CH 94.4 The Final Choices of a Patchwork Pony
The translocation was not Twilight's well-honed teleport spell. No, in this case, it was the raw need to be somewhere and the world yielding to her demand. Residual energy lashed at her body, but she did not care. Unerringly, her eyes locked onto the pony she sought. Fluttershy was alright, altered but healthy as any other chosen thestral. For an instant, her heart started to calm, and relief dared to poke its head up. Then she saw the others.
It was not the hundreds of ponies lying dead that moved her. They were nothing but evidence now. Fluttershy may have been fine, but three were not so lucky. Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie were not granted the mercy of a quick death. From a medical point of view, the mutilation inflicted upon them was a treasure trove of research material. To Twilight's heart, it was a defilement that should have never been allowed to happen.
For half a second, she pulled back to her Bastion. Her friends needed her at her best. They did not need a panicking little filly. No, they needed Twilight Sparkle, Alicorn of Magic and reader of every bucking book she could get her hooves on.
In the quiet of the doorstep, Twilight took a deep breath and let it out. In the false clarity of her willfully deluded mind, she listed every medical and every even vaguely approved scanning spell she could recall. Each was ordered by usefulness and then reordered based on possible interference.
List constructed, her mind raced through the list with the precision of a machine. Spell after spell leapt straight from the doorstep to reality. There was no way Celestia would not know she was casting from her Bastion, but now was not the time for subtlety or restraint.
A swarm of flying scrolls manifested themselves, results writing themselves in ten different colours. With each stroke of the unseen quills, the prognosis got worse. Unless something was done, they were doomed.
Her friends were already beyond the point where Equestrian law would define them as dead. By common wisdom, as Celestia said, all that could be done was to end them as painlessly as possible.
That answer was unacceptable.
She narrowed her eyes and looked inside their failing wellsprings. Her friend's connections to her and the power of Harmony that nestled inside their souls were the only reason they were still here. Those two additional bindings now only existed to prolong their suffering.
No. It was a simple word, but it said everything. The sound of it reverberated through the Bastion and shook some leaves from the great tree.
"Twilight." Celestia's quiet voice said as her wing became the comforting blanket from all those years ago. Like the little foal she had been, she leaned into the embrace.
Hope drove Twilight to look up into those familiar eyes, seeking that little twinkle that meant the Princess already had the answer. "Can you save them?"
The slight shake of the Princess's head ended the world. The following words shattered the rest of the universe. "I'm sorry this is so soon, but all that can be done is to say goodbye and end their suffering."
Twilight stiffened. She trembled. Her magic thrashed around in her chest as tears caressed her cheeks. "No, No, there must be a way. There has to be a way." She stepped back and desperately looked around.
Luna only had love and sympathy behind her public formality. Her eyes held two promises. The first was that if she knew a way, she would have already acted, and the second was when this was over, there would be loving wings waiting to enfold her.
Fluttershy's teary eyes begged as her near-silent whispers pleaded for Twilight to end their pain. It did not matter how, only that the suffering stopped.
Candice stood there, ever vigil but as of yet inactive. Her usual temporal compression spell was in place, just in case. The little twitches in her expression were the only outside sign she felt anything at all past her stoic mask. Even with everything going on, she was still as calm as she was beautiful.
Twilight eyes lingered. There was something here, an idea to be had a solution if only her mind would grasp it. For a moment, it was not the well-crafted mare she saw before her. Instead, it was the cooked, unrecognisable meat Twilight's rage had turned her into.
There's a way. The Hope that struck hit her like lightning. The surge arced.
For the first time, all of her were in complete accord. All of those who were legally defined as Twilight acted as one. They turned their gaze back to their three imperiled friends.
From Nova flowed a wave of determination, the outright refusal to accept their deaths backed by the magical might to trample anything that got in their way.
Night brought a selfish ruthlessness, said negative trait entirely turned to doing anything needed to save their beloved friends.
From Grey came certainly. The knowledge they had saved Candice and restored Rainbow's overtaxed magic became a bastion against doubt. What was this small step beyond that to the Element of Magic?
Sweet Dreams hummed notes were encouragement incarnate. Wordless, it said, 'Nothing is impossible when you have a family that supports you'. Without pausing her performance, she spread her wings in imitation of when she unwove Red Wing's wellspring. As her wings danced through the air, three pony-sized nests began to form from silver thread.
Information and intent danced in Twilight's mind. Cold logic wielded emotion with deft efficiency. Savage intuition cut off any dead ends with more alacrity than mere deductive reasoning ever could. With each faction of an instant saved, their chances of survival rose.
Twilight's mark sung. Its arcane symphony was so perfect that any that could hear it would have wept with joy and deemed their life fulfilled. Sweet Dreams' melody shifted, answering its call.
A single spark of joy danced in their heart. They could do this. The flesh was just that, flesh. Twilight knew firsthoof how easily the mere shell could be cast off. From rebuilding both Candice and Rainbow, she already knew how to bind leylines into replacement parts. This would simply be all of them.
The biggest thing harming their bodies was the desperate struggle of their souls to stay alive. They were still biologically active so a few transfigured grafts from her own body and they would be good as new.
Like when she possessed Candice she could slip into their bodies and shield their souls with her own, but that would only save one. So, instead of going to them, she would have to bring them to her.
Now, all she needed to do was get them out of their bodies intact before they destroyed them. There was just the slight problem that only ascended souls could withstand the harsh conditions outside a body. But thanks to Sweet Dreams' lessons and Twilight's own soul-devouring magic, they had come up with a solution.
If the situation was not so dire, Twilight would have broken out in a heart song, or kissed her Dreams. Well, both would have to wait until later.
Back in the physical world, Celestia raised a hoof. "Twilight… you will only…"
Twilight's impatience became much more when backed by Nova's fury and Night's lingering resentment. "Either help me or get out of my way," they growled, and half a dozen spells to make her move were queued up in her mind.
The following fraction of a second felt like an age, but finally, under the weight of their glare, Celestia's hoof fell, and they dismissed her from immediate concern.
With a calming breath, they let all the rage go. This was not the time for it. This was the time to prove everypony wrong again, it was time to heal her friends.
With Sweet Dreams' loving grace, they settled down next to the ruined forms of Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie. All were hurt, and all were in pain, so with the softest mental voice, Twilight spoke even as Night ripped their pain from them. I can save you. Do you trust me?
Their bodies relaxed just the slightest amount, and they breathed a little easier. The deception of the missing pain was more than enough to give them a peaceful death if they refused.
Rarity was the first to respond. The blind mare had to be restrained by Twilight's aura as she screamed her assent. Applejack nodded, her calm eyes clear proof of her complete trust.
Pinkie Pie nodded slightly as she sobbed. "Be careful, Twilight."
"Close your eyes," Twilight said with a hint of Dreams' most soothing tones. The two that still had sight obeyed.
Twilight opened her mouth and slowly pushed part of her soul out. The needed spell runes formed within the dark mass instead of her horn. Like a hydra growing new heads, it split into three tendrils.
The hungry appendages shifted, their purpose reforged even as they reached for her friends. Soul-devouring weapons of terror, now nought but the softest blankets ready to shield their naked souls from the harshness of the world.
Twilight smiled past the awkward mouthful. It was going to work. She had been in time. All she needed to do was draw them in, and then her brilliant Sweet Dreams could weave a new wellspring around each, and then they would be safe.
The first warning anything was wrong, she ignored. It was such a minor thing, and all her attention was narrowed in on the most precious cargo held in her magic, not the fluctuating light level.
Nova's panic and fury slammed into her as Twilight finally expanded her senses out. A blazing surge of hot magic caressed her horn as a mild sense of burning crept up her hind legs.
Her eyes only just had the time to start dilating with panic and it was already too late to physically dodge.
If she had not been part pegasus, that would have been the last thing she knew. Her mind raced as her magic reached out for anything to help. It latched onto Candice's active spell, co-opting it to include her and duplicating it within the Bastion itself.
Without having to cast, the effect manifested instantly, and the outside world froze.
Compounded time compression inside a time compression gave her time to think. Gave her time to see the full horror of the betrayal.
From her view from Night's plane, it was trivial to see what was going on behind her. Celestia was trying to kill her. A full quarter of the Solar Alicorn's stockpiled magic raced to end the existence of one single pony.
In slow motion, Luna's magic surged into existence. The arcane glow flowed like wax instead of the instant flash it would have been at normal speed. Despite its beauty, its glacial might was a mere candle compared to Celestia's sun. The wall of black ice evaporated in moments. All it bought was half a heartbeat.
"Why?" The word was as much a question as a pained whimper.
Every conversation and every action her mentor had taken flashed through her mind. Everything pointed to things getting better. It would have taken years, but the rift between them was healing. How had it come to this?
If it were not for one thing, even this she could resist either by deflecting the strike or throwing herself through a tear in space. Each of her wounded friends were so softly cradled in her magic, so fragile, they made the perfect snare.
She stared deep into the wonderous sparks of magic that were her friends' souls. I wanted to keep you close.
Three-quarters of Luna's magic could have levelled Canterlot. Here and now, all Luna's interference did was reduce the amount of incoming overkill from obscene to merely unnecessary.
There must be a way.
Equations danced through her mind. More and more options were discarded. This one would destroy her friends' souls. That one would leave them in the path of Celestia's Alicorn killing spell, and it was most certainly a killing spell. There was no way her former mentor would act now with this much of her power and leave even a chance for a counterattack.
How much of this moment was planned? Was the whole thing with Moonlit Scroll just a pretence to arrange this moment? For buck's sake, there was not even time to turn her horn to target Celestia before she would be dead. It was the perfect ambush. A flash cast teleport, and she would be safe, but three of her closest friends would be condemned to oblivion.
Hate surged inside her, an anger so dark, so vile that she should have been repulsed by it. Instead, here, now, it felt right, for the first time she truly had a justifiable reason to hate somepony. You, will, pay.
Why Celestia? A calmer part of her asked as it pushed the anger away and spent the time to perform Cadance's breathing technique. After all, anger was wasteful, and now every second counted. So she looked back out to the physical world where her doom approached with all the apparent speed of slowly flowing honey.
There must be a way.
Celestia's spell work was dense and crude, but despite all its flaws, it was approaching too quickly with too much magic behind it to be slowed, deflected or blocked.
If this was a chess match, this would be checkmate. There was just no way to save her friends without them all dying a moment later, and no way she was going to live at the cost of their lives.
Unbidden, a memory came back. The visit with the Tree of Harmony. How it felt like it was saying good bye.
It knew! The bucking Tree knew. The Tree, the map table, and Celestia had all been using her, guiding her for their own purposes from the start.
The anger surged back, and she pushed it back down. What does my death serve? Why must I be the one to pay the price yet again?
But even as she asked that, she knew the truth. A cold, calm voice answered I'm not even a real pony, am I? From the very beginning, I have just been their tool.
She looked around her Bastion. Or the Bastion that should have belonged to the original Twilight, the one that should be a home and not a prison for Grey and Nova.
They would not even get a chance to live. A hollowness formed in her gut.
It was not just her life and the life of her friends at stake. "Sweet Dreams, Night, Grey, Nova," she whispered to herself.
Out in the physical world, Luna's muscles had finished bunching, and now, in painfully slow motion, she exploded into action. Her intent was obvious, and it brought a sad smile to Patchwork's face. The calculation was so simple it happened automatically. Luna would not beat Celestia's attack, but she would catch some of it. It would not save her friends, but it might be enough that Celestia might have to spend half a second ensuring the execution was completed.
Strands of darkness leapt from Luna's horn, ripping small shards from the attack and throwing them into the distance. Maybe if she was the Alicorn of Love, that look in her eyes would have been enough to prevail, but today, it was too little too late.
"Thank you." She whispered and hoped Luna could hear her.
Instead of an answer, a titanic boom from the library almost made her miss the dead look that settled in Luna's eyes as she started to fall as if she were a puppet whose strings had been cut.
"Luna!" Night cried, and Twilight's thoughts joined in.
There was no way this was a coincidence. Her legs started moving, but she stopped. She needed to see what just happened, but she needed to be able to see the physical world as well.
She raised her gaze to the outside of the Grand Golden Oaks. Come here. She commanded, and the distance shrank, the great tree seeming to rush to meet her.
Back in the main lobby of the library, both the door and the frame of Luna's wing were spidered webbed with cracks, like something had tried to batter its way through.
She looked between Luna's lifeless puppet as it fell and the broken door bearing her mark. There was a link, a path from here to Luna. As per Celestia's methodology, it would have been a mental effect. Mental effects needed a link.
There's a way in. The realisation rocked through her. She did not know what she was going to do with it yet.
Night had no such hesitation. Between her hooves, a shard of crystal formed. She poured all the pain she had gathered over the past months, spiced it with her contempt and righteous indignation.
Grey's magic tore open the door to Luna's section, and with an evil cackle, Night threw. Another boom shook the Bastion as the projectile broke the sound barrier.
It shot through the whole section and shattered the far wall.
Past the falling fragments of wood, Celestia stood, proud and regal in a garden of flowers.
The pristine image only lasted an instant before Night's little gift slammed into her.
Celestia flew from her hooves, paperwork, cakes and chess pieces sent flying as she smashed through a table.
Out in the physical world, the approaching solar death's outline flickered. But still it barrled on undimnissed.
Not enough, not enough. Twilight frantically looked around for more projectiles as Night started to form another crystal.
The chains containing Grey or the vault door would been perfect, but only Celestia could remove them. There was the little wooden tunnel through the chains. Something she had crafted from her least favourite coffee table.
The large, expansive wooden floor called. If you ignored the fact it was part of her soul, it was just a large piece of raw material. Material that was hers to shape.
The texture of the living room reminded her of something. A proud smile formed on her face as her mind's eye recalled a small timberwolf with magenta eyes. Her daughter's pet, her brilliant creation.
A moment later, held in a Grey's aura, Little Star's guide for timber puppies floated.
Well, that would do nicely. They were a bit small, but she could fix that. Twilight's smile turned feral as her horn lit with a slightly modified and highly dangerous cleaning cantrip.
The hair-thin beam of magic strobed like one of Vinyl Scratch's light shows. Grey's magic lifted each of the puzzle pieces, clearing the way for more to be cut.
As her hatred demanded, in each of the construct's teeth, she carved terrible runes. Runes of pain, runes of death and runes that would leave Sombra's dark crystals in each wound.
A hungry growl ripped from the throat of the first one assembled as its eyes blazed with magenta fire. It needed no instructions. It needed no motivation. It knew its purpose, and so it acted.
The bear-sized 'puppy' charged. Soon, a dozen more followed the stampede of wooden paws so different than hooves.
Still carving, Twilight looked back to the physical world. "Any moment now."
Twilight stared at the approaching solar fire. Hoof by hoof, it got closer.
It rippled, and Twilight acted. A forest of dark tendrils shot from her tail. The under-utilised leylines were pushed to their limit with the effort.
Searing pain ripped into her, only to be whisked away. Night's magic turning it to merely more crystal ammunition.
Sanity-rending pain gone, Twilight focused once more on her tasks. Strands of will and bundles of runes penetrated the solar fire. Only to be rejected.
What the hay?
She had used Celestia's magic before. Why was this not working?
Subjective seconds stretched to minutes as she tried more and more approaches.
With a snarl, she stomped. "Why won't you obey me?" She roared at the magic, and to her surprise, it answered.
The magic rippled, and in that ripple, little aspects of something pearlescent somehow sparkled brighter than the sun itself.
Every sense she had zeroed in on it. Even the forgotten scientific sensors swung to bear in her aura.
Waves of data and sensor feeds assaulted Twilight's mind. For a moment, it was like she was drowning in numbers. With a bored efficiency, Grey pushed in. The lists were ordered, the data tabulated and graphed, and then Grey retreated.
Twilight rubbed her temple, trying to push out the feeling of her head being three sizes too small and focused on the results.
Whatever it was, it was physical matter, and the only matter that could survive in this would have to be completely aligned with Celestia's magic.
Part of her mind wanted to race down the path to work out what it was, but she ruthlessly crushed that part. What it was did not matter, only what it meant did.
It anchored and reinforced the spell. Even without Celestia's will reinforcing it, the magic would only answer to Celestia's magic.
"And as I gave all of her magic back…" Twilight froze, and her mind followed her eyes to a gleam of gold shining through her coat.
She looked to the stitches that held her together, the mark of Celestia's hoof in her creation.
There's a way.
A part of her quailed at the idea that popped into her head. It could work, it would be difficult, everything would have to be perfect, but it would work. Just the cost. Why do I always have to be the one to pay? She lowered her head, her eyes closing on the tears as they tried to fall.
"Sweet Dreams, Night, Grey, Nova… Rarity, Applejack, Pinky Pie," She whispered to the floor.
Well, I'm the impostor anyway. The spare. As far as the world will know, Twilight Sparkle will live on.
Grey's eyes said she knew, but she did nothing to stop her. Patchwork bowed her head, and Grey returned the gesture. It was a small thing, but it meant something, and if Patchwork had the time, she might have tried to work out exactly what. For now, all that matters is she would not interfere.
Night was fully invested in the assault upon Celestia's Bastion. Sweet Dreams frantically prepared for the girls' souls, and Nova, trapped in the basement, had no chance to interfere.
A part of her wanted to be stopped, wanted to waste all the time so that she did not have to make this choice, but she was resolved.
"No, don't do this," her voice inside her head screamed, but she ignored it. Now was not the time for doubt, and either way, there would be no time for regrets.
Even with her insight, there was no way to stop that much magic, no way to appreciably slow it to buy time for other solutions. What she could do was make part of it go faster and make that part go where she wanted it to.
Saving my friends… not a bad final achievement. Choice made, Patchwork set to work.
The first was a complete diagram of her leylines. There was the fact her horn was pointing the wrong way, but she could work around that problem. "Oh, Rarity is so going to kill me when she finds out how much I'm about to abuse my poor tail." A manic giggle tried to force its way past her lips.
Next, her aura disconnected the powerlines from the scientific sensors and repurposed them. The power had to go somewhere, and there was only one place it could go where she would have any control.
And while it's passing through, I may as well take advantage.
The repurposed powerlines slithered like serpents. Each latched onto one of Celestia's seals. Grey's head tilted quizzically. Her eyes asked, 'What are you doing?'
Patchwork mouthed, 'you'll see'.
She stabbed metal rune-encrusted pins into her diagram. Each was a point that would need to be linked by golden thread.
The first set went to the roots of her tail's leylines. "So, input."
"Overflow…" The next set made two dotted paths that paralleled her spine until they branched to her wings.
It did not bear thinking what all that energy would wrought on her flesh as it tore through her, so she put it aside. She had made her choice, so all there was to do now was keep working on the problem.
The last set of pins made a looping spiral towards her heart. "Four baffles and six vents back to the wings should be enough to deal with any spikes… I'll double that to be safe."
Back in the library, Night was starting to sway. Grey had taken over the creation of the giant timber puppies to continue the assault.
"Now, how to cut all the unneeded connections?" She could do it one by one, but even with the time compression, there might not be enough time.
She traced her hoof over the diagram. A magic lesson in a large bath drifted into her mind. "Crystals."
There was no reason she had to form her crystal armour on the outside. A few strokes of her quill marked where it would appear.
What more can I do?
She traced the line from each of her puppet's feathers. Each line marked new firing lines. As she sighted along the second one, the last individual she expected to see popped into existence.
Discord ice skated by as if time ran at normal speed. Through the interface with reality, he stared up at her. His expression was grim and sorrowful as he picked up Fluttershy as if he were dancing with her.
Where have you been, a part of her wanted to roar. Instead, with a glance at all the soon-to-be collateral, she reached out to him. "save the others… please."
His response was to manifest a gold club and start swinging at a changeling.
"Four," he called as said changeling sailed over to Candice.
What good is that going to do? The angry part of her demanded. Again, Patchwork ignored it. Discord was crazy and insane, but everything he did had a purpose, even if it was not rooted in logic. Taking the assumption he was trying to help, then ponies being there could be a safe location.
Why would being behind Candice be safe? What could she possibly do to mitigate the solar death that would be redirected straight towards her?
It was another memory that provided the answer. Luna's larger form wrapped around her as they both toiled away, slaying the endless foe that was paperwork. Luna's voice had excitedly given a blow-by-blow of Candice's initiation test. Patchwork had barely paid attention, but her perfect memory recorded every word. "You should have seen the look on their faces when she disrupted their control."
Her magic summoned every book on magical flux she remembered the title of. A grey aura added a few more.
With incoming hostile magic, it's going to be her default reaction… all she will need is some tweaks to the harmonics and a lot more power…
Well, Celestia's been generous enough… again a desperate giggle leaked from her.
She deliberately made eye contact with Discord and nodded. He saluted her with a giant fly swatter before using it to launch another changeling to safety. For the next one, he used a fish.
She rolled her eyes and turned back to her work. The mild exasperation was a reminder of simpler times.
Optimising the dissonance pattern against Celestia's magic was easy. Working out how to get enough power to her safely was another matter.
A part of her pleaded to anything that would listen to make this nothing but a dream. Again, she ignored it. As nice as it would be to just act like a little filly and hide in a book fort clutching Smarty Pants, such foalish behaviour would not help.
Or would it?
In a flash of magic, eight plush toys popped into existence. An angry Celestia with a sword covered in foam flames. A little patchwork Alicorn and the six little fillies that had lost so much to be her mothers.
These will be perfect.
She put aside the mini Grey and Nova. She would not need them. Another flash of magic and four more books appeared. Each with one of her mothers' marks on their covers.
It only took a little magic to slip the books inside of them. The nuzzle she gave them was more than unnecessary but felt so right.
"I'm afraid this is all I can do for you. Thank you for everything."
She connected a thread of magenta to each of them and positioned them in a group hug. "Remember you're family, look after each other." It felt odd to hold her soon-to-be executioners so fondly, even if they were so cute. There had been stories that had told of convicted criminals being roped to multiple ponies for the world's most sadistic game of tug of war. Somehow, I doubt this authentic historic experience will be as fun as my dance with Red Wing…
A second strand of magenta snaked out from each. The child can be a new friend for my daughter. Rule Breaker… She can keep Candice company. Night would think they deserve each other. Dancer… Just the name, the word filled her heart with loss, but again, with a vengeance, she pushed it aside. Now is not the time to feel sorry for myself. She gritted her teeth and worked on it. Dancer she tied to Luna, and Sun Chaser to Insight.
Normaly leaving a little something of one's self behind for those you love is not quite so literal…
Next, she turned to the mini Celestia. Into its head, she pushed spell equations and runic formulas. The last scroll contained nothing to do with magic.
Objective one: Remove Celestia's seals from Luna's Bastion.
Objective Two: secure or sever any connections from Celestia to Luna.
Objectives of opportunity:Distract Celestia.
Deplete Cesitia's magical stockpile.
Disrupt or disable Celestia's magic.
She looked into the glass eyes of the still inanimate plushy. The soon-to-be fragment was given a mission. "Did you look at me like this when you made me?" Unsurprisingly, the toy did not answer.
It's the only way. Her own voice said in her mind. And as much as she hated it, she could do nothing but agree.
"I'm nothing like you." It was easy to say but harder to believe. She was about to make a fragment based on another pony's magic just to use them as a tool, a weapon.
She summoned another scroll and scribbled a few words then inserted it into the mini Celestia's head.
If you survive your mission. Pick a name you like, be free, and live your life.
"Good luck," she whispered as she nuzzled Mini-Tia.
She looked over her work, and everything was as it should be. All the numbers were balanced. All the variables were accounted for. She leaned her muzzle to the golden thread that attached her leg. This would be the true point of no return. She only hesitated a breath. Crystal-coated Thestral fangs severed the thread.
The golden motes that rose off it were beautiful in a way, like rivers of snow falling upwards. With the utmost care, she teased it out. With a half hoof of length extracted, her leg felt colder, and by the time she was done, she no longer felt anything from it.
As her magic looped and threaded the disintegrating golden thread into her leyline map, her eyes lingered on the now useless limb. From one part of her was simple acceptance. From the other, bitter hatred.
"Oh, 'dearest teacher', I bet you won't see this coming… You had better give me extra credit." Just the idea of what was about to happen almost had her rolling on the floor laughing. Only the fear of letting her Dreams or Night notice her plan stilled her laughter.
She double and then triple-checked all her preparations. Everything was as perfect as possible. "Well, this is it…" so she turned her eyes to Dreams, "I'm sorry." Before her tears could blind her, she activated the sequence.
In the physical world, three strands of solar fire leapt from the mass and raced towards her tail, accelerating with each hoof length they tracked.
At least there would not be any pain. Night's spell would take care of that.
She did not watch as the next step started. Around her heart, bones and feathers, half-hoof thick crystal armour manifested, severing countless nerves, blood vessels and leylines. She knew her puppet would look bloated and have blood leaking from torn skin, but she was not in this as a fashion contest. All that mattered was the precious cargo still slowly being drawn in by her spell.
She closed her eyes and spoke her last word in a whisper. "Goodbye."
Dreams had cautioned her about the risk of losing one's self in memories Alicorns had. Doing so deliberately proved easy. So for her last choice, Patchwork chose to once more dance upon the moon.
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Aside from that though gods you really know how to keep me on the edge of my seat don't you- I hope Patchwork's plan works out
Seriously Celestia you cannot learn ONE SINGLE LESSON!
You have note doomed yourself not one of the other alicorns will ever see you anything but an enemy. Was it worth it. To forever be cut from your family. If you die here i hope no one will ever remember you.
The last act and testament of the Element of Magic, in what is likely one of the greatest feats of magic of all time. Not bad for a Patchwork.
My only confusion is as to how Twilight figured out how to safely transfer the power over to Candice, and what the result of the re-shattering back into those dolls entail - are those fragments that will be apart of whatever remains of her Bastion, or are they going off to each pony to give them a sort of soul-boost? I'd suppose that will be answered, the clarity of what her plan is has some opaqueness for me. But either case, I can't wait to see where this goes
11822431
I mean, this entire story we've known that any semblance of Nightmare Moon being unshackled from Twilight's wellspring was going to be a kill-on-sight - if not by Celestia proper, then by her Warmind taking control where Celestia's sentimentality would restrain her. Half the Celestia tension in the story thus far was whether or not Twilight would find a way to ease into her existence into reality without being immediately sunbombed. The fact that she had NMM and a fragment of NMM taking part in the ressurection without any prior knowledge was basically the ultimate neon red-flag.
Not saying those relationship issues aren't definitely going to play out in the story, but this outcome was basically the only outcome that could've happened as things turned out the way they did.
11822445
No she could have considered that the three most important ponies in her life are telling she is messing up she should pause. She has too much of the previous alicorns in her. so at this point meet Oblivion Celestia
11822422
Opps. Thank you, should be fixed now.
You will get answers in the next section.
11822486
*Sigh*
The next chapter will probably tell us more, but as I said previously: This looks quite like her Warmind - aka DAYBREAKER - overriding "Celestia's" actions and taking control. And Daybreaker does not care about "important ponies in Celestia's life" - Daybreaker is a ruthless, aggressive bastard, who will do whatever feels it needs to reach its goals, with no qualms or second thoughts.
Holy Crap, what WAS THIS?!
Just complete Insanity, how do you make this Story just BETTER and BETTER Nightsclaw!
https://youtu.be/ZGXOWPZ64DA?si=avprfSUrI2t_dXzY
I‘ll just leave this here because I think it fits this Chapter pretty well lol.
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either way They are going to get a rude awaking and the aftermath of it will be glorious, sad to loose Patches though.
This definitely feels like Warmind's going rogue, to say the least, Celestia might not even be quite aware of what is happening outside her bastion, at least until she got attacked inside it and has to actually look for once.
… night and Luna will not be happy
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Oh I‘m Certain this is Daybreakers Doing
It would be very interesting and sad at the same time if Daybreaker somehow kept Celestia unaware of what was going on, Celestia thinks everything is fine, and then suddenly a random attack comes at her Bastion.
Empty night
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On the upside, it'd be a wakeup call for her that she's become way too dependant on the fragment to take over in stressful events.
It wouldn't surprise me if she put the warmind in charge of this because of the sheer extent of suffering she'd have to face otherwise in ponyville over all this.
I usually hate reading tragedies and avoid them, which sucks because it's looking like Patchwork will actually die here. I do hope she doesn't.
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now that you say it yeah that is TOTALLY what happened, Celestia didn't want to deal with the Pain, so she put Daybreaker in charge! we know she did it before...and since daybreak basically WANTED an excuse to fight Twilight....
The funny thing is I still feel like nobody actually gives a shit about moonlit Scroll lol.
he's the one that caused all of this, is the main villain, and yet nobody even thinks about him 99% of the time.... he's probably going to be the Strongest Alicorn after this together with Cadence and ( maybe) Luna?
it seems like from harmony's previous comments that the ascension will succeed sooo.. with Celestia being stripped of her Magic and Twilight probably out for a little while, maybe Luna as well, the only other Alicorn is Cadence.
Maybe now would be a good time to give us some background info on our main villain since so far Pretty much nobody took him serious, but now that he can ACTUALLY be a Threat, maybe its time to take him more serious, but we won't take him more serious if we don't know anything about him I feel:
Oh my gosh I'm crying, goodbye Twilight my sweet princess you will be missed, I wonder how everyone else will cope without you, will Cadence hate Celestia now I wonder after this chapter I'm going to listen to tale as old as time and cry my eyes out.
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If you need answers to decide if you will read on I can give you them but they will be spoilers.
Thank you everyone for reading and all your comments.
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Everything that happened here was locked in long ago.
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I intended to hint sending the fragment to Candice was the plan, sorry if that was unclear.
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She 'knows' she is right. She 'knows' she is the only one truly quilifed for her job.
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Yes the next section will answer a lot of things
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Thank you. I do try and this Chapter is ment to hit hard, it sould be on the level or beyound the one where Twilight shouts down Celestia and drives her off form her castle. This event is one of the key moments of the story.
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The aftermath is going to be felt for many many chapters to come. This is a major event for the whole world.
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Answers are in the next chapter.
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Achivment unlocked: Understament of the year.
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Yep.
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Thank you. This is ment to be one of the most hard hitting chapters in the story. By peoples reactions I think the extra time spent geting it just right were worth it. The story will go on and there will be answers and possbile hope to be found even int he darkest days.
I want you to know you made a grown man cry in a McDonald's on a rainy Monday afternoon.
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Oh I know answers are in the next chapter.
The reason I'm speculating is because the next chapter isn't out yet.
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You released this on Tara Strong's birthday, is that just a coincidence or was it planned?
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Nothing is locked till choices are made
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I assure you, this was because of my own schedule preventing me from editing it on time. We had no idea about her birthday. This was meant to be published last week, but medical issues on my end delayed that.
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Still pretty wild how that turned out.
Holy shit! Time dilation on time dilation is so damn broken for smart pone. Only limit? Physical speed. I love and hate this.
AAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
NOOOOOO!
;-;