Disclaimer: Long ago in a distant land, she, Faust, the almighty creator of ponies, unleashed an unspeakable adorableness. But foolish brony writers, wielding magic keyboards, stepped forth to emulate her. Before the final C&D letter was sent, she tore open a portal in time and flung it into the future where such evil is law. Now the bronies seek to avoid that day, and do only homage to the ponies that are Faust.
What Might Have Been
Chapter 14: All At Once
Great fiery wings soared through gentle thermals above an uninhabited stretch of the Everfree Forest. There's nothing here! Solar Flare thought to herself. For the last several hours she had been surveying the forest looking for any sign of what that strange purple mare and her friends could be looking for. She had flown up to the headwaters of the Everfree river and all the way across the great forest, but still she was confounded. She had even found the ruins of the old castle she had once shared with Luna. All she had found there was moldering stone and unwelcome memories.
By this point the tyrant sun goddess was running out of patience. Whatever she hoped to find here, be it the Elements of Harmony or some other great power was either hidden too well, or not present within the forest to begin with. It was starting to look like the purple witch was just a crackpot after all.
An angry tremor passed down her spine at the thought that she had been made a fool of by some mere mortal. Perhaps she would outright murder the mare if she ever managed to make it out of the forest intact. Won't that be fun? She mused as a fanged and sinister grin split her face. Or perhaps not murder, that would be far to quick. There are after all, so many other ways I can make her pay for humiliating me.
With an evil chuckle and a flick of her wings, Solar Flare began a broad turn toward Canterlot. She was done with this wild goose chase. It was time to begin her conquest. But no sooner had this impulse been translated into action than the fabric of the world heaved. A shockwave of power radiated through the aether and overtook her in mid-flight. Like the light of her sun but invisible to the eye, this magic shown brilliantly from its source. To Solar Flare it's feel was familiar. Sickeningly so.
The Power of Harmony was revived.
In a storm of rage she found its center right in the middle of her old castle. The magic must have lain dormant when she passed earlier, but now it was awake and alive and very dangerous. Her horn flashed bright as Flare imbued herself with inequine speed, and like a bolt of fire she raced to put a stop to the only power she feared. This time I will be victorious.
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“TWILIGHT?”
“TWIIIII-LIIIIIGHT!”
“Come out, come out, where ever you are!”
“Pinkie this isn't a game of hide-and-seek, this is serious!”
“I am being serious! I'm way better at finding ponies when I play hide-and-seek, so maybe if I pretend like it is, I'll find Twilight faster.”
Rarity rolled her eyes. “Oh, very well. Just keep looking. It's getting dark and I can't bear to think our friend might be lost out at night.”
With a whoosh of ruffled feathers Rainbow Dash soared in above them to come in for a landing. “No sign of her in the gully behind the south field,” she said a little winded. Since they had discovered Twilight's abandoned work site, the six of them, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Spike had devoted themselves to the search for their missing friend. Being the fastest and able to take advantage of high altitude, Dash had immediately taken to doing flyovers of the surrounding topography.
“Horse-apples,” Applejack swore. For the last several hours she had been directing Rarity and Pinkie Pie in making a through search of all Sweet Apple Acres. “What on Celestia's green earth has that filly gotten up to? It's not like her to just wonder off like this without telling anypony where she went. And now we're running out of places to look.”
Once they started to search in earnest for Twilight, Fluttershy had shooed all the other ponies away from the site of the strange magical disturbance. She wanted to make sure that any hoof prints that the mage may have left weren't disturbed or trodden over. Using her knowledge of the outdoors, she had slowly and carefully tried to reconstruct where Twilight had gone.
Unfortunately, despite hours of patient work she hadn't found anything of use. She had managed to locate Twilight and Applejack's tracks leading into the area, and had found lots of the mage's hoof prints around the magic circle and her notebook, but no matter how hard she looked she couldn't see any sign of Twilight leaving the area. This had to mean that Twilight had teleported away, but Fluttershy could only guess why she would feel the need to do so.
Spike had spent the time reading through his caretaker's notebook, hoping to find some insight into where she had gone. Even considering the top notch education he was receiving from the mage, he was only able to wrap his head around some of the things he found within.
The last entry he found particularly difficult to decipher, as it consisted mostly of densely written mathematical expressions and Twilight's thoughts on their relation to her spellwork. One passage towards the end he found particularly worrying though.
...2nd and 3rd Derivations of above transformations yield respectively translational and rotational matrices for the geas structure. Recursive application of the above could then conceivably bring dimensional resolution down into the normal range for ponies. This presents the possibility of passage through the central rift by a living thing with minimal cognitive overload. Proceeding with trial application of above stated version of Riemaneian manifold transform with Godel's statistical correction for...
That line, 'passage through the central rift' was raising a whole host of red flags for the dragon who had seen Twilight get in over her head on more than one occasion. The rest of it was all pretty opaque though, so he was looking for references elsewhere in her notes that might shed some light on her musings and maybe put that sentence into context. It was not an easy search.
Finally the other four ponies wandered back from their excursions to check back in. “Did you find anything?” Fluttershy asked as she looked up from some small depressions in the dirt near the magic circle.
“Nothing,” Rainbow conceded with a frown.
“We didn't see any signs of her either,” Pinkie said, her mane going a little flatter than usual.
From the looks on Rarity and Applejack's faces, Fluttershy could tell they hadn't had any more luck. “How about you?” Rarity asked.
Fluttershy huffed out her frustration before beginning. “Well there are plenty of Twilight's hoof prints around the area, especially near that magic... thing. But I still haven't found any sign of her leaving by hoof. She may have teleported away, but unless you guys have any ideas I can't think of why she would need to do that. The strangest thing is that her tracks never enter her magic circle except for once, and they don't lead back out. This could mean she walked into the center of her spell and then teleported back out just to the near-by area, but then why would she waste the mana when she could just walk?”
Spike perked up at Fluttershy's interpretation of the tracks. “Um, actually she may not have teleported at all,” he said.
“What do you mean,” Applejack asked. “Did you find anything in that notebook?”
“Sort of. I don't really understand most of this, but there is this one sentence in her last entry.” After reading aloud the passage, Spike looked about for opinions. “Well, what do you all make of that?”
Perhaps it was due to not completely understanding the whole thing, but the words of Twilight's notebook sent a chill down the spines of her five pony friends. “Is that what this thing is?” Rarity said with a trembling voice as she indicated the twisting magical anmoaly. “The rift? Did Twilight actually walk into that thing?”
“I don't know, Rares,” said Applejack. “But I do think we should get some professional assistance with our search. I say we take this back to the library and send a letter to the princess.”
She found agreement immediately, and in a rush they all packed up and made for Twilight's library. Once there, the five element bearers and Spike all slipped into emergency mode. Rarity began drafting a letter to Celestia summarizing what was going on and asking for assistance. Meanwhile Spike occupied himself by pulling out any and all books that might shed light on Twilight's project, and Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Fluttershy all started sifting through the material.
No sooner had Rarity handed off her letter to Spike for sending than a stunning purple flash washed through the library. When the shining light died down all eyes turned to it's source; the display case for the Elements of Harmony. The element of Magic looked as though it were on fire. Livid violet plasma wafted off the amethyst gem and it shone with a brilliant inner light.
In a flash Rainbow Dash zipped over to the case and cast the glass cover aside. “Quick you guys, grab your elements!” she as she tossed them across the room to their respective owners. “I don't know much, but I know that's Twilight!”
“I completely agree, but what do we do with them?” Rarity worried as she clasped her element of generosity about her neck.
“Guys, I don't know where our Twi-Twi is,” Pinkie proclaimed in answer. “But we're her friends and I know that right now she needs us!” Then she held her own element close to her heart to squeezed her eyes shut tight. “The Elements of Harmony are trying to tell us something. If we just listen with our hearts...” She trailed off as the other four ponies all opened themselves to the magic they knew was inside them.
It was there in all of them, the Power of Harmony. A depth-less wellspring of light that they each touched in their own special way to activate the elements. As each of them reached out to take hold of this power they all fell flat. It was like walking up a flight of stairs and taking that last step only to realize there was no last step, and to have your hoof collide with nothing. There was nothing for them to grasp.
With a gasp Fluttershy looked around to her friends. “You can all feel that too, right? Whats going on here?” None could answer her and still the element of Magic blazed on.
“We've got to do something!” Dash proclaimed in a rising panic. “Something’s wrong with Twilight but this isn't working!”
Then just as suddenly as it had started it stopped. The light from the amethyst tiara abruptly cut out, and the clear violet gem slowly calcified into dull gray stone. Then all was still.
At last Applejack spoke. “Spike, get Celestia down here right bucking now.”
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It was cold. It was so very, very cold, and Luna knew that there was no respite from the chill. From the very moment her senses had returned to her, she had turned her sight upward toward that placid blue jewel hung in a pitiless black sky. It was like a shining pearl, bright with oceans, and forests, and clouds, and hope. She hoped there was still hope.
Her sister's cruel magic pressed down on her with the weight of continents, binding her soul deep within its last refuge, the Moon. In a way it was, perhaps not comforting, but affirming. Like finally finding all the lost pieces of herself and pulling them into her whole. Luna could feel the Moon's compassion and it's patience. The alien thoughts and will of her celestial body flowed through her in a way she had never felt before, and she could tell the Moon felt the same.
Luna could feel the shadows as well, the dark mysteries of the void that lurked wherever the light dared not go. These dark secrets and fell desires were not pleased with the Princess of the Night, but they were a part of her all the same. And she was a part of them. For the first time in her life the trinity of her being was unified: Moon, Luna, and Nightmare. The thoughts of the Princess could not be hidden from her other incarnations, they were all three sides of the same coin, three halves of the same whole. The mind of one was the mind of all, but that did not mean they all shared the same opinions.
The vast inexplicable cognition of the Moon was placid as ever, and it's musings concerning the goings on of ponies big or small did not fit well into Luna's brain. But it did support her in some way. Its twisting clairvoyance reserved kindness for it's smaller sisters' plight. It offered sympathy and strength where it could, but ultimately it could only look upon Luna's actions with mute incomprehension.
Nightmare, by contrast, knew everything: her hopes, her plans, her justifications and transgressions. Though a thousand years had passed since Luna had last been united with her, Nightmare Moon's malcontent was little cooled. She was the incarnation of unknowable darkness and as such, she had no sympathy for Luna regarding Celestia or the rule of Equestria. Her warped intentions spared no pity for impulses she saw as weak. However, though she was indeed cruel, Nightmare Moon was not needlessly so; she also knew about the student, and how much he meant to Luna.
Thus as the Night Princess pined for a world now lost, Nightmare did not berate or scorn her. She saw no need to add insult to injury and instead chose simply to sit next to Luna. The Princess knew she was there. She knew what Nightmare's presence meant and what the obsidian mare would say if she spoke. So rather than tear open old wounds, she too sat in silence. All three of them together, sitting, waiting, and hoping.
Each of them could feel Solar Flare's magic sealing them in, abrading against their soul and corralling them in on all sides. They could feel the spells she cast as one could feel the flexing of muscles under skin. Teleportation, fire manipulation, teleportation again, physical dissolution, a spell to crumble stone, animal possession with a strong stink of manticore, then a great outpouring of undirected destruction magic.
It all pulled at Luna's insides. She could only tell what spells Flare was casting, not why she was casting them, and that tiny insight filled the Night Princess with imagined dread. What is she trying to destroy? Who could she be fighting? Oh please Mother Faust, let it not be Dusk Shine.
Then the terrible strength of the tyrant sun flexed in a massive casting. Luna could almost see the twisting arc of light stretch forth from the very sun and splash over the surface of Equestria. As the spell took hold, the banished princess could smell with her arcane senses pine forest and loamy earth. Then all was still.
The quiet ate at the Night Princess, and she chewed her lip in worry. What was that massive spell? I don't even recognize the spell form, what is going on down there? Please be alright my loyal student.
The minutes ticked by with torturous slowness, but Luna could perceive nothing more. She tried to calm herself with the thought that she must be patient and have faith in her little ponies, but her heart continued to quiver in her chest. Then Solar Flare's magic went to work again.
A flash of enchanted speed and more fire manipulation. A short pause, then for just a moment Flare's power went slack. It was back an instant later in full force and Solar Flare cast again. A spell to freeze flesh and stop the heart, and with it the touch of a soul she recognized.
Dusk Shine!
Luna's scream of anguish fell dead as soon as it left her lips, her tears froze solid as soon as they left her cheeks. In her ragged torment she sobbed her vocal chords raw, repeating silently over and over. “I'm sorry Dusk. I'm so sorry.”
Without a word, Nightmare Moon extended a wing and wrapped in around Luna, who leaned into the embrace and wept.
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The squealing of metallic brakes woke Dusk Shine from a deep sleep.
“Last stop, Ponyville. Now entering Ponyville,” the conductor called as he walked through the otherwise empty train car. The trundling and swaying of the carriage had lulled the young mage to sleep almost instantly, and for all Dusk knew the trip could have spanned three days rather than the three hours it actually took.
In fact it occurred to Dusk Shine that this was the first time he had slept since Luna had tasked him with reading that children's book. That makes, what, nearly forty two hours without sleep? Oh Faust above, why do I do these things to myself? Gathering his saddle bags and the few other belongings he had brought, the severely sleep-deprived unicorn made his way toward the car door.
Manning the hatch was the conductor who, despite the unnatural daylight and the near midnight hour, looked slick, trim, and professional. “Mighty strange weather we're havin' isn't it?” he said, looking over the ruffled student with an appraising eye.
“Oh, I'm sure I don't know what you mean,” Dusk replied sarcastically. “It looks like a bright sunny day out to me.” That got a laugh out of the older stallion.
“I suppose that's one way of looking at it.” He laughed before continuing. “You know I've been all over Equestria, Stalliongrad to Vanhoover. And I can tell you that way up north the sun sometimes stays up for a whole day, but I've never seen it happen this far south.”
Dusk grinned in agreement with the conductors assessment. “I guess you see something new everyday,” he replied.
“That's the honest to Luna truth if ever I've heard it. Speaking of which, I can't say I've ever seen you on the rails before. Mind if I ask what's got you out on such a strange day so late at night?”
Though it definitely didn't look like it, it was past midnight. Dusk had been lucky to catch this train, as it was the last one leaving Canterlot until morning. Not that terms like midnight or morning seemed to have any real meaning anymore, but one's circadian rhythm didn't just give up without a fight. Still, it was apparent he was the only pony foolish or desperate enough to board the red-eye train to Ponyville.
“Oh, you know,” the mage began. “Boss says go here, meet these ponies, sign these papers, make these deals. 'Oh and just be sure to do it all before Monday so the stock price doesn't drop.' I'm sure you know the drill.”
His excuse was immediately accepted by the trim conductor. “I do indeed lad. No rest for the weary, as they say.”
Finally the train came to a full stop and the conductor threw open the car door, offering Dusk a hoof down as he stepped off. “You know, you seem like an alright kid,” he said. “My next shift doesn't leave until three in the afternoon tomorrow. If you're in the neighborhood, you should stop by the station and we could grab a brew together, Mr...”
“Dusk Shine.”
“Clock Work,” he said as he shook Dusk's hoof. “Pleasure makin' your acquaintance.”
“Likewise,” the mage replied with a smile. “And I'll try and take you up on that offer, Good evening.”
As he made his was from the train station an eerie wind ruffled through the town. The streets were bare of ponies but showed evidence of a recent celebration. Lunar blue pennants quietly flapped in the breeze, the only sound audible above the damning silence. Were this any other night, the soft noises of a town at rest would have wrapped the air in patient calm, but now the harsh sunlight pushed ponies to hide in their homes and left an empty tension in the air. There wasn't a soul in sight.
Knowing where he would be staying, he had taken the time to look up directions to the town library before he left Canterlot. The small clip-clop of his hooves on the flag stones followed him methodically as he made his way there. At last he rounded a corner and saw the great tree, enduring and calm as it drank in the unnatural light with bright emerald leaves.
Then a great flash of light in the distance almost blinded him. It came from over the rooftops beyond the edge of town, from somewhere deep in the Everfree Forest. With the flash came a great rising column of fire that twisted and lanced out with rays of burning light. In an instant it rocketed toward town, ripping the sky as it came. It passed high over Ponyville and the roar of its passing rattled the teeth in his skull. As its thunder rolled away in the hills, the streak arced up toward the mountain and headed straight for Caterlot.
Dusk's eyes were wide, only barely comprehending of what he had just seen. One thing he knew immediately though; that streak of fire could only be a bad omen of things to come.