147
Equestria
The Kingdom of Tambelon
Year: 2015
9:39 p.m.
The doors exploded behind Twilight, but she didn’t turn to them.
She remained where she lay, with her hooves clutching her head as a feeble attempt to protect her mind from the piercing ring that lingered still. Despite an entire world turning around her, there was a whole other reality the Princess of Friendship was trapped in. It was a reality that was not her own, weaved only by the voice that prodded her towards his comforting light. And she was tricked in doing so. Within his light, there was only a heart of utter darkness. That was all Twilight could see.
Dark, inky blackness that consumed her the second the bell had been rung. Like an endless sea, Twilight thrown into the waves and desperately trying to claw her way above its rampant clutches. Just so she could breathe again. Just so she could see again. He offered her neither and dragged her down into the murky depths of his power and influence, the kind he proudly bolstered with every horrifying growl and whisper. Twilight did not know how far his depth could reach, or how deep his madness could take her, but she sank and sank into the darkness and saw nothing else but it.
So when Tony, Steve, and Rainbow finally burst into the throne room, all they saw was a shivering Alicorn lying in the shadows. The light of the Tesseract shone down upon her, unveiling to her friends what had become of Twilight Sparkle.
“Twilight!” Rainbow cried, flying over with speeds that impressed even herself to Twilight’s side. She wrapped her hooves comfortingly around the Alicorn’s withers and neck and pulled her from the stone floor. Rainbow brought her forth so Twilight’s expression met her own. Tears filled her eyes and painted her cheeks. Her irises shimmered like bright red jewels under the half-lidded gaze. Rainbow could have sworn she even saw a pale yellow begin to swarm within her eyes and consume the white.
Panicked upon seeing a lack of realization from her best friend, Rainbow raised her hooves and clutched the sides of Twilight’s cheeks, her head, and anything so her eyes could meet Rainbow’s. So that all Twilight saw was a friend. She whispered cautiously to her, the Pegasus trembling over her own words. “Twilight, i-it’s Rainbow. It’s Rainbow, it’s me, o-okay? Okay… look at me, Twi. Look at me.”
The words were a lifeline and Rainbow Dash didn’t even know it. They were a light within the sea of black that aroused Twilight’s conscious one last time. So much so that the Alicorn felt a burst of adrenaline fill her heart and veins. The blackness that clouded and choked her could no longer contain the power that fueled the Princess of Friendship. She crawled. She swam. She fought with every last beating sense of strength in her heart and soul as the darkness faded and light was her greeter at long last. She embraced those words that called out to her, her own name spoken to Twilight in a calming, friendly, and truly recognizable way.
Twilight’s pupils widened. She blinked once, and the yellow was cleared from her eyes. She blinked a second time, and the red in her irises had vanished, replaced with the familiar dark violet. With the veil finally cleared and the nightmarish shadows washed away, the first real thing that Twilight saw was her. Rainbow Dash’s familiar smile slowly slipped its way back onto her lips, a breath of relief leaving the Pegasus.
Twilight’s own lips trembled, her voice a shaking whisper. “Rainbow…”
Rainbow promised herself she wasn’t going to cry during the Time Heist no matter what. But after seeing the tears start to swell painfully in Twilight’s eyes, she couldn’t help but let loose a trembling exhale. Her own eyes burned. She didn’t know if she was crying or not, but she really didn’t care. She smiled and smiled to see her friend safe again.
“There you go,” Rainbow Dash whispered to her.
Before she could properly react, Rainbow was struck with an impactful hug that took her breath away. Twilight hugged her best friend with a fierceness that Rainbow hadn’t seen in many years. It rivaled that of the one they shared at the New Avengers Facility when they finally forgave one another. It rivaled a hug that was shared over several years of pent-up grief and agony. It was able to rival that. Rainbow’s smile took a turn to a concerned line of uncertainty, her hooves rising to clutch Twilight in that hug. She assured her who held her, who would always stand with her through even the darkest nights and brightest days. Twilight shivered against her, whispering words that held no meaning.
Steve Rogers witnessed Twilight’s state with a look of growing unease. Still, meeting Rainbow’s eyes at long last, Captain America nodded to her and asked, “Is Twilight okay?”
Rainbow still felt her shivering against her. “She’ll be fine,” she said, not even confident enough to meet Rogers with a stare to affirm her statement.
“She better be,” Tony Stark said, earning the eyes of the room. Especially Twilight’s. She watched with bated and horrified breath as Tony approached the lone stand in the center of the throne room. He didn’t even seem to notice the towering throne resting in the shadows. Almost like it wasn’t even there. Twilight narrowed her eyes to that, but could see nothing with the light of the Space Stone blinding her in its brightness.
Grabbing the Tesseract with his Mark 85’s metallic palm, Tony examined it momentarily before nodding fiercely. His mask materialized back to illuminate his face in the shadows. “‘Cause we are out of time,” he finished.
He turned back to them, Tesseract in hand as he approached the remaining three Avengers. He eyed Twilight specifically when he informed them, “Knights are hot on our trail. Won’t be long before they storm this room, too. You ready to jump?”
Steve and Rainbow both nodded. And after a moment of trying to maintain her reality and position within it, Twilight eventually did, as well. Moving over to join Steve in setting the right coordinates into their GPSes, Tony held out his left palm and retracted the nanobots around his hand. With his right still gripping the Tesseract, he watched as Steve put in the correct coordinates for him. Twilight was released from Rainbow’s comforting embrace. Almost instantly as she broke away, Rainbow turned to face Tony and Steve to fix her own GPS, facing away from Twilight when she shivered. When that chill raced up her spine and clouded her coat, only Twilight was able to see and experience it.
Only she was able to experience what followed next…
“No matter how far you run, how deep you hide, I will always be there. No matter of space, power, reality, time, mind, or even soul can keep the future from my reach. Not even you.”
His voice. His whisper. His sickening and utterly nightmarish tone returned and slithered around Twilight’s shoulders until it reached her ears. Her mind. Her heart. The world around her stuttered into a long, deep, echoing silence. Everything else was numb—even Rainbow adjusting Twilight’s GPS for her when the Alicorn refused to answer their cries. All she was able to experience for those brief seconds of silence was a return to that inky blackness. Those shadows beckoned to her one last time…
And she broke away. She shook her head, blinked her eyes numerous times, and breathed again. Twilight shot her eyes back to the throne, eyes wide within the darkness. Seeing nothing that time in the shadows. It was just a cold, empty throne within a cold and empty throne room. The voices of her friends came back in full force and urged Twilight to be ready with her GPS. She was. Without even turning to them, Twilight raised her right hoof and let it settle over her left. Through every pestering second, through even the countdown Rogers announced loudly, Twilight stared to the shadowed throne. Somehow believing she could wait and see something in the dark.
But there was nothing there. Just the darkness. She turned away.
“We will meet again, Twilight Sparkle. Be certain of that.”
Even as she escaped into the Quantum Realm, there was nothing there.