Ends and Beginnings
Sunset stood rooted to the spot. The notion that the Elements themselves hadn’t been ponykind’s first attempt at harnessing the powers of Harmony had never occurred to her, even though it made sense. Power like that was bound to attract attention.
“You seem…a bit more shocked than I thought you would, given how long ago this happened,” Scroll Seeker said.
Sunset regained her composure as best she could and replied, “What went wrong in their attempt?”
“That is actually a matter of conjecture among historians,” Scroll Seeker said evasively.
“Okay, so what do you personally think happened?” Sunset asked.
Flashes of her nightmares, of a cold, crystal forest, filled her mind. Were they about to recreate the Crystal Cataclysm on a global scale? Had Princess Celestia been wrong after all? All Sunset’s desire to prove her old mentor wrong was swept away by the fear that their mission, far from saving Equestria, might really end up dooming it instead.
Scroll Seeker looked a bit troubled. “My…well…it’s…” she said hesitantly.
“Controversial?” Sunset guessed.
She couldn’t think of any other reason a historian might keep a theory to themselves, not when it concerned something most ponies had no idea even existed.
Scroll Seeker nodded. “Yes. The prevailing view at the moment is that the wizards made a mistake in their calculations, causing a stasis-like effect instead of the Harmony they were looking for. That explanation never really satisfied me, though, not in light of all the pamphlets and communications from the time period which reference the event in a warning manner, like the one you were reading just now.”
She fell silent for a moment and stared off into the distance, seemingly trying to formulate her thoughts. “How familiar are you with magical theory?” she asked.
“I used to be Princess Celestia’s personal student,” Sunset replied, a mixture of pride and a hint of her old arrogance in her voice.
“Very familiar, then. Good,” Scroll Seeker said.
“Why ‘good’”? Sunset asked.
“It will save me the explanation on why the number six is considered so significant. See, the very significance of the number six in many magical theories of pretty much all disciplines, both past and present, is thought to have been the reason ponies began to deviate from their belief in seven Aspects of Harmony. Given the mountains of documented and reproducible evidence that the number six is incredibly powerful, magically speaking, it’s only a small step to believe that something as powerful as Harmonic magic would work by the same principles.
“Indeed, if we look back far enough, evidence has been found of many early attempts to strip Atonement of its status as an Aspect. In those times, there wasn’t much communication between different settlements, so those attempts never really found any traction beyond their very localized scopes. However, as the population began to grow and more trade routes began to be established, ideas began to spread much further, much faster. Eventually, the new belief system overthrew the old one, and Atonement was all but forgotten, remembered only by a select few.
“Of course, the transitional period saw a lot of conflict between the different factions. To stop the conflict, the Six-Aspect wizards sought to prove the veracity of their viewpoint by creating a weapon utilizing the powers of Harmony. They failed, and somehow their entire city was transformed into perfect crystal, and the immense cold that emanated from the city could be felt many miles away. That event is what became known as the Crystal Cataclysm.
“Fearing that the Seven-Aspect ponies would use the Cataclysm as a point in their own favor, the Six-Aspect faction began systematically destroying all references to it, and all evidence that it had ever occurred. Of course, as you’ve seen, they failed. I’ve always liked the irony that what was intended to be their greatest victory ended up being their greatest failure.”
Sunset nodded slowly. So far, Scroll Seeker’s story made sense. She knew that ponies had fought over many different reasons in the past, and she knew how heated ideological debates could get. Still, something continued to bother her.
“If the Crystal Cataclysm was really such a huge thing, though, what happened to that city? Wouldn’t it be impossible to hide something like a crystal ghost town?”
Scroll Seeker smiled. “It’s a city of crystal in a frozen wasteland. Does that remind you of anything?” She pointedly looked around the library and Sunset’s eyes widened.
“Here?! This is the site of the Cataclysm?”
Scroll Seeker nodded. “Yes. At first, the crystal city was far too cold to enter. Years and years of magic went into making it accessible again, but even then the environment was barren and hostile. Some even say that Windigos came about as a result of the Cataclysm, but as of yet I’ve found no evidence to support that. In any event, ultimately the ponies managed to use Harmonic magic to create the Crystal Heart, returning life to the city and its immediate surroundings. The magic of the place never truly faded, however, which is why the Crystal Ponies look the way they do even today.
“The sheer age of this city is also part of the reason that there are so many old records here. The thousand years of absence have only helped to preserve what was already here. But with the city inhabited again, the Six-Aspect ponies were able to manipulate the official records, removing all mentions of the Crystal Cataclysm and instead claiming that the crystal used to build the city occurred here naturally. And that, finally, leads me back to your original question: I think the Crystal Cataclysm happened because the Seven-Aspect ponies were right. The wizards’ attempt at creating a Six-Aspect weapon failed because they ignored Atonement, and they were destroyed because of it.”
Sunset wanted to agree with Scroll Seeker, and felt elated that somepony who was as well-versed in history as Scroll Seeker was actually believed that Atonement was an actual Aspect of Harmony. Even so, she didn’t immediately jump for joy.
“So what about the Elements? The wizards of Caballus succeeded in the creation of their Six-Aspect weapon. They even changed the fundamental nature of magic while doing so,” Sunset said.
Scroll Seeker nodded. “That’s exactly the argument most other historians use,” she admitted. “And that’s where things get controversial. See, I don’t actually believe the wizards of Caballus succeeded in what they set out to do. Their intention was to tame nature and to create everlasting Harmony, but they didn’t truly succeed at either. The very fact the Cold Age happened proves that. Ponies had forgotten all about Harmony, and because of it the Windigos were able to freeze nearly all of Equestria. For all their supposed control over nature, the ponies couldn’t do anything against them until they rediscovered Harmonic magic. It’s believed that the Elements themselves were the catalyst for that rediscovery, although records are inconclusive. Whatever the case, I think the creation of the Elements was at least partially unsuccessful due to the neglect of Atonement.”
“Then…what do you think would happen if the Forges the wizards used were to be activated again?” Sunset asked. Her happiness at having found somepony who seemed to share her ideas about Atonement began to be replaced by a feeling of dread. “Would…would something like the Crystal Cataclysm happen again?” she went on.
Scroll Seeker considered the question, seeming a bit confused by the insistence in Sunset’s second question. “I don’t know. I suppose it’s possible, but the Forges are lost and nopony knows where they are, so it’s unlikely to ever…”
She trailed off when she saw Sunset’s pale face. “Are you…okay?”
Sunset didn’t reply. Here it was, at long last. The confirmation of her fears, and the very event her nightmares had been warning her about. Now it made sense that her nightmares got worse with every Forge they activated. She felt the cold chill, the ghost of her dreams, lancing through her magic. Something was trying to warn her, to warn all the princesses: don’t activate the Forges. But what? Or who? And if the nature of the nightmares was benign, so to speak, then what exactly was the dark force Princess Celestia had seen in the ancient records she possessed? Had the wizard documenting it been wrong? Had he been trying to cover something up? And if the nightmares were warnings, why did they stop when she and Twilight slept close together? What was the voice saying Twilight’s name, and why would it mention Twilight in particular? Here she finally had answers to questions she’d had ever since the first mention of Atonement, and all it had done was leave her with far more.
She looked up at Scroll Seeker, who was still looking at her with a concerned expression. “Thank you for telling me all of this.” She smiled ruefully. “I better go find Twilight. She’ll want to hear about this.”
“It does sound bad,” Twilight said when Sunset finished telling her the story.
Sunset cocked her head. “But…?” she asked.
Twilight sighed. “But…I still think we should risk it.”
She held up a hoof to silence Sunset, who was about to go into an incredulous rant. “I know, I know, Scroll Seeker thinks the wizards were wrong. But Scroll Seeker has never actually used the Elements herself. I have. And every time we’ve used them, they did exactly what they were supposed to do. They were able to petrify Discord, banish and eventually restore Princess Luna, unlock the Rainbow Power we used to defeat Tirek…they’ve even allowed us to make you see the error of your ways. And aside from that, Princess Celestia thinks that what we’re doing is the right thing. She wouldn’t have sent us if she didn’t think so.”
She gave Sunset an almost apologetic look. “I hate to sound like I’m just dismissing you out of hoof, but I really think that Scroll Seeker is wrong, at least about this particular thing. I have absolutely no issues believing that Atonement is an actual Aspect of Harmony that has been swept under the rug. History has had its fair share of conflicts, after all, and ideological conflicts always seem to be the most hotly contested.”
Sunset appreciated Twilight’s attempt to console her, but it didn’t really make her feel any better. Deep in her heart, she guessed she had known that Twilight would respond like this. If nothing else, the two things in life Twilight trusted and believed in most were magic and Princess Celestia. In this case, both of those contradicted what Sunset was saying. Of course Twilight, the diligent researcher, would go with what she had observed in the past rather than trusting in conjecture. If their places had been swapped, Sunset was fairly certain she would have done exactly the same thing.
If Sunset had still been her old self, this would have been the point where she would have revealed Princess Celestia’s use of Destiny magic in an effort to discredit her in Twilight’s eyes, in a ‘the ends justify the means’ kind of way, but as she was now, she’d never resort to that. Even if it might have worked, it would be an enormous breach of trust, and nopony would want to associate with her anymore if she did something like that.
She looked at Twilight, who looked a bit anxious because of Sunset’s silence. Maybe she was worried she’d insulted her somehow? Sunset forced herself to smile to reassure Twilight that she wasn’t angry. She was still afraid that activating the final Forge would be the wrong decision, but there was nothing she could say to convince Twilight of that, and Twilight did have some valid points about her experience with the Elements.
“I trust you, Twilight, more than anypony else,” she said. “If you truly believe that activating the Forges will save Equestria from the dark force…then I’ll be with you to the end.”
She felt a blush creeping up on her cheeks. She really hadn’t meant to sound so corny, but it was out before she knew it.
Twilight blushed as well, and replied, “Thank you. That means a lot to me.”
For a moment, both ponies exchanged a somewhat awkward look, before Twilight straightened herself and said, “Well then, let’s go find the others. We don’t want to miss our train.”
Still blushing faintly, and shooting each other some surreptitious glances, they headed for the exit of the library.
“It’s strange to think that this whole adventure is almost over,” Applejack mused as the train sped away from the Crystal Empire in the direction of Ponyville. “I mean, we haven’t been gone for that long, but we’ve seen and done so much it feels like we’ve been away much longer.”
Rainbow Dash nodded. “I know. I hope the weather ponies have been getting by without my awesome presence to guide them.”
Applejack shot her a sly look. “Don’t you usually sleep in late anyway? I doubt they even know what you look like anymore.”
“Pfff, as if anypony could forget me,” Rainbow Dash said cockily.
“I guess not,” Applejack conceded, and Rainbow Dash looked smug before Applejack went on, “It’s not like your training mishaps are easy to miss. Last time I thought there was another stampede going on.”
“Funny,” Rainbow Dash said through gritted teeth.
“I just hope Coco didn’t get overwhelmed while she was running the boutique. I know she has Sweetie Belle helping her, but still. It’s a busy season,” Rarity said.
“I’m sure she’ll be fine, Rarity. She’s from Manehattan; I don’t think a small town like Ponyville would give her a hard time,” Applejack replied. She turned to look at Sunset. “So what are your plans when the mission’s all wrapped up, Sunset? Are you going back to the human world or will you stay here now that you and Princess Celestia have patched things up?”
I hope Equestria still exists after we’re done, Sunset thought. But rather than saying something so gloomy, she said, “I’ll go back to the human world, I think. I’ve built up a pretty comfortable life there through the years, after all. But I’m not going back straight away. I’d like to stay and spend some time with…” She glanced at Twilight. “…all of you,” she finished, feeling her face heat up.
Her friends, even Fluttershy, gave her knowing glances, which Sunset responded to by pointedly looking out the window. She hadn’t been lying, technically. She did want to spend some time getting to know her pony friends better, but above all she wanted to spend time with Twilight. Knowing that they had feelings for each other that went beyond just friendship was something new for her, and she figured that spending a few days together would help find out if what she felt was just a crush, or if it could develop into something more over time. Whatever the case might be, she wanted to enjoy all of it. All of that, of course, was under the assumption that the entire world wouldn’t be a lifeless ball of crystal. She tried to dispel the dark thought and focus on the landscape rushing by. Everything would be fine. It just had to be.
Sunset shivered in the cold morning breeze as the group stood before the entrance of the Everfree Forest. Everypony had spent the night in the castle throne room, still in their sleeping bags, all in the unspoken desire to only really go home after their mission was complete. Sunset and Twilight had slept close together, with Sunset savoring every bit of warmth she felt from Twilight, still fearing that it might be the last time she’d get to feel it. Her dreams had been quiet. Whatever was causing her nightmares, be it the mysterious ‘dark force’, or some entity trying to warn her away from activating the final Forge, had been unable to get past the combined strength of Sunset and Twilight’s magic even now, so close to the end.
“Is everypony ready?” Twilight asked.
Wordlessly, they all nodded. Even Spike was with them again. Twilight had wanted him to stay in the castle, but he’d countered by pointing out that he had been in the Everfree Forest before, and that they’d visited far more dangerous locations on the trip. In the end, Twilight had agreed to let him come too.
“Alright then. Let’s go.”
Still in silence, they headed into the forest. The walk to the Tree of Harmony was uneventful, but despite the lack of anything happening, Sunset’s heart was beating in her throat at what felt like a million beats per minute. She forced herself to breathe deeply and calm her nerves, but as they got closer to the Tree it became more and more difficult. Eventually, they reached an unassuming-looking cave.
“This is it,” Twilight said to Sunset.
Sunset cocked her head. Despite her ever growing feeling of dread, she was a bit underwhelmed by the sight of the cave.
“You told me the cave was small, but I must admit I expected a little bit more from a location as significant as this,” she replied.
Twilight smiled at her. “Just wait until you see the Tree itself,” she said, and she began to walk into the cave, followed closely by the others.
When Sunset entered the cave, she immediately spotted the crystalline tree in the center, lit by a single ray of sunlight from a crack in the cave’s ceiling. It looked faintly like a weeping willow, only instead of leaves, small crystal spheres hung from its branches, each acting like a prism and glittering in all the colors of the rainbow. Five of the branches were thicker than the other, and Sunset’s eyes widened when she saw the gleaming Elements of Harmony embedded in them, arranged in the order their Forges had been placed around Equestria. The center of the Tree’s crown held the Element of Magic, which was connected to the others through thin lines of magic which continuously shifted colors. The sight was mesmerizing to behold.
But despite the Tree’s visual beauty, Sunset felt the cold that emanated from it, a cold that made her magic restless because of how much it resembled the feeling from her nightmares. She exchanged a worried glance with Twilight.
“Was it this cold last time we were here?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“I don’t think so,” Applejack replied.
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Sunset said.
Twilight remained silent, but walked closer to the Tree to inspect it. Sunset got ready to cast a spell if it looked like Twilight would be adversely affected by the cold, but it seemed to have been unnecessary. Twilight inspected the trunk of the Tree, then walked around it. Just a moment later, she called her friends over.
“There’s a tunnel between the roots!”
Sunset and the others quickly joined Twilight behind the Tree. Between the roots, a sloping path was visible. Deep within the tunnel, Sunset saw a faint glow, probably from a magical crystal on the wall. She felt waves of cold rolling out from the Forge and shivered. She took a deep breath and stepped into the tunnel.
Down and down they went. With each passing step, the air became colder. Soon, it felt even colder than it had been in the frozen wastes north of the Crystal Empire, but this time it wasn’t infused with the hatred of the Windigos. That didn’t make it much easier to deal with, however. This cold felt…primal, almost. As if it was a cold older and deeper than anything that existed.
Twilight and Sunset used their magic to shield themselves and the others from the worst of it, but it felt like the very air they were walking through was frozen solid. Then, the light ahead of them began to grow brighter. The tunnel began to level out, and as they moved further towards the light, it also began to get wider.
Where the walls had consisted mostly of rock before, now they were all gleaming crystal, some parts glowing softly, others merely reflecting the ambient light. Sunset’s magic stirred within her and she felt pinpricks all over her body. In front of them was a whirling, convex barrier of energy. It swirled with all the colors of the prismatic crystals in the tree, ever changing like a kaleidoscope. Unlike the barriers around all of the other Forges, this one was entirely opaque.
“I guess we’re here,” Twilight said.
She sounded breathless, and Sunset knew that it wasn’t just her excitement of finally seeing the final Forge that left her so winded, but that Twilight was feeling the same unease in her magic.
Twilight looked at each of her friends in turn, ending with Sunset. They held each other’s gaze for a while, and Sunset wasn’t sure whether her expression would encourage or frighten Twilight. The desire to step in and get it over with wrestled with the idea of just turning around and never coming back to the Forge, and she had no idea which one of those desires was more clearly visible in her eyes at that moment.
Twilight finally broke eye contact with Sunset and turned around. After one last glance at the swirling magic, she stepped through it, quickly followed by the others.
The Forge of Magic was unlike any of the other Forges they had seen on their journey. The ground plate, inlaid with magenta crystals forming the most intricate patterns they’d seen yet, was much larger than those of the earlier Forges, and there was a far greater number of focus clusters spread around it, each feeding seemingly directly into the next. The six entry crystals spaced evenly around the Forge were likewise much larger than the others had been.
Sunset felt her mane beginning to stand on end from the sheer power of the magical energy in the air here.
Twilight looked around, taking everything in with wide eyes and her mouth hanging open. Sunset chuckled softly and stood next to her, gently jostling her to bring her back to the real world.
“I’m guessing you like what you see?” she asked.
“This is absolutely amazing,” Twilight replied. “The other Forges were advanced, but this is on an entirely different level. Every single spark of magical energy is amplified, focused, amplified again…the sheer magical theory, the hours of research that must have gone into constructing this…it’s just magnificent. I’ve never seen anything so beautiful, so well-engineered.”
“You can ask its autograph later; don’t we have a job to do?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Give her some time, Rainbow,” Applejack admonished her. “It’s not every day you see something like this, now is it?”
Rainbow Dash sighed. “I guess you’re right…but I hate being underground, and the air here feels weird. I just want to get out of here.”
“I wholeheartedly agree,” Rarity said. “This static is completely ruining my mane.”
“Really? Mine is just fine,” Pinkie Pie said. Her mane looked even frizzier than normal, and Sunset could swear she saw small static shocks running through it.
Fluttershy, meanwhile, looked very uneasy but remained silent.
Sunset shot a glance at Spike, who was looking at Twilight with an expression that was equal parts amused and resigned. When he noticed that Sunset was looking at him, he said, “She’s going to lecture me on this place when we get back, I just know it. And she’ll probably expect me to have memorized every single detail about this place, too.”
Sunset grinned at him despite herself, then turned back to Twilight. “Well, I guess it’s your turn to stand in the middle now,” she said.
“Yes. That means it’s up to you to cast the spell to draw everypony’s magic this time, Sunset. Do you know how it’s done?” Twilight asked.
Sunset nodded. “I think so. I’ve seen and felt you cast it a couple of times now; I think I should be fine.”
Twilight looked satisfied with that, then turned to look at her friends. “Well, everypony, this is it. Once we activate this Forge…we’ll have beaten the dark force and saved Equestria.”
“Doesn’t it seem odd to you that we still don’t really know what the dark force is, though?” Spike asked. “I mean, aside from the nightmares it hasn’t really done much to stop us. That seems kind of weird considering the usual villains Princess Celestia sends you after are much more…involved?”
Twilight nodded slowly. “It’s strange, yes. But the Princess thinks that activating the Forges would stop it, and I trust her.” She smiled. “We’ve gotten a nice trip out of it, though, haven’t we?”
Spike shrugged and replied, “I guess. Well, I’ll step outside, then. Wouldn’t want to mess everything up right at the end, now.”
When Spike had stepped outside of the barrier, Twilight took up her position at the center of the Forge, while the others positioned themselves beneath the massive blue entry crystals. As soon as Sunset was in her place, she took a deep breath. She tried with all of her might to push away all of her misgivings and calm her unruly magic, and to focus instead on her trust of Twilight, her resolve to bring this quest to a good end. She looked at Twilight one more time, then closed her eyes and began to focus.
From all the times she’d been on the receiving end of Twilight’s magic, Sunset had gotten a good grasp of how the magic-focusing spell worked, and she gently reached out to her friends, touching the magic inside each of them and slowly leading it forward, into the patterns on the floor of the Forge. She felt the energy flowing through the spirals, into one focusing array and then out into the next one, all drawn towards the magical beacon that was Twilight.
The cold began to grow worse as the magic crept ever closer to the center, but Sunset tried to ignore it and focus on her spell. Flashes of her nightmares appeared before her eyes, and briefly her magical connection with her friends wavered, but then, as so many times before on this journey, she once again felt the calming, warming presence of Twilight’s magic mixing with her own, giving her the strength to re-establish the bond with her friends and resume the spell. She felt the energy crackling in the air, each of the six other ponies in the Forge with her like an extension of her own magic when the lines finally converged in the center, and she could see a magenta glow behind her eyelids as the bubble began to expand outwards, overtaking the cyan of Sunset’s spell. The temperature dropped further. More and more the magenta bubble of magic expanded, and then, finally, it touched the six entry crystals.
Sunset felt like she was being ripped apart. Her magic burst beyond her control, every cell lighting up as her rabid magic tore at them on its way out of her body. The cold in reality was far, far worse than anything she’d ever felt in her nightmares and she screamed, a sound drowned in the deafening roar of the magical storm that was now raging in the Forge around her.
Despite her agony, she forced herself to open her eyes, but all she saw was a swirling vortex of pure magic of every color, but predominantly magenta. Twilight. She had to reach Twilight. That thought was the one coherent thing that kept getting through the waves of intense cold and pain. She strained, trying to take a step forward, but her body seemed to be frozen.
In desperation, she looked down, and then she saw it. Her hooves were beginning to turn to crystal. The sheer shock of the sight of it gave her the strength to move, however slowly, but already her hooves felt numb as the crystal began to climb up her legs.
She fought her way forward, to the center of the maelstrom, where she knew, hoped, Twilight would still be. She didn’t know what she would do once she reached her, but it was all she had right now. She struggled onward, her mind and body a haze of pain, and only Twilight’s name was clear in Sunset’s mind. Just get to Twilight.
Her knees began to grow numb, and Sunset didn’t need to look down to know that the crystallization had reached them. Awkwardly, she shuffled on.
Then, she spotted a familiar shape in the spiraling magic. A purple coat, wings flared in anguish, Twilight stood rooted to the spot at the center of the Forge, her eyes closed as she tried vainly to gain control over the magical storm around her. Finally seeing Twilight gave Sunset enough resolve to keep going, but when she was almost there her legs simply stopped working as the ever climbing crystal had finally climbed high enough.
“Twilight!” she shouted.
Twilight, whose legs and lower body were encased in crystal much like Sunset’s, looked up at the sound of her friend’s voice.
Wrecked with pain and regret, Sunset looked into Twilight’s eyes. They had been wrong. After everything they’d been through, they’d ended up choosing wrong. Activating the Forges had been the wrong decision, and now all of Equestria was going to pay for it. And worse, all of it was her fault. She had been the one to cast the final spell. If only she hadn’t let herself be talked into it, this wouldn’t have happened. But it was too late for that now. There was really only one thing left she could do before the crystal would completely overtake her.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
Twilight gave her a sad look. “Me too,” she replied.
The crystal was climbing up Sunset’s chest now, and the same was happening to Twilight. Sunset held Twilight’s gaze. If she was going to die, best to do it looking into her more-than-best-friend’s eyes. She leaned forward as best she could. Twilight did the same. The crystal was climbing up Sunset’s neck, but she leaned in just a bit further. Her lips brushed Twilight’s. Everything went white.
“TWILIGHT SPARKLE.”
The voice came from everywhere and nowhere. It was as if it rose up from Sunset’s mind and body, but also as if it came from directly in front of her, and directly behind her, next to her, above her and below her. The sound wasn’t really sound, as much as it was an image, a thought, a concept. Was this the same mysterious voice she’d heard in her nightmares?
“SUNSET SHIMMER.”
Her own name now. No, not her name. It was her life’s story. From her birth all the way up to now, her death because of her own stupid mistake. Wait. Death? But if she was dead, how could she be thinking?
“NOT DEAD.”
Again, the words she heard weren’t words. This time she saw an empty void. Then light, then stars and galaxies and planets and every single lifeform on all of those planets, and every other dimension with all of their own lifeforms and stars and galaxies.
“HARMONY.”
Now she saw it all, the ponies of the past and how they lived in a dynamic balance with a nature that both provided them with nourishment, yet also wrecked them with disaster from time to time. She saw the wizards. She saw how ponies used the immense power of magic for their own purposes, how they bent the delicate balance to tip more and more in their favor. She saw the rise of all the magical creatures that spread hatred and fear, how they arose because of ponies’ desire for Harmony.
She felt a sharp, agonizing pain when the Elements were created, and she saw her world from afar, drifting in a ball of magic, now shut off from the rest of the galaxy and its natural balance save for a few cracks. She saw the sun and moon being moved around in ways they never had before.
“ENTROPY.”
Stars around the magical sphere of her own solar system burned out in an instant, impossible though it should be. She saw flashes of an old forest dying, returning to the soil, new trees growing from the remains of the old. She saw worlds so young they had only barely formed, and others old enough to be left barren and lifeless. But invariably, in the path of her own system, a path she could see as she was suspended outside of space and time, yet also within every location and time at once, she saw the trail of decay, of increased entropy because her own solar system had its own decreased so significantly.
And then she understood. The crystals and the cold that emanated from them were structures whose entropy had been reduced to zero. An unnatural state, created by the misuse of Harmonic magic. Misuse that stemmed, at least in part, from its ignoring of Atonement. A static balance, a stagnant, unyielding, unchanging system, of which the entropy would never rise, and which would in turn destroy whatever it passed, draining whatever magic and energy there was to be found, to continue its own magically enforced stasis.
“Did we really…destroy the universe?” Sunset asked softly, to everyone and no one all at once.
“DESTINY.”
Her mind was filled now with images of herself and Twilight. She saw the starts of both their lives, their progressions through them, so similar to what she’d seen when she had ‘heard’ her own name spoken several thousand years ago, yet very different, as this time she also saw all the roads she and Twilight did not take.
She saw every success and failure that never came to pass, saw their lives complete without ever having met each other, saw herself ascending to being an alicorn while Twilight remained a unicorn, saw herself conquering Equestria, saw Twilight conquering Equestria, but then she saw her own meeting with Twilight, their confrontation at the Fall Formal, her own redemption, their beginning friendship and their bonding over fearing everyone’s expectations when they were up against the Sirens.
And then she saw her own return to Equestria, how she began to develop feelings for Twilight, how Twilight began to develop feelings for her, the first time they slept together, afraid of the nightmares, their argument, their realization of what it was they were feeling, all culminating in that one kiss at the end of the world. She could see Twilight so clearly, almost as if she were in front of…
“Sunset?”
Her eyes widened. Since when did she have real eyes again, anyway? Where was she?
“Twilight?” she replied, still uncertain.
“Have you…Did you…The voice…?” Twilight asked.
Sunset nodded. “All of it,” she said.
“HARMONY.”
The word was the same, yet the images, the feelings, were far different. Sunset saw ponies using magic so much like the Elements, but without wielding the real Elements. She saw ponies using the Rainbow Power on dark creatures, but she didn’t know who they were. She saw the Tree of Harmony, shattered, its power gone, dissipated across Equestria again like it should be, and she knew that just like before, all ponies would be able to draw on Harmonic magic again now that it was no longer controlled by the Elements.
“Equestria…will be okay?” Twilight asked.
There was no answer, at least, none that was anywhere near verbal. Instead, Sunset just felt intense happiness, pride and relief.
“But…how? The Forge…” Sunset said.
“TRUTH.”
This time she heard it again, as much as she could feel and see it. Her regret at making her fatal mistake, Twilight’s regret at dismissing Sunset’s concerns, and their last words of apology for it had triggered a reaction of the Aspect of Atonement…but that was not all there was to this ‘truth’. It also meant their final willingness to embrace their feelings and express them. Their bond, their friendship, their love, combined with the reaction of all the seven Aspects of Harmony had shattered the Forges and the Elements that had come forth from them, dissipating the energy and reversing the harmful effects of the fake Harmonic magic.
“The others…” Twilight said softly when she saw the vision.
“ALL LIVE.”
Again, just like when Twilight had asked about the fate of Equestria, Sunset was overwhelmed by feelings of happiness and relief.
“Thank you,” she said softly. Then, gathering her courage, she asked, “Who are you?”
“DESTINY. ENTROPY.”
Her mind was filled with images of countless lives, with all the choices they could and did make along the way. She saw those destined for greatness, who took different paths and faded into obscurity. She saw those destined for early graves, who defied their fate time and time again and went on to make something of themselves. She saw those who were famous, and those who were not. She saw all of them, from the mightiest conqueror to the most insignificant peasant, all fade away eventually when their lives were complete.
“RETURN.”
The word filled her mind and body, which began to get heavier. Around her, shapes were distorting, shrinking, her all-seeing eyes dimmed, yet Twilight remained clear in her vision, and then, once more, everything turned white.
Sunset opened her eyes. She was lying on her side in what appeared to be the Forge of Magic…or at least, what was left of it. Twilight lay next to her, in a crater that had once been the focal point of the Forge. All around them, the delicate focus clusters had been blown to bits, and the magenta crystals that used to be embedded in the floor were scattered all over the place.
Sunset saw the rest of her friends beneath the cracked remains of their entry crystals, all looking shaken but unhurt. She turned to Twilight, who sat up with a groan.
“Are you okay?” Sunset asked.
Twilight nodded. “Yeah. Did all of that really happen just now?” she asked.
“I think it did. At least, I can still see and hear all of it in my head,” Sunset replied.
“Hey! Are you two okay?! What happened?!” Rainbow Dash asked. She’d been the first of the others to get back to her feet, and she’d instantly spotted the crater with Sunset and Twilight in it.
Before Twilight could reply, one of the entry crystals, the one where Sunset had been standing while she cast the spell, fell apart into several large chunks.
“On second thought, let’s get everypony out of here first. You can explain everything when we’re out of this cave.”
“How could I have been so wrong?”
Sunset, Twilight, their friends, and the three other Princesses were in Twilight’s throne room. After getting out of the ruins of the Forge, Twilight had sent a message to Princess Celestia, asking her to come to Ponyville as quickly as possible.
The three Princesses had already been waiting for them by the time the group returned from the Everfree Forest, and Sunset and Twilight had explained in great detail what exactly had happened in the Forge, and about their ‘meeting’ afterwards. With every word Sunset and Twilight had said, Princess Celestia had gotten a more horrified look on her face.
“To think that the ‘dark force’ the ponies of Caballus claimed to have almost erased was really entropy…if I had known that, I would never have sent you to activate the Forges. I am so, so sorry,” she said, bowing her head low.
“It’s not your fault, Princess,” Twilight reassured her. “You were trying to save Equestria. We know you didn’t intend for this to happen.”
“The road to Tartarus is paved with good intentions,” Princess Luna said gravely. “I know that better than anyone, I’m afraid.” She gave Princess Celestia a disapproving look. “Sister, I always said you should have paid more attention to Star Swirl. He wasn’t giving those warnings about Destiny magic for nothing, and now look what happened.”
Both Sunset and Princess Celestia blinked stupidly, while Twilight yelled, “What?!”
Everypony else just looked confused, having no clue what Destiny magic actually was or why using it was a big deal.
“How did you know I used Destiny magic?” Princess Celestia asked.
Princess Luna sighed. “Please, Celie. I’ve known you for centuries. Whenever you get this adamant about something, it’s because you’ve done something you shouldn’t have, and for you to be so certain about something that has so little available information even to us…of course,” she added with a sly grin, “it helps that you just admitted to using it.”
She grew serious again. “But really, sister, you have made a mess of things, as Star Swirl warned you about all those years ago. I do hope you’ll refrain from such foolishness in the future.”
“I’m sorry to interrupt, Princesses, but…did you really use Destiny magic?” Twilight asked softly.
Princess Celestia shot an angry glance at Princess Luna, who seemed wholly unimpressed by it. She sighed.
“Yes, Twilight. I realize how that must come across, but I had only Equestria’s best interests at heart.”
Twilight nodded slowly. “I understand, Princess,” she said.
Sunset saw how anxious Princess Celestia looked, so she decided to step in. “Don’t worry, Twilight. Princess Celestia won’t use Destiny magic anymore. She promised me she wouldn’t.”
Twilight cocked her head. “You knew?” she asked.
Sunset nodded. “She told me, after she saved us from the Windigos. I reacted with about as much shock as you just did, and she promised me not to use it again. Besides, she’s only used it for this one thing in the past centuries. She did take Star Swirl’s warning to heart most of the time,” she said.
She didn’t like lying to Twilight about Princess Celestia’s use of Destiny magic, but she was determined to keep her promise to the Princess about not revealing her scrying into Twilight’s destiny. Princess Celestia seemed to feel bad enough already now that Twilight had found out she’d used such magic.
The Princess gave Sunset a look filled with so much gratitude she quickly looked away to hide her blush.
Twilight, for her part, seemed reassured by Sunset’s words, and resumed telling her story. “The events at the Forge of Magic have destroyed the Elements for good. However, Harmonic magic has returned to the way it used to be before the Elements’ creation, and ponies all over Equestria can now wield it again, as well as being able to use the Rainbow Power if the need is dire enough. Not everything has been reverted to the pre-Element state, however, as ponies still control nature, and the transition between day and night, as we’re used to. I think that particular change to the nature of magic is not so easily undone, though there may be a point in the far future where things will have reverted back to the old ways entirely.”
Princess Celestia nodded. “I see. And all of this was revealed to you…by entropy and destiny?”
Sunset answered instead of Twilight. “In a way. That’s the words we ‘heard’ when we were everywhere and nowhere, but it seemed more like they simply used our concepts to define what they were. I don’t even think the forces are fully sapient, but that they were simply able to approximate it because of the enormous concentration of magic. Perhaps both of the forces aren’t even separate at all, but simply different facets of magic. Whatever the case may be, I’ve definitely learned they’re not to be trifled with.”
Princess Celestia nodded in agreement and looked at the group of ponies in front of her. “Well then, I think we should be taking our leave. You all look like you could use some rest. We can discuss everything in depth at a later date, when you’ve recovered somewhat.”
When the Princess said that, Sunset realized how right she was. She felt like she’d run around Equestria fifty times. A soft, warm bed did sound like a very relaxing prospect right then. By the looks of it, all of her friends agreed with that notion, and only half an hour later, Sunset and Twilight were the only ponies left in the throne room.
Twilight leaned back in her throne, while Sunset occupied Rainbow Dash’s for the time being. “It’s finally over,” Twilight said. “We’ll all be going back to our normal lives, and you…you’ll be back at CHS.”
Sunset glanced at her. “You sound sad about that.”
Twilight shrugged and blushed lightly. “Well, the castle’s big enough and has plenty of rooms. If you wanted to come back to Equestria…”
Sunset blushed too, but then she said, “Perhaps one day. But for now, the human world feels as much like my home as Equestria. Even though I’ll miss my magic again when I go back, I still wouldn’t want to miss my friends for the world. I’m sure you understand.”
Twilight nodded. “I do, but…”
Sunset held up a hoof to silence her. She got up out of the throne and walked closer to Twilight. “Don’t worry. I’ll visit more often now that we’re…you know.”
Twilight smiled at her. Sunset grinned back and said, “Besides, I’m not going anywhere yet. I’m staying for a few more days, remember? Getting to know everypony better, and so on? And I think I know who to start with…”
THE END.
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I've been following this for years and...well, I'm impressed by the ending. You kinda turned canon on its head here.
All in all, a good fic. I enjoyed it. And I called it. I knew activating the Forges would just make everything worse.
I really enjoyed this story!. Great job!
This was a great story. Hope a sequel gets posted eventually.
A couple of questions though.
First off, did Parallax Dream win the duel in the Forge of Kindness? And what exactly was he trying to stop them from doing when they wanted to activate the Forges a second time?
Second, did the Crystal Cataclysm turn everyone in the city into the Windigoes?
And lastly, HOW was the Forge of Loyalty even built, when it was in a frozen wasteland surrounded by Windigoes?
10228056
Thanks for the comment, glad you liked it!
Parallax Dream won the duel, in the sense that he managed to damage the Forge enough that it couldn't be used again. He was afraid that activating the Forges again would lead to a static, unchanging Harmony, which would see everything and everyone turned into crystal in a dead and frozen wasteland. That idea was actually based on my entirely shoddy interpretation of the laws of thermodynamics, in this case the third: A perfect crystal at absolute zero has zero entropy. (I imagine everyone who knows anything about physics is crying right about now.)
In my view, the Windigos are naturally occurring entities, just like chimeras, manticores, and all other creatures seen in the show. The Crystal Cataclysm, a failed attempt at weaponizing Harmony, lead to the north becoming a frozen, crystallized wasteland, again based on my interpretation of the third law of thermodynamics, and the Windigos naturally thrive in an environment that is frozen and barren. I sort of pictured them feeding on the residual negative energy, kind of like the Grimm do in RWBY.
Building the Forge of Loyalty was incredibly difficult for them, yes. I have a few ideas on how they might have pulled it off, considering that I also want to write a prequel at some point, but I haven't actually settled on any one method yet. One of my cheaper ideas was to have them enlist the help of a natural-born alicorn, which would down the line also contribute to the rift between 'regular' ponies and natural alicorns that Celestia briefly mentions in Chapter 11, in which alicorns decide to live far away from other ponies, but like I said, I haven't actually settled on a true explanation yet. Kind of a lame answer, I know
10236390
So he was sabotaging the Forge to stop any future usage of it, rather than to stop them doing a specific thing?
10236626
Yes. He figured destroying the Forges would be the only way to prevent the wizards from activating them again. Why he didn't destroy the other ones after his fight at the Forge of Kindness is something I intend to explore in the prequel, assuming I ever get around to writing it.
10236713
If he sabotaged one, would he even need to sabotage the others? I got the impression that they all had to work together.
10236987
They do, but as the Mane Six proved, there was no guarantee the Forge wouldn't be fixed, especially since at the time the ponies who built it were still alive.
Oh my god you kind of predicted how the Next gen will end up😮 Well maybe since it just began but who knows maybe this is exactly what happened🤭 anywho this is great thanks for the series🙏🥰
Gosh, I just really liked the worldbuilding and historical lore you created here! It's so fresh and fascinating that it'll honestly probably in my mind for a good while. Thanks for the ride. This was quite awesome!