Gloom
Twilight Sparkle was many things.
Two weeks ago, the Tree of Harmony died. Two days ago, ten thousand ponies followed her path. Then, one day ago - for the first time in publically recorded history, the Alicorn Pantheon met.
The world felt as if it was ending. The threat of dragons, of gryphons - of death, of destruction - and the nightmares she had been having didn't help. Yes, Twilight Sparkle was many things- and one of those things was stressed out of her mind.
Her friends certainly helped. She was pretty sure that she'd be the first pony in three hundred years to spontaneously combust from raw emotion alone without her friends. So she's spent the night crying as she buried her face into whatever she could - be it scales, feathers, or fur and hair of every shade under the rainbow and more.
When she woke up - in a puddle of all her friends and loved ones...she had no more tears left to cry. Her heart felt broken, the world felt wrong-, but she simply didn't have the energy to cry anymore.
She moved sluggishly through a world made of molasses. Precious black gold - of the rather garbage instant kind, but still gold nonetheless, filled a cup as the alicorn straightened herself out with her magic. While Rarity was still sound asleep, she could hear her quite clearly in her head - A lady must look the part, dear!
She formed a quick mental checklist. Twilight rather liked checklists - they were a great way of organizing herself. Especially in situations of high stress. Or low-stress. Or really, any situation at all. You could never go wrong with a checklist, she thought.
She had fixed her mane and wings. She had acquired her precious lifeblood coffee, and now -
And now what?
Twilight Sparkle was not afraid of death or the afterlife. She had a rather pessimistic view on the whole situation: she believed that when you died - that was it. Game over. Shut your eyes, and then nothing for the rest of eternity. But that didn't frighten her. She didn't welcome it, mind you - but it didn't scare her. What frightened her - was leaving people behind. Or being left behind. The aftermath would be so cruel to devalue death to such terminology.
The world would keep on spinning with or without Twilight. It had before, and it would be after. Sure - she was an alicorn now. Fancy-schmancy, Spirit of Magic - but according to Tempest's story...there didn't need to be a Spirit of Magic. There didn't need to be any Spirits. In fact - what was the nature of a Spirit? Divine brings with it a certain connotation—all-powerful, all-knowing, all-good.
Pick two. Discord was certainly all-powerful and all-knowing - or, within a sense of the terms. He wasn't truly omnipotent and omniscient - Twilight didn't believe in omnipotence. Omnipotence doesn't make sense - you cannot say nonsense becomes sense merely because "the Maker willed it." Regardless, Discord wasn't all-good. There was cruelty within him - not the true, unabashed evil that Tempest had described Discord's predecessor - no, what was the term, now? Entropy as.
Neither was she. She didn't particularly feel all-powerful or all-knowing. She didn't particularly feel necessary. What was the nature of divinity, if it was not - in some way, shape or form, necessary? And if it was necessary, in some sort of cosmic way beyond Twilight's feeble understanding - although she thought to herself, a little bit egotistically, that her understanding was anything but feeble - then how come Spirits were - cruel?
"A valid question, Twilight Sparkle." Tempest's deep voice shook the ground underneath her. The slightly frazzled Alicorn glanced around - yes, they were in Tempest's cave. The drakoness was resting on her bed as she snacked on some eels - ugh, the smell...wait. When had she gotten here? She certainly hadn't walked or teleported...
"The short answer is that there is none. The longer answer - is that Spirits are what you would call mutualism. Liogella would continue to spin as you put it, without us. It would do so a little more...sluggishly, I think. But we are not necessary."
"Um - sorry." Twilight blinked a few times. "I - sort of...just woke up. How did - how did I get here?"
"You willed it." The Storm herself tilted her head to the side. "Did you not do so intentionally?"
"Uh - I don't...think I did. I'm still kind of...um. Messed up." She paused for a second before she chugged the entire rest of her coffee - and with two quick spells, cleaned herself up and brushed her teeth. She didn't like doing either with magic - it didn't do quite a good enough job at it, but it was enough for her purposes.
"Then you came here on instinct. How interesting." Tempest slowly started circling the smaller Spirit.
"I - guess. I'm not really sure why though?"
"What is our relationship, Twilight Sparkle?" Tempest tilted her head to the side. Twilight let out a soft huff at Tempest's refusal to drop her last name but didn't comment on it past that.
"I guess - we're friends."
"A rather surface level descriptor. Go further."
Twilight frowned. "We're friends. I like to talk to you. You teach me a lot."
"Do you trust me, Twilight Sparkle?"
"...I think I do." Twilight nodded.
"Then it is likely, that some part of you desired a - confidant. And some part of you used Worldwill to find one."
"Worldwill?" Twilight tilted her head to the side.
"A bit less lengthy than saying The Will and Magic of the World Itself every time, no?"
"...yeah. A lot less." Twilight sighed.
"You have a lot on your mind, don't you?" Tempest rolled over onto her back.
"Of course I do. Ponies - died. A lot of them. And I'm - still here."
"Do you feel guilty, that you are here and they are not?"
"No!" Twilight huffed. "...Yes!" A bit more thought. "Maybe. I - don't know. Everything is just - so...confusing."
"Emotions often are. I'm thankful that I have Order to keep mine in line, when it comes to pass."
"...Can - you tell me a little bit more about that?"
"About what?"
"You have - things in your head. Order. Harmony. All your lives. What's it like?"
Tempest thought for a moment. "My mind is one. But - my experiences...are seperate, I suppose. It's like - a constant buzzing, in the back of your head. All the time - I hear their critique. Their actions. But - they're me. Deeper parts of me, I suppose. Parts that I might not be able to access. But - they're me. Harmony is every bit me as I am her."
"That - kind of makes sense?"
"Such is the nature of a Spirit, Twilight Sparkle. Everything is contradictory. Don't presume to understand divinity - accepting it is good enough."
Twilight was quiet for a little bit.
"...you and Luna. You fought against the gryphons. Against the dragons. What - what was it like?"
"We are not you, Twilight Sparkle." Tempest said softly. She leaned in, her nose pressing against her chest. Twilight stepped back. "We are displaced. From an older time. A more warlike time. Do not try to emulate us - not because you will fail, but because you will succeed, and you will hate yourself for it."
"...do you think...do you think that -"
"Yes, Twilight Sparkle." Tempest nodded. "You are eternal. Endless. It is likely, that as your life unfurls - you will be forced to take life, through a matter of circumstance."
"oh." Twilight said softly. "Right. I - assumed, I would. But - I guess. Hearing it. Made it feel real. Maker - I - sorry." She whispered. Her eyes - when did they get so wet?
"You have nothing to be sorry for, Twilight." Tempest matched her tone and met her eyes. "It is nothing you should ever look forward to. Nor is it something that should be the first option. Strive to redeem, then incapacitate - maim or cripple if you absolutely must, but never treat murder as the first option."
"Isn't that - hypocritical, of you? S-sorry," Twilight added quickly. "I meant - that dragon. I - didn't see the pictures. But I heard. You-"
"I gave her the chance to run. She did not take it. She would throw herself at Trottingham until it was reduced to ash. Maybe I made the wrong choice - but my choice is in the past. It is - best not to dwell on it."
"Isn't - dwelling on it how you do better, though? Learning from your mistakes?"
"I suppose." Tempest shrugged. "We aren't the same, Twilight. We come from fundamental differences that are hard to overcome."
There was a small lull in the conversation as Twilight thought about Tempest's words. The drakoness seemed more content with inspecting her claws than forcing the conversation further, though.
"Are you busy, Tempest?"
Tempest shook her head.
"I think - I think that I'd like to continue our sparring. Our training. I won't kill. I don't think - I don't think I can kill. But I need to be able to defend my home. Or - know that I'm able to."
A slight grin spread over Tempest's face. "Then, let us train."
---
Twilight would be lying if she said she wasn't the slightest bit curious about what a fight between Tempest and another Spirit would look like. Not that she ever wanted to see them fight - but a little bit of curiosity didn't hurt, did it?
"Defend," Tempest cried - and Twilight's curiosity was dulled a fair bit as three spiralling bolts of air - sharpened to a lethal point careened towards her. Her blood ran cold as she realized that these were truly lethal - not the blunted spells that Tempest had used before. If she didn't defend or dodge - she would get hurt.
She didn't want to get hurt. Her pain tolerance wasn't particularly high - it had certainly gotten higher after becoming an alicorn, but pain still - well, hurt. She didn't - she didn't want to-
"Good. Was that intentional, Twilight Sparkle?" Tempest slowly circled her. Twilight blinked a few times as she realized that the bolts had been destroyed - mere seconds after they started flying through the air. She hadn't - she hadn't even...
"It wasn't." Twilight admitted as she dug at the ground with her hoof. "I don't - get it. You can do it so easily - and when I try to do it, it takes - hours. But then I don't think about doing it - and it just happens. It's - ugh. Annoying."
"We are in uncharted territory, Twilight Sparkle. Throughout all of my knowledge - and although I cannot recall before the Purge, there have only been three users of Worldwill. Until today - it did not even have a name. But - we all use it differently."
"What do you mean?"
"Entropy took. He saw the power of the Worldwill,, and he took it for himself. He took it - so the World had no choice but to do as he commanded. But it did not lend itself easily to him - and he could not hold it infinitely. He had less limitation but less - effect. Less power.
I - ask, I suppose. It comes rather easily to me. The World gives itself to me on account of its role in my creation. The magic flows - but if the time comes where the World says no to what I ask for, I would be - unable to.
From what I can tell - you use it in its purest form. You shape the Worldwill. You Will the World. Quite frankly, I don't think it would be possible to even guess at your limits before they present themselves. Greater than Celestia, greater than Discord, greater than Entropy, greater than me. Only time will tell, Twilight Sparkle."
"Time." Twilight huffed. "I get that I have an infinite amount of it now. It doesn't - make waiting any easier."
Tempest shrugged. "We're all a little bit more impatient then we might think. I-"
The air shimmered. Tempest's head snapped to the side. Twilight's horn began to glow - before Luna appeared with a soft hiss of air.
"Tempest!" Luna cried. "I brought - food..." She trailed off. "Oh. My - sincerest apologies, Twilight Sparkle-"
"No!" Twilight yelled suddenly. Luna recoiled. "Twilight. Please. I get enough of Tempest calling me Twilight Sparkle. Just - use my first name. We're friends, Luna."
"...Um. Right. Yes. Apologies, Twilight. Tempest. Did I - interrupt something?"
"The beginning of a training session." Tempest shrugged. Twilight slowly nodded.
Luna dropped the paper bag. She held a hoof up to her chest. "And you did not invite me?" She gasped. She trotted over to Twilight's side. "Maker strike me down if I - The Morrigan, may not have a role in the training of my littlest sister."
"I'm - uh..."
Luna leaned in, and with a dangerous glint in her eyes - "Good! Then let us begin."
---
Twilight didn't remember the last time she had been that exhausted.
Tempest's training was rough, but doable. Using the Worldwill made her mind feel as if she had done the mental equivalent of a marathon - and dodging and attacking Tempest was possible. She even almost managed to get a hit off a few times - which was more than she expected, considering the drakon's absurd speed. At times - she seemed to move faster than Discord could, which looked a bit strange considering her sheer size.
Luna's training, on the other hand, was physical. Ascending into an alicorn had given Twilight peak physical condition - not in the sense of rippling muscle and the icon of health. Still, in the sense that the sheer amount of magic, she had meant she could probably hoof-wrestle Applejack. She'd probably lose, but not hilariously so.
Twilight dodged like she never had before. She wasn't allowed to use her magic - instead, being forced to duck and weave as Luna's hammer spun through the air. It was unfair, fighting against something that moved that fast and struck that hard - and she was beyond thankful that it was blunted by magic. The sheer amount of bruises she had by the end...every part of her felt sore.
Still. It felt good. It felt good knowing that she was learning how to protect herself. Learning to dodge, to attack - with or without magic. It felt good enough that she rode that high until she entered her castle - and immediately started drafting up some non-lethal spells.
Even as exhaustion began to pull her deeper - Twilight couldn't wait until the next day.
Discord was stronger than Celestia and Luna, combined, by order of magnitude. With Cadence by their side - they were able to contest him due to superconcentrate harmonic magic, and with Twilight, they were able to surpass him.
In terms of raw power, though: Discord had remained solidly in a class of his own, for the better part of his slightly more than two-thousand-year lifespan. With Twilight's ascension - all the other Spirits certainly knew that she would, in time, be able to at least rival if not surpass him. And with Tempest's return - there was another who could contest with Discord.
Considering Tempest was a bit more - aggressive, than the trickster Spirit - there was another perk that her sheer power brought for the other Spirits. Apart from another heavy hitter - one who was significantly less likely to turn the problem into a swarm of herbivorous fish - it meant for Luna, there was someone who was objectively more powerful than her - but with her best interests in mind.
Or: to summarize the point, Rambling Rock Ridge was now a battlefield.
A controlled storm raged on as Luna donned her Crest, even as Tempest flitted in and out of her senses. It was strange - that a creature with such sheer size could dip in and out of her vision so easily. She moved with speed and struck with precision and accuracy that betrayed the suggestion of her size. While Luna was confident that she was a better fighter - after all, while Tempest had access to the memories of her predecessors, there was a difference between memory and experience.
Luna's hooves touched down on the ground for a mere second. She felt it before she heard it - the air washing over her neck as brilliant magic began to form. Cleddwyr moved to block, razor-sharp claws meeting against nigh-invulnerable metal.Luna dipped Cleddwyr under and awkwardly - letting Tempest's momentum carry her forward a little bit, sending her arm sliding over her head. Luna struck up with all the force she could muster - Cleddwyr impacting a scale with a resounding crack.
Or, it should've. Before it impacted - Tempest melted into the air itself and was gone from her sight. It was reminiscent of Discord - her strongest attacks moved too slow, her fastest attacks weren't fast enough. She could only come close to Tempest when she was aggressive, but she took a strangely passive stance. No, not at all the fierce fighter who had torn a dragon's head off from her body.
Luna cast a spell of raw Dos out from her. She brought the chaotic storm into order - a small bubble of calm at the centre of the raging cauldron of air. Tempest was nowhere to be seen.
"This is meant to be a sparring match." Luna growled. "Not you toying with me. My ego is not so fragile that if I was suffered defeat I would be broken. Hold nothing back, drakon!" She slammed Cleddwyr into the ground.
Tempest didn't answer verbally. Instead - there was a deep glow from within the storm. A soft inhale - the glow became more intense as the air itself seemed to vibrate with magic. A rippling bolt of lightning tore itself out from her mouth. The ground trembled - Luna moved to dodge, but by the time her brain sent the sensory input to run -
Celestia dropped down from the sky. To Celestia, It felt like standing in front of a jet of pressurized water. Celestia slid back along the floor, hooves grinding stone into dust. The power that coursed through around her felt like she was travelling through a leyline - her cells filling with energy and threatening to burst.
The energy faded. The storm died down. Celestia stood there panting, her energy feeling drained from just having been struck by whatever Tempest had done. Luna rushed over to her sister and put a hoof on her withers. "Sister!"
"I told you." The drakon started circling her. "The storm will never hurt you. Either of you."
Celestia let out a shuddering breath. "Instinct." She mumbled dozily.
"What did-"
"A sleep spell. The fact that she's still standing is a testament to her will. Sleep, Celestia. You will be safe when you wake."
Celestia let out a soft noise - her eyes fluttering, before the Unconquered Sun fell to the one thing that could bring even a Spirit to her knees - sheer, utter, exhaustion. Her vision blurred-
Only for her to wake up in Tempest's cave as her sister splashed water on her face. It felt like moments - but was, in truth, much more than that. Celestia and Luna - being the True Bodies personified, always had a rather impeccable sense of time. So Celestia knew that she had been asleep for at least an hour.
"Finally. I was beginning to worry." Luna huffed and sat down.
The Sun herself considered all the facts at hand and summed them up in one sentence. "Hmfgff."
It was more of a noise.
"Good. You're awake." She huffed. "I would slap you for doing something so - idiotic, but the notion was appreciated."
"Instinct." Celestia murmured. Her throat felt dry, and her eyes stung with the exhaustion you felt after an interrupted nap that was either too long or too short, to begin with.
"I'm not a child, Celestia. I'm every bit as durable as you. Mostly." Luna huffed.
"Mm. Forgive me, for not thinking quite so clearly as my sister seemed to be in danger."
"Is that a bit of snark I detect from you? Oh, God-Princess - there's a bit of hope for you yet."
"Why did you come, Celestia?" Tempest said softly. Celestia turned - the gigantic drakoness was behind her, leaning against the wall. Celestia quickly cast a series of spells to refresh herself. She shook the weariness from her eyes and stood up. "Twofold. The official reason is to investigate the sudden storm and surges of magic that we detected. The second, real reason - I haven't - quite been myself, as of late. Which isn't - fair, to either of you."
Celestia held up a hoof before Luna interrupted. "No, sister. Please - allow me to speak in full."
"I - no. We, suffered an experience that no other suffered. We are the only living creatures - aside Discord, and I am not sure if he even truly understands the full scale of the situation - that know the sheer damage Chaos is capable of. And then we lost you." She glanced at Tempest.
"I dreamt of the day for years. I imagined every single possible way it could go in my head. Where we would finally meet - and you would be there. You would be proud of me. You would take my burdens - the burden of everything away, and I could..." She trailed off. "I'm not quite sure what I expected, honestly. These were daydreams, if you would. In a rather literal sense. But - when I saw you...it was - rage."
"I felt angry. Angry that my childhood had been stripped from me. Angry that you hadn't been there to stop Discord. Angry that you hadn't been there for Gorolich, or the Gryphons, or Sombra - or to be there for Luna, when the Parasite reached deep." Luna winced.
"...it was beyond your control. I know that. I know that. But - I am not infallible. I can be cruel. I can be callous. I can be..." She turned to Luna as she searched for the word.
"Stubborn, stupid, silly-"
"Stupid. Let's settle with stupid." Celestia nodded. "I can be reserved. I - when my sister, needed me most - I turned her away and buried myself in my work. I - don't want the same to happen with you, Tempest." Celestia stepped forward.
"...I know - that we said we would be friends. But - I don't think we can be friends. I think - I think that I need to forgive you. Not for something you had any form of control over - I just need...to forgive you. To say, audibly - that I forgive you. To hear it. So, Tempest." Celestia continued walking forward until she was right in front of the drakon.
"I forgive you. I forgive you for my sin, my actions, my stupidity. How could I not? Apart from Luna - you are the only true family I ever had. And words truly fail me to say how I am excited - that you will be there for the rest of my eternity."
Tempest stared at her blankly. "I'm - not quite sure what you're trying to say."
"Neither am I." Celestia laughed dryly. "I'm always a mess around you. Always weak, jumpy. You remind me of the worst time in my life - but you and Luna are the best of that. I don't want to be friends. I want - to be family."
There was a beat of silence. Celestia had lived for two-thousand, three-hundred and twenty-four years. And by the time that the single second of silence ended - she felt as if her age had tripled. Her chest felt heavy. She could feel Luna's eyes boring into her, and Tempest's pupils - each larger than her, consuming her entire world like a singularity-
"I am going to take a nap, Celestia." Tempest rolled over onto her back. "I would like it, if you were to join me." She paused for a moment. "Sister," she added - and her heart soared.
Celestia let out a soft, quivering breath. "I'd love to."
And so - for the first time in a millennium...the stormsisters slept. Pressed against warm scales on a plush surface - the realm of sleep claiming the three Spirits.
Celestia couldn't remember the last time she felt this light, other than her sister's return.
Underneath a black sky, god fought god.
The battle was fearsome. The world trembled as their power shaped it. Echoing booms, the trembling ground - and Twilight Sparkle lay there, weeping.
Her friends had died first. The screaming waked her up - and by the time that she had teleported - there wasn't enough of them left to salvage. He had gathered them up - all of them in one place. They all died so quickly.
She was horrified. He almost killed her in that split second of horror - and if it weren't for her training with Tempest, she undoubtedly would've been dead. Her mobility spell moved her out of the way of his claw, arcing with chaotic energy - before their battle unfurled. Waves of raw order, harmony - bolts, blasts - she threw every spell she knew at him.
But they were nonlethal spells. They slowed him down, at best - or he shrugged them off, at worst. He was a force of terror as he chased her throughout Ponyville - oh, she tried to run towards the Everfree - but he didn't let her. planned - how he manoeuvred the fight to cause as much havoc as possible.
Her vision blurred with tears. There was so much screaming - there was the smell of burnt flesh, the ground itself was molten chocolate - and whenever her order magic struck, it solidified - but they were splinched. Ponies, half-submerged in rock - half not. An instant, painless death. Assuming that they hadn't died from the molten chocolate, that was.
The princesses came. He turned his attention to them - they yelled for her to wake Tempest. And she ran - she ran as fast as she possibly could, she teleported as far as she could - and even still, the explosion nearly killed her. She could feel Celestia's death - her skin bursting as the sun itself tore from her.
She couldn't imagine what happened to Luna.
Tempest tore from the ground. A howl - rage that bubbled off her that the sky itself began to shake - the world felt as it was ending as the storm raged on. The Everfree was set on fire, and they faded - so much energy being exchanged...
The Canterhorn collapsed moments later. It went up in an explosion - lightning tearing from the centre of the continent that racked the ground, individual arcs the size of small towns carving a messy painting into the earth.
Minutes later - mere minutes after the death of everyone she had known and love. Tempest came - hurtling from the sky, smashing down into the ground by Twilight. Her breathing was ragged - her face, half-melted and her scales damaged. Her connection to the mana around them seemed distorted - and every breath caused her more and more pain.
"Twilight," Tempest wheezed. "Will."
---
Twilight Sparkle screamed with rage as fyrd tore from her horn. The wildfire spread - flames as hot - no, hotter than the sun. The mageflame spread from corpse to corpse even as they amassed together - Twilight's fur beginning to catch fire even as she soared high above them. Without her armour - what had Tempest called it - she would've been ablaze.
She heard a roar, and her heart sunk.
"Tempest!" She shrieked out. The massive drakoness - wounded, scarred - half her face and one of her arms missing, grappled with two dragons every bit her size. No matter how many undead they killed - they kept on coming.
Tempest's eyes widened. With renewed vigour - she tore free from her draconic attackers, slapping one across the face with her tail and fracturing its skull. The other - she slapped to the floor with her remaining arm. She pinned the dragon down - before crushing its skull right underneath her head.
The air rumbled. They could feel him coming. Twilight teleported over to Tempest's side. "Are you -"
"Fine." Tempest growled. "Stick to the plan. Do you feel her?"
"No." She sobbed. "I-" Then - her eyes widened. Her head snapped to the side. She felt it. She felt - time.
"I feel her, Tempest. I feel her!"
The world chose that moment to explode. The ground beneath them was torn apart - a swarm of undead, larger than any that they had ever seen before breaking free. Five skeleton alicorns, their joints fused by shadow, rose at their head -
him. At the very front, he stood. His red eyes blazing with power, gnarled horns oozing with sickening magic. His form - as much Absence as it was Will and Flesh.
Tempest's eyes widened. "STICK TO THE PLAN!" Tempest roared. She lunged towards them - and met all six of them, along with the swarm in combat.
Twilight spun around so Twilight wouldn't have to see it. Her eyes shut. She drowned out everything - as she chanted to herself.
"Cadence isn't safe. Apstra is the key. Cadence isn't safe. Apstra is the key-"
Tempest's shriek of agony interrupted her. Twilight's turned around. She let out a soft gasp - as Tempest staggered backwards, her horns shattered and her other arm having been torn off with a sickening rip. The swarm started advancing on her - teeth, gnawing on scales. The undead crushed themselves in an attempt to so much as wound her - grinding their corpses into fleshy red pulps that stuck to her scales. Raw magic started burning through her chest- five alicorns focusing all of their magic into burning through her...
Tempest asked the world.
He made the world.
It sounded like a tree breaking. Gore tore itself out of her back even as her head and eyes went limp - molten scales sloughing off her body.
He turned to her. Twilight's mouth fell open.
"Cadence isn't safe. Apstra is the key." She whispered, she pleaded.
A noble effort, Twilight Sparkle. He spoke. His magic reached out - sickening, twisted. Her eyes - white, turned pure void.
Die happy. Your death brings with it a better world.
Twilight's horn began to glow. Her body began to glow. She reached with her magic - and when that failed, she Willed. She Willed- and there was a rainbow-
Twilight didn't have the chance to scream as the reanimated corpse of her last friend tore her apart in a blaze of glorious plasma.
She woke up screaming so loud her throat was bleeding.
"Repeat yourself, Twilight Sparkle. Slowly. Take your time. The world is not ending." Tempest spoke softly. She shifted around in her cave so that her bulk encircled Twilight, her warmth washing over her.
"But - it is. Slowly. Well - not slowly. Maybe fastly. It wasn't - it wasn't a dream. It was a vision."
Twilight inhaled deeply - then exhaled deeply. She did this a few more times before she huffed, and nodded. "Okay. Discord killed everyone. It - wasn't Discord though. He wasn't laughing. It was - well. It was how you described Entropy. You fought him - but - he almost killed you. You won, but you were wounded. Barely alive."
"Then it was later. We were fighting - well. The dead. I was burning them. I was wearing - armour," Tempest shifted at Twilight's words, "and you were fighting against dragons - but you were missing an arm. Then I started speaking about how I could feel her, and I started repeating - Cadence isn't safe. Apstra is the key. Again, and again, and again. Then - something came. It spoke like its words were...being subtracted. Like - when it said something, it didn't actually say that. It said the opposite of it - and you could tell what it said from the negative space."
"I know. I know. It doesn't make any sense. But that's the only way I can describe it." Twilight panted lightly. "And then you died. And I died."
"A grim tale, Twilight Sparkle. A quick question."
Tempest shifted to the side. "Did the armour look like that?"
There was an alicorn mannequin there. Borrowed from Rarity - its plastic, pastel white features standing out eerily against the rest of the cave. Around it- it was a brilliant set of purple armour. Her hooves were left bare, her ankles and shins covered in purple metal that was edged with crystal - her joints left unarmored, while the rest of her was covered in that alternating blend of crystal and metal. Her cutie mark was emblazoned on the chest. Reminiscent in design of the Celestial Plate - it was a work of art.
It was proof. It was confirmation. She only had glances of it, from a first-person perspective - but she was certain. She knew, in her heart of hearts- yes, that was the armour.
Twilight Sparkle stared at the proof of the apocalypse and nodded.
-