//------------------------------// // Twilight's Failure // Story: After The Song // by BioQuillFiction //------------------------------// Upon exiting the room I found myself in a dusty eggshell white hallway with six other doors like the one I had opened. Curiosity took over and I peered inside the rooms by the small windows they had on the doors. The first room I peered at had Twilight wrapped in a restraint jacket hanging from the wall by chains tightly pressing her against the wall. Holy shit! Without thinking I threw open the door and ran over to twilight. All the chains looked as if they are held together this single small combo lock but damn it what's the code!? "Twilight are you awake!? Twilight!?" Her lack of response filled me with an icy terror, that's when I noticed one of those ear tags on Twilight's ear but it had wires going into her ears. Then that ear bleeding burst of static slammed into my ear and sucker punched my ear drums. "That won't wake her." Adagio spoke from the static. "What have you done to her!?" "She woke up before the others so I had to tie her up, as for her condition. Princess Sleeping Beauty is currently under one of my new spells that I discovered after my pendant was restored." "I thought you could only control people?" "Where you not listening earlier? Anger, sadness, fear, all of these and more the pendants can absorb their energy and transform it into a new spell I place into my songs, even figured out how to keep the spell on a recording. Right now twilight is experiencing my spell of failure on an endless loop. Constantly reliving her past failures, but that's not all the spell reshapes old memories making past victories into terrible failures. " Oh and ripping the speakers from her ears won't be enough to break her free and before she passed out again I told her the combo to her lock, so it looks like you can't help her." An evil laugh followed by another burst of static came before the cut. Damn it what am I supposed to do now!? If all my friends are like this then how can I help them!? Then another burst of static rang into my ear. Oh great she wants to gloat! "Aren't you satisfied yet!?" "Hu? My God what did Adagio say to you?" That voice, Sonata!? "How that hell!?" "Shhh. Keep it down, Adagio doesn't know I'm awake yet. As for how the hell, Looks like Adagio had Aria and I sent to her base of operations and from what I can tell it looks like the head Doctors office, but I’m not sure. Look I don't have a lot of time Adagio will come back at any time, I didn't get hit with those tranquilizer darts outside, damn thing got tangled in my hair instead so I managed to 'collapse' next to you and I put my pendent in your back pocket." She what!? I felt my back pocket and pulled Sonata's pendent out, still looks like it got shot. "But why? They only do harm." "Yes but when Adagio had us dragged here I had some time and found her notes on the pendants and the spells. They don't just absorb negative energy, possessive as well. Happiness, joy, even laughter. On non enchanted people the positive energy spells will remove any bad thoughts or feelings from the person but in twilight and the others case you need to do more." "Like what?" "You have to go into your friends minds and sing the spells to them there." Wait, what!? "And how am I supposed to do that?" "With the pendent, other than with songs as the control factor they also let us command people via telepathy. Well sorta... you'll see. But only as long as they are under the pendants control." "But what about the energy? Don't I need someone else to pull the energy from?" "Remember Adagio sent me my pendent three years ago and I haven't touched it until now so it should still have some juice left." "But?" Suddenly the sound of a door slamming came from the trackers audio. "Shit, gotta go. Good luck Sunset Shimmer." "Wait!" The static burst and the audio cut. "Damn it!" I held Sonata's pendent in my hand for what seemed like hours just staring at it. I trust Sonata but If I mess up and use a dark magic spell it might start to affect me, turn me back into that bitch I was ten years ago. If I don't try Twilight and the others will be stuck here because of my cowardliness and Adagio wins. I griped Sonata's pendent tightly in my fist and cleared all thoughts from my mind and then started to think about all the times I've won, not the way I used to the way I've won when I redeemed myself, when I changed. I felt the pendent shake a little in my fist then I felt as if I had fallen asleep again. * * * I felt as if my brain had been ripped right out of my skull and jammed into another. I awoke in a closet of sorts, the roof was distorted and endless as I looked up (almost puked... Can you puke in a mined). I gathered my thoughts and I managed to stand up and... wait a minute I'm quadruped, I'm a pony again!? What the hell!? I guess Twilight must be dreaming about Equestria then, I wonder what kinda sick twisted torment she's under right now. I immediately heard the sound of excessive weeping and what sound like a very one sided argument. "... And those letters on the magic of friendship where the biggest waste of time and paper I have ever seen in my thousands of years alive!" Was that Celestia? Who the heck... Never mind I'm in Twilight mined so she has to be yelling to Twilight... Celestia yelling at Twilight? That's her fear, her torment!? That's, that's... The worst. I should know I've had experience in getting yelled at and disappointing my teacher. "Why when I turned you into an Alicorn and made you a princess I expected better but you have been nothing but a failure ever since!" "But I... I." Twilight's voice was breaking and she started to cry. Why the hell am I just listening!? I threw open the door and saw Celestia standing over a weeping Twilight. "Twilight!" Twilight turned over to me. "Sunset Shimmer!?" Celestia looked down at her then back over to me. "Twilight don't move unless you want to lose more of my depleted respect for you!" Twilight curled up into a ball tearing up. "You! You were my biggest mistake!" What the heck!? This is Twilight's nightmare not mine. Unless since I'm in Twilight's mined the spell can affect me to! Shit! "All the students in my academy and I chose you cause I thought you had potential but you decided to peruse darker arts and ran off to that other world rather than just listen and obey like a good subject!" It felt like a dagger had just stabbed its way into my heart. Dammit every word is true! "Then when the portal finally opened again and you came back rather than seeking my forgiveness and guidance you steal the element of Magic take it back to that other world and attempt a hostile takeover! Twilight maybe a lost cause now but at least she got further along in her studies than you did! You Sunset Shimmer are a failure at being my student, a failure at being evil, and a failure at being a friend!" I found myself curled up like Twilight crying my eyes out. Nothing I do with my life will make up for my failures, nothing! Nothing... I felt a warm light coming from my neck... When I looked it was Sonata's pendent. The pendent!? Suddenly all my failures in life started fading from my thoughts and I started remembering all the good times with the girls. Our time in school, when we got our first major gig, when we first had a group of crazy fans burst through our hotel door and almost stole all our stuff for keepsakes. I may not be able to make up for my past mistakes and failures but I'll be damned if I'm not gonna try! And I have! I stood up at Celestia with tearing red eyes. "You're right I can't make up for my past failures and mistakes but I'm not going down without trying! Ever since Twilight and the girls blasted me with that magical friendship sky laser... whatever the hack it was I thought about what went wrong and for a while I was broken! "But the girls, even if it was a request from Twilight forgave me and opened up to me and after the Sirens were defeated I finally forgave myself! And nothing you say can change the fact that despite my past I have redeemed myself!" With that Celestia faded as did the library around Twilight and I. I found myself on two legs and hair mostly on my head again and it was just Twilight and I. I took a breath and walked over to the still weeping pony Twilight. "It's time to wake up from this nightmare Twilight." She looked at me with red teary eyes. "A... *sniffle* n... nightmare?" "More of a spell really." With that I grabbed Twilight in my arms and sang the first song I remember my mother singing to me when I was young. It was the first thing to come to mind. Dear little sun drop don't you cry The ground maybe cold but don't be shy Even as the sun sets in the night You'll be the sun in the dark of the sky. Twilight gave me a smile and faded from my arms, she was waking up and I started to wake up and leave Twilight's mined.