Falls the Shadow

by Kolwynia

VIII. She Who Stands Between the Night and the Day

Episode Eight:
She Who Stands Between the Night and the Day

Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow

-T.S. Eliot
The Hollow Men

Nightmare Night had fallen on the land. The silver ponies descended from Cloudsdale. Princess Luna met them with an army composed of Celstia’s royal guards, her own shadowguards, Canterlot unicorns and whomever else she could get her hooves on. Twilight Sparkle and the Guardians of Harmony stood with her.

The opposing forces stared at each other across the field where they were to do battle.

Twilight went over her combat spells in her head. She did this only halfheartedly. The Elements of Harmony were the key, she was sure. She had to reach Pinkie Pie somehow.

Applejack did a few warm-up exercises with her lasso. She was trying not to think, not to dwell on what she knew in her heart was about to happen. No! It won’t! But was there any denying it now? She was honest with everypony…including herself.

Rainbow Dash flew up and took in the view. She could see all the way across to the far side of the enemy army, where the constellations prepared to march against them. And not just Ursa Minors, either. A host of starry foes glowed in the distance.

Fluttershy and Rarity trembled. They were not the kind of ponies that got into fights, except in the most dire of circumstances. Why were they even here?

Friendship.

In the skies above, the last few stars went black, until at last there was only one, a single pinprick of light in a sheet of darkness. The ponies looked up and saw it there, flickering against the dark.

“Would ya look at that,” said Applejack to Twilight, who stood beside her. “That’s the only one left, I reckon. It sure must be lonely up there.”

Twilight whispered, “It is not alone.”

Far away, in the Canterlot Archives, the sands in the giant Hourglass fell like stars. It was almost empty.

A light flared into existence between the two armies, like a lamppost out in the middle of nowhere in a fairy tale. With a familiar whine, the whole TARDIS appeared on the battlefield, the light on its top shining like a beacon.

The Doctor stepped out of it. Ditzy Doo was at his side.

“Ah, just in time,” he said. “Did you miss me?”

Trixie stepped forth from her army, trailed by her Guardians of Ruin. Twilight’s heart leapt when she saw Pinkie among them. There was not a drop of happiness in her friend’s face. What had happened to her?

“I did miss you, Doctor,” Trixie said, smiling. “A thousand years ago. This time I won’t.”

The Doctor met this apparition without fear. “I know what you are,” he said.

“And I know you.”

“You know, I don’t think you do. If you did, you’d be backing up right about now.”

“Not this time, Doctor. This is my hour, and the power of darkness. I’ve left nothing to chance. I’ve even broken the power of Harmony. So, you see, there’s really nothing left that can stand in my way.”

“Except her.”

“Who? There’s no princess here to wield the Elements of Harmony and cast me back into the night.”

“Oh, there is a princess all right, one you might have forgotten about.”

Her gaze fell from the Doctor to the grey pony at his side. “Her?” She laughed coldly. “Tell me, broken princess, what can you do?”

Ditzy Doo smiled cheerfully. “Deliver the mail!” she answered. And she reached into her harness and pulled out a scroll, which she flew over and gave to a certain pink pony.

Surprise unrolled the parchment and read it. It was a letter. From Twilight Sparkle. It was very like the one that the Doctor had carried with him for years. And when Surprise read it, it was like it was written just for her. Love and friendship seemed to drip from it. Had Nightmare Moon at the height of her dark power read it, her heart would have melted as if before the dawn.

But here the Doctor made a simple mistake. He assumed, like Twilight and her friends did, that a shadow had fallen over Pinkie Pie. The truth was, even though Surprise thought herself like Nightmare Moon, she was actually very different. She was not cruel or wicked. She was angry with Pinkie’s friends, but she did not hate them. Pinkie had taught her to love. Surprise wasn’t standing on Trixie’s side because she wanted to end the world. She just wanted a world where she, a creature from the Outside, could exist. She didn’t want to be destroyed by Harmony like Nightmare Moon was.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “This letter isn’t for me.”

“It’s for everypony,” said the Doctor.

Surprise smiled sadly. “Except me.”

The Doctor stared at her without comprehending.

“Now do you understand, Doctor? Harmony has fallen.”

He stood defiant. “No. Even when everything else has fallen, that is the one thing that will remain.” How could he say this, having seen the future, having trembled at the darkness? Easy. He lied. But there was hope in that lie, a fool’s hope. The only kind of hope the Doctor ever had to begin with.

Trixie stepped into the air and was held aloft by her power. The rest of the Guardians of Ruin floated up to join her.

“Doctor?” Ditzy Doo asked, worried.

“It’s okay, Princess,” he said. He put his arms around her and held her tight.

Trixie’s eyes filled with darkness. A ribbon of shadow, like a black rainbow, rose from the Guardians of Ruin and crashed down on the Doctor and Ditzy. The two ponies were frozen in an embrace of stone.

Time stood still.

It was as if a signal shot had been fired. A cry went up from both armies. Constellations roared. Guards shouted, “For Canterlot!” “For Celestia!” Even, “For Luna!” Unicorn magic brightened the night with countless beams of colored light.

The battle commenced.

To the shadow-worlds of the Outside, the battle would have seemed little more than a skirmish. Even with the starry behemoths and the flashes of magic and gleaming weapons. It was small. Safe. Ponies fought. Many were knocked unconscious. Death still couldn’t touch them. Not even a drop of blood was spilled. The lonely star burned in the darkness above.

In the chaos of battle, there were a few confrontations worth mentioning…

Rarity and Applejack met their sisters on the field.

“Sweetie Belle!” cried Rarity.

The little white unicorn flew on her bat wings, dodging spellfire. When she heard her sister cry out her name, she circled around and went into a dive. She fell into Rarity with a crash.

“I can’t stop!” Sweetie Belle cried. Her dull grey eyes were full of tears. “I want…everything. All the time. And I can’t stop…”

She hit Rarity with one small hoof.

“Sweetie…”

“Come on and hit me,” the filly said. She was genuinely asking for it.

Rarity couldn’t.

A ways away, Applejack faced Apple Bloom. A cloud of dust filled the air around her, hung like a mist over the sisters. The Guardian of Deception chose a lie to wrap herself in and faced her opposite.

She came as Death.

“Applejack,” she said. “I’m gonna to take one of your friends away and there’s nothin’ you can do about it.”

Applejack threw her lasso around the black pegasus and gave it a yank.

“Hey!” Apple Bloom cried as she was pulled off her hooves and tied up. “I’m Death. I’m the end of everythin’!”

But Applejack was the Guardian of Honesty, Truth Incarnate, and she could see through a lie as easy as clear water on a sunny day. Especially when it came from her baby sister.

That’s why the real thing scares you, a thought assaulted her. Because you know it’s true.

Rainbow Dash fought Scootaloo. The little orange pegasus seemed strangely weakened. The battle should have fed her power, the Element of Cruelty, but it did not. The truth was that the power behind the Guardians of Ruin had been fading since Trixie had dispelled Discord. Summoning the power of Ruin to turn the Doctor to stone had only drained them.

The exception to this was Trixie herself, whose power only seemed to grow.

Rainbow Dash didn’t even need to raise a hoof. Scootaloo tried to hurt her. Couldn’t. She ended up collapsing. Rainbow Dash held her gently. Scootaloo looked up at her once-hero. All she wanted was to cause her pain. She couldn’t help it any more than Octavia could produce a single joyous note anymore.

Twilight Sparkle fought her way to Pinkie Pie. Between them stood a constellation. It was an Ursa. Minor or Major? Would you believe that in that moment it didn’t matter? The starry creature looked down on the unicorn, who looked up into its eyes without so much as a flinch.

Twilight said in a low, dangerous voice, “I have to talk to my friend and you’re in my way.”

The constellation spoke. The language was old. Ancient. From far before the founding of Equestria. What did the words of that ancient language sound like? Imagine the kinds of words that could come from stars. Words of fire and light, wrapped in cold, and as sharp and clear as crystal. Twilight understood the language. She had studied it with Princess Celestia, who never told her student she was sharing with her one of the secrets of the heavens.

[You are of the stars, little one. How do you stand against us?]

Twilight answered in the same starry tongue. [What stars? Look at the sky. It is nearly empty.]

[We hear her voice. We must obey.]

[I don’t. I will stand against her forever if I have to.]

[But you are only one star.]

[I am not alone.]

[Oh?] There was unmistakable amusement in its voice. [Tell me, little star, what is the name of your constellation?]

[Friendship.]

If a constellation could pale, the starry creature would have.

Twilight had studied the language, but she did not know the secrets of the heavens well enough to realize that she had just spoken the name of the Star Seal itself.

The Ursa stepped aside and let Twilight pass. The creature went to find somepony else to fight, obeying the voice of the shadow. It found a whole division of Royal Guards and made short work of them.

Twilight faced who she thought was Pinkie Pie.

“Twilight,” said the pink pony.

“Pinkie,” said Twilight.

“Wrong.”

Twilight’s eyebrow’s scrunched up as she studied her friend. “What happened? We’re supposed to be friends.”

“You’re thinking of Pinkie Pie.”

“What are you talking about?”

It was as if a shield had been raised around the two of them and nopony could get close enough to interfere with their confrontation. Neither side broke whatever spell surrounded Twilight and Surprise.

While the battle raged around them, they talked.

“You’re supposed to be smart! Look at me. I am not Pinkie.”

Twilight believed her. “Are you some kind of changeling?”

“No. That would make things easy.”

“What then?”

Surprise gave a hollow laugh. “What was Nightmare Moon? Was she Princess Luna?”

“She was…” Realization dawned on Twilight. “…a shadow.”

Surprise said nothing, but felt like crying.

“How long?” asked Twilight.

“Since Discord,” said Surprise. “When he…”

“Of course,” said Twilight. “Those other personalities had to come from somewhere. The Outside? But we called on the power of Harmony. We got our colors back. How did you survive?”

Surprise shrugged. “Pinkie.”

In a flash, Twilight understood it all. “Then…oh, I’m so sorry!”

Surprise had not expected an apology. Something inside her groaned hungrily. An apology…a validation of her existence, a few words that meant, ‘you deserve something more than you have received from me.’

“You didn’t know,” said Surprise, surprising herself. Hadn’t she thought earlier that they should have known. Especially Twilight Sparkle, the genius!

“I should have,” said Twilight. Her words were rain on a thirsty ground. Surprise drank them in. “I think I knew something was…different. I just didn’t realize…and I’m sorry…um…do you have a name?”

“My name is Surprise.”

“Surprise…” Twilight tried it out.

Hearing her name from Twilight’s lips, her own name, was more than Surprise could handle. She broke down and wept.

“Oh, Surprise,” said Twilight. “This is all wrong. You’re not evil at all, are you? What are you doing with them?”

“Trying to live.”

“What do you mean?”

“Discord showed it to me. The thing that’s leading this army has been around for more than a thousand years. It’s been trying to break the Seal for that long.”

“I know,” said Twilight softly.

“It was the one that turned Princess Luna into Nightmare Moon. It was the one that sent the stars to help her escape. It freed Discord from his prison. And it brought something grey and mean in from the Outside to corrupt all of you. And…a bit of that is what made me. So you see, if I let Pinkie go and you use the Elements of Harmony to defeat it, the same thing would happen to me as happened to Nightmare Moon. I would be destroyed.”

Twilight didn’t know what to say. “But…I need Pinkie.”

“And I need to live!”

“Maybe the power of Harmony wouldn’t destroy you…” Twilight was grasping at straws.

“Right. And Nightmare Moon and Luna are great friends today, aren’t they? I’m sorry, Twilight. I don’t have magic so I can’t beat you in a fight. And I don’t have wings,” she said that part bitterly, “so I can’t escape. You can do whatever you want with me, but I won’t give you Pinkie.”

Twilight didn’t know what to do. She was clever, so why couldn’t she think of a way out of this? A constellation had given way to her only moments ago, but there was still somepony standing between her and Pinkie Pie. And this one wouldn’t stand aside, she knew. And how could she ask her to? Now that she knew what she was, how could she ask anypony to sacrifice her very existence? She might not ask. She considered trying to force Surprise out with magic, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. There seemed too much of Pinkie’s goodness in Surprise. She had chosen the wrong side because she was scared, but Twilight looked at her and saw somepony who could be a friend. If things were different…

They were at a standstill.

Nearby, Fluttershy ducked and hid and ran away across the battlefield until she found herself face to face with Nightshy. The silver pony, who had been about to strike at her, pulled back his hoof when he saw who it was. They stood there, facing one another, and doing nothing else.

“Nightshy…” Fluttershy said.

The silver pony did not answer. His features seemed to twitch.

She spoke in soothing tones. “It’s okay…you don’t really want to fight me, do you? I know…something’s happened to all of you…but I think you can come back from it…if you want to…”

Nightshy opened his mouth, and he might have tried to speak, but at that moment a bolt of silver light crashed into him and knocked him aside. The one who had cast it approached Fluttershy with slow, deliberate steps.

It was Princess Celestia.

“Um…hi,” Fluttershy squeaked, backing up as Celestia advanced on her.

She backed into somepony. Looking up, she saw Princess Luna, who faced her sister with steely intensity.

“Go on, Fluttershy. I will deal with this.

The sisters crossed horns.

Trixie crowed with joy when she saw the princesses begin to fight. She was enjoying herself in the battle, knocking out guards left and right, hexing unicorns whose magical power could not even be compared to her own, commanding her silver ponies and constellations to lay waste at every turn.

And yet, nopony had died. The lonely star continued to shine above the fighting, giving hope to her enemies and defying her with its light. Anger swelled within her. She was so close. What stood in her way?

Her cold gaze found Twilight Sparkle. The unicorn was talking to Surprise. Her friends were drifting toward her amid the fighting. It was strange how the six of them seemed drawn to each other even in the midst of all this violent mayhem.

Luna and Celestia were tearing each other apart. Spells flew so fast between them that it was impossible to tell who cast which one. They clashed and struck each other with hooves and horns. They tumbled in a winged blur, light flashing from them all the while.

Trixie looked from them to Twilight. An idea occurred to her. It was monstrous.

She smiled broadly.

“Give me your paw,” she ordered a constellation. It obeyed her. She stepped into its starry palm. “Now lift me high.” It raised its paw, lifting her above the fighting.

“Twilight Sparkle!” she spoke, amplifying her voice with magic.

Twilight turned and looked at her.

“Guardian of Magic, I have your princess.”

Twilight lowered her head, not taking her eyes off Trixie, and let out a low growl.

“We’ve seen this before, you and I. Two sisters in mortal combat. Only this time it doesn’t matter to me which one falls. Whomever loses, I win. Now watch one of your beloved princesses destroy the other!”

It was true. The princesses were fighting like they were trying to kill each other. Twilight had never seen anything like it. Even Luna fought like one possessed. Twilight had no idea what was going on in her head. Perhaps it was simple survival at this point. Celestia was merciless. But Luna gave as good as she got.

The sisters pulled away from each other, galloped in opposite directions until there was a space between them, then they closed the space in a flash. They were jousting. It was the way Canterlot royalty dueled long ago.

Wounds opened up on their bodies. Luna bled moonlight. Celestia’s silver flesh opened into gashes of molten gold. They clashed again. And again. Could one of them really kill the other? Was the Star Seal weak enough?

“Finish this!” commanded Trixie.

Celestia flew away from Luna. The Princess of the Moon followed her example. They put miles between each other. Twilight could barely see them when they stopped and turned around, facing one another in the air. Then they raced toward each other with terrifying speed.

“Somepony has to stop them!” cried Twilight.

The alicorns were traveling as fast as Rainbow Dash when she was about to perform her Sonic Rainboom. It was too late. Even Rainbow Dash couldn’t reach them now. There was nopony fast enough to get there in time.

Except one.

All she had was a moment. It was enough. She looked at her friends, who had only just reached her. “I’m sorry,” she said. They stared at her, eyes wide.

“Twilight, NO!” Applejack cried out.

Bamf! With a violet flash, she was gone.

She was falling. She had no wings. It didn’t matter. Twilight Sparkle had calculated right, as always. She fell right between the two princesses as they clashed in midair.

The moment stretched into an eternity.

Luna’s fury turned to horror in an instant, and she tried to turn aside, tried to slow down. She succeeded a little.

Incredibly, Celestia did the same. She came to herself just in time to know what she was doing as they met.

There was a flash of light and awful power. The princesses felt the impact in every atom of their bodies. But they had pulled back just enough, turned aside just enough, and Twilight had taken just enough of the blow. They would survive.

Twilight went flying like a rag doll. A spiral of something red and wet flew from her body as she plummeted to the earth. She landed with a crash in the center of the battlefield.

The fighting stopped. All across the field, ponies were looking toward where Twilight had fallen. A circle formed around her.

Twilight took a shuddering breath and gazed up at the sky. The last star vanished as she looked on. She had a hazy feeling that she really ought to do something about that.

Far away, the last grain of sand fell through the great Hourglass.

Twilight Sparkle died under a sky without stars.

Her friends ran to her. They were screaming and crying her name.

Surprise did not join them. She stared in open-mouthed shock. Twilight Sparkle couldn’t die. They had only just met!

The princesses, wounded but alive, joined the circle around Twilight.

Princess Celestia saw her precious student lying there in that unmistakable stillness, a pool of red slowly expanding around her body. She threw back her head and screamed. Her cry chilled the blood of every being on the battlefield. It would have shaken the very heavens.

But the heavens were empty.

* * *

The Black Mare led the young unicorn through the shadow lands. An inky, featureless landscape sprawled in every direction. They were on a worn pathway that wound its way through the darkness. Ahead loomed a massive door of stone. It was shut.

Twilight Sparkle was in a daze. What had happened to her? Something frightfully important. The most important thing that had ever happened to her. Wait. No. That wasn’t right. There was something else, something even more important than…

She stopped.

“Who are you?” asked Twilight.

She looked at the one who had been leading her. She was a pure black Pegasus. Her mane was kind of unruly. Her cutie mark was a silver ankh. She met Twilight’s bright, curious eyes with her dark ones. Twilight felt something behind that gaze that defied age. Her Princess and the Doctor had ancient eyes. They had seen a thousand years. This being had seen millions. And there was nothing but fathomless kindness in those eyes.

“You already know who I am, Twilight.”

Twilight remembered.

“But I can’t! Not now! My friends…Equestria! Everything is in danger!”

“There is nothing you can do about that. Your time is done.”

“But Equestria is…you know how important it is, don’t you? If my world falls, that’s it for the whole universe. Everything!”

“Yes,” said Death. “All that is.”

“But how can you stand there and let it happen?”

“Everything dies, Twilight. You. Your friends. Your world. The very stars you have watched ever since you were a filly. Even your ancient princess is only a brief flicker of light. Everything, Twilight.”

“But…it’s not fair!”

“It is the only thing that is fair. Your world has lit up the universe, given it hope for eons. But the universe is ready to die. It’s time has come. I’m just here to turn out the lights.”

They came to the stone door. A brown unicorn stood outside it. He was wearing a blindfold. His horn glowed a soft white. His magic held a Book in the air next to him.

“Greetings, Sister,” he said.

“Destiny,” said Death. “What are you doing here?”

“I’ve come to see the end of all things.”

Twilight burst into tears. “No! We can’t lose! Not everything!”

“Twilight Sparkle,” said the blind unicorn. “Your death is the beginning of the end. It was this way from the beginning.”

“I don’t believe you,” said Twilight. “The Doctor said that the future can be changed. Things don’t have to happen. There’s no such thing as destiny.”

“The Doctor is a child. He plays and theorizes about events that are fixed in Time and things that are not. He does not realize that every event is fixed. Every change he has ever made was recorded in my Book before he ever made it. All the futures he has seen, the ones that did not happen, those were fantasies. Mere dreams. Do you wish to read from my Book, Twilight Sparkle?” He floated the Book toward her and opened to a certain page. “Read there.”

Twilight read from the Book of Destiny.

When the Unfallen Star makes her final stand between the Night and the Day, Death claims her. The power of Friendship fails. The Great Seal breaks. Then the light at the center of all worlds goes out, and the shadow falls on All Creation forever. This is the end of all things.

The page with these words on it was grey. Every page after was black.

“The words of the Book are eternal, from the beginning to the end,” said Destiny. “It was always going to be this way.”

Twilight looked to Death. “Why?” she asked.

Death had been asked that same question countless times. “There is no answer I could give you that would satisfy you. When you take your first step Beyond, you will understand. Just know that I love you, Twilight. And all your friends. You will see them soon. But for you, the end has already come. The Sunless Lands are waiting.”

Sunless? They didn’t sound like any lands Twilight wanted to go to.

The stone door opened. Death led Twilight to the door and she stepped across the threshold. A gentle light surrounded the purple unicorn. She looked up into What Comes After. Suddenly she brightened.

“Oh…it’s you,” she said. Then she smiled. “That makes perfect sense.”

The stone door shut with awful finality.

* * *

Twilight’s friends were weeping.

Twilight was dead. The innocence had gone out of their world.

The jewels in the Elements of Harmony went dull. Then they turned grey. The necklaces turned to stone around the Guardians’ necks. What was happening? One of the Elements, the one that tied all of the others together, had died.

The stone necklaces crumbled into dust.

The ponies that had been the Guardians of Harmony didn’t even care.

Then the color began to drain from them. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Applejack…all of them turned grey.

Then the princesses lost their colors. Celestia went from silver that was bleeding gold to the same dull grey. Luna’s colors ran from her as well.

Above, even the darkness of the sky turned grey.

Then the armies, both Luna’s and Trixie’s, lost their colors.

Trixie too, though she was smiling as it happened, welcoming it.

Surprise had gone grey when Twilight’s friends had.

All the colors of Equestria faded into shades of grey. The whole world turned the color of ash. There was not a single drop of color left anywhere.

The shining world went dim.

Across the universe, hope went out of every world.