//------------------------------// // Monster behind the mask // Story: My Little Pony: Friendship is Eternal // by AlphaToothless95 //------------------------------// “So…Lightning Dust sacrificed herself…to save me?” Rainbow asks, completely and utterly shocked and also…conflicted. When Twilight nods, she doesn’t even know what to say so she just looks down and slowly turns around, crossing her arms and putting on hand under her chin like she’s thinking about something. “But…she hated me… Why would she-“ Rainbow tries to ask but Twilight steps up and hugs her. “In the end, she regretted everything she did to you, to innocent ponies…to Light Hope…and realized that none of it was right. She…She wanted you to know that she forgives you…and that she’s sorry for everything.” Twilight says and Rainbow is so in shock but decides to just hug her back, nuzzling into the comforting gesture of affection. This was…a lot. The pony who hated her more than anything or anyone…died to save her. Or at least the one from the present did. “Wait, you said that she disappeared as soon as the other one left?” Starlight asks and Twilight nods. “Twilight…that means her future’s changed. The past one took her place since she never went through with killing Dash. That means the Lightning Dust that helped you…doesn’t exist anymore…instead you just made things worse.” She says and Twilight grows a worried look and looks down as the realization hits her. “Oh no…you’re right. I just pushed her further down the path of evil… I’ve put Dash in even more danger.” Twilight says, frowning until she feels Rainbow grasp her cheek and turn her face to look at her. When she does, she sees that she has a reassuring smile on her face. “Twi, listen to me. You don’t have to worry about protecting me…because no matter what, we’ll have each other’s backs, like we always have. Nothing will change that.” Rainbow says and Twilight smiles back, prompting Rainbow to smile more and slowly lean her head against her own, both of them closing their eyes. “Awwwww!” Pinkie says, earning a giggle from Fluttershy and flustered looks from Rainbow and Twilight, who separate and try to act like nothing happened. They then all try to discuss a plan until Celestia just tells them all to take a break from worrying about it, for now at least. It is then, that Twilight gets an idea. It had something to do with the villains and a possible way to reform them. “I just thought of something… If the elements of harmony can take away power such as Nightmare Moon's and Midnight’s…can it do the same for the other villains? And can it be replaced with light magic? Magic from the elements?” She asks and everyone seems to think about it. Celestia is the first to speak up. “It’s possible…but should we really be forcing it on them? Many of them have been exposed to that kind of magic already so they will be a bit apprehensive.” She says and Twilight seems to just now realize that. “Twilight, it’s very noble that you want them to have a chance but in the end, it’s their choices and we shouldn’t take that from them.” Celestia warns her and Twilight nods in understanding and agreement. “I understand Princesss… We’ll have them all come to the throne room and we’ll see how far they’ve progressed… After everyone gets a chance to talk to each of them, we’ll ask them if any of them would want to go through with it.” She says and Celestia smiles a bit and nods in return. She trusted Twilight with her life, so she had no doubt that she would find a way to make this work. An hour later “I know this is a tough choice for all of you and I know that there’s always gonna be a part of you that hates us…more than anything. But we refuse to let that stop us from trying to make up for how we failed you in the past. We want to do right by you…all of you. But it’s your choice whether you want to let us help…and make a change…or not.” Twilight says and a few of the villains seem to think about it but the ones that don’t just glare at them. “I recently thought of a way to help make the process easier but… I doubt any of you will like it.” She continues and this seems to intrigue the villains. “Let me guess… The Elements of Harmony?” Tirek asks and Twilight gives a baffled expression but nods. “Oh come now, Princess. It was rather obvious.” He says and Cozy nods in agreement. “We appreciate the offer, not really, and we’re not interested.” He says and Twilight frowns a bit. “I thought you might say that… which is why I took the liberty of inviting a few…familiar faces.” She says and almost immediately, the doors open and Thorax, Scorpan: Tirek's brother, Cadance and Flurry Heart all walk in. “After I had the others invite them and they talked to you, I noticed that most, if not half of you didn’t seem as reluctant to come as you normally would’ve been. That shows that their words actually meant something to you… I already saw it, so there’s no point in trying to deny it. You should know that they care and want you to change as much as we do. So…if you’ve decided or if you want… who’ll be the first volunteer?” She asks and all the villains look at each other, hesitant and fearful of even the thought of coming into contact with the very magic that had defeated them many times in the past. “I’ll do it…” Cozy says as she steps forward with a nervous look on her face, causing the other villains to look either shocked or disgusted at her. “Cozy Glow…” Chrysalis says, shocked just like the others but she can’t say anymore than that. Tirek was in a similar state of shock. “What made you decide this…?” Twilight asks after Cozy stops, causing her to think about it for a bit before smiling and looking at Flurry Heart. “Your niece… She has that same annoying- I mean almost annoying drive of yours… a tendency to never give up and to take initiative… that and she has quite a way with words.” Cozy says, winking at Flurry at that last sentence, causing Flurry to blush and looking away while giving a sheepish smile. “Besides…I am kinda tired of fighting all the time…of being mad at the world for something my parents, mainly my father indulged in… a feeling he made me feel. Every. Single. Day… Uselessness. Loneliness. But also…fear.” She says, clearly trying to keep it together and Twilight frowns before walking to her and putting a hand on her shoulder. “Well… hopefully we can help change that.” She says and Cozy smiles a bit, prompting her to smile back. Seeing this, Chrysalis and Tirek look at each other then Chrysalis shifts her gaze towards Thorax and Starlight. Tirek does the same to Scorpan before they both step forward beside Cozy Glow, surprising everyone. The Dazzlings look at each other then at Sunset before doing the same. The ones who don’t step forward are Astelle, Sombra, the Storm King, Rolling Thunder, and Short Fuze. “How the mighty have fallen…” Everyone hears Lightning Dust say, Rainbow Dash immediately forming her lightning blade and going on alert. “This is just tragic… Look at all of you! They’ve got you eating out of their palms.” She continues and Twilight, despite not wanting to really kill or even hurt Lightning Dust, pulls out her blades and looks around. “Lightning Dust, stop this. You can be better than this if you’d just-“ Twilight tries to say but Lightning Dust interrupts her, sounding really pissed off now. “DON'T give me that! I can’t change, and I don’t want to… I’ve made my choice, now I’ll live with it… just like you will have to live with what’s about to happen! With the lives you won’t be able to save, today and from here on out!” She yells before teleporting behind Sky Blazer and grabbing her. Everyone immediately is about to charge her but she holds one of her blades close to her throat. “Nah-uh! You move, she dies! That includes you Dash! The second I see you even try to use your speed, I’ll slit her throat in a second before you even get to me… Then we’ll really see who’s faster!” She says, emphasizing her point by holding it closer to the point where it’s actually touching her and Sky can feel her hands shaking. “Lightning Dust…please don’t do this… It’s not too late.” Twilight says slowly dropping her weapons. “Your future self died to save Dash and forgave her… She wanted to be better… Do you really not want that for yourself?” She asks and Lightning Dust frowns and thinks about it before her eyes start glowing and her fur turns black, a clear sign that she’s entered her super form. “There’s no chance of that happening… This…is the new me. And this is the harsh reality of things… Sometimes, to get what you want…you have to do things you’re not proud of.” Lightning Dust says as a storm seemed to be starting in and outside of the castle. “Even things…like this.” She continues and is about to start attacking until Twilight asks her a question that’s impossible for her to answer at this point. “And what is it that you want now?!” She asks, her frustration not going unnoticed. As soon as she hears that, Lightning Dust freezes up and looks down, her breathing and heart rate starting to increase… as well as her rage. She screams and lightning strikes against the restraints keeping Astelle, Sombra, the Storm King, and the other Washouts contained. As soon as they’re free, she blasts everyone away and gives the villains their weapons. Sky takes the chance to bite her hand on one of it’s vulnerable spots through the armor, drawing blood and making her scream before elbowing her in the stomach and trying to run away but Lightning Dust grabs her and punches her to the ground, stunning her. “You little brat!” Lightning Dust says, shaking her hand to ease the pain and after a few seconds, one of her many abilities, speed healing, kicks in. She then picks up Sky and starts teleporting away. She looks and sees Dash knock out Short Fuze then proceed to fend off against Rolling Thunder's attacks. Dash sees her teleporting away, causing her to smirk and decide to brag. “Say goodbye to the kid Dash… You’ll never see her again.” She says and Dash rolls out of the way before reciprocating one of Rolling Thunder's attacks with one of her own then chasing down Lightning Dust into the lightning strike that was currently taking her to another location while everyone else is left to fend off against the rest of the villains themselves. As the teleportation process ended, Rainbow found herself falling out of the sky and into the middle of the ocean but she manages to stop herself right before she hits the water. She then flys up higher and takes a look at her surroundings. The water was clearly unsettled by a storm, she’s hearing all sorts of noises, the wind is blowing hard, lightning strikes every 10 seconds and… she could kinda sense something out here…in the water. Whatever it was, it felt… familiar somehow…similar to her own powers. She looks towards where it’s strongest and charges up before blasting off into the water and towards whatever was out here. Whatever was giving her this feeling… Good or bad, she didn’t know… But she would find out soon enough. As Sky Blazer slowly regained consciousness, she groans, feeling pain in her cheek and jaw, grasping and massaging it to ease the pain. She slowly sits up, taking in her surroundings. As she does, she sees that she’s in some sort of temple… It was very dark but the only reason she could see was because of the torches that were set up in this room and the natural light that peaked in through the holes in the wall and ceiling. She’s startled when she hears footsteps and look to see Lightning Dust walking towards her. She quickly tries to run away but as soon as she turns around, Lightning Dust is right there with her arms crossed. “Listen kid, I won’t hurt you unless you keep trying to run away… The truth is that I wasn’t actually gonna kill you… I’ve…done that to one-too many kids.” She says and Sky remembers how her hands were shaking when she had the blade against her throat… She didn’t wanna kill her. Not like that anyway. “I just need you to do something, something that will benefit us both.” Lightning Dust says and Sky scoffs and starts to back up. “What could a villain ask me to do for them that wouldn’t hurt or kill me?” She asks and Lightning Dust glares at her before forming a lightning ball and throwing it up into the air only for it to stay there and start glowing more, lighting up the whole room. She then points up to a staircase that leads to… a multicolored crystal? “You can touch that…and get your full power and your memories back… This is where your powers went after you passed out. Why? Because this is another tomb of Alicorns…and you used to be an alicorn.” Lightning Dust says and Sky doesn’t even know how to respond. She couldn’t possibly trust a word Lightning Dust said… She looks around the room and sees old, worn out statues of Alicorns and wonders if maybe…Lightning Dust could be telling the truth… There was only one way to find out. She slowly walks to the bottom of the stairs before starting to carefully walk to the crystal. Just as she places one foot on the first stair, the entire temple rumbles, setting them both on edge. After a few seconds, Rainbow Dash blasts through the ceiling and lands hard enough to crack the ground and shake the temple again. She stands up straight and glares at Lightning Dust before noticing Sky and the crystal. “Sky…? What are you doing?! Run!” She says and Sky seems to…hesitate, looking at the crystal then at her. “I… I wanna help and I wanna get my memories back… Maybe this is how I can do both.” She says and this absolutely baffles Rainbow. This had to be Lightning Dust’s doing. Sky was smarter than this. She had to be. “Look Sky, I don’t know what Lightning Dust told you, but it was a lie. You can’t trust her or anyone close to her!” Rainbow says and Sky is about to say something until Lightning Dust cuts in. “Ouch…and to think my other self died to save you. I’m hurt.” She says and Rainbow glares at her even more. “It’s the kid’s decision so…how’s about we leave her to it and just focus on each other.” Lightning Dust says as she takes out her blades and Rainbow Dash forms her own and gets in her stance. Lightning Dust does the same before charging at her and Rainbow leans backwards, the slash going over her and she blocks another one with her own sword before kicking Lightning Dust back and blasting her. She then tries running to Sky but Lightning Dust throws one of her blades and it grazes her leg, causing her to fall. Lightning Dust takes the chance to kick her when she tries to get back up then pin her down by her throat. Rainbow grabs her arms and tries shocking her but she was expecting that, so she just absorbs it. Suddenly, Sky blasts her too and it actually hurts and starts becoming too much. “Let her go!” She yells but Lightning Dust smirks and goes into her super form, her strength increasing, rendering Dash unable to breath and also starting to crush her trachea. “Should’ve touched the crystal. Maybe if you had your full power…this wouldn’t have happened.” Lightning Dust says and that’s the last straw for Sky. She yells in anger and frustration before running to the crystal and reaching towards it to touch it. Rainbow Dash looks up and reaches for her to try and tell her to stop but she can’t even speak. She starts to feel the familiar rage and hatred for Lightning Dust that she had after she had killed Light Hope… and her eyes start turning red. She grabs Lightning Dust's wrists and starts removing her hands from her throat. This shocks and kinda scares Lightning Dust and she tries overpowering Dash only to find that Dash is continuing to overpower her. Soon they both hear Sky screaming and look to see that she touched the crystal which now has Rainbow colored lightning coming off it and so does she. As for what’s going on in her head…her memories. She remembers that she was made from…magic… Dark magic and DNA samples…a drop of Twilight's blood… and a piece of Rainbow’s mane. She remembers…a feeling…quite a few of them. Blind anger that wasn’t directed at anyone specific at the time, freedom to do whatever she wanted,… and an overwhelming sense of…loyalty…to Midnight. She then remembers all the villages that were destroyed…that she destroyed…then crashing just outside of Canterlot, passing out and waking up as a child with all these feelings gone…except the loyalty but that feeling alone had drawn her to Solaris…why? They were friends weren’t they? “These… These can’t be my memories… I can’t be that…that monster! I don’t believe it!” She yells as she tries to take her hand off the crystal…but comes to realize that she can’t. Her hand is stuck. She tries again but to no avail so she keeps trying and trying until the crystal starts shocking her nonstop, making her scream in pain. “Whether you like it or not…that’s who you were and who you’re gonna be again.” Lightning Dust says and Sky just tries again to remove her hand. “No! I don’t want to!!” Sky says, sounding more scared than anything. Rainbow Dash headbutts Lightning Dust off her then runs to Sky only for electricity to hit her and knock her into the ceiling before she falls and gets trapped under debris. “Rainbow Dash!!” Sky yells, still trying to get away from the crystal. She looks down and notices dark magic coming out of it and starting to wrap around her body. She sees a purple flash from behind her before hearing a familiar voice. “Sky! What’s happening?!” Solaris yells and Sky looks to see her standing there. “Solaris, get back! You’ll get hurt!” She warns her but Solaris grabs her and starts pulling her away from the crystal instead. “No!! You have to go! I don’t wanna hurt you!” She says but Solaris is more worried about her than herself. “I don’t care if you hurt me! I am not losing you! You’re probably my first real friend! You’re…You’re too important to me!” Solaris yells and Sky is shocked by this but shakes her head. “I’m just magic Solaris…that’s all I am…! I don’t have a family, or friends…I don’t matter!” Sky screams, tears now staining her face. “You matter to me! To me, you’re more than just magic! You’re so much more than that…! You listened to me, stuck by me…! Don’t believe whatever Lightning Dust or anyone else tells you… You're allowed to be happy… you deserve to be happy!” Solaris says and Sky freezes up and looks at her, absolutely baffled and when Solaris gives her a smile, she smiles back, suddenly feeling like…everything will be ok. “Thank you Solaris… I-I… I really enjoyed…being your friend…” Sky says as she starts to feel herself slipping away more and more… The feelings she first had were starting to resurface. Before Solaris could tell her that they weren’t done yet, a burst of electricity comes from the crystal, lightning hitting her square in the chest and knocking her away. She lands next to Rainbow Dash who’s still trapped under debris, holding her chest and struggling to breathe. She uses a healing spell on herself and is able to breathe again. She sits up as she hears Sky screaming more and sees her holding her head before she screams more and looks to the roof of the tomb. Her eyes, mouth, mane, and tail are glowing and her screaming gets louder. Solaris' Alicorn empathy doesn’t even sense the Sky Blazer she knew anymore…all it could feel now…was rage. Sky looks down, panting before smiling evilly and looking at Solaris, her eyes sparking with rainbow colored electricity. “No…nonononono! Sky, no!!” Solaris yells, her eyes watering up as she starts to realize that her friend was gone now…if she was even real at all. “Sorry Solaris…” Sky says as her body starts becoming engulfed in dark magic and she starts growing taller, her voice getting deeper and starting to echo. “Turns out I like being the monster.” She says, a horn forming on her head for the finishing touch to her appearance and all Solaris could do was cry. She was just like Midnight this whole time… Solaris feels betrayed and heartbroken. Sky screams/roars as she blasts lightning everywhere, destroying the tomb before she teleports herself and Lightning Dust to safety. Solaris just sits there for a bit before trying to help Rainbow Dash get free but before she can, she feels a rock hit her in the back of her head, making her fall. She starts to lose consciousness as she notices water starting to flood into the tomb. She tries to stay awake but then she notices the crystal start to disappear and she’s just reminded of Sky whenever she looks at it. The pain and grief of losing someone else she cares about, as well as the guilt… It was starting to get to her. “I’m sorry, Sky…” Solaris says as she blames herself for everything. As her eyes start to close she notices her vision starting to…flicker…between the tomb and pitch black. She tries her hardest to stay awake but eventually gives in, the last thing she sees before then being Twilight, flying down to them through the roof. As Solaris loses consciousness, she also hears a familiar…unwelcome voice with a tone that made a clear threat and promise…of revenge. “Like I told you before… There will be no mercy for Equestria… Only. Endless. Suffering.”