//------------------------------// // The Beginning Of The New World // Story: Hour of Twilight // by Animegx43 //------------------------------// Hour of Twilight: Chapter 24 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The battle was long. The battle was hard. But most importantly, the battle was over. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I found my self lying on the ground, barely conscious. After I peeled my eyes opened, I remembered what had happened. I quickly got up and observed the area. On my left, Rarity and Rainbow Dash were starting to wake up, where on my right, Applejack and Pinkie Pie. After I realized that I was standing on the grass and wasn't in the Arcane Tower anymore, I looked around where I was at the time. Before me were the crumbled ruins of the very tower. It had gotten destroyed in the fight between me and Twilight Star. It was said that the destruction of the tower would mean the destruction of most of Equestria, but at the time, all I knew was that magic itself would be gone. I immediately feared the worst case scenario. As I thought my magic was gone, I thought there would be no way for me to control the sun. The Sun and Moon were arranged into a lunar eclipse, which I thought would've been irreversible. "Please...let there still be a small hope." Testing to see if the magic was gone, I used my horn and concentrated. Catching me completely off-guard, my magic worked normally. I didn't understood why, but all I cared about was moving the Sun and Moon back into their original positions. As I raised the Sun back into the sky, its warm light once again shined across the land, and shined across me and the others as they all stood back up. As the sun raised, every pony else was had gotten up to look up at the sky, which returned to normal before long. As the light shined, all I could see were the Elements of Magic and Kindness lying on the ground, both without a wearer. "YEEEE-HAAAA! YA DID IT, PRINCESS!" Applejack shouted happily. "And we even managed to defeat Twilight!" Rarity added. For a moment, the others were all happy for the victory. Shortly after, they realized how hollow the victory was since the one they helped defeat was their best friend. While good did come out of it, which was saving Equestria, they felt it wasn't entirely worth it in hindsight. On a bright note, crawling out of some of the remaining rubble came my sister, Princess Luna, the baby dragon Spike, who have both regained their strength. Luna herself was back to her normal form. "Whoa. Did we miss something?" Spike asked. "I'm...alive!" Luna said. "WE'RE alive! Sister, what happened? Where's Twilight Sparkle?" "I'm not entirely sure. She might be..." It was then that I saw something behind a large pile of ruins. A purple, sparkling light coming from behind it. The first thing I did was fly straight there without considering any possible danger. There, I found her. Twilight Sparkle, back to her original form, but with still clear signs of an unstable magical body. Small magical discharges, a nearly see-through body, and a weak body barely standing up, it was all that remained of the monster known as Twilight Star. I should've been happy to see Twilight Sparkle and not her evil form, but seeing my pupil weak and fading away...that was actually much worse a sight then before. "TWILIE!" Pinkie Pie said with cheer. "SUGAR CUBE!" At first, the others were happy to see Twilight, but their smiles immediately turned into frowns upon getting a closer look. The once great Twilight Sparkle was slowly fading away as the remainder of her magic left her body. "Everything...I did...was not what I wanted." Twilight said quietly. "Twilight, are you alright?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Are you sane again?" "You're not going to blow the world again, are you?" Pinkie added. "I tried...helping every pony... the best I could. I nearly...killed them all." Twilight couldn't hear Pinkie Pie or Rainbow Dash. She was completely lost in her world, feeling great depression of her actions. She had no idea what was happening around her and only thought of what she had done. Pinkie Pie tried to help by giving her a hug, only to fall right through her as if she wasn't there, almost like a ghost. We had hoped to bring Twilight back to her senses, but we could only watched as she stayed trapped in her misery. Worse of all, she had only a few minutes before vanishing completely. "Princess Celestia, can't you help her now?" Rarity asked. "Surely there's a spell that can heal her or something." "I'm sorry, Rarity." I answered. "Her body has been long gone consumed by the magic to the point of having it be made entirely by magic. Since she can no longer bind it." "Oh...dear..." Rarity said as a tear began to shed. I couldn't lie to them. It would've been insulting if I had lied and sugarcoated it. This was the saddest thing any of us had ever seen. A dear friend that we worked so hard to rescue, only to watch as their life came to an end. Many tears came from the group, including me, Spike, even Luna had a hard time to hide it, and she's the vengeful type. "This isn't fair." Rainbow Dash said as she cried. "How can we lose our friend like this?" "You will not." That was when the miracle occurred, and for the first time, Twilight was taking notice of her surroundings. Coming from the sky came an orange beam of light that encased Twilight's body entirely. As the light shined over her, her body slowly became solid again. Twilight even began to notice where she was, finally seeing that all of her friends had been with her the whole time. She saw that they were all crying moments ago, but had suddenly started to smile again as her body became whole again. Eventually, the beam of light disappeared, and upon so, Twilight's body was fully restored, leaving her everyone else confused as to what happened. She even stopped thinking about her actions to ponder over what happened. She then realized that she recognized the magic used, as well as the voice. "No...it couldn't be..." Looking up above, standing on a large pile of rubble where the Arcane Tower once stood was guardian of time himself. The owl man, Chronos, alive and well, looking down at us with a smile, something I had never actually seen him do in the thousand years had known him.. "It seems time will move on after all." Chronos said. "Chronos? I-I thought...you should be dead!" Twilight said in shock How are you alive?" "By an outcome that I did not predict." "Hey, bird man!" Pinkie shouted. "There's only one chapter left here, so you better explain things now." "Very well, and...what?" Chronos said. "Anyway, in my original predictions, the fall of the Arcane Tower would destroy all magic in Equestria, causing famine, lost homes, and around 80% of the unicorns to die." That was when I first learned about that last part, and had I had the strength, I probably would've done something. "However, you and you're allies did something,shall we say, unpredictable? First, you had actually took in in all of Equestria's magic, and stored it inside your own body. Then, as the Elements of Harmony destroyed your body, it created a reaction which not only caused the magic to return to the land and revitalized it with life, but completely destroyed the tower as a result of the crossfire." "But wait. If we destroyed the tower, why didn't it destroy our home and why can we still use magic?" I asked. "I'll be completely honest, I am not 100% sure. My belief is that that nothing was destroyed since the magic was all in one place, which it self was merged with the Elements of Harmony, so the destruction of the tower did nothing. It really is amazing, because now that the tower no longer exists, it can never cause any damage anymore." To summarize, Twilight had completely changed the future from the first prediction that Chronos made. He was so certain that the world would suffer one way or another, and yet now it's probably better off then it was before. The Arcane Tower had long since became more of a hazard then anything, but now it's safely disposed. "Twilight Sparkle, I finally understand why Celestia had so much faith in you. I feel that I may not be able to trust my predictions like I once did. I will now trust you to help create the best possible future." "I CAN'T!" Twilight shouted, surprising Chronos and catching the rest of us off-guard. "Everything I did almost destroyed everything I hold dear! I even killed one of my best friends. How could I possibly be trusted with building a future?" Chronos let out a light chuckle. "Of course I wouldn't trust you. At least not alone. You of all ponies should know that by now. Now if you'll excuse me, my servants need to know that their master has returned. Farewell." Finished with talking to Twilight, Chronos stretched out his wings, quickly flew up into the air, and soared away to find his subordinates, having a new found trust in Twilight and new found hope for the future. Of course, Twilight herself didn't quite understand any of it. "But how? How could I possibly create a new future when I almost destroyed it completely? What can he trust me, but not trust me at the same time." I understood Chronos's words perfectly. I was a tad bit surprised Twilight didn't understood them, although I guess she was still in shock from everything she had done,s o I walked to her to comfort her and to explain Chronos's words. "Princess Celestia, surely you don't think I'm cut out to be Equestria's ruler, do you?" "I still believe that in time, Twilight Sparkle, you will be a better ruler then I. Someday." "How can you still have confidence in me? I attacked even you!" "Because I know the real you would never do that. In fact, it was because you managed to fight through the evil you became that we were able to save you. I felt the love and hope your friends still had in you and I felt you had returned the feelings. This is what Chronos meant. As long as you keep your devotion to your friendship with every pony, a bright future is within our reach." "But how do I know that I still can do that?" At that moment, Pinkie Pie ran over to Twilight and whispered..."Psst. Cupcake spell." Pinkie was referring to the Wishing spell, which could only be used by one with a heart and soul of pure good. Twilight realized that if she would be able to use the spell, then there would be a chance that she would deserve the throne someday. She concentrated all of her magic into her horn, focused as hard as she could, and at the cost of much of her magic, she made what she wanted possible, which was a magically conjured cupcake. This convinced her that she is no longer the Twilight that threaten to destroy the world. She still wasn't too sure if she deserved to be my heir, but she still felt a sense of relief. "Here's your cupcake, Pinkie. Sorry for...well...shooting you out of a tower." "ALRIGHT!" Pinkie said as she shoved the cupcake into her mouth. "Apology accepted." From there, Twilight went around to apologized to every pony she had wronged during the struggle, including my sister, who once again acted a little cold to her. Although I knew that Luna was still very happy to see Twilight, even though she didn't show it. Then she had to make what was without a doubt the hardest apology she ever had to make. The one she owed to Rainbow Dash. "Umm...Dash?" "Yeah..." Rainbow Dash said quietly. "I know that you were the one most...'shaken' by what I did. I know that 'she' may not forgive me for what I did, and I know that you won't either. Just know that I have never regretted anything more then this then anything." Rainbow Dash was the one most traumatized by Twilight Star's actions, and she could never forgive what she had done. On the other hoof, she wasn't talking to Twilight Star. She was talking to Twilight Sparkle. "Twilight...you ended up doing a horrible thing, but I knew Fluttershy better then any pony. She would forgive you in a heart beat. I'm not forgiving you because she would. I'm forgiven you because you are and always will be one of my best friends. After Fluttershy died, as angry as I was, the last thing I wanted was to lose another friend." "So you mean..." "Of course. Element of Loyalty here! I'm not letting you go, even if you actually did split the world in two or something." I don't think I had ever seen Twilight so touched before. Even after every thing she had done, the one pony she thought would never forgive her had actually forgave her. This caused Twilight to burst into tears as she gave a hug to Rainbow Dash, who promptly hugged back. Immediately afterwards, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie ran in and joined, forming a group hug between the group. even Spike jumped onto the pile and joined in, since even dragons can miss ponies. "Oh, shoot! I wanted to ask Chronos something." Twilight said. "He didn't tell us how he survived when I though he died." I then expressed my theory. "Perhaps when the magical returned to Equestria, it not only restored life to the land, but life to him as well. Perhaps it also had to do with him being so close to the tower at the time as well." When Twilight almost put that thought to rest, another one popped into her head. One that shot her eyes wide open as she turned her head to Rainbow Dash. "No..." Dash said quietly. "You don't think..." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By Twilight's request, we all went to an area that she and Rainbow Dash unassisted on going to. A once rocky area that was nothing but a wasteland, had then became ha rocky grassland. The unicorn and pegasus had trouble recognizing the area, but continued to search for what they were looking for. "This is where she fell, wasn't it?" Twilight asked. "It's where me and Applejack left her. Where could...?" The two nearly gave up their search as they couldn't find any clues. As twilight started to walk off though, she finally saw what she was looking for. Or actually, WHO she was looking for. In the distance, she saw a yellow pegasus sitting down on a rock and looking up to the sky, watching the clouds go by. As Twilight and Rainbow started walking towards her, she felt their presence and turned to see them. As hoped, Fluttershy was restored to life like Chronos, and she was alive and well. Upon realizing that it really was Fluttershy, Twilight and Rainbow Dash ran towards with the happiest smiles on their faces. After Fluttershy realized that it was the Twilight Sparkle she had spent years befriending with, she too smiled and ran towards them. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And that is my tale. I suppose now that I think about it, I shouldn't have too much to regret, as Twilight's actions were ultimately for the best. By now, the six of them have long since see this as nothing but the past and have moved on to live their lives, protect my land, and so on. I'm glad they are, because I feel that I should be the only one feel guilty, since it was my decisions that started the chaos that nearly destroyed the world. I've went through many experiences in my long life, and this was the one that scared me the most. My kingdom was nearly lost, my friends and family was nearly lost, and my heir was nearly lost. I still don't see myself as the ruler Equestria needs or deserves. But as long as I have my trust in Twilight Sparkle and her friends, it some day will. Perhaps by preparing a proper ruler for Equestria, I may not be such a bad Princess after all. Even if I'm not, I will still do my best to contribute in creating the bright new future for Equestria, and I plan to do that with Twilight Sparkle by my side.