Midnight was bored. Who knew science could take so long? Twilight wasn't much help either as she had wandered off to another room a while ago now.
With a hiss, one of the side doors opened and Twilight walked out with a scowl, one Midnight knew meant something was up. "What's wrong?" She asked as Twilight turned toward the door.
Twilight sighed. "We are missing one last piece of D.N.A. I need to make a trip to the last place I thought I would ever see again."
"And where's that?" Midnight asked.
"Tartarus," Twilight replied, smiling darkly. "Luckily I know the donor is still alive, and I am going to enjoy taking it from her more than should be legal."
Now Midnight was really lost. "How the hay are you going to find it? No one knows where the entrance is. Heck, most think Tartarus is a myth."
Twilight giggled. "Oh, it is very real. I have been there. Twice in fact. Not by choice either time, I might add. I still remember where the entrance is even now."
"And if she doesn't want to help?" Midnight asked.
Twilight chuckled. "She does not have a choice in the matter," she replied as her horn ignited. "I will be back in a little while Middy, don't worry."
Midnight rolled her eyes as Twilight vanished in a flash of teleportation. "It's my job to worry about you, you big goof," she chuckled.
For all her confidence, Twilight knew she was taking a big gamble by doing this. She didn't know for sure if this would work at all if she was being honest. Getting to Tartarus was simple. After their last misadventure there, she had memorized all there was to know about the realm. Unfortunately, Luna hadn't been very specific about the spot she had left her in. Nopony had ever thought it would matter.
Yet here she was, nonetheless, hoping to find one cage in particular among the countless here. Past the gates though, Twilight found the first signs that something was very, very, wrong.
She stared up at the giant skeleton before her in shock and horror. Even after so long she recognized the form. It was Cerberus, or what remained of him. Just bones now. By the looks of it, he had just laid down and died peacefully. "How? Why? What happened that would cause this?" Twilight whispered.
A clinking sound drew her attention beyond Cerberus's remains, and her ears drooped as she walked around the skeleton. Rows and rows of cages stretched off into the gloom. Inside each was a form. Some Twilight knew and some she didn't.
Each and every one of them was nothing but a pile of bones now, their manacles still clasped around their limbs. None had escaped their cages. As Twilight walked past the cages, her sorrow rose. Whatever they had done to be here, this was no way to die. Seeing the empty cages also worried her that she had come here for nothing, but still, she kept going. She had to know for sure.
In the end, she was proven right. In a far corner, she found who she was looking for. And one she was not at all happy to see. "Well, well. The high and mighty Princess Twilight has come to see us. I almost feel honored," Tirek sneered.
Twilight bit back a retort as she glared at the centaur. "Keep quiet Tirek and you might live. I have no time for you."
Tirek was taken aback. That was not the response he expected, and the tone she used? There was an icy cold hardness behind it that had not been there before.
Twilight though finally noticed his companion, still young and prim. "Hello Cozy. This makes things easier."
Cozy Glow glared back at her. "What do you want?"
Something in that sentence finally broke Twilight's resolve as she glared back. "What do I want? I want to throw both of you at the mercy of the radwastes. I want to throw both of your useless carcasses to the rad wolves and be done with it!" She took a step forward. "You know what I see in both of you? I see the shades of the Equus that was, the dream that was. I see a past I have tried to forget!" She shook her head. "What do I want? I want the Equus we knew back. The good and the bad. I do not want to be here," she sniffed.
Tirek and Cozy shared a confused look. What did she mean by all that?
Twilight soon steadied her breathing as she conjured up a needle and floated it over to Cozy. "But that's beside the point. I only need one thing here." Before Cozy could react, Twilight stuck the needle in a leg. Cozy winced at the poke, but in a moment the vial was full and was removed while she rubbed the spot.
Twilight smiled as she turned and began to leave. "Thank you."
"Is that it? A vial of blood was all you needed? How pathetic. What about us?" Tirek asked.
Twilight stopped. "What about you?"
"You are just going to leave us down here? That's not very friendly. What changed?" Cozy asked.
Twilight bit her lip. What had not changed was the better question. "Everything changed Cozy. Equestria is dead and the rest of Equus is not much better. I mean to change that."
"And your first idea is to leave us to die like the others?" Tirek asked. "What would your fellow princesses think? What would your friends think?"
Twilight didn't respond for a time. Both Tirek and Cozy could see her body shaking, but from what neither could tell. Without warning, Twilight's horn ignited with new power as she turned around and unleashed her magic on both of them. Instead of pain though, both felt their shackles unclasp and fall to the ground. Tirek also felt his strength return as magic flowed into him.
As the magic ended, both gave Twilight shocked looks while she dried her tears with a hoof. "I have given you enough magic Tirek to last a good long while. Long enough to find your own. Just follow this path and you'll find the exit. Past that you're on your own," she said.
Cozy finally found her voice. "Why?"
Twilight forced a smile. "Because as much as I hate both of you, you do not deserve to die down here. No one did. Do not make regret it. I am not as merciful as I once was." With that her horn glowed once more before she vanished in a flash of teleportation, leaving Tirek and Cozy Glow both confused at what had just happened, and excited at their newfound freedom.
With a pop, Twilight reappeared in the lab, startling Midnight awake at the bright light. She gave the vial a confused look. "Is that it?" She asked.
Twilight nodded. "Yeah, this is it."
As she went over to one of the machines, Midnight didn't comment on the tears she saw in her friend's eyes.
It was days like today that Twilight remembered why she hated making public speeches. In all her long life she had never felt comfortable doing so. And what she was about to say could affect the future of Equus itself. Heck, it could affect the fate of the galaxy itself.
The Primare Project was well underway, and even now her daughters slept in their gestation capsules. Given a few more months, they would be ready to come out. And Twilight refused to see the girls sleeping below as anything but her daughters. She had seen what the other path had led to. She would not see another Horus and his brothers if she could help it. Which lead to the next ongoing project. One that tied to her daughters and what she was about to do.
The Gene Seed was coming along very well. The first thousand sets were ready and only awaited a trial run in the field to test their effectiveness. But that meant there needed to be ponies to implant them in. Young mares at that. Twilight had mixed feelings on the whole matter. She was essentially turning children into soldiers.
It horrified her to some extent. But not as much as it once would have. Twilight had passed that threshold a long time ago. That had died in the Siege of the Imperial Palace. No matter what though, it still sickened her to some degree. The only saving grace, if there was any at all, was that it could not happen all at once.
Rushing their development could lead to disaster, and while she had never come across anything like the Primordial Annihilator here, Twilight wasn't going to take that chance. But she was getting ahead of herself. Again. At least that hadn't changed in her long life.
From back here, she could hear the murmur of what sounded like hundreds of ponies out in the ruins of the Crystal City. More than she had expected honestly. Midnight had mentioned that she had gotten a large following. Somehow anyway., but Twilight had never seen much of it before now. If her ears were right though, she had guessed wrong on the number.
Speaking of Midnight. Twilight let out a surprised squawk as she was pushed forward. Looking back, she found Midnight giving her a cheeky smile. "That's your cue. They won't wait forever," she said.
Twilight just glared at her. "You are enjoying this way too much Middy."
Midnight's smile just grew. "Yes. Yes, I am."
Twilight groaned in irritation. But she also knew Midnight had a point. Keeping all those ponies waiting out there was not very nice. And their whole future depended on Twilight making a good impression on them. Gulping back her panic, Twilight walked out and hoped for the best.
Well, as it turned out, Twilight had been wrong about one thing. There weren't hundreds of ponies out here waiting for her. There had to be thousands of ponies of every kind. Most were mares, with only a scattering of stallions here and there. Why that was Twilight didn't know. But it did work in her favor. Or so she hoped anyway.
As she walked out onto the platform that had been scrounged together, all eyes turned toward her. She could see in many of them hidden scars. Of what she could not tell, but it broke her heart. Many of them looked like they were or could be family. Mother and daughter, or maybe even sisters. The elder held the youngest close to them. None gave her a threatening look, but all bore an expression of some curiosity.
Most had probably never seen her in the flesh before. Some Twilight recognized for she had personally saved them from more dark fates than she cared to count. The noise died down as they all looked at her. Twilight steadied herself, biting back a gulp, and began.
"Friends. I look at the faces here and I see everything that was once good and beautiful about Equus. I see everything our world should have been." She sighed as her head bowed. "You do not know me. Even those I have helped barely know anything about me. That ends today. Yet you've followed me through thick and thin." Her tears fell, and all could see that she was holding back much more. "I have no past now. It died long ago, and my name died with it. Call me whatever you wish."
That raised eyebrows everywhere. Yet, something told them that she was being honest, and so they listened.
Twilight's face brightened as she once again looked at the crowd. "But we can give future generations a better future. So, I ask you. Will you follow me now? The road will be long and hard, and not all of us will see its end." She smiled. "But I fight to give our children a better future. One where fear is gone and the horrors of the present are nothing but a bad memory." She bowed her head once more. "I will not force any of you to follow me. I don't demand you follow me. I ask, from the bottom of my heart. You have trusted me until now. Will you trust me again?"
Twilight fell silent after that. She had said all she hoped for and what she fought for. Now, she could only wait and hope.
For a time nothing happened. Everypony shared looks of confusion and shared hushed whispers with those around them. Twilight didn't bother to listen in on them. Their reactions would speak for themselves.
Finally, one mare stood up. She couldn't have been much older than a teen. "I will."
"So will I," her companion said as she too stood.
"Me too!" Another next to them said with a happy bounce to her hooves.
That seemed to open the floodgates. One by one, they began to rise and shout their affirmation. In no time, the whole mass was on their hooves, stamping, and applauding.
Twilight felt her smile grow and her tears fall again. But now they were of joy and gratitude. "Then let those who come after us mark this moment, for it all begins here." She rose to her full height. "Today, we take back our world. Today, we rescue our future from superstition and fear. Today we give the light of hope to those who will come after us."
She spread her wings. "Today, we give Equus back its future!"
The cheer that arose could be heard over a hundred miles away, and those who heard it wondered at what it meant and the fear that came to their hearts at that moment.
Twilight could not help the goofy smile that was on her face as she looked around at all the cheering ponies. It had been far too long since she had heard that sound.
As her gaze returned to the front row, she nearly fell over in shock at what she saw. But that could not be right, could it?
There, next to all the cheering ponies, were thirteen ponies and one dragon she knew all too well. They too were cheering, maybe even louder than those around them. The tallest, her bright white coat standing out next to her ethereal rainbow mane, smiled in a way that always made Twilight's heart melt with its gentleness, as she bowed her head.
The next second they were gone, like leaves on the wind. Nopony saw them come or go. But on the wind, faint as a breeze, Twilight heard them all the same.
Good luck Twilight and remember. We will always be proud of you. Give the world the peace we never could.
Twilight's smile grew as she bowed her head and let her tears fall one last time. "Thank you and, goodbye. Princess Celestia."