Everyone reacted with shock.
“No way!” said Mayhem.
“Exactly,” said Clear. “Why would you want to create another one?”
Spring growled. “Stop babying me!” she said angrily. “Because we all believed in Mayhem he succeeded. Why don’t you believe in me?
“I’ve made as much progress as he has, and I know all the places he went wrong. I understand what I need to do after watching him.”
Mayhem groaned, looking up at Twilight to be the voice of reason.
She felt his look, and met eyes with him briefly before turning her attention to Spring. Her horn glowed, separating Spring from the rest of them and setting her down on the other side of the room facing all of them.
In a serious voice she asked, “You think it’s that’s simple? Just because Mayhem succeeded doesn’t mean you will.”
“It doesn’t mean I won’t, either,” Spring replied. "And you were the one who told me I shouldn't let what other people can or can't do make me think I can't do it too."
Mayhem felt the same sensation from Twilight as when she had asked him to look in her eyes. He felt Twilight’s inner strength radiating off her. It wasn’t threatening like when she had faced off against Nega, but it almost felt like a physical weight in the area.
“And just what makes you think you can win?”
Spring met her gaze. “Because I have the hearts of all my friends with me, but even more than that I have something important to fight for too. There’s someone I want to help.”
Twilight slowly walked closer to her. “And you think that’s all it takes? You think it’s that simple?”
Instinctively Spring started to back up and shrink down as Twilight grew closer, but she conquered the impulse and stood her ground, not averting her eyes.
She thought of what had happened with Mayhem, and how he had gone about things completely wrong. Actually, they all had, and Twilight had scolded them harshly over it. None of them were ready to win over Nega.
In the end, though, Twilight had been testing them. She had to make them see the path they were on was bad and redirect them the right way. Once they understood where they had gone wrong it hadn’t taken long for Mayhem to succeed.
She felt like Twilight was testing her too. Twilight was a nice person, who only got angry or mean for their benefit. She had seen with Mayhem’s inner side that he went right for his guilt, hitting him with all his worst thoughts until he couldn’t even stand up anymore and nearly gave in to the darkness. If she couldn’t even stand up to Twilight then she wouldn’t stand a chance against her Nega.
Twilight was right in front of her now, glaring down at her. “You arrogant child,” she said coldly. “There’s no way you can win.”
Clear and Still both gulped at how intensely Twilight was targeting their daughter, but neither of them spoke up in her defense because they felt Spring was being foolish and needed some sense talked into her.
The mood grew awkward for the children. It felt exactly like when Fluttershy had yelled at Mayhem. Even if she wasn’t looking at them directly the sheer intensity of her gaze paralyzed them.
Spring was trembling slightly, her eyes watering as she fought the urge to blink. She felt like she might collapse, and her heart was hammering, but she stood resolute.
With a slight quiver in her voice she said, “I-I’m not backing down, T-Twilight.” She focused her heart on her goal, finding her inner strength. She found the courage to take a step forward, matching Twilight’s glare. “I want to fight, because I want to be stronger. I don’t want to let my past control me anymore. To help the person I want to help I’ll do whatever it takes.”
Pound blinked, impressed that she was standing up to Twilight.
It was quiet between them for about another thirty seconds, and then the tension broke as Twilight smiled. “Remarkable. Even with everything I put into it you didn’t turn away or cower. You stood up tall and faced me with courage. Well done.”
Spring fell to her knees, panting but proud of herself.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” asked Still.
“It means I think she’s ready to face this challenge.” She took a few steps towards them. “She’s shown that she can stand up for her beliefs and has a strong underlying motivation that won’t let her back down from fulfilling them.
“I know that she’s your daughter, and you don’t want to see her get hurt, but the purpose of her wish for today was to give her the strength to finally conquer her darkness alongside Mayhem. The most important point of today is that she’s finally starting to truly recognize her value and grow past Forest’s accident. She even stared me down and wouldn’t turn away or back up despite giving her an intense stare.
“While we’re all here together I feel it’s for the best to not lose this momentum by expressing doubts about her. I can’t force your decision, but I think you should let her go forward with your blessing.”
“And… what happens if she does fail?” said Forest cautiously. “Mayhem only created Nega on accident. Deliberately creating another creature like that is too dangerous.”
Pound raised a hoof. “Is it, though? Luna’s Tantabus had her dreamwalker powers, and Nega had Mayhem’s reality breaking powers. What can Spring’s Tantabus do? It won’t have any magic, so it wouldn’t be hard for Twilight to stop it.”
Pumpkin bit her lip. “Well… we shouldn’t pretend like it’s going to be helpless. Even without magic Nega did still grow powerful enough from Mayhem’s bad feelings to knock him out cold.”
“But that’s only because Mayhem didn’t understand what Nega was. He only saw Nega as an enemy to be destroyed, so that’s why he grew to hate Nega, not knowing he was only hurting himself. Spring knows what she has to do by watching Mayhem.”
Clear tapped her hoof on the ground. “Knowing what to do and actually accomplishing it are two entirely different things.
“I notice you didn’t answer Forest’s question, Twilight. Spring’s feelings run deep, and you threatened to wipe out Mayhem if you had to in order to keep Equestria safe.” Her gaze grew fiery. “Are you going to threaten to kill my daughter too?”
Twilight met her gaze. “I have no desire to harm children. I intervened precisely because their stated intention to attack Nega was going to force me into that position, something none of us wanted. That’s why I yelled at all of them, because I needed them to understand just how close they had come to the worst case scenario.
“As Pound said, Spring understands what she needs to do from watching Mayhem. She knows that ‘Sombra’ isn’t some outside intruder, but her own inner thoughts. She knows that violence will not subdue that part of her, but only intensify her feelings.
“She also understands that the quickest way to find inner strength is by fighting for others, and that drive was strong enough that she wouldn’t back down from me despite the intensity I came at her with.
“She has all the preparation she needs to conquer this final challenge. She has the hearts of all her friends with her, and sufficient drive. If worst comes to worst and it seems like she won’t prevail I certainly don’t intend to harm Spring. With her Tantabus being incapable of magic, and me with some of Mayhem’s power, it wouldn’t be hard to restrain her inner feelings.”
“Just give it up, Twilight!” Spring said angrily, making everyone look at her. “Of course I can’t win if everyone isn’t part of the circle lending me their hearts.
“All my friends are by my side, and even you believe in me. I can’t say the same for the ones I most need on my team.”
Spring rounded on her family, furious tears coming down her eyes. “WHY CAN’T YOU EVER BELIEVE IN ME?” she said in a hurt voice. “Always, always, you act like I’m so weak.
“I did overestimate myself months ago, but I’m not the same Spring I was back then. I feel like I’m so, so close to finally becoming like Mayhem. I know from watching his battle that it’s going to be one of the hardest fights of my life, but I want to do it.
“I want to fight this battle, no matter how much it hurts, but I know it’s going to be impossible if everyone I love isn’t giving me their support.”
Forest, Still, and Clear were conflicted. They certainly did want to see Spring succeed at casting off the shackles of her guilt, but they had seen how brutal Mayhem’s fight with Nega had gone. Both physically and emotionally he had gone through so much. They didn’t want to see her suffer like that.
As Twilight had stated, Spring was certainly more prepared than Mayhem was considering what she had learned watching the two of them. Her confrontation, ideally, wouldn’t be anywhere near as intense.
Clear asked, "Well, can you at least tell us what the point of it is? If you're ready to forgive yourself then why can't you just do it? Ponies have moved on and forgiven themselves without some freaky magic turning their darkest thoughts into a real being."
"I think that's a fair question," said Twilight. "Why do you feel that it's necessary?"
Spring's eyes faded out. "Because there's something I need to see."
"Something you need to see?" said Mayhem.
"I... don't know how I'm going to react when I see it. I don't even know if seeing it is actually going to help. But I really feel that until I do see it I won't be able to move on."
Mayhem bit his lip. "But... um... what are you looking for? What is this thing you want to see?"
"Myself," she said simply. "I want to see myself.
"I've even already thought of a name for her: Mirror."
"Mirror?" said Twilight.
She nodded. "As you said, Mayhem's big difficulty in settling things with Nega was seeing him as an enemy to be destroyed and gotten rid of, but really he was just going to war with himself.
"I don't want to make that same mistake. Since you called Nega Mayhem's reflection, I'm going to keep with that theme to keep it in mind that Mirror is just another part of me."
Twilight blinked, then smiled warmly. "That is very smart thinking, Spring."
That got a small smile out of her. "Well, I've been paying attention to everything that's been going on today, Twilight. I want to get past this as much as Mayhem did."
Her smile faded as she looked back at her family. "So... what do all of you have to say about this?"
Forest let out a deep breath. “You’ve gone through so much pain, Spring, and you’ll only continue to hurt inside until you truly confront your inner thoughts. I want to see you triumph. Even though I’m scared I don’t want to see you hold anything back or fail because you’re feeling discouraged I didn’t support you when you needed it the most. I already did that while I was in a coma.
“If this personal battle is something you must do to move on then I’ll support you just as I have the past few months.”
Still and Clear saw a momentary smile cross their daughter’s face before it faded again as she looked up at the two of them. Their thoughts were hardly different from Forest’s. They really didn’t want this to happen but they also had to acknowledge that Spring would never truly move on until she confronted her past and forgave herself for it.
They had failed to notice how deeply Spring was suffering and put too much focus on their unconscious son rather than their daughter in need. Did they really want to be responsible for failing their daughter again? No!
Clear pulled her daughter to her. “I’m scared too, but I’ll support your decision.”
Still joined in. “We want to see you prevail, so we’ll add our hearts to yours.”
Spring heard a little sniff come from him, and saw tears brimming in his eyes. “As long as I have all of you inside my heart there’s no way I can lose.”
Twilight smiled warmly as they broke apart. They finally looked ready.
“Aunt Twilight,” said Flurry.
“Yes, Flurry?”
“We certainly can’t do this here. Spring’s Tantabus won’t have magic, but that doesn’t stop them from being able to be destructive.”
“Besides that,” said Pound, “Nega only held back because he didn’t want to hurt his friends, so we can’t bring the parents with us besides Springs, or they could be in danger.”
“And mine,” said Sweet Pea. “We’re as good as family to her, and I know my parents will want to be there for this.”
“Fair point,” said Twilight. “Of course I’ll have a shield up regardless, but it will still be safer to only have those she’s closest to.
“I do have to emphasize that it will be better if you try to stay out of it as much as possible. This is Spring’s inner conflict, and forgiveness is something that can’t be forced upon someone. She has to make her own decisions, just like Mayhem did.”
“Understood,” said Forest.
“Well, let’s begin then,” said Mayhem, snapping. They appeared in a black void. “Even though most of the parents aren’t with us I did leave them a viewing window so they can see everything if they want to.”
“Why is it so empty here?” asked Sweet Pea.
“This isn’t an adventure to go through like before,” he replied. “We’re only here so Spring can confront her inner feelings, so there’s no need for scenery.”
“Spring,” said Twilight, “this is your last chance to back out. Once Mayhem creates your Tantabus it can’t just be uncreated. It can only be subdued by you coming to terms with your past.”
“I’m not backing down, Twilight!” Spring said strongly. “Do you want to have another stare-off to convince you?”
“I just want to make sure you understand what’s at stake, because you’re not truly understanding what you’re asking for.”
“I watched Mayhem’s battle, so of course I do.”
Twilight shook her head. “No, you don’t. I showed you Nega’s feelings, remember? By asking to create your own Tantabus you’re asking Mayhem to create something only born to suffer and bear the weight of your guilt.”
That made her squirm uncomfortably.
“If you cannot win over your inner feelings then we’ll be forced to abandon it in this alternate world. Without magic it won’t be able to follow us back to the real world, but then it will be trapped in an empty world where its pain will never end.
“Once it begins you can’t just quit mid-way. You’ll be stuck until you either prevail or we’re forced to flee. If it comes down to that all you will have accomplished is making all those you love hurt.
“So I’ll ask you one last time: are you truly ready to go through with this? You need to be absolutely certain.”
Spring looked at the ground, now feeling distinctly uncertain. She hadn’t considered what creating a Tantabus would mean for it. And, as Twilight said, if she failed to conquer her feelings then they just watched her getting attacked for nothing.
When they had all been falling into despair it was Pound that had snapped them all out of it and inspired them to get up and fight again. His question had been so simple, but had so much depth. Someone they cared for was in need. Wasn’t that enough of a reason to fight?
Back then she had thought of Mayhem, and how she had wanted him to succeed in getting past his inner feelings. Together they had succeeded.
There was still one more person in her life she wanted to help, and she knew she’d never be able to do it until she conquered her own inner feelings. That goal was a part of what had allowed her to continue on past her guilt as she had slowly recovered.
There was no choice to make. There was only one direction to go, and that was up. She wasn’t going to give in.
She looked back up at Twilight, strength back in her eyes. “Yes!” she said. “I want to do this. I won’t back down.”
Twilight took in a slow breath. “Very well.” She turned her head. “Mayhem?”
Mayhem lifted his claw, but didn’t snap. “Spring!” he said, looking her in the eyes. “I was only able to come this far because I fought for you. I can finally feel the light, but it won’t really mean anything if you’re not by my side enjoying it with me.
“I want you to find your happiness too, so you better prevail here or my own victory will be meaningless. Got it?”
She could feel his inner strength pouring off of him. She smiled at him and nodded. “You got it.”
Mayhem hesitated for a few moments, but he knew he had to believe in her. He snapped his claw.
Spring winced. She felt hot, a black energy condensing on her back before rising up and molding itself into her form, hovering in the air. Just like Nega it’s colors were the opposite of Springs.
She took a deep breath. “Well… here we go."