//------------------------------// // More Trials, More Words, and A Whole Lot of Magic-Like Occurrences // Story: The Twilight Effect (2017) // by evelili //------------------------------// Unsurprisingly, at the top of the next set of stairs was yet another hallway. Nightmare was beginning to get quite predictable. Twilight ushered the rest of the girls into the hall and said, “Purple smoke in three, two-” Right on queue another wall sealed off their exit. No one flinched this time; Rainbow even stifled a fake yawn. “Okay…” Pinkie pursed her lips and looked around. “Zero creepy knights this time, that’s a plus.” “Yes, but it’s so empty. Not even a hint of, I don’t know, melodramatic decor? Angst-fueled furnishings?” Rarity rolled her eyes. “I’m a bit disappointed, to be quite honest.” “Disappointed, shmointed. Let’s just dive right in!” Smiling, Pinkie strode forwards three large steps and spread her arms wide. “C’mon!” To her, nothing changed in the room. However, the girls behind Pinkie suddenly began to scream in pure, unbridled terror. Confused, she spun around to see… nothing. “What? Girls? What’s happening?” No coherent response came, though they did stop screaming and instead started to babble different things in varying tones of voice. The loudest was Rainbow, alternating each noun with a profanity, while Twilight opened and closed her mouth silently a few times yet said nothing more. “Huh. That’s a little weird.” Pinkie checked over her shoulder again - just in case they did see something after all - then waved one hand in front of a petrified Fluttershy and narrowed her eyes. “Helloooo?” Fluttershy didn’t react to the hand. Instead tears started to stream out of the corners of her eyes and she started whispering, “Grandpa, no, please don’t- I’m sorry, I won’t do it again! Please don’t- ah! No!” Pinkie stumbled backwards, confused. “Your grandpa? ...I thought that meanie was long gone?” Curious, she moved over to Rainbow, who had curled into a ball on the floor and was yelling at the top of her lungs. “Stay away from me! You fuckers; STAY AWAY! You’re gonna hurt me! STAY THE FUCK AWAY!” She lashed out and caught Pinkie in the shin hard enough to make her yelp. After a good minute of rubbing her leg Pinkie made the decision to stay at least arms length away from Rainbow for now. A few feet away Rarity and Applejack were fairing no better - Applejack was crying out to her parents while Rarity kept repeating over and over, “Not good enough.” Even when Pinkie tried to shake them out of it they didn’t seem to notice she was there. Finally, a thoroughly-unnerved Pinkie made it over to Twilight. She was standing completely still, eyes glassy and unfocused. Pinkie slowly reached out a hand and waved it, ready for any reaction. She figured if Fluttershy was seeing her dick of a grandfather, then whatever the other five were going through must have been a real event. “Twilight?” “...Celeste,” Twilight whispered. A single tear rolled down her cheek and she took a step back to press herself against the wall. “What happened to Auntie Luna? Why does my heart hurt?” “Um, Twilight? Can you hear me? I think… I think you’re dreaming.” “...Why are my parents on the floor? Why is there so much blood?” A chill ran down Pinkie’s spine and she grabbed Twilight by the shoulders and shook her gently. “Twilight, listen to me! Whatever you’re seeing, it’s not real. It’s not gonna hurt you, okay?” After a tense second of silence Twilight let out a shuddering breath and blinked a few times, her gaze still fixed on nothing. “Pinkie? What are you doing here?” “Yeah, It’s me. And you’re dreaming, I think.” She gave her shoulders a squeeze before pulling away and tilting her head to the side. “What’s going on? What are you seeing?” “...I don’t know.” Twilight frowned and whispered, “Celeste is here. She’s covered in blood; I think she’s the one who killed them- but that can’t be. They died in a car crash...” “What about Luna?” Twilight blinked a few more times and furrowed her brow. “I don’t know who that is. I… I don’t even remember how I got here. I’m just so cold...” Pinkie frowned and placed her hand on Twilight’s forehead. She was right; it was cold as ice. “Hey, Twilight. Look at me.” Twilight turned her head to Pinkie’s voice though her sight was still elsewhere. Her eyes were slightly red and tears were still streaming down her cheeks. “...Yeah?” “Smile for me?” A pause. Hesitantly, Twilight forced the corners of her mouth upwards into an awkward grimace. “Like this?” “No no no. A smile, silly. Wait, um, hold on. I know a song for this.” “A song? ...But my parents, and Celeste-” “Too late!” Grinning, Pinkie took a step back and cleared her throat. “Now, this is a little song my granny taught me when I was scared of the dark, you see-” Before she could start singing the room went pitch black. Pinkie couldn’t even see her hand in front of her face. Then an almighty shriek ripped through the air, and when the light came back Nightmare was hovering in front of her, tendrils of darkness pooling from her form and onto the floor. “You were going to sing them free?” “Oh! Hey, Nightmare,” Pinkie chirped, completely unfazed. “Yeah, see, there’s this song my granny-” “I heard!” Nightmare gnashed her teeth and spat, “And that’s preposterous. These five are facing their worst fears; there’s no way a silly little song could snap them out of it.” “Well if that wasn’t going to work, then why are you here? To help me?” “Of course not I-” Nightmare paused, seemingly at a loss for words. Then she shook her head and growled, “You are a failure as the spirit of optimism!” Pinkie shrugged. “You don’t know that. I didn’t even get to try!” She quickly inhaled and sang, “When I was just a child and the sun was going dooooown-” “Cease your prattle at once!” “-the darkness and the shadows, they would always make me frown-” And that was as far as Pinkie got before Twilight punched right through Nightmare’s face. The shadow wailed in pain as a fist burst through her formless body, and she exploded outwards only to reform on the other side of the room. “What the-” “Wow! Nice shot, Twi!” “You were the one... who was distracting her,” Twilight panted. She was still pale and shaky-looking, but was smiling as wide as could be. Her eyes were also clear, no longer covered by the haze from before. Apparently punching an embodiment of evil was a bit of a power trip. Nightmare swore under her breath and folded in on herself, vanishing in an instant. As soon as she did the other four girls quieted, and they all slumped to the floor. “Guys!” Pinkie ran over, Twilight following as fast as she could. “Are you okay?” Fluttershy shook her head wordlessly, while Rainbow scrubbed her face furiously with the back of her arm. “Ah…” Rarity wiped her thumb under her eyes and frowned at the mascara that came with it. “So it was a dream.” “Ssssomething like that,” Pinkie said, sheepish. “Though, since I heard Shy talking about her gramps, I get a feeling that they weren’t so much dreams as bad memories, y’know?” “Aw, fuck,” Rainbow muttered. “Which one was it; the one where those assholes hospitalized me or-” “That one,” Pinkie cut in. She didn’t want Rainbow to reveal more than she was comfortable with. “And, AJ, you were crying for your parents.” Applejack sighed and crossed her arms as best she could while sitting cross-legged. “Ain’t no secret, that one. Still hurts as much as it did at first, though.” “Yeah… I’m sorry, guys.” Then, Pinkie brightened and added, “Oh, but you’ll totally get a kick out of this! Okay, so Nightmare literally just popped by to visit for some reason, right? And she was all mad at me for some reason - something about optimism, blah blah blah. So I started singing and-” “You started singing?” Rainbow interrupted. “Like, just fucking serenaded this bitch?” “Yeah, and-” “Pinkie, that’s fucking awesome.” “But that’s not even the best part! So, get this, she’s screaming at me to stop when out of nowhere Twilight runs at her from behind and just punches-” “I punched Nightmare right in her freaky demon face,” Twilight finished, a proud smile bursting across her face. Silence. Then, one by one, all of the girls started to dissolve into laughter until the hall was echoing with the happy sound of disbelief. “That’s the best thing ah’ve ever heard!” Applejack chuckled, one hand smacking against the floor. “Our Twilight, punching someone? Ah wish ah’d seen that!” Even Fluttershy was giggling along with the group, all of them fueled on by Rainbow’s cackling and Rarity’s high-pitched snorts. They were so caught up in their mirth that they almost missed the light writing a new word along Pinkie’s wrist. “Optimism,” Twilight read, before cracking up again. “See that, Nightmare? Pinkie’s a great spirit!” “The best!” Rainbow yelled, and pulled Pinkie into a hug to knuckle her mane of hair. “Suck on that!” And, as they celebrated, Nightmare looked on from the shadows in disbelief for a moment before disappearing into nothingness once again. --- “It’s just a one in three chance, right?” Rarity clung to Twilight’s arm and whined, “You’re the smart one; tell me it’s probably not my trial next!” “It’s not your trial next,” Twilight intoned as sarcastically as she could through her splitting headache, and tried to pry Rarity off of her. “Look, it’s either you, me, or Rainbow, and considering this room doesn’t seem dangerous at all it’s definitely you or me.” Rainbow flexed an arm with a grin and bragged, “My trial’s gonna be the hardest, no contest.” “Oh, but Twilight’s some sort of chosen one in this adventure,” Pinkie piped up. “She’s saving her girlfriend, remember? So her trial’s probably last.” “Not my girlfriend,” Twilight tried to correct, only for a familiar purple smoke to spring up behind them. Shaking, Rarity let out a long whine into Twilight’s sleeve. Then she took a deep breath in and scrunched her eyes up. “Fine. Fine! It’s me. Nightmare, do your worst!” As she spoke a circle of light as large as a minivan appeared on the carpet in front of her. Then the rest of the hallway dissolved, leaving an uncrossable gap in the ground between the group and the next set of stairs. “Hm.” Rarity cracked one eye open and said slowly, “I suppose this isn’t so bad.” “Don’t jinx it,” Applejack muttered. Carefully Rarity stepped forwards to the circle of light. When she did an ethereal voice rang out through the hall, saying, “Give all that you can to reveal the path.” “...Huh.” Rainbow shrugged, then stepped back. “Alright, dude. Try your best.” Rarity tilted her head. “Give all that I can? Well, let’s see.” She removed one of her many bracelets and placed it into the circle. “How’s this?” The bracelet shimmered, then disappeared. As it did a section of a bridge appeared over the gap - though only about a foot of distance compared to the enormous expanse between them. “I see.” Rarity made a face and sighed. “Though it pains me to part with all of these, I will do what I must.” She started to remove all of her jewelry and place them into the circle, another foot of bridge appearing each time she did. When she placed her last ring, however, the bridge was only about a quarter of the way there. “Hrm.” Rarity glanced back over her shoulder and shrugged helplessly. “I’m out of valuables; now what?” “Could I help?” Fluttershy tried. She stepped forwards to place her hair clip down, but as her hand touched the light she squeaked and jumped back as if she’d been burned. “That answers your question, I suppose,” Rarity said. She then tried to put the clip in herself but it simply lay on the floor instead of adding to the bridge. After a second of thinking she snapped her fingers before slipping out of her heels and tossing them in. “How’s this?” Another segment appeared, the path stretching almost halfway, but it still wasn’t enough. Applejack blushed slightly and averted her eyes. “Now, don’t go undressing yourself any further-” “Applejack!” Flushing, Rarity peeled off her sweater and tossed it in the light with a bit more force than necessary. “I intend to do no such thing!” The bridge shimmered again and added another section to the tune of Pinkie’s applause. “Well ah’m sorry, it just doesn’t seem…” Applejack trailed off and mumbled, “It doesn’t seem like it’ll reach unless you give everythin’, y’know?” As Rarity sputtered and tried to come up with a response, Twilight raised her hand and said, “Actually, that’s not quite right. From what I can tell, even if Rarity intends to remove her undergarments-” “-which I do not intend to do if I’m not forced to, by the way-” “-that won’t be enough material to create the rest of the bridge. It looks like it will only get about fifteen feet from the other edge.” The teasing mood that had appeared vanished in an instant, Rarity going a bit pale. “But,” Fluttershy tried, “what else can she give?” Everyone turned to Rarity, who was instead staring at her hands. She mumbled something under her breath and stared at the circle, and, if one looked close enough they could almost see the gears turning in her mind. Then, with a determined nod, she clenched them into fists and declared loudly, “Well then! I know what I must do!” “Rares?” Applejack tilted her head to the side and said, “But what-” “Oh! Um, please turn around, everyone.” “...Ah.” The other five turned back towards the smoky wall, hyper-aware of Rarity rustling some fabric behind them. Again there was the hum that came with the light activating, only, this time it didn’t stop. Then from behind them Rarity let out a pained sort of grunt. Applejack, despite her awkwardness about seeing one of her best friends in her birthday suit, spun back around on her heel. “What’s wro- Rarity?!” Instead of a potentially naked Rarity, there was a fully clothed one standing in the centre of the circle trying her best not to cry. As Applejack stared in shock she noticed, to her horror, that Rarity’s legs were starting to dissolve. “No!” The others turned at her cry, each reacting the same way Applejack did. Pinkie tried to run to Rarity but she threw out a hand and yelled, “Don’t come closer! You’ll… you’ll get hurt.” “But-” Twilight wrung her hands together and cried, “What are you doing?!” “What I must!” Rarity winced as the light creeped up her thigh and continued, “This must be the answer to the riddle - I’m giving everything I can, so please, beat Nightmare for me, alright?” “You can’t!” Applejack pressed her hat against her chest and yelled, “You don’t need to do this- we’ll find another way! Rares, please-” “Applejack,” Rarity cut off, and with that word everyone knew there was no way to convince her otherwise. “Please just let me do this.” Applejack fell to her knees in disbelief while Fluttershy quickly buried her face into Rainbow’s shoulder. Pinkie and Twilight were both frozen in panic as they watched more and more of Rarity disappear, and Rainbow… Rainbow wasn’t having any of Rarity’s heroism. Not one bit. She shoved Fluttershy to the side and, before anyone could stop her, charged at Rarity with all her might. “You jerk!” she screamed. “I’m not letting you say goodbye yet!” Rarity’s hands flew to her mouth and she gasped out, “No, you can’t-!” The circle flared to life as Rainbow tried to cross it but she pushed forwards, her skin burning hotter than what she imagined the sun to feel like. The two steps it took to get to Rarity were like wading through lava, but she kept on pressing and screaming and sobbing until she had her hands on Rarity’s shoulders and was staring her dead in the eyes. “Rainbow,” Rarity whispered. “You’re burning up.” “And I… don’t… care…” she spat back. With the last of her strength she pushed Rarity backwards and screamed, “There’s no way I’m gonna let you die for me!” Shocked, Rarity stumbled out of the light, her legs reappearing as soon as she was out of it. A gold light flashed across her wrist but she paid it no mind as Rainbow let out a pained wail and the circle of light turned into a pillar of fire. The rest of the bridge appeared and solidified across the gap, but the pillar kept burning for a solid minute longer before fading into embers and then smoke. Then it rose up into the air and vanished, leaving Rainbow facedown on the burnt carpet and covered head to toe with ash. “Rainbow!” Fluttershy broke the silence first, and that was enough to snap the rest of them out of it. Rarity, the closet, frantically crawled over to Rainbow and rolled her over so her head was resting in her lap. “What have you done?” she whispered, and ran one hand through Rainbow’s shaggy locks. “Oh, Rainbow Dash…” Fluttershy collapsed next to her, the other three following suit, and grabbed Rainbow’s hand as tightly as she could. As she did she noticed a golden word etched on her skin, and read it out loud: “Devotion.” A tear ran down her cheek and she said, “She- she got her word before she- before she-” “We both got ours, I suppose” Rarity said numbly, revealing her own word across her wrist. “Charity and devotion.” She blinked rapidly and said, “But she didn’t have to-” “-but she did,” Twilight said softly. “And that’s why she got her word.” Silence settled on the group, broken only by Rarity’s choked attempts to stifle her tears. Then- “Wait,” Fluttershy whispered. “I- I think I feel a pulse.” Before all of their eyes Rainbow’s eyelids fluttered and she gasped for breath hard enough to make her chest heave off of the ground. She coughed up a good cloud of ash and suit before cracking open one eye and wheezing, “...Did I save her?” Instead of answering Rarity cradled Rainbow’s head against her chest and burst into tears. “W-whoa! Geez, Rarity, it’s not that big of a deal-” “But it is,” Pinkie interrupted. Her voice was unnaturally stern as she said, “Don’t you ever, ever do that again. Ever!” The sternness faded as she finished, “You scared us.” “Yeah, yeah, I got it,” Rainbow muttered in a don’t-care way, but her cheeks tinted pink anyways. “No more heroics.” She endured Rarity for a few more seconds before worming her way out of her grip and sitting up straight. “For either of us.” “At least not without proper discussion,” Applejack added. She leaned over to wrap one arm around Rarity with a relieved sigh. “You two scared the living daylights out of me…” “Out of all of us,” Twilight added. She scratched her chin and mumbled, “Even though I still don’t believe in magic, I was sure that circle killed you…” “Sorry.” Shaking the dust out of her hair, Rainbow wiped her face off before pausing to add, “But there’s a bridge now, at least! C’mon, at least we got that now.” Applejack punched her lightly in the shoulder rolled her eyes. “Ah suppose that’s the silver lining then.” “Let’s just wait a bit, though,” Rarity hiccuped, and pulled Applejack closer with a wail. “Yeah,” Twilight agreed. Though her headache was getting increasingly worse she refrained from complaining - after all, two of her friends had almost died, for crying out loud. What was the harm in waiting just a few minutes longer? --- Once they found their energy and the tears were mostly dry, Twilight lead the group up the stairs to the next hall. No trial appeared there, leading her to believe Rainbow had disrupted the pattern by earning her word prematurely. And instead of another staircase at the end there was a large set of double doors shut as tight as could be, just in case they weren’t certain the final battle was approaching. Pinkie made a joke about remembering to save before going in. Twilight would have laughed under any other circumstance, but she knew Nightmare was waiting for them inside and her headache was bad enough to be considered throbbing. “Let’s get this over with,” she muttered. “No, wait.” Rainbow, still mostly covered in ash, grabbed her arm with one hand and held out her other with a grin. “We gotta do our group thing.” “...What?” “Look, c’mere.” She dragged Twilight back so they formed a sort of circle and jabbed her hand into the centre. “One.” Fluttershy blinked, then placed her hand on top of Rainbow’s. “Two.” “Three,” Applejack said. “Four!” Pinkie chirped, placing her other hand in for good measure. “Five,” Rarity finished. She turned expectantly to Twilight and said, “Now you, darling.” Twilight stared, then looked at her own hand. She was the only one without a golden word on her wrist underneath - but did that matter? Without her hand there was a gap in the circle, word or not. Sighing, but smiling nonetheless, she reached forwards and placed her palm on top of Rarity’s. “Six.” Nothing spectacular happened, but it made Twilight feel a little bit better about facing down the unexplainable force her mentor had summoned. “Okay,” she said, and straightened her shoulders. “Let’s go.” In Twilight’s head they made a grand entrance - six unlikely heroes charging in to rescue the damsel in distress. Nightmare was caught off guard, Celeste rose to meet them, and the atmosphere was tense enough to cut with a knife. Really, though, it went something like this: BLAM “Wow, those opened way easier than I expected.” “Freeze motherfuckers!” “Rainbow Dash, ah told you not to start with that-” “Um, did you really need me to bring the sword, or-” “Good heavens, what on earth is that?!” Somehow managing to overlook their atrocious attempt at barging in, Twilight let her gaze fall on the focal point of the room. Once she got past the throne Celeste was sitting on and how much more solid Nightmare looked, she finally lay eyes on the reason she’d even gone on the whole adventure in the first place. There, splayed across a jet-black altar, lay Sunset. Her clothes had been changed to flowing robes of silver and dark blue, while the opposite gauntlet to Celeste’s was clasped over her hand. Twilight also noticed with a distant sort of horror that Nightmare’s shadow was still wrapped tightly around her throat. “Give her back,” she hissed. “Whatever you think you’re doing, we won’t let you!” “Precious,” Nightmare muttered at the same time that Celeste got to her feet. “Twilight, listen to me,” Celeste said. She yanked on the tie between her and Nightmare, but it was much thinner than before and barely managed to pull the demon back. “You’ve been doing so well. I’m so proud of you, but-” “Give her back!” Chuckling, Nightmare rolled her shoulders and bared her teeth in a grin. “Hurry up, sister. I think she’s trying to threaten you.” “Be quiet.” With a wince Celeste raised her gloved hand and said to Twilight, “Please forgive me for what I am about to do.” Rainbow narrowed her eyes and snatched the sword away from Fluttershy. It was a lot heavier than she expected and she ended up struggling to hold it in a very non-threatening way. “Yeah? C’mon, do your worst!” Celeste’s glove lit up with golden fire, the one on Sunset’s arm following suit. The six stones from earlier floated out of Sunset’s pockets and hovered in a circle overtop of the altar - which, while still alarming before, just served to add to the whole ‘sacrifice’ threat. Then the orange gem lit up and shot a beam of light right into Sunset’s heart. “No!” Twilight darted forwards, but it was too late. The rest of the gems fired their own lights, and together they combined in a massive flash of white that nearly knocked Twilight off her feet. Nightmare’s laugh echoed throughout the hall as the light expanded, and over the rush of wind Twilight managed to catch Celeste’s final words: “You can still win!” Then a hand reached out of the light. It was pale and unblemished, stretching towards Twilight in an almost pleading way. “Sunset?” Twilight whispered. “Close enough,” Nightmare snickered in Sunset's voice, and pressed the tip of her finger against Twilight’s forehead. Immediately the dull pain of her headache blossomed into a hammering underneath her skull, and everything became too much - too loud, too stressful, too dangerous. Twilight could only let out a soft cry before her mind gave out and everything sank into darkness.