//------------------------------//
// S2 Episode 14: Time Honored Truth 
// Story: JTHW: Journey To Hearth's Warming 
// by Lighttone GryphonStar 
//------------------------------//

The Sun reached its lowest point over Gelum Voce Pia. Celestia was so distracted by the fun the rest of the group was having, she hadn't even noticed.

"That's another ten points," Hermes remarked as he ripped out the dart and ran past another dart, flying nearly as fast as him. He stopped by and dropped off the dart by Rainbow Dartz before marking the points on a board they had nearby. Finally, running back over to repeat the process.

"See, this is my talent." Rainbow Dartz took another sip of his cider before throwing another dart.

"I don't think being completely drunk while throwing darts counts as a talent," Celestia commented.

"It is when I still have perfect aim, despite seeing two boards." Rainbow Dartz failed to realize his next shot was about to stab Hermes in the hand.

"What were the points on that one?" Rainbow Dartz questioned Hermes' silence.

"I don't know, the dart just vanished." Hermes's face was covered in confusion as he saw it vanish just mere centimeters from his feathers.

"Are you saying I missed?"

"No, your aim was too perfect." Celestia twirled the dart in her fingers.

Rainbow Dartz didn't question it and instead huffed in annoyance when he heard Red Steel laughing toward the trick. He turned away and looked toward the window, seeing the Sun getting low. "Huh, I guess it's getting late."

Hermes rushed by to a stop and tapped him on the shoulder. "Actually, the Sun has been completely still for ten whole minutes. It's quite weird."

A loud spit take stopped all of them. They turned to see Celestia with the reddest face. "No, no, no father will be furious with me." She jumped up and rushed outside.

Celestia rushed to the opening in the center of town where she had her tent. She stopped there and took a breath before looking around. To the left, right, front and back, she kept a close eye out of only to jump at the sight of them following her.

"What's wrong?" Hermes questioned.

"No, no, no, go back to the bar. I need to do this alone." Celestia attempted to push them away with her magic.

"Why? What are you doing?" Rainbow Dartz questioned. "You better not be leaving as she did."

Celestia dropped her magic at his words, but still held a defensive stance. "You can't see this."

Red Steel walked forward and stopped right in front of her. He placed his hand on her shoulder and smiled before bowing. This action caught the other two completely off guard. Red Steel turned to the others and, without ever needing to say a word, sat down and they followed.

Celestia looked at each of them. Though the others were listening to the voiceless words of this buffalo, she was still uneasy about this. However, the buffalo gave her a nod, and she finally gave in. "Fine."

She turned toward the Sun and lit her horn brightly with yellow magic. In the sky, the Sun glowed with the same color. She moved her horn downward, and the Sun followed suit.

The three gasped at her actions and power. Under her breath, she whispered, "This is my power, but is it as well as your Twilight Sparkle?" her eyes fell upon the towering crystal hand in front of them and smiled. "Just what gave you such power?"

In the distance, more figures watched them. The sight of her moving the Sun with such ease was both shocking and so scary to these figures. Rage only grew more in their eyes.

******

The Sun's light waned over the unicorn capital, gracing its mirror walls with purple and orange light that shined back and forth through each building, making each one shine brighter. This acted perfectly as a nightly light for the city, even as the sun faded from sight.

Lady Cat carried Adagio to the Titan Airship. The little siren had such a great day, best shown by her poor attempts to fight off a heavy yawn.

"Calm down, little one," Fredricson commented as he opened the airship. "You can have more fun tomorrow."

"Fun? It would be fun if my sisters were here," Adagio puffed.

"I'm certain we will find them soon, honey." Lady Cat walked through the opening and to Adagio's room. She carefully placed the filly on to the bed and pulled the covers over her before brushing her mane to the side. "For now, you need to get some sleep."

"No, no, no," Adagio struggled, "I want a story first, then. Grandpa always told us a story."

"Eye, but you didn't ask for one yesterday, or the day before that." Fredricson adjusted the covers. "Why would ye want one now?"

"Because it would make me feel closer to my siblings," the little filly was quick to explain.

"Fine, I know of a tale. Be a credible tale indeed." He waved his finger at Adagio before poking her in the nose. "About a once mighty lord named Sir Sereal Platinum and the love he had for his daughter."

******

Deep within the castle, Twilight yawned and stretched as she walked to the room she had been given. She mentally facepalmed herself for her earlier ignorance. Previously, she had been so busy being worried about this day's actions that she didn't even try to study the room she had been given. She took a mental note to remember to grab out a notepad in the morning.

She was glad that the princess allowed her to go to her room with no guards following her. She figured that the food must have calmed her down. However, the todeskampf couldn't be undone even in the princess's happiest of moods.

Twilight just had to get past two more turns and her room would be in sight. Soon, though, she came upon a fork in the path. She looked both ways before going down the right way. However, she was stopped at the sound of splashing.

She walked back and looked through the left way. At first, she saw nothing, until another splashing sound made her narrow her eyes. She saw another turn in the distance and smoke coming from it.

Curiosity twisting her arm, she took the left turn all the way to the new turn. She saw this one led to an opening to two more turns and a door in the center. She noted the smoke was coming from the door. She lifted her nose and took in the smoke.

It wasn't fire or ash, instead; it emanated from daisies and daffodils. She walked closer and took in a deeper smell. Next was the smell of soap and candles. She jumped back at a voice from behind the door.

"We shouldn't be doing this... again."

She grasped as it, sounded so familiar. She walked right up to the wall and lit her horn with magic. Using an altar vision spell, she slowly peeked through the wall. It was an enormous bathroom. Inside was the naga, Dim Dusk, sitting down.

She figured it was his voice she heard, but to whom he was talking to only perplexed her. However, it took her a long minute to realize that he only had a towel covering his very naked body. But this wasn't what made her eyes grow wider.

The splashing sound returned and out of the rather large tub of thick bubbles was a very naked Princess Platinum.

"Please, join me," Princess Platinum pulled at his arm.

"No... Mira, you need to be ready for the battle tomorrow."

“What? I can’t have some fun with my loyal guardian, first.” Princess Platinum almost purred. The mare pulled the naga closer.

Twilight jumped and covered her mouth to hide her gasping at the sight of the princess locking a deep kiss with the naga.

“The battle could be dangerous.” The naga pulled back. “You should be resting.”

"Dangerous," Mira laughed at his words. "You forget yourself." She pointed her hand at him as if she was holding her rapier. "I am the ruler of this land. I can't simply hide from danger."

"Yes but," He was stopped as she leaned down placing her breast against his chest. The mare took one arm around the back of his neck, locking him in another kiss.

“Yes, really, I should be relaxing.” She traced her fingers through his back frills. "But would that ever stop this reckless streak?"

Dim Dusk pulled back again and looked to a small window. “No, it would never.”

Twilight knew even from this maze of a castle that window could only face the garden. Was something stopping him? She questioned. Liting her horn a darker, more maroon color, she looked at his head. She saw thoughts bubble into an old memory. She sat down and calmed her mind to listen.

A new spell charged out from her horn. The world around Twilight slowed so that though the memory only lasted a moment for Dim, it was longer for her, so she could perfectly grasp what was happening in his thoughts.

******

The naga's mind moved back many years ago to a much younger version of himself. Twilight watching this all narrowed her sight on him. In this time, he was no younger than ten years. This shocked her, for he was fully clothed in armor and even already had a few battle scars.

The young naga stood in front of a door in silence. His hand had been attempting to reach for the knob, but hesitation grip tightly to his arm.

"There he is again." A small whisper passed as two nurses walked by. "Still unable to face his master."

"What do you expect?" the other nurse spoke softer. "After putting her in such dangers, how can he face her now?"

Their words stung through his chest, making his reach feel even harder. It was like his hand was as heavy as a massive lead pipe. Moments passed as he gritted his teeth, more shameful words passed by from others.

"He should just give up."

"There is no way his master could ever look at him the same way."

"He should just leave."

"He is as worthless as the previous guardian."

Each line piecer his pride like a knife before twisting multiple times with each successive line. Finally, he dropped his hand and turned away from the door. Hearing the sighs of relief only brought more shame.

"Stop Dimitri." A voice broke through the fog of doubt.

He turned to see a white unicorn stallion clad in royal armor and a snowy white cloak. He quickly bowed at the sight of him. "I'm sorry, Sir Sereal Platinum."

Twilight's sight of the memory nearly loosened at the sight of Sereal as this stallion perfectly matched the statue in the garden. Not even a wrinkle was out of place. It was as if the statue had been carved just days after or before this event.

"Raise yourself." The lord waved his hand over him. "You need to stop comparing yourself to your father."

"But I failed again."

"He failed many times in protecting me, my father, and my grandfather and his father. Your family has been protecting mine ever since my ancestor saved your clan from the evil tentacles of Thule." Sereal turned toward the door. "It's not your fault, you first charged turned out to be as much of a defiance as her mother." He opened the door with no hesitation. "Come on, I'm sure my little girl misses you."

"..." His fist tightened, but he relented none the less. "Fine."

Inside, a little Mira Platinum laid resting on a bed. Three different IVs hooked up to her. These led to three different pouches. One, red obvious to be blood, another clear, more obvious to be water, the third, which was nearly empty, was maroon and far thicker.

Twilight was perplexed as this maroon liquid looked to be the same hue as the liquid Starlight told her she had been puking during the transformation she nearly achieved not but eleven days ago.

Sereal looked at this maroon one, and a sad frown crept through his smile for only a moment. "Don't worry dear, Dr. Pr. Halo's allies provided me with more." He reached into his cloak and pulled out another one. He placed it beside a stack of full ones ready to be used.

Dim looked at the stack and finally gave a small chuckle. "You were right to always keep the extra bashes on standby."

"There, see." Sereal looked at Dim and patted him on the head. "I knew you could smile at things."

"Yeah..." Dim looked to Mira, and the sadness returned.

Twilight was as the princess, looked far different from her modern self. Mira was so frail, her fur was barely hanging on. Over her arms, black lines traced. This was certainly a unique disease that Twilight was completely unfamiliar with. What made things even stranger was the fact that the modern version had no signs of ever having this sickness.

"She is only five..." Dim attempted to look away.

"Yes, yet even at this age this disease won't dare kick her down."

Dim looked to his lord, hoping those words would bring more hope. However, Sereal only kept his eyes on his daughter. The lord's smile was the only hope in sight, as deep within his eyes was far more sadness than Dim could ever compute. Dim turned away and gritted his teeth again. "If only I hadn't let her go outside."

"Don't you dare!" Sereal's voice raised only once. It was the first Dim ever heard it raised. Which is why it wasn't surprising that the naga jumped back in fear.

"I won't always be around." Sereal's voice softened once more than he took a seat. He took his daughter's hand and gripped it tightly. "So, don't you dare stop spoiling her? Give her everything she desires, no matter what it might be. She needs so much of it." 

"Of course, my lord." Dim lowered his head and took a seat. The two sat quietly and listened to the heart monitor.

Twilight turned away from the memory as it faded. She opened her eyes and time resumed in the real world.

******

Only nanoseconds had passed for everyone else. Twilight took a deep breath and weakened her horn's power back to alter sight and continued to watch them.

"What we have... what we are..." Dim attempted to speak.

“That’s never stopped you before.” Mira's free hand reached down to his towel. "Please..." Her hand reached into the towel and Dim's face jerked forward. The princess bit at his lips before removing his towel and motion her arm back and forth. He jerked once more. She broke the kiss and hummed with delight. "Spoil me!" With that, she pulled him into the tub and they were both consumed by the bubbles.

Twilight dropped her magic and turned away from the wall, perfectly fine to leave them to their privacy. She walked back to the fork and took the right turn this time.

She got about halfway before crashing into Starlight. The two tumbled away from each other. Twilight blinked a few times before raising her hand up to Starlight and pointing at her in an annoyed motion. "What are you doing here?"

"Shush, shush," Starlight attempted to gain control of the situation. "I'm here to help--" However, Starlight was quickly silenced by the magical grasp of Twilight.

"Don't shush me. I am your teacher." Twilight pointed upward in a commanding pose. "A student is to listen, not silence. I never did such a thing with Celestia."

Starlight gave a deadpan to Twilight's accidental jump into ultra teacher mode and let her speak her mind for a moment before pulling off the magic and grabbed her mouth shut. "Okay, enough boasting, Ms. Best Student." Starlight turned over to look behind them and then in front of them to ensure no one heard them. "I have just been spying around, like you. Gathering notes as any excellent student would." She floated a notepad over.

Twilight silently cheered before puffing them into her room. The two landed in the room. Twilight didn't hesitate to give a normal cheer for Starlight once they were safe. "I'm so proud of you."

"It's nothing, really." Starlight attempted to shrug it off. "Besides... you might be dead tomorrow. I need to think ahead." The unicorn mentally slapped herself for that last comment.

"Good thinking Starlight." Twilight padded her on the shoulder.

"What?" Again Starlight was dumbfounded. "That's all you have to say about..." She raised her hands to emphasize, "My attempts to stop your impending fate?"

"And thank you for that. Now let me see those notes." Twilight didn't bat an eye at those words and looked over the notes.

Again, Starlight was at a loss for words. Her teacher was showing no sign of fear at all. "Are you sure there is nothing else you need to say?"

"Hmm," Twilight continued to read as if she didn't hear a word. "Three meters by four meters arena... And you even covered the depth of the arena's indent in the ground. Six centimeters..."

"Yes, I've handled a few magical battles of this caliber before." Starlight's own boasting was showing now.

"But this is useless in understanding Mira."

"Mira?"

"Princess Mira Vermillion Platinum, two-hundred-twenty-fourth heir of the Platinum regime. A regime which was put in place by H. P. Bloodcraft after he deemed the first Platinum to be a worthy opponent in battle."

"And where did you learn all of that?" Starlight sarcastically asked.

"I read all that before we first landed."

Starlight facepalmed herself for real this time before grabbing Twilight by the shoulders. "How is that more useful than battle tactics against a mare who wants to kill you tomorrow!" She shook her teacher a few times, hoping the distress would finally get to her.

"That's just it. None of this stuff will help me understand why she won't kill me."

Starlight's eyes went wide and for a moment her mind flashed back to her spying days and her failed attempts to get information out of a certain pink pony. "Stop channeling your inner Pinkie Pie and listen, the princess of the unicorns is going to kill you."

"No, I know she won't." Twilight snapped at the Pinkie Pie remark and gave a more determined look.

Seeing the honesty and hints of Applejack in Twilight's sole working eye made the unicorn finally relent and let go of the alicorn. "Fine, what makes you think this?"

Twilight sat back and took a deep breath. Even though deep within her she was very certain about this, she still needed extra confirmation so they could confront her actual fears about tomorrow. "We need to mind-meld."

"Wait, what?" Starlight was completely dumbfounded by this answer more than any other. "Why?”

"Just trust me, I need a confirmation." Twilight placed her hand on Starlight's forehead and connected their minds through magic.

In the shared mindscape, an image of a giant vulture appeared. "Realta told me that my previous incarnation existed in this timeline. That one of the biggest things I need to learn about while here was about her, Twilily." Twilight's voice echoed. "Though I've come to understand that she might not even be born yet and my true mission is to simply learn from her parents."

"Obviously, though I'm not even sure if Rex and Clover are her parents. Heck, I'm not even sure if they are banging yet." Starlight's words made Twilight's face flush red. "But what does that have to do with Princess Platinum?"

"It all falls on something that happened where my part of the journey began..." A memory formed in the mindscape and Twilight and Starlight entered it.

******

Twilight and Starlight found themselves surrounded by forest, standing on a path familiar but not. Starlight walked over to the trees and though this wasn't from her own memories, the image was so perfect that she could even smell the scent of each leave as they fell.

"Wait, this is the Smokey Mountains, just south of the Unicorn plains." Starlight noted. "I knew you took notes of everything, but..." She found herself lost in the fresh smells and even the sounds of the memories.

"You didn't think I could remember all that stuff," Twilight answered her. She also looked at the land, but her face wasn't filled with happiness upon seeing this memory again. "After being away from everything I love for so long, all I can do is rely on memories."

"I..." Starlight was surprised by these words. "I'm sorry that my mess up took you so far from this."

Twilight dropped the sadness and laughed. "No, this isn't a happy memory like the ones I often dream about. This is just the perfect memory needed to give me the answers I'm looking for."

"Oh," Starlight's ears lowered.

"The proof is in the smell. You think you are smelling the pleasant scent the original place had." Twilight pointed over to a small shine in the tree. Starlight narrowed her eyes on the shine and was shocked to find it was a bottle filled with liquid. "Several of them cover each tree. They were placed here to hide the stink just beyond this land."

"What? Why?"

"Because this timeline isn't our home, but in fact, something far worse. In this timeline, this mountain range was ruled over by a mighty warrior that lived in a giant facade. Determined to keep all evils outside this land far from her sight." Twilight turned to the entrances and spotted a group walking toward them. "As you will soon see."

"Okay." Starlight followed Twilight to the side of the road as the group got closer.

Starlight was truly surprised by Twilight's actions. She was glad that her teacher was finally opening up, even if it was a little. Their venture through timelines had moved so fast before they arrived in this timeline. Though they had spent the most time in the current one, Starlight still only knew so much about the full adventure due to them being split apart during the former parts in other timelines. Twilight never once told her about the other adventures she had gone through before they found each other again.

Starlight's racing thoughts stopped at the sight of the group. Comprising a version of Rainbow Dash with a metal wing, Soarin in a wheelchair, Discord who looked far older than he used to and a past-Twilight, who was wearing the same clothes from their first confrontation just before being separated by the time portal.

The four walked down the path until stopping right in the same spot Starlight and Twilight had landed in. The Past-Twilight looked around, appearing to smell the air. She looked to where her future self and Starlight were hiding, but couldn't see them, instead she noted the bottles of liquid the smell was coming from.

"See. I note everything."

Starlight deadpanned at her teacher's word. "I can see that."

Soon the group passed them and kept going forward. Starlight and Twilight left the woods to follow the group. After a few turns, though, it was clear they were moving toward the mountains, or rather toward the inner parts of the mountain.

Starlight leaned over and asked, "Are you going to tell me why we are here yet?"

"You will see soon enough."

"Why not just tell me--" Starlight stopped at the sight of several crystals shooting out of the ground all around them. On pure instinct, she jumped out of the way.

Twilight stood still and let the crystal phase right through her. Starlight slapped herself upon remembering this was a memory. Therefore, it would affect either of them. She stopped jumping back and moved forward to catch up with Twilight and she watched her past self attempt to fight all the crystal.

The crystals moved like branches, grabbing anything they could get ahold of. Starlight tried not to laugh at the Past-Twilight's poor attempts to dodge and fight back. Discord slivering across the ground broke a few crystals before lifting Past-Twilight above the crystal.

Rainbow Dash took to the sky, flying over and grabbing Soarin lifting him up. He pressed a button on his wheelchair and blades shot out of the wheels. The two flew around, knocking the crystals back.

"Wait, why aren't you using magic?"

"There was no usable magic in this world that I knew of." Twilight answered. "The ruler of this timeline had the entirety of Equestria magic proofed. It's what forced me later to take up weaponry."

"Oh, I've always wondered about that." Starlight watched battle go on longer. The more she watch the more things became clear why Twilight was always wanting to push Starlight's knowledge of the sword.

"This is the timeline I first found myself in after falling through the time hole you opened up. In this timeline Equestria was in ruins and each of my friends was leading separate rebel cells against the evil Nightmare Midnight."

"Nightmare... Midnight." Starlight wanted to question more about this unknown pony, but stopped when she saw the win in her teacher's eye. The fear, and most of all, the hatred. Starlight wondered if this being was connected to something else Twilight hadn't even realized yet. Starlight could ask more to prove her own theories and could follow this memory in helping Twilight, hoping something else could give her answers about Twilight's dark transformation.

Loud noises coming from a cave just ahead of the group caught the attention of the memory travelers. Out of the cave, several large diamond dogs ran out and slowly surrounded the group. Their weapons raised and ready to join in.

Discord dropped Past-Twilight to the ground and raised his hands in surrender. Rainbow Dash and Soarin, seeing the pointlessness of the fight, chose the same route.

The diamond dogs lowered their weapons. The ones nearest to the front moved out of the way. Out of the caved walked a unicorn in a white ever flowing dress. Starlight was shocked to see it was the same style as the dress that Princess Platinum had worn to the dinner she had with Twilight and the others. She had yet to tell Twilight that she had been spying on them since hearing of the death battle and watched the whole dinner go down. Did Twilight know this though? Is this why she was showing her this?

Her Teacher raised up her hand and pointed to the mare as the memory came to a halt. "Tell me, who does that look like?"

"I'm not sure." Starlight couldn't see the mare's face, for it was covered in a veil. In fact, all the mare's flesh was hidden from sight.

The unknown mare waved over her army of diamond dogs. “So it seems, dearie, you want your death now,” the mare spoke directly to Past-Twilight.

Starlight looked at her teacher as the sound of her breathing slowed. She searched her face for answers as all Twilight did was stay silent.
 
"I..." Past-Twilight attempted to speak, but confusion clouded her words.

Starlight jumped back at the scattered sounds of voices. However, she calmed upon realizing the voices were Past-Twilight's thoughts. Starlight could sense so much fear toward this mare, but this still wasn't giving her any hints about who this mare was.

Past-Twilight pushed her thoughts away and asked, “Rarity, I need to talk to Spike.”

Starlight's eyes went wide. This mare was Rarity. This thin, frail mare hidden behind an enormous dress and veil was Rarity.
 
Suddenly, the giant dragon flew out of the cave and surrounded them. “And what is it you want with me?”

Starlight's eyes went wider at the sight of the giant beast. How could this be Spike? Seeing both these beings in this timeline was a sheer wreck to the senses. She remembered back to her old spying days of watching Twilight and her friends from the shadows, hoping to defeat them. She remembers that version of Rarity well. "This can't be..." she spoke her thoughts aloud. "Rarity is a preppy bitch that loves showing off. Spike is a tiny dweeb with a crush."

Twilight laughed and froze the memory. "Really, you spied on us for months and that was your assumption? No wonder you are terrible at note taking."

Starlight crossed her arms in annoyance and huffed. "And I assume you knew them far better even when not around them."

"Well, I am their friend."

"And friends keep secrets." Starlight threw up her arms. "I bet you didn't even know Spike and Rarity shared their first kiss during the time I watched all your friends."

"That's my point." Twilight turned around to her. "I was their closest friend and even I didn't know they were dating let alone kissing."

"More of a pity kiss. Starlight shrugged. "I highly doubt they were dating in that moment."

"It's a shame you think that." On that cue, the memory resumed.
 
The Past-Twilight took a gulp and spoke up. “Spike and Rarity, this may come as a shock to you, but I'm not the Twilight you knew. They looked curiously. “I’m from a different timeline.”

“Oh, really?” Rarity summoned a chair made of crystal and sat upon it. “Prove it dear. Tell me something about me you would know and not something our Twilight would know.”

“Fine,” said Past-Twilight, as she gave another gulp. “I know you design your dresses.”
 
Rarity giggled. “Alright then now,” she stopped and looked at Spike. “Now tell me something about Spike that our Twilight wouldn’t know.”
 
Twilight took a deep breath. “Rarity, in my timeline, Spike had a major crush on you.” Laughter cut her off and tore loudly over the area.

"Well, of course they laughed at you." Starlight couldn't help but smirk, "I laughed my ass off when I saw that kiss."

"Keep watching."

“What?” Past-Twilight's jaw dropped. “Will somepony please tell me what’s going on here?” When no answer came Past-Twilight looked at Rainbow Dash and the others. They didn’t have a clue what was going on, either.
 
Finally, they stopped laughing and Rarity spoke. “Alright dear, enough jokes. Tell me, why are you here?”

In those words, the memory slowed. Starlight looked to her teacher and saw fear growing on her face the closer Past-Twilight came to speaking. Twilight reached for her throat. Starlight narrowed her eyes on an old wound, a wound that Twilight would never tell her about.

“Spike... I... want... to.. know... who... hatched... you?” The Past-Twilight spoke, making Twilight grit her teeth and let the scene play at full speed.

Instant silence fell over them all. Starlight looked over to the giant Spike, curious what his answer was and why Twilight would ask such a thing.

Upon hearing Past-Twilight’s question, Spike instantly froze and shrank to his normal height. He ran and stood by Rarity. Spike’s face was covered in absolute terror.

“Spike?” Past-Twilight said shakily.

Suddenly a strange looking crystal shot up from the ground and wrapped around Past-Twilight’s throat. The rope choked tightly to her neck. The three others looked on in shock.

“Rarity, stop this now!!” shouted Rainbow Dash.

“How dare you!” Rarity shouted as she got off her chair. “How dare you ask my beloved Spikey Wikey that question!!” Rage consumed her voice.

Past-Twilight was shocked by those words. The words started repeating and got louder and louder as the memory faded.

Starlight jumped at the sight of Twilight falling to the ground. Catching her teacher, she questioned, "Why did she try to kill you like that?"

"Not try." Twilight pushed her out of the way and waved her hand over the place where the memory was. The memory played through Rarity's words and Past-Twilight's choking over and over. "She succeed in killing..." Twilight twisted in pain as if she was feeling each choke. "Killing the old me."

Starlight pulled her over and slapped her over and over. "Stop it, stop torturing yourself." She stopped as dark magic pulsed from Twilight's horn. The two separated, and Starlight threw down her arms in defeat. "Do you even care?"

"I... I..." Twilight waved her head back and forth, letting the dark magic subside. The memories stopped and Twilight sat up and leaned against nothingness. "I'm sorry, but my answers for understanding Mira are right here. If you won't help, I'll look on my own."

"What answers!"

"That Rarity is Mira!!" Twilight finally spoke the truth.

"What?" Starlight pulled back. "Why would you think such a thing?"

"In that timeline, I was told by a stallion known simply as 'F' the truth of time travel. Truth is, things must always repeat. In that timeline, a mare that acted very similar to Mira wanted to kill me. She loved an enormous serpent that could alter his size just like how Mira loves Dim."

"Your point is based on their fetishes--" Starlight was silenced by Twilight's magic.

"Both Mira and that Rarity lived harsh and dangerous lives to protect their lands. And though it wasn't always clear, so did the present Rarity. The Rarity from our time..."

Starlight pushed free of the magic and spoke up in defiance, "I thought you knew your friends well. How could present-Rarity ever have any similarities to a tyrant and a crimeboss?"

"Because all three of them would do whatever it took to defend the ones they loved."

"How?"

"How?!" Twilight answered back in shock as images played around them. Each one, she quickly explained before letting them pass. "Manehattan, she nearly broke her mind almost letting us treat her like a slave." Another image flew by. "During the dragon migration she fought off three enraged dragons to protect Spike." Another image played. "You recall those diamond dogs, in our home timeline three diamond dogs nearly raped Rarity and she still fought them off, putting her life and even her body on the line to protect her friends. What I find most ironic was that in the alternate timeline, one of those same diamond dogs was her second in command. And was even named as the godfather of her future children."

Starlight fell back as more images played of all the good deeds and dangerous actions played through the mindscape. More and more played until finally Starlight broke the connection to the mindscape.

******

The two woke back up in the real world. Starlight jumped away and demanded answers. "Why show me all of this?"

"Because Rarity is Mira, Spike is Dim. They are the pre carnations of them, just like the yet to be born Twilily is the pre carnation of me. Which is why I'm not afraid of dying to her tomorrow."

Starlight's eyes went wide as she finally realized why Twilight was showing her all of this. "You are afraid that you might be forced to kill Mira tomorrow."

"Yes, for a reincarnation to be born the pre carnation must die."

"But, history states--"

"History is wrong!!" Twilight shouted in a rage. "History never said there was a war between the alicorns and the mortals they protected. History never spoke a single wendigo claiming to be king."

Hearing Twilight's words and actions made everything clear to Starlight. She knew she couldn't stop her teacher now. "Fine, just be careful. Please, teacher." On that, Starlight turned away and vanished in a teleport.

******

Deep in the darkest parts of the castle, two guards walked down a dusty hallway before stopping at a wall. The two looked both ways and made absolutely sure no one was watching. The two approached the wall and placed one hand on it.

The shadows of their flames flickered for a moment, making them stop. They looked around once more. The words of Clover about Rex's shadows still very clear in their heads.

The shadows did indeed flicker, so they blasted them with magic. Nothing happened, so they returned to their work. They placed one hand on the wall again and calmly spoke, "For the prominent leader of old." In those words, the wall opened to reveal a new pathway.

The two walked through with a bit more concern than before. Deep in their hearts, they knew they shouldn't be there. They stopped at the sight of a tall picture coming into the light.

They brought their torches to two tall candles that stood beside the picture and lit them. The picture became completely clear at this. It was of a unicorn mare. She was in bridal attire and wore a small crown that looked just like the one Princess Platinum wore.

"We are sorry," On of them spoke as they both lowered their heads. "She continues her recklessness."

"Dim continues to only humor her weakness," the other spoke. "All because of his own weakness to her."

They stopped their complaint and prayed for answers. The room went almost silent.

However, after an hour, it was quickly becoming more noticeable that in this quietness, footsteps could be heard. They kept praying and hope the footsteps would go the other direction, but they didn't.

Instead, the guards' eyes opened at the sounds of the steps getting louder. It was as if the footsteps were right behind them.

On instinct, the one that spoke up first turned around with his weapon in hand. It was at the ready, but not too high in case it was the princess, as he wished to not insult her even if he and the other guard were going behind her back.

He stopped at the sight of nothing. He took a deep breath to calm himself. Maybe he was just on edge. His eyes went wide a second later at the sound of crashing beside him. He slowly turned to see his ally now lying dead on the ground. Black blades were impaled in through his chest. They were coming from the ground, from the shadows.

He moved closer and the black blades twisted like tentacles before pulling back out of the body and into the shadows as if they were never there. He held up his weapon and pointed to the shadows, and shouted. "You will not insult us again, Rex--" He was stopped as another blade stabbed through his head.

"Is my student getting that good?" A familiar voice spoke up that didn't belong to Rex at all. Out of the shadow behind the dead guard, a white unicorn head with a blue mane slowly pulled out.

It was none other than Stygian himself. His head reached out more than the black blade pulled back. His shadowy cloak followed his movement, clinging to his flesh like a web.

He looked at the picture they were practically worshiping and smiled. "Hello, Lady Mass Hysteria." He stopped as something caught his eye. He walked closer and looked over her arms. "Black lines, there was no decease mention in the record of your death. Interesting." On that, he fell back into the shadows.

******

Back at the Hikina Port, Luna found what the guards wanted to show her. She didn't expect to walk among a field of corpses peppering the ground just outside the dock. She covered her mouth as she walked, but it was more for the smell rather than the shock, as these bodies were just barely decaying.

The bodies showed no sign of fatal wounds. At most, they had broken bones and cut flesh as if they tried their best to fight back. Yet there wasn't any sign of the attackers anywhere outside of the trail they left in their wake.

Luna stopped at the sight of a pegasus mare hugging close to something. She walked over to get a better looked. The mare was holding a filly barely old enough to walk. It too was dead. Her eyes went wide and the fear finally claimed her at the sight of even children dead.

"Princess." The soldiers ran over as she fell to a knee.

"I'm fine," she pushed them away. She stopped at something on the filly. She reached over and pulled the child free before throwing the corpse to the side in utter fear.

"Why--" the soldiers wanted to question but were stopped by the same thing she saw. They pulled back before puking at the sight of it.

The filly's chest had been ripped open and spread out like extra wings laid against her little real wings. On her stomach was an all too familiar symbol of a knife through a bull's head.

Luna backed up and looked over the field once more. "Check every filly in this field.”

"But..."

"I said do it, now!" Luna screamed. She turned away from them and looked up at the sky. Under her breath she spoke, "Please tell me those were just old fairy tales, Teacher."

"Is that what he calls us?" Poor attempts to rap spat outward.

Her eyes went wide. Without warning, each of the soldiers fell down screaming in agony. Remembering back to the old tales, she channeled forth a spell into her horn and blasted it outward in a wave that stopped their pain.

"Damn, Sting. You gave away too much too soon." Another voice spoke up, this one far harsher.

Luna looked in all directions but couldn't see anypony beside her soldiers. She looked up at the sky and shouted. "Where are you Night Brothers?!"

"We’re here, look. Just make sure you are spooked." Sting spat.

"Please, don't." Fiend silenced his brother. "Listen, Princess of the night. Since you hold a very similar title to ourselves, we will give you an ultimatum instead of killing you."

"Fine," Luna wanted to fight them head-on, but she still did not know where they were and if the old tales were true, fighting them blindly would only give them a better chance to still her soul. And an alicorn's soul would only make them far stronger than a mortal soul.

"Tell us where our former teacher is. We will also show the same kindness to any other of his students."

"..." She bit her limp. She knew what they wanted, revenge. She couldn't let that happen. Instead, she closed her eyes and channel forth some magic. She knew she couldn't beat them without knowing where they were, however, there was a way she could find them. Originally, she agreed to listen to their words, hoping to reach a truce with them. But what they wanted was far too much of a price.

Deep within her mind, an image of Rex formed. He looked at her with shame for himself. The voice of Stygian yelling against her screamed in her head. She channeled more magic, and the image of Starswirl formed. The old wizard gave a smile. She channeled far more magic and her horn filled with maroon gas.

"Soldiers, be ready." She knew doing this spell with little experience would leave her wide open to attack.

Up in the sky, the moon moved upward before filling with the same maroon red color. The surrounding shadows moved and flowed. Among the corpses, the shadows moved more erratically. Over at the west end, the shadows stopped before shooting out spikes.

Fiend and Sting jumped out of that spot, caught completely off guard.

"Now--" Luna stopped and fell to the ground as the magic became too much.

The soldiers blasted out magic from their horns, hitting the two hippogriffs head-on. The two matched that power with their souls they absorbed. The battle was strong and violent, but all fifteen soldiers could do was hold the soul stealers in place.

Luna attempted to stand back up. The memories of old yelling at her. "Damn it, I know that could have killed me, but..."

"Let me take over and I will kill them where they stand." A familiar voice spoke in her head. Her eyes twitched and changed form. 

"No, I can handle them on my own!" She screamed. Fighting herself to stand, Luna looked to hippogriffs and channel forth some alicorn magic. Blasting it outward, she combined it with her soldiers and it was finally enough to send the Night brothers flying off a few hundred meters.

The soldiers' cheers were short-lived as Luna fell back to the ground once again. "Princess." They rushed over to her.

"No..." She barely spoke. "We have to warn... them."

"Yes, but our mission is your safety." They picked her up in magic and marched back to the airship.

Up in the sky, the marron color on the Moon quickly faded from sight. However, this move had indeed been noticed by the few that were still awake.

******

The Moon's light poured slowly over the Four Towers of Faith. Blood Diamond looked out at the maroon light and smiled. "So our ex-wife attempted some dark magic." His eyes fell over the city just beyond the tower. "Not bad for her first time in over five thousand years."

He reached for the light. Opening his palm wide. In the center, flesh peeled and out a crystal flowed. It grabbed pieces of the maroon color before returning to the flesh. "Using Stygian's spells without his permission and mixing them with dark magic. Are you determined to insult him and everything else your mother stood for?" He turned away and sneered, his eyes glowed a neon green and his voice changed, "Your mother, the first to command the shadows and the night."

Blood Diamond stopped at the sight of his reflection in one of the many crystals floating around him. The reflection showed his eyes altering. However, that wasn't what made him angrier than he could see his own shadow being traced out by the shadow spell.

Though the spell was miles away, it showed perfectly even his true shadow outward. The true self he preferred to keep hidden, a shadow filled with holes. "Her mother was a good pony, far better than your mother." His reflection spoke back to him.

"And yet she doesn't hesitate to insult her." Blood Diamond answered mirror before waving it away. The magic in his eyes dissipated and he walked back to his throne.

The maroon color on the Moon faded, and the prince sighed a relief. "Finally, you relent Luna." He spoke far softer. "You should know by now how much I despise the truth." His voice had returned to normal levels. However, the royal we had dropped. "Truth showed me once that you could never love me more than these mortals. This hurt me most of all because showed my fears to be true, that no one loves my kind."

He held up his hand and crystal flowed over his sight, giving him a magnified look at the city. "Luna, you loved these mortals more than you could ever love us. If anyone should hate them more, it is us, but now, here we stand as their only chance." He twirled his fingers and the image magnified even closer. "We wonder if they will make the right choice with this chance." Twisting again, the image got close enough to see the last of the unicorns going home to sleep. It was so close that it was like he was walking alongside them. "Will they take it and save their race trusting in alicorn like myself, or fail as Rex failed you and her?"

******

Back on titan airship, Fredricson threw up his arms and with a loud voice continued his story, "The winds were so strong they nearly tore off the sails."

Adagio pulled her covers in fear. "Oh, no..."

"But Sir Sereal rushed himself in the ship's wheel, holding the thing in place. He pushed with all his might to keep the sails in." Fredricson posed the same way as the story. "He looked over to H. P. Halo and shouted--"

Speaking to copy the prestige of the prominent leader, "Hold it together. How much closer?!"

Speaking next in a soft a monotone voice that Lady Cat nearly mistook for her own nephew Mon's voice, "We are almost there, the good doctor spoke while pushing against the mainsail."

Fredricson threw his arms around in the motion often used to turn the wheel. "Yet the winds were only the beginning and lightning and thunder shouted outward."

"Please tell me they are going to make it." Adagio jumped up. Luckily, Lady Cat could catch her. "Mira needs that medicine."

"Which is why they pushed harder." Fredricson lowered his arms and moved them like waves. "The water kicked, the wind punched, and the lightning twisted all around. But out of the shadows, a voice called out from the afar." Fredricson jumped and held his hand over his brow.

Speaking in a deeper voice. "Over here, you are almost there." Returning to his original voice, he finished describing what they saw. "Out of the clouds, an icy airship bowed down to their height. Out of its front stood a tall dark lavender unicorn named Cea Crimson Fro--"

A loud alarm shot out, interrupting the story. Fredricson pulled back out of his characters and looked over at the green light. "Wait a minute."

Lady Cat looked over as well. Her eyes went wide and pulled Adagio under the covers. "I guess we will have to finish that story later."

"But I want to know what happens next!" Adagio attempted to struggle, but Lady Cat pushed the ends under her.

"Arg, I be sorry about this." Fredricson dotted her on the nose. "But we need to check something. Get some sleep for now."

The two walked out of the room and left her to sleep. They made certain to lock the door behind them.

******