//------------------------------// // New Friends // Story: Revelations: Twilight to Darkness // by GhostofSandwich //------------------------------// Eyes opening, bright light entering them. Over the course of the four years she'd been free from the Dark Void, she still had never gotten used to that. Never would in her mind. That happens after a millennia of seeing nothing but darkness. She found it ironic that both her and Luna had spent nearly the same existence. Either Celestia had wanted nothing more than to see her loved ones in darkness, or she wanted so badly the opposite, she caused exactly what she had fought so hard to avoid. Still, she didn't blame Celestia for anything. She had been the one to go into that black nothingness, all for the sake of seeing her mother again. Her mind slowly drifted back to Twilight, her savior from the Black Void. All of her friends blamed her at first. For abandoning her, allowing Twilight to do such a selfless act. No blame was placed upon their shoulders. Why should she have been saved? By her own foolishness did she go into the Dark Void, saved by a mare that had friends; a life. These thoughts were part of her morning routine as she awoke. With the graces of both Celestia and all of Twilight's friends, she had moved into the library Twilight had once called home. The dragon that Twilight had been caring for still lived with Rarity, since even being in the library brought memories of the mare he had imagined he'd be with until the time came that he was to be with his own kind. Sadly, it would seem Twilight would never get the chance to say goodbye, since the time for him to move on was only a short three months away. Even thought Mystia had no connection to the dragon, she couldn't help but feel sad that he would soon be gone. Thus was the power of the void... The moment they met, parts of their souls; their destinies were intertwined. Mystia gained all of Twilight's feelings, while Twilight gained all of hers. Any connections one shared with anypony, was now the same story for the other. Thus, Mystia was able to easily connect with all of Twilight's friends... And why she was somehow granted the power of the sixth Element of Harmony. It would seem that the universe had to make up for the sudden disappearance of a element, giving the power to another. What better candidate than the very pony that's soul was infused with Twilight, the past holder? Honestly, she didn't feel she was worthy of such an honor; wasn't worthy of anything given to her... After a short amount of a week, Twilight's friends had come to understand that Twilight had made a choice, so there was no changing her mind. A short amount of two weeks and Mystia had become Twilight. She ran the library, did studies for Celestia much like she had done 1,000 years previous, and she spent time with her- Twilight's friends. The sheer thought of her being accepted as Twilight pained her. Who was she to both allow the mare to save her, then come and take her life while the thought of her being back in that hell all alone? She combed her mane and rubbed her eyes as she prepared to start her day. Celestia had granted her the rest of the week off, a break she welcomed happily. It would allow her time to study more of the Dark Void so that she may find a way for Twilight to be free. Hopefully without placing herself back in the void, since history has already been repeated once. Starting the cycle anew would be pointless. As she descended the stairs, she heard a knock the door. She looked to the pile of books, all on the subject of the Dark Void, then back to the door. With a sigh, she made her way to the door. Opening it, she was greeted with the sight of none other than Spike. "Hey, Mystia," the dragon spoke with slight pain of being back at the library in his voice, "mind if I come in?" "Yeah, sure!" The dragon now stood at about the height of Celestia. In all honesty, he was growing at an alarming rate. She was never an expert on dragons, since she never had the ability to study one up close, but she was sure he was growing faster than he should. Maybe it was just the stress of losing Twilight. That sometimes is known to cause one to age quicker than they naturally should. Then again, maybe he was growing at a normal rate. "Everything still looks the same..." It was the first time in three years that he had stepped foot back into the library. Naturally, his first reaction was that of extreme nostalgia. Both good memories and bad. "I can almost feel like I could yell up and she'd come down the stairs..." "I..." "Don't worry, I know it's not your fault. Anyways, the others wanted to see if you'd come down the the pond. They're having a day out and said your welcome to join." "I..." She looked to the book, then back to the dragon. "I'd love to." "Go on ahead. If you don't mind, I'm going to go upstairs for a few minutes..." Her smile turned to a somber expression of both sorrow and worry. "Take your time, Spike." She patted the dragon on the back before making her exit. As she made her way to the pond, Spike simply stood in the middle of the library. "It's the middle of the night... Why are you pacing around like this?" "Frankly, I don't know how you can sleep at a time like this!" "Three A.M.?" "It's awful, it's horrible, it's tragic!" Eh... I don't understand. What's wrong?" "Here. Now do you see what's wrong?" "We forgot to celebrate Arbor Day?" Spike smiled lightly at the memory of that morning. Shortly afterwards, Twilight had gone completely insane and had tried to prevent a future disaster that he had caused by trying to prevent it. He wasn't sure why he remembered that. Maybe it was the grooves that were still in the floor from her pacing. Maybe it was just a random memory. But no matter what he thought, he knew that she was just that... A memory. As he slowly ascended the stairs, Mystia was just arriving at the pond. Her arrival was immediately and warmly greeted by the girls. "Hi, Mystia! Oh, did I tell you that I made a new flavor of icing? I call it snozzleberry! Wait, is that even a real flavor? Probably not, but at least it makes more sense than a pickle barrel! That's still one of my favorite words, right next to Kumquat. Still, I've never see a pickle barrel!" She laughed as Pinkie jumped up and down. Sometime about three years ago, she had reverted her mane back to it's original straight splendor. It took some getting used to after such a long time of the poofy cotton candy style, but it actually looked better this way. "Remind me to try it later, Pinkie." Pinkie smiled as she hopped up and down, her mane bouncing into the air and falling gingerly back to her side. The same for her tail, but it flailed around much more than her mane, given it was much longer than her mane. "Hey, you made it!" She looked at Rainbow Dash, who was laying back on a beach chair. Since she had become the captain of the wonderbolts, she had taken to having a much lighter attitude. She had also allowed her mane to grow further out, but kept it's usual style. It now sat about on her cheeks, her right eye peering out from behind it. "Hey, Rainbow. Where's Fluttershy?" She looked around for the yellow Pegasus. "Look up." Mystia did as instructed. Her smile turned to an expression of shock as a rain cloud appeared over her head, the yellow pony on top of it. She closed her eyes tightly as a fountain of water poured down on top of her, causing her to laugh. "Well, might as well jump in now." "Yep!" Fluttershy dove from the cloud into the water, coming up moment later. "Come on in, the water's fine!" In the four years since Mystia showed up, Fluttershy had slowly lost her shy shell. With the help of Discord and Rainbow Dash, she had also properly learned to fly and control the weather. Rainbow taught her flying techniques while Discord forced her to focus by making her envision the clouds as ponies trying to harm animals. "Cannonball!" Mystia jumped into the water, sending a large splash of water at Rainbow Dash, who was less than pleased at her sunbathing being ruined by the uninvited water. "Hey! Well, might as well jump in now..." Mystia ducked under the water as Rainbow dove happily into its depths. "Ya'll having fun?" Mystia turned and looked at Applejack, who was standing at the edge of the water. "Sorry Ah'm late, but Apple Bloom needed help getting some materials for building the new barn. Ah swear, if that girl didn't have her head attached to her body, she'd lose it!" Applejack remained largely the same over the course of the four years. The only thing that really changed was her mane and tail, which she no longer tied up. Other than that, her personality was still perfectly intact. "Well, we even got Rainbow in the water, so yeah!" yelled Fluttershy as she wiped her mane backwards, allowing it to flick back in position spraying water at Applejack. "Ah'll be diving in soon. Just let me catch some of the sun before ah do." "Honestly, dear. That much sun is no good for your coat!" Everypony turned at the voice of Rarity as she showed up with a unnecessary amount of supplies in tow. "Moisturize first, then get some sun! You'll dry yourself out and your coat will no longer be smooth." "Rarity, do ah need to throw you in?" Rarity was the most changed of all the ponies. Her mane was now straight with curls at the end, as was the fashion of the current time. She had also applied some dye to it, giving it a slightly bluer tint. Last but not least, she had taken to speaking in a normal manor instead of her usual high class manor of speaking. Even though she did occasionally talk like she used to. "No, I'll be getting in slowly. I simply can't-" She stopped mid sentence at the stares of her friends. With a roll of her eyes, she agreed. "Fine, I'll do something fun." She sighed and looked at the body of water. With a yell, she charged forwards and dove into the water headfirst, emerging a moment later with her mane soaking wet, covering her eyes. Quickly, she brushed it away to reveal a smile. "How many points was that worth?" "About 7, sugarcube." Applejack stepped back and sprinted at the water, jumping off the sand and doing a back-flip before landing in the water. "Yeehaw! Now that's how you dive into water!" Everypony laughed as Applejack emerged. Mystia looked at the smiling faces of the ponies before her; the smiling face of her friends. Slowly, her gaze drifted to the sunny sky as she had a single thought. It was a beautiful day.