Pony POV Princess Twilight's Lightly visits to Grim Worlds

by Alex Warlorn

Ti Dne

Amicitia gritted her teeth... then forced herself to relax and *think*. "Please don't take this the wrong way, but what can you do?"

Clover grinned. "For one thing... this is my world."

Amicitia gasped. "Then... you're not limited like we are. You can enter the world and act!" She swept her former self up in an impulsive hug. "I'm sorry, Clover! I've been so busy trying to fix everything myself..."

"It's okay." Clover straightened her black cloak. "Just tell me where I can do the most good." She glanced at the world below. "I don't think Shiny has much time left."

In a high tower of Canterlot Castle, a battered and bruised Twilight Sparkle hung on a wall, pasted there with changeling slime. Temptation stood before her, holding out a contract in her magic. "It's all your fault, Twilight. Your selfish wish turned a beautiful, graceful race of Flutterponies into the monsters that are destroying Canterlot. Don't you want to make that right?"

"My brother..." croaked Twilight, through a badly parched throat. "He'll stop her..."

Temptation laughed politely. "Oh, please. Chrysalis planned for this. She'll devour his immortal spirit, and immortal spirit is *all* he is, now. There'll be nothing left of him... if you don't undo your mistake." She offered the contract again.

Twilight stared at it, ashamed... and suddenly Clover stood between them, brandishing her scythe. "Don't do it, Twilight! You have no idea what you'd be unleashing."

Twilight gasped. "Who..." She shook her head. "It doesn't matter. My brother..."

"Yes, that's right, you buzz off!" demanded Temptation. "We're making a fair deal here."

Clover pushed her aside. "I want you to trust in your friends again, Twilight. You couldn't have known, locked away up here, but they've been working hard to free everyone and fight back against Chrysalis. They're coming. They'll be here soon."

"Soon isn't soon enough!" rasped Twilight.

"Please!" begged Clover. "Just a little longer, that's all I'm asking."

Twilight reached for the floating quill pen, but didn't take it. The room fell deathly silent... they could clearly hear the explosions outside, the fighting in the streets far below... and something else. Hoofsteps, rushing up the tower stairs. The voices of her friends. Coming for her. Just like that time years ago, fighting Nightmare Moon.

Twilight Sparkle smiled, tears in her eyes... and in a secret changeling tunnel miles from the palace, the Elements of Harmony began to *shine*.

Ispita looked at the coming footsteps in disbelief. "But..." she gave a growl, then snapped back to Twilight. "So? You don't have the Elements and even if you did, what makes you think they'll WORK when you've done all of THIS? You think not one of your friends has enough doubt to neutralize them after what YOU did? Chrysalis TOLD THEM this was all your fault and Applejack saw the truth!"

Twilight's ears pinned.

*But didn't she say she needed a Bearer to release her?*

Twilight perked up. "...You NEED a Bearer! And if the Elements really were neutralized...I'd be useless to you!"

Five friends rushed in, ignoring Ispita and rushing to their friend.

"Girls! You...you came back..."

Rainbow nodded, pulling loose changeling slime. "Of course!"

"Darling, we all make mistakes...normally not quite this big..." Rarity admitted.

"Truth is, we were mighty angry...but yah got tricked by a snake..." Applejack replied. "Yah still need tah make it up tah everypony, but we ain't abandoning you!"

Fluttershy nodded. "And...somepony can't make up for something if no one trusts them..."

"And I don't hate anypony!" Pinkie Pie chimed in.

As Twilight finally came loose, the ponies shared a group hug.

Ispita was trembling in rage. Rainbow chains around her became visible. They sseemed to stretch but refused to break as she turned into a purple smoke, taking the shape of a massive winged serpent made of smoke. "So what?! You still don't have the Elements of Harmony! Either Shining beats Chrysalis' gambit and their battle continues or Chrysalis eats him and becomes unstoppable! what do you intend to do together or apart?!"

Twilight narrowed her eyes. "...You're wrong..."

Ispita's eyes went wide as the symbol of the Element of Magic appeared on Twilight's forehead. "WHAT?!"

While she tried to interfere, Clover blocked her path with her hoof-blades.
"But how can you block me?!" "We're both spirits, duh!"

"...The Elements are our bond. Our hearts! That's all the matters."

Ispita backed up, the great serpent looking terrified as one by one, the symbols of the Elements formed on each of the six. "NOOOOOOOO!" she roared as the Rainbow of Light erupted and washed over her.

+++

Chrysalis and Nightstallion Phalanx blinked, turning from their confrontation as the roof of the two blew off, the Rainbow of Light arcing downwards and washing over the two stunned forces of evil.

The Rainbow expanded outwards, washing over everything. Any Changeling touched by it found Ispita's spell broken, a flutterpony looking around in confusion.

Shining Armor blinked in confusion, finding himself laying on the ground across from Queen Rosedust. "...Well...This is...strange..."

Queen Rosedust had tears in her eyes. "...I'm sorry..."

"It's okay, neither of us was exactly sane...Shining looked on his back and his eyes went wide. "And I have wings now..."

+++

As the six ponies landed, they looked up at the petrified unicorn statue standing in front of her, the defeat of the Spirit in this particular timeline.

"...Everypony still remembers, don't they?" Twilight asked, pinning her ears.

"...Yeah...we do so it just wouldn't be right if they wouldn't..." Applejack admitted.

"...We need to find the real Cadence, don't we?"

As it turns out, that was actually easier than thought, since Queen Rosedust remembered everything she had done as Queen Chrysalis, she remembered the underground tunnels that she had trapped Cadence in, wanting to feast on her once the wedding was over and her spiritual strengths were at their weakest and thus less likely to overwhelm her.

Queen Rosedust wouldn't stop apologizing, even when it became clear Ispita had tricked Twilight into making such a horrible mistake . . . but now . . . none of that mattered . . . Ispita had ironically given Twilight what she REALLY wanted, a chance to mend bridges and make up for her mistake.

"Excuse me." Clover said, "Can you lend me a bit of you power goddess me? I have a rather mundane idea to create a another world line to run alongside this one. Take it from a pony who struggled for years to get over their klutzy nature to become a ballerina, very often, the best solution is the simple one. As simple as tripping over your own big hooves."

Back in the Great Hall, as Twilight raced down to accuse that phony Cadence, that Decadence or whatever her name really was, and save her BBBFF from that witch...

For a moment, she felt another pony besides her, some pony familiar.

She missed a particularly nasty fold in the rug and tripped. And a new world line was born.

"WAAAA!" Twilight went rolling right at the wall. She impacted very hard with a large plinth that really ought to have been replaced years ago. It crumbled just enough to send the heavy urn atop it tumbling.

Right at her.

Whinnies of shock rose. Her head spinning, Twilight looked up and froze at the sight of several hundred pounds of marble collapsing on her.

Her last thought was, 'I'm going to die right in front of my friends and Celestia and BBBFF and that fake Cadence --"

A pink glow enveloped her. The next thing Twilight knew, the urn was shattering on the floor about a foot away and she looked up to see -- the fake Cadence?

"What's the matter with you?" Cadence half panted the words out. Behind her Shiny, her friends, the Princess, everypony came galloping up and started shouting questions and asking if she was alright all at once. Cadence ignored them to say, "You've been acting so strange -- I half wondered if you were replaced by somepony or thing -- had to run everything myself, wanted Shiny and my special day to be perfect -- and now this?" Cadence began to weep, her head hanging down and mane in witchlocks around her face. "Have you gone crazy? You could have killed yourself!"

In the air above Cadence, Queen Rosedust and the Flutter Ponies watched in wide-eyed concern.

Twilight looked at Cadence and began to realize what she'd almost done. 'Look how stressed she is, she must have been ready to have a nervous breakdown! And how exhausted and crazy must I have been to think she wasn't really Cadence?'

Twilight's suspicions melted as she rose and nuzzled her beloved former foal-sitter.

"I was worried about you too... I was getting a little, um, jumpy." Twilight grinned nervously. Cadence sagged in relief to see she was alright. Twilight began to say, "I think you've been taking too much on yourself. I know you want this to be perfect, but it won't be if you make mistakes from being exhausted." Cadence's frown faded as Twilight pointed at her friends. "Please, let us help. My friends know something about celebrations..."

"And I know something about weddings." Queen Rosedust dropped down beside them both. "I've helped set them for three of my daughters. I would be honored to be allowed to advise the Princess of Harmony."

Cadence looked around at everypony. Her aunt Celestia smiled and nodded.

"Dear niece, you were getting a little temperamental."

Cadence smiled. "Maybe I can accept just a little help."

And the repaired worldline rolled on, past a happy wedding.

"Two happy world lines for the price of one." Deus admitted.

Amicitia smiled. "Let's see how these happy weddings go."
-
In one world, Princess Celestia was beside herself with joy. "A wedding of two Alicorns! Suddenly, I wonder whether I'm qualified to marry them. We should get Venus here!"

Luna shook her head. "Nay, sister. Look again, more closely."

Celestia did just that, blinking in surprise. "Shining Armor... he's like Cadence. He has only the faintest idea of his true potential."

Luna smiled. "It would be cruel otherwise. When they are ready, they will awaken as god and goddess... together."

-

"Thanks for the tailor, Miss Rarity," Shining Armor replied, looking at his wedding attire, which was now modified to have openings for his new wings to fit.

"No, thank you, your highness," Rarity replied, doing a bow. "It was an honor to do tailor for royalty."

"Uh...you do realize I just became an Alicorn, right?"

"Yes, but I'll take what I can get..."

Thankfully, while his end goals as Nightmare Phalanx would've been horrible, why he'd ascended and his fight with Chrysalis had kept ponies from getting too furious at the new Prince's ascension. That and he was about to become a Prince anyway.

The two were interrupted by a knock at the door.

Twilight sheepishly poked her head in. "Um...high, B.B.B.F.F..."

Rarity looked the situation over quickly. "Okay, I see this is a family moment, so see you at the wedding, darlings..."

After the fashionista made her departure, Twilight looked sheepishly at her elder brother. "...Big brother...I'm...I'm so sorry..." she said, tears forming in her eyes. "This...this was all my fault...I shouldn't have taken Ispita's deal..."

Shining Armor put a wing to his sister's chin. "Twiley...I forgive you."

"...How? I...everything I did."

"Yeah, you messed up...but you fixed it, didn't you?"

"...Yeah..."

"Then let's just enjoy the wedding...I can't speak for everypony...but I can speak for me. You made up for it in my eyes. that's all that matters."

"...I'm still going to try and make it up to Queen Rosedust and her people."

Shining gave his little sister a hug. "And that proves you're not a bad pony, sis...I love you."

"I love you too B.B.B.F.F."

Meanwhile in the center of a twisting, turning hedgemaze turned impenetrable maze, Ispita's statue set next to Discord's.

'Hello, honey,' Discord's voice said in Ispita's head. 'Funny seeing you here.'

'Shut it!...Great, now I have to tolerate your rambling for eternity.' Temptation replied with a groan.

'Hey! You said you loved my monologuing!'

'I do, just not for eternity! No offense dear, but you can be annoy.'

'Oh, none taken, I like being annoying. So, what brings a pretty equus like you to a place like this?'

'Evil plan to release myself from my prison gets me turned to stone...'

'Same here! Except, you know, I escaped and was sealed away again...at least you got frozen in a look of hatred and fury instead of terror.'

'Yeah, I guess...and I'm still pretty.'

'Yes, though unfortunately they turned us face to face.'

'Hey!' Ispita replied insulted.

'Well if you were turned the other way I could admire your flank for eternity.'

'Oh...yes, it is quite the sight. So...want to hear about how I ruined lives with cursed artifacts and various evil spells?'

'Oh! Of course, want to hear about what I did the one day I was free?'

'Naturally, dear!'
-
Deus Ex Machina and Amicitia parted ways. As Deus enjoyed the happy new world line along with Clover. No sign of Nythy, and no sign of Chance (thank goodness on both counts for different reasons).

But she was shocked when she saw a gray pony enter a stagnant, and for all intents and purposes, dead world line. It was one of Nyhty's that had been sucked dry of all the horror it could offer, and then left to rot, and one Amcitia had created an alt world for (it was painful to see how many universes there were with herself as a mad scientist).

Twilight admitted now . . . maybe practicing the cutie mark transfer surgery on herself before using it on herself and Trixie might not have been a good idea, but . . . she could see every detail, it called to her! Okay, so now she was bleeding on both sides of her body, crawling across the floor. Could she call for Spike? Oh right, Spike was dead. She lobotomized him, then cut open his brain when it began to heal itself. It was for science, to understand. Isn't that the most noble of goals? The structure of the dragon brain held such secrets!!! Trixie? Oh right she was several floors above, to keep her from finding out things Twilight didn't want her to find out.

So she kept crawling and kept crawling, and kept crawling.

"Why . . . why does it feel like I've been crawling along the floor for two years?"

"That's because you have been," said an emotionless voice.

Twilight looked up to see a gray pony with a gray mane and stone colored eyes, looking down at her with a blank expression.

"Who are you?"

"I am called Maud Pie, Pinkie Pie's big sister."

"Don't be insane, you don't look like any of her sisters, and none of them were named Maud."

"That's because I came into existence in the heart world before your world line was born. But your world line never reached a conclusion, it never reached a finale. So . . . as is the fate of all incomplete world lines, you, and all others like you, are trapped in this one moment in time. You'll be crawling on the floor forever, bleeding, trapped between your dementia and your somewhat clarity. Applejack will always been sitting with your world's mob hunting for you, having to give up everything in her quest for revenge.

"Rarity after you forced her to murder her sister, is your slave using that repressed memory as a remote control any time you want. Pinkie Pie . . . Pinkie Pie reduced to no more than your ESP machine, what's left of her anyway.

"Spike, first turned into your lobotomized cyborg slave, until his brain began to regrow on its own, and you decided to kill him just to vivisect his brain to see what you'd find out . . . Even if Spike reading you fairytales at night was the only thing still making your life bearable.

"Fluttershy your drugged up, lost in her own world, little slave without her wings whose body can't even survive without your drugs now, kept barely your friend just so you can still feed your magic, and using the Element of Magic as a battery to slowly grin it to nothing. Rainbow Dash who much to your own frustration never fell into your grasp and became a Guard. All because for you, understanding the world a little more became nothing more than a drug high.

"You brought Trixie here, after planning to use her as a lab rat and originally was just to murder her, until she decided to swoon at your hooves . . . because she owed money to The Family."

"WHAT?!"

"That's right . . . your fate was sealed the moment you brought Trixie here, Applejack would have found you, and everything you'd done would have finally come back to haunt you."

"No! The understanding! The understanding! It can't be! I can't . . . "

"Your world line has been abandoned by its creator, Researcher Twilight Sparkle. There is nothing left for you. In the heart world, removing and transferring cutie marks already been developed via magic, not need for this surgery that's left you bleeding on the ground. You became an Alicorn Princess by learning to appreciate the people side of ponies and reaching true enlightenment. You traveled to other universes! This road was a mistake, a dead end, you understood and learned LESS down this path! Now you are doomed, Researcher Twilight, to remain here, forever. Until at last your world line is forgotten and vanishes. You'll keep crawling on the floor bleeding, forever, as Trixie will forever wonder what you're up to as she makes herself comfortable on your secret little base's upper levels. Forever. Crawling. On the floor. Bleeding. For eternity."
-

"NO!" Researcher Twilight clutched at Maud, grabbed her by one fetlock. "You can't do this to me! Or to everypony else!"

Maud reached down. Twilight dared to hope. For healing, for forgiveness, for death she cared not which, anything would be better than this. She hoped and... Maud pulled herself free and cast Twilight aside.

"It feels odd to hear you express concern for others now, after the years you spent using science as an excuse for your sadism." She turned and looked around the chamber, reeking with the stink of blood and pain.

"You're a monster!" Twilight crawled after her, agony filling her body. "Have you no mercy?"

"That word means little coming from you." Maud shrugged. "And no, I have no mercy at all. Save only the final mercy. Which is still more than you can show."

"Please!" Twilight sobbed, deep wracking sobs thick with pain. "This is Hell!"

"Hell?" Maud turned away to hide her small smile. "You have no concept of Hell."

She was about to say more when with a flash, another form appeared before both ponies.

"What?" Research Twilight blinked. "Princess Luna?"

"Amicitia," Maud said, her voice emotionless. "I did not expect to see you here."

"Please, Entro -- Maud Pie," Amicitia walked up to her, bowing her head. "I could not do this save for this being a dead world. Please, let me give her a chance to save herself."

Maud eyed her coldly. Amicitia shifted from one hoof to the next. She tried not to look at the -- thing on the floor, that so resembled the unicorn she once was.

"Very well." Maud walked away. "But know this. If she accepts not your end, she will take mine."

"Thank you." Amicitia bowed her head and turned to the maimed unicorn.
-

Amicitia took a deep breath, turning towards the other her. "...I'm going to give you a chance, but I believe you need to understand what's going on."

Twilight looked at herself in shock. "My...my world's frozen or something."

"Correct...it's frozen because it's story was never continued, as Maud said. There is a way to save it but...To...put it in a rational, logical way...when one of the Shadows Who Make creates a world, that world has a story...that story and the Shadows Who Are who view, are the catalyst for that world becoming concrete...consider a world who's story is still being told like developing child, the Shadow Who Makes the parent...until that story is finished, that world line will never be able to exist on it's own. Once it is, the world will live on until the last electron dies...but when a world line's story is abandoned...it's fate is frozen in time. The only way to let it live onto itself is to give it an ending."

"...Just like that monst-"

"She's not a monster...I think you need to witness what's about to happen in order to actually understand the weight of what's happening..." Amicitia explained, her horn flashing.

[=Final Fantasy XIV A Realm Reborn Theme Song=]

The two were outside, but Twilight could see things that didn't make sense. The world just seemed...colorless. Dead. The sky looked like it was stuck in a perpetual dusk. Everypony in it seemed like clockwork figures following a set path, repeating the same day again and again.

"Where...what's this?"

"It's what your universe looks like to me," Amicitia explained. "...Let's call this condition Time Paralysis, just to give it a name you can comprehend. Your world can never move past the moment it was abandoned...Now, look there."

Twilight looked up into the sky, seeing glowing black cracks forming across it. No, not glowing. What looked like a glow was simply the light being sucked into whatever the black was.

The cracks continued to spread until the entire sky was covered. Then it EXPLODED, pieces of reality flying outwards as if a wall being smashed to bits. What was on the other side made Twilight's heart skip a beat.

An immeasurable ocean of chaos, stretching outwards in all directions. Pieces of ice floating here and there. Shades floating aimlessly through the void with no sense of purpose. And then came a primal roar shook the very fabric of the universe.

Two titanic...wings? Arms? Legs? Tails? Twilight's mind literally could not comprehended what she was seeing. But the two appendages were pitch black in color, each stretching so far the edge of them seemed beyond what the shattered sky could hold, exploded from the ocean of chaos. But soon, the chaos began to churn, becoming tidal waves as a head she swore was larger than the planet she was standing on erupted from it, a pair gigantic eyes that seemed the size of moons staring down at her, it's pupils like black holes. As incalculable in size as it seemed, she felt like she could have well been infinitely bigger and she still wouldn't be seeing all of it.

She felt nearly meaningless just looking at the Leviathan before her.

"What...what is that thing?!" the madmare said, trembling in pure terror. She was pretty sure the ground under her was now wet.

"Entropy," said Amicitia, with a grim, but completely respectful tone "The End of All Things. Your universe has frozen...it's dead. And when a universe dies, the only thing left to happen is for Entropy to wipe the slate clean for a new universe to be built from it's ashes."

"Wipe clean?!"

"As Maud said, for a universe such as this, there are two options: be trapped for eternity in the paralyzed time, or for Entropy to give it the only mercy left: The End. And She's on the doorstep waiting to offer it. To put it simply: She's going to eat it."

"But...how can she do that?! Doesn't she know-"

"Can you honestly say this world is living? Entropy is not evil, Twilight Sparkle...She is a force of nature, for a new universe to be born, the corpse of the old one must be cleaned away, and that is Entropy's doing...If Entropy passes, no mortal will ever know what happened. It will be like the universe just suddenly died in it's sleep. This is what I'm seeing, not what your world sees..."

"But...what happens to them?"

"...Even I don't know. Their Lights of Existence may get a new life in the universe after, they may simply be escorted to their final resting place. But all I know for sure is Entropy will only leave behind a void for a new Big Bang to fill in...But I can provide another option...Neither this nightmare or Entropy's. But I need your help..."

Twilight looked up at the unfathomable being. It didn't wait with it's jaws open to consume all things in one gulp. It seemed to be...waiting...and it's attention seemed solely on her. She had never felt so tiny. Even compared to the massive size of the Goddess of Heat Death, she felt as if the being noticing her at all was like a blue whale noticing an amoeba.

"Will you accept it? Entropy does not offer these choices lightly."
-
Below, in the great trash can/retirement center, of the forgotten and the retconned out of existence, seeing through the tear, shadows of ponies who now never were, cheered.

"BRING HER IN NADA-SENIORITA! We could use a new perro to play with!" Fiesta Flaire cheered.
-
"Wh-wha-what are THOSE?" Despite her agony, Twilight recoiled. She pointed one shaking hoof at the half-seen shadows.

"What your new," Maud hesitated, "new associates will be, if you come to me. The shadows of other ponies who were removed from reality, the debris of Oblivion."

Twilight shuddered and looking at Twilight, pleading in silence.

"I can't help you," Amicitia said. "This is all up to you."

"An' me," a new voice, filled with anger and hate and pain said.

An alicorn, a madmare, and Entropy Herself all turned to see something that should not be -- one of the frozen ponies, suddenly re-aware.

"Ah dunno who y'all are," a bloody and filthy Applejack said to Maud and Amicitia. No longer wearing the business suit she hated to wear, hated what she had done to wear, and hated what she'd done to keep wearing it, to make herself head of the Family mob. Her bloodshot gaze turned from them to Twilight. She cringed back. Applejack said, "Ah feel like Ah been huntin' for ya for years and not getting anywhere -- but here Ah am now, ya crazy murderin' witch! An now yer gonna pay!"

"This shouldn't be happening," Amicitia shook her head in shock. "This world is dead!"

"Before we came here, it was," Maud said. "But you, your presence, has already began to change it." She sighed. "This is just making my job more difficult."
-
A low chuckle came from behind them, Strife stepping forwards from the shattered sky. "Well well...the huntress found her prey..."

"And who asked you?" Applejack asked.

The Spirit of Conflict spread her wings. "I am Strife, the Spirit of Natural Selection. And your hunt is the one part of this travesty I've enjoyed."

"But I've been trying to find research! To advance knowledge! Aren't those things worth anything?" Twilight asked, head spinning. "Progress is evolution!"

Strife snarled slightly. "What you did was not MY Concept, murderer. What you did is murder in the name of one you know not. Arrogant foal."

"So let me solve both of our problems. Amicitia, tell your deal to Twilight Sparkle. If she doesn't take it or if both refuse that of Mother, then here is mine," the Draconequus stated, trotting over the Applejack. "The story gets its resolution with you finding your prey and putting an end to her struggle, allowing this world to march on. As Mother said, her fate was sealed, I can merely give you time to complete it and give this world line its resolution."

Strife looked to Twilight. "And your prey gets her just reward: her place in the pits of Tartarus, the domain of My Father. Either way, a hunter's determination such as yours, one strong enough to defy time paralysis, calls to me. Should Mother devour this world, you're free to come become one of my Yokai."

Twilight looked up to Amicitia. "You can't let her do that!"

"She's Conflict, Twilight...it's in her right to offer this..."

Applejack looked to Strife. "...Which is worse? This Oblivion place or Tartarus?"

"Depends on whom you ask. The Shadows of Oblivion try to steal the places of those in Tartarus...but in Tartarus, her crimes will always be remembered, and she will suffer their weight for all time. I believe Father said 'I've been dying to try out my 'fear of doctors' avatar just for her.'"

"...Rainbow Dash don't deserve this Oblivion place."

"You are correct."

Amicitia looked to Twilight. "...Then there's only one option you have left besides her own. But before I can even offer it, you must answer one question: do you still think you were right? Is all you've done worth it? Answer from your HEART Twilight."

Amicitia looked to Applejack. "...Because her killing you...it would still give this world an ending...an ending I can work with to make this end as happy as possible for one such as this...I know ways to save Rarity, Fluttershy, and...if there's anything left of Pinkie Pie I can inspire in others...but if you answer my question wrong, there's no way this ends with you surviving..."
-
"Oh come off it girl! We got lots of unfinished books in the great Library of Never Written! Think of all that knowleeeeedge!" Shouted the shadow of Daffledazy, pushing up on the shadow of Daffledazy's glasses. "So much to know! So much to understand! We've got so many buried secrets in this desolate landscape of ours forgotten by the rest of the universe!"

"K-Knowleged!?" Researcher Twilight turned her head, practically against her will, the same drive she knew she couldn't control that would have made her experiment on her own parents if she had been given the chance, and had been sincerely grateful she'd never been able to get her hooves on them.
-
"...Then there's only one option you have left besides her own. But before I can even offer it, you must answer one question: do you still think you were right? Is all you've done worth it? Answer from your HEART Twilight."

"I..." Twilight looked from Amicitia to that horror in the sky to Strife and a furious Applejack, and back to Amicitia. She remembered every single joy she'd known in Ponyville with her friends, even as that cold part of her that rose ever higher in her mind told her they were mere lab rats. In every sense of the phrase, all that she'd learned here she'd learned from them.

And in exchange she'd destroyed them.

There was only one fitting place for such as her.

"No, it wasn't worth it. Send me to the Steak Tartare place. I'm a bad pony and I did bad things."
-
"ENOUGH!" Another pony had broken through, or maybe released, there seem to be an entire pantheon with their hooves in the cookie jar at this point.

Amicitia. Maud Pie. Strife.
Applejack. Twilight Sparkle. And . . .

"Rainbow Dash?" Twilight whispered, looking up at the mare who now looked at her with a killer instinct. She wore the armor of the royal guard. Day or Night, or Crystal? Twilight was too dizzy to tell. After being hit by something by a rainbow freight train.

"YES!" She punched her. "ME! You don't get to weasel out of justice!"

"Rainbow! Out of my way! She needs to die!" Applejack hissed, for a bit sounding like the mob boss she'd done things she hated herself for to become for her quest for revenge.

"She needs to face justice! She's gonna face trial, be found guilty, and booted into the sun to burn for a thousand years!"

"You . . . you can't be Rainbow." Twilight whispered. Rainbow Dash . . . it was like she couldn't even see the concepts around her, or the world dying, or that all but her, Twilight, and Applejack were 'dead in time' at the moment. "She'd be the first to kill me, the first to do what her gut told her to do, Applejack was the one always keeping her impulses in check."

"Royal Guard training broke me Twilight, and built me up again, I gave up MY DREAMS of being a Wonderbolt for this! And I realized, you don't get to cheat the law by dying! I knew Applejack would lead me to you! Your life isn't yours Twilight Sparkle! You can't give it! You LOST THAT RIGHT when you began taking others' lives!"
-

Applejack said, "Shucks, what yer describing ain't all that different from the fate she's already decided she deserves. So why don't ya stay out of this, Rainbow Dash?"

Rainbow Dash said, "As a Royal Guard, I have to ensure that those who break the law are bought to justice. That includes you, Applejack."

Applejack said, "Me? What did I do?"

Rainbow Dash said, "Right now I have two charges to stick you with: Attempting to take the law into your own hooves, and, if that business suit and the things I've been hearing about you are any indication, becoming a mob boss of some sort. That on its own is enough to have you be put on trial as well. Both of you are going to have the law decide your fates."
-

"...Twilight..."

The group turned to Amicitia, Rainbow's eyes widening. "How..."

"I'm another Twilight...one who didn't make her mistakes..." she said, then looked to Twilight. "...My offer to make everything right is this: a chance to make it so your evil never was...but at a price..."

"A price?"

Amicitia turned to Maud. "Maud...I humbly ask you to, if she so wills it, to erase this Twilight Sparkle's impulse that corrupted her so from existence."

Maud looked at the situation. "...That request is...acceptable. The premature ends she's wrought would be undone. As will this world's unneeded end."

"What?!" Twilight asked.

"...If that impulse never was...your experiments never were either. Everypony would be okay...but I'm not FORCING that on anyone...and if you struggled and fought, even with HER in command, it'd destroy you completely...but...there is a price, as I said. Without that impulse...without that drive...you might be a Gifted Unicorn...but you won't be Celestia's student."

"I...won't be Celestia's student?"

"No...somepony else will take all Fate offered you...just as Sunset Shimmer's rejected boon was given to you, so to will the one you threw away be offered to another. That is the price of your evil, Twilight...the golden future Rota wanted for you will belong to another more worthy."

"And...Spike?"

"He will still be born, he will LIVE but he will know you not."

The mare looked down...tears forming in her eyes.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash looked to each other. "...The others...they'll be healed?"

Amicitia nodded. "Better than healed: they'd never have been hurt in the first place."

"...I'm fine with that..." Rainbow Dash admitted.

Applejack nodded. "And Ah'd be happy if Ah never wore this suit to begin with..."

Twilight looked up, sobbing. "...Do it...I'm a bad pony...a monster...I don't deserve to call myself Celestia's student...not any more...you're right, I threw it away..."

Maud nodded, Strife giving a sigh. "As Mother wishes...However..."

The Spirit of Natural Selection turned to Oblivion and flew into it. The sounds of Shadows rending one another came soon after.

Behind Maud, Entropy rose higher and higher, her serpentine body seeming to go on infinitely.

The Earth Pony and the Empress of Not held out a front limb. Twilight gave a gasp as a sphere of shadow was TORN out of her by an unseen force that felt beyond comprehension. "This/THIS aspect/ASPECT doesn't/DOESN'T exist./EXIST!" both said in unison.

To say the aspect disappeared would imply it left empty space behind. To say it was swallowed would imply there'd been something to be swallowed. To say it was destroyed implied it had existed to begin with. It simply never was.

Almost instantly, the world began to be engulfed in light. Applejack and Rainbow Dash looked to themselves, seeing their bodies turning into light. "...It'll be good to be friends again..."

Applejack nodded, giving a sad smile and letting herself cry. "...Ah'm glad Ah won't need to miss it."

And with that, both became two sphere's of light and flew off, Applejack's to Sweet Apple Acres and Rainbow's to her house.

Twilight looked at herself, feeling herself fade. "...It's...it's over?"

"Not quite..." Strife replied, stepping out of the shadows. "The aspect Mother erased still needs to be replaced with something for your soul's stability...you're missing a piece...and I decided to offer Shadows that will ensure these events never repeat, the ones who match the new you, a chance to make you whole and BE again...meet your new other half, Twilight..."
-

---
A spotlight snapped on, revealing a graceful yellow and pink pony that now seemed barely able to stand, even though a ghostly image was all that remained of her.

Twilight arched a brow. "Fluttershy?"

The pegasus lifted a shaking hoof and brushed aside her long mane, so Twilight could see her gentle smile. "Hello, Twilight."

Researcher Twilight stared, dumbfounded. "I... I had no idea anything like this was coming. Nopony told me..."

"I know. I asked for this. I wanted to be the one to join with you."

Now Twilight cringed, taking a step back. "So that's it! You want revenge on me, f- for holding you captive, addicting you to drugs..."

Fluttershy smiled again, shaking her head slowly. "No. I'm doing this... because you need me, Twilight. You told everyone that you're a bad pony who needs to be punished, but you only decided that with your head."

"So? How else would I decide anything?"

Tears brimmed in Fluttershy's wide eyes. "You didn't feel it. You see, the pony that you hurt worst of all with your greed for knowledge... it was you, yourself, when you experimented on your own brain. Ever since then, you haven't had any love or compassion for anypony in your heart."

Fluttershy rested her transparent hooves on Twilight's shoulders, and Twilight didn't, couldn't run or turn away. "After this, you *will* remember, and you'll feel again... and it's really, really going to hurt. I'm so sorry, Twilight... but this is the price of your second chance." She stepped *into* Twilight...

Time unwound and snapped backwards...

In Canterlot, Private Twilight Sparkle of the reconstituted Night Guard began to cry, and fell to the courtyard stones, weeping uncontrollably.

In Ponyville, a pegasus mare sat up in suddenly in bed, surrounded by her animals. "Mom?!" whispered Fluttercruel.

In the Golden Oaks library, Moon Dancer groaned and sat up, realizing that she'd fallen asleep at her desk again. "Spike? I had the *weirdest* dream..."
-
And it was done, Maud Pie, herself, and Strife, both went their separate ways, their duty done. Gods could rest, but their job was never done.

Amicitia sighed. "I know there will be more of Nythy's horror out there, but at least this one is cleaned up. I guess that Fluttershy and Fluttercruel were natives of one of MY erased timelines . . . hopefully I'll have a breather now."

"Uh, Amicitia."

Headache coming on. 'Breath-in, stress-out, like Cadence showed you.' "Hello Deus Ex Machina."

"I uh . . . I did one of my changes to fix things again . . . and I uh . . . I really . . ."

"What did you do now?"

"Well . . . there was this place in the heart world where Rainbow Dash was saving ponies from accidents, and she was letting it go to her head, and she started taking photo ops BEFORE saving ponies, and her friends decided to dress up in masks to save ponies she was delayed in saving, and . . . well, she was sour about it in a lot of world lines, so I decided to make a world line where their collective super hero identity . . . didn't exist and well . . ."

Amiciticia braced herself, "Let's see it."

Dues showed her the world line . . .

Rainbow Dash stood on the roof of a broken house . . . Ponyville flooded as far as the eye could see . . . Rainbow Dash look awful, her eyes were blood shoot from crying, and baggy from lack of sleep. She looked like she had taken less care of hers appearance than normal, her mane was a mess even by her standards, and she was dirty, scratched, and muddy.

Rarity's shop, town hall, sugar cube corner, the library, all of it flooded, even Sweet Apple Acres hadn't been completely spared, so much ruin.

"You forgive me, right Scootaloo?" She asked a water soaked doll, that Amicitia did a quick magic scan to confirm was just a doll, not a magical changed pony.

Amicitia did a quick scan of the world line. " . . . Without Mare Do Well there . . . there was no one to save the dam when it broke . . . "
-
A month later, Rainbow sat on the edge of her aimlessly drifting cloud house. Somepony had thrown hailstones at it, and the tattered holes were still there a week later. "They say they don't hate me for what happened." She flopped down, laying flat on her belly. "But Fluttershy won't look me in the eye when she says it. And Applejack won't look at me at all.

She held up a tear-stained letter. Now... *now* foal protective services were trying to find Scootaloo's parents, so they could inform them that... that... Gritting her teeth, Rainbow crumpled the paper and threw it over the side.

* So you're just going to give up? There's still plenty of ponies out there who could use your help. *

Rainbow scowled. "Nopony needs *my* help." She trudged back into her house and slammed the door behind her. Wind gusted through one of the holes, and one of her old comic books flew off a shelf and smacked her in the face. Rainbow grasped it, started to toss it aside, then turned it right-side up and read, curious. "The Sensational Spider-Mare, huh?"

* What if they didn't know that it was you helping them? *

Rainbow blinked, then trotted over and peered at the open sky through the hole, wheels turning in her head.

* What's it really about for you, Rainbow Dash? Crowds cheering your name... or helping ponies? *

Rainbow smiled grimly.

That night, under cover of darkness, Rainbow Dash got some supplies, then shoved the remains of her cloud house into a hidden cave that she'd found. "No more fame," she told herself.

She stirred the tub of fur dye that she'd mixed, then took a deep breath and plunged in, coloring her cyan coat and rainbow mane dark grey. "No more glory. No more showboating!"

She blew up a strong breeze to dry herself quickly, then pulled on the dark purple costume she'd bought. "I'll help ponies out, and never care if they even know my name!" She finished adjusting her cape, then shoved a wide-brimmed hat onto her head. "I'll be... Mare Do Well."

She spread her wings, and ominous pea soup fog rose up in an instant, completely hiding the pegasus from view. When the fog blew away, she was gone.

Deus grinned, nudging Amicitia with a hoof. "Did you just turn Dash into a superhero?"

Amicitia blushed. "That wasn't what I had in mind exactly, but I guess it's... kind of an improvement? We'd better keep an eye on her, just in case."
-

Something swooped past them, blowing their manes wildly, then landed close by. "Ya really think ya done them any favors?" said a familiar voice.

Amicitia blinked. "Applejack?"

"Ah told ya, Ah'm called Deconstruction now." This Applejack was certainly an Alicorn, but there was something a little off, something unsettling about her to Amicitia's eyes. She was tall and thin, with smaller eyes and a long face and strangely shaped hooves. She had Applejack's orange and gold colors, but they seemed washed out, and muscles and tendons shifted visibly beneath her hide as she walked towards them. The familiar Stetson sat on her head behind her horn, held in place by an elastic strap.

It finally clicked in Amicitia's head. "Why do you look like a horse?" When Deus gave her a puzzled look, she added, "from Megan's world."

Deconstruction smiled, but instead of answering the question, she strolled on over to the world they'd been watching. "Certain things have ta happen, when there's a superhero in play. Suddenly, folks need saving all the time. There's pianos falling out of windows, criminal gangs, fire and flood and every kind of mayhem ya could imagine. Ya can't have a do-gooder who just sits around bored because there's no good ta do."

"Darn the luck!" cried a voice on the wind. "Darn!"

Amicitia and Deus turned their heads towards the sound, but quickly decided that it wasn't important.

Deconstruction coughed. "Eventually, ya get supervillains, and more heroes and more villains and pretty soon the whole world revolves around them, common sense and logic be danged. Sometimes it works out good, sometimes not so good. It's always a gamble when superhero tropes take over."

"Um..." Deus waved a hoof like a schoolfilly trying to get the teacher's attention. "What's a trope?"

"A trope is a storytelling device," Amicitia was happy to explain. "And this isn't just a story, Deconstruction. It's a real world with ponies who need help."

Deconstruction snorted. "You ought to know better, after all the times you've tussled with Fate." She spread one wing, pointing towards another world. "Here, lemme show ya a place that *needs* mah kinda help." She grinned darkly. "A real horror story."

Deus gulped. "Horror... story?"
-

"Wait a moment, Applejack."

The group blinked, turning to find another Alicorn, this one a Rarity. She looked similar to Deconstruction, except her appearance seemed slightly more beautiful. Like the traits from Deconstruction were still there, but DIFFERENT traits were amplified to make her less unsettling and more beautiful.

"Hey Reconstruction," said Deconstruction.

"I believe this world you just visits is one that needs BOTH our touches."

Amicitia cocked her head. "So are ALL your friends Alicorns?"

Reconstruction chuckled. "You could say that. Rainbow Dash calls herself Darker and Pinkie Lighter. I believe they are the representations of darker and lighter interpretations of universes respectively. Fluttershy, well, she's good at what she does."

"...So Rainbow's like..."

Reconstruction shook her head. "No no, darling. And I recommend not comparing them. Her influence makes things a tad more edgy, a tad more serious, and a tad more bleak, but the heroes CAN and more often DO win. She considers being compared to that uncouth brute an insult."

Amicitia nodded slowly. "Alright..."

"She and Lighter balance one another, I balance Deconstruction," the Alicorn explained. "Speaking of which, I think this world needs a reminder of something..." the mare trotted over and looked down on the world, horn glowing. "That while yes, superheros attract supervillains, and yes things can get harder...heroes INSPIRE heroes. Heroes INSPIRE others to do good deeds. A hero doing her job right cuts DOWN on bystander syndrome, not adds to it."

Amicitia watched as more heroes eventually came to Mare-Do-Well and a team of superheroes formed, inspired by her starting example.

"There..." Reconstruction said, smiling to Deconstruction. "Sorry, dear, but I felt you may have gone a little overboard there."

"Truth is your JOB is to reel me in when Ah do that, no hard feelin's," Deconstruction replied. "Now come on yah two, we got another world tah see."

Amicitia looked to Reconstruction. "You're coming?"

The Alicorn shook her head. "My job is to build back up what she tears down, but that world needs tearing down. I'll just stay here."
-

The world line was known to those-who-watch as Nigeb, the reversal of 'begin.' It was made to be a flawless, unescapable trap. Fluttershy would find a curse watch in the woods, then every night dream of being one of her friends murdered from their own point of view, starting with the last to be killed, then the last vision would be of the first one killed. Then the shadow like demon would take Fluttershy's body, shape it into its own, wipe away Fluttershy, wearing the watch, then systematically murder all Fluttershy had told about her nightmares, then . . . it would simply wait for ANOTHER pony in a few lifetimes to pick up the watch, and the cycle would begin anew, forever. No reason for why it killed all that knew of it, no reason for why it chose its victims based on the watch, why it did things in reverse, no reason for anything, let alone what was supposed to happen once Equestria's six mane heroes were dead. It existed purely for that one terrifying moment when the murders began.

Amicitia herself . . . found herself trapped . . . how could she give a happy ending to this story? Powered by predeterminism? There was no Alicorn in existence that could simply END the 'loop.' There was no time magic here. The killings started BEFORE the 'story' began, Fluttershy picked up the watch before the story began. The simple answer would be for Fluttershy to never pick up the watch, but then it would just wait for centuries until another pony found it.

Deconstruction looked at the horror with a completely stern and cold face. Then she SPOKE. Two sentences that changed the entire rules of the game. One that made perfect sense in hindsight, as deconstructions by their very nature do, even if they turn the game upside down.

"Where the Pony Hell . . . is Princess Luna? Ain't she the guardian of dreams?"

And with those 13 words, events changed.
-

Beneath them, the whole world seemed to toll like a great bell. "Wha... what did you do?!" asked Amicitia.

Deconstruction grinned, her mane whipping in the aethereal gale. "Ah'm the Truth that can't be ignored just cause it's convenient. Ah have asked, and Fate must answer!"

Their perspective seemed to dive into the world like a falling star, down to Canterlot, into the palace gardens. The walls of the hedge mage rose up around them, and then they saw the center of the maze, where Discord's stone statue stood... right next to a statue of Nightmare Moon.

Two royal guards stood at attention just outside, and Princess Celestia herself sat on the ground beside her sister's statue. "We're calling it 'The Firefly Festival,'" she was saying. "I really wish you could see it with me, Lulu." The Princess of the Sun stretched out, smiling sadly up at the heavens. "The nobles think I'm wasting my time, coming here every night. Refusing to accept that some things just can't be changed... but they lack immortal patience. If I must wait another thousand years, I'll..."

A sharp crack interrupted her. Stone crumbled away from an eye, which opened to reveal a slit pupil. Celestia backed away, on her guard, and the statue exploded, revealing Nightmare Moon, unchanged from that fateful night. And yet...

There was no triumphant cry of "Free, free!" No haughty laugh. Nightmare Moon opened her mouth, then hung her head, seeming ashamed. "My sister... there are so many words we would say, but they must wait... lest the six brave mares who put an end to our folly perish this very night!"

When the final nightmare came, when the horrid pale monster rose up and Fluttershy realized that it had come for her at last, she lay where she was, gaunt and hollow-eyed, waiting.

A cloud of purple mist swirled and took form beside her. "Foal, do you not see your doom? Rise up and fight!"

Fluttershy trembled, curling up tighter. "I'm so tired. Nopony can help me. I just want this to *end*." She turned her head, then recoiled, gasping. "Nightmare Moon!"

"If thou hast no spine for the fight, then let us be thy courage!" Nightmare Moon urged her. "We *are* the night! While we are with thee, thou shalt fear no nightmare."

When Fluttershy continued to shiver, still hesitating, Nightmare Moon lifted a mailed hoof... and slowly removed the helmet from her head and let it fall to the ground. The pitch-black Alicorn shook her head, her dark blue mane flowing freely now. "A long, long time ago, we were Princess Luna, your sovereign's own sister. We... we would be thus once again... if you will have us."

Their eyes met... everything held still, even the waiting monster. "Yes!" said Fluttershy suddenly. "Please, I need help... if it's not too much trouble!"

Luna moved, overlapping Fluttershy, and Fluttershy's dream image changed, her coat turning dark, her body growing and her pink mane turning stark white. She snapped her wings open... bat wings, and she grinned, revealing twin fangs. "Go forward!" she hissed at the monster. "END!!"

A two foot long icicle spun itself out of cold misty air and flew at the monster like a javelin, impaling the gold watch. The watch cracked, then shattered into a million pieces.
-
There was a scream, no, a roar of rage and confusion, as the dream form of Nigeb was obliterated from Fluttershy's mind, meeting a force who was far older than it was.

Fluttershy wasn't sure if she was in the dreaming world or the real world anymore. What was real, or what wasn't anymore.

The pale shadow slithered from Fluttershy.

"Oh no, you're not getting away!" Fluttershy/Nightmare Moon said as the pony hissed and flew fanged bared and pounce upon the spirit. The thing was struck by even more confusion, prey was never supposed to FIGHT BACK, broken by fear and confusion or would be caught off guard at their weakest moment and never have the chance!
-
Deconstruction said looking down at the world line as the bat pony carrying the corrupted but now somehow repentant Night Princess' spirit, the two tore into the beast, reality itself shuddering as it wasn't sure what was a dream and what wasn't. "Great . . . now Ah'm stuck wonderin' how Nightmare Moon is being NICE if she got turned to stone instead of cured in this world, and how she broke out now, is being good, but isn't back to being Luna."
-

"Is... it truly gone?" asked Princess Celestia later that night, when things had settled down a bit. "We can speak of it without dooming any more of our little ponies?"

Fluttershy's quiet cottage looked like it was hosting an early Nightmare Night party. Thunder rumbled restlessly outside, and many candles were lit. Rarity was using her magic to tidy up the creepy mess that had accumulated during Fluttershy's week of insanity, and Rainbow Dash was blowing the dust away. Angel Bunny was still finding frightened animals hiding in cabinets and closets, "coaxing" them out with an annoyed glare and a stamp of his paw.

Fluttershy herself had recovered something like her normal colors, but the timid pegasus had fully become a batpony, in the waking world... the first they had ever seen outside the reclusive families descended from Nightmare Moon's original followers. More surprising yet, a filly-sized Nightmare Moon sat by her side, pitch black with the cats-eye pupils and tiny wings and horn, but without the armor.

"Nigeb is dead," the filly declared, "and it is our fondest wish that Cerberus shall gnaw and slobber on him for all eternity." She paused, glancing around. "This is terribly undignified..."

Pinkie Pie entered from the kitchen, somehow balancing eight cups of hot cocoa. "Applejack, are you sure Fluttershy's okay?" asked Twilight Sparkle, as she helped pass the cups around.

Applejack was staring hard into Fluttershy's eyes, but Fluttershy never flinched. "So far as Ah can tell. She'd better not be thinkin' of ravaging mah apple trees, though!"

Princess Celestia accepted one of the cups with extraordinary calm and patience, given the circumstances. "You said that you had many words for me, my sister. While you certainly are adorable in this form..." She smiled. "Could you not tell your story just as well after you release Fluttershy?"

Nightmare Moon puffed on her own small cup of cocoa, fretting a bit over getting it cool enough to drink. "You misunderstand, Celestia. It is this mare who clings to us."

Fluttershy nodded earnestly to Celestia. "I'm so sorry, but I can't let her go yet! You might put her back in stone or lock her away, and that would be just awful! She's already been locked away alone for so long, and she really has changed."

Nightmare Moon half-hid herself behind her wings. "We could free ourselves at any time, of course... but miss Fluttershy is strangely persuasive. We... yes, we humor her for now!"

"It still seems *pretty suspicious* if you ask me!" said Rainbow Dash. She finished her hot cocoa and put the cup aside. "But I can understand why you'd want to be cooler like me and less of a scaredy cat." Twilight glared at her. "What?"

"Oh, it's alright," said Fluttershy. "Luna, why don't you tell them what you told me. About that night with the Elements."

"Luna?!" said Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack all at once.

The miniature Nightmare sighed heavily, collecting her thoughts.
-
"We have made many mistakes," she began, "both a thousand years ago, and again in this era. We made another on the night we faced Twilight Sparkle and her friends. When the light of Mother's love enveloped us once again, when we perceived her open hoof offering us forgiveness, we... we pushed it aside."

"I don't understand," Celestia admitted quietly. "I never understood... the Elements should have healed you."

Nightmare Moon frowned. "They did heal us. The madness, the corruption, the darkness that was not our own darkness... all were stripped away. But they did not rid us of pride, of resentment... We felt robbed! We coveted the power and stature we had gained, despite the foul source of it. If we had walked free of that castle, as we were... we surely would have led a new conquest of Equestria, not as the Nightmare but as ourselves. The Elements judged us justly... though we did not see it that way at the time."

"What are you saying?” asked Twilight, suddenly uneasy. "The Elements themselves decided what to do? We were only powering them with our friendship? I guess I didn't think about how dangerous that was back then, using ancient magical artifacts that we knew nothing about."

"Thou art young yet, Twilight Sparkle, and thy situation was desperate. Older minds that ought know better have made far worse choices." The little Nightmare lectured Twilight with a raised hoof and a haughty air, but when she turned back to Celestia, she could barely meet her sister's eyes. "Your ears would have burned, sister, could you but have heard how we raged in our stone prison. The curses we hurled, the vengeance we promised... but stone cannot stay angry for long. And then, you came back..."

Just then, she was interrupted by the sound of Pinkie Pie digging around in a paper carnival bug and munching on caramel popcorn. "Couldst thou not crunch quite so loudly?"

Pinkie blushed. "Sorry!"

"As we were saying... Celestia returned, not as a gloating conqueror, but simply as.. a sister. Nigh every single night, she was there, saying how she missed us, apologizing for her failings of long ago... telling us how she passed her day... telling us also how she worked to teach ponies not to fear the night, in our stead."

Nightmare Moon shook her head in seeming bewilderment. "For the longest time, we did not understand... why this mummery? For whose benefit, this show of concern? What on Equestria did she stand to profit by it? And then one night, it finally dawned on us... that perhaps *we* had been in the wrong all along... that mayhap our sister had *not* sought to put us aside and have all the power for herself.... that... that *we* had been the villain and terribly wounded *her*..."

No pony munched on popcorn or slurped their cocoa now. Everyone listened, breathlessly.

"In that very moment, we felt the bindings come undone. We could have easily broken free of the statue... and we no longer wanted to, for now we knew that we deserved to be there. There, we remained."

"Until you sensed the monster?" Celestia guessed.

"Indeed!" She thumped a small hoof on the tabletop. "A fiend, stalking and killing ponies by way of dreams, which is our domain alone? Even had we still been mad, we would not have tolerated that for a moment. And so, we came forth out of our prison, and here we are." Nightmare Moon looked to Fluttershy, who nodded encouragingly, and then she slid off the couch and knelt before Celestia. "Even could we wallow in regret, it would be of no use. We cannot change what we did... only what we *do*. My sister... we... I am more sorry than words can say. Please allow me to serve you in whatever way you require!"

Celestia rose up and regarded the filly at her hooves. "I do not want another servant." At Nightmare Moon's look of dismay, she smiled and added, "I forgave you a long time ago. What I truly want is my beloved sister by my side once again."

Applejack and Rarity smiled at each other, no doubt thinking of their own sisters.

"You... you have said so!" said Nightmare Moon accusingly. "But will you? Will you truly?" Her horn began to glow... the rest of her essence flowed out of Fluttershy, all but a sliver, and the filly grew into a dark Alicorn mare as tall as Celestia. "Then I will make you one final offering." Her coat writhed, and the pitch darkness flowed off of it like an ink spill in reverse, gathering into a floating ball of darkness. Beneath it, the dark Alicorn had a luminous blue coat and fluffy-feathed wings. "I have given up Pride and Anger and Jealousy. This... is my Guilt." She pushed the ball over to Celestia.

Without hesitation, Celestia lit her own horn, setting the black sphere ablaze and letting it sift into ash. "Luna!" she exclaimed, smiling so brightly with tears in her eyes, and then she hugged her sister tight.

Luna squirmed, afraid at first... then slowly relaxed into the hug, sobbing. "Celly..."

"Hah!" shouted Deconstruction to Amicitia and Deus. "How'd ya like them apples?"
-
Deus pulled an apple from out of nowhere and ate it. "I've gotta say, they're delicious!"

Amicitia said, "You know, you did just do what is technically supposed to be my job."

Deconstruction said, "Maybe Ah did. But ya couldn't do it yourself. Truth is that there was nothing ya could do in this world, but Ah could do it with a little bit of what Ah specialize in."
-
"Amicitia," Deconstruction said, "Ya know there's a worldline where Diamond Tiara dies a random, senseless death in a carriage accident. Ironically Apple Bloom and her friends are effected greatly, each one dealing with the realities of death in their own way. Scootaloo for examples isn't HAPPY that she's gone, but doesn't understand why any pony is SAD... until Silver Spoon is turned into the victim by foals wanting revenge by proxy and she opens up to Scootaloo afterwards. Would you have Diamond Tiara just be greatly injured? Or just magically come back to life? Or just have it be all just a dream?"

"Yes?" Dues Ex Machina said. The others glared at her.
-
Amicitia took a breath. "...Tragedy CAN build character. I learned that from Apple Pie...I'd try to lead things towards the happiest ending possible. It's only tragedies like Nythy's that have NO purpose but suffering that I hate. If it has a happy ending already, then it has a happy ending."

Before the conversation could continue...

"Wait...wait up girls!"

The group blinked, turning to see a gigantic purple Ryujin hauling several dozen check lists come flying in, panting. "Girls...I've been chasing you all over the multiverse..."

"Spike!" Deus called, hugging the dragon. "When did you become a Ryujin?"

"After you left..." he panted. "My name's Focus now by the way. Which I figured you needed given you forgot your check lists!"

Deus blushed. "Woops..."

"No prob, I brought them," Focus panted. "You girls move fast...anyway, uh, aren't you getting a little off topic here too?" he asked, pointing back to the world.

"Oh..."

"Yeah, we did get a little distracted..." Amicitia admitted.

"Now you know why I'm supposed to balance Deus out," Focus said with a smirk.

Back on the worldline below...

"And Twilight?" Celestia asked, looking to her student.

"Yes, Princess?" Twilight asked.

"Do not fear the Elements. You merely told them to defeat my sister, they did so the best way they could given the situation..." the Princess reassured. "They are guided by Empathy, they cannot harm the innocent so long as that is the case."
-
Early the next morning, after Celestia raised the sun right in Fluttershy's own yard, Rarity looked Fluttershy over, musing. "Are you truly going to stay like that, darling?"

Fluttershy spread her bat wings, as curious about them as her friends, then flicked tall tufted ears and turned around once. "Yes," she declared, with a confident grin. "I am."

Rarity beamed. "You realize, you're going to need a whole new wardrobe to go with that look."

Fluttershy rubbed her chin with a hoof. "Let's do it! Make me something bold!"

Rarity fell right over onto her chaise lounge, squeeing! in delight.

A crowd of curious onlookers began to gather, some gawking at Fluttershy, others at the two Princesses, and surprisingly few fleeing in terror. Applejack tisked. "Nightmare Night's gonna be *weird* this year, that's all Ah can say."

Above the world line, Amicitia grinned. "All's well that ends well."

Comments

[Ariel Schnee]

So when are they gonna pay a visit to the worldline that is Fallout Equestria?

[Alex Warlorn]

6385435

I've never read Fall Out Equestria.

Have you?

If you feel like writing one go ahead.

But what alteration to reality can Amiticia make that make sense in universe to prevent the war? How COULD the war have been prevented? How could disaster of been adverted?

[Alex Warlorn]

6385435

I'm not being sarcastic or ironic, I'm sincerely asking.

[Godiswithus3]

*One thing I forgot to mention from the previous chapter is the mlp version of five nights at freddy's (though I believe Five Night's at AJ's seems more appropriate.) I read many versions and I have to confess that I actually enjoy them. Whether they are serious or not, they were entertaining to read. The one written by thewalkingskymon is my personal favorite.

https://www.fimfiction.net/story/225038/five-nights-at-pinkies

I like scary stories myself, though the best ones in my opinion are those with a happy ending. As for this, I'm very happy that Amicitia prevented the deaths that brought about the dreaded animotronics. When I learned the backstory behind their deaths and transformation into monsters, it was VERY heartwrenching to read. Glad these characters caught a break. CHEERS TO THE AUTHORS!

*The Canterlot Wedding parts.............the plot was VERY different indeed and left me on my toes for a bit. And it also caused me to rethink about that controversial scene at the wedding rehearsal............

But as for that evil spirit that was instigating the whole conflict, it brought me satisfaction when that b*tch got turned into stone. AWAY WITH YOU!

*Researcher Twilight............oh my goodness...........when I read the tvtropes about this and read the list of crimes Maud Pie made, I. Was. Disgusted. And. Pissed. ESPECIALLY what Twilight did to poor Spike and Pinkie. And I was even enraged when I found out how Rarity WAS FORCED TO MURDER HER OWN SISTER?! DOES SHE HAVE NO SHAME?!............

............I'm very glad for this resolution for all the characters involved, including Applejack and Rainbow Dash. And I'm especially happy that the characters are no longer doomed to oblivion. (So this is what happens when the story is incomplete) Anyway, this put a smile on my face.

*Liked the Rainbow Dash turning into Mare-Do-Well touch, especially when RD learned from his mistakes and has grown stronger from the tragedy.

*As for the Fluttershy watch curse..........I couldn't find the original story, so I never heard about this before, but YEEEEEEEEEEEEEESH! Poor Flutters. VERY glad that Deconstruction and Luna came to the rescue.

As for Deconstruction, Reconstruction, Darker, Lighter, Focus, and Deux ex Machina. They all sound like very interesting characters. Though I will confess that Deus keeps testing my patience with her screw ups.