//------------------------------// // Broken bodies, Strong spirits // Story: My Little Pony: Friendship is Eternal // by AlphaToothless95 //------------------------------// Nine Months Later Nine months since… that event and three months since Twilight had woken up from a coma-like state. It had been forced onto her by her own body due to the dangerous lack of magic and large amount of blood loss. In other words, her body had forced her into that state to keep her alive… or at least the spell that Midnight and Twivine cast on her did. Normally it would be a mystery to Twilight as to why they had done it… but the answer was obvious… they wanted her to suffer more before they finally killed her… but she wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of seeing her friends suffer more too. But if she didn’t want that… she had to recover. As she looked towards the supports that were meant to help her walk again, she couldn’t help but think of her spine which, despite the healing spells that Celestia, Luna, Cadance, and Starswirl had cast on her, was still damaged which left her legs weak and made it very hard to take a couple of steps without collapsing… or sit up straight by herself without a lot of effort. It had left her frustrated for a long time and the frustration increased until she reached her breaking point and snapped at everyone who had tried to help her. She had said some pretty awful things to them… words that weren’t meant for them, but for the monster who had left her in this state in the first place. The monster who took her parents away right before her eyes… Before she can slip into dark thoughts of many painful ways to make Midnight pay, she hears footsteps and doesn’t have to look behind her to know who it is. “Whenever you’re ready Twilight… There’s no rush for you to recover.” Celestia says as she slowly walks to stand beside her faithful student. Twilight scoffs and hangs her head in shame and to avoid snapping at her before they’ve even gone into a full conversation. “But there is… Midnight’s not just gonna… wait for me to get better. She knows that as soon as I do, I’ll be coming for her. She knows that she can just make me stop by threatening somepony else I care about. And last but not least… she knows how to beat me… she knows I’m weak. And yet I. Know. Nothing! As far as I know, she only has one weakness: the Elements of Harmony, and even if they can beat her, they don’t stop her from eventually coming back! Hypothetically, only Solaris could possibly do that but…” Twilight says before cutting herself off, putting her face in her hands and shaking her head. “Seeing Solaris on the ship… I could tell that who she was… is gone now… there’s nothing left to save.” “Twilight, no. You can’t possibly mean that.” Celestia says as she steps in front of Twilight. “You know as well as I do that Solaris is still somewhere inside that monster, just waiting for us to save her. We can’t give up on her… Or on the other villains.” Celestia says, earning a disbelieving look from Twilight. The amount of venom in the next words Twilight says is enough to shock Celestia and make her realize just how much Midnight has truly broken her. “Are you serious…? You seriously still wanna have faith in the very creatures who aided that monster in taking away ponies that me and my friends care about?” Twilight asks before breaking out into hysterical laughter. Even though she’s laughing, Celestia can tell she just crossed a line and when Twilight fixes her in place with a glare, that confirms it. “So did I at first… and look where that got me… No magic, no parents, no plan… no hope. But I did learn one last lesson Celestia… I learned that no good deed goes unpunished… there’s always a cost… sometimes to the point where the price is something you can never replace or recover… but I learned too late… and now… now…” Twilight says as she hangs her head, trying and failing to contain her tears. Celestia frowns and kneels in front of Twilight, pulling her into a gentle, caring, comforting embrace. Twilight hugs her back, continuing to cry out all the emotions that have been building up inside her for a very long time. “It’s ok… let it all out. You don’t have to hold on to all of that anymore.” Celestia says and Twilight is reminded of how her mother used to comfort her when she was sad, scared, angry, or all of the above. It brings her a few feelings she hasn’t felt in a while… warmth, comfort…, hope. “Twilight… I want you to do something for me… I need you to try and use your alicorn empathy.” Celestia says and Twilight looks shocked and pulls away a bit to look at her. “But… I don’t have any magic… It isn’t gonna work. I’m not even an alicorn anymore…” Twilight says as she hangs her head again. She feels a hand under her chin and allows it to slowly guide her eyes towards Celestia's. “Twilight… even without your horn… you still have magic inside you… alicorn magic… and the magic of friendship. You are still an alicorn… and the only one who can take that away from you is you.” Celestia says before leaning her forehead against Twilight’s. “So please… try. Try using it to sense your friends, your family…, everyone who loves and cares about you. Let them know that you’re here… and that you’re not giving up.” Celestia says and Twilight sighs before nodding, causing Celestia to smile and back up to give her space. Twilight breathes in and out before closing her eyes and concentrating on connecting to her friends, students, family, and everyone else that’s counting on her. After a bit, she starts getting a feeling and when it increases, she suddenly gets a flashback of when she was fighting Midnight, when Midnight had broken her spine, her horn…, when she had killed her parents. She shakes her head, trying to get out of the flashback. “I… I can’t do it…!” Twilight says as she tries to stop what she’s doing. “Yes you can. Don’t give up. That fight is over but if you want to stop Midnight, if you want to save everyone… you must let yourself feel that fear… then move past it. Remind your mind and body that you’re not in danger… you’re safe… and you are not alone.” Celestia says and Twilight hesitates before allowing herself to experience the flashback until it gets to the point where Midnight is about to slam her through the floor. As soon as she gets slammed, it’s just her falling into a different area. She takes a bit to look around until she recognizes where she is. This is where Celestia had taken her before she made her into an alicorn. She smiles a bit, chuckling and walking around. As she walks, bright little orbs float around her and as she examines one she sees that… it’s a memory… all of these are memories. “You made it.” She hears Celestia say but she turns to see that she’s not there with her. She looks confused but then shocked once she hears her mother’s voice. “Didn’t have a doubt in my mind that you would one day learn how to get here.” The voice says and she turns around, looking for the origin of it more excitedly, hoping to see her mother’s face again. “You always were a fast learner, my little bookworm.” She hears her father say and she realizes that she won’t be able to see them but she can probably talk to them… and for now that would have to be enough. “Well… I had two amazing parents to learn from.” She says and she feels the joy coming from them which makes her smile. They were actually here… they were with her… just like her mother said they would be. She feels someone tap her on her shoulder and she quickly turns to see Rainbow Dash standing in front of her with a soft smile on her face. “Rainbow… I’m… I’m so sorry for the way I acted towards you and everyone else.” Twilight says and Rainbow Dash rolls her eyes before stepping closer to her and giving her a peck on the lips. “Don’t worry about it egghead… We already forgave you. We understand why you acted that way… all too well.” Rainbow says with a sad tone, reminding Twilight that she wasn’t the only one who lost someone that night. “It didn’t change how we think of ya' Sugarcube. We gotta stick together if we wanna send Midnight back to where she came from.” Applejack says as she steps up to stand beside Rainbow. Twilight hesitates before frowning, seeming to confuse her friends. “That’s not exactly what you want for her… is it?” Rarity asks as she stands beside Applejack. Twilight looks at her and slowly shakes her head with a slightly angry look on her face. “You… You want to kill her.” She says and Twilight just nods, clenching her fists. “Twilight, even though she’s done bad things, if we kill her out of revenge, we’d be no better than her. Besides, that would kill Solaris as well… and we’d just be punishing her for Midnight’s crimes.” Fluttershy says as she walks closer to stand by the others, followed by Pinkie Pie. “And we all know that it wasn’t Solaris’s fault for what happened. Anything Midnight did was her own choice, not Solaris's.” Pinkie says and Twilight sighs and nods, realizing that they’re right. Solaris shouldn’t have to pay for Midnight's actions. “Fine but… How are we gonna beat Midnight then. She knows our weaknesses, all of them.” Twilight asks and her friends separate to allow her parents room to walk up to her and she immediately embraces them in a hug, prompting them to hug back. “Luckily… you know a few of hers as well.” They say at the same time before she feels them touch the point of impact where Midnight had broken her back and then she feels someone touch her horn and opens her eyes to see Celestia standing in front of her with a small smile. “The magic of friendship.” Celestia says before the spots that they’re touching start glowing before they all back up and reveal that everyone else is there as well… Every creature from every kingdom or town or anywhere else in Equestria that’s an ally to her, her friends, and the ponies counting on her. She smiles at the sight and almost lets a tear loose. “Thank you all…” She says, earning nods from each and every one of them before the elements appear and start circling around her and her friends. One by one, they all attach to their user until Twilight’s takes a bit longer than the others. She’s confused by this until it flashes purple and attaches to her, causing a blinding, multicolored light to engulf the entire space. Celestia, back in the real world, opens her eyes and sees Twilight’s friends standing in front of her along with Starlight, Sunset, Spike, the pillars of old, Cadance, Shining Armor, and Flurry Heart, all looking a bit stunned before she looks to Twilight and sees that her eyes are still closed. “Twilight…?” Celestia says, starting to inch towards her until she opens her eyes and they’re glowing with a light purple aura coming from them. Celestia looks amazed as Twilight stands up without difficulty before the rest of the elements start glowing. The Mane 6 also look amazed as the elements start blasting multicolored magic towards their friend and it engulfs her completely until it finally stops… and her horn is back. “Whoa… How did-“ Starlight begins to ask before Celestia answers her question. “I had her use her alicorn empathy to connect with everyone again, having been disconnected for too long. Something tells me that she had accidentally brought all of you here using her magic. As for how her horn is fixed… I think the answer to that is obvious.” Celestia says and before anyone else can say anything, Twilight responds. “The elements of harmony… the magic of friendship. The strongest magic of all… that’s what healed me… but I didn’t know that it could allow me to actually bring you all into that place with me.” She says and everyone looks at each other then back at her. “Well regardless… does this mean you’re back Twi? You’re ready to help us fight back?” Rainbow asks and Twilight thinks about it, coming up with a plan and frowning before looking at everyone with a smile and nodding. “This means I’m sorry… and yeah, I’m back. Whatever we do next… We’ll do it together.” Twilight says, prompting her friends and family to smile and tackle her in a group hug. Celestia smiles before she realizes something. “Well… first thing’s first… We’re going to need allies, preferably ones on the inside.” She says before Luna, Discord, Trixie, Tempest and Snowdrop walk in with nervous looks on their faces. “Well… if we’re lucky… We might not have to look far.” Luna says before Discord opens the door all the way, revealing… the Washouts, the Dazzlings, and the Legion of Doom. Everyone looks shocked before readying their powers/magic, getting ready to attack them. “No, don’t! At least hear them out.” Snowdrop quickly says, getting in between everyone and the villains or former villains along with Tempest after hearing the magic. Everyone calms down a bit before glaring at the former villains and waiting for an explanation. “Listen, we’re so sorry for… what we did, but you have to understand. Not only were we trying to keep Midnight from killing us, but we were also trying to help you guys out… You had to have noticed that we weren’t really even trying to use our full power.” Cozy Glow says but she can tell that they don’t believe her. “We’re telling the truth! If we wanted to actually kill you, we could’ve took down the ship instantly. Plus, Lightning Dust would've let Rainbow Dash drown and me and my sisters would’ve done the same with Sunset.” Adagio says and they all nod in agreement. Everyone looks at each other then at them. “Even if you are telling the truth, why come to us and tell us this after all this time.” Sunset asks and Tirek steps forward and answers. “We also came to warn you… Twivine isn’t the only evil version of you six that Midnight has anymore.” He says, pointing at the Mane 6. They all look shocked and look at each other then back at the villains. “What do you mean…?” Twilight asks before Lightning Dust takes out a crystal and allows Tirek to blast magic into it, causing it to float before it displays an illusion that shows evil versions of each of the Mane 6… with Twivine standing in front of them. Rainbow Dash was white with red eyes and a scar over her right eye, Applejack had half of her face scarred and burnt with a eyepatch over her eye, Rarity was black with a purple and white mane and tail and icy blue eyes, Fluttershy was a pale yellow color with a pale, messy pink mane and tail, sharp fangs, bat-like ears and wings and red eyes, and Pinkie was a pale pink color with a flat mane and red eyes and a manic smile on her face. This wasn’t the Mane 6… these were the elements of insanity. “Rainbow Death, AngerJack, Nightmare Rarity, Flutterbat, and Pinka-mean-a… and Twivine is their leader.” Chrysalis says and no one can believe their eyes, especially not the Mane 6. For them, it was like looking in a mirror… but instead of seeing their normal selves… they’re seeing the worst parts of themselves. They all go wide-eyed when they realize that… these are the same versions of themselves that they saw when they got their powers. The same versions that attacked them… and now they’re real. As much as they all hated to admit it… they were gonna need help dealing with them. “Soooo… when do we start?” Cozy asks with a awkward smile on her face and all the villains turn to Twilight for an answer. She sighs before looking at the illusions again and walking up to the one of Twivine. “Soon.” She says as she continues to glare at it, promising herself that she would never become… that. Neither would any of her friends, she would see to that… no matter the cost. “Very… very soon.”