• Published 9th Dec 2012
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Succession - Helrael



Twilight awakens in a world beset by eternal night, caused by the death of Princess Celestia and Luna and the destruction of the Canterlot palace. Can Twilight bring back the sun, save Equestria, and bring history's most vicious murderer to just

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13 - The Speaker in the Shadows

:: Warning: Following chapter is fairly dark. ::

Succession

Chapter 13 - The Speaker in the Shadows


She was back in the emptiness again. Not in that which was her being, but that which was unknown. She stood upon the bridge of light that spanned the strange abyss surrounding her. As they had been before, the burning palace of Canterlot lay behind her, floating in the tenebrous void while the solar eclipse hung upon the invisible horizon to her right, its light duller than she remembered from her previous visit. The light of her own cutie mark, however, now rising above the horizon to her left, had strengthened considerably, more than making up for the dying light of Celestia as it was devoured by Nightmare Moon’s darkness.

She started walking, seeking both to reach the fork in the road she knew lay ahead of her and to escape the beast that had devoured her the last time.

Strange, she thought as she traversed the vast hills and deep valleys she knew were there but couldn’t see. I’m completely aware of this being a dream. Being attacked by that monster won’t hurt me. Jumping off this path and into the abyss wouldn’t either. So why do I continue?

“Because this is no dream,” the voice she had encountered previously spoke, and suddenly she stood before the two different paths, one sloping lazily downwards and terminating where all of her friends and Celestia stood, the other leading up the perpendicular stairwell that vanished into the brilliant tower so far above all else. “This is a message. And so I say to you once more: You choose the path.”

“Your voice was familiar,” she began, finally realizing to whom the mysterious voice belonged. “But now I recognize it...”

“Only one path leads to salvation. I have told you which.”

“You say the left. You say that I should reach out to the heavens and leave everyone I love behind. You would want me to do that, wouldn’t you, Nightmare Moon? No doubt you plan for me to break my neck going up those stairs!”

“The path is difficult. The choice is yours.”

She scoffed and took the right path, descending toward the bottom of the invisible valley in which all of her friends stood, waiting for her upon a bright plaza of that same, strange light. What had first been a calm and dignified pace, however, soon turned into a desperate gallop as she heard it: the ragged panting of a beast in pursuit of its prey and the skittering of claws upon the lustrous path behind her.

“Well, howdy there, partner!” Applejack greeted her happily as if she couldn’t see whatever beast was trying to devour all of them.

“Where’ve you been?” Rainbow Dash asked in an equally carefree manner, but had the air driven out of her lungs as Twilight tackled her out of the way, doing her best to save her friends.

“Run!” she screamed desperately at the ponies around her but was soon picked up by the thing chasing her and thrown to the far edge of the large platform, skidding to a halt before the hooves of Celestia herself. She was stunned for only a moment before gazing fearfully back at the thing chasing her. A dark cloud rolled across the plaza, swallowing her friends one by one as it expanded to cover the entire plaza, drowning out the light. She lay paralyzed in fear as Celestia stepped over her, putting herself between her student and the monster. She turned, and faced the unicorn as the all-devouring cloud reared up behind her.

“The choice was yours,” the princess said in the strange voice of Nightmare Moon before darkness washed over her.

The monstrous cloud finally enveloped the unicorn, and she was plunged into a world of impenetrable darkness. She searched frantically for any sign of her friends, but instead found a pair of amber eyes staring back at her.

“The time is upon us. Are you prepared to face me?”


Twilight gasped loudly as she woke, breathing in huge gulps of air to expel the dark cloud that had been suffocating her only moments before. She threw her head back and banged her horn against a wall, but at least the pain of doing so prevented her magic from lashing out at her surroundings as it had done so often lately.

One of her front hooves underwent one final spasm before she recovered from her dream, striking something that immediately pulled away with a surprised yelp. Still panting shallowly, she opened her eyes and found Amber Vane standing over her, both unicorns occupying what little space the flying chariot had to provide.

The white unicorn rubbed the hoof Twilight had inadvertently struck and gave her a worried look. “Bad dream?”

“Weird dream,” Twilight muttered, rubbing her head with a hoof as she rose. “Sorry.” Behind her, Spike was holding on to the safety railing in the back of the chariot, looking miserably cold as he glided through the air.

“Are we there yet?” he moaned, his teeth chattering in the cold wind rushing past the chariot and the small group of pegasi accompanying it.

“Yes,” Amber Vane sighed, giving Twilight the impression that this wasn’t the first time Spike had asked. “We’re getting close to Ponyville.”

As if on cue, the faint sound of a one-pony band playing at full volume drifted into Twilight’s ears. She looked ahead and was at first blinded by the light of one of Flim and Flam’s solites hovering not far ahead of them above the town hall. She turned her gaze downwards and found a large gathering of ponies assembled in the town square. Upon a podium, under a banner reading ‘Welcome back-’ and then splitting off into ‘Spike’ and ‘Twilight’ respectively, stood Pinkie Pie, clad in ten different instruments and dancing around.

“There’s no surprising Pinkie Pie, is there?” Twilight laughed even as the ponies below finally spotted the chariot, eliciting a collective cheer and starting off the rest of the musicians gathered there.

“I see a gem buffet!” Spike exclaimed excitedly. “Land!”

The chariot pullers were already doing so, pulling into a spiralling descent above the town square, and within two minutes, all ponies were safely upon the ground. Twilight had barely stepped out of the chariot before a clatter of metal drew her attention to Bon Bon, who had been buried beneath a pile of instruments. Pinkie Pie fell upon her a second later, pulling both the unicorn and the dragon into a strangling hug.

“You brought Spike back!” the pink pony exclaimed excitedly. “And you brought you back! I’m soooooo happy!”

“Pinkie!” Twilight choked out, teleporting herself out of her grip so she could breathe. “Thanks, Pinkie,” she breathed, smiling at the many lights and streamers all over the place. “I can’t believe you...”

“Oho, no you don’t!” a voice from above cackled, and Twilight found herself set upon by Rainbow Dash this time. “You’ve been gone for too long to not get a group hug!”

“Agreed!” Applejack concurred, embracing Twilight from behind. The unicorn could do nothing but laugh as the two groups melded together into one big hug, with her and Spike in the center. “Whoo-wee, Spike! Pinkie said you’d gotten bigger, but Ah wasn’t expectin’ this! Yer huge!”

“Got wings, too!” Rainbow Dash observed, giving Spike a playful grin. “You need to work on your landings, though!”

“Look who’s talking!” Spike shot back as the hug broke up.

“Who indeed!” Rainbow Dash returned. “Star Wonderbolt, here!”

“How’ve you girls been holding up?” Twilight asked Applejack as Rainbow Dash started giving Spike a few pointers on flying. “How’s Ponyville?”

“Without you? Pretty darn cold,” Applejack admitted, nodding at the solite hovering above the town hall and another one out over Sweet Apple Acres. “Ah remember yer solites bein’ a lot warmer. But we’re doin’ just fine, o‘erwise. Timberwolves’ve been leavin’ us alone and that ursa major hasn’t shown its ugly head since ya fought it off!”

“Ooh! How’s Rarity?” Pinkie Pie broke in, bouncing in place as if she needed to catch Twilight’s attention. “Is she coming back to Ponyville soon?”

“I, uh, I haven’t really seen her since the accident in the conclave,” Twilight admitted sheepishly.

“Seriously?” Rainbow Dash broke in, forgetting her conversation with Spike for a moment. “You’ve been in Manehattan for, what, a month, and you haven’t met up with her once? What gives?”

“I’ve been busy!” Twilight defended herself. “Leading a task force isn’t easy!”

“Yeah, speakin’ o’ that. How’s it been treating ya?” Applejack asked with concern. “Ya seem a bit... edgy if you don’t mind me sayin’.”

“I am,” Twilight answered, casting a nervous glance up at the sky and flinching when she saw the full moon. “I’m afraid I can’t even stay. I really need to be somewhere else. Now. Sorry.”

“You just got here!” Rainbow Dash protested. Pinkie Pie, meanwhile, gave the unicorn a sad, knowing look.

“You really shouldn’t go...” she muttered.

“Sorry, Pinkie,” Twilight repeated, putting a comforting hoof on her shoulders. “You must’ve put a lot of work into this party...”

“I’m not talking about the party,” Pinkie Pie sighed, her excitement from the arrival of her two friends deflating quickly. “You shouldn’t go. But you’re gonna go anyway. And something bad’ll happen. Really bad.”

“Maybe, but... I can’t stay.” She turned toward Amber Vane, who was headed for the buffet lined up near the town hall entrance. “Amber! I’m taking the chariot! Sorry! Round up the rest of the soldiers and get the council to send a relief effort off to the northwest!”

“What’s going on, Twi?” Rainbow Dash asked with concern. “Where are you going?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted, turning away from the group and marching toward the chariot, signalling for the pegasi pulling it to get back into position. “Spike,” she called back to the dragon who was still standing with Pinkie Pie and Applejack, “explain what’s going on to Amber and stay in Ponyville.”

The large dragon nodded reluctantly and went to a very confused-looking Amber Vane. Rainbow Dash, on the other hoof, put herself between Twilight and the chariot. “Hey! What’s up!? Why are you leaving?”

“Somewhere north of here, Nightmare Moon is going to attack Equestria,” Twilight said, teleporting past the pegasus and onto the chariot. “I’m pretty sure it could happen any moment now, and I need to be there. She’s issued a challenge, and... I’m going to stop her.”

For a short moment, Rainbow Dash was at a loss for words, but as Twilight’s chariot set into motion, she took wing and followed after her. “Twilight... Nightmare Moon? You’re going up against her alone? Didn’t you make a promise to me to not do that?”

“I’ve been over this with Spike already!” Twilight groaned. “She’s going to kill ponies, Rainbow! I’m not letting her get away!”

“Not saying you should,” Rainbow Dash argued, easily keeping up with her even as the chariot took to the air. “Just that you shouldn’t face her alone.”

“No.” Twilight shook her head stubbornly and stared the pegasus straight in the eyes. “Absolutely not! You don’t have any way of protecting yourself from her magic! The last guy who was with me when I faced her got incinerated! Without the Elements of Harmony, I won’t let any of you near her!”

“That’s not what you said a few months ago,” Rainbow Dash complained. “What happened to going up against Nightmare Moon together?”

“That was before...” Twilight’s words caught in her throat at the unpleasant memories.

“Fluttershy?”

“Not just her,” Twilight explained. “Ponies have been dying all around me during these missions with the Sword of Equestria. Especially this last one. Ponies that tried helping me.”

“Well, I’m not just your average pegasus soldier, am I?” Rainbow Dash countered. “And you can’t order me around like one either! I’m not letting you fight Nightmare on your own!”

“Technically, I’m the Captain of the Sword of Equestria,” Twilight pointed out. “I only answer to Scarlet Bolt and her immediate advisors, making it one of the highest ranks in the Equestrian military. I can order you around if I do so to protect the nation.”

“Protect the nation?” The pegasus scoffed.

“I’m sure keeping the Element of Loyalty safe qualifies as that,” Twilight said. “Just... stay in Ponyville, alright?”

“You can put me in jail or whatever when we’ve defeated Nightmare Moon,” Rainbow Dash insisted stubbornly. “But something tells me you don’t really have time for that now.”

“I can put you back in Ponyville where you belong,” Twilight declared impatiently, her horn glowing. “I can do that right now.” Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to protest, but vanished in a bright flash.

Twilight glanced backwards and rolled her eyes at the sight of the approaching cyan pegasus. “Ha! Nice try!” Rainbow Dash laughed as she drew up to the side of the chariot again. “You’re gonna have to try...” Again, the pegasus vanished in a flash. “...Lot harder if you...” Rainbow Dash continued as she caught up with her before winking out yet again. “...Wanna stop me!” she finished, giving Twilight a cocky grin.

“Rainbow, I can keep doing this for a very long time!” Twilight groaned. “Can’t you please just stay in Ponyville?”

“Why can’t you let me fight her?” Rainbow Dash retorted. “If you keep teleporting me, you won’t have any magic left to defeat her!”

“I already told you why!” Twilight replied angrily. “And if I use all my magic teleporting you around, Nightmare Moon’s gonna end up killing both of us! Is that what you want?”

“It’s not what you want either!” Rainbow Dash defended herself. “Which is why I say you’re bluf...” Again, the cyan pegasus vanished in a pop and a flash.

“Stay in Ponyville,” Twilight prayed silently, refusing to look behind her.

“How come you’re fine with letting us go near Nightmare Moon?” one of the chariot pullers asked of her, raising an eyebrow critically.

“I’m not,” Twilight answered. “As soon as we find her, you need to get the hay out of there.”

“...Bluffing,” Rainbow Dash whispered into Twilight’s ear.

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight exclaimed in exasperation. “Please! Just let me do this!”

“I’m not gonna let you get hurt,” Rainbow Dash answered, her tone more serious. “If we lose you, Equestria’s done for.”

“And what about you?” Twilight returned. “And AJ and Pinkie? What if whatever happened to Fluttershy happens to them while you’re gone? I’m not saying you can’t fight, Rainbow, I’m just saying that hoof-to-hoof combat is... really not a viable option against somepony like Nightmare Moon! She’ll destroy you before you get anywhere near her! You need to fight magic with magic! Please, Rainbow, stay safe, and make sure AJ, Spike, and Pinkie are too. We need all the Elements of Harmony to recreate the sun, not just me.”

“We need you too,” Rainbow Dash pointed out quietly, slightly swayed by Twilight’s arguments.

“And we need Fluttershy too,” Twilight countered. “Which is why I need to face Nightmare Moon. She has to know where she is. I’ll get Fluttershy, you just keep an eye on everypony else, alright?”

“What if she kills you this time? She’s chosen the when and where; she’s bound to have the advantage.”

“If we stop fighting her, she wins,” Twilight answered. “I won’t get killed, Rainbow. I know.”

“I still don’t like it.”

“I’m sorry you don’t,” Twilight sighed, then teleported the pegasus again. This time, she didn’t return.


“And you’re completely sure it’s happening tonight?” the snow white pegasus pulling her chariot asked for maybe the third time that night as they passed yet another village, so small that it was no more than a handful of cottages grouped loosely together. Like all other settlements the three ponies had passed since leaving Ponyville, there was no sign of Nightmare Moon.

“I’m almost completely certain the attack will happen tonight.”

“You’re ‘almost completely certain’?” the other pegasus asked, glancing back at the unicorn.

“Yes,” Twilight replied lamely, unable to think of anything better to say.

“So how long are we gonna keep flying around out here?” the white pegasus asked the captain in an almost challenging tone. “We’ve been flying nonstop for five hours now!”

“I know, I know,” Twilight relented, sighing deeply. “We’ll land in Hoofington; you can rest, and...” The lavender unicorn trailed off as a brilliant red light to her left caught her eye, drawing the attention of both herself and the two pegasi. Several miles west of where they flew, was a small town, wreathed in a strange dark red mist that swirled about the shadow-steeped buildings as if a violent storm had taken hold of the immediate area.

“What the hay is that!?” the left chariot puller exclaimed, almost bumping into his colleague as he instinctively drew away from the tremendous display of magic.

“It’s the reason we’re out here,” Twilight told the pegasi, growing both excited and worried as the ominous lights pulsed with life. “Get us over there. As close as you‒” A sudden, low-pitched sound cut through the air, much like a large bell being struck, slowly growing in volume while the brightness of the red fog dulled in intensity, the strange motes of magic becoming steadily darker and darker as the sound grew ever louder.

The screams of ponies panicking began to mingle with the cacophony emanating from what appeared to be the center of the town, and as they approached, the soldiers flying above could make out the faint outlines of hundreds of fleeing townsfolk.

“Ya sure we should be flying toward that... whatever it is!?” the white pegasus shouted over his shoulder. “What is it even!?”

Another layer of glowing red mist formed around the now fully blackened magical mist, enveloping the majority of the town Nightmare Moon had targeted.

“What do we do?” the other pegasus asked of Twilight as the outer shell of magic began dulling as well.

“I can’t stop it if that’s what you mean,” she replied guiltily. “It’s a much too powerful spell and we’re too far away.”

“Then‒!” The white pegasus’ protest was interrupted as the enormous swirling mass of magic contracted and grew silent, as if taking a final breath before unleashing whatever destruction it had in store for the defenseless town.

The three ponies could only stare in awed silence as the now solid black dome exploded upwards in a pillar of scarlet fire, sending forth a deafening roar and a barrage of shattered rock and debris.

“Whoah!” the white pegasus nearly screamed at the sight, rearing back as a shockwave shook the chariot. “Whoah, whoah! Tha-that... Th-the whole town! Just like that!”

“Calm down, Snow Flake!” Twilight ordered the pegasus, whose panicked flailing was bringing the aircraft out of balance. “This is exactly what we came for!” The unicorn gazed upwards and confirmed that a large veil of glowing mist had been blasted skyward by the explosion, covering a significant portion of the night sky with red.

“Th-the whole place just got... leveled!” Snow Flake stuttered, seemingly completely out of his mind. “We ain't g-getting near that thing!”

For a moment, the white pegasus tried to pull the chariot around on his own, though his efforts were quickly thwarted by his companion, who gave him a smack across the face. “For pony's sake, Snow! Pull yourself together!”

“You are getting near that thing!” Twilight backed the pegasus up, pushing Snow Flake into his proper position with her magic. “And that's an order! From the Captain of the Sword! I just need to be within teleportation distance of that town...”

“Neighbury,” the pegasus who wasn't Snow Flake added helpfully, and Twilight nodded her thanks.

“Once we're within distance of Neighbury, I'll go down there and you two run for the hills. Or fly for them, whatever.”

“Alright... Uh, sounds like a plan!” Snow Flake replied, his spirits lifted somewhat. The other pegasus, however, gave the unicorn a worried glance.

“That... thing just leveled Neighbury with a single spell. Rainbow Dash was right; you can't go alone.”

“I don’t have a choice,” Twilight answered, looking ahead nervously at the giant column of smoke rising out of what was once Neighbury, the base of which was still lit up by the alicorn's magic. The echoes of the explosion still filled the entire area, a constant, thunderous roaring competing with the shrill, hot winds rushing past the ponies. Large, uneven streaks of destruction extended out from the center of the smoking column, running past farms and roads and small cottages and leaving only a barren, flattened, gray wasteland, while other areas around the site of the explosion were left completely untouched. To Twilight’s relief, it seemed that all or at least a majority of the townsfolk she had seen fleeing had survived the explosion. Most of them, however, seemed to have entered into some sort of mad stampede to put as much distance between themselves and Nightmare Moon as possible. “That could have been Ponyville.”

“It could also end up being you,” the pegasus pointed out. “I don’t know how you survived The Great Tragedy, but aren’t you pushing your luck now?”

“This won’t be the only time she does this,” Twilight told him, eyes still on the ruins. “It was Canterlot first, then it was Fluttershy, and now it’s Neighbury here. Who’s to say Manehattan isn’t next? Nopony else can stop her. I have to face her.” She took a deep breath. “I’ll be fine. I’ve faced her several times already.”

“Are you completely sure about that?” he pressed. “The council will have our heads if anything happens to you.”

“I’m sure,” Twilight lied. “And you’re answering to me now, not the council.”

“I suppose we are.”

“We’re close enough now,” Twilight told the pegasi, ending the discussion and lighting her horn as she prepared to teleport. “Go help the refugees. Get them as far away from me and Nightmare Moon as possible.” The pegasus she had been speaking with nodded his head, and the unicorn winked out.

The sudden shift in momentum as she left the chariot was almost enough to send her toppling forwards, but her balance was compensated for by a powerful gust of wind rushing against her from the source of the explosion. The wind tore at her coat and howled in her ears as she squinted ahead into the darkness of the night, seeing nothing but smoke and fire. She shuddered at the sight. Neighbury hadn’t been much smaller than Ponyville, but now it looked more like the ruins of the Canterlot palace. Lush green fields and fair weather had in less than a minute been turned into something that seemed straight out of Tartarus.

“Nightmare Moon!” Twilight called out as bravely as she could, returning her attention to the task at hoof as she marched toward the enormous column of smoke. “You wanted to face me, didn’t you!? Well, here I am!” She reached the pillar and crawled across a veritable wall of ruined masonry and burning lumber, reaching a large area in which the ground was completely smooth. A flash of red from somewhere ahead of her pierced the veil of smoke surrounding her, and Twilight made her way toward it and what she believed to be the center of the explosion. “Show yourself!”

“Twilight Sparkle!” the voice that had so often plagued her dreams called out to her in what could almost be perceived as a friendly greeting. “You are earlier than I would have expected. Come.”

The smoke ahead of Twilight thinned considerably, revealing the silhouette of Nightmare Moon standing some two hundred feet in front of her. The dark alicorn's horn had been lowered to the ground, but her head now rose to face the unicorn expectantly. “I trust you have thought long and hard upon the question I put forth. There is much and more that depends upon your answer.”

“Q-question!? What do you mean!?” the unicorn challenged Nightmare Moon, her horn glowing as she readied both a spell of great destruction and one of shielding, slowly approaching her enemy.

Nightmare Moon gave a long and disappointed sigh. “Twice I asked you. Millennia old am I, and yet you have somehow worn out my patience. Very well. I shall ask of you one last time: What am I? Friend or foe?”

The odd question stopped Twilight in her tracks, though only for a moment before she once again began taking guarded steps toward the dark being. “You... killed Celestia.”

“Yes. A necessary sacrifice.”

“You destroyed the sun.”

“Indeed.”

“You wiped out the entire Canterlot palace.”

“Yes.”

“You imprisoned Luna within her own mind.”

“Hm. Yes.”

“You killed hundreds of ponies, including my brother and sister-in-law!”

“Thousands of ponies,” Nightmare Moon answered, shaking her billowing mane. “Now, answer me.”

“How..?” Twilight shook her head as she failed to comprehend the alicorn's logic. “How can you possibly think I would ever be your... friend!? Why do you even want that!? You killed half the ponies I've ever truly cared about! You've doomed Equestria with your stupid notion of eternal night! No! You're not my friend! You're Nightmare Moon! Possibly the biggest threat to all of Equestria!” She scowled at her enemy for a few moments before the alicorn’s silence grew too unsettling for her to bear. Refusing to lose her composure before an enemy as dangerous as Nightmare Moon, Twilight adopted a more guarded expression, turning around to circle her foe in a different direction.

Finally, the alicorn chuckled. “You are afraid. It has been entertaining to watch you form your theories, to hide behind them to shelter yourself from the misery I have wreaked upon your world. But you are wrong. You insist I am Nightmare Moon. You will find I am something far worse.”

The thing that was not Nightmare Moon took a single step forward, and the final wisps of smoke between the two were driven away, revealing to Twilight a being that, although similar in appearance to the dark princess, was very much different from the Nightmare Moon Twilight knew.

The being before her was no doubt and alicorn, standing nearly a head taller than Celestia and thus dwarfing the diminutive unicorn. From the equine’s physique, Twilight judged the powerful being before her to be male, finally explaining its voice that had been so far from Nightmare Moon’s. He shared his black coat with the wicked princess of the night, although the stallion’s fur seemed somehow even darker than black, and where Nightmare Moon was constantly wreathed in her mane of starry fabric, the alicorn before her bore simply billowing clouds of black for a tail and mane, the darkness curling both up against him and away from him with the consistency of something between smoke and fire.

The dark creature sported those same amber eyes Twilight had seen both in Greengloom and Dragoncrest, confirming the stallion’s identity as the one who had been tormenting her. Unlike any other alicorn Twilight had met, however, the stallion bore no regalia; should he close his eyes, the stallion could in fact no doubt be easily mistaken for a shadow or a silhouette.

“You...” Twilight began, losing her nerve almost instantly as she locked eyes with the stallion. She took an involuntary step back, and the creature smiled dangerously. “You’re not Nightmare Moon.”

“A very astute observation, Twilight.”

“Who are you?” the unicorn challenged her new foe weakly, the light in her horn flickering out for a brief moment as she lost her concentration.

“You told me but a moment ago,” the black alicorn reminded her, a faint red flickering surrounding his needle-pointed ebony horn as he took another step closer to the unicorn. “I am not your friend.”

At the exact same time, both opponents managed to simultaneously raise a shield to protect themselves and unleash a bolt of lightning to destroy the other. While Twilight’s bolt vanished upon the surface of the alicorn’s ward, however, the bolt that struck her shattered every single one of her defenses and sent her skidding across the burnt ground and smashing into the ring of ruined masonry that had amassed around the epicenter of the explosion.

Twilight’s magic was enveloping her even before she rolled off the broken stone, dulling the pains that now tore through her entire right side. Desperate to avoid a similar blow from her adversary before she had erected the necessary defenses, the unicorn grabbed hold of the dense smoke she had been thrown into. She wrapped it tightly about her own position and the area in which she believed the alicorn stood, employing the strategy that had proven successful during her dragon encounters.

The alicorn only chuckled, and the world shifted around her, carrying her to the center of the crater once more. Six pairs of amber eyes appeared in the darkness, surrounding her and closing in on the unicorn as half a dozen horns ignited at once.

Twilight’s horn glowed as well, wrapping herself in shield after shield in a desperate attempt to deflect whatever might come next. Six trails of crimson fire extended from each of the dark alicorns surrounding her, racing across the ground and meeting each other as they collided with Twilight’s force field. Her defenses once again shattered easily, but left her relatively unharmed. Her horn still brightly lit, Twilight unleashed a six-pronged burst of magic, skewering and disintegrating all but one of her enemies and thus banishing the black alicorn’s summoned copies.

Her enemy said nothing as he deflected a second blast of lightning, showing no signs of fatigue. The unicorn soon felt her fur stand on end and hurriedly teleported around to the back of the alicorn only a second before a lightning bolt of monstrous size split the earth upon which she had been standing, bringing her to her knees although there was more than a hundred feet between herself and the explosion.

She loosed another bolt at the alicorn, but although his back was turned, the attack was still deflected long before it reached his body, flying off into the night.

The entire column of smoke rising up out of the ruins of Neighbury stirred unnaturally, bunching up and swirling downwards as the alicorn worked his powerful magic upon his surroundings. The smoke amassing behind him turned into a pure black, writhing tentacle that towered above him, and as he spread his wings, the magical construct struck.

Twilight tried teleporting out of the way as the massive dark tendril lashed out at her, but found that she couldn’t, her magic somehow hampered by her enemy’s. Instead, the tentacle punched through her wards and into her side, further battering her bruised ribs as it drove her off the ground and into the air at a sickening speed. The darkness pushing against her dissipated almost as soon as it had struck, but the force was still enough to send her rocketing out of what remained of Neighbury. The sensation of falling was at first lost to Twilight, but as she increased the feed to her pain-dulling spell and cleared her mind, the ground rushing up to meet her became frighteningly apparent. She managed to teleport out of her fall and reappear safely upon the ground, standing upon what had once been a farm but was now full of the debris of the fallen town.

A lot stronger than I thought. I can’t overpower him, that’s for sure. I could try exhausting his powers, but I’m already nearing my limits from just protecting myself against his attacks. And who knows what else he would destroy in the meantime? I’ll have to catch him with his guard down.The smoke veil tactic didn’t work, though, so how do I distract him!?

She looked to the skies and found the alicorn silhouetted against the full moon as he flew toward her. A volley of small red orbs were launched from his horn, flying alongside him for a moment before gaining a life of their own and homing in on Twilight.

She answered with a series of magenta beams flying from her own horn, cutting through and detonating the majority of her opponent’s projectiles, before blocking the rest with a sturdy force field, the force of the impact throwing her backwards as her defenses shattered once more.

“Did you walk into this battle expecting to win?” the alicorn questioned her as he landed with a thud, taking lengthy strides toward her. “Even now I see your confidence withering, your mind trying desperately to find a solution. And behind it all, I see the fear welling up within you, its essence pouring out of your being as you come to the realization: There is no hope.”

“I’m not afraid!” the unicorn insisted, picking herself up from the ground and advancing upon her enemy, her horn lighting up as she began drawing several shields across the front of her body.

“Neither of us believe that lie,” the dark alicorn stated with disinterest, although he ceased his advance all the same, folding his wings to speak with the unicorn.

“You’re the liar here!” Twilight countered, discreetly slowing down her fabrication of wards and diverting the excess flow of magic to begin charging a powerful burst of magic. “You told me you were Nightmare Moon!”

“Lying is beneath me,” he answered in a tone that brokered no argument. “Many have suffered fates worse than death for questioning my honor.”

Well, he’s not conceited at all, is he?

“Did Celestia question your honor?” Twilight said instead, braving a step forwards.

“No.” The alicorn’s lips curled into a smile, almost imperceptible in the dark. “But, oh, you were there, Twilight. Deep down, you know what happened. And I will tell you, the pain caused by her death, neither physical nor emotional, is why you repressed those memories. The truth terrifies you. While you tell yourself and others that you wished you knew what happened, the reality is quite different. You know what happened. You know why she died. You know for whom she died.” The last words came out a whisper in her ear and Twilight yelped as she realized the alicorn had walked right up to her while speaking, the unicorn too distracted by what he had said to notice.

“N-no!” she stuttered, backpedalling wildly and reaching out to the spell she had charged, but it was already gone. Instead, she took the energy of her wards and threw it desperately at the alicorn. A burst of raw energy enveloped the alicorn, and Twilight was quick to narrow the blast, focusing it into a concentrated beam that finally managed to strike him directly. To her horror, however, the spell that could have blasted apart any rock had virtually no effect on her enemy, failing to even make a scratch.

“Killing an alicorn is much harder than you would think,” he commented dryly, smiling at Twilight’s expression as his horn was once again wreathed in red. “I should know.” The ground heaved beneath Twilight, and she was thrown to her knees as a huge slice of the farm was torn into the air, carrying the unicorn with it as it rose to a height of thirty or forty feet in only a second. “Although you have yet to realize it, I have been the undisputed master of this realm ever since the death of your dear princess.”

The plate of earth Twilight stood upon flipped around, revealing a pit of sharpened stakes below her. As the ground above pressed down upon her, threatening to crush and impale her upon what lay below, the unicorn quickly teleported to safety, only to find herself in a small bubble of her adversary’s magic.

“Remind me, Twilight. Just how brittle are unicorn bones?” The bubble began shrinking, shattering her remaining wards almost instantly and pressing against every part of Twilight’s body while she cried out in pain.

She gasped, the air driven out of her lungs as her hind legs pressed painfully up against her ribs and jaw, her forehooves pushing against the barrier in a failed attempt at holding it back. Her horn was blazing like mad, but for some reason she was unable to teleport. “Stop!”

“A friend might have listened.”

Twilight was soon forced into a fetal position as the bubble contracted further, and before long, she found the length of her left hind leg jammed up against the relentless barrier. “Stop...” she wheezed again, her lungs emptying of air. The alicorn answered only by tightening the bubble further, and Twilight screamed soundlessly as the her leg gave way with a loud snap, the splintered bone stabbing painfully into her flesh for a moment before the black alicorn finally ceased his spell.

The unicorn fell to the ground, filled her lungs with much needed air, and screamed for all she was worth, clutching her left leg and almost throwing up as she saw its twisted shape and the bulge of the bone nearly penetrating her skin.

She felt herself be enveloped in her enemy’s magic and flung into what had once been a column adorning the town hall. Twilight’s head smashed against the unyielding stone, and for a long moment, her vision darkened and the sounds of burning and rumbling thunder around her faded away into a dull ringing.

I can’t do this, she thought obtusely, barely feeling anything as she dropped off the ruined pillar and onto the ground. I need to get away... Elements of Harmony...

“Come now, Twilight,” the dark alicorn chastised her as her hearing slowly returned. When her vision returned as well, she found the humongous equine towering above her, his amber eyes burning into her soul. “I know you are capable of so much more.” Twilight was lifted into the air once more and slammed into the ground, the unicorn feeling at least one of her ribs break as her vision fogged again. “Unlock your true potential. Rid yourself of your curses and destroy all that stands in your way. Pain is the key, and I am only happy to provide.”

Twilight shivered with dread as she felt the black mark on her neck tingling, the alicorn’s magic grabbing hold of the wound he had inflicted upon her so long ago. Needles of fire exploded from the scar and into her body, stabbing and writhing within her as if alive while multiplying and growing with blinding speed until Twilight could know no other thing than pain. The icy grip that still haunted her to this day returned, latching on to her mind and squeezing, threatening to smother and crush her very identity.

If you do not stop me, the alicorn’s voice echoed in her roiling mind, you are lost. You will be mine, body and soul. Your mindless husk will plunge Equestria into total oblivion, and a lavender horn wreathed in the white-hot fires of demented madness will be the last thing your friends see.

“N-no...” Twilight whimpered pathetically, froth dripping from her mouth as she felt her frozen mind become steadily eclipsed by her adversary’s power.

“Would I lie to you?” the alicorn asked, his voice sounding in both her ears and mind.

Deep within her, Twilight felt a faint surge of power, reminiscent of when she had faced the ursa major to save Rainbow Dash. It grew within her, roaring to life in response to the pain she felt, her magical power suddenly increasing exponentially even as her eyes were lost in that white blaze she knew as well. The liquid fire coursing through her veins turned to blood once more, the icy grip that held her mind prisoner melted away, and her bones and flesh reknitted themselves in a second as the unicorn rose to her feet. Her magic pulsed, and a shockwave pushed the alicorn standing over her several feet back.

“Get away from me!” Twilight hissed, displacing the earth beneath her enemy’s hooves while sending bolt upon bolt of lightning flying from the sky and smashing into her enemy’s shields as he sunk into the ground, taking the unicorn’s punishment stoically. “And don’t touch my friends!” she shouted, unleashing a discharge of magic that burned away anything within a mile of the two combatants.

“Excellent,” the alicorn commented as he leapt from the pit Twilight had created, soaring across the unicorn before landing behind her. Twilight had already drawn several shields across her entire body when the dark alicorn launched a crackling burst of red lightning, her wards finally holding firm. “Truly marvelous. But you shall have to do quite a bit better than that if you wish to survive.”

A dark red blade of energy swept across the unicorn, shattering her defenses, and another quick burst of magic sent her hurtling even further away from Neighbury. Twilight caught herself in the air with her telekinesis, righting herself and dropping her gently to the ground before she unleashed another bright beam of magenta at her foe. The alicorn answered with a similar spell, and soon the two powerful beings were locked in a deep arcane struggle, the point of collision between the magenta and red streams of magic spawning spells of vast destruction that flew off at random, causing violent tremors and colossal fires.

It wasn’t long, however, before the unicorn felt herself being pushed back by her adversary’s magic, the crackling beam of red nearly extinguishing her own. Finally, the unicorn admitted defeat and ceased her spell, the dark alicorn’s magic enveloping her instantly and burning her to the core. The searing stream of unrestrained power curled upwards, punching the unicorn into the air before finally ceasing.

The glare of the spell she had been struck with had hardly faded from her eyes before she saw the alicorn coming straight at her, his enormous wings beating furiously as he ascended with an inconceivable speed to meet her several hundred feet above the ground. The unicorn forged a shield several inches thick before her, but the black equine broke through it without effort, nearly skewering her head with his horn. She dodged the best she could while flying through the air and found herself locking horns with her enemy, the dark alicorn pushing her even further into the skies as his eyes riveted upon hers.

“You have not the faintest idea who I am, the things that I am capable of,” he told Twilight, crackling red streaming from his horn and all across the unicorn’s skin, burning and freezing her at the same time. “The millennia I have seen!” Twilight tried countering her enemy’s spell, but only managed to stem the pure pain rushing into her. “How could you hope to ever defeat me?”

Twilight only grunted in reply, trying in vain to wrench her horn free of the black alicorn’s unbreakable grip, but her adversary met her every move, locking her horn in place as his own was wreathed in shadow and maroon. Twilight’s horn was bathed in flames of magenta as well, the unicorn summoning the same amount of power she had once used to knock out the ursa major in the Everfree Forest.

As one took on the brilliance of the sun itself and the other was enveloped in a darkness that surpassed that of the night sky, the two combatants vanished in a burst of unimaginable power that tore apart the land below them.


He’s too powerful, even now, with all this power at my disposal, I’m fighting for survival, not victory! Twilight despaired as she woke up and, upon realizing she had been asleep, panicked. When did I fall asleep!? What happened!? Where is he!? Where am I!?

A sharp pain enveloped everything below her knees, and the unicorn opened her eyes to find herself somehow half buried in the pavement of a large abandoned street.

Agh! Gah! No, not buried! That would imply displacement of matter! Twilight realized, the pain growing to the point where it was all she could do not to scream. Instead of her legs being encased in the elaborately carved stone tiles of a street that seemed familiar to her, the stone was still there, overlapping the same space as her legs. How in the name of Tartarus did I end up teleporting blindly!? she raged as her magic sifted through the reality-warping area surrounding her legs, sorting through flesh and stone and separating the two. Calm down. Concentrate. Focus on the isolation of matter. Don’t lose any limbs.

The pavement and her left forehoof finally became two distinguishable entities, and the unicorn breathed a sigh of relief as she cast a short Ethereality spell on the stone, allowing her to safely pull her hoof out of the ground. She repeated the process on her remaining legs and was soon lying flat in the middle of whatever street she had appeared on, gasping for breath as the pain finally began subsiding.

I was able to match his power... Almost, at least. So I guess we were combining two alicorn-level spells whose effect even I couldn’t fully comprehend. I suppose it’s plausible I ended up here... The unicorn gasped and leapt to her hooves as the pain that had clouded her mind finally abated, allowing her to recognize the empty city she found herself in. Canterlot!? That’s five hours’ flight from Neighbury!

Twilight started up the sloped street, heading toward where she knew the ruins of the palace to be. It couldn’t have been random I’m here. Not now, when I’m facing one of my most powerful adversaries yet.

One of them? Twilight, you have never faced a being that could match my power.

!!!

Chrysalis was an insect, Pan a shadow of a threat, Nightmare Moon a puppet, the Blazebringers but puppets of puppets, and Discord a demented obstruction. I am eternal.

Get out of my head!

I am part of your mind already. You may not see me, but I am all around you. I see you. And I am coming.

The Elements of Harmony!

Twilight broke into a run at the final revelation of her enemy, determined to reach the only weapon that could stop the alicorn before he stopped her. It wasn’t long before the damage done to her hooves had been completely repaired by her now immense magic, and the unicorn was soon teleporting ahead regularly, clearing the distance between herself and the palace a hundred times faster.

One: Get the Elements. Two: Go to Manehattan and get Rarity. Three: Go to Ponyville and round everypony up. Four: Use Elements to find and rescue Fluttershy. Five: Take down the alicorn...

Twilight passed what little remained of the gates to the palace grounds and, following another teleportation, found herself standing before the crater of The Great Tragedy. Acting without hesitation, the unicorn’s horn burned magenta, and the remains of the palace and its very foundation were blown sky high, opening a massive hole in the ground that led straight to the crystal caverns she had once been imprisoned within.

Subitem one point one: I can now teleport across vast distances. Establish spatial link between Ponyville and myself while the town is in sight.

Beneath her, the crystals all lit up one by one as they became saturated with the light radiating from the unicorn’s horn, the shadows of every nook and cranny soon banished by her magenta light. Twilight teleported from where she stood to a ledge further down, casting her gaze about for any sign of the Elements.

Scarlet Bolt couldn’t find the Elements in Canterlot or within the palace, the unicorn reasoned with herself as she travelled to another ledge in the seemingly bottomless crystal well she now found herself in. The chamber containing them must have sunken through the deepest reaches of the palace while they were melting apart. It would have ended up down here somewhere.

She peered down a glowing tunnel, but saw nothing but the twisting, faceted corridors that had once served as her temporary prison.

She let her horn go dark, leaving the crystals to be lit only by the full moon above.

C’mon... the unicorn thought impatiently, scouting the darkness for the faintest glimmer of anything without the violet-blue hue of the crystals surrounding her. Show yourself...

A faint glimmer of orange from within a narrow tunnel at the far end of the cave caught her attention, and Twilight almost leapt with joy at the sight. She winked out from where she stood and appeared in a bright flash within the narrow tunnel, lowering her head as she realized just how small the tunnel was. How did the Elements end up here? she thought suspiciously as she started walking toward what had now become glimmers of pink, red and blue, glittering softly in light that wasn’t there.

The tunnel opened up into a small cavern, the center of which was occupied by a strange pedestal not unlike the one she and her friends had encountered in the castle of the royal pony sisters all those years ago when they had sought to stop Nightmare Moon. The pedestal she now stood before, however, seemed to be carved out of the violet-blue crystal of the caves and had six spokes containing six elements instead of just the five. Upon them rested the five necklaces and the tiara Twilight had been so sorely missing ever since The Great Tragedy.

Get the Elements. Check, the unicorn noted as her telekinesis grabbed the six powerful artifacts, setting the tiara upon her head. Now to get to Manehattan. Without running into that alicorn.

Twilight turned and trotted out the narrow tunnel, but froze in her tracks when the enormous cave ahead of her suddenly dimmed briefly, a large shadow of something passing by beneath the moon and signalling the arrival of Celestia’s murderer. In an effort to slip by her enemy without being noticed, Twilight quickly wove a semi-transparent screen in front of her, blocking the light from her side of the tunnel while allowing her to see the main crystal cavern.

As the unicorn wondered whether or not she would be able to perform a direct teleportation to the surface, she noticed the light ahead of her dim once more, almost as if the very presence of the dark alicorn robbed the world of its light. The stallion beat his wings rhythmically, descending steadily through the cavern in his search for his enemy. Without even thinking about it, Twilight stopped breathing as the alicorn hovered into view, worried that even the smallest sound might draw the attention of her enemy. She took a silent step backwards as the amber eyes seemed to suddenly pierce her magical veil, staring directly at her as the dark being’s horn became wreathed in red.

Before she could even think about reacting, a powerful telekinetic blast punched her back the way she had come, colliding heavily with the crystal pedestal. “Hiding is not an option,” the alicorn stated as the narrow tunnel seemed to gain a life of its own, the crystals stretching and shifting to accommodate the larger equine. Above her, the sparkling ceiling lurched as a phenomenal force began pressing down upon it. The unicorn quickly drew a powerful force field across the crystal surface, repeating the spell several times as the walls began to close in around her as well. “You will regret choosing me as your foe.”

“What if I do regret it?” Twilight gasped as she held back the encroaching walls, trying again to gain time by luring the alicorn into a conversation. “What if I want to be your... friend?”

“I would doubt your sincerity,” the alicorn replied, the pressure on Twilight’s force field steadily increasing as he approached. “This little dispute has already torn quite a rift between the two of us.”

“I will stop you,” Twilight promised him, then ceased her force field spells. Just before the cavern could implode with her inside it, she teleported almost a hundred feet upwards, reappearing on the rim of the hole she had blown through the ground. Another long distance teleportation carried her to a tower outside the ruined palace grounds, giving her a direct view of Ponyville far away. A lance of magenta flew from her horn, arcing across the sky before finally striking the distant town and fading away to nothing. Establish spatial link between Ponyville and myself. Check.

The palace grounds exploded in a flurry of crystal shards, red sparks, and one black alicorn, who hovered in the air far above the city for only a few seconds before spotting Twilight. Two fireballs flew at her, and while she managed to deflect one, the other struck the base of the tower she stood upon, decimating its base. The tower had hardly started falling before the section just above the ground floor exploded as well, followed by a series of detonations similar to first one traveling up the length of the tower.

She teleported off the tower to a new one not far away, but her enemy had apparently anticipated this. A third fireball struck her, and while her personal force field protected her from the resulting explosion, she was still thrown through the air. She twisted around in midair so her horn pointed forwards, teleporting again to just in front of the alicorn so that her horn was on a collision course with his chest.

The alicorn dodged her effortlessly, however, and his magic grabbed hold of her, using her momentum to swing her around himself several times, increasing her speed to nauseating levels. He let go, and Twilight found herself hurtling toward the peak of Canterlot mountain. She teleported again, and reappeared on the northeastern side of the mountain, flying at breakneck speeds in the general direction of Manehattan. In fact, although it was hard to concentrate given her current situation, she was fairly certain she could see the lights of the huge city on the horizon ahead of her.

Behind her, a bright red glow appeared from behind the mountain, separating into more than a dozen lights. A series of red spheres of energy, the same as those the alicorn had used in Neighbury, homed in on her, but with her much improved magic, Twilight was able to not only defend herself against them, but harness their energy for herself. She accelerated even further, bringing her that much closer to Manehattan.

Out of nowhere, a cold hoof pressed against the wound in her neck and she screamed as the unnatural pain returned, paralyzing her entire body.

“You may believe yourself capable of facing me,” the alicorn told her as she began immediately decelerating, her trajectory ever so slowly curling into a steep drop. “In their blindness, the common, mortal pony has proclaimed you an expert on magic, but you are inexperienced and lacking, Twilight. I bent mountains and snapped minds like toothpicks before the first pony saw the light of day! I have told you already; this realm is mine to do with as I please. Any effort on your part to change that is futile. Try as you like, you cannot best me as you are!”

“And that’s what friends are for!” Twilight returned fiercely, shaking herself of the alicorn’s touch and teleporting forwards again. Anticipating a swift retaliation from the alicorn, Twilight managed to absorb the energy of her enemy’s destructive spells, once more using them to fuel her speed, breaking her out of her fall. Before the alicorn could catch up to her, she closed her eyes, envisioning the lights of Manehattan before vanishing in a blinding flash of light.


“Twilight!? Twilight!? Can you hear me!?” As darkness and numbness was replaced by light and pain and the familiar voice became more distinct against the ringing in her ears, Twilight grunted weakly, trying to move a crushed limb from underneath her chest. “She’s alive... Well don’t just stand there, Fleur! Get some help! Now!”

“Rarity?” Twilight muttered, her horn flaring up as her magic almost automatically started repairing her body.

“I’m right here, darling!” the fashionista assured her, her voice coming from somewhere to Twilight’s right. “Are you al... No, that’s an absolutely inane question! Are you going to make it!?”

“Yeah,” she replied, opening her eyes to see a white floor covered in glass shards and broken pieces of concrete. “Where... where am I?”

“Mine and Fleur’s boutique! You crashed right through the display windows and woke us both! From the looks of it, you went straight through the building across the street!”

“When..?” Twilight turned her head to look at her friend, whose distraught expression took on a hint of confusion.

“What, the ambulance? I don’t know...” Rarity turned to look in the direction her colleague had gone, yelling her name.

“No! No. When did I crash?” Twilight clarified, lifting herself up on shaky, but otherwise healthy hooves. “We need to get out of here.”

“You shouldn’t be walking, Twilight!” Rarity hissed in a confusion of worry and annoyance, about to force Twilight to sit before thinking better of it. “You smashed through that building less than a minute ago! You can’t be walking! Not even you!”

Twilight half ignored her friend’s words as she realized she was no longer carrying the five Elements. The Element of Magic, however, was still safely perched upon her head, held in place by her magical connection to the tiara. After a quick scan of the area, she quickly found the necklaces partially buried under a pile of rubble. Using her magic, she retrieved the Elements, fastening that of Generosity about Rarity’s neck.

“The Elements..!” Rarity gasped, gazing at her own necklace and then at Twilight’s tiara. “How did you..?”

“I found Celestia’s murderer, and he’s on his way right now,” Twilight said hurriedly, cutting off Rarity’s questions. “We need to get to Ponyville and unite the Elements against him. Hopefully, I have time to explain everything once we’re gathered.” Without another word, Twilight’s magic reached out to the spatial link she had established in Ponyville, enveloping herself and Rarity before disappearing in a bright flash.

They materialized on the southern outskirts of the town they had once both called home, standing underneath Rainbow Dash’s house.

“That was... surprisingly accurate,” Twilight noted as she gathered her senses after the long distance travelled, taking a moment to catch her breath after the exertion. She lit her horn again, and in another bright flash, the cyan pegasus stood before them, the Element of Loyalty fastening about her neck almost immediately.

“Wha... Twilight!? Rarity!?” Rainbow Dash stuttered, nearly falling over backwards in surprise as she was abruptly pulled out of her home. “What’s going on!? What about Nightmare Moon?”

“No time to explain,” Twilight interjected, handing the pegasus the Element of Laughter. “Get Pinkie. We’ll meet you outside the town hall after we get Applejack.”

“You found the Elements!?” the pegasus exclaimed with disbelief, a wide grin soon plastered across her face. “The timing couldn’t be better! W-we finally found Fluttershy! She’s out at Applejack’s!”

“S-she is!? Really!? Great!” Twilight sighed in relief, rivalling the pegasus’ smile. “Then... then get Pinkie and meet us on the road leading east out of Ponyville.”

“Got it!” Rainbow Dash replied, saluting shortly before shooting off across the town.

Before Rarity had a chance to recover from the previous teleportation, the two unicorns were off again, winking out and reappearing just outside the main entrance to Sweet Apple Acres. Once again, Twilight valued urgency above manners, using her magic to summon her two friends.

“Wut in tarn... Twilight! And Rarity!” the orange earth pony greeted the two, her confusion melting away quickly. Fluttershy, who was standing beside her, however, looked as if she was having a heart attack. “Ah reckon y’all heard about Fluttershy, huh?”

“Uh, yes,” Rarity replied, obviously more than a little dizzy from the two successive teleportations. “Just.”

“We’re here to reunite the Elements of Harmony,” Twilight explained presenting the remaining two necklaces to her friends before fastening them about their necks. “Sorry, Rarity, one more time.”

Before the white unicorn could utter more than three words of protest, all four ponies were enveloped in Twilight’s magic once more, finding themselves on a desolate road a quarter of a mile from Ponyville.

“Please don’t do that again...” the pale yellow pegasus muttered almost inaudibly as she regained her bearings along with Applejack. By the time Rarity recovered, Twilight caught sight of her remaining two friends, one speeding along the road with surprising speed while the other zoomed across the sky, trailing a bright rainbow that was in stark contrast to the night sky above.

“Alright, so what’s up?” the cyan pegasus asked as she landed in front of the gathered group, Pinkie following soon after. “I thought you were fighting Nightmare Moon?”

“I was. I thought I was. I mean... Ugh. I was fighting Celestia’s murderer. Turns out it’s not Nightmare Moon.”

“What!?” both Rainbow Dash and Rarity exclaimed as the three other ponies exchanged looks of confusion and, in Fluttershy’s case, absolute terror.

“Ah thought ya saw her with your own eyes back at the palace,” Applejack pointed out dubiously.

“I did. But apparently there’s more to it than I first thought. I don’t know his name, but he’s an alicorn. Black coat and black... smoke for a mane. His power is... astronomical. More than enough to destroy the Canterlot palace. I’ve thrown everything I had at him, but it hasn’t made a scratch.”

“So you got the Elements of Harmony.” Rainbow Dash gathered, and Twilight nodded.

“If anything can beat him, it’ll be the six of us, right?”

“But I thought the Elements were gone...” Pinkie Pie mused out loud, scratching her head. “Where’dya get ‘em?”

“Canterlot. I’ve... been around.”

“Speaking of which,” Rarity interjected, a worried look on her face. “How did you manage to teleport the two of us all the way from Manehattan to Ponyville? You showed up in my boutique no more than two minutes ago, and you have done half a dozen quite impossible things already! What’s going on!?”

Twilight sighed as she remembered the first part of her encounter with the mysterious alicorn. “He’s the strongest opponent I’ve ever faced, girls. He had me beaten within an inch of my life after half a minute, and I think I survived only because he was toying with me. I’ve unlocked my magic like I did when the ursa almost ate Dash. Only much more powerful this time. I hope I can suppress it again once we’re done here.”

You fear this power that is your own. Is it the unknown that frightens you? The lack of control? Or the fear of what you may become?

“Might want to hold onto it if you’re gonna make a sun, right?” Rainbow Dash remarked after an awestruck pause, oblivious to the sudden look of horror upon Twilight’s face.

This farce has gone on for long enough. Our confrontation is at its final stage, and the conclusion of your life draws near.

“He’s here...” Twilight whispered, and her friends went quiet. “You alright, Fluttershy?” she asked the cowering pegasus who was lying flat on her stomach, hiding her head behind her hooves.

“No...” she whimpered through her front hooves. “But... you know.”

“We’re with you all the way!” Rainbow Dash translated, the others nodding their consent.

“Whoever he may be, the Elements’ll set him straight!” Applejack declared confidently, helping Fluttershy up on her hooves.

“Will they?” the alicorn’s voice echoed about the six ponies, causing the pale yellow pegasus to yelp. The darkness of the night gained a life of its own, gathering upon the road before the assembled Elements of Harmony. The black stallion stepped out of the shadows, almost invisible against the dark countryside behind him. “Very well then. I will allow you all one final attempt at survival. Realize the futility of your resistance.”

“Don’t listen to him!” Twilight encouraged the others, her tiara shining with untold brilliance as she was lifted into the air, pulling the other Bearers with her as they too activated their Elements. “You’re gonna regret killing Celestia!” she told the stallion as she fixed him with a pair of blazing eyes, her friends assuming formation behind her, the light growing to a nearly blinding radiance that lit the darkness for miles and miles.

“I will not.” the alicorn stated, his dark figure remaining steeped in shadows even as the Elements of Harmony took on their full brilliance.

Gleaming rainbows sprouted from each of the six ponies, bridging the gaps between them and forming a complex, swirling pattern of countless colors, Twilight floating in the center of it all. She solemnly lowered her horn and, in extension, the Element of Magic so that it pointed straight at her adversary. She felt the millennia old magic of harmony welling up within her, filling her with that strange, imperceptible yet infinite energy she had experienced so rarely.

Without a word, she unleashed the power, an enormous rainbow flowing from her horn, branching out a multitude of times before finally finding its mark, the veils of color wrapping him in hundreds of tight cocoons of blinding light. The pure white confines tightened as the six ponies continued their spell, channeling more power into the magic than they had ever done before. The Elements hummed loudly as they neared the end of their impossibly powerful spell, and Twilight could feel it: After seven months of despair, they were finally winning.

Without warning, however, the light their enemy had been encased within suddenly cracked loudly, solidifying and splitting in two as darkness poured forth, quelling the light of harmony and throwing its six wielders to the ground. Before Twilight could recover, five blood red tendrils of unbridled energy lashed out at her friends, the five ponies’ wordless screams abruptly cut off as they were reduced to nothing but horrible flurries of ash and fire.

Twilight stopped breathing. Her world lurched as she fell onto her side, her whole body completely and utterly paralyzed as the murderous black alicorn stepped forth from the darkness, completely unharmed by the Elements of Harmony. Time slowed as she watched the final specks of ash settle upon the Element of Honesty, the brilliant glow fading and leaving only the dull orange gem. The echo of their screams remained in her mind, haunting her for that eternity she spent... lying there, watching their ashes settle as that demonic alicorn drew ever nearer.

A vice-like grip around her neck brought her back to reality, that unforgiving, atrocious, unimaginably cruel reality, and she was wrenched back onto her hooves by his magic. As soon as it left her, however, she simply collapsed once more.

“Come now,” he told her in a despicably carefree manner. “You were going to defeat me.”

The pain finally struck. She felt her heart break; the emotional shock of losing her five closest friends to such a horrible fate translating into a physical pain that made The Great Tragedy seem like the prick of a needle. She spasmed weakly and clutched at her throat, choking out a sob as violent cramps seized her chest, reminding her to breathe. She gasped for air, and screamed in despair as he began circling her.

“Where is that strength of yours now?” he asked, ignoring Twilight’s shriek of pain. “Was it in your closest friends? Were they your final bastion? Your last resort? When all else failed, you would call upon these... very mortal creatures?”

Twilight was lying in front of one of the piles of ash, not even remembering how she had gotten there, crying into the lifeless dust. She swept a hoof across the gray pile and uncovered the Element of Loyalty, just as a black hoof descended upon it with a thud, shattering the dulled ruby as if it were glass.

“And these Elements of Harmony were your ultimate weapon?” He clicked his tongue in disappointment. “Relying on such tools will lead you nowhere.” He walked on, disappearing from her field of vision which was still riveted to the pile of ash just in front of her.

They can’t... she thought haltingly, her mind struggling to function even as it tore itself apart trying to absorb what she had just seen. They can’t be gone! No! No! No! No, no, no, no, no! H-h-he can’t have done it! The E-Elements... N-no! Oh, Celestia, no! I shouldn’t have brought them into this! They should have lived, I should have died, no, no, he should have died, he should suffer, he should burn, he should regret! Ever! Breathing!

From her broken heart, blazing fires poured forth, a terrible red mist clouding a frozen, determined mind as her breathing grew to a shuddering halt. It resumed again seconds later, shallow and erratic. Blood vessels popped in her eyes even as they began glowing with the fire within her. She fought to stand, turning to face him. “You...” she croaked, funneling all of her rage and misery and grief into her horn, now burning with humongous flames of magenta, black, and white. “You!” she screamed, causing him to stop, turning his head slowly to regard her with the hint of a smile on his lips. Oh, how she was going to wipe that away. Burn it away. Blast it to smithereens and erase the ashes from the very fabric of existence!

“Are you going to destroy me, Twilight?” he asked almost mockingly.

Her body went numb as she poured everything she had, her entire being, into the roiling sea of pure hatred that was now her magic, her horn exploding with a power the likes of which she had never used, never seen, before. A cone of liquid energy rushed across the road and enveloped him, burning and tearing at him with beyond-incandescent claws and barrages of near-solid fire. The ground beneath her hooves melted away and evaporated, but through sheer force of will, she remained standing upon nothing, even as she felt her hooves cracking and bubbling from the monumental heat of her spell of pure, primal destruction. “Die!” she screamed with such force that she tasted blood, her words lost in the colossal roaring of the unlimited energy flowing from her horn. Her fur evaporated, but the pain she should have felt became lost in the venomous ocean of fury that consumed her mind, only adding to the power of her spell as she called down a flurry of titanic bolts of lightning upon where he stood.

Her merciless and unbridled onslaught lasted for several minutes before the self-mutilated unicorn’s rage finally burned away, her ruined body falling to the ground and sizzling as she struck the incandescent earth beneath. Half of her front legs were now nothing more than charred stumps, burned away by the recoil of her own spell, as was her fur and large parts of her skin. And yet... she felt nothing. Ahead of her was nothing but blazing fires and the trail she had carved through the ground, glowing with heat and the residual magic of her spell. He was gone, not only killed, but... erased.

“No.”

It took the unicorn a moment to register that one word, but when she did, she screamed until blood poured forth from her throat in thick streams.

The alicorn chuckled softly as he lifted the unicorn out of her crater with his magic. “So much emotion. Such hatred and blind rage!”

Twilight hacked up a clot of tissue she didn’t want to know what was before being brought face to face with her hated enemy, his coat still as pristine as when she had first seen him. What remained of her horn sputtered uselessly as she growled and hissed at him, her vocal cords long since destroyed.

“Such destruction you have wreaked upon yourself, all in the name of love. A beautiful and terrible force; it gives rise to such an endless ocean of emotions that it can be nothing more than one of the most fundamental elements of life. The love for your friends, the love for your mentor... It is beautiful to remind you how precious it is, and yet, when that love is threatened, it inspires such dark resolve, such hatred and enmity of the magnitude you just displayed. All so that you may defend that which you love. Or perhaps ‘avenge’ would be more fitting.

“You, who champion harmony. You, who champion love. Tell me this. What good is love when you in its name sacrifice those closest to you?” he challenged her, gesturing at the five piles of ashes surrounding them. “When it abandons you as it has now? What good does love do you when it fuels the hatred that burns your world to ashes?” He turned the unicorn, allowing her to see the trail of destruction she had carved through the earth. For as far as the eye could see, there was nothing but fire.

“Your hatred had eyes only for me, and so you unleashed your fury blindly and decimated everything in your path. A truly marvellous and impressive display. Only... there once was a town here, was there not? How many more of your friends have been burned to ashes in the name of love? Did you not notice the hundreds of ponies you so abruptly robbed of life? How many families have been ruined because you put yourself at the mercy of your emotions, your basest of base desires of hatred and bloodshed? Did you not notice the demise of your oldest friend?”

Twilight let forth a strangled choke and sob that sounded much like “Spike,” blood dribbling down her chin as she opened her mouth.

“By your own hooves, no less,” the alicorn affirmed, dropping Twilight to the ground. He was silent for a while, allowing her to fully absorb all that she had done. “But do not despair, for I am merciful. Simply close your eyes, and I will end you now.”

There was nothing she could do. Never before had she felt so helpless. He had coaxed out every last ounce of power she had, destroyed everything she loved to strengthen her resolve. All to amuse himself. She had unleashed her full potential upon him, the power that would have been able to forge a sun, level a mountain, but he had brushed it aside as if it were nothing. Her enemy was invincible and ruthless, and she could do nothing to stop him. She shuddered and sighed. She had lost everything, and so, hoping she would be able to reunite with those she loved... she closed her eyes.

“Remember,” he whispered, leaning down to speak in her ear. “The choice was yours.”

Twilight took a deep breath, and welcomed the abrupt and cold darkness as his magic lanced through her neck.