Eris would lead the group through the strange landscape towards the temple. Upon walking in, they saw that it was a beautiful palace to behold. Stained glass lined the walls, and gardens grew under the tall ceiling. They would soon walk up to find Algea wrapped up in a black cloak, facing away from them.
"So you have decided to come and attempt to restore the world to what it was before." Algea's voice echoed from all around the palace.
The group watched her, Algea sat motionless. It was as if she was lost in meditation. Eris didn't waste time and began charging magic through her hands, but Spike ran ahead and called out to her.
"If anyone can fix this, it's you! Everyone else hates living in shadows, why doesn't it bother you?"
Algea was silent for a moment. She would soon deliver her reasoning.
"Many years ago, I was stolen away from this temple. I was taken deep into Tartarus to be before the original spirit of shadows. My captor used its creation, the Eclipse Sphere, to take the spirit's magic and pass it to me."
"What was cast upon me was not like any other. I was no longer a human, but a concept. The force of shade and corruption. This put me in line to eventually manifest as an unstoppable creature, as concepts tend to
do in our universe."
Algea would rise up and turn to face them. Her past self that was delightfully evil was gone. What looked at the group was the face of someone that looked to be lost in eternal sadness.
"Corruption is the reason I did this. Like Shadows and Chaos, it is an essence in this world, but one without a spirit. Its purpose is to make one's own hopes and wishes feel absolute. With order, it would create a world free of individual thought. With chaos, it would cause a complete absence of logic."
"With Shadow, it drives one to eliminate all light in existence. Replacing it with a world of eternal silence and darkness. As we speak, the last remains of light are being removed from the universe. I cannot rid of corruption, I am only able to realize how it flows through me."
"Forgive me for destroying the world you knew. Perhaps you will all learn to accept eternal shadow."
The group listened to her speech, some having an understanding of what she has been through. The other spirits in the room realized how much corruption influences them. Eris thought about this only for a few moments. She shook her head and fired a blast of magic at Algea.
Algea blocked the beam without moving her body. As the blast was halted, she motioned her arm to fire back at them. Eris blocked but was blasted back trying to hold back the beam. The others joined in, but even when united, the amount of force behind it caused them to slide backward.
Grogar would appear to the side of them and aid them with holding back the laser, with his help they were finally able to hold their ground.
"You should have told me once you assembled them! Stygian, Spike! Find the others and use the element to wake them!" He exclaimed.
They nodded to him. Spike jumped on to Stygians back as he galloped off down a hallway. They heard the sounds of battle as they searched the temple.
"We have no idea how big this place is, we might never find them!" Spike said as he held on tightly to Stygians neck. They spotted them in the corner of their eyes and slid to a stop. "Oh, that's convenient."
They approached the group lost in slumber. They looked back and forth trying to decide who to wake first. Spike bumped Stygian and pointed to Harmony. "I think we should start with the actual goddess."
Stygian nodded his head and struggled once more with his spell. He pulled it off but felt even more drained afterward than he did before. Even though she did wake up, she continued to lie down. She was greyer than normal similar to Discord. She managed to speak with them.
"Stygian... wake Twilight," She said weakly. Stygian was already breathing deeply. He shook his head, not knowing if he had it in him. "I don't know if I can. It's so difficult to cast magic."
"You have to... please." Harmony said as she continued to lie on the floor. Spike put his hand on him for encouragement. Stygian looked at him and took a sigh. He closed his eyes once more, pointing his horn at Twilight. After much effort, he cast the spell. Stygian slumped over on the floor immediately after, completely drained.
Twilight would open her eyes and look around the room. A battle could be faintly heard from elsewhere in the temple. She rose to her hooves in a panicked state. "Spike! What's happening?" Twilight asked, Spike pointing towards Harmony.
Twilight leaned in close to Her. "Harmony, what is going on?" She asked with fear in her voice. Harmony weakly looked up to her.
"Twilight Sparkle. I need you now more than ever before. All light in the universe will soon be eliminated unless we act now." She spoke quietly.
"But what can we do, The sphere took away your power?" Twilight responded, growing nervous.
"Long ago, I absorbed the spirit of light. That is what the sphere stole from me. The power of order still is within me. Now, I pass it to you." She said, softly pressing her horns against Twilight.
Twilight tried to question her decision, but the power was already being given to her. After a dramatic blessing of magic, Harmony faded away.
Twilight stood up. "Harmony... Harmony!" Her eyes filled with tears. "We can't do this without you!" Twilight fell onto her knees, not having faith in herself.
Spike was the only one able to be there for her. "Twilight, I've been with you since day one. If anyone in this room can fix this, it's you."
Twilight slowly picked her head up to look at him. Spike put his little dragon hands on the sides of her head. "You are the only hope we have right now." He said in a watery voice.
Twilight pulled herself up to hug him tightly. "We'll get through this, Spike. Stay here, I don't know what's going to happen in there."
All Spike could do was give a nod. Twilight released him and gave him one last look in the eyes. She kissed Spike on the forehead and ran down the hall towards the sounds of battle.
Her emotions were skyrocketing, Her magical limitations were shattering. She was more ready for this than anything else. She entered the room to find Algea the only one left standing.
Algea turned to face Twilight. "So you came here to fight me, I assume?"
"We're not fighting here," Twilight responded, before casting a powerful spell. She successfully broke through all barriers, pulling both of them into Algea's spirit.
Algea regained her senses and examined the area. Her hands no longer had claws, for she was her human self. A blond-haired child in a short red robe, pants, and sandals. The attire she was wearing during the incident. The only thing off about her was the black and purple energy flowing through her skin.
Twilight emerged from the darkness. "Megan, I brought you in here to allow you to see your true self."
She continued to examine her hands until she let them fall and dangle at her sides. "This version of me is dead. Soon, it will be gone forever."
"Megan, Your parents have gone thousands of years without you! They miss you! They want to be with you again! Only you can make that happen!" The little alicorn said to her.
Algea tried to fight it, feeling her emotions attempting to break free. "I'm Algea now. Stop calling me Megan."
"Megan, please. You can stay with us, we can make existence a better place!" Twilight desperately said.
Algea looked up to Twilight, but she only saw her mother looking back at her. She began to breathe rapidly, pulling all the magic and energy she had towards her, and firing a beam at Twilight.
Twilight blocked it, but knew she couldn't hold against it for very long. She felt that there was only one thing to do. Twilight closed her eyes, and focused all the energy she had towards one goal.
The magic cut through the energy that Algea was emitting and struck her directly. This caused a large flash of light, and forcefully brought both of them back to the Palace of Harmony.
Algea carefully opened her eyes, she felt different. She checked her hands, the energy from before was no longer flowing through her. She also did not return to her draconequus like form.
She sat up, observing herself closer. "I'm... Megan, again. How..."
"WHEW, that's a relief!" a voice said from behind a barrier. Cozy Glow popped out and ran towards her. "I guess the world is saved then! Right? Uh? Did we miss any steps?" She asked an injured looking Eris as she stepped up.
"I don't know, can you fix everything?" Eris said, looking down at her.
Megan looked at the two, and then back down to her hands. "I... I'm unsure..."
Eris frustratingly threw her hands up in the air and walked over to another section of the room. Cozy put her hoof on her chin. "Well, shoot. Maybe Twilight can do something. Hey! Twilight! Wake up!" She said walking over to the purple alicorn lying on the ground.
"Twiiiiiiliiiiiight." Cozy said, shaking her back and forth. "Come on, you've been sleeping on and off for the past few months, we got a world to fix."
She grew annoyed and placed her ear against her chest. Cozy's face went from annoyed to shocked instantly.
"She's..."
"ERIS!!!" Cozy shouted to her from across the room. Eris heard her and was too wounded to fly or teleport, so she stumbly ran over instead. Eris put her hand on her and instantly knew the situation. She tried to revive her with the strength she had left, but it was to no avail.
She stood up with a defeated look on her face, shaking her head. "We've lost her."
Megan couldn't believe it, she scrambled over, picking her head up. She couldn't bring herself to speak as tears formed in her eyes. It didn't help the situation when Spike peeked into the room.
Megan started to lose her senses. She saw Spike call out for Twilight and run to her, pressing his head against her with his eyes pouring with liquid.
It would seem that everyone in the room had given up hope. All Megan did was close her eyes and hang her head.
"This is my fault."