Sparkle No More

by dastrdlyW


Sparkle No More

The sound of voices echoed faintly through the halls as Twilight’s friends made their way to the throne room. They all called out words of assurance and comfort to Twilight, but everyone fell silent the moment they saw her lying on the ground, black smoke rising from her limp form.

Her entire body was tainted black. Her mane, her tail, even her cutie mark all had been altered under Nightmare Moon’s influence. What once was a six point lavender star layered on a grey star was now a single, eight-point star surrounded by smaller, purple stars in each nook. At its center sat a large purple orb.

Rainbow Dash broke the silence. “What did you do to her!?” she screamed as she whirled around and launched herself at Nightmare Moon, only to be stopped by Applejack's quick intervention.

Her voice muffled by Rainbow Dash's tail, Applejack tried to calm her friend, “Consarn it, Rainbow! Are you trying to get yourself hurt!?” Applejack spat the tail out of her mouth. “Now’s not the time to get–”

In an instant, Twilight’s eyes shot open, and everything came to a standstill. She slowly rose to her hooves as the others gaped at Twilight’s eyes. What were once a calming purple, were now a chilling blood red. Even her pupils had changed, from normal black orbs to narrow slits, the same as Nightmare’s.

Twilight glared down at her “friends.”

“You ponies have yet to see true darkness!” Nightmare Moon cackled. “Oh, you think everlasting night is bad!? Oh then you’re in for a real treat!”

A thick, black aura surrounded Twilight’s horn as her magic sparked to life. The others scattered, looking for any chance at escape, but with a flash of her horn, Twilight sealed off the exit. Locking eyes with her panicked friends, she charged up another spell, but before she could launch her attack, Nightmare Moon stopped her.

“Don’t kill them just yet,” she ordered, causing Twilight to look at her curiously. “I want you to teach them how to behave towards their new queen.”

Twilight smirked and faced the five ponies in front of her and quickly acquired her first target. Twilight charged, her body powered by a black glow surrounding her hooves. With a strong kick, she knocked Applejack across the room and into a wall.

Applejack gasped as she struggled to stand, an unfamiliar pain creeping down her side. On her flank was a glowing black hoofprint which ate away at her fur and burned itself into her side. The sound of hooves rapidly approaching forced her to focus her attention on the fight. However, another kick sent her crashing back into the wall, her head connected with a heavy thud, and she fell to the ground, unmoving.

“You’ll pay for that!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she flung herself into the air and charged.

Using her momentum, she drove a hoof deep into Twilight’s side, knocking her back, but not fazing her in the slightest. Rainbow was met with swift counter-kick to the jaw which sent her flying. Twilight's horn lit once more as her magic surrounded a section of broken pillar. She hoisted it above her head and hurled it at Rainbow. Even with her agility, however, she wasn’t fast enough to avoid it. The pillar collided with her stomach and launched her backwards, snapping her wing and nearly crushing her as it slammed her into the ground. She was barely able to muffle her cry of pain as she squirmed underneath the weight of the shattered pillar.

Rarity and Pinkie Pie gasped in disbelief. The two toughest ponies in the group had been taken down. As they gaped, Twilight teleported beside her next victim: Rarity. With a quick push, she shoved her to the ground. Twilight reared up and delivered a stomp to Rarity’s side, making her scream. 

The resulting cry resounded within Twilight and her stomach churned as she felt something else stirring within her. She hesitated.

“What are you doing? Attack them!” Nightmare barked.

A second, more familiar voice echoed within her mind: her own. Where am I? 

Twilight’s pupils expanded and in an instant her eyes flashed white. As her vision resettled, she found herself floating in a black void dimly illuminated by a spark on the horizon ahead of her. As the light steadily grew, she felt a tug, pulling her forward. Without warning, she was sucked into the light and there was a blinding flash.

Twilight blinked, and as her vision returned she could see the devastation all around her. What’s going on? She looked down at herself. What am I doing? I’m… hurting them? This… this isn’t right. Twilight tried to move her legs, but her body wouldn’t respond. Suddenly, neither would her eyes, and she found herself watching the scene before her, trapped within her own mind.

Twilight had little time to dwell on it. To her horror, her body was acting on its own, and, despite her resistance, she was forced to watch as her magic sparked to life and surrounded Pinkie Pie. Unable to look away, she could only stare in shock as Pinkie was slammed into a wall. Before Twilight could even react, Pinkie was slammed into the wall on the other side of the room. Her body was dragged along the jagged stones to the adjacent wall and then thrown across the room again. She smashed through the final wall and slumped to the ground as the magic released her.

Nightmare Moon strode to the center of the room and admired her minion’s work. “One, two, three, four... wait a second! There were five of you! Where’s that yellow coward!?”

A frightened squeak gave away Fluttershy’s position.

As Twilight’s body began to move towards a fallen pillar, she struggled against the magic controlling her. Yet despite all her efforts, she couldn't stop her body, she couldn't turn her head away, she couldn't even close her eyes. Twilight was forced to watch as her magic formed around the pillar and disintegrated it. On the floor behind the freshly created pile of black ash, Fluttershy stared back at Twilight with fearful, tear-filled eyes that begged her to stop.

Her magic came to life once more as it surrounded Fluttershy, which elicited another whine from the terrified pegasus as she floated helplessly in the air. She began to hyperventilate as Twilight stepped closer. Fluttershy squealed in panic and tears spilled down her cheeks as she tried to break away from the magic binding her, but to no avail. With a whimper she stopped struggling, closed her eyes, and covered them with her hooves.

Twilight fought tooth and nail as she struggled to regain control of her body, and, for a brief moment, it seemed like she succeeded. Her body hesitated momentarily, leaving Fluttershy suspended high in the air. Then it recovered from Twilight’s mental assault, and violently flung Fluttershy to the ground.

Twilight shuddered as the foreign emotions infiltrated her own senses. The joy she experienced sickened her, and the desire to cause more harm was unbearable. I can’t let this go on. I won’t! Twilight resumed her fight against the magic controlling her, desperate to end her friends’ suffering as well as her own.

Her head lowered to Fluttershy’s level with a malicious grin, eliciting another squeal from the pegasus. She then reared back, slowly lifted her front legs, and positioned them directly above Fluttershy’s head, ready to finish the job. Whimpering, Fluttershy covered her eyes with her hooves once more in anticipation of the inevitable strike. “Twilight, please...” she begged.

Trapped inside her own mind, Twilight raged as she frantically fought for control. No! I won’t just sit back and let this happen! I will overcome this! For them. For my mother! My father! My brother! For Princess Celestia! FOR MYSELF!

Without warning, her hooves descended, and as the sheer horror of what was about to happen hit her, time seemed to slow. She cried out in anguish, and with a last, desperate push of willpower, her hooves redirected before they could connect with Fluttershy. Twilight’s eyes turned white and as the darkness controlling her body broke, and the invisible wall the curse had built to imprison her crumbled. She was in control of her body, but blinded by the magic pumping through her body. As her vision resettled, she glanced down to see Fluttershy, scratched up and bruised, but otherwise unharmed. However, the ground next to her was marred by an imprint of Twilight’s forehooves.

Anger surged through her as her mind replayed the fight in her mind. Her eyes shifted to their normal purple hue, and although the rest of her body remained tainted by the curse, Twilight was back in control. She snapped her head towards Nightmare. “You!” Twilight growled. “You will pay for what you made me do.”

Twilight grit her teeth as the pain of her transformation resurfaced. In its efforts to regain control, the curse sapped Twilight’s strength, but with grunt she channeled her magic. Sparks crackled around her horn hesitantly, but after a moment, her magic flared to life. Its colors faded between violet and black before fixing on a sickly indigo aura. Arcs of lightning flashed along the length of her horn in both a brilliant purple and a muted black before launching a beam of energy at Nightmare Moon. It hit her in the side, and unlike Twilight's previous efforts, struck home. Nightmare Moon was flung across the room by the powerful attack where she collapsed, momentarily stunned.

Twilight eyed her friends, who, despite their various injuries, were busy digging Rainbow out from under the crushed pillar. Twilight grimaced. Tears welled in her eyes at the sight of all the pain she'd been forced to cause, but she quickly blinked them away and glared back at Nightmare Moon.

“You forced me to attack them!” She slammed her hoof into the ground as she took a step forward. “You forced my hoof in nearly killing my–” Her eyes widened as a realization sparked to life inside her. “My friends. The Elements of Harmony! The ‘spark’! It all makes sense now!”

“You’re still blabbing about the Elements of Harmony?” Nightmare groaned as she stood up. “Have you already forgotten that I obliterated them?”

“No. I didn’t forget. And you didn’t destroy the Elements of Harmony, either! Because the Spirits of the Elements of Harmony,” Twilight gestured to her friends as she continued, “are right here!”

The shards at Nightmare Moon’s feet twitched and rose into the air as auras of different colors surrounded them. “What!?” she gasped in confusion.

“Applejack, who reassured me when I was in doubt, represents the spirit of Honesty!” The remnants of the Element of Honesty floated over to Applejack and slowly circled her.

“Fluttershy, who tamed the manticore with her compassion, represents the spirit of Kindness.” The shards in the pink glow quickly shot over to the pony who represented them.

Twilight’s theory was proving true! Adrenaline surged through her system, alleviating her pain as she continued, “Pinkie Pie, who banished fear by giggling in the face of danger, represents the spirit of Laughter. Rarity, who calmed a sorrowful serpent with a meaningful gift, represents the spirit of Generosity.” As Twilight named their Element, each of the shards floated to their respective ponies.

“And Rainbow Dash, who could not abandon her friends for her own heart’s desire, represents the spirit of Loyalty.” The rubble burying Rainbow Dash glowed faintly and slowly parted to reveal her crushed form. As the gap widened, the red aura surrounded her and lifted her out of the debris. As she floated above the pile, the shards drifted over to orbit her broken form. She groaned, stirring as her battered body fed off the new energy.

“The spirits of these five ponies got us through every challenge you threw at us!”

“Well, while this is definitely more elaborate than your first attempt at awakening the Elements, you still don’t have the sixth Element! The ‘spark’ didn’t work!” Nightmare Moon retorted.

“But it did! A different kind of ‘spark’. I felt it the very moment I realized how happy they all made me feel. Just before your corruption took hold of me completely, hearing their voices made me realize how much they all truly cared about me. I realized that they are truly... my friends! I will fix this. I will make this right again!”

The corruption fought for control over her body, pecking away at her willpower as she concentrated her magic. She glanced around her as her magic surrounded her friends. “And when their spirits are ignited by the spark that resides in the heart of us all, it creates the sixth Element! The Element of Magic!”

Twilight grinned as the healing spell worked its magic. Her friends’ injuries were disappearing. Her joy was short lived, however, as new pain arose within her, and as she continued her healing spell, the pain became exponentially worse. Her magic was draining faster than she anticipated, and her energy was beginning to falter.

Twilight dropped to one knee, but the aura around her horn brightened. She wasn’t going to let them down. After what she’d done to them, and after how far she’d come, she couldn’t let them down. She poured everything she could into the spell, even as her vision faded.

The Element of Magic appeared above her, glowing brightly. Her eyes widened in joy, but before she could celebrate, the magic in horn guttered. Even with the Element of Magic feeding Twilight new energy, her magic was still fading as she pushed it to its limits.

“This is pathetic! I can already see your magic growing weaker. You have all six Elements, but you don’t have the power to activate them! It’s time to end this pathetic game.” Nightmare’s horn lit up with a black aura.

Twilight gasped and focused her magic one last time. Pushing herself further, she fed the last drops of her power into the spell. Just as the last of Twilight’s strength failed, the Elements came to life, and energy nested within the Elements themselves poured into the six ponies.

In a bright flash, the orbiting shards transformed into beautiful necklaces, each embedded with a unique gemstone that formed the shape of their respective bearers’ cutie marks. Overhead, the Element of Magic transformed into a golden tiara with a gemstone at the top in the shape of Twilight’s original cutie mark which then gently lowered itself onto her head.

As soon as the tiara settled on her head, her eyes flashed white and her magic spiraled out of control. The aura surrounding her horn turned black, and her magic fed itself into the spell against her will, even as her body cried out for her to stop. Loud cracks resounded within her body as she floated up into the air, screaming in agony as the spell ate away at her.

The Elements released a burst of powerful magic, engulfing their bearers and muting Twilight’s screams. The magic from the Elements transformed into a magical rainbow which shot straight into the air before making a beeline towards Nightmare Moon, who howled in defeat as it surrounded her.

A bright, white light which surged through the entire ruin and everything fell silent.