//------------------------------//
// The Eve of Twilight 
// Story: My Brave Pony: Starfleet Nemesis 
// by Scipio Smith 
//------------------------------//


The Eve of Twilight




Eve stood in a cavernous hollow deep below the surface of Luminoth. It was not exactly a cave, not being a natural formation. Rather it had been carved out of the rock by Titan long ago, a control centre for the awakening of his mechanical army. For that reason it was not dark, rather the light from the lava flows that fell from faucet-like holes high in the cavern walls down to drain-like pools in the corners, provided illumination in a glowing orange hue to light up the whole room.

Closer to Eve herself as she stood at the arcane control panel, the light of Twilight Sparkle's soul glowed a bright and pulsing lavender, providing her with additional light for which she had, quite frankly, never asked.

"Twilight Sparkle," Eve said. "This thing, it...it says it's name is Twilight Sparkle."

"It is very de-ponifying don't you think?" Raven asked, with an undisguised smirk. "Unless you think she's lying. Which she isn't, by the way. What you hold in your hand really is the immortal soul of Twilight Sparkle."

Eve blinked, as her gaze flickered between Raven and the gem in her hand. "What is this? How?"

"That is a soul gem," Raven explained. "And how...after Twilight died her soul was...intercepted, shall we say, on her journey to...to whatever lies beyond this vale of tears. Intercepted, and imprisoned in said soul gem which you now hold in your hand."

"Why?" Two asked. "Why do something like that? You told us yourself, you killed Twilight because you feared what she knew and what she might do, so why take the risk of keeping her alive?"

"Because there is power in the soul of a pony, and in the soul of a great mage even more so," Mysterious declared. "We were loathe to allow such a potentially valuable resource to go to waste."

"Resource?" Eve asked.

"You can feel it, can't you?" Raven asked eagerly. "You can feel the power pulsating within the gem. All of that magic, all of those emotions, so much power. You can draw upon that power, if you wish. So could I, so could Mysterious, so could any unicorn...but you, Eve, you and Twilight resonate on a deeper level on account of your unique connection. You can draw on Twilight's power more efficiently than any other unicorn in the galaxy."

"With Twilight's soul gem in your possession your already prodigious abilities will be essentially squared," Mysterious explained. "You will be strong enough to face our father and prevail."

Who are you? repeated the voice from inside the gem, the voice...the voice Princess Twilight Sparkle. Why...why do you feel so familiar to me? Are you...you're Evenfall, aren't you?

Eve's eyes widened. "She knows who I am?"

"Did you tell her?" Raven asked.

"No!"

Raven's eyebrows rose. "Fascinating."

"Is she going to keep talking?"

"Yes," Mysterious said. "She was dormant, asleep if you will, but she is awake now and the more you draw upon her power the more alert she will become. Take care, she may try to reach out to her friends.

My friends? What are you going to do to them? There was a spike of energy from the gem that stabbed into Eve's palm, making her wince in pain.

"How is she doing this?" Eve demanded.

"You hold in your hand the greatest mage since Starswirl the Bearded, you can't be surprised that she can rattle her cage," Mysterious said. "She might even be able to overwhelm a lesser bearer and possess their body, but I'm sure your strong enough to avoid that."

"Possess my-"

"I won't let that happen," Raven declared, stepping forward until all others were hidden behind her. "I wouldn't agree to this if I didn't think you were strong enough to master Twilight, I wouldn't let you risk yourself if I didn't have faith in you. You need this, but if you don't want it...then smash the jewel. Right now. Crush it in your palm."

"And what will that do to Twilight?"

"End her," Raven said. "Her soul will be destroyed, cast into the void; no afterlife, no ghost, no...nothing. You hold the power of life or death in your hand."

Eve's fingers twitched, reflexively closing over the gem. "And is there...is there any way..."

"That she could come back in a more physical state?"

"Besides possessing my body," Eve said dryly.

Raven smiled. "Of course. Yes, there is a way. If sufficient energy were poured into the gem then it would give Twilight enough power to escape her confinement and reconstitute her physical form. Or a physical form, at least, the state would be entirely of her own choosing. But to give so much power...it would consume anyone who attempted it. Not something I would recommend, she was no friend to us living."

"No," Eve agreed. She threaded the golden chain on which the soul gem hung around her neck. "But nor should we fear her ghost. I will take her power, and with it save us all."

So Eve stood in the great cavern, with the ceiling high above her and the magma flows heating the air around her, with the control panel in front of her displaying, in hologram, the movement of the insecto armada as it rose into the skies to assail the Starfleet vessels in orbit.

Soon it would be time to direct the fleet towards United Equestria, and smash the heart of Starfleet's power before it could interfere with their designs, but for now...now there was Starla to take care of.

Starla and Lightning and Twilight's faithful friends. Each of them would have to dealt with. Each of them would have to...shuffled off the board and put in the box. In one state or another.

Twilight's soul flared with anger, striking out with such force that Eve moaned at the pain spiking through her head.

"Eve!" Two exclaimed. "Are you okay?"

She felt his hands upon her arm, and gently pulled away as she smiled reassuringly. "I'm fine, it was nothing."

"It didn't sound like nothing," Two said. "Is she getting to you?"

"No," she said, as much to Twilight herself as to Two. "She couldn't even if she wanted to. I'm fine, really."

He stepped back warily. "As long as you're sure."

"I am," she said. "But...thank you, for caring."

A faint smile turned up the corners of his lips. "Any time."

Eve turned away from him, and rubbed her forehead with her fingers. Don't do that again.

Or what, you'll kill me? Make me even more dead than I am already? Before your big fight with Titan?

I don't need you to defeat Titan.

Then why haven't you destroyed me already?

Eve scowled, as much as her inability to answer Twilight as anything else. Stop interrupting my broadcasts. She had been astonished that Twilight was able to do that at all. She was a disembodied soul trapped in a jewel but she was able to project her voice - no, it wasn't her voice, she didn't have a voice, but she was able to reach out with magic and distort the vibrations in such a way as to produce a simulcra of her voice to interrupt Eve's broadcasts to Lightning. They were distorted, and Eve had the impression that Twilight wasn't getting as many words out as she would have liked but still...it astonishing. She really was a great mage.

If you were on our side, your intelligence and resourcefulness would be even more valuable than your magical power.

I might be on your side, Twilight replied. If your side wasn't so terrible.

We only want to be free, Eve thought. In what way is that terrible?

Terrible is what you're willing to do to achieve that freedom! Twilight responded. You've been cruelly treated, created to be slaves, to fight and kill and die, but you're only the compounding the fault with your own cruelty! How can you not see that?

I'm defending us all against Starfleet. They'll never stop hunting us, therefore we must destroy them before we are destroyed. That's simple logic.

There's more to living than simple logic, so much more, Twilight protested. What about the innocents who will suffer when you send your armada to assault Equestria?

There are no innocents in war, only allies and enemies.

Starfleet doctrine, from the enemy of Starfleet?

Sometimes we must become our enemies in order to destroy them, Eve thought. In order to free ourselves from under the yolk of Starfleet, from under the threat and ever-present menace of their power, we must control a greater power still and-

And use it to keep the boot on someone else's neck the way the boot was upon your neck when that chip was in your head? Twilight demanded.

Eve scowled. How did you know about the chip?

You have all my memories. I'm not so lucky, but I can still catch glimpses of yours.

Then you know that my cause is just. Our cause is just.

Your cause is just, your methods are abhorrent, Twilight thought. What you're doing will make you no better than the Grand Ruler.

So be it, at last I'll be the one on top, Eve thought, with the mental equivalent of a growl. Did it honestly never occur to you that you, Twilight Sparkle, would make a much better Grand Ruler of a vast interstellar empire than he would? Instead of a cruel, mercurial despot consumed by his own follies and foibles, bloodthirsty, intolerant, arrogant...instead of all those things a wise and enlightened princess, open-minded, intelligent, industrious, brave and kind-hearted. Did it never occur to you? Don't answer that, I know the truth already.

Princess Celestia has all the virtues you've described.

Except courage. She handed Equestria over to the Grand Ruler, she handed you over to the Grand Ruler. All the ills that have since transpired, all the wrongs that you, your friends, your country have suffered can be traced to that original sin. All of this is her fault.

Don't talk about Celestia that way!

You knew what the Grand Ruler was, Eve thought. You didn't know the truth, but you knew his nature. You knew that you were better suited to the throne than he was. So why didn't you do anything about it?

Because anyone who thinks without a trace of self-awareness that they are well-suited to rule over others is the last person who should be allowed anywhere near the levers of power.

Was that a rebuke?

You can take it however you like.

Eve pouted as she studied the green readouts on the control panel. Lightning Dawn and his ship were sitting quiet for now, Twilight's friends had almost reached the first marker. And Starla's battleship had already come under attack.

Can I ask you something, Twilight? Eve thought.

I'm not in any great position to stop you, am I? Twilight thought back, and through her thoughts was able to convey her sour tone with surprising effectiveness.

Why didn't you hate Starla Shine?

There was a moment of pause, of what would have been silence if the two of them had been speaking in words, a moment when Twilight's reply was not forthcoming. What makes you think I didn't hate her?

Because I have your memories, Eve reminded her...other self? Her sister? It was hard to define the relationship between the two of them, but it was undeniable that there was a relationship. They shared the same DNA; Eve had been born of Twilight, created from her hair follicles, they were the same...and yet at the same time they were not. It was fascinating, and Eve had the sense that Twilight was fascinated by it too; it seemed that Eve had inherited some traces of Twilight's intellectual curiosity. But both of them were currently putting that curiosity to one side in the face of their respective larger concerns. I don't feel your emotions. I don't feel the love that you feel for your friends, I don't feel what you felt...but I remember. Like...echoes of something that you heard loud and clear I have traces of what you felt to go along with the things you saw, smelt, touched. I have no memories of you hating Starla Shine.

If you can remember that I didn't hate her then can you remember what I did feel.

Eve delved into Twilight's memories, memories that felt stolen now that she could converse in thought with the real Twilight. You pitied her.

Yes. And that is why I couldn't hate her.

I don't understand, Eve thought. All the things that she said and did, the way that she behaved...

She was in pain, Twilight thought. She was wounded and hurting and she lashed out at the people around her. Innocent people, yes; people who didn't deserve her ire, certainly. My friends. But although I never liked the way that she behaved that isn't the same thing as me hating her. Like I said...as you know...I pitied the way that she was, how damaged she was, how even the people who genuinely cared about her couldn't see it. I wanted to help her.

By becoming her friend?

Yes. You think I'm stupid, don't you?

I think you were a fool, and weak, Eve thought. You could have done what needed to be done. You could have made the hard choice, to seize power and wield it for the benefit of yourself and those closest to you. Instead, you wasted time looking for a path that didn't exist, trying to convince your enemies that they would be better off as your friends, and what did it get you? An early death.

Is that all? Twilight demanded. You have all of my memories, you know everything that I was and did and went through and that's what you think my legacy amounts to? That is all you can think of to sum up my life? An early grave? It doesn't surprise me one bit that you're adopting the methods of the Grand Ruler, you're every bit as blind as he is. Are you sure that you're even my clone?

What are you talking about? Eve snapped, in as much as she was able to snap mentally, anyway.

Five wonderful friends, the little brother that my parents never gave me, a life lived to the full and full of magic of a kind and power that people like you couldn't possibly comprehend! Twilight declared. Memories that I wouldn't trade for anything, even for a second chance at life; feelings so incredibly uplifting that there were times I thought my heart might burst with joy; all the lives I touched, all the people who touched my life in turn; THAT is the sum of my life, THAT is what a life lived in friendship got me and what is the manner of my death compared to that?

But you died all the same, Eve replied. You died and everything that you loved was torn down the moment you weren't there to defend it.

Twilight was silent.

No retort? No response? Are you giving up? Eve demanded. I won't make the same mistakes that you did. You may not approve of this, you may turn your nose up at my methods, but unlike you I'm going to protect my family. If I don't do this then I'll die, and I will not die, not...I will not die. I have a right to exist in this world, as myself, as Evenfall not Sentinel Three, not even as Twilight Sparkle. I have the right to exist.

No matter who you have to kill to preserve your existence?

If I tell you that I'm not going to kill your friends will you stop whining?

What are you going to do to them?

You'll see soon enough, Raven is making the arrangements now, Eve thought. Now stay quiet this time, I'm about to address them. I wonder how happy they'll be to hear your voice?