FOTC: Chapter 13 - Finalizing
Even though their journey into the hive of the Changelings had been a failure, it had somehow turned out to be quite a success. Even though they had not found the amulet itself, they had found another trace up in the sky, and what was even more important: A whole arrangement of all sorts of wonderful books in which everything was written down. There was just so much to find out about the past of the place, she could have spent days just reading; and she did. What also surprised her pleasantly was Fluttershy’s little gift for her. She had given her a couple of books, although these were in terrible condition. Almost all of them had little bite marks on them, almost as if Fluttershy had found the books inside of a mice lair. Nonetheless, most of these books still proved to be a good source of knowledge. There was one book that she liked most though, a really thick encyclopedia called "Historia naturalis”.
It described in incredible detail the history of the civilisation inhabiting the castle, starting from the very first stone that should be the foundation for their land. That wasn’t the interesting part about it, though. There was something far, far more interesting about this book, something that was completely crazy and yet it was there, present on those very pages. They had had the Changeling with them for the entire time, it could not have been him. The entire book was written by a certain earth pony engineer, Silver Coil, who had--as stated by him--been the friend of the famous Starswirl. The whole thing began with a pony stumbling through a dark forest and falling into one of the old caves, which spread throughout the entire mountain, undiscovered by ponykind.
There, the pony found something that should change history: A red amulet, later only recognized as Ostia’s amulet. One day, that pony came knocking on Silver Coil’s door and it had changed its shape. What had been a unicorn once had become something entirely different: An insect creature, only later given the name "Changeling". The pony that had once been his friend was gone. An aggressive creature that tried to burn down his house had taken his friend’s place. When the creature vanished, Silver Coil started searching for the one cave where it all had begun. Of course, as the task demanded, he gathered a small group of scientists for the search. They went out into a deep forest and searched it hoof for hoof. It took them a couple of years to find the one cave, but when they did, it was all worth it. Even though the great aura emanating from the amulet itself was tempting, they restrained each other from ever touching it.
’The gravity of the whole expenditure was clear from our very first glimpse at the red heart, yet something drew us in ever closer as time passed on. We found each other staring at the gem for minutes and hours without moving, and sometimes expressionlessly walking towards it. The necessity of a sealed room had been clear from then on.’
The book explained in detail how the marble mechanism had been created in order to protect themselves. Silver Coil's ingenuity and Seven Feather’s architectural mastery had proven rather valuable for this cause. Although the marble chamber had been designed to keep themselves locked outside, it proved to be quite good at keeping things inside when they conducted ’further experiments on the nature of the red gem by means of interaction with living organisms’.
How cruel did you have to be to conduct experiments with living organisms on an artifact that had proven itself to be incredibly dangerous?
“Twilight, come on!” Rainbow Dash yelled down from a thick cloud far before her. The rainbow colored mare had laid down in a relaxed position, yet her body was tense. It was more than obvious that she was annoyed by the slow pace Twilight was keeping. However, Twilight didn’t let that bother her. She had more important things to do than race through the desert like a crazy foal after ingesting too much sugar. Twilight had to smile as she was reminded of the last time she had seen one, racing through the park in the late evening, keeping her mother too busy to notice the stallion she then inevitably bumped into.
Everything can be fun. When going to a quiet park, you can play mime. When searching for something you lost, you can play hide and seek. When you are told to sit still, you can have fun in the lands of your imagination. It is even simpler to have fun when your friends are around. Each and every moment of laughter shared is a moment that you will never forget and a smile you can wear for days. So, you can imagine that Pinkie was quite confused about the fact that even though she and her friends wandered together through a sunny day, there was just no fun coming up. Maybe it was the heat, maybe the repetitive environment, maybe the many distractions keeping them from talking to each other, and maybe something else. I mean, it isn’t really unusual that Twilight sticks her head into some book, Fluttershy goes out of her way to find flowers and other green stuff, Rarity is completely taken over by her quest to find the beauty that was the amulet, and Rainbow Dash… well… Rainbow Dash was actually mostly training with the Changeling now that it had become obvious that the rest of the group couldn’t keep up.
All of those were minor concerns though, she was the one pony who could get through any awkward silence, bring any and every crowd to smile, and make a party out of every boring old classical event. So, what was keeping her from doing her thing? That, dear watson, that is the elementary question. Was it just this desert? No. She had made enough of worse places to be sure that it wasn’t just the desert. No, it was something worse, something that she didn’t want to speak of, yet it clung to her like a piece of icing on your nose or in your mane. They were terrifyingly and undeniably drifting apart. There had come to be a certain tension between them all, something that shouldn’t be between friends this close. Although Pinkie wanted to fix it so badly, she knew that a wrong move could be interpreted so simply as just another dumb thing she did, another typical Pinkie Pie moment. She didn’t want to be the cause for further separation. What would happen if just a little gag would lead to just a little comment that would lead to just a little argument that would lead to everything falling apart?! One single teeny tiny miniscule microscopic miniature minute minimal meager miserable inconsequential mistake could mean the end of their friendship forever.
No. Acting up in her usual manner would just lead to desperation and terror. No, she would plan something greater, something wonderful, something truly magnificent, something that would go beyond any expectations or imaginations, something like her very first party. Just when, when would be the time for perfection? When would they find time to get together and enjoy each other’s company again? Every second spent searching for the amulet was another second between them, an invisible clock ticking down, slowly but steadily. The time was running out until she would be forgotten and left alone in some forsaken alleyway. She would have to search for food on the ground and in the trash of other ponies who still had friends, who would look down at her and laugh at her and despise of her and be disgusted. The world will turn dark for her and she will never find friends again and forever be a lonely pony wandering through empty streets in dark nights and hunger for the warmth she once knew. The only comfort she will have will be her own mane, filled with the dirt and rotten garbage from the street where she would spend her final days. No, this was nonsense. There was still time, they were still friends and as long as she would not give up, it would stay that way. Their friendship was stronger than their needs… wasn’t it? So many external forces had pushed them around, and through all of that, it had never broken. Yet, it had never been tested through themselves either. They all would have to decide what they found to be more important: Their friendship or their passions? No. They wouldn’t have to decide. Friendship and passions aren’t opposites, no, they are complementary. Yes. Now smile again, Pinkie, the sun is shining brightly and the day is still young.
Speaking of which, it was about to get a bit darker. Right in front of them was a huge cliff to either side, gigantic walls looming up so terrifically high that most ponies would have probably been scared to walk right in between them, risking their lives against anything that would fall down from up there. Such chasms usually were carved by endless streams of water over thousands of years, yet this one seemed to be different. The whole landscape seemed to have been pushed upwards in some literally earth splitting earthquake. Maud would have loved to see this.
Pinkie focused her attention on her friends’ expressions, seeing if they might want help dealing with this scary environment, but she really worried for nothing. Twilight was trotting far ahead, sunken deeply into her book, only looking up when her spell warned her of some obstacle approaching. Rainbow Dash and Ethereal were flying far above the group, scouting for any and all possible dangers that lay ahead, while it seemed that Ethereal was also being taught the art of watching out while flying. Fluttershy and Rarity were a bit behind, the former humming some melody while Rarity seemed to be sunken in thought. Applejack was now trotting right next to her, obviously bored. So, what would be better than a little walking song?
“Walking through the desert land, striding through the desert's sand!
Deep beneath the brightly sun, we are going to have lots of fun.
Come on, stop your frowny face, and let a smile take its place.
Hello there, little colored stone, sitting on your big black throne.
You and your black companion, down deep in this canyon.
Down here where you feel a chill, down here where the time stands still.
"Where we now wander in our prime, down here lost in time.
Down here through day and night, down here where it is always quiet.
Where we now yearn for our home, where true thoughts are shown.
Down here in this amphibigantic superenourmolossal astromoungous immendous chasm.”
In her enthusiasm, Pinkie didn't notice that Twilight had stopped walking, and thus she almost bumped into her. Singing a song could right so many wrongs. As she could not find anything to be the cause for Twilight’s sudden stop, Pinkie trotted a bit around, looking under every stone. They had just arrived at a sharp corner to the left, the momentous cliffs blocking any light of the sun.
“Twilight? Why have you stopped? Have you found something great, something incrediblous?”
“No, Pinkie. That is the problem. I've found nothing!”
“How can nothing be a problem? If there is nothing, then there is nothing causing problems so there aren’t any problems, but then again there is nothing stopping problems, so any problem is unstopped so there are problems, but how can a problem exist in the first place when there is nothing to cause it, but then again everything could have disappeared leaving only the problem behind, but if everything disappeared then also the problem would have disappeared because otherwise not nothing would have been left over and that means that - “
“Pinkie, I get it!” Twilight started to speak up, not only irritated, but also rather annoyed by Pinkie’s words. They are breaking apart. Friendships or passion, what would you chose? The lingering seed of distrust still lingered in her, and Pinkie hated herself for even thinking about such things again. Twilight just had a rough day… there was still one question though:
“Well, is there nothing or is there something then?”
“It’s not about nothing or anything.”
“Well, then it isn’t a problem, isn’t it?”
“Yes it is. The problem is that my expectations of finding something have been unmatched.”
“So the problem was not nothing now, was it?”
“Well, it - Ugh. The problem is that I have lost track of the streak of magical aura in the sky. It seems to just disappear into the damn wall!?”
Now Twilight was really pissed. That unreasonable rage, the strangeness of this part of her character so painfully obvious...
“What if the amulet is inside of the wall?”
“Inside?! That is… That is… that is actually quite smart. I could use the wave interference pattern of the wave motion spreading through the stone. That would be rather difficult, but I might be just up to the task, having only recently read the whole Encyclopedia rerum Saxorum et Formae et siti agri.”
“You have read the whatnow?” interrupted Applejack, obviously happy to finally do something else than trotting through eversameish corridors.
“Errm… It’s a book about stones and landscapes, so nothing special. It talked about the different speeds that waves spread in those mediums though. You may also want to read it at some point, it’s quite a good book containing any useful knowledge about the earth beneath us.”
“Why would I need a book that tells me what the earth hears? I am trying to farm, not trying to play it some music.”
They are drifting apart. You see it, don’t lie to yourself. Suddenly a soaring rainbow came crashing down from the sky, landing softly right next to Twilight, quickly followed by a comparatively lesser, yet all in all impressive performance by a greenly bolt following her.
“Hey, Twilight, why have we stopped? Is there something special here?”
“No Rainbow, there is nothing. And that is why we stopped.” Pinkie threw into the mix, then giggled just a bit. A mare has to has some fun from time to time, doesn’t she?
“So we stopped because of nothing?” Rainbow asked, now thoroughly confused. Ethereal also had a look of dumbfoundedness on his face, but he didn’t seem to be as irritated by that thought as Rainbow Dash was.
“Well, yes and no. We stopped because the track is leading literally into the wall. I mean, there has to be a way to find that damn thing and if I need to rip this whole canyon apart to find it, then it shall be that way. I am fed up with this. Now, if you would please excuse me.” With that, Twilight pushed Rainbow Dash aside and pushed her horn against the steep cliff.
Suddenly Twilight’s horn seemed to explode in purple streams of magic while bits and pieces of
the thick stone burst out in all directions, some leaving red lines on Twilight’s body. What was even more shocking though, was the bone shaking ripple that pushed itself through the ground and the walls, causing the chasm to transform into a rain of tiny and moderate stones, crushing down with immense speed. If it had not been for the quick reaction, the debris might have killed them. The thin green shield was the only thing keeping the thousands of stone shards from dropping. The thick layer of debris actually blocked out the sun, only a few rays making their way through the shield.
“I… I… What?” Twilight Sparkle was more than just confused, she was overconfuzzled and hyperdisconjumbled. Pinkie giggled at her two new creations, even though the situation was certainly no fun matter.
“I mean… this should… This should most definitely not have happened. I mean… The wall is… gone?”
The wall. The wall was really just… gone. While there was nothing but debris above and behind them, encapsulating them in a tiny shell, the wall that had once been blocking their way forward, following the red streak, was now gone. What had seemed like a massive cliff was in fact a thin layer of stone hollowed out by an ancient cave. No wonder Twilight’s spell had failed - She had expected much more resistance and thus had used enough force to feel vibrations through thousands of hooves of thick stone, but was only presented with a thin layer. Like a souffle being treated with an amphibious jackhammer.
Before them a giant hole in the mountain had opened up, revealing some kind of cave behind what had once been solid walls. Thousands of dark holes of varying size scarred the innards of this mountain. To each side the cave went on forever, only held up by the millions of fragile struts. Below them was an abyss reaching down to the depths of the earth, a dim orange light piercing through the eternal darkness. The whole thing was only held up by the thicker struts as millions of pieces just seemed to have broken apart with Twilight’s magic. Only further in the distance, you could still make out the miniature struts, most of them not much bigger than half a hoof. It seemed as the amulet had also done it’s work here, or maybe Equestria actually had a different lore:
Maybe a giant rock spider had aeons ago spun her little twitchy web in the depths of the planet and as time passed, parts of her net were crumbled by the harsh surface and the dust filled the spaces inbetween. When the aeon spider tried to save her net from crumbling though, a great war was sieged and the earliest ponies began battling for supremacy on the crust. Then, lord kingray rose from the ashes of his fallen brethren and threw his mighty lance and hit the aeon spider. When it died, it fell to the very core of it’s earth and since then, its burning heart fueled the core of our world and we still wander on its eternal net. Yes, maybe she should write a screenplay about the aeon spider. Though, who would watch a screenplay about spiders?
Well, there was one mare…
Fluttershy clenched her feet together as a bone shaking sound roared through the dark and deadly cave. It seemed like a horde of undead ponies were streaming through the deepest darkness down below her very feet. At any moment somepony or something could jump out of it from any angle. The only calming thing in this cave was the little critter snuggling on her side. She still could not exactly identify his species, only that he was warm and soft despite his skin lacking any fur. A pony could describe it as feeling weirdly uncomfortable to have something moving so smoothly around your limbs, but Fluttershy loved the way that snakes moved their soft and silky skin against hers. This little critter was a bit different, feeling less silky, but still it’s warming presence was a beacon of hope here.
It’s probably the howling of the wind through the various holes that is causing this sound, Fluttershy. That’s what they said, but how could she really know? What evil may hide in these caves? There might be anything, not only a horde of zombie ponies hiding in an underground laboratory, but maybe also a giant pony-eating worm they had awoken from its slumber or maybe the spirit of darkness slumbering in Equestria’s core. Maybe it was some inconceivable evil just waiting for the six little ponies - and snakelike being - to enter its giant layer to have a feast for all eternity. It would suck their flesh off their bones an- Suddenly something grabbed Fluttershy’s hoof, an incredibly strong force holding her back. She screamed until there was no more air in her lungs, but Twilight’s light didn’t seem to even care, just flowing further away from her. Had she not heard her? Had she also been caught? Suddenly the light turned off, leaving everything to be devoured by the darkness. There was only her and the thing that grabbed her now. After catching a quick breath, Fluttershy screamed again, as loud as she possibly could. There was no one to help her. Just the darkness surrounding her, filling her lungs. She pulled her leg but it just wouldn’t budge. She tried to at least turn around to see anything there, but there was just nothing but the blackness veiling whatever foe was trying to pull her down. In her fright, she quickly pulled her second leg back and then punched as hard as she possibly could. The pressure was gone. Whatever had caught her had suddenly released its grip. Now she jumped up and started running, just to be stopped by another thing suddenly pulling her front hoof away just as it was about to touch the ground. Her head bounced against one of the thick stone struts as she fell, and with the crunching of broken stone came the warmth of a thick fluid running over her head.
There was a quiet humming in the darkness. Onto this black stage, a couple of grey dancers seemed to walk, speeding up and then turning into a chaotic mess of grey and black. Where was she? Where was anything? All relations were missing. Up and down seemed to have lost their meaning here; here was just chaos. She was painfully reminded of those who she had left behind. Not only her animals, but also Discord. Every one of them had made sacrifices, but she still did not understand. Twilight had argued that he could sabotage them at any point, but why should Discord sabotage his friends? He would have had a joke or two, but otherwise? He would have been a great help, sheltering her from whatever situation she had now gotten herself into. Now she was alone. Alone in the darkness. Alone was good, wasn’t it? It was just a bit … scary.
Was it red? Or was it just her imagination? No. There was definitely a tinge of red down below her, defining what was below and above. Just a distant image of a color, but enough to regain orientation and the strength to try and push herself up. Her limbs didn’t want to respond to her commands, leaving her staring down at the red glow. What it might be? Maybe lava had risen up or maybe it was a giant glowing monster? Most likely however, it was just her imagination. Spooky imagery as she tended to get in stressful situations. Her blood flow was probably too high, pushing too much blood into her brain and causing some hallucinations. At least that’s what Mr. Greenheart, her new doctor, had said the last time that she had had one of these panic attacks on the stage. Even thinking the word brought a shiver to her entire body. She could already see the ponies staring at her, examining her every movement, every inch of her body, sniffing around on her, touching her with their filthy hooves, licking her body with their disgusting brown tongues.
No. No, this was just a dark and admittedly scary cave but there is no one to help her now so she has to do get out alone… and if she fails there is no one to help her and she is going to be either forever lost or driven insane or worse… So what could she do? She once again tried to move her limbs but it seemed as if her legs were just stuck between the struts, inside the thousand holes. How long had she been passed out? A small tingling sensation ran along her leg. Something was touching her. It was going up further and further. Oh my, Celestia, Luna, please, is there no one to help me? No! It climbed further and further… and surpassed her bottom, slowly making its way up further and further, until a little black friend appeared in her vision. Although the shock was replaced by relief, her heart was still pounding. Her little friend had found her… yet he or she could probably not really help her out of this situation. She was still stuck… just not alone anymore. Suddenly the world started to shake, everything - everything started moving, shaking, turning, shuffling, falling, breaking and crushing. In an instant she was free, but freely falling. Down onto another, huge strut. Somewhere before her was light and she started running. There was chaos, there was noise, there was no direction. A huge stone barrier fell down behind her, crushing where she had just landed. Another one caused the ground to disappear below her. She was falling again, onto another one. From the left came thousand stones, and she jumped. She landed and held onto the short ledge from the giant pillar that reached down deep into the red glow. She pulled herself up, just to feel the whole pillar falling to its side, taking her down with it. A sharp stone hit her flank and pushed her off the falling pillar, down further and further. Another strut just crashed as she landed, this time her hooves barely able to catch her fall. And she fell further down towards the red glow. She was falling alongside thousands and millions of small sharp bits and pieces, hundreds of giant boulders and pillars and thick stone walls. Everything in this cave was falling. Another rock crushed her back, but immediately let go again as an even bigger boulder shot through the cave, the impulse taking her down with them. It was pain and fear, that cramped her body, causing every beat of her heart to shake her entire body, to make her ears only hear the screeching and rumbling of an entire mountain crashing down. There was nothing but chaos and she feared it. She was not a stranger to randomness, to the kind of chaos that discord would represent when he was near to her. But this was not just chaos, this was deadly chaos, everything tried to kill her. Another sharp edge came out of nowhere, just to scratch along her side and be gone somewhere in the distance above her in a matter of heartbeats.
Then, there was nothing. For a second. For another one. No pain, no sound, no impact. Just nothing. When Fluttershy opened her eyes she had unconsciously closed just moments before, her fear was suddenly overwhelmed by pure shock. What in all of Equestria was that?!
Ethereal wasn’t very sure as to what exactly he was supposed to do. The sun was shining down on them relentlessly while only the giant wound in Equestria’s surface really gave them a sense of direction. A giant scar stretched from just where they were to the very horizon.
“You’re like an alicorn, with those wings and your magic. I wouldn’t let Twilight try it, for one because she is a princess, and also because… well… she doesn’t fly that well.”
His teacher had leaned over very - very - close as she spoke those words. There was a moment in which Ethereal wanted to diminish whatever little distance was left between him and Rainbow Dash, but he quickly caught his inappropriate thoughts.
“And that would be?” he said, trying to sound cool. She liked cool… at least that’s what he thought. Maybe he was trying a bit too hard, but maybe this was just the right thing to do.
“Well, it’s simple. I want you to accelerate yourself with your magic. Just create a flow of air and use it like I taught you.” She grinned devilishly, almost as if she was seeing the exact image in her head already. “And, you know, we may also get the chance to do this together.”
That sounded… quite tempting. He was still not comfortable with his magic, yet it couldn’t do any harm to try, could it? He had tried some spells already with increasing success. Deep in the night, when his teacher was already asleep, he had time to try out whatever spell came to mind - Which were, now that he was going through it, not actually that many. He had mostly used levitation in any and every kind of manner, but rarely more advanced spells.
However, speeding up wind would probably be as easy as levitating a bucket… Well, except for fluid and gas dynamics being a bit more difficult, at least that is what he had learned from … old friends. He took a few quick flaps as his mind started racing back to places he thought he’d left behind. Before his mind could conjure up images that tortured him at night, he quickly released the magical energy he had built up in his spell. The hot but fresh air suddenly streaming around his body quickly boosted him into the blue sky. Within one second, every thought was replaced by the incredible sensation of speed.
From behind, Rainbow Dash caught up in a matter of seconds, and with a loud swoosh she was gone in the distance already. He accepted the obvious challenge and angled his wings. She would not get away this easily. For seconds, it seemed like she was coming closer, but then she turned her head back and simply laughed. Then with a sudden burst of energy just disappeared, leaving behind a rainbow trail. Usually he would have simply given up or made an ineffectual effort, but this time may just be the time when he could beat her.
Quickly he increased the amount of magic he was using, but Rainbow Dash simply used the wind he created for her own advantage. But not for long. If he could just … narrow the spell a bit down…. The breeze intensified and caused him to slowly catch up to Rainbow Dash. The spell was getting harder to maintain, but it was still possible. Rainbow Dash didn’t simply give up however, instead continually accelerating against all expectations. Now, this was a challenge. If he could just increase the magic a bit more… Yet his horn already felt strained through the magical expenditure. Exhausting himself right here would most likely not be a good choice. Then again, he wouldn’t always have a chance to strike victory against Rainbow Dash. He focused intensely, this time putting most effort into controlling the flow of the air instead of just accelerating it. It was incredible to be at such a high speed yet not really having the drag of air pushing you back. For a second it seemed like Rainbow Dash could keep up, but then she was gone. He decided to make sure and flew a looong victory round, before finally decelerating. When he turned around to greet his slow teacher however, she was nowhere to be found.
It took him almost a minute until he even realized what had happened. Instead of overtaking his teacher, she had probably stopped somewhere. After a short second of confusion, he knew exactly where she would be. Of course, she would have probably returned to her friends in any case of emergency, so it was about to be a quick search.
“...stopped because of nothing?” Rainbow just finished asking some question.
Twilight started some kind of explanation about their stop, then pushed herself by Rainbow and pushed her horn onto the giant stone wall. Within the tiniest part of a second, nearly unnoticeable, a deep rupture made its way through the entire wall, fracturing into thousands of smaller branches, splitting up again and again, until the entire wall was just a puzzle of tiniest pieces - and then just exploded into a rain of a million small shards of stone. If Ethereal had not learned to make his shield a reflex to danger, that might have been their end.
Luckily his control over his spells had somewhat improved. As long as he didn’t overstrain his newfound powers, he would be fine. If however, he tried to use too much magic at once, it would once again erupt randomly. He had tried now for a couple of months to control his magic, yet it seemed as elusive as in the first days he had acquired it.
After a short discussion, they decided to advance further into the cave. It was rather surprising seeing the massive mountain from the inside: It was an assembly of thousands of holes, only small struts holding the whole thing up still. There was just one direction now: down into the lion’s den. This was their only chance to finally do what they had come for… and then? What was he supposed to do afterwards? There was no back, there was no forward, there was only this mission, which was not even his mission to be exact. He had just tried to not be left to his own insanity.
It was dark in the jungle of struts, every movement a potential enemy and every sound important information. Ethereal had tried not to fall into his thoughts, but there had been no escaping it. Where at first had only been the trotting of hooves, now was the laughter of his wife, his son. They were somewhere in the darkness, trying to speak to him. Sometimes he could even see their faces. There was… more than one instance where he had nearly turned and walked into the surrounding darkness. Only the purple light floating softly before him had stopped him from going astray. A beacon in the darkness, where his thoughts roamed freely and pain tore his heart apart. The pain of loss is not a pain easily going by, there is- Suddenly the light he had intensely focussed on just disappeared, leaving them all in complete darkness. Twilight’s voice echoed softly through the cave, the first voice he had heard for hours.
“Down there! I think we found it.”
“I feel it, too.” It took Ethereal a second to realize whom the second voice had come from. But there was only one voice that graceful.
Suddenly Ethereal heard hooves galloping into the distance. Without further thinking about it, he quickly followed. He took a few steps, when suddenly the ground below him just disappeared and he fell towards something glowing in a soft red. The air down here was thick and a bit too obstructed, there was a high probability of turbulence, yet when he spread his wings, he could instantly feel his descent slowing down significantly. The red glow illuminated the entire cave, a harsh play of colors drawing in any attention and rendering it difficult to make out other schemes. Yet it didn’t take Ethereal long to notice the hundreds of Changelings assembled in a concentric circle around the red source of intense light. The closer his descent brought him to the edge of the circle, the louder a mild chanting became.
“In nomine alveare vero reginam velimus. Libera nos ab omnibus malis!”
With his black skin and the … holes, he should definitely be invisible with this background. Yet that did not ease his nerves. Any false movement could very well condemn him to death. A painfully long second passed, then another. It took an eternity to reach the ground of the giant chamber. More than a hundred changelings were assembled to chant their chorus. The walls seemed to absorb the sound; there was no echo or anything similar.
Suddenly everything turned silent. He didn’t move, his foot had just touched the ground, making a noise that could never have been heard by anypony but himself. Queen Chrysalis started speaking, her voice loud and clear.
“It is time. We have waited long enough, my dear minions. For millennia now she has been imprisoned by her own creations. But her seeds she had tenderly cared for have grown in the years of foreign reign and the land that has been claimed can finally be returned to its righteous owner. Let us finally bring balance back to this world. Let us finally free our goddess Ostia!”
The chanting had died down during her speech, but now it grew louder once again. From what Ethereal could make out, Chrysalis was slowly approaching the gem with her horn glowing brightly. When her horn was just mere inches away from the brightly glowing gem, a green surge of unnatural electricity sprung from the gem to the horn, then traveling to the ground, causing the first Changelings in the circle to suddenly jolt, as if being hit by lightning. Just before Ethereal realized the danger he was in, the electricity caught him, but instead of shocking him, it immediately sucked every bit of power out of his body. He tried to get away, but he had lost the power to stand already, collapsing to the ground like a lifeless corpse. He tried to scream, but no sound came out when he opened his mouth. There was nothing but the noise of a thousand thunders, a light so bright that it shone through his closed lids.
As sudden as the surge of electricity had ravaged through the room, as sudden had it disappeared, leaving a feeling of being drained of one’s power. His body felt empty and yet heavy, like wearing a thick piece of armor after a day of training. The shining light slowly faded, leaving a large afterimage of a giant alicorn standing atop the pedestal, an image that did not bother to leave him alone. He tried to push himself up again, but it was almost as if they had taken all power he had ever had. When he heard a metallic clang, followed by another one, just a bit closer, he opened his eyes again. Not shining brightly anymore, but all the more terrifying was her image. Her hair was a meadow, green grass and flowers covering all of it. Her eyes were as blue as the brightest summer sky, her voice carried the softness he had only thought a certain yellow pony could impersonate. Her movement was gentle, but her insane smile brought shudders to his body. The tips of her hair and tail started bursting out into flames, consuming every living thing and only leaving black ashes, from which small seedlings erupted. Where she treaded, life followed, replacing the holes with vines and moss, filling up the ground below her. Yet when she passed the circle of collapsed Changelings, their bodies burst into a thousand parts, transforming into small black dandelions.
“For so many years I have waited. This day will be the day of renewal and shall be known forevermore. Thou duties are over, my little darlings.”
A voice right from the heavens, but not able to calm the agitation in his body. His heart pumping, his brain screaming, his legs trembling, the urge to flee climbing into unbearable levels. Another voice suddenly pierces through the darkness, causing the giant figure to slowly turn.
“You were prophesied to be the solution! You were supposed to bring the Changelings to new might, not simply smite my children. How do you even dare?!”
The laughter that followed shattered through his bones, causing bits of the ceiling to collapse down.
“My silly little Changeling. Why do you think you are here?”
The Changeling princess didn’t respond, but the silence was answer enough.
“You are here because I created you as imperfectly as I did. I ask you, how do you think you lead ponies? By force? By leadership? By friendship? No. You need to play with the desires of those who you want to influence. If they think it was their own decision, they will aid your cause freely. Just a bit of imperfection can make all the difference. You were designed to seek perfection but there was nothing to grant it to you. Without others you could not live and thus you had to come to me. There was no other choice for you but you still thought it was a voluntary decision. How foolish of you. You were not made to wander in Equestria without me, so just submit to your demise.”
She almost spat out the last words, the softness in her voice fading with every word.
The queen was furious, but she didn’t let out a sound. She was just staring at the alicorn before her, almost as if her stare alone could defeat this foe. The alicorn whose mane had caught fire once again just to be replaced by another row of growing sprouts just laughed at this gesture and stepped forward.
“Do you think you could defy me? None can stand in my way. I am what becomes and I am what is undone. I am the past and the future. I am the change. There is no force big enough to stop my advance.” After a short pause, the alicorn added an inquiry: “How does it feel to have your hopes betrayed, my darling? It’s nothing personal, it’s just how the world works.”
Before she could take another step, the queen herself started glowing in a bright green light, sending a whizzing stream of magic through the air, suddenly exploding as it reached a magic shield around the alicorn. The alicorn didn’t even seem to be bothered by the vicious attack, slowly and steadily approaching the queen.
“I have created you, why would you even think you could hurt me? You still have not grasped the concept, have you? I am your goddess and either you submit in this very instance or you will face my wrath. I will be your undoing!”
Queen Chrysalis did not even flinch, didn’t show a sign of awe or dread, but instead just stood high up, looking the goddess directly into her eyes, whose hair has just grown into a jungle again. While the goddess had formed her muzzle into a devious smile, the queen just grimly watched the alicorn stepping towards her.
“So you are going to chose death, I wouldn’t have seen it otherwise.”
With that, the alicorn’s horn lit up in a sickly green, from which a cloud of dark magic erupted, spreading through the entire cave, filling up everything, crouching into every hole and… consuming it. Through the thick cloud he could hear the tortured cries of thousands of Changelings, his own scream mixed into the sound. It wasn’t the pain itself, but it was the feeling of your flesh melting, your very self being consumed through this blackest of magic. What do you become when you become undone?
It was a sudden green flash of light in this blackness, followed by laughter that quickly cleared the air. The dark magic was no longer being fed, and thus began to dissipate. The queen didn’t stop with just one attack however, but released bolt after bolt striking the alicorn before her. Her anger had finally made its way through the thick wall of calmness and now surrounded her like an aura. Her vicious attacks did not stop even once, yet within seconds the goddess had put up a mighty shield. Chrysalis quickly stopped throwing out her magic as she realized how fruitless that struggle was. What tactic do you choose against an impenetrable shield? Now with the dust settling however, it wasn’t time to ask philosophical questions but instead time to finally get up again and either flee or fight. Fleeing was the more probable option seeing how the changeling queen herself could not break through the shield, so why should he even try?
Getting up was harder and honestly more disgusting than he had imagined: The black cloud seemed to have melted his carapace, letting it drip down and when the cloud had vanished, pieces of his skin had combined with the stone around him. It was utterly unpleasant to look at, but even more unpleasant to actually stand up from. He could feel his skin being pulled apart until with a small crack, pieces of it bursted in every direction, leaving deep wounds behind. Although it was different skin now, his flesh was still connected to it and thus pieces of flesh remained bound to the stone struts.
It was painful, yet still more bearable than being dissolved into a black cloud of dark magic. When he had finally managed to free all four of his legs, he looked back up to see that the queen and the goddess had started fighting again. The goddess was now shooting her black magic through the entire cave, only closely missing the queen, who in her turn never missed a single strike, yet despite her fervor could not manage to pierce the still unharmed shield.
The goddess spoke once again, her voice filling the entire cave: “You are weak and starved. Why do you even try to prevent the inevitable? You are not going to pierce my shield and thus you might as well just give up all your energy at once. There is no way for you to win this.”
“And you are blind and foolish. I am too fast and too smart to succumb to your mindless aggression,” answered the Changeling Queen, her words only pressed through her mouth between taking short breaths. She would lose the fight if she were to just continue. She would throw all of her magic out and have none to defend her. The goddess just laughed in response to the queen’s words.
The Changeling soldiers who had now recovered quickly started to surround the alicorn and attack her from all sides. None of them could actually manage to scratch the shield, yet their attacks disrupted the attention of the goddess. With a few quick steps Chrysalis moved back and let another soldier take her place in the circle that the Changelings had now conjured around the goddess. From there, she started channeling some mighty attack, but this was not the time to watch a fight in awe, but instead the time to finally get out. He started running - well, more like limping - away from these powers which were above his level of mastery. Now there was only one question remaining: Where was the exit? There had to be one as these Changelings and the queen had somehow gotten here, it just had to be somewhere along these walls…
The queen suddenly let forth the magic she had assembled, releasing it in one vicious attack. The shockwave of the explosion threw him into the air and smashed him into the thick stone struts that made up the wall.
Twilight quickly stopped her magical light when she noticed that certain aura, the aura that had kept plaguing her in her dreams. Down there, in the deepest depths lay the secret to her nightmares. Were it visions maybe? Celestia and Luna had often talked about the ability of an Alicorn to have visions of events that were not bound to their three dimensions, but could show anything at any time. Often they were caused by a strong magic, the only energy strong enough to actually pierce through past and future to cause such dreams. Twilight didn’t doubt the possibility that if some magic was strong enough, it would actually cause visions for every unicorn, or maybe all magically adept creatures, not only including pegasi and earth ponies, but also dragons, phoenixes, mage plagues and the many others. Down there somewhere…
Twilight quickly hurried forward. “Down there! I think we found it.” Within a moment, Rarity reassured her: “I feel it, too.” Then she heard it: Distant chanting of some sort, maybe a summoning spell, maybe an ancient ritual, maybe dark magic. Whatever it was, Twilight would find it out. She started galloping quickly, just hoping everypony would follow her even though her light was now as dim as to barely cover her own hooves. As Twilight hurried around the long, drawn out 180 degree turn, she almost ran into something she had not expected here: A giant door was just inches from her face… Down here. The door was held up by two huge struts spiraling upwards, their diameter probably twice or even thrice that of the other struts.
The purpose of the heavy door, however, made absolutely no sense to her. What sense made a door, if you could as well just go around it... by breaking the smaller struts to the side of course. It must be one of these doors of aesthetics that Silver Coil so adored. Strange how unknown such a pony could be even due to such incredible findings. The amulet, as some experiments had explained, seemed to break apart whatever was nearby. In a couple of chambers - as later scientists have written down in her “Historia naturalis”, the thick encyclopedia she had taken from the Changeling library - experiments had been made on the amulet back here in the outlands where no one would notice anything. The first involuntary experiment had been some kind of poor animal that they had trapped with the amulet - Well, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie Pie were here, but where were Fluttershy and Ethereal? If that fiend does anything to her… Maybe just a bit more time… And in the meanwhile she could already break the door or something, in the hope of not encountering a Changeling army right behind it. Maybe she could make a tiny hole to peek through first? - Anyway, the experiment. The poor little critter seemed fine for the first few days, but as time went on, the little thing got weaker and weaker, although the feeding schedules never changed. After almost a week, the thing was dead. When they took it out again, its body just deflated like a balloon. Whatever the amulet was, it was a threat to her and equestria. No matter where it was, no one could be safe while it still existed. Whatever force was in there, was definitely maleficent.
Twilight peeked through the small opening, seeing no Changeling out there, the door was completely unprotected. Her first magical spell tackled the task of analysing the general structure of the door, using some neat fluid mechanics, calculating some pressures and seeing how the whole thing reacted. To actually sense the change in your magic when you apply pressure is rather hard. You might know it from trying to lift something that is just too heavy, you feel that your magic cannot advance, that the thing just counteracts your force. It’s just like that, just much harder to actually detect. Of course she had mastered it in “Magical measurements” and “Magical finetuning”, the former one being a good book, the latter being a subject of several.
The door seemed to just be a regular door, the opening mechanism a simple bar that could be moved intrinsically with the right magic. It wasn’t hard to open it. Yet Twilight still hesitated before finally using her magic: If her friends weren’t here, they couldn’t advance and opening the door would just make it easier to be detected.
“Rainbow Dash? Could you… see where Fluttershy is? I am worried that she might have fallen somewhere.”
“It’s reaaally dark in here…” Rainbow Dash answered, insecurity in her voice, that vanished when she added: “...but I am sure I can find her. Can’t be so hard to spot that yellow flank in a black and grey cave now, can it?”
With that, she flew off, while the others waited tensely for what the door might reveal. When Twilight finally opened it though, all went to tatarus. A black cloud burst out from the inside, some trickery of black magic that she had not sensed when checking the door for hidden traps. As quickly as she could, Twilight got her shield up, but there was one pony - even two - in grave danger now: Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.
Rainbow Dash wasn’t pleased to not find her there. Fluttershy must’ve found some cutesy wootesy wittle itty bitty critter or something. It was dark, really dark, but it wasn’t the first time she had flown in darkness. In the deepest nights she loved to get out there and fly through Equestria. You never knew what was coming, creatures of the darkness or invisible obstacles made every flight out to be an adventure. When she had started to adapt to these nightly flights however, the sense of danger had faded with every flight. That was around the time when she had decided to try something new, something even more daring: She had decided to take on caves and cliffs and ravines, to give her the sense of adventure once again. One of her first places had been the ghastly gorge at day, just testing out the perimeters, later revisiting it at night. To be fully aware of the risk of a giant cliff eel just snacking you up due to your timing being just a hundredths of a second too late or too early, that is true adrenaline. In the second where you hear the maw just snap directly behind your tail, but you cannot even see the giant thing out there, that is when you feel alive.
This cave was nothing: Boring struts, almost no obstacles and almost as bright as day in here, at least in comparison to what she has been through already. It was a quick flight around the 180 degree turn that stretched out far too long for her liking, it wasn’t even a test of agility to get around it. Who built this place? Must’ve been some boring old unicorn wizard or something. No cool pony would build such a bor- A cold, cold breeze of wind suddenly rushed over her. It took her less than a heartbeat to realize that it was something else. A searing pain suddenly pierced through her entire body as whatever was there was consuming her body. She screamed and her wings were suddenly so stiff and she fell. In the last second she caught herself and flapped her wings as hard as she could to get out of whatever she had gotten herself into. Her eyes hurt so incredibly much as whatever was in the air tried to dissolve them. Closing her eyelids was impossible however, without risking to crash into one of these walls. Suddenly the whole cave had gone from a boredom central to death mountain. The shock was in her wings, trying to slow her muscles down, but it was also in her mind, pushing herself faster than she could’ve ever thought. Yellow fur, just… The moment of not watching ahead was the moment she would’ve needed to tilt slightly to her left to avoid the inevitable path. Of course she tried to do a quick evasion maneuver, but it was already far too late. Her entire body crashed into the wall, breaking struts apart until one was too strong. Within a moment, she was knocked out, the darkness surrounding her.
There it was. The magic, the aura. It was there, just hidden by the darkness. Twilight stepped forward, just to hesitate once again. They had to go back and get Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, but they were so close. She could feel it. The magic was everywhere. Just a few steps.
“Twilight,“ Applejack's voice sounded from somewhere behind her. “y’all need to come and search for them. We can’t go nowhere without our friends.”
“But we are soo close,” Twilight heard herself saying. Rarity agreed, but it was all so distant, behind the veil of magic that was there. So much power, so much knowledge just before her. She could become almighty and bring happiness to anyone and finally be worthy of her title. She would… lose her friends. And that wasn’t worth it.
“Alright, we … we head back.”
The dark cloud had dissipated, so why not let Applejack and Pinkie Pie head back and just go there? It’s too dangerous.
“Twilight, we could just let Applejack and Pinkie Pie search for-” Rarity began, but Twilights harsh look silenced her.
“We won’t lose anypony -” Whatever Twilight had wanted to say was silenced by a deafening sound, with which came a force so incredibly strong, just pulling them from their hooves and smashing them through the wall behind them. In a matter of ungraspable seconds came heat and pain and noise and fire and fear. It was only a second, or maybe two that their flight lasted, stopped by some of the bigger struts, but the explosion was long not settled. The heat was gone, but the noise only grew louder. From the ceiling, it started to rain. Not raindrops, but instead thousands and millions of smaller stones and pieces of the net, and the entire cave just collapsed. The shield Twilight tried to conjure for her and her friends was so incredibly slow. In every direction she looked towards was just falling death raining from above. Everywhere the stones were breaking apart and collapsing, the whole mountain dying under it’s own weight. Within seconds, the force onto her shield became unbearable, but she had to keep on. Twilight tried to move, but her right hind leg was .. oh god. What was supposed to be her leg was now just a bloody mess. Twilight’s heart started pounding so very loudly and the blood was just flowing out there and - Celestia, what had she gotten herself into here?
Darkness. A frightening darkness was surrounding Rainbow Dash as she opened her eyes. The memories she had did not match up with anything here. It wasn’t supposed to be dark and her body shouldn’t feel so immobile. She slowly tried to move her head down, but when she tilted her head further, her whole body was pulled down from whatever was holding it up. Her body just sunk into itself like a sag of old potatoes. With that movement, Rainbow Dash suddenly realized what was wrong. She wasn’t feeling, well, anything. No pain, no fear, no surprise, just nothing. Once again, she tried to push herself up, this time just a bit more successful. Around her seemed to be thousands of tiny pieces of debris: Spikes and stones of various sizes, all packed up tightly. Up above her was a particularly large strut, allowing her not to be buried alive.
Only very slowly her body followed her commands, almost as if there was a delay in the information travelling down into her limbs. At least she figured that much, she wasn’t that science-y like Twilight after all. Would probably be useful right now, but honestly, who but Twilight would sacrifice so much time for such stuff? There were so many more awesome things to be done than to spend a single day wasting it on books - Well, at least not THAT kind of books. “The Endosymbiont Theory of Bacterial Evolution” and stuff like that. Maybe she could have studied sports or something, but practicing is always more fun than learning, and sports theory is always so iffy. She didn’t love flying because she knew exactly how the air bent around her wings, but because she could feel and adapt at every moment…
What was she even thinking about? She was down in this hellhole and her mind had nothing better to do than to think about learning? No, she would have to find a way out of this, and possibly quick. There was no way to tell how long her little safe zone would remain even such. Rainbow Dash slowly stood up, noticing her body out of balance while doing so. It seemed as if… Yes. Her right wing was squished in between two rocks. The whole thing was a bloody mess, speaking of which… It seemed like her wing wasn’t her only concern as what had stopped her from immediately just falling down had been a rather nasty spike sticking out from the rubble behind her. The loss of blood was possibly what made her head so dizzy and her thoughts so terribly unconcentrated. She quickly looked around her tiny prison, although without discovering any sort of possible exit. To try and dig out could be a foolish undertaking if the debris above would just fill up the hole, suffocating her. On the other hand, it might as well be her only chance of survival.
It took her a couple of minutes or seconds or maybe even an hour - time had really lost its meaning down here - to decide that there was no other chance. Slowly, she put her hoof out to the ceiling and with a bit of force, the first stone came crashing down, not releasing a deadly shower of debris onto her. For the next one then. While Rainbow Dash started to dig her way through this ceiling, her mind drifted once again. What does time actually mean? Is it the passing of actions or is it something very intrinsically to every pony. How do we know that time has passed? She would’ve guessed it was only dependent of things actually happening, but Twilight always said that there was some kind of inner clock and that kinda made sense, too. Maybe time was a fundamental constant that Celestia and Luna had defined. What would living without time look like? That… kinda didn’t make sense, so Rainbow Dash went back to the last good thought. What if time was a fundamental constant, but that without even Celestia or Luna necessary to define it? That idea was strange, but she kinda liked it. There were foes as mighty as to fight Celestia, so why wouldn’t there be a constant that could go on without her even? But then again, it were Celestia and Luna moving the moon and the sun around, so wouldn’t a day always be as long as they liked? Well, then again, time also moved on when Nightmare moon tried to create the eternal night. Time wasn’t just gone then. Ughh, egghead stuff.
It was the 15th or so stone that actually started to get problematic. It just wouldn’t bother to move. Now, there was something special about this stone. It was strangely bright, and overall, it seemed like she had uncovered something. If she could just… Quickly Rainbow Dash descended to the ground a dozen hoof, then finally laid down. With a sharp boost from her muscles, she shot back into the air, putting her front hooves before her, and then crashing into the ceiling. Although it was rather painful, her plan actually worked the way it was intended to. With a dangerously low rumbling sound, bits and parts of debris came falling back down, making small gaps through which she could see… the sun? With a final push, Rainbow Dash burst through the last bits of debris in her way and pushed her way out.
A small glowing window quickly broadening in size almost caught her off guard. Not that she hadn’t expected it, but it still surprised her how strong her spell could be if her body was already aching with the pain. Her mind should be still screaming, but it had suddenly become so very clear and quiet. But her quiet mind scared her even more than the pain she had had. When the pain was still there, she knew how horrible the situation was, she could judge her actions well and accordingly, now she had lost the knowledge and thus was at the mercy of forces beyond her control. When the glowing light was gone again, she and her friends were facing the ruins of an entire mountain broken down to bits and pieces. In the midst of the ruins was a creature, a giant alicorn standing there with blazing hair, grinning deviously as a rather dangerous queen stands in opposition, panting strongly. It seemed as if queen Chrysalis had not taken the explosion as well as… whoever this other alicorn was. Not having heard of her before was a bad sign, but seeing as how she opposed Chrysalis, she must be a good pony. Maybe a lost princess, hidden by Chrysalis and abused for -
“Twilight, oh Goodness Gracious, what happened to your leg. It’s terrifying!” a sweet voice called out from behind.
“Rarity, it doesn’t matter! Right there, there our enemy stands. The last months would be for nothing if we were to lick our own wounds now. Also, how would you even consider not searching for Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy?”
“I… I don-” Rarity started to stutter, but was suddenly interrupted by Applejack:
“Well, she is mightily right there, honey. We can’t risk losin' you too just because you didn' care for a serious injury like that one. My great aunt had broken her leg once and didn’ want to do anythin’ about it. It nearly killed her, and I don’ wanna see you doin’ the same.”
“Applejack, I am not your aunt!”
“Great aunt and it has nothin’ to do with that at all. I… I just don’t want you to be hurtin’ yourself, okay?”
“No, not okay. It is vital that-”
“Oh, a fighter, I have made you strong.” The goddess’ words were like thunder, echoing through the field of debris. “But you will fall, nonetheless.”
The queen just spat out before the goddess before growling in a deep tone: “It isn’t you who has made me strong. No, the pain and horrors I had to endure, that is what made me stronger than you could have ever made me. You think you have had it all planned out, but much has changed. Even if we once were yours, we aren’t anymore!”
With that, the Changeling queen let out a terrifying howl, followed by a blinding lightning crashing into the alicorn's shield.
“Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, try to find the others. I have royal duties I have to attend to.”
“Not with that leg of yours!” Applejack screamed into the rift of time and space that had just been created inches before her. Only Twilight knew that the words never actually reached her. Another alicorn was facing one of her biggest foes and she could not just stand around while Chrysalis, the cause of incredible pain, denunciation, hatred and spite, was just standing there, smiting an innocent alicorn.
“CHRYSALIS!” Twilight’s voice echoed through the ruins as her friends were already starting to search frantically for those still lost.
“I don’t have the time to deal with you, little brat.” the queen snarled back with anger.
“You. You came to our land, you brought your parasites, you infested our beautiful Canterlot, my home town, you abused my brother, you hurt Celestia - AND YOU STOLE MY FRIENDS.” There it was again. The rage, a flame she had thought extinguished burning up brightly again, filling her veins with power, finally able to release. All these years she had waited for this moment and nothing would stand in her way, she would smite the queen until nothing was left but a pile of ashes. She felt the energy rushing through her body, to her horn and from there, she could feel the hot air around it, the stream of magic flooding towards the Changeling Queen. She poured her hatred into it and the queen screamed. And it satisfied her.
“You. A pretty little pony princess. I shall also claim your world as mine.” the goddess’ words made their way into her ear, but they were never truly heard. Only the screams. Only the screams.
When Twilight finally stopped, her body was exhausted, and her mind was empty. In a single moment, all the pain and all the feelings swept back over her, leaving her defenseless. Her leg was finally sending signals again, but those signals were pain in its purest form. She screamed, or maybe she couldn’t. Her mind - from one moment to another - had turned into a mess of thoughts and fears and death and destruction and a burning Equestria under her own hooves.
The alicorn she had just saved however, didn’t run or flee.
“What have you done? She was mine. She was my creation! It is not your decision to kill her, it is mine! You will be the next one then…”
The alicorn slowly turned around to her, her mane now a growing forest, her smile devilishly grinning.
“But I saved you…” Twilight brought out, her mind not understanding.
“You just killed the last defender. You doomed yourself.” The goddess spread her wings and with a mighty burst got up high into the air. From there, she released a dark bolt of liquid death, but Twilight’s mind did not react. The magic immediately started feasting on the shield, bits of it leaking through, trying to touch her body to make her one with the earth. She wouldn’t win this fight. She had used all of her power, there was no backup plan. Another fountain of fire erupted from the horn of the goddess, washing over the shield, burning her strained horn. But it wasn’t enough, the heat becoming unbearable. Twilight tried to teleport away, just away, but her spell failed her. The world around her started to blur as the fire suddenly stopped. Only when it faded, she could see what had caused the goddess to stop. A rainbow colored bolt erupted from the ground, flying up high into the air.
“What…?” The goddess was confused, just for a second. Enough time to properly concentrate and - The sudden surge of magic made the world spin around and around, Twilight being a good hundred hooves away now. She had used the reserves of her magic to get away, but what now?
“You leave her alone!” Applejack yelled, while Rarity quickly galloped over to her.
“Oh, I see. You have got friends there. Well, then it will be a delight killing them first, just to give you the most agonizing renewal you could ever expect.”
They weren’t strong enough. Even as five they could never withstand that kind of power. Rarity quickly created a shield around her, Twilight, Applejack and Pinkie Pie, who had now assembled. Applejack immediately started bucking heavy bits of debris in the goddess’ direction, yet her shield simply melting it, leaving nothing but molten vapor. The goddess replied, yet not in their direction, instead trying to catch the only unshielded pony. A few quick bolts were sent out, but all of them missed. Yet, with her own wings she quickly pushed herself into the air and towards the rainbow swirl. The many loops and turns made it impossible for the goddess to hit anything, but she didn’t need to aim as she released a deadly shower of spewing fire across the whole sky. Rainbow Dash was fast enough to avoid the full front, yet the heat burnt her right wing and Rainbow immediately started to lose height. With a last effort, the pegasus slowly declined and headed… for Rarities shield, bolts following her along the path, which she could only barely avoid.
“It’s no use. She is too strong.” Applejack cried out.
“We… we have to try," Twilight replied as Rainbow Dash came crashing into the shield, the momentum breaking a couple of the struts on the ground. Now, the goddess concentrated fire onto Rarity's shield and while the first bolt was deflected solidly, with the second bolt the shield began wavering, and with the third one it collapsed completely. Death was just a hoof away, yet there was a last force stopping it. Another shield just barely deflected the last bolt.
“You? You are the one who made me into this?!”
It was… the changeling? Yes. It was actually Ethereal appearing out of nowhere, suddenly shielding them with a thick green shield, seemingly impenetrable. Yet against this alicorn, it would stand no minute. There would only be one force enough to deal with such immense power. And that force is the magic of friendship… Yet as only 5 of them were here, it would be impossible to do this greater deed. In her quest for an answer, she had lost the connection to her friends. And now, now she would pay for everything she had done. A thick stream of magic struck the shield, badly centered, yet still powerful enough to melt the stone around it. Ethereal, however, quickly swung himself into the air and actually started counteractive measures, drawing the goddess’ attention towards him. That gave Twilight and her friends the time to finally start searching again. The goddess had a much harder time hitting Ethereal as he had not only wings to evade heavy blows, but also a shield against huge but weak attacks. Unlike Twilight however, he didn’t seem as terribly wounded and he had most certainly not wasted his power on anyone else.
“I found her!” It was Pinkie Pie’s voice strangely drained of laughter, having dug down deeply into the debris, bringing out-
Twilight’s eyes opened in the sheer shock. Her body tensed, then suddenly went limp as the whole world seemed to be collapsing. What Pinkie had uncovered would probably never leave Twilights mind. With hatred and sadness combined into a stirring mixture of emotions, Twilight cried out:
“Oh no. Celestia, please no! NO! PLEASE! DON’T TAKE HER FROM ME!”
Fluttershy. Suddenly nothing mattered anymore, the whole fight was so senseless, their whole quest a stupid failure, her own pain just a minor annoyance. Nothing mattered, but Fluttershy’s open eyes staring into nothing, her leg strangely twisted, a bone sticking out of the red flesh. But the worst part about it all was the thick red hole in her stomach, causing Twilight’s brain to stop.
When very very slowly it started working again, it was like an ancient mechanism set in motion, unstoppable in its execution and deadly in its result. Twilight had stopped thinking about pain or anger or love or other measly thoughts as cold hatred replaced everything. The goddess had taken what she loved most dearly, so she would take the goddess’ life. Seeing Fluttershy like … that. It had broken something deep inside of her, and even though she had thought she was empty after killing Chrysalis, that conflict seemed so meager now. The rage, the rage had been nothing in comparison to this deep hatred. Not just stealing her friends, but killing them. That was the line. The line that should never ever be crossed. Now, the goddess had done the unthinkable and for that she had to pay.
Twilight looked up again, her mind filled with a last purpose, a green star filling the sky with light, quickly evading each major attack and absorbing the minor.
“Twilight, don’t!” Applejack’s eyes were filled with tears. Rainbow Dash, whose wings were burnt, had dropped next to Fluttershy and was now collapsed, sobbing over her body. Pinkie Pie was just lying next to her, while Rarity was desperately trying to use her magic to do something. Twilight took a deep breath, looking at her friends, wounded and hurt.. and dead. Nothing would stop her from her revenge. A last gaze at the terrible wounds, and then she turned away. Another deep breath and then she stepped forward.
Twilight’s mind was deafened by the hatred and anger and pain. At first, she could not conjure up a spell, nothing would come to her mind as it just kept repeating the image of red on yellow. Suddenly there was one spell in her mind, becoming more prevelant than any other thought. A thought of power and vengeance captured in the essence of a type of magic she would have usually refrained from. The purest and most powerful magic there was for a single unicorn: Dark magic, powered by hatred and angst. Some say it was the kind of power discord had bestowed on the world to spread his chaos. Some say it was a force created by a goddess to give balance to the world. Some say it was a fundamental force of the universe, as temperature or gravity. Twilight knew in the very moment that she casted the spell that whatever origin it had, now was the time to release it. No more trying to solve a conflict with words or simple magic, it had only lead to this.. No more games, no more half-flanked maneuvers. Every single part of her body tingled as the magic started to surge through it, the feeling of immense power. Of course she knew of the danger using this kind of power, yet she could not reason to prohibit herself from casting it. What started as a simple tingling soon became a hot fire throughout her entire body, draining and exhausting it, but also giving pleasure while doing so.
When the magic slowly faded, driven by Twilight’s exhaustion, silence started to rule the world. There she stood now, and thought about what had just happened. Shouldn’t these stories have a great ending? This story was one she had been unprepared for, a story much harsher than she could have expected. However, now that everything was done, there was no end. There was no curtain falling and ponies clapping their hooves. There was no thunderous applause or thoughtful mumbling. There was just… nothing. She had killed two ponies today. She had just killed two ponies. There was no victory here, she had fought and lost. But there had never been the chance to win in this quest. At any point this path had been set, there had not been another more logical choice, but the most logical choices still had lead to a terrible fate. A prisoner’s dilemma as it seems.
She couldn’t just go back to normality after this, could she? Only slowly, Twilight turned around. Her joints seemed to have thought to themselves to randomly stop working for some reason. The exhaustion tried to pull her down, but she didn’t give in, stepping towards her friends. But with every step she made, they seemed to be ten further away. With the third step came a feeling of numbness crawling up her limbs. With the fifth it spread to her mind, slowly drowning out the questions about the future. At the seventh step, her eyelids slowly pushed close against her will. A teary-eyed Applejack was running along somewhere. Twilight simply collapsed to her side, her breaths heavy and her body weak.
“Twilight? Twilight? Twilight?” the voice just continued echoing through her mind, like a broken record, slowly mixing with the sound of the soft breeze around her ears, and her own heart pumping blood through her body, desperately trying to balance the loss of oxygen in her muscles through the lack of blood. What a silly response of a body against losing too much blood. The vision slowly faded, as did the sounds, all making place for warm, comfortable darkness. A darkness like a soft blanket, darkness like a comfortable bed, darkness like a good sleep after a long day.
When Twilight opened her eyes again, there were books. Lots of books, as it seemed, a whole wall of books. Not only a wall of books, but a giant library. A giant window in the ceiling allowed light to softly pass through, touching the big hourglass statue; Canterlot’s library, Starswirl’s wing. Everything felt so incredibly like home, but there was one thing wrong: She wasn’t alone. Instead, there was somepony else… or rather, a changeling.
“What are you doing here?”
Twilight could have expected any of her friends here, even princess Celestia or Luna, but instead it was Ethereal, standing in one of the corridors.
“No, Twilight, what have you done? What will your friends think of you now?”
Twilight, confused for just a moment, took a bit of pondering until she was finally able to answer. She had not considered the idea that her friend’s judgement of her character could change, yet it now seemed rather plausible. Why wouldn’t such drastic actions change the way they viewed her? Would they still be able to look at her and feel comfortable? Would she still be able to look into their eyes, without seeing the deaths mirrored in them?
“What I have done doesn’t change anything, especially what my friends think of me. They know what had to be done.” Twilight finally answered, trying to sound confident, but failing miserably. She rather sounded like a small filly trying to argue about her lies somehow. Deep down, locked away by her sanity was the truth.
“Twilight. I don’t think you understand the gravity of this situation. Do you even know what you have done?”
Twilight stiffened, a bit too perplexed to answer at first. “S-Sure I do.”
“Do you understand what you have done?”
This time Twilight remained silenced by the sheer confusion… and fear of the truth.
“Twilight, can you remember your childhood?”
Warmth streamed through her body again, as the terrible after images of her spells were replaced with her parents' endearing smiles, with giant books, and the approval of princess celestia herself, giving her the worth she had never found with other ponies.
“Do you remember your friends? Do you remember all these beautiful memories?”
Of course she did. What would her life be without them? They were what made her who she is.
“They had a childhood, too. They had years and years of memories. They had their friends. They had their stories. Each and every day they could have told you a story of their lives and yet they would have not been able to tell you of all the wonders they experienced. They had ponies who loved them dearly above anything else. You have taken something that was never yours to take: You have taken their lives. Their entire existence, two lives, thousands of days, millions of hours, and billions of second, full of memories and knowledge, childhood, friendships, feelings and plans and you took it. Twilight, do you really understand, what you have done? You have done so much more than defeated enemies, you have purged the existence of two entire beautiful creations. May Celestia be merciful upon your soul.”
Now a creepy coldness was rising up her spine. The truth had found her in her hideout of denial. Yes, she had destroyed everything these ponies had known, knew and would ever be able to know. She had shattered countless memories and broken their friendships just for her personal gain. She was nothing but a selfish, insane mare with the power to let her anger be lethal for others. She was a threat, not a saviour.
Ethereal started to laugh: “Now you understand… now you do. You tried to reason your hatred with how you were hurt and through your past pain, but you know as well as me that that is no excuse. Whatever they might have done to you, it is no reason to do it to them. The first step towards change is acknowledgement.”
For a second it seemed as if Ethereal wanted to add something, but the world suddenly started to fade around her. Nothing but an illusion of the night, clear in hindsight, but incredibly real while experiencing it.
“Twilight? Twilight!” Applejack’s voice carried sorrow with it, immediately causing Twilight’s body to bolt - Well, as much as it could. Her limbs felt weak and restless, and her head was drooping with a deafening headache, pounding against her skull. Her body felt so cold, even though a blanket seemed to be pulled over her body. When Twilight finally managed to push against the two iron curtains before her eyes, the world still was blurred by the fading image of the library. To open her mouth suddenly felt like trying to teleport up a steep cliff or lifting an ursa major, not that that was scientifically accurate, seeing as it was only the weakness in her limbs.
“Where-" Her sentence was cut short by a fluid in her throat, trying to make its way out.
Applejack suddenly jumped towards her and through the thick blanket gave her a hug, that almost caused her stomach to empty under the pressure.
“Oh, Twilight! You mightily scared us out there, just collapsing and then…” The joy in Applejack’s face turned into thoughtful bitterness once again. “... and then not waking up again.”
Even though Twilight’s mind was slower than it used to be, it didn’t take a geniusgenius to guess what Applejack had meant. “How long?” Her throat achedached and her voice sounded irritablyirritably raspy, yet the strength slowly returned to her words.
“A couple of weeks. We … We were really really worried. I am so glad you are back.” Applejack suddenly pulled back again, hiding from Twilight’s impaired field of vision.
“I .. I am sorry, darling, but I have to tell the others, they worry about you just as much as I did.”
Since there was a proper ceiling here, it was most likely - given her informative point of view - that she was in some hospital somewhere. Where and why were still two questions to be answered, but she could already hear Applejack’s hooves galloping over the thick wooden floor.
Ethereal was the last one to arrive. Although he had been invited, he didn’t feel welcome… and he probably wasn’t. He would’ve liked to just not come, but maybe not coming at all would’ve been even worse, or maybe he just felt like he owed it to her. When he finally opened the door, he saw two ponies laying on the small hospital bed, while four others were captivated by the moment. Fluttershy and Twilight were hugging, both in a deep embrace. Both had - each in their own way - lost the other one. Twilight had thought Fluttershy lost to the goddess and the queen, and Fluttershy had thought Twilight lost to the coma. Even though there were still hundreds of marks on Fluttershy’s skin, bandages and sutures, the embrace was still the same as that of two closest friends. Twilight’s leg and Rainbow Dash’s wings were also in deep bandages, most of the rest only had scars or band-aids.
Ethereal felt awkward standing there like that. All of Twilight’s friend had a good reason to be there, and he.. he just did not have one. Pinkie Pie had invited him, but Pinkie Pie would have probably invited anyone that Twilight had ever met, or even complete strangers. Because that is how he felt: A stranger to this group.
Only when his eyes drifted over to Rainbow Dash, his brave teacher, his thoughts went to more welcome places. With a bit of trouble and a bit of awkwardness, he pushed himself behind the four ponies, slowly approaching Rainbow Dash. Instead of ignoring him however, the four ponies split a bit apart, giving him a place to stand.
“Ethereal!”
He flinched when he heard Twilight’s loud voice breaking the silence. She would probably scold him for coming. What was he even doing here? She had hated him throughout their entire journey.
“Ethereal, I … I don’t know how to say this… I just… I … forgive you.”
Twilight’s voice was honest and soft, yet Ethereal couldn’t help but to feel like somepony had punched his stomach. She… She just forgave him?
“It was never your wish to become a changeling, and yet you tried to do the best. I always thought you were an enemy trying to infiltrate our group, but now I know you were just searching for something that I was blessed with so easily. You searched for friendship. I now know what happened to you. You were caught by an influence you never understood or even knew about and you lost everything you held dear. I would lie if I understood how horrific that must’ve been to you. When we found you, you had become a beast in the wild, driven by the pain of your past, yet even now you still are. Ethereal, I forgive you, but you will have to forgive yourself, you will have to accept what happened, and you will have to move on. You have sacrificed so much for us - “ Twilight gazed over to his missing leg “-, and you have fought valiantly to defend us. I think you have proven yourself. Now you will have to find a way to go on. Once again, I would lie if I said that I knew how hard it would be, but I can promise you one thing:
Along the way, we will be here for you.”
[End of Chapter]
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Whisp it's been so long!
*HUGS*
4742104
I think only you could've waited the 14 weeks (at least that is what my editor told me)
So, epilogue comes around soon with lots of explanations, but until then you'll have to wait a bit. A new story is in thought process, but I can't quite catch the words yet, so I'll need a bit, but just a tidbit bit kit lit. Wut? 3 am is never nice on one's mind XD
4742239 I know the feeling. Ideas are like popcorn, they lay in the pot until *pop* when the pot gets hot enough I got an extra large tub with butter.
img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111010204323/mlp/images/4/40/Pinkie_Pie_holding_popcorn_S1E04.png