Twilight

They had been flying south for nearly forty minutes, the uncomfortable burning of the intense evening light in their backs. Their destination was not that far from the Sea of Ruins, but Cozy Glow and Twilight Sparkle made an effort not to fly too fast, to absolutely not attract a dragon or similar predator of the sky. When Twilight ignored her inner warnings here and there and looked at the world below, which passed her in shadowy images and shapes, she was depressed to find that nothing much had changed since her last, long ago excursion. The largest parts of Equestria still consisted of sand and stone deserts as far as the eye could see, in which there was hardly anything left and which were only occasionally interrupted by the ruins of former villages or towns. Of course, there were still forests, caves, overgrown valleys - if these were not ruled by wild beasts such as mutated timber wolves or starved ursas, they served hunters as hiding places. On open paths, Twilight saw a few ponies roaming, ponies who gave them stealthy looks. There was no doubt, Twilight thought, that a trip on the ground would not only have taken longer, but would have given them far more unpleasant encounters. In a world where only the law of the strongest prevailed, Twilight didn't want to put any hoof at all as long as possible - even if all of this was her responsibility.

"Morbid sight, isn't it?" Cozy called to her as she flew around some mountain peaks.

"I never liked the dragon desert or such barren landscapes and couldn't understand how to live in such a place, but now almost the whole world looks like that." She said more to herself than to anyone else, and Twilight had to agree with her.

"The end of the circle brought the end of all weather, after all..." murmured the princess and gave in to the useless attempt to suppress memories. The memory of the flowering Equestria, which had almost completely collapsed within a decade. The dissolving clouds and the descending Cloudsdale ... the starving ponies in burning cities ... the rotten harvests as far as the sun was shining ... none of this could have been averted with her oh so special spirit or magic. Her people had crumbled and she had stood by, unable to answer their pleading, failing to fulfill their hopes.
And at some point it just went silent. Twilight catched up with Cozy Glow, now it was not far to the largest remaining forest area of Equestria.

"Are you feeling excited or nostalgic, princess?" Cozy asked with an unmistakable pinch of cynicism, but Twilight didn't respond, she was too isolated from this part of Equestria, too much had happened here. In a broken voice she brought a "Neither." out that Cozy may have heard or not.

Finally, her leisurely flight came to an end when both mares saw a green zone rare in the dirty gray of the landscapes, which was no less than the largest remaining forest including Equestria's meadow valleys: the Everfree Forest. Too much dark, ancient magic was at work here for the twilight bringing the local fauna to its knees, on the contrary, evident to every daring traveler, this forest was overgrown and even spread, there were no paths, ways or gaps in the structure of the black, vine-covered trees, they covered everything and formed a natural fortress that resisted the heat and the climate around them. Cozy landed on a withered grass hill and Twilight just behind her, a quick glance of the blue-haired mare to the Everfree Forest was enough for her.

“Everything that was even more deadly than hunger, thirst, and isolation fled into it back then, didn't it? I've made numerous trips here. ”

She started moving, down from the hill, away from the monstrous forest, to a darker place of earth.

"You have what?" Twilight wondered in irritation. "Why? Why would you voluntarily enter the forest in this condition?!” Many ponies had sought their salvation there, confrontated with wasteland. None had been heard of again. Cozy shrugged.

“Experiments. Ingredients. Such things. But frankly, just the unbearable sadness of everything else. ”
The never-changing sight of the Sea of Ruins and the burning twilight above came to Twilights mind, the small, dirty mountain river and the voices that haunted her when the silence became too unbearable. So she didn't say anything else.

The omnipresent silence also found its way into this part of the land, but now and then a far away, monstrous cry, the soothing sound of a small animal or an unnatural sound of magical origin mixed with its drearly song. Unlike the rest of the world, the sky gradually turned into a dark blue here, trees, rocks, wooden houses and gigantic hamster plush toys circled over Twilights and Cozy's heads, the ground beneath their hooves seemed crooked and as if it were changing his direction every few seconds, small islands bumped into each other and crumbled down as deadly stone rain. Dolls - pony dolls, all the same, all with the same mane, the same fur and the same eyes were placed on every tree and every wall, they hung in the branches, crawled through the floors, fluttered through the air. But both Twilight and Cozy seemed completely unimpressed by this obscure spectacle, did not make a face and spoke no word as they crossed the surrealistic place and finally reached a cluster of buildings. A vast, widespread flood of decayed and overgrown buildings surrounded by withered grass and rampant moss, built around a river that had long since dried up and was full of skeletons. Those skeletons, as Twilight noticed again, were very numerous in their origin, most seemed to have belonged to ponies, but of course there were others. Cozy and Twilight strolled to the tallest building in the village, a round stone-buried house in the middle of all the ruins. A silent, almost imperceptible breath blew between the walls and trees of this place, which also wrapped around Cozy and Twilight.
There was no magic here anymore.

"The Chaos Abyss, or rather... sweet, sweet Ponyville." Cozy commented with the usual dryness, but Twilight thought she heard a hint of bitterness. After all, it had once been her home too. The mares sidled wordlessly towards the darkest spot in the sky where a particular pony's house was buried. While Cozy wasn't looking around much, Twilight couldn't help but do just that, even though she knew it was wrong, that she would regret it. Her eyes looked for the bakery, which now consisted only of a few wood shavings on the floor, she looked for the boutique, which had long since been carried away as a heap of ash in all four directions, and of course the princess found in the distance the sad, still standing remains of a barn, which was intended as a refuge but became a death trap.

As much as Twilight wanted to avoid it and Cozy Glow wasn’t eager, it was inevitable that the two Alicorns passed the once vibrant, lively center of Ponyville. Unlike the rest of the place, which was more or less preserved after this indescribable period of time, there wasn't much left of the two buildings Twilight was most proud of. You could see what the devastated, wrecked and burned down structures had gone through and seen, now reduced to tiny, crumbled pieces. A school that should have been the place of unification and friendship between nations. And their castle, in which they had always been together ... in which they had lived, celebrated, laughed and cried ... the crystal castle, which was only a pile of rubble now. Twilight stopped at the faded crystals and caressed them. She watched the miserable remains of her school and closed her eyes for a moment. Let her senses return to a time before everything broke down. In a time of hope.

"When I started out, I was unsure ...

I thought I knew all that I needed, didn't know what to expect ..."

Cozy Glow turned around, her eyebrows lowered skeptically when she heard the whispering song of Twilight. She stepped up to see what the Alicorn was doing and, to her surprise, Twilight did nothing. She stood between the ruins of Ponyville, her lids lowered, and sang.

"... But when my walls came down, I saw the truth ...

All along something was missing ...

And I think you'll see it, too ..."

Twilight's lavender eyes opened and caressed the surrounding Ponyville, the pastel-colored buildings, the smiling ponies and above all ... the five friends at her side.

"This is where the magic happens ... this is where the magic lives"

She jumped and danced between them, hoof in hoof with Pinkie Pie, side by side with Rainbow Dash.

"Our friendships weave together stronger, the bonds grow deeper, lasting longer"

Applejack galloped ahead, challenged her to a race, and Rarity would scold her for not being allowed to defile herself as a princess like that. But Twilight just pulled Rarity with her. She laughed with her as she flew, the wind in her mane, free of fear.

“And the greatest spell you'll know…

Is how the Magic of Friendship grows”

She and Fluttershy threw themselves into the flower bed, which was without a doubt colored in at least three hundred different tones, and the rest of their friends joined them not long after. A light, carefree laugh ran through the six ponies, a feeling of warmth, a deep security. Then nothing more. She was cold. It was dead silent.

Twilight rose from the withered brown grass and picked up her rusted crown to sit on her head. Her eyes were sticky and her vision was blurry at best. Cozy Glow was standing some distance away from her and her gaze, which was defined by her strict eyebrows and twisted corners of her mouth, told her one thing above all: Don't go crazy.

"Are you done?" She asked to make sure, Twilight gave no answer, but hung her head. Without a word, she followed Cozy Glow, who luckily led her towards their goal without any comment on her behavior. First they searched within the school, now and then he was spending some time here, at least in the experience of the mares. As they walked through the perforated and collapsed corridors, it was Cozy who resumed the conversation.

“At first Chrysalis and I found the irony funny, frankly. That the place that you had intended as a symbolic union of all nations was transformed into the greatest theater of war of all time… ” she climbed over a fallen pillar and Twilight's head twitched reflexively in another direction. She knew who was underneath here. Who had pushed her friend away in tears only for her to fall victim to dragon flames moments later. She had been here, watching it with her own eyes. Could hear her voice again, smelled the burnt flesh. Remembered body parts impaled on horns, remembered countless mutilated students.

“Then we didn't laugh as loud anymore, when it began all over Equestria. Really, so much blind stupidity... panic and fear are diseases that spread so much faster than any manipulation that I could ever think of ... "

"They thought I could help them."

"But decided not to, yes." Cozy stopped and turned her expressionless face to Twilight, holding her gaze for a few seconds, and then revealed a small grin which reminded the princess of a time long gone.
"Weeell… I have to admit…" Her voice was as artificial and sugar-sweet as that of a foal again, nothing like the hopelessness all around her, ”I couldn’t really blame them for thinking so, I mean, it’s you we’re talking about…”

Twilight lifted her head and looked at Cozy Glow through her mane with a look that made the artificial Alicorn's blood freeze, she swallowed hard and her smile died as she took a step back, metaphorically and physically.
"Okay sorry, not helpful." She bowed her head as a sign of apology and Twilight looked somewhere else with grim lips, passed her and was now leading the pace. Cozy followed her carefully and it took a while before the icy mood between those two had calmed down.
"... Later it were resources, I think ... I don't blame them." Twilight muttered and walked through a narrow, crumbling corridor that would lead them out of the building.

“Not even what she did to your loyal friend? That was ugly, even by my standards. And he trusted her.”
The look that Twilight gave Cozy was expressed in astonishment and high skepsis about the fact that she pricked herself about a breach of trust. But when Twilight eyed her, Cozy seemed sincere to her. So she shook her head weakly.
“Hate and anger have never brought us anything, you should know that better than I do. I was angry. I hated, killed and avenged. And did it help?”

Twilight pointed to their surroundings, to the crumbling halls full of decayed skeletons, to the devastated battlefields and deep mass graves. Cozy Glow's cynicism stuck in her throat, instead she shook her head and both mares left the friendship school. It was a small shed Twilight had never noticed before that made her stop again. Three full-grown, destroyed skeletons lay in front of it. Cozy Glow seemed to understand even before Twilight, so she pulled her hoof as Twilight was about to open the shed.

"Maybe you shouldn't." She spoke in a dead-serious tone that Twilight didn’t know of her until now. It sounded like an appeal. Twilight looked at the three full-grown skeletons that must have pressed together in front of the shed, stared into Cozy's bronze-colored, grim eyes, and pulled her hoof away. She choked the voices in her head and opened the wooden door.

When they finally left the school and Twilight's castle, Twilight had lost noticeably willpower. Her steps could hardly carry her body anymore, her eyelids vehemently wanted to take all light from her and everything in her screamed and pleaded to lie down, there in the Sea of Ruins, far from here, far from everything. Lie down and sleep. Forever. Unable to continue. No longer. No more ...

"Pull yourself together!" Cozy Glow shouted loudly, standing up in front of Twilight and reaching for her face.

“That was a long time ago, get it?! That is past. We have very different problems now, mainly the one up there!” She pointed to the evening sun, which burned weakly down to them through the dark blue sky.

“You couldn't do anything against all this shit here, not even with rainbow lasers, fine. But you can do something about it now, so stop hanging on the ropes like a pitiful changeling and do something for your country!”

Twilight blinked apathetic, but did not respond any further. She continued to stare at the moss below them. Cozy Glow took a deep breath, scratched her hooves through her mane, and slapped the princesses cheek so loud it echoed from the surrounding walls.
A red swelling ran across Twilight's face, tears came from her eyes and she had never looked more miserable than she was now to Cozy Glow.

"Listen." She reached for Twilight's chin again and fixed her gaze on her.
“I know it, all of this is hell, absolute hell for you. I understand it. But we'll be there soon, and then I need you to beat him out of his depression. Can you do that for me? Can you do that, Twilight? ”
Cozy's bronze eyes pierced the gray lavender of Twilight, after a long eternity the Alicorn princess nodded imperceptibly.
"I’m Sowy ..." she whispered, washing her face with her hoof. Cozy nodded, keeping a blank expression, and turned around.
"It’s okay. Come on now."

Both continued on to the house closest to Everfree Forest, to the core of the dark abyss.

The identical pony dolls that filled the entire valley and village, hiding everywhere and grinning menacingly, who with their pink manes and blue eyes suggested a deceptive cuteness, obviously had their home here. Every branch, every leaf, every blade of grass was covered with a doll of the right size, the sky was black and the surroundings were so impenetrably dark that Twilight could barely see her own hooves. Bones, weapons, horns and teeth floated in the air and a strangely distorted music box-melody replaced the natural calm of a dead world and exchanged it with disturbing discomfort.

"There he is."
Cozy Glow approached the entrance of the house without fear of contact, where a deformed figure sat and played with a small wind wheel. The tall, snake-like personality had its neck and head hanging, littered with deep scars and ugly swellings, almost all of its hair had fallen out or blackened and its eyes were colored in a deep, dead red. More than Twilight, Discord was no longer the one he might have been at some far away point.

Cozy looked at Twilight and the princess nodded at her, carefully approaching the chaos.
"Discord."

The graying chimera didn't seem to hear the Alicorn, or didn't want to. Then he turned his finger on his windmill and made the little pony dolls dance around him.
Twilight repeated her "Discord." louder, more insistent, to no avail. She closed her eyelids and counted to ten before pacing closer to his side. Now she was close enough. Close enough to hear the fragile, stifle and suffocated song.

"Hush now ... quiet now ...
It's time to lay your sleepy head ...
Hush now, quiet now ...
It's time to go to bed ..."
A crooked, wrong grin splintered across Discord's lips as he turned the wind wheel in his hand with the enthusiasm of a young foal. One of the pony dolls landed on his shoulder and cuddled against him with its soft fabric. Discord happily closed his eyes and rubbed his cheek back and forth. Twilight didn't have to turn to see Cozy take a disturbed step back. But she, for her part, found nothing here to be surprising. It was like looking into a mirror. With the necessary calmness, she moved her foreleg to Discord and took the wind wheel from his hand. She put it in front of him. Lifted his little companion off his shoulder. Put her in front of him. Lowered her head to his.
"Discord."

The ancient being blinked and twitched as if it had just woken up, raised its head and looked for Twilight's eyes before looking at her intently. Twilight was not surprised to see the broken, expressionless scar face turn into a dismissive grimace of hatred and disgust within moments.
"Your Hiiighness!"
He hissed, still in a light, aged voice. Discord found the strength to get up and walk past her as if Twilight was air.
"Oh look, and Cozy Glow is still alive too, who would have thought!" The chimera, whose extraordinary size was now noticeable again, stared down at the skeptical Cozy, shook its head, and left her behind. Twilight took a couple of quick steps.

“Wait, Discord! We are not here to fight today.”

He stopped without turning around. Cozy moved away from him without looking away and even Twilight felt the aggression that emanated from the lethargic figure. Discord wrinkled his nose audibly.
“Hmpf, that’s a first. This surprises me when the princess of friendship is so excellent in it. Maybe she'd rather… go back to bed!”
He turned to Twilight and summoned a pillow in his hand to throw at her, the Alicorn wanted to duck away, but it crumbled into a bunch of dead spiders just in front of her.
Now her eyes took on a dismissive note.
"I'm done sleeping."

"That so!" Discord's bloodshot eyes narrowed as did his lips. Cozy looked uneasily between the two, but decided not to intervene yet. Twilight nodded weakly.
"That so. As you can see, she lives. And not just her - Chrysalis survived too.”

One snap, two plush toys. Chrysalis and Cozy, in a morbidly disfigured form. One snap. Two exploding plush toys.
"Then just the right guys made it."

Twilight would not indulge in Discord's bitterness. She had felt it too long herself. She couldn't give in to it, not to him, not to herself, not to the voices.
"They have a plan, and ... I'm working with them."

Everything fell to the ground, the plush dolls, the stones, the trees, every movement died and the silence was torn apart by the roaring laughter that escaped the bending chimera, a long, painfully loud, nasty cackle. Twilight and Cozy looked at each other, both expressions in dark folds, but neither did anything to stop the chaos demigod. They silently waited until his seizure subsided, but the end never came. With tears in his eyes, Discord wrapped around Twilight's skinny body, a wicked grin over his pointed teeth.
“Sensatiooon, sensatiooon, notify the Canterlot Times! Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship and Queen of the Ashes, works with criminals!” He stood up in front of her with a growl, Twilight looked him unimpressed in the eyes, no spark of unrest in her.

“It makes one happy to hear, and it only took her imperceptibly longer for than everyone else around her, because the last time she was asked to do so, she persisted in her principles and sent ALL EQUESTRIA TO HELL!!”
He roared at her, spittle landed on Twilight's face, but she didn't move and looked at him unchanged. That was her duty. Discord snorted and spread his arms, burning streamers shot out of his hands, Cozy Glow only barely managed to avoid them.
"Don't save your own family, don't save your friends, let them all die, ignore your sister-in-law's miserable pleading, stand behind your blinded princesses and DON'T BE THERE IF IT HAS CONSEQUENCES!!"
He yanked her up with both claws at her neck, immediately leaving bloody scratch marks, bringing her face up to his, Cozy wanted to say something and step in between, but she turned to stone in a split second. With a blank expression, Twilight returned Discords tearful, angry look, saw the deep purple scars on his face that she herself had inflicted on him.

"But you've already heard all of that, haven't you, you cowardly little pony?! The last time I accused you of not being able to save anyone, just watching and wallowing in your pathetic self-pity instead of doing something, I got this!” One of his fingers pointed at his face. "OR THIS!!" On his chest. "AND OF course THAT!" One of his legs was almost pulverized to the bone.
“How many cities had kick the bucket because of our little quarrel? Remember, oh Twilight Sparkle, how many ponies you blew up as collateral damage and I'll give you a taste of how many there will be this time!!” Saliva and blood dripped from Discord's mouth as he yelled at Twilight, who still didn't want to give him a reaction, whose face remained tired. It seemed like she was just waiting for him to get all his anger and strength out on her. So he hit her in the face. Twilight fell to the floor and stayed there. Discord reached for her again and hit. He hit her face with all the strength he could muster. Again. Again. He did not conjure anything, did not work magic, but rammed his clawed fist into her face like a wild animal. Twilight didn’t move. Although her lips were split open, her cheeks swollen and her eyes closed, she remained motionless. She waited for Discord to finish. She knew all of that had to get out. And if she died in the process, that’s just how it was. Discord understood all of this when he grabbed her neck again and prepared the final blow. Twilight opened her eyelids a little and looked at him, no anger or fear in her eyes. Discord stopped.
"What do you still want from me?!"

"... We end it ..."

Discord gasped and panted like he rarely did as the powerful being he was, his eyes twitched restlessly and he tried to understand, stared at the calm Twilight and finally lowered himself to ask as he was barely able to think in his anger.
"WHAT do you end?"

Twilight did not answer him, either because she lacked the strength or did not want to further anger him. Instead, she lifted her chin up, far above her, Discord followed her gaze and looked through the gloomy cloud cover to the amber light in the sky. Twilight and Discord, Alicorn and demigod, stood in the twilight and looked up at the sun. His xpression fell apart.
"Absurd!!" He dropped Twilight and turned away from her, a quick flick and Cozy Glow was freed, falling to the ground breathing heavily and coughing.

"There was a chance to do something once, Princess," Discord muttered as he walked away from them, "But that's over. There is no more change, and where there is standstill, there is no chaos. It's over." That was the end of the meeting for him, perhaps the last one of the two ancient beings at all.
Cozy struggled to her hooves to stop him, looked at Twilight questioningly, but she only shook her head. A long moment passed as Discord moved away from them, he had already finished the day when something soft hit his head. Gritting his teeth, he turned, looked down at the floor behind his feet, and dug his claws into his hand. Twilight didn't say a word. That had to be enough, so she thought, and if this didn't convince Discord, nothing would.

He closed his eyes and growled, roared, raged inside, wanted to destroy the whole world and flood it with chaos, wanted to forget, didn't want to be anymore, wanted to sleep.
Hush now, quiet now. It was time for bed. Or wasn’t it yet? With a heavy step he turned to face both Alicorns. Twilight took a step out of the shadows of the house, her face maltreated by his tantrum.
“We can't get her back, no. But we can get all of that here back.”
Her wings spread as Twilight looked at Discord intently. He didn't answer.
"It is possible, Discord."
The Princess of Friendship paused. A pause for Discord to finally decide. Then she put her head on the ground at his feet and took off the crown.

"Please forgive me."

The three had decided to rest on the edge of the chaos abyss for a few hours before heading to the distant mountain forests of the west, where Chrysalis lived. The darkness of the artificial night sky would give them the necessary calmness for some sleep, because if it hadn't been a long day so far, it had definitely been exhausting for everyone involved. Discord had flicked a campfire that was small enough not to attract unwanted guests, Twilight and Cozy Glow were sitting on a tree trunk, the latter carefully treating the princess' face with small sponges and patches that were laying around in 'Discords' house.

“I have to admit, I didn't come up with the idea of simply smashing your face in at that time. There’s something to that.”
Carefully, Cozy Glow patted a bloody wound over Twilight’s eyebrow and disinfected it. Twilight flinched away with a painful hissing.

"Hold still." Cozy scolded her with professional calm, which surprised Twilight.

"You’re doing this so well..." she whispered, and Cozy smiled cheerlessly.

“I had a lot of time to learn a shit ton of great things. But I never thought that would be the one to become useful. ”
She cackled dirtyly when she roughly put a patch over Twilight's eye and washed her face again with water.

“Well, it will hold. Do not touch it, do not play around with it, and there’ll be a lollipop for you.” She sighed weakly and dropped back onto the tree trunk. Twilight stepped to her side and bowed her head.

"Thank you, Cozy ..." Was Cozy Glow wrong or was that a smile that was shown on Twilight’s face? She didn't want to know, she turned her nose away from Twilight and buried her face in a pillow.

"Whatever, the sight of your swollen face got on my nerves!" Cozy didn't see it, but Twilight's smile stayed. After making sure that the artificial Alicorn had come to rest, she sat on another log across from Discord, who was staring grimly into the crackling fire. And so both of the two eons old creatures spent some moments of silence that they had really had enough from for a long time. Still, as both of them noticed in silent agreement, it felt very different when you weren't alone.

"Why didn't you petrify me?" Discord asked out of the blue without looking at Twilight. Although there was no context to his question and it was a long time ago, Twilight knew what he was referring to. She didn't answer yet, thinking about what had been going on inside her at the time. Discord looked for her eyes.
“I begged you, didn't I? You had already disfigured me, so you could have taken the final step just as well. It is not a difficult one, I speak from experience. ”

“AND THANKS AGAIN FOR THE REMINDER, ASSHOLE!!” it yelled from the leave-pillow at their side. Neither Discord nor Twilight responded, instead they kept looking at each other. The Alicorn had searched through her mind and set herself back in the burning remains of Manhattan that day. The disfigured body of Discord in front of her, all the blood, his wailing roar and his insults. Her name. Her name over and over again. Then she raised her chin and blinked once or twice.

“I didn't manage to destroy my last friend. Banishing you ...
was the only thing that would keep us from killing each other. So I did that. But I could not do that... I would be left alone."

It sounded like a confession, and Twilight, like Discord at the moment, realized that she had only now properly understood her decision. The chimera cocked his head.
"What unsuspected selfishness ..."

She had nothing to add and nodded absentmindedly.
"Yes."

So they both sat around the roaring fire, immersed in thoughts and memories that seemed long lost, that had no meaning for either of them. Cozy Glow didn't dare speaking in this situation, but her eyelids were lowered and an inner sigh left her.

What a terrible world this was.

Chrysalis' shelter, Cozy Glow told them, was hidden deep in the mountains of the West to protect him from all the dangers lurking for the weak these days. Of course, Cozy had always been with her to protect her, but beasts and hunter raids eventually became a nuisance for her too, so they both changed their hideout about every few years. The three again agreed on a slow flight that would wear them out on such a long trip, but was still the safer alternative given the increasing fauna of the dense mountain forests in front of them, and the creatures inside. Discord hadn't let Cozy convince him to give them a more comfortable way to travel, either because he wasn't ready to support the two Alicorns more than necessary or, as Twilight suspected, because he didn't know how anymore. He accepted her plan to end the twilight with resigned scorn rather than serious interest, but transferring his powers to Cozy Glow and Twilight would surely be something he was still able to do. Cozy stopped in the air in front of them, looked overher shoulder at them and there was caution in her eyes. She silently pointed her chin in a northwest direction to her right and changed the flight course to the southwest. Discord followed her without hesitation and when Twilight recognized the figures in the distance, she did the same. It was a huge, mutilated dragon, attacked by countless gryphons which were slowly eating him alive. It wasn't a situation they wanted to get into.

Twilight had plenty of time to think during the cloudless flight through the quiet evening sky. About Chrysalis and how she would react to her. About this plan and its risks. About the after. Was there an after? Would the world really be able to recover from an eternity in flames? Equestria and the rest of the world had died long ago. There was no doubt about that. The question would be whether it could come back to life. No, wanted to.

"We have to get down." Cozy called to them from the front and descended. They had reached the valley of uneven mountains and dark forests, which no longer allowed clear flight. They would have to walk the last few meters on the ground. Stumbling, Discord landed in the mud, and shortly afterwards Twilight, a little less bumpy. Cozy Glow looked around, let her horn shine, perhaps to check their surroundings. She closed her eyes for a moment and nodded.
"Follow me."

The three dissimilar, immortal entities, which had once been mortal enemies, sneaked and fought their way through shrubs and decayed thickets, past other skeletons that provided small animals with a home, past craters and devastation left over from long gone battles. It was a tiring and long march for their tired, lethargic bodies, but Twilight and Discord didn't have the strength to drop - they were too dependent on the spark of hope that still existed in them. Twilight's untrained body had slept most of its existence. It burned and ached and didn't want to, so the Alicorn drove it all the more determined. The voices in her head began to fall silent and died of exhaustion. Twilight never wanted to hear them again, as addicted as she may have been. They had to leave.

When the two Alicorns and the scarred chimera had escaped the barren root forest and stood at the foot of a small silver mountain on which a cave entrance was clearly visible, Cozy Glow paused again, but this time so abruptly that Twilight ran into her. She looked at her questioningly and noticed the drops of sweat on her forehead. It wasn't exhaustion, as Twilight noted from her flickering eyes. Discord's back was against hers and she looked around.

"I'm sorry, about this. Didn't expect it and was careless." Cozy whispered to her, but Twilight shook her head gently.
"That's fine. We stay calm.”

"So your usual strategy." Discord growled, Twilight forced herself to ignore him, instead she counted. It were perhaps two dozen hunters who had surrounded them - she rarely saw so many creatures in one spot these days. It had to be a larger group, and not all of them were present. They were dressed like typical hunters, dark glasses on their eyes, tattered fabrics and thick towels against the sun covered their faces and most of their bodies, but as Twilight could see on horns and legs, most of them were changelings. There was a griffin. A yak too. Many of them carried saws, knives and pieces of metal stuck with rust and old blood.

"Shall we burn your pretty, neat dresses away and melt the skin off your bones?" Cozy Glow whispered with a sadistic cold she had previously hidden from Twilight, but which the princess still remembered.
"Cozy!" She hissed, the pink Alicorn shrugged, smiling. Discord let a black orb of flame appear in his hand.
"Now don't be so shy princess, since when do you have anything against excessive violence?"

The hunters knew what they were getting into when they faced two well-known Alicorns and the Lord of Chaos, and yet they had risked it. They were ready for anything, no, they were desperate. Words wouldn't do any good here. They shouldered their weapons and got ready to jump, Cozy's horn began to glow red and Twilight could almost hear Discord grinning. She had to prevent that. She didn't want to do that. Didn’t want to see it. Without thinking, she stood between the two parties.

“What in twilights name are you DOING?!” Cozy snapped at her blankly, Twilight avoided her gaze and bit her lip, not really knowing it herself. Cozy jumped in her direction.
"CAREFUL, BEHIN-"

The stinging pain in her back came first, Twilight fell to the ground, dizziness and nausea spinned the world around her, she heard the fighting, the screams of pain from strangers, with great difficulty she straightened her thin legs and whispered 'Stop ...!', Cozy had already massacred two of the hunters, Discord was about to turn three into dolls when a green lightning struck right in their middle and drove them apart. More than twenty pairs of eyes slid up the mountain to a black, hooded figure, shrouded in ominous light.
“GET AWAY from here, thiff iff MY Ferrifforium. Anoffher fecond off your inffolenfe and I will ssssuck out fhe live effence of you for fhe nefft hundred yearf…! ”

The hunters looked at each other and, to Twilight's surprise, they retreated moments later, leaving their dead behind, pulling the wounded through the dirt. Cozy Glow breathed harder than Twilight would have expected, and stamped angrily at her.

"Cozy, I-"
Cozy Glow pushed her aside, spread her wings and pulled something out of her back, Twilight cried out in pain, but found that it got better immediately, Cozy used a healing magic. It took barely a minute, then the Alicorn passed her without a single look and barked, "Don't die before we’re finished, idiot!" She stomped towards the mountain and Twilight, sighing deeply, nodded.
"I won't."
Discord and Twilight glanced at each other before they followed the hooded figure into the cave.

Various rotten tables and cupboards were set up inside the cavern, the extensive, round cave was sparsely lit by green fire and a variety of magical-looking liquids, everything was full of documents, glass jars, herbs and obscure artifacts. In the center of the hall was what Twilight thought was lost - the bell. There she floated, connected with the surrounding equipment and utensils via thin threads. The hooded figure who had just saved them went to the bell and dropped her mantle. Twilight followed her and so Chrysalis turned straight to her. As the changeling queen, she too had lived an almost unimaginable time, but certainly only with the help of Cozy's magic, and yet the fugacity had taken its toll. Chrysalis' once so tight, black body had shrunken and looked muddy-soft, she was only half the size of once and gray hair grew out of her holes. There were only short, gray streaks left of her shimmering, turquoise mane, her pointed teeth had fallen out and her left eye was missing, instead there was a large, misshaped hole as if from a bite wound. Whenever she saw her reflection in the water, Twilight had always felt she was a poor shadow of herself. She now understood how blind this was.

“Fho you brought fhe two pifs info fhe ftable…” Chrysalis hissed in a coughing voice that could have belonged to Granny Smith. There was nothing left of her splendor as a queen except her undisguised aggression. Cozy came to her side and supported Chrysalis with her shoulder.

"A little restraint wouldn’t hurt, but yes ... there they are."
It wasn't restraint that Twilight saw in Chrysali's green, squinty eye. She recognized hatred and lust for murder more than in Discord's eyes.

“Faff waff YOUR idea Cofy, YOURF!!” She knocked the Alicorn away from her and spat Twilight in the face.
How do I know fhe doefn’t pefrify uff again immefiadely, HUH?!” She limped around Twilight, repeatedly pushing her. "Or fakes you away ffrom me like fhe took my family away before leffing fhem die?!” Chrysalis slapped the quiet Twilight and the Alicorn fell to the floor while Discord stayed in the background, Cozy pulled her partner back to stop her.

"ENOUGH! That’s in the past and doesn't matter now, we have to-”
Again the weak Chrysalis pushed Cozy away and stepped over Twilight, the glowing eye filled with sour tears.

“How could I ever worff togeffer with a whore who fust watffed how dragonf, friffins and all the other scum ffafed and flaughtered my fildren?! Do you know how it felt fo not be able fo go ffhere, not able fo do anyffing becaufe your own feople hafe you?! Again and again I haff fo think abouf fhem, fee ‘em in my ffreams you fucki- ”
Before Cozy could pull Chrysalis away it was Twilight who kicked the old queen in the stomach and thew her to the ground. With both wings in the air Twilight got up and hieved Chrysalis to her hooves with bared teeth.

“I'm so TIRED of it!!" She yelled at Chrysalis that it echoed off the walls.
"I am TIRED of listening to how much all of you suffered and what I’m to blame for!!” She pushed her against one of the tables and spat back. “So you suffered a lot - SO WHAT?! I had to go through a lot too, I could only watch too, and don't you think I would hate myself for it every day and want to kill myself with every breath?!” Twilight hadn't wanted to cry, but when it did happen she didn't even notice and didn't even care.
"Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Spike, Luna, Celestia, Starlight, Trixie ..." Sobbing, Twilight kicked a rickety wooden table on her right in, which collapsed with a loud crack.
“I could go on like this for hours! I LOST EVERYTHING TOO!!"

She roared into Chrysalis' face while her own snot ran down her nose. “We ALL lost EVERYTHING, every pitiable creature that had the damn bad luck in this fucking hell to live on and on without being allowed to die!" She stepped in front of Chrysalis and fell to the ground whimpering.

"Everything got out of control ... everything fell apart ... because I made wrong decisions ... because I was stupid ... because I couldn't save my friends and family ... I didn't want to ... I'm sorry ... I'm sorry ... I'm so sorry ... believe me ... I didn't want this ... I'm sorry ... I'm sorry ... I’m so sorry… please forgive me ... forgive me ... forgive me ... "
Twilight cried and lamented into her own, sticky mane on the floor, Chrysalis was now again standing over the ruler of Equestria and looked down at her with a mixture that Cozy interpreted as frustration and understanding. Chrysalis knew what Twilight meant because she felt the same way. All of those in this room did. Probably the last survivors of that time. Discord stepped out of the shadows and knelt down to Twilight to slowly help her up. Her face was smeared and swollen with snot and tears, the chimera conjured up a handkerchief and pressed it to her nose. Panting, Twilight snorted until her face was reasonably clean again. Cozy avoided staring at her, but looked back and forth between Chrysalis and Twilight, who were silent. Finally she couldn't take it anymore and came out with a fragile smile.

"You know, I think ... we are all miserable here. We are broken, and lifeless, and smelly-dog-miserable. After all this time, none of us is still one of the good guys, let's face it - we're bad. So let's be bad together. There is a better way to be bad, and we found it.”

She pulled Chrysalis' s skinny hoof forward, just as Twilights. Discord's hand followed and Cozy completed the round herself. She looked at the other three and whispered.
"Together. To the end of hell.”

A moment of silence that Cozy had expected. Then a look between Twilight and Chrysalis, which was softer than stone. A success. They agreed unanimously.

"To the end of hell."

They had taken a day to recover from the trip and their mutual feelings. The following day it was Chrysalis who called them all back to the central chamber. Twilight, Cozy and Discord were gathered on scratchy pillows around the bell in front of which the trembling chrysalis stood.

"Hopefully Cofy fidn't afk you yet becauffe I had forbidden her fo affk you."
She gave Cozy a sharp look, the blue-curled Alicorn smiled like the sun itself. Twilight and Discord exchanged questioning
looks.

"Good." Chrysalis growled. “I wanted fo fake care of fhat myfelff. Theref a big rifk about what we plan fo do.”
No one answered, Chrysalis saw this a sign to continue.

“I will ffive you, Cofy Glow and Fwilight Fparkle, frough fhe bell fhe righf amounff of Celeftiaf and Lunaf ower fo move fhe fun and the moon. Difcord… ” a sharp look for the unmoved chimera, “providef you with fthe necefffary mafifal power. Then you have fo undo fhe end of the fircle and cauffe fhe fun and moon to move in fheir ffroper way again on fheir own, fompletely nafural.”

“I know that much. Now the problem.” Twilight demanded and Chrysalis nodded.

“I fon't know how about you, buf I haven’t done thif before, and Cofy Glow neifher. Raife Fun and Moon completely from fheir stafif, leading fhem fo fhe right frack, if fuppofedly, according fo my calfulationf, an unbelievably fenffitive work, and alfo difficult. FFery difficult. ” Her voice turned into a menacing whisper. Twilight thought back to the one and only time she was supposed to control the sun and moon. It had been a disaster, which luckily had had no dire consequences.

"Whaff I want to afk", Chrysalis poked the bell with her hoof, three glowing miniature balls came out of it, which she floated in front of the faces of her listeners. "If you do if right ..." Her horn shone and the little sun began to turn in the right direction together with the moon. Twilight's eyes sparkled at the chance to actually experience this again.

“If not…” Chrysalis breathed, the sun ball crashed into the much smaller earth and shredded it into hundreds of tiny pieces. Then there were only two balls left. They fell to the ground and Chrysalis watched wordlessly the reactions of their listeners. Discord closed his eyes, sighed and put his hand to his face, Twilight forbade herself to gulp with all her strength. But she couldn't prevent the sweat of fear on her forehead. She hadn't considered that. Of course not. But of course it was a realistic risk -

just a tiny mistake on her part and the world was gone. Really gone. The moon was one thing, but the sun was what came closest to God for all living things. If his anger hit the earth, it was over. And Twilight would be to blame. In the last moments of her existence, she would have to make peace knowing that she had the whole world on her conscience. Her head sagged, as much as she wanted to prevent it. Without thinking about what she was doing, Cozy Glow put her hoof on her shoulder and her head on Twilights.
"We can do this. I know we can.”

Chrysalis sighed and also sat on the floor.
“Fhe Frifk if enormouf. Buff perfonally, I prefer no world to being frapped in hell, or ... in my cafe ... fall afleep one laft time without having feen a ftarry night fky at leaft onfe more.”
Chrysalis honest and shaking words shook Twilight awake, with wide eyes she stared at her nemesis, and all she saw was weariness. They all were tired. Tired of the evening light. Tired of silence. Tired of hell. There was no alternative. Just hope. Hope for a future.

"Fo," Chrysalis whispered in a scratchy voice as she grinned toothlessly at Twilight, "whaf if it gonna be?"

They had taken their time for a month. Time to practice. To train. To prepare for the end of the world. Or the beginning. There wasn’t, according to Chrysalis feeling and Cozy's estimation, much more time left for the changeling queen. It had to happen now.

On top of a lonely silver mountain stood four souls that had lasted forever. There, under burning evening light, caught in the twilight between day and night. Each of them had been forced to listen to the voices around them become quieter, the eyes dreary. How life vanished and the world died. Only one thing didn't go away, and those were memories. Images that gathered, images that combined the terrible and beautiful into a whirlpool of remorse and self-loathing that raged in their hearts. Time was above everything, and with it fugacity. Nothing that lived could defy it. But four people, after suffering from it for so long, decided to give it a try. They could not go back in time, would never really defeat it, but they could embrace her and give her a shape again. For everything that was born, lived and died.

A bell began to float, two lights inside, black and white, light and darkness. They connected with their new wielders, filled the emptiness inside. A chimera of discord lifted her arms, raised them both in the air, and gave them the strength to shine. Two horns closed around each other and started to glow. Both Discord and Chrysalis floated up to them and gave them hooves and hands. Four souls, at the beginning of the world, or the end of hell.

Chrysalis' eye was reflected in the all-shining light of the sun, in which she also saw her children. Her family. She saw in her the changeling foals that she had once hatched and raised with so much stolen love, that had gone hunting with her and that, contrary to her nature, had always given her a feeling of security. She would never have admitted it, but she had always felt a love for her fellows that could not be stolen. Did they still exist? Would they find her again? Would they take her back after all this time?

Would Chrysalis be called 'Mommy' again?

She closed her eyes.

Discord's thoughts were not with the sun, not with the moon, and not even with the sky. They were in the chaos abyss, no, Ponyville, and in the crumbled house of a pony that had taught him everything he now retrospectively perceived as 'life'. Sowing discord and destruction were pleasures he had always enjoyed, but they were short-lived, mindless pleasures. In his innermost depths he saw blue eyes and a small smile flash again and everything tightened. He wanted to ask her forgiveness for wanting to lock her up against her will in the chaos dimension in order to delay the inevitable. Wanted to apologize for his selfishness, which she had driven out of him so often. Wanted to hear again what was his greatest praise.
When Discord clasped his chest and hoped to give the world a second chance in her remembrance, for everything she felt endless love for. Would she see it? Would she forgive him again and say

'I am so proud of you.'

He closed his eyes.

Cozy Glow wanted to live. She wanted to know what it meant to be 'normal'. She never had a chance. Her parents had given her away, she hated her orphanage and she had never understood the teachings of friendship. It was a complicated world, and before her little mind had the chance to understand it and regret it’s fallacies and wrongdoings, it was also a dead world. Was it ever too late for remorse? Was it ever too late for forgiveness? She had never missed her time among her friends. The Cutie Mark Crusaders, these six weird jerks, her teachers ... she hadn't missed them, didn't need any of them. Until she realized in the endless twilight that they were the only people who had ever given her actual, real acceptance. And so maybe not everything was wrong in the world as it had been. A world that Cozy Glow wanted back now. Could she find a place in it? Could she find someone in it? Would there be a voice that, despite everything, would tell her

"I’m happy you’re alive."

She closed her eyes and nestled closer to Twilight.

Twilight was not alone. Chrysalis was with her. Discord was with her. Cozy Glow was with her. Spike was with her. Rarity was with her. Applejack was with her. Rainbow Dash was with her. Fluttershy was with her. Pinkie Pie was with her. Shining Armor was with her. Cadance was with her. Celestia was with her. Luna was with her. Mom was with her. Dad was with her. Starlight was with her. Trixie was with her. Everyone she had forgotten was with her, right now, and nestled closer to her. She could hear their whispering, but no longer in her head, but in her ears.
'It'll be fine.'
She cried, and smiled, and cried, and smiled. They were finally back. Finally she was no longer alone. She had never been. Would she be allowed to watch over Equestria again? Would everyone who still lived and hoped come back to her to rebuild together what they had lost? Could they save a dead world at all? Twilight wanted to believe that, and she knew they saw it that way too.

'You're not alone. You never were. '

She closed her eyes and leaned her head against Cozy.

The light from two horns combined into a blinding twilight. White. Black. In a few moments, the world took on every possible tone. A big, quiet world full of so much life. And a little spark of hope.

Then, the sun and moon started moving.

1,175 views

Previous Chapters