//------------------------------// // Chapter 12: Sabotage?! // Story: A Lost Soul in a Dark World // by TasteTheSun //------------------------------// It didn't take long for the two to reach Canterlot, considering that Longspear had to ride on Black Iron's back as they flew back to the city. Once they got there, they made their way to the Canterlot Dungeons. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" Black Iron asked anxiously. "It's the only way we can stand a chance against Maxspell," Longspear reassured her. The two reached the cell of the ex-Royal Sisters. Luna was staring at the wall, while carving a line on it, marking the days. Celestia however, was in a far worse condition. She was lying down on the cold stone floor facing away from the iron bars of the cell. "Um... Princess?" Black Iron said softly. Luna turned to see who it was, but only frowned and furrowed her eyebrows when she saw the two. "What does thou want?'" Luna asked as she turned to face the wall again. "Has thou come to take us to our execution, Queen Black Iron?" "Actually, the name is Twilight. Princess Twilight Sparkle," Twilight proclaimed. This caught the attention of both princesses. "What do you mean your name is Twilight? You can't be Twilight Sparkle. The REAL Twilight Sparkle disappeared a thousand years ago. You may represent her by her physical features, but that doesn't give you the right to call yourself that. The real Twilight would never do what YOU'VE done this past week!" Luna replied harshly. "But it really is me! Why would I come down here asking for your help if I truly wasn't her?" Twilight replied back. "Still. How do we know you truly are the mare you claim to be?" "Because I have a witness!" Twilight said as she motioned at her companion. Both Princesses turned their attention to Longspear. "Ok then. If this pony can claim that you are Twilight Sparkle, then we will believe you.” Longspear took a deep breath before revealing the truth. "She truly is Twilight Sparkle, and I should know, because I was there when Maxspell and I pony napped her many moons ago. I was there during the search for her, the memorial service, her transformation into Black Iron, the fall of Equestria, EVERYTHING. But if there's one thing I will say, is that I am not lying when I say that she is in fact Twilight Sparkle, for that would go against my honor," Longspear said as if he were speaking to a grand jury. The Princesses didn't looked too convinced, "You may be telling the truth, but I want to hear it from her," Celestia said for the first time as she motioned towards Twilight. Twilight looked around anxiously before finally sighing. "Well, I don't know what else to say. I honestly don't blame you for not believing me. I've done so many unforgivable things to ponies, I've taken over all of Equestria, I almost killed both of you because of my hatred, jealousy, and anger towards you, which will become a reality by tomorrow. I have done so much wrong that I don't deserve to be the ruler of Equestria. Not like this. I don't even deserve the title as princess either. I mean, what else can I say when the world can only see a monster within me. So go ahead and don't believe me. I'm not the Twilight I use to be, but if there's one thing I would say, then it would be, 'I'm sorry.’” Twilight said with tears running down her dark gray cheeks. Celestia slowly stood up and looked down upon her. "Only the Twilight I know would say something like that." Twilight saw the compassion in her mentor's eyes and smiled. Using her magic, she picked the lock and opened the metal gate separating them. Both princesses united to give her a big hug. It was a reunion worth waiting for. Sadly, it had to be cut short. "Um... I hate to put a damper on your little reunion, but we need to go if we want to avoid some serious problems," Longspear advised. The three princesses agreed and made their way back up to the surface. ••• Back in the throne room, Celestia sat on her rightful throne, while the others stood at her side. It was almost time for the sun to rise. Twilight managed to remove the suppressors from The Princesses horns so that they could perform their duties. After another while of waiting, all four ponies perked up when they heard the throne room doors being pushed open. "Is everything alright Bla-...?” Maxspell cut off when she saw who stood in front of her. "W-what's going on here?" she managed to say after swallowing the knot that had formed in her throat. "Hey Maxspell. I hate to say this, but, I quit," Longspear said casually, in an attempt to hide his fear towards her. "YOU!" Maxspell exclaimed. "How dare you stab me in the back! When I get my hooves on you, you're going to be-" "Maxspell, you have committed the crime of pony napping, theft, homicide, and plenty more," Celestia said, cutting off Maxspell's ranting. She frowned when she heard what The Princess had told her. "It's over Maxspell. Your reign of terror ends now. And I'm done being your pawn in your corrupt game of chess, so you take back the armor you gave me," Twilight said as she brought her hoof up to the collar of the armor to pull it off, but something was wrong. The armor wouldn't come off. Twilight tried pulling at it again, but it wouldn't budge. She continued pulling until she began to feel pain. She tried other parts of the armor, but she would get the same results. "Hey, what's going? I can't take this thing off!" Twilight said as she began to panic. Longspear then came to her aid. "Here, let me try," he said as he gripped the color of the chest plate tightly. "On three. One... two... three!" he shouted before pulling as hard as he could on it, but was halted when he heard the screams of pain and agony from Twilight. Only then did he stop pulling. "Why won't this thing come of?!" exclaimed Twilight before noticing that Maxspell was chuckling to herself. "Oh Twilight. Did you really think I could be defeated that easily?" She said mockingly. "What have you done to me?!" Twilight shouted. "You see, I was afraid something like this would happen, so I took a few precautions in my plan by adding this little failsafe spell." "What kind of failsafe spell?" "The kind where the armor fuses to your skin, making it become part of you." Twilight was shocked when she hear what she'd been told. "You mean, I can never take this thing off?" she asked. Maxspell nodded in reply. Twilight took a few breaths to calm her emotions inside. "Very well then, but that doesn't keep me from kicking your sorry flank!" "I'm afraid you're too late for that, as well. Do you think I'm dumb enough to cast only one failsafe spell?" Maxspell replied before she closed her eyes. When she reopened them, the irises in them were glowing red, as well as the magic around her horn. All the other ponies felt nervous for what was going to happen. Then they noticed that something was going on in Twilight's armor. The fire ruby in her crown, and all the other gems in her armor glowed red as well. In an instant, the sharp pain in Twilight's head returned, only this time, it made her pass out on the floor. "Twilight!" all the ponies cried, horrified by what they saw. ••• Twilight stood motionless. She didn't know where she was. She saw that to the left half of her was bright white, and the right half was pitch black. Looking to her left, she saw Figment Twilight, her good side, in the bright white side. Looking to her right, she saw Black Iron, her evil side, in the black, dark side. Twilight began to feel something tugging at her right hind leg. Looking down, she saw a strand of the darkness wrapping around her and beginning to pull. It dragged Twilight closer and closer to the darkness, and to her evil self. She tried to fight back, but she couldn't budge out of its grip. Because of this, the darkness was making her evil on the outside. ••• "Twilight, are you alright?" Longspear asked as he slowly approached her. "Question is..." she whispered.”... WILL YOU BE?!" Black Iron said aloud as she sprang up, turned, and bucked Longspear in the side, causing him to fly across the room, and smashing into the wall. "You have no idea how long I wanted to do that to you Longspear!" Maxspell called out. "Maxspell, what are you doing to her?" said Celestia. "I'm simply showing my puppet here whose boss," Maxspell replied. "Now then, Black Iron, attack The Princesses!" Maxspell commanded. Black Iron eyes flashed, indicating that she had received the command. She went ahead to do what she had been told. She began to charge at The Princesses. Luckily, they were able to move out of her way by flying away from her. That didn't stop Black Iron though. She extended her wings and shot up into the air to engage the two sisters in combat once again. She fired several shots of magic at them, but she would always miss. On the other side of the room, Longspear slowly got up off the ground to see what was happening. What he saw didn't please him at all. He did notice something interesting when he saw Maxspell. She looked as if she were controlling something. That's when it hit him. He slowly limped over to the back of the throne to keep himself hidden from Maxspell's view. He quickly called for Celestia's attention. She noticed him below, and then motioned her sister to keep Black Iron off of her. Luna agreed, and approached Black Iron. "Black Iron, you have quite a terrible aim. Do you have difficulty hitting a moving target?" Luna said tauntingly. This enraged Black Iron, causing her to charge over to where Luna was. As Luna distracted Black Iron, Celestia flew down to where Longspear was. "What's wrong Longspear?" Celestia asked. "Princess, I think I know why Twilight is acting this way. Take a look at Maxspell," Longspear said. Celestia did what he said and took a peek at Maxspell from behind her throne. She did notice something about her. "See what I mean? I believe she's controlling her mind! If we don't stop her, we may risk losing Twilight again!" Celestia sat there to think for a minute. After a while, she had an idea on what she could do. She peeked out from behind her throne, aimed her horn at Black Iron, and activated her magic. In an instant, Black Iron got a sharp pain in her head, followed by her passing out and falling back down to the ground. ••• Twilight was almost completely consumed by the darkness. She could hear the laughter of her evil self from the back of her head. She knew she was done for. All she could do was to hold out her hoof, in hopes of someone grabbing on to it, and pulling her out. Thankfully, her prayers had been answered. She felt something wrap around her leg. It began to pull her out of the darkness. As Twilight's vision began to clear up from the darkness that she was being rescued from, she saw something bright wrapping itself around both legs and upper waist. It didn't take long for her to reach the middle, but when she got there, she felt her lower waist down being pulled back as well. Now she was being pulled from both sides. She felt as if she was in the middle of a tug-of-war. Fortunately, the good side was stronger, and it was pulling her closer. As for the darkness, it began to burn off as it crossed sides. Twilight felt like she was being saved. She was being pulled closer and closer to her good self. ••• Slowly opening her eyes, Twilight saw nothing but bright light, which only lasted for about a few seconds before regaining her vision. She rubbed her eyes as she slowly got up from the ground. Looking around, she saw that the throne room looked even worse than before. She noticed that someone was peeking out from behind the throne as well. "Did it work?" Longspear whispered. "It should have," Celestia responded while she rubbed her temples with her hooves. Longspear gulped before stepping out from the throne. "Twilight, are you all right?" he asked. "I think so. I mean other than the pounding headache I have right now, then I guess yea," she replied, to which she was greeted by a sudden death grip of a hug. "Oh thank goodness you're alright!" Longspear said excitedly while squeezing all the air out of Twilight. Suddenly, the other two princesses joined the group hug. After a few seconds of hugging, they finally let go of her. Out of the corner her eye Twilight noticed something unusual. Maxspell was picking herself up off the floor, while rubbing her head. The angry look on her face was scary enough to scare the living daylights out of any creature living in Tartarus. "Curse you Celestia! You've severed the bonds to my puppet!" Maxspell yelled from across the throne room. Twilight approached her with a smug, satisfied look on her face. "Sorry to rain on your padre Maxspell, but it seems that you've lost this little game of yours," Twilight said mockingly. "On the contrary my dear. I still have one more trick up my sleeve," Maxspell replied as she brought her horn to life with her magic. "Trick? What kind of trick?" Twilight said confusingly, when suddenly, she felt her entire body turn and buck Longspear, who was standing right next to her, really hard. He went flying across the throne room and crashed into the wall a second time. He slowly picked himself up while also trying to work his way through the pain he was feeling. "Hey! What was that about?!" he called out in agony. "Oh boy! I think you broke my leg, and a rib or two." "Longspear, I'm so sorry! It wasn't me, I swear!" Twilight apologized frantically when she heard Maxspell chuckling in the background. "I never get tired of doing that!" Maxspell said amusedly. "Maxspell, what have you done?" Celestia asked, her tone full of authority and anger. "Oh, well, remember what I said about one more trick up my sleeve? Well, that was it! I've cast a third spell on the armor, which gives me full control of it. In other words, I can control Twilight's body whenever I need to." Everyone else was shocked by what they had just heard. Suddenly, Twilight felt her body turn towards the Princesses. She couldn't move on her own at all. She was stuck, and there was no way anyone could free her this time. She felt herself begin to move closer and closer towards the two sisters. "Like I said before, did you honestly think I was foolish enough to cast just one failsafe spell? Please," Maxspell said as she continued controlling Twilight. "You may have severed my puppet's strings mentally, but not physically. Now, let’s pick up where we left off shall we?" Maxspell said with a sinister tone on her face. The Princesses were nervous at first, but were able to push that feeling aside so that they could focus on saving their friend. It wasn't like they have never fought a corrupt unicorn that was mad with power before. They knew they might stand a chance at winning this one. ••• 10 minutes later... Celestia and Luna laid helplessly on the ground in pain and agony. Maxspell stood triumphantly over them, with a big smirk on her face. Twilight stood behind her with tears running down her face. She couldn't stand being forced to watch herself attack the only friends she still had in this world. "Well, that was quite a plot twist! Isn't this the part where you defeat the evil being, banish it to who knows where, and then it's happily ever after?" Maxspell said mockingly to the two half dead ponies on the floor. She didn't know if they were dying or not, but she didn't care. They were going to be executed the next day anyway. Suddenly, two guards came in to take the two sisters out of there. "Be sure to take them to the hospital. I want them to be in good condition for their execution tomorrow," Maxspell ordered. The guards saluted in reply, and helped the two princesses out of the throne room. As they were making the transaction, Maxspell laid eyes on Longspear, who was still standing in the same spot where he was flung. "As for you Longspear, you've double-crossed me, and you know what that means, right?" Maxspell asked. Longspear shook his head nervously in reply, but deep down, he did know what it meant. He was going to die. He frantically scanned the room, searching for a way to escape. The only exit he could find was the windows. He knew it would be very risky try to smash through them, but what other choice did he have? After all, desperate times called for desperate measures. "It means that I'm finally going to do the one thing I've always wanted to do, and that's to kill you. Any last words?" Maxspell asked. "Well, if that's what you're going to do, than all I have to say is..." Before he could even finish, he made a quick dash towards the window on three legs. Using all the energy, and the force he could muster, he was able to smash through the stained glass window. Fortunately, the throne room was only two stories high, which lowered the chances of the fall killing him. That, and the large bush that was there to break his fall. After digging his way out of the bush, he quickly limped toward the palace entrance. Maxspell saw him limp away, which only fueled her anger even more. "You think you can escape that easy from me Longspear? Do you know whom you are dealing with? You can run, but you can't hide!" Maxspell yelled out to Longspear. She turned around to find Twilight smiling for her friend's escape. "As for you, you and I are going to have a LONG discussion between the two of us," Maxspell said as she forced Twilight to walk alongside her. Twilight feared what she was going to do to her. She could only hope for Longspear to come back and save them all from this death trap. ••• Questions, Comments, Complements, Any errors are accepted, always room for improvement! Be sure to like and follow me both here and Twitter(Pony3T)