Twilight couldn't believe it. He was actually dead. Just that day, he had said "No dirty gryphon is gonna take Razor Blade down." He was right though; it was a pony, not a gryphon, who had dealt Razor Blade his killing blow. The heartbroken unicorn collapsed to her knees as tears flowed freely down her face, and she allowed the agony of loss to wash over her. As his last minutes had ticked by, Twilight's mind had been a chaotic blur. What healing magic do I know that can mend wounds like this? Maybe the princess can save him! I need to close these wounds. How bad is his internal bleeding? What's his heart rate? How do I prevent infection without antibiotics? Once she saw his chest stop rising and knew that he had passed, however, her mind went blank. The cacophony of thoughts was replaced by a single dominating feeling - loss. No longer were questions flying through her head at a mile a minute. No longer was her heart a whirlwind of emotions. No longer could she hold on to the impossible hope that somehow, by some miracle not even magic would explain, he might pull through. Not even Princess Celestia can save a pony from death. Not even the Elements of Harmony are capable of resurrection.
Eyes are such fascinating things was all that Twilight thought as she stared at the lifeless body of the pony for whom she had grown to care so deeply. Like windows into a pony's soul. Eyes look so empty without a soul behind them. How interesting.
"Oh gods..." A voice broke Twilight's musings. She turned her head to see Celestia, her golden armor sporting red smears of fresh gryphon blood, standing beside her.
"He's gone, Princess," Twilight said in a dull, emotionless tone as her tears matted the violet fur below her eyes.
Princess Celestia placed a gentle hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "Twilight, I am so sorry. I know how much this hurts you, but I need you to be strong; Equestria needs you to be strong. We have to stop King Ashnard and Malefaction, and it cannot be done without you. I know that you want to grieve now, but I'm afraid that it must wait just a little longer. You must be strong and defeat that demon. For me. For Equestria. For Razor Blade. He sacrificed his life so that we could bring this war to an end."
For a time, Twilight simply stared at Celestia. "Yes," she finally said almost inaudibly. "I have to keep fighting. The girls and I have to save Equestria." Her mind began to awaken from its grief stricken fog. "I promised him that I would stop Malefaction." Rising to her hooves, Twilight turned around. She hadn't noticed until then that the fighting had ceased; the gryphons had been completely routed by the Equestrian and Zebrican army. She saw that the other four Element bearers had gathered behind Celestia to support their friend in whatever way she needed. Princess Luna was several yards away giving orders to the soldiers, but she turned her head to give Twilight a sympathetic look. Twilight closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She looked at Celestia. "Let's go."
Celestia nodded. Luna had ordered the army to make a perimeter around the clearing where Malefaction was being summoned to ensure that no gryphon reinforcements that may be in the area could interfere. In addition, Luna was hoping to cut off any possibility of escape. By the time that the perimeter had been secured, only the two princesses, the five Element bearers, and a half a dozen Solar Guards were approaching the edge of the clearing.
What they found was a massive pillar of thaumaturgical energy nearly 25 yards in diameter. The pillar's event horizon was surrounded by a dark vortex.
A single gryphon was the only creature near the pillar. "I was wondering if you'd show up to my little party, Celestia."
Celestia watched in horror as the vortex began to dissipate and the pillar of energy faded. What stood before her was a being unlike anything that even she had encountered during her many centuries. The creature was a solid jet black with no visible fur at all. Its head was rounded and oblong; if it had eyes at all, they were still closed. The most unusual thing, however, was not the lack of coloration or facial features but its stance. It stood perfectly straight on two legs with long arms at either side. Instead of hooves, flat feet ended each leg - almost like the claws of a gryphon but long and narrow. At the end of its arms were flat appendages with what appeared to be dull, rounded claws. At eight feet tall, it towered over even Princess Celestia.
"Ashnard, you fool!" Celestia shouted. "What have you done? Are you completely insane?"
"What have I done, you ask?" Ashnard spat. "I have sealed your pathetic kingdom's fate! With this demon at my command, I am unstoppable." He turned to face the black form. "Malefaction! Obey me! Kill these bothersome ponies, but save the large one for last." He looked at Celestia with a sick smirk on his face. "Eat her alive."
On the front of the ebony head appeared two eyes, red with small turquoise irises and thin slits for pupils resembling those of a cat. It turned its head and looked at Ashnard. Slowly, its right arm rose towards the gryphon king. From the end flew a large, black orb. When Ashnard realized that he was incorrect in his assumption that Malefaction could be controlled, he attempted to jump out of the orb's path. Unfortunately for Ashnard, he was too slow; the orb impacted his left shoulder, consuming everything with which it came into contact. Ashnard fell to the ground dead, half-dematerialized organs falling out of his trunk. Slowly, the demon walked to the corpse. It knelt down beside the lifeless gryphon and began to consume it.
"Girls, now! Hurry!" Celestia shouted, her fear unmasked.
The Element bearers got into their formation. Rainbow Dash asked the question that had been on everypony's mind: "What about Laughter? We don't have a sixth pony!" From her left came a voice.
"Silly Dashie. A true friend will always be there when her friends need her."
Five heads snapped to find the source of the voice. Standing before them was a familiar looking pink apparition. "Pinkie, is that really you?" Twilight asked, unable to process the fact that what she was seeing should not be possible.
"Yup, it's really me!" ghost Pinkie Pie said with a hop and a grin. "I'll have to go back as soon as the Elements are used, but I wouldn't just leave you girls hanging when you need me. I don't have long, though, so we have to hurry," Pinkie's spirit said. Twilight nodded and turned back to the black monster. The Elements of Harmony began to glow as they powered up. Malefaction sensed the build up of magical energy behind it. It rose from its knees and turned to face the Element bearers.
A swirling cyclone of translucent rainbow surrounded the Elements and began to expand to include the demon. A wide stream of prismatic light burst forth from Elements, striking directly into the center of Malefaction's chest. The creature staggered back a couple steps and looked down at the energy bombarding its chest. It looked back at the mares, its face revealing a grin of needle-like fangs. It resumed its slow march towards the Elements.
Twilight opened her eyes and watching in horror as the beast continued to resist the power of the Elements. It's not working she thought. Even with all six Elements, it's not enough to stop Malefaction. She looked to where the princesses were standing. Celestia's horn glowed and fired beam after beam of magic; they were deflected by the magical field that surrounded them. She must be trying to cast the extirpation spell, but it can't get through the Elements' field. What do I do? I don't know the spell.
As Twilight began to panic, she heard an unfamiliar voice in her head. "Believe in yourself, Twilight Sparkle," the voice said. "Focus all of your thoughts on slaying Malefaction, and pour all of yourself into the most powerful spell you can muster. You must believe in yourself and in your magic." The skeptic in her told her that a mysterious voice in her head was probably a bad omen, not to mention that she had been given no credentials vouching for the mystery voice's authority on how to handle apocalyptic situations. She was out of options and quickly running out of time, however. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She gathered all of the energy she had and channeled it into her horn. Its violet glow turned into a bright blaze and from there into a purple inferno. When she felt as if she would burst, Twilight's eyes shot open, as solid white as when she first used the Elements of Harmony against Nightmare Moon.
A tight white beam shot forth from her horn and pierced Malefaction's chest. The look of smug control that had been on its face changed to horror as the impact site began to glow white and radiate outward. The glow of Twilight's horn also changed from a vibrant purple to white. The whiteness grew and began to spread from her forehead down. When both Malefaction's and Twilight's bodies were entirely white, they emitted a blinding flash. Princess Celestia could do nothing but watch as her most beloved student - a young mare she viewed as nothing less than an adopted daughter - vanished before her eyes. Where once had stood a unicorn of seemingly limitless potential was now nothing but a foot deep crater of seared and smoking dirt. The same sort of crater marked where Malefaction had stood just seconds prior.
When the other Element bearers opened their eyes again, they looked around, at first only seeing the crater where the fiendish demon had stood mere moments before. "Is...is it over?" Fluttershy asked, peeking out from behind her pink mane.
"Yeah...Yeah, Ah think we beat it. Well, Ah guess Twilight did most of the beatin'," Applejack said, beginning to chuckle. Her laugh was cut short, though, when she noticed that the purple unicorn was nowhere to be seen. A look of horror emerging on her face, Applejack's eyes shot to the scorched ground before them. "Where's Twilight?" she asked, panicked.
"Twilight...she..." Princess Celestia tried to speak, but her words failed her.
Luna stepped forward, her face a mixture of pain and shock. "She cast the extirpation spell...She's gone."
Rarity looked horrified. "Gone? Surely you can't mean..."
"Twilight sacrificed herself in order to destroy the demon," Luna said. "She gave her life to restore peace to Equestria and ensure that this world would not fall into unimaginable darkness."
Ugh, what happened? Twilight felt as if her head were splitting in two. When she had closed her eyes to cast her spell at Malefaction, she had focused all of her energy into her horn. Never before had she poured so much of herself, both mentally and physically, into a spell. When she had soothed the Ursa Minor during Trixie's first visit to Ponyville, it had left her exhausted, but even that was nothing compared to the strain she felt as she was fighting Malefaction. It had felt as if her skull were splitting in two, from the tip of her horn down to the base of her neck. Her chest had burned so intensely that she had half expected to pass out from the pain.
As started to piece the memories together in her mind, Twilight struggled to open her eyes. To her great confusion, all she saw was white. Pure, blinding, unending whiteness on all sides. "Where am I?" she asked herself.
"You are here, Twilight Sparkle."
Twilight whipped her head from side to side to find the origin of the voice. The voice was felt as much as it was heard, and the sound seemed to occupy the entire register of equine hearing all at once. Needless to say, it was not a voice with which she was familiar. "Who's there? Where are you?"
"I am everywhere. I am The One."
"I don't understand. What do you mean you are everywhere? What are you? How are you communicating with me? Is this some form of telepathy? What happened to me? Where is 'here?'" Every question that came to Twilight's mind was vocalized in rapid succession.
"I cannot be fully understood by the equine mind. I shall take a form to which you can relate." Phasing into existence in the white void before her appeared an alicorn with an alabaster coat, pure and unblemished, its mane a warm and subtle amaranth. "I am the creator of all things."
The creator? Twilight thought. That must be why it chose the form of a mare with a quill for a cutie mark. "What happened to me?"
The alicorn answered, although her facial expression and voice inflection remained perfectly neutral and matter-of-fact. "You died. The spell that you cast to destroy the demon Malefaction required the entirety of your body's energy."
"I'm...dead?" Twilight managed to squeak. Her logical mind was struggling to comprehend how she could be both dead and lucid at the same time. Okay, easy, Twilight. One thing at a time. "Were you the voice in my head that told me to use whatever spell that was?" she asked.
"No. The Elements of Harmony can act of their own accord, and it was the Element of Magic that spoke to you. The spell that the Element of Magic instructed you to cast was the extirpation spell that Ninurt crafted ages ago."
Twilight furrowed her brow in confusion. "But how could I cast that spell? Only the princesses know how to cast that spell. They've certainly never taught me, and there wasn't much information on it in the Canterlot archives..."
"Your Element helped you. Do not underestimate the power of the Elements of Harmony when it is their will that an event occur. It was their will that you defeat Malefaction; they ensured that it came to pass."
Twilight stayed silent for several minutes thinking. "If I'm dead, is this the afterlife? Is this white void all that there is? And I thought that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were goddesses. What is their relationship to you? Are there other gods, or is it only you?" Realizing the unique opportunity that communicating with an omnipotent entity constituted, she began to fire off questions left and right until the alicorn rose a hoof to silence her.
"Be silent, Twilight Sparkle. Order your thoughts. I shall answer your questions one at a time."
"Okay," Twilight said taking a breath. "Did you create the Elements of Harmony?"
"No."
"Then who or what did?"
"Another god."
"Are Princess Celestia and Princess Luna goddesses?"
"No."
It took a moment for that to sink in for Twilight. "Okay...You mentioned that a god other than you created the Elements of Harmony. How many other gods are there? What is the nature of their relation to you?" To Twilight, having always followed the popular diarchical cult, the idea of a pantheon of gods that not only involved more than Celestia and Luna but excluded them entirely was a foreign concept.
"The other three gods are my creations and, as such, are inferior to me. They are Erez, the god of righteousness; Concordia, the goddess of balance; and Dysmondis, the god of disorder. Concordia is the most powerful of the three; Erez and Dysmondis are equals. She was created to serve as a mediator between Erez and Dysmondis in my stead."
"Why did you create Concorida instead of just regulating Erez and Dysmondis yourself?" Twilight asked. "If you're an all-powerful creator, then surely you could control two lesser gods?"
"I could," The One explained, "but I rarely intervene in the lives of ponies. I have created thousands of species on thousands of worlds in thousands of star systems. My role is that of creator, not ruler."
"I see." Twilight allowed her mind a moment to process and catalog this new information. She did not particularly understand the point, then, in creating lesser gods - or creating life at all - but chose to forego that line of questioning in favor of one that held more importance to her. "I'm still curious about Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. They've been alive for thousands of years, but most ponies are lucky to make it to one hundred. If they aren't goddesses, how have they attained such longevity? Are they immortal?"
The alicorn before Twilight paused before answering, presumably deciding how best to answer so that a moral pony could understand. "Their natural lifespans are infinite. Their power is far beyond that of normal unicorns, their strength far superior to that of normal Earth ponies, and their speed far greater than that of normal pegasi."
"How did they get such abilities and lifespans? Are alicorns something more than just ponies with both a horn and wings?" Twilight asked as she thought back to her discussions of ancient Equestrian history with Flemeth.
"Ancient alicorns were a fourth race of pony, equal to the others. They are extinct. The alicorns that you know were created by Erez to act in her stead against Discord - not gods but mortals blessed by a god. The form of an alicorn was chosen because of the blend of the three races that it symbolized," The One explained. "The closest approximation to their nature in your language would be that of demigods."
"You mentioned that Celestia and Luna were created by Erez. Did the other gods ever create similar agents?" Twilight asked.
"Yes," The One responded. "Malefaction, the demon you destroyed, was the first creation of Dysmondis. He then created Discord, the Nightmare entity, and the alicorn amulet. Chrysalis was initially an avatar of love created by Erez, but Dysmondis placed a curse on the fledgling alicorn, transforming her into a corrupted vampire of love."
"An avatar of love?" Twilight asked. "That sounds a lot like Princess Cadance."
"She took the place that Chrysalis was intended to fill. When the time of Sombra's return approached, Concordia saw the purity and love in the heart of Cadenza despite the hardships that accompanies being an orphan foal among pegasi, and chose her to be the avatar of love to bring balance to the world, against both Sombra and Chrysalis, and bestowed upon her the powers that she wields today."
Twilight silently contemplated what she'd been told. "Concordia is a goddess of balance," Twilight mused to herself, "and she had Cadance ascend to balance Sombra and Chrysalis." Twilight looked to The One. "The Elements of Harmony tend to bring balance rather than destruction, separating Luna from Nightmare Moon and banishing Sombra and Discord without actually destroying either; was it Concordia who created the Elements?"
"Yes," The One said. "Concordia prefers to minimize her direct involvement in the lives of the creatures under her purview. She created the Elements of Harmony to give ponies the tools to enforce their own balance without her intervention."
Twilight opened her muzzle to ask another question, but a raised hoof from the alicorn silenced her. "Enough, Twilight Sparkle. This place is not your final resting place; I have brought you here for a purpose. Although I rarely affect the fate of any one species or creature, balance is the greatest of all virtues, and it is a rare one in ponies of recent times. You are a flawed pony, Twilight Sparkle. You sin, you destroy, and you take. Despite this, in equal measure, you repent, you create, and you give. Your failures strengthen your resolve to succeed rather than being forgotten. Because of this and your ceaseless attempts to bring balance to the world, accepting those you love alongside those you loath, you have proven yourself to be a paragon of balance and harmony.
"You have a choice to make, Twilight Sparkle. You have fulfilled your destiny and satisfied the purpose that your life was to serve. If you so wish, your life may end here, and your soul will pass into the afterlife to be reunited with the apex of Laughter and your paramour." The One stared blankly at Twilight, allowing a moment for the first option to sink in.
"And the alternative?" Twilight asked.
"Ascend. Serve harmony as an undying alicorn alongside Celestia, Luna, and Cadenza. Short of suicide or assassination, you would never pass into the afterlife to reunite with your friends and family. In exchange, you would have a limitless lifetime to continue promoting and protecting harmony for the benefit of all creatures. The choices is yours."
Twilight fell to her haunches, mouth agape. How am I supposed to make that choice? Help ponies for countless generations to come as Princess Celestia's equal but never get to see my friends again once they die, or die now and hope everything works out for Equestria? "I...I don't know. I mean....how can I choose between the two?"
"You must choose. What is more important to you: being reunited with your loved ones, or serving the peoples of your world? There is no shame in choosing the former. You have made your contribution to harmony and to ponykind. The latter is offered as an opportunity to continue that work and go beyond what you have been called to do."
Heh. So extra credit? I wonder if it....or she...or he...or...whatever....knew that would get my attention. Twilight stood up as tall as she could and took a deep breath. "I accept. I will return to Equestria as an alicorn."
"You are certain? There is no going back, and the death of an alicorn by unnatural means would devastate Equestria's morale for decades."
"I'm positive. It will hurt to lose everypony over time, but I'll have Celestia, Luna, and Cadance to help me cope. Besides, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few," Twilight said. "Or the one."
"Very well. Take care with your new powers, Twilight Sparkle; even the best of ponies can be corrupted by power misused."
Before Twilight could respond, the alabaster alicorn faded from sight, and her world was, once again, nothing but whiteness.
"My sister is correct," Celestia said when Luna explained what had happened to Twilight. "Her body was consumed by the spell in exchange for the demon's destruction, but...the sacrifice should have been mine. I am the eldest of Equestria's rulers whereas she was but a filly, barely able to be considered a mare."
"Twi would have jumped at the chance to cast the spell to save you, Princess. You know it's true. She'd never let anything happ-" Rainbow Dash was cut off by a sudden gale of wind swirling around a pillar of light in the crater where Twilight met her demise.
"What in tarnation? That looks just like the magic that summoned that demon! It ain't coming back, is it?" Applejack dropped into a battle stance, ready to fight in case the battle began again.
Everypony else seemed to be coming to the same conclusions, assuming similar battle-ready poses. Luna and Celestia had seen this phenomenon once before. "It can't be..." Luna whispered.
As the wind died down and the pillar began to fade, the silhouette of a unicorn mare beginning to form. "It is," Celestia said too quietly to be audible.
As the light continued to fade, a unicorn's silhouette began to come into focus, the black outline fading slowly to purple features. "Twilight...Is that you...?" Fluttershy asked, her voice hopeful but laced with trepidation. Her friends were less optimistic, but they couldn't help but have the thought cross their minds.
Rainbow Dash looked like she was about to speak, but when Twilight's eyes opened and her new wings flared, whatever she had planned to say was promptly lost. "Celestia's sun kissed flanks, who the buck are you and what did you do with Twilight?" Celestia's head spun towards Rainbow Dash, a quizzical look on her face, but given the situation, she couldn't blame the pegasus' unique utterance; she had, after all, just seen one of her best friends magically blasted into nothingness and then reappear with extra appendages.
For a brief moment, Twilight's expression mirrored the bewilderment seen on her friends' faces, but she soon remembered what had transpired. Having heard Rainbow Dash's exclamation, she smiled and said "Calm down, everypony. It's really me."
"Twilight, darling, forgive my skepticism, but you're not supposed to be an alicorn," Rarity pointed out, still audibly hesitant about the whole situation.
"You've met Her, then?" Celestia asked, though it came out more as a statement than a question.
"The One?" Twilight asked, having thought of the entity as more of an asexual "it" than a female "she."
"The One. The Creator. The Immortal. It has many names," Luna said.
"Yes, we met. It offered me a choice," Twilight explained. "It said that my destiny - my purpose for existing - had been fulfilled when I cast the spell that destroyed Malefaction, so it was natural that I had died. It said that I was a 'paragon of harmony,' though, and offered me ascension to alicornhood to continue to serve harmony and protect the ponies of Equestria."
Rainbow guffawed. "That's not a choice! Who wouldn't want to live forever with awesome power?"
"It is not that simple, Rainbow Dash," Luna said solemnly. "Ascension is an exchange."
"What did you have to give up, Twilight?" Rarity asked, worry seeping into her voice.
Twilight hesitated. "You," she said, her voice faltering.
"Wh-what?" the other four Element bearing mares gasped in unison.
"What do you mean?" Fluttershy asked.
"Part of ascension is immortality," Celestia explained. "You will not lose each other immediately, but in time, you will all grow old and pass from the this world." She watched as understanding began to dawn on their faces. "Twilight will not. As you age and die, Twilight will remain as she is, never passing into the afterlife to reunite with her loved ones."
"Never seein' yer family again? Twi, why would ya choose that?" Applejack, having lived her entire life with family cemented as the center of her universe, could not for the life of her understand Twilight's choice.
"It's about more than just me, Applejack," Twilight explained. "It's even about more than my friends and family. It's about everypony. Everypony in Equestria. If I can, somehow, make a difference for ponies who's grandparents' grandparents haven't even been born yet, then there's not really any choice at all."
"Everypony, there will be plenty of time for Twilight to tell us as much or as little about her experience as she wishes," Celestia said. "For now, however, we should return to Canterlot. I'm sure everypony would appreciate some rest and relaxation after all that's happened."