//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: Equestria Girls: The Inner Twilight // by Time Agent pony //------------------------------// "Where are we?" Twilight asked, as Doctor Fate helped her to her feet. "We're nowhere," Doctor Fate replied, "its as simple as that." Suddenly Twilight realised something. "Where's Midnight?!" she asked, franticly, "WHERE IS SHE?!" "It's always Midnight," a voice interrupted, "Midnight, Midnight, Midnight." "That voice....," Twilight said, in shocked horror, "I know that voice." "That's the voice you encountered in Scientropolis?" Doctor Fate asked, "the one you told me about?" Twilight nodded. "Oh, Twilight help me," the voice continued, in a childish tone, "save me, save me from the big bad darkness." "OK ENOUGH!" Twilight shouted, "I have had enough of your taunting and belittling! You've already destroyed parts of my dream worlds! But this ends here!" "Oh so thats the way you want to play?" the voice answered, "fine." Shortly after that, a humanoid shape seemed to form out of the void and approached the two. Twilight's eyes opened wide in shocked surprise, the figure in front of her and Doctor Fate looked like Midnight Sparkle, only coloured black. "Well," the figure smiled, "you asked and so here I am." "Who are you?!" Twilight demanded, "and what have you done with Midnight?!" "I am getting so sick of hearing that name," the figure replied, an annoyed tone in her voice, "but to answer your first question, I'm a shadow of your true inner self, I'm....." "No," Twilight retorted, "you're nothing like me, I would never say something like that about Midnight." "Would you though?" the figure asked. "WHERE. IS. MIDNIGHT?!" Twilight demanded. "Midnight," the figure growled, "Midnight, Midnight, Midnight why do you care about her?! SHE ISN'T EVEN A REAL PERSON!" "Don't say that!" Twilight yelled, "she is one of my friends, she sacrificed herself to save me, SHE IS VERY MUCH ALIVE!" "Then what about me?" the figure uttered, " I am you after all, I'm alive." "You are nothing but a bad dream," Twilight responded, "you are nothing like me or even a part of me." The figure began to laugh, "Well, if thats the way you feel about me," she smiled, "so be it." The darkness around the figure began to envelop her. "I've got a bad feeling about this," Doctor Fate muttered. Suddenly the darkness around the figure dissipated, revealing a nightmarish sight. The figure had transformed into a monstrous form, a terrifying fusion of all Twilight's dreams and nightmares "I am a Shadow Twilight," the beast declared, "I am your dark side, the true inner self." The black void began changing rapidly to all the past locates Twilight and Doctor Fate had been to. Shadow Twilight began to circle them, "you act all smart and nice, but really you're terrified your friends will leave you," Shadow Twilight continued, her voice now sounding like multiple people speaking a once. Twilight sank to the floor, tears in her eyes, "What is that thing?" she asked. "It's you," Doctor Fate replied, "the monster is not lying, that thing came from inside your heart." "No, it didn't!" Twilight cried, "that thing is nothing like me." "That's right," Shadow Twilight laughed, "keep telling yourself that." "You don't know me at all!" Twilight shouted. Without thinking, Twilight charged at Shadow Twilight, only to be slapped aside my the monster. "I know everything about you" Shadow Twilight declared, "I how feeble and weak you really are." Suddenly, screens appeared depicting bad memories from Twilight's past. "She's such a nerd," the memory of Sour Sweet laughed. "I know right," the memory Sunny Flare replied, "She's such a loser." "You're supposed to be so smart!" the memory of Sunset Shimmer said, "but did you ever think you shouldn't be messing around with things you can't control!" "You're wrong!" Twilight shouted, no longer able to hold back her tears, "YOU'RE WRONG!" Shadow Twilight prepared to attack Twilight again, only to be blasted back by Doctor Fate. "Remember what I told you, Twilight," he called, "the most power weapon in the dream world is the mind." "You're right," Twilight nodded, "I can't let what she's saying get to me." Thinking fast, Twilight conjured up dream versions of her friends. Suddenly Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Sunset Shimmer appeared out of nowhere. "It's Hero time!" Dream Rainbow Dash cried, with that, the Dream Rainbooms all rushed towards Shadow Twilight. Followed Shortly after, by Twilight conjuring up a sword and joining the battle along with her dream friends. "I will beat you!" Twilight said, "you're an infection, me and my friends are the cure." "YOU CAN'T STOP ME!" Shadow Twilight roared, releasing a shockwave that throw Twilight and her dream friends off of her. "I don't understand," Twilight said, as Doctor Fate help her to her feet, "it's like when I try to fight that thing it gets stronger." "It's like I told you," Doctor Fate responded, "that thing came from inside your heart." "No, it couldn't have," Twilight insisted. "In the back of your mind," Doctor Fate said, looking Twilight in the eye, "you've sometimes had those feeling of being abandoned, haven't you?" "What?" Twilight asked. "I mean you used to have them," Doctor Fate continued, "not that you still do have them." "Yeah," Twilight nodded, "I guess deep down inside I've worried that the friends I've made at CHS, I sometimes worry that in the future we will drift apart." "But you don't let those feelings overtake you?" Doctor Fate asked. Twilight nodded, "I may have those feelings but they're a part of me, and in the end I have faith that our friendship will last for forever." The moment Twilight said that, Shadow Twilight froze and her monstrous form began to flicker. Twilight, seeing an opening, moved in along with her dream friends. Before Shadow Twilight could react Twilight and her dream friends hit her with an almighty attack, reverting Shadow Twilight back to her original form. "So thats a part of me," Twilight said, as she looked at the defeated Shadow Twilight. Doctor Fate nodded, "No tree can grow to heaven unless its roots reach hell." Twilight gave Doctor Fate a confused look. "It's more human," Doctor Fate explained, "so to speak, to have a dark side and integrate it rather than reject it." "I understand," Twilight acknowledged. She approached Shadow Twilight and helped her to her feet. "You're a part of me," Twilight said, softly, "and I'm a part of you, when you get down to it all of this is me." Shadow Twilight smiled, "You have no idea, how long I've waited for you to say that," she responded. With that, Shadow Twilight walked into Twilight and disappeared. Everyone stood in silence, for a while. Suddenly Midnight Sparkle reappeared. "What happened?" Midnight asked, "is it over? Wheres Shadow Twilight?" "Its ok," Twilight said, hugging Midnight with tears of joy streaming down her face, "its all over now." "Well done, Twilight Sparkle," Doctor Fate smiled, "you have faced your other self." "Thanks," Twilight replied. "So," Midnight spoke up, "what happens now?" "Now," Doctor Fate answered, "we must leave, I think Twilight has been asleep long enough." "Before that," Twilight interjected, "there are somethings that need restoring." Doctor Fate nodded, he understood.