//------------------------------// // Darkness falls Pt. 1 // Story: My Little Pony: Friendship is Eternal // by AlphaToothless95 //------------------------------// As everyone watched the Storm King cause destruction all around them, dread started to fill their hearts and guilt as the realization hit them that if they hadn’t gone through with that so-called “test” Twilight wouldn’t have caused all this. She wouldn’t have turned evil to begin with. “Well.. isn’t that nice?” She asks, turning everyone’s attention back to her. “Tell me.. how does it feel to know that you could’ve prevented all of this.. if you’d just pieced it together from the beginning?” She says with an evil look on her face. Rainbow Dash growls in frustration and Applejack, Celestia and Starlight all have guilty looks on their faces. She takes the chance to form explosive glyphs out of dark magic and send them at everypony else. Celestia makes a shield to block it and return her own blast which Twivine dodges, giving Luna a chance to blast her out of what’s left of the castle. Twivine tumbles to a stop and glares up at them just as Rainbow Dash tackles her, taking her away from Canterlot. “Rainbow!!!” The others yell as their friends slowly disappear, getting further and further away from the kingdom. “Rainbow Dash can handle Twilight, the rest of us have to focus on protecting Canterlot!” Flash says, prompting everyone else to nod before they split up, one half going to protect the citizens, the other going to attack the Storm King. Twivine was super annoyed as Rainbow Dash kept flying through the mountains with her. If anything, she’s just wearing herself out. She huffs as she grabs Rainbow’s midsection, leans back, and flips their positions by kicking Rainbow in the stomach. They tumble a bit before finally stopping and Rainbow Dash immediately punches Twivine who punches back, knocking her into a boulder and stunning her. Twivine stretches her neck, then her arms, getting ready for the coming battle. “No one here to save you this time.. it’s just you. And. Me.” Twivine says as Rainbow shakes her head and stands up. They glare at each other before Rainbow blasts lightning at her multiple times and she dodges some of the blasts and blocks the rest before rushing at her. Rainbow Dash kicks at her, prompting her to slide under it, grab her leg, stand up and throw her. After that Rainbow is put on the defensive as Twivine relentlessly attacks her. Everytime Rainbow dodges one attack, two more catch her off guard. Then she remembers how fast she can move and starts easily dodging Twivine’s attacks, she then goes around her and harshly pushes her forward, sending her into the side of a mountain. Twivine growls in frustration and pulls her head out of where it got stuck and glowing markings start forming on her body. Rainbow notices and is almost caught off guard when Twivine jumps at her faster than before and she just barely manages to dodge it. “Ha, gotta be faster than that if you.. wanna..” Rainbow says only for her sentence to trail off as one of Twivine’s eyes slowly go from looking straight to looking at her. “H-How?!” Rainbow asks before dodging Twivine’s next attack. She loses her footing though and tumbles a bit and looks up just in time to see Twivine fly up and almost stomp on her but she dodges again. “Looks like whatever you can do, I can do better.” Twivine says as she continues to attack Rainbow Dash. She gets faster with each attack and Rainbow is finding it harder to dodge each one until Twivine lands a solid hit on her, sending her sliding back a bit. Twivine then takes out one of her swords and throws it at her. Rainbow catches it but is sent spinning a bit from the strength behind the throw before she eventually flips, raises the sword causing lightning to strike it before she lands. The landing causes a shockwave of magical multicolored lightning send Twilight back through a mountain. She looks at her hand and sees the sword but it’s in a different shape.. and completely made of multicolored lightning. Rainbow smirks as her eyes glow red and she looks towards where Twivine is before walking to her and pinning her down with her foot before she can get up. “I’ll give you one chance.. give me my friend back.” Rainbow says angrily as she holds the sword close to Twivine’s face. Twivine merely smirks before laughing. “You don’t get it, do you? Twilight is never coming back.. you might as well just kill me now or you’ll never get the chance again.” Twivine says and Rainbow Dash growls and raises the sword with her eyes still glowing and Twivine is slightly worried that Dash might actually kill her. So she watches.. and Rainbow lowers it with a frown. Twivine smirks as the sword disappears. “I knew you couldn’t do it..” She says before knocking Rainbow Dash off her. Rainbow quickly recovers and charges up her most powerful blast. Both of them notice that as she does this, the storm around them gets worse but Rainbow doesn’t care, even as Twivine smirks like she knows what’s causing it. Rainbow’s eyes glow once again as she gets ready to unleash the blast. “Sorry Twi, this won’t kill you but it’s sure as hell not gonna tickle either.” Rainbow says before unleashing the blast right in Twivine’s direction but.. she doesn’t move and she just lets it come her way. Right before it gets to her, a yellow and green bolt of lightning strikes between it and her. This collision causes a magical overload, before it recoils back to Rainbow. The explosion doesn’t kill her somehow but it does injure her quite a bit, also causing a lot of damage to the area. Rainbow slowly opens her eyes and looks around to see what had caused that only to see Twivine still standing there before she looks up and Rainbow follows her gaze just in time to see a few lightning strikes in the clouds clash together to form into.. “So glad you could join the party.. Lightning Dust.” Twivine says as she addresses Rainbow Dash’s main rival.. but this wasn’t the same Lightning Dust.. the old one was green with an orange mane and tail and orange eyes and didn’t look threatening at all. This new one was terrifying with black fur, glowing yellow eyes, mane, and tail, and had sharp teeth. The armor she wore, as much as Rainbow Dash hated to admit it, was actually pretty awesome looking. Black being the dominant color with green in some parts. Enchanted gold being part of the armor, being shaped as lightning in the chest and shoulders. “Lightning.. Dust..?!” Rainbow Dash says angrily with a weak voice as she struggles to get up. “Miss me?” She asks, a scratchy, slightly deeper voice speaking along side her normal one before landing in front of Rainbow and Twivine just smirks. Rainbow growls and sits up a bit as Lightning Dust walks towards her. “I told you Dash.. rivals for life.” She says as Twivine steps up beside her. “Don’t have too much fun with her, we still have a job to do.. buuut do feel free to hurt her.. a lot.” Twivine says and Lightning Dust smirks, cracking her knuckles. “That’s the plan.” She says and Rainbow Dash blasts them both before trying to fly back to Canterlot. She makes it a good distance before Lightning Dust rams straight into her back, making her crash. From there, they continue fighting but Lightning Dust is way stronger and faster than Rainbow Dash now. Twivine smiles, meanwhile Twilight is crying out, trying to take back control and help her friend.. but Twivine is in control now and was going to be for a long time. As she flys back to Canterlot, she realizes that the closer she gets, the more she can hear singing and she immediately knows it’s from the Dazzlings. She’s proven right when she sees them above the castle in their Siren forms. She also sees ponies and different creatures, obviously brainwashed, attacking the Pillars of old who are trying their best not to hurt anyone. Adagio suddenly swoops down and picks up Starswirl before flying around with him, dragging him around, scraping him against the ground, buildings, even the mountain. She then throws him up into the sky before turning back into her pony form, jumping from the side of the mountain, grabbing him and slamming him all the way down. Or at least she would have if Sunset Shimmer hadn’t tackled her, giving Flash and Somnambula a chance to catch Starswirl. Adagio kicks Sunset off her as they both fall back down to the kingdom. They tumble for a bit before slowly getting up and glaring at each other. “Adagio.. just my luck, you disappear for years and then all of a sudden we’re both back in Equestria.” Sunset says, Adagio just smirks and chuckles as they circle each other. “I didn’t plan on finding a way back, none of us did.. but I am so glad that we are back.. I’ve been dying to feel power like this again.. so I could destroy you and Starswirl with it!” Adagio says before she charges at Sunset who charges back. Sunset slides under a kick from Adagio but as soon as she gets up and turns around, she receives a drop kick to the face from her and tumbles away from her, holding her nose. Adagio breathes in as the gem that’s attached to the armor around her neck starts to glow orange and her fur slowly turns to scales. Just as Sunset recovers, Adagio lets out a roar that sends Sunset flying along with anything or anyone else in it’s path. Sunset is sent outside the kingdom and is now falling all the way to the bottom of the mountain. Adagio looks over the edge as Sunset disappears into the fog below and smirks. “Huh.. I kind of expected you to put up more of a fight. But Starswirl comes next.” Adagio says as she turns around and starts walking towards the battle. She sees Sonata fighting Starlight while Aria is dealing with the pillars of old. She’s about to help Aria until a blazing flame shoots up into the sky behind her and she turns around only to receive a punch from Sunset Shimmer. That punch sends her flying towards her siblings and she notices that her cheek is a little singed. “And I expected you to know by now.. that I don’t give up.” Sunset says and Adagio has to admit that she looks a little intimidating. Her clothes were a little burned but she was completely fine, her hair was on fire as well. Her horn and eyes were both glowing red, that’s what frightened Adagio the most. She growls and is about to roar again but Sunset runs to her with fire blasting from her feet which makes her go faster. This allows her to get to Adagio, dodge her attacks and counter her before she can react. Sonata attacks her from behind but she dodges and blasts her in the face, making her lose focus and crash. Aria tries next and Sunset just lets her tire herself out a bit before finally attacking back and not pulling any of her punches then kicking Aria to her siblings. Sunset then smirks at them all, makes a glyph that’s glowing quite a bit, expanding it then sending it at them. She’s surprised when they all seem to.. control water to make a wall that blocks the resulting explosion but when the smoke clears, they’re gone. Sunset finally calms down and so do the flames. She looks to see Starlight and the Pillars of Old staring with shocked or amazed looks. “That was.. intense.” Starlight says and Sunset chuckles nervously and looks at herself. “You can say that again.” She says and they both chuckle, but before they can say anything else, a portal starts opening in the sky as Celestia and Luna land by them. “What. Is. That?” Sunset asks and Celestia and Luna’s eyes go wide with terror. “No..” Celestia says and Twivine notices and looks up only to smirk as she realizes what or who is on the other side. “She’s here..” Twivine says and all the other villains notice too. This just causes them to start causing more chaos and destruction. Lightning Dust whistles and the two other Washouts, Rolling Thunder and Short Fuse, come out of the clouds to join the party. Twivine smirks until she feels a massive amount of pain in her head as Twilight tries to fight back. She holds her head and screams in pain as it continues to get worse and worse. Eventually it sounds like she and Twilight are screaming at the same time. Everyone notices and Starswirl, Celestia, and Starlight all try to use a containment spell on her but their focus is a bit splintered between her and everything else. “Twilight! You have to fight it! We know you’re strong enough!” Starswirl yells and Twilight comes out for a second but the personalities keep switching between her and Twivine. “I’m not.. I can’t..!” Twilight says in a wavering, pained voice as dark magic started coming off her and damaging the containment barrier around her. “You can Twilight! It doesn’t matter what Midnight or anyone else throws at you! You can get through it! We can get through it! Together!” Starlight yells and Twivine and Twilight continue fighting for control over her body. “We believe in you Twilight! And we will help you but you must escape from this! Fight her!!!” Celestia yells and Twilight and Twivine scream at the same time before Twilight stays out long enough for what she’s about to do. “I can’t escape this..” Twilight says before she looks up at the portal and frowns before looking at everyone else. “..But I can make sure Midnight can’t either!!!” Twilight yells as her body suddenly starts to glow along with her eyes. Before anyone can stop her, she unleashes all the magical energy she had built up into a spell of her own. This causes a bright light that temporarily blinds everyone, destroys the containment spell, and knocks the villains back, also closing the portal and once again trapping Midnight.. but also allowing Twivine to take back control. She passes out and starts falling towards the ground but Lightning Dust catches her. Just as she does, Sunset and the Pillars of old manage to take down the Storm King and the Dazzlings. This isn’t good for them, if they’re cornered, they’ll have no choice but to surrender. “It’s over! Give up and hand Twilight over to us! Now!” Celestia says with an uncharacteristically angry voice. The villains all slowly back up towards the edge, unsure of what they should do. Celestia starts counting down as she readies her magic and just as she hits zero, the temperature suddenly drops drastically and it starts snowing. This confuses everyone, including Celestia but that confusion quickly turns to shock and surprise when a wall of ice forms between the villains and everyone else. “Fall back! All of you!” A voice says from behind the wall. Celestia and Sunset blast the wall in time to see the villains standing there with a masked figure in a sky blue, ninja-type outfit with black sleeves and pants, silver armor on her shoulders, forearms and legs. Claws were part of her armor, adding a more sinister look to her outfit. Her eyes were glowing a whitish blue as a sign that she possessed ice magic. A small blizzard starts to circle around them and Luna flys at the masked figure who had just put a hood over her head and grabs her by the arm but as soon as she does, she feels something.. familiar. A presence she hadn’t felt for a long time.. and one she thought she’d never feel again. While she’s distracted, the figure takes the chance to strike her with a pretty fierce roundhouse kick which sends her back quite a bit and the blizzard gets worse until it clears and all the villains are gone. Celestia helps Luna up before running to the edge and looking around frantically for the villains but when she can’t find them.. so many emotions crash down on her at once.. and she lets out a scream of rage and anguish that echoes across Canterlot. They took Twilight.. and she couldn’t stop them. “What do we do now..?” Spike asks as he holds his wounded shoulder and everyone waits for Celestia to respond. “Twilight used all of her energy to keep us safe from Midnight, she protected us even though it cost her.. now let’s make sure her sacrifice wasn’t in vain.” Celestia says and everyone hesitantly agrees as Fluttershy comes back with a badly wounded Rainbow Dash. After a bit of talking, they all decide that they’re going to regroup, recover, and rebuild. After that, they would look for any signs that Midnight would return.. but little did they know.. they weren’t going to find anything in time. Deep in the mountains As the clouds started swirling in the sky, a portal just like the one in Canterlot started opening. It continued to get bigger and bigger until it finally released the very monster it was meant to contain. A black ball of dark magic lands in the center of the mountains, hard enough to shake them all and even collapse a few. The dark magic disperses and reveals an alicorn as black as night with symbols all over her body and purple glowing eyes. Purple primary feathers, the rest remaining black. As she opened her eyes, Midnight looked around and realized that.. she could feel and breathe again. She was no longer stuck in that prison.. she was back in Equestria. She smirked as the realization hit her and she slowly stands up before yelling what she’s wanted to say for over a thousand years. “I'm FREE!!!” She yells, laughing evilly as the sky turns black and purple lightning strikes through the clouds as her laughter echoes for miles. She then turns in the direction of Canterlot and slowly flys up into the sky as her symbols glow. “See you soon.. Celestia.”