Twilight stared dumbfounded at the stallion as he looked at her. How was it possible that a simple stallion created something so powerful and awful as the dark void? How was he capable alone to create a realm for the dead?
“You wander what the dark void is, don’t you? You think it’s a place where the dead go, an afterlife of sorts. I’ll tell you now: that couldn’t be further from the truth. This place was meant to house memories, thus explaining your ability to synch with Mystia and her with you. In truth this place was only meant for me and me alone.”
“So how did the spell get out? How come Mystia was able to find it?”
“That still eludes my knowledge,” he admitted. “But when she showed up, my magic weakened. The magic that held me in unconscious dispelled and I awoke to this realm. Because of my awakening and my magic weakening, this place grew unstable.”
“What do you mean?”
“Haven’t you noticed how violent the place is? The injuries you suffered, that Mystia and her brother suffered? It’s trying to kill me, to move me onto the next world. However, since I was still immobile until you came further into the void, it couldn’t find me. What little magic I held was still protecting me.”
“But aren’t you technically dead?” Twilight asked, cringing at hearing herself say such a strange sentence.
“Yes and no. This realm is a place of memories as I said, but do you know why?”
“No,” she admitted.
“Ever heard the saying ‘life flashed before my eyes’?” he asked.
“Yes,” Twilight confirmed.
“That happens here; everybody has their own. Only for them it never manifests into a dark void like this one. It’s filled only with memories that they travel through on their way to the next life. When I casted my spell I stopped myself right in the middle. I’m dead, but I haven’t fully departed,” he explained.
“And what if…” Twilight stopped as she caught the stallion look slightly away. “What if you were to die? Would I…”
“If my soul were to fully die then I’d move on to the next world. My magic is what’s holding this place stuck in time. But since the memory of my death has appeared, that means my magic is fading. Pretty soon this place will cease to exist.”
“But what about me? I don’t mean to sound selfish, but what will happen to me?” she asked.
“I’m sorry, Twilight, but…” he trailed off. Avoiding Twilight’s gaze, he looked down to the ground. “If I move on, so will you. The dark void will instantly purge anything that isn’t related to memories that I held when I was alive. I just wanted to rid the world of evil, pain and misery… but I was afraid to move on to the next life. I was afraid that there would be more after death.”
“So I’m going to die here,” she whispered. “I guess I already knew. If I’m to die, please at least tell me who you are. Tell me why you burned Equestria.” The stallion looked up at her once more. He blinked twice before sighing and nodding.
“I can’t tell you my name because I don’t have one. Well, I do, but the names in my time are much different than yours. In my time we base our name on the stars above; the one that is born of the moon is destined to rule the sacred land. I was the lucky one for my century.”
“So you were born to the moon?”
“Yes. Born at exactly midnight on the first minute of the year,” he replied.
“But what about the fire? If you ruled Equestria then why burn it? Why betray all those that looked to you?”
“You don’t know what it was like, Twilight. It’s not like it is in your time; there was no love or compassion. I saw the evil and decided to cleanse it. I razed the entire sacred land –the land you call Equestria- and took my own life with it. Only through my deed was the world able to restart and the one you now know to begin,” he explained.
“I see. It doesn’t justify it, but I suppose I can’t belittle you. At least I can say I died knowing unknown Equestrian history,” Twilight joked. It was a somber joke, but one that she took some solace in.
“I apologize,” he blurted out.
“For what?”
“I’ve been selfish. Even in death I’m still just like I was when alive. Twilight, there’s a way for you to leave before I die,” he revealed.
“What?! How?!” she demanded.
“You must find my soul, the piece of me that is holding this place together. When you get close you’ll absorb the unstable magic and restore your own to full power. I didn’t want to tell you because I’m still so afraid of death,” he admitted.
“I understand. But aren’t you tired of being alone? Of being here in this depressing black nothingness?”
“I am. But I’ve been here for fifty thousand years. How could I not fear anything else?”
“You’re supposed to fear difference. But you’re also supposed to embrace it,” Twilight encouraged. “It’s time you pass on to the next life.”
“I suppose it is, isn’t it? Very well. I can control my spirit a tiny bit from here. I’ll be releasing the magical barrier that hides my soul. With doing this however, I’ll also be weakening my magic even more. The void will try its hardest to remove any abnormalities such as you. You may not make it.”
“I have to try. If there is a chance, even a sliver of one, that I can get back to my friends… I’d die trying.”
“So be it. This is the last time we’ll meet, Twilight Sparkle, so…” he trailed off.
“Farewell it is,” she finished.
The two gave each other a nod. Twilight stood in silence as the stallion’s horn lit up and began to work its magic. The scene around the two began to fade and the heat as well. Twilight had almost forgotten about the burning temperature, but as it faded she felt relieved that it was gone.
Twilight shielded her eyes as a bright explosion of light erupted from the stallion. When she looked, he was gone. She wandered if the whole thing had just been some form of hallucination, but somehow she knew it wasn’t. There were still a lot of questions, but she didn’t want them answered; she just wanted to go home.
The void still looked exactly the same. White fog still travelled across the black marble floor and darkness still took everything. However, she quickly noticed something that small puddles of water were all around her. It was well below freezing in the void at that moment, but the water somehow didn’t freeze.
Why the water was so mesmerizing, she didn’t know. She’d encountered water when she had first arrived in the void. She was a lot worse for wear then.
Cautiously, she took a step forward. She didn’t sense any danger, but she couldn’t help but feel that something was off. Now that she thought about it, the water was reflecting a small bit of light, all of which came from the same direction.
After a few minutes of studying all the water puddles, she was able to pinpoint that the light was coming from her left. If there was any place to start, it was towards the light.
A determined look on her face, she placed a hoof forward and began her first step to the end of her journey. For a good ten minutes she walked forward. It made her ecstatic to think she may soon have a chance of making it back home to her friends.
Twilight slowed to a crawl as the void began to morph into something different. Slowly the darkness inverted and the fog dissipated until she was in a pure white room. There were no features whatsoever to the room, save for a strange smell. It was a mixture of blood and something burning.
Twilight didn’t have time to react as the floor below her instantly fell out.
“No, No, NO!” she yelled as she plummeted downward. Luckily, it was a short fall, barely far enough to knock the breath out of her. As soon as she regained her composure she stood and inspected herself for any injuries. She grimaced when she saw a large gash that went up the side of her leg.
She had landed on what appeared to be grass. It was night around her. The guilty party for her gash was a large thorn bush that sat only inches away from her. A large thorn slowly dripped droplets of blood that had come from her leg.
She clenched her teeth together as she stood. Immediately she went for the bag of supplies she’d brought. However, her heart dropped when she discovered that the bag was no longer attached to her.
With no means to fix her leg, she turned around and looked down the side of the hill. Below her was a small cabin, much like the one she’d ran into when she had first entered the void. It was smaller however and seemed in much worse shape.
Deciding that it would be best to get off her leg until it quit bleeding, she made for the shack. Quickly as she could, she slid down the side of the hill and walked to the door of the shack. Actually, as she got a better look at the place she was surprised it even had a door connected to it.
She pushed the door open and limped inside. She was surprised how much damage a thorn could do; luckily it didn’t seem deep. It just hurt horribly, as was expected. As she entered the cabin, she couldn’t help but raise her brow. Despite the run down exterior, the inside was well decorated with nice furnishings and expensive looking paintings.
Not bad, she thought to herself as she walked to a nearby bed and lied down on it. She was amazed at how comfy it was; it was like lying on a cloud. She couldn’t help but feel like falling asleep even though she was the furthest thing from tired.
She shot up as her nose became filled with the smell of fire. It was intense, almost as if…
“Fire!” Twilight yelled, mostly out of habit. Twilight quickly ran for the door and forced it open. As soon as she did, she was greeted with the sight of Ponyville; it was engulfed in flames. She quickly exited the cabin and turned around.
Just as she expected; she had exited from her library. The void was playing games with her, trying to lure her into a false sense of security with memories. She couldn’t believe that she didn’t recognize the room she had been in; it was her room while she lived in Canterlot.
“Twilight!” a voice yelled from behind her. Twilight couldn’t help but grin from ear to ear at the sound of Rainbow’s voice. It had been too long.
“Rainbow Dash!” She happily exclaimed as she turned around. She half expected the void to just give her the satisfaction of hearing Rainbow’s voice, but it went above and beyond. Behind her stood none other than Rainbow herself.
“Twilight, we have to leave! The entire town is going to burn down,” Rainbow panicked. “We have to-“ Rainbow screamed as a beam from one of the houses fell and landed on her.
“Rainbow!” Twilight yelled as she dashed to Rainbow. The beam had landed directly on the rainbow Pegasus’s back; Rainbow wasn’t moving. “Please get up!” she yelled. She knew it was only a hallucination caused by the void, but she still couldn’t help but feel fear at seeing her friend crushed.
“T-Twilight… run…” Rainbow mumbled. Twilight quickly kneeled down in front of Rainbow and began to try and lift the column off the Pegasus. It was to no avail; it was too heavy and she still couldn’t use any powerful magic.
“I’m not leaving you,” Twilight promised.
“Please…can’t…breath,” Rainbow whispered, her words few and far between. Twilight began to panic as she saw fire spreading quickly down the wooden pillar heading towards Rainbow. In just a few seconds the rainbow Pegasus would be burned alive.
“I’m so sorry,” Twilight cried. She quickly backed away and turned as the fire reached her friend. Her ears were filled with pained cries followed soon by nothing but a sickly burning sound and the smell of blood and burning flesh.
She wanted to cry, to mourn her friends passing. But she knew all too well that it was a trick being played on her by the void. One thing still bugged her: if the dark void was a place meant to hold memories, then why was it showing her distorted versions of her world? How was it even able to do something like that?
Thousands of questions bugged her mind as she ran away from the ghost of Rainbow Dash. None had answers, nor was she sure they’d ever have any, but they bothered her anyways. The town continued to burn, the screams of ponies ringing about from every which direction.
She wanted to believe the flames were also a manifestation of the void, but knew that everything was dangerous to her. If she were to place her hoof into a fire, it would burn it as sure as it would in the real world. She may be in a coma, trapped in a false world, but she was still all too vulnerable to death.
Dodging the various hazards, she dashed forward into the fire, through the blazing inferno. It was hell as she ran through, but she knew if she kept moving she’d make it through unscathed. However, the more she ran, the more she doubted her belief.
Flames lashed out at her from every which direction and it seemed that wherever she ran there was a wall of fire in front of her. Even though she tried her hardest to keep moving, she could feel fatigue take over her body. After another three minutes of trying to avoid the steadfast flames, she could move on no longer.
“Somepony, help me,” she moaned as she collapsed to the ground. She struggled to fill her lungs with fresh air, but only received the horrific black smoke that made her cough violently. Her heart raced as her body heat rose to extreme levels; she was sure she could feel her blood beginning to boil.
Consciousness slowly evaded her grasp as she tried crawling further forward. Darkness filled the corners of her eyes and she struggled to even bring about a coherent thought to her mind. The only thoughts that made it through the cloud in her mind were related to memories of the time outside the void.
She was sure she was at the end of her journey, her life. Maybe it wasn’t so bad after all. The more she thought about it with her dying consciousness, the more she realized her friends had probably moved on without her. She no longer held a spot in their lives.
She accepted that she had failed for the first time in her life. She had promised she would return, but she couldn’t keep that promise. It was best that they did forget her. At least then they wouldn’t be reminded of the broken promise.
Twilight closed her eyes and allowed the heat to cleanse her of the tragic life she was suffering. She had been afraid to admit it until now; she was willing to die more than she was to live another day in that place. Even if there was an escape she didn’t have the will or energy to make it.
Not alone.
Twilight heard herself scream, but wasn’t aware of her actions as a flame thrashed at her right side, burning her midsection from her flank to her front leg. Somehow, she didn’t catch fire, but she could smell her singed coat.
Within seconds the fire would take her over and she would be released from her prison; she could finally leave the dark void.
“Twilight!” a voice called out. Twilight was sure she’d heard it before, but couldn’t quite put her hoof on where. Was it one of her friends? Yes, she was almost sure, but she couldn’t be entirely certain. She tried to say something back, but only a low moan escaped her mouth. The voice had replied, but she didn’t hear what it said.
Shortly before Twilight passed out, she could feel herself being dragged by something. She wanted to question who it was, but she felt too sleepy.
A nap wouldn’t hurt her. Maybe she’d dream of a place other than the void. Maybe she’d wake up and realize it was all a bad dream.
Twilight’s life began to flash before her eyes.