darling… After Fleur and I get rid of all the ice, of course.”

Twilight gave a halfhearted smile as Rarity went on her way, the light blue of her magic sifting through her disheveled mane in an effort to restore its curls.

“Think I’ll go with her,” Spike told Twilight, giving her a pat on the shoulders and a smile. “Just in case. I’ll see you later.”

Twilight nodded her head understandingly, and almost as soon as the dragon had left, Artemis trotted up to her side, nodding her head at Rarity and Spike.

“We can give them a guard escort if you like,” she offered. “Even with the windigoes gone, with the town as dark as it is…”

Twilight nodded. “It’d be for the best.” She closed her eyes and gave a deep sigh as Artemis gave the guards their orders, sitting down and trying to ignore the freezing ice. She heard the guards leave, but Artemis, of course, stayed. She was silent for a long while, seemingly enjoying the sudden quiet of the city, before she spoke.

“So… Rarity got‒”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Right. Sorry.” Another silence formed between the two, and once again it was broken by Artemis, giving a disheartened sigh. “What a mess…” She stomped a hoof lightly against the thick coating of ice covering both the streets and the base of every building within sight. “It’ll cost us a fortune to fix all these damages. To say nothing of replacing all the solites we’ve lost.” She gave another sigh, and Twilight opened her eyes to see Artemis looking at her. “We should probably head home too,” she said. “I need to call together an emergency council session, and you could probably do with a nice, warm bed right about now.” She gave Twilight a crooked smile. “You definitely deserve a rest after today.”

Hurt.

Her father chortled at the suggestion. A single tear of mirth escaped the corner of his eyes before freezing. “Oh no! I don’t get hurt! Never! That’s why they lock me in stone! That’s the closest they can ever come to getting rid of moi!”

Hurt, she insisted, and she could feel her father rolling his eyes internally.

“A setback,” he admitted. “Ironic, really. The bonds are finally broken, and now ‒” he gave a yawn “‒ I just feel too tired to do anything about it.”

Hurt.

Her father blew a raspberry. “Oh just go, will you? Think of me when you’re making popsicles.”

Reluctantly, she drew away from her father, catching a breeze out of the desolate statuary. She threw one last gaze back at the draconequus statue, gazing worriedly at the large hole where his chest should be. Just before looking away, she swore she saw a faint glimmer of light within…

A heavy thump against the window of Twilight’s new quarters in Cristallum interrupted what had just become an interesting dream. She didn’t know for how long she had been sleeping, only that it hadn’t been long enough, and so it was with a dissatisfied groan that she opened her eyes. Lifting her head, she found her pillow had somehow been ripped while she had slept, but a loud clatter of glass just outside her bedroom told her she had more important matters to attend to. A pony was standing on her balcony, leaning against the ornate, wrought iron balustrade. The pony was mumbling something to herself, and a hint of movement around her back revealed she was a pegasus. With no lights of the city to illuminate her, however, Twilight was unable to identify the mare any further.

Raising an eyebrow at the strange visitor, Twilight carefully crawled out of bed, approaching the doors to the balcony as silently as she could. Slowly, hoping it would go unnoticed by the pegasus, she lit her horn, increasing the light gradually to fully reveal her visitor. The scarlet mane, the steel galea for a cutie mark and the pink coat marred by dozens of scars were all dead giveaways, and Twilight’s raised eyebrow was joined by the other as her eyes widened in surprise.

The doors to the balcony opened in response to her magic, and Twilight went outside to greet the pegasus, wrapping herself in a powerful heating spell. “Scarlet?”

The pegasus blinked slowly, and without turning her head, her eyes found Twilight’s. She gave a deep sigh and hung her head. “Figures I landed on your balcony…”

Twilight frowned with confusion. “Excuse me?”

Scarlet Bolt waved a hoof dismissively, and Twilight fell silent. The pegasus didn’t immediately explain herself, however, so the two ponies ended up standing beside each other in silence for a long moment.

“Y’know,” Scarlet Bolt finally offered, sweeping a hoof out to gesture at Manehattan. She wobbled slightly as she did so, and only now did Twilight notice an empty bottle in the pegasus’ hoof. “Y’think you do Equestria a favor… You think that maybe… maybe you’re doing pretty well... all things considered... that the council actually works…” Scarlet Bolt gave a tired sigh and slumped down a little further on the balustrade.

“And then a million windigoes come knocking at your door. And you start to realize how stupid you were. Equestria ain’t getting better. It’ll take a team effort to get it out of the mud, and I feel like I’m the only one trying. Bloody thugs all over Equestria, bloody muggers and thieves, bloody Flim and Flam extorting every last bit outta us, bloody council!” she shouted toward the end, her voice having grown more and more agitated as she ranted. She threw the empty bottle as far as she could, and somewhere in the darkness, they both heard a pane of glass shattering.

“Bloody glass house,” she spat bitterly. “What’s it say about us that the seat of Equestria’s power is made of glass, huh?”

Twilight wasn’t sure what to say. Having the head of Equestria’s military being on the verge of passing out drunk on her balcony was still too strange for her to fully process. She didn’t know what the seasoned fighter, now robbed of much of her judgment, would be capable of either, should she accidentally upset her.

She didn’t answer the pegasus, and looked out instead at what little of Cristallum was visible in the moonlight, leaning against the balustrade as Scarlet Bolt did. The half of the palace that Artemis’ tower was built upon had by some miracle sustained a remarkably small amount of damage to its structure. The other half, however, was covered in ice, and the tower that had collapsed had caused massive damage to everything below it, taking out several floors and leaving countless rooms exposed to the elements. It wasn’t a reassuring sight, and Twilight knew it was the same all over Manehattan.

“Rain Dancer’s dead,” Scarlet Bolt muttered after a while.

Twilight turned her head in surprise. “What?”

The pegasus nodded her head. “What’s worse, the council decided not to replace her!”

This too, caught Twilight by surprise. “How come?”

“Whaddya think?” the pegasus grumbled. “Bramley’s in charge of the weather now. More power. More pay. And from now on, when push comes to shove, we pegasi’ve only got two votes against the others.”

“Against?” Twilight echoed worriedly. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Scarlet Bolt eyed the unicorn. “Y’think we’re all friends on the council? You’ve seen our meetings. Power corrupts,” she muttered darkly. “The ponies on the council work for their own gain and glory, not Equestria.”

“What about you?”

Scarlet Bolt’s expression soured, and her gaze fell. “I thought I was serving Equestria… I thought I could save Equestria… back when we’d just lost her. Later on, I thought I could at least keep the rest of the council from tearing the country apart...” She hesitated, opened her mouth, then closed it again. Her lips trembled in indecision for a long while before she continued. “But maybe I don’t know how to do any of that,” she admitted. “Maybe I shouldn’t have drafted you. I had my reasons, but they may not have been… entirely…” Scarlet Bolt shook her head and groaned. “I’m sobering up. I need another drink.”

The pink pegasus got her forehooves off the balustrade and turned away from Twilight. Her wings unfurled, but she remained standing where she was for a few seconds longer. “I’m not asking you to trust me, Twilight,” she said. “Just to not trust anyone on the council. That’s what I came to say. I guess.”

“Perhaps you shouldn’t have involved me in the first place, then,” Twilight offered.

Scarlet Bolt’s gaze hardened, and she gave a sigh of resignation. “Goodnight, Twilight.” Her wings flared. “Oh, and thanks for saving Manehattan. Perhaps you can do it a little faster next time.” Twilight opened her mouth to retort, but when the pegasus launched herself off the balcony, she shut it again. Instead, she watched the pegasus gliding swiftly, but somewhat unsteadily, into the night, pondering her disconcerting words.

“Twilight?”

The unicorn’s gaze went from the receding figure of Scarlet Bolt and toward the back of her bedroom, where Artemis had just emerged.

“I thought I heard someone talking,” Artemis observed as Twilight exited the balcony, taking a curious look around the dark room. “What happened to your pillow?”

“Uh, nothing. Scarlet Bolt came by.”

Artemis gave a short half nod in understanding, though her gaze, directed at the pillow, grew only more confused. “Huh. Uh, okay… I, uh, suppose she told you about Rain Dancer?”

“What exactly happened to her?”

“She was out for a, uh… flight? Whatever pegasi call their strolls. That’s when the windigoes hit. We’re assuming she tried to get back to her tower‒”

“The one that was destroyed.”

Artemis nodded again. “Looks like the windigoes singled her and her guard escort out. They were all frozen solid.”

Twilight sighed and looked back at where the pegasus’ tower had been. “Why did she brave this kind of weather? She could have sought shelter before reaching Cristallum.”

Artemis shrugged, looking the same way as Twilight. “She’s not a novice flier. She’s seen a lot of storms working in the weather business. Might’ve overestimated herself.”

“Scarlet said that… that you weren’t replacing her.”

Artemis scratched the back of her head and gave an uneasy grimace. “No doubt Scarlet vented some of her concerns with you.”

“I thought your jobs on the council were hard,” Twilight pressed. “Don’t you need all the help you can get?”

“We do. And we still get it,” Artemis defended herself. “We haven’t removed the weather division, Twilight. We are replacing Rain Dancer; the new one just won’t get a position on the council.”

“Why not?”

“Weather management isn’t…” Artemis struggled to find the right words. “It’s not an important job. I mean, it is, but it doesn’t warrant a say in council matters. Bramley speaks for the divisions of agriculture and weather management now, and they happen to have the same voice. It’s redundant to have both on the council, really. It’s easier this way. The more ponies you are about a decision, the harder it is to make.”

“It seems…” Twilight wasn’t sure what to say. “Wrong.”

“It wasn’t an easy decision. Not a nice one, either,” Artemis admitted freely. “But things’ll work out better this way. Trust me.”

Twilight nodded her head dimly, her gaze dropping so her eyes wouldn’t meet Artemis. “So what now?” she asked. “About finding out who that alicorn is?”

Artemis frowned and gave an exasperated sigh. “Let’s just… give up on that for now. The contents of that library are unsalvageable. Not that they were of any use. I’ll make sure Civil Tenet has her people looking into the matter in other libraries around Equestria, but I’m starting to think it’s a waste of time, to be honest.”

Twilight nodded her agreement. “So it’s off to Cloudsdale, then?”

Artemis pursed her lips and hesitated for a while, her gaze dropping to the floor. “Well, technically, I made my deal with Rain Dancer, not her department. So I think we’d be best off with a change of plans. As soon as you’re ready, you can leave for Appleloosa.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow in confusion. “You’re sending me away?”

“I wish you could stay here and do your experiments outside the city. It’d be a lot easier, and I’d like to be around for it, but as much as I want you here, Equestria needs you elsewhere.”

“Appleloosa?”

“I figured the surrounding desert would give you all the space you need. It serves a political purpose as well. It’d help things if Equestria saw a bit more of you. Especially the farming areas of the country. If they see you working on a sun, we might hold onto their loyalty a little longer.”

“Good point.” Twilight nodded her head. “Alright. I’ll go.”

“When do you think you’ll be ready? I mean ‒” she looked out at the desolation the windigoes had left “‒ Manehattan might need a little sunshine too.”

Twilight gave the frozen city outside a frown. “I don’t know. I need to forget what happened here. Maybe I should leave as soon as possible.”

“Is this about draining Rarity?”

Twilight shuddered involuntarily, and gave Artemis a sharp look.

The unicorn nodded her head quickly in understanding and took a step backwards. “If you need somepony to talk to about it, you know where to find me.” Artemis looped a hoof around Twilight tentatively, giving her a reassuring squeeze. “I’m here for you, alright?”

Twilight didn’t answer, and instead of meeting the other unicorn’s gaze, she turned her gaze toward the city once more. Artemis retracted her hoof from Twilight, who stood there silently until she heard Artemis take the elevator down. Exhaling deeply, she fell back on to her haunches before sinking down to lie on her belly as she buried her face in her hooves, shuddering as her body was wracked with choked sobs.