Twilight blinked, and the library vanished. Suddenly she was in the dusty canyon below the Sky-Mares old castle, slumped against the rock wall. Applejack stood above, shouting incoherently. Powerful hooves slammed down over and over again, each blow accompanied by a sickening crunch.
She felt herself growing weaker. She had to do something. Her senses dimmed, her will to fight waned. The blows were coming faster and harder now, and if she didn’t do something, the next one might be the last.
With monumental effort she forced herself to move just as Applejack’s steel-shod hoof slammed into the library floor, hard enough to send splinters flying into the air.
“Applejack, no!” A pink blur rushed overhead, knocking Applejack away.
Head clear with adrenaline, Twilight rolled the opposite direction. A flame of rage lit inside her brain. It all made sense now: The blackout, the amnesia, the constant threats, the aches and pains that were only now beginning to fade: All of it pointed to Applejack covering for a sloppy backwoods murder attempt.
Twilight bounced to her hooves. Her horn filled with magic, building the spell before she’d even found her target. She spun around to find the traitor she was about to punish.
But it wasn’t Applejack’s eyes she found herself staring into.
Twilight had to mentally clamp down on the spell. Just past Fluttershy, she could see Applejack struggling with Pinkie Pie. “Move!” she shouted.
Fluttershy merely spread her wings, completely blocking Twilight’s line of fire. “No.”
Holding back a fully-powered attack spell took considerable effort, and Twilight realized she’d soon have to release the spell or let it fade out uselessly, leaving her drained and defenseless. She gritted her teeth against the building heat in her forehead. “You don’t understand! She tried to kill me!”
“An’ more’s the pity I didn’t finish the job!” Applejack snarled. “I knew you’d bring this down on us! I jus’ knew it!” She was still fighting, but Pinkie Pie had worked her into some kind of painful-looking grapple and was gaining the upper hoof.
The confession seemed to rattle Fluttershy. She glanced at Applejack, wings drooping.
Twilight made her move, jumping to the side and aiming her horn for a clear shot at Applejack’s exposed underbelly. The spell she had prepared wasn’t deadly, but would certainly make the recipient wish it were. For a brief, satisfying moment she saw Applejack’s eyes widen, expression changing from rage to terror.
A blow struck Twilight’s chin, jarring her vision and breaking her concentration as the world tilted. The spell cracked loudly, zoomed through the hole in the roof of the library, and disappeared into the chaotic sky.
Before she could react, a pair of hooves clamped onto the sides of her head and yanked downward, bringing her face-to-face with Fluttershy.
“NO!” Fluttershy said. it was the closest thing to a shout Twilight had ever heard her utter. “That’s not how we solve problems!”
Something in Fluttershy’s eyes made Twilight quail like a scolded filly, and she tried to look away. “But she—”
“No,” Fluttershy repeated, forcing eye contact again. This time her voice was softer, but still firm and commanding. “You will not take matters into your own hooves like that again. Do I make myself clear?”
Twilight wanted to retort, push the lightweight pegasus out of the way and continue the assault, but her will to fight crumpled like paper under Fluttershy’s piercing gaze.
Fluttershy’s hooves hesitated a moment, then shifted, releasing Twilight’s head and drifting down her neck. One stroked her mane while the other rested for a moment on her shoulder before pulling her forward. Soft wings wrapped around her, not mechanically like before, but gently and lovingly.
“Whatever she did, we can work it out, okay?”
Something broke. Twilight choked on the inexplicable rise of emotion in her throat, tried unsuccessfully to stifle a sob. Her back legs gave way and she slumped onto her haunches, leaned into the hug and let tears surge over her cheeks.
She wasn’t any stranger to crying. As a filly she would cry when her beloved toys fell victim to chaos magic. She would cry when she fell and scraped her knees. When Wind Seeker dumped her for another mare, she’d cried so hard she could swear her heart was being dragged up her throat by barbed wire. All those times and countless others like them, crying had been a catharsis. It had let out her emotions and drained them away with her falling tears, like poison sucked from a wound.
But in the weeks since she’d left Ponyville, it seemed crying never did what it was supposed to do. Every time, she ended up feeling even worse than before. As of late her tears had failed to absorb any bad, taking only the good and leaving it to wither and dry as a dark blotch on a journal page.
But now, enfolded in the inexplicably comforting hug, she finally felt catharsis again. All the weight of the past few days melted away: Pain, fear, betrayal, and anger, all filtered down and congealed in great rolling tears that seeped harmlessly into Fluttershy’s soft mane.
Gradually her tears began to ebb. Tension lifted from her shoulders and chest. Her sobs subsided, replaced with deep, calming breaths.
Fluttershy’s embrace loosened slightly, and she leaned away to make eye contact again. “Are you okay?”
Twilight nodded and wiped her eyes. She felt drained, her emotional and magical reserves spent in the space of a few short moments.
Fluttershy searched Twilight’s eyes for a few more seconds, then nodded in return. She turned to Applejack, who had stopped struggling and now lay passive, all four legs firmly locked from behind in Pinkie’s wrestling hold. Her hat had been knocked off during the struggle, and her blonde mane was tousled, falling awkwardly over her face.
“What happened?”
Applejack visibly cowered before Fluttershy’s question. “I— I didn’t mean to…”
“What. Happened?”
“She… she jus’ made me so darn mad,” Applejack stammered, resolve seeming to crumble. “We we’re arguin’ ‘bout this or that… I don’t even know exactly what happened. I lost it, and when I came to, she was jus’ lyin’ there, like…”
She looked at her hooves, then shuddered. For the first time, Twilight noticed the dark, streaked stains on Applejack’s fetlocks.
“Honest truth, I ain’t never been so scared in my whole life. I didn’t think she was gonna wake up. If twern’t for the Sky Mares fixin’ her the way they did…”
“Then why did you try again just now?” Fluttershy asked.
“You might say I got some anger issues,” Applejack muttered. “What with Discord, an’ the Sky-Mares… I had to have Spike promise not to let Apple Bloom follow me.”
To Twilight’s surprise, Applejack’s voice cracked.
“You didn’t hear her screamin’,” she continued. “I don’t even know if they’re gonna make it far enough before this all turns lopsided. My family, my farm, my town… Everything’s goin’ straight to Tartarus and it— it’s all her f-fault!” With a small sob she spat the last words in Twilight’s direction.
Fluttershy motioned, and Pinkie Pie released Applejack. But when Fluttershy attempted to lean in for a hug, Applejack pushed her back.
“I’m… I’m fine,” she said.
The rebuttal seemed to surprise Fluttershy, but she respected it. “Are you and Twilight going to have problems?” she asked.
With a shake of her head, Applejack retrieved her hat and donned it again. “No. Not unless she starts it.”
Fluttershy turned and looked expectantly at Twilight.
“No,” Twilight replied meekly. Her eyes still burned from her own tears, and her face was warm with chagrin from the unexpected breakdown.
A muffled explosion rattled the library. In the confusion of the fight, it seemed everypony had briefly forgotten the larger battle going on around them.
“So,” Applejack said, “Did anypony have a plan or anythin’?”
“Well, there is this…” Rarity stepped forward, levitating the final Element of Harmony. The damage had spread even further, and one large crack had nearly reached the opposite side, threatening to split the gem in two. “Princess Celestia said we could use them against Discord, but it seems they can’t work unless all of them are active.” She motioned to the other four gems, each claimed and glowing with internal power. “We think this one is meant for you, dear.”
Applejack raised an eyebrow at the final gem. “What am I supposed to do with it?” she asked.
“None of us know,” Twilight replied, the words seemingly forming of their own accord. “Celestia didn’t even how to use them.”
“What do you care?” Rainbow interjected. “Shouldn’t you be, I dunno, trying to stop us right now?”
“Yeah!” Pinkie agreed, head tilting curiously. “Aren’t you supposed to be on Discord’s side?”
Of all the negative feelings Fluttershy’s hug had dredged out of Twilight, uncertainty wasn’t one of them. Now she felt it settling again, indecision clouding her mind and emotions. Why was she letting all of this go on right in front of her? Why wasn’t she destroying the Elements, knowing they were specifically created to be used against Discord? Why wasn’t she out there, distracting Celestia and Luna so he could defeat them again?
“I’m… I’m not sure,” she answered. “I just—”
Another earth-shaking explosion rattled them. The remaining walls of the library, already structurally compromised, began to sway. Support beams groaned and cracked.
“Look out!” Rainbow Dash zoomed over Rarity’s head and knocked away a bundle of floorboards just in time.
“It’s coming down!” Pinkie shouted, making a mad dash for the door. “Run!”
Zecora didn’t hesitate. She hefted Fluttershy onto her own back in one smooth motion and followed Pinkie. Rarity seemed frozen, but Rainbow looped around and dragged her through the door in a blur of color.
Twilight overcame her momentary shock and willed her hooves to run toward the nearest opening, the spell-blown remains of the side wall. But before she’d gone two steps, more of the roof peeled away and came crashing down in her path.
She skidded to a halt, turned, and came face to face with Applejack again. It seemed they’d had the same idea, but the collapsed section of roof was too tall and unstable to scale in time.
Applejack swore and turned, just as a crossbeam came crashing down in front of their last exit point, the front door.
They both stared for a moment, then looked at each other wordlessly. Twilight’s jaw barely had time to drop before another sound made her look up. The floor split directly above their heads, and the contents of the small bedroom tumbled through the crack.
Somepony cried out in terror.
Without a second thought, Twilight instinctively leaped toward Applejack. A familiar falling sensation grabbed her by the middle, and everything twisted.
A moment later she hit hard cobblestone and tumbled. Orange and blonde whipped past her eyes as she collided with something soft.
When the world stopped spinning, Twilight found herself lying on top of Applejack. Before she could quite come to terms with her new position, a horrible cacophony of snapping and groaning made her turn around, just in time to see the library collapse on itself in a heap of rubble and dust.
She gaped at her would-be grave for a moment, then looked back down.
Applejack was staring up at her, jaw slack and eyes wide.
Twilight could only blink in surprise. “I—” she began, but Applejack cut her off.
“LOOK OUT!” This time it was Applejack who took action, wrapping her legs around Twilight and rolling just as a large white object came crashing to the ground where they’d been lying.
It was Princess Celestia. Gasping and panting, she was covered in cuts, bruises, scorch marks, and the tell-tale signs of glancing chaos spells.
A moment later, Princess Luna touched down a few steps away, looking significantly less battered. She glanced at Twilight and Applejack, and seemed to disregard them immediately. “Are you alright?” Luna asked Celestia, voice flat and cold.
Celestia shook her head, seeming to gulp for precious breaths. “N—No, I am not! Sister, what art thou doing!? Why do you not fight alongside me!?”
“I am fighting,” Luna replied. “For what little good it seems to be doing.”
“Maybe she realizes your resistance is futile!” Directly overhead, Discord was floating in lazy circles. He seemed none the worse for wear, despite the protracted battle. “Honestly it’s like you’re not even trying!”
With great effort, Celestia struggled to her hooves. She shot a glare at Luna, then turned her attentions to the sky.
“Enough of this!” she cried, her voice rattling the few unbroken windows nearby. “Too long thy stain has poisoned this land! Too long have the ponies of Equestria suffered under thy claws!”
Golden magic began to infuse her horn, filling it from within and coalescing from the very air around.
“I hath pondered on thy defeat for ten thousand score nights. I hath not slept! I hath not eaten! I hath not wasted a thought, except to drag thee weeping and wailing from thy throne!”
More than its sheer power, something in Celestia’s voice made Twilight’s blood chill. Her horn tingled with ambient magic, stronger and older than she’d ever felt. Prompted by an unseen force, she looked up, past Discord, at the place where the swirling vortex of chaos was beginning to split.
“Dost thou think I am weak? That a thousand winters in stone hath made me soft? Nay, deceiver! I had hoped to spare this land, but it seems thy subjects mean naught unto thee. Well, so be it! If it must needs be that the valleys rend, and the mountains tumble, and the seas boil to dust, I SHALL SEE THEE BURN FOR THY TREACHERY ERE THIS DAY IS GONE!”
The very sky seemed to catch fire overhead. Shafts of light breached the coiling tendrils of Chaos. In the place where the sun should have been, something burned hotter and brighter than Twilight had ever known. The hairs of her coat began to curl. Her eyes dried up, even as she squeezed them tight against the searing heat that stole the moisture from her mouth and scorched her lungs with every gasp.
From somewhere nearby, Applejack began screaming. Other voices rose in terror as well. Against every instinct in her body, Twilight forced her eyes open again. Past the waves of rippling heat rising from the earth, she could see Rainbow trying to shield herself with wings that were already turning black. Pinkie and Rarity were huddled in the shrinking shadow of a burning building. Fluttershy and Zecora were nowhere to be seen.
The air itself seemed to burn. Every surface was glowing white in the glare of a sun that might as well be filling the sky from horizon to horizon.
Discord himself seemed as yet unaffected, but as he spoke his voice betrayed genuine worry. “Okay, hot stuff, you’ve made your point!” He began throwing spells of every conceivable nature, but they fizzled and burned in the air.
The heat and brightness were beyond unbearable, beyond livable. Twilight let her eyes close again, even though the light seemed to burn her retinas even behind her eyelids. Blinded white, she barely felt Applejack’s hoof touch her own in a simple, comforting gesture.
“That’s enough.”
A voice cut through, somehow cold enough to chill Twilight’s bones, and the burn on her skin lifted. Scarcely able to believe it, she opened her dry, scratchy eyes.
The buildings of Ponyville seemed like a skeleton covered in skin made of ash. Every surface simmered with fading heat as the sun returned to a more reasonable size and brightness. Smoke and steam rose from the coats of ponies writhing and crawling in the street. Wails of pain and anguish filtered into her cracked ears.
Only a few paces away, Princess Celestia stood stock still, untouched by the heat. Princess Luna was next to her, horn glowing. Deep blue magic shimmered, solidifying into a rigid, polished-steel blade pressed against Celestia’s throat.
“Sister…?” Celestia whispered. The word quavered just noticeably.
“Oh come on,” Luna replied. “I was prepared for casualties, but really? I can’t have adoring worshipers if you incinerate all of them.”
Celestia gasped.
“HUZZAH!” Discord threw aside the massive jug of sunscreen he’d been slathering on. “I knew you had it in you, Luna! I just knew it!”
“Had what in me, exactly?”
Discord swooped down in a flash. His mismatched feet sizzled almost comically on the cobblestones but he didn’t seem to notice. “Why, standing up to your bully of a sister, of course!” he crowed, reaching around and slapping Luna’s hindquarters playfully. “All those years, those centuries under her hoof, I thought she’d broken you just like everypony else she’s trotted all over.”
Celestia’s face was rigid with shock. Her eyes darted back and forth between Luna and Discord.
With a gleeful hoot, Discord pinched the princess’s cheek. “Solaria the Wise, Solaria the Powerful, Solaria-turned-Celestia, self-proclaimed Ruler of all the Heavens in her late mother’s stead,” he taunted. “Oh, it’s so good to see you finally put in your place, and by your own sister too!”
The excitement seemed almost too much for Discord. He twirled and hopped and danced silly jigs, singing and laughing to himself until he nearly cried for joy.
Finally satisfied, he floated back over to Celestia and tickled her nose. “So, what are we going to do with this one? Toss her in a dungeon? Freeze her in stone again? Court Jester? Heaven knows I could use a new one. Oh! I know! What about—”
Dark magic flashed, and Discord and Celestia both rocketed across the ruined street. They struck the still-standing rock wall of an otherwise destroyed building hard enough to crack the stone. In an instant, a shimmering magical blade was at each of their throats.
Discord sputtered. “What in the UNHOLY BLAZES of Tartarus are you—”
“Something I should have done a thousand years ago.” As Luna spoke, the very air seemed to grow heavy and dark.
Discord grunted and swatted the magical blade away. With a flash of teleportation, he appeared in the sky above, chaos magic twisting in his claws. “You insolent little filly,” he growled. “I give you the chance to rule next to me, and this is the thanks I get?”
Pitch-black darkness suddenly clamped down over Ponyville, so profound that for a moment Twilight feared she’d gone suddenly blind. Startled screams echoed throughout the town.
A moment later the light returned, but this time it wasn’t the light of the sun. A full moon rose from behind the horizon, bathing the town and silhouetting Discord in pale, shimmering silver. Celestia remained pinned to the wall, her white coat practically glowing in the moonlight.
“Rule next to you?” Luna said incredulously, stepping forward. “You must truly think me a foal.”
In an instant, it seemed to Twilight as if the darkness had come alive. Twisting, indefinite shapes, blacker than black, molded from thin air. As Luna strode forward they suffused around her hooves, wrapping and twisting tendrils around her legs.
“Tell me, great Emperor: Do you really think this was all your doing?”
The shapes seemed to grow more solid, and Luna planted her hooves on them as if they were solid stone. With each step, more dark somethings sprang forth to support her, rising into thin air like breathing steps of living darkness.
“My sister may have dreamed of your defeat for a thousand years, but do you know how long I have dreamed of hers?”
The pulsating tendrils around the Princess’s hooves began to reach higher with each of her strides into the sky. Wherever they touched, only blackness remained, spreading and twisting around Luna’s legs as if she were being charred by invisible fire.
“Truth be told, I hadn’t planned it this way. We were supposed to defeat you together, then perhaps one night I’d slit her throat or something equally satisfying. I suppose this will have to do instead.”
The swirling blackness had completely spread over Luna’s body, moving on to her wings and up her neck. Her feathers began to molt, burning to cold ash as they fell. In their place, dark skin grew and stretched over bone like the wings of a bat.
Discord hadn’t thrown any spells. Instead he coiled slowly, watching with wary eyes as the darkness consumed Luna. “Sounds like you really hate her,” he muttered. “I’m twisted, but that takes the cake.”
Luna scoffed. “Hatred? Even if you were to spend ten thousand years pondering on hatred would you come within a fraction of the loathing I feel for that creature down there. Count yourself fortunate I only mildly despise you, or we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
By the time Luna’s skyward steps had reached Discord, the blackness had consumed every last patch of midnight blue from the bottoms of her hooves to the tip of her horn. She blinked, and her pupils became vertical slits. She leaned in, her snout nearly touching his.
“Your reign is over, Emperor. This world belongs to me, and the time has come for you to kneel.”
Without warning, Discord slashed at Luna’s throat. She recoiled just in time, his claws barely missing the mark.
The entire sky suddenly became alive with stars. Thousands upon thousands, spilling out overhead, shimmering silver-white jewels. From a half-dozen of them, needle-thin beams of light stabbed through the darkness and converged on Discord.
He cried in pain and twisted through the sky. The beams flickered out, only to be replaced by twice as many. Wherever they touched, Discord included, tiny puffs of smoke wicked into the air. Over and over the beams stabbed, and everywhere Discord dodged, they followed.
Dark magic grabbed Discord and hurled him back to the wall where Celestia was still pinned by the magical blade. Piercing needles of starlight crisscrossed down from the sky, leaving no room for the captives to even flinch lest they be burned.
“What are you?” Discord gasped.
Celestia struggled and tried to push back the the spell with her own magic. “Luna, please,” she whimpered. “I didn’t mean—” Her words cut off as a shadowy tendril slammed her head into the stone wall. She cried out in pain.
“Luna’s not here anymore,” the blackened alicorn replied as she stepped closer to her prisoners. “Nightmare Moon has come to claim her own.”
A row of gleaming white fangs split the pitch-black face with a mirthless, horrible grin.
“You with your sun-worshipers, and you with your pathetic, chaos-ridden excuse for an empire,” she sneered. Her voice rang high and regal, equal parts terrible and beautiful. “Well, now it’s my turn. I shall remake this land, eradicate every last whispered breath of Chaos, and show these squirming insects the true meaning of Harmony.”
A slight motion caught Twilight’s eyes. She turned painfully from the spectacle and saw Applejack, gesturing weakly with one hoof. Her coat had burned completely away in many places, revealing the cracked and blistered flesh beneath. A large portion of her blonde mane had withered to brown, stringy ash.
At first Twilight wasn’t sure what Applejack was trying to accomplish, but then she saw. Rarity was huddled across the street, where the shadow of a doorway had mostly protected her and Pinkie Pie from the scorching sun. Magic glowed around her horn, and it only took another moment for Twilight to catch sight of the cracked gem floating motionless in the middle of the street.
Rarity was trying to get the last Element to Applejack, but her magic wouldn’t reach quite far enough.
Nightmare Moon laughed at Discord and Celestia’s horrified faces. She flicked her mane and stepped away slightly, then jabbed her magical blades forward, drawing yelps of pain from her prisoners.
“I have it in my power…” she said, withdrawing the blades, “but that would be too easy.”
Twilight didn’t even stop to think. Ignoring the pain shooting across her body, she reached out with her own magic toward the floating gem.
Nothing happened. It was still too far.
“Instead, I’ll give you a chance to redeem yourselves,” Nightmare Moon continued. “Bow to your Queen of Eternal Darkness, worship at the throne of Harmony Incarnate, and maybe… maybe if you please me, I’ll see fit to grant you mercy for the suffering I’ve endured.”
In truth, Twilight didn’t know what good her efforts would do. Even if Rarity and Pinkie were mostly okay, Applejack was in no shape to do any kind of fighting. Fluttershy was nowhere to be seen, and Rainbow Dash was lying motionless further down the street. Twilight didn’t even want to think what state the latter two might be in.
Still, something within prompted her. She couldn’t say what or why. Only that she knew this was the last chance to make things right, or at least whatever passed for right.
With monumental effort, she reached out her forehooves and dragged herself forward. Not enough. She tried again, ignoring the searing pain in her muscles and skin. She didn’t dare look at herself. Still not far enough.
With the last of her energy, she made a final pull forward. This was it. She gritted her teeth, concentrated, and willed the gem to come to her.
It moved.
She nearly passed out from relief. Rarity’s magic let go, and the gem shot toward Twilight. Without a moment’s hesitation, she let it fly past her and settled it gently in Applejack’s reaching hooves, where it flared with magic.
Applejack gasped and writhed to a sitting position. Her eyes were wide, bloodshot, but they somehow glowed with inner fire. When she saw Twilight, a smile cracked across her burned face.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
Twilight just nodded.
Without warning, the gem pulsed brightly. An aura of magic washed over Applejack, illuminating her from within. Simultaneously, Twilight saw Rarity, Pinkie, and Rainbow’s gems all do the same.
The magic seemed to have an invigorating effect. Applejack suddenly stood under her own power and began walking.
Down the street, to Twilight’s infinite relief, Rainbow Dash also stirred and pushed herself to her hooves. Even at a distance she looked awful, wings and coat blackened, mane seared almost beyond recognition. Still, she managed to begin walking as well.
It took a moment for Twilight to realize it wasn’t quite walking, so much as they were floating. The gems seemed to be suspending them just high enough for their hooves to push off the ground, while removing the effort necessary to stand.
From the shelter of the building, Pinkie Pie and Rarity were also drifting toward Applejack and Rainbow. All four appeared to be converging on one spot.
Their actions hadn’t gone unnoticed though. Nightmare Moon had spotted them.
“What is this?” she demanded, turning from her captives. “What are you doing?”
None of the ponies answered her.
A motion near the end of the street caught Twilight’s eye. It was Fluttershy, also floating suspended in air by the magic of her gem. She wasn’t burned as badly as Rainbow, but looked significantly worse off. Her wing, previously just sprained, now hung bent and limp at her side, and one back leg dragged awkwardly.
Seemingly struck with realization, Nightmare Moon made a creeping imitation of a smile and laughed. “Ah, the fabled Elements of Harmony, and looking quite the worse for wear I must say. Come to finish off the losers now that the battle is won?”
Something clicked into place within Twilight. “Actually, I think they’re here to defeat you.”
As soon as the words left her mouth, Twilight regretted them. They’d just slipped out against all logic or reason. She couldn’t even pin the thought process that had given voice to such a suicidal challenge.
But it was too late to take back. Dark magic curled around her body, and suddenly she was yanked off the ground. The violent motion aggravated her burned skin, making her cry out in pain.
A moment later, she found herself face to face with Nightmare Moon.
“And what makes you say that?” The words were dripping with spite and barely-contained anger.
“I thought it would be obvious,” Twilight mumbled. Part of her brain said the pain must be making her delirious, but she was past caring, so she made no effort to stop the words from spilling out.
“Applejack represents honesty, and you’ve been lying since you woke up. Rarity represents Generosity, but you’ve only thought of yourself. Pinkie Pie represents Laughter, and you’ve only brought sorrow. Rainbow Dash represents Loyalty, but you’ve gone and betrayed your own sister. Fluttershy represents kindness, and you’ve done nothing but make ponies suffer.”
Twilight shrugged as best she could. “Logical,” she murmured, on the verge of passing out.
Nightmare Moon’s grin had faded to a thin-lipped grimace. She drew Twilight closer. “It’s easy to consider the faults of another,” she said slowly, “but much harder to look on your own. You’re just as guilty as me, Twilight Sparkle, so don’t pretend to be anything more than the weak-minded, insignificant hypocrite you really are!”
The magic surged, flinging Twilight backward onto the street. She screamed as the cobblestones scraped over her burns before she slid to a halt near the others.
“You’re playing with fire, you know,” Discord said sullenly.
“Let them try,” Nightmare Moon scoffed. “If that sorry lot can do more than give me a sunburn, then perhaps I deserve it. But once they fail, which they will...”
She turned to face the approaching Element-bearers. An ethereal whip conjured out of thin air, writhing and snapping wickedly. “I’ve been waiting for another excuse to use—”
Taking advantage of Nightmare Moon’s distraction, Discord lunged. His scream of pain as he passed through the beams of starlight only gave her a split-second to glance back in surprise before he slammed into her.
The two tumbled, a mess of flailing limbs and bodies. Discord’s arms wrapped around Nightmare Moon’s throat from behind and he hooked his legs over her shoulders, driving her to the ground. She cried out in surprise.
“Always with the magic!” he grunted, squeezing and twisting with his snakelike body. “You forget the simple things!”
Lying in the street, Twilight could only gasp and moan. Her whole body was on fire, the pain so intense her head was swimming. Through double vision, she barely recognized the faces approaching. Eventually, one became clear, kneeling next to her.
“Hello dear,” Rarity said, stroking what was left of Twilight’s mane. “Don’t worry, we’re here, and we’re going to take care of you.”
“Wow, she looks worse than me,” Rainbow said from somewhere nearby.
“Come on, we can’t just leave her in the street,” Rarity said. “Pinkie, can you help me lift her?”
Twilight felt hooves and unicorn magic combine to lift her off the cobblestones. Somehow, the pain seemed to lessen a little, and her mind began to wander deliriously without it.
“Rarity,” she mumbled, “Do… do you remember when you asked… for a reason to ever trust me again?”
“…Yes, of course.” Rarity replied.
From somewhere deep inside, Twilight’s emotions somehow found enough liquid to prick her dry eyes with real tears. “Is being a friend enough?”
There was a moment of silence, but when Rarity spoke her voice cracked. “Yes… Yes dear, that’s more than enough.”
A warm surge of energy seemed to flow into Twilight. It started in her chest, and gradually diffused through her whole body, taking the pain and delirium with it. Within moments her head had cleared, and though she could still feel her injuries, they no longer felt debilitating.
“You think you can just show up with some fancy dark spells and dethrone me?” Discord hissed, drawing Twilight’s attention to where he and Nightmare Moon were still grappling in the middle of the street. “I’ve got an eternity on you, you little show-off! Why don’t you stop this game before you lose too badly?”
As Discord spoke, Twilight could see him struggling and panting with the effort of the fight. He was burned and blistered from the starlight, and great beads of sweat glistened over his body. Even so, he seemed to be winning, until Nightmare Moon moved in a way that threatened to turn Twilight’s stomach.
The black alicorn’s limbs contorted with a sickening series of cracks, dislocating from their joints and slipping out of the grapple. She rolled, throwing Discord to the cobblestones and pinning him with one hoof while the rest of her body crunched and jolted back into place. Dark tendrils sprang from the air and seized Discord, holding him down.
The ethereal whip descended, and Discord howled in agony.
“YOU THINK I’M PLAYING?” Nightmare Moon shrieked.
Over and over the whip cracked, lashing side-to-side across Discord’s writhing, twitching body as his agonizing screams echoed off the buildings.
“YOU THINK I WON’T END YOU RIGHT HERE AND NOW!?”
“Sister—!” Celestia began, but her words broke into a wail as the whip slashed across her chest.
“SHUT UP!” Nightmare Moon’s voice had lost all semblance of control and seemed to be teetering on the verge of insanity as her attention returned to Discord. “THIS! IS! MY! WORLD!” she screamed, each word punctuated by a lash. “MINE!”
Twilight glanced at the others suspended around her. Rarity and Pinkie looked positively sick. Fluttershy hid her face while Rainbow just stared slack-jawed.
Applejack’s face was frozen in horror. Two strokes of the whip had previously reduced the stalwart earth pony to a quivering, sobbing mess, and Discord had already taken a dozen times more. Of them all, she alone could conceive even a fraction of the suffering he was going through.
A moment later she caught Twilight’s gaze and gulped. “This… this ain’t right,” she whispered.
Twilight nodded, and she felt the magic within her shift and intensify. It cradled her, gently lifting her into a standing position among the others. She felt the magic binding her to each of them in turn, growing and spreading over her like a warm blanket. A moment later she realized her hooves weren’t touching ground. Rather, she was floating a fully pony height in the air, surrounded in brilliant, pulsing light.
In the street ahead, Nightmare Moon looked up from the broken, whimpering creature beneath her hooves. Her whip stopped its vicious lashing, and she stared at the ponies floating toward her.
“You’re kidding. You are kidding, right?”
Twilight could have chosen from a thousand emotions in that moment. Anger, hatred, vengeance, and righteous fury all clamored for her attention. But she ignored them. Instead, she simply closed her eyes, smiled, and thought how nice it was to have friends again.
When she came to, Twilight found herself lying in the middle of the street. The sun was in the sky, but hovering near the horizon with a gentle yellow glow.
She basked in the warmth for a moment, then realized something was wrong: She wasn’t in pain.
Sitting up, she looked down at herself. Where she’d expected to see singed fur and blistered flesh, there was only her sleek and uniform coat. She felt her mane and inspected her tail. Both were completely intact and looked healthier than ever.
Confused, she looked up. The ruins of Ponyville were eerily quiet in the morning light. Or was it evening? She couldn’t quite tell. Amid the rubble, she spotted Rainbow, Rarity, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Applejack, all lying either sleeping or unconscious in a rough semicircle around Twilight.
To Twilight’s relief all of them seemed to be restored just like her. Rainbow’s wings were no longer singed black. Fluttershy’s wing and leg didn’t seem bent at odd angles. Applejack’s coat was gleaming and healthy, just like Twilight’s own.
A sound nearby caught her ear. She glanced toward the jagged pile of brick and wood that used to be a house, and spotted movement. The debris shifted, and a white hoof emerged.
Princess Celestia dragged herself from the rubble. Unlike Twilight’s friends, her white coat was tattered and filthy. Cuts and bruises covered her entire body, and she seemed to be favoring her front right leg somewhat. She also seemed to be slightly smaller than before, her face younger and more rounded. But strangest of all, her ethereal mane and tail were gone. No longer flowing magically with pastel greens and blues, they were now formed of simple, plain pink hair, not altogether much different than Fluttershy’s.
Another motion caught Twilight’s eyes. A short distance away from Celestia, a twisted pile of rubble was moving. It took a few seconds before Twilight realized the rubble was Discord, limbs and much of his torso encased in ragged stone.
Like Celestia, he also appeared somewhat younger. His beard and eyebrows were no longer long and white, but dark and cropped. His body was slightly smaller, leaner, and his mismatched horns were only about half as long. As she watched, he gradually cracked and peeled away the shell-like covering with his magic, wincing in pain and gasping softly.
A moment later, both Discord and Celestia spotted Twilight.
None of them spoke, only stared between each other for several moments. Then Celestia’s face turned quizzical, and she pointed at something.
Following the gesture, Twilight’s eyes settled on something she hadn’t noticed before: a small magenta gem cut perfectly into a six-pointed star, floating motionless a short distance from her hip.
A flash of light appeared in her peripheral vision, and she glanced back up.
Discord was gone.