//------------------------------// // Sacrifice // Story: The Ultimate Sacrifice // by dawnofthefadingfoal //------------------------------// Twilight stood with Spike, not a word spoken between the two, she stretched her wings a little before folding them back up, it was time, time for her to fix the mistake she made, when she cast the Eternal sleep spell and her friends were frozen in time. Spike was sniffing trying to hold back the tears, he looked up at Twilight with big eyes, as if he was begging her not to do this, but there was no point Celestia had already tried reasoning with her, but Twilight's mind was made up. Twilight knelled down and looked at Spike, she expanded one of her wings over him. "You will be alright. I believe in you." Spike hugged his Beloved friend and tears began to glide down his scales this was the last time he would hear Twilight's voice, and feel her breathing. Twilight stood up once Spike let go of her neck, she walked over to one of the Crystal's that was sticking up out of the ground, it was sharp, one of the sharper ones and it was closest to the ground. Tears filled Twilight's eyes as she placed her neck on the point. "An alicorn may, at the heart of their deepest wishes, cast a spell with their last drop of blood so powerful that it can even bring the dead back to life." Twilight repeated what she learned about blood magic and why she went through the five tasks to become an Alicorn and save her friends. She quickly jerked her neck and it sliced her skin open, blood began to pour out as she knelled down. The Memories of the Last Week Began to Flood through her mind. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Task one The MoonStone. "I'm ready." said Twilight Sparkle. "Well," Princess Celestia spoke assuredly, "Your first task is to retrieve a sacred Moon Stone from the bottom of the lake. But you cannot simply swim down and take it. You must split the waters like you do your mane--and only then, when the light of the full moon shines down upon it, will you fetch your prize. Task two The SunStone Princess Celestia looked gravely at Twilight Sparkle. "My faithful student. It's not too late to turn back..." Twilight Sparkle stamped down her hoof, but said nothing, Princess Celestia knew there was no changing her mind. "Well, my pupil, for your second test there is a darkened cave far away in the tallest mountain south of Canterlot. It is there that a forgotten knight awaits you holding the Sun Stone and he will not relinquish it until you have appeased him. He was the most powerful unicorn that ever lived. Things were looking grim in the ancient war that had come to claim his village. He knew he could turn the tide, and he did. He let loose the full strength of his power and completely burned away his foes, but in doing so, he burned away his village as well. His friends, his family, his wife, and his three sons." Twilight looked down at her hoofs, thinking there were no way she could ever hope to defeat someone that powerful. "But," Princess Celestia continued, "his shame drove him into the mountain and there his sadness turned him to stone--where he has remained asleep for ten thousand years. Your task is to approach him and show him you can shine as bright as the sun but in doing so bring harm to no one. Show him you have the conviction to hold back for those you love, and he will reward you." Task Three The Transformation The books said the transformation was prolonged and extremely painful. But the reality of the situation was a slight tingling sensation brought on by the sudden change in body. Twilight remembered what Princess Celestia said to her earlier, "The Third Task, you see, is so very different than the others. In essence you have done all of the heavy lifting to get here. For the last trial, you must simply survive the transformation." "What? What is so bad about this?" Twilight outraged and turned around to ask her mentor after she finished channeling the spell. Princess Celestia's head sank down, her eyes narrowed and looked away. "Twilight, please, the spell has only begun to take hold..." "But, I feel fine! I feel..." Twilight fell down, her bones breaking and stretching inside her, and suddenly she realized what it was Celestia had been referring to earlier, "The transformation into an Alicorn will change you completely and wholly--it is unforgiving, and I am sure you can see how different in body we are. Perhaps you should pass out from pain, so that you musn't endure it for long, but when the spell reaches your heart, it is only the tiniest of chances that it will beat again as yours and it will be luck if it even beats again at all." Princess Celestia whispered in Twilight's ear, "Be still, and remember your friends and that this is the only way you can save them. This was what you wanted--there is no other way." "She has already lost consciousness, sister," said Luna. "I know." Task four the last fight "What do you hope to accomplish, sister? Dragging her body out here." said Princess Luna. "Stop mocking me Luna," snapped Princess Celestia, "you aren't helping!" "You know what she intends to do. It's a completely lost cause. You might as well throw her body in that graveyard where she spends all her time." Celestia started to whisper into Twilight's ear, "Just ignore her, Twilight, what you have set out to do is the greatest gift that you could ever give--and you are just so close. You can't die here, its too soon."[ Twilight opened her eyes and took a deep breath in, she survived the hardest task Task five The Sacrifice "Spike, I have one last favor to ask you. Please take a letter:" Spike was trying to wipe his eyes, his beloved Twilight Sparkle standing before him, transformed. His hands shaking, but he slowly dictated her words. "My Dearest Friends, It's been too long since I left you on the cliff side where we faced the demon God Morgalle. We all knew what we were getting into with the eternal sleep spell, but when I had finished the cast--I saw you all before me frozen in time. I tried everything. For days, weeks, and years--to no avail. I spent all of my free time paging through the deepest archives in the Canterlot Library, until I read a very particular passage in a tome on Alicorns. The chapter was called "Blood Magic". I knew immediately that this was what I needed: "An alicorn may, at the heart of their deepest wishes, cast a spell with their last drop of blood so powerful that it can even bring the dead back to life." I cannot live knowing what you have sacrificed for all of Equestria and know that you are so close, and yet, so far away. My greatest regret is that I will not be able to see you all smile again, and I can only hope that you will find some way to forgive my eternal selfishness. Your dearest and most faithful friend, Twilight" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Twilight began to feel light headed and weak, she could just make out the figure of Spike rolling up the letter she asked him to write before she went on to doing the deed, her vision began to grow blurry and it didn't help that she was crying on top of that, her neck was blood red and still the river of her blood trailed down her neck and onto the ground. Twilight new her time was drawing near, she felt her heart rate slow from the fast beating to just barley beating, her breathing slowed and her body began to shut down, she no longer felt the pain of the wound on her neck, she really didn't feel anything, other than the blood river that was just running down her neck had stopped. It was time to make the wish. With the last drop of My Alicorn blood, I wish for Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie, to all be brought back to life and out of the eternal sleep spell. As the last drop of Twilight's blood hit the ground, a blinding flash of light circled around her, her friends were taken out of the spell. Once the Flash of light had died down Spike Uncovered his eyes, he saw Twilight lying there, he turned to where the other five use to be statues and they were all questioning how they came back, Spike turned his attention back to Twilight, her head was now laying on the ground in a pool of her own blood, her mane was also matted in blood and of coarse her neck was drenched from top to bottom in blood, Twilight's chest failed to move up and down. She was gone, Spike looked at his Beloved Twilight who was now on the ground dead, she took her own life in the event to save five others. Spike walked over to her and began to wail Catching the attention of the five ponies who were confused and how they came out of the spell back to life. They ran over to see the sight of Twilight on the ground. Four of the Ponies began to cry, wail as they fell at Twilight's body, The body of their wonderful and faithful friend. Applejack was the only one who wasn't crying, even though she felt grief, she wanted to know what happened before she started balling. "Spike, what happened to Twi?" She asked holding back the tears with all her might. "When she Casted the Eternal Sleep Spell, and you five became frozen In time she started to look for a way to undo what had been done, after about a year she found out about Blood Magic, she found out that An alicorn may, at the heart of their deepest wishes, cast a spell with their last drop of blood so powerful that it can even bring the dead back to life, she found this to be the only way to undo her mistake, a week ago after all the planning she did she went to go get Princess Celestia's help, Princess Celestia said she would help only because she didn't want to let her student down, she tried numerous times to talk Twilight out of it, but she wouldn't listen." Spike stopped to let out a wail before pulling himself back together and continuing. "When it came to task three Changing Twilight into an Alicorn, the most risky of the five tasks. Princess Celestia and Luna combined their powers and using the Moon and Sun Stone were able to cast a spell that began to change her into an Alicorn. I have Never seen Princess Celestia cry so much in my life, it was so painful for her...And now, this is the fifth task the Sacrifice." Spike lost it and began to wail. Applejack was now crying. "She gave up her life, to save us." Applejack turned to see all her friends had stopped crying to hear the story but started again once Spike had Finished. "Well. Y'all." Applejack sniffed. "We should get Twi's body back to the castle, we should give her a proper ceremony for the good she has just done, and tell Princesss Celestia. That Twi is..." Applejack couldn't finish before breaking down. The Five Ponies and the Dragon all sat around Twilight Wailing, they had to cry enough to be able to keep themselves together to get Twilight back to the Castle, and it could take a while.