//------------------------------// // The Purging // Story: Vengeance of Dawn // by Scipio Smith //------------------------------// Chapter 15 The Purging Twilight opened the door to the Golden Oaks Library, having spotted the air mail van coming down a few moments earlier from the vantage point of the balcony. "Twilight Sparkle?" a grey pegasus with blonde hair and golden wall eyes asked, holding a clipboard precariously in her hooves. "Yes." "This is your special delivery, sign here please," the pegasus pushed the clipboad towards Twilight, who levitated it into the air and signed for her packages. "Thanks. Come on Raindrops, let's get this stuff inside!" the grey pegasus and her companion, a neon yellow pegasus with a green mane, began to haul neatly wrapped packages out of the back of their van and carry them into the library. "Careful with that," Twilight squawked in alarm as the grey mare nearly dropped what she recognised from its shape as her telescope. She had to grab it with her telekinesis before it hit the ground. "This is very fragile, and it was a gift from Princess Celestia." "Sorry about that," the grey pegasus said, sounding contrite and taking much more care with what looked like some of Twilight's spellbooks. Spike, wandering down the stairs in search of breakfast, widened his eyes at the growing pile of boxes and parcels being left on the library floor, "Gee Twilight, how much stuff are you having brought from Canterlot?" "Well I couldn't just leave my stuff in the tower when I'm not going to be living there any more, could I?" Twilight replied. "I suppose the school will use it to accomodate new students now. And since this is my home now I might as well make it feel homely, mightn't I?" Spike grinned. "What?" Twilight asked warily. "You're really serious about this, aren'tcha?" Spike said, hopping down the last few steps. "Moving to Ponyville, studying friendship..." "I don't know what to say, I love it here, Spike," Twilight said. "These ponies, they make me feel things I've never felt before in my entire life. They make me feel normal and special at the same time. I think, if I ever had to leave here, it would be the saddest day of my entire life." *** The carriage clattered through the misty night, the hooves of the zebras clip-clopping down the cinder path to where a solitary lamp, glowing orange in the darkness, guided the coach and team towards the mountainside chalet. The fog, like the tendrils of some ancient beast in search of prey, groped for the carriage wheels. The hoot of an owl, the snort of a weary zebra, these noises were amplified by the quiet of the night into sounds eerie to hear. From the high ground to the north, a timberwolf howled. "Is it Nightmare Night already?" Spike laughed, but failed to disguise his nervousness from Twilight. The Countess smiled, almost more of a smirk, "Do you fear the darkness without, little dragon?" Spike snorted, "No." "Good," she leaned in so that their faces were almost touching. "It is the darkness inside that you should fear." "That's enough," Twilight said firmly. "Don't scare him." "He should be scared," the countess' smile was nearly fiendish in its glee. "We should all be scared." The carriage stopped upon the gravel driveway of the modest chalet, a two storey building with white walls and a red door. The roof, also red, was made up of humped tiles so that it resembled the rolling waves of the ocean. Black curtains had been drawn across all the windows. All around, the mist enshrouded moors stretched far away, rolling ever onwards until sight failed. "Why would anypony build a house all the way out here?" Spike asked. "It is not a home, it is for holidays strictly," the Countess replied. "Drawing parties in the summer, apparently the views are quite the thing to see when the fog clears. Very inspirational. In the mean time it is empty and remote, and thus ideal." "I agree," Twilight climbed down out of the carriage with Spike upon her back. "I suppose we should go and settle in. What time will the Purging begin?" "With the first rays of dawn, as is the custom," Countess Mercedes leapt down out of the coach. "The zebras will take your luggage to your room, though you may go with them if you wish. But we have so few hours left to sleep that there is little purpose to it. Instead, I would ask you join me for a nightcap. I feel it right that we should have one conversation before we do this momentous thing." Twilight pondered it, considering the countess' assertion that sleep would do her little good. She is right, there aren't many hours till dawn? And could I sleep, knowing that I'd have to do battle with my self in the morning? It would be worse than trying to sleep on the night of Nightmare Moon's return. And she's got a point, if I'm going to put myself in her hooves I might as well know something about her first. Spike failed to stifle a yawn behind the back of his hand. Twilight chuckled, "Come on, Spike, baby dragons should be in bed by now. I'll tuck him in, and then I'll come join you for that nightcap." The Countess offered a half bow, "But of course." She gestured to the zebras to start moving everything inside. The inside of the chalet was bare and empty. The floor of the living room was dark varnished wood without a carpet, with only a single chair and sofar for furniture. The stairs were stained with something Twilight did not wish to know the origin of. Fortunately, things were a little better in the bedroom, which did at least have a carpet, a cosy looking bed and somewhere clean enough to put Spike's basket. "Go to sleep now, Spike," Twilight smiled as she levitated the blanket onto the baby dragon and tucked him in. "By the time you see me tomorrow, I'll be all better." "Really?" Spike smiled lazily. "Awesome. Then we can go home and make everything better with Rarity and everypony." "Yeah," Twilight murmured, guilt pricking her with all the harshness of a lance to the breast. As she looked down upon her number one assistant, thinking that this might be the last time she saw him, a sudden panic seized her, clawing at her throat in its eagerness to escape. Twilight gave a choked gasp, and had to turn away before he saw the stricken look upon her face. "Twilight? Are you okay?" "I'm fine, Spike," Twilight muttered, starting for the door. She stopped. "If this thing in the morning doesn't go...if this doesn't work, I love you, Spike. You're the little brother that I never had." Spike blinked in confusion, "Don't say stuff like that Twilight! You're going to be fine! Everything is going to be just─" he fell asleep in mid-sentence, his head hitting the pillow with a soft thump as he started to snore. Twilight chuckled, "Same old Spike." Twilight Sparkle tiptoed out, and closed the door quietly behind her before going to find the Countess. *** Breaking Dawn felt quite lightheaded as she sipped her cider upon the chalet balcony. Located on the rear side of the house, the balcony sat above the mists and thus enabled her to see beyond the fog's embrace and see the rolling downs that lay roundabout. Above their heads the moon shone bright and beautiful, the stars twinkled in their firmament deaf to the sorrows of ponies below, and on the balcony she sat with Princess Twilight Sparkle, her nemesis, drinking cider in easy chairs while the heavens mocked them. "And so everypony started arguing all at once until I yelled at them to be quiet," nerves had loosened Twilight Sparkle's tongue, she was telling a story from her life after defeating Nightmare Moon. "And then they all stopped except for Pinkie Pie who just said, apropos of absolutely nothing, 'Oatmeal! Are you crazy?" Dawn blinked, a frown creasing her brow, "I don't get it." "Nobody did! That's what made it so funny," Twilight giggled nervously. She set her cider down and took a deep breath, "You probably wonder why I'm telling you all these stories about my life, about ordinary things, instead of the things that made me a princess: defeating Discord, saving the Crystal Empire. I guess the point is that those moments those everyday, ordinary moments that I spent in Ponyville meant as much to me as any of my great accomplishments; meant more to me, sometimes. I certainly had more fun then. That stuff won't make it into the history books, but if I don't make it out of this in one piece I want somepony to remember that these things happened. Even if it is just one pony." Dawn frowned, all your accomplishments, and you make a big deal out of stuff like that? "That is what you want to be remembered for? Some stupid fight over gala tickets?" "It seems stupid if you weren't there," Twilight said, leaning back in her chair. "It was stupid even when I was there. But the feelings that I had, what it meant to be...just because it's stupid doesn't make it meaningless. Especially when you add all those moments up together. It's like stars, you know. Each one is just a little pinprick of light. On their own they're insignificant. But put them all together and look, pretty sky!" she waved her forehooves to encompass the whole of the glistening night sky above them, the stars twinkling and the Blue Horsehead glistening above them. Breaking Dawn chuckled, "Are you tipsy?" Twilight Sparkle looked outraged, "I most certainly am not." "Yes, you are," Dawn laughed. "'Pretty sky'? Your vocabulary is slipping." "So is your accent, countess." Dawn froze. Twilight Sparkle was looking at her through a pair of narrowed, intent, perceptive and not at all cider-addled lavender eyes. The tiniest smile graced her mouth. A purple aura surrounded her drink as she showed Dawn that she had not, in fact, drunk nearly as much as she had been pretending to. Caught out by Princess Celestia's tea trick? Aw, ponyfeathers. Dawn's blood chilled a little as she waited for Twilight to react. She prepared a shield against the inevitable attack, and a counterspell to follow. You should have attacked me while I was unaware. Dark magic or not I'll give you a duel you won't forget in a hurry. But Twilight just sat there, staring at her. Come on, come on, do it! And she sat there still, staring at Dawn. It became clear that she was waiting for Breaking Dawn to make the first move. She doesn't know. She just knows that she caught me out and now she's waiting for an explanation. It was all Dawn could do not to sigh in relief. She did laugh, hoping it would be taken as nervousness and not a release of tension, "You got me. Princess Celestia taught you well, young padawan. I hope you're not going to let a little white lie come between us." "A little white lie?" "Everything important that I told you is true," Dawn said. "I do have the magical power to help you through the Purging. And that's what really matters here, isn't it?" Twilight's eyes narrowed, "Who are you really?" "Sunglimmer," Breaking Dawn said easily. It was the name she had used to give to the guards when she got into trouble with them. "My name is Sunglimmer. No, I'm not a countess. I'm not any kind of noble pony whatsoever. I'm just an old friend of Hardy Bloom's from before she became respectable; I wanted to get into society as fast as I could and we decided that faking it would be the easiest way." Twilight frowned, "It was that easy?" Dawn laughed, "Do you know how much money Jet Set and Upper Crust have, or Fancypants? I don't, and nopony else does either. They might all be broke for all I know. I do know that Jet Set's grandmother ran a laundrettes on Saddleford Row with working pony's overalls hanging up outside. In Canterlot a dress, a name and a confident attitude can take you a long way. Especially if it is accompanied by ze exotic accent no?" Twilight blinked, "You know, depressingly that makes an awful lot of sense. After all Rarity didn't even need to bother with an accent to pass as a socialite. But why did you keep on lying for so long?" "I was worried you wouldn't trust me if you found out the truth," Dawn said. "And the truth is, Princess Twilight, you need me. There isn't any other pony in Canterlot or beyond strong enough to be your Firelight." "Maybe," Twilight conceded. "But why would you want to help me?" "Because you need help." Dawn said simply. "Because you and I are a lot a like. I was very like you once. If somepony had helped me then, maybe things would have gone differently." Curse you, why was Princess Celestia willing to go out on so much more of a limb for you than you were for me? Dawn got up, walking to the edge of the balcony and looking upwards at Luna's shining moon. "So who are you really?" Twilight asked from behind her. "Who is Sunglimmer?" Sunglimmer's another made up name and put-on attitude, fool, Dawn thought. If being a princess doesn't work out Candy and I should start a travelling show, I should have gotten a cutie mark in lying to ponies. Dawn looked out across the moors, "The real Sunglimmer, the real me, is a nopony. Just some unicorn who attended the School for Gifted Unicorns and then did nothing of consequence with her life." Am I talking about Sunglimmer now, or Breaking Dawn? "Nopony is a nopony," Twilight replied. "I meant what I said; the little moments of everyday life are as important in making up the mosaic of who you are as any of the big things that other ponies talk about." Yeah, right. "You might think that, I don't. I worked a few jobs, lived with my friends, but I don't want to talk about that stuff. I don't want to focus on that stuff. I want to be big, to be ever so grand and glorious. Celestia help me, I wanted to be like you." "I never wanted fame or glory," Twilight murmured. "Says the alicorn princess." "I mean it," Twilight insisted. "None of that stuff, none of this, I didn't plan for any of it. I'm just a librarian who got lucky, that's all. The wings aren't all that they're cracked up to be." Dawn regarded her sceptically. Twilight shook her head, "You may not believe me, but life was simpler without them." "Life is always simple when you've got nothing," Dawn said. "When you are nothing." "Why do you do that?" "What?" "Put yourself down all the time." "It spurs me on to keep fighting, keep striving," Dawn replied. "Still, not much point now. Once everypony finds out I lied about who I am then it won't matter that I saved Princess Twilight. I'll be pony non grata for the rest of my life." Twilight Sparkle blinked, then smiled, "Tell you what. That can be our little secret, just between the two of us." Breaking Dawn's mouth hung open a little. Wow. She found herself in the unexpected position of having no clue what to say. It was a surprisingly, shockingly, generous offer from the pony who had so callously ruined her life, stolen her dreams and shattered all her hopes. Dawn had never expected such a gesture from the thief. "You, you'd do that for me? But, why?" Twilight chuckled, "I think you'll have earned it by tomorrow night, don't you?" "I, um," Dawn felt such a pricking in her heart it was as though her conscience had broken out a thousand tiny needles to torment her. This was not the monster years of fermented rage had made her, here was no gleeful merry thief. Was Cherry right, have I become the villain in all this? Was that always my role in this? Oh sweet Celestia what have I done? Dawn was certain that, if she knew the truth, Princess Twilight's demeanour would swiftly sour. But I have given her cause enough for that, have I not? Dawn had to turn away, lest her face betray, "You know, you aren't what I expected at all." "In a good way?" "Mostly, yeah." "I'm glad I exceeded your expectations." Dawn chuckled, "You know we really are a lot alike. If things had been different, I think we could have been friends." "We still could." "Maybe, but I fear it is already too late." Breaking Dawn had gone too far, done too much. There would be no backing out with a few apologies now. I'll harm nopony else and make amends for all I've done, but I must save Canterlot on my own, without the help of Princess Twilight, or all the glory will belong to her and all I've done will be without meaning. She turned back, to face her peculiar opponent. Dawn raised her glass, "To success." Twilight nodded, raising her own drink in turn, "To a new day." "Indeed." *** In the fading darkness of night's end, as the moon sank in preparation for the rising of the sun, Breaking Dawn and Twilight Sparkle met in the living room. Dawn had drawn chalk lines upon the wooden floor: two circles, representing the sun and moon, overlapping in the middle like a venn diagram. Candles, burning golden for the sun and silver for the moon, sat at intervals around the twin circles. At the convergence points, where sun and moon met, gold and silver candles sat together. "Is the frippery really necessary?" Twilight asked, one eyebrow raised. "I have no idea," Dawn replied. "But it was how they did it back in the old days, and I wouldn't want to leave it out in case it really is important. Now, step into the circle of the moon." Twilight, looking nervously around her, stepped gingerly into the circle, careful to avoid the burning candles. "You are the moon," Breaking Dawn intoned. "And though you sit in the midst of darkness you are not dark, but shine the light that is in you all around. Cling to that light, for it is the hope of your salvation." Dawn stepped into the other circle, "I am the sun. My light shall burn away the darkness that assails you. Follow where my light leads, and it shall guide you safely home." Dawn looked out of the window. The moon was almost set now, just a pale sliver above the horizon. And as she watched the sun began to rise, spreading the first rays of dawn across the land. "Now it begins," Dawn whispered, and cast the spell that would begin the Purging. The candles were dissolved at once and rings of fire consumed the chalk lines: hot golden fire for the sun, cold silver fire for the moon. The intersection of both sun and moon was set apart by walls of both flames, the silver and the gold. For better or worse, neither could leave now until the ritual had been successfully completed or had failed completely. This would end either with Twilight Sparkle purged of darkness or consumed by it. Twilight's eyes were wide with panic, eyes darting around her at the fires hemming her in. Black lines began to creep up her legs like spider's webs, until the young princess began to contort in agony, "It's coming." "Let it out, Twilight," Dawn instructed. "You have to let it out before you can confront it. If you try and resist you only make it stronger. I bid the darkness in this mare come forth! Come forth, and begone from her!" Twilight made a sound that was half gasp, half growl, her head snapping up and her eyes blazing with power as those spider's lines of darkness spread across her whole body and her lavender coat darkened. Twilight Sparkle's eyes turned black, "Who dares? Who dares to summon me? Who dares imprison me within these flames?" "I do," Breaking Dawn said, her voice firm as the mountains and cold as winter's chill. Twilight laughed, a deep and echoing laugh, "You? You think you have the power to control me? The strength of will, the fixedness of purpose." "If you knew what my purpose was you'd agree it was pretty fixed," Breaking Dawn answered. "If I knew," Twilight laughed again. "We are not the light-blinded fool, Breaking Dawn. We know your mind, we know your thoughts, we know your purposes. You hate her, don't you? I feel the hatred in you, throbbing, calling to me." Twilight crouched down, looking upwards into Dawn's green eyes. "Your anger is a melody in my head. You do not want to save this mare, you want to destroy her." "I did before I knew her," Dawn replied. "Lies!" Twilight roared. "You are her foe, I am her foe, why should we not make cause to crush this wretch. Help me, Breaking Dawn, release these fires and I will grant you all your heart's desires." Dawn raised an eyebrow inquisitively, "Really? And what is it my heart desires?" "Power," Twilight whispered. "Glory, fame. I can grant you all these things and more. I can make you an alicorn. I will give you a realm to fashion in your image. Merely release me from these fires and all your dreams I will make real." Breaking Dawn said, "Evil lies, why should I trust you?" "I swear it by all that I hold dear," Twilight growled. "That's the problem. You hold nothing dear at all." Twilight snarled, and hurled herself at Dawn before rebounding from the golden fire before her. So long as Dawn's intent remained undaunted, the golden fire would protect her from the darkness, even as the silver fire would protect Twilight from Dawn until Twilight decided to admit her. "From one liar to another," Dawn murmured. "You are not as silver tongued as you believe. And the thing my heart desires most is Celestia's love, and that is something you could never give me." Twilight howled in impotent frustration. "Twilight Sparkle!" Dawn declared. "If you would free yourself from this darkness, allow me to step through the silver fire and reach out to you. Twilight Sparkle, if you would be saved, trust me." "No!" bellowed Twilight. "I will not go. I will not be banished. You do not have the strength to overcome me. You are riddled with doubts. You are as foolish as my vessel is, uncertain of your cause because your enemy turned out to be less evil than you thought. I see your heart and it is rotten, riddled with parasprites!" Breaking Dawn's mind had expected this, the darkness would always stab at its enemies, attempting to weaken their resolve and thus shatter the ritual, but her heart was chilled by the darkness' words. "I am not weak." "You are pathetic," Twilight snarled. "Agonising for years about a childhood failure, letting it consume you, destroy your life and now, when you stand upon the brink of taking all that is yours, you hesitate?" She laughed, "Can such a thing be credited? You are naught but wind and empty words. You do not have the will to act, you never have." "Tell that to Princess Cadance," Dawn snapped before she could stop herself. With great effort she gathered herself, forcing herself to calm. "Twilight Sparkle, hear my words. Let me in! Let me in and I will help you." Twilight Sparkle cried out in anger and in pain, but the darkness receded from her face and her eyes turned back to lavender, "Quickly," she gasped, "come in." The silver fires in front of Dawn died down and Breaking Dawn stepped into the centre of the overlapping circles. "If you are true in your intent to cast off darkness," Dawn intoned. "Then you may pass the golden fire." Twilight groaned in pain as she scrunched up her face, forcing the darkness back down her body. Sparks of lavender magic began to shoot from her horn even as Twilight's Sparkle's moaning grew louder. Crying out as if in terrible agony Twilight leapt through the golden flames to land next to Dawn in the overlap of sun and moon. "Good girl, hold on," Dawn said soothingly, and her horn glowed with a golden aura as she bent forward and touched it to the horn of Twilight Sparkle, sending a burst of magic flooding through them both. *** Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes and found herself in...a cloud? No, on second thoughts it wasn't a cloud although it was very like it. But at the same time not. It was in some ways more like a nebula, but it wasn't quite one of those either. It was pink, with a tint of lavender, and it swirled all around her, ebbing and flowing. She stood upon a surface she could not see, but felt firm and solid beneath her hooves. There were hints of blue within the cloud-thing, and flashes of white lightning. The blue formed shapes as the whole mass eddied lazily round, shapes like ponies and dragons and other things she did not recognise. "So this is what your head looks like," Sunglimmer remarked as she appeared beside Twilight. "Interesting decor choices." "This is─" "You, in some way," Sunglimmer said. "This is where you will face the trials." Twilight nodded. She knew enough about the Purging to know that crossing the flames had been only the first step. Now she would face tests of Heart, Mind and Body. Failure in any one would doom her to the dark. Only if she passed all three could she overthrow the malignance that had taken root upon her soul. "I'm, kind of glad you're here," Twilight muttered. Sunglimmer looked at her, but said nothing. "What happens now?" Twilight asked. "Where do I start?" Even as she spoke three doors appeared before her in a shimmering haze. One was made of horn and ivory, one was wrought of stone, and the last was worked in sparkling crystal and seemed insubstantial even by the standards of this mindscape. "I think the choice of where to start is up to you," Sunglimmer murmured. Twilight nodded, examining each of the three doors closely, "Stone is solid and physical, so I suspect that is the test of Body. Horn and Ivory are associated with dreams, in the Wanderings of Ponysses Ponysses finds a gate of horn and ivory in Tartarus from which dreams escape to the living world. That could make it Heart or Mind but I'm inclined to say Mind because dreams are experienced mentally. Plus that door of crystal is so lacking in physical presence it has to be a reference to the soul so: Stone for Body, Horn for Mind, Crystal for Heart. But where do I begin?" Sunglimmer was silent, letting Twilight make the choice without interference. Twilight looked from one to the other. Well, I've always been good at tests. She took a step forward, "I'll start with Mind." "Very well," Sunglimmer said as the two of them walked towards the door of horn and ivory. "What do you suppose is on the other side?" "I don't know," Sunglimmer grinned, "but I'll get you through it, don't worry." Twilight rolled her eyes a little at the other mare's certainty, even if she was inwardly reassured by her confidence. With nothing else to do, she pushed open the ivory door. A white light consumed them. *** They were in the tower. The tower at school where Twilight had lived before moving to Ponyville. It was exactly as it had been on the day that Twilight had left: there was the bust she had had shipped to Ponyville, there was her telescope, there were all her books. Twilight dashed along the upper floor and into the bedroom: there was Smartypants! "It's all just like I remember it," Twilight murmured. "Not so surprising, considering it is your memory," Sunglimmer remarked. "You need to think about what the test is here. What day is this?" "This is the day I left for Ponyville," Twilight muttered. Her eyes widened and she gasped, "Nightmare Moon! This is the day of her return! Perhaps we have to warn Princess Celestia?" "It's as good a plan as any," Sunglimmer said, leading the way down towards the door as if she knew this tower as well as Twilight did. But as they ran towards the exit the door disappeared, solid wall consuming it with an immovable thud of bricks locking into place. Mocking laughter sounded from above them. Another Twilight, pitch black and with lizardlike wings, stepped out onto the upper balcony, looking down at Twilight herself. "Who are you?" Twilight demanded. Dark Twilight laughed again, "I'm you. Or at least I will be once you fail this test." "Finding the exit," Sunglimmer said. "That's the test of Mind, isn't it?" "Very good, Firelight," Dark Twilight replied. "You'll find the door right where you left it if you can find the key. And I'd hurry up, because neither of you has a lot of time to spare." There was a roaring sound, and wall of darkness rose up outside the balcony amidst the screeching of a thousand wretches trapped in Tartarus. The wave of shadow began to descend upon the tower room. "Wish you bad luck," Dark Twilight said mockingly, before disappearing in a puff of black smoke. For a moment, Twilight and Sunglimmer stared in mute horror at the darkness descending to engulf them. "I don't think we want to be here when that thing hits," Sunglimmer muttered. "Me neither," Twilight replied. "We need to get to work. Where would a key be hidden?" "Around here?" Sunglimmer looked around. "You changed the furnishings a bit when you moved in didn't you?" "What?" "Not important right now, um, did you find the loose floorboard in the bedroom? You must have done, I used to keep betting magazines in there. What did you hide?" "Nothing, I had that floorboard repaired because it was dangerous," Twilight said. "Wait, have you lived in this tower? The real tower?" "I told you it wasn't important and you are such a goodie four hooves," Sunglimmer replied, beginning to pace up and down across the lavender carpet. "Where did you hide things? There must have been something you had you didn't want other ponies to know about?" Twilight shook her head. Sunglimmer growled, "Well come on, think of something. Where would you hide a key in here?" "Um, I, um," Twilight tried to think, but as she tried her head was filled with this intense pressing feeling, worse than any headache she had ever had. It squeezed her from all sides, filled her brain with fog, it was all she could to remember what she was doing here. "I, I can't." "The dark magic, it's cheating," Sunglimmer snarled. "Okay Dawny, pick up the slack. You can do this." "Who is Dawny?" Twilight managed to get out through gritted teeth. "My imaginary friend," Sunglimmer replied glibly. "Now: we can leave once we find the key. Leave once we find the key. The key to leaving, the key to leaving, that's it!" "What is?" "It isn't a real key," Sunglimmer shouted. "Of course it's not a real key, idiot! You said that this was the day you left this tower. And you didn't come back." "Yes, yes," Twilight saw what she was getting at now. "It was when I went to Ponyville and met my friends. I was such a shut in before then, I'd cut myself off from everypony, I didn't have a life. So the key to leaving is─" "The thing that got you out of this tower in the first place," Sunglimmer shouted. "That would be, that would be," Twilight and Sunglimmer were both bouncing up and down excitedly. "Predictions and Prophecies!" "What?" "The book, Predictions and Prophecies, it warned me of Nightmare Moon's return. Which meant that I wrote to Princess Celestia, which meant─" "I'll take your word for it," Sunglimmer said. "Where is the book." "Um, it's uh," Twilight looked around. "Where's Spike when I need him?" Sunglimmer looked at the darkness about to sweep them away, "Better find it fast." Twilight flew up to the high bookshelves where she remembered the book being last time, "Predictions, predictions." "Any time now," Sunglimmer yelled. "I've got it!" Twilight called triumphantly. She pulled out the book, wrenched it open- And white light consumed them. *** Twilight Sparkle and Sunglimmer found themselves back in the pink cloudy mindscape. Now only two doors confronted them: the stone door of Body and the crystal door of Heart. "Yes, we did it," Sunglimmer grinned. "Hoof-bump!" Twilight Sparkle stared at her. "What?" "You still haven't been absolutely honest with me, have you?" Twilight asked, already knowing the answer. "You lived in the tower before I did and you knew that I'd lived there, didn't you?" Sunglimmer shrugged, "And?" "And why didn't you say anything about it?" "Because there was nothing too say. I lived there. I graduated. You got the room. That's all there is too it, honestly. Do you really want to do this now?" Twilight frowned, "I guess not. You were a help back there, thank you." "That's my job," Sunglimmer said contentedly. "Now, where do you want to go next?" Twilight looked from one to the other, then took a step towards the stone door, "Body." "Well okay then, let's do this," Sunglimmer joined Twilight before the door of stone, and together they passed over the threshold. *** A monstrous black dragon bellowed into Twilight's face. She stood upon an even sandy surface, a natural arena with towering rock formations upon every side. The dragon was chained to the far wall, straining upon its bonds in its efforts to reach her. His scales were shining ebony, his fangs were jet, his spikes were onyx. The dragon's eyes were blazing red. It had a crest upon its head and four massive spikes on its tail. There was no reasonable intelligence in its eyes, only blind fury. "Dodge left!" Sunglimmer yelled. Twilight dived left just as the dragon roared out a stream of black fire, Twilight's body rolling along the sand. She looked up and saw the wall she had been standing behind charred black with soot. The dragon roared its frustration. "Twilight!" Sunglimmer shouted, and Twilight looked up to see her standing on the rock face above the pit looking down. "You have to beat the dragon." "Can you help me?" "No, I can only give you advice," Sunglimmer said. "Watch out!" Twilight leapt up this time as the dragon breathed black fire in her direction, her wings spreading to carry her into the air. The dragon rose up along with her, one red eye glaring balefully at Twilight. Twilight rose higher and higher- And then hit an invisible wall in the air, banging her head against it with a thud. She could get no higher. The dragon rose up level with her, the chain restraining it pulling taut. It glared at Twilight out of those vicious red eyes. Black fire erupted from the dragon's maw. Twilight dived for the ground too slow, she had not Rainbow Dash's skill at acceleration. Fire scorched her wing, Twilight cried out as pain erupted in her feathers. But her wing was not damaged. Then Twilight looked again and saw the telltale spider lines of dark magic spreading where their should have been a burn. Of course, Twilight thought. It all comes back to that. She dodged out of the way of the dragon's snapping jaws, then cast a shield spell as more fire washed over her. "He's got a weak spot on the nape of his neck, back of the head," Sunglimmer called. "If you can hit him there this should all be over." Twilight nodded, diving for the ground. Since she could not fly higher than the dragon could, getting above it wasn't much of an option. On the other hoof...she turned in the air, heading upwards once more, pushing herself as fast as she could. If she could outpace the dragon then she could get above it and then strike at its weak point. The dragon rolled almost lazily, presenting its belly upwards as it breathed a torrent of dark magic in her direction. Once more Twilight got caught, this time on the left hindleg. She could feel the magic starting to pull at her, demanding to know why she kept fighting, kept resisting in a hopeless cause. I fight because I have something worth fighting for, Twilight thought, and fired a stunning spell at the dragon. It bounced off the dragon's scales and almost hit Twilight on the rebound. Twilight gritted her teeth, "If you won't let me get above you, I'll just have to make you hold still." She fired a continuous beam of lavender magic that struck the dragon right in the middle of its chest. The dragon roared with pleasure, and swelled up larger the more magic she hit it with. "You have got to be kidding me," Twilight muttered, leaping out of the way before she could be engulfed in its dark flame. "Try hitting it with something," Sunglimmer offered. "Like what, my hoof?" Twilight replied sarcastically. "No something bigger," Sunglimmer seemed half-oblivious to Twilight's distress. "Like a rock." Twilight's face broke out in a smile, "Of course, why didn't I see that?" "Having a dragon try to eat you will damage your memory something fierce," Sunglimmer consoled her. Twilight ran around the natural arena, keeping one step ahead of the dragon as she ran through the calculations in her head. Diameter, angle of impact, likely trajectories of the debris. If only Professor Cold Equations could see me now. Twilight stopped, turning to face the dragon head on. As it breathed fire, she cast a shield spell to protect herself. Black fire licked and lapped at the barrier, hammering against it with a terrible fury. But even the most ferocious storm must pass and the dragon ceased its flow to draw breath. Twilight dropped the shield and fired a burst of magic over the dragon's head to strike the rock wall on the far side. There was an explosion amidst a fountain of dust and rocky debris erupting from the cliff face. A boulder dropped upon the dragon's tail, holding it in place as a large chunk of rock flew spinning through the air to strike the weak spot on the back of the dragon's neck. There was a moment of silence as the black dragon dropped to the ground. *** And then they were back. With only one door left. The unicorn and the alicorn looked at one another. "I think we both know what has to happen now," Twilight said. "Yes we do." And without another word they passed through the crystal door. *** "Hello?" Twilight yelled. "Sunglimmer? Is anypony there?" Twilight Sparkle stood in absolute darkness, surrounded by a blackness so thick her eyes could not even begin to penetrate it. "Sunglimmer?" "I'm right here," Sunglimmer sounded close. "What are you yelling for?" "I can't see you. I can't see anything." "Huh? But I can see you just fine. We're standing on some kind of road. A golden road." "I still can't see it." "Hang on," a golden light sprang up before her. "Can you see the light from my horn?" "Yes," Twilight called, and then heard the laughter of her darker self. "And now you know when the test of Heart is," Dark Twilight said smugly. "The Firelight can see the road, but you can only see the light from your companion. If you can follow her to the end of the road without faltering, you pass and you get a chance at getting rid of me. If you don't make it, I own you forever." "Great," Twilight muttered. "I guess that means I follow you, Sunglimmer." "Okay," Sunglimmer acknowledged, and the light from her horn began to move away. Twilight rushed to keep up. From the sound of her hooves upon the ground, Twilight could hear Dark Twilight keeping pace with her. "I don't know why you insist upon pretending," Dark Twilight said casually. "I'm not pretending anything, what are you talking about?" "Everything," Dark Twilight said earnestly. "You act like you're such a paragon, but the truth is that I am as much a part of you as you are. More in fact." "You're not part of me at all," Twilight responded hotly. "You're just a corruption of magic that I mistakenly took into my system." "That is what gave me consciousness, but the truth is that the feelings I am composed of were always within you," Dark Twilight's tone continued to be calm and matter of fact. "And those feelings, which you hide under so many layers, may in fact be considered to be the real you. You are simply a mask which you present to the world because you fear to be judged upon your true self." "That's not true!" Twilight shouted. "There is no mask, there is only me." Dark Twilight laughed, "You can lie to everypony else, even to Princess Celestia, but you can't possibly believe that you can lie to me. Twilight Sparkle the apprentice of Celestia, so studious, so polite, so diligent. Twilight Sparkle of Ponyville, such a good friend, so humble and unassuming, so ready to put others before herself. Princess Twilight Sparkle, the most worthy of ponies, reluctant assumer of the burdens of royalty, champion of Equestria and protector of the realm. They're all just masks you wear depending upon the occassion, putting them on like makeup when you need to toy with the feelings of other ponies like a wicked witch." "No I don't," Twilight said, stumbling and almost falling on her face. Sunglimmer's light got further away from her. "That is who I am. It's who I try to be." "But that isn't the same thing at all, is it?" Dark Twilight sounded as though she had scored a hit. "Do you deny that when you arrived in Ponyville you were arrogant and full of self-conceit, considering yourself so far above all of the common ponies?" "No, I was like that but I─" "And can you claim it did not hurt you to hear yourself described as an egghead and a loser? To be looked down on by your intellectual inferiors?" "It, I," Twilight stammered. "And more recently, isn't it true that you had many thoughts scorning your so-called friends and their lack of any significant abilities or accomplishments?" "That was your doing!" "But as we've established I am merely an expression of the feelings you try to repress, so it was you doing all those terrible things all along," Dark Twilight said self-righteously. "But at least I'm being honest about it. The truth is I am you, the genuine you, and your studiousness, your good manners, they're all just lies to help you get through life. If you dared, you would be like me. And you can! Embrace me, and you need never worry about the morals of society again, because you could even make your own world if you wanted to. The power to change yourself for the better lies within you, Twilight Sparkle. All you have to do is stop lying to yourself." "I, you," Twilight could not deny it. There was no point in even trying to lie to herself. She bowed her head and prepared to say the words that would save and doom her, "You're ri─" Sunglimmer's hoof made an audible slamming sound as it hit the ground, "That's the biggest load of garbage that I ever heard in my life! So what if you don't always live up to your own expectations? So what if you don't always act like the pony that you'd like to think you are? Guess what, nopony ever does except Princess Celestia! That's what it means to be a pony, to never quite be perfect, to always have something to aspire to. But so long as you realise when you've fallen short, and keep trying to get to where you want to go, then that's as much as anypony has the right to ask of you. Now come on!" "Coming," Twilight said loudly, and started to follow. To her dark self she said, "I do have a problem with my ego, with looking down on other ponies, but as long as I'm aware of that and do what I can to fight against it then it doesn't have to be who I am if I don't want it to be. And I would rather be a good friend." She started to follow Sunglimmer's light again. "A good friend?" Dark Twilight sounded disbelieving. "To those ponies who couldn't even be bothered to support you when your life hangs in the balance." "I asked them not to come." "Did you ask them to seduce your brother too?" Dark Twilight asked slyly. "Rarity deserves a better chance to explain than the one I gave her," Twilight retorted. "If she had nothing to feel guilty about, why did she run off with her tail between her legs?" "Because I scared her. Because you scared her." "Because we filled her heart with fear of being justly punished for her crime." "You are not me!" "No, I'm not. I'm the only friend you can rely on." "The hay you are," Twilight spat. "Open your eyes and see reality," Dark Twilight cried. "Your own brother poisoned his wife despite knowing how much it would hurt you, because he just didn't care one bit about you, ever. Your friends have abandoned you here. Your mentor is scared of you and probably considers you a threat to her. And all of this was inevitable from the moment you became a princess. Success breeds envy, envy breeds resentment, and resentment is poison to friendship. "Think of how badly this sequence of betrayals has effected you: your an emotional wreck, one step away from evil megalomania. You never would have reacted like this in the old days, before you went to Ponyville. That town has been worse for your mental wellbeing then I ever could." "Ponyville was where I was happiest in my life." "And now that happiness is gone the absence is killing you," Dark Twilight said. "For ponies, too much happiness is a poison because the only place to go afterwards is down. You should have been content with your old life or ordinary contentment. You were not unhappy then, but you had not reached dangerous levels of joy at that point. There was nopony to betray you, to lead you on. Do you honestly think that your books ever lied to you?" "My friends didn't lie to me," Twilight snarled, her tone savage like a tiger. "Shut up. I can't stand the sound of your voice any more. Even if you were right about everything. Even if Rarity and Shining Armour did betray me. Even if the others did abandon me. Even if Celestia rejects me now. That doesn't change anything! The time I spent in Ponyville, the feelings I shared with those ponies, the feelings I still have when I think of them now, those feelings mattered! Those feelings were real, and even if they turn out to have been built on lies that doesn't mean that what my heart felt was false! I know what I felt was true, was real, and so long as there is a chance I can get those feelings back I'll fight for it. So you can just get out of my skin." Twilight began to run, leaving Dark Twilight behind as she raced to catch up with Sunglimmer's light, reaching the end of the road mere moments later. A wave of golden light engulfed them both *** Twilight's eyes snapped open to see the living room of the little chalet. Sunglimmer's horn was erupting with magical aura, and Twilight could feel something pushing from her hooves upwards with tremendous force. "I'm driving the dark magic out of you," Sunglimmer grunted through the effort of her spell. "You can help by expelling it yourself." Twilight nodded. She could feel Sunglimmer's magic moving through her, a relentless driving wall. She could feel the dark magic scrabbling for purchase within her, desperately begging her for aid, tempting her with empty promises of power. She grabbed at that magic, the vestiges of that power that had tried to destroy her, and hurled them out of herself, expelling them out of her horn. Twilight Sparkle felt like a tube of toothpaste, being squeezed from the bottom up until there was nothing left. But she knew she would be stronger from the squeezing. Better, at least. Her horn bubbled black and green, dark magic oozing out of it...until there was none left and a triumphant lavender aura surrounded Twilight's horn as it was always meant to, retaking its rightful place as it if had never been away. Twilight gasped, laughing with joy. My magic! I'm so glad to see you! The dark magic formed a smoking, broiling mass upon the floor, moaning and groaning. As Twilight watched it coalesced into a shadow, substanceless figure, into the smoky image of Dark Twilight. The smoke-born creatured opened its mouth and moaned pitifully. Twilight scowled, "Get out. I don't want you any more." Dark Twilight howled in pain, and was blown as if by a mighty wind out of the window and far away, becoming a wisp of dark cloud on the horizon before vanishing from sight. Twilight Sparkle sank to her knees, "By Celestia! We did it." Sunglimmer was also gasping for breath, "Yes. Yes we did." "And I know how to save Cadance!" Twilight shouted. "The potion, it's a kind of dark magic. I though the solution was more dark magic but of course it isn't. I have to do what you just did, drive the taint of it out of her from top to bottom. Half a purging, more or less, done without her assistance. Thank you Sunglimmer, thank you so much. I couldn't have done this without you." "I am glad that you have driven out the darkness inside you," Sunglimmer said. "And found a way to restore the mind of Princess Cadance. But I am afraid I cannot accept your gratitude. Not considering what comes next." Twilight Sparkle never saw the stunner coming. *** When Twilight came to she was tied up in the cellar. Her bonds rustled as she squirmed. "There's no point in struggling," Sunglimmer declared from the top of the cellar staircase. "The rope is enchanted. You can't untie it with magic. And I've enchanted the door so that it can only opened from the outside." The door was open behind her. Her horn glowed, and she levitated an unconscious and tied up Spike down the steps to drop him at Twilight's feet, "He put up quite a fight against the zebras, for such a little guy." Twilight strained futilely against the ties that bound her, "What's going on? Why are you doing this Sunglimmer?" The unicorn's face tightened, "My name is Breaking Dawn." "Breaking Dawn," Twilight frowned in concentration. "I remember that name from somewhere." "I should hope so," Dawn said loudly. "You only ruined my entire life!" "You," Twilight had it now, the memory of a cruel face, of being pressing into the pavement, of a fight outside of school. She remembered the shame of having to tell Princess Celestia that her brother had been run in by the city guard. She had been so worried that the princess would expel her for coming from a bad family. "I remember you, you attacked me!" "You deserved that," Dawn snarled. "I was Princess Celestia's personal student. Me, Breaking Dawn. Until you came along and I kicked out the back door like yesterday's trash. You took everything that was supposed to be mine. Well now I'm taking it back." "You," Twilight growled, "you hurt Cadance, didn't you?" "I regret that more than anything else I did," Dawn replied. "I wanted to hurt you, I didn't realise how potent the effects would be. Using your knowledge, I'm going to heal her once the dust settles." Twilight snarled wordlessly and fired a spell at Dawn. It bounced off a golden shield. "Did you do all the rest?" Twilight asked. "My brother, the Elements?" "My Elements, I took back what was mine," Dawn said. "Your brother, your dragon and yourself will all be freed once I have achieved my aims." "What are you planning to do?" "My zebra allies are going to try and take Canterlot. I'm going to stop them, save the city and Princess Celestia. When I'm done, the whole city will have to acknowledge my greatness as its saviour. I'll become a princess, an alicorn, I'll be Celestia's very best girl once again. And then, once I have everything that you took from me, I will let you go. I will release you, to live in humility, to toil in obscurity as I was forced to. I will have your life and you can have mine. Sounds fair to me. The Princess and the Pauper, but under duress." Twilight growled, "I will hurt you for this. For what you did to Cadance, to Shining Armour. I will make you pay." Dawn smiled, "You aren't giving me a lot of incentive not to harm you." "Oh can the sympathetic act," Twilight snarled. "Stop trying to act like a good pony, like you have any claim to the moral high ground. A moral pony would never have even contemplated the things that you've done you evil little-" "I will not be judged by the mare who stole into my life like a cuckoo in the nest and drove me out of it!" Dawn yelled. "I never meant to do anything of the sort." "But you did anyway," Dawn hissed. "You stole from me." "And you stole Cadance's life from her, which of us is worse?" Twilight demanded. "When you have lived as I have for a few years, sunk from the heights of glory to the depths of common drudgery, then you can have the nerve to judge what I have done," Dawn said. "Am I supposed to pity you because you had to live as an ordinary pony? A nopony?" Twilight asked. "Like I told you last night, there is no such thing as a nopony. Every life has meaning if you're willing to look for it." Dawn's lip curled in a sneer, "That's what winners say to stop the losers from getting upset enough to do anything about it. You can see how it feels for yourself soon enough. I will keep my word, Twilight Sparkle, and I'd advise you to give up any thoughts of getting revenge on me in turn. You come after me and mine you'll lose, and you'll find out what I can do when I get really mean." "Why don't you untie me and I'll show you what I can do right now?" Twilight asked. Dawn chuckled, "I don't think so." She turned to go. "You know," Twilight called up to her, "if you'd come to me with your story when I became a princess I might have felt sorry for you. I would have helped you, even gone to Princess Celestia on your behalf." Dawn paused in the doorway. "I know," she whispered. "But I didn't want your pity then and now I don't need it. In case you haven't noticed, I've won." She slammed the door behind her. Twilight raised her head and let out a wordless scream of frustration and anger. Then she bowed her head. I failed. After everything. After what I did to Rarity, after what I put all my friends through. I failed in my quest to save Cadance, I failed to catch the poisoner; I failed as a friend, as a pupil of Celestia. I have failed as a princess. I have failed in everything. Breaking Dawn was right. I lost, and I have nopony to blame for that but myself. My friends: please, please stay safe. And forgive me. The hours passed indistinctly for Twilight. Spike woke up eventually, but he was no more successful at getting free than she had been and had been gagged besides to stop him sending a message to Celestia. They were left waiting in the dark, unaware of exactly how much time was passing, to wonder how would be the next pony to open the cellar. At last, after great length, Twilight could hear the sound of scuffling outside the cellar. Bumps, bangs, crashes, cries of anger and alarm, and then the cellar door shattered into a hundred splinters as a zebras was forcibly bucked through it to hit the far wall with a thud and then drop heavily to the floor. A wonderfully familiar pony in a cowboy hat stood framed in the doorway. "Woohee! Twilight, you down there?" "Applejack!" her friends liquid accent seemed the most wonderful sound in Equestria in that moment. "I'm down here, Spike too." "Mmph mmphmphumph," Spike said. Applejack trotted down the stairs, "You okay, sugarcube?" "I've been tied up, I can't undo the ropes with magic," Twilight said. "Well if Rainbow Dash had come like she wanted to you'd be out of luck, but fortunately I know a thing or two about untying ropes," Applejack said, walking behind Twilight. "Yep, have you out of that in just a jiffy." "What are you doing here?" Twilight asked as her bonds fell away. "How did you know where to find me." "I came here to warn you about yer countess bein' some pony called Breakin' Dawn whose about as trustworthy as a nest of rattlesnakes, but it looks like you got the message already," Applejack said. "I knew because Princess Celestia told me, everypony in Canterlot already knows all about everything that's happened." "Thank goodness for that, but I'm afraid they don't know everything," Twilight said as Applejack untied Spike. "The zebras are going to launch an attack on Canterlot. We have to get back and warn them!" "Wild sacks!" Applejack gasped. "Sounds like we got no time to loose."