The next morning inside the palace, guards continued to clean up and fix the destruction that had happened the previous night. Hardly any words were said between the ponies as they walked past each other, unsure what to even say about what had occurred. While not all of them had seen the events themselves, the rumors and whispers spread like wildfire through the ranks of how the once prized student of the princess had turned into something unlike they had ever heard of.
The ones who did see the odd transformation of Twilight were the ones most shaken. Several of them couldn't even believe finding out this was the unicorn they had seen so many times, the very pony who had actually saved Equestria multiple times was now the one as the threat.
Many knew Twilight back when she was just a small filly and watched her grow up, never once before believing something so horrible could come from her in their lifetime.
A few guards walked past one of the dining rooms where they noticed several mares sitting at the table. All five of them they immediately recognized, four of them being bearers of the elements of Harmony, and the fifth one the mother of Twilight. Knowing the trouble they were going through, one of the guards decided to see if they needed anything to help them out.
"Excuse me, would any of you like something from the kitchen? I can have the cooks make something up." He tried asking in the most sincere tone he could.
Rarity waved her hoof. "Thank you darling, but I have myself some tea. I'm alright."
"Um, I will just have some of her tea. Thank you." Fluttershy whispered.
"Ooh! Let me get a few things!" Pinkie happily bounced up and down. "I'll take a tall stack of pancakes with some lemon frosting and whipped cream! Then I want a big slice of chocolate cake that has chocolate syrup and more whipped cream and-
"Pinkie!" Applejack barked, "ah think y'all don't need that stuff now."
"Oh, okay then. I'll just take one doughnut then." Pinkie said with a bright smile.
The guard shook his head, glad he didn't have to remember the entire order from the pink mare. He then turned to the orange farm pony. "And, anything for you two?"
Applejack shook her head, "ah'm fine, and..." She turned to look at Twilight Velvet, who just stared down at the table in front of her. Biting her lip, AJ looked back to the guard. "Just grab some water fer us."
The guard nodded and trotted out of the room, leaving the girls to themselves once again. Rarity lifted up her glass and took a sip of her tea, looking around to the faces of all the others around her. The most concern though was for Twilight Velvet, who had not said a word since the incident the night before. She couldn't even imagine how much pain Velvet was in after learning what has happened to Twilight. Not only that, but she saw Twilight in the city, in her rage and assaulting the guards in the courtyard.
Standing up, Rarity walked over and put her hoof onto Velvet's back. "How are you doing Mrs. Velvet? Are you thirsty?"
Velvet said nothing.
Rarity gave a concerned look to Applejack, who just shook her head. Stepping back, Rarity decided to leave them here and go check on Rainbow Dash and Spike, who hadn't come out of their rooms since the night before. Both were extremely distraught after the talk with the princess, Rainbow because of guilt, and Spike because of how close he was with Twilight.
As Rarity left, Fluttershy poured herself more tea into her cup. Her eyes drifted up to Velvet, then down to the empty cup at her side. Picking it up, she brought the cup over and poured some warm tea into it. Carrying it over, she slid the tea under the saddened mare. "I made you a glass of tea. Um, if you wanted any." She quietly said and stepped back.
"Am I a bad mother?" Velvet suddenly said.
"Ooh look! She said a word!" Pinkie yelled out.
While happy that she was talking, Applejack was caught off guard by the statement. "What? No, of course ya ain't a bad mother. Why would ya say that?"
"Was I never there enough for her to see what was happening? And what I said to the princess..."
"Y'all can't blame herself for this. Nopony could see that was gonna happen. And if..." Applejack took a breath, "If ah was ya, ah would have said the same thing to the princess. Knowing what she tried to do to Twilight."
"I don't regret accusing her of her mistakes Applejack..." Velvet said as she fought back incoming tears, "did I have the right to say that to her after my mistake?"
"What do you mean?" Fluttershy asked.
"When I saw Twilight in the city, I couldn't believe it was her. Even when I called her name and she looked right at me, I felt like that wasn't my daughter. She tried to talk to me, but I pushed her away. When she teleported away, I suddenly tried to call out to her and hold her, but she was gone."
"Ya pushed her away? What do ya mean?" Applejack questioned.
"I told her to stay away and that she wasn't the Twilight I knew." Velvet couldn't hold back the tears anymore. "I don't know why I did that, it just came out. I'm sorry!"
As the older mare began crying again, Applejack put a hoof around her and brought her into a warm embrace. Feeling Velvet weep into her shoulder made it hard for the farm pony not to cry now, fighting back the tears that were puddling up in her eyelids. Having a pony that was part of your family turn into this was nothing Applejack could even fathom happening to her siblings or Granny, so even though her feelings were strong, she knew they weren't as bad as Velvet's.
Meanwhile, Rarity made her way down the hall towards the group of rooms that were given to herself and the others to stay in for the night. On the right were three rooms, and the left were another three. Deciding to check on Rainbow first, she went to the center room on the right and knocked. "Rainbow. How are you?"
After a few seconds of silence, she knocked again. "Rainbow, why don't you come eat something? Come out of there." Rarity then noticed the piece of paper on the ground sticking out from the door. Picking it up, she frowned as she read it. "Just leave me alone. I don't want to talk now."
Seeing Rainbow was set on staying there, Rarity moved across the hall to the door on the very end. Velvet and Spike had shared a room, but the small drake refused to come out when she did earlier. 'Poor little Spike, he must be in so much pain in hearing what happened to Twilight.' Rarity said to herself. She always saw Twilight as a big sister to Spike, and she saw how close they were in life.
Taking a deep breath, Rarity put her hoof up to the door and knocked several times. "Spikey wikey, Are you okay?" To her surprise, the door slid open. Deciding to check, she pushed it in and stuck her head in. "Spike? Are you up?"
When she walked in, she was shocked to not only see him not in the room, but the mess it was in. The mattress and comforter was flipped over onto the ground, all of the blankets and sheets gone from the top. Even the curtains that normally hung in front of the large window were ripped off the top. Panic set into Rarity's mind as she saw the disaster. "Spike! What happened!? Where are you!?"
Then she noticed the cool breeze that brushed against her coat, coming in through the window that was open. From the nightstand by the ledge was part of the torn off curtain tied around the leg and leading out the window. Sprinting over, she looked out and saw the rest of the bed sheets tied together into a rope and dangling as a way to the ground below. Rarity realized he had fled the castle out of his window. "Spike..." She whispered.
As she stepped back, she stepped onto a piece of paper that caught her attention. Getting off it, she lifted up the sheet and read the message that was scribbled on it, causing her heart to skip a beat.
"I am going to find her, and I am going to save her no matter what."
---
Inside her private chambers, Princess Luna moved out of the bathroom after just washing in the shower. Waking up in the infirmary of the castle was not something she wanted, so she immediately ordered herself released from care so she could return to her duties. As she approached her bed, she stopped and stared at her large mattress that was now littered with pieces of equipment that she had put there in preparation for her departure out of the castle.
Her thick breastplate shimmered in the light from her room, the dark blue steel matching her own coat color. Her set of steel horseshoes were laid out next to the edge, each one long enough to reach past her knees. In the very center of the bed was her helmet, which covered her entire head except for her muzzle that stuck out in front. Along with the hole for her horn to fit through, a thick crystal horn directly in front of it would help ensure her own horn was protected against direct strikes. All these items were pieces of equipment that she had hoped to never have to use.
Luna stared at herself in the mirror on her dresser, her gaze unfocused as she sat deep in her thoughts about what she saw inside Twilight's mind. The young unicorn was terrified when she first entered, begging for her help. Just seeing her friend in that state already put a strain of guilt in her heart for what she had to do.
Opening the drawer below her, she eyed the star covered blue hat that was folded down. Levitating it up, the jingle of bells rang in the room as she set it back down on the countertop. Her mind then jumped to the first Nightmare Night after her return from the moon, when Twilight was the only one in all of Ponyville that even attempted to accept her as the princess and not the monster that she once was. Not only did she help her become adjusted to the modern days of life, Twilight also did everything she could to help the citizens treat Luna with kindness.
Twilight had become her first true friend after returning to her sisters side. As a gift at the end of the night, Twilight even gave her hat to the princess as a souvenir. Luna couldn't help but cast a small grin in memory of what she went through with the young purple unicorn. Her happiness however vanished as her mind imagined the new form that had taken over Twilights form, and the one that had put her in the hospital in the first place. Looking back into the mirror, her face became stern and determined with her choice.
"I have to do this... For her sake." Luna said to herself. Putting the hat back in the dresser, she shut it closed and returned to her bed. Before she could begin her assembly, her door was pushed open, followed by Celestia slowly trotting inside. The sullen look on her sisters face told Luna all she needed to know. "You told them about Crimson didn't you..."
The white alicorn nodded her head. "Yes... I told them."
Luna looked past her sister to see if any others were around before returning her eyes back. "How did they react to it?"
Lifting her hoof up, Celestia rubbed the spot on her cheek where Velvet had smacked her the night before. "As I expected them to. They were shocked, angry, and confused by all the things happening."
"I didn't expect them to react any different." Luna said with a hint of sternness. "It was what you needed to hear though. You must learn that what happened was wrong and must be fixed and-
"It wasn't their anger toward me that bothers me now Luna." Celestia cut her off.
Luna furrowed her brow in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"It was something Velvet said to me, about how Crimson wasn't my son and I would never feel a true bond unless I gave life. While in reality that was true, I... I truly did feel something inside myself that I had a bond. After he was stopped, I felt like my heart had been torn out of my chest and crushed. Remember how I couldn't sleep for weeks because of my nightmares of watching him die?"
Luna did remember the time after the incident at mount Volvack. She had not yet developed the level of magic to enter the dreams of ponies yet, but Luna instead ran to comfort her sister as she screamed in the night. Constantly tormented by the ghost of her past, her older sister had a terrible recovery back to normal after that. "I do Tia, but what does that have to do with..."
"Years after that, I decided to reintroduce to the idea of ponies as students to me. While I did make sure that I kept my feelings out of the equation with them, I couldn't escape the feeling that I did want a pony to call my own. Then, I even tried to..." Celestia took a deep breath. "I tried to have a foal of my own. But no matter how much I tried, no matter what the doctors said, I could not get pregnant. For some reason my body would not allow itself to give birth."
"I felt defeated for years after that. Even when I tried to move on, I still had the longing pain in my heart. That all changed though when... When Twilight became my student."
Luna's eyes widened at hearing that; she had known about Celestia trying for years to have a foal with no success. Even herself had been unable to become pregnant when she tried. However, she didn't know her sisters pain was this bad. "You mean, when you brought Twilight in as your student, you felt another bond..."
Slowly nodding her head, Celestia leaned back and sat on the ground.
"When she began studying under me, she was one of the most eager ponies I could remember that wanted to learn. Not only that, her heart was so warm and kind, I felt something inside of me that I hadn't in a long time. It seemed like the loneliness that I had was gone. The way Twilight came to me for help, her bright and happy personality, everything about her made me feel like I found a pony that I could truly bond with."
Luna sat still for what felt like several minutes as she stared at her troubled sister. Sighing, she turned towards her bed and used her magic to pull up the large breastplate up to her body and clasped it on. Frowning, she turned back to Celestia with a stern look. "I am sorry about what has happened to Twilight. I will be the first to say, of all ponies, I wish it were not on her. But no matter how close you have felt for her, she is like Crimson. She isn't your filly."
Celestia felt her heart sting at the words of her sister. Before she could say anything however, Luna walked right up to her and stood face to face. "I know how hard this has been for you to go through Tia, but your emotions are too unstable for you to get involved with this anymore. You couldn't kill Crimson because of how you felt for him, and you tried to make up for that with the way you have lived. And when Twilight revealed her trouble, you tried to kill her but stopped because of your love."
"I didn't mean for that to happen like that!" Celestia snapped out, a little louder than she wanted. Turning around, she shut the door to keep any passing ponies from hearing. "I just reacted at the moment, I wasn't thinking clearly and tried to stop history from repeating itself."
"Yet it has repeated. And now I will make sure this ends unlike last time."
"We still haven't tried the elements on her. If we can convince Twilight to activate her magic and use it on herself, we- oomph!"
Celestia yelped in fright as Luna's foreleg grabbed onto her neck and threw her against the side wall. Feeling the hoof press her further up onto the wall, her eyes went wide in shock to her sisters actions. "Luna, what are-
"She's gone Celestia! The Twilight that we both knew is gone!" Luna screamed out. "Why can't you get that through your head that this cannot be solved with you trying to save her!? If I knew there was a plausible way to stop this, I would agree with you, but you saw what happened to her."
Celestia's mouth trembled as her sister yelled at her. "Luna..."
"I cared about Twilight as well, but I saw exactly how she reacted to us. Her mind is becoming more unstable, and her body has gone through the shift as well. Once she transformed like he did, there is no reversing the process." Letting go of her sister, Luna allowed her to fall to the ground. "I have to end this... Not only for Equestria, but for your sake."
Crawling off the carpet, Celestia's breathing came in small gasps as she tried to calm herself. Emotions were swirling around and she couldn't contemplate which one to agree with the most. She loved Twilight, and seeing her in the form of Crimson also brought forth other emotions that she had bottled up inside. At the same time however, she knew that allowing what happened all those years ago to repeat itself would lead to the deaths of thousands of innocent lives. 'How do I kill one that is so close to me?'
Fighting back her own emotions, Luna turned to the tall item set against the side of her dresser, wrapped in a brown leather mesh. The special item was something that she had retrieved from the secured vault of the castle before coming to her room. Pulling out the cloth, Luna unwrapped it to reveal the item inside and causing a gasp to escape from Celestia. "Is... Is that...?"
Held in Luna's aura was a long sword, its charcoal gray sheath encasing the four foot blade. The thick golden hilt was marked with two red jewels that seemed to radiate its own glow. Grasping the handle with a section of her power, Luna slid the sword out a few inches, revealing the solid black blade that was hidden inside. The blue alicorn stared in focus at the legendary weapon. "Yes it is Tia. The sword of shadows that our master wielded all those years ago. The very weapon that he used to strike down the monster Aligon."
Even with its magic encasing sheath, Celestia could have sworn she could feel the evil radiating out from the weapon. "Luna, you should not be wielding that weapon. Do you know the level of dark magic that is enchanted in that blade?"
"I know the dangers that come from this weapon. Starswirl showed us when we were young about the sorcery used in creating it. But now I believe have the magic to wield it just like he did, and I will use this to end this nightmare."
Inside her heart, Celestia felt a shot of anger creep in. "Our master used that sword to kill a creature that wasn't supposed to even exist; one that tried to kill everything just for pleasure. Now you want to use that on Twilight!?"
"Crimson Flames should not have existed Celestia. And since that is what has possessed Twilight, I see that taking her out is the only way to stop this from happening again." Luna slid the blade back into its sheath and laid it across her back. Now focusing on her leg braces, she lifted them up and strapped them onto herself. "You have to stop with these feelings of yours Tia. It will only bring more pain to you." Carrying her helmet in her grasp, Luna trotted past her sister and opened the door before stopping one last time. "I am going to do this Tia, whether you believe it is too harsh or not. I am not going to let our home be burnt to the ground again."
Walking out, Celestia was left alone in the room, staring at her own reflection and looking back at her actions in life.