Episode 118 ("Dark World" Rise of the Alicorn): Road To Dawn
Pony POV Series Dark World Alicorn Ascension
My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic
The Road to Dawn
By Alex Warlorn
Edited by Louis and Kendell2
= Dive Into heart-Kingdom Hearts =
I held onto my schoolbooks with my forehooves as I trotted into the icecream shop, seeing the purple pony who was Twilight in the glass door's reflection. I wished there was an easier way to lug around my precious books.
"I hear your sister's pregnant, Clover," said the filly with the microphone cutie mark to the shy girl with the fourleaf cutie mark.
"Meadowlark? Yeah, though I don't know about becoming an aunt already."
"Why do you stay with Teddy, Sweetheart? He's just bad news. His cousin's a better pick," said the green one with the pink notebook cutie mark to the white mare with the hearts on her flank (and figurative sleeve).
"Teddy doesn't let anyone see it, but he's generous and hardworking when he sees his pranks went too far. He's just too caught up in his 'tough guy' image."
I looked out the window at the street I had just come from. Ponies were pulling carriages for other ponies on a date. I also saw a town sign: 'Ponyville.'
'Just how many Ponyvilles are there?' I thought, then shook my head, wondering what I meant by that.
I looked back at the teenage fillies and gasped, one mare, the beige one with the patch cutie mark, right there, was eating a hamburger! Cannibal! Cannibal! Wait...why was I making a big deal out of it? And 'cannibal'? It's not like hamburgers were made from ponies like in that cheesy science fiction movie about over population.
The pony was using her hooves to hold the burger (was it magic trick or something?), and picked up a napkin with one hoof wiping her face before using the other hoof to down a milkshake.
Meanwhile, the yellow filly with the candy cutie mark got up on her rear legs and began to trot over to her friend keeping perfect balance before sitting down next to her on her flanks sitting up and helped herself to her friend's fries.
"Hey!"
"Sorry, I didn't think you wanted them."
"Ask next time."
It was a lot like Lyra, but not like Lyra. These high school ponies did it so...naturally, like they had been taught this was the proper way to sit and walk their whole lives!
'Wait...who's Lyra? And I'm in highschool myself, I don't have a right be high and mighty around them.' I suddenly thought, humbled.
Did I know these fillies? Yes, of course I did, I must have, right? The girls with the candy cutie and heart cutie marks looked familiar. The girls with the four leaf clover and microphone cutie marks felt familiar. I wasn't sure what to make of the other three.
Why did I come in here? Well, nothing wrong with meeting new(?) friends, maybe a study break won't kill me after all if my head is this jumbled.
I trotted over and sat down at one of the spin seats at the counter.
"Hi! I'm Starlight. Welcome to the Rainbow Ice Cream Shop, what would you like?" said the pink filly with the star cutie mark.
"Erm, maybe just a Coltacola. Medium size."
"That'll be two jangles."
I blinked. Jangles? Wasn't that the currency used before bits? "Erm, on second thought I'm a little short on jangles right now."
"Oh? It's okay. Have a freebee, it's on the house." She hoofed me the soda, literally with just one hoof! Was it magnets or something?
"You okay?"
"Oh I'm fine." Not wanting to embarrass myself, I just drank through the straw.
"So what's your name?"
"Twilight...Twilight Sparkle."
"Nice to meet you, Twilight Sparkle. You've got a lot of books."
I blushed a little. "Yeah, I'm...kind of a bookworm. Some ponies call me a teacher's pet..."
Starlight smiled rather widely. "Really? I actually want to be a teacher when I grow up."
I couldn't help smiling. "That's a great dream."
"Thanks, I've always really look up to our teacher...Say, what's the point of life to you then? Is it what you experience while here? What you leave behind? Or where you're going after?"
"Huh? Well...what I leave behind."
"Good answer, but is it your answer?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean you ought to chat with my friends before you go. By the way, it's great knowing you've pleased your teacher, but there's a difference between aspiring to be as good as her, and thinking your judgement equals hers."
"I...I can understand that."
The yellow pony had left the beige pony for the moment to go to the little filly's room, I chose to start with the remainder. I sat down next to her, and yelped and shot up! What the?! A joy buzzer on the seat?!
I glared at the beige filly who stifled a giggle. "Sorry! Wasn't meant for you. I'm Patch, class clown, adventurer, and best friends with a princess! So...how about you?"
"Twilight Sparkle. I, I'm a student, I love to learn. And...make friends."
"Heh! Well you came to the right place. Ponies are more concerned with gender lines than social circles around here."
"I'm glad. Someponies used to bully me for being a 'teachers pet'."
"Well no need to be scared of that. We're a real accepting bunch, just ask Bon Bon." She then said under her breath, "I'd be more afraid of mice myself."
"We're scared of something," I said.
She looked me in the eye. "How about what scares you the most? Not being remembered after everyone who knew you is gone? Being helpless? Or losing those dear to you?"
"...Losing those dear to me."
"Sure, I guess that's that's true, but is it true for you?"
"Why wouldn't it be?"
"Just asking."
"Excuse me." I was tapped on the shoulder, it was the green pony with the pink notebook cutie mark, "Hi, I'm Bright Eyes."
"Glad you meet you, Bright Eyes, I'm Twilight."
"Likewise. You said you liked to learn? There's a forest near here where a bird called the Green-Winged Song Bird lives."
"Wow, really? I think I've heard about them, they're really rare."
"Yeah, they are, that's why I'm trying to let more ponies know about them. It's all our responsibilities to protect the environment, right? Hey, you said you're a student too? You look about my age. Can you help me with a small test question?"
"I guess I can, no harm in it."
"Alright. What would you consider to be the single defining factor that separates gods from mortals? Power? Immortality? Or understanding?"
"None of the above...or at least, not as a SINGLE defining factor. Power, alone, makes you just a ruler, a creator, or a destroyer. Immortality alone...well, if old trees are anything to go by...is just staying in one place forever. Understanding alone...best scenario, you'd be a living encyclopedia whom those with supposed power are always calling upon for reference."
Bright Eyes nodded happily, "What a well thought out response! But do you know what the objective answer is?"
"...No. No, I can't say that I do. Now I'm curious, please tell me what IS the objective answer?"
"Sorry, it's my question too. Thanks for the help on my homework, Twilight you said your name was? I think you should talk to Melody next, otherwise she might get bored and leave. She's the one with the microphone cutie mark."
I got up and trotted over to Melody. "Like, hello, your name is Twilight Sparkle?"
"Yes."
"But what about with ponies who know you by different names? Ponies who know you as 'the Smartest Filly In School' or somepony you meet in a chatroom under an alias? Do you act differently around these ponies than you do around those who know you as Twilight Sparkle? So which 'Twilight Sparkle' is the real you? Is it the one that exists in their minds of others? The Twilight you think you are? Or is it the Twilight that stares back at you in the mirror?"
"...It's like Schrödinger's cat."
"Like, huh?"
"The true self can't be observed. Not only are outside views biased, your view of yourself is biased by your own limited perspective. The true self is there but we can't grasp it with our own eyes."
"That like, is quite an answer! But is it what you've been taught, or what you've been told?"
I was lost for words. WAS it something I'd learned? Or simply told to repeat? I knew it, but did I understand it?
I looked around, that was four. Why did Starlight want me to answer these questions? Was this a secret club scouting?
"Like, thanks for the answer," Melody said, before I could properly respond. "My band is having a charity concert later, would you like to come?"
"Concert?"
"Yeah, I'm a singer, and electric guitar player! Our band's called the Rockin' Beats, you should totally come. The proceeds are, like, going to a good cause, that new nature preserve."
"Yeah...maybe I will."
I got up, and began trotting towards Clover. That was when the mare with the candy cutie mark came out of the filly's room and accidentally bumped into me.
"Oof! Oh! Sorry!"
"I'm okay. Is your name Bon Bon?"
"Yes it is! Have we met?"
"I, I'm not sure, I'm Twilight Sparkle, your friends have all been asking me questions."
"Oh really? I guess I should too! Okay, give a second here! Hmmm. Okay! I got one. What you want and what makes you happy, what you're supposed to do and what you need to do, the smart thing to do and the right thing to do: where's the dividing line when these things stop being the same thing? That was good right?"
"...I'd have to be in that situation to know for sure. Something like that is too liquid and too important to tie down with just one response. It should be handled on a case-by-case basis."
"Hmmmmm." Bon Bon thought, "You've got a real point there. But-"
"But?"
"But what happens, when there's no time for a 'case-by-case' basis? A situation when hesitation costs you? But not looking before you leap could cost others more?"
"I'll...I'll need, to think about that one."
"Okay, thanks for the chat. Nice you meet you, Twilight."
"Y-yeah...Bon Bon, Patch said to ask you about how ponies around here are accepting of each other."
"Oh! Yeah, they are. I thought everyone was going to laugh at me for wanting to be a model. I even came in at the wrong moment at a dance and thought they were! I can't believe I actually ran away. It turned out they were just laughing at Patch's jokes. Well, see you around! Hey! Starlight! Wipe me up a sunday, just have your mom take it out of my next shift's pay."
I stood there, and saw the purple pony in the corner with the clover cutie mark, now she was sitting by herself looking down. Why wasn't she being with her friends? I started trotting over to her, but felt a tug on my shoulder. I turn my head to see the white and pink filly.
"Erm, excuse me, could you, could you please answer my question next? Please?" She asked in a voice just above a polite whisper.
"Alright."
"Thank you very much." She took in a deep breath. "If you see a blind pony walking over a cliff, who thought she was walking over a bridge you'd stop her right? If she fought you because she thought you were lying and trying to rob her, you'd take the beating and still stop her right? Also, if foals were stuffing their faces with cookies just before dinner, you'd stop them wouldn't you?"
I nodded. That was easy.
"But...what happens when it not so simple? But you still have power? And are trusted to do the right thing? Imagine two sides battling each other, both for reasons that are good and unselfish. Both sides are doomed to suffer losses, but fight because they are unable to work out their current problems peacefully...which might lead to WORSE troubles down the road. There is a high likelihood that the war being allowed to play out might prevent WORSE troubles down the road, problems that nonviolence would only further erode, culturally and sociologically. But...do the mothers and families of the fallen soldiers care about hypothetical problems way down the road? Or do they just cry for their sons who'll never come home again? If you could do something but did nothing, does that make make you responsible too, for whichever ponies suffers?"
I shuddered, feeling small, limited, and trapped. The worst part was, this pony wasn't trying to lord any moral superiority over me. Rather, her tone was pleading, beseeching, she wanted an answer.
"I...I...I..." The gears in my mind screeched. "Maybe that kind of power shouldn't exist?"
She slowly shook her head, "But it DOES exist. NOTHING can be accomplished without power of some sort. And isn't discarding power still a choice of how you used it?"
"I...I answered your question as best I could. Can...can I please speak to that purple pony in the corner now?"
"Alright, I'm sorry," She nuzzled me on the cheek. "It was nice to meet you. Oh, and if anypony tells you Teddy's a bad pony, don't listen, he's a sweet guy when you get to know him, just most ponies don't give him the chance."
I nodded and trotted past her, sitting down next to Clover. She sat at round table in an alcove with cushioned seats. Her front hooves were on the table as she looked down.
"Er, excuse me?" I tried to ask politely.
"OH!" She looked at me, surprised. "W-w-wait just a minute! What makes a hero?"
"To yourself: sacrifice and perseverance. To others: inspiration and ideals."
"Oh! I'm sorry! That one was too simple!" She took out some cue cards from somewhere, but spilled them clumsily on the table.
"Here let me help you with-"
"No, you're not supposed to see!" Clover tried to covered up the questions with her hooves but I read them all the same. 'To Fluttershy: What is the difference between innocence and ignorance?' 'To Rarity: If life is unfair to everyone, doesn't that make life fair?' 'To Pinkie Pie: What is important enough to go to war over?' 'To Rainbow Dash: Are you the kind of friend that you would want to have as a friend?' 'To Applejack V: WHY are you...you?'
The more I tried to remember the questions though, the less I could, like trying to put a key in a lock that didn't fit.
"Twilight Sparkle...go on."
"What?"
"Just leave. It's not important."
"What do you mean it's not important?"
"No matter what I do it's never good enough, so just go. It's going to be a flop no matter what I ask. I could never match my friends' questions. Nothing I ask is going to make a difference to you. So just go."
"No," I said. "If you've all want to ask me something important, then you get to ask too! Don't sell yourself short unless you try."
"I did, it didn't work out."
"Then try again! Failing just once is no reason to give up!"
"Then when do you give up?"
"What?" I blinked.
"That's my question for you: When do you give up? When you're trying harder, and harder, and things don't change, when do you give up? When does it become about you not wanting to fail at something, and not actually getting the job done because it's worth doing?"
I nearly fell out of my seat. "When do you give up?" I whispered. I closed my eyes, thought for a moment and opened them, "When the effort you're putting in would be better served elsewhere. But much more importantly, and overriding that,...when it begins to hurt those around you. It's the same when you hurt others by simply giving up!"
She hugged me. I felt strange as we touched, I slowly hugged her back. "Thank you Twilight."
"You're, welcome."
"I envy you," Clover whispered, "You've done so many amazing things, you got friends who'd see you through saving the world. You've come so far, and done so much. While all I do is dance."
"I have four left hooves," I said kindly, "I wish I could dance."
"Would you give up everything you've done for it?"
"Nope. Because it's part of what's made 'me' me, just like I think your dancing is part of you. Truth be told? I envy you. All of you." I turned and looked at the six other mares who were leaving over and looking at me calmly with friendly or amuse smiles or smirks on their muzzles. "You all got to be friends WITHOUT having to save the world in the process. Grow up, Fall in love, Have foals: something like that, I missed that chance. You got to live your lives more I have. I love the magic and the spells and the dragons, but for the FRIENDS and experiences it's gotten me, not for its own sake. Your lives might not be as dangerous as mine, but that doesn't make them any less worth living."
Silence for a few moments, and Bon Bon began clapping. The others looked at her and joined in.
"Well you're about done here," Starlight said, sounding satisfied yet regretful, then brightened up, "But I hope you're willing to come back sometimes. I'll always be welcome to have you."
"Thank you!" I looked at the front door. Nothing but Ponyville beyond it right? "Good bye." I said to them and pushed the doors open. "And maybe I will."
+
It was a beautiful watercolor day. As Twilight Sparkle walked she stopped and stood outside the estate. The house was beautiful, truly beautiful...She looked back and found she was wearing a tail bow. When had that gotten there?...Wait, why wouldn't she have one? Bows were perfectly normal. Everypony wore them.
Feeling curious, Twilight Sparkle pushed inside the unlocked front gates to find a small herd of mares, (all of them had tail bows just like her, it was nice), and a baby dragon looking at her and the squeaky gate. "Um...excuse me? I think I was trying to find my way to Dream Castle, but I've gotten lost."
"Well you were definitely supposed to show up at Dream Castle," A white pegasus said, "You have a very important date there, right?"
"A date? With who?!" Twilight replied, bending to sniff herself: she wasn't wearing perfume!
"Don't worry about it," said a gem-eyed pony. "My magic's based on intuition, it's all in the stars, and that's why I'm called Galaxy. The stars were also the ones who gave me my eyes."
"They're very beautiful, Galaxy."
"Thank you."
"You being here is not quite logical," said a blue pegasus with whistles on her flanks.
"Why not?" Twilight Sparkle tilted her head.
"What I think my friend is saying that you learned what you were supposed to learn at Dream Castle already, so you visiting us is redundant," a pale pink unicorn said with a white and purple mane. Twilight found her strangely familiar. She couldn't help but think she knew her...
"Redundant?" Twilight repeated.
"It's nothing to worry about," spoke a girl's voice behind her. "You just stopped here while going somewhere else, is all."
Twilight turned to see a...human? But humans were fairy tales! She had blond hair with a red ribbon holding it up. Her clothes reminded her of somepony else...something to do with apples. "You...you're a...you're a human..." Twilight's head felt like it was all twirling about.
"Yeah!" called the white pegasus. "What's wrong? You've never seen one before?"
"Judging by her reaction, I'd presume 'no,'" said the blue pegasus.
Twilight shook her head slowly, trying to think this through. "Y-yeah, never..."
"Huh, well this is your first time! I hope it's a good one!"
The human walked over to her, Twilight didn't feel any reason to be afraid of the stranger...she felt almost familiar. Why was that? "We had a question or two we wanted to ask you..."
"But you already know the answers," said the pink, blue maned pegasus, looking a little upset she wouldn't get to ask it.
"Yeah, good job!" said an orange pony with a yellow mane.
Twilight blinked, cocking her head. Something just seemed...familiar about her...so many oddly familiar strangers. "Have we met?"
"Maybe, I'm Applejack! Does that ring a bell?"
"Kind...kind of." Twilight's mind stopped trying to process new information. "So...what was the question?"
The pegasus smirked. "When does justice become revenge?"
Twilight blinked. She knew it...how did she know? "...When the bad pony has already been punished...when they know what they did was wrong, truly do, and want forgiveness. Or if they're already beaten to the point they can't fight back. At that point, hurting them stops having a point and starts being...being just cruel. Revenge has its place...but when they've already repented, when they've already been punished, when they're already beaten...wanting to make them hurt isn't punishment...it's hatred."
"Correct. Next question," said the jewel-eyed pony. "Let's say a woman enslaved a group of peaceful beings to make a potion for her, and then kidnapped your friend to force you to be her slave. She does all sorts of horrible things to you and your friends, seemed to be an utter monster...but then you discover she's essentially addicted to the potion and it's corrupted her. She breaks the habit and has true remorse for what she's done. Does this person deserve forgiveness?"
"She doesn't," Twilight said, not even having to think about it. "Forgiveness is never deserved...it's something that has to be given. She can only be forgiven if you give it and she accepts it."
"Would you give it?"
"...Yes."
The human gave her a smile. "See, we told you you already knew them."
"Thank you, Twilight." Twilight turned to see a pink mare with a sunglasses cutie mark. Again, that UNCANNY feeling of deja vu...
"For what?"
"That answer helped someone quite close to me...thank you for that..."
Twilight nodded slowly. "Ok...I think I understand. Oh! Was I staring at you? If so, I'm sorry...I just swear I've seen statues of you somewhere."
The mare blushed, then hugged Twilight. "Thanks again, Twilight."
Twilight blinked, then returned the hug. "You're welcome..." If she'd helped someone, why should she be worried about who it was?
Shady smiled as she broke the hug. "..You're a good mare, Twilight. I know everything is going to work out."
"My name is Megan, by the way," the human said, kneeling next to Twilight. "I hope we'll see each other again."
"So, should we have a party to celebrate?!" the blond Pegasi asked.
"No, sorry, Surprise," the gem-eyed pony said. "I'm afraid Twilight must be on her way, isn't that right?"
Twilight nodded slowly, just knowing she had somewhere important to be, turning and walking down a path. She looked back to see the ponies, baby dragon, and Megan all waving. She waved back. She turned back to the path, wondering where it would take her. And so Twilight continued her journey.
+
My was once Twilight Tragedy, and once Twilight Sparkle. I remember losing to myself, and defeating myself, and I'd found myself in a weird place. The sky was a purple swirling vortex with the twinkle of stars barely visible. The ground and surroundings were made up of stacks of sedimentary rocks like piles of used up bars of soaps. While the sky was relatively illuminated, the ground was darkened in shadow even though I wasn't. Books and photographs were scattered everywhere.
The pictures were of ponies from Minty's, my never world both as mares and fillies. The books were evenly stacked in some places, others were thrown about haphazardly. I recognized some of their titles, but not all of them. The books were from every age, region, and era imaginable and in every language, all in relatively good condition. I skimmed a few of them. None of the books seemed to be supernatural, in and of themselves. They just contained knowledge, though 'just knowledge' wasn't in my vocabulary.
"Welcome to 'in between the lines,' Twilight Sparkle."
I looked up to see a five pointed yellow star with the face of a little girl. It wasn't Discord in disguise.
I searched Minty's memories, "You're...You're Twinkle Wish!"
The little star nodded, "I'm happy to see at least one pony somewhere remembers me. It was the nature of the world I born in to grant the wishes of the ponies. But reality became conflicted as ponies hearts wished for opposing things. As it began to crack and crumble along the edges, the Alicorns and the Draconequi attempted to 'patch' the damage. I was created to act as an regulator after, granting the wishes in pony's hearts only one night a year, during the Winter Wishes Festival, to give reality time to adjust and heal." The star looked down sadly and floated closer to the ground as she dimmed. "But I was too little too late, and I was first thing to give out when the world died."
"Twinkle Wish, it wasn't your fault. You did the best job you could." I comforted the star like she would an old friend, she was. "And if that wasn't enough, then there was nothing you could have done different. My only regret is that I, Minty, couldn't be on the adventure Pinkie Pie had to get you back from Whimsey Weatherbe."
"Heh. The closest thing the fillies of that world got to a 'real' adventure."
I couldn't stop from asking the star; "Twinkle Wish, you know every wish that was ever granted in the lost age. Did any of Pinkie Pie's friends wish Minty not to be a part of our group, on account of her klutziness?"
"No. There were safety measure in place to prevent hurtful or mean spirited wishes. And even if there weren't, none of them ever made that wish, I'm sure of it."
I felt relief. "But, why are you here, Twinkle Wish? Where IS here? Why am I here?"
"Due to the unique circumstances of my creation, I couldn't become a shadow of existence or reappear in the new world. So I was tasked with providing a light of existence for the knowledge and memories of this place."
"What is this place?"
"'Between The Lines.'" Twinkle Wish answered. "A border island between what is and isn't. Not quite part of the Equilibrium, the heart of creation, not yet."
"Why not yet?"
"Because this place is just it in its fetal stage. I'm the groundskeeper of this place. Not the master."
"...I have all my memories, as Clover, as Twilight The First, as Minty, as Twilight Tragedy and Twilight the Unicorn from the endless cycles, AND Nightmare Eclipse. How is that possible? Why am I not going insane?"
"Because you're no longer a pony, not quite anymore, you're becoming an idea, a Concept, a force. Like the Alicorns. When Nightmare Paradox was undone, all her paradoxes were undone with her, yet her actions couldn't be simply erased."
"So what's going to happen?"
"I don't know. You'll either grow into a true Concept, or you won't. "
"Am I an Alicorn? Still? After my Paradox-self was hit by all the Elements?"
"You're no longer a Nightmare. What you are now...is still in flux. As a Nightmare...you were a powerful, yet incomplete being. Only through continuing on will you ever know closure."
"Twinkle Wish that's enough."
I gasped at who I saw floating above me. Upright, bipedal, with a book tucked underneath one foreleg.
"Twinkle Wish, please float aside. Remember you promised you wouldn't interfere."
"...Good luck Twilight, Minty." The little star floated away to the distance.
She had light purple hide, her mane was white with pastel pale streaks of blue and pink, blue eyes gazed intently at me, their emotions hidden. Her cutie mark, was a blue parcel or birthday present with a pink string.
"R-Razzaroo!" I gasped, "You're..."
'..Alive'? What did that word even MEAN HERE?
"You're HERE! You-you're okay!" She floated down and I hugged her. "But-but what happened?"
"I barely know myself," Razzaroo answered. "I remember writing the last page to our world's history...that was my last 'living' memory. Right after that, I don't know if I was taken, if I died, or was erased and recreated. Regardless, the Alicorns came to me, Twilight, Eremo and Abbatissa. With their help I learned. I understood. The bonds between ponies I had dedicated my life to learn about, to recording, to memorizing, the unique joys of their lives. I wanted to know more. And I was told what I could become. And what I could do, no, what they'd give me the right to do if I continued to grow."
"What 'right' is that?"
"The right to change worlds, for the better, heal, restore, give hope, give stories the happy endings ours was denied...if I could but reach that final star. I was growing, Minty. I was becoming. I was awakened to the magic of friendship, and I've been growing inch by inch across forever. As I helped Eremo with his books and Abbatissa with the prayers mortals sent to the Alicorns. Then they told me there was a contradiction."
Was that harshness in Razzaroo's voice? I was beginning to feel uncomfortable. "Razzaroo? Tell me what's wrong."
She broke the hug and floated back.
"Minty, there can be only one Concept of Magic."
"What?"
"You and I are both on the brink of surpassing ourselves and becoming part of the foundation of the world. But there cannot be two gods of the same thing for the same universe."
That's when I noticed she had markings I didn't remember: streams of sparkles one her back and forehead. Looking back at myself, I saw I had the same type of markings on my legs and back. Where had those come from?
"Can't we just share? Look, Razzaroo, I'm not a thief...if you want it to be a Concept so badly, you can have it! I'm more than happy to just go home!"
Razzaroo shook her head, "You can't 'share' a heart transplant. To put it in remotely comprehensible terms."
"Like I said, please, if you've worked so hard for this, then I want it for you."
"You think I wouldn't just accept that if I could? Now that your evolution's started, you'll continue to grow and mature whether you want to or not. Two trees can't 'decide' to just give the soil to the other, one of two flowers in a vase can't chose to simply 'give' it all to the other flower. And Twilight, you're growing MUCH faster than me. Left unchecked, you'll overtake me, and my door will shut. But the Alicorns wanted to give us both a fair chance."
An aura of magic flared around Razzaroo, she held up the book the way Starlight and her friends did, as though her hoofs had invisible digits at the end.
Razzaroo's book...it was shaped and designed very much like my old reference guide to the Element of Harmony...except those details seemed vague, fleeting and inaccurate. Looking at her book felt like gazing at a mountain while my nose was pressed against the mountainside: distinguished ALL the details was impossible. I tried to make out its title and author, but failed.
"This book is nothing less than the ultimate magical weapon Minty. All the experiences, memories, and knowledge of our forgotten world are contained within these pages. This book places me on almost equal footing with an Alicorn. With it, I will surpass you."
"Razzaroo, please, we were, we are friends! There has to be another way!"
"I'm sorry, Minty! I've looked so hard! There isn't! And I've worked too long, endured too much, to have my dream snatched by you stumbling across the finish line first, you klutz!"
Wind flared up around Razzaroo causing the nearby books stacks to topple over.
"I, Razzaroo, was the first pony to be reborn. First to cross over from the Second Age of cars and TVs, into the living, breathing paradise that was the Lost Third Age. Now, I'm last remaining soul of that world. All the rest have either been altered or returned to Fauna Luster. Whatever the outcome of this road Minty, I've already accepted it!"
"So you...you remember your former self...the pony you used to be before you were...were..."
"Recreated?" Razzaroo supplied. I nodded: it was as fitting a term as any. "Yes, Clover, I do. But any more reminiscing on our past selves, our old identities...would be as pointless as chickens trying to recall what it was to be eggs. Only the here and now matters. For what it's worth, you'll always be my friend. I'm sorry Minty. Goodbye."
= Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia Music-"Lament to the Master" =
Razzaroo opened the book, holding its pages out towards me as though she were inviting me to read them.
"Memory Whimsey Weatherbe: Storm and tornado!"
A howling wind exploded from the pages at the same time as a ghostly image of a female dragon flicked.
"FAILSAFE SPELL!" My horn flashed, and the wind continued to knock me around, bruising and battering me.
"You relied too much on that spell fighting your Nightmare-self, Minty! My Memory Magic replays events, and operates on a completely different arcane system from your own!"
I forced up several pillars of the rocky ground around me to create a windbreak.
"Memory Discord: Teleportation Jammer!"
I jumped over the wind break using my telekinesis to hold myself, grabbed Razzaroo's book telekinetically at the same time, ripping it away from her hooves, and levitated it over to myself. "There! No more book, no more fighting!"
Razzaroo said flatly. "Memory Thistle Whistle: Pow."
"Pow?-OW!!"
The book opened on its own and the image of a self sacrificing pegasus smashed me hard in the face before the book float back to Razzaroo of its own accord.
"You won't get such a cheap quick win! Memory Spike The First: Inferno!"
A storm of flames came down on me, the rocks I myself had summoned up creating a perfect open oven to burn me alive.
The entire landscape was overflowed by near burning stream a moment later pouring out from the outcropping, "Divine Storm!" I, Half-Light Noon, flew out of the hole.
"Thank you for all the water in the air. Memory Windigo: Frozen world!"
The hot fog turned to a freezing snow storm the ground frozen solid. My wings were covered in frost and began began suffering frostbite in seconds as I crashed into the ground. My frozen wings vanished and little me, Half-Light Dawn, slammed my hooves into the ground, creating an epic level Earthquake that shattered the layer of ice that had formed. Pillar of earth rise up as Razzaoo floated about quickly to avoid being smacked. It gave me enough time as Twilight Sparkle to release fire constructs of the Windigos in every direction negating themselves and the snow storm into nothing.
"And now that we have water," Razzaroo said.
"Oh no," I whispered my eye pin pricks.
"Memory: Look Before You-" Telekinesis closing on her mouth. So she just THOUGHT the rest! '-Sleep! Lightning Storm!'
Black metal rods were thrown up in the air at high speed, Razzaroo barely needed to dodge them. Then she realized she hadn't been the target. "LIGHTNING RODS!"
They had completely negated her attack.
"FIGHT BACK MINTY! You're not going to get anywhere just trying to disable me! I am trying to kill you!"
"Not over something this...convoluted!"
"Don't tell me you're feeling nostalgia now. Once you start fighting the reasons stop mattering, then it's just live or die!"
Razzaroo teleported, so I kicked her as she appeared behind me only to explode into a mass of paper pages that folded into paper daggers that dove at me. I stopped them with an spherical shield spell.
That was when the real Razzaroo appeared behind me, her book now the size of a coffee table and swung at the barrier like a baseball bat sending me flying. I closed her eyes and used a flash bomb spell as Razzaroo came above me, her book now now several times bigger than she was. That stopped her attack and Razzaroo used her book to shield herself instead, the book remaining where she wished it even when she left go of it.
I ended the barrier and used my teleknesis inside the sphere to lessen the impact so I landed safely.
"Razzaroo, this is pointless! We just keep canceling each other out! Even if I went on the offensive I'd bet you're as prepared to negate my magic just as I've been negating yours!"
I blinked.
I said, "I really AM still thinking like a mortal pony! We're both about to become the Concept of Magic? We're both on the brink? Just one more drop in the glass to overflow?! Ha! The Alicorn of Magic wouldn't merely have authority over all magic, nor command all magic, SHE'D BE ALL MAGIC! We're two oceans trying to drown each other! This IS pointless, Razzaroo! So continue if you want! I'm done!"
And I turned my back on her!
"FIGHT ME!"
"No."
"I'm warning you Minty!"
"Fights to the death don't have warnings, Razzaroo."
"I'll do it Minty! I don't want to win the coward's way but if you're just going to stand there!"
I did nothing.
...
...
...
In the corner of my eye I saw the book limply fall from Razzaro's hooves and hit the rocks, she float down to the ground and onto her back knees.
"I finally understand."
I turned around, "Razzaroo?"
"A fair chance. Both of us equal in ability and wisdom, except for one small detail. All you needed to do was take the offensive, for just a good long while, put your offensive all into it. And Fauna Luster said she'd take me. Heh." Razzaroo sat on her flanks. She looked up the sky smiling, her eyes misting up.
"So realizing the fight was pointless-" I whispered.
"-Was the hurdle where I failed. But if you failed too...But you didn't. You're better than me Minty, you are the best."
I smiled kindly at my old friend. "Truth be told? I'm more confused that Starswirl the Bearded, or Mimic, or Clover The Clever aren't Magic."
"Knowledge isn't everything. Close. But not quite. Heart counts too, and in that way, even Mimic fell short. And so did I, in the end."
"Don't say that Razzaroo, please."
"Perhaps...it's to desire power, that's proof enough one is not worthy of it? That only one who does not desire power can be trust not to be corrupted by it? It's the one answer my book doesn't contain."
I hugged her and nuzzled her. It just felt so right just to hold her.
"Please, no more talking, just for a little bit."
"Just a little bit."
...
"Minty. You've held this hug for two years now."
"Oh. Okay. So, what's next for me?"
"Next you become everything and everywhere that mana flows, your soul becomes a law of nature. I think I'll be taking Twinkle Wish with me, I've gotten kinda fond of her."
"You don't need to go anywhere," I whispered in her ear.
"Thank you. But I have infinity to explore and learn from. I need time away from these books and Alicorns. Maybe I'll find my ultimate truth somewhere else." We finally broke the hug, a felt a bit like letting go of one of my own legs.
"Will I see you again?"
"In the span of forever? I'd say certainly. But beware this truth, Twilight Sparkle: Godhood carries with it a horrible price. Only accept that dreaded mantle if you are willing to give up everything. You are not like your soon-to-be brothers and sisters, you have experienced your mortal life 'first.' There will never be any going back to being a simple happy mortal. I was prepared for and wanted that, you have to decide if you are."
I shuddered.
"And Twilight...if you DO accept godhood...you will find a bitter enemy awaiting you at the Dawn Of Time."
"Then I simply will never go to the Dawn Of Time." Twilight shrugged. "Not unless I'm ordered to, by one of the Alicorn Parents."
Razzaroo smiled sadly, the way adults smile at foals' logic.
"Well, in all fairness, you almost certainly won't be ORDERED to go there. You'll be free to delay and put it off for as long as it pleases you. But...in the same way a caterpillar is eventually compelled to cocoon itself...you'll eventually be compelled to take a trip to the Dawn Of Time. Because your heart will never let you do otherwise. And when you do, your most painful enemy will be waiting for you."
"Who?"
"My book doesn't say who. Only that the enemy will be 'unreasonable.' And it'll break your heart to fight them. But you won't able to just walk away to win like me. So please, fight with your all. Please...keep this with you to remember me by, please."
"This is, your journal?"
"It's all yours. I've spent the last forever updating it a little, I hope you or somepony find it enlightening....And Twilight please, give everypony you can help their happy ending."
"I promise."
"Thank you Twilight, and goodbye..." She kissed me on the muzzle.
Razzaroo became several thousand paper cranes that flew into the sky. A small yellow star followed close behind. Razzaroo's voice spoke. "Congratulations Clover, you've finally surpassed your big sister."
I gasped, "Sister?" It dawned on me. "Meadowlark! Wait!" I cried out as the entire sky then everything else turned white.
+
"Soul That Stands Before On The Edge Of Eternity...Grain of Sand who will become a Beach...New Sister-To-Be. You have faced the past, present, future, and their parallels and have been judged worthy. Now comes the final threshold."
I found myself in a calm place. My mind threatened to crack trying to process it. Infinite was the order of the day instead of a theoretical impossibility. The circumference of the circular of pillars was infinite, their height was infinite, the pattern in the floor showing every universe in existence like pieces of one grand mosaic was infinite!
My instincts told me that if we hadn't become one: Minty, Clover, Twilight the Unicorn, Twilight The First, and Nightmare Paradox...a part of her wondered if this was what being a germ felt like.
A stallion Alicorn stood...in front of me? To my side? Above me? Ugh! Spacial relations were getting harder to define. This was a domain of IDEAS.
He wore armor that was a contrasting set of black and white. His cutie mark was a balance scales. He had a red eye and a blue eye. His coat was golden and he had a beard. His mane fluttered in an invisible breeze.
I didn't need to ask who he was. Judicium, Tarot of the Judgement. WHen I was, Nightmare Paradox, I had learned a lot about my fellow Alicorns.
I found myself quivering. I wasn't a concept yet. I felt like a speck of dust in comparison.
"You may pass." The stallion Alicorn said and stepped away.
I saw another Alicorn near the center. Dove wings cutie mark. White mane. Blue coat. Abbatissa. She looked towards me and bowed. Then bowed to Another. And entered a portal/went through a gateway/flew out a window.
I was alone now with Her.
"STEP FORWARD."
Her Will Be Done.
I was the size of a ladybug compared to Her. Huh? Now I was a the size of a newborn filly compared to Her and Celestia a toddler. Yet no matter how small I measured beside her, I didn't feel diminished in any way. Rather, I felt taller than I ever have.
She was white. Like hope. Like joy.
To look at Her, was to look at a window into a whole reality unto Herself. When Her wings opened, they stretched from one end of the Her Domain to the other, forever. Her horn was circled by a set of tiny horns that reminded me of a crown.
She was wonderful, She was simply beautiful. The light that shined from Her wasn't cold or indifferent, there is no way to describe it other than LIFE. Wicked and cruel were not even a part of her being. The spirit world was supposed to be the land of the dead, but there was nothing dead about Her!
Her cutie mark was a ever changing nebula.
Oh, I didn't mean to cry. But, just being so near Her.
"WELCOME HOME, MY LITTLE PONY."
She was right. I was home. I didn't know why. But every fiber in my soul told me I had returned here, to Her.
"F-F-Fa-Fau-" My voice failed me.
"SAY MY NAME."
"Fauna Luster."
"EVEN SEEING THE HEART OF ALL LIFE, YOU DESIRE TO KNOW MORE. GOOD. ASK THE QUESTION ON YOUR MIND."
"If...if You're the source of all souls, if You're where we all come...where are they all? I don't see any coming from your um..." I blushed.
"ALL THIS REALITY IS ME. ALL YOU SEE IS ME. EVERYTHING HERE IS ME. ALL THIS EXISTENCE IS ME. FROM ME ALL LIVING SOULS COME. AND FROM THERE I WATCH MY CHILDREN GROW."
That's when a tiny light flickered into being next to me. No name yet. No self-image. No knowledge. No memories. No Ego. Only a tiny new 'yes' in the universe. It floated close to me. I looked to Fauna Luster. She nodded with a smile. I touched it, I giggled, a sense of pure absolute innocence washed through me. Then on a gentle breeze flew it out, a flicker of fear came from the tiny light as it was swept out into the giant universe.
"SPEAK YOUR NEXT QUESTION."
"Why have them leave at all? Why not just keep them? Have them flow through you and, and the stallion? Why have the middle pony called Life where they can be hurt and led astray? Why?"
"A PERFECTLY LOGICAL AND RATIONAL QUESTION. I ASK YOU: WOULD A WORLD WHERE EVERYPONY WAS BEING FED FROM IV BAGS AND HAD A LIVE WIRE CONNECTED DIRECTLY TO THEIR PLEASURE CENTER BE HAPPINESS? THEIR BRAINS SAY IT IS SO, SO IS IT SO?"
"No. Not at all. That's alive, but it's not living."
"AND IF YOU HAD FLOWERS THAT STAYED SEEDS FOREVER. SO YOU WOULD NEVER HAVE TO SEE THEM WITHER AFTER THEY BLOOMED. WOULD THAT BE LOVE?"
"No."
"IF YOU LIVED IN A WORLD WHERE ALL YOUR DECISION BROUGHT ABOUT MAXIMUM SATISFACTION REGARDLESS OF WHAT CHOICE YOU MADE, OR COULD MAKE, OR WOULD MAKE, WHERE ANY HURT WAS JUST ON THE ROAD TO MORE MAXIMUM SATISFACTION, EVERYTHING MICROMANAGED AND TAILOR MADE DOWN TO THE LAST SPECK OF DUST TO MORE MAXIMUM SATISFACTION-"
"I understand!" I remembered what Nightmare Paradox had planned.
Then another thought occurred to me.
"Nightmare Paradox, she refused to play by the rules at all, and broke them and rewrote them how she, how I wanted. But with Razzaroo, I was put into a test where I HAD to defy the arbitrary rules to pass. But my instinct tells me there was another reason. Was there?"
"THE TEST FOR YOU BOTH WAS VERY REAL. YOU'VE BEEN SCARED STIFF OF BEING ASSERTIVE EVER SINCE YOU LEARNED OF WHAT YOU WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR AS NIGHTMARE PARADOX. YOU NEEDED TO LEARN THAT YOU STILL NEED TO PUT YOUR HOOF DOWN AT TIMES."
"...I must say...that was very cunning of you. Well plotted."
"TO CALL IT A 'PLOT' IS NO MORE CORRECT THAN IT IS A 'PLOT' TO TELL FAMILY THAT YOU LOVE THEM. A TRUE MOTHER DOES NOT MOVE HER CHILDREN LIKE CHESS PIECES. I DID NOT PULL INVISIBLE STRINGS TO DIRECT YOUR HEARTS OR ACTIONS."
"Okay...I'll take your word for it, Great Mother..."
"ASK. THERE IS NOTHING YOU COULD SAY TO ME I WILL NOT UNDERSTAND, NOTHING THAT WOULD MAKE ME HATE YOU."
"Why...why did Nightmare Paradox, why did I get away with this for so long?! Why didn't you stop me?! Why did so many suffer? Was it just some convoluted way to get me here and make me the Alicorn of Magic?"
"IT PAINED ME AND MY HUSBAND TO WATCH THE SUFFERING YOU UNLEASHED. YOUR ASCENSION WAS NOT WORTH SO MANY LIVES TO MY HUSBAND AND I, ESPECIALLY WHEN, AS YOU'VE SEEN, WE ALREADY HAD A WILLING CANDIDATE ON THE VERGE OF REACHING THE SAME GOAL. BUT YOU HAD GROWN TOO POWERFUL FOR OUR CHILDREN TO STOP."
I bowed my head. "With all due respect, I was but one Nightmare. Celestia and Luna had been turned to statues, but I imagine you had at LEAST ten other children you could've called upon. If they'd all ganged up on me at once..."
The Mother Of All Alicorns lifted an eyebrow slightly. "ONE NIGHTMARE, YOU SAY? AND WHAT OF NIGHTMARE BANNERET? NIGHTMARE MIRROR? NIGHTMARE MANACLE? NIGHTMARE...ALL THE REST? I ASSURE YOU, DAUGHTER, HAD YOUR NIGHTMARE-SELF CAUGHT WIND THAT A FORCE OF ALICORNS WAS AFTER YOU...YOU'D NOT HAVE STOPPED WITH JUST FIVE NIGHTMARE FRIENDS."
My jaw snapped shut as I tried to envision that war: Alicorns versus Nightmares. Just how many of ponies would I have corrupted into eldritch abominations?
Derpy Hooves as a Nightmare...
Apple Pie as a Nightmare...
My parents as Nightmares...
"WHAT'S MORE, WE COULD NOT RISK YOU DEVOURING EVEN ONE OF OUR CHILDREN. NOT ONLY BECAUSE THEY ARE OUR CHILDREN, BUT BECAUSE YOUR POWER WOULD HAVE INCREASED EXPONENTIALLY. AS FOR WHY WE DID NOT INTERFERE, I ASK YOU THIS; IF YOU, WITHOUT A SHRINKING SPELL, ATTEMPTED TO TELEPORT INSIDE OF ANOTHER PONY, WHAT WOULD BECOME OF THEM?"
I shuddered. "They'd...they'd be torn apart from the inside out...They'd die..."
"CORRECT. MYSELF, MY HUSBAND, HAVOC, AND ENTROPY ENTERING THE MORTAL UNIVERSE WOULD TRIGGER THIS EFFECT. WHILE WE CAN USE AVATARS..."
"Avatars?" I ask.
"AVATARS. CONJURED BODIES MEANT TO CONTAIN AN ACCEPTABLE FRACTION OF OUR POWER. WHILE WE COULD HAVE USED AVATARS, WE COULD NOT RISK YOU CONSUMING ONE OF THEM, AS DISCORDANCE HAD DONE WITH HIS FATHER'S."
"I had grown THAT powerful?" I said, feeling dazed.
"YOU WERE AT THE POINT WHERE ONLY YOU COULD HAVE VANQUISHED YOURSELF. THE ONLY SITUATION WHERE WE WOULD HAVE EMERGED TO FACE PARADOX DIRECTLY, IS WHEN THE COLLATERAL DAMAGE OF OUR ADVENT WAS OUTWEIGHED BY THE THREAT YOU POSED."
"...The end of not just a timeline, but everything."
"CORRECT. DO NOT THINK WE WOULD HAVE ALLOWED THINGS TO OCCUR THIS WAY IF THERE WAS A CHOICE. WE HELPED IN WHAT WAYS WE COULD, TWILIGHT, FROM AFAR, AND ALONGSIDE YOU AND FROM WITHIN. I HAVE ALWAYS HAD MY POWER OFFERED TO AID MORTALS' IN THEIR TIME OF NEED, BUT NOT IF THEIR HEARTS ARE SHUT TO ME, THEY MUST CHOOSE TO REACH OUT AND TAKE MY HOOF, AS YOU DID. YOU MAY NOT HAVE BEEN ABLE TO SEE OR HEAR THEM, BUT MY CHILDREN VENUS, PUERILIS, AND PENSILIS, WERE WITH YOU."
I couldn't help blushing. "...Thank you...So what happens next?"
"Mother!" The Alicorn mare from before, Abbatissa, flew down towards Her Mother.
"YES, ABBATISSA?"
"Please let me do my duty as Tarot Of The High Priestess. She is not a Concept yet, please let me speak for you, please," she prayed.
"IF THAT IS WHAT YOU WISH. YOU MAY PERFORM YOUR DUTY, ABBATISSA."
"Thank you, Mother!" She bowed and kissed Her Mother's hooves. It wasn't groveling, it was true praise.
Abbatissa turned gracefully towards me and spoke,
"First I ask of you what your truth will be when you become magic. Then, I'll share with you the final price of being being born through Mother a second time and become my sister. Finally, if you really are of you own free will are going to accept that price." She flared out her wings, her entire body glowed, "Now little pony:
"think of every life that suffers unfairly and cruelly due to whims of others. The rules say they must suffer, because it was from the choices of others. What shall you do when you are magic?"
"I'll crush any rule that stands in my...NO! Rules, like them or not, everyone needs them....but...what about rules that just aren't fair, no, rules that are a direct cheat? Rules that cheat, aren't rules at all. And something that isn't a rule, has no right to hold me back!
"And I say a rule of magic is a cheat and has to go. Then it is and it will!...But I had better think carefully about each one first. Reckless action and inaction are equally destructive."
"And that choice cement your right to become the concept of magic. Just remember, a concept must be decisive, as mortals trust the natural world to be."
A short stone pillar appeared underneath the Alicorn. "Twilight Sparkle, now that you've been cleansed of the sickness of your Nightmare, the Elements have completed the balance within you. This has left your spirit in a nascent stage. We are Concepts who had to learn to appreciate the value of mortals. YOU are a mortal who must learn to appreciate the value of Concepts.
"Normally this would not happen until your body was destroyed, or when the Trumpet is sounded. But you are a special case. You are also the only mortal to become, a Major Arcana. Which was supposed to be impossible, as the Minor Arcana was, until just now, reserved for such mortals. This has caused your spirit to begin to grow out of control. Razzaroo became what she was through sheer determination and hard work. You've become what you are by fusing four mortal ponies with a Nightmare millions of years old."
"Is it too late? I had no idea this would happen when I decided to bend the rules of space and time to make six sets of Elements of Harmony at once to appear to defeat a Nightmare of me from outside the space-time continuum who had beefed herself up on other Nightmares. And Twilight The Unicorn, Clover, Minty, Twilight The First, joined with the depowered Nightmare Paradox, because....because..."
"Because why, Twilight Sparkle?"
"Because using all the Elements together at once, it was like a parasprite to a flame. Two ponies can't exist in the same time and place. And Twilight The Unicorn, and Nightmare Paradox, were the same pony, me. I think we were all naturally drawn to her. She existed, yet I wouldn't become her. If they had stayed separated after derailing Paradox's scheme, it would have continued to damage time."
"And Minty? Twilight The First? And Clover? The other parts of your existence?"
"Other versions of them continue to exist right?"
"They have not, and will not vanish from history. Minty Pie still exists for example if you're curious. And the souls of Twilight the First, Minty, and Clover still reside inside My Father. Souls do not have a 'Law of Conservation of Matter.'"
"How do you know all this so fast?"
"Looked it up on my Alicorn Pad. Kidding, I am the Concept of Prayer, and your friends, including Minty Pie, are praying for you very dearly."
"After two years?"
"Time doesn't exist the same way in the spiritual realm. Moving on. Why did the other three aspect of you join as well?"
"We...we each..." I breathed in deep, and slowly breathed out, "Because we all felt something absolutely wonderful was going to happen, we were all scared inside, but we all wanted to be a part of it."
"But you didn't know that 'something wonderful would be becoming the only mortal in all time and space to become part of the Major Arcana."
"Yes."
"Alright. Once you make this decision, Twilight Sparkle's actions and others' memories of her won't vanish. But your 'new self' shall be, and will have always been the Alicorn of the Magician Tarot."
"But if we've never met before now can-"
A vein throbbed appeared on Abbatissa's forehead. "UGH! You're still thinking of the universe like one long hallway! Geeze! There's an entire world around you and you're thinking like a stick pony! Stop being stubborn and narrow-minded! Ahem. This is the important bit:
"The finite can not become infinite, that is impossible. It must be rewritten as infinite.
"To become an Alicorn, you must let go of all you are. For the Alicorn to be born, 'Twilight Sparkle' must be purified of mortal origins and mortal nature. Twilight Sparkle must die. Do you still accept this fate?"
"What happens if I don't?"
"Your soul explodes. Kidding."
"What DOES happen?"
"You just go home."
"And?"
"Ponies you'll never meet or know of in life or death, who have their unhappy endings, keep their unhappy endings. Over the course of infinitely, another pony might come along to become magic and happy endings instead, but it won't be magic or happy endings as you've known them.
"And...these things will happen because I go home?"
"No. They've already happened. But you as magic can let them travel new roads be traveled they weren't able to before."
"Can you give me more details?"
"I can, but I won't. Deep down, what you want most is to go home and make those close to you happy. Not strangers. Those you've fighting alongside, bleeding alongside, and only recently remembered how you care for them."
"Are there any other downsides to becoming an Alicorn?"
"Above everything else...to become a true Alicorn you must sacrifice your Eternal Rest. Instead, you'll take on an Eternal Burden. That is the true price what you seek. You will know respites, but Eternal Rest will be denied you for all existence. The road will never end."
"...You're right that is what I want most. But "...So be it. No Eternal Rest? What of it? I wouldn't've gotten any of THAT anyway, had I continued on as Twilight Tragedy OR as Nightmare Paradox. I've committed so many sins as them both. And if I can have the power to bring ponies out of the darkness instead of pushing ponies into it, how could I just walk away from that?"
"That means in the afterlife your friends, and your mother and father will be without you. FOREVER! And you will be without them!"
"If I can use that kind of power to help even one pony, or a thousand, that's the pony I want to be. And...I could never rest with them if I trotted away from that."
"That's just it. This isn't a job you can just retire from after you've eased your conscience. This'll be you!"
I sighed, rubbing my head. "Abbatissa...what did you mean when you said, 'purified of mortal origins and mortal nature?'"
"It scares you? GOOD!"
"Sister, may I explain this part?" asked a voice...I recognized it. "After all, I am the most qualified."
"As you wish little sister."
I turned to see a blue Alicorn with violet barding similar to Luna's, the stars in it twinkling as the stars in the sky. Her mane and tail were silvery translucent flowing energy, it reminded me of an invisibility spell in action. Her Cutie Mark was a magic wand with a trail of magic behind it. My jaw dropped. "T-Trixie?!"
"The one and only. Though actually, it's Princess Anasi Mohini Waya, Queen of Wands, Concept of theater, drama, and storytelling. And I took a bite out of Morning Star's Concept of trickery." She waggled her eyebrows at me. "And the only member of the Minor Arcana to ever be partnered with a Draconequus."
I stiffened a little, think of Discord wanting to make me his 'queen,' "P-partnered?"
Anasi groaned, "'Partnered' as in work partner Twilight!"
"Oh."
"But feel free to call me Trixie, it's rather nostalgic."
I hugged her, I didn't care if she was an Alicorn or a unicorn, I had the memories of the Twilight who had become her friend in this Trixie's cycle, only for Paradox to tear it all away. She hugged me back.
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I have a question.
When we return to the main timeline, will we see any more appearances from Link, who made a cameo during Season 3, Pearls?
Because there is one constant. No matter which version of Link he is, even if he's been told that he doesn't have to fight anymore, if something is a threat to his home and those he cares about, he will NOT just stay on the sidelines and let others do the fighting. It's like the desire to protect his loved ones is hardwired into every single incarnation of him.
So, will he pop up again somewhere?
2957370
No.
Celestia was 100% serious when she told him (even if he didn't understand) that he and Saria had this lifetime together as a REWARD and it's meant to be his reward for the lifetimes he's fought evil (this takes place for Link's soul after every Zelda Game that will ever be made).
We see here that just being hit with the Elements of Harmony is not enough to turn a Nightmare into an Alicorn. The question that now follows Twilight is simple: Will you cast aside your mortal existence and take on the burden of an Alicorn with all of the benefits and problems that go with it?
Ps: If anyone is wondering why this chapter didn't get summarized like the other Dark World, it is because this one is a bit too tricky for me to explain what is going on without glossing over what's happening or just having to explain everything. That or I'm still tired from writing the novel of a summary last chapter, I don't know.
2960065
You're welcome!
2957510
Spiritual journeys tend to be hard to describe.
2957510
I do like your summaries. They help me focus my mind after I read a chapter and point me in the right direction to reread chapters I would like to review. 'Cause there is lot of words for me to read. As long you don't feel obligated to write them.
Let me start by saying that I have enjoyed this chapter as much as the rest of this story, and the entire series. I could gush about all the ways the writing is just brilliant, but everyone reading these comments already knows all of that.
Sadly, 'nice' and 'good' without temper are boring. So here's what bugs me about this chapter:
...I've heard that in business there's a theory called the 'Peter Principle'. The idea is that competent people are promoted until they reach a job they can't handle, and remain stuck there. Iirc it was worded something like: "Everyone is promoted to the level of their incompetency."*
This is the exact opposite, this is saying that worthwhile and wonderful individuals are whisked away because they could be even more useful elsewhere.
Or, if you prefer: are you saying that Twilight the Unicorn's reward for overcoming Paradox is to be retconned?
2961058
That's a very very very very interesting way to look at it! It would certainly fit with the SANE and RATIONAL order that the Alicorns embody.
2960070
Done.
2961261 Interesting fact I've encountered:
There are several recorded medical cases of humans who suffered brain injuries that separated the emotional centers of their brains from the decision making portion of their brains. The result was a being incapable of making arbitrary choices. Given two (or more) relatively valid choices their minds would simply cycle through a series of evaluations that always came out equal.
Pure reason did not free them to make the best choices, it robbed them of the ability to decide.
2961302
That sounds like me, a lot.
Razzaroo and Minty's fight felt very similar to the fights against the holders of the Compendium.
And now I'm curious about who the Arcana's of Temperance and the Hierophant are. The Ssu-Ling and Divine Guardian are my signature Persona's.
You seem quite knowledgable about Tarot,iirc I saw you talking about Trixie being the reversed Magician on the Pony Tarot deck on DA.
2962006
Temprance is Cadence. The HIrophant is the Father of Alicorns.
2962006
Who are the holders of the compendm?
2964432
Sure looks that way!
2965100
It wasn't stealing. It was an equivalent exchange!
2962844 Elizabeth/Theodore and Margret.
The keepers of the Persona Compendium.
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AHHHH! RIGHT!!! NOW I REMEMBER!!! That's likely where I got a lot of it. I also got most of it from the Lament To the Master Castlevania boss fight.
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Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood.
I must confess when Twilight asked how she wasn't going crazy with so many sets of memories in her head, I responded with "Who says you aren't?"
But seriously though, I was truly hoping that Twilight would be mortal after her alicornification in this story the way she still is in canon. Immortality bites.
This chapter...
It's fricken beautiful.
The cover art, too.
Hmm... Interesting questions. I think I might try my hand:
1) What's the point of life?
What you impart on the world. That's why a purely selfish mindset is pointless. Because once YOU are gone, it all goes to waste. But if you leave a legacy that makes things better for others, then your existence will have meaning far beyond your physical death.
2) What scares you the most? Not being remembered after everyone who knew you is gone? Being helpless? Or losing those dear to you?
Being helpless. I don't care about how others view me, and my loved ones are replaceable. But I would HATE the thought of being at the mercy of someone who would hurt me.
3) What would you consider to be the single defining factor that separates gods from mortals? Power? Immortality? Or understanding?
Power and Immortality. Immortality is an obvious one since we are defining the Gods as separate from mortals and thus: Not Mortal.
Power is however more significant for me, since I define all 'Deity Class Entitys' as "Any being that can PERSONALLY affect an entire planet or greater area".
One COULD also argue understanding given a God's wide knowledge and experience. but having knowledge and having understanding (which I define in this context as wisdom and enlightenment) are not the same thing.
4) What about with ponies who know you by different names? Ponies who know you as 'the Smartest Filly In School' or somepony you meet in a chatroom under an alias? Do you act differently around these ponies than you do around those who know you as Twilight Sparkle? So which 'Twilight Sparkle' is the real you? Is it the one that exists in their minds of others? The Twilight you think you are? Or is it the Twilight that stares back at you in the mirror?
It's quite simple really: I lie. I have a true self, and I CHOOSE who I wish to share it with. Anyone who percieves me as different from how I really am is either deluded or decieved. If a man has a violent temper but acts calm for a job interview, that does not mean he doesn't have a violent temper. No matter how much the interviewer might say what a calm man he was, the man is still not a calm man. The interviewer just fell for the deception.
5) What you want and what makes you happy, what you're supposed to do and what you need to do, the smart thing to do and the right thing to do: where's the dividing line when these things stop being the same thing?
In the first conflict, I would determine which has the longest lasting benefit (Favour long term over short term gain). In the second, I would determine which choice benefits the most people (Utilitarian Ethics).
6) If you see a blind pony walking over a cliff, who thought she was walking over a bridge you'd stop her right? If she fought you because she thought you were lying and trying to rob her, you'd take the beating and still stop her right? Also, if foals were stuffing their faces with cookies just before dinner, you'd stop them wouldn't you?"
I nodded. That was easy.
"But...what happens when it not so simple? But you still have power? And are trusted to do the right thing? Imagine two sides battling each other, both for reasons that are good and unselfish. Both sides are doomed to suffer losses, but fight because they are unable to work out their current problems peacefully...which might lead to WORSE troubles down the road. There is a high likelihood that the war being allowed to play out might prevent WORSE troubles down the road, problems that nonviolence would only further erode, culturally and sociologically. But...do the mothers and families of the fallen soldiers care about hypothetical problems way down the road? Or do they just cry for their sons who'll never come home again? If you could do something but did nothing, does that make make you responsible too, for whichever ponies suffers?
Yes. But if I felt that allowing the war would lead to a larger gain, then I'd let those people die. Sure the mothers would cry, but they're just being irrational and selfish. As emotional people tend to do. Sure hundreds of people die if I let the war happen. But THOUSANDS of people will die if I stop it. All life is equal. Therefore everyone can be simplified to one point per person. If a hundred people are murdered but a thousand people are happy, that's still a nine hundred point gain to happiness which is a total positive benefit. The grieving mothers are simply irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.
(And side note: That is honestly how I believe God operates. That is by no means a criticism of God, that's just how I view It.
Grieving Mother: How could you let my son die in a war?!?!
God: Hmm? Oh sorry, I wasn't paying attention. I was kind of busy setting of this volcano that will kill several billion people, but also alter the environment in order to give this new species a better chance of survival which will allow it to eventually become the new dominant species in a couple million years.)
7) What makes a hero?
A great amount of admirable traits AND a low quantity of "unpleasant" attributes.
8) What is the difference between innocence and ignorance?
Ignorance is when the lack of knowledge is a detriment. Innocence is where the lack of knowledge protects you from psychological harm.
9) If life is unfair to everyone, doesn't that make life fair?
Life is ALWAYS fair. It is COMPLETELY unbiased and COMPLETELY impartial. Life is not unfair, it is PEOPLE who are unfair to suit their own personal agendas and then make up some bulls**t about how "Life's Not Fair".
"Sorry mate we're going to have to fire you."
"What! Why?"
"Because I can't be bothered paying your wage."
"But that's not fair!"
"Life's not fair."
BULL! F**KING! S**T! That 's not LIFE being unfair you greedy twatbiscuit, that's YOU being unfair.
Alternatively:
"Sorry mate we're going to have to fire you."
"What! Why?"
"Because we can't afford to pay you AND employee #2."
"But that's not fair!"
"Actually it is. You lose something and he gains something. Total net gain of zero. Complete equality, complete neutrality, completely fair. If you're too selfish to see that and somehow believe your life to have more worth than his besides the fact that you two dots are completely interchangeable then that's not our problem."
10) Are you the kind of friend that you would want to have as a friend?
Yes. I'm entertaining, patient, and I care about my friends feelings.
11) Why are you YOU?
Because of my life experiences that my inate personality has filtered an interpreted to determine the best way to mold my personality in a way that can evolve to deal with similar situations that may occur.
12) When do you give up? When you're trying harder, and harder, and things don't change, when do you give up? When does it become about you not wanting to fail at something, and not actually getting the job done because it's worth doing?
You just answered your own question. You stop when the final benefit will not outweigh that which you've sacrificed to achieve it.
13) When does justice become revenge?
When it makes YOU feel better but has no other benefit and may even be harmful to others.
14) Let's say a woman enslaved a group of peaceful beings to make a potion for her, and then kidnapped your friend to force you to be her slave. She does all sorts of horrible things to you and your friends, seemed to be an utter monster...but then you discover she's essentially addicted to the potion and it's corrupted her. She breaks the habit and has true remorse for what she's done. Does this person deserve forgiveness?
Even without the potion thing I'd have forgiven her. The past is the past and grudges are useless. If she wants to change for the better I'm here to help.
I love Kingdom Hearts.
Even Fausticorn Herself sees the problems with FiO.
This was a beautiful chapter, I'm glad Twilight is free from her Nightmare state and is becoming a true alicorn now. Also, I know this is several years old, but at one point it says "full meal" instead of full metal, and I think I saw a few other tiny mistakes.
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You noticed!
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I didn't have a dedicated grammar check at the time.
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So do I. Except Dream Drop Distance.
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Thank you very much. I hope you enjoy the rest of the story!
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It's a different kind of bites in the pony pov verse.
Immortality itself just means you're here until heat death signals it's time to start over and you finally face judgement then.
Becoming a concept of reality means you're barred from entering paradise since that's is 'NO GODS ALLOWED" sign, where the souls are simple allowed to enjoy their eternity IN PEACE. And you are gonna be needed to help build the NEXT universe. Though it's unknown if this applies to minor concept if they just pass on once the universe ends.
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Interesting and insightful dude!
So is the twist going to be that she's on the moon? #MajorasMask
In most cases? Experience. They're different from author to author or 'shadow that creates from shadow that creates'. Heck in lots of cases they aren't gods at all, just really powerful ponies. So an answer that encompasses all alicorns is kind of impossible, but if it's possible to ascend to godhood then in those cases it's the experience that causes ascension. At the very least that's my answer. That or physical distance if I feel like being a smartass.
By this point I'd probably be smelling a divine rat or two. These are highschoolers, One or two being like that I'd understand, but not every highschooler is a philosophy enthusiast.
Well sure, but she's still railroading it into a quandry where you're the asshole no matter what you do.
I'd complain about her already giving her entire life and will to two randos floating in the universe, but she gave her autonomy to a magical map, so it's not that out of character.
Now that's just poor self esteem. You're Twilight Motherfucking Sparkle. You could kick his ass. Beat his face in with the dictionary opened to the page containing deicide.
Now do you feel this way because you feel this way? Or does her aura and presence compel it? One is mind control intentional or otherwise, the other isn't.
Pineapples belong on pizza. Also, use your indoor voice.
And this is what happens when gods underestimate mortals. You get a bitchslap to the face like that.
So there are a few questions that could be asked from this. Including:
What's the functional difference? Are minor arcana weaker somehow?
If so what happens when a minor arcana becomes stronger than a major arcana?
What happens when the entire tarot deck is filled up and someone else goes through the ascension process? Do you invent new suits or do you just tell them they're too late and....do what about it?
I'm sensing some apprehension about accepting Twilight. Maybe if I pray hard enough she'll take a deep breath and just let it gooooooo.
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Realistically? No functional difference. Like how Kingdom Key-D and the Kingdom Key function exactly the same.
And have you read 5.5/6.5?
And this Kingdom Hearts 1's opening. Not Majora's Mask's ending.
And it isn't mind control, not in the least.
And a fan wrote the trial of another pony ascending.
I actually really disagree with this philosophy. True if the world had no conflict and was pure happiness then it would be nothing, just like having the pleasure centers of our brain wired up, and that would be its own hell. But why can't the world be one without no true pain and suffering, no cruelty, but still fights with family, still get frustrated when we keep losing a video game(like Morning Light), still forgetting to pack a lunch, all the tiny unimportant problems without the full terrible suffering that is the human experience.
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The point of this question was to present the contrast of CelestAI from Friendship Is Optimal, a man-made god, with a true god that encourages growth.
There was actually a never finished story (due to my own unwitting jackassery ) where the G3 world was given a patch up before it was created... and eons later ponies then had to face what could best be described as "ram overcrowding", and it would indeed need new adjustments.