Twilight Scarlet

by vincent789

Epilogue (Christmas Special)

As soon as Twilight's beam ended, she found herself in a white world. The ground, the ceiling and the walls were made of white. And endlessly it seemed. That was until Twilight saw what appears to be a human, just standing there in the center. The human looks up and smiled as Twilight approached him. She looked down to inspect her own body, only to realize that she herself is also still just a human, not yet a pony.

"Twilight Scarlet... Welcome to Limbo. A world between realms." The being stated.

"I see. I assume you stopped my spell from continuing?" Twilight wondered.

"Not exactly. My job isn't to keep you here. I am merely the messenger. However, it seems my boss wishes to meet you, before you go." The being said, it smiled.

"I see. And I assume he or she is the real god of that world correct?" Twilight asked again.

The messenger smiled at Twilight before disappearing without answering Twilight's question. Instead a new being appeared. A female humanoid.

"Wait a second. You are...!" Twilight said as she gasped slightly.

"I did not make that world." The god continued. "But my desire to go to that one. Kept the book from being destroyed."

"Until it happened." Twilight answered saddened, "The desire which would destroy the story."

The god nodded disappointed, "Yes. I fear that my desire for that world got the better of me. Which in turn destroyed your future. Now you have powers from both, but no future in either of them."

"The price of power, don't you agree?"

The god nodded in agreement, "I suppose so. Now then, what I am about to ask you, will be heart wrenching. So listen closely."

Twilight took a seat on the ground awaiting the choice, the dilemma she knew was coming. Nevertheless, she was ready.

"You left that world without a future for either. And while I cannot fix your future, I can still grant that world a future. The only sacrifice I need to make, is your existence in theirs. Of course that spell of yours will make some users keep their memories, but only their subconscious memories. Not primary memories."

"I know. And I did that on purpose. Don't get me wrong... I had a spell for their primary memories. But in the end, I realized that my selfish desire could rip apart the fabric of that world. And my own as a result. Not wanting to create unnecessary baggage for the people of that world. I chose the subconscious memories on purpose." Twilight admitted, a soft smile on her face.

The god smiled at Twilight, "I see. You truly are wise. In which case, you knew the following dilemma would appear then, I suppose. The dilemma is this. Reset their world which will grant their world a future once again, but lose your existence from them. Or don't reset it, and watch the world potentially fall into ruin, but keep your existence no secret."

"At the beginning such a dilemma would have been difficult. But not anymore. I have come to terms with it. And besides if I ever go back, I get to experience a new adventure once more. Please reset it. But can I atleast ask for one favor?" Twilight hoped, the god smiled and nodded, "Please add my name under their Christmas tree. I know its minor, but that is enough for me."

Twilight gave the god a sad but knowing smile. The god too, looked a bit sad. "Alright. But this does have one slight condition."

"Which is?" Twilight asked.

"You must drop the Scarlet surname." The god stated.

Twilight drooped. She knew this would happen, however this made her not any less sad. "Consider it done. My name is now Twilight Vermillion Sparkle." she said as she began to shed tears at the mention.

The god was also having some tears in her eyes, "Goodbye Twilight Sparkle. May your future bring you a lot more adventures to come. And perhaps one day, we will meet again. Either in the after-life or in another adventure." The god said as she gave Twilight a soft smile when she stated the last sentence. Particularly when she mentioned another adventure.

Twilight smiled, as her vision of world went black. And she continued on, to Equestria.

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Six hours before Twilight's return to this world, Celestia and Luna opened the winter celebration with some snow fireworks. As the Canterlot wide Christmas event went under way. Luna watched as a surprisingly high amount of children, in what appears to be adventure clothing, explore her beautiful ice themed garden. It made her smile, especially since those children seemed to be having fun, exploring the new area. That was temporarily unlocked for all to see.

However this view also made Celestia kind of sad. She knew Twilight was coming home, but the prospect of Twilight not seeing this, made her incredibly sad. Celestia had a fake smile plastered on her face, however it was so fake, that some ponies could see the strain behind her mask.

"Sister. Your mask isn't working." Luna warned, causing Celestia to sigh as she released the mask.

"I know." Celestia sighed, "As much as I want to be happy. The lack of my old student's presence is keeping me sad. Even if she is destined to come home today, there is always a chance she will miss her sixth winter celebration. Which was her favorite celebration, as she would show her magical prowess off by trying to summon snow fall. Even after I keep telling her, that such magic is far too hard for her. That is the is the reason I start each and every winter event with fireworks. Since its like snowfall even if it's in the form of fireworks." Celestia admitted saddened.

"Not that Twilight agreed with that." Celestia added while looking away.

"I see. So that is the reason." A new voice behind Celestia said. Causing the sisters to turn around in search of the unknown voice.

"Happy winter celebration." Celestia greeted a soft sad smile formed on her face. As she greeted Twilight's parents.

"Happy winter celebration. Or Christmas. Whatever the current generation likes to call it." Night Light, Twilight's dad, stated. He wore a happy smile as he watched the children explore Luna's garden.

"Christmas I believe." Velvet Sparkle, Twilight's mother, replied. She too, wore a happy smile. But Luna could tell that she hid some sadness behind her eyes.

As the group continued to chat about Christmas some more. Twilight would be due to arrival was due to come in less than four hours. Even if the group was totally unaware at this fact. Nonetheless, they continued to chat about the winter celebration and the fun activities that Twilight used to love and enjoy. Even if she wasn't here right now.

The group then moved on, as they slowly walked among the stalls. To experience the fun activities Twilight in particular enjoyed, but also some smaller activities that the royal sisters loved in particular. Of course Celestia made the group go to some of the sweets stalls to grab a cake or two. Meanwhile Luna was more intrigued at the decorations.

"Hey sis. What is with these weird decorations?" Luna asked as she looked around.

The market was decorated with lots of small lights, but the stalls in particular were made of a wooden exterior. Something Luna never did, she would always keep it somewhat bare bones. She also noted that plenty of ponies were carrying candy bags, again Luna never did this. It was unusual to her. But also somewhat unfamiliar to Twilight's parents.

"Yeah. It looks rather unique. In a good way of course!" Velvet said as she hastily added the last part.

Celestia sighed, proud at the questions. "Actually this wasn't my design. This was Twilight's design. You see, Twilight and I went to the north to explore the stars one day. When we were caught by a snow storm. We managed to seek refuge in a wooden cabin, in which we shared tales about each others adventures. And after the snow storm settled. I remember her telling me, that this was very cozy. She hoped that one day, we could get a winter celebration market, with wooden stalls. To indirectly thank whoever placed that cabin up there."

The story caught Luna and Twilight's parents by surprise. But Luna in particular smiled at story. "I see. To convey a cozy ambiance. And to celebrate the warmth during cold periods. Right?"

Celestia nodded, "It is also the reason why Twilight had been attempting to recreate a snow storm in Canterlot, ever since."

Twilight's parents smiled, "That is rather amazing." Night admitted.

"Yeah. So why are you not letting any snow be dropped around this time?" Velvet asked slightly confused.

Luna and Celestia looked at each other, however Luna shook her head. Causing Celestia to sigh, "I am sorry. I wish I could tell you. But... there is a secret reason. That is all."

Night sighed at this, "I see. I assume you wish to let Twilight do the honors if she ever were to return home."

This caused Luna to smile at the unintentional meaning, "Yes. That is basically it."

"If snow ever falls in Canterlot. No matter the season. Twilight will return." Celestia confirmed.

"Anyways." Luna switched gears for a moment, "What are you two doing this winter celebration?"

"We set up a mini-game and Twilight's old haunted house." Night explained

Luna raised her eyebrow at the mention of an haunted house. "Twilight has a haunted house?"

Velvet smiled, "Actually, we were unaware about it as well. Until recently."

"What do you mean?" Celestia asked confused but intrigued.

"I am not sure if you are aware. But after Twilight's disappearance. And subsequent MIA. We believed that we could allow other children to experience Twilight's joy of adventuring. However after Twilight's incident, we realized that such an experience has to be done safely and under supervision to a degree." Velvet explained.

"After coming to such an conclusion. Velvet and I, wanted to set up a club of sorts. An adventurers club. So we searched around our property ownership to find any places we could set such a place up. That is when we stumbled across a warehouse that Twilight often used. Wanting to reuse it and renovate it. We entered the warehouse to scout it out." Night explained.

"That is when we found a whole host of weird and curious objects. Some taken without permission by Twilight. Others she simply found through wandering inside of forests that borders Canterlot. We also found a host of equipment we that at first thought were stolen. Only to find proof that these were bought with her own money." Velvet explained.

"Among the objects that were most curious. Sat a small mount of very rare gems. Some looked dug up, mere days before her disappearance. As they still had dirt on them. But that is when my wife had the brilliant idea to turn the lights on. And after she did so, we saw a massive wooden structure sitting in the back of the warehouse. An entire building had been stored inside the warehouse." Night explained.

Night and Velvet giggle at themself. "The reaction we had to it, was amazing. Night's mouth had hit the floor, meanwhile my eyes went as wide as dinner plates. After that, we had the same rush Twilight sometimes had, when discovering unusual objects. We had an inside desire to explore the building. Like an overwhelming amount." Velvet admitted.

"Of course we were older than Twilight. So instead of exploring the building. We firstly began doing research on it. That is when we had a surprising match. The building was made, with a track in it. Which was unusual, but nothing out of the ordinary. However when we turned the building on, by feeding it some magic. What happened next blew our minds." Night said while looking back on the discovery.

"Twilight had managed to build an entire haunted house right under our noses. Complete with carts, track, scare mechanics, specialized wheels to keep the attraction in motion. Everything a haunted house needed, it had. Minus one small detail." Velvet admitted.

"It wasn't structurally safe?" Celestia offered, a small smile forming as she too, remembered an unusual request a few years back. This caused Luna to get a picture in her head she cannot refused. She started to laugh loudly, much to the embarrassment of Twilight's parents.

"So..." Luna tried to talk in between her laughter, "She... Build the haunted house. *Wheeze* With a child scale in mind. Not with the weight of an adult pony in mind. Right?" She managed to ask.

Night sighed in embarrassment, "Sadly yes." Causing Luna to laugh louder than ever.

Velvet decided to ignore Luna's laughter in favor to continue explaining her story. "After our little... Incident. We asked the aid of some haunted house specialists. To assist us, in improving its stability. Both in structural nature and the track that ran among the house itself."

"Yes. And what they told us was surprising. The haunted house is structurally safe. The reason why it fell apart. Was due to the way the floors had been constructed. They weren't designed to hold anyone. It was merely decoration. The actual attraction was slightly unsafe. Primarily due taking the wrong measurement in mind. Which was apparently easy to fix." Night explained.

"More pillars and a slight redesign of the carts was only necessary. So we did exactly that. After that, we powered the attraction for the first time. To inspect the scare mechanics. I was in a cart with one of the specialist. We expected some simplistic scares and some mechanical sounds." Velvet admitted.

"And?" Luna asked curious.

"We got neither. No, the moment we entered. The whole attraction felt differently. Not only was it really spooky. But the attraction used paranoia and fear of the unknown as the primary ways to scare the horseapples out of us. And right at the end sits a really nasty jump scare."

"In the end. My wife was sweating bullets after experiencing it. Even the specialist was both scared like mad, but also incredibly impressed. He explained that the house uses magic to operate the fear. The background was merely there, to keep us from finding a source of familiarity to keep us from being scared. Which was quite brilliant in his eyes. So he went with me, into the attraction again. To see if there was anything else the attraction offered." Night explained.

"That was the moment we both realized that there was a second floor. Meaning there was a plan B. To give each ride a slightly different experience. That ride was twice as long, and featured some really weird and unusual scares. I am incredibly resistant to fear tactics. But even that ride put me off. In fact I still believe that plan B creates optical illusions, in combination with fear of the unknown and confusion as its primary fear tactic."

"After we exited the ride. It took some minutes for our eyes to readjust. To the lack of optical illusions. Which made us surprisingly jumpy. I have a feeling that, that was intentional. Regardless, we made the second floor more safe. Then we prepared it to use it one day."

"It was then, that we managed to obtain a large enough plot of land for the winter celebration to give the haunted house a proper attempt at scaring ponies. And gosh is it effective." Velvet said smiling.

"But that leaves the question. How DOES it scare the ponies inside?" Celestia stated confused.

This caused Night to smile, "Well, we believe Twilight used a rather old-school method of magical casting. You see, we tried to use magic to detect the magic when inside the haunted house and when it's activate. But our magic simply failed to detect anything."

"It was then that I, alongside the expert, started to search for a backdoor of sorts." Velvet said, "And what we found, confused us at first. But after inspecting the magic, we realized that instead of using magical spells. She used something we liked to call, "Programmed Spell casting." Which is either done through the use of a circle of magic, that turns clockwise. Which will active all the spells clockwise as the cart activates the turning."

"But you would have heard that. Which you did not. So what was used?" Luna asked curious.

Velvet smiled softly, "Magical orbs. She programmed each cart with their own magical orb. Which gives vibrations to create odd sounds and feels. But the orb also activates the other orbs. Those other orbs holds a variety of optical spells, illusion spells and lots of other more unusual spells. When the orb passes a certain threshold, the orb activates these spells at random. But in a way that is both silent to the ears, and nearly impossible to detect using traditional magic."

"The expert told us, that those orbs were packed with spells that would make even the more seasoned adventurer terrified. From beastly sounds that would come from very real monsters. To whispering to make the person both crazy and delusional. To illusions only some ponies within the cart could see. Luckily when we entered, the attraction was improperly activated. As it was running on safe mode. Thus some of the more extreme stuff wasn't active. But it could have. Which terrified the expert greatly." Night explained.

"Which is around that time. The expert sends me a letter regarding the existence of that haunted house." Celestia spoke up, "He explained the potential danger. And actually requested that I shut it down." she added, causing both parents and Luna to eyes to widen.

Celestia's smile turned more evil, "I refused. Called them stupid. And nearly fired them. After that I actually came to the warehouse to actually inspect the haunted house. And figure out why the house was on safe mode to begin with."

"Exactly. We found out that the spell orbs detected that Twilight nowhere nearby. And without Twilight's permission, the haunted house wasn't able to be turned on, through normal means. So the princess injected the house with some of Luna's magic, to try and bypass it." Velvet explained.

"Which actually failed." Celestia stated, the surprise she had back then, showing on her face. Luna's eyes widen at that.

"Yes. Despite the magic being compatible. It denied it. Instead it basically requested that Shining Armor activated it instead. Apparently he was also aware of the haunted house's existence. And after Shining Armor activated the haunted house. Another cart appeared. Apparently the carts we entered before, we merely used in testing. The ones that came out had four seats." Night explained.

"So we re-entered. One expert, Shining Armor, my wife and I entered the attraction." Night continued, though his face became more pale as he continued.

"Yes. It... was terrifying. Which made Shining Armor's reaction all the more impressive. He neither flinched nor react to anything. In fact he started to giggle somewhere in the middle of the ride. Which didn't lessen our fear. We were terrified like fillies. After we exited, it took all the willpower in the world. Not to faint right there and then." Velvet said, her voice shivering in fear.

"But I had a good reason." Shining Armor walked up towards his parents. Merely two hours before Twilight was due to arrive.

"What do you mean?" Night asked confused and also still slightly pale.

"Some of the sounds of the beasts. And some scare formats like the illusions were my idea. You see, the ride has two cycles. Cycle one is Twilight's design. Which goes through the ground floor but also goes to the first floor in secret. And the second cycle is my design. Which goes to the first floor primarily, and is technically longer." Shining explained.

"Would you mind explaining what each cycle does special and what makes each unique?" Luna asked hopeful.

Shining admitted with a smile., "Twilight always hoped someone would one ask that question."

"Of course I can and will." he added afterwards.

"Firstly my cycle. It is the longest of the two and lasts about thirty minutes. Which is incredibly long. Especially in attraction standards. My cycle focuses on some of my own adventurers in the wild. Within my cycle, two stories are present. Story one is the least scary, but story two is the most scary. Story one is about a lone adventurer braving the Everfree forest. Getting paranoid and nearly mauled by a Timberwolf. Story two is about a real life story regarding my attempt to rescue my fellow guard from a paranoid and evil scientist. Which delves into his paranoia and the very real traps that mansion had." Shining explained.

"That is... Wow. I expected a lot from Twilight. But that sounds totally amazing. That does beg the question. Did you try it out as well, sis?" Luna asked Celestia curiously.

Celestia sighed, "Yes. I specifically asked to ride a trip through Twilight's version. Something that Shining Armor gladly obligated. And as they stated earlier, traditional magic can indeed not detect those magical orbs. Not only because the magic itself is unusual. But also because Twilight put a serious amount of effort into hiding the magical signature."

"And?" Luna asked hopeful.

"Well I was so busy trying to figure out Twilight's magic. That I was totally ignoring the actual experience." Celestia admitted.

Luna drooped slightly, until a light bulb went off in her head. "Then we got to ride it again! Just to experience it."

Celestia smiled and nodded, "Alright. Can you show me the way to the haunted house?"

"Of course, your highness." Velvet said as they proceeded to walk towards the haunted house.

Something that was a surprisingly short trip. Merely a few steps and a few more blocks, and the haunted house stood there. In all its glory, and all its restlessness. The restlessness came primarily from the enormous crowds that were trying to enter it. Put off by this, Night rushes forwards to figure out the problem.

"Is something the matter?" Night asked the operator.

The operator looks up, slightly panicked by the stress placed by the crowd. "Yes. The attraction shut off without warning."

"Ah. It might have run out of power. The power core of the haunted house isn't the most powerful. Twilight made a few failsafes in case of power outage." Shining Armor reminded.

"How do we turn it back on?" Night asked.

"Either replace the power core. Or you could let me use my admin key to reengage it." Shining Armor replied.

"What type of core does it use?" Celestia asked.

"Probably a orb type. Perhaps type 9 operational core using dark magic." Luna injected.

"That is the crazy part. Twilight made sure that the haunted house can only use a single type of core to avoid overloading. A type 3 transportation core using star warp magic." Shining Armor stated. Causing both sister's to gasp.

"That IS crazy!" Celestia admitted.

"Thankfully my sister can magical conjure it out of thin air. Will you?" Celestia added afterwards.

Luna nodded as she basically warped one into existence. "Here!"

Night takes the core and replaces the old one. After which Shining Armor used his admin key to unlock the attraction once more. The operator then proceeds to get the stuck guests out of the attraction, after which he returns the attraction back into normal operation. Most of crowds disperse afterwards.

Night sighed in relieve, "Sorry about that. Now, would you like a free ride?" he offers the two sisters.

Luna smiled, "Gladly." She then drags her sister into the cart as it runs through Twilight's cycle. One experience of the century especially with, what happens as soon as they are inside.

With the royal sisters inside the attraction, Night takes the attraction back over from the stressed operator. The operator moves over to the mini-game stall from Night. To operate it, out of Night's presence. And just as they take a seat, Velvet sitting next to her husband, she was awaiting the sisters's return. As something peculiar happened.

"Huh?" Night suddenly said as he was looking up. "Clouds?"

But as soon as those clouds appeared, what happened next stunned the two of them. It began to snow. Something that signaled the return of Twilight Sparkle. Something they became aware of, quite quickly.

"Snow?!" Velvet said as she put one and two together. She looks at the castle, the location where a snow storm seemingly appeared. "Wait! A snowstorm! Twilight!"

Shining Armor who happen to overhear it, gasped. He then re-equipped his armor as he rushes towards the castle. In an attempt to see his sister as soon as physically possible. Of course he had a bit of trouble, since the snow brought ice with it. Causing him to slip and slide towards the castle. That didn't stop him of course. However that wasn't the only reason why it was difficult to reach the castle. The snow storm blinded him, and the chaos of ponies trying to flee the castle put a dent into his running speed. Nonetheless, he reached atleast the inside of the castle as he made his way to the forbidden section of the castle.

Meanwhile the sisters exited the ride, both refreshed and surprised at the ride experience. They were about to explain their experience to Twilight's parents. When they saw the shock on their eyes. As Celestia looks towards the location of the shock, her own mouth hit the floor. It was snowing... That meant only one thing.

"Twilight!" She shouted as she released the bar keeping her in place. She then took the sky, which caused her to shake a little, the wind in the sky was very cold. Regardless, she successfully made her way to the sky. After which she hovered a little in place as she looks towards her sister.

"Luna. I need to ensure a safe return to Twilight. Please take care of the crowds! I can see a lot of panic." Celestia instructed.

"Very well. I will get on that. And Celestia?" Luna replied.

"Yes?"

"Don't cry too much, alright?" Luna said, rubbing salt into Celestia's wounds.

Celestia snorted, causing her to slightly smile at the jab. Before making a quick route towards the castle. Only to meet a slight difficulty from the snow storm surrounding the castle. But again it was nothing she couldn't handle, as she made her way towards the forbidden section of the castle.

As soon as Celestia landed, she saw Shining Armor in full armor searching the library. The look in his face suggested not much luck. She was about to search with him, as she suddenly felt a spike of magic in the corner of the library. She then got Shining's attention as she points at the still empty corner of the library. He too, sensed the spike in magic. Nodded in response as they awaited Twilight's return.

For a few seemingly minutes later. Six magical spells, with the power of gods appeared in front of the duo. All six were unidentifiable by the two of them. Regardless they watch as six spinning orbs appear around the circle magic cast, and moments later a small beam blinded them both. Only to reveal a perfectly well preserved filly Twilight appear, her eyes closed. As she was slowly levitated back onto the ground. And after what felt like hours, her eyes open.

As soon as Twilight's eyes open and her vision return to her, the orbs disappeared from sight. The six spells disappearing with them. Twilight moved her front left hoof close her her vision as she inspected them. She was still focusing on adapting back into a pony form.

Twilight's eyes then glanced over the two ponies watching her. Princess Celestia and Shining Armor, her brother. After gathering that much information, she glanced back at the front right hoof. Inspecting it for a moment, before finally speaking up.

"I'm back."

Author's Note:

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Hello! Thanks for reading this saga so far. As you might know, this is the last chapter of this part of the saga. But after this, sits another one. Part two of this book, I.E. it's sequel will most likely come out next year. I cannot give out a date, since I haven't even started on the prologue of the sequel. But more is coming, that much I can promise.

Now, what is there to read while waiting for the sequel? Well besides the other fimfiction creators and thus their stories. I have a bunch of stories you could check out in the meantime.

I have "The chef's Apprentice" Which is also an alternative universe. About Twilight Sparkle becoming a chef instead of a princess. That story is already four books deep. With a total count of 265+ K words across all four books. It is mostly complete, minus the final book.

I have "Dead by Twilight" Which is an Alternative universe with close ties with "Assassination Classroom" Which is mostly a Mature story about... well Assassinations done by Twilight to put it simple anyways. It only has 13,7 K words as it just started.

And finally I have my potentially dead (Unless I ever get back to it, that is) "Mrs. Santa" Which is one big Christmas story that I still trying to work on. Problem is mostly due to lack of motivation and also due to me having lost the story's premise several times. I just never seem to get it finished. If I cannot get it finished atleast next year. I will cancel it. It has only 9,4 k words with about 3 k of words waiting for completion. I cannot in the best of me, recommend this story however.

Anyways those are the stories I currently have worked on. There are also a bunch of other stories that I am currently preparing, but haven't submitted yet. If you think you are interested in those. I recommend following me. Since I won't be going anywhere.

Another important announcement I have decided to let you choose which story I should work on in between Twilight Scarlet and its sequel. You will find that blog post here.

Have a very merry Christmas, and a wonderful new year!

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