Neon Dreams

by Bigwig6666

Eleven

The clinic of Six Hooves was deathly quiet.

A steady dripping coming from somewhere in the facility sent chills up and down Neon’s spine as she stared up at the Novo leader, Lady Razor, still lounging on her luxurious chair like she had when the pony and her three companions had originally went to see her. It felt like days ago to Neon since she was last there, even if it was just merely few hours ago.

The two stared at each other, Razor having sent her ‘subjects’ away for some privacy, while Neon told Sparky to wait in the lobby, on the off chance things turned ugly.

“Are you thirsty, Miss Dream?” the Novo leader asked casually, as if greeting an old friend.

Neon, although reluctantly, admitted to herself she was in desperate need of a drink, feeling how dry her tongue suddenly was. She stiffly nodded her head, silently thankful for . “Listen your ladyship, uh, ma’am,” she quickly corrected herself as Razor’s knife-like wings snikt among themselves. “I only came here to report back on that job I did, and to collect my payment, so if you don’t mind-” She silenced herself as the hippogriff raised a chrome claw. The bird exhaled a cloud of dull grey smoke and leant forwards to grab a bottle of some unknown golden brown liquid.

“There is a saying I have taken a liking to, Miss Dream,” she crooned as she poured out a pair of drinks for herself and her guest. Neon hungrily watched the liquid swirl at the bottom of the glass and licked her lips. “Are you aware of it?”

Neon shook her head. ”Ah hell, what have I walked in to?”

“It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both,” Razor said as she clacked her beak and extended a claw, holding the glass outwards.

“Marechiavelli, right?” Neon responded, unexpectedly reminded of her old school headmare’s incessant reciting of philosophical scripture. She moved forward to take the glass. It looked so tantalizingly close, the liquid so deliciously delectable. Just an inch more and then she could finally taste that sweet sweet nectar of the gods, and then the hippogriff quickly pulled back, almost toying with the pony.

“Indeed. Smart pony, that one. Capable. You are a smart and capable mare yourself, Miss Dream.” The corners of her beak curved upwards in a mean smile as the unicorn’s empty hoof fell to the ground. “Payment for your services has been loaded into your...” She paused and sneered. “Ah... friend’s vehicle. I trust it will be more than sufficient.”

The unicorn lowered her head as a token of respect, of which the Novo clearly liked. “I can see our partnership being a long and healthy one, should you wish for it.” She grinned as she spoke, and fixed Neon with her cold, metallic stare.

“Sure, thanks.”

The mechanical sound of Razor’s eye lenses contracting into a small dot filled the room.

Neon rubbed her neck and grimaced. “Uh. Yes, thank you. Ma’am.”

“Good dog.” Razor swirled one of the glasses underneath her beak and inhaled the scent that drifted upwards. “In regards to the Novos, Miss Dream. Would you say we are loved, or feared?”

The unicorn wrinkled her nose. ”Hell. What have I walked into here?” She cleared her throat and spoke confidently. “Feared, ma’am.”

“Why?”

Neon blinked, taken aback a bit. “Well, because your... goons are psychotic? You torture each other for fun? You...” She faltered as she stared into those red, unblinking eyes and lowered her voice. “You hurt ponies.”

Razor’s beak stayed curved into a smile. “All true, I will not deny. The local peasantry does not look on us as favourably as I would like. However, can the same be said for your dear princess?”

”What’s this buzzard getting at?” Neon thought. “There are ponies who love Twilight,” she snapped back, feeling her temper rise and sweat begin to form on her forehead.

“Indeed there are.” Razor took another drag of smoke and raised the drink to her beak. She exhaled and swung the glass back, swallowing a shot of the golden brown liquid in an instant. She clacked her beak and flexed her wings when finished. “Do they love your Princess Sparkle? Or do they simply love the idea of her?”

The Novo’s words caught Neon off guard. She tilted her head in question and flicked one of her ears. “What do you mean?” she asked cautiously.

Razor looked down at the pony and offered her the glass again. Neon took it in her magic before she could snatch it away again and sniffed it. ”Whiskey... dad’s favourite.”

“Imagine, if you will, a group that had control of an alicorn willing to fight for what they believed in. Imagine if that pony was the most powerful magic user Equestria has ever seen and most likely ever will.” Lady Razor paused momentarily while Neon slung the glass back, swallowing her drink without so much as a wince, closing her eyes and savouring the taste of the fine liquid. Razor continued when the pony opened her eyes and allowed herself to smile. “A pony born to lead what was left of Equestria into glory. A pony born to rule. To conquer, and destroy their enemies.”

Without any more words, Razor snapped her claw. Screens all around the room flickered to life, showing scenes of devastation and destruction, buildings on fire, bodies in the streets. The Lady rose up from her chair and crossed over to one of the monitors, patting it gently on the side. The sound of her metal claw touching the hard metal echoed through the otherwise silent room.

“I refer, of course, to the Children of the Sun, Neon Dream,” the hippogriff said, her voice returning to its usual sickly sweetness. “I have been... instructed.” Her feathers bristled and she clacked her beak disapprovingly. “To show you these images. Here is but a fraction of what my source suspects is their true goal. Chaos. Anarchy.”

Neon gaped at the screens and felt cold. Her dad talked often about his cases with her, only staying away from only the nastiest and grisliest of details. The things he had shown and told her about the infamous COTS always made her wonder about them, specifically if they were right and what would happen next. As a filly she could afford to dream, to wonder about the wide world and how it came to be. As an adult, she was far too cynical for such daydreams.

Loose Cannon always dismissed them as crackpot theorists with a political agenda, using the imagery of the famed Twilight Sparkle to rally others to their cause. Neon remembered their last major offense against Ponyopolis when he was alive was the daring hijack of a major news network and proceeded to spew their propaganda across the city, from the depths of the Scrapheap all the way to the pillars of Uptown.

For six and a half minutes they were on air, but that was all it took for the billions of inhabitants to learn their name.

Anything they did after that always carried the same message as well, always a declaration that the Last Princess was alive, merely kept locked away in secret by the corporations that ran the world, the same corporations that ‘forced’ their hooves to commit such acts of terrorism that made them criminals, and often incited others into joining in their fight for Equestria’s ‘freedom’.

When the disbandment of actual police officers came about, they seemed to grow bolder as well, unafraid to shy away from outright attacking and raiding security checkpoints. Neon remembered hearing a story about how they stole several shipments worth of guns and ammunition a few years ago, and remembered thinking she’d be lucky if she never saw them up close for herself.

How naïve she had been.

As the years went by it seemed almost all crime nowadays was perpetrated by somepony claiming to be affiliated with the Children of the Sun in one way or another. Whether this was just stories spun by the corporations or not was another matter, however, as very few seemed to know the full truth, including Neon Dream and lady Razor.

Neon remembered what her dad said, how they were always one step ahead of him no matter what he tried or how many resources he pooled into his investigations.

In the end, it didn’t even matter, and apparently took one of them to contact him for him to get some answers.

Unfortunately for Neon, those answers for dear old dad meant more questions for her.

Questions that currently wracked her mind. ”What is the Children’s endgame here? Is Razor right, do they want to use Twilight to just destroy everything they don’t like? Surely not... right? Ugh. I need another drink...”

And then another thought wormed its way into her mind. Something Sparky had said. Good natured, brave little Bright Spark, eyes full of optimism and a good heart to match.

“What do you have against the Children?” she eventually murmured, holding on to that one thought with a flicker of hope. “They just want Equestria to be how it was when Twilight was alive, everypony working and living together in harmony and peace-”

“Perhaps they do, perhaps they do not,” Razor cut her off. “In recent years, however, the Children of the Sun seem eager to employ any random witless thug to their side. I hope I cause you no offense, Neon Dream,” she muttered while inspecting one of her claws.

A flicker of anger crossed the unicorn’s face as she realised what was said. “None taken,” she said through gritted teeth. ”Witless thug? I’ll show you a witless thug you damn pigeon.”

“In any case, I suspect your friends in COTS are closer to the animals many of those corporate parasites would have us believe.” Razor spat her words out in disgust, as if they left a bad taste in her mouth. “As opposed to the idealist revolutionaries they claim to be.”

“Corporate parasites?” Neon spoke quietly, her gaze steely and unwavering as she looked at each screen around her, coming to a final rest on the cybernetic horror of a hippogriff. A sudden spell of bravery passed over her as she stared at the Novo. “You mean like that ‘associate’ of yours in Monarch Solutions? Do your ‘subjects’, those cybered up freaks you call employees, know about the partnership you have with Princess Luna?”

Razor’s eye shutters slowly closed again, mimicking the motion of narrowing eyes. Another cloud of smoke exhaled from her beak and drifted into the air wordlessly.

Neon continued, ignoring the sudden chill in the room. “I don’t appreciate being sent to the corporate wolves, ma’am,” she sneered. “And I can’t imagine your gang would like their beloved ‘Lady’ taking orders from a parasite like her, would they?”

Unicorn and hippogriff locked eyes in an intense but silent battle of sky high tempers and total dislike for each other’s company.

Razor scraped one of her claws along the ground. The sound screeched throughout the room and even sent a few sparks into the air as metal scraped along hard concrete until she clenched her fist and stared at the unicorn and spoke again with barely contained fury lacing her voice.

“Were you any other creature, even one in my employ, I would have already gutted you for your impertinence, Miss Dream,” she snarled. “But as you have proven you can be a loyal and obedient dog, I will allow you this one chance to leave with your life before you try my patience any further.” She turned and waved dismissively. “You may leave. Run along now. I will inform your precious princess if I have need of an obedient dog.”

Neon shook her head in disbelief. “Why would I work for you again?” she snorted, taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly. ”I’m really trying to keep it together, dad, but if she calls me a dog one more time I swear I’ll...”

“Because if you value the life of your princess then you will do as she commands.”

The Novo’s words were ice cold, very much so in a way similar to her glare.

Neon’s eyes shifted down at the glass hovering before her, and tried desperately to refrain from hurling it at the bird. Taking as much self restraint as possible, she silently set it down and spun on her hooves, marching towards the exit. When she reached it she glanced back and spotted Razor pouring herself another drink. Something told Neon to stay, to listen if the bird was about to say something else. She inwardly groaned and turned around to face her.

Razor’s wings sliced through the air as they folded in on herself. “Watch yourself closely, Neon Dream. True friends are hard to come by in this city. But a new enemy lies in wait around every corner.”

Without explaining more, the hippogriff simply raised the bottle to her beak to take big, greedy gulps of the golden brown liquid within, then proceeded to inspect her razor sharp wings as if they hadn’t been at each other’s throats mere moments earlier. The unicorn felt a slight chill run down her spine. She exhaled loudly through her nostrils and turned to leave, ripping the door open and slamming it behind her, then proceeded to storm towards Bright Spark, who waited patiently for her with Spike. He jumped to his hooves upon seeing her and surged forwards.

“Neon! Oh boy you don’t look happy, is everyth-”

“Yeah. Fine, kid.” Neon stopped in front of Spike and glared up at him. “Are we leaving, then?” she grunted, trying to calm herself. ”I did get your temper didn’t I, dad?” She ran her tongue across the inside of her cheek, getting an aftertaste of whiskey. A memory of his face flashed in front of her eyes.

Spike nodded. “Yeah. We should get going if there’s nothing else.”

“Good. Let’s get this over with, I need to talk to Twilight.”

***

Twilight looked around the small hovel she had been given and smiled. It wasn’t exactly like the standards of her bedroom in Canterlot, but clearly somepony--probably Spike now that she thought about it--had tried their hardest to give her some semblance of home and her old life, despite the rusted walls and messy floor.

A pair of faded and torn curtains hung over the window, styled with stars similar to those in the Canterlot library, and across the bed lay a duvet embroidered with the ancient flag of the Two Sisters of Equestria. Although it was clearly an amateur job, Twilight liked it and smiled as she remembered her home.

The place Spike had led her to, the home of the so-called Children of the Sun, left much to be desired, what with being what she could only describe as a shanty town made up of scrap metal welded together to form houses, and more than a few armed guards--more of those ‘delightful’ Novos--at the entrance. The ponies within, though, the Children themselves, were everything she imagined they would be, and she adored them, and they her.

It had taken most of the dragon’s own strength to keep them away from her when she had first arrived, shielding her from being caught up in the swarm of them as they clamoured to see their princess. Many of them declared their love for her, and began to rhythmically chant her name. Spike bustled her through and showed her to her cabin, her own shack where she wouldn’t be disturbed and suggested she got some rest while he went back out to wait for Neon and Bright Spark.

How could she rest, though? She had so much to do, so much to plan--so much to see, so many ponies to talk to, so many questions to ask. Her little conversation with Chrysalis played on her mind as well, and last but not least was that invisible wall around the city. She wondered if the leader of the Children, whoever they were--Spike had been deliberately vague--knew something about it.

Her wings fluttered and her ears twitched as she heard the scampering of quick hooves and quiet laughter from outside her window. A pang of guilt fired through her as she relaxed, unaware she had tensed up so much and bit her lip.

“Should I go and say hello to somepony?” she murmured to herself. She immediately regretted opening her mouth as she heard the crunch of an apple behind her.

She turned to see Midnight Sparkle helping herself to some food that had been left out for her. The dark alicorn swallowed what she was chewing and grimaced, sneering down at the food distastefully. “This filth is hardly befitting of royalty,” she snapped. “But I suppose these simple creatures can do no better.”

Twilight closed her eyes and willed her to simply go away, fearing what might happen if somepony overheard her talking to herself.

“Believe me, Twilight,” Midnight sneered as she approached the princess, reading her mind once again. “If they knew what I knew about you...” She giggled and flexed her wings.

“Shut up. Please just shut up,” the princess barked, louder than she intended. She quickly looked around and swivelled her ears around, hoping nopony had heard her. “Shut up,” she hissed. “Go away, leave me alone.”

“Oh but you are alone, princess. Locked away in a proverbial tower, waiting for your knight in shining armour to come and rescue you...”

Midnight laughed again and winked as Twilight furrowed her brow. “Say, here’s an idea,” she said suddenly, brushing a hoof through her fiery mane with a coy smile. “Would the princess like to escape her tower and see her friends?”

Twilight froze. Midnight noticed and her grin stretched across her face from ear to ear.

“See my... what do you mean?”

“What do you think I mean? Spike did say they were all here, did he not? Let’s go and see our, ahem, your friends. "

Midnight moved towards the door and tapped a hoof against it. Twilight felt herself move of their own accord as she stepped closer to the dark alicorn. “He did say they were all here, didn’t he?” she repeated, feeling an elated joy begin to swell inside her.

“Precisely my thinking. What a good idea, Twilight, and with only minor assistance from myself.”

Midnight darted across from herself and cowered, putting on a voice that sounded entirely nothing like Twilight’s. “Oh th-thank you, M-M-Midnight, gosh and golly where would I b-be w-without you?”

Twilight scowled. “I don’t sound like that.”

Her comment only made Midnight laugh harder.

The princess felt her ears burn with indignity and made to open the door. She paused briefly and bit her lip again. “I should probably cast an illusion spell or something,” she told herself. “I don’t want to trouble anypony...”

“Tch. Typical Twilight, always putting others above herself,” Midnight jeered. She sighed and shook her head. “I’ll be around if something interesting happens.” She vanished as quickly as she appeared, leaving the alicorn alone with her own thoughts again.

Twilight’s horn ignited, and she closed her eyes, imagined herself being invisible, moving unseen like the wind. Magic began to flow through her, surrounding her and binding her in a spell. When she opened her eyes and looked down, she saw her hooves, and the rest of her, wasn’t there “That should do,” she said. Nodding in quiet satisfaction of her own spell, she pulled opened the door and looked around.

Above her, the roar of traffic could be heard above a cloud of thick smog. She supposed that it was magical in some nature, and even if it wasn’t imagined it kept the makeshift town safely hidden away from the world. Looking down, the princess’s attention was directed at the amount of lights strung around the makeshift ‘houses’.

Some were fairy lights that she recognised from Hearth’s Warming decorations, some were just simple bulbs, and some even looked like straight up fireflies trapped in jars. They surrounded the buildings all the same, though

Whatever they were, they brought a smile to the princess’s face as she stepped outwards and began to explore. Dipping and ducked underneath washing lines strung between the buildings, she overheard lots of chatter and the sounds of life from the Children. All these ponies, even some griffons and dragons, seemed to be one happy little community, making her reminisce of Ponyville in the last days of her reign.

She paused and allowed a group of foals to charge past, caught up in some game or another. She smiled, her eyes twinkling with tears of pride.

As she rounded a corner, she was immediately hit by the smell of fresh cooking. Twilight’s stomach grumbled. ”I didn’t realise how hungry I am...” She winced even as she followed the scent and came to a stop in front of a shack door, imagining a starving family who begged her to stay and sit with them all the same. She was about to turn back and go back to her own cabin, feeling a bit silly for stalking around in a place like this like an invisible predator, when the door suddenly opened to reveal a large earth pony stallion wearing a filthy looking apron, and a zebra mare behind him.

Twilight held her breath and remained still. The mare seemed to look straight at her with a small smile, while the stallion took a deep breath and hollered at the top of his lungs, completely unaware he was bellowing in front of the princess.

”Soup’s on everypony!”

Twilight’s ear flicked as she heard many thundering hooves approach, and she quickly darted to one side. In a manner extremely similar to her first encounter with Applejack all those years ago, ponies lined up and down the area waiting for a chance at some food.

The earth pony adjusted his apron and hoisted up a large cauldron, brimming with a thick viscous liquid and grabbed a set of bowls. “One at a time, one a a time!” he called out as the line began to take shape. The zebra laughed and patted his shoulder.

“Take it easy, everypony, there is more than enough for all of you,” she said, speaking to the queue forming. She gave the stallion an affectionate nuzzle and assisted with ladling the soup out into bowls for the other Children. It was a slow and arduous process, but sure enough every one of them was getting something to eat.

Twilight watched quietly from the side, noting proudly how even when the next in line had their bowl, not a single creature sat alone. It warmed her heart to see such camaraderie, such friendship in a place like this, compare to the hordes in the Scrapheap who ignored one another.

A few bad thoughts began to nibble at her mind as she thought many of them looked like they had been sleeping rough, or been in their good fair share of fights. A griffon with one wing and one claw encased in a cast shambled forwards, to which the zebra--Zuri, as Twilight had learned her name was--helped him along. She glanced back at the earth pony, called simply Basil, and he nodded at her.

“I got this, go do your thing, Z.”

Zuri smiled back and helped the griffon hobble away, holding the bowl for him while they found a spot. Curious, Twilight watched them closely and listened to them talk, taking care to remain as quiet as possible.

“Thanks, Zuri,” the griffon said in between heavy and dogged breaths. He looked more worse for wear than many of the others, clearly in a great deal of pain. “That last raid... got me in my wing... it was all the bleeder could do to stop me from dying then and there...”

“Hush now,” Zuri replied, stroking his feathers and sitting with him. “Eat. It’ll help.”

The griffon lifted the bowl up to his beak and took a sip of it. His eyes closed and he exhaled slowly. “So did you hear? Twilight Sparkle’s back!”

At the mention of her name, Twilight inched forwards. The zebra’s ear twitched and her eyes moved quickly to where the alicorn was watching them from. She said nothing but smiled all the same. “I did. Spike brought her in about ten minutes ago. I saw her myself as clearly as I see you now.”

Twilight had an inkling this zebra could see through her illusion spell, and that comment she made made the princess doubly sure.

“Wow. Twilight Sparkle, the princess is really back... I wish I was in a good enough shape to meet her...”

Twilight listened intently and realised all the groups of the Children were talking about her as they ate. her ears swivelled around as he listened to them, silently moving past them like a ghost in the night.

“Twilight Sparkle’s come back...”

“Soon things will change around here, you’ll see, now that the princess is back...”

“She’s back...”

“She’s really back...”

“I can’t wait ‘til she gives them corporate jerks a piece of her mind...”

After listening to them mention her name again and again, Twilight lingered close to Zuri and the griffon and held her tongue, wondering if she should reveal herself to them or not. That soup did look nice, and her stomach grumbled again in agreement, but it would look a bit strange if she revealed he had been essentially spying on them and eavesdropping on otherwise private conversations.

“I’m sorry, friend, I’m needed elsewhere,” the zebra said to the griffon. He nodded and happily ate his soup, while she moved on to a pony with a bandage over his eye currently conversing with his own group of friends. “Apologies for the intrusion,” she said to them. “But may I?” she asked the bandaged stallion.

The stallion nodded and carried on with his train of thought as if having himself be examined was commonplace. He winced with pain as she lifted up the bandage and got a closer look. “Hmm. Not infected.” Zuri smiled and patted his leg. “Good. You’ll pull through. Enjoying the soup?”

The pony nodded vigorously and took another gulp of it, pausing in his story to thank her. “Thanks, Z. You and Basil are the best.”

Zuri simply laughed and waltzed away, making a beeline for the next pony with an injury.

Twilight watched closely as she did this, flitting back and forth among the group of creatures, checking their wounds and making sure they were okay or not. She determined the zebra was something of a doctor, but kept hearing references to this ‘bleeder’ the griffon had first mentioned and furrowed her brow in confusion, wondering what in Equestria a bleeder was. The implication from such a name made her skin crawl.

Finally, Zuri came to a stop, conveniently next to where Twilight was standing, and took a deep breath, pausing in her duties as the local medic. “Hello, princess,” she said quietly. “Enjoying yourself?”

Twilight’s ears flicked up in alarm. She stepped back, intending to run, to turn back into her own cabin and pretend she hadn’t been spying on anypony.

“Do not be alarmed, princess,” Zuri continued in a hushed but reassuring tone. “It is in my nature to notice things that do not typically wish to be noticed. My name is Zuri, I’m... I suppose I am the caretaker for these Children.” She glanced up at where Twilight’s head would be if not invisible. “How do you like your Children of the Sun?”

The princess allowed herself to relax and spoke with an equally hushed voice. “I never imagined everypony would be like this. They seem almost... peaceful.”

The zebra chuckled softly. “If only for a fleeting moment while they are fed.” She smiled warmly. “It is an honour to meet you, Princess Sparkle. One of my ancestors was a great friend to you, so I have heard.”

The princess looked at the zebra closely now. Indeed, now that she was standing still and could be given a proper inspection, she looked remarkably like Zecora. Her mane was braided and hung loosely by her neck, and a large feather hung from her ear, no doubt to remind her of her heritage in this concrete city. Bangles of some description wrapped around her hooves, and various markings and paint dotted her coat.

“You’re related to Zecora?” she whispered.

Zuri nodded. “She was my grandmother, twenty three times removed.”

“Huh.” Twilight was filled with feelings of resentment at again having missed such an important thing. Had Zecora met another zebra in Ponyville? Had she gone home to Zebrabwe? Yet another thing Twilight had missed because of her own bad choices. There was another thing that came to the forefront of her mind as she looked around and remembered a group of six mares she longed to see, having gotten caught up in the moment of observation. “I... Zuri?” she asked quietly, keeping her voice as low as possible.

The zebra strained an ear to listen. “Yes, princess?”

“My friends... Spike said they were all here. I haven’t seen them, are they-” Twilight fell silent as Zuri’s face twisted into a mask of sadness.

“Princess I must tell you, if I show you, you won’t like what you see.”

Twilight blinked and felt worry begin to rise in her again. “What do you mean?”

Zuri sighed again and twiddled with the feather hanging down from her ear. “It is better to show you... follow me.”

Zuri set off towards a row of shacks, being followed quietly by the still invisible Twilight Sparkle. She passed by Basil on her way there and nodded at him. He nodded back and began preparing four more bowls of soup.

***

In a single instant, all of the fear, all of the doubts, the worries, and even the thoughts of joy and happiness that flooded Twilight’s mind when Spike had told her of her friends vanished in a single instant as the door to what Zuri called his shack swung open.

She looked on and saw several hoofmade--or in this case clawmade--sculptures cobbled together from various items into resembling the ponies she dearly loved and longed for. Her heart leapt into her throat and she began to hyperventilate as she took in the heart wrenching sight.

Twilight’s eyes filled with tears. She covered her mouth in shock and horror and froze in place, unable to move or speak. With a quiet shimmer, her spell faltered and she was revealed to the world.

Midnight Sparkle’s voice trickled into existence once again. “Oh now this is interesting...” she giggled cruelly. “Poor lonely little Spikey Wikey. These must have taken him a few decades at least...”

Zuri stood silently to one side as Twilight took ginger steps forwards. The princess reached out and gently grazed the cheek of the statue that looked like Rarity and felt her heart heave for Spike. “This is how he coped with losing us all?” she croaked. Her throat felt coarse and she found the suddenly thick atmosphere hard to breathe.

The zebra nodded. “At first we tried to discourage him. But he...” she trailed off and gestured around the room. “He refused to acknowledge they had... passed on. I’m sorry, princess.”

“Oh... Spike...”

Overcome with grief, Twilight felt her heart break in to pieces the longer the looked at the statues and various paraphernalia Spike had gathered over the years. Each and every little thing he had collected was in memory of their friends. There was a brochure for Rarity’s boutique in Canterlot, worn and faded but unmistakable. Propped up against the wall on a small shelf was a signed copy of a Wonderbolts flight manual, Rainbow Dash’s familiar scrawl all over the front cover. Perhaps the saddest thing she saw besides the statues was a poignantly deflated pink balloon that clearly hadn’t seen any enjoyment in years.

Unable to bear it any longer, she turned away and hung her head low.

Her body heaved in silent sobs as she thought about her friends. Tears streamed down her face and splashed onto the ground.

“Oh come on, Twilight,” Midnight cruelly interjected, having materialized once again from the recesses of Twilight’s mind. “Crying? You must have always known this would eventually happen. Did you really think, did you really cling to some slimmer of hope that your friends were actually alive after all this time?” She disapprovingly shook her head.

“I thought...” Twilight mumbled through the tears. She turned her head enough to see Zuri looking at her pitifully, attempting to take a step forwards, intending to offer some words of comfort. “I hoped...”

“I’d think it were funny if it weren’t so pathetic.” After a moment’s pause Midnight shrugged and sighed. “Oh what the hell, I’ll laugh anyway.”

She threw her head back and howled with laughter, pointing at and viciously mocking Twilight’s tears. The princess felt her sorrow fade as the taunting reached her ears. Anger rose up inside her, a deep, deep hatred for this vicious, cruel creature that dared invade her mind time and time again, this arrogant monster that dared to belittle her poor, dearly beloved Spike and make an already terrible situation a thousand times worse by laughing at her as she cried for her long since deceased friends.

Nothing she had faced before compared to the anger she felt towards Midnight. Nightmare Moon. Discord. King Sombra. Even Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy Glow combined. Even the Storm King and Tempest Shadow. They were all nothing. Insignificant footnotes on the book of Twilight compared to Midnight Sparkle.

Her nostrils flared as she took deep breaths and rose herself up. Her horn ignited in a blaze of magic and she rounded on the dark alicorn. “Shut. Up,” she growled.

Zuri quickly pulled back in alarm and looked around. “Princess?” she murmured quietly, her eyes darting around the room. “I didn’t say-”

Twilight lowered her horn and charged towards Midnight, crashing into her and sending her careening across the room, shattering some of Spike’s memorabilia, including a mirror. Seven years bad luck was the last thing on the princess’s mind.

“Ugh!” Midnight grunted in pain. She wiped her nose and kicked Twilight away, looking down at her hoof she saw blood, and began to grin as Twilight quickly recovered and towered over her. “Is this the elusive rage of an alicorn princess? Come on. Hit me. Give it your best shot.”

Twilight needed no further encouragement. She barely heard the screams of Zuri as she laid into her enemy.

Again, and again, she swung her hooves into the dark alicorn, into the dark mirror of herself until her hooves were as sore and bloodied as the mare’s face.

Twilight had never been a violent pony. She had never wanted to fight, except when she had to to save her friends and Equestria, and even then she used her magic. Never before had she struck anypony with her hooves. The anger, the raw unadulterated rage she felt coursing through her veins filled her with no joy, no happiness, not even any sorrow. She felt nothing except the soft flesh underneath her. She had nothing left, her emotional bulwark finally broken down by none other than a twisted and evil version of herself.

Her hooves came down again and again, and she grunted and cried with every swing.

”Get. Out. Of. My. Head!” she bellowed, punctuating each word with a stamp.

Midnight continued to laugh in response, cackling madly with wild and gleeful eyes, despite her injuries.

Twilight paused in her assault and glanced around when she heard the door burst open, taking ragged breaths from the sudden exhaustion she felt, her body heaved, her muscles worn and strained.

She saw Spike standing there, staring at her silently in horror. Alongside him she saw Neon Dream and Bright Spark also staring, and in between them was a familiar soft pink coated pony she thought she would never see again. Recognising her violet mane with its trademark blue streak, and those beautiful opal coloured eyes she felt the rage subside, replaced by a strange serenity and sense of longing.

“Fl...” she mumbled, finding it suddenly difficult to speak. “Flur...”

With trembling hooves she removed herself off of Midnight Sparkle’s chest and took a step forwards before crashing into the ground. She forced her head to move around to see what trickery Midnight had done now, but saw nothing and nopony there. She caught her reflection in a piece of shattered mirror and began to shake with horror.

Her own bloodied and bruised face stared back at her, while Midnight stood behind her, grinning from ear to ear.

She felt surprisingly no pain when she realised what she had done, and exhaled one final breath before everything went black.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Does the real Grogar appear in this story?

[iAmSiNnEr]

Oh, Spike. you deluded fool....

This chapter perfectly symbolizes fighting with yourself, and your inner demons. Great job!

[Bigwig6666]

10437839
i.pinimg.com/originals/f5/4e/b8/f54eb8a70d58c1c8dbce0a8f739292cb.jpg

I don't think so, I don't have any plans to include him, sorry.

10438036
Haha thanks, this is the real bread and butter of what I was going for

[Razzy]

Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself!

Wow, poor Spike.