Interlude - The Frozen Heart and the Heart of Darkness
For Whom the Twilight Falls
Interlude - The Frozen Heart and the Heart of Darkness
Sunset waited.
As the sun edged towards the horizon, she let out a sigh. She straightened up, looking towards where she would bring the moon up. Once she raised the moon… Twilight would return.
No, not Twilight. Sunset let out an involuntary growl at the memory of that… monster. She would save Twilight. She would bring her beloved out of the monster’s clutches. Radiant told her that her plan was going well. Luna was in Ponyville, and she had already begun making new friends. Her spells on the cavern where the Tree of Harmony had resided had alerted her to Luna’s presence.
Luna and Celestia were two of the six Bearers, she was sure of it. Luna’s magical ability and intelligence made her the perfect Bearer for Magic. Celestia was most likely Loyalty, for Philomena had hatched for her. The other four…she was uncertain. She was leaving a lot up to chance.
The sun inched closer to the horizon. With every second, twilight was drawing closer. The irony. She had banished Twilight at twilight. Sunset allowed herself a dry chuckle. The universe seemed to be laughing at them.
Suddenly, she heard the familiar sound of wings flapping. Someone was here. Sunset turned her gaze up to the sky, and her expression hardened at who she saw.
“Sunset,” Flurry Heart greeted as she landed. “Fancy seeing you here.” She had a guarded tone and expression, Sunset noticed. Flurry was still mad at her.
“Flurry,” Sunset replied curtly. “You should go. Shouldn’t you be in Ponyville? I have already sent my student to receive you and your delegation.”
“Cut the crap,” Flurry snapped as her lips pulled back in a thinly-veiled snarl. “I know what you’re doing here. Aunt Twilight’s disappearance a thousand years ago exactly, along with the legends you’ve been spreading. She’s coming back, isn’t she?”
“You have your duties as the Empress of the Crystal Empire,” Sunset said, ignoring the question and avoiding eye contact. “Your ponies will worry where you’ve gone.”
“I got my daughter, Snowfall, to go in my stead,” Flurry stared at her, anger burning in her eyes.
“I am impressed you can continue to do what you do, century after century,” Sunset said conversationally. “Adopting one filly, or a colt every generation. I cannot fathom how you deal with the stress and grief after each’s passing.”
Flurry growled. “I do it, because they don’t have a family to go home to. They don’t have their parents. They don’t have relatives. I do it because I can’t have foals. Is it not reason enough for you?”
Sunset sighed. “I’m really sorry for what happened to Cadance, Flurry. If I had just-”
“If you had just gotten yourself out of your ten-year funk,” Flurry yelled. “You would have saved my mother! You left everything behind for a decade, just because you couldn’t live with yourself!”
“I know,” Sunset whispered. “And I will make it right. As soon as Twilight comes back to take the throne instead of me.”
That gave Flurry pause. “You would give up the throne.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement.
“I don’t deserve to rule,” Sunset murmured. “I made so many rash decisions, so many horrible mistakes. Without her by my side, I feel lost. I barely managed to hold on these thousand years. Even now, I send my student who is barely of age to face the greatest mage both of us ever knew.”
“An entire eon, and you kept your mouth shut about the details of what happened to Aunt Twilight,” Flurry paced on the hill. “You told me she disappeared. But I know now you banished her. What caused her to go in such a fury you had to choose that?”
“She felt neglected,” Sunset looked to the skies. The sun was almost at the horizon. “Every alicorn has a dark side, one that whispers to them in their darkest times. I’m sure you’ve heard the whispers before.”
“I have,” Flurry admitted. “It was when…Dad died.” She swallowed. “I miss him, still. I miss Mom.”
“You were thrust into the role of Empress at such a young age,” Sunset whispered. “I am to blame. If only I had not locked myself away, kept myself hidden, I could have comforted Cadance. I could have kept her from going mad with grief. Twilight could have helped if I didn’t neglect her.”
Flurry’s eyes finally softened at the genuine display of guilt and grief. “Sunset,” she whispered. “I’m also sorry. Sorry that we’ve been at odds with each other for the last eon when we could have been working together to save Aunt Twilight. I don’t forgive you, not completely, but I can try to understand.”
“Thank you,” Sunset let out a breath. “She’ll be here, soon. Once my student saves the mare we both love, we can begin to rebuild. We’ll pull the Six and your mother out of limbo with the Elements of Harmony.”
“The Elements of Harmony,” Flurry repeated. “You’ve found new Bearers?”
“I have found two,” Sunset confirmed. “And they will set in motion the cogs that will draw the other four out. Harmony will find a way. She always has.”
The sky pulsed with a dark aura as the stars suddenly began to move, the moon finally rising above the horizon as the sun went down. Flurry and Sunset both caught a glimpse of an imprint of an alicorn on the surface of the moon, before it was gone.
“So it begins,” Sunset whispered. “Thank you, Flurry, for being here with me.”
“She’s my aunt,” Flurry replied. “How could I not come?”
Sunset never replied. A bolt of green magic slammed into her chest, throwing her off her hooves and sending her sprawling. The air was suddenly filled with buzzing as hundreds of changelings revealed themselves, emerging from bushes or from invisibility.
Flurry’s eyes widened. “What is the meaning of this?!” She demanded, whirling around to try and find the leader of the changelings, which she was sure was in their midst.
“I see,” Sunset murmured from the ground, making no effort to get up. “Twilight, you smart mare.”
“Queen Midnight sends her regards,” Queen Arach stepped out of the mass of changelings. “She will be here soon, Princess.” She said the last word with a slight wince. “I’m sorry it had to be this way.”
“So this is why you insisted on staying in Canterlot until it was time,” Sunset looked Arach in the eye. “You do realize, if you do this, the changelings will be ostracized once this is all over. It’s not too late. You can still-”
“The time for regrets has passed,” a cold but familiar voice said. “My beloved.” A dark purple alicorn landed on the ground, her mane flowing with an insane amount of magic. In it, dotted the stars that she took from the skies. Her eyes were ringed with a brilliant aqua light.
Midnight placed a hoof on Sunset’s chest. “Miss me?” she hissed.
“Aunt?” Flurry breathed from behind Midnight. Midnight’s head snapped to Flurry.
“Restrain my niece,” The dark alicorn ordered. “I don’t want her to do anything foolish she’ll regret. My disagreement is with my beloved alone. She’s suffered enough with the loss of her mother.”
“What-” Flurry began, before a mass of changelings jumped her. When the changelings moved away, Flurry had an inhibitor ring on her horn, along with restraints fitted on her hooves and wings, forcing her to hobble and having limited movement. “Aunt!”
Midnight ignored Flurry as she stared Sunset in the eyes. “You know, I’ve thought about our reunion for a thousand years,” she lowered herself to Sunset. “Fantasized about it. Imagined what I could do to you. I’d kiss you as you screamed in pain. It’s what you deserve after you banish me for a thousand years, after all. I could let you feel what I did for that amount of time.”
“I won’t fight you, Twilight,” Sunset whispered. “Do what you want to me.”
“No, Sunset-” Flurry began, but Midnight’s horn lit up and Flurry spoke no more.
“Don’t make me do anything I’d regret, niece,” Midnight growled. “I wasn’t planning on doing anything to you. You’re family, after all. You’re an alicorn. Your mother would want you to shut up, so that you can stay alive. My quarrel is with her, not you.”
A sword sheath appeared at Midnight’s side. She drew a black sword out of it, the blade humming with pure power. “I could also just kill you with Nova,” she continued. “But I felt that it would be too fast, too painless. But then, I remembered my original goal of why I rebelled against you. To take everything I was owed. To take everything I ever gave to the ponies back.”
“And so, my love,” She leaned in closer to Sunset. “I’m going to take every scrap of knowledge you have in that mind. Every. Single. One.”
Sunset’s eyes widened as she realized the implications of what Midnight was threatening. “No!” she begged. “Twilight, you don’t know what you’re saying! Mind magic is volatile, and messing with memories even more so!”
“I am not Twilight,” Midnight snarled. “I am not that sniveling wretch who loved you unconditionally and never complained. I am not that bookworm, that weak mare who had power but couldn’t take what she wanted. I am Midnight Sparkle. And as I said before you banished me to the moon, I am the Herald of the Stars. I am the Keeper of Knowledge. And most importantly, I am the Alicorn of Magic.”
“I have pushed magic to its very limits,” Midnight grinned. “I think I can figure out a way to take what I need while keeping your sanity intact. I won’t try too hard, though.”
Midnight touched her horn to Sunset’s head. “Ready to defend yourself now?” The dark alicorn gloated. “Come on, I’m about to take every scrap of knowledge you ever had. Every bit of intelligence you have.”
“I won’t fight you, Twilight,” Sunset steeled herself. “Even if you take those, I’ll still be Sunset Shimmer, the mare who fell in love with Twilight Sparkle. I’ll still be who I am.”
“You don’t deserve her love,” Midnight spat. “You neglected her, and took her for granted. I gave her another option, a better one. She’s in a better place now.”
“So you admit you and Twilight are two different entities,” Sunset observed with satisfaction in her voice. “That makes this easier for you to be defeated.”
Midnight’s lips drew back in a snarl. With a deranged scream, her horn lit up along with her eyes as she called upon her magic.
Memories flashed before Sunset’s eyes as Midnight dug into her mind, dragging out whatever she wanted. The time she and Twilight researched how to give the changelings a different source of love together. The time she and Twilight wrote their first book. When she ascended.
An orb appeared beside Midnight, glowing in the dim light. Sunset felt memories leaving her, entering the orb that hovered there. As Midnight pulled more and more scraps out of her mind, she finally screamed with pain as the knife in her mind dug further. She screamed, as her mind burned.
But as Midnight ransacked her mind with glee, she felt Twilight’s subconscious. The mare she still loved was still in there. Twilight’s subconscious was floating in the midst of hate and anger, the two emotions that made up Midnight. It was so small, so tiny. But feeling Twilight…that gave Sunset hope. Hope that it would all be alright.
And as she held on to that hope, she felt more of her knowledge slipping away. She couldn’t even remember the formula they used to create the crystals for the centaurs anymore. She remembered there were crystals, but not how she made them. She remembered the Elements of Harmony, but she couldn’t remember how to deactivate the traps in the cavern.
Suddenly, Midnight kissed her, causing a memory to float unbidden to the forefront of her mind. Her favorite one.
“Looks like we did it,” Sunset grinned as they sat down on the edge of a cliff, overlooking the sea. “We convinced Mayhem to stand down. Now we can begin rebuilding Equestria.”
Twilight smiled. “We can. You know, you were glorious. I remember you stood in front of our friends, burning with righteous flames, refusing to give Mayhem ground to hurt them. You kept saying to hurt you instead. You were amazing, my love.”
Sunset blushed. “I was just doing what I thought was right.”
Twilight nodded. “And that, is what makes you the mare I love. I have the perfect late gift for you, Sunny.”
Sunset frowned. “What do you mean? You already got me plenty of gifts for the upcoming wedding-”
“Shut up,” Twilight kissed her. Sunset melted into the kiss as her insides screamed with pure joy. Twilight pulled away, judging her. “That felt good,” the lavender alicorn smirked. “Want more?”
Sunset looked at the mare she loved for a good ten seconds, her expression unreadable. Her face split into a grin. “Hell yeah.” They kissed again.
And as Sunset closed her eyes, her mind shutting down, she held onto the memory. She held onto her hope. Her hope, that Twilight could be saved. She held onto her love for Twilight.
Luna, Celestia…I hope you’re ready.
The last thing Sunset saw before she fell unconscious was the glimmering light of the orb that contained all her knowledge and intelligence.
Stats
Page generated in 0.017 seconds
Total duration
999 users online
1,228,014 hits today, 1,960,719 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
11097916
Thanks.
Great interlude chapter, really helps explain a few things about this fics universe
Sunnyyyyyyyyyyyyy!
Also, I love the hint of lore we're getting about Cadenceeee! Was also good to see Flurry hasn't become a completely icy Empress like Sombra implied
If this story lasts long enough to reach April 1, I think we'll need a more explosive approach from Twilight.
good chapter
Great build up to the upcoming showdown.
11098081
Doubt it lol I'm pushing to finish the story by February because I have to start preparing for finals soon.
Midnight seems to be well prepared for her return and has a well thought-out plan. It is interesting to know how they can stop her.
11098163
There will be a sequel or something? Love your story❤️
11098224
If there is sufficient interest, I might.
Isn't that one of Twilight's swords from The Alicorn Warrior?
Catching up on the two chapters I missed before you updated the next chapter. This is some crazy stuff.
11099191
TAW is Justice, Glory, Alpha and Omega.
And I've been on a grind recently lmao
Oof, that final moment was harsh. Definitely bringing the big guns out the gate. I like Flurry Heart, I can understand where she's coming from now that she's made a physical appearance. Sunset definitely goobered a lot but hopefully, she can make for it in the end. Definitely did not expect such an attack from Midnight. That is definitely the harshest punishment possible. Looking forward to the bearers finally coming together in Ponyville.
welp, stuff's happening. But hey, Flurry Heart isn't a jerk, im happy to see that im focusing on that to avoid thinking about the horrors<3