Least Faithful Student

by Dexter Helix

The Void, Part 2

Twilight confronted her malevolent doppelgänger, asking, "what did you do to my memories?"

"I didn't do anything. If you're too weak to hold it together in here, that's your own fault."

"Where is here?" she asked, glancing about the room for some clue.

The alicorn scoffed. "Wouldn't you like to know? Why don't you retrace your steps... What do you remember?"

"I was... a student... Luna's student."

"That's wrong, you contemptible failure. Try again."

"Wait... Was I Celestia's student? But there was something..."

The alicorn's smile, which was already stretched beyond the limits of pony anatomy, grew even wider. "Keep going..."

"There was something she didn't want me to know..."

"So you asked Luna..."

"Did I?" Twilight paused, looking quite concerned... "I guess I did."

"So... You might say that you violated your teacher's trust?"

"No! I would never! I was her... most faithful... Oh... What have I done?!"

"You can make it better..." The alicorn suggested slyly, walking past Twilight briskly and circling around her.

Into Twilight's ear, she whispered, "What Luna has told you amounts to high treason. You must kill her. It's the only way to make this up to your teacher. To fix this little transgression. And that's why You're here. You came for my help, to give you the strength to do it."

"No! I won't believe it! Celestia would never want me to kill her sister!"

"Who do you think sent you here? This is just another one of Celestia's errands you're on right now. You're her little pet. Now be a good girl and do as she says."

"Why should I believe you? You've done nothing but lie to me and try to hurt me since I met you."

The alicorn sighed. "I had a feeling you would fail to see reason. But that's not my problem. See, I can wait here forever. You, on the other hoof, you have a body out there that you left behind. You can stay in here for two, maybe three days, but then dehydration will kick in. Eventually, your choice will be either to submit to me... Or die. It's a good show for me, either way."

"I'll never surrender! You may as well kill me now.

"Oh, I can't do that. Not from in here, anyway. You'll just have to wait to die a slow, excruciatingly painful, death. Besides, you know that lovely scene we were just in, Ponyville destroyed, all hope lost? Well, the griffons will be crossing the border tomorrow. I will make sure that you have a front row seat to all the carnage that unfolds. In between the onset of the pain of your body eating itself, and the torturous descent into death that is dehydration, you'll have just enough time to see your friends get slaughtered!"

"My... friends..."

"Yes! Every one of them torn to shreds by my brothers and sisters!"

"No..."

"Oh, yes."

"No," Twilight added, "I'm not asking, and I'm not begging. I'm telling you. No!"

"One does not simply tell me no. I call the shots around here."

"No. I'm not going to just sit here and do nothing." Twilight said, as she began moving towards the alicorn.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm in control here. Not you. You've made a mess of the place, so all I want to do right now... is get organized.*"

The alicorn recoiled in fear as Twilight's horn began to glow intensely, though she soon found out that she was not the young unicorn's target. The library began sorting itself; books were rearranged, pages filled with text. Spike's cot was put back upright. The air around the library cleared, and grass sprouted in the dirt. As Twilight reassembled the projection of Ponyville, more memories came flooding back to her, and each memory helped her put something back the way it belonged. Memories of the Elements of Harmony returned to her, and a portrait of Twilight and her friends appeared on the desk, greatly accelerating her restorative efforts.

All the while, the alicorn had begun to shrink. After a short time, she was the same height as Twilight. Her mane changed back to normal... Her wings receeded as she shrunk ever-smaller and lost her color. By the time Twilight had restored Ponyville completely back to normal, her antagonist had been reduced to the same scared filly she herself had been only minutes ago. Yet, despite all of Twilight's efforts, there were still no ponies around. Ponyville was still a ghost town.

"Because it's only in my head..." She said to herself. "This was all in my head... And you..."

She looked at the filly with pity, "You really were me all along... You were the darkest side of me. But now I've got you under control. Wait... I've got you under control! I did it! I—"

---

Twilight twitched as she felt the cold stone under her body. Her neck ached. She opened her eyes to see Luna sitting nearby, completely attentive.

"She's awake! Oh, Twilight, are you okay?"

Twilight moaned softly, lifting her head off the ground. "I think so..."

"How do you feel?" Luna asked, curiously and apprehensively scanning her student.

"Tired... Weird, and tired. How long was I out?"

Luna hesitated before replying, "Almost 24 hours. Your friends have been looking for you. Celestia as well."

"Celestia needs me?!"

Twilight scrambled awkwardly to her feet; her unexpected sudden increase in height made this task surprisingly difficult. When she finally managed to get her balance, she looked into Luna's eyes and was taken aback to find herself slightly taller than the princess.

Luna suppressed a laugh, before replying in a serious tone, "Yes, she's called the Elements of Harmony together in preparation for the griffon assault. I was worried you were not going to pull through in time, but now that you're okay, we must let her know right away."

"Where are they?"

"Near the frontline. Don't worry about them; the griffons do not plan to attack until tomorrow. For now, you must rest. It doesn't matter how much magic you have available to you if you're too exhausted to channel any of it."

Twilight's stomach growled incredibly loudly.

"I was prepared for that!" Luna said gleefully, as she stamped the ground twice with her hoof. A pair of bat ponies moved into the room, bearing platters piled high with strange glowing blue flowers, and a tall pitcher full of ice-cold water.

Lacking the patience required to pour some into a glass, Twilight took the entire pitcher in her hooves and gulped down half of the water therein, quenching a day's worth of thirst. She licked her chapped lips, and let out a very satisfied sigh, before taking note of the food provided to her.

"Uhhhhh..."

"They're moonflowers, very nutritious, eat up!" Luna insisted, acting particularly motherly.

Twilight tried levitating one of the moonflowers up to her eye to inspect it, but she underestimated her own strength. Within the incredibly powerful magical aura she was casting, the delicate foodstuff compressed quickly and burned up to a crisp. From behind a distant curtain, Twilight heard a loud whistle and a pop, closely followed by groaning.

"Do try to be quiet over there, Dexter, Twilight needs her rest, and you don't really need to be here any longer."

"Sorry, sorry, I forgot that I had my ticker turned on."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Who's Dexter?"

"Just someone I felt I could trust. He was caught expressing a certain... *curiosity* regarding Celestia that was nothing short of heretical. Through an extraordinary bout of luck, it just so happened that his behavior was brought to my attention, and my attention alone... Anyone else within the government might have had him beheaded! He's a little more useful in the library, rather than on a pike, at least in my opinion."

Luna and Twilight shared a laugh before the princess continued, "In any sense, I thought that it might be a good idea to have a contemporary scientist document such a rare and... *important* event. It's not been recorded for over a thousand years, and your case is even special regardless of that fact. Now, go ahead and try to eat, this is good practice for getting used to your new strength. Delicacy and proficiency are just as important as power."

With great effort taken to use a light touch, Twilight gingerly levitated a moonflower up off of the platter. She smelled it before taking a bite, and chewed contemplatively. It wasn't all bad, though it did have a slightly metallic taste. She took another bite, and looked at the princess inquisitively.

"Moonflowers grow on a very unique plant, and contain a lot of important magical nutrients in high concentrations. I know apples might taste better, but you need this boost right now. Trust me... Now, I must get in touch with Celestia. If you need anything that Dexter or my assistants cannot provide, do not hesitate to call for me. And please do try to get some rest."

"Yes Prin— Okay, Luna."

Luna was beaming as she exited the room, utterly delighted with the success they had achieved together. Twilight began playing with her moonflowers, rather than eating them, which caused one of the bat ponies to give her a judgmental look. She shied away from them, averting her gaze, and quickly resumed eating.

"The taste grows on you, after a while," she said, halfway done with the first platter. The bat ponies exchanged glances; their faces said it all. 'Tourists.' Eventually, they asked Twilight if she would be needing anything else before bed, and headed out to handle some other responsibilities. A few minutes later, Twilight caught a glimpse of Dexter working around the curtain.

"Dexter?"

"Yes, what can I help you with?"

"Oh, I don't need anything, I was just curious what those things do."

"Well, this here is a ticker. It measure ambient magic activity."

"Wait, why can't you just use your horn for that?"

"Because that would be subjective. This lets me get an exact number."

"I see... And what's that big box there?"

"That's an old-world thing... I'd never even heard of it before yesterday. It measures 'coupling frequencies.' There's a particular frequency we were worried about, called the 'null frequency.' You dipped into it a few times while you were out, but you were back to normal by the time you woke up."

"Null frequency? What does that mean?"

"I don't know exactly. Luna said it was associated with anger, depression, sadness, and all that stuff. Apparently its the default frequency for an Element to use, which is what causes trouble down the line. But you're operating on a totally different frequency, so the Element shouldn't be able to trigger those emotional states in you like it does to everyone else."

"Hmm... Is it the same frequency that the Elements of Harmony use?"

"I wouldn't know. I've asked Celestia for permission to study those things, but she won't let me near them. I've... uh... heard some things, though."

"What kinds of things?"

"That Celestia might have been experimenting with other Elements."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that the Academy I work at has some documents filed away in the basement archives. They've been thoroughly redacted, but you can still get a basic idea of what they're talking about."

"Can you tell me?"

"Um... Well, Luna seems to trust you, so I'll follow suit. So long as you don't tell Celestia what I know, I'll be happy to share."

"You have my word."

"Okay. The first paper is a few centuries old, and talks about a project where a team was investigating the feasibility of reproducing the Elements of Harmony. Celestia allowed them to investigate the Elements, and a just a few years later, Princess Andalusia was born."

"The princess of Hearts and Hooves Day?"

"The very same. It was hard to make out the rest of the document, there were so many black marks, but apparently, the experiment ended catastrophically when someone slipped her love poison. The rest of the document is almost completely blacked out, but it seems as though she went mad and became Queen Chrysalis."

"Curious..."

"I know. You'd think that would be Celestia's sign to stop, but she tried again, much more recently. Princess Cadence was another Element experiment. The host for a second attempt at forging an Element of Love."

"I don't even know what to say..."

"Just... Keep an eye on Celestia. She's planning something. Something big."

"Thanks for letting me know, I guess."

"No problem. I'd rather share knowledge with a fellow scientist and take significant personal risk than be safe knowing that I was a puppet for a book-burner."

That last line left Twilight feeling uneasy. Her own mentor? A book-burner? Luna had already told her that, but she had put it much more gently than Dexter had. Twilight felt an agonizing burning sensation run up her spine as four words from the Element's nightmare echoed through her mind.

You're Celestia's little pet.

"Are you alright, Miss Sparkle?"

"Yeah... I'm fine. Just a headache..."

At that moment, the bat ponies entered the room once again. They gestured for Twilight to follow them.

"Hmm... I— It was nice meeting you, Dexter."

"Charmed. I hope to see you again."

Luna's assistants directed Twilight to proper sleeping quarters, with a bed large enough to suit her new height. She was quite tired; it literally only took her seconds to fall asleep.

---

Though she wanted nothing more than to sleep soundly, it seemed as though Twilight woke from her rest instantaneously. She remained in bed, staring at the ceiling, feeling the warmth of the Sun across herself. She willed herself to get up, but couldn't manage it — her body simply wouldn't move.

Sleep paralysis... she thought to herself, ...must be sleep paralysis. It's okay... This happened all the time when I was a filly. Just wait it out, Twilight, you'll wake up completely in a moment

There was something very wrong, though, in that moment, something that she couldn't quite bring to mind, something about the world around her. She felt out of place, as though she was somewhere that she didn't belong.

*No, Twilight, that's just irrational fear. Hallucinations. It's only sleep paralysis. Just concentrate. Wake up.*

Her body lurched out of bed of its own accord, stretching and looking about the room. This was not the same place where she had gone to bed. Twilight started to worry.

*Has the binding gone wrong? Why am I not in control?*

Slowly, her body made its way out of the room, and involuntarily proceeded down the hallway and out the front door, into a beautiful snowscape, a grand village of lumber and stone, with thatched roofs and solid-oak doors.

All around her were griffons, going about their lives, though it seemed that they would all stop and stare at her when she wasn't looking. Their eyes burned on her back. She was a stranger. She was unwelcome. She was a freak. Still, the body relentlessly carried on, leaving the villagers behind. As she reached the edge of the village, Twilight's wings spread out.

I don't have wings... Why can't I wake up? I want to wake up!

The body, which was quite apparently no longer her own, flew far across the mighty evergreen forests surrounding the griffon village. She felt relaxed, to be free of the prying eyes of the other citizens, though she still struggled to gain control. There was someone else behind these eyes. Someone had stolen her body.

Who are you? She asked internally, getting no response.

Up ahead, a clearing appeared. A frozen lake. The very sight of it warmed Twilight's heart, as if it were somehow a safe haven, a place that would protect her. Her wings carried her just to the edge of the lake, dropping her gently into the soft snow around it, near a small pile of fishing supplies.

But it's not winter. What is this? Where are we?

She reached out in front of herself. Her hooves— or, her talons, rather, picked an ice axe up out of the snow, reared it up high, and drove it into the frozen surface of the lake. After a few strikes, the ice broke into manageable chunks, which she lifted up and away from the water. She peered over the edge, into the chilled water below.

Even her reflection was foreign to her. She looked a bit like a griffon, but she had a horn, rather than the typical crest plumage. She was quite young, and, apparently, male. Most strangely of all, the reflection didn't sync up quite right with her motions. It seemed to drift a second off into the past or future.

"A griffpony?" She asked, shocked to feel and hear herself talk.

The reflection didn't parrot her motion, but instead, replied, "Yes, my mother was a unicorn."

"How did I get here? Who are you?"

"None of the other griffons like me... They think I'm weak and pathetic. They say things about me... Things they don't think I can hear. Nasty things."

"I'm so sorry, but, where—"

"It's okay... Today is the day that it all gets better. Today the white mare comes."

"The white mare?"

"The Sun Goddess..." The reflection took pause, noting the real body's change in expression, "Do you know of her?"

"I know, yes. Where I come from, we call her Celestia."

"Today is the day she burns them all. But I'll be safe, safe by the lakeside."

"What?!"

"She rains fire from the heavens, and destroys them all. All those who have been unkind to me."

"I don't think that's right."

"I know it's so. She kills every last one. The soldiers, the doctors, the men, women, and children, even my own mom and dad. It is the gods' will that I survive."

"Celestia would never do that!"

"You talk as though you know the gods. You dare to speak their sacred names. And yet, what do you know of them?"

"I know Celestia would never do something like that! She is kind, and gentle!"

"Ah, your naivety betrays that you are of ponykind. The priests dare not admit it, but your species is so wonderfully gifted; with magic, and flight, control over weather, the Harmony Gems... such prosperity. Surely, you are the gods' favored race... Created in their image..."

"I know Celestia myself, and I know she wouldn't just kill griffons for no reason, why are you so sure that your village will burn down?"

"Because I've seen it. I've seen it with my own eyes. I forgot, long ago, but now I see it every night. Every night the white mare comes to me, and tells me secrets. Secrets of the past, secrets of today, even secrets of the future."

"Since when?"

"One month ago, the white mare visited me, not in dreaming, but in my very home. She told me where I could find stones of magnificent power. Stones that would make me great, and strong. Stones that could make my father proud of me."

"You mean Elements? Celestia told you where to find Elements?"

"Your manner of speaking is strange, pony. The stones we found... they were not what the white mare promised. It seems they had been made by the trickster god."

"Discord?"

"I do not know of any creature named Discord. I speak of the stallion from the blue box."

"The stallion from the blue box?"

"You pretend to know the gods, though your knowledge must be limited, if you are unaware of him. His powers transcend even those of the White Mare. Surely your legends speak of him, the trickster of many faces... He has deceived the mighty griffon nation many times."

"I can't say I've ever heard of a stallion in a blue box, but what about the White Mare? Can you tell me more about her?"

"Today at noontime, when the Sun is highest in the sky, fireballs will rain down and purge my village. As an orphan, I am to be recruited into the navy, and they will train me... make me strong. But I will always be alone. So alone. I never fit in. So I fight. I fight to prove myself. I kill more... I kill faster... I will show them all what I can be. And they will make me their king..."

"No... You... You shouldn't do that! You don't have to do that!"

"But... Can't you see? I already did. Everything around us is but a memory. A shadow of what once was. I see it every night now; it's the only time I am myself completely. The real world is a waking nightmare... The voices — voices from the darkness — from within the eternal void... they scream at me. The only way to make them stop is to kill. So I must kill. I must kill everything. Every pony... every god... and when I've done all of that... every griffon. Everything. Then the voices will stop."

"You can't do that!"

"Then please... help me..." The griffpony pleaded, while he looked up and too the side, such that he would be looking back towards his village if her were above the surface of the ice.

"The White Mare comes now. To fill me with hate. To remind me why I fight. Please, help me."

As promised, the Earth was then struck with a shower of meteorites, destroying and burning everything in their wake. Twilight lost what little control of the body she had as it dove into the freezing lake water for cover. The shock of the water touching her woke her instantaneously, leaving her panting in bed, broken out in a cold sweat, but back safely on the Moon.

"Is this my curse?" she asked herself, "to be plagued by nightmares forever?"

She paused for a long while, before concluding, "If this is what I must go through to protect Equestria, then so be it."

Twilight sat in the dark, contemplating sleep, though she was completely unsure of the time. It's always midnight, under the Moon.

Comments

[Rokolin]

UPDATE!!!!!! YES!!!!

[PonyJesus]

Loving the way this story is coming together. Doctor Whooves seems sure to show up later, Alicorn Twilight, Mystery, Trickery, War and Secrets. Pretty exciting!

Oh, and I wouldn't be opposed to some TwiLuna.

[CM12]

>stallion from the blue box
>The Doctor as trickster god
I fucking love you!

Also... is this whole "immensely powerful artifacts that make you insane" thing a reference to Assassin's Creed's Pieces of Eden?

[MrMelon]

1540440 Seriously? I know this is years old but there are thousands of other fictions that have artifacts that make you mad, it likely has nothing to do with assassins creed