“Then choose!” Death shouted, his voice full of triumph. For he had triumphed; there was no doubt of that. His lies had corrupted Celestia and turned her into the monster Nightmare Star. The Nightmare had turned on her own race and led an army of darkness that burned cities across Equestria to the ground. Thousands of ponies – including the talented Starlight Glimmer – had been killed by the grim specter of War. It was a glorious victory. Death had harvested many souls – and he had only just begun.
Yes, Twilight Sparkle had proven bothersome. She and Luna had rallied Equestria and fought back. The tide of the war had turned and the Nightmare was now trapped in Canterlot. But Death was still going to win. When Nightmare Princess saw that the war was lost she triggered her doomsday weapon – a monstrous spell that would vaporize her, the city, and all its residents. In a last, desperate effort Twilight charged into the besieged Canterlot in order to save her friends, but she failed. It was now too late. Death had paused time so he could savor the moment, but the end was unchangeable. When Death released the flow of time the shockwave would vaporize the city and kill everypony. There would be no survivors.
There was not a single thing Twilight could do to stop it. The blast would happen. Her friends would die. The city was lost.
In order to torment Twilight, Death froze time and gave her an awful choice. She could save one pony from the blast. One life could be spared – but all the rest would be lost. Every victim would be on her conscience. Death was certain that the pain would ruin her and, in time, turn her into a nightmare as well.
Death was deeply satisfied. He knew he had won. It did not matter who Twilight saved; for her, all roads led to madness. “Whatever you choose, I will not interfere with your choice – you have my word. I will abide by your decision. So what will you do?”
Twilight knew her time was short. Before Death paused time she was certain that she was going to be killed without saving anypony. Now she had a chance to do some good. All she had to do was cast her time spell around herself and one other, and that soul would be saved. The blast would still occur but it would not affect the two ponies frozen in time. The spell only had to last for a minute and then the danger would be gone. But how could she save just one life? Her friends deserved better than that. Even if the Nightmare had corrupted their minds, they were still her friends and she would not let them down.
The purple alicorn looked around. She was standing in the throne room of Canterlot. In front of her was Nightmare Star – a corrupt pony, full of darkness and flame. The ruler of Equestria was encased in an intense purple glow. Beyond the tip of her horn was a blinding sphere of light. The doomsday spell had been cast; it was too late to stop its ignition. The moment Death released the flow of time, the spell would catalyze and everypony would die.
I will not let them die, Twilight decided. I just need more time. If I only had a little more time, I could–
Then she knew what she had to do. She really could save them all. The answer was obvious – but Death would not like it.
* * * * *
A thousand years passed. Then a second millennium went by, and then a third. The city of Canterlot crumbled into dust and was forgotten. The race of ponykind became old and cynical. The days of princesses and alicorns were rejected, discarded as myths fit only for fillies. A new and darker nation arose. The values of friendship, honesty, and integrity were lost, for there was no pony left to teach them.
Twilight Sparkle only intended to freeze the Nightmare and her doomsday spell for a single day. She knew that Luna would immediately realize what she had done and would quickly evacuate Canterlot. Twilight could not suspend time for very long, but a day was all they needed to save the lives of everypony. Once the spell was released the weapon would go off and vaporize the city – along with Twilight and her former mentor. Two lives would be lost but the city would be saved.
But she did not consider Death. When he saw Twilight’s clever response he became enraged, and decided in that instant to break his promise. He knew that shattering the divine Accord would have terrible consequences, but in his blinding anger he did not care. Death used his considerable power to strengthen Twilight’s spell. The alicorn would not be suspended for one day, or two, or three. Instead she would be trapped in time forever. Twilight would never escape. She would not live to bring the divided nation back together. Death made sure that she would not be around to lead her ponies on a better, brighter path.
So thousands of years passed. Nations rose and nations fell. As the centuries turned into epochs, the races of the world began to die out. One species after another went extinct until Death finally took all life from the planet. The world itself became airless and vacant – but still Death would not let Twilight go. A million years had not abated his fury or quenched his wrath.
Over the course of deep time, the stars changed. The young stars grew old. Equestria’s beautiful yellow sun grew into a red giant. Its expansion incinerated the surface of the planet and turned it into glass, but the world itself endured. As billions of years passed the red giant turned into a white dwarf, and then became a black dwarf. The stars of the sky burned for a long time, but eventually the universe grew old. One by one the stars went out. There came a time when the universe had no light left at all, save for the two alicorns who were still locked in battle.
Death waited a long time to release his enemy. He waited until the last star had gone out and the last light had been quenched. All that remained was the dead world of Equestria. The only light left in the mortal plane came from the doomsday spell that Celestia had cast an eternity ago. This time Twilight would not be able to win. Twilight’s cleverness would do her no good when there was nopony left to save. There was nothing she could do but despair and die. It was over.
But if it was truly over, why was Death so nervous?
The surface of Equestria had changed considerably in a thousand trillion years, but Twilight and Celestia were still there. Time had leveled every mountain and erased every valley, which meant the two ponies were now a thousand feet off the ground. The surface of their broken world was fused glass – a testament to the day its sun exploded and baked the ground.
Death knew how unhappy Twilight would be once she saw what had become of her home. Except – the blast of the spell would kill her in less than a second, before she could even look around her. What was I thinking? I have gone to great lengths to displease her, but she will not live long enough to appreciate it. She will never experience the true despair that I spent so much time crafting. Well, I can’t have that. I didn’t wait this long to ruin it now.
The black specter of Death hovered beside the pair of alicorns. He did not need wings to fly, but he enjoyed the terrifying look that his bony wings gave him. He wanted to strike fear into the heart of Twilight, so he took care to look the part. When Death was certain that Twilight would be able to see him, he cast the spell that released the two alicorns.
As soon as the spell was cancelled the two alicorns began falling. Twilight immediately screamed in panic. She spread her wings to catch herself – but before she had time to realize that all the air was gone and her wings could not save her, the doomsday spell ignited.
It was the brightest eruption of light the world had ever seen. Never before had mere light been such a potent and devastating weapon. The long delay had altered the spell and magnified its effect by six orders of magnitude. If Equestria still had an atmosphere it would have created a deafening roar – as if a thousand megaquakes had gone off at once – but in an airless void there can be no sound.
In less than a microsecond the Nightmare was vaporized and ceased to exist. Death finally claimed her soul, and the spell had only just begun. Its magical shockwave expanded with such speed that it caused the atoms in the ground to split apart in violent fission, triggering an uncontrolled nuclear detonation. Each atom became a nuclear weapon that ignited the one beside it.
The explosion blew the planet apart. One moment the world existed, and a second later it was gone in a brilliant flash of light and deadly radiation. When the last light cleared and Twilight could see again, there was nothing left to see.
Nothing, that is, but Death.
* * * * *
“Where am I?” Twilight asked, confused. “What just happened?”
The purple alicorn was suspended in space. Around her was nothing but darkness. Twilight lit up the area with her horn, but she could see nothing but darkness. She could feel nothing. She couldn’t even find any air to breathe – and yet she was somehow still alive. Wait a minute. How can I hear my own voice when there is no air to carry the sound?
That was when she saw Death.
“I have won!” Death announced. “Behold the glory of my kingdom! Behold the encompassing nature of my victory. You thought you defeated me, didn’t you? You thought you were such a clever pony. But what have you gained? Nothing!”
Twilight had no idea what Death was talking about. “You’re not making any sense. There’s nothing here except, well, nothing. What is this place? And what have you done to my friends?”
“This is the end, Twilight – the end of the universe, and the end of time itself. Yes, you saved your friends, but only for a time. Surely you must have realized that nopony lives forever! You may have delayed me for a time, but I still won. One by one I claimed each of their lives. Then I claimed the lives of their descendants and the entire pony race. I harvested everything. I have destroyed every world and taken every star. Do you see this nothing – this void? This is what is left of Equestria.”
“That’s impossible,” Twilight said firmly. “You could not possibly have done all that in one day. You’re lying!”
Death laughed. “One day! Your spell did not last for one day. It lasted for all of eternity. This is eternity’s end, Twilight. This is the darkness that conquers everything when all other lights have gone out. You are the last pony left. You were not frozen for one day. You were frozen for a thousand trillion years.”
Twilight was so taken aback by his claim that she laughed. “You seriously expect me to believe that? I mean, come on! I wasn’t born yesterday. This is not the end of time. You’re being ridiculous. You have me trapped in a closet or something. This is the sort of stunt that Discord would pull.”
Death glared at her. “Do not take me for a fool. I do not make jokes, nor do I amuse idiots. This is real, Twilight. This is the end of all things. You are alone, in the dark. You saved no one. Now it is your turn to meet your end.”
Twilight looked around her. Is this true? Is this really the end? She decided that, for now, denial was the best option. “This can’t be real. For one thing, I’m not powerful enough to cast a spell that lasts for literally all of eternity. That would take way more magic than even an alicorn has. I can’t do that!”
“Of course not,” Death said mockingly. “You’re just a little pony, after all – one who thought she could bargain with me and win. I am the one who kept you frozen forever. Did you really think I was going to let you get away with your little trick?”
Twilight gasped. “But you promised!”
“And you expected me to keep my word? Please. What do you take me for? I am not your friend. It gave me great pleasure to break my oath.”
Immediately there was a brilliant flash of pure light. The light struck death and burned him, searing his flesh. He screamed and leaped away – but the light only grew brighter.
The light struck Twilight as well, but it did not harm her. To the princess the light felt warm and inviting. It was a piercing light that seemed to cleanse the very soul. She wanted to stay in its embrace forever.
As the seconds passed the light grew steadily stronger. Twilight felt herself strengthened. To her amazement, Death was growing weaker. His form began to fade. His spells could not block the light or shield him from its power. He began to panic.
Then the light changed. The source of the light widened and a figure emerged. Twilight realized that the light was coming from another realm – a realm where darkness had no place. Somepony opened a door between realms and the light is leaking through. But who has stepped through the gate?
The light became so strong that Twilight had to turn her head; it was too much to take in. Once the light faded heard a voice call out to her. Twilight looked again and saw a beautiful white alicorn with a silver mane. Her cutie mark was a living circle of stars. The pony glowed with the power of pure light. As she came near, Death backed away.
“Thank you for that admission,” the pony said. “You were warned about this, Death. You have violated the Accord.”
“Who are you?” Twilight asked.
“I am the one called Blue Onyx,” the alicorn explained. “I have come to restore to you what Death has wrongfully taken. There is much that needs to be done. I have waited a long time for your release.”
Death glared at her. Although his power had waned, his hatred had not. “It is too late. Do you hear me?! It doesn’t matter what you do or what trick you pull! If you send Twilight back in time to her beloved Equestria, she will still die. If you go back in time and stop Celestia from ever becoming corrupt, she will still die. No matter what you do with Twilight the end will be the same. All ponies will die, all stars will end, and the universe will be mine. I will always win. So go ahead – do your worst.”
Death then vanished.
Blue Onyx smiled. “Light is strong against the dark. We will see him again, but not for a while.”
The white alicorn came closer and hugged Twilight. “It is so good to see you again! I have waited such a long time for your release, but I never gave up hope. Your friends didn’t either. We knew it was just a matter of time.”
“What’s going on? Is what Death said true?”
“It is partly true. This truly is the end of time – but it is not the end of all things. Nor is it true that all has been lost. Since Death violated the Accord, we can put things right. You can put things right.”
“Your voice sounds familiar to me,” Twilight said thoughtfully. “Do I know you?”
“At one time you did. In your era I was called Luna, the Princess of the Night. Since those days a great many things have changed. Death has had his way with history because he cheated – but you can defeat him. Come, little one. We have much to do.”
Twilight’s eyes widened. “You’re Luna? Really? But – you’ve changed! Like, a lot.”
Luna laughed. “Time will do that. I am older now – although time works differently where we are going.”
“And where is that, exactly? I don’t exactly see a lot of places to go here.”
“Ultimately you will make your way back home – to the world you once knew. One day you will become as I am and live in the shadowless plane, but you are still young and it is not yet your time. For now I am going to take you to Lamplight.”
“What’s that?”
“The home of Death – the place he came from. Come! We have spent enough time waiting.”
Luna lit up her horn, and the two alicorns vanished.