The End is Not the End

by Hoofprintz

Twilight : Revelations

To my most devoted student, Radiant Dawn,

I'd be delighted to have your friends visit the castle, Radiant. We can hammer out the details as soon as you can coordinate a time that's good for the three of you. The task I've assigned you is set for tomorrow, as I'm sure you've been looking forward to. I'm writing to tell you how proud I am of the progress you've made thus far in Ponyville. While your special talent may not be friendship like mine is, you are doing an amazing job at building relationships with those around you, just as i asked. My student, stay focused and you will do fine, and remember to be cautious, Radiant. When I was young my friends and I faced many mundane trials like this one might first seem, but there were perils hiding around every corner. This mission will test your leadership skills as well as your ability to think on your hooves. You only really have to do one simple thing, Radiant. Believe. Believe in your lessons. Believe in your friends. Most importantly, believe in yourself. Those are the elements that make up the essence of the magic of friendship. Good fortune, my student.

Your friend,
Twilight Sparkle
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I no longer felt the awkward sensation crawling around in my head. The feeling of ants nibbling all over my brain was gone. Thankfully, the anger wasn't present anymore either. I felt like myself again. Sure, I was a little tired, but being back in control with no threat of losing it was motivating.

"Met," I hissed as I stared at his true form. He was some sort of lupine, maybe in the same family as the Diamond Dogs.

Or maybe a distant cousin...? Probably not.

I was already trying to formulate a plan of attack. If he was a lupine his olfactory senses were probably exceptional.

Maybe we can use that information to our advantage.

"Already trying to analyze me, Twilight?" he grinned sadistically at me. I could only glare back, still running through possible tactics in my mind. "You are not as smart as you might think, little princess."

"Your words fall on deaf ears, Kismet." Luna's horn was already glowing with power as was my sister's and my own, but firing off random spells at this foe wouldn't accomplish anything. I'm sure Luna and Cadance shared that reservation as well.

That's why they haven't attacked yet either.

He was fast, unreasonably so. Connecting with any sort of projectile was going to prove extremely difficult.

"You may be strong, but you're no match for the three of us." Cadance was having none of his mouth either. I'd not seen her this aggressive since Chrysalis had tried to steal my brother from her.

"They're right, Met. Together we're unstoppable," I declared confidently. It felt like old times. They were my friends... even closer than that, they were my family. Met rolled his eyes and began clapping slowly.

"Oh bravo, bravo, girls. Such a rousing little speech," he clapped one final time, the sound echoing loudly. "Let us not delay any longer then, shall we?" He flung his cane at me. It traveled faster than should be possible, but my barrier would protect me. Instead of simply bouncing off, the rod drove into my shield causing a large amount of magical friction. I had to concentrate to keep my spell up or it would've shattered instantly. While I was preoccupied with the cane, Met pointed a clawed finger at Luna, a thin beam of dark magic shooting from the digit. It penetrated her shield with ease, slamming into her chest and blowing up in a flash of dark light and smoke. Cadance was already in motion, flourishing her horn as her spell trapped Met in a blue magical heart.

"GOT YOU!" The pink alicorn shouted in triumph. His cane lost all momentum and fell to the ground, my shield still firmly in place.

"You certainly have," Met's face contorted in both confusion and curiosity as he looked closely at the heart. "This love of yours is quite the annoyance Cadance."

"You prioritized the wrong target, Met." As the smoke cleared away, Luna stood unharmed. "Magic that weak could never hurt the Princess of the Night," she brushed her chest off with a hoof where she'd taken the blow. Met chuckled at Luna's words, not taking his eye off of the energy surrounding himself.

"Perhaps..." he seemed to agree with her. "Or could it be that you are just so weak I thought that attack might very well kill you," he winked at her. At least I think it was a wink. It was hard to tell when he only had one eye exposed. Regardless, Luna seethed.

"Big talk coming from the 'Lord of Fate' who can't even escape a simple love spell," I covered my mouth with a hoof, feigning laughter in an attempt to bait the monster into a reaction.

"Right, right. I have never understood the concept. It really is one of the only subjects I cannot seem to comprehend."

He... agreed?

I didn't expect that.

"Well que sera sera. I suppose I must bid you adieu for now, ladies." Luna, Cadance, and I exchanged confused glances. Met slumped forward, almost as if his upper body had become too heavy to maintain his posture any longer. Then he changed right before our eyes. His body slimmed down, appearing to lose about fifty pounds of weight. The hair on his head grew much longer, down past his shoulders, but tied up by a large black ribbon. He still wore the same suit and accessories such as the watch, but his eye patch had disappeared. His claws were much smaller as well, both fore and back. He'd lost at least a foot of height. He was still very much a lupine, but a smaller one.

No, a vulpine now.

Was this supposed to help him in some way?

"Transforming your body will not help you." Luna was still as confident as ever, but I could sense something wasn't quite right.

"Careful, girls," I couldn't keep quiet. "I don't think this bodes well for us."

"DING DING DING! One hundred points to Twilight Sparkle! Let's show her what she's won!" The now female voice proclaimed. Met had retreated.

"KIS!" Luna glared, finally realizing what had happened. With one swift movement Kis obliterated Cadance's containment field and rushed at my sister.

"CADANCE!" Luna and I shouted as Kis reached a claw right through her barrier. It shattered at the contact in a brilliant blue light before Kis grabbed her by the throat, lifting her up into the air off
of her hooves.

"So Met can't deal with one little weakling? He must've gotten soft over the years," Kis squeezed tightly on Cadance's neck, droplets of blood dripping from the punctures her nails were creating. As Luna and I moved to teleport, Kis squeezed even harder, causing Cadance to sputter and gag. "Ah ah ah! Don't move a muscle or I'll crush this weakling's windpipe," she threatened. The two of us froze. We'd gotten careless because we'd had the advantage. Things couldn't have gone worse.

"I--n---we--" Cadance tried to say something, but to no avail. She couldn't even breathe, harsh gasps repeatedly escaping her mouth.

If we don't do something soon... but what?

"Hm? What was that? I couldn't hear you over the sound of you choking to death. KAHAHAHA!" she laughed in my sister's face. I wanted so badly to blast her to pieces. Little did I know Cadance was a lot more capable than I thought.

"I... said... I'm... not... WEAK!" she threw a hindleg up hard, her hoof connecting flush with Kis' snout. The attack caused the fox to lose her grip, dropping Cadance and sending the vulpine reeling back with a grunt. My sister wasn't done yet. After coughing a couple times to regain her composure, she charged forward, ramming Kis with a shoulder and sending her sprawling into the dirt. To finish her blitz off she blasted her battered enemy with numerous bolts of magic that exploded on contact.

"I don't care who you are or what kind of voice you have, that was for my daughter, you MONSTER!" Cadance breathed heavily, obviously having put a lot of effort into shrugging off Kis' attack and launching her own. Luna and I stood in stunned silence for a moment.

When did Cadance become such a scrapper?

"Excellent work, Cadance!" Luna was absolutely filled with glee. "Way to show her who is boss."

"You darn alicorns..." As the smoke cleared Kis' body came into view, still lying on her back on the ground. She sat up, crossing her legs, and then leaning her chin on a balled up fist. "I need to get it through my thick skull that I shouldn't underestimate you. If only we'd never let Justy- I know, Met. I'm not- Does it really matter at this point? We've clearly flouted the rules... Well, we're gonna have to get rid of her eventually anyway if- Fine... Fine, fine... I said FINE!" she snarled in anger. Once again the three of us exchanged completely baffled gazes.

Who is she talking to...? Met? Could the two of them converse like that? Aren't they the same being?

Yes. The same, but different.

"UGH, even had the brains to switch back to normal magic..." Kis stood up, dusting herself off.

"Don't let up girls, she won't." I casted a spell surrounding Kis with a tempest of swirling magenta magic. Containment seemed like the best strategy against them. They had proven to be unbelievably quick, but didn't seem capable of teleportation. Luna followed my lead casting her own storm of lightning within my magic.

"We have them!" she announced. "Do not let this opportunity slip through your hooves." Cadance joined her spell to ours, blue sparks of mana twinkling in the distorting mass of power. We compressed the spell inward, hoping to crush her into submission... and if she didn't submit well then...

"Oho! All at once? I thought you ponies were all about that honor and fairness crap," she lifted her claws to halt the progress of our attack surrounding herself with her own barrier of darkness.

"YOU TRICKED ME INTO KILLING THOUSANDS!" I roared at the arrogant vulpine. She laughed hysterically in response.

"KAHAHAHAHAHA! It's way more than that, Twilight. Try millions," she smirked at me, the visage of a demon.

"Twilight don't let her-" Luna called out, but it was not enough. I shuddered at the gravity of my sins, my spell wavering for just a second. It was all she needed. She extended here barrier outwards destroying our combined spell instantly in a flash of darkness.

"This is dumb," Kis sighed, shrugging her shoulders. "I'm getting bored, are you guys getting bored?" she looked around at us as if she actually wanted to know. "No? Doesn't really matter. Let's try something different, huh?" A book popped into existence in front of her. THAT book. For some reason it no longer bore my cutie mark, but that wasn't important right now.

What is she going to do with that?

She took it in her claws and began to flip through its pages. We were so caught off guard by her odd actions we didn't move. It was all too strange a tactic.

"What is the meaning of this, Kis? Are you afraid to f-"

"Shh shh shh shh! Hold on Luna, you're gonna love this." Kis was growing way too giddy as she lifted a finger to hush Luna. It made me feel nauseous. "Here we go! The ponies of Equestria will relish and play in the day and will shun and sleep through the night." I'd read that story hundreds, if not thousands of times.

That wasn't what it read...

"An ancient tale, what of it? Do you intend to bring up my sordid past?" Luna snorted derisively. "Do your worst, Monster. I bear no secrets."

No, that's not what she's doing. It has to be something else.

"Swing and a miss, Lu. Don't you get it?" Kis shook her head in disbelief. "You didn't think it was a little weird that not a single pony in all of Equestria appreciated you or your night?"

What is she playing at?

"N-no, not at all." Luna seemed taken aback by the question. "All have the right to enjoy whatever they choose to. I don't hold-"

"No, you idiot," the fox scoffed as if she were talking to a petulant foal. "Here, let me give you a hint. Ponies don't normally act like that. Look at how the citizens of Equestria treat these two," she flicked a thumb toward me and Cadance.

"Enough beating around the bush, Kis. Speak plainly!" Luna was reaching the end of her rope, her horn pulsing with silver magic.

"UGH!" Kis slapped herself on the forehead. "Who do you think made them do that? Who do you think created the Nightmare? Who do you think was whispering sweet nothings in your ears while you shivered in the dark praying for Celestia to come save you?"

"That can't be..." Cadance said what we all had to be thinking, what Luna was definitely thinking. The Princess of the Night stood stock still, a look of bewilderment on her face.

"Oh it can and it is," Kis placed a thoughtful finger on her chin. "Lets see. It was a little while back, not sure if I can remember. OH! RIGHT!" she cleared her throat before looking Luna right in her eyes. When she spoke again she sounded as if she were a hissing serpent. "Luna, your sister has abandoned you. She doesn't love you anymore and she never will again. You have no one. You are no one. You are alone. No one loves you. You are loathed. You are nothi-"

"S-STOP!" Cadance shouted while I stared at Luna and did nothing else. My blood was cold. Luna was shaking and on her back hoof, clearly terrified of the revelation Kis had just shared. The whites of the eyes of the dark alicorn had turned a sickly green.

"It's not nice to interrupt, Cadance," Kis turned her attention to my sister, the ugly look of delight on her face growing by the second. She flipped through the book yet again, quickly finding the page she desired. "The young alicorn would die for her arrogance and pride directly in front of her family." Cadance was as confused as was I.

"What are y-"

"Your daughter was an aberration, Cadance. That's why we were allowed to decide. That's why she died. If you would've had a normal pony like her father we wouldn't have had to kill her. It's your fault, Cadance. All. Your. Fault." Her jaw trembled as she fell to her haunches.

"M-my... fault?" she was gone as well, the light in her eyes dimming as the whites turned the same sickly green as Luna's.

"KAHAHAHA, the truth hurts, doesn't it girls!"

"Please, Kis. That's enough." I found my voice, but it was barely above a whisper. She'd dealt horrendous mental blows to them both and it pained me just as badly as seeing them physically hurt.

"Twilight? Twilight, Twilight, Twilight..." she turned toward me, rummaging through the pages of the book slowly. "If you're that eager to find out the truth, you could've just asked," she stopped searching, a look of indifference on her face. The sudden shift in her mood made me flinch.

"I-I don't-"

"The six mares will be connected forever. They will gain their cutie marks as one and will all meet and become the best of friends," she smiled darkly. "All good things must come to an end," she turned the page.

"I don't understand." Was she really trying to imply that she had some part in our lives?

What a load of-

"Radiant Dawn." The mention of her name made my blood turn to ice.

How do they know of her?

"What ar-"

"The young filly will meet Princess Twilight Sparkle and they will become good friends as well," Kis read with no emotion. I swallowed hard, listening as fear gradually swelled in my heart. "They will grow together, learning from each other and becoming closer and closer. All will be well, for a time." She turned the page, continuing the story I had already lived. "Regrettably, in her naivety, Princess Twilight will send the inexperienced filly to Ponyville to learn of friendship, just as her mentor had done to her." That was exactly why I had done it. It had changed me for the better when Celestia sent me to Ponyville... I was only trying to help Radiant in the same way. "This poor choice will result in Radiant Dawn's untimely death due to an 'accident' caused by a rock slide," she snapped the book shut as it disappeared from her grasp.

"You-"

"No, Twilight. You," she walked toward me, condemnation in her eyes. "We needed a way to manifest in this world. We needed someone strong enough to harvest the souls required." I couldn't hold my head up even though I was able to remain standing.

Had I really...?

"Celestia, Luna, and Cadance were all too strong to break. But you?" she crouched down in front of me, not letting me hide from her or the truth. "You were just right. We were the one who destined you all to be friends. We were the one who brought the six of you together. We sent Radiant to you so that we could break you, so that you would seek us out. If you weren't so... pathetic, if you hadn't been so weak, Radiant wouldn't have died in such an unsavory way."

It was me? It wasn't just random? It wasn't an accident? I caused all of it?

She placed a claw under my chin, lifting so we would be face to face. "You killed her... and then you killed millions more. You turned Spike into a monster and he'll be dead soon too... You're nothing but a murderer princess, and that's all you'll ever be."

"I..." I broke down, my mind and my heart in shambles.

If I'd been stronger. If I'd leaned on Celestia more.

She'd always been willing to try.

I pushed her away. I pushed everypony away. I turned Spike into a monster. I killed Flurry.

Something sharp pressed against my neck, but I couldn't care less.

"What in the..." Kis turned and looked at something that had her eyes wide in confusion. I followed her gaze to find a giant orb of light brighter than the sun.

"Enough of your sadistic manipulations, Kis!" The ball of energy dissipated, Princess Celestia standing majestically at the center of it. The look on her face was akin to when I'd threatened her sister. "GET AWAY FROM MY STUDENT, YOU MONSTER!"
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Princess Twilight,

I'm so excited for my first mission. I've been studying the area extensively in anticipation and it's such a fascinating location. Apparently, it was once home to Hydras, though I'm confident there's nothing like that in the area nowadays. Tamby has been staying over helping me all along the way. I think she might be more excited than I am. Gale is... something else. He injured a wing attempting a new stunt he saw the Wonderbolts performing. I considered postponement, but I'm confident we are still capable of success. Not to mention Gale insisted we move forward with our task. Thank you for the kind words Your Highness, they mean so very much to me. I will be as careful as a surgeon performing an operation. The next letter you receive will be one regaling you with a tale of our accomplishments. We can do it, Princess. I know we can.

I have faith.

Your most devoted student, Radiant Dawn

Author's Note:

And there is the payoff for all those chapters ago, the entire purpose of having the letters. I think it worked out well.

Also, I love Kis.

Comments

[TheHumanWriter]

And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.

May God guide you.
-Davidtin