//------------------------------// // Chapter LXXXVI // Story: Journey to the center of Equestria // by Rarity Belle //------------------------------// Where Twilight had been able to collect such amounts of magic, was a fact unknown to both the dragon and the devil though. But somehow had the soothsayer managed to call on the very fury of the sun itself. That bright was the object that hovered before the mare. A giant, raspberry colored sphere that could only have been the sun was seen just standing there. The devil and the dragon got speechless when they noticed that it was still growing and thus charging. The wings of the exhausted dragon began to spread out again in a calm manner. His head was then turned over to the devil with a toothy grin. “I think, that that package has your name upon it. Enjoy it while you can,” he replied to the devil before a chuckle was given off. With perhaps the last strength in his body did he fly away and circled around the tower. Only to land straight behind Twilight and his wings were tucked against his back once more. The beast could have spoken of luck that he had landed on a spot where there was a wall right beneath him. That way he wouldn’t have just crushed the floor they stood on even more. Strains of sweat were running down the sides of Twilight’s face. The sheer amount of power that was surging through her had almost caused her to have gone both in a haywire and an overload. But she had a task to perform. Twilight had to do the thing that she had wanted to do for only a few seconds by then. She wanted to see the burning of the devil herself, in front of her. There where Sunset Shimmer seemed to have failed, Twilight wanted to succeed. All sense of moral was nowhere to be found in her entire well-being. All that she had eye for was destruction and death, the path of a Dark Witch itself. Who knew, perhaps a little bit of Nightmare Moon’s essence had managed to nestle itself inside of the mare? There was one single thing that could have been deemed worse. The very fact that she was perfectly reasonable but still continued the act. Either way –whether Twilight was reasonable or just utterly insane– Nightmare Moon realized that she didn’t stood too much of a chance against her. The devil herself finally seemed to have found her mortal match. The alicorn had gone once again out of the frying pan and straight into the fire. She had to take it up against Twilight herself. Not to mention the fact that she was angry. Escape was the first thought that rushed through the alicorn of course. She didn’t had the desire to be burned alive any time soon. She had only just managed to get her physical form back and there wouldn’t have been a way in the world that she would release it again. The eyes of the devil were narrowed as the orb of black magic seemed to have gotten more powerful. There was always a way through which she could fight out. She had to endure whatever it was that Twilight had prepared for her. She just had to grit her teeth and push on if she wanted to make sure that she would come out as the victor. But on the other side of the battlefield had Twilight the exact same thought. All of the powers were collected within the massive orb as it continued to expand upon itself. Deep ex- and inhales were given off by the unicorn. And every single exhale caused the orb to expand even further upon itself. Almost had Twilight used all of her stored magic into it. Almost was she ready to just fire the thing at lightning speed towards the devil. Almost was she ready, to give the payback that she wanted. The breathing continued in a heavy manner as the eyes were closed under force. The vast amount of light that was cast into the gray world. The vast amounts of raspberry light almost would have acted like the actual sun before the time was there. The time had fallen upon the unicorn to finally release it. It still wasn’t as powerful enough as she would have liked. Yet at least she could do some massive damage with it. That alone was something good enough for her. One last yell was given by the unicorn within the distortion of time. One last yell that spoke a thousand and one emotions at the same time was given off. Then was it finally released. Then it was finally fired at the direction of Nightmare Moon. Twilight kept a careful eye to the events because they would end, when they opened up again. Yet not a single word was spoken by either of them. The devil herself watched over the orb that headed into her direction. Disbelief and fear took her over as she realized it couldn’t have been escaped anymore. A teleportation spell could have worked but there was too little time to cast it. So there was only one thing that could have done by her. Which was to raise yet another shield to shelter behind. With the dark magic that had collected in her hand, Moon summoned a shield that began to surround her just before the fiery orb hit her. The mare soon enough felt the incredible heat even through her own shield as it tried to keep everything out. Yet the fires of the orb were powerful, too powerful for her maybe. For they began to consume the shield in which the devil had hidden. The vast amounts of anger were poured into the thing as well and Moon felt it clearly. All of the anger that the unicorn had placed into it began to chew at her. It did the opposite of what it normally did to her. Instead of feeding her, it almost seemed to have been weakening her. Usually would the anger she had gotten from beings was meant to another, but that anger was aimed directly at her. The anger of the soothsayer originated out of one being and that being happened to be the devil herself. Which in return spoke of the fact that it couldn’t have been used. More and more heat began to penetrate through the shield of Moon. The eyes turned from left to right as she couldn’t believe what was happening. Years had she been planning the plan she originally came up with. She thought to have taken all of the factors in account and had thought about all the possible variables. Turned out that there were still a whole lot more variables left that were never given any consideration. Twilight and the dragon continued to just look at the massive orb of flames that were trying to consume the original Dark Witch. Twilight hoped with all of her heart that she would have been able to release herself from the curse placed upon her. She wanted to get the revenge for the destruction of her own mind. Nopony would go unpunished for such a horrid deed. Nightmare Moon had to pay for her crimes and that was exactly the thing that was going on. The dragon thought that she had gone too far, but given how it was the original devil that they spoke about did he quickly change his statement. He simply watched over the soothsayer with a worried glance in his eyes. A glance of worry that spoke of the future. Would Twilight be able to regain her more collected side after the devil had been vanquished, or would the trouble arise again? Those kinds of thoughts horrified the dragon before he shook his head. It was Twilight after all, there always would have been things that didn’t seemed to be making too much sense about her. Or that could have been stopped from her. The dragon could have only prayed in silence in the moment. All before his head turned back up to watch the massive orb of flames. He wanted to see how everything would have gotten to an end. He was curious as to how powerful, Twilight was. Nightmare Moon felt the heat crawling more and more towards her. Though she seemed to have gotten enough of it all. The devil roared in pain when she realized the shield just wasn’t powerful enough. The devil was a mare that more so would have been fighting around and about with brute force or mind power. It was not one whom was likely to go into the defensive sides of battle with either haste or ease. Though in that moment was she forced to do such a thing, or even better: just go away. It dented the pride of the devil a whole lot more than she originally had planned of course. But it seemed to have been for the better if she just went away. It would have been a whole lot better for her if she just went away from the scene and gave the battle to Twilight. That didn’t mean that the war was won by them though. Far from it, in fact. The devil would return at one point or the other in their lives. But for the moment did she had to make her great escape. The dark magic that she carried was charged up even further. And with one deep sounding poof it happened. The shield that tried to keep the magical flames out of their way just vanished as the body of Nightmare Moon did so as well. The orb of flames was shot a little but further forwards before it began to lose power quickly. It didn’t have anything to crash in against or to do, so the only thing that it could do was to loosen up power and give it back where it belonged. It went straight in the magical reserves of Twilight Sparkle. The unicorn felt the increase in her magical abilities when she allowed a gentle inhale to be taken. The dragon watched over the skies after he noticed that the devil had just vanished. She had just vanished into thin air like the coward that she turned into. “We’ll meet again, devil. We’ll meet again at one point or another,” the dragon mumbled to himself. Then a deep exhale was given off. Twilight on the other end fell down to her bum moments before she tucked her legs up and rested her head upon the knees. The soothsayer was in the need of having some time alone. Some time alone to get everything straight again in her mind. The scattered mess that her mind, happened to be was the perfect bait for anything that wanted to do harm to her. ~~~~ In the meantime had both Nightmare Moon and Sunset Shimmer returned to the inner circle of Tartarus. The devil herself appeared as the clouded figure while only the eyes and the hands were visible. Sunset just appeared as the essence she had been since the dragon roasted her. The devil wasn't happy about her defeat at all. But didn’t saw reason to punish Sunset for that little fact. The devil lacked the raw and primal power that Twilight was having in that moment. But she still had managed to get the thing that she always had been wanting to get. The essence of Sunset was chained and the devil smirked like the cruel being she was. “Finally have you returned to the lair that you always were supposed to be at. No need to answer, Shimmer. I have a trophy spot ready, just for you.” A deep grin was formed within the fog that was the essence of the devil before she allowed the magic to once again travel through her hand. “I’m sure that you will find company in the being that rests next to you. You remember our little Chrysalis right? The mistress of changes? She’s here as well. Both defeated by that wretched company of anthronies.” The ‘eyes’ of Sunset went wide when those words were spoken. She never had expected that a Dark Witch like Chrysalis could have ever been defeated by the company of mares. Whatever had happened, was a thing that she would soon enough figure out. Because beneath her there was a portal that opened up. A portal that certainly would have dragged her down into the very pits of Tartarus. The one place where the fires burned for eternity and she could rebuild a body for herself. Only to start the cycle all over again in her eyes. Even though she was once more in the hands of the devil, the spirit never died inside of her. Or better said: what was left of her. ~~~~ “W-What h-happened?” the voice of a terrified Twilight Sparkle asked to the faint air that was around her. The dragon caught the words in his ears and lowered his body down a bit. He curled up around her in order to distribute the massive weight that he carried evenly. His body was placed on such a manner that it always would have been covered by walls beneath so that the floor wouldn’t crack. Only then did his head turned over to her and looked her in the eyes. The unicorn never seemed to have moved from her position. Twilight just seemed to have been utterly terrified. The unicorn wanted to cry so badly as well, but the tears just weren’t allowed to come from her eyes. Whatever had caused it, it had changed facts whole. Not to mention the fact that she seemed to have been almost completely unaware of everything else that had happened. There was just too much stuff going on around her. Or better said: not going on. Time was still standing still and the mare wanted to know the finer details of the things. Why could she and the dragon move? Why didn’t the grayness even attempt to get a hold of her. She was sitting right there, ready to be taken away by the forces of time itself. Yet nothing happened. Nothing happened to the pair of them in fact. Answers were the things the mare needed. And the only creature that was able to give her those, was sitting right in front of her. So with the thoughts known to her did she rose her head up and glanced over to the beast. Who just sat there in a relaxed position. Nothing regal was seen about him when he just did what was ought to be right. There wasn’t any need to take any regal poses either. For in the moment was it just him and Twilight Sparkle that would have their conversation. “What, happened? Tell me, tell me everything you know,” spoke Twilight when she began to dig through her own memories as well. Memories that were in fact painful to go through, for she remembered the point where the giant centipede came for her. A shiver went down spine while she thought back about it and tore her glance away from the dragon for a moment or two. The dragon nodded in calm towards the mare before he began to tell his side of the story, for the shiver had told him more than enough. Twilight realized when the moment was that she was taken over by the devil herself. What he didn’t knew though, was that she had seen half of the battle the two entities were having with one another. “There was a distortion in the magical balance. How I sensed it, I still do not know. One could call it a gut feeling. But I sensed that something was wrong. You were in great danger and for the first time in millennia I left my sphere,” the dragon told her. His head then looked up to the grayness that surrounded them all. “After I left my rightful place, time in the world ceased to continue. The distortion you experience right now is my doing. When I’m not in my sphere, time may not move onward. I’m the engine of your world, if you remember. But I’m so much more than just that. Time ticks, because of me.” Twilight was having a fair share of difficulty to actually believe the words of the dragon for what they were, but it was better than nothing. The unicorn blinked a couple of times before she wiped her eyes clean from the tears. A gentle sniffle was then released by her and she continued to listen. There was no need to interfere with the words he spoke so far. She wanted to know everything that he had to tell her. She had to know what had happened before she came back. “So I rushed over to the spot where you were possessed and saw the husk of the centipede. The evil had come to your physical realm, the realm she wasn’t allowed to enter any more on command of the goddesses themselves. But when I arrived here, I saw them both fighting like they did. As well as your body being used for the matter. The rest, you can probably fill in yourself,” the dragon spoke. While he spoke, he never took his eyes off of Twilight. The unicorn nodded in a gentle fashion to the words that he spoke to her. She understood them all and realized the very direction from where he was coming. They didn’t make the matter feel any lighter to her though. She still feared the vast amount of power that was stored inside of her. Anything could have happened and she knew that fact. Anything could have caused her just so much troubles that she had to eventually lay down her profession as soothsayer. “What, will happen, now?” the mare asked him in a truly worried tone. Time had stopped and she had no real clue of any kind of a possible aftermath. The dragon could understand the worry in her voice, for not even he could have been thinking too much about it. So the first words that came to his mind were said to him. Words that hopefully fell in the right mood for the soothsayer. The last thing he wanted was to discourage her even further. “What happens now? What always had been happening. The devil has returned to her fiery realm in the depths of Tartarus. Sunset Shimmer, sadly, is forced to live there as well for as long as it is needed. But you, you have a bright future ahead of yourself.” The eyes of the unicorn didn’t seemed to follow him completely, because she rose one of her eyebrows. Confusion had managed to set in before she quickly shook her head a couple of times. The dragon realized what he had said to her and almost wanted to just hit himself right in the face because of them. “Allow me, to rephrase that,” he said to her before a gentle cough was made. “I meant of course, that you would continue onward with your journey. You shall be reunited with your friends and together make the way to where you were supposed to be heading,” the dragon spoke while he secretly seemed to have given her the plan. A plan that told her on how she actually should have continued. Twilight finally seemed to have been able to understand the words that were being said to her. She realized the fact that the journey had to be continued as well. The port of Manehatten was within their reach, the time to sail to Canterlot had almost fallen upon her. “And what of, the events that happened here? The battle between, them and, well, our talk?” the mare then asked of him. It was another legitimate question that was asked by her. And one where the dragon could have gotten by with. Though that didn’t mean that he didn’t had the answer upon it. No, the dragon had an answer for everything and all to come. Even on the matter that was displayed to him by her. A deep inhale was taken by the beast before he continued with his own words once more. “This event, shall become known as ‘The battle that Never was,’ for it never took actually place. We’re the only two creatures upon the surface of the world that know what happened here, how the events had truly been going. No other being, knows this.” Twilight nodded to the words while another question arose within her. One that perhaps could have changed the course of history about the dragon and herself. Even though the question felt like it shouldn’t have been asked, the answers that she needed were too great of a temptation. “Tell me, one more thing. If you control the time in our world, how can it be that we’re allowed to move through the distortion?” The massive creature released a deep chuckle as his initial response to her. The unicorn was indeed a very sharp one when it came about the matter. He had to admit that fact to her. But the answer was perhaps one that she wouldn’t have expected from him. “It’s indeed true that I control time in your world, but only a select view possess the ability to walk through such a distortion.” “You mean like, divinely blessed?” Twilight asked of him. She tried to make something understandable out of his words. A thing that seemed harder than she had anticipated. “No, I’m afraid that divinity has nothing to do, with sheer will power. The power of the will is what hauls you through a distortion. The will to keep on living and to do things. But not many creatures hold such a strong will to live on through something like this. Perhaps you only did, because of something else you carry inside of you. I can not tell nor can you find it.” The soothsayer reached out for her own chest before she gave it a gentle stroke or two. She wanted to feel if there was something perhaps hidden inside of her heart that could have given her any kind of information about it. Yet she then quickly turned her attention back to the dragon. The unicorn lowered the hand again before it was wrapped around her knee again. “You mean to say, that certain elements of life hold a greater value if they are kept a mystery, don’t you?” she then asked to him. The dragon could only have given a nod to the mare. “The past is set in stone, the present is the second you live in and the future is a worry none should trouble about. Time’s an interesting thing, Twilight Sparkle. It tends to make others forget, and others remember. Time, allows all the answers to fall in their place.” “I don’t doubt those words actually, Eternal One,” the mare replied just before she gained a gentle smile across her face. For the first time since everything had happened was Twilight Sparkle able to smile again in her own body. That very smile was perhaps the starter for the next words of the dragon. He rose his head up just before his body followed suit for as much as it was allowed. The unicorn turned around and slowly managed to get up on her hooves again as well. Mere seconds later was she looking at a dragon that made a bowing motion to her. Why he did it was unknown, nor did his words make too much sense to her. “Twilight Sparkle, the fires of an alicorn burn great inside of you. Not many creatures are able to say such a thing about themselves and even less manage to ascend to live up to it,” he said to her in a full respectful tone. Twilight was a little bit baffled by everything that was going on. Which resulted in her just bowing back to him. Almost as if she wanted to give him a silent ‘thank you’. But when the creature returned back up from his own bow, he looked around woods of Everfree and finally noticed how the storm had erupted above the place. Another gentle nod was given off by him as the attention then turned back. “This is where we part our ways again, I’m afraid. Time needs to start ticking again. It was both my pleasure, and privilege.” “No, they were mine,” the soothsayer spoke up quick before the dragon took off again. She would have simply watched him fly over the land while a great roar of sheer power was given off. The dragon was truly one of eternity and without a doubt a creature that shouldn’t be made angry. The fact that he spoke the words in the way he did, made her bow just once more before his might. But when Twilight turned around to leave the tower of Everfree, there was a sight that she didn’t wanted to see. A black hump of shattered dust just laid there. A hand was placed before her mouth as the joy of just yet turned straight down to sadness. A tear sprung in her eye as she shook her head again. Not a single word could have been released from her throat. The mare just knew from whom that was. Those were the remains of the mare she once dared to call a friend of hers. Those were the remains of Sunset Shimmer herself. They made Twilight just feel sick, she wanted to vomit over the floor. But no matter how many times she hurled up, there was nothing that came from her stomach. She had to get away from the place as quick as possible and never return. The woods of Everfree had gained another motive of just why Twilight never wanted to see them again. And more important, why she never wanted to go back to them again. With unseen haste had she turned her attention away from the scene and closed her eyes for just a moment. Just a fraction of a moment before she felt the first drops of rain falling on her skin. Surprise had taken her over before the eyes shot back open. Her eyes began to just stare down to the skies above her and heard the rumbles of the thunder as the lightning flash vanished from the corner of her eye. Time had started to move again and she was wasting valuable seconds of it. For as the wind picked up, the also carried the dust that were the bones of the passed on demoness. The eyes of the unicorn were closed once more before she spoke the last set of words that she could be saying on the matter. “There’s nothing left for me here,” she mumbled before her head rose itself up again. The time had come to her that she finally would have just gone back to the company again. A company of which she hoped to have been able to find through the darkness of the night. Time was ticking again and every single second that she just stood there, the company was most likely getting away from her. So the only thing that could be done by her was that she charged up her horn once more. “I’ll never forget the mare you were before the demoness, Sunset,” the mare said in a quiet tone before she wiped another tear away. “Friendly, kind, eager, a true, true friend.” What happened then was that she made a gentle step forward. A step forward through a portal that would have acted as a giant teleportation spell for her. She would teleport herself over the massive distance that was from the tower in the woods of Everfree, to the small spring in the woods of White Tails. To the mare it only seemed to have been one gentle step before she walked out of the portal in the woods of White Tails. The winds were caught in her ears and the leaves made their gentle rustling. Peace and serenity had come back to the forest when she noticed how the birds were singing their nocturnal songs. Everything was back by the way it was supposed to be. With the exception of one or two things though. When Twilight looked over the little spring, she noticed something. There wasn’t any other being that could be witnessed. That fact alone gave enough information to Twilight that the mares had gone off to someplace else. And the only place where she could have thought about happened to be nowhere else then into the direction of the port of Manehatten. But Twilight had one other thing that she needed to be doing. Something that she had wanted to do for a very, very long time already. The magic was charged in both of her hands once more and she walked over to the tree that she cursed with every atom of her being. The mare growled deeply to herself as she walked plainly past it and allowed her eyes to fall upon the massive centipede that stood behind it. “No more,” she spoke up to herself as she charged up her magical abilities even further. It was the husk of nopony else then Nightmare Moon herself. Any time she would have liked could the devil have returned to the physical plane of existence and caused her reign of terror again. No, where Applejack and Rarity said they had to leave it alone, Twilight wanted to just destroy it. Which was the thing that she did in anger. For blast after blast was released by her hands as the husk fell before her powers. It shattered into thousand, if not millions of pieces while she just stood there. Her breathing had turned heavy as she knew that it would have placed her on top of the hit list that the devil had. But said devil was welcome to try and get her again at any given time. The magical powers were then just discharged afterwards and the hands turned back to normal. One last sniff was given off by the unicorn before she turned back around. The general direction through which she had to travel was known to her. She could only have hoped that she would encounter the mares she had separated from. ~~~~ Speaking of the other mares, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rarity, all four just stood in utter confusion. They hadn’t noticed a single thing of the time distortion and were all three genuinely surprised on the fact that color had returned to their world. “Wasn’t there, grayness coming at us, a moment ago?” Rarity asked while she pointed to the bright colored stars with a finger. The sounds of the wind moving entered her ears and it carried the songs of the birds and the forest itself. “It was, yes,” said Fluttershy. The doctor couldn’t make anything from it. Though whatever had happened, it didn’t matter. They all three seemed to have been okay and that was the main thing that needed to be done. Applejack looked a little bit around their location and noticed that everything still was the same. With the exception of one little thing. In the distance she thought to saw a flickering light, a purple or pinkish light seemed to travel through the woods. “Ah’ll be growing a beard, ain’t that light from..?” A name couldn’t be spoken by the mare as she pointed towards it. The eyes of the three other mares turned around and noticed how it came their way. All of them had so their suspicion of course they had seen Twilight just teleport away like that. Not to mention the fact she was possessed the last time they saw her. “Twilight!” the lamia yelled in happiness when the unicorn stepped out of the fog. There was just this massive and genuine smile that came over the face of the soothsayer. A smile that told the rest of them something. A thing that told them all that the mare couldn’t have been taken over the devil anymore. Somehow, something had happened that turned everything around. Answers were needed, and time would give those to them all. All they had to be was just a little patience and greet their friend again.