//------------------------------// // Chapter 65: The Awakening Part Three // Story: Light and Dark: Road to Redemption // by MXCDarkHorse2020 //------------------------------// Chapter 65: The Awakening Part Three “So...” Midnight said as she evilly chuckled at her surprised audience as she turned to Twilight. “You are still alive after all, Twilight.” She said to the glaring alicorn as Cadance and Shining Armor quickly stand by her side and in front of her to protect her from further injuries as they recover from their shock of her sudden appearance as Grubber quickly covers behind one of the nearby pillars. “I had a hunch you would survive thanks to your siblings and my former lieutenant but it doesn’t matter even when Sunset tried to tell you all in advance of what I am up to because I still retain the Element of Surprise no matter what you plan to counter-attack my every move you’re not going to stop us from taking over this empire.” While the students were frightened as Ocellus and Silverstream whimpered as they ducked for cover behind pillars as Flurry Heart hid behind Sunburst, while Smolder and Yona who were standing in front of their panicked upon seeing her. “Yona run from crazy pony!” The young yak screamed as she took off full speed with the other students following suit as Midnight nods at Cozy to bring them back here in tow with her magic. “No, no, kids. Please stay. I insist.” Midnight gently said to the students as they are literally towed back to inside the throne room. “You’ll miss a very important history lesson if you leave right now.” “I’m afraid the only history lesson they are learning today is you and your followers learning when to leave which is right now!” Twilight took a fighting stance as she stepped forward despite her injuries. “So you better get flying or we’ll make you fly!” She said with a flared horn and spread wings as the others did the same. “Very well, if you all insist.” Midnight took it nonchalantly as she turned to Cozy Glow. “Round them all up.” “Yes, mother!” Cozy sweetly replied as she conjured up a massive magic blast right at them to which Twilight stepped forward and conjured a magic shield to protect everypony to which she strained from due to not being one hundred percent until she couldn’t hold on to it anymore and let go with a pained gasp. The lavender mare dropped to her hunches as she sweated trying to catch her breath as Cadance and Shining Armor help her up. Cozy then launches another attack at them to round them up again only for Flurry Heart to fly forward to redirect the attack from her horn right at her to which Cozy barely dodged before being greeted by the baby alicorn tackling her and sending magic right at her to force her back as Tempest charges at Midnight to fire magic right at her to which she barely avoided with a magic shield at the last split second but was nevertheless forced back across the room as Shining Armor and Cadance use their force field spell to force the trio back across the room and against the wall. “Girls, get the young ones out of here!” Shining Armor commanded Twilight’s friends as Twilight quickly pushed him out of the way as she blocked an attack from King Sombra while sending a blast of magic right back at him. “Sorry!” Twilight quickly apologized as she prepared to fight against the dark magic fueled unicorn. “Go!” She commanded them as she turned to Celestia and Luna. “Help the troops fight off her followers!” “But Twilight…” Celestia protested as the young ones wasted no time getting the heck out of dodge with the element bearers following suit. “Your injuries. I can’t just leave you here with them!” “It will be all right!” Twilight quickly assured her as she Shining Armor, Cadance, Tempest, Starlight, and Sunset prepared to face off against Midnight, Sombra, and Cozy Glow. “The crystal troops need your help against Tirek, Chrysalis, Daybreaker, and Nightmare Moon’s attacks! Just go!” “Come on! Let’s go!” Discord shouted as he and Luna dragged Celestia away as she starts to tear up feeling devastated that Twilight is putting herself at risk like this again so soon after getting hurt as she sees her prepare to face off against Midnight again. The three recovering from the married couple’s combined attack quickly recover as they prepare to face off against those who had just stayed behind as Midnight starts the fight with an attack directed at Twilight to which Tempest who had just arrived quickly charged forward in her friend’s defense as she absorbs the magic and shoots it right back at her to which Midnight effortlessly defended herself from as Flurry Heart protects herself from a powerful magic blast from Cozy Glow before sending magic right back at her causing her to stubble in her flight as Flurry sends another blast to force her back while Twilight charges at Sombra with magic aimed at his face to which Sombra barely defends himself before being greeted with a combined attack from Twilight, Shining Armor, and Cadance sending him across the room. “Not bad.” Midnight commended Tempest for her counter-attack. “I sure have taught you well.” “Spare me your flattery!” Tempest waved it off. “You betrayed me! You tried to have me killed!” “Yes I did!” Midnight simply replied with zero remorse as Tempest growled as she attempted to charge at her with a kick only for Midnight to dodge and shoot magic right up at her chest to send her right up into the ceiling before sending her crashing into the throne chair. The throne got destroyed in the process as Tempest quickly recovers from the impact before again trying to pursue fighting Midnight again with a roaring shout as Sunburst gains himself the courage to try to face off against Midnight after recovering from his shock. Just outside of the Crystal palace, the royal guards find themselves immediately facing off against Tirek, Chrysalis, Daybreaker, and Nightmare Moon as they slowly make their way through the crystal streets as the two alicorns easily blast aside every guard with wings that comes their way while Tirek and Chrysalis work together as Chrysalis blasts magic at the oncoming soldiers as Tirek pounds his back hooves onto the ground to create an small earthquake like crater to send the soldiers flying back just as they all make their way to the palace. Taking action quickly the royal sisters quickly flew to release a combined attack to force Tirek back as Celestia greets Tirek with a blast to the face which knocked him on his back with a tooth falling out from the impact as he quickly tries to regain his ground as Luna tackles him down to the ground. “Wait here!” Applejack told the Cutie Mark Crusaders and the Young Six as they ducked for cover from the nearby corner of the castle as she and the girls rushed over on the front lines to help them. Daybreaker seeing this takes this opportunity to fly in and try to incinerate them as the young kids all screamed as they barely dodge her deadly attacks. “Apple Bloom!” Applejack cried out in horror. “Sweetie Belle!” Rarity cried out in the same tone. “Scootaloo!” Rainbow screamed just as horrified as Nightmare Moon flies in front of them to cut them off from helping them. “There’s no escape this time, fools!” Nightmare Moon taunted them as she flies to twirl up the Mane Five along with Spike with her magic before releasing them into the nearby soldiers knocking them all down like bowling pins. “Looks like you all just struck out!” Nightmare Moon said with a satisfied smile. Daybreaker facing the defenseless Young Six prepares to incinerate them with her fiery magic only for Smolder to bravely step forward and breath fire from her mouth to counter the attack only to find herself struggling to hold her off as the alicorn’s magic is gaining the edge to kill her until Spike who quickly recovered from the attack flew over and joined in on the struggle by breathing his fire right at Daybreaker’s beam of magic which made it an evenly matched battle now until she used her tail to increase the intensity of her flames to overwhelm them resulting in the two getting burned along with the two dragons both screaming in pain as they crash into the ground. “SPIKE!” The Mane Five screamed in shock as they watch the horrifying scene as Fluttershy quickly flies over and catches Spike. “SMOLDER!” The Young Six reacted in a similar manner as tears fall from their eyes along with the Mane Five as Gallus and Silverstream flies over to catch Smolder. “Looks like you both just got burned out!” Daybreaker chuckled with a mean laugh as their friends glare at her for doing that as Nightmare Moon joins her side. “Shall we put an end to them sister?” “Let’s.” Nightmare said in agreement as they both conjured a combined magic attack to finish them only for Rarity to quickly conjure a magic bubble that took out all of her energy but saved them from them getting attacked. Rarity then produced a small smile before dropping to her knees after letting out a small pained gasp as she loses consciousness. Applejack and Rainbow Dash thinking quick team with the latter grabbing onto Applejack’s arms to carry her up as she uses her wings to shoot up a rainbow just as Daybreaker gets off another attack from her horn which redirected right back at her to which the two alicorns narrowly dodged as Rainbow flings Applejack up to give them a good split kick right in their snouts as Rainbow follows it up with a punch and kick right in their faces causing them to fly back down to the ground as they both manage to land safely before they could hit the ground. The two alicorns glare at the two before they resume the fight against the element bearers. Tirek is currently holding her own against the combined might of the alicorn sisters as they teleport around trying to get another opening at the centaur as he tries to knock them down with nearby slabs of rocks from the ground to no avail as the two sisters both manage to block of the rocks sent at their direction with their magic before Celestia and Luna both try to overwhelm him with a combined attack. Tirek barely managed to protect himself with until he had enough and before sending fiery magic of his own to try to strike them which they narrowly avoided with scorned wings as they both let loose some grunts in pain from the attacks. Tirek then seeing his advantage takes this opportunity to blast them back down to the ground and hard to cement their defeats as Chrysalis has just mowed through all of the guards with ease with her magic along with draining most of their love to leave them all weaken and collapsed to the floor along with the Mane Five as Applejack and Rainbow Dash both collapse hard into the ground after both Daybreaker and Nightmare Moon retaliate by flying around them with great speed and quick teleportation maneuvers to land multiple and brutal punches and powerful magic right at the two ponies at them before they are both slammed into the nearby wall. The battered ponies all regroup as the others regroup too. “I see you having as much fun as I am.” Rainbow told Applejack as they both pant hard trying to catch their breath as Celestia and Luna stand in Rarity, Spike, and Smolder’s defense as they both charge again to force Daybreaker and Nighmare back as Gallus flies over to Chrysalis with Yona in tow to so she can kick the changeling back as she was caught off-guard. Pinkie trying to do something about this quickly grabs the cupcakes she had in tow and starts tossing them at Tirek as a machine gun as Rainbow uses her body as said gun. Sandbar and Applejack take another charge at Tirek as the latter lassoes up the centaur horn’s as he struggles to shake the farm pony off as while dealing with the former’s attempts to fight him climbing onto him and constantly biting him with his teeth as he yells in pain along with Applejack trying to rip his horns off as he fails to try to get them off. Tirek enraged and having enough of this stomps on the ground and create pillars to force the two ponies off of his horns and back which sent them flying back to their defeated friends. Chrysalis as she makes her way to the remaining soldiers she finds herself face to face with a glaring Fluttershy who responds unfazed to her attempted stare as she attempts to blast her aside to which she dodged as Pinkie further pelted Chrysalis with cupcakes to which she covered herself to avoid getting them in her face. The changeling attempts to retaliate with blasts from her horn to which she effortlessly dodged before getting pied in the face before punching her in the face as the Fluttershy Chrysalis encountered dropped her disguise to reveal she was Ocellus as she and Pinkie share hoof-bump as Chrysalis gets back on her hooves as she snarls at the two of them as she tries to blast them as Pinkie repeatedly dodges her as she carries Ocellus as Gallus flies under her and flips her over as he knocks her off of her hooves only to be blasted aside by Nightmare Moon who managed to get the attack off via quick teleportation before sending another magic blast to singe his wings to take him out of the fight as Tirek slams his fists into the ground to force Applejack and Yona back and away. As Celestia and Luna struggle to hold off their attackers they could only look on and clearly see that they are losing this battle as Daybreaker and Nightmare both grin seeing their drained energy as they prepare to finish them off as Chrysalis drags a defeated Flash Sentry along with the other defeated heroes. Back inside the castle, Flurry Heart and Cozy Glow both continue to engage in a magic duel as Cozy is aggressively trying all she can to bring the infant down. But Flurry isn’t backing off as she conjures a magic shield to protect herself before quickly flying around in circles to spin her around and cause to lose control of her flight with Starlight assisting Flurry with a beam of magic to knock her back. Tempest, Sunset, and Sunburst are currently facing off against Midnight as Tempest charges her horn and unleashes magic at her with Sunset following up with another magic blast to which Midnight effortlessly dodged Tempest’s attack before countering Sunset’s with her own magic, helped Cozy unwind to reground her ground, before sending magic right back at Tempest and Sunburst as the former barely dodged as the former tried to tackle her to the ground which is met with the alicorn pinning her down to the ground as the latter got hit and knocked out by the blast. “You can’t beat me the master, Tempest.” Midnight told the restrained unicorn in her grasp. “Even when you have mastered all of my hoof-to-hoof combat skills.” “Maybe…” Tempest grunted as she struggles against her iron grip. “But I have learned some new skills.” She retorted as she teleported away and onto her back to reverse the pin and twist her right hoof in order to try to gain the edge in their fight to which Midnight responded with her free arm and an elbow to the face before giving her a blast of magic to the face to force her back into the wall. Tempest then quickly dodged her next attack as she charged her horn at her in an attempt to finish her off to which failed as Midnight dodged her and was quick to blast Sunset aside when she tried to double down on her attack causing the fiery colored unicorn to crash into Starlight who just had Cozy on the ropes before she could defeat her. As Midnight flies over to deal with Tempest, Twilight and her brother and sister-in-law all fight off Sombra as Twilight tries her hardest to use her magic to bring him down along with Cadance to which is met with the unicorn blocking them off as he sends dark crystals in their direction to which they did back-flip maneuvers to avoid the attacks as Shining Armor takes a charge at him with his magic to which Sombra tries to stop him with crystals too only to find himself greeted to the face with 180 degree turn from the white stallion and a kick to the face. Sombra quickly recovers as he used his magic to force the prince of the Crystal Empire back with his magic before turning to deal with the combined power of the alicorn sisters as they continue to barge him with their magic along with Twilight using these opportunities to fly in and punch him square in the face every time she gets near him. As Sombra grunts in pain from each punch, Twilight breaths hard and sweats as she tries to reserve her energy to stay in the fight. Cozy starting to get annoyed with Flurry's prolonged resistance as she repeatedly dodges her attacks with ease before sending a raspberry in her direction to taunt her. The taunt itself had the deranged filly growling response before unleashing a very powerful blast of magic right at her to which she narrowly protected herself against yet was forced back across the room into the destroyed throne much to her family’s shock that the filly nearly killed her. With Flurry taken care of, she then turned to focus back on Sombra as Tempest manages to send her magic to force Sombra back from trying to get a sneak attack in from the distraction. The dark armored knight in shining armor moved to charge and tackle the dark alicorn who flies to force her on the defense before she once again forced her off of her with her kick before sending a blast of magic right at her former follower with a good follow up blast to cement her victory of the unicorn now left struggling in vain to get up. With her former follower cornered, she and Cozy Glow joined forces in facing off against Tempest and Flurry together with the former quickly ensnaring them her magic in a magic bubble. “Well done!” Midnight complimented Cozy as she stroked her mane as she reveled in her new power as Sombra is still facing an evenly matched battle that’s slowly slipping from his grasp as Shining Armor and Cadance both are still refusing to go down without a further fight even with Twilight now sweating and feeling drained from her tiring battle. “What’s the matter?” Sombra taunted the exhausted lavender mare. “Run out of energy?” “Not yet!” Twilight firmly refused to give in to her injuries. “No matter how many times you try to knock us down you’ll never win!” “Why is that?” Sombra further went on sounding amused. “Because you’re the self-proclaimed Princess of Friendship who is trying to be friendly and mighty when she is really just holding herself back? Come on, stop trying to avoid your destiny because you know deep down you are destined to become the princess of darkness just like Midnight!” “That’s not true!” Twilight refused to let him get to the unicorn tries to break her in every way he can. “Face it, you lost!” Sombra further taunted. “Equestria is under our control and so is the Crystal Empire now and there is no help coming for you this time! There is no other choice!” “This is your last warning!” Twilight ominously threatened him to back off as her horn flared up. “Or what little girl? You gonna kill me?” Sombra laughed it off as Twilight’s heart started glowing a little in anger. “You don’t have the power to destroy me Twilight. You can try to burn me to the ground as much as you want but you and I both know that you are just an incompetent power hungry alicorn who is no better than Midnight herself no matter how many times you say otherwise because deep down you know it’s true!” He then cruelly laughed in her face as Twilight’s heart glowed as her anger reached its peak as she snapped and launched her most powerful attack of dark magic right at Sombra to incinerate him into ashes as her eyes and horn glowed purple and green while doing so leaving behind a scorched spot of smoke behind. Twilight then collapsed to the floor as the attack really drained her energy there as she is hoisted up by Midnight with her magic along with her unicorn friends as the latter’s followers bring the rest of the defeated cast in tow along with Grubber who is struggling to break free leaving Shining Armor and Princess Cadance cornered as well. “Check and mate.” Midnight told the couple as she approached them with crossed arms as they refuse to back down. “You won’t get away with this!” Cadance defiantly refused to surrender. “Oh, I believe I already have since we just managed to defeat your strongest and powerful defenders of the Crystal Empire.” Midnight shrugged off the alicorn’s response as Cozy pulls over a cowering Discord along with the defeated Starlight. “And since you all managed to escape the last time we faced off, we are going to make sure you don’t have that window of opportunity again.” She added as she and her other cohorts prepare to evaporate them with their combined magic as Shining Armor and Cadance prepare to brace themselves and their friends and family as they fire they magic right at them where a massive explosion appeared right in the middle of the throne room leaving nothing but smoke and ashes from the blast. Shining Armor and Cadance having opened their eyes as they looked up at the magic bubble they created and see that they are all still alive in one piece with their friends and family all around them feeling the same way as they regain consciousness and stand up looking around as they are just outside of Equestrian borders. “Way to go you two!” Rainbow Dash cheered in excitement at the stunned couple who aren't feeling relieved in the slightest. “Yeah that’s great except…” Shining Armor spoke up to correct her while feeling very confused since... “We didn’t do it all by ourselves.” “For once I have to agree with him because our magic combined couldn’t hold off all of those bad guys power at once.” Cadance also vouched why she too is now wondering the same thing leading to the mind-boggling mystery sinking in the rainbow-maned pony's mind. “But how? How could we have survived that if you didn't do it?” Rainbow asked. “That’s a very good question.” Celestia spoke up as she and Luna helped Twilight to her hooves as she struggled to get up as she regained consciousness. “Ta-da!” Discord proudly announced as he appeared and bowed before his audience. “You’re welcome!” “Discord?” Applejack was the first to express her surprise at this revelation. “You helped us all escape there?” “Indeed I did.” Discord happily replied much to the other’s confusion and irritation. “And to clarify things up let me all show you for ourselves.” He said as he used his magic to show what he was doing while the others were trying to fight for their lives. “While all of you were trying in vain to fight off Midnight’s army I was trying to think of a way to help you all.” He explained as he showed his past self hiding behind the corner. “But after watching and seeing that Midnight had truly won this battle just when it was starting I decided that our best bet was for me to get you all to safety so I waited until everyone was grouped up back into the throne room before I used my magic to zap us all out of here…” He snapped his fingers as he teleported a hundred yards away before teleporting back with another snap of his fingers. “…just like that!” Even with the impressive save no pony not even Cadance nor Fluttershy were impressed with his actions especially Twilight’s as her eyes were locked onto him eyeing him with silent burning fury. “Aw, come on, at least a “thank you.” is in order.” Discord tried to appease everyone to no avail. “It would be except for the fact that I just lost the Crystal Empire to her!” Cadance angrily yelled in his face as she flew up to him surprising her husband and sister-in-law along with their friends seeing her get very angry like this. “Well what else was I supposed to do?” Discord asked in defense innocently not getting what exactly he did was wrong. “Just leave you all in the mercy of all seven dangerous baddies?” “How about trying to lend a claw in helping save the Crystal Empire?!” Shining Armor pointed out as he comforted his distraught wife. “Surely the Lord of Chaos could lend some magic to help us fight off and beat them instead of allowing them to conjure it if a hard to achieve rescue is so easy to achieve for you! But instead you hid from the shadows like a coward and could only help by handing them want they wanted!” “But Shining…” Discord implored of him to listen to him. “We’re talking about Midnight Sparkle, the alicorn who already won the second she already set hoof into the Crystal Empire.” He presented an image of the map with Midnight’s mark over both the crystal empire and all of Equestria. ”Since she already was alerted to Sunset’s presence she immediately bumped up the invasion so she can shut down any kind of counter attacks we could conquer before they can even happen!” “Well you sure did a good job helping “prepare” us for Midnight’s plan back at the school!” Spike sarcastically commented with similar motions with his fingers when he said prepare as he groaned in pain from the injuries he sustained against Daybreaker. “Since because of that Midnight has now managed to get the drop on us again!” “Big time along with the princesses crowns!” Rarity also snapped at him. “Their very titles and symbols of their authority!” “Don’t you think you’re being over-dramatic, Rarity?” Discord attempted to reason with her to get her to back off a little. “I mean a crown doesn’t define somepony’s identity.” “No, but the actions of said pony or creature in this case can which you have certainly quite helped with making your mark on Equestria with what you just did!” Luna retorted as she angrily reprimanded him. “Well okay, the rescue not the best make up move but…” Discord tried to think nothing of it while trying his hardest to defend himself. “What she means is that you have left a very deep and black mark for what lead to Midnight taking over!” Celestia immediately cut him off to continue her sister’s scolding with a cross tone. “Not only has Equestria fallen, along with the Crystal Empire, Twilight now has dark magic stuck in her heart with who knows how long it will be until she can no longer tell right from wrong.” She said as she pointed to an upset Twilight. “It’s bad enough of when Twilight was evil but by helping her evil self just gave her the cards to achieve what she wanted along with the power to back herself up with six more villains by her side you just managed to doom the entire world to eternal darkness by Midnight!” “But it’s not over.” Discord tried to make light of it in face of the furious princesses. “As this is only the beginning.” Hearing this really caused Twilight to grow very furious with her as she flew up to him. “How?!” Twilight demanded as her heart glowed again continuously. “How is "this is only the beginning." supposed to help?!” “Well, we’re all still here in one piece for starters…” Discord nervously began as he tried to get through to her while fiddling with his claws and fingers together. “…and Sombra himself is dead thanks to you. So we still have the ability to fight for another day.” “In what world is that good news?!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “Well, point being that even though we have a war we can still mount another attack in preparation for whatever Midnight has in mind next and they are without one of their strongest fighters.” Discord further tried to make light of the bright side of their escape, though none of his attempts are following through in their ears and eyes. “But now we are all the way out here with no returning back until that crazy alicorn who is a master of dark magic and strategy is defeated along with two other alicorns who can create fire and nightmares along with a centaur who steal magic from everypony, a changeling who is capable of tricking us into thinking she is one of us without us realizing it until too late, and a little filly who has been poisoned into following Midnight herself into accepting great corruptible power!” Celestia shouted at him unconvinced. “This brings us no assurance that we can safely return to Equestria now that she is in charge.“ “Which means I won’t be able to see my critters friends until this is all over.” Fluttershy cried at the thought as Pinkie and Rarity comforted her. “But…” Discord remorsefully said still trying to appeal to her to no avail as she cut him off before he could get another word in. “Just go away!” Fluttershy sobbed as her friends still shower their hardened glare at him. “You’ve done enough!” “Yeah nice going party pooper!” Pinkie further scolded the Lord of Chaos. “You really did it this time!” “But please everyone…I’m really and sincerely sorry this is all happened like this.” Discord tried to get everyone to listen to him even when it is clearly on deaf ears at this point. “I really did have good intention at heart for Twilight. I really did. It made so much sense in my head. Twilight defeats her worst enemies overcomes and defeats Midnight and is filled with confidence she needs to assume the throne. I swear I’ll make it up to all of you.” “That's gonna need to be a pretty epic make-up more so than a simple snap of your fingers to teleport us to safety.” Rainbow still unconvinced had her arms crossed. “Such as infiltrating the castle and spying on Midnight to make sure we know what she is planning so we can actually be prepared to deal with her.” “If that’s what it will take, then I’ll do.” Discord immediately obliged like it was a mandated request in order to assure them of his genuine sincerity to everyone. “I can do exactly that and be back before Midnight even knows I’m there.” “Do you have any idea what you are saying?!” Pinkie asked in exasperation at his proposal. “That pony will catch you before you even get there! She never gets caught off-guard!” “Actually…” Twilight spoke up in his defense as her anger vanished and replaced with a dark smile with her wrath suddenly vanishing. “That could work.” “Really?” Discord and Pinkie both asked in surprise at the same time as the others are just as surprised as everyone around them. “Of course.” Twilight replied as she continues. “It depends on how you try to catch her off-guard and if me and Sunset were able to do it surely that shouldn’t be a problem for the Lord of Chaos since he managed to keep taps on her and her followers.” She said as she flew up to him. “Shouldn’t it?” She said with a tone that implies that she wants her to do it in a threatening manner with narrowed eyes at his direction. “Well, uh…” Discord stammered a little by Twilight’s intimidation feeling coerced into doing so. “…No, no, of course not.” He gave into the lavender mare’s demand. “Great!” Twilight replied feeling satisfied with his answer as she deviously grins. “Since you have your powers back you can take things from here. Just remember the most important rule. Don’t get caught.” She emphasized with a raised hoof and repeatably pointed at his chest with said emphasis. “Okay.” Discord nervously gulped in response as he prepared to set out to do so before Twilight spoke up to get his attention. "And one more thing, Discord..." Twilight caught the draconequus in his tracks. "Fetch us all of our bags before you do so since where are going to be traveling and living outside of Equestria for a while." "Yep, you got it Twilight." Discord quickly replied and nodded with a forced smile. "Anything else while you're at it?" "Yes." Twilight answered as her smirk faded into a more stern expression and tone. "Don't, disappoint me, again!" She then coldly yet still calmly told Discord who expresses a very frightened expression upon being addressed to this way. "No, I mean of course, I mean...going right now!" Discord frantically stammered before teleporting away with another snap of his fingers as Twilight sports a satisfied smile after intimidating the Lord of Chaos into submission. “Are you okay, Twilight?” Cadance asked her sister-in-law in concern with her anger at Discord vanishing as the others are surprised of how calm Twilight is being about all this and is having him try to spy on Midnight. “Of course Cadance! Why wouldn’t I be?” Twilight then said in an immediate pleasant tone. “I haven’t felt this great in a while.” “You really think Discord can do that without getting caught again, Twilight?” Fluttershy popped the question everypony is thinking. “If he is lucky enough, he’ll survive. If not, well then he’ll have paid his debts for his actions.” Twilight replied shrugging off the others concerns as she turns away from the Equestrian borders. “Come on, let’s get going to Mount Aris. So we can prepare to take back what is rightfully ours.” She then said as her friends saw her crack another dark smile as her heart glows neon purple as she feels satisfied with what she has just done as she walks off towards Mount Aris. Seeing this sparks worry in all of her family and friends seeing that Midnight’s attack and takeover of Equestria and the Crystal Empire has done more damage to Twilight then they initially realized. “Does any pony get a bad feeling about all this?” Pinkie asked the others to make sure she isn’t the only feeling alarmed with Twilight’s behavior. “I’m afraid so Pinkie.” Luna confirmed with a forlorn expression. “For it seems Midnight has managed to reintroduce and replant the seeds of darkness in her heart. Which means it’s only a matter of time until she won’t tell the difference between right and wrong again.” “But can you remove it right?” Shining Armor asked feeling worried for his little sister’s well-being hoping that she doesn’t turn to evil and turn on him again. “I’m afraid the only way that dark magic is going anywhere is for her and her alone to cleanse herself of this sinful magic because if anypony else tries to do it she would cease to exist.” Luna could only say with regret as everyone is deathly silent upon hearing that. “What?” Starlight and Sunset said in a quiet shocked tone of voice. “No!” Cadance and Celestia said in devastation seeing the possibility that Twilight may once again sink to the same dark path she walked on in the past as she is currently starting to walk on that now and if anyone tries to remove the dark magic from her heart she would die as a result. “How?” Rarity could only ask seeing that Midnight has everything all turning out the way she wanted things to turn out. “All I can say about that this is when and only when she comes to terms and is reminded of who she truly is and stays true to who she is really is.” Luna could not reply with a certain answer. “Something she has to discover for herself.” Tempest remained silent throughout all of this but it is pretty clear that she is seeing her former self in Twilight right now as she reflects back to the point she walked away from Equestria with a bitter expression shortly after she got her scar and is feeling to blame for all of this from being a pawn in Midnight’s game to contribute to this along with her words back when Twilight was her “prisoner”. “Face it princess, friendship has failed you.” Past Tempest coldly said to Past Twilight as the memory rings through her head. Back to the present Twilight flies back over to everypony after noticing none of them have budged an inch away. “Well?” Twilight questioned them wondering what’s going on before turning back. “Are you all coming or what?” “Of course.” Tempest quickly answered. “Coming.” She said as she rushed up to her to walk beside while uncertain of how to approach her new friend carefully without making things worse as the others reluctantly follow suit mostly for their friend’s well-being despite her calm and positive attitude. Back at the Crystal Empire, the ponies are now in chains with the guards wearing mind control helmets as King Sombra looks over his subjects once now under his control once again with satisfaction written across his face as he makes his to his throne and then lounges on it. “Long live the king!” Sombra declared as Midnight appeared inside flying up to his side. “Well done, King Sombra.” Midnight commended before cautioning the recently crowned unicorn king. “But don’t get to comfortable, because the war is not over yet.” “Of course.” Sombra obeyed without questioning her orders in the slightest. “Just exactly what’s your next move? Hopefully this is the last time I get burned to ashes again.” “Even if you do get killed over and over again, you still come back with the spell I can cast at any time to bring you back.” Midnight again had to remind the annoyed unicorn. “Besides the only way that will happen is with the right spell and magic, only then until after executed will you cease to exist permanently.” “Well that’s encouraging.” Sombra’s mood failed to change. “I just have to hope Twilight can’t figure out how to destroy me or you too because if that happens the whole takeover goes up in smoke.” “And with the way things are going…” Midnight said as she presented Grogar's bell which she secretly managed to obtain from the attack after pick-pocketing it with her magic from Discord before presenting an image of the most powerful ponies in Equestria with Twilight leading the way outside and away from Equestria from her orb. “…Especially with what we did together, we won’t have to worry about Twilight being able to destroy us, who will instead come to finally realize of who she is truly meant to be deep down under that very darkness in her heart as her true self has truly awaken.” Midnight said with a devious smirk as her heart glowed neon purple as Twilight’s heart does the same as she continues walking down in Mount Aris’s direction with the same devious smile filled with burning determination to take down her evil counterpart.