The next day, I began hearing rumors spreading around that Canterlot had fallen into complete and utter turmoil. It didn’t take long for a nationwide marehunt to be issued for my arrest, but I knew that I would be safe from any amount of guard forces would would try and stop me.
I was far too strong for them by now.
Despite the order for all of Equestria to be on the search for me, only a few selected towns and cities appeared to take it seriously. I didn’t blame them. There was no way that any of those pathetic little ponies would ever want to go up against an alicorn. Back in my time, we were revered as gods and it was said to be suicide to try and take one of us on.
I hid out in the EverFree Forrest and began harnessing my new abilities. My capacity for spells had increased tenfold and I was even more powerful than I ever thought I was. I started by killing small animals that roamed the forest grounds before moving on to timberwolves, manticores, cragidiles, etc.
I cleaned out the forest faster than anyone could blink and used that as my hiding place. I began experimenting with the weather and causing thunderstorms to happen on a whim. This seemed to enrage the earth ponies down below in Ponyville. They screamed at the pegasi for causing it to rain during harvesting season and the some weather ponies responded that the earth ponies spent too much time on their crops.
Before long, I had created my first fight within the tribes. I then moved on to the unicorns and I began feeding their minds with thoughts of superiority and dominance. I told them that they didn’t need the earth ponies or the pegasi, that they were the one true race of ponies, and that the others needed to be exterminated.
This seemed to work as before long, an earth pony was reported to have been hurt by a unicorn during what was described as “a magical accident.” I was building up an army of my loyal supporters who would listen to me no matter what. I then told the earth ponies that they didn’t need unicorns for Equestria to survive, that they were the backbone of the whole society, that if they didn’t watch out, the unicorns would try to usurp their positions and take over agriculture. They had no idea it was me, but I knew that it wouldn’t be long before they connected the dots.
It was easy to prey on the ponies’ fears. Everypony was so scared from what had happened in Canterlot that they were willing to turn to any random stranger they could for protection. I used this to my advantage and I watched from my hiding place in the forest as ponies started fighting and killing each other.
Slowly but surely, the prophecy was coming true. I was fulfilling my own destiny. At this point, I embraced it. There was no use running from an inevitability. Each day, the ponies became more and more fanatical, and this began to affect the other creatures as well. You could not go a day without hearing on the news something to do with hippogriffs getting lynched in the streets, griffons and yaks being denied service at restaurants, or changeling businesses being boycotted.
The Equestria that Twilight had created was falling apart piece by piece. She had betrayed me, and now I was going to make sure that she had nothing left to fight for.
Before long, word began spreading that a school shooting of Kirins was happening at the School of Friendship. A pegasus student had flown to campus with a loaded gun with the intention of murdering as many foreign students as he could. It became a national headline and the School was temporarily closed down for investigation in the midst of the fear. The other creatures began leaving Equestria in droves, taking their kids out of schools, and returning to their own countries in a mass exodus.
I then began kidnapping ponies and draining their magic before sending them back to warn their friends. It succeeded. There was paranoia and distrust in the streets like wildfire. Each day, the amount of casualties ramped up exponentially and Ponyville was no longer safe. It didn’t take long for my indoctrination to spread across Equestria and before long, everyone in the realm was fighting.
I became known as the mysterious pony who was trying to spread the truth. With my new disguise, that I created out of my own magic, nopony knew my true identity, so I was free to do whatever I wanted.
I became known as “The Shadow Alicorn.”
Twilight would do her best to quell the flames of war, of course, but to no avail. Her subjects were now too far gone and my influence was too numerous that no amount of friendship speeches were going to save the day this time around. I believe she knew this, as during one of her rallies that I attended, her pleas for peace were drowned out by waves of protests and calls for her to resign.
As days turned into weeks, my influence began to grow more and more. Wherever I went, chaos and disharmony would follow. I enjoyed it. I loved the feeling of undoing the hard work of the one pony who betrayed me. I loved the power and influence that I had over these ponies. They were listening to me, and I was commanding them to carry out my dirty work.
Upon hearing that the School of Friendship had been reopened, a couple of my cultists and I marched onto the campus and began slaughtering all the students there. It didn’t matter who or what they were.
They were all going to die.
The Royal Guard then raided the School and my supporters were arrested for murder and treason, though I managed to escape. Calls to take down the current monarchy began circulating amongst the cities and I fed into them by publishing anonymous newspapers that detailed crimes and scandals by Twilight that she didn’t do.
Upon receiving these supposed “reports,” the calls became louder and louder until Twilight signed a new law that banned these types of movements. She hoped that it would quell the flames and make the baseless misinformation slowly die out. Unfortunately for her, it did the exact opposite of what she was expecting.
Organized crime began erupting as ponies began setting fire to cottages and buildings in retaliation attacks. The fighting had become far too widespread and there was nothing she could do to salvage the nation that she built. Eventually, Twilight repealed the law after so much bloodshed had resulted from it.
I was winning. The once peaceful kingdom that I had grown up in was now a shell of its former self, with nothing left to salvage it.
Twilight sat on her throne with her head on the floor. Thoughts of failure and desperation ran through her mind as she thought about all the ways that she had failed her predecessors Celestia and Luna. She knew that they would be incredibly disappointed in her if they saw the state of the land as it was now.
If they ever were to find out what was going on, would they ever forgive her? She didn’t think so. They had ruled the kingdom for over a thousand years and they knew how to keep peace and order. She didn’t know how to do any of that. She was too scared to take any direct action on the situation that would involve getting in the way of her fellow ponies fighting.
What kind of Princess did that make her?
The doors flew open and Spike came in with a recently recovered Luster Dawn. The mare had bandages all over her body and was walking with a limp, but she looked okay. Twilight was relieved to see this after hearing that her former apprentice had been in the hospital for a full month.
She looked up, nodding in acknowledgement of their presence as they slowly walked towards her with concerned looks on their faces.
“Are you okay, Twilight?” Luster asked her. “We’re here to talk with you if you need anything.”
Twilight sighed, shaking her head. “No. You two might as well leave. I have nothing left to say or do.”
“That’s not true!” Spike protested. “Equestria is falling apart before our very eyes and you have to save it! We can rid the land of Opaline, I know we can! If only we-“
“That’s the problem!! I DON’T WANT TO!!!” Twilight snapped, taking them both aback.
Luster looked stunned. “You…don’t want to save Equestria?”
“I can’t!!” Twilight yelled, tears flowing down from her eyes. “How can I confront the one pony who I’ve loved like my own daughter?! I tried last month and it nearly got us all killed!!”
“Twilight,” Spike tried to explain. “This is your responsibility as Princess. If you don’t do this, nopony will. Everyone is just so scared about what’s happening to even think rationally. They need you to expose Opaline as a fraud if they’re going to turn back.”
“But I won’t.” Twilight stated firmly. “I’ve made up my mind. I can’t kill my own daughter. I raised Opaline as my own and it just hurts so much. I can’t do it, not even for Equestria. I’m not strong enough.”
“I get it,” Luster went up next to her former mentor. “It can definitely be hard. But you remember what Celestia went through when she banished Luna. It can be a difficult thing to come to terms with, but if you want to save Equestria, you must banish Opaline.”
“But…” Twilight tried to say. “She’s my family-“
Spike nodded solemnly. “I know. But this is what must be done. I don’t want to face the truth either, but the pony you knew and loved is gone. Only a monster remains.”
“Because of me.”
“What?”
“I told you about this already, Spike.” Twilight answered. “The only reason why Opaline is like this is because I pushed her away when I shouldn’t’ve. In the time she needed me most, I abandoned her!! I just…I can’t deal with this!”
“Twilight-“
“Opaline was like my only ray of sunshine after my friends were stolen from me with no reason at all!! She gave me hope and a desire to live when I had none!! She was there for me when you two weren’t!! SHE GAVE ME SOMEONE TO CARE ABOUT!!!” Twilight screamed. “YOU CAN’T MAKE ME BANISH HER!!!!!”
“You listen to me, Twilight!!” Luster shot back. “You did all that you could!! You raised her to be a good pony, but what happened was her own fault!! She chose this path for herself, not you!!! Did you overreact that night?! Sure! But she could’ve chosen to stay and talk things over with you later on, but she didn’t!! She made the decision to do this, not you!! You didn’t fail her, Twilight, none of this is your fault!!”
Twilight was stunned into silence. She had to admit that Luster had a point, but it still didn’t change how hard of a decision this was. She wiped tears from her eyes as she stared at her apprentice.
“Thanks, Luster…” she whispered.
“Look at me, Twilight.” Luster implored her. “I know you can do this. You’re the same pony who taught me that friendship isn’t a waste of time. You showed me that and now I have friends of my own! You taught me so much about friendship, Twilight! You made me believe in how beautiful it is having other ponies beside you!!” She lifted Twilight’s chin up and held it. “You made me a better pony just by telling me a story! You’ve given Equestria so much!! Look at me, Twilight! What does friendship mean to you?!”
Twilight thought back to her first day coming to Ponyville, to the night she and her friends defeated Nightmare Moon. Suddenly, all the memories she had been trying to repress came flooding back to her one by one in quick succession. She remembered all the great times she had with her friends, the adventures they went on together, the lessons they learned, the songs they sang, the villains they defeated, and all the friends they helped over the years.
All of it culminated in that very last memory: the day where she nuzzled her pupil as she went off with a new group of friends. In that moment, she realized the truth. She did have a life worth living. She did all of this with her friends, and now it was her responsibility to carry on their legacy by reunifying ponykind.
Luster could tell that Twilight had finally seen reason just by looking at her face. She smiled at her mentor. “So…who are you, Princess?”
Twilight looked back and faced them both with a determined smile. “I am Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship!”
She knew what she had to do. It would not be easy, but she was going to save Equestria and the ponies she loved…or die trying.