Memoirs in Ink and Blood

by Corah Il Cappo


We Are

We are.

No longer were we individuals. We now stood united as one. One nation, standing together against a tyrant god who dared defile that position. One people, who had lost so much at the hooves of this cruel and uncaring god. One single unified being who still remembered the reign of Celestia.

We still remembered how it felt to feel safe. We remembered how it felt to have the gods on our side. We remembered how despite her power, she remained kind and benevolent, not crazed and maniacal. Those memories still burned deep within us, and although we knew that we may never get back those days now, it didn't mean we had to settle for anything less.

We were the masses, the many, the multitude. We were legion. A throng of thousands facing down a single god.

We gazed up at her, perhaps partly in terror but mostly in awe. Something about her was distinctly off however. It was as though somehow her very shape was capable of reaching into the depths of our minds and filling us with an unnatural dread. Her eyes were ablaze with arcane knowledge, and her wings were spread behind her, feathers now appearing as sharp as swords.

Beautiful, yet terrible.

She moved a hoof, and a wall of flames sprung up from the earth ahead of us. The heat was enough to singe the hair from those closest to it. There we froze.

We were one people frozen in fear. Or rather, we had been.

Now we were paralyzed no longer.

We had seen past false gods, and understood the truth.

We had rallied around our friends, living and dead, in singular dedication against our god.

We had forgiven our former enemies, and had perhaps found new friends in the process.

We had faced death and despair, yet had the courage to laugh and dance once more.

We had shared with one another, both in pain and in joy, and gave of ourselves that others would never suffer as we had.

And above all, we understood now that magic, in its most powerful, rawest form, was friendship.

Within us were Honesty, Loyalty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, and Magic itself. Without these, what did Twilight have? Her spells were impressive, and certainly showcased godly might, but what power could they hold? Harmony may be frail, but it was something beyond us. Beyond life, death, and god herself. Against Harmony, Twilight was powerless.

We stepped forth into the sea of flames, and we did not burn. We exited the other side of the wall of fire, and not a single hair on our heads had been scorched. Our hooves tramped over the embers, as though we walked on cobblestone pathways. Magic without friendship was nothing. Fires conjured from a twisted and ruthless mind were nothing to us now.

The usurper's face contorted into a scowl at this. She swept her hoof once more, and a sudden wave of unseen force shot forth from her. The earth and buildings ahead of us seemed to ripple from the shock, yet it passed us by without harm. We felt a breeze pass by us, and we continued unscathed. As her spell passed us by, a thin barrier could be seen around us. Those who saw it, however fleeting their glimpse, never forgot the sight. It was a brilliant kaleidoscope of colors, flashing from blue to red to green to pink to colors that Equinity had no words to describe. It was as though the visible spectrum had suddenly been shattered, unleashing new color from within it.

The glow of Twilight's eyes faded, and she glared down at us. Her look spoke volumes. This had suddenly become very, very personal to her. She stepped forward, pushing Discord and Luna to the side as she leaned over her balcony. Her horn suddenly ignited with blinding light, as she sent massive bolts of arcane lightning streaking through our ranks. The electricity arced around us, staggering our march for only a moment. As Twilight glared down at us, thousands of eyes glared right back at her.

By now the princess' eyes began to take on a look nopony had expected. Fear. For the first time in what felt like an eternity, something was withstanding her. In an instant she had teleported from the balcony, and now stood ahead of us in the street. She unleashed everything she could. Fire, wind, frost, stone, lightning, and spells that defied all logic battered against us, and yet we were unfazed. We stood as one against her, with Harmony as our sword and shield. Nothing she could conjure, no spell she could envision, no weapon she formed could stand against us.

We were many, yet one.

One mind.

One spirit.

One body.

One nation.

One people.

One army.

Twilight stood, still helplessly flinging spells against us, her body trembling as she did. She began to shout, to scream, to curse the very people whom she claimed to serve. She was no god. Perhaps she never had been.

We had seen gods once. We had gods who cared for us, nurtured us, allowed us to live in peace and in harmony.

Twilight had brought death, famine, and destruction to our door. She was powerful, but she was not our god.

We stood now only feet apart, a people staring down the god they had once adored. It was now we realized how small she was.

In an instant, that same glow that had once surrounded Twilight surrounded us. A veritable rainbow surrounded us. Not just six ponies, but thousands joined in Harmony. It felt warm and peaceful. In that multicolored illumination we stood shoulder to shoulder. Both those we loved, and those we had lost united. From a fallen Prince to the last goddess of Equestria. From the smallest filly to the lord of chaos himself. We were in that very moment, Harmony defined. Our colors rose into the heavens, filling the sky with a light brighter than any star, just before it fell to earth, covering Twilight in its glow.

She screamed.

At first she screamed in agony, her horn and wings disintegrating amid the flurry of colors. Slowly however, her scream began to change. It became one of sorrow. She wailed, tears streaking down her face as though a wellspring within her had been tapped. She fell, face down in the dirt, sobbing and blubbering like a filly. The light soon dissipated, leaving only a crying Twilight in its wake.

We stood and saw her now as she really was. Not a god, but a child. Her eyes opened, and she looked up at us through eyes thick with tears.

"What have I done?"

Her voice was scarcely above a whisper as she choked on her own words.

"I can see them. I hear them. I hear their voices. Calling out for me to stop... What have I done? Gods, what have I done?"