The Eternity of Twilight Sparkle

by zzCiver

Generosity

As the purple alicorn rushed through the Canterlot General Hospital she had only one thought to her mind. She did not care to sign in at the front desk, nor to apologize to the doctors she nearly knocked over as she burst through the double doors. Her mind constantly read and re-read the letter she had gotten from Spike.

Twilight, Rarity's had an accident.
I've taken her to the hospital, but she's not doing well.
Please come soon
Spike

She entered Rarity's room to see three faces. Rarity was asleep on the bed, looking battered and bruised from whatever she went through. Spike was by her side, crying over seeing his love in such a way. And the doctor looking between his clipboard and the machines monitoring the unicorn's health. When he saw Twilight enter her immediately bowed and said "Your Highness. The dragon said you would be coming, but I was not expecting you so soon."

Seeing one of her best friends in this state, Twilight began to tear up too as she asked "R-Rarity. Oh my god, what happened?"

Spike was the first to speak, though it was less an answer more incoherent sobbing. In a deep voice appropriate for a dragon his age Spike muttered "Rar. Why? I should have had it. How could I let you? I knew, you couldn't"

The doctor left Spike to himself to answer the princess. "It seems Lady Rarity was crushed under a great weight. From what I could gather, it happened at the Carousel Boutique in Caterlot. Rarity needed to grab a box from a high shelf. Spike offered to fly up to get it, but Rarity insisted on levitating it down herself. Her magical ability is not what it used to be, and she lost her grip, causing the whole shelf to fall on top of her."

Just like the sobbing dragon, Twilight began crying as well, though no quite as much as Spike. She approached the bed speechless to try to get a grip on what had happened. Rarity's grayed mane, usually in tight curls, sat frayed on her head. Two of her legs sat twisted in unnatural directions, indicating bones broken in horrid ways.

After a minute of sadness, Twilight was finally able to find words to say. "Is she going to be alright?"

The doctor wanted to reply imediately, but hesitated at the thought of the crying dragon in the room. He waved the princess outside to answer her question. With as much bravery he could muster he said "She is in critical condition. For a unicorn of her age to take such impact, it is amazing she is still with us."

"Do you think she will make it?" Twilight asked trying to find some good news to latch on to.

"If she were younger, or an earth pony she might have fared better under all that weight, but the way she is now..." The doctor stopped, searching for the right words to say to the grieving alicorn in front of him. All he could muster was "I'm so sorry."

Spike quickly opened the door on the two, nearly banging his head as he went through. "She's awake. Twilight, she wants to talk you you."

Twilight approached the bed to see Rarity, awake, but hardly showing it. She still lay down, her head not lifted off he pillow, and her wrinkled eyes barely open. In between tears she started to say "Oh Rarity, this is terrible. I'll find a way to help. I'll-"

"It's okay Darling." Rarity interrupted weakly. She tried to put a hoof up towards her friend as she spoke. Spike helped, and lifted her leg so she could hold her friend's shoulder as she spoke. "Don't be sad for me Twilight. I've lived a long and happy life. I've had success, I've had love, Spikey-Wikey has been better to me than any stallion ever could. I am just so happy I could see both your faces one last time."

With that last line Rarity's hoof left the princess's shoulder and landed off the bed limply. The machines to her right let out one long continuing beep, signaling the end to her life.

---

Twilight stood in the middle of the Everfree Forest, in front of a cave she had not seen in years. Her eyes were still wet, even several days after the loss of her friend. She was frozen at the thought of what she was about to do. To think that he had been right, that Celestia could not console her; it broke her heart almost as much as the loss of Rarity. The words Celestia spoke to her still rang in her mind, like a painful echo.

I'm sorry Twilight, but watching other ponies age is the curse of immortality. There is nothing I can do to stop the inevitable. As much as you need my help, I'm afraid this is something you must figure out on your own.

But she had already come all the way out from Canterlot, she had enough chances to turn around, and she did not. So, going forward and not looking back she squeezed her way into the cave just as she did fifty years ago.

"Well well well" a deep voice said as the princess entered the cave. "After all these years, the Princess finally returns." Twilight looked around the room to find the voice's owner, to find him simply siting by the fire. In a very hospitable manner Sombra continued "You know even with my injury, I could see you from in here. Hesitating. I see something I said back then had struck a chord with you, else we would not be here. Come, sit with me by the fire. You have nothing to fear from me this time." His left eye was still marked with the red scar she had given him in their last encounter.

Twilight sat down, and remained speechless. The two of them sat there in silence for minutes, Twilight not wanting to open up to her once-enemy, and Sombra eager to hear from Twilight why she returned. Eventually Sombra was the one to break the silence with the assumption "I suppose the reason you came now, after so long was because you lost somepony close to you. You had to watch them leave this world while you stayed."

"Rarity" Twilight said softly, still closing herself off to the unicorn.

"Such a shame" Sombra began, "She was the only pony who's love for gemstones could rival my own."

Sombra paused, still eager for Twilight to open the conversation. Twilight eventually started speaking, not directly to Sombra, but just aloud "All those years ago, when you said Celestia would not be able to help me, I thought you were just feeding me some lie to bring me to your side. I never thought the reality would hurt so much."

"Twilight, Twilight, Twilight," the unicorn said trying to open up to his guest "How easy would it be? For me to be the lying villain. The evil force you could point hooves at when things go wrong." He stood up and began pacing towards the far wall dramatically. Not turning back to Twilight he continued "No, I only tell the truth. The fact is Princess, the truth is far more mind bending than lies could ever be."

He turned around back to face the princess in the cave and changed his tone to a more optimistic one. "What if I told you that I knew a spell that could keep ponies alive forever? So you would not have to say goodbye to any more loved ones?"

The alicorn picked her head up to answer the seemingly preposterous question. For the first time in the past few days she responded with a tone void of sadness. "Impossible. Only alicorns are immortal."

Sombra removed his cloak to reveal his back as a way to strike home his point "Do I look like an alicorn to you? By normal magical means, you are right, immortality is near impossible. But, long ago I created a dark magical spell to give ponies life eternal. And now, Princess, I am willing to teach it to you."

Wiping the last of the tears from her face, Twilight stood up and approached Sombra. "I don't understand." she replied to the unicorn. "After all we've done to each other, why would you want to teach me, why would I wan to learn from you?"

With a slight chuckle Sombra passed by the alicorn and said "I believe you are more qualified to answer that. After all, you were the one to come back to my cave. Clearly you saw something in me, that you could not get from dear old Celestia."

Twilight looked away considering what Sombra had said. It was true that she had come on her own free will, because she was not satisfied with Celestia's teachings. And now here he was, offering a solution she could not get anywhere else. As a way to further convince the princess of his genuine good will, Sombra added "If you decide to learn from me," Sombra changed his tone to a more sarcastic one "I will be a good little pony. No crowns, no tricks. I will teach you what I know." He returned to his usual grim voice to hammer in his next point, as it was the most important "All I ask of you is your full cooperation. The training required to cast the spell will not be easy. I will have to break you, body, mind and spirit, but when you are done you will posses the greatest spell known to mare. The choice is yours."

With that said he returned to the fire while Twilight walked the cave, thinking. All things considered she decided that she could not live with herself watching powerlessly as time took her friends. She turned to the seated unicorn and with a breath of bravery she said "You are manipulative, cunning and I can't trust you as far as I can throw you. But you are the only pony who can help me. I want to learn the spell."

With a smile Sombra said happily "Excellent. We can begin training immediately"

He walked past Twilight towards the cave entrance, signalling her to follow. With his back turned to the princess, she said jovially "But I'm not calling you my master" and followed him outside.

---

The two ponies stood among the twisted overgrowth of the Everfree Forest next to a boulder the size of a small house. In preparation for teaching Twilight dark magic Sombra began with a question. "Tell me Princess, what do you know about dark magic?"

Trying to let go of her hesitations towards her teacher, Twilight answered "Not much at all. I've only used it a hoofful of times. I know though it feels different from normal magic."

Sombra summoned an orb of dark magic to emphasize his points about it. As he spoke it swirled and twisted with his words, showing his control over it. "Understandable, most ponies do not know about dark magic, and those who are aware do know know its inner workings. Even Celestia does not fully understand its glorious power. One of the most common misconceptions about it is that it is evil. This, Princess, is something you will need to understand before you learn to use it. No magic is inherently evil. Ponies are evil, and they use magic, dark or light, as they see fit."

Twilight interrupted with a question that had been on her tongue for a while, but could never find a way to say it. "And what about you. Are you evil?"

Sombra paused at this interruption, gave it thought, and answered his curious student. "Celestia has labeled me evil in the past when I tried to take back my empire, but what 'evil' have I done recently? Was it evil when I sat quietly for fifty years? Was it evil when I offered you a way to save ponies lives? Do not be so quick to throw around that word Princess, it carries great weight."

A look of guilt shot across the princess's face when she thought about those questions. Sombra peaked up when he realized what he said had such an impact. "Speaking of weight" he began lecturing again, "Actually brings us to your training. You see where as light magic comes from physical and mental strength, dark magic comes from weakness, from pain, from sadness. In order to teach you how to use dark magic, you will need to feel pain and suffering."

Upon this revalation Twilight became nervous. She knew what Sombra could do if she let him cause her pain. In an effort to skip this she pointed out "But I've already used dark magic, in the Crystal Palace. Surely I have already shown I can use it."

Red-black magic bubbled from the unicorn causing a crystal to emerge from the dark ball. Sombra placed it on the ground in front of Twilight and gave her a simple command. "Show me"

With little hesitation the alicorn's horn began glowing as green-blue magic enveloped its entirety. A beam of magic blasted from the horn to the crystal, causing it to grow into a jagged shape. Sombra looked to his student with a frown. "That is not your magic. I've seen your magic, in our duel. What you showed me was your ability to copy somepony else's spell, likely Celestia's."

He returned to the boulder and lifted it with ease using his red light magic."As I was saying, In order for you to learn how to use your own dark magic, you will need to be broken. In your state of pain you will have a moment of clarity when the dark magic takes over. Once you feel the magic flowing through you under a more controlled circumstance you should be able to harness its power on command. In other words, I won't need to beat you half to death for you to use dark magic."

He lifted the boulder above the head of Twilight and let it go. Naturally she caught it using magic and continued holding it overhead. For a normal unicorn lifting such a weight would be impossible, but being an alicorn she fared quite well. "Now Princess, is where the training begins" Sombra said "I will increase the weight of this rock, and you will hold it up. Now I am being open with you, your muscles will ache, your bones will break, and your body will be pushed well beyond its breaking point. But in your desperation, your true dark magical powers will come out.

He pointed his horn at the boulder and readied a spell. He said almost caringly "This is your last chance to back out"

Twilight looked forward with a determined expression. "I've had enough last chances today. Do it."

Sombra nodded and let loose his spell on the boulder. Instead of growing in size, the rock grew in density. For the first minute of the spell Twilight remained standing like a statue, unmoved by its increase in weight. As it grew so too did Twilight's concentration on the stone. Out of habit she extended her wings to get better balance holding the thing in the air. With each pound added to the already massive boulder she felt more magic flowing through her to keep it up.

A few minutes passed and she began sweating under the pressure of lifting the rock. Her face began to twist as more and more of her concentration was needed to hold her relatively simple levitation. Sombra noted this change in expression and said "Good, you are finally feeling the effects of lifting such a weight, Soon it will be too much for your body to handle and your bones will begin to break. Once the pain sets in your body will trigger and you will be creating your own dark magic."

Despite him saying soon, it was still several more minutes before she truly began feeling anything. It started in her chest; one of her ribs cracked, sending waves of pain across her body. The boulder dropped down several feet as she reeled from the experience. Sombra used a small blast of magic to knock the boulder back up and told Twilight never to let up.

Almost right after he was finished speaking another bone split inside the alicorn's body. This time her wing snapped clean through, falling limp to her side, causing her pain both a it broke, and again when it landed against her. The boulder wobbled, and the sudden shift in balance caused the other wing to buckle as well. Even if they were at her side, all the bones in her wings began splintering as excess magic flowed free through her body.

A wind began pisking up around the alicorn as she practically radiated magic from all sides. Her horn was barely visible under the blinding pink glow of her magical energy.

Another bone broke under the weight of the stone, this time in her back leg. It wrecked her with pain, nearly sending her to the ground. However she stood her ground and continued strong. Unfortunately, she did so by putting weight on her broken leg to keep her weight on all four legs the same.

Just as she got the hang of supporting herself on a broken leg, the other back leg snapped as well. Despite her best efforts, putting weight on both broken legs was too much and the alicorn was sent to her knees. When her knees hit the ground she felt her kneecaps shatter from the sudden force bearing down on them.

Now Twilight lay there, under an ever growing boulder, broken. But still she persisted, even to Sombra's surprise, letting magic forth from her horn. She closed her eyes, trying to take her mind off the pain racking her body from all sides. She immediately opened her eyes when she felt her skull begin to break itself apart.

Her horn began cracking, as a chip of it splintered and fell off in front of Twilight's face. She watched it fall to the ground below her and get swept away by the magical winds swirling around her. She then felt something coming from within her. What felt like a fire in her aching heart traveled up into her mind as she felt it taking over. Her eyes glowed dark purple and pink as her magic changed to match. The winds dissipated and she felt a sudden sense of clarity. The boulder, which once felt so heavy in her grasp felt light as a feather, which she tossed aside landing with a crash that scared away birds for miles.

When the dust settled Twilight managed to stand up on her four broken legs and understand herself. As she rose, so too did her environment. Trees around her uprooted themselves, surrounded by the same multicolored light that was coming from her horn.

Sombra stood next to the alicorn clapping his hooves together. "Wonderful, simply wonderful. Now you see the truth of dark magic. How much more powerful it is. And you take to it like a natural."

Twilight buckled as the magic faded and her broken legs shot pain through her body once more. In an astonishingly rapid manner she was enveloped in red magic and could feel the familiar effects of the healing spell. As the last few bones in her wing slid into place she asked to her teacher "So, what's the next step?"

Finishing up the healing spell Sombra lowered his head and said "I'm sorry, but for now you must wait. You are simply not ready to continue. Not until you lose somepony else close to you can you proceed."

"That's ridiculous!" Twilight snapped back at the unicorn. "You said I would save my friends!"

Sombra quickly retorted "I said that I could teach you. And if you think my lessons are not good enough then you can find a new teacher."

A look of guilt flew across the purple pony as she did not know how to feel. She felt like she had disappointed Sombra, a pony she once fought. But now that she wants his knowledge, needs his knowledge, she could not think of turning him away. She said to him "I'm sorry. I just- I don't want to see any more of my friends go."

Sombra looked back to his student and consloed her "I understand, I've lost ponies to time as well, but I took my losses to heart. and empowered myself." He looked away as he lost himself in his past for a moment.

Still looking away, Sombra explained "Imagine a door. On one side is you, and the other is dark magic. Under stress you are able to peek in the door, but it quickly shuts itself. What we are doing is breaking down that door so you may use dark magic any time. And as dark magic grows with pain and sadness, you are your most powerful after a great loss. The power needed to break these doors will come from your own pain, and simply put Princess, you've stopped crying hours ago."

He began walking back to his cave as he finished his explanation "Train in secret what you know, then return when you suffer. I will be waiting."

Comments

[Kyllerflynn13]

....... MORE!!!!!!!

[Der Kaiser]

i cant wait for the next chapter.

[zzCiver]

3616430
Yes, that was my inspiration for the first chapter. But I assure you What I have is store goes far beyond that comic.
That being said I never saw that note from the creator. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.

[Alcatraz]

3617002

OH OH OH, I just thought that since I'm writing a story from the same comic strip, why not do edits and reviews for each other hehe.

My editor hasn't been in contact for last few days :c

[Alcatraz]

I just got done with this chapter and I love the concept of being "broken" in the literal sense

[Gloria Beezus Rose]

"Such a shame" Sombra began, "She was the only pony who's love for gemstones could rival my own."
NO, u really the don't give a flying F### about her.

[ParodiaTheSilent]

"If she were younger, or an earth pony she might have fared better under all that weight,

That explains Granny Smith.

[Flicker Flame]

Sombra removed his cloak to reveal his back as a way to strike home his point "Do I look like an alicorn to you? By normal magical means, you are right, immortality is near impossible. But, long ago I created a dark magical spell to give ponies life eternal. And now, Princess, I am willing to teach it to you."

This is basically the plot of Sonic and the Black Knight.