Back to Square One

by The Devious Writer

Chapter 1

Knowledge was power. That’s what she used to tell herself. But she never really understood. Never understood the extent to that power. The control she could seize. It was intoxicating, thrilling, and perhaps scary, even to a mind like hers.

But it was so right. At least, that’s what she told herself, that’s what she believed when she had gained dominance in Equestria. It had been a fountain of knowledge for her, filled with magic and science humans couldn’t dream of. Just like the magic she had stolen. Of course it was like the magic she had stolen. That magic was mere discarded scraps of the true power to be had in Equestria. That had scared her. It was a familiar feeling, the feeling of helplessness. Like once again, she was the weakling among the self-important teenagers that would love nothing more than to beat her to submission.

So she hid. Sunset Shimmer had come after her through the same path she had taken. Her biggest mistake, as it gave her the opportunity to ambush her. Sunset’s knowledge had surprised her. So much magic knowledge, pegasus flight magic, earth pony magic, dark magic. There was so much history, so many experiences, so much… friendship.

It was powerful. Stronger than her. Stronger than the Princess Celestia she had caught glimpses of. She wanted to understand it. But first, she had to know her opponents in this world. Anything that could get in her way. But how?

Of course, she could assimilate knowledge! The libraries, newspapers, even the weakest of ponies. As long as she was discreet, nothing could stand in her path. At least, that’s what she had thought.

And she was right.

It had been simple fare after she had assimilated the magic schools she had discovered. The knowledge in Canterlot had been amazing. Time spells, dark magic, spatial manipulation… Powerful magic the Princesses thought safe, for no pony could possibly learn even one within a lifetime.

But she was no pony. Immediately, she explored Equestria’s history from the dawn of time to modern day. She saw it all. So much knowledge, so much power. She saw Nightmare Moon’s power and learned it. She saw Discord’s manipulation of chaos and learned it. She saw King Sombra’s darkness and learned it. The studies of Starswirl, the fires of friendship, and so much history forgotten in modern day Equestria.

It was checkmate for Equestria. The princesses? Together the stood, but divided they fell. The Elements of Harmony? Ambushed them before they were aware. Discord? Assimilated Tirek and learned to use his magic. Queen Chrysalis? Didn’t have power at the time. Bit by bit, Equestria was given to her, until she was Equestria. She was everything. And there was no room for Harmony to plant its roots, no room for its fruits to fall. So it faded.
She was the only thing left, floating in a void of eternity and chaos. She should be happy. She should be proud. She was the strongest, she should be elated. There was nothing to dominate her, nothing to hate her. She was everything. She was the ultimate being, the ultimate existence.

At least, that’s what she had been told by her past self.

So why did she feel so helpless? Why does she feel like she’s failed? It’s ridiculous. It’s weak. She was a goddess! She was the goddess! The ultimate life form! The one who understood. She knew all that passed. She saw all that passed. ...Well, all that Equestria’s knowledge of magic could let her see. She was the only one who mattered.

She was the only one.

It didn’t matter. She had knowledge of everything. So what else could matter? Nothing. At least, that’s what she told herself.

But why did she want knowledge? She recalled what had motivated her desire to learn.

To feel secure. To be useful. To be looked up at. To be able to protect her family. To understand life. Did she accomplish that? She had erased all life. There was only her. So what was her life now, when there was nothing? Nothing to do, nothing to learn... She… didn’t know. But it wasn’t what she originally wanted. She learned this. There were suggestions to be considered in her unending knowledge of what she could do now, she would see to it later. Was she useful? Looked up at? No, she had been detrimental to all but herself. Those who looked up to her had only done so as they cried in fear before they were nothing but a fragment of her mind.

Her family was dead. Somehow, in her infinite knowledge and understanding, she hadn’t really realized that they were all gone. She had destroyed them on a whim, devouring what was once her world. Their existence was nothing more than wisps in her infinite knowledge.

She could bring them back. She could recreate them exactly as they were. It was simple for a being such as her. A little bit of alterations to sustain them in this environment and she could have her family back. At least, that’s what she told herself. She focused her power. All the history and memories of her family came to focus, and in a blink of an eye, they were back. She grinned.

They screamed.

With a spark, her family disappeared. Maybe she hadn’t thought that through. She recreated her city. She recreated her body. Twilight Sparkle’s body, not Midnight Sparkle. She was neither. She knew this. She had learned this. She often ignored this. Once again, her family appeared to her.

And then there was bliss. She lived with her family as if nothing was wrong. As if they didn’t question why she was acting strangely. As if she wasn’t creating everything that suddenly needed to come up in their lives. As if they weren’t slowly crumbling away. As if she could live this fake existence. She knew she couldn’t lie to herself. She had learned this. But she would make the best of this imaginary world as she could.

They eventually faded completely. But why? She was all-powerful, how could her constructs waste away? It wasn’t possible. She knew everything.

At least, that’s what she told herself.

What was different about her world? It was created exactly as she knew it. She recreated everything that mattered. Everything that could have mattered. There was no detail she missed. Everything she had taken, she had put in to rebuild.

Everything but Harmony. But there was no harmony left. It had drowned in her thirst for knowledge, and chaos had unraveled - nearly to its purest form. A form where nothing could be sustained. Where anything and everything would be consumed into the mass of energy that was chaos.

That was the difference.

So her family was gone. What did she have now but her knowledge? She should be amazed at her knowledge. She heard and saw infinity. She should be awed in her knowledge of forever, and yet, she could only reminisce of a lonely girl at Crystal Prep.

Her guise of Twilight Sparkle had crumbled, and she was nothing more than a swirling mass of energy. If there was one positive to that, it was that she could not cry.

Perhaps she could make peace with this. She had everything she wanted. All the knowledge that was, could be, and never will be. She could eternally contemplate her knowledge and understanding. At least, that’s what she told herself.

She had seen it. The greatest magic Equestria had to offer. Wielded by none other than her own Equestrian counterpart: friendship.

Harmony was friendship.

Friendship was magic.

Magic was knowledge.

She was the biggest fool in existence.

There was no existence left, only her.

So then, had she learned nothing in her conquests?

No, she knew everything. She knew everything that had been known about friendship and harmony. She was the greatest mind to ever live! It was foolish to think otherwise. If she was a fool, then all that she learned from were nothing more than primal beasts!

But what she hadn't known then was that learning could only take her so far. She had learned that from Princess Twilight. Not that there could be anything else, or even learning, now in this endless void. There was nothing.

But perhaps she could live with this. Eternally contemplating knowledge. At least, that's what she told herself.

But she was fading too. She learned that. Slowly, the chaos consumed her, until she would be nothing more than… nothing. Nothing but the pure emptiness of the turmoil of chaos.

I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream

What a fitting name for her situation. She screwed up. She learned that now.

So she cried in her head. Pretending she was still Twilight Sparkle, being beaten and hated by the Crystal Prep bullies. Pretending she could one day fight back against the suffocating hatred, their beatings that clawed at her very existence. That no matter how hard it was, she could always have her family supporting her, and that she was not alone. Pretending she could still lie to herself. Pretending she could still be fascinated by learning.

She was learning now. She hadn’t thought it possible, but she was learning. It was possibly the last thing she would learn - the true meaning of fear.

Author's Note:

I wrote this in school. Hope it doesn't suck too much!
By the way, check out this PMV of Crush 40's Open Your Heart! (Dat song from Sonic Adventure).

So the YouTube thing seems to be broken.

---

10/30/2015
Hey, the full link works now! Why didn't it before? https?

Comments

[Yellow Gate]

Eh considering it was a two hour job it's not that bad of a story... It could totally be more though!

[The Devious Writer]

6478707 Hey, thanks! I did it in school, and re-reading it, there are parts I see are way too rushed. I fixed some spelling errors, though.

[TheMajorTechie]

That was... dark...

[MythrilMoth]

So is it me, or, uh...

mythrilmoth.net/misc/overadding.png

Did someone maybe go a little overboard clicking on folders to add this story to?

You might wanna fix this before the group admins notice and get mad.

(Seriously, you added this to Rated PG, Rated PG-13, AND Rated R. That's...that's not cool, dude.)

[The Devious Writer]

6478814 Had a friend do it for me. Apparently he thought it was an all that applies based on the Folder name.
Er... is it the trash can that appears beside my story's title that appears in the folders its in? It's making me kind of nervous with how it's worded.
"Are you sure you want to delete this story?"

[The Devious Writer]

6478745 Well, I hoped you liked it!

[MythrilMoth]

6479107 I think so. Or ask a mod to do it for you. (The only way to delete your actual STORY is from the story page.)

[The Devious Writer]

6480042 Thanks, it's been sorted out.

[Grey Bard]

6478745
True, but most don't-do-this-or-else stories usually are. We are accustomed to the modern version of such stories as 'Red Riding Hood' with happy endings, but the original Grimm (and it is grim) version is very different.

Keep up the good (good/bad) work.

[Jirodyne]

Very interesting read, but don't think it could happen. Maybe I'm missing something, but I think it contradicts itself and the ending wouldn't be possible.

[The Devious Writer]

6520197 Hm, what part do you think is contradicting? I mostly wrote this as a 'what if', so I didn't put deep thought into how Midnight actually got to this point. I'm just as likely to be the one missing something. How might it be impossible/contradictory?

[Jirodyne]

6520272 Well, from what I understand, she can't recreate life and what not, because she lacks understanding of Harmony and thus couldn't recreate it, right?

But she was everywhere at every point in time, so would know about the Tree of Harmony and absorbed it and it's knowledge. And the same with absorbing the Elements of Harmony, and the Mane 6, and even Celestia and Luna. Wouldn't be kinda impossible for everything to not know Harmony and thus could not recreate it? If no one knew what it was or how it worked, how could she know it was the problem?

Just... doesn't fit. It's like Absorbing all knowledge on Gravity, and then not being able to use that to create Artificial Gravity in a test world. Just doesn't seem to make sense to me lol.

But like I said, maybe I misunderstood something while reading the story.

[The Devious Writer]

6520582 Well, she's not actually everything. She just knows a lot about enough that she could consider it to be everything. She's lying to herself, trying to convince herself she was all-powerful, because nothing could really contradict that statement. What she's done is learned everything that she could learn with the power and knowledge she was getting, and subsequently destroyed any opposition by knowing enough to know how to defeat them, so she could basically be the strongest one.

As I mentioned in the story, harmony faded away from her conquests, and I implied she couldn't learn about friendship, even knowing everything Twilight knew, Celestia knew, and everyone else knew about it, because she didn't experience it first-hand. It was Twilight's lesson to Starlight Glimmer, if you remember. You see, her powers come from learning about other people's abilities and then figuring out a way to emulate it using all her knowledge. She knew enough to know how to form land or how oxygen molecules work and how to combine molecules together. But she couldn't learn how to make harmony, because really, all everyone knew about harmony was that it was the strongest thing ever, and it would sometimes fix things with friendship. And that's why her creations crumbled. She knew nearly everything about how the world existed, as well as how to recreate it, with the exception of harmony (and chaos), which she couldn't control.

Basically, what I'm saying is that the ponies don't know how to make or control harmony, and so, Midnight didn't know how to make harmony. As well, she couldn't assimilate stuff like the Elements of Harmony and the Tree of Harmony into her knowledge because she couldn't understand them any more than ponies like Twilight or Celestia did. However, she was able to realize the problem was that she couldn't make harmony, which was why the chaos was eating away at her creations, because that was the only thing that was different. Every variable she could manipulate, she made sure to be the exact same as before, so the only logical reason it didn't work would be that it was the variables she couldn't control; chaos and harmony.

[Jirodyne]

6520754 Ah, ok. You made it sound like she knew everything she absorbed, so knew about friendship and stuff, just didn't believe in it. You don't have to believe in something to understand how it works after all. People don't believe in magic, after all, but can make up worlds devoted and revolving around it with it's own rules and such.

So just seemed weird she couldn't just emulate Harmony in some form, even if it wasn't perfect.

[Enduring Man-Child]

Woah...

[Pete100]

Wow, so if midnight sparkle succeeded, then no one would be happy.