//------------------------------//
// A Runaway Spark 
// Story: The Death of Harmony 
// by PioneerofImagination 
//------------------------------//

I'm going to warn you right now, this story isn't going to have a happy ending. With that in mind let's go right into the story, one of tragedy that ironically started on a day that should have been about a great victory. Discord the spirit of chaos of disharmony tried to spread chaos across all of Equestria and despite messing with the heads of the mane 6 they came back together. Once they did they used the Elements of Harmony to blast him back to stone with a powerful rainbow.

"Oh no," Discord said not so seriously for some reason. "Whatever shall I do? Oh, I know!" With the snap of his fingers Discord vanished, escaping just before the spell hit him. Despite retreating the mane 6 still undid all of the chaos that he created, while upset that Discord got away this was still considered a victory. The mane 6 would wear the elements nearly all the time to prepare for the day Discord would return, unaware of just how unprepared they would be against the plan he would cook up.

Not too long after Discord's defeat, a royal wedding would be held at the capitol and while many were excited for this day Twilight was not. She could tell something was quite off about the bride to be, but none of her friends would listen to her forcing Twilight to confront Princess Cadance, making her run off in tears. This in turn caused her brother the husband to be to verbally rip her a new one then leave Twilight in tears. After that, her friends and even Princess Celestia walked out and left Twilight all on her own. "What have I done? I could have gained a sister but instead, I just lost a brother."

"Maybe we were a little hard on Twilight," Fluttershy said after they left Twilight.

"No, we weren't hard enough," Applejack said, still upset. "You saw how she was in there, she deserves to be all alone."

"Applejack darling!" Rarity said in shock. "I can't believe you, she may have acted badly during the rehearsal but she's still our friend."

"Yeah, and she was just doing it to help her brother. At least she thought she was," Pinkie Pie said.

"But she acted so horrible to Princess Mi Amore whatever. Does she really want us to call her that bizarrely long name?"

"Maybe we should have talked to her at least," Spike said. "She acted horrible but she thought she had a good reason to do so."

"We told her she was just being overprotective of her brother and she didn't listen," Applejack said. "If she feels horrible it's her own fault." The mane 5 and Spike would continue to bicker a bit more while Twilight who thought she hit rock bottom had no clue how much farther she was going to fall. Princess Mi Amore Cadenza appeared and tried to surround her in a ring of fire but Twilight jumped out of it just in time.

"I was right all along, you are evil!"

"Why couldn't you just stay put so I could have gotten rid of you," Cadence said before she tried to hit Twilight with a spell but Twilight dodged and teleported away. "Huh, where did she gaugh!" Cadence got her answer when Twilight blasted her from behind.

"That felt good," Twilight said. Cadence tried to get Twilight but she was too fast and before she knew Twilight was on top of her with her hooves around her neck.

"Get off me!"

"I'm going to make you pay for trying to ruin my brother's life." Twilight continued to choke Cadence who shocked Twilight when the color of her eyes changed, but she only saw for a split second before she was blasted off. All the noise they caused was heard by numerous other ponies that were also in the castle, several guards, the mane 5, Spike, Princess Celestia, and Shining Armor who was the one that blasted Twilight.

"What in Equestria is wrong with you Twilight!?" Shining Armor asked.

"Shining Armor thank goodness you're here!" Cadance said as she got up to run over and hug him. "I came in here to give Twilight another chance but then she tried to kill me saying she'll never let me have you."

"No," Twilight said as she tried to get up. "She's lying, she attacked me first."

"Shining you're not going to believe her are you? After all, you are my one true love."

"No, he isn't because you're evil!" Twilight still tried to hit up but the stun spell she was hit with was too powerful making her fall down. "I-I can't get up," Twilight said as she started to cry a little.

"That's what you get when you attack my wife!"

"You don't want to marry somepony like her BBBFF she-"

"Don't call me BBBFF!" Shining Armor interrupted. "You don't get to call me that anymore. After today you'll be lucky if I ever want to see you again."

"What?" Twilight said, shocked and heartbroken.

"Shining Armor, perhaps we should all calm down a little." Celestia said.

"No I won't calm down, you saw what she was doing!"

"Please you have to believe me, she's evil."

"Like you said earlier but you couldn't prove it then either," Applejack said.

"Yes I can we can use the elements on her and-"

"We're not doing that Twi! In fact, we aren't listening to you ever again!" Applejack interrupted. Cadance continued to hug Shining Armor while she was shooting Twilight a look of sheer delight at her misery, but none of the other ponies noticed. After a while Shining Armor convinced Celestia to lock Twilight up in the dungeon while they decided what to do with her.

"No you can't put me in here she's evil!" Twilight said as she was still fighting the pain.

"We're sick of that old song Twilight," Applejack said.

"Please don't do this to me, Celestia." Princess Celestia was silent as she didn't know what to say or do. Twilight was crying because of the pain but Cadence had been through a lot too and on her wedding day. No matter what she did she was going to let somepony she loves down.

"You'll only be in here for a while Twilight, but it should give you time to think," Celestia said as she closed her eyes to her student.

"What? No!" Twilight then cried even now as the others walked away from here. "Please don't go, I'm begging you, mom please!" Hearing that Celestia turned her head starting to rethink what she did.

"You aren't going to let guilt cloud your judgment are you?" Shining Armor asked, still acting as unforgiving as earlier Celestia then looked away and they all left. The wedding went on but just as they were about to be married when suddenly the real Cadance arrived. Sensing something was horribly wrong it determined her to get out of the caves no matter what and along the way came across Princess Luna who woke up from her nap and saw Cadance putting 2 and 2 together right away.

"We must warn everypony before it's too late," Luna said, not knowing that it already was. They made it to the wedding and once there Chrysalis, queen of the changelings made herself known and before long her army attacked. Celestia tried to stop her but Chrysalis overpowered her, or at least she would have if Luna didn't back her up. After that Cadence snapped Shining Armor out of his brainwashing and together they forced the changelings out.

"Hoorah! We are victorious sister!" Luna said happily that the invasion was stopped but Celestia was silent for there was a major wrong she still had to make right. She went to the dungeon ready to beg Twilight for forgiveness while Spike, Shining Armor, and the mane 5 came down to do the same while explaining to Cadence and Luna why. Needlessly to say they weren't too happy to hear what they did and when they reached the cell they saw it was empty.

"She got out?" Celestia said. "But how and where did she go?" Everypony and Spike then looked all over Canterlot but there was no sign of Twilight. Eventually, Celestia brought the mane 5 and Spike to Ponyville thinking she went there and upon visiting the library saw a note by the desk.

"That wasn't there when we left," Spike said as he ran over to read it. "It's Twilight's, I recognize it," he said with excitement and the others joined in on that feeling. "To all my former friends," Spike read, which made the collective excitement vanish. "I escaped the dungeon and I came here to pack up several things I'll need for my long journey."

"Journey?" Celestia asked as she took the note with her magic to read it herself. "I'm leaving to find real friends, friends that have my back when I need it. Don't bother looking for me because I've taken precautions to ensure that you won't be able to find me." Celestia almost choked up as she paused for a moment to hold back the tears. "I never want to see any of you ever again, goodbye forever. Your former friend and faithful student, Twilight Sparkle."

"Oh no," the mane 5 said collectively as Celestia dropped the note and Spike went over to read it and see if there was more, there wasn't.

"What have I done?" Celestia asked herself as she couldn't hold back the tears anymore. After that Twilight's friends set out to find her but they had no luck. It was as if she disappeared from the face of the planet, but that didn't stop Celestia from going all out to find her. Search parties, detectives, and missing pony papers were put in every major city or town in all of Equestria. Nothing helped but Celestia refused to give up, determined to find her daughter and would even fly around using the royal Canterlot voice saying how sorry she was and begged her to come back.

But despite her efforts, she did not return.


***


After the search failed, Twilight's friends, while still wishing to help search, thought Twilight would come back on her own. But days turned to weeks and weeks turned into months, while they tried to get on with their lives Twilight was never far from their minds. Spike moved in with Rarity and while he rather enjoyed it, he took losing Twilight the hardest and started having nightmares. "Twilight, where are you!" He called out trying to find her sensing she was close by.

"I'm so worthless," a faint voice said and when Spike turned he saw that it was Twilight getting on a rather large ship. Showing a smile that almost covered his entire face he tried to run over but he didn't move. " I don't deserve to have friends. I'm going away, far away where they won't ever find me so they can forget all about me."

"No!" Spike said as he ran faster but still couldn't move. Twilight loaded the last of her things and got on the ship as it started to sail away.

"I'm sorry I was such a horrible friend," Twilight said as the ship sailed out of Spike's sight.

"Twilight please come back!" Spike almost screamed as he was finally able to move but by the time he got to the water, the ship was gone. "You were the best friend I could have asked for, you can act like the worst friend ever, just don't go away." Spike found himself in tears as he cried himself awake.

"Spikey Wikey did you have the nightmare again?" Rarity said as she went over to her favorite dragon who ran over to the closet and dressed like an explorer. "Spike what are you doing?"

"I can't stand it anymore. I have to find Twilight to bring her home."

"Spike darling, I understand but if nopony else could find her how are you?" Spike was about to run off but Rarity teleported in front of him and forced him into a hug as he started crying again.

"Why did I have to treat her so badly? After everything that she did for us."

"We all did Spike," Rarity said as she hugged Spike tighter. Spike calmed down and as he looked up into Rarity's beautiful eyes he leaned up and kissed her. Rarity, unsure of how to react, simply continued to hold her beloved dragon while she closed her eyes and returned the kiss. Rarity couldn't help but hold the little dragon tightly as he moved in closer to the unicorn he loved.

Meanwhile faraway in the Crystal Empire Shining Armor wasn't doing much better as he all but fell into despair over the loss of his sister. While he and Cadence were still together he refused to marry her until Twilight was found so she could be the best mare.

"Oh Twily, I miss you so much," Shining Armor said to himself as he looked through old photos of her. "It's mom and dad all over again," he said as he used a spell he learned from Princess Celestia. The room because the graveyard where his parents were buried as he looked at a young filly crying over the graves.

"What are we going to do Shining Armor?" The filly Twilight asked a younger Shining Armor who brought her into a hug as she continued crying. "What are we going to do," she asked again. "Whose going to take care of me? Of us?"

"We'll think of something," the younger Shining Armor.

"You know it's not healthy to keep using that spell." Cadance, who walked in on recently said to her almost husband.

"I can't seem to help it." Shining replied as she came over and put a hoof on his shoulder.

"It won't bring her back."

"What if she never comes back? What if the only way to see my sister again is in my memories?" Cadance didn't reply but simply laid down next to him, muzzle to muzzle in comfort.

"I've been asking myself that same question." Cadance finally replied.

"It wasn't long after the funeral, during it actually that Princess Celestia came to us and took us under her wing. I joined the guard, and Twily became her personal student. Princess Celestia smothered her with attention, and she wasn't the only one."

"Yeah," Cadance agreed. "I couldn't help but smother her and spoil her." Cadance without the use of the spell Shining Armor was using, remembered a time she comforted Twilight. Twilight, still a filly, was crying her eyes out in a bed after a fight with Shining Armor and Cadance was with her trying to cheer her up.

"Shining's such a jerk." Twilight said as she was still crying and Cadence pulled her into a hug.

"No he isn't." Cadance said as she stroked her mane a little.

"Yes he is, he makes me so mad sometimes I just want to break his neck!" Cadance decided to ignore that comment because she knew Twilight was just speaking out of anger, and that Twilight despite how she felt now had the biggest heart she ever saw.

"Shining Armor is just going through a rough time right now because he lost his parents."

"They're my parents too!"

"I know, I'll stay here until you feel better and then I'll go talk to him about how he treated you." Twilight then got closer to Cadance getting more comfortable as she rested her head on her chest. "Cadance, despite all that's happened, I'm glad you're still in my life."

"Me too." 


 ***


In Canterlot Princess Celestia hardly left her room, she also all but fell into despair and like Spike was having a series of nightmares.

"Twilight? Twilight are you here?" Celestia asked as she flew around a seemingly endless abyss of darkness.

"How could you do that to me, I thought you were my friend?" Twilight asked as she appeared out of nowhere. Celestia wanted to fly right over to her and give her a hug, but she slowed down severely. A cliff then appeared where Twilight was and it broke causing her to fall.

"TWILIGHT NO!" Celestia yelled in the royal Canterlot voice that echoed throughout the abyss. She managed to fly down the cliff but couldn't reach Twilight.

"Why didn't you help me?!" Twilight said before hitting the ground and smashing to pieces like a vase. Celestia landed by the leftover pieces of her former student and suddenly saw two shadows, when she looked up she saw her sister Princess Luna and her other former student Sunset Shimmer.

"Why didn't you help us?" They asked in unison and before Celestia could answer the two of them transformed. Luna into the creature that haunted her dreams long ago Nightmare Moon and Sunset Shimmer into the raging she-demon she became when she tried and failed to invade Equestria. "She's never coming back." they once again said in unison.

"What?" Celestia asked.

"She's gone," they said. "Gone forever! You're never going to see her again!" The two then surround Celestia as she tried to drown out their taunting and suddenly similar to Spike awoke in tears. She then reached into her drawer and pulled out a special sphere similar and various precious memories she had with Twilight appeared. One where she showed her around the school of Gifted Unicorns, another where she was taking Twilight to her room and Twilight wanted to race.

"I'm gonna beat you," the Twilight in her memories said before she was lifted by Celestia's magic into the air allowing Celestia to gain the lead. "Hey no fair, that's cheating!"

"Royal privileges," the Celestia in the memory and the Celestia watching said at the same time. She then watched another memory where a guard brought a crying Twilight to her chambers.

"Twilight?"

"I had a scary dream." Twilight replied as she continued crying. Without even hesitating she asked Twilight to join her in her bed.

"What was the dream?"

"I dreamed that a monster came into the castle and kidnapped me. Then it locked me in a cage and said he'd never let me out and that I'd never see you again." Princess Celestia then pulled her into a hug.

"Don't worry, it was just a dream. I'll never let anything happen to you, I'll always be here for you."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Are you alright Princess Celestia?" A yellow coated pony with an odd long red horn asked upon entering the room.

"Yes Forest." Celestia answered as she got out of bed and put the sphere away while seeing Forest was still looking over at her with concern. The two had a strange connection ever since they came across one another, when she was out looking for Twilight one day she found him asleep and all alone in a forest. That's where he got his name, since he couldn't remember his and soon enough he became her personal student. Many found that rather strange including herself a little what with her track record, but she quickly found he was abnormally good at magic and she could tell right away he was a lost soul in need of guidance.

"You don't look all right." he replied.

"I just had a nightmare, the worst one yet actually. It was about my former student."

"You care about her a lot don't you?"

"Yes we came across one another because of a tragic event, but I took her and her brother under my wing. I looked after her and, I'm sorry I'm starting to ramble."

"It's quite alright you probably needed to."

"Yes I keep thinking I've gotten all of it out of my system, but every time I do more show up." Celestia then started to cry again. "Please Twilight come home, I'm sorry I didn't believe you. I miss your visits, I miss your friendship letters. I failed you as a teacher. I wish I could put it in some other way but I can't, I can only beg your forgiveness and pray that somehow in some way you can hear me." Forest then went over to hug her while he was not her student for long he quickly grew very fond of her.


***


One whole year had passed since Twilight disappeared, and now an evil plan would be set in motion that would change the fate of Equestria forever. As Celestia planned to send out another search party several guards arrived with somber looks on their faces. "Is something the matter?" She asked.

"Yes it is your highness we just arrived after looking into a rockslide that happened recently," 1 of the guards answered. "And we found this." The guard then gave Princess Celestia a saddle bag that had a certain purple sparkle cutie mark emblem on it. Princess Celestia was shocked as she could only heartbreakingly look at what remained of the bag.

"We, still haven't found the body." another guard said. Soon after the search parties were called off and the news would spread to both Ponyville and the Crystal Empire, the others took it as well as Celestia. A funeral was put together soon and all who cared for Twilight came with tears in their eyes before even arriving. Because now they know not only will they never see their friend again, but now they'll never get to tell her how sorry they are.

"It's not fair, it's just not fair." Spike said as Rarity was comforting him. When they arrived Spike went inside the castle to clear his head as the others got things ready. But just as they were about to start they were shocked to see Twilight Sparkle herself walking towards the castle. They didn't even bother asking questions as they all ran over to her and trapped her in a group hug.

"GET, OFF ME!" Twilight ordered as she used her magic to force everypony off of her to their pain and confusion. "Did you think I would forget?! Did you think I would forgive?! I will never forgive any of you for what you did to me."

"Twilight please-"

"I don't want to hear it!" Twilight interrupted Celestia and she attacked them with various magic that not even the alicorns could block. "I'm too tired for this, if you want to finish this you'll find me here," Twilight said as she made a map appear. "I'll have all my energy back by the time you get there," Twilight said before vanishing. After that Spike came out and saw the recently made mess.

"What the heck did I miss?"