Inside the Core’s inner sanctum, Twilight Sparkle sat down in the middle of a library room. There, she kept turning every page of a book she was reading. Once she finished, she proceeded to open the next book and repeated the same process.
She stared at each page emotionlessly. Her eyes skimmed through the information paragraph by paragraph and section by section.
As she was doing all this, loud footsteps can be heard just behind her. “I see you are occupied. Always a studious, diligent little pony…”
Aldrich entered the library and noticed tens of hundreds of books she has read. Grinning to himself, he gently lifted her chin. “Why so pale, my dear? Are you not enjoying yourself?”
Twilight sadly sighed. “All these years…of suffering and agony…were all because of me. How can I…’enjoy’ myself knowing what I’ve done?”
“On the contrary, you have greatly benefited the Equestrian nation. It has become stronger and wiser thanks to our leadership,” Aldrich boasted. “Without the misguiding magic of friendship, our legacy will survive.”
Twilight then shook her head in disgust. “I trusted you. I believed you. Yet, you made me do all this!”
The evil newt mockingly chuckled. “Me? Making you do all this? Such nonsense, Sparkle. If I recall, you made your choice to serve our needs. You created the Unity Crystals; we simply offered the only logical choice for survival.”
Twilight made no rebuttal.
“You wanted this, didn’t you? You wanted your ponies to stop fighting with each other, yes? You got exactly what you needed, and this is what will stick with you for the rest of your life. But of course,” he continued, opening his orange eyes. “…that won’t matter. What does is your undying allegiance to the Core. So far, you have served us well.”
“Please…” Twilight begged, sobbing. “I just—want to go home! Please…let me go…”
“Oh, my sweet child, I know how much it hurts. Trust me, I do. But there is no need for tears. Soon, everyone will be at peace, and conflicts shall arise no more,” Aldrich assured, slowly walking back. “You’ll thank me later.”
As he vanished, Twilight looked up and saw Chancellor Neighsay and his colleagues walking around the library and picking up random books to read.
Neighsay then closed the book, grabbed a broom, and swept the upper floor. “Something wrong, Twilight?”
“Well…I’m stuck here reading books, doing nothing else, watching my friends die, and doing a monster’s bidding. No, no, nothing wrong here!” Twilight sarcastically replied, eyes twitching.
“I’m sorry, Princess, but there’s nothing we can do about it. I wish I could comfort you, but…my lack of emotions prevent me from doing so,” Neighsay blankly stated. “Now, I must be off.” He exited the library without looking back at her.
Twilight then closed her eyes and lowered her head. Suddenly, a yellow light shined through the ceiling which caught her attention. She curiously flew up and entered the attic, following the light.
As she found herself in the midst of darkness, the whole room lit up as if she were now in space. She looked around in amazement, gazing at the stars.
“Where…am I? What is all this?”
Then she looked behind her and saw Princess Celestia speaking with her past younger self. They didn’t see or hear her as they were talking with each other.
“Congratulations, Twilight! I knew you could do it!”
“Princess! I don’t understand. What did I do?”
“You did something today that’s never been done before,” Celestia explained. “Something even a great unicorn like Starswirl the Bearded was not able to do. Because he did not understand friendship like you do.”
Twilight sadly looked on as she precisely remembered the day she received the ultimate reward for her accomplishments. She even looked at her unsuspecting younger unicorn self with a bittersweet attitude.
“The lessons you learned here in Ponyville have taught you well. You have proven that you’re ready, Twilight.”
“Ready? Ready for what?”
Then they walked across a hallway of past memories—memories of all the adventures Twilight and her friends had in Ponyville and beyond. The current Twilight sobbed as she recalled those memories: defeating Discord, stopping Nightmare Moon, helping the Crystal Empire destroy King Sombra, making friends with Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Applejack.
She even saw her memories with Spike when he was a baby dragon.
Then she saw herself receive the magical endowment of becoming an alicorn. She landed before her friends, opening her new wings.
As the current Twilight saw all this, the light instantly died down which brought her back to reality. She fell back down to the Core’s library.
She got back up, shedding more tears than before. She picked up her crown and looked at her own reflection. Then she looked down on the books and angrily threw them at the nearest shelf. “I failed Equestria, and I failed you…Celestia. I don’t deserve everything that was handed down to me on a silver platter. This is…ALL. MY. FAULT!!! I should’ve killed the Core if I knew what would happen!!”
She fell on her hooves and cried on the rug, burying herself in her arms. She tried to ignite her horn, but her magic faintly sparkled. Once she stopped crying ten minutes later, she laid her head on the rug and slowly fell asleep.
Gloam Fall soared through the Dragon Lands where all the remaining dragons were bound in chains by the frobots. Smiling, they descended toward the landscape and landed before them.
Ember was also held hostage by the frobots. She struggled against them until the fireproof chains shocked her. She stumbled to her knees, trying to get back up.
“Ahhh, if it isn’t former Dragon Lord Ember! I presume you miss our company?” they taunted.
“You’ll never get away with this!” Ember sneered.
“Haha, seems like you need to wake up. Look around, Ember. Your friends have abandoned you, your pony companions despise you, and your kingdom has fallen,” Gloam Fall gloated. “Heck, not even your favorite dragon is here to save you! What was his name again? Spike…was it?”
Ember furiously snarled. “Don’t you dare underestimate him.”
“Awww, how cute! You think a worthless lizard is gonna stop us! Haha, that’s pretty funny,” they chuckled. Then they narrowed their eyes on the dragons. “Now…straight to business…”
The prisoners cowered before the Core, fearfully embracing each other.
“No! Leave them alone!!”
“What should we do to you dragons? We’ve been fantasizing about killing you all…making you instantly…EXTINCT!” the Core shouted. “But then we realized—where’s the fun in that? You all could be useful for something more important than—ugh—friendship.”
“Pfff, as if! You’re out of your minds if you think we’ll ever work for you!” Ember scoffed.
As she said that, Gloam Fall walked toward the area where all their eggs were kept warm and safe. “Hmm, such fine eggs you have. A promising offspring! Wouldn’t it be a shame if something terrible were to happen to them?”
As the dragons were puzzled, the Core drew closer to them and removed the rocks that huddled them together.
“NO!” all the dragons shouted until the frobots tightly restrained them.
“GET AWAY FROM OUR EGGS! DON’T YOU DARE!” Ember screamed.
Gloam Fall dramatically raised their hooves and forcefully stepped on all their eggs, crushing them completely.
The dragons looked horrified at the sight as the liquid remains were all over their hooves. They wiped them off on Ember’s face, evilly grinning.
“Hope you enjoy your breakfast! HAHAHAHAHA!”
Ember fell on her knees, shocked at what she witnessed. “You…you monster…”
“Well, Ember? Are you finally ready to serve your new master?”
Flabbergasted, she stood back up on her feet and roared at their face. “After what you just did?!? NEVER!! I’d rather die fighting than grovel to the likes of you!”
Gloam Fall groaned in annoyance. “Of course you would say that. Oh well, if that’s what you want…” The frobots shocked her and knocked her out unconscious.
“Take her away. We’ll make an example of her later.”
After the frobots did so, Gloam Fall turned back to their prisoners. “Anyone else desires to follow her footsteps?”
The dragons fearfully shook their heads.
“Excellent! Now that all the non-pony leaders have ceased their resistance, no one can stop us! The legacy of the Core will reign supreme!” Gloam Fall triumphantly declared.