//------------------------------// // S4 Episode 34: All Is One And One Is Me // Story: JTHW: Journey To Hearth's Warming // by Lighttone GryphonStar //------------------------------// The unicorn capital, once a place of beauty and grace. A busy city of mirrors and unicorn magic. A place at the center of unicorn society, now nothing more than an empty wasteland of buildings and lost items. Void of all the joys and praises it once had. Such a sight was a disheartening one for Celestia. Spotting the same cup of coffee that Starlight had knocked down not but a few days ago. The stain had dried completely yet no mold had formed at all. Even decay itself seemed to fear and stray away from this empty place. Thinking about it now, there weren't even winds blowing by. The city had been sealed off by Blood Diamond's crystals but even without them, this place was isolated as if from reality itself. The white alicorn was almost tempted to clean up the mess, and bring some order to this empty horror. But would it matter? Nopony was here to comment of the dirtiness, nopony could care about removing the change the last unicorn brought to this land before leaving. Before Celestia could make up her mind, Golden Williams did for her. The pink alicorn step forward and cleaned the stain with ease and even sat the cup back up right as if it never happened. "Better?" He commented on her thoughts. "No, not better..." Celestia sat down in the chair, knocking the purse to the ground. She hoped the loud bang it made would bring forth some sort of chaos to this emptiness. "Fine." Golden Williams rolled his eyes and picked up the cup, dropping it on the ground just as loudly. Celestia giggled at this and knocked over the flower vase too. Both of them laughed at it shattered. This joy was quick for just as fast the chaos came, the pink alicorn was already cleaning up the mess. Celestia mocked his actions by flipping the table over completely. "Better?" She mocked his previous question. "Your desire for chaos is as dangerous of Starswirl, sister." Luna quickly pulled them apart and fixed the mess. Celestia stood up and ran over to her sister. "My chaos is only matched by your desire for darkness." She was quick to pull Luna's umbrella out of her hand. Luna growled at the sunlight draping her before ripping the umbrella back. "So, you would rather have fun!" "Only if you will too!" Celestia cheered, poofing the umbrella back into her hands and running off in the other direction. She laughed as her sister chased her around. Golden Williams joined in the laughter but also kept a close eye on his own sibling. Blood Diamond was ignoring the whole show. The pink alicorn could see his brother was distracted but by what was unknown. The younger brother's face laid in the air, unshifting and unfazed by it all. However, soon enough they would all get their answers. Without warning, all of the alicorns fell to the ground and were inflicted with strange headaches. All, except Blood Diamond, who stood up and stared at them with burrowed brows. Luna leered at that face and filled her horn with magic. The headaches became worse as a new voice echoed from Blood Diamond's mouth. "Do not fear me. I am simply ensuring nopony is watching us." Once the voice was certain, the headaches vanished, and Blood Diamond's form changed to match that of Hollow Prince. The princess of the night charged her horn with more magic, ready to fight him off when Celestia stood in her way. "Hollow Prince, isn't that your name?" the older sister questioned. "Yes," he bowed in affirmation. "Lord Red spoke of you a few times," Golden Williams also concluded. "Why are you here?" Luna conceded. "I currently have multiple souls trapped in my domain." Hollow Prince relaxed his guard and brought forth the images of six ponies. "And the numbers seems to be increasing." "Why should that matter to us?" Luna barked back. "Because more in my realm means more unstable my magic." He lifted both hands as minor headaches echoed in their heads. "Now, merely scanning somepony brings pain to the subject as well as myself." "And that's a problem for us, why?" Luna mocked again. "Soon, my uncontrollable power will leak into other minds without my knowledge. Not just the ones hiding in my realm, but others near and eventually far from Blood Diamond's reach." "I see." Celestia motioned her sister away. "What do you want from us? It's a simple measure to force them out..." She raised an eyebrow. "Somepony else is keeping them in." "Exactly." He affirmed. "In order to break that secondary control. The ones inside need to find the memories that only belong to that user and not them." "Again, what does that have to do with us?" Golden Williams echoed Luna's words one final time. "Not you," Hollow Prince pointed out. "Them, Celestia and Luna." He pulled up the image of Twilight Sparkle, "Her mind contains memories of you two. In fact, according to her words you two are her first mentors." "I... I see." Celestia was shocked to say the least. "To know that one day we will train such a powerful alicorn." "One day, so her thoughts were telling the truth." Hollow Prince stepped closer. "She is from the future." "A future, a time still unknown to both of us," Luna pointed out. "A future I wish to know nothing of." "Really," Hollow Prince leered at her. "Becuase apparently, Rex has futures connecting to this alicorn too." Luna's eyes slowly widened as the realization became clear. "Rex is in there too!!" she roared. "Let me into your realm!" "Oh, curious for the umbrum... His future with the alicorn," Hollow Prince raised an eyebrow. "Or maybe his future with the unicorn by his side." The princess of the night didn't take anymore words. Racing around her sister, she aimed her saber at Hollow Prince's throat. "Bring me inside, now!" "Not my call. Though, there was something else I needed to confirm." Hollow Prince knocked the tip of the saber away with ease much to Luna's confusion. "You see there was another memory inside Twilight's mind. An alternate form similar to mine. Given a new name, ever so different from... Cassandra!" The unknown name brought out a mighty force from within Luna. The older sister attempted to mend things but was stopped as black fire shot out that threw them all back as a twisted laughter echoed out. The younger sister rose up in form and instantly stood taller than Celestia. "She said not to mock her," Luna spoke as if in thirds. "Luna is trying her best to keep from killing you." "Yes, but as long as you are her cohost much like I am to my dear Blood Diamond." Hollow Prince bowed. "I do need to talk to you too, Lady Cassandra Evenstar." He realized the more he used that name the more anger he brought forth from the evil inside Luna. "Oh, that's right, you prefer the name of the future. The name Twilight knows you by, Nightmare Moon." The blue flames on Luna's face quickly spread over her whole body. Her teeth sharpened and her eyes turned knife like. Nightmare Moon rushed out of the smoke and charged directly at Hollow Prince. The other two alicorns tried to stop it, but the shockwaves through them both back and destroyed several buildings in the process. The once quiet and empty city was filled with noise once more. But this time, it was nothing but rage and malice replacing the peace and generosity. ****** Within the mindscape, the former ruler knew nothing of her city's destruction. Even the vanishing of her unicorns of which she witnessed had a faded behind a wall of depression. While memories of her guard dying over and over had long dissolved the sounds of his body hitting the ground kept echoing in her head. Instead of screaming or crying, her mind had broken to a faint wideness. Her eyes staring into the nothingness. Even as they dried, they refused to blink as if fearing the second the darkness appeared the reality would consume her too. Princess Mira Platinum, born half alicorn, shined in the form of a unicorn all her life could do nothing now but lay there less than a brick. Dirt had more honor and right then her in this moment. To her, it would be better for to just die. "Please don't think such things," the voice of her mother brought a single flinch of recognition. The alicorn spirit tried to fight the damned thoughts while unable to understand herself. "It won't matter..." The voice was stopped by an unknown figure approaching. The spirit turned to see a dark blue pegasus standing in the emptiness. "How did you get in here?" She shouted at the intruder. "The wendigo said we would be left alone." "Sorry, I don't work for him." The dark blue pegasus stopped in front of the princess and lifted up her new arm given to her by the wendigo. He dropped it just as quickly once he was sure of the truth. "See, she's given up." The hand hit the ground with a loud thud and even crackled just as loud, making the princess twitch as if she was hearing her guard's death again... "Given up?!" The spirit argued. "I don't know who you are, but my daughter would never give up!!" The mother attempted to fix the crack, but her power proved pointless. "You have every right to give up too." The pegasus sat down beside the princess and pulled out a beer. A few swings before he stared deeply into the bottle. "You know nothing of me and her!!" The spirit hissed. "How quickly you unicorns forget former allies." He took another swing. "Why am I not surprised. A former soldier of such high rank, running away forever!" He laughed. The spirit lowered itself and swarmed around the pegasus's face for a few moments before stopping. "You are the older sibling of Gale HD Hurricane, Rainbow HD Hurricane." "My sister prefers to be called Commander Hurricane now..." The pegasus swung the remains of his bottle before pulling out another. "She hasn't been called Gale since... As for me, its Rainbow Haven Dartz Blitz, or just Rainbow Dartz now." "Why are you here?" "Apparently helping out a friend and attempting to dodge my past at all costs was for not." "A friend... you are allies with Twilight Sparkle and Starlight Glimmer." "Huh, from what I heard, they wanted to be friends with your daughter as well." He took another swing, forcing it down. "My daughter needs no friends." "She needed a father and mother," he shot back just as quickly. "I am a good mother. I am helping her complete her dream." "Her dream, or your revenge!" He threw down the bottle, smashing it loud enough to bring another twitch from the princess. "My sister used to use the same excuse in her war with the griffins. All you royal and high command are the same. Seeking revenge at every moment, not caring who else you infect with this rage and madness!!" "I am not like them..." The spirit lowered her voice. "I am not a unicorn and haven't been an alicorn for thousands of years... at least not in the eyes of my own kind." "And look at you now, enslaving the unicorns. Chaining your own daughter!" "That's not what's happening here?" "Prove me wrong then?" Rainbow Dartz's words stopped her in her tracks and her voice went completely silent. The pegasus took this chance to lean back and rest. This was going to be a very long mission. ****** On the otherside of the mindscape, Rex and Clover quickly figured out what was going on too. The umbrum wanted to enjoy himself in the city of his past but knew they couldn't stay here forever. However, just as fast as they arrived in one past, they were taken to another by simply entering a door. Passing through a bright light they found themselves in a room filled with crystals. Rex grumbled at the sight of himself sitting against the wall. Several soldiers stood around him and at the far end could be seen Blood Diamond looking at a monitor with Golden Williams by his side. Clover noted the past Rex looked near exactly the same as her Rex. She knew of his ageless form but seeing it like this was still disheartening. She wanted to speak up but was stopped as the past Rex replied with the same question. "Alicorns! Why am I here?" He huffed loudly. "You know why!" Blood Diamond answered coldly as he continued to watch the screen. "Please, Rex, explain again, this time to all of us," Golden Williams answered with a calmer tone. "I already explained it to... Luna." The past Rex leered at Celestia, assuming she had been ease dropping. "Maybe if we all heard the details, we could stop it," Golden Williams pointed out. "I've tried many times, but I cannot stop someone's death." The past Rex turned away. "There has to be a reason you were given this ability," Golden Williams argue. "My own species had the same gift and did it save them? How do you know I can stop this--" " I know you can!" a new voice entered the scene that through Clover for a full loop. Princess Luna approached the past Rex. She took his hands and held them tightly, practically begging him. "Do not ignore your visions now." "I'll ignore them like you ignored me." He tossed her hands away so coldly and left to the other side of the room. "I told you not to say a word." He pointed at Luna. "I never expected your sister would be heartless enough to spy on us." "I am the one that told them," Luna corrected him. "Please, we are running out of time." The current Rex watched his past self's action with a mix of disdain and shame. "Let us go back to the other memories." His own pleas didn't stop Clover from stepping closer. "No, I wish to know more." Clover stopped in front of the image of Luna and stared at her face. "This longing..." she whispered to herself. "Fine, this was the Voss Grand incident which led to the defeat of the Centaur Empire. I was working with Cold Blue and Blood Diamond..." Rex stopped and waved his head back and forth. "It was my first mission after a long retirement. They forced me out of hiding... No." The modern Rex stopped in front of Luna before turning away from her. "She brought me out of hiding." "What happened next?" "I gave in and told them..." With that the room quickly moved forth. Everypony moved through their paths in time as if in tandem with his words. "Later Cold Blue was commanded to hold the fort while I fought the forces on the ground." "Please tell me what the vision said?" Clover question. "What does it always say... death." He gave no more word as the battle played out around them. "How many?" Clover questioned as bodies piled around them. "All of them... Every single centaur." "And you didn't try to save them!" she screamed back as the bloodshed got worse. "It wouldn't matter if I save them. It matter who was killing them!" "It shouldn't matter who is going killing, you had to save them--" She was stopped as massive crystal shards rained down over the battlefield. The centaurs were no longer dying in battle, instead, being slaughtered in mass. "This is Blood Diamond's spell..." She remembered the images of Rage Mountain. "No, this one is from his father." Rex pointed to the massive shadow of an alicorn in the clouds far bigger than any Clover had seen before. Under his wings rained the shards. "My vision was the death of King Ixion's wife. The king of the centaurs had went mad and declared war. Even a monster as evil as him needed to lead and with his sanity gone the rest of his kind would fall to my master's power." "You couldn't save them all...?" She questioned again. "Oh, yes." Rex conceded, "I did try with all my strength, but all of them died in a matter of minutes." More and more crystals crashed down, tossing up dirt, blood and chunks of flesh. The blood shed was far, far more gruesome than anything Blood Diamond could ever accomplish. ****** In the third area of the mindscape, Twilight and Cold Blue walked out of another door. This time they were covered in cake and frosting. They entered another room with a massive stairway made of crystals. "So... that was Pinkie Pie?" Cold Blue questioned, shaking his clothing, hoping the memory of frosting would fade faster. "Yeah, she's all kinds of fun!" Twilight laughed so hard, wiping away as much as she could while she ate a cherry. She reached over to pick another cherry off his face only for it to fade in her fingers. "Huh, that was faster than the last time." "Good." Cold Blue huffed. "Oh, too many fun memories for me to enjoy?!" Twilight slapped his back. "I'm sure we will find some of your fun memories soon enough!" "That might take a while--" Twilight pushed Cold Blue away as a younger version of her passed by with a dragon by her side. "Don't let them see us." "Again, these are memories only. They can't acknowledge us." "Then explain Pinkie Pie waving and throwing a cake with our names at us?!" Twilight pointed out. "Can you explain any of Pinkie Pie's actions at all?" Cold Blue shot back. "That was the third time she noticed us." "... good point. Though, I've always had suspicions that she might be clairvoyant." Twilight poofed a notepad into her hand and took some notes. "That can be surmised later." Cold Blue stopped her. "Now which is this? Memory, dream, future?" "Future for your time sure, but for me, this has to be before I gained my wings." Twilight walked over and poked her younger self's back. Pulling the hair up and measuring it she was able to gain an exact time. "In fact, three months, twenty-two days and six hours before I got my wings." She stopped at the sight of the dragon and rubbed his head. "I had forgotten how short Spike was back then." She compared his height to her and her younger self. "Do I need to ask why he looks a lot like Princess Platinum's loyal guard?" He noted, "In fact, Pinkie Pie reminds me of another from the present. Actually, a lot of your friends do?" Twilight waved her hand back and forth, laughing shyly. "Yeah, I suspect there might be a lot of reincarnation and fate at play around Ponyville. There are many more ponies in your time I've had to do a double take on just to make sure I wasn't seeing things. Though, it's been happening more and more recently--" Both were stopped as the floor flipped around them. Within seconds they were sliding up the stairway. Twilight was a mix of fear and joy and she grabbed tightly to Cold Blue. He gave no complaint and simply enjoyed the ride, at least this couldn't possibly lead to a mess. The two flew down the ceiling for a few minutes passing several swirls as they appeared to be getting faster. Though this was clearly from Twilight's memories, she couldn't hide her excitement as they reach the bottom, or rather top. Unknown to her, she pressed closer to Cold Blue the closer their destination got. Another bright light traced over them as they entered the opening. The two landed on the ground with a harder thud then she remembered. In fact, the quick spin had place Twilight directly on top of Cold Blue, with her bust smacking into his chest plate. She opened her eyes only to find her mouth right above his face, leaving her blushing madly. Despite the position, they were in, neither moved for a solid minute. Instead, both were heavy of breath and could barely process their spots until their lungs slowed completely. Cold Blue was the first to move, lifting the alicorn above, trying not to sit her in his lap. Following his cue, Twilight pulled herself off of him and stood up. Both apologized for several moments, not realizing where they were at until they were done. "Wait, this isn't right." Twilight was the first to point out something was wrong. "This isn't the room with the Crystal Heart." "Oh, so that slide was in the Crystal Empire," Cold Blue chuckled, only to stop at the cold stare Twilight gave. "Where is younger me and Spike?!" Twilight ran over to the door they entered. It wouldn't open much to her fear. She pulled with all her might only to fall back in Cold Blue's arms, the door refusing her. The two turned back to see where they were. The room was darker then the previously presumed. Shattered pieces of crystal traced the ground in erratic fashion, when not floating through near pit black pools of unknown liquid. The final thing to reach them was an incredibly strong and horrible starch smell that was so powerful it pushed them both back. "What is this place?!" Twilight covered her mouth. "It's not from my memories." Cold Blue was toss completely off guard. "Could it be from a possible future?" Twilight backed her way to the exit. "Maybe, but whose? Our's or one of the others?!" "We can't stay and find out or else the possible will become a reality--" Twilight was stopped by hitting a door again. Much to her shock, it was suddenly cracking open. "Over here. The sooner we leave the less chance we have of this future being real." "Wait..." Cold Blue's eyes went wide at the sight of a familiar form that seemed very, very wrong. Blackish blue hair stretching down with slime like it was ink, ice tip wings near as massive as the room, and vicious cold dead eyes; these images only brought confusion, but that face was unmistakable. "Twilight, stop--" He couldn't say anymore as she pulled him through the doorway. They vanished into the light, leaving behind the beastly figure. It smiled at them and walked over six very familiar ponies, each one drained of all their blood, crushing one of their heads under her massive bony dark blue crystal hand. "Did you see that girls?" The beastly figure cackled with venomous laughter. "Time travel is such a cold hearted bitch. See enough things and who knows what fate awaits you. Yes, awaits us all, Twilight Sparkle!!"