The Great Hall remained much as Celestia had last seen it, almost seven centuries before. A soft light radiated from the alicorn, shedding golden light about her, banishing the shadows. Celestia's light gleamed in the reflection of her frozen breaths. She shuddered slightly as she continued down the long, windowless hall. Nothing moved, not even the small pests that infested the ruin were to be seen. Either they had been driven out by the instinctive fear of the flames, or else by the far older instinct telling them to flee the malevolent magic that permeated the ruins.
As she walked farther, her hoof sunk into something wet and soft. Looking down, she jerked back. As she pulled the hoof up, a considerable portion of the rat followed, dripping from the golden armor. Face contorted in disgust at both the needless death, and the general revulsion everypony feels while dirty, she skirted the corpse.
As she continued down the passage, Celestia began to notice more subtle signs of what had happened. The ground was littered with the remains of insects, both old and fresh. Cobwebs were strung about the hall almost like streamers at a Ponyville celebration. From hall to hall the Princess walked, and no new horrors met her. This was something new, and something wrong.
Even the Batwings didn't wantonly destroy everything. They killed ponies and bound their souls, but this is... messier. The creatures have all been killed, and judging by the sheer amount, they all died almost simultaneously. What could profit from such mayhem? Discord? No. He remains imprisoned in Canterlot, I would know at once if he were free. Besides, this isn't his style. He may be mad, and powerful, but he isn't evil. He simply has a deluded idea of fun, and the power to force his idea on reality. This is wrong.
Twilight looked at the massive city. Huts made of sunbaked mud stood in layered circles, rings that reached ever higher. This city was built on a large hill, grass showing between the shacks. Zebras could just barely been seen at this distance, small discolorations moving about the hill. Twilight's goal was at the peak of the hill, looking out over the Plains. Terranis, the Earth King, sat upon a thick rug, a deep crimson stain on the bare earth of the peak of the hill.
Twilight drew the spike from the ground one final time. Aiming along the spine, she sent it rocketing forward once more. This time however, she layered moisture along the leading edge of the cone that formed around the speeding projectile. Hard as the gemstone may be, slamming into hardened mud at half the speed of sound would shatter the crystal instantly. More importantly, it would release the power that was contained within, an explosion that would destroy the surroundings. Not the most diplomatic solution. The moisture, infused with her will, would soften the mud, and the ruby would punch through, losing speed and landing on the interior of the palace.
One the hill, one of the walls disappeared in a blinding flash of energy. Apparently she had thrown it too hard. Her eyebrow raised slowly, a quiver on her mouth almost a smile. "Oops." More than the actual crystal, the explosion gave Twilight a firm spot to move to with her teleportion though, and the mare capitalized on the circumstance. If diplomacy wouldn't work, then a show of force would have to do.
She appeared in the center of the crater that had once held a wall, the grass on the rim of the scar flickering with flames. Rather than suppress her magic though, Twilight added more, drawing lightly from her pack to fuel the appearance. A spark of lightning struck down, the electricity drawn to the charged field the teleportation spell created. The report of the super heated air sounded, almost deafening at point blank range. Twilight walked from the cloud of smoke curling from the burning grass, and her hooves clopped on the tiled interior.
Whatever was lacking in the exterior of the Palace was more than accounted for inside. The minimalism of the Zebra art, combined with their characteristic lean, sharp edged style lent the impression of the building itself being a warrior waiting to attack. Rugs covered the tile, forming an orange and black pathway to the throne in the center of the circular room. More mats covered the floor, leaving only small paths between the rugs in which to walk. Zebras sat in all manner of shocked silences, many mouths simply hanging open at the sight of the purple mare's advance.
"HALT!" The shout was followed by the leveled tips of three spears. Creatures Twilight hadn't even heard of from Zecora held the spears before her. They were huge, almost three times her height, and stood on two legs. Rather than hooves, their limbs ended in dexterous appendages which were wrapped around the hafts of the weapons. Their skin was black, and a thick mat of shaggy black fur covered their entire body, leaving only the odd protrusions on their arms bare, and most of their face. "Who are you?"
"I request a private audience with your King."
"The King does not speak with assassins. Begone foul creature, before you leave here in pieces." The creatures were intelligible, though only barely, their voices gruff and strained. Leaning to the left, Twilight could see the throne. There was no King there, there was only a young mare sitting upon the throne.
"Then I desire to speak with whom soever holds the greatest authority here. I would assume that to be she on the throne."
"Leave!" The tip of the spear jutted forward threateningly once more.
"Will you not cooperate?"
"No! Begone. NOW!" The creature ended in a roar, baring long dangerously sharp teeth. It began to lumber forward, spear inching closer to her face.
Her horn glowed, and the spears of all the creatures were ripped from their grips. They crumbled to powder under the force of the unicorn's telekenetic prison. The assembled stared in surprise as the weapons simply ceased to be. Roaring once more, the group charged, now moving with all four limbs on the ground, throwing themselves forward with their thick forelimbs. They slammed into a wall of energy, and fell back howling. The acrid smell of burnt hair washed over the area as the creatures rubbed at their faces, whimpering at the pain of their burns.
"I asked for a private meeting." The calm voice came from beneath the menacing glow of her horn, and the room emptied with a most gratifying haste. Of course, as everywhere, they had their own concepts of nobility and propriety.
"Excuse me. There is a protocol for such requests. You must await your rightful place before addressing her-"
"Harlorn, be silent. Leave us, now." The command was sharp, a bark of orders that the zebra obeyed, albeit will ill grace. Muttering small, self assured curses under his breath, the zebra exited the room.
"What are you?" The mare on the throne asked, the pose and words those of self assured royalty, the quaking voice that of a scared filly.
"You need only concern yourself with one thing. Telling me where the King is."
"He is dead. I am now the leader of these people. What is it that you wish?"
"I want to know who holds Prophecy. And then I will make them help me."
The mare looked shocked, almost stunned at the request. She held herself with a grace rarely seen, more akin to that of the true royalty than the gawky movements of mares her age, she was barely old enough to even be thought of as an adult, much less the leader of a nation. It was a shock to Twilight, as it would be to any pony, to think of a ruler as young. Rulers were meant to be ageless, ancient beyond time, and powerful beyond imagining.
For a moment Twilight stood there, awaiting the answer, and simply looked at the young queen. Like Zecora, and every other zebra she had ever seen, the queen looked like an earth pony with stripes. Light muscles that can only be obtained through the grace of birth rippled along her spare body, the skin hugging close to that hidden strength. Her eyes were a beautiful gold, almost the color of thick honey, and they held an almost predatory ferocity as they looked on the unicorn.
Where a cutie mark would be on a pony, a tribal tattoo stood scared into the queens flank, some strange design. What appeared to be a circle, encircled by seven triangles, all facing away from the circle. It was also the sickly redish purple of a new scar. They had cut the mark into her flank, and left it to heal, unaided. Barbarians
"I hold that power. What need is there for you to come to my home and assault my subjects?" The golden eyes narrowed, glaring at Twilight.
"Because I want you to answer my questions."
"What are your questions Twilight Sparkle. Ask, then leave my realm."
Twilight raised and eyebrow, looking at the zebra. Apparently she had Knowledge as well as Prophecy. Interesting. "I want you to tell me how to obtain what I desire."
"I need more-"
"Don't lie. We both know that you don't need any more detail. Tell me."
"As you wish then. I shall need time to prepare."
Luna found her sister in the Hall of Memory, rooted in place. Before her sat a mirror, one that had plagued the alicorn's dreams. That mirror, for her especially, was a presence both malign, and darkly seductive. From the depths of the vile thing, amid the swirling images of the minds of ponies truly gone mad, a single, reptilian eye stared at her.
So you have returned at last my child. It warms my heart to see you once more. The mental presence broke into her mind like a foal destroys a block castle. The demon sent a feeling of contemptuous amusement pulsing along the forced rapport.
You have no heart.
Oh dearest Luna, you wound me. All I have ever wanted was to aid you, to give you whatever you desire. I could tell you what is happening now, for example.
"Sister, what's wrong? Are you hurt?" Luna tore her eyes from the mirror. They found the white glowing form of her sister, her mane still flowing in the celestial wind. There was a tension in her back, the great wings mantled about her. Luna walked around the marble pillar that her sister had become, attempting to see into the difficulty that her sister faced. She froze.
Her sister terrified her. There was a cold, intense hatred burning behind her eyes. Almost tangible waves of power, rage, and bitter sadness rolled off of the ancient creature. There were things moving deep in the pits of her eyes, the usual lavender hue turning into a molten silver. The last time such a look marred the serene being that sat rigidly beside Luna, her sister had singlehoofedly obliterated an entire species. She had wiped them not only from the face of Equestria, but from the very pages of history, the echos of time itself.
Reflected in the silver eyes, was an image in the Mirror. Twilight Sparkle sat curled into a ball in the Mirror. Chains of fire were wrapped around the mare, writhing and sliding along, hideous burns gaped in the wake of the flames. The Mirror Twilight twitched once more, her bonds tightening, searing their image into her flesh once more. Within the Mirror, the proud, capable Twilight Sparkle sat cowed, beaten and broken. She was the closest thing to Celestia's daughter, and if the image seared its pain into Luna's heart...
"They will die."
"Sister, you must not-"
"Silence." The command came out in a harsh whisper, stinging Luna like the bite of one of the ethereal chains binding Twilight.
The plains, even while remaining still indoors in the shade, were almost deadly in their heat.
"What you ask of me is impossible!" The zebra queen, Nolux, growled at the unicorn.
"Don't be foolish. Try again." The mare sat, unruffled at the most recent outburst. The last hour had seen five, the hour before that two more. "You know as well as I that Prophecy is never false."
"Damn it! Don't you get it? There is no Prophecy. The future is muddled, there are hundreds of futures branching out from each other. All I see are a white and black creature with a horn like yours and feathered wings, you, and a mirror. Those are the only constants in the sea of possibilities. I can't tell you what you want to know, because I'm not even sure which you I should be looking at! Why do you think that I could not install greater defenses? I knew that you may have come here, but amid the different places you could have entered, the cities you might have destroyed, I could not spare the guards to my people." The queen growled in frustration. It was hell, to know all of the horrors that could befall her subjects, and knowing that nothing she could do could stop it. To know that there was an equal chance of her blood staining the rug beneath her once more, as each of her predecessors had met their own end.
Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Hundreds?"
"At least. Its a muddled mess, you can't know anything, because all of those futures are fluid, constantly changing, but none of them ever becoming nonexistent. Time is about to branch off enough to look like a shattered glass, shards and chips everywhere. If it doesn't simply fall apart, then it will be distorted by the cracks running through it. Not only that, but you aren't the only one who is going to make choices that alter reality. Small stones continually appear, a statue, even those two creatures, they are all going to affect the future, and until it is happening, there is no way for Prophecy to work. Until that time, there is nothing I can do to help you, because there will simply be too many possibilities." Nolux said, her voice edging back from the almost frenzied frustration of a moment before to one more akin to awe. Never had any creature held as much sway over the future as the little purple creature before her. "There is only on constant I see, at the end of the branches."
"You just cannot understand. You, all ponies, just don't get it. You think of time as a linear construct, a simple chain of event to event, cause and effect. What you don't understand is that everything that we do, every choice we make affects the future. If I were to decide between a salad and a sandwich for lunch, that single decision would break the flow of time, making two, entirely separate timelines. You think of time as linear because in your memory, one thing leads directly to another, because in your reality, in every reality, it does. What you don't see is that right next to you are hundreds, thousands, millions of different yous. Each choice breaks time, yes, but they are minor, maybe a single hair is a different color, or something minor like that. You though, you are straining the, the stuff of time by your very prescence. You are putting too much strain. If I were to die, here and now, then there would be little change in the outcome of the future, maybe a slight crop decrease or something. The amount of power you hold over others has a direct link into the amount of change the future would have. You though, every choice you make will lead to a distinct future, entirely seperate from, well, everything. They will create and shape their own timelines. But what is truly terrifying is that they will never rejoin. Reality will become separate, apart from itself, based on the choices you and those two other creatures make. You are going to shape the world Twilight Sparkle, and in most, you shall not shape it for the better. There is only one constant in the times I can see."
"Oh?" The eyebrow quirked once more, Twilight's ears flicking to face the queen. The tirade, almost an attack, caught her off guard. Until this point, the queen had been calm, composed and only angered at Twilight's intrusion. Now though, she was near tears, the frustration and helplessness of her position hitting home. There was anger, hot blazing fury in her eyes now.
"Your death."
Hm. This one came out kinda... meh. I think it turned out okay, but it just seems like I could have done a hell of a lot more in it. So, I'm off to go write something else, probably of low quality, until I can think of more stuff for this. Of course, I might just not post the next chapter for a while to make it that much sweeter. Absence and the heart and all that right?
Hugs and Kisses
Dang. So, Twilight has the most influence on the futures to come but in almost all of them, she dies? That is a lot to swallow. I seriously hope that she thinks about her actions and the consequences of said actions a bit more now. Who knows what could happen if she doesn't? Looking forward to more. And I hope that Celestia will not be too rash in whatever she is planning to do now.
I totally saw it coming!
I assume the 2 others are Celestia and Luna, and the statue must be Discord. So she's a temporal nexus, an entity which defines/guides the future, well I suppose I can buy that, though the entire, Your Death bit was a bit dramatic...
Though, fortunately, it's not absolute prophecy, 'hope' Twilight can be redeemed somehow.
Curious who Celestia says she's going to destroy, the entity of the Mirror?
i wonder if the young queen did intentionally open possibilities where Twilight doesn't die with what she said. sometimes simply knowing what was said would give Twilight enough warning to make contingencies...
Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
This is coming along in the best way I could have hoped for.
Much love.
Well, if it's only Twilight's death, then that's nothing to get overly worked up about. I mean, she is mortal, in most possible futures that's not going to change...so for all the dramatic delivery that line is in and of itself about as shocking as revealing to Twilight that she has hooves. ()
Now if the prophecy could kindly be a bit more specific about the time and circumstances of said death and thereby impress us by revealing something that, you know, we didn't know all along...
Then this whole thing is pointless. I'd better just go commit suicide before I break anything else.
i can tell the future to and guess what everyone no matter what you do it will end in the same way your death
They will die. WHO will die the ponies, the bat wing things that are already dead, the zebra? And what the hell is wrong with Celestia that mirror obviously had something to do with Luna and nightmare moon, why is she trusting ANYTHING she sees in it. And I now officially hate that thing that twilight put in the mirror because it is just helping things spiral out of control. Unless it really is twilight then I'm going to smack that mare for putting EVERYPONY in danger over an emotional spat grrrrrrrr. AND Luna suck it up and be a princess, tell Celestia to pull her head out of her ass and THINK.
Now the question I have is why does Twilight mean so much to the future of the world. She can't be the element of magic anymore as she has no friends heck she hasn't even thought about them for weeks. They haven't had any impact on the story for a good 3 or 4 chapters. She is a strong magician, no longer of sound mind, and determined, but that's all that I can think of.
Another thing why has no one thought that hey Twilight is missing maybe I should worry about what a emotionally unstable mare with a ridiculous amount of power is doing with herself.
One more thing, Twilight is out of her mind but hearing that she is going to wreck the world is still kind of a shocker. Shouldn't she be more worried about what she is going to do to mess everything up. She is all reason right now no emotion no distractions and while she might not care what anyone thinks of her she should be worried what they will do to disrupt her plans. Making enemies is not a logical course of action. Especially if she can gain allies instead, it doesn't matter if she is being sincere in her care for others just that they think she is. Just because she is turning into some kind of world ending pony does not mean that she must be foolish about it.
One more thing, I still can't tell if Twilight is just being calm and controlled or has actually gotten rid of all of her emotions. There is not enough in this chapter for me to tell. That almost smile says yes she still has some but what was it about. Was it because the wall blew up or because she made a mistake in the force necessary to launch the gem. Was it because of bemusement or was it the oh it's funny when things blow up unexpectedly smile.
And lastly after rereading some I have to ask did Celestia do something monumentally stupid like let the mirror demon thing corrupt her because if she did she needs shot.
And now this chapter has left me wanting more so bad, BUT take your time to write the next one I don't want you to rush this its too good to ruin with hasty writing. Maybe play around with A Blaze of Glory or just take time away from writing to give yourself a break from this darker world. Your stories are worth the wait. They have also prompted me to write larger comments than any other story I have ever read.
539589
i think it refers to an early death; like at the end of the coming chain of events through her choices. and that she dies in stories such this isn't exactly set in stone. i for one always hope for some kind of immortality, but that's cause i love stories in which twilight goes "dark personality change" and acquires immortality a long with enough power to rival luna/celestia; which she then cant revert back from, even if she wanted to, after the climax of the story. another possibility is that death might not be permanent, or it could be metaphorical; like death of the "current" twi.
Hm...this wasn't the best chapter or the worst. Loved the Doctor Who reference even if it's one that's played out a lot.
Take all the time you need, you're the author so it's your choice. Just know that we'll be waiting!
Ehehehehe
Back again to point out a couple mishaps
-
"Even the Batwings didn't wantonly destroy everything" - Either "want to only" or "want only to"?
"You must await your rightful place before address her-" - Either "you address her-" or "addressing her"
"It was a shock to Twilight, as it would be to any pony, to think of a ruler as young" - Missing a period at the end of the sentence
"The last time such a look marred the serene being that at rigidly beside Luna, " - I think you were going for "sat"?
"You are puttign to much strain" - "putting" & "too"
"But what is truly terrifying is that they will never rejoin reality will become separate, apart from itself, based on the choices you and those two other creatures make. You are going to shape..." - Missing a period after "will never rejoin" I think? Should be two sentences?
"The tirade, almost an attack had caught her off guard." - Maybe another comma after "almost an attack" would flow better
-
Sorry, I like to read and analyze stories, so I catch them...
...
Please, please don't hate me?
Anyways, it's still nice to have an update so quickly after the last one
Bringing time into the mix are we? Always a favourite topic for me The branching time stream is a nice theory, allows for interference without destroying your specific time-stream, but you end up in a different reality;...Off topic a bit, whoops.
So it seems Celestia has misinterpreted what she's seen in the mirror, or at least that's what it looks like. Since Twi's been coupled with Celestia and Luna in these "prophecies", it looks like she's joined the ranks of "God-tier" in terms of magical influence over space-time. I'd guess the Zebra plot was to pull Twilight away, so that she and Celestia won't meet to clear the misunderstanding until it's too late. Also to give us a little peek at how the story will end...(unless it's a red herring, you sly...something you).
Looking forward to more. Best with writing!
539796
I could kiss you!
Thank you, I'm going to go fix things now.
Oh, and wantonly is the ad... something form of wanton, so she was saying that they don't do things without purpose. And I? I sly... something? Why I never! (Have heard such high praise, thank you very much )
Huh. I just realized, even if she was my least favorite pony to start with, I use a lot of rarity emotes. But Pinkie can burn in whatever dark.... yeah okay, not the place to hate on her is it?
539589
It isn't meant to be a shock that a mortal will die, it is the implication that the result of every chain of possible futures involves her death before the changes to the timestream stop.
539782
Huh. I actually didn't notice that. I avoided the whole wibbly wobbly timey whimey... stuff but though. In all fairness though, I came to my own conclusions on the nature of reality, and time, years before I found Doctor Who. And the whole thing started with basic logical question. If the universe is infinite, and all possibilities, no matter how unlikely, in an infinite repitition are not only made more likely, but will happen an infinite number of times, then how can we not be the only life in existance. We know that we are in existence to our perceptions. It is infinitely unlikely that we are the only life in the universe, but since the universe is infinite, we form a paradox because we effectively live in a schrodinger state, we are at once the only life, and but one of many. Ah the things you think about in eighth grade math.
And out of curiosity, which one was the worst?
539606>>539674
Lark, but could not the simple prediction also force a modification of the future in which she lives?
539732
Wow, you're deep. People always think literally in terms of death. Bravo *has no slowclap gif*
540105here have mine
img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Shizniggity/Slow-Clap.gif i706.photobucket.com/albums/ww66/XxinfinitexX/Slow-Clap-Man.gif i1093.photobucket.com/albums/i426/jdegroff/tumblr_lgbilzDkVB1qf8yek.gif i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd381/tumblrstuff/2ibl3t0.gif i1255.photobucket.com/albums/hh634/gentlemantexter/slowclap2.gif i1211.photobucket.com/albums/cc428/elfwannabegifs/joker.gif
The only word that comes to my mind...
...Brutal. Excellent chapter indeed.
539686
OI! Don't dis the Mirror. You think the moon is bad? Lol, and that was rather the idea, since I don't think anypony has figured out what is in the Mirror yet. Well, at least none of the commentators. BE NICE TO LUNA! How can you want to hurt pinkie.ponychan.net/chan/files/src/133592361143.png . Thats, thats, so human.
Cough Cough Great power brings great responsibility. Cough, I know I have that one somewhere. I don't even like Spidey, but everyone should have that one. So much dust on my babies . Basically, Twilight doesn't. Not on her own at least, but the cumulative of the choices of all of the major characters are based around Twilight, so while she in herself isn't that impressive, she acts as both a catalyst and a reactant.
Her friends will show up... eventually. Very very soon probably. And remember, except for Fluttershy, they all think that she's just under a lot of stress. And of course their worried but *will not finish, is in coming chapter* they aren't yet going on a manhunt (marehunt?)
Yeah, Twilight is insane, but not the way that most people are. Think of it more like extreme obsession. She has literally one thing that she wants, and if it gets her what she wants, she doesn't care what happens or what she must do. Being, well, Twilight, she'll look for the fastest and most efficient way to get what she wants, but she will get it. She isn't making any enemies either, with the possible exceptions of the zebras. Only Celestia and Luna know about whats going on, and even then, they don't know everything.
Bwahaha! I'm doing well then. You aren't supposed to know grasshopper, mostly because I don't bloody know. Maybe she does, maybe she doesn't, it all depends on what the Mirror does, how it does it, and most importantly of all, what that creature is.
I probably will get to Glory, but maybe not a whole chapter. The only real major plot point I have figured out for that story is coming up, but writing it is a bitch. This next chapter on this shouldn't take too awfully long though. Then its only the entire summer before season 3. Now I shall go and pray for them to continue past season three, and continue to have original ideas.
... Oh shit. Does anypony know whether or not Friendship is Magic is tied inextricably with the My Little Pony franchise? Cause I have a crazy ass idea that might work...
"You just cannot understand. You, all ponies, just don't get it. You think of time as a linear construct, a simple chain of event to event, cause and effect. What you don't understand is that everything that we do, every choice we make affects the future. If I were to decide between a salad and a sandwich for lunch, that single decision would break the flow of time, making two, entirely separate timelines. You think of time as linear because in your memory, one thing leads directly to another, because in your reality, in every reality, it does. What you don't see is that right next to you are hundreds, thousands, millions of different yous."
so what your saying is...
most poeple think of time as a strict progression of cause to effect, but in reality from a non-linear non-subjective point of view it's more of a big ball of wibbily wobbily, timey wimey...stuff
i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n613/bombermanpyr/Doctor%20Who%20Reactions/wibbilywobbily.gif
541195
540130
and dont forget
i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n613/bombermanpyr/Doctor%20Who%20Reactions/tumblr_lflgfg8csS1qdufy3.gif
and
i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n613/bombermanpyr/Doctor%20Who%20Reactions/tumblr_lk53h88Ad91qzqy14.gif
536976 i just realized how wrong that can be sean as
t.qkme.me/355xkp.jpg
Nothing else needs to be said, except that was epic.
Im really entertained now.
I want to see just what Twilight is willing to do for her goal. Heck blasting her way into the Zebra leaders throne room wasnt beyond her at all (if she keeps up like this the world will burn in the flames of war.)
I want to read the expression on Celestia's face when see realizes its Twilight, i want to see her break. I want to drink in the emotions of Twilights friends when they finally understand the gravity of her broken state, i want them to cave and see Twilight feel nothing from their despair.
I want to see Twilight mind game her way closer and closer to her goals using her intellect and power in creative, subtle ways.
I've my guesses on the mirror, what's in it, what it does, what it is, what that creature was, etc... But i'm beind in reading so I ain't saying anything cept that I got my suspicions
How is this not a movie yet?
THIS IS THE BEST PLACE TO STOP WHEN YOU ARE ABOUT TO GO TO BED!!!
just sayan.
I really am a sucker for a tenth Doctor allusion. If at any point Twilight boils an egg from thirty paces, you'll have more than earned your favorite from me.
779337 Copyright.