The land of Equestria. This world is one filled with hope, love, and harmony. But it is not perfect. For the past year and a half, evils of the past have begun to return, their seals being weakened and broken. It has only been through the friendship and power of six mares that these evils have been defeated. These mares are referred to as the Mane Six or the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony.
These six mares were the embodiment of their respective elements as well as the embodiment of friendship. They could never be broken apart. At least, that’s what everyone thought. That was until they got invited to a wedding in the royal city of Canterlot.
It was here, that the brother of the element of magic was to be wed to the princess of love, however, magic could tell something was wrong with her old foalsitter. She was mean, more so than any she had met before, and she didn’t believe it was simply stress. It is only after seeing her brother having some kind of spell cast on him by the mare, that she realized that this princess was an imposter.
Unfortunately, in her panic-induced state, worried for her brother above all else, she made the mistake of not gathering evidence, and merely accused the mare of her evil. With but some crocodile tears, the elements of harmony, her own brother, and her mentor turned on Magic, officially breaking the mare.
“She has been completely stressed out because it's really important to her that our big day be perfect! Something that obviously wasn’t important to you! Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go and comfort my bride. And you can forget about being my best mare. In fact, if I were you, I wouldn’t show up to the wedding at all.” With that, the captain of the guard, Shining Armor, walked out of the hall, leaving his little sister.
That moment continued to torment the young unicorn's mind, even an hour after she had been left alone. She wasn’t intent on moving from her spot until a pegasus guard by the name of Flash Sentry all but picked her up and lead her back to her room.
“You can’t beat yourself up like this miss Sparkle. If it is any consolation, I have been worried about the princess as well. I may not know her as well as you, but when we met, she was not like that mare.” The guard says before leaving her.
His words did little to alleviate her broken and shattered heart. Not only has she potentially ruined her former brother's wedding, but not even a second after being thrown out of his life, her fri- former friends had left her alone. Even her mentor, the wise and beautiful princess Celestia, had abandoned her. The solar diarchs words, words spoken so cold a wendigo would cringe, continued to torment her worse than any other evil she’d faced.
You have a lot to think about.
The young mare simply laid on her bed, back to the door, unresponsive to the world around her, even as two orbs of energy appear near the door. These orbs, a shining white and gold, and a twisted purple and black seemed to spin like heads, before looking towards the bed where the young unicorn lay.
‘She is hurt brother. I have never felt this much negativity in a single creature.’
‘Indeed brother. And that is saying quite a lot coming from you. Should we intervene?’
The two orbs of energy seem to converse with one another, unnoticed by the mare. After a minute, the dark orb seems to nod before fading away, followed by its opposite a moment later.
Deep in the Canterlot magic vault, the two orbs appear in a flash, the numerous magic seals failing to work for even a nanosecond against them. They look around the room before the orb of light finds an odd looking mirror on a pedestal. Atop the pedestal, is the symbol for the Element of Magic, a six-pointed star.
The two orbs go to the mirror, and their essence seems to merge with the energy in the mirror, the symbol on top changing from a star to two axes crossing another with plants growing in a circle at the bottom of the handles. The duo nod before leaving again, but not before making sure the magic in the room would be useless against the mare they intend to save from heartache.
Within the room of Twilight Sparkle, the mare continues to merely stare at the wall, unable to will her body to do anything else. She had failed. She had failed so spectacularly that she wouldn’t be surprised if her whole family disowned her and she was banished without a second thought.
She continued to merely lay there, intent of staying there forever when she hears something.
“Twilight.”
She lifts her head off of her pillow and slowly traces her eyes over the room. These rooms were made to be almost soundproof, so the noise could only come from one of three places. Her front door, her window, or her mind.
“Great, now I’m hearing voices.” She says with a sniffle, wiping her muzzle and eyes with a tissue. She looks around a second time before laying her head against the pillows again.
“Twilight.”
As soon as she rests her head against the pillow, a new voice, sounding more aggressive than the first speaks. This was odd, there was nopony there. She was alone in her room, wasn’t she?
“H-Hello?” She says cautiously, getting out of her bed and to her hooves. “Is somepony there?”
“Twilight. Follow.”
Looking to her double doors, Twilight sees a small amount of light bleeding through the cracks at the bottom, the one on the left being gold and the one on right side is dark purple. Confused and curious, she went to the doors and opened them up, finding an empty hallway.
“Huh?” She looks around in confusion before her eyes seem a small purple orb floating at the end of the hall. As soon as she left her room, the ball floated around the corner.
‘What the hay?’ At first, she planned on going to look for a guard, but then thought against is as she thinks Celestia informed the guards to ignore her now. Shaking her head, she listens to the voice from before and follows after the orb.
As she turned the corner she saw the orb go around, she sees a different orb, this one being a gold and white before it turns down another corridor. She raises a brow but continues to follow the orbs.
At the end of each corridor, one of the orbs would be visible before floating down another hallway, clearly leading her somewhere. Twilight was so invested in following these odd orbs, she ignored everything around, even as the guards looked to her with confusion.
She continued to follow the orbs, making note of the directions they were leading her, and realizing they are leading her to the Starswirl Tower, where the vault of magic was kept. She lived in the castle for many years, so she knew where she was heading now. Though, she was confused why these little orbs would be leading her there.
Still, despite her caution, she continued on, even as she saw the orbs open the doors to the lower levels where she has never been before. With only a moment's hesitation, she followed them still, walking down several levels before finding the two orbs floating before a large metal and crystal door.
“Why did you bring me here? This leads to the vault where the princess keeps some of the more powerful artifacts. Only an Alicorn can open them.” Twilight questions, not even trying to keep the venom from her voice as she mentioned her former mentor. The two orbs simply float up, towards where one of the locks are before glowing, Twilight sensing the magic around the door beginning to fade rapidly.
She looks with wide eyes as the door slowly begins to open, the candles lighting the room flickering a moment as the air rushes past them.
“You were saying?” The orb of darkness says, and if it had a face Twilight imagines it would be sporting a smirk at her reaction. The two orbs enter the room, closely followed by Twilight, the mare looking around the locked room in awe, seeing artifacts she believed to be only myths like a couple Alicorn amulets and dark magic tomes.
“To answer your questions, however, my brother and I are here to help you, my child.” Says the orb of light, the duo hovering next to an odd mirror on a pedestal, the symbol of two axes crossed against each other on the top. She looks at the mirror with curiosity, having never sensed the kind of magic emanating from it.
“Help me?”
“That is right Twilight. My brother and I have sensed your emotions, all the negativity you have been bottling up, even before this….incident. It isn’t healthy, and the fact that no one stood by you, only makes it worse.” The orb of light says with remorse.
“Were it permitted, I would find your so-called ‘friends’ and rip them a new one.” Twilight hears the orb takes a breath. “But this world is not our to tamper with. However, there is nothing stopping us from giving advice.”
“This world? Wait a minute. Are you saying that you two are from another world?” The mare asks in shocked confusion.
“Indeed. My brother and I are gods of our own realm, of light and darkness respectively. We spend most of our free time wandering the realms, waiting to be called upon in our world when the time is right. I believe that this world is where you would be happier.” The orb of light says, floating in front of the mirror.
“You-you want me to leave Equestria?” Twilight asks in shock.
“This isn’t an order or anything of the sort. We are merely telling you that this is an option. I have seen your memories, and those of your ‘friends’, even the princesses. You are too good for this world.”
“This world always seems to make you do the hard things for your friends and your country, while the moment you have your own problem, they brush you off. It sickens me and I am a god of darkness for void’s sake!”
Twilight looks between the two orbs, shocked at the reveal of their divinity, but even more shocked at what they are implying. She can’t just leave Equestria, the world in which she was born and raised….can she?
Twilight sits down on her haunches and does the unthinkable, she thinks long and hard about this choice given to her. If she were to leave, who would truly miss her?
The other elements have proven without a shred of a doubt they don’t care about her, her mind going back to the incident with the Gala tickets, each of her former friends wanting to go for their own selfish reasons. She then remembers all the problems of their she herself fixed, but comes up blank for a single problem of hers they have fixed in the year and a half she has known them, even making her problem worse in regards to the event dubbed ‘Lesson Zero’.
Her mind drifts to her FBBBFF, Former Big Brother Best Friend Forever, realizing she meant so little to him, he probably forgot she even existed. It would explain why she only found out about his wedding from an invite a day prior, her parents probably had to remind him of Twilight’s existence. The more she thought about it, the less upset she became that she might have ruined this event.
Her mind leaves her blood family, and to the mare that used to make so much to her, the solar princess, Celestia. That mare was the reason she wanted to learn all she could about magic. When she saw her as a filly, watching her raise the sun itself, the giant celestial body only being moved by her for the last thousand years, it was an inspiration.
But the more she thought about it, the more she began to think Celestia saw her not as a student and friend, but as a tool and even a weapon. The Summer Sunset celebration a year and a half ago only adding to this fire of thought. Celestia knew that her sister would be freed and sent Twilight to that town to make friends with the other element bearers, but if she knew, why didn't she tell her?
And who is to say that Celestia didn’t force the mares to be there in the first place. She clearly knew who it was, so she knew they would have to be in that town for the celebration. For the first time in her life, Twilight questioned how many strings the solar princess was pulling. How many lives has she manipulated to get the six of them to that point?
She began to growl the more she thought about it, picturing Celestia with a chess board representing all the ponies that could have been the elements, her friends and herself were nothing more than literal pawns in her game. Who’s to say they were the first, just how many pawns has she let be destroy, killed, and captured for her to find the six of them?
As she thought about all the things she has done for the pri- that mare, her mind landed on three individuals. Spike, Night Light, and Twilight Velvet.
The young drake was still a child, even by pony standards, only having turned twelve a month ago. He only left with the other because of peer pressure and fear of rejection. He would miss her.
Her parents had told her once that they had tried to visit her in the castle numerous times, but the princess had stopped them with some excuse, like she was in the middle of practicing her magic or that she was taking care of Spike. This fact just made her anger for the solar diarch grow. Her parents had wanted to visit many times, but they could not argue with the princess. They would miss her as much as before.
But as she tries and tries to think of anyone else, she comes up blank. Sure, there were many in Ponyville that she would consider her friends, or at least close acquaintances, but none would truly miss her. They were all content to go about things in their normal lives, Twilight only having changed maybe one or two lives, like how she helped Lyra and Bon Bon come out to the world about their relationship.
She blinks her eyes a few times, not having realized she was crying, a puddle had formed at her hooves. She wipes her face with a hoof, looking back to the mirror. She had figured out from the way the orbs, the gods, spoke that this was a portal to their world. A new world. A fresh start.
Getting to her hooves and earning the attention of the two gods, a couple questions form in her mind.
“How long was I sitting here for?” She questions first, stretching her numb legs.
“About an hour and a half. I have never seen any creature sit in one spot and think about something so intently before, not even in schools.” The God of Darkness says, his brother nodding.
“So, if I enter that world, what will happen to me?” Twilight asks, looking over the mirror.
“If you go through it, your body will change to that of a species that will suit the world's design. You will no longer be a quadrupedal unicorn pony. What you do with yourself afterwards, that will entirely be up to you.” The God of Light states.
Twilight nods before looking towards the orbs again with puppy dog eyes. “Will, I ever see you two again?” That seemed to catch the duo off guard as they looked to one another, before nodding, their glow becoming brighter, to the point Twilight has to look away.
Once the glows begin to die down, Twilight is met with an odd sight. The orbs have changed, now taking on the silhouettes of ponies, Alicorns to be precise. They didn’t have any true details, merely taking the forms of Alicorns. The duo walked towards the young mare and wrap their new wings around her in a hug.
“In our time as gods, we have met many who worship and many defy us. But you are the third, that see us as anypony else. As we said before, you are really too good for this world, my child.”
“I wish we could have met under better circumstances, but it was great to meet you nonetheless, Twilight Sparkle. We may never truly meet again, but know we will always watch over you, for you have earned our respect with your purity.”
Twilight smiles as she allows herself to be enveloped by the gods before her, enjoying their protective wings around her, before they step back, releasing their young friend, and begin to vanish. In but ten seconds, there was no trace either of them was ever there. Twilight wipes her eyes again and looks to the portal mirror, the image of the axes almost looking like a sign of safety.
Steeling her resolve, and taking a deep breath, the unicorn mare Twilight Sparkle walks forward, through the portal mirror. Unknown to her and the gods, this was going to be a new beginning in more ways than one.