Mad, With Power

by Aragon

Alone in a Crowd (by Pearple Prose)

“I think the toughest friendship problem I’ve ever faced… was learning to love myself.”

—Princess Twilight Sparkle

“Hm.” Luna set down her teacup. “Sister?”

Celestia sipped her tea. “Yes, Luna?”

"Why are there two Twilight Sparkles wandering around?"

Celestia blinked. She followed Luna's gaze and peered out over the palace grounds. Distantly, she could see two pink-purple figures wandering about in the gardens, speaking animatedly with one another.

"Oh?" Celestia set down her cup. "Those are not two Twilights, Luna. That is just Twilight and her new friend. Starlight Glimmer, if you recall?"

"Glimmer. Yes." Luna nodded. "I must have forgotten. Do remind me?"

"She is the one Twilight Sparkle adopted as her very own student, Luna," Celestia said. "A reformed villain. One of many."

"A villain? I do not remember her trying to take over the land."

"No, no. She operated at a smaller scale. She stole the cutie marks of an entire village." Celestia sipped her tea. "In the name of equality, I believe. And fairness."

Luna's cup stopped mid-air, halfway between her lips and the saucer. "...Truly?" she asked, leaning forward in her seat.

"Mhm. It was her firm belief that everypony should be the same."

“Everypony should be the same. I understand.” Luna nodded happily. “Very good, Sister.”

---

It was a beautiful morning in Ponyville, and Princess Twilight Sparkle woke up with a smile on her face.

"Good morning, Spike!" she called, climbing out of bed. She didn't get a response, but she did smell something deep-fried and delicious wafting through the air, which meant Spike was already up and cooking breakfast.

Twilight beamed. It was very rare, but always pleasant, when Spike woke up before she did – Twilight was terrible at cooking. She pushed open her bedroom door and skipped down the corridor towards the dining hall.

The delicious smell of fried food followed Twilight as she walked – but, she noticed, the smell was getting less delicious and more... insidious? Spike must have been trying something new.

Then Twilight turned the corner, and saw black smoke bubbling out of the crack in the kitchen door.

Oh no. Her breakfast! "Spike!"

Twilight yanked open the door, coughing and hacking as she caught a lungful of smoke. Wrapping a wing around her muzzle and squinting her burning eyes, she stumbled into the room. "Spike! Are you okay?!"

In the haze of the smoke, Twilight saw the silhouette of a pink coat with a tail, and a feminine voice came through. "What? No, it's just me!" it said. "Sorry, I was trying to make breakfast but I'm terrible at cooking!"

Starlight? What was she doing in the kitchen? "Don't worry," said Twilight, lighting her horn, "let me just–"

The buzz and snap of magic filled the air, and the smoke dissipated.

Twilight blew on her horn, smiling. "Wow, that was quick!" she said, turning towards her friend. "Starlight, did you help? Because if so, thank you! That was very effic–"

Twilight paused. Twilight Sparkle was staring back at her.

"Uh," Twilight uh'd.

"Um," Twilight um'd.

"Excuse me," Twilight began, "but–"

"What the heck?" Twilight finished.

"Wow. Okay, language."

"Oh, shut up. You know you were thinking it."

"Still! You could try being considerate for once."

"Considerate of who?" Twilight asked. "Me?"

"Yeah, considerate of y-"

The two Twilights stared at each other. "Oh," they oh'd.

Distantly, they heard the doorbell ring. Both Twilights glanced away simultaneously.

"We should go get that," said Twilight.

"Right," Twilight replied. "We should also go to the library and figure this out as quickly as possible."

"Right." Twilight nodded. "So it's decided."

"I'll go to the library, you go get the door."

"I'll go to the library, you go get the door."

Twilight and Twilight nodded at one another, then walked off to answer the bell.

---

Twilight Sparkle yawned, climbed out of bed, and stretched. Her back creaked uncomfortably, as if she'd been sleeping on the floor, and she winced. Was that part of her alicorn growth spurt? Or maybe she just needed a new bed. She'd ask Spike about it later.

But first, she was meeting up with Starlight to talk about her next magic show.

Twilight smiled, and began to sleepily pull on her cloak from where it hung by the caravan door. She reached out with her magical aura and grabbed her hairbrush, brushed it through her mane once, twice, three times.

A few moments later, ready to face the day, Twilight pulled on her hat, twirled, and gave herself a smile in the mirror. She looked dazzling, for she was, of course, the Great and Powerful Twil–

She paused, smile frozen to her face. She kept smiling for one, two, three more seconds. Then she stopped. Looked down at her hooves. Looked back at her cape.

Looked back in the mirror.

Screamed.

---

Twilight Sparkle felt a strange sense of deja vu when she looked at her ceiling that morning. She was in her childhood home.

Part of her felt this was wrong. The other part, not so much. She lived here, didn't she? Yes. She lived at her home in Canterlot with her family and that's how it had always been.

...But then, had it all been a dream? Nightmare Moon, Ponyville, Discord, her ascension – did any of it really happen?

Did that mean she was still in high school?

No. No, that couldn't be right. After all, Twilight realised, she wasn't alone in this. She was happily married to the love of her life, her darling, Twili–

She rolled over in bed, and looked right into Twilight Sparkle's eyes.

"..."

"Uh."

"Wait.”

"No–"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA–"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA–"

---

Twilight Sparkle and Twilight Sparkle answered the door. They found Twilight Sparkle standing there.

"Well," they all said, simultaneously.

"What happened?" Twilight asked, desperation creeping into her voice. "Where's Spike? Why do you guys smell like burnt food?"

"We–"

"We have no idea. The other Twilight was supposed to go and figure that out."

"Hey!" Twilight glared at herself. "I thought you were supposed to be doing that!"

Twilight blinked, bemused. "Then… Then why did we both come to the door?"

"I–" Twilight gulped. "I'm scared, I don't want to be alone with myself right now."

"But you are."

"I know! It's horrible!"

"Where's Spike? He'll know what to do."

"I just asked you that," Twilight reminded them, pushing past them into the room. "Have either of you seen him?"

"No."

"No."

"Sorry about the smell, by the way."

"I'm really bad at cooking."

"I know. What about Starlight Glimmer?

"No, I was in her room earlier, and I didn't see her."

The three of them paused. They stared at each other.

"Wait."

"You don't think–"

"Are...?"

Twilight pointed, eyes wide. "Are you Starlight? Did you cast some weird spell on me?"

"No!" Twilight shouted, shaking her head desperately. "I'm Twilight Sparkle! You have to believe me!"

"Okay."

"Okay."

Twilight blinked at them. "Wait. You aren't going to argue?"

"You honestly look the part."

"I don’t know anypony else who’d be able to look that neurotic, even if they tried."

"But then what are you two? Changelings? Is this an illusion spell?"

“That doesn't seem likely considering that disguising yourself as me and then congregating in my Castle at the same time would be a terrible way to start that kind of takeover."

"You’re right. Two of us woke up in here, so the ‘real’ Twilight Sparkle is among us. We should go to the library, find Spike, and work out a solution to the problem.”

And then the door burst open, and Twilight Sparkle ran into the room – eyes wide, mane frazzled, and dressed like Trixie Lulamoon.

"Twilight!" She shrieked. "Twilight! You're all Twilight! Hello!"

The three other Twilights stared at her.

"Uh."

"Hi?"

"Why am I dressed like Trixie?"

"I don't know!" said Twilight, hysterics in her voice. "Where's Trixie? I just woke up in her bed and wearing her clothes!"

“Oh no.”

“Oh no.”

“Oh no.”

---

Spike looked around at the five identical versions of Twilight Sparkle, and raised the frying pan as a rudimentary defensive gesture.

"Oh, no." He gulped. "Not this dream again."

Four of the five Twilights jumped on him.

The fifth one, however, did not. She frowned and kneeled, looking at the ground. Behind her, the four herselves were aggressively Informing Spike Of The Situation. But she couldn’t have been paying less attention – because the ground was…

...trembling?”

"Uh." The trembling became more intense as the seconds passed. "Hey, you guys!" Twilight shouted at the pile of Twilights-and-Spike, who all stopped chattering and turned to her. "Can you feel something... shaking?"

The Twilights-and-Spike looked at each other. "Can you be more specific? There’s a lot going on.”

“I just felt an earthquake, I think. Did you guys feel it, too?”

“No," said Spike, "Or, wait. Yes? What is that?"

"I think I can hear something, too," said one of the Twilights.

The noise was coming from the door. Twilight walked over and, nervously, opened it.

Purple coats. Indigo manes. Unicorn horns and pegasus wings. All of them running towards the Castle, with the same terrified expression on their faces.

"Twilight!" Twilight screamed.

"Twilight?" replied the Twilights.

"Twilight!"

Twilight.

All over Ponyville.

---

In the distant Crystal Empire, Twilight and Twilight woke up in the same bed.

"Wait, is this Shining and Cadance’s bedroom?”

“And you’re me? Ugh.” The other Twilight grabbed her head. “Not this dream again.”

They looked out the window, and saw a legion of glowing, crystalline Twilights wandering the Empire's streets.

A realisation hit them. They turned, and noticed the crib sitting next to the bed.

As one, they looked inside.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA–"

---

Twilight wandered through the Canterlot Library, reading a book and smiling to herself. She was wearing a thick, black jumper and a pair of thick, black glasses.

She looked up at the bookshelves above her and noticed the new Daring Do novel sitting proudly on display. "Oooh," she ooh'd. She hadn't had a chance to read that one yet. Or the time.

She could figure this whole thing out later, right?

Twilight nodded to herself, and flapped her pretty princess wings and flew up to fetch the book from the shelf. When she dropped back down, the glasses fell from her muzzle and scattered against the floor.

Twilight gasped in sudden horror. "Oh no!" she cried, reaching out for her lost glasses. "My g-"

She paused, then looked around at the world around her with. Well. New eyes.

"Oh, hey." Twilight blinked, slipping the glasses into her pocket. "Princess vision."

She giggled.

---

"Oh. Hello, Mr Bear. You're looking very, uh, relaxed today."

The bear narrowed its eyes. It plodded towards her until it was breathing on her face, sniffing her coat.

"Yes, that's right, it's your Auntie Twilight.” Twilight smiled nervously. “Could you tell your animal friends that I don't know where Fluttershy is, and also to maaaaybe chill out just a little bit?"

The bear sniffed her again. Then it wrapped a claw around her hoof.

"Uh. What was your name again? Because you had a name, right?" Twilight tried to step back, but the bear's iron grip kept her in place. "Wait, was it literally just Mr Bear? That’d be a very Fluttershy thing to do, to call you just Mr Bear. Don’t you—"

The bear growled.

"Okay, well, now you're digging into the bone, so I assume noooooooooooAAAAAAAAAAAAAA–"

---

"I think," said Spike, surrounded by Twilight Sparkles for as far as the eye could see, "that we should ask Princess Celestia about this."

"Oh!" said all the Twilight Sparkles. "Why didn't I think of that?"

---

It had been a long, busy night for Princess Luna. Celestia had asked her to take care of Philomena for the evening, Sweet Tooth's mother needed help with a recurring nightmare, and she'd also had to clean some of the spiders out of the basement again.

She set down her cup of tea and nodded to herself, satisfied. Yes, her duties as Princess of the Night demanded much of her. But, if nothing else, she needed to be there for her subjects in their times of need.

"Luna?" Celestia poked her head into the dining hall. "Are you still awake?"

"Oh!" Luna gave Celestia a smile. "Good morning, Sister. Is there something you require of me before I turn in for the day?"

"Well," said Celestia, "I was just wondering about something."

"Yes?"

"Why is the sky pink?"

Luna blinked, and turned to look out the window behind her. Indeed, the morning horizon over Canterlot seemed to be filled with a huge storm of flashing pink light. "Hm." She picked her teeth, thoughtfully, with a phoenix feather. "Very bizarre, indeed."

Celestia walked over to the window and peered out. "They kind of look," she said, after a moment, "like teleportation spells."

"Oh?"

"A lot of teleportation spells."

"Hm?"

"Pink ones."

"Oh, right." Luna slapped her forehead and shook her head morosely. "I knew I had forgotten something."

"Luna?"

"I turned every pony in Equestria into Twilight Sparkle, you see." Luna sipped her tea.

"...Luna."

"Yes, Sister?"

"I cannot believe this."

"Cannot believe what?"

Suddenly, Luna felt two white hooves hug her tightly from behind. "You have just given me," said Celestia, voice quivering with emotion, "the best birthday present I could have asked for."

---

"Wait." Twilight stared at Luna. "What?"

A different Twilight – the one wearing the black jumper – tapped Twilight on the shoulder. "Luna just said that she was the one who turned us all into me."

"Yes, I know," Twilight snapped, shooting herself a glare. "I was there. I was just expressing my disbelief."

Twilight looked hurt. "You didn't need to be mean."

"I–" Twilight was about to shout at herself again, but decided against it when she saw the expression on her face. She couldn't be mean to something that cute. "Ugh. You're right. You didn't deserve that. I’m sorry."

Twilight rested a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “It’s okay. You really don’t need to be so hard on yourself.”

“You’re talking to the wrong Twilight, you massive idiot.” Twilight glared at herself. “And why are you dressed like a baseball player anyway?”

“I’m Baseball Twilight!” said Baseball Twilight. “Look, I even have a bat.” She swung her baseball bat for emphasis.

Twilight looked around at the crowd. "But all of the other Twilights are identical. How come you've got a bat?"

"Well," said Baseball Twilight. "Part of me thought it would help preserve my individuality in the face of crushing existential despair." She paused. "But mostly I just like swinging the bat."

It was a busy day on the Canterlot palace grounds. Every Twilight Sparkle in Equestria – which is to say, every pony in Equestria – was currently standing in, around, or above the castle gardens, spilling out into the streets of the city proper. Luna looked down on them all from the Castle balcony above them, Celestia at her side.

"But, Princess Luna," Twilight asked, looking up towards the balcony. "Why?"

Luna looked at Twilight. She scratched her chin with a thoughtful hoof. "It depends," she said, at length. "Are you asking 'why did I turn everypony into Twilight Sparkle?', or 'why did I turn everypony into Twilight Sparkle'?"

"Um. Both?"

"I see! It was all because of that friend of yours, that one..." Luna trailed off, frowning in thought.

"Starlight Glimmer?" Celestia suggested.

"Yes! That was it. Thank you, Sister, it must have slipped my mind."

"You're very welcome."

"I heard of this ‘equality’ she spoke of, and found it interesting enough to investigate.” Luna paused. “Though, I suppose, there may have been some unforeseen consequences to this diversion of mine."

Twilight's eyes bulged out of her head. "Some? Unforeseen? B-But I–" She cradled her head in her hooves. "I'm in charge of all of Equestria. Like, literally actually everypony other than you two is me!"

"What about all the rocket scientists?" Twilight pointed out. "And the, I dunno, brain surgeons? They've all been replaced by me! Spike doesn't even trust me to put on a band-aid by myself!"

"It's true!" said Spike, who was in the middle of being passed around the crowd of Twilights like a stress ball. "I don't!"

"As I understand it, Twilight Sparkle, you are a very fast learner."

“Indeed,” Celestia said, nodding. “I taught her myself, after all.”

"So I trust you are up to this task,” Luna continued, giving her a benevolent smile. “Just as you have prevailed over so many impossible odds before."

"What? Okay. No. No, no, no." Twilight shook her head rapidly. "You can't just. You can't just wave a hoof and give me moral support and say that it's all going to be alright. You don't understand! I'm in charge of cooking! I’m the head chef in every kitchen in Equestria!"

"I started a fire this morning when I tried to make soup."

"Yeah, and I– Wait." Twilight looked at herself with an expression of newfound disgust. "That was supposed to be soup?"

"Well, not just that," pointed out the Twilight next to her. "We're also in charge of, and the workforce for, the entire food industry."

"And responsible for collecting and harvesting and tending to all of the food that goes through that system."

"And responsible for handling all the money that we earn off of ourselves when we go to the grocery stores. Which are also staffed by us."

"I have to go to work every morning," said Twilight, with mounting horror. "And all of my coworkers are going to be me."

"It's impossible!" Twilight looked around at herselves, panic starting to set in. "All I know how to do is read books and write letters! I'm not cut out for any of this!"

One very wounded-looking Twilight coughed into a bite mark on her leg. "I nearly got eaten by a bear this morning."

"Twilight Sparkle," Celestia said, loudly, calmly, "I have something I'd like to say."

As one, every Twilight in the crowd snapped their mouth shut and sat down, ears perked to attention.

"Oh," said Celestia. "That feels even better than I thought it would." She cleared her throat. "Right, yes. I am sorry for the trouble. I understand how hard it might be accepting the current reality of the situation. But, as Luna said, you are an eminently capable pony, and I am sure your lessons in friendship will be put to good use."

The crowd of Twilights stared at her. One of them raised a hoof. "Question," she said. "Is that why you made everypony... Well. Me, specifically?"

"Oh." Luna blinked. "No. I was simply tired of having to distinguish between you all."

"...What."

"Twilight Sparkle, Sunset Glimmer, Sunset Shimmer..." Luna frowned in thought for a moment. "...The rest. You are all so very similar! I decided to just put everypony on the same page. I felt it was appropriate."

"Look at it this way, Twilight," said Celestia, smiling at the crowd. "This is really just a journey of self-discovery."

The Twilights all shuddered in unison. "Please, no," Twilight pleaded. "Anything but that."

"I'll be honest, your Highnesses!" Twilight shouted, raising her voice over the hubbub of the crowd. "I think I've found the fatal flaw in your plan!"

Luna tilted her head. "Oh? Would you rather I had asked for your consent beforehand?"

"No! You should have picked somepony who doesn't hate themselves."

"This is Hell."

"No arguments here."

"Just look at how chubby I am!"

Luna looked glum. "Well, it seems we– I have made a mistake. I do hope you can all forgive me."

Then she stepped down from the balcony and walked back into the castle, humming to herself.

"Luna!" Celestia called after her. She shot the Twilights a Look. "There was no need to be so harsh on her, Twilight Sparkle. She was simply trying to help. You know how it is, with my sister. We will have a chat about this later." And then she followed after her sister.

The Twilights stared after them. Several long minutes passed in silence.

"I."

"Hm."

"Uh."

"Is..." Twilight looked around at the other Twilights. "Is this our fault?"

"Question." Twilight raised a hoof, and all the other Twilights looked at her. "How do we. I dunno. Breed?"

Another long stretch of silence.

"Why," Twilight asked, "is that the question you wanted to ask? Of all possible questions?"

"Well," said Twilight, "if we can't reproduce, we all go extinct."

Yet more silence. The Twilight that was currently hugging Spike held two hooves over his ears.

"So, what you're saying is..."

"In order to save Equestria, we have to figure out how to breed with ourselves." Twilight looked at herself, gravely. “Or we might as well all die right here, for all the difference it’ll make.”

"Hm." Twilight stroked her chin. "Interesting."

A moment of silence.

"Well.” Baseball Twilight shrugged, hefting her baseball bat. “We had a good run anyways."

---

Celestia found Luna sitting at the tea table, despondent, and without tea.

"Luna?" Celestia stepped towards her sister, expression soft. "Are you alright?"

"Sister.” Luna looked at Celestia: “Are we out of touch?"

Celestia sat down next to Luna softly. "Out of touch in what sense?"

"I made another mistake. Twilight Sparkle was right.” Luna sniffed. She ran a hoof along the edge of her empty teacup as she spoke.

“Luna, you were just trying to help–”

“And it is always like this. Whenever I try to help, it is like… You know how it is when, you put something down in one place, and just as you go pick it up, you forget? It is like that, but with everything." The starry sky in her mane went dark, briefly, as if storm clouds were passing through it. “Every time. All the time.”

Celestia tilted her head, expression soft. "Well, one can hardly begrudge you, of all ponies, for feeling out of sorts with the world."

"I did not think I would be capable of embarrassing myself in front of our subjects–" Luna paused. "Subject, so often. And yet, here we are again." She sighed.

"Oh, Luna." Celestia wrapped her sister up in a tight, white hug. "It was all just a misunderstanding! It was not your fault."

"No, sister," Luna said, her voice stern, but quavering. "You deserve better than I. I only wanted to make life easier for everypony. I know how much more difficulty you face in your duties than I–"

“Luna,” Celestia said, sternly, “you are the only pony on the planet who could have given me as wonderful as gift as you have today. That is what really matters.”

“Really?”

Celestia booped her little sister on the nose and smiled at her, gently. "Of course! Your plan was just a little poorly conceived, is all. I am sure we can fix it, with some patience and kindness."

Luna looked up at her sister, eyes wide. "B-But... Are you quite certain?"

"Yes. And, besides." Celestia gave her sister a kiss on the forehead, and a smile. "It was a very lovely gift."

Luna stared at her sister. Then she wiped at her eyes with a hoof. "You are too good to me, Sister dearest."

"Perish the thought."

---

No sane God would allow this, Baseball Twilight thought to herself, as she crunched her bat into the back of Twilight’s skull, the bloody chunks splattering down her thighs and across her chubby, ugly, omnipresent face.

And, lo, if she is God, then she must pay the price.

---

Luna looked at the clock. “Oh. Look at the time, Sister. Do you think we might have spent too much time in here, alone?”

"I think you're right." Celestia got to her hooves. "We have left Twilight by herselves. How impolite of us."

"I think it should be possible to undo my mistake, with Twilight Sparkle's help." Luna nodded. "I expect she will welcome this news."

"Oh." Celestia tried not to look disappointed. "Well, I suppose it is for the best."

Luna patted Celestia's shoulder. "It is."

"They are just so cute, though."

"I know."

The two wandered back down the hallway as they talked. They stepped out onto the balcony and looked down upon the crowd of Twilights.

"Ah," Luna ah'd.

"Hm," Celestia hm'd.

And then, a little pause.

Luna frowned. "Well. That is a lot of blood, now, isn't it."

"Indeed."

"And, is that Twilight's draconic protege atop that totem over there?"

"I think it might be."

"Do you suppose it is a likeness of Spike, or...?"

"No false idols, Luna," Celestia admonished.

"Right. Of course." Luna stroked her chin with her hoof. "Well, this certainly does put a wrench in our plans."

"Oh!" Celestia poked her sister in the ribs, and lit her horn. "Look, over there, behind that fleshy mound!"

Luna squinted. "Is that... Are those spasms of the mortem or post-mortem variety?"

"Neither!" Celestia carried the sodden, purple, moving thing over to them in her magic. "It is our dear Twilight Sparkle!"

Luna looked it over. "Well," she said, dubious, "it does appear to be the sole survivor. But are you certain it is the original Twilight? Because there may be unforeseen consequences if we rebuild with a fake one."

"Bluh," the purple thing bluh'd. A broken pair of black glasses fell from one of its pockets and landed at Celestia’s hooves.

"No, no, this is her. Look!" Celestia pointed, beaming. "Those are her iconic glasses! Gosh, they are so cute."

"Ah, yes. You do appear to be correct." Luna smiled. "That is good. For a moment, there, I was rather worried."

"Bluh," bluh'd the purple thing. It was wearing the tattered remains of a black jumper.

---

It was a beautiful morning in Ponyville, and Princess Twilight Sparkle woke up with a smile on her face.

"Good morning, Spike!" she called, climbing out of bed. "What's for breakfast?"

Spike poked his head in through the door. "Morning, Twi!" he said. "I'm not actually cooking breakfast this morning. Pinkie Pie and the others showed up and now we're all going out to Sugarcube Corner to get food. Wanna come along, eat cookies, do some friendship stuff?"

Twilight blinked. She stared at Spike for a few seconds.

Then she smiled brightly. "Yes! Yes, I would!"

Princess of Friendship, huh? She thought to herself as she followed Spike to meet her best friends in the whole wide world.

She giggled.

“I think the toughest friendship problem I’ve ever faced… was learning to love myself.”

—Princess Twilight Sparkle, On Advanced Husbandry, Part IV: Failures

Comments

[Dirty Bit]

Goodness, this was delightfully dark

[Raugos]

Man, I was getting some good old Hard Reset vibes from this chapter.

[Xzrea]

If there is one thing Luna should have thought out beforehand, is who's gonna cook for them.
Also this means it is not a good gift for Celestia, because it means no cakes anymore.

p.s. Having read "Her Eyes Contained Heaven", I see what appeal there can be in bad cakes for Celestia. But since she has Luna in person, it's better to have good cake than bad cake bringing memories of her.

[Astrocity]

Ah... So Sweet Tooth's mother is still having those dreams? It seems Luna is one meat dragon away from being like those llamas with hats.

[The Devious Writer]

I am completely blanking on who in this show wears a black jumper and glasses.

[M1_A4_Abrams]

9490542
Moondancer.

[ForSpite]

Okay, that one's a keeper, it's getting saved to the ol' hard drive.

[Vaguely Demented]

So the question is: how exactly did Baseball Twilight handle herself? Swing and hope centrifugal force did the rest?

[horizon]

At least Luna didn't turn everypony into Rainbow Dash.

Eight seconds later:

"… Hey, Dash. Wanna race?"

"Heck yeah, Dash. Get ready to eat my Sonic Raindust."

"Wait, did you gals say there was a race going on?"

"Race?" "Race?" "Race?" "Race?" "Race?"

"RACE!"

Eighteen seconds later:

i.imgur.com/C1FIPdf.gif

[Random Bits]

Huh, is that a Hard Reset reference?

(reads further)

Oh yeah, it is.

[gakposter]

So...every other Twilight, including the original, is dead?
And Luna caused the deaths of literally an entire nation, and then just replaced them with copies?

dark.

[Shrink Laureate]

Aragon, I don't know what the is wrong with you, but it amuses me greatly.

[Aragon]

9494442
Seeing how I didn't actually write this chapter, my best guess is "nothing".

[Soge]

How the hell you people come up with this stuff?

[Sir Starshine]

Alright, who put the weed in the LSD?

[pterrorgrine]

9490181
I was a little surprised more people picked up on that than the lavender unicornness of it all.

[CrystalWaters]

"Bluh," bluh'd the purple thing. It was wearing the tattered remains of a black jumper.

♫ The champion stood, the rest saw their better
Twilight Rogers in a bloodstained sweater ♫

[woggs123]

I just came here from reading The Moon Doesn't Dance. Completely unrelated 1000 word tragedy about poor Moondancer written four years after this, but dang if it didn't make that ending feel cathartic