"Sweetie, please, you know I can do that by myself."
"Oh I know I know, but what if you strain yourself while walking down the stairs? What if while walking down the stairs you were to trip and fall! And what if I wasn't there to help and you just kept tumbling and tumbling getting more and more grievously wounded!? WHAT IF....."
Princess Cadence closed her eyes and took in a slow, deep breath, counting to three before releasing it. Shining meant well, he really did, but he still could be...difficult, at times. She thanked her lucky stars that she'd gotten special instruction from auntie Luna for situations just like this. Her cyan magic wafted from her horn like a thin tendril of smoke. Once it connected with Shining's horn, it disappeared and he stopped his frantic pacing. Doing his best not to wobble, Shining gave his wife an accusing, yet exhausted glare.
"I thought we agreed on no more drowsy spells."
"I'm sorry honey, but you simply must stop getting yourself worked up like that. I understand that you're stressed, anyone would be when they're going to become a father in just a few short months." Shining's eyes softened and fell upon her bulging belly. There was so much love bursting from those eyes, he hadn't even met his foal and already he would move the heavens for her. "And I know your first instinct is to do everything in your power to keep us safe. Just remember that I'm not as frail as I may seem sweetie. We can protect our foal together."
"You're right, I guess getting worked up runs in the family." He said with a sheepish grin, lying down on the bed next to her. His eyes lost their light suddenly and his ears drooped down to his skull as he realized what he'd just said.
"We'll find her, don't worry."
"She's been gone for nine months Cadence, that's nine months of Sombra poisoning her mind. How much can she take before we can't save her anymore?"
"She's strong and resourceful. Don't forget that it was her that made sure we even got to be married in the first place. She'll get through whatever torture he's putting her through. Then, when we find her it will be up to us to do our part and keep her safe."
"I guess you're right, again." This got him a loving nuzzle from Cadence, and in return she was rewarded with a smile creeping back onto his handsome muzzle.
"Please excuse the intrusion your highness, you have urgent mail from one 'Mrs. Sparkle'."
There in their bedroom doorway stood the amber coated mailpony, green hooves adorned with tiny metal wings to denote her station as the royal courier. Panting, she held a plain letter out in front of her, one adorned with a six pointed star upon a purple background.
"Twily..."
****
CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS MAIL COURIERS YAY! Applejack paused mid-buck as she watched three little rascals come running across the orchard at her. Mailmares today huh? Well they certainly had the energy for it. Halfway across, Scootaloo stopped the three, and after a whispered conversation all three dashed off in different directions.
"Howdy there lil' sis, where'd your friends run off to in such a hurry?"
"We're delivering mail today Applejack! Scoots had the great idea of splitting up so we can get it done three times as fast! And you won't believe who sent yall a message!" Applejack reared up preparing to give her tree a mighty wallop as Applebloom took a scroll out from her saddlebags, only to freeze and nearly collapse to the ground in shock. The letter was adorned with a simple six pointed star set upon a purple background.
"You seem to be all sorts of excited to get a letter from Twilight finally, here let me read it to ya. Ehem, Dear Applejack..."
****
"...I hope you all can forgive me, and grant me a chance to explain my actions in person in the Canterlot throne room. If you can find it within your hearts, please meet me 9pm tonight. Thank you."
Rarity turned the letter over and back again. "That's it? No further explanation, just an apology and a summons?"
Sweetie Bell shrugged, "So will you be going?"
"Of course I will you silly filly. Twilight is our friend after all, it would be uncouth to refuse an invitation to mend bonds. If nothing else, we've certainly got a lot of questions we need to ask her."
****
As Scootaloo finished reciting Twilight's message for her, Rainbow Dash seemed completely unphased, never stopping her endless pushups. The room was dimly lit by a single candle in the corner and dirty window leading to the surface. If she looked hard enough, Rainbow could see the cloudless blue sky far far above. She would give anything to be able to melt into it once again.
Reaching back behind her, Rainbow itched at the surgical scar and nub of bone where her left wing should have been, the only remnants she had left of it. Sometimes she still felt a phantom feeling of muscle and sinew, attached to the feathers of what was the greatest flyer Equestria had ever seen. "Thanks kid, you'd better go finish with the rest of your mail. I've gotta get packed."
****
Together all five friends rode the afternoon train to Canterlot, nopony speaking a word. The same questions ran through each of their minds, the same doubts and betrayal. Each wished for nothing more than to find a way to distract them from their thoughts, but the fact remained, Twilight Sparkle was back after 9 long months, and she had a lot to answer for.
In the tallest spire of Canterlot Castle, Princess Celestia watched as the Friendship Express wormed its way through the mountains, Twilight's letter unfurled on the writing desk beside her.
"Sister please, we beg thee reconsider!" Last time she struck thee down and eloped with Sombra! For all we know this is but a trap!"
In a soft, subdued tone, just like a mother grasping at straws in her daughter's kidnapping, Celestia tried to assuage her sister's concerns. "If it were a trap, our perimeter spell would detain them, just like it did with Sombra before."
"It takes us all three to provide power for that spell. Cadence is nearly 10 months pregnant and is due any week now.and it has drawn on her more than she would care to admit. The perimeter spell is at its weakest, and only now does thy student step forward? How can we be certain our spell will work as expected, if in fact at all?"
"What would you have me do?"
"Turn her away, keep thyself and thy citizens safe and do not allow her access to this city. She cannot be trusted."
"Oh Lulu, I've already done that. She laid her heart our for me, told me that she loved him (whether it is deserved and reciprocated or not) and for it I drove her away. Don't you see? I forced her to choose between him and us, instead of listening to her when I should have. It's all my fault she disappeared in the first place, all my fault."
In that moment Luna saw just how emotionally exposed her sister was. Before her was not Princess Celestia, co-ruler of Equestria, goddess of the sun and bringer of peace and harmony. Instead it was just Tia, blaming herself like she always did and hurting miserably from the aching in her heart.
"Tia...I...I'm sorry. I just do not wish to see you hurt again. It scared me to find you beneath a building that day, barely conscious and coughing up blood. I don't know how you kept going the millennium I was banished, but I do not think I could be so strong. I do not believe I could carry on without you."
"Lulu I..."
Luna raised her hoof to silence her sister, she wasn't finished just yet. "But you are right, this is Twilight Sparkle we are talking about, and despite a pony's mistakes, I would be the element of hypocrisy if I were to say that she did not deserve this second chance tonight."
Hope glimmered in Celestia's eyes as they teared up. Moments later she was squeezing Luna tightly as she sobbed softly in release. "Thank you for understanding dear sister."
Luna smiled despite herself. "Come now Tia, let's get you cleaned up. Cadence and Shining Armor will be arriving soon, the time draws near for our 9 o'clock hearing. We can't meet our friends with a tear-stained coat now can we?"
Smiling gratefully, Celestia allowed herself to be herded into the royal bath, all the while Luna did the very best she could to ignore the feeling twisting away in her gut. "Please", she silently prayed, "Please let this night prove me wrong."
****
Somewhere in Canterlot a clock-tower tolled out 9 long peals.
It was time.
Twilight stood outside of Canterlot, examining the very edge of the spell before here. It was a masterpiece, the magic of the three princesses working harmoniously to create a flawless system of detection and protection. Its strength would be its downfall however, for the shortage of magic from one princess had thrown the spell out of balance. It was finally week enough to destroy. Gently, ever so carefully, tendrils of imperceptible magic encircled the spell's entire perimeter. She would have to do this quickly, before the spell could set off a warning. With a powerful squeeze a golden bubble showed itself over Canterlot before simultaneously popping out of existence, without a trace, without a sound.
A simple teleport later, and she was standing outside the throne room doors, easing them open as she greeted her friends and family for the first time in 9 long months. "Thank you all for coming, and allowing me this audience. It means so much to me that you would be here, even after all that I have done."
At first she was met with absolute silence, her friends uncertainly judging her sincerity, and her brother sitting nervously beside his plump wife. It was Celestia who first broke the silence. Twilight looked just like the day she left, so young and eager and innocent. "Twilight I...I'm so sorry for driving you away, I should have stopped and listened, I should have..." As she started to step off her podium to embrace the purple alicorn, Luna's wing suddenly held her back.
"Be still sister." Turning her piercing gaze on Twilight, she spoke again. "Do not think to fool us so easily, I can see that illusion charm in the air around you. Reveal to us what you are so sneakily hiding." Twilight looked Luna directly in the eyes, a battle of wills playing out mid air. After a moment, she relented. "Right to the point, aren't we Luna? Very well then. Sombra, if you would please?"
The air next to her grew hazy like hot air rising off the land. From the wavy folds of air stepped King Sombra himself, as calmly as appearing from behind a curtain for his audience. "Sombra, I believe you already know everypony here, everypoy, meet King Sombra, my husband." There was a collective gasp of shock throughout the room. Twilight had actually married that monster?
"If you doubt our relationship like you have before, I believe princess Cadence can be of some assistance on the matter." It was Sombra who spoke this tame, looking pointedly at the curiously still pink alicorn."
Shining began to protest, "Don't drag my wife into..."
"They're telling the truth", Cadence interrupted. Finding the eyes of everypony in the room on her (all except for Luna's that is, who was still staring at Twilight) she elaborated. "I can feel it, between them. Their love is very real, and very strong. Though it may not make much sense now, they belong with each other as much as Shining and I do."
Luna took the shocked silence afterwards as her opportunity to speak once again. "Be that as it may, but I shall not ask you a third time Twilight Sparkle. There is still an illusion you are casting for our benefit. Release it, now."
With a sigh of exasperation, she did as was asked. Her form shimmered in the air, melting away to reveal the true Twilight beneath. She was equal in height to Sombra and Luna now, her proud horn protruding a full foot from her skull. Her wings had grown in size and grandeur, and her mane's colors stood out as somehow more real, more vibrant than ever before, billowing in a wind all its own. She was also very, very pregnant.
"When are you due?" Of course Cadence would ask that. "Within 2 months." She replied with a glowing smile.
"Wow Twi, you sure have changed a lot."
She turned to regard Applejack now, the first of her friends to have spoken up so far. After a moment she said ever so softly, "More than you can know Applejack, and yet very little at all." The rest of her friends remained in silent apprehension, still entirely unsure of what to think of the new Twilight. Pinkie's hair was stuck somewhere between its normal inflation and fully straight; Fluttershy was busy sticking halfway out behind Rarity, not entirely sure whether to hide or not. Then there was Rainbow.
"How did you lose your wing?"
"You." The answer was blunt and to the point, and spoke volumes of pain and crushed dreams. "The doc did his best." she continued, "but while I was lying there my wound got infected. My left wing had the ability to mend bones and return to normal, except for the flesh eating bacteria that was spreading through it, and soon to be me as well. It was either lose the wing, or die, and the doc didn't really give me the option." The flat look in her eyes clearly spoke as to the option Rainbow would rather have taken, and it sobered everypony in the room. All except for Sombra, who gave a mighty yawn.
"Now that the niceties are done with, can we please get on with business?" Twilight nodded in agreement and turned her stare back to the princesses, addressing the entire room. "Indeed, it's time you realize that I am not here to make amends as you so pathetically believed. No, it is far far too late for that. In fact, it was you yourselves that showed me the hypocrisy of the light by adopting hate into your lives, choosing to kill Sombra and ask questions later. You helped me realize where my true place lay in this great world of ours."
Luna, still maintaining her piercing stare, asked in a voice like steel knives. "And what, exactly, would that be?"
Twilight's eyes turned bright green, dark energy wafting from them like smoke from a small flame. "Queen Twilight, Lady of Despair, and rightful co-ruler of Equis!" She roared, and with a jerk of her horn caused the throne room's floor to flash boil. As the brand new magma fell to the floor below, melting its way through the castle, her enemies still stood upon a dark a blue nimbus of energy. Luna had been watching her carefully enough to react in time it to any sudden spells.
"Quick sister, she betrays our trust, attack! Attack!"
Celestia could only stand there frozen in disbelief. This couldn't be her Twilight before her, not her Twilight....Her hesitation would prove fatal. While Luna was distracted with getting Celestia to fight back, the evil couple slipped past her defenses to appear from the shadows behind Cadence and Shining Armor.
"While we would more than love to exterminate all of you here and now, we sadly cannot afford the risk of such a battle," started Sombra. "So instead, we shall be reclaiming the Crystal Kingdom for its rightful rulers, and destroy the Avatar of Hope before it blossoms. We wouldn't want to leave you with such an advantage in the coming war, now would we? Fare thee well!" Twilight finished, and together with a flash of black magic from their horns they were gone, along with Princess Cadence and Shining."
****
The prince and princess of the Crystal Kingdom found themselves knee deep in snow, squinting their eyes against a raging mountain blizzard. "Where are we?" Yelled shining over the howling of the winter wind. Suddenly it was quiet once more, the blizzard blocked out by a purple-black dome overhead. "You're 2 miles due north of Canterlot, still on the same mountain in fact." Answered an all too cocky Sombra.
Shining quickly placed himself between Cadence and the others, throwing up a powerful and compact shield around the two of them before scrunching up his face in concentration. "If you're trying to teleport out," taunted Twilight, "then you might want to stop wasting your effort. Our barrier does not allow magic of any sort to pass, in either direction, and is impervious to physical assault as well. You are trapped here for as long as we wish."
"How could you do this Twilight, between your country, Celestia, your friends, betray ME!?"
Her eyes narrowed in response to her brother's question as she hissed, "They betrayed me first." With a mighty boom, Sombra launched spell after spell of destruction upon her brother's shield. Each blow made the stallion inside stagger, blood beginning to drip from his nose and the corners of his eyes with the effort of maintaining his defence. All Cadence could do is lend him her strength and love to keep him going. Judging the time right, Twilight finally added her own attack to the onslaught. It crashed through the side of Shining's bubble like glass and hit him squarely on his right cutie mark. The blast sent him tumbling through the snow, coming to rest 20 yards away, with his severely mangled and severed right hind leg lying another 10 past him.
"Shining no!" Cadence screamed, but Twilight was already there by his side, using a fire spell to sear his bleeding flesh. "I wouldn't want you dying on me just yet dear brother. Even as she burned the wound closed so that he would not bleed out, he did not utter a single scream of pain, instead using his voice to tell Cadence to run and save herself. It was too late for that.
As soon as the shield had broken, Sombra had swooped in and encased the princess' legs and horn in black crystal, keeping her rooted to the spot without the power of her magic to aid her. Now he stood waiting patiently for his Queen to do the honors.
"Ah Cadence, my old foal-sitter. Do not pretend to be innocent, I know full well of your involvement in the spells meant to take my husband's life. But let''s let bygones be bygones, we're not here for some simple grudge after all. No, we're here because you are in our way, specifically my way. I've learned of my true power, my destiny, and in turn I have learned of my greatest nemesis, a foe that when fully realized could even potentially defeat me."
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about us Cadence, and though it took me some time to realize it, you are my nemesis. Everywhere you go, you spread love and happiness, sometimes using your love as a shield, and at others lifting an entire nation up and giving them the spirit to fight back. There is a name for the affect your love spreads princess."
A deadly gleam entered Twilight's eyes as she roared out her next line, "I name you Hope, Princess Cadence! Meet Despair, and know that your power shall never be allowed to be unleashed upon this world."
Still not fully understanding what Twilight was talking about, Cadence was able to detect the note of finality in her voice. "Please Twilight, you don't have to do this!"
This did not have the desired effect, for instead Twilight grinned broadly, and agreed with her. "No, I don't. But I choose to anyways." And with that, her violet horn plunged deep into the chest of the pink alicorn.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Shining had managed to clamber to his feet through the cloud of pain pounding through his body and was awkwardly running at them on three legs. Twilight merely stepped back and let Cadence slip of her horn, blood dripping into her hair and down her lavender face. "She lives, for now. Cadence has suffered a punctured lung and the severing of several major blood vessels. She will die to internal bleeding and trauma, unless of course you can get her to a doctor in time."
Shining stared in confusion as a sled appeared beneath his bride, complete with a harness to attach himself to. Slowly, a sliver just wide enough to fit through appeared in the magic dome around them, facing due south. "Go on now brother, you're wasting precious time that Cadence, and your foal, don't really have."
As Shining took up the harness, he gave Twilight an icy glare. "I'm not your brother. My sister died a long time ago."
"Tick-tock Shining." With that, the dome, Twilight, and Sombra as well all disappeared as if they had never even existed, leaving Shining to drag his wife back to the dim lights of Canterlot in the distance.
"Hang in there Cadence, I'll get you back to the doctors before you know it, you'll be just fine." Progress was slow on only three legs, but Shining would not allow himself that luxury. Almost leaping forward now, as often losing balance and crashing to the ground as not, he refused to give up. Cadence and his little foal were counting on him, and he could not let them down. "Just a little farther Cadence, you gotta stay awake, we have to keep moving. For the umpteenth time he lost his balance and slipped on the ice. This time, he saw Cadence weakly motioning to him to come closer. She struggled to talk, or even breath at this point, constantly coughing up blood between words.
"M...m...earest ining. Pleath, remember..."
"Shh, don't talk my love, please save your strength. We're going to get through this, I swear to you." Tears froze upon his cheeks as he tried not to weep over his dying wife. Above he did not notice as the blizzard was forcibly ripped apart, and a single beam of moonlight drifted down upon them.
"Remember, ith not your fault. I ill always...allways...lov..........."
The world became blurred and confusing, time slipped by him as he stumbled along trying to keep up. Voices cried out around him urgently, and yet they seemed a mile away.
"We found them! Get the emergency medical transport ready, we need to try and stop the bleeding!"
"Severe internal bleeding, she's still alive but just barely."
"Sweet Celestia his entire leg is gone."
"Induce labor, prep the oxygen mask and blood transfusion for the infant, please let us save one of them."
Somehow, Shining found himself in a hospital bed, staring across the room at his wife. The white coats had stopped dancing around her, and now she was just lying there, so peacefully. She'd lost so much color, a light salmon now instead of her vibrant pink, and as he watched a nurse came by and slowly pulled the blanket up and over her head, covering her body completely.
"I'm sorry sir, we couldn't save them. Either, of them. There just wasn't enough time...I'm so sorry."
"Let me see her."
"I can't agree to tha...."
"I said let me see her!" He had meant to roar, but it came out as more of a croak instead. Thankfully, the doctor relented, and brought a tiny figure over to his bed and placed her in his arms. Shining looked down at his precious baby girl, she was barely bigger than his hoof and looked so incredibly fragile. The beginnings of a mane and tail were slicked back and stuck to her body from being born, and her coat was a faded blue in color, but closer to grey now in death. On her back were two stubby wings covered in down. And she was so, very, cold.
"Hello there my little Indigo Shimmer, everything's going to be ok now. Daddy's here."
Shining couldn't take it anymore, clutching the daughter whose life was stolen from her before she ever had a chance, he broke down and wept, screaming to the world his excruciating pain. He'd lost his sister, his wife, his daughter.
Everypony was dead and gone, and he hadn't been able to save or protect a single, damn, one.
****
Far away in the Crystal Kingdom, the crystal ponies slumbered peacefully, unaware of the fate of their dear princess, nor the two shadowy figures who teleported onto the castle balcony.
"Welcome home my King, welcome home."
..........................................
It begins...
Twilight, how could you do this to your own brother!?
Ah hell. Yeah, I know I said I would keep an open mind, but I'm out.
See you in the other sequel.
4523346 Well, she has gone off the deep end. She was forced to choose between Sombra and the world, and now the world will pay the consequences of her decision >:D
4523612
Sigh, so true.
Despair is meant to be swift, merciless and efficient. Everything this Twilight is not, seems more an element of torture then anything
Hopefully next chapter will be better, where both the new crystal empire ruler will be able to unleash their real potential, or supposed so
I like what a see and I like what I hear.
We were there you know.
no we wern't!
yes we were. you were drunk and I used a demenchion warp spell.
how did they not feel your darkness and my light?
Duh, we are the god of balance witch is every little thing. our powers were neutralized making it unreadable
since when have you been nice, subtle, and explaining?
Don't push your luck, fool!
there it is.
nice sequal keep it up
4523637 Who's saying the things in purple?
This sounds like it should have a tragedy tag...
4523653 oh! that was my alternate personality Darkened spectrum. he represents everything negative while I represent everything positive. example: he represents lust , darkness, hate, fire, death, insanity ect. while I represent love, light, caring, water, life, sanity ect.
Damn, when you said that the story would be darker you weren't kidding. Anyhow, I would like to see what happens in the next chapter.
Awwwww! I wish the child could've at least been saved, but oh well! What's done is done. Nothing can change that.
I knew Twilight heart was going to be dark, but I didn't know it was going to be Star Wars dark
4526192 Believe me when I say, it has only just begun
4525383
Star Wars? That pansy thing?
Read the Warhammer 40,000 novel called Dark Apostle, then you talk to me about dark.
I like both versions of this sequel rather much. Please... continue.
*Alondro sighs, shoots Twilight and Sombra in the head with his god-mode bullets a few thousand times because there's no kill like overkill, then stomps out in frustration*
4529010 Noooo come back, it only gets wor...I mean better from here!
4528782 You call that pansy shit dark? I could regale you with some of the more disturbing fantasies that I have had about people I don't like (by people I don't like, I mean people who are at the very top of my shit list). Brutal torture while not allowing them to die (as in keeping them alive and conscious, while making sure that they don't bleed to death or something of the like), and intense psychological trauma caused by slowly ripping away everything that the victims ever cared about in their miserable lives (in front of them). I do have morals though, and even though I might not feel remorse from doing acts like that, I wouldn't even dare to commit atrocities like that, because it is against my morals.
I can have some incredibly dark thoughts though.
i.imgur.com/bqvE3At.gif
4530444
*ahem* Disregard that last comment, I thought you were still talking about Star Wars. I was sort of half-reading it for a bit.
Anyway, as for your fantasies, me and my GF could probably top them. In fact, we'd be happy to swap ideas with you sometimes.
Good night.
I think this is right this way. I always had a cold heart so please make more than the other one
You mentioned Path of Redemption in the end of Lost into Shadow...
At this rate, it's gonna take a LOT of Redemption for anypony to come out of this intact.
4532442 Not as much as you think, the path of Redemption is an entirely different walk than the one of Damnation, completely separate. Check it out here.
yeah i like the other better this one is well written so it gets an upvote but not a fave the OTHER one on the other hand gets both.
nope. first redemption, then this dark alternate story. won't read it until the other one is finished
Reading both, need new chapters for both!!!!!!!!!!!!
4530444
4530539 Oh, isn't this adorable... A little meeting of the twisted minds. How utterly.. quaint. Truly you all must be the darkest of the dark, true masters of the grimdark. You speak of torture and blood, but leave out how it makes you feel. Does it make you feel all nice and fuzzy inside? Or does it fill you with a manic glee. The shadowed light that pierces your unholy soul. When murdering countless millions in your dreams makes you giggle like a schoolgirl...
Go see a psychiatrist. For the Mad look upon you with disdain.
I like this.Everyone's got whats coming for them for their blind loyalty. Thought have to disagree with Twilight. She betrayed everyone first.
Poor Shining he lost right about everything at this point. But damn if this isn't writen good. I actually expected the foal to survive.
Even though I love a good evil Twilight, this was too cruel.
Wow. Thats harsh......I eagerly await more
shining went through stuff like sombra. maybe he will turn evil, and try to kill twilight.
4534431
Someone call a psychiatrist…
I'd love to see the entire Apple Family in some sort of battalion on their own
You know, the bullshit high ground evil tuck heads invent for themselves would be more convincing if they weren't proving everyone who recognized their evil right at the same exact time as they're whining that no one trusts them.
N..no... no..no... NOT CADEEEEENCE!!!! NOOOOOOO!!!
*Reads first part of chapter*
OHH, I can feel this is going to be quite, feel indulging.
*Has read chapter*
The darkness is real in this one... I LOVE IT!
I don't like seeing overly dark Twilight. I'll be waiting for Redemption to finally get updated.
Mhahahahahahaha....hahaha...ha...
sorry but i love the way Twilight gave Dispair.
hahaha....
My reactions: Yeah evil twilight. NOOOOO CADENCE!!!
Why can I just imagine Cadence jumping around with glee like Pinkie when she asks this?
Actually, this may be how Rainbow gets her metal wing in Sombra's bad future... makes me think, what if this is the alternate universe where Sombra succeeds?
It just raises more questions...
Sweet Celestia on high, I really have not see Dark Twilight done in such a beautiful way... and I should know, I've written Evil Twilight before, its hard.
I have a few words for Celestia and Luna
You chose to ignore the darkness, refusing to teach Twilight how to defend against its allure, and yet you fail to see that this isn't Sombra's fault.
Twilight did this to herself, she chose to listen to Sombra when you ignored her, all Sombra did was merely provided the information needed to have events play out like this. Now the world will pay for her choices... and there is nothing you can do about it.