Ancient Twilight

by demonbaker

Rage

Author's Note:

I've been trying to write my own story to publish, one that got away from ponies. It's been tough going, as I deal with symptoms of ADD, finding the drive to do much is hard.

Enough about me, here's something about this chapter.

I've not written on this story in quite awhile, and I'm not quite sure I've zoned in on the tone of the story. This chapter has minimal editing, I tried to catch what I could, but there may be some flaws. as usual, let me know what you think down below.

there's a chance I get in the writing mood again. more may come sooner. though it'd be difficult to update any slower I suppose.

Yes. yes, it could.

Rainbow Dash nearly just died. Time appeared above the still dangling bridge leading to Everfree Castle and there was no Rainbow Dash. There weren’t even any Shadowbolt’s left over from the ‘test.’

Knowing anything could have happened Twilight let out a pulse of magic, checking for feedback.

She got a ping, but it was below.

Far below.

Slipping through time. (one thing she was relieved she could still do) she appeared at the bottom of the ravine.

It wasn’t pretty. Rainbow was in a mangled mess. It looked like someone had bound her and thrown her down the pit, the remains of Nightmare’s magic were still there on Rainbow Dash’s wings.

Or, should she say ‘wing’?

One was fine, the other one was so injured it didn’t even resemble a limb anymore.

It was easy to piece together what had happened. Rainbow had passed her ‘test’ and instead of leaving her to return triumphantly, Nightmare Moon had tried to kill her in a supremely ironic way.

Dash had freed herself of the bindings to avoid a fatal fall, but she landed on her side as she tried to arrest her momentum, resulting in the broken blue pony she saw before her.

Seeing Dash’s body lying there, barely breathing amidst the rubble of the formerly majestic bridge that once graced the ravine above something sparked in Time.

It was hot, a hot feeling in her chest, so sudden it took her breath away.

This wasn’t right.

This wasn’t how it was supposed to go.

She hurt her.

She nearly killed her.

Time screamed in anger.

The rest was lost as she only saw red.

~~~~~

“Ah don’ like this. She’s been gon too long.” Applejack was absently pawing the ground.

Twilight was busy trying to figure out what that pulse of magic was for. It slammed into her horn with such force she nearly lost consciousness.

Rarity had actually fainted for a few seconds.

“I know. I don’t like that scream I heard.” Twilight looked at Fluttershy who was shaking like a leaf. It was clear she wanted to fly to see what was going on, but she hadn’t been able to open her wings since the scary forest.

No help coming from there.

Suddenly an explosion of magic came from the bottom of the ravine. A wave of such intense anger buffeted Twilight she could feel her mane starting to spark and burn with residual emotion.

Celestia affectionately called it ‘flaring up’ but it was anything but a joke. She took a few deep breaths like Cadance once showed her.

She knew she was dangerous when she did that.

She also recognized that magic signature.

It was Time.

“Everyone get back!” It didn’t even seem like Twilight had to tell them, they could all feel it.

Anger so strong that even earth ponies and pegasi could feel it.

The light from the magic explosion revealed a cloud of darkness floating above the ravine, which seemed to zip quickly toward the castle in the distance as if afraid.

Before Twilight could even open her mouth to say anything she saw Rainbow Dash flying above the pit, seemingly looking around for something.

Twilight was relieved to see that Rainbow was alright, that was until she turned to look at them, and she saw what had happened.

One of Rainbow’s wings was gone and replaced with a truly wonderful sight.

Gone was the blue wing, in its place was a series of Cogs and gears in the shape of a wing.

The geometry shouldn’t make sense, but it did, she could swear that when she looked into the wing she could see a hint of something, a brief glimpse of something that gave her a headache and caused her to abruptly look away.

By the time she looked back, the glimpse was gone, as was the view into the internals of the new wing, instead, there was a covering of what looked like copper or maybe even bronze covering it.

It was only when she realized that she was staring that she noticed Rainbow Dash had said something.

“Sorry, I didn’t hear that.”

Dash rolled her eyes. “I said ‘Did you notice a violet pony in a robe? It looked a lot like you if I’m being honest.” Dash’s eyes narrowed for a bit before she looked down at her new wing, moving it and extending it to test it.

“It’s weird it feels…better than the one I had.” Getting a grin on her face she swung her wing at a nearby wooden post.

Which looked normal for all of three seconds, until it slid down and fell, a diagonal cut so fine it seemed even the the wood hadn’t noticed it was sliced for a moment.

Dash’s wing was glowing a copper color, blades coming out from the ‘feathers’ only to slowly retract into the contraption, leaving no hint that they were there.

Everyone said “Woah” in unison.

Then there was an explosion of white light coming from the castle’s main entrance, several birds taking to the air in fear.

~~One minute Earlier~~

Time’s breathing was ragged, her eyes narrowed, she hadn’t felt like this in a while, pure white-hot rage.

She might have gone overboard giving Dash a new wing, but it was hard to think straight.

Deep breaths, use the royal breathing technique.

“There you are.”

The last pony she wanted to meet had found her.

Nightmare Moon’s sneer was unhinged and gleeful as if she was having the time of her life.

“Just, don’t.”

“Aww~ is the little goddess having a tantrum? Seems I’ve found something that can get a rise out of you. Which part was it.”

Time’s vision was getting redder and redder, her mane resembling a billowing flame that was burning hotter with each word.

“Was it that poor blue pegasus lost the ability to fly?”

Time’s robes catch fire.

“Was it the panic she must have felt falling to her death?”

Wisps of coppery magic begin to fill the area. Time’s gaze was locked on Nightmare Moon, failing to notice that she was standing in the element chamber.

“Not. One. More. Word.”

Nightmare’s eyes lit with glee, she opened her mouth to speak, only to realize that a hoof had lodged itself into her face.

The last of Time’s faculties was spent forming a cage to cut Nightmare Moon off from her celestial body.

She wanted this to Hurt.

~~~~~

Twilight and the others rushed into the Everfree Ruins, following the bursts of magic and light till they found themselves staring at what Twilight couldn’t even call the aftermath of a battle.

This was a slaughter.

She was looking at the back of a white alicorn, her mane a roaring inferno that was burning the tapestries on the wall, much to Rarity’s dismay.

The floor was a mess of cracked stone, a large crater taking up the majority of the room. There might have been a throne at the far wall, but it had joined the ever-increasing pile of rubble that was the castle.

The alicorn’s hoof slammed down again, making the crater she was standing in deeper, causing a light dusting of rubble to fall from the ceiling.

Boom.

Twilight took a step back in fear, the magic billowing from this alicron was nothing but pure white-hot rage.

Her hoof stepped on a piece of glass that might have belonged to a stained glass window.

The alicorn’s gaze locked onto hers faster than she could curse such a cliche.

A long moment hung in the air as the two stared at each other until recognition was shown on the alicorn's face.

Suddenly the white alicorn’s form winked out of existence, the rapidly fading heat being the only evidence that she even existed.

That was until Twilight looked at the epicenter of the crater.

Her breath caught in her throat as her eyes got used to what they were seeing. At first, it was an unrecognizable lump of black and red, but the more she looked the more features came into view.

A pile of feathers that might have been a wing, a broken horn lodged into the ground as if someone had ripped it off and rammed it into the ground. What might be the remains of an eye?

Twilight’s mouth opened. “Is…is that…Nightmare Moon?”

Rarity and Fluttershy both fainted.

Comments

[Wakijima]

Woah i am so glad u decided to release a new chapter. It is amazing.