Awakening

by Little_Draco

Discovery

Awakening: Discovery

To the naked eye, everything seems to happen as is… Through a single experience, a single pony can witness the vastness of the universe, experiencing so much in that moment.

Yet, there is always a moment’s return in which they return to reality, to find themselves trapped in the horror. That horror is the reality of time and time can change everything in a single moment....

Twilight, at the sound of those words, did not know whether to faint or just fall down crying. She honestly did not know what was keeping her standing. She just wanted to say no… that the filly was wrong. That she is lying and this is all a dream.

She was wishing that this were a horrible dream that she would soon wake up to. However, she knew that this was not a dream. She jumped off a cliff and died. Then somehow mysteriously been brought back to life.

She did not know how long she had been standing there; it could have been days or months and she would not have known. The reality was here and she was facing it.

Layla, though not fully sure if it was really Twilight Sparkle, she still needed to find a way to comfort the mare. Her mother always told to be kind to other ponies, no matter how odd or different they were. That was how her father had treated her mother when they first met.

“Are you alright?” she asked, somewhat knowing that it was not all right.

Twilight remained silent. Either she did not hear the filly’s words, or she had not caught up to current events. Eventually, a single tear ran down her cheek and dropped to the soil below.

She blinked once before more tears spread and she let out a sigh that carried a choked cry. She rubbed her hoof over her eyes. She then looked up at the filly that actually worried at her.

“I’m sorry… it’s just.” She paused. “I was kind of hoping this is a dream of some sort.”

Layla, gave a sad shake of her head.

“I wish I could tell you it was, but this is no dream. You have been considered dead for thirteen years. They held a service with a memorial after, and they even named a school after you.”

This somewhat lifted Twilight’s spirits and she slowly lifted her head to meet her eyes.

“R…Really?” she asked, her tears slowly disappearing.

Layla gave a small smile.

“They did… It was named, ‘Twilight Sparkle’s School for Gifted Youth.’ It is not only for Unicorns any more, but for Earth Ponies, Pegasi, Zebras, Griffons, Diamond dogs and other intellectual species. All because you inspired peace between so many. This brought Equestria a lot closer to each other after the …” she paused.

Twilight looked at her.

“After what?” she asked, suddenly losing focus.

Layla shook her head.

“I know that you are still a bit new to this and have many questions. Please come with me inside, I start you up some tea.” Twilight without another word followed the young filly.

About twenty minutes later after the tea was set and they were comfortable, Layla spoke.

“I will try my best to answer as many questions as I can though, if you want any real answers to what has happened to you, you shall have to wait till my mother returns.”

Twilight nodded. She first inhaled the smell of the tea, taking in the sweet aroma. She then exhaled. Inhaled, exhaled. Again, then she stopped before fixing her eyes on the filly before her.

“Can we start at the beginning?” spoke Twilight in her calmed, yet sad filled voice. “What happened after I… died?”

The filly gave a nod.

“I do not know much but from what my mother told me it was a dark day.” She took in a sip from her tea. “You were one of the very few that held Equestria together.”

“After they witness your… plunge, there was an immediate search for your body. Your friend, Rainbow Dash, tried to go look for you but the cavern and fall beneath Canterlot was dark. Too dark for her to see; she did all her best but it had been close to costing her own life.”

Twilight gave a small sad smile.

“That sounds like Rainbow. Stubborn but loyal till the end.”

Layla nodded.

“Well, she didn’t stop looking for you. Even with the unicorns and other pegasi helping, she never stopped. The princesses sent out about a hundred if not, thousands of their guards to search for you.”

‘Thousands!’ thought Twilight. Thousands sent to search for me. They really did… care!

“They searched for four days straight. Many guards went through patrols and shifts. Rainbow and your friends were the only ones who stayed to help and search for you. They went non-stop… almost to the point of passing out.”

She stopped. She reached for a cup of her tea. Reaching for her cup with her hoof… hoof not hooves. Twilight watched as the cup, slowly, as by magic, slowly the cup moved to her hoof, then she lifted it up to her lips before she took a sip and exhaled. She then lowered her tea back.

Twilight looked at the filly with confusing eyes.

“How did you…?” she tried to ask.

The filly responded before she could finish.

“My father was a unicorn. Specifically, he was one of Lunar guards.”

Twilight still had a confused look. Layla shook her head.

“Maybe another time but let me continue with your tale.”

Twilight nodded and remained silent; studding the filly before her while, she listened.

“After four days, they decided to stop.” She gave a small sigh, before continuing. “Everypony was… devastated. Your friends, you family, the princesses, even Ponyville was distraught because of you. By the end of the week, they had already planned a memorial service for you.

Nearly everypony who was anypony, from Canterlot and beyond came to your wake. I do not know what it was like since I was not even born yet but my mother told me…. That that day, Equestria lost not only a pony but a hero and a friend.”

A lump formed on Twilight’s throat. She tried her best not to cry, but her eyes were getting moist and she was trying not to sniff so loud.

All of Equestria came to pay their respects when she did not truly do anything. Yeah she saved Equestria about three or four times by now but… did her life really have that much of a meaning to everypony, everyone in Equestria? Or even the rest of the world?

“After the service,” continued Layla, just finished taking another sip from her tea. “Equestria was never the same, for your death not only brought heavy hearts to many, it brought much more.”

She stopped and turned around. She stood up for a moment and walked over to her desk, where underneath, was a small sliding tab. She pulled out a newspaper letter and walked back over. She then hoofed over to Twilight. “With you gone, Equestria began to fall.”

In front of Twilight, the newspaper was dated a week after her memorial. In the front of it, the words spelled out, Equestria on the verge of Collapse!

On the picture, it showed…. No! It could not be!

Discord stood in front, with all of Equestria hanging upside down, literally! She read the first paragraph.

‘With the Element of Magic deceased, Discord’s stone prison broke and the God of Chaos returned to Equestria. Discord immediately appeared in the Canterlot castle, figuring out why his release was now. He later found out about the death of Twilight Sparkle and merely laughed it up.

It went on to say that now that the elements were useless without her, he would take back Equestria. That is when Layla came in.

“It was horrible,” began the filly as she looked at the paper from the back. “Discord already turned Equestria upside down but he began doing far worse. When the princesses tried to stop him, they were easily defeated. Discord sent them on the other side of Equestria, trapping them in magic tomes.”

When your friends came to try to stop him, they only ended up becoming shades of their formers selves. The elements didn’t work either, so they… lost.”

Twilight couldn’t bring herself to look up from the paper as she kept listening and reading to the horrible event.

“Discord’s reign, was… the worst time for ponies. It last for almost two years!”

“Two years!” cried Twilight, dropping the paper. Her eyes became rivers of tears.

The filly flinched, at her outburst but she could see why. The news was very horrible. She was born at the time and she was glad she was too young to remember what really happened.

“Yes,” she said calmly. “Two years. Discord’s Chaos magic had misshapen Equestria. Cities were destroyed, lives were… lost and there was… no pony, no one that was able to withstand Discord.”

I was lucky to be born. Since the Everfree was already chaotic, most of the animals and creatures here went elsewhere, leaving my mother and father here. Throughout the two years, there were others who tried to fight against Discord. Many Unicorns, warriors, and even from the other intellectual races fought alongside Equestria to defeat Discord.

It cost us thousands of lives. From all species. Discord was a god; he could create anything and remove anything in his way. He showed no remorse, no fear and only laughed when many fell. It was truly a living Tartarus.”

They both remained silent and Twilight honestly felt like there was no hope. She had forgotten that she was save in a cave and that nothing was harming her. Yet she felt as though everything was happening now. Not only that… but it was her fault that all this happened.

It was her fault that she had created this… dark, sad world. Thousands were lost, cities had fallen, and even the princesses were defeated. It was all her fault… She didn’t try to stop her tears, she didn’t try to hold it back. She let herself fall, fall harder than she ever known.

Yet, everything stopped for her. Yes, tears fell from eyes like rivers, but she didn’t cry out loud. She didn’t fall onto the floor in a shameful way. She didn’t cry. Her tears stopped their flow and she looked up to Layla.

The little filly was in her own state of sadness, looking away from Twilight. She was not crying but she was not exactly trying to hold back. She endured what had transpired when she was born. She lived through all that up till now and that brought a serious question to Twilight. That questioned that nerved her, haunted her ever since Sweetie Belle came from the future.

Was this future better than the one she had created? Was this… fluke of nature, where she had died and caused only a meek lifetime of chaos, better where she kills ponies just because?

Discord may have killed thousands, but otherwise, they became intimidated. In her future, ponies that crossed her would have been killed. Here, the princesses were alive and well… trapped but in her future,… they were dead.

Which future hadn’t been the most decent one to live in?

All thoughts were stopped, for in that moment a pony had entered the cave. Both Layla and Twilight turned their heads as another Zebra appeared. Not just any Zebra, but Zecora.

“Layla, my dear, your mother is now here. Has the soup been ready yet or…” The much, older Zebra paused as she saw her daughter next to another pony. A pony quite familiar.

Layla quickly approached her mother.

“Mother, you have returned!” The filly quickly hugged her mother but Zecora was not paying attention. Instead, her eyes looked at the mare before her.

Twilight also turned to look at the zebra. So much has the zebra she had once called friend(and hopefully still now), had changed. The once styled Mohawk Mane, had changed to a free flowing mane that stretched almost to the floor. The hair reminded her much of Zecora during Nightmare Night. Her ear rings, hoof rings, were pretty much the same, if not new ones added. Overall, she was still the same Zecora she know.

The same could have been said for Zecora but she was in a state of confusion. Her eyes were judging, hard even, looking over the purple mare before her.

Layla broke the ice of the sudden silence.

“Mother, this is… Twilight Sparkle. I found her washed up on the river bed.”

Zecora was speechless at this point. She didn’t know whether this was some trick by magic, changeling magic or some hallucinations but something about the mare made Zecora think twice.

Twilight knew it was going to be difficult for her to explain herself so she cleared her throat.

“H-Hello, Zecora. I know… that this is difficult to believe but… I am Twilight Sparkle. I can prove it to you if you wish.” Twilight stopped and began thinking. Suddenly an idea popped to her head.

“Oh um… when you first came to town, everypony was afraid of you because they all thought you were an Evil Enchantress. When me my friends tried to talk to you about it, we accidently walked into a bed of Poison Joke, even though you told us to beware. We didn’t listen to you so we went on with what we were doing but woke up the next morning to find out that we had been… cursed.

Then we went to go confront you about it at your home. However, it was Apple Bloom who told us that you weren’t an evil enchantress, but that we made a mistake of no listening to you about the Poison Joke.” She finally exhaled, knowing that she had said that almost non-stop.

She then looked up at Zecora. The mare only blinked once before she fell to the floor and passed out.

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I'm sorry this takes so long, but finals are here for my college and its difficult towrite my stories when I have to do five at once. Ill try to get another one done before October is done. If I cant than sorry.
Happy Nightmare Night to you all!
Also, i would like to thank Jade Wulf for checking my work, though lazy ass took for ever. Sorry brother but its true!

Comments

[torrentialCAM]

An update, you say? Yes please, I'll have one.

This is really interesting so far. The narrative is nicely paced. It's brisk, but not to the extent where I feel like it's rushed. Good job!

[NobleQuickSilver]

Very interesting indeed, i can't wait for what comes next.