The next day, Twilight looked out her window and saw a changed Ponyville. Steel and glass skyscrapers dominated the horizon, and factories were spilling smoke into the air. “The hay? How could all this be built over night?” Twilight asked herself. She rushed downstairs looking for her Number One or Two assistant or her student.
“Spike? Owloiscious? Starlight?” All was quiet, far too quiet for the mare. Without Spike, any trouble could not be reported to the Princesses in a timely manner, meaning whatever was going on may not be able to be stopped. Before she could contemplate the issue, Twilight heard a noise outside. Approaching the door she realized it was…arguing? In Ponyville? Opening the door she saw just how much Ponyville had changed. The central market was gone, replaced with a department store supermarket, with more right next to it. The town fountain and park was a carriage dealership, and worst of all…Sugarcube Corner was now a fast food sandwich restaurant.
Pinkie was sitting outside her former home, with a long mane and muted coat, sniffling. “Pinkie?” Twilight approached cautiously, rumors of the pink mare being unstable when upset were well known. “Is everything all…”
“No.” Short and forceful. “Why would it be? I don’t have the home I love and no one will let me make them happy. I can’t put a smile on anypony’s face, not anymore.” She waved her forelimb over what used to be the town plaza, where there were other ponies. They weren’t mingling or talking, no it reminded Twilight of when Rarity was in charge of the weather.
“Well, maybe you can throw a big block party? That’s sure to get everypony happy again.” Twilight suggested, hoping to cheer Pinkie Pie up. Pinkie simply pointed to a sign on the street. By Equestrian Order: No Parties are allowed in public places and after 7 pm, no parties are allowed to exceed 13 decibels of sound. A white Unicorn was under the sign being held back by a grey earth pony so that she didn’t tear the sign down.
“Go away Twilight. No pony wants to be by clown that can’t make anyone laugh.” Pinkie just continued to sit in the dirt, stifling her tears.
Twilight left Pinkie reluctantly, and hurried to Rarity’s shop. What she found was a high end fashion store with ponies coming in and out and trampling over each other like it was the beginning of the Hearth’s Warming shopping season. ’Well, it looks like business is doing ok for Rarity’ Twilight thought to herself as she witnessed what could only be described as a riot. Squeezing her way inside, no easy feat with all of the ponies, she found Rarity...sweeping the floors? “Rarity?” The mare looked up.
“Oh, Twilight. What are you doing here darling?”
“What do you think? Trying to find out what’s going on with Ponyville. Why are you sweeping floors?” The white unicorn looked back down at the task she had been doing.
“I need to pay my bills somehow.” At Twilight’s confused look, Rarity sighed. “It’s like this. Apparently I sold the Boutique a few months ago without realizing it. The new owners are allowing me to be a ‘consultant’ on my fashion brand! While they reap all the profit. It seems my habit of charity work is no longer allowed. Mine and Sweetie Belle’s rooms were transformed into sweat shops. Oh dear, Twilight, just leave, I can’t bear to be seen like this.” At that, Rarity picked up her broom and wandered off to clean up another fight that had broken out over a rather gaudy dress, in Twilight’s opinion.
‘…Focus Twilight, it looks like all of Equestria has gone completely insane. I need to find out if all my friends have been affected.’
Twilight went out and looked to the sky, scanning it to see if she could find Rainbow Dash, with no luck. Asking around town, she could fine very little evidence of Rainbow’s existence. Flying up to Rainbow’s mansion, which Twilight subconsciously noticed was rather extravagant for the Wonderbolt, she found no rainbows falling from the cloud, and found a note mystically pinned to the door. This building is closed during the course of the investigation of its former occupant, who has been arrested on charges of Bribery and Corruption. If you have any information regarding this investigation, please contact the Attorney General’s office at…. As Twilight flew away, she was rather satisfied at the fire that clouds can apparently make, though it didn’t alleviate her frustration. I’d better head to Sweet Apple Acres, though I’m not confident how Applejack or Fluttershy will be… Oh No.
Sweet Apple Acres had been replaced by a large factory. The main entrance said Appletown, with a stylized capital A over the gate. Applejack sold the farm? No, something must have happened. Flying down she saw Apple…Jewel? And she looked uncomfortable on stage before a crowd of ponies…with pitchforks and torches. Wonderful.
“Now I realize that the hours are harsh, but production has been down for too long and we need to make a profit this quarter.” A cultured Manehatten socialite voice spoke to the crowd by microphone. This did little to ease the crowd. “Please, get back to work. We need…” The crowd began to storm the stage, and would have attacked had a bright light not shined down on them.
“Enough! Return to your homes immediately!”. Princess Twilight Sparkle, Ruler of the Everfree, Magic Incarnate; hovered above the crowd, shining like an angel of vengeance. The crowd was quick to obey and scattered like cockroaches by a light bulb.
As Twilight landed she gave her apparent friend a Look that Fluttershy would have been proud of. AJ sighed, “You might want to come inside.” All traces of her Manehatten accent gone.
“It all started the last time the Flim Flam Brothers were in town, you know when I got my key? Well, despite their swindilin’ ways, Granny Smith made a deal with them and they became partners of AppleCorp…yeah I know the pun.” Twilight was not laughing, only continuing a Look quickly approaching Stare levels. “Well anyway, after Granny died, the farm just…had to change apparently.”
“Granny died! That’s not possible, she was alive just yesterday, I saw her in town!” Twilight was beginning to smoke and Applejewel was simply confused.
“Sugercube, you presided over the funeral, how can you not remember? Fluttershy was arrested for animal abuse the same day. Are you feeling oka…?
Boom! Apparently brick burns just as well as clouds do. There was nothing left of Appletown’s main building, with Applejewel only protected by a shield Twilight threw up despite being incensed with a blinding rage a certain green monster would shudder at.
“What is going on!” Twilight was pacing inside her castle’s map room. “Everything is wrong! Dash a traitor, Pinkie depressed, Rarity not creative, Applejack a Capitalist snob, and Fluttershy in jail!? What!?”
“Discord! Get out here now!” At Twilight’s command, a bizarre creature that looked like what happened when a child was given multiple puzzles but no instruction, appeared…in a pink track suit and jumprope?
“Hello Twilight, can’t talk now. Got an entire prison to bust Fluttershy out of, gotta train.” Discord switched from jumping rope to deadlifting a dumbbell with the label 10KKKK. “I’m going to find whoever arrested Fluttershy, the Warden, and anyone else and show them just how much Chaos they can take!”
“Wait” Twilight wondered “You know something is going on too and aren’t the cause?” Quite honestly, she didn’t trust her mismatched friend that much, with being the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony, practically her antithesis, so her suspicion was justified.
“Moi! Do this to hurt Fluttershy and the rest of you! Twilight you know I’m better than that now.” Discord was upset, but teasing as he usually is. “The truth is something has gone horribly wrong and I’m just as concerned as you are. What’s ever happening isn’t my fault or a scheme I forgot about. No this isn’t Chaos, it’s Order.”
Twilight was confused, isn’t order good? Before she could ask, Discord seemed to have anticipated her question, and having shed his tracksuit took on a serious aura so unlike himself. “Order and Harmony are too different things, believe me. Harmony has need of Chaos, of change, because there is balance. With Order there is only stagnation, disease, and collapse.” Discord became even more serious and somber than he had been, seeming to evaporate all joy from the room they were in. “I am very old Twilight, almost as old as this world itself, for Chaos has been here since the beginning. A great Order has settled in this world, and it will not rest until ruin has come. Look at the thrones of your friends, those who’s Spirits are the Elements of Harmony.”
Twilight looked and was horrified at what she saw. The thrones were cracked and warped, changing into new shapes and turning black. The Throne of Loyalty became a papal seat, while Kindness became a simple chair carved out of a single block of obsidian. Generosity transformed into an extravagant throne designed for an ancient empire, Honesty became a black lounge chair one might find among the mafia, and Laughter became imbued with images that belonged in a carnival of nightmares. The only thrones not drastically altered were her own and Spike’s, simply having shattered into pieces.
As Twilight beheld this image, a great rumble shook the castle, and the Rainbow that granted her friends power in times of need, shot from the center of the map into the sky. But this rainbow did not bring joy or Light, but Darkness. And it soon spread across all of Equestria.
Twilight and Discord rushed out of the palace, and with a single glance at the sky, saw that the Dark Rainbow was spreading a cloud of darkness all across Equestria. Discord looked on sadly, almost appearing to turn gray, and without a word, vanished in a flash. That coward left me alone! Twilight thought, but she too considered running away. The ponies she knew a loved were panicking, running to whatever shelter they could find. One, a young Earth colt with a brown coat ran right into Twilight’s leg.
“Help Princess! Before the monsters get me!” Before twilight could ask what monster, she saw them. The black insect like creatures from her Dream, coming out of whatever shadows that existed, pooling together into an undulating mass of terror.
“Get Behind me now!” Twilight ordered and the colt obeyed. She used her magic to create a shield around them, but quickly the swarming creatures began to make cracks. The shield would not hold for more than a few seconds. With a cry, Twilight fell as her shield failed, and was swarmed by the dark creatures.
Do not give in…
Twilight opened her eyes. She was floating in and endless black, void. It was so cold, and she could feel her chest turn to ice as all of her deepest thoughts of inadequacy, jealousy…every dark thought she ever had came rushing to her mind. Every moment she ever regretted seemed to condemn her and sink her further into the abyss.
Fight…
What would be the point? She did horrible things. Manipulated minds, hurt her friends, considered letting them die to protect Equestria from Tirek. Fighting would only make things worse.
The light will show you the way…
Light? There is no light her… Wait, there is a light. Slowly but surely, Twilight remembered all the good times she had with her brother, Cadence, Celestia, Spike, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Luna, Discord, the Crusaders, everyone she ever cared about! How could she let those memories fade away? With this Light Twilight began to feel a great warmth, and with a wave wind that roared like a mighty lion, Twilight beheld a star floating before her. On an instinct she could never explain, she reached out and grabbed the star.
A great flash and the creatures were gone. Her hooves firmly planted on the ground and her weapon in her magical grasp. Weapon? Looking to where her magic was sparkling, Twilight found the strangest object she had ever seen. It had an appearance similar to an old fashioned key, but looked as if it was based on her. A pentagon in the same shade of purple as her coat surrounded a handle that her magic firmly held. The pentagon’s bottom point had a golden chain with the chest the Tree of Harmony used to make her castle with dangling from it. From the flat, top end of the pentagon, a long and golden unicorn’s horn stretched out, with her crown affixed near the tip like the teeth of a key.
Key…Blade…
With barely a thought, Twilight readied her body for combat. Her legs evenly spaced apart, with the left side being slightly forward; her wings partially open, ready to take flight at a moment’s notice; her teeth gritted and eyes narrowed to the perfect point where to lock on to one enemy at a time. And her weapon, still grasped tightly in her magic hovering over her back with its hilt by her right wing and teeth by the left.
The creatures, who until that point had been tormenting other ponies, as one, turned to face her. Their wide yellow eyes unable to disengage from the blade in her grasp. In a swarm of black, they struck out at her, an endless sea of black and yellow, ignoring all other possible targets for their wrath. Twilight blinked time stopped. The swarm had halted before her, and in bursts of smoke a semi-circle of the creature in front of her vanished. Out of the corner of her eye, Twilight nnoticed the Keyblade was now floating away from her right wing, nowhere near where it had previously rested. She smirked, a smirk not unlike what her friend Rainbow Dash often held. A smirk of complete and utter confidence.
It was unfortunately wasted. There were no end to the creatures, and during the fight she saw larger bipedal versions of them running towards the Everfree Forest. Towards…”The Tree of Harmony!” Twilight cried. She rushed forward the swarm, constantly spinning the blade around her to keep the creatures off her back, front, middle, top, and even underside at times.
At last reaching the forest, she found her way blocked by four of the bipedal insects she saw. “Why are you attacking us!? What are you!? What do you want!?” The creatures gave no answer. Pools of black appeared beneath them as they vanished into shadows, popping up around her and sending waves of cutting wind in all directions. As soon as Twilight defeated one, another would appear. Soon she was surrounded by the creatures, growing far too tired to move.
Just when all hope seemed lost, a burst of chromatic light shined around her and the creatures where knocked away, bursting into smoke. “Told ya’ I’d never leave you hanging!” Looking up the path, she saw her friends! And they looked just as they did before this insanity began!
“Rainbow! Rarity! Fluttershy! Pinkie! Applejack! You’re all okay!” Twilight exclaimed, tears of joy running down her face.
“Of course we are darling. No matter what troubles we have or how things change, we are friends. We will always be with you when you need us.” Rarity’s smile spoke volumes for everyone. “Now I believe we need to head towards the Tree, I’m guessing it wouldn’t mind a temporary separation of the Elements, at least until the crisis is over.”
“Agreed.” Twilight said, and as one the Heroes of Equestria went off to save the world again.
Though many enemies crowded their path, not a one stood up to Twilight and her friends. They finally reached the Tree of Harmony, glowing with a prismatic light with its embedded jewels shining like stars. “Allright. Now we just gotta get th’ Elements and fix things up so their nice and orderly, then we can get back to our lives.” The others nodded, except for Twilight. Something about what Applejack said stood out in her memory. No this isn’t Chaos, it’s Order.
“Applejack, everyone wait. Discord said this darkness came from order, I don’t know if that’s what we should have the Elements make.”
“Well of course it makes Order silly filly! Everything working properly in an orderly fashion, nothing ever going wrong for anypony! Everyone content and at peace! How is that bad? We need to use the Elements to speed things up, duh!” Pinkie’s usual exuberant smile never changed from its usual perky self, but Twilight could see something inherently wrong with it.
“Yeah, come on Twi. We’re not going to be hurting anyone. We’ll be protecting them.” Dash’s face, always so confident, may as well have asked Twilight to clip her wings and jump off a cliff into jagged rocks.
“It is what they need Twilight. O-Oh, it’s just like with the Breezies. Ponies will be kept safe from harm, even if we must force them to understand that.” Fluttershy’s entire demeanor changed from her introverted self, to a tyrant.
As one, Twilight’s friends reached out their hooves to her. When they did so, a portal of darkness appeared behind them before the Tree of Harmony. A flash of light and Twilight’s Keyblade was ready for battle. Fluttershy put her hoof down, the others doing so as well, smiling sadly. “If that is your choice, I understand. But you will join us one way or another, everything eventually does.” One by one they turned and walked into the portal before it vanished. When Twilight looked up to the Tree, see gasped. Every one of the Elements except for her own had become black, as if all life had been taken from them. And Twilight could see that the bark on the Tree was peeling away…It was dying.
“I know you need mine to stay alive, but without the others I’d only prolong the inevitable.” Twilight’s magic reached forth and grasped the purple star at the center of the tree. “If I take this, then maybe I can draw those creatures away.” Her magic spread to the cold, black objects that once belonged to her friends. Twilight felt something beneath her hoof. Looking down, she saw the star her friends had made for her as a present. “I promise, everyone, I will fix this.” The five-pointed star began to glow, the light surrounding Twilight and the Elements in a protective shield.
“Wha…Wha!” Twilight was rocketed upwards, pin-balling through the sky. On the moon, in Luna’s disused but now rather full palace of refugees. A pink haired Celestia follows the comet of her former student till it vanishes from sight. She sighed and looked towards her sister and her arch-rival. “Are you certain that she will be safe Discord?” Her eyes were so full of exhaustion.
“Safe. No she won’t be. No one with one of those as weapon could ever be.” Discord looked out at the moon’s surface, smiling yet contemplative. “But if there was ever a person to heal our broken heart, it’s her.” Luna smiled and nodded. “Indeed dear sister, her heart is strong; Why else would she have been chosen? She will be fine.” Celestia sighed again, looking to the stars and their myriad possibilities for answers to a question she didn’t even know.
“I wish you the best of luck, my dearest daughter.”