> The Blackened Skies
>  by gosha305
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> The Beginning
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a normal morning in Ponyville. In the sky, Celestia's Sun was shining bright as always. Everypony could feel its warm and reassuring rays. The clouds were slowly drifting by. Nothing was the harbinger of the terrible event to come.

In mere seconds, a dark haze appeared from nowhere. It was like a gargantuan wildfire was sending its clouds of smoke into the atmosphere. And yet, there were no fire. The smoke-like clouds appeared from what seemed like a hole in the very fabric of reality. They quickly filled the sky and blocked out the sun. Those that saw this event could do nothing but panic. But it wasn't over. Soon, tiny stars started to appear all over the darkened skies. Their unnatural glow was now the only source of 
natural light.





Twilight Sparkle was reading in the castle library when the noise coming from outside got her attention. She got up and decided to check what was causing all this agitation. The purple princess didn't have the time to reach her window, when Spike, her number 1 assistant rushed through the door with a terrified look.

"Twilight, you have to see this! There's something wrong with the sky!" He cried, his eyes filled with panic.

Twilight followed his pleas and looked through the window. What she saw made her shiver. Or maybe, the shiver only was caused by the lack of warmth normally brought by sunlight. While she contemplated the mist that now covered the sky, Spike was nervously pacing in circles between the piles of books. After Twilight's initial surprise faded, it was replaced by a strange feeling of unease and an irrational fear (actually, it was probably somewhat rational). The first thought that came to her head seemed to be the most logical in the current circumstances: ask the Princesses. After all, they were the ones who controlled the course of celestial bodies. They had to know what was happening.

"Spike," she called, "write a letter to princess Celestia. She must know what are these clouds."

She then proceeded to enounce the content of said letter while the little dragon quickly wrote it down. After this task has been completed, the letter was sent and there were nothing left to do except waiting for an answer. However, the boredom and nervousness didn't have the time to take place because somepony knocked on the front door. Of course, Twilight and her assistant couldn't hear this knock from their library.

Thankfully Starlight Glimmer, Twilight's faithful student,  happened to be passing by the door at this very moment. The pink unicorn had overslept and was going toward the dining room to eat her breakfast. Without thinking about it, she swung the door open with her magic and looked outside. The first thing she saw, were Twilight's friends. They were loudly panting and weren't hiding their worried looks. The second thing she saw was the sky. It was covered in dark smoke, but still had stars. The pale glow that was coming from it seemed cold and unnatural. It just... felt wrong. When her friends stopped panting, they asked her a question that also came to her mind at the moment she looked outside.

"Where is Twilight?" they all asked at the same time "Does she know what's happening?"

After they saw, that Starlight seemed as puzzled as they were, the group started moving upstairs, towards the library.





Twilight's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of hoofsteps coming from the corridor. This sound quickly approached as the panicked mares entered the room. Before she could say anything, Starlight spoke:

"Here you are!" she said with a sigh of relief. "Do you know what happened to the sky?" she quickly added with hope in her voice.

"No, I'm as worried as everypony else." Twilight replied "But I think the Princesses might know more about these clouds. We already sent them a letter and are waiting for an answer" she reassured her friends.

While the others talked, Spike was carefully looking through the window and trying to find at least a patch of clear sky. He hoped it was nothing serious. That this dark haze would just be blown away by a gust of wind. And yet, he knew couldn't happen. The entirety of the sky was now covered by this weird mist and it seemed to continue beyond the horizon. His melancholy was interrupted by a terrifying event. In the middle of the starry clouds, where they were even darker, a bright light appeared. Of course the light itself wasn't the source of his worries, it was its source. The clouds were torn apart by an enormous eye. It seemed to be even larger than the Sun. It's pupil was brighter than any light that this world has ever seen. The ambient darkness was gone, but the fear only rose. The light it produced was a cold blue glow that seemed to have the opposite effect from the Sun's rays.

Everypony in the room now saw it too. They didn't even have the resolve to panic, they just froze in place as if petrified by the gaze of a cockatrice.

Suddenly, the answer from the Princesses arrived. This ripped everypony out of their awe. Twilight quickly caught the scroll in her magic, broke the seal and unrolled the parchment. The mares and dragon all gathered to read around Twilight hoping for an explanation. What they didn't get what they wanted.


Dear Twilight Sparkle

What happened to the skies is indeed quite disturbing. I am as bemused as we all are. To solve this mystery and decide what will be our actions regarding the current events. I require you and the other Elements of Harmony in my castle as soon a possible.

Yours truly, Princess Celestia.


"So, not even the Princesses know what happened!" Rainbow Dash snapped of disappointment. "What am I supposed to do with the weather when this thing won't let me get to the clouds?"

"This blue light sure ain't good for the Apples." said Applejack with worry in her voice.

"And this eye is truly disturbing!" added Rarity.

At the mention of the eye, all looked through the window. What they saw wasn't by any means reassuring. The celestial eye was now looking directly at them. The only rational thought that came to their panicked brains was the most obvious one: close the window! After this was done, they decided that complaining about their current position wasn't the best option. The second option was to prepare for the trip to Canterlot, so they started doing just that. The next train would only depart tomorrow so this was going to be a long and anxious evening and a long sleepless night...
> Meeting in Canterlot
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

This night wasn't an easy one. In the land of Equestria, nopony could sleep. There were several reasons for it. Of course, the sight of a giant eye above their heads and the dark smoke outside didn't help. Panic and paranoia have settled in the streets and wasn't about to leave them. The constant screams and hoofsteps of the ponies fearing their certain doom gave no assistance to those that tried to rest their overwhelmed minds. The final reason was less obvious, but nonetheless a problem: there were no sun or moon visible so nopony even knew when to go to sleep.





The Elements of Harmony accompanied by Spike and Starlight were waiting at the Ponyville train station. They all looked tired even though, some of them actually managed to get some sleep. The trip to come was somewhat a relief after hours of waiting for the seconds to pass, and they all were thankful for at least something other than the sky to occupy their minds.





The ride to Canterlot wasn't very eventful. The mares remained silent most of the time, because any conversation was unwillingly drifting towards the celestial events and stopped after the mention of the eye. For the duration of the entire trip, this very eye was unalterably fixing the six friends and this didn't seem to be about to change. Its bright pupil followed them all the way from Ponyville. Twilight was starting to wonder if this wasn't just an optical illusion. But even if it was, the impression of being observed stayed quite disturbing.

After arriving to the castle, the six mares were greeted by a large platoon of royal guards who led the way towards the room where the meeting was about to take place. Apparently, they were the last to arrive and everypony was waiting for them. This news caused the six friends to feel uneasy as they tried to hurry towards meeting room.

The Canterlot castle didn't have a specific room meant for meetings, but it had several rooms large enough to replace one. This time, the meeting was held inside the throne room. In fact, there were only nine mares that were part of the current assembly. The Royal Sisters, were sitting upon their thrones as they usually did when receiving important guests. Princess Cadence, was comfortably lying on a stack of pillows brought in the room for the occasion. The main six, had a similar setup waiting for them. Once all were comfortably positioned, the meeting could officially begin.

"You all know why we are here today and I agree that the events that brought us in this room are by no means pleasant." stated Princess Celestia, thus officially starting the meeting.

"This black fog is indeed a great mystery and most importantly a great threat." added Princess Luna.

"Do you have at least an idea of what we're dealing with?" asked Twilight with great worry.

"I fear not, my dear student." responded the Sun Princess "This meeting has for objective to determine the nature of this Entity, because we, ourselves do no have an answer to your question."

After she finished here sentence, everypony's attention was caught by a strange humming noise that started to fill the room. It seemed to have originated from the sealing but rapidly spread and was now coming from all directions at once. Through the windows, the ponies could see that beacons of blue light were now starting to appear all around the city. One even ascended from the center of the room they were in and was quickly gaining in diameter. At the same time, all ponies in the room started feeling weak and this feeling only gained power with each second. Soon, streams of blue light started to flow from the horns of those possessing one towards the blue beacon. The Royal Sisters understood what was going on: they were being drained of their magic. Sadly, there were no way of preventing this from happening. To their great relief, there were no need to. The beacon in the middle of the room started becoming smaller and soon faded away completely. Even though, everypony felt as if they have just run a marathon, their magic wasn't drained entirely. The process just stopped for no reason and this at least, was a good thing. Nonetheless, a panic started to settle among the mares. Was all this of Tirek's doing? If it was, he has made great progress since their last confrontation and last time the fight was far from easy.

While everypony was starting to lose their resolve, Twilight had an idea. She knew a spell that let anypony using it to communicate with any sentient being. This fog was surely somewhat conscious of its acts. She shared her thoughts with the others, and they agreed with this plan. Twilight would cast this spell directly at the celestial eye. It seemed dangerous, but what else could they do?

After they all walked outside, they saw something unexpected. And it wasn't good. The eye wasn't alone anymore. Smaller eyes could now be seen around it. They were a total of five and their collective gaze was as before focused on the Princess of Friendship. She could feel the cold light of their stare on her skin, it was indeed quite unnerving. She steadied herself and concentrated on the spell. It took several minutes before she could recall its formulas properly. Finally, she concentrated all of her remaining magic in her horn before casting a beam of glowing light towards the biggest eye. The celestial Entity didn't seem to be bothered by the beam in the slightest. The eyes continued staring towards Twilight as if waiting for something to happen.

However, when the spell reached the central eye what happened wasn't what the ponies expected. Instead of hearing a voice or seeing the thoughts of the Entity, Twilight felt a terrible pain in her horn. It was as if it was being separated from her skull with a rusty saw. The pain was unbearable, but she couldn't react to it in any way. Then, the ache was replaced by a great feeling of fatigue. I was similar to the moment the beacon of light appeared in the middle of the throne room. Her magic was being absorbed.

After several seconds of this excruciating torture, the pain stopped as the grip of the Entity let her go. Her friends gathered around the purple alicorn trying to help her as much as they could. This was the moment they all heard it. A spine-chilling laughter filled the air. It seemed to come from the sky as well as from a black corner of your own mind. It took over your head banishing all other thoughts and feelings. Only this laughter subsisted and it was unbearable. Its alien tones were indescribable even by those who heard it. And yet, there was something beneath this eldritch sound. Something... familiar. It was as strange and unnerving as the rest of this laughter but it was still here.

Several minutes passed while the Entity laughed. When it finished, it was a relief to everypony. But what was even more of a relief, was an unexpected event in the skies. The Swirling clouds started retracting themselves from the atmosphere. Even after the recent events, seeing the warm beams of sunlight brought a form of serenity to the hearts of the ponies. The only thing that stayed as a reminder of the wicked haze was a single eye. It was one of those that formed after the Entity absorbed magic from the ponies and it seemed very much out of place in the bright blue sky. Its cold gaze was still watching Twilight as her forces started returning to her...
> The Plan
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Everypony was startled by the Entity's sudden disappearance. It didn't help them to solve this mystery either. After the initial shock of the last events faded away, it was replaced by a certain amount of relief.

"Ah, at least we can see the Sun again!" said Applejack in a joyful tone.

"But it left one of its eyes still hanging in the sky" added Rarity "it is still very much baffling!"

"I have the feeling that this creature won't leave us alone that easily." stated Princess Celestia. "It will surely return at some point, but for the moment, let us try to use the time we're granted to determine its origin."

"Those black clouds made me think of something or to be more precise of somepony," Cadence said in a grave tone "and I would rather prefer if it wasn't of his doing." she paused, before continuing with a deep frown upon her face. "The clouds are quite similar to those that appeared above the Crystal Empire during Sombra's return."

"But this would mean he learned some kind of magic-siphoning spell!" exclaimed Twilight "How could he do that?"

"This is indeed a possibility, but I would rather think of a more obvious foe. After all, Tirek is the only creature we know of that can absorb magic as this Entity just did." asserted Princess Luna with a determined look.

"In the current time, we have no way of knowing whether your hypotheses are true or not other than going to see what these villains are up to." declared Princess Celestia.

This seemed to be a reasonable plan. Twilight decided that she could go to the Crystal empire along with Cadence while the rest of the Elements of Harmony would go to the gates of Tartarus accompanied by Princess Luna. Even thought at first, her friends were reluctant towards the idea of being separated, they were rapidly convinced that being quick was a priority and thus that it was the most efficient way. After this all was said and done, Twilight decided to send a letter to the inhabitants of the castle of Friendship to know whether they would like to take part in the trip.

Finally, everypony could go relax and get some highly required sleep. The lack of black smoke in the sky along with the presence of the Moon and of normal stars helped the mares to clear their minds of bad thoughts.





In the morning, the response from Spike and Starlight arrived. They were both willing to come and have apparently boarded the first train towards Canterlot without any hesitation.

After eating their breakfast, the Elements of Harmony went to the train station to greet their friends. These latter arrived to Canterlot towards lunchtime so the seven mares and dragon went to eat at a local restaurant. When they all finally got to the castle, it was about time to depart towards their respective goals. To no one's surprise, Spike decided to go with Twilight. On the other hoof, Starlight chose to accompany the other Elements.

Thus, the preparations were completed at dusk and the mares were ready to take their trains towards their respective goals. They all met at the train station to wish each other farewell. As they finally boarded their trains, a long journey was about to begin for all of them.





Of course, there were no trains just leading to the gates of Tartarus (even though it could have been a rather touristic location). This meant that the group heading there would actually need to travel a rather extensive part of the way by hoof. Nopony was happy about it. While Luna was discussing the optimal route with Starlight and Rarity, Rainbow dash was complaining about how unfair this situation was. In short, nothing was out if the usual. Nothing, except the ever-present unearthly eye above their heads...
> King Sombra
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The train was slowly approaching the Crystal Empire. The swirly cloud of steam it produced in no way resembled the smoke that covered the skies several hours ago.  Twilight was happily chatting with her sister-in-law, nearly forgetting the terrifying events that transpire just earlier. Deep inside her mind, she remembered that they were about to encounter one of the most dangerous villains Equestria ever knew, but she really didn't want to think about it for the moment. She enjoyed the ride and just wanted to finally lighten the mood after the encounter with the Entity.





The train finally arrived into the Crystal Empire. Soon, they would go into the depth of Sombra's secret cellar and find out what he was up to. Of course, it would be dangerous, if he actually controlled the Entity (or even was the Entity) confronting him wouldn't be an easy task and thus shouldn't be taken lightly. What if he captures them? What if this whole thing was just a trap to make them go see him? What if he just isn't here? All these questions plagued Twilight's mind as she followed Cadence towards the Crystal Castle.





As expected, Shining Armor was waiting for them. He was pacing in the throne room with a worried frown. When he saw Cadence and Twilight (Spike stayed outside, surrounded by a group of fans, telling them his prowess when he saved the Crystal Heart), he immediately asked about the decision of the council. Apparently, the horrifying laugh could even be heard in the Crystal Empire, so he was obviously anxious about what happened. After hearing an account of the events and the plan of actions, he proposed it would only be wise to cast a protective spell on the two alicorns before they descended into the depths of Sombra's secret room. It seemed to be a rational measure. After all, they didn't even know what was waiting them in the somber chamber.

Once the preparations finished, the descent could finally begin. Twilight used the dark spell required to open the secret entrance, and they stepped onto a gloomy stairway. They dove into the darkness like into a bottomless sea. A dim light was visible in the distance, it was presumably coming from Sombra's personal chamber. After advancing downstairs for several minutes, the light became clearer. It's source was now visible: a flickering candle rested upon an ancient desk. On the contrary, the sigh of the exit behind them has quickly faded into the surrounding darkness, only a faint halo reached their eyes. A strange feeling of dread and uneasiness was all over this place. It seemed to be coming from the very air the two visitors breathed. Suddenly, in the surrounding darkness, appeared another light... Or maybe two lights. They were of a surreal green. As these lights approached, their nature became an evidence: it was the King himself.

Sombra's wicked grin was now visible in the dimly lit room. His shadowy incarnation drifted towards his unexpected guests.

"Well, well, well... What do we have here?" he said sardonically "My substitute of the throne of the Crystal Empire accompanied by Celestia's own protégé." he paused before asking another question, this one in non-rhetorical "What brought such important guests into my domain?"

"It's us who have questions to ask." calmly responded Twilight.

"Ask if you wish, Twilight Sparkle."

Before the latter could react, Cadence snapped at their shadowy interlocutor. "You know all too well why we are here King Sombra!"

"But you are mistaken my dear, I do have no information on the motives of your impromptu visit." mockingly responded the grinning figure.

"So, you are trying to tell us that you weren't the one who covered the whole sky in shadowy clouds? Liar!" shouted Cadence, her voice filled with pure hatred towards their interlocutor.

"Let's stay polite, we are civilized ponies after all. Now, how am I supposed to do all that while my power is still too faint to even leave this gloomy place? And even if I lied in my last sentence, why would I stay here and be talking to you, while I have the possibility to easily reclaim my throne?" responded Sombra pointing out the flaw in Cadence's logic.

Sombra was right. Even though he remained a filthy liar, his current logic made sense. He would never spend his precious time talking to the two alicorns in his dirty prison when he could just conquer the Crystal Empire and all Equestria if he wanted. With the kind of magic-siphoning abilities the Entity showed, there was no way he wouldn't just kill them or drain them of their magic from the moment they arrived. Unless this was all a part of his plan...

While Twilight was lost in her thoughts, Cadence continued arguing with Sombra. She was still convinced that he was at the origin of the Entity and no words seemed to be able to change her mind. The King even started feeling frustrated and upset by her stubbornness as he gave more and more proof of his innocence to no avail. This continued for a while, until Twilight finally intervened. She somehow managed to convince Cadence that Sombra probably wasn't lying this time (Of course Cadence still had her doubts, but she at least agreed to stop her accusations for the moment). However, they could still obtain more information from the envoy of the Umbrum.

"If you weren't the cause of these events, do you at least have an idea of who or what else could have such terrifying powers?" Twilight quizzed hoping to finally get some information about the Entity's origin.

Sombra was no fool, even though he had no idea of what happened, the current situation could still be used to his advantage. "Oh, but your description was all too vague for me to understand. I would very much like to help you, but it would require me to at least see the current state of the sky." he said politely, hoping for his plan to work.

Of course, this attempt was far too obvious. "Sadly, the black smoke is gone for the moment, therefore, your majesty should be able to help us without having to leave his chambers." responded Twilight in a sarcastic tone.

Seeing that his brilliant plan has failed, the shadowy King decided to try another one "Perhaps, to identify this Entity, the best solution would be to master the dark magic it uses. As a great expert in the domain, I would very much like to help you in your studies."

Sombra's ignorance on the subject of the Entity was becoming obvious. Even though, studying dark magic could actually help in the current situation, his intentions were clear as glass. Staying in this dark place was a waste of time. Now, they only needed to leave in the same peaceful way, they entered.

"Your offer is indeed very lovely, but I fear we won't be able to accept it." declared Twilight in the most polite way she could. "I fear we won't be able to stay and chat any longer as we have important matters to attend. I'm sure you could understand if we left your chambers immediately thus ceasing bothering you any longer."

Finishing her sentence, Twilight bolted towards the exit, signaling to Cadence to replicate her move. They galloped at an impressive speed, using their wings to accelerate.

Once on the solid floor of the palace, they shut the entrance as fast as they could and could finally relax after this sudden departure.





Meanwhile, Sombra just stood in his darkness and watched his visitors escape. He couldn't stop them, not in his current weakened state. In addition, the tale about this strange Entity was starting to bother him too. This Entity was perhaps an even greater evil than himself...
> At the Gates of Tartarus
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The ride wasn't long, it even was a bit too short. In fact, everypony would have preferred if they didn't have to walk several more miles, but sadly, there were no other way. They needed to walk (or fly, but mostly walk). Several hours were required to reach their destination, the Gates of Tartarus. As they got off the train and started moving, the surrounding nature was all but menacing. This journey even started resembling a peaceful ramble, but this wouldn't last. Rapidly, the wildlife around them started deteriorating. There were fewer and fewer plants, the birds' songs became rarer and quickly stopped. No life was welcome near the Gates of Tartarus. At first the ponies continued happily chatting but this didn't last either. The ambient bleakness started affecting their morale. Their thoughts became concentrated on the encounter to come.

This was all until another confrontation broke the ambient monotony. A terrifying roar resonated around the desert valley. Although it was far less frightening than the unearthly laugh of the Entity, this sound stayed alarming. Something was near, and its intentions seemed quite murderous. Suddenly, a mighty manticore appeared in their field of vision. Its impressive height closely matched those of the surrounding hills. The beast had sharp teeth alike to daggers and a threatening gaze that meant nothing good to those on its path. As the creature was eyeing its prey, preparing to strike, the scorpion tail it possessed slowly moved from left to right like that of a cat.

The ponies were prepared to defend themselves, they were observing the beast's movement, waiting for an attack. But such attack never came as, to everyone's surprise, Fluttershy flew towards the Manticore and gave it a warm hug. The animal was, at first, staggered by this move, but it didn't seem to be bothered by it as it hugged Fluttershy back. The other ponies just stood there, surprised by this turn of events. It was certainly for the better, as now, they didn't have to take more risks than the ones that awaited them in Tirek's prison. In addition, this manticore could actually be useful later.





The rest of the journey took place without major problems. The manticore, that now joined the group, was happily trotting amidst the ponies. Its previous fierceness and aggressively were gone and replaced by the loveliest qualities of a cute pet. Naturally, this sudden metamorphosis seemed strange, but Fluttershy's talent with animals was so indisputable that even this wasn't extremely unbelievable.

The Gates of Tartarus approached. Although Luna roughly described its supposed interior, most of the ponies taking part in the little expedition had no idea on what 
really awaited them inside. Near this cursed entry, no wildlife was present. The manticore even fled as soon as the door became visible. Its escape was unfortunate, but the poor beast seemed so afraid by this portal that nopony had the heart to try stopping it.

Only Luna knew the spell capable of unsealing this prison. It was probably for the better as only the filthiest creatures took residence in this horrid place. As she opened the door, her companions prepared themselves to see the vilest place a mortal could contemplate, but they didn't. What they saw instead was a large hall. It wasn't enormous, but impressive nonetheless. On the sides of this passage were disposed numerous cages, each containing a different creature. Most were chimeric amalgams composed of species that had nothing in common. This wasn't pleasing to the eye, but it was far from the horrors they expected to discover. Even the Princess of the Night seemed stupefied. It appeared like the descriptions of Tartarus she knew were mere works of fiction.





However, what they didn't know was that even though the Tartarus they saw was far from what they expected, it was even further from the truth. No mortal could contemplate it in its normal state. Only the sight of such torments could have made any sapient creature mad or even worse. No mind is able of processing the pain and suffering that take place in this damned realm. This is why Tartarus protected its visitors, all they can observe is a highly subdued version of reality (or even something totally different from it).





After eyeing the area for a long time, in search of the goal of their visit, the ponies noticed that the hallway ended not too far ahead. There, a huge cave could be seen. The plan of actions was established: Applejack would stay guarding the entrance along with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy (the latter just had to stay and comfort all these poor animals) while the other four would go and meet Tirek. The troop, led by the Lunar Princess, advanced towards the aperture.

Quickly, what it contained became apparent. It was Tirek's personal prison. An elevated peak could be seen in the middle of this area. It could be accessed by traversing a narrow bridge. All around the peak, was a bottomless pit (judging by the nature of the place, this description probably wasn't a hyperbole). On the top of this terrifying structure, a cage was visible. Within this cage, a Centaur-like figure was noticeable. The end of this expedition was rapidly approaching. Hopefully, they would obtain the answers they needed.

The Centaur seemed unsurprised by the visit. "Welcome to my domain, Little Ponies." he said in a sarcastic tone.

"We do not have time for greetings, Tirek" responded Luna, unamused "We have an important task to fulfill and thou shall be of great help to us."

"Oh... And what will be the reward for my cooperation?" quizzed Tirek, a grin forming on his face.

"We shall see, but only after your part is done." replied Luna with a determined frown.

Tirek visibly wasn't satisfied by this response, but decided that he wasn't in the best position to argue. "Then how can I help you, Princess?"





While this discussion continued, Applejack saw something. Something in the sky. She and the Rainbow Dash were still guarding the entrance (of course Fluttershy was also there, but she spent most of her time flying around the hallway and complaining about the terrible conditions the beast of Tartarus were kept in) as the same thing that happened several days before started reoccurring. The Entity was coming back. Its gloomy smoke quickly emerged from beyond the clouds and started sprawling in the sky. Seeing this event for the second time was in no way less frightening. Fear and panic were starting to rise inside the farmer's mind, but she didn't let them take over her thoughts. The others needed to be warned. Rainbow Dash apparently had the same idea as she instantly took off, heading deeper into the tunnel.





Tirek was swiftly bored by the interrogation. Of course, he didn't know anything about some evil cosmic Entity. He didn't even see the sky in ages. Being asked if he was the cause of this felt insulting to him. Was imprisoning him in Tartarus not enough? Did they really need to blame him for any bad thing that happened to their stupid land? It was infuriating.

The annoyed Centaur was about to confirm again that he didn't even have knowledge of what occurred, when Rainbow Dash suddenly appeared with a face expressing determination and panic at the same time.

"The Entity, it has returned!" she screamed.

The worry that already plagued the other ponies only became more apparent. At least, this confirmed that Tirek was innocent, but this information was of no relief to them. It even was the opposite.

Watching the distraught ponies, Tirek almost felt amused. This amusement however, didn't last too long because a strange feeling emerged from the depths of his mind. He felt the Entity. This presence was all but reassuring. Its limitless power and inherent evil were obnubilant, but there was something more. This Entity somehow felt familiar. A part of its magic was once in his possession. How could this be? As he thought about that, another thing became unmistakable and it was even more disturbing. So disturbing in fact that he felt the need to tell this to his enemies.

"This Entity... it is formed of pure mana..."
> Celestial Darkness
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Celestia was standing on her balcony, the warmth of her beautiful Sun, warming her skin as much as her thoughts. The Entity was gone for several days now, and this news seemed to rejoice every living creature in Equestria. However, it did not please the Sun Princess as much as the others. In fact, the constant speeches she had to deliver, the hordes of worried ponies that still came to visit her every single day, hoping for a clear explanation did nothing to make her comfortable. The problem was, that Celestia had no idea of what happened. She was at least as lost as the other ponies. She hoped that this villain was at least something familiar, but her hopes were probably vain.

Just this morning, a letter from Twilight arrived. Sombra had nothing to do with this Entity. Although this news was supposed to cheer the Sun Princess up, it had quite the opposite effect. If not Sombra, what was it? Her only hope now was the group going to Tirek's encounter. She would have never thought that Tirek's return would make her happy at some point of her life, but now, it was the case. At least, Tirek was a known enemy.

The questions that plagued her mind returned haunting her once more. What was this Entity? What did it want? If its intentions weren't good, how could it be stopped? Could it even be stopped? Thinking about all this, one question in particular come to her mind: Is there something worse than to be fighting against the unknown?... Yes... there is... To be fighting against a friend.

Suddenly, her melancholy was brutally interrupted. And this interruption came from the skies. IT was coming back. Why did all good things have to end so soon?

The black tendrils of smoky clouds reemerged from behind their sunnier counterparts. The starry blackness followed. Soon the Sun was gone as if it was never here in the first place. Its cosy glow was now replaced by the cold starlight of the Entity. Equestria's livelihood was gone in an instant and panic quickly took its place. Distraught citizens could be seen all around the town below. When Celestia managed to turn her gaze away from her terrified subjects, she saw that the sky reserved another surprise.

Gargantuan eyes were opening amidst the clouds. They were far more numerous. Unlike the first time, they weren't in a single spot. Now, they were scattered everywhere. All space above the Princess' head was swarming with these terrifying watchers. And their collective gaze was aimed right at her.

The feeling of being observed was very unsettling. No, it was unbearable. The only thought that the alicorn could master was : run. But she wasn't even able to do that. As if stuck in resin, her entire body was frozen in place. Comprehending that escape wasn't an option, Celestia just accepted her faith and prepared for the certain oblivion to come.

However, it never came. Instead, Celestia's thoughts were interrupted by a voice. A voice that wasn't hers but seemed to be coming right from her own mind. She recognized this voice. She only heard it once, but this was already enough. It was the Entity itself.

"Do not fear your doom, Princess. It will soon come, but now is not the time. Seeing you in such pitiful conditions is highly disappointing. I thought one should be brave to be ruling a kingdom. Perhaps I was mistaken. Your lack of courage is only surpassed by your inactivity. YOU will be the cause of your subjects' doom. Even your own student does more to prevent this. You merit nothing. I'll leave you here, useless and inactive. Despicable mortal..."

As the Entity's voice echoed inside Celestia's head, the truth of its words hit her like a train. What was she thinking? All of this was because of her. She should have been the first to act, the first to look for a way to stop this being. But she didn't... Now, bringing this disaster to an end was her duty. The time to act has come...
> The Eyes
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Sun was shining bright in the sky. Twilight Sparkle, was enjoying the moment. After the impromptu visit to King Sombra, nothing very important happened. As expected, their sudden escape freaked out most of the ponies guarding the exit, but at least, Sombra didn't try to stop them. It was a good turn of events, since if they needed to fight him off while trying to find a way to deal with the Entity, the whole process could have taken far longer. But fortunately, it wasn't necessary. When Spike finally managed to get rid of his group of fans, all the agitation has long since ceased. The little drake tried to express his extreme disappointment about the fact he wasn't able to take part in the expedition, but he wasn't a very good actor. The relief was quite obvious in his voice and gestures.

First, Twilight felt rather pleased by the fact Sombra wasn't behind all this. She sent a letter to Celestia as soon as she could, notifying her of this "good" news. Then, this impression died out and was replaced by worry. She didn't really think about it before, but one thing became obvious: she would have preferred fighting Sombra rather than a strange being the nature of which wasn't even known yet. At least Sombra had his weaknesses, and they knew these weaknesses. This Entity however, was something else. Its weak points (if it possessed any) or even basic things such as its origin were completely mysterious. And despite all of its supernatural traits, this being still somehow felt familiar. How was this possible? Those alien eyes, this unearthly starry sky, these foggish clouds... All this resembled Equestrian evil so much while simultaneously being totally different from it.





Lost in her thoughts, the purple alicorn didn't notice the sudden changes occurring to the sky. Only the disappearance of the Sun's comforting glow managed to get her attention. It was back. However, the Entity wasn't the same as during their last encounter. Its basic traits remained, but a thing has undoubtedly changed. The Eyes, they were everywhere! New ones were continuing to appear somewhere in the distance. This was a truly horrendous sight.

Only one thing in this whole metamorphosis was welcome: the Eyes weren't looking at her. The oculars' collective gaze was directed at something far away... This was such a relief. But then, what where were they watching? The answer to this question was no longer needed, as the Eyes stopped observing their new objective and returned their gloomy attention to Twilight. Slowly all of their pupils turned towards the poor mare, forcing her to shiver.

Meanwhile, another event was occurring in the sky. In the midst of the dark clouds and gloomy eyes appeared a strange light. Although it was similar to the inhospitable glow coming from the clouds and eyes themselves, this glare was much stronger. At first, it was just a single dot. Then, this dot stretched into a thin line. The line took a curved shape and the radiance it produced intensified. Soon, its form became intelligible: it was a wicked smile.

The Entity was about to talk.

"PITIFUL MORTALS! WATCHING YOUR TURMOIL IS QUITE ENTERTAINING. YOUR FUTILE EXISTENCE SHOULD HOWEVER COME TO AN END. KNOWING THAT YOU COMPARED ME TO YOUR LESSER VILLAINS IS HIGHLY INSULTING. MY POWER IS FAR BEYOND YOUR IMAGINATION. AS YOUR PATHETIC WORLD CRUMBLES, NONE SHALL STOP ME. ABANDON ALL HOPE AND RESISTANCE AS IT IS AS WORTHLESS AS YOUR LIFE. IN TEN DAY, YOUR PLANET WILL BE NO LONGER."

This message was undoubtedly heard from all around Equestria and even beyond its borders. Even though the celestial grin mimicked all of its words, the unearthly sound was coming from all sides simultaneously. The air vibrated with the power of each syllable and nothing other than the Entity's speech could be heard. This ethereal voice, so disheartening that no living creature was able to move or even think properly, had the faculty to invade ones mind and remain in its darkest corner for the rest of his life. The earth itself appeared discouraged by the news of its incoming destruction.





Soon, the panic has arisen amidst the streets. The incoming doom that all feared was confirmed by the very being that would make it happen. Some ponies still stood motionless, paralyzed by the shock or by the uncontrollable fear that has crept into their minds.

Twilight however, knew she couldn't just wait, or surrender her psyche to this overwhelming terror. Trying to calm her mind and to convince herself that everything would be alright wasn't an easy task. But when she finally managed to clear her thoughts and to think rationally, a solution came to her mind. A solution so obvious that the fact she didn't think about it before was rather bizarre. Why didn't they use the Elements of Harmony right away? Now, this Entity has only become stronger and is planning to destroy their world. How could they have been so stupid? Of course the origin of the Entity shouldn't have been a priority, defeating it was far more important. Now, something needed to be done. She needed to return to Canterlot, to meet her friends and stop this monstrosity.

Resolute, the purple mare decided that the sooner she departed, the sooner all this would come to an end. Rushing onto the castle, she informed Cadence of her plan. The latter seemed to agree. She gave Twilight the access to her personal train and helped her to pack her bags as much as she could. Spike didn't seem very happy about their sudden takeoff. However, he understood that the situation was critical and that no delay was acceptable.





As all this agitation went on in the Crystal Castle, the Eyes relentlessly held their target. Even though Twilight wasn't aware of this at the moment, she was constantly being observed...
> An Eventful Ride
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After all preparations were finished, the trip could finally begin. This whole process took longer than Twilight expected, longer than she needed... Now, every single second was now part of a final countdown. A countdown that, when it came to an end, would take the lives of countless ponies with it. And it needed to be stopped. Although it was long after midnight, the purple alicorn embarked into Cadence's personal train along with her loyal assistant. A long night was about to begin.





Taking their respective sits, the mare and dragon remained silent. In the hollow corridors of the empty train, everything appeared practically ethereal. All this emptiness caused the thoughts of the two passengers to inevitably drift towards the Entity.

"Twilight?" called Spike with a hesitant voice, trying to break the persistent silence

"Yes?" answered the mare in question "What's bothering you?"

"It's just that... this whole Entity thing... I'm scared." admitted the little drake, his voice shaking "Things have been happening so fast, I just... I just don't know what to do."

Seeing his dismay immediately chased all other thoughts from Twilight's weary mind. She needed to comfort this poor creature, but how? "Don't worry" she said unconvinced of her own words "we're going to get through this together."

"I hope." he replied "All this mystery just starts to seriously get on my nerves."





Suddenly, the sky outside lightened. It almost felt like the Moon was back, taking its usual place amidst the stars. But this didn't look right. Something bad was about to happen, but what?

A strange feeling of feebleness slowly crept into Twilight's mind. It wasn't a natural weakness, but the purple mare was sure she already felt it before. A realization arose in her mind: the Entity was about to feed. Their magic was going to be absorbed.

A teal beacon of light formed in the middle of the wagon, it's twisting form ascended, carrying the precious magic of the passengers in its relentless ascent. The alicorn princess felt it, the forces were leaving her frame. And, as her vision began to blur, the cold embrace of sleep took hold of the poor mare, sending her into a realm of peace and tranquility. Or maybe not...





Fog

It was the first thing Twilight could see. As her vision became clearer, its nature became apparent. This wasn't just regular fog... it was darker. The cold luminaries of stars provided their distant lighting to the scene. Nothing but the fog could be seen, not even the ground itself.

She was inside the Entity. Only thinking about it made the purple mare shiver. In this alien place, simply breathing wasn't an easy task. The ambient air itself felt strange, its density higher than usual. However, there was something else in this ethereal atmosphere. A great power was scattered all over this place, the air itself was filled with mana. Every single aspect of this idiosyncratic setting had something terrifying to it.

All of a sudden, the surrounding haze began swirling. Blueish maelströms formed, all drifting towards a single spot. Their hypnotizing flows merged together forming the semblance of an outlandish portal. Through her extreme panic, Twilight's outstanding curiosity managed to get hold of her. What was this portal? What would come traversing it? Unlike many others, these questions weren't destined to stay unanswered, as an ethereal yet pony-like form emerged from the mysterious gateway. Its luminous incarnation radiated as if made of fragments of the Sun itself. Who was this being? The answer to this inquiry was revealed as it began to talk.

"It is nice to encounter you in person after all this time, Twilight Sparkle" pronounced the Entity, its surreal voice recognizable among a million "Your efforts to stop me are truly remarkable, but sadly vain nonetheless"

Stunned by this turn of events, the mare in question just couldn't wrap her tired head around all this. How was this happening? Being inside the thing that was about to destroy your world, confronting its avatar, wasn't exactly the best for one's sanity. Considering all this, Twilight couldn't manage a coherent answer, she chose to remain silent instead.

Displeased by its interlocutor's lack of response, the Entity continued its hypnagogic speech. "Don't leave my greetings unanswered, I know you have plenty of questions plaguing you mind"

Collecting what was left of her resolve, Twilight tried to calm herself. And yet, the only thing sound she managed to produce was "Why?"

"Why? The answer is quite simple: Power. To me, your entire race is the equivalent of what insects are to you: insignificant. Destroying you, is only a mean to reach my goal and the price to pay does not bother me in the slightest." the cold words of the Entity echoed in the ambient void, as its incandescent gaze fixed the purple alicorn.

"NO!" snapped Twilight "You can't just take countless lives and end them for the sole purpose of your personal gain! How could you even think about such things?"

"So could have said the ants, carelessly murdered by your kind during a simple walk in the park..."





Cracking her eyes open, Twilight was still in their cosy wagon. Spike was sitting nearby, mindlessly staring into the Moonless sky. All this was just a dream. Or was it? This nightmare seemed all too vivid, all too real. What if the Entity used this as a way to communicate? She just wasted this precious occasion to uncover more of its enigmatic nature.

Noticing his friend's movement, Spike turned his stare towards the now awaken mare.

"Are you alright?" he inquired with worry in his voice "Your sudden collapse really freaked me out."

"Thanks Spike, sorry for robbing you of your sleep." she said, noticing the extreme exhaustion in the little drake's face.

"You're really sure you're good?" questioned the dragon "Cause you didn't stop shifting and turning, and even now, you look pretty scared."

"Oh, that's nothing. I just had a pretty disturbing nightmare and..." Twilight stopped as the Entity's speech arose in her mind. The vivid memories made her shiver.

"And what?" asked Spike concerned with his friend's frightened look.

"It's just that, in the nightmare, the Entity seemed to be communicating with me, I can't understand why"





Their conversation was interrupted, as the train's whistle signaled its arrival to Canterlot. This quest was far from being finished...
> The Panic in Canterlot
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Slightly stunned by their sudden stop, the duo turned their heads to observe the situation outside. And what they saw was all the opposite of what they hoped to see.

The city was in complete and utter chaos. Blazing fires were visible everywhere. Lucky houses that managed to survive this conflagration, were barricaded, their doors and windows were blocked by heavy planks attached to the structure with rusty nails that were visibly placed in a great hurry. In the anarchic streets, the poor inhabitants of this once great city, could be seen scavenging, some even got into violent confrontations because of their finds. Royal guards were desperately trying to calm the conflicts, but all their efforts were vain. Some guards even rejoined the pillaging or panic, surrendering their minds to the ambient hysteria. Terrified ponies could be seen peeking out of their fortified homes. Others, utterly consumed by all this frenzy, totally lost their mind and were screaming or crying amidst the ruins. Encompassed by this destruction, unlucky citizen lost their lives. Their mangled corpses could be remarked lying in the demented streets. This didn't resemble a welcoming arrival...

Shocked by the unsettling panorama, the horrifying image stuck in their unprepared brains, the two newcomers just sat there, unable to process the abrupt change of the formerly glorious capital of ponykind. Of course, revolts and general panic were to be expected after the Entity's grim speech, however none could have thought of such drastic changes in the ponies' behavior. How could have such a transformation occur in so little time? It was just as surprising as dreadful. In fact, none could have planned the outcome of an event as extreme the imminent destruction of the planet.

"What... What happened here?" asked Spike, his voice shaking.

This question remained here, suspended in the air, each word stuck in the heavy atmosphere as if the air has been replaced with glue. None possessed the answer to this inquiry, none except maybe... the Entity.

"I hope Princess Celestia has the situation in control..." muttered Twilight, then, understanding the absurdity of her own words added "at least more in control than what it looks like" She got up and started collecting her bags. "Well, I guess dwelling on the current state of the city won't help us. We should get moving,"

Rapidly nodding, Spike joined her in the preparation. Both remained silent, trying to wrap their heads around the problems before them.





Once all was ready, the expedition through the apocalyptic city could finally begin.

Marching amidst the scorched ruins, the pair advanced toward what once could be identified as the main square. The melted forms of building surrounded this area, making it seem awkwardly constrained. On the side of the road, in the midst of the ambient wreckage, the figures of two ponies could be noticed. One was lying on the dusty floor, motionless. The other was erratically crying, fresh tears falling on its deceased friend's body.

Turning her gaze away from this sorrowfully spine-chilling scene, Twilight tried to concentrate on her main goal: reach the castle and, eventually, put an end to all this.

Entering the grim center of the city, she saw a figure that was clearly distinguishable amidst all this chaos. On a slightly raised stage, fabricated from ambient garbage and assembled with pieces of semi-molten metal, the hooded shape of a pony was standing on its back hooves. Somehow, even in the middle of this anarchy, a group of other ponies quietly listened to its mysterious speech. Overtaken by curiosity, Twilight didn't find anything better than to get closer and try to hear what this figure was yelling to all this crowd.

"MY BROTHERS! I SEE THE COMPLETE DESTRUCTION RAINING UPON OUR LAND! WE DID NOT MERIT SUCH ABRUPT AND CRUEL END! THE ENTITY, AS WE CALL IT, IS A BEING OF GREAT WISDOM AND OF GREAT POWER! ITS ENDLESS MIGHT INFINITELY SURPASSES THAT OF OUR PRINCESSES! THOSE COWARDS, THEY ABANDONED US! THEY ARE THE CAUSE OF OUR DISMAY! WE SHOULD NOT REMAIN UNDER THEIR REIGN! JOIN ME, JOIN THE ENTITY AND YOUR LIFE WILL BE SPARED! BRING THE PRINCESSES AS OFFERING TO OUR NEW PROTECTOR! LET OUR WORLD BE SAVED!"

This... was problematic to say the least. As the mysterious pony had finished his speech, its audience diverted their attention from the platform. And as they did so, some noticed that their meeting had an unwanted witness: the Princess of Friendship.

"Run" was all Twilight had time to say before bolting as far from this place as she could. Spike hardly managed to keep up, but now really wasn't the time to fall apart. Traversing the ruined streets, more and more ponies remarking her presence, the purple Princess had only one idea on her mind: get to the castle.

Suddenly, a vague shadow, its contours imprecise because of the ambient fires and the strange celestial lighting, appeared on the soil beneath the panicked mare's hooves. Jerking her head up, Twilight saw several pegasi visibly chasing her. Remembering the existence of her own wings, the alicorn grabbed Spike and hurriedly got off the ground. Flight was clearly a faster mean of movement, as the distance separating her from the menacing pursuers started to increase.

Relieved by her rapid escape, Twilight lost a bit of her concentration. She sighed, heavily breathing... before abruptly colliding with a hard wall.

Once the pain and pulsing sensation in her head died out, sheer panic took its place. The angry mob of crazy ponies were going to catch up sacrificing her to their irrational deity! All of this, all her life was about to be lost in vain as their demented leader saw her helpless figure! All these horrific thoughts overtook her brain, when she suddenly realized that the wall with which she collided was nothing other than the castle's front door.

A new wave of relief washed upon her tired psyche. In her hurry, she somehow managed to reach such speeds she couldn't have expected from even Rainbow Dash. Thus reaching the palace in record times and surpassing her own calculations.

However, all these interesting thoughts were destined to be explored later, as the group of pegasi chasing her in the city became visible, their grim intentions unaltered.

Grasping the stunned figure of Spike, Twilight opened the door with her magic and entered Canterlot Castle. Hopefully, Celestia would be able to help...
> Celestia...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The place wasn't as Twilight would have liked. It was silent. Silent and dark. The building almost seemed abandoned. All this weird atmosphere meant nothing good.

Marching in the empty corridors, the mare scanned her surroundings trying to find any signs of activity. The normally lively castle felt... dead. No guards were patrolling the mysteriously deserted structure, no servants were bustling, attending their usual jobs. Even the furniture looked like it had suddenly aged, some even lying on the ground, completely collapsed. On the dusty floors, occasionally covered with dirty rags, many hoofprints were visible in the dust and dirt, all looked as if those who left them were running in great hurry.

Nearing the throne room, Twilight's worry and fear started to overtake her. Where was Celestia? Where were all the other ponies that usually inhabited this place? And why did everything look so abandoned? Her mind buzzing with questions, the young princess decided to take a break and try to calm down. She sat down on the floor, taking Spike from her back and putting him on a neighboring rag with great precaution. The little drake, still stunned after their unfortunate crash, remained in a state of dreamless sleep.

Reasoning about the situation they were currently in, trying to convince herself that everything was going to be alright, the mare remembered that dream she had during their train ride. Did the Entity enjoy this? Was torturing innocent ponies a thing able to distract another sentient being? Or was power really all it sought, completely ignoring even the direst of consequences? She was starting to regret the fact she didn't have the time to inform Spike of this vision.

Looking at the sleeping dragon, the peaceful expression on his face slightly calming her down, the purple mare decided to resume her search. After all, dwelling on her problems probably wasn't the best way to spend her precious time.

Getting up again, Twilight set herself a goal: find Celestia. The Solar Princess was probably somewhere in the castle... unless... no, this wasn't possible, she would have never got caught by this strange cult, worshiping the Entity. It was inconceivable.

Summoning up her courage, the mare entered the throne room. This place looked even worse than the rest. In addition to the dust and feeling of decay and emptiness, here the floor was covered with books, a lot of books. All appeared in pretty bad shape, some pages torn off, others scrambled. It was like someone was looking for something, something they didn't find. In the middle of this papery disaster, on the far end of the chaotic room, the figure of Princess Celestia was visible, lying on the countless parchments.

She looked terrible. Even though her mane still continued its perpetual movement, it no longer had the regal shape it used to possess. Singular locks of hair pointed in all and every direction, making the whole resemble a bird's nest. The Princess herself didn't look well either, her bloodshot eyes, tired of examining all those innumerable pages were now fixing some unremarkable dark space near the castle's roof. Her expression was a mix or exhaustion, fear and extreme shame. Staring into the void, she didn't even acknowledge Twilight's arrival, completely consumed by whatever thought that plagued her fatigued mind.

Seeing her former teacher in such a disastrous state, the young princess rushed towards her mentor, hoping to discover the reason of its distress. The latter slowly turned her empty gaze towards the rapidly approaching mare.

"Celestia! What happened to you?" Twilight asked, overwhelmingly worried.

"I have failed..." replied Celestia, her voice not stronger than a whisper.

"What did you fail? What are you talking about?" quizzed Twilight, her worry only increasing.

"I have failed you all. I have failed, and now, this colorful word is going to pay for it with its life."

"What do you mean?"

"My inactivity caused all this, I should have acted as fast as I could, trying to stop this being by myself. I shouldn't have sent you anywhere, dealing with this situation wasn't your duty. Oh, why did I have to be so stupid!" anger was now starting to appear in Celestia's voice, slowly replacing the weakness and exhaustion.

"But, you had no way to anticipate the turn of events, it isn't your fault!" getting the Solar Princess out of this state was becoming a necessity.

Completely ignoring Twilight's response, Celestia continued her bitter monologue "And now, I have failed again! None of these books held any solution to the disaster we're facing because of me! I can't even fix my own mistakes! I didn't own my title of Princess of the Sun, I don't merit my crown, my castle, I merit nothing!" once these last words left her mouth, the anger disappeared once again and the once great Celestia burst into tears, wetting the dusty books on which she was lying.

"STOP!" snapped Twilight "None of this was your fault! You are the best leader this country ever had and you were the greatest teacher anypony can ask for! You taught me everything I know and one of those things was that you should never give up! None of your actions were the cause of the disaster we're facing! Get a hold of yourself, I want the Celestia I knew back!"

Hearing these words visibly infused the Sun Princess with a new hope. Sometimes, even the greatest of teachers must be taught something by their students...
> Together Again
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the book-filled room, the teacher and her former student now stood, contemplating the disaster that became this once great place. They saw Spike, who calmly continued his dreamless slumber on his papery bed.

Seeing all that she had to read through caused Celestia to shiver. Did she really believe in the words of her enemy? Of course, the Entity just tried to destabilize her, after all destabilizing the leader also meant destabilizing its subjects. This plan was so obvious, one needed to be stupid to not see right through it! So... she was stupid nonetheless... No, she needed to stop these grim thoughts from getting into her head. Putting all blame on yourself never helped anyone to get through a tough situation. And the situation they were facing was one of toughest anypony ever had to face.

"Celestia?" called Twilight, interrupting the Sun Princess' meditation "Seeing you lost in thoughts like that really makes me nervous after... Well, you see what I mean."

"Oh Twilight, I can't thank you enough!" responded the Solar alicorn "I really needed somepony else to bring me back to reason. It's just that..."

Their conversation was suddenly interrupted, as numerous hoofsteps could be heard, rapidly approaching their location. Panting voices soon added themselves to the noisy galloping. A group of ponies was approaching. Preparing to face a horde of crazed cultists, Twilight started casting a defensive spell, taking a battle position. However, her calm quickly returned, as she managed to recognize Pinkie's joyful tone amidst the others. The group gone to Tartarus finally returned from their journey. Already, their colorful manes were visible, contrasting with the poorly lit walls of the castle.

"Wow! What's the matter with all these books? Did Twilight go crazy or something?" the Rainbow-maned pegasus could be heard, expressing her extreme bewilderment, surrounded by all this literature.

The next to speak was Pinkie Pie "Hey, I can see somepony over there!" she said continuing her usual bouncing.

"But this must be my sister and Twilight Sparkle!" exclaimed Luna, her tone filled with relief.

"Ah hope somepony's finally gonna explain what happened here!" responded Applejack's bothered voice.

"Oh, look, there's my Spikey-Wikey over there!" uttered Rarity "He's... asleep?" Remarking the drake's stunned state, she rushed towards him, trying to understand what happened to the poor dragon.

"Good to see all of you again!" declared Twilight from the other side of the room.

"Nice to see you too!" replied the others, then Rainbow Dash added "Now, can you please explain what in the world happened to this place?!"

"I think I should do that." stated Celestia, taking several steps forward.

And so she did, narrating all that happened after the Entity's return. She described the extreme shame and guilt she felt after it gave its grim speech. She recounted the insane research she undertook trying to fix her mistake. The Solar Princess didn't omit how the castle quickly became abandoned, all its inhabitants either fleeing their certain doom or scared by Celesta's new obsession with books. Rapidly, rumors spread in the town claiming that their leader had abandoned her subjects, causing multiple revolts and plunging the city in total chaos. Meanwhile, the alicorn continued her desperate search, even casting several spells by accident (which explained the castle's timeworn look). However, all she did was in vain, as no book, no parchment, no artifact in the entirety of the castle had any power against the Entity. The only thing Celestia didn't mention, was her conversation with the Entity, the shame of believing its words still omnipresent in her soul...

"Well... that was... interesting." stated Rainbow Dash as the story was finished "At least that explains all those crazy ponies chasing us through the city and yelling something about how great the Entity is."

"Oh, my dear sister!" exclaimed Luna "Ruling this nation for all these countless years had really put too much pressure of your weary shoulders! I never should have left you all alone in such a stressful time!"

"Don't blame yourself Luna, my story had just demonstrated why this isn't a good idea." replied Celestia, a weak smile upon her face.

"Well, all this is very sweet, but we have an evil Entity to beat!" intervened Applejack "What's our actual plan to deal with it?"

"We didn't try the Elements yet." answered Twilight.

"Oh, I know!" exclaimed the pink party pony "We could travel back in time, convince our past selves to beat the Entity back then, defeat it very very easily and throw a big giant party about it! And there will be everypony from the past and the present at this party, and everything will be totally awesome! Oh, I almost forgot, there must also be balloons, a lot of balloons and..."

"Sorry to interrupt you Pinkie, but I think the obvious plan might sometimes be the best one." declared Starlight, unaffected by the pink pony's overwhelming enthusiasm.

"As delightful as your plan seems, I must agree with Starlight on that point." added Rarity, now joined by Fluttershy at Spike's side " We should start by the simpler plan." Saying this, she continued to help the pink-maned pegasus to take care of the unconscious drake.





And so it was decided. The group would go retrieve the Elements of Harmony, from their usual place in the Everfree forest. However, this time Luna decided to stay in Canterlot, trying to bring order back to the city along with her sister. Now that everypony was together, separating themselves again wasn't something they were willing to do. But no time could be wasted as the world's fate now resided in their hooves.

The Elements must be the ideal way to deal with the Entity...
> A New Goal
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Somewhere, behind the gloomy clouds, the Sun and Moon remained hidden even to their respective Princesses. In theory, a new day was about to begin, but none had the possibility to know that for sure, except those possessing clocks (but the latter became scarce lately, as most of them were either burned in the numerous bonfires or used as barricades for the doors or windows). Nonetheless, the new residents of Canterlot Castle were waking up after a good sleep. Of course, it wasn't the best kind of sleep, since each passing day and night inevitably brought closer the hopefully avoidable Apocalypse. But it was still a form of much-needed rest. It was now time for the eight friends to come back to Ponyville and venture into the Everfree forest, seeking help from the Elements of Harmony.

Spike, who had finally awoken from his unplanned slumber, bustled around, helping his friend to get ready for the journey back home. Deep in his heart, he was hoping he would be able to just come back home and avoid any further injuries, but his awareness of the extreme importance of their current task was far stronger and greatly surpassed his lazier desires.

In the meantime, Celestia, now accompanied by her sister, was trying to bring back at least some small fragment of order into the ruined city. This task, however, was far from easy, as they frequently needed to deal with hordes of crazed cultists or ponies simply protesting against the Sun Princess' recent behavior.





As the preparations approached their end, a new problem became apparent. With how terrible the current state of the city was, no trains were available. Indeed, most of the train conductors either fled, or joined the city's hysteria, so even the trains that remained in Canterlot had no one qualified to drive them. Thus, even if it was painfully slow, the trip to Ponyville needed to be done by hoof.

"Aw, come on! Isn't there any other way?!" exclaimed the cyan pegasus when she discovered that fact "Can't you use your magic or something! I mean, there must be some kind of spell able to transport us there!"

"Rainbow Dash, please stop, I already explained that neither of us has enough power to teleport us that far." asserted Twilight, extremely annoyed by the endless complaints "Even the royal Princesses can't do that kind of magic!"

"But, you two were able to travel through time!..." the Rainbow pegasus paused, noticing the annoyance building up on Starlight's face "Alright, we won't talk about that."





Despite the general dissatisfaction, the group was ready to depart. As they had already said their goodbye to the royal sisters in the morning, no time could be wasted. They chose to avoid the panicked ruins of Canterlot, leaving the castle by a narrow mountain path, poorly known by anypony except the Princesses.

Slowly progressing through the empty wilderness, boredom quickly started to settle. As beautiful as the landscape was, it didn't really have any remarkably outstanding structures. In addition, the gloomy lighting provided by the Entity's "stars", didn't help to appreciate the panorama.

All this repetitiveness went on and on, when Starlight suddenly remembered something.

"Uh, Twilight?" she said "I think we forgot to mention something about our encounter with Tirek."

"Oh, I thought he proved himself pretty useless when it came to our current problem." responded the purple alicorn, curious about this new potential piece of information.

"Well, that's true, but even if he didn't know anything by himself, when the Entity came back, we were still in the cave." she paused, trying to play the scene again in her mind "So, when that happened, we all freaked out, but I remember Tirek saying something about the fact the Entity was made of pure mana. And he seemed pretty scared or at least very confused when he detected the Entity's magic."

That was interesting "But how is this possible? Mana has no consciousness." responded Twilight, extremely confused by this news.

"That's also what I thought." asserted Starlight, pondering that fact "But don't forget that we're talking about Tirek here, so he might always be lying."

"Maybe, but I think we should still keep that in mind, it might give us another idea if the Elements don't work."

"Don't care about it too much darling!" intervened Rarity "I'm sure the Elements will defeat this unfashionable Entity without any problems!"

"Ah sure hope so!" exclaimed Applejack, taking part in the conversation "This weird light sure ain't good for the apples!"

"Oh, I know!" suddenly yelled Pinkie "When we get to Ponyville we should do a We are going to save the world again very very soon party! And then, after we do it, we could do a Hooray, we just saved the world party! And then, we could do a We saved the world again yesterday party! And then..."





And so it continued. A new spark life was brought to the Little Ponies as they continued their journey. All the boredom was gone and all were already musing about their certain victory. However, despite the ambient cheer and carelessness, Twilight couldn't help but feel a bit scared of their mission's failure. And who knows, maybe she was right to be scared...
> This Game Isn't Won Yet
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now happily chatting, the eight friends continued their journey at a much faster rate. Traveling amidst the green plains and little forests, they continued musing about the incoming defeat of the Entity. But even away from the civilization, the Entity's influence never faded. Apart from the obvious celestial signs of its presence, it also had some unhealthy effects on Equestria's wildlife. The grass and trees, malnourished because of the lack of sunlight, already started wearing off. Their once vivid colors were turning vapid and bland. But the flora wasn't the only one to suffer. The poor animals, not only running short on food, were also scared by the terrifying Eyes scattered throughout the sky. Some were even too scared to feed or sleep.

On their way, Fluttershy helped countless critters to overcome their fright, but she couldn't help everyone. The Eyes stayed indeed the most disturbing reminder of the Entity's presence. Now that most dangers were far away and the pressure had the time to settle down, Twilight noticed that most of the Eyes adjacent to their current position continued their silent observance, focusing on her, or at least on their group. This made her uncomfortable, forcing her to go back to her thoughts and quit the conversations once again.





Despite the lack of any celestial clock, most of Equestria felt the night approach. Having trotted the biggest part of the day, tiredness came crawling into the eight friends' minds. According to the map that Twilight managed to conjure, they had already traveled about half the distance to Ponyville, thus making the idea of making a camp and resting for the hypothetical night perfectly feasible.

As the group of friends continued their preparations, putting their things down and creating improvised beds, they remained unaware of another observer, eyeing them in addition to the gloomy oculars. In the shadows, the cultists remained. Despite several of them being former royal guards, most had no experience in combat. However, the words of their leader were too convincing to be doubted: the Princesses needed to be tracked and sacrificed. They all saw what had happened to the city during Celestia's nerve crisis. This alone persuaded these poor ponies that Equestria's government needed to change. In addition to this, the short time that this planet had left didn't alter their conviction.

Thus, they now lied in the gloomy light of the Entity, waiting for the Princess of Friendship to make herself vulnerable, surrendering to the warm embrace of sleep. But sadly for them, the latter wasn't about to happen so soon.





Staring at the sky above her, Twilight couldn't help but feel observed. The countless gloomy Eyes staring at her from the blackened skies weren't helping her to get rid of that feeling. She shifted on her bed, ceaselessly turning, unable to find a comfortable position. As she did so, a strange movement amidst a bunch of trees nearby caught her attention. Of course, it was probably a wild animal, but it didn't look like one. In addition, most of the animals still remained hidden, as disturbed by the Entity's Eyes as Twilight herself. So, what could it have been? There was no wind, so it wasn't a movement of one of the trees. Maybe a dry branch that fell off? Or maybe it was something else...

Concentrating on these thoughts finally occupied her weary brain with something other than the feeling of being observed, thus having an involuntary effect on her consciousness. Twilight slowly fell asleep...





Seeing that their target had finally settled down, the cultists exited their hideout. Painstakingly, they approached the camp, forcing themselves to do as little noise as possible. But despite their extreme precautions, they were already detected.

In fact, the eight friends' cheer and optimism didn't get in the way of their carefulness. One would stay guarding the camp at any time of the night, thus protecting the others' well-being. It was now Spike's turn to stay up. And although he might have seemed being asleep, leaning against an adjacent tree, he was in fact still well aware of his surroundings. Thus, he had remarked the cultists approach in no time. Immediately getting up, but remaining careful, not to be seen, he crawled to the nearest pony, shaking her slightly in hope to wake her up.

The latter happened to be Starlight. She shifted mumbling "please Dad, I don't want to wake up" in her sleep.

Ignoring her grumbling, Spike continued his attempts whispering "Come on, wake up, I really need your help now!"

Still unconscious, Starlight went on with her rambling "but the Sun isn't even up yet"

Meanwhile, too concentrated on their task, the cultists continued their grim approach, unaware of being detected. They were now only a few steps away from Twilight's sleeping form, getting closer each second.

Growing highly frustrated, Spike suddenly had an idea. It may not have been the smoothest way to awake somepony, but it had the merit to be almost instantaneous. He decided to use a tiny bit of his fire breath as an alarm clock.

As the flame came into contact with Starlight's skin, a loud "OUCH!" echoed around the camp. She jumped on her hooves, unaware of what caused her to wake up so suddenly. However, the first thing she saw were the cultists, slightly stunned by her awakening. Confused and quite angry, she immediately understood who these ponies were and what was their current plan. Rapidly coming up with a spell, she wasted no time, attacking the intruders immediately. The latter, too confused to defend themselves, turned to flee instead. They were however too slow, one of them getting frozen in place by a paralyzing spell.

As the other ponies had also awakened, each prepared to fight for their lives, the cultists judged that they could tent their luck sometimes later, thus leaving the camp site as fast as they could.

The consequences of this encounter might not have been dire, but it reminded the eight friends that there were still some dangers that remained, never truly defeated...
> A Somewhat Comforting Setback
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The last night's fight remained fresh in the ponies' minds. It might have been won rather easily, but the marenappers almost achieved their goal. Indeed, transporting a sleeping pony in one's magic without disturbing its slumber wasn't that hard. If Spike only happened to fall asleep for a minute, it could have been too late. But in the end, everything turned out well.





In the morning, the group resumed its progress at a steady pace discussing the recent events, their enthusiasm, although slightly attenuated, persisted and quickly took over their minds.

It's in this happy atmosphere, that the friends eventually arrived near Ponyville. A choice was now before them: were they about to continue their path straight to the Elements or would they check the town's state first? The dilemma might have seemed insignificant, but both options still had their own risks and advantages.

"We can't just walk past our home town!" yelled Applejack, extremely annoyed "Ah need to check on mah farm!"

"And what if the town folks are scared?" added Fluttershy "We can't let them down, can we?"

"But if the city is indeed in bad shape, staying here and helping out the ponies can take a lot of time!" argued Starlight, uneager to deal with a Canterlot-like situation "Don't forget that the sooner we defeat the Entity, the sooner we'll all be back home!"

"Oh, I can't wait to see the Sun again!" intervened Rainbow Dash, eyeing the sky with disgust "All this foggy mist and gloomy Eyes mike me nervous."

"I think we should go for the Elements first, this way if they don't work, we'll still have enough time to come up with a backup plan." asserted Twilight, then added "I know I shouldn't be worried about that possibility too much, but I just can't stop myself from thinking about it."

"Oh, darling, you shouldn't stress yourself like that!" said Rarity, trying to comfort her friend "Do you even remember a time they didn't work?"

"I guess not, but still, there's always a chance..." replied Twilight, nervously shivering.

At this moment, an intersection appeared in their field of view. Amidst the greenish trees, three paths became visible. One, commonly used, clean and welcoming, led to Ponyville, another, covered with wild vegetation, rarely taken by anypony and overall intimidating continued deeper into the Everfree forest and, eventually led to the Tree of Harmony, bearing its Elements, finally, the last path led back to Canterlot, only slightly deviating from their previous route. The choice needed to be done now.

Surprisingly, it was Spike who decided to speak "I really think we shouldn't waste our time. I understand the town is very important and I'm also worried about what happened to it, but can't this issue wait? After all we aren't only saving Ponyville, but the entirety of Equestria! Getting the Elements should be a priority."

Although unexpected, Spike's speech did a good job at convincing everypony. They turned away from Ponyville's welcoming direction, stepping on the wild and malicious road through the Everfree forest.

Somehow, the Entity's presence was less overwhelming in this murky place. The trees hiding the sky helped to forget about most of its manifestations. However, this place remained far from pleasing. No birds could be heard, singing on the twisted branches, no critters surprised the visitors by traversing the road. Actually, the place looked even worse that usually. The Entity's magic influence wasn't killing this place, it only made it darker. The comforting sound of wildlife was replaced by a strange silence, creeping into your mind and miking you feel awkwardly uncomfortable. But it didn't end there, the light normally emitted by the Entity's clouds and Eyes somehow infused itself into the trees' foliage, giving them a meagerly slender glow. Overall, getting out of here as fast as possible became an immediate goal for the group of friends.





After walking through the forest for several hours, its aura started seriously tackling the ponies' psyche. But they stood strong, trying to drive their thoughts towards the happy future, minimizing the place's spiteful influence. First, chatting with one another, soon even Pinkie Pie couldn't bring herself to talk. The ambient silence almost absorbed all sounds, unsettling to the highest point.

Finally, the Tree's location became visible, thus bringing joy back to everyone's mind. All of this was about to be over.

The group of friends was slowly approaching the cave's entrance, finally exiting the forest's shade, as something struck them. Something was off. The cave didn't look as bright and welcoming as usual. It was almost like something was missing.

Getting closer and looking towards the Tree itself, the nature of that lack became apparent: the Elements of Harmony weren't here.

Panic overtook the poor ponies. What were they supposed to do now? Where did the Elements go? Did the Entity destroy them? Terrified and shocked at the same time, they just sat there, considering their discovery.

But as hope started leaving them, a sudden event made it come back. The formerly bland Tree of Harmony sparked to life, bathing the ponies in its soft, comforting glow. Then, a vapor-like substance came out of its center, forming a small round cloud. The cloud started spinning, spiraling into a flat surface. Its texture changed, now resembling hard crystal. An image started appearing on this new facade, slowly settling on what resembled a map of Equestria. An image of the Elements appeared on this strange device, gradually drifting West from its usual location in the Everfree forest. Finally, it stopped, somewhere above the Smoky mountains. It wasn't over yet...
> On the Road Again
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sitting here, watching the strange projection before them, none of the shocked ponies could bring herself to speak. The two events that just occurred brought contradicted feelings to their hearts, but this paradox did nothing to help them recover. Thus, too stunned to move, they remained for several long minutes passed before finally, one decided to break the now solidly established silence.

"That's better than what I expected..." muttered Twilight to herself. However, the complete lack of any other sound, amplified these words, making them audible to everypony else.

Heckled by Twilight's words, the group's stun was now broken. A collective "What?!" echoed around the cave, expelling the awkward silence completely.

Understanding that a clarification was now required, Twilight tried to explain her relief.

"Well, at least, now we don't have to fear that the Elements won't work." she stated "And in addition, the fact the Entity hid the Elements away means it actually fears them. I rather prefer that, to suddenly discovering that our best weapon doesn't affect our enemy in any way."

"But now, we have to walk again!" complained Rainbow Dash, extremely annoyed "Why does defeating this thing require so much walking?!"

Her protest was however politely ignored, as another more important question arose. "But what if this thing just moves the Elements away whenever we get close enough?" asked Applejack, quizzically frowning.

"I guess the only way to find out is to try to find them again." replied Twilight, thoughtfully staring at the blackened skies.

As no better plan could be invented, yet another journey was about to begin. The path they would take was decided, traversing a part of the Everfree Forest, it continued, meandering through the plains and timbers, crossing the Whitetail Woods and terminating somewhere at the feet of the Smoky Mountains. The only thing left to do now was to follow it.





Once again, they quit the cave of Harmony, exiting its welcoming light and continued their way through the malicious forest. This section of the cursed woodland was even worse. Numerous vines crossed the narrow passage, making any progress slow and sometimes painful. Several low-hanging branches of the sectarian trees were covered with sharp spikes, menacing to gravely wound anypony careless enough to come in contact with their acute surface. Others, had horrid liquids trickling from their wrinkled bark, emitting indescribably putrid vapors. On the rotten ground, alien plants grew and bloomed, their estranged flowers sometimes possessing carnivorous features.

Animals were as absent as before in this part of the forest. However, whether their lack was caused by the Entity or the extremely unwelcoming local flora was yet to be discovered.

At last, the sky made its reappearance, once again distinguishable through the thick leaves. The trees themselves became less atrocious, exchanging their threatening defense for a much simpler look. They also became rarer, letting the ponies travel at a quicker rate.

Finally, the timber disappeared completely, giving once again place to an endless plain. Here, a lot of progress could be made. Traveling became easier, thus letting the group of friends relax. New conversations came to life, their minds finally free from the Forest's demoralizing influence.

"I wonder if the situation in Canterlot got any better." said Twilight to nopony in particular.

"I'm sure the Royal sisters have the situation under control now that they are together again!" replied Rarity, filled with the cheer.

"I could write them a letter if you're worried." intervened the purple drake.

"Thanks Spike, but I don't think it will be necessary." responded Twilight, looking at the dragon with grateful eyes "I wouldn't want to disturb them. I guess if they had an actual problem, they could have sent us a letter themselves."

"That makes me think about those crazy ponies trying to chase us." declared Rainbow Dash "I hope we won't have to deal with them anymore."





Continuing to talk, they saw yet another forest approaching. This one however, was all the opposite of the Everfree. Its young trees with thin trunks and branches somehow managed to appear welcoming even in the Entity's gloomy light. Their leaves, affected by the lack of sunlight, hang, staying a sad reminder of the effects that this evil being had on Equestria's unprepared nature. The youthful branches refused entangling with one another, leaving to the forest's floor a direct view at the sky. Around the large path that lead through these woods small bushes grew, covered with delicious berries, inviting any passer-by to taste their appetizing flavor.

Progressing through this lovely forest, something new became visible at the horizon. Snow-covered peaks arose from the distance, presenting their sharp cliffs to the ponies' sight. Numerous caves, resembling holes in cheese, were remarkable all around those mountains, doubtlessly being the homes of a diversity of alpine creatures.

At this sight, a new question arose: where in this immense labyrinth of high peaks and profound gorges could the Elements be hiding?...
> A Rising Hope
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Continuing to walk through the cozy forest, a new hope arose within the ponies' hearts. It might just have been its welcoming contrast with the Everfree Forest, or perhaps, those trees also possessed some form of magic, antithetical to that of the cursed woodland.

Unlike during their last journey, Twilight's paranoia had been dismissed, bliss and confidence taking its place. Now that she had the certitude of the Elements' effectiveness, their displacement just felt like a minor setback of their inevitable victory. She chatted with the others, sure that their objective was nearly reached, her sudden change of heart surprising them slightly, but it was probably for the better.

"You know, I've read plenty about these woods" asserted Twilight, visibly excited "They might not look very special, but there are a lot of endemic species here!"

"All the poor critters! They must be too scared to show up!" exclaimed Fluttershy, looking around in search of frightened animals.

"You know, under this light, the forest looks totally different from during the Running of the Leaves." stated Rainbow Dash "Oh I still remember that defeat..."

Suddenly, Spike intervened "Uh, girls, I think I hear something galloping behind us!"

And indeed, in the partially silent woods, the sound of many hooves hitting the ground at regular intervals reached their ears. It appeared the noise was getting closer, catching up to their rapid progress. Halting and turning around, the ponies saw what resembled a crowd. Unorganized, it featured ponies of different professions and social status. Some even appeared to be royal guards, far away from their usual occupation. Lightly confused by this sight, the group of friends stopped, waiting for the strange mob to move closer. As they approached however, their intentions became clearer.

"The princess!" yelled some "Give us the princess!"

The cultists were back. And this time, a fight could not be avoided.

"No! Your plan is utter madness!" replied Twilight herself "Doing that won't help our world!"

"That's what we'll see..." cried out a pegasus royal guard, getting off the ground, a scowl on his face.

Some unicorn didn't waste time, immediately charging up their horns. Of course, since most cultists were just normal ponies, the former royal guards needed to tell them how to use some form of offensive magic. Thus, even after training, some failed their spells. However, those who succeeded, were already bombarding the group of friends.

Immediately reacting, Twilight cast a protective spell, encompassing the group in a glowing magenta bubble. This shield deflected most of the projectiles, emitting slight metallic dings after each impact. Once the unicorns interrupted their fire, waiting for magic to regenerate, pegasi lunged forward, some guards still carrying their spears.

Rainbow Dash, not intimidated in the slightest, already bolted off the ground, exiting the protective bubble and scoring several hits on multiples cultists at the same time. Meanwhile, Applejack moved forward getting ready to face anypony approaching the shield too closely. Suddenly Pinkie revealed that she somehow brought a party canon with her. Already charging it with ambient garbage, she prepared to fire. Rarity joined the fight, immobilizing cultists by entangling them in fabric. Even Spike overcome his fear, burning some overconfident fliers with his breath.

Starlight had a spell in mind. Her last use of it might not have been the best, but this looked like the perfect setup for something of this type. Remembering the spells' names, she cast fudicia compelus and cogeria, thus hypnotizing several cultists and spreading confusion amongst the enemy's ranks.

With Rainbow Dash continuously assaulting them from the air, managing to deal with their aerial forces while still causing serious damage to the terrestrial ones, their own allies turned against them by Starlight's mind control spell, Pinkie shooting random junk with her party canon, Rarity incapacitating more and more troops and Twilight's shield preventing them from inflicting any damage themselves, the battle wasn't turning in favor of the cultists.

But as their defeat seemed imminent, a unicorn stallion, once part of the lunar guard as indicated by his dark blue armor, advanced, getting in front of his injured or stunned allies. His facial expression was a mix of utter rage and bitter disappointment as he yelled "Selfish Princess! You may think your life is worth more than that of all Equestria, but know that your egoistical assumptions are as wrong as the fact you merit your title! I despise you! You do not deserve to be a leader, nor do you deserve to wield the Element of Magic! I thought rulers should be able to sacrifice themselves for the good of their subjects when it is a necessity. Perhaps I was wrong, rulers only do care for their own well-being! Think about that the next time you meet us, Princess..."

Each word he spoke hurt as a knife plunged into Twilight's heart. She knew this pony was wrong, but the conviction in his voice and his hateful look made her question her beliefs. The speech had the opposite effect on the rest of the cultists. Many angrily shouting, encouraging their spokesman. Most eyed the princess with the same scowl, staring right into her eyes.

When they finally get hold of the Elements of Harmony, all of those poor citizens will see their mistake. But now, nothing was able to change their mind.





Moving away from the defeated cultists, the ease of this victory encouraged the group. Deciding to set camp in a clearing near the mountains, they continued discussing the battle.

"Have you seen how awesome I was?" exclaimed Rainbow Dash bolting into the air and nearly hitting an adjacent tree "I bet these crazy ponies didn't see that coming!"

"It was quite impressive indeed, my dear." replied Rarity. She then turned towards Starlight and said worriedly "You know, using that mind control spell probably isn't a very good idea. I know it worked quite well, but you probably shouldn't have done it."

Starlight lowered her head "You're right." she admitted "But facing all these hostile ponies just made me think it was justified."

Suddenly Twilight's voice could be heard "Seeing all those ponies, so convinced by the lies of their leader is really sad. Hard time really do change the minds..."

Pondering these words, all ponies understood how somber their recent encounters was. Fighting ponies too scared to think properly, manipulated by a crazy leader. There was nothing to celebrate in this victory.





Thus saddened by the news, the ponies went to sleep. Hopeful that this would be the last time they will do it within this gloomy dusk. All were hoping that the Elements would be able to finally fix this situation. And the most hopeful of all was Twilight herself...
> Visions of the End
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It wasn't long until the group of friends fell asleep, embracing the soft comfort of oblivion. Not even the Entity's presence or the fear of another potential attack from the cultists made their slumber any less comfortable. As they all slept, their minds inevitably steered towards the Elements of Harmony, the trinkets so close and yet so far away...





A blinding light

A glow so pure and so marvelous that its source could only have been some noble being. It hit Twilight's unprepared eyes as she tried to squint and blink to avoid its overwhelming rays. This light was far greater than that of Celestia's Sun itself, largely surpassing it in brightness and warmth.

As she tried to get an idea of her surroundings, the purple princess' eyes finally started adapting to this preposterous luminescence. She was now able to identify the stone under her hooves, the cavernous walls around and above her head, the slight sensation of wind touching her skin. It all felt so strange and yet so familiar. As if she already was in this place before, and not so long ago... Turning her head back towards the light source, Twilight saw it, the Tree of Harmony.

It was majestic, once again bearing the trinkets it was famed for. The light the young princess saw earlier was in fact coming from the latter. The Elements, glowing in their respective colors, formed a beautiful rainbow Twilight could recognize among a million. But why were they glowing?

All of a sudden, a loud cracking noise could be heard echoing around the illuminated cave. It continued, only becoming louder over time. Soon the cacophony was almost unbearable. At this moment, a large crack appeared on the cavern ceiling above. The minerals struggled as an unknown force tore them apart, shattering the concrete surface. Soon, through this gargantuan opening, the sky showed itself. But neither the Sun's nor the Moon's rays hit the rock ground, instead the Entity's Eyes, appeared through the aperture, their gloomy glow battling and losing to the Tree's light.

Seeing this spectacle in awe, Twilight couldn't help but worry about her life and that of the Tree itself. But as she saw the latter's glow intensify, prismatic flares jumping around the stone walls, her fear left, astonishment completely overtaking her mind.

A rainbow, the multicolored rainbow the pony was so familiar with. The one turning Discord back in to stone, the one sending Tirek to his prison in Tartarus, the one she knew was capable of so many things just shot into the sky heading straight towards the biggest of the Eyes. The latter, followed its path, visibly anxious, their pupils could be seen, first shrinking to a hardly perceptible size, then starting to maniacally shift, trying to escape their inevitable doom.

Then it happened, the Rainbow touched the Eye, burning through it as a hot knife through butter. As it penetrated the Entity's cursed flesh, a loud hiss resonated across the land, filling the atmosphere and reverberating within the princess' very head.

Suddenly, an explosion of extraordinary amplitude occurred somewhere behind the black fog, chasing most of the Entity's remains away from the epicenter of its destruction.

As the shock wave of light mixed with pure mana washed upon the astonished mare, her vision faded to white, erasing all color from the surrounding world...





Twilight woke up with a start, snapping her eyes open. However, she did not feel scared, nor worried. This dream was all she needed to assert the Elements' superiority compared to the Entity. She knew it wasn't just a dream. All of this just felt too real, too solid to only be a product of her imagination. This was the future. She knew it, no matter how absurd this idea sounded, it was true.

Too excited to fall asleep again, the mare decided to ponder the question of the Elements' location.

Suddenly, the thought hit her, was this cave in the dream really the Cave of Harmony? It remained confused in her memories, but the outside looked different from the Everfree Forest. It looked more... mountainous. Scanning the area around her, the Princess couldn't help but notice the resemblance of adjacent peaks to those from her dream.

The cave mustn't be too far from here! She thought, scanning the area once again, but this time closer to the ground. And yet, no cavern showed itself to her careful eyes.

Shirting and turning around in search of any form of opening in the rocky walls of the adjacent mountains, the young princess finally saw it.

Its entrance covered in snow, the grotto remained, overlooking the Whitetail Woods and doubtlessly giving access to a dazzling panorama. It was however perched, far above the tops of even the tallest of trees. Getting up there won't be an easy task. Or will it? Having already visited this cave in her dream she could try teleporting there. Perhaps, with Starlight's and Rarity's help it could be possible to get all of them up there in the blink of an eye. That was worth a try.

Hardly holding back her enthusiasm, Twilight started working on that. She prepared a safety plan, she pictured the cave in her brain again and again, in fear of forgetting its interior, she even created a version of the teleportation spell particularly suited for this exact transportation.

Too absorbed in her work, she didn't notice the fact her friends started waking up, a bit confused by the early activity. Finally, as Spike was the last one to return from his slumber, all was ready. The group could ultimately reach the Elements and finish it all...
> The End?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As all awakened, they were met with an unpredictable sight. After seeing Twilight in the depressed state she was yesterday, none could have expected to observe her cheerfully bustling around, preparing some kind of spell. The latter part wasn't that surprising, but her facial expression clearly indicated joy and anticipation, contrasting with the thoughtfulness and guilt it displayed after the recent encounter.

The first to tackle the issue was Applejack "Uh, Twilight, whatcha doin'?" she asked, hoping to get at least partial understanding of the princess' excitement.

"Oh nothing!" responded the latter "I'm just trying to slightly modify the teleportation spell so it can take us directly to this cave" she pointed her hoof in the vague direction of the rocky aperture "So we can finally get the Elements of Harmony and defeat the Entity!"

"What?" confusedly exclaimed all the others.

Realizing that her excitement got ahead of her, Twilight tried to calm herself while explaining her words "So, this night, I had a dream." she paused trying to think about the best way to convince her friends "Well, I'd say it wasn't just a regular dream. It was a vision." noticing the others' doubtful looks, she hesitated again "And what I saw was the Entity being defeated by the Elements of Harmony. But most importantly, what I saw was that the Elements themselves are now in that exact cave above our camp!"

"And you're telling us that because of a dream, we're going to risk teleporting there in one go?" asked Starlight, mildly confused.

"Darling, are you sure it's really safe?" added Rarity in a concerned tone "And is it really worth trying when we can walk up there?"

Hearing everypony's concern, Twilight's enthusiasm slightly diminished, but she was still convinced of her plan "Listen, I know you aren't convinced, but I'm completely certain that the Elements are in this cave. Going there by hoof will take way more time than we have left at our disposal, so teleporting there is a necessity." she paused "And finally, we all know that mutual trust is an important part of any friendship, so can't you just trust me on this one?"

She was right, as farfetched as the idea of this dream sounded, she was still their friend and friends must place confidence in one another. In addition, after the strange abilities the Tree has showcased before, having it communicate with Twilight through dreams wasn't that unlikely.





All was ready. The spell, the ponies, the backup plan, even the cave looked ready to receive a few visitors. Charging up their magic, the unicorns and alicorn started performing this new version of the classic teleportation spell. Twilight might have only modified it slightly, just enough to suit their current needs, but it still felt weird to the three casters, the incantation seeming familiar and alien at the same time.

To everypony's relief, the magic worked flawlessly! They were now all standing in the cave, inspecting their surroundings.

Examining their point of arrival, Starlight admitted "I guess it wasn't a bad idea after all."

"Wait until we find the Elements!" cheered Twilight excited once again.

"Girls!" called out Pinkie Pie "I think I see something at the end of that tunnel!"

Looking in the direction she was pointing, all saw that there indeed was some kind of metallic glow in the dark of this lapidarian corridor.

Wasting no time, Twilight lit up her horn, directing its beam directly onto that glow. And here they were! The Elements of Harmony lied on the caverns stone floor, only waiting to be used by their bearers to save the world once again. But... the was something off about their enchanted surface. Something in that glow, something in the jewels did not match their former grace. Something... extremely minor, and yet something that Twilight immediately noticed.

Deciding not to temper her enthusiasm yet, the purple princess was already levitating the Elements to their respective bearers, willing to end all of this as fast as possible. The ponies put on their trinkets, expecting the latter to spark to life, generating their fabled rainbow and blasting towards the sky.

But none of this happened. Instead of the Elements comforting glow, they were met by a spine-chilling laugh, one could recognizable amidst a million. It seemed like the Elements did not have the expected effect.

The alien sound quickly filled the air, echoing around the cave. The stone walls amplified this grim laughter, making no other noise distinguishable. Unfathomable tones made the ponies' heads ache, as it creeped into their bewildered thoughts.

What happened? Why did the Elements fail? Were these even the real Elements? What were they going to do now? When will this unendurable laughter finally cease?

The answer to the last question quickly revealed itself, as the demonic cackle soon started to grow quieter. The others however, weren't about to be answered so easily...

"YOUR STUPIDITY AND ARROGANCE NEVER STOPS TO SURPRISE ME. I EXPECTED YOU TO USE YOUR PITIFUL TRINKET AGAINST ME, BUT YOUR CERTITUDE OF THEIR EFFICIENCY IS PLAINLY INSULTING! PERHAPS SETTING THIS TRAP WASN'T A BAD IDEA AFTER ALL. YOUR PLANET CANNOT BE SAVED BY SUCH MUNDANE METHODS, NOT THIS TIME. SEEING YOU STRUGGLE FOR THIS, WAS HOWEVER HIGHLY AMUSING. YOUR DOOM APPROACHES, MY LITTLE PONIES."

"But why?" cried out the latter "Why are you teasing us like this, weren't you only seeking power in our realm?"

"SOON, YOU WILL SEE THAT THIS WILL BRING ME POWER, EVEN MORE POWER THAN THE REST OF MY ACTIONS COMBINED. FEAR THE FUTURE, TWILIGHT SPARKLE..."

As it pronounced its words, they resonated, shaking the cavern and the mountain itself with their overwhelming might. The former Elements of Harmony, now empty trinkets devoid of their power, fell to the ground, shattering the gemstone within their core alongside the ponies' hopes and expectations...
> Celestial Relapse
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Canterlot's ruins. A once great city destroyed by its very inhabitants. A sad reminder of the wildest instincts of the equine nature. Its scorching bonfires now extinguished, the ashes mixed themselves to the dust making the soil gray as the clouds. The silent streets mourned those deceased during the fierce revolts, adding their corpses to the melancholic picture.

Buy despite it all, the city's situation had improved. Both Celestia's return to governance and Luna's reappearance by her side had a remarkable effect on the capital's population. For some, just seeing their leader again was all they needed to regain hope. But the royal sisters' effort didn't end there. Stopping revolts, reconstructing homes, rescuing the injured... Those were a few of the things they did after their return. And yet, an obstacle still remained on Canterlot's road to redemption. And this obstacle wasn't the easiest to get rid of.

The cultists. Weakened by Celestia's return, but present nonetheless. Many ponies still believed that the Entity's grace could only be gained by the Princesses' sacrifice. Some even considered their lack of selflessness unworthy of such a high status. Their ceaseless attacks on the castle gave the royal guard no time to rest. Many others intervened during royal appearances, preaching their demented beliefs and making even the most loyal citizens doubt of the Princesses' sovereignty...





Observing the somewhat mended city, Celestia remained saddened. She may have regained the city's trust, but the only reason she lost it in the first place was herself. Luna's presence was the only thing stopping her from sinking in endless abyss of grief and guilt. Every time she woke up, greeted by the blackened skies and eldritch Eyes, the Entity's words reemerged in her head.

"YOU will be the cause of your subjects' doom." this sentence never left her mind, endlessly echoing in her brain. What if it was true? Once again, she sent Twilight find the Elements of Harmony, waiting for them to defeat their enemy. Important as it was, restoring Canterlot wasn't nearly as critical as saving the world. And what if the Elements weren't enough? What if another solution was required? What if her inaction would really be the cause of their defeat? What if the cultists were right...

No... she already got over this, going down this path didn't lead to anything good. She needed to calm down...

"Inactive as before I see." No, it wasn't happening again! Not now!

"Denying the truth won't save you from it, Princess. Useless is the only thing you truly are. Not even able to take care of your own city. Pitiful creature. Hoping that your worthless trinkets will be able to stop me, how naive of you. Now suffer as your hopeless subjects return to you, pleading for help. I can see this isn't something you will be able to give them."

It was too much. Celestia has reached the breaking point. The guilt, already creeping in the dark corners of her mind broke free, completely submerging every inch of her psyche. But it wasn't all, to the overwhelming guilt and shame adjoined determination. Cold, desperate determination. Not the one able to get you through any tough situation, the other kind. The one that makes you do things you would have never thought yourself capable of, the one destroying your morality and altering your judgment to a point where even the cruelest of actions seems acceptable. This feeling, the unstoppable whim to reach a goal, slowly lurked into the Princess' mind starting to take hold of her intellect.

SHE needed to act, SHE needed to find the answer to this problem, SHE needed to destroy this being that tortured her subjects, menacing to destroy this world. But this time, there will be no tears, no desperation, no giving up. And this time, none will interrupt her research...
> A Depressing Way Back
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was over. Everything was over. The Elements, their strongest weapon did nothing. This being. This creature of overwhelming power, never feared them. All this expedition, all this trouble, all this time... spent on a wrong path. The dream, the Tree, the hope... All were lies, traps set on a path leading to nothing other than a false victory.

It was terrifying. Feeling your end come and having no way to prevent it, no way to avoid the unavoidable. But even this terror couldn't stand the extreme sadness washing upon the minds of the ponies.

Everything will soon be gone... No more joy, no more hope, no more love... no more friendship...





Their thoughts filled with nothing but despair, it was time to come back to Canterlot. If the Elements didn't work, what would? They were the strongest artifact in all Equestria. They already defeated countless villains, none of them standing the slightest chance against the hollowed jewelry. And yet, they had failed.

Marching on the deserted roads towards the once glorious capital, Twilight's apathetic mind was now trying to come up with a way to inform the Princesses. She knew there was no good way to tell such horrible news. And did it really matter at this point? Did anything matter at this Point?...





The sad journey stretched itself into three long and depressing days. Conversations were sparse during this period, only emerging when absolutely required. It was almost like the ponies became mute, their ability to speak abducted along with their hope. The very nature around them almost seemed blander than before. Even the cultists, worshipers of the Entity, caused them no trouble. Only rarely did some lonely spies show themselves far from the group, never engaging into combat.





Finally, the ruined city arose above the horizon. Its mountain towering above the adjacent planes. Despite the current situation, it looked better than when they left it.

Once it was reached, the metamorphosis became even more apparent. The bonfires weren't raging, devouring wooden constructions, rioters and cultists no longer plagued the streets, preaching demented words or simply voicing their dissatisfaction, the corpses that once strewed the ravaged ruins were gone along with those crying their decease... The city was now calm and quiet, too quiet, morbidly quiet...

Already expecting the worst, the group couldn't help but sigh in relief as they noticed a platoon of guards patrolling through the city. The latter however didn't look joyful at their sight, their facial expressions almost blank, they continued their patrol without giving any notice. It was probably for the better. Twilight wouldn't have been able to stand revealing the bad news to everypony. The royal Princesses were already more than enough.

The moment was nearing. Ascending the stairs leading to Canterlot Castle, memories of the state in which Celestia was last time came to the group of friends' minds. It might have been deranging in other circumstances, but now that the world would soon no longer be, the possibility didn't seem so catastrophic. But even so, a sane Celestia could still mean a new hope, perhaps she still had a backup plan... No, it was rather unlikely. If there was anything this journey taught the group of ponies, it was that the more you hope for something, the more disappointed you will be if it doesn't happen. So raising their hopes now probably wasn't the best idea.

Opening the great entrance doors, they were met by a rather comforting sight. The castle no longer seemed abandoned, it's aged look and ruined furniture were gone, giving place to a clean and welcoming atmosphere. Servants were visible, bustling about their normal occupations. It was truly a rebirth for this place.

However, something felt wrong. Nopony greeted them as they traversed the silent corridors. Trying to address the servants themselves, demanding the cause of their impoliteness resulted into nothing but awkward excuses and faltering conversations, the ponies looking as if they had just awakened. There was definitely something strange going on...

Now even more worried, the group saw the throne room approaching. In the hall preceding it, all lights were lit up, giving the place a warm and comforting tone. However, the friends felt all but comforted, fearing the terrible scene that was about to reveal itself before them.

But once again, their fears melted away as they saw Celestia's prismatic mane floating in the nonexistent breeze as she sat in her usual throne. Noticing her former student and her friends arrive, a content smile appearing upon her face, she stood up coming closer to great the returning ponies.

"Welcome back" she said, her voice soft as cotton.

"Hello" shortly replied Twilight, foreseeing the conversation's future course.

Noticing her student's dismay, Celestia decided to get the painful news out of the way "I already know. I felt the disturbance in the ambient magic when the Elements broke." she replied

This was a relief. A relief that paled in comparison to the rest of Twilight's thoughts, but a relief nonetheless. "Then, do you have another plan?" she asked in a hopeful tone.

Celestia grew pensive for a moment. She began stared at the ceiling, trying to collect her thoughts and trying to find something that would give a new hope to the ponies. But to everypony's surprise, she wasn't the next to talk.

Fluttershy, having remained the quietest of all, never raising her voice since the Elements broke, had an idea nopony else could have thought of. "Maybe Discord could help us." she said, unsure of her own words.





And maybe she was right. Discord's power always seemed infinite. Even the Elements only managed to imprison him, delaying his return. Maybe the god of chaos, the once feared villain, the terror of Equestria would now become its greatest savior.

A new hope arose, scarce however, as the image of the broken and powerless Elements still plagued the poor ponies' minds...
> A Chaotic Departure
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now that their next destination was decided, the only thing to do was to actually get there. And this was all but easy. Indeed, the chaos realm is inherently bound to chaos magic. Thus, accessing it through unicorn or even alicorn magic requires extreme skill. And even then, the caster still needs to call upon the ambient reserve of chaos magic, produced by all living beings due to their unpredictability, in order to communicate with it, persuading the mana to return to its original realm and simultaneously open a portal to it as a side effect.

At least, this was how it worked in theory, but even after pondering the subject for countless hours, perusing antiquated tomes and crumbling scrolls, casting myriad of spells and incantations, nothing seemed to actually function. Complex formulas and archaic runes spiraling in their heads, the eight friends couldn't help but feel their rekindled hope fade away once again. In addition, Celestia's participation to the research was extremely limited. Indeed, she simply showed them the correct section of the library, stating she needed to go help the royal guard with a cultist uprising.

Actually, the Sun Princess' recent behavior was rather strange to say the least. When Twilight tried asking her about the servants' state, she almost immediately drove the conversation away, rapidly mentioning that "They weren't able to adapt their sleeping schedule fast enough" as the only response. She herself didn't look right. It wasn't obvious to anypony, but Twilight, who spent a substantial part of her life as the Princess' protégé, was able to remark that something was definitely wrong. Celestia's eyes didn't look right. It was like a strange gleam appeared somewhere behind her pupil. Like something was driving her, an emotion she tried to conceal as well as she could, but which was far too strong, still managing to escape. Her voice also didn't sound normal. Every note slightly higher than usual.

And all these servants, all these ponies plunged into a semi-hypnotized state, unresponsive to stimuli, almost asleep. It was extremely discomforting. But this wasn't all. During all the time they had now spent, tirelessly researching through Canterlot's library, not even once had they seen Luna.

All this was becoming extremely unnerving, but sadly, now there was not the time to solve these mysteries, as another one, much greater still floated above their heads, menacing to destroy the entire planet. The Entity needed to be prioritized.





"Oh, I think I've found something!" cried out Pinkie, staying more enthusiastic than most of the group.

"That's also what you though the last 1791 times" responded Starlight, more annoyed by the Pink pony than by the research itself.

"I know, but this time, I think I really found something!" she said, trotting towards Twilight and giving her the book.

Quickly shifting her focus to Pinkie's tome, Twilight couldn't help but agree with the pony's enthusiasm "This does indeed look interesting."

The cover of the item was wrinkled and vapid, but the image on it could still be identified. It contained a circle, its colors ranging from pale pink to deep purple. In middle of the latter, an incomplete cross could be noticed. Unlike its upper and lower branches that almost reached the circle's border, the horizontal ones only slightly spread from the center, almost immediately terminating. Around this strange shape, various items and symbols visibly represented the numerous types of magic existing in Equestria. What immediately caught Twilight's eye was the fact that, unlike most of the magic encyclopedias, this one seemed to incorporate chaos magic as on par with the others, as indicated by the presence of a representation of Discord's head amongst the other symbols.

Careful not to break the delicate paper, Twilight slowly began turning the pages. Impressive by its size, the book's table of contents itself unfolded throughout numerous pages. It was truly a magnificent summary of all of Equestria's arcanic knowledge. Ranging from teleportation and telekinesis to all forms of transmutation and metamorphosis while even mentioning some darker disciplines such as necromancy or arcanic and vital siphoning.

It wasn't long until she found what she was looking for: transdimensional travel. Here, upon a yellow page ornate with an ancient depiction of Discord, she found it. The spell that took all the theory they discussed earlier and made it flesh.

Coincidentally, at this moment, Celestia returned from her mysterious occupation. Scanning the room, her eyes rapidly stopped upon Pinkie's find, the strange glow slightly growing brighter. Approaching the middle of the room, she stopped eyeing the book again.

"I hope you found something useful." she said, her tone weirdly cheerful.

Looking up from her book, Twilight replied, returning the cheerful tone "You arrive just in time, as I think I found exactly the spell we need!"

"Great, all these books were starting to make me sick!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash, annoyed by the endless research.

It was finally time to depart, leaving the normal word behind and plunging into a dimension of endless chaos. It was thrilling, but terrifying at the same time. Anyhow, there was no choice left, Discord was their only hope, making this voyage obligatory.

Memorizing the complex formulae, Twilight readied herself. She couldn't do it on her own, Celestia and Starlight still needed to provide her the necessary mana. She pumped her magic into her horn, concentrating her entire mind and sending slight signals to the chaotic energy around her.

It wasn't long until the spell worked, first a slight blue sparkle. A swirling maelstrom formed in midst of the library's air. It expended, the spiraling motifs, accelerating on their course. Soon, a big gateway, somewhat reminiscent of the one in Twilight's dream, stood before the astonished ponies.

Wasting no time, they said their goodbyes to Celestia, the latter encouraging them in the journey, and entered the portal, confident and determined.





Going into the chaos to save world's order. This whole situation could be seen as ironic if it wasn't from the doom threatening to bring this whole world to an end...
> Celestial Choice
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the swirling vortex before her continued shifting, its chaotic surface alike to that of a lake during heavy rain, Celestia calmly observed the former bearers of the Elements of Harmony quitting this world, traversing a gateway to this extremely scarcely known dimension. Maintaining her encouraging smile and saying farewell, she couldn't help but have her attention slowly drift towards the ancient compendium that just seconds ago made this very portal possible.





Indeed, this wasn't just any book. Of course, its immense age and the gargantuan amounts of information it contained already made it extremely unique, but there was something else.

Some said it was one of Starswirl the Bearded's personal creations, perhaps the greatest work of his life. Others claimed it came from another dimension, created by a mischievous deity seeking to cause havoc on the Equestrian land. The book's characteristics also were targets of numerous tales. According to ones, it only appeared to those desperate and in need of help, only the worthy being able to access its ancient inscriptions. On the contrary, legends of the world's end caused by this ancient  codex haunted the ponies' imagination.

But all these were simple theories, tales created by the Equine psyche only scarcely based on the truth and facts. However, there was one thing completely indisputable about this book: the spells it contained could only be found there, some possessing power beyond mortal understanding. It was exactly what Celestia needed.





Turning her eyes back to the portal, thoughts of the city's current state washed upon her mind. She didn't want to resort to such direct measures as putting everypony into hypnotized sleep, but doing her research in secret was just too hard to bear. She didn't want to do it, but she just needed. After all, it was all for a good cause... wasn't it? Now, nothing stopped her from stopping this Entity... Doing it alone. Saving her world as she always should have. Protecting instead of fleeing, fighting instead of hiding... acting instead of passing the work on.

Slowly picking up the tome in her magic, the Solar Princess started walking out of the now silent library. Continuing through the quiet corridors, she observed her hypnotized servants, pursuing their cyclic work even during this dreamless slumber, their repetitive endeavor alike to that of mindless automatons.

Approaching her personal study, a familiar room caught the Princess' attention. A room where, alongside countless memories, resided her beloved sister, not even her spared from the hypnotizing spell.

Slightly unnerved, Celestia stopped before deciding to pay Luna a rapid visit before plunging into the research completely.  She entered the night blue room, observing the place's magnificent decoration. The depiction of the night sky adorning the ceiling looked so realistic, that its sight nearly made Celestia forget the foggish disaster outside.

Upon a large royal bed, masterfully decorated as the room itself, the Lunar Princess could be seen, plunged in an artificial and yet peaceful slumber. Looking at her sleeping sister, sadness returned to Celestia's mind.

"Oh, why can't I have you by my side when I need you the most?" she whispered, a lonely tear sliding across her cheek.

She nearly decided to lift the spell, but the Entity's words returned to the front of her mind. No, she wouldn't be useless, she wouldn't abandon, she wouldn't... seek help... The cold determination took control of her mind once again. Now was the time to act, not to lament!

A resolute stiffness in her steps, she trotted into her study, the book floating behind her in the golden grasp of her magic.





Now, there was only one step left towards the Entity's defeat: power. A lot of power. Power that even the goddess of the Sun normally had no access to. Such immense power, it had to be sealed away from the eyes of all, this tome being the only key to access it.

However, there was one thing that the Sun Princess had forgotten. Power always comes at a cost...
> A Chaotic Journey
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Transdimensional travel is a very strange thing. Quitting your world to travel to a new one, its laws and boundaries completely different was something very few beings ever experienced. But traveling to the chaos realm was something on a whole new level. It was nothing alike to the usual world, only containing chaos magic in immense quantities.

Thus, the transition was quite harsh. Traversing the portal's swirling surface wasn't unlike entering a wall of liquid water, the thaumatic substance washing upon the body and mind. Slowly, reality started becoming hazy and blurred, drifting away to only remain as a distant memory. Thoughts and feelings grew weaker, all perception disappearing as it never was.

Suddenly, the atmosphere changed. Consciousness returning much faster than it went away, worries and fears hitting the brain like a train wreck.

What just happened? Where am I? How long have I been unconscious? These were the questions that immediately came to the ponies' minds as they approached their dimensional destination.

Finally, the world started materializing before the friends as they exited a portal similar to the one they had just entered. The world itself however was nothing like Equestria.





First, nothing was there. All was dark and yet, unlike the dimensional gateway that they just traversed, the place felt tangible. Then, singular islands appeared one by one, their floating shapes sometimes bearing structures alien to the laws of physics. The islands spread in all directions, their number equally endless no matter where you looked.

"Well, finding Discord sure won't be easy in all this mess." stated Applejack, looking at an adjacent island visibly covered with Apple trees.

"How are we even supposed to do this?" exclaimed Rainbow Dash "We have no idea of where he might be!"

"Perhaps, we could find him by looking for a place with the biggest amount of chaos magic." proposed Starlight "I think I've got a detection spell suited for this."

"It seems reasonable to me." agreed Twilight, inspecting her surroundings in search of some kind of landmark but sadly finding none "It would only make sense for the Lord of Chaos to have the most chaos in him."

Starlight tried casting the spell, but there was one thing they did not think about "There's chaos everywhere in this world!" she uttered, as the sensation of all the ambient mana completely overwhelmed her.

And indeed, seeking chaos in the chaos realm was as futile as seeking water in the ocean. It was everywhere, and yet, finding the exact thing they needed was nearly impossible.





As the others discussed the problem at hoof, the sudden appearance of a pink fish from seemingly nowhere caught Pinkie's attention. Of course, such anomalies were to be expected in this world, but there was something interesting about this particular creature. Indeed, before its sudden appearance, the pink pony just imagined this exact fish with this exact coloring. Perhaps this chaos could somehow be controlled.

To test her theory, Pinkie Pie tried to think of a delicious strawberry ice cream. And as she did, the latter popped into existence just before her, the fish diving in it as into a pond of water.

Returning to her friends whose conversation had led to nothing, she told them about her find "Girls, I think I found something!"

"Any signs of Discord?" asked Twilight hopefully "Maybe?"

"No, not that, but I think it could still help us." replied Pinkie, picturing a big red balloon in her head "When you imagine something in this world, it just appears magically!" as she finished, the red balloon materialized besides her.

The others stared at this balloon as it floated away towards the unreachable sky, trying to process the implications of such ability.

"But that's awesome!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash as she made a mug of apple cider appear near her, then immediately watched it fall down to the ground, the sweet liquid forming a little pond. Obviously, this wasn't the intended outcome of her actions, the contingency making her whine it annoyance.

This new discovery was also good news for their main goal: finding Discord. Trying to think of something that would help them out, the first thing that came to Twilight's mind was a map.

"I think this might be useful." she said as the parchment popped out into existence right before her.





To their great relief, this newly created map already included Discord's current position. However, like all this place, the drawings on the paper never stopped changing, chaotically dancing around its center. In addition, this place had nearly no landmarks, all islands looking alike and only possessing minor differences. Thus, their position was still to be identified.

An island in particular caught Applejack's attention: it was the only one to comport multiple apple trees on its representation. Remembering that she just saw a very similar island not too far away, she started looking for it once again.

When she finally managed to locate this little isle, it was completely in the opposite direction from where she saw it last time once again proving that nothing ever remained static in this realm.

Trying to make sense of the anarchic map, finding their relative position to the other islands wasn't an easy task, but after some time and mutual help, they finally knew where they were.





Now, reaching Discord should not be a complicated task and by doing so, they could finally be able to save the world that they had just exited, bringing order back to Equestria and defeating the horrid Entity that menaced to destroy it...
> A Chaotic End...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Travel wasn't a very hard task in the chaos realm. The group of friends rapidly advanced, jumping from one island to another, sometimes making bridges and stairs appear out of nowhere to traverse a bottomless pit or a steep mountain. But it wasn't the travel itself that was problematic. Orientation however, happened to be a far harder challenge to overcome. Indeed, they sometimes went into one direction for long hours, just to suddenly discover that the islands' constant rearrangement somehow managed to make them move in the opposite direction from their goal. In addition, the lack of distinct landmarks made locating their current position and keeping track of progress nearly impossible even with the help of their map.

But despite all the difficulties and setbacks, they were now approaching their goal. Several hundred yards away, a small cottage could be seen. And there was no doubt to be had about who was the owner of this cosy habitation. Even the surrounding islands didn't look alike to the rest. Here, up-flowing cascades and endless staircases were much more common than in the rest of this realm. For example, the island just before them was home to a large tree. This tree however was all but normal, since its branches were buried under the ground, the roots taking their place in the open air.

Walking upon a wooden bridge in the form of a Penrose Triangle, the group slowly made their way towards the small house, incessantly looking around in search of the Lord of Chaos. However, the latter seemed to be missing from the place, the home's windows only revealing reversed furniture and sapient flatware on the inside. Trying to get in brought no results either, the door being firmly locked by powerful magic.





"Discord! Where are you?" called out Fluttershy, her voice bearing worry in addition to the general annoyance.

"Maybe he already went to the normal word to help." proposed Spike.

"And maybe he already failed..." added Twilight in a bitter whisper.

Rarity wasted no time, immediately trying to comfort the desperate mare "Oh, darling don't dramatize like that! He probably just... went to... relax a bit. Isn't this place wonderful to spending time outside!"

"Oh, come on! We come to visit him at his own home for once, and he isn't even here!" shouted Rainbow Dash "We can't just wait for him, we're running out of time!"

"Hey girls!" called out Pinkie Pie, looking somewhere behind the house "I think I found him!"

Rapidly rejoining the pink pony, quite an unusual sight appeared before the friends' eyes. Discord, Lord of Chaos, Serpent of Mischief, former Spreader of Disharmony just lied here taking a sun bath. A miniature Sun orbiting around his head, a tanning mirror in his claws, the Draconequus' facial expression was the definition of calm and peace. If it wasn't for the extreme urgency of the situation at hoof, the ponies wouldn't even have considered shattering such idyllic serenity. However, this was not the time to contemplate. It was the time to act!





Approaching the drowsy deity, Rainbow Dash wasted no time, immediately rushing towards him.

"Wake up, Discord!" she uttered "We need your help!"

This sudden awakening startling the draconequus, the little Sun floating around his head got out of orbit and slowly flew off into the distance "What...? Who...?" Discord looked very confused "How did you all get here?"

"Oh, we just used the physically thaumatic disturbance caused by the transdimensional displacement of the chaotic mana in order to create a multidimensional gateway to this place." immediately responded Twilight "Nothing too complicated, really!"

"Yeah, so you went through a portal. No one has done that for countless millennia!" he looked lost in his memories for a second "But why did you go through so much trouble to... meet me?"

"Well, we didn't really have the choice." hesitatingly replied Twilight, images of the foggish sky and the ruined city arising in her brain "You might be the only one able to save Equestria from its current enemy."

"This sure does sound like you, ponies, only visiting me for help, never coming for tea or just to chat. Such rudeness!" exclaimed Discord, theatrically. The added "Of course I'm not talking about you Fluttershy."

"Maybe if you didn't live in another dimension, we'd be able to see you more often!" remarked Rainbow Dash.

"Let's not get off topic!" intervened Starlight "The task before us is still far from easy."

"OK then, let me beat this puny villain, so that I can save the world and continue my much-needed rest!" asserted the draconequus, extremely annoyed.

With a snap of his fingers, a portal much alike to the one they took in order to get here appeared just next to the group. Without further ado, they stepped inside, all hoping for this adventure to finally end.





After some time in the dimensionless tunnel, all emerged at its Equestrian extremity. They were now on a small hill next to the Canterlot Castle, the imposing building largely towering over them. Discord had apparently already arrived. However, as he saw the Celestial darkness, the annoyed and confident expression on his face faded away, shock and fear taking their place. He didn't expect that to be his enemy, but once again, this alien being somehow looked familiar to him...

"Where is Celestia?" he suddenly asked, turning away from the sky and facing the ponies one again.





However, before anyone could answer, a loud crack echoed from one of the castle's higher rooms. Then, an even louder hum filled the atmosphere, blueish crackles appearing on objects' edges. Suddenly, a bright glow took hold of Discord, lifting him into the air and only becoming brighter with each second. Multicolored lightnings emanated from its epicenter, striking the Castle's walls and seemingly trying to reach its higher stages. A wispy sphere of unknown origin and matter arose from the blazing chaos, slowly ascending and drifting away, its form losing clearness and soon desegregating entirely.

Observing this spectacle, the ponies were frozen in place, both by fear and by the magical phenomenon itself. Some turned their eyes to the sky, others to the castle. As for Twilight, her glance couldn't be separated from this incomprehensible event. What was happening? How could they stop this? Was Discord alright? Was their only hope lost?





When the light encompassed him, paralyzing both his muscles and magic, a feeling Discord didn't feel in centuries came back to his mind. Helpless. It was all he was. There was nothing he was able to do. He couldn't scream, he couldn't fight, he couldn't even flee. Nothing. Little by little, the thaumatic energy escaped his body. The light absorbed it, carrying away every ounce of magic that his almighty frame contained. Weakness. A feeling he has never experienced washed upon him as a devastating tsunami.

But even when his power left him, the siphoning process didn't stop. As a voracious leech, the unknown force still wasn't satiated. The light dug into all the Draconequus' strength, and once even that didn't suffice, the very essence of his life. Slowly, sentience left Discord's body, leaving behind only an empty husk. The Lord of Chaos too, has failed...
> Celestial Mistake...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Canterlot Castle was quiet. So quiet even, that it almost felt lifeless. The hypnotized servants walked its corridors, endlessly repeating their assigned tasks as mindless automatons. Their empty gazes sometimes stopped on an unremarkable wall or rock in the ruined city outside, their conscience attempting to peek through the spell's influence.

The once great capital of Ponykind now stood ruined and empty. Or perhaps it only seemed empty, as myriads of dormant citizens, their minds as barren as the outside streets, slumbered somewhere within these ruins. This peace and calm however, was only an illusion, as in the Castle's higher rooms, a determined Princess sought vengeance... and power...





The plan. It was done. Everything was done. She was ready. Everything was ready. She planned everything. She did it all by herself. The plan was perfect. She was worthy of her status. She wasn't useless. The revenge was near. Soon, the Entity would fall. She would defeat it. Everything would soon be over...

All this suffering, all this pain, all this madness... It was all leading to this point: the point of no return. But no return would be required. She had everything she needed. This book was the final element of her plan, and she had finally managed to put her hoof on it.

The spells she found inside let her access endless power. Power none had ever used before. Forbidden power... But at what cost?

No, the cost had no importance. It was the entire world that had to be rescued. The lives of several ponies or even several thousands of ponies were nothing compared to such a stake. She was ready to pay it.





"Sometimes, leaders must make sacrifices..." Celestia mumbled as she sorrowfully watched her sister's sleeping figure.

As she turned her gaze away, the bitterness in her eyes faded out, cold determination taking its place once again. Without looking back, the Solar Princess exited Luna's room, heading towards a chamber none other than her had the knowledge of.

At first glance, the place had nothing special to it. Actually, it didn't have many things in it whatsoever. In the middle, stood an ancient stone table. The concrete it was carved in was so old and worn off, that erosion had left an enormous mark on this piece of furniture.

But why would such a mundane antiquity remain mysterious to all besides Celestia herself? In fact, this wasn't just any table. It was an altar. An altar that bore a dark and malicious past. This was the altar that Luna once used to become Nightmare Moon.

She had never truly understood why, but Celestia transported this stonework to the new Castle, for some reason willing to keep this shaded construction with her after her sister's fall.

And perhaps this wasn't a bad decision after all... Without this artifact, the spells she needed to perform could not be channeled properly. In addition, the eldritch might trapped inside this relic would be a great help in Celestia's quest for power.

But despite her determination, just seeing this wicked altar made the Sun Princess shiver. There was something wrong with this table, something inherently evil in its very aura.

No, now was not the time to turn back, not the time to hesitate! She needed to do it. It was the only way...





Putting her hooves upon the frigid stone, Celestia started the incantations. There was in fact several spells to perform. Several enchantments to cast. Several levels of death and destruction to shed upon the Equestrian land...

At first, the unpleasant sensation of Dark magic washed upon her whole being, the pure negativity and wickedness overwhelming her senses to a point she nearly stopped. But she didn't.

Rapidly, her body accommodated to the evil, as the amount of pure and unconstrained power clouded and corrupted her mind, washing away all bad thoughts and fears. Only one thing remained: determination.

With her psyche now cleaned of any remorse, there was nothing that could stop her from performing the spells. She started reciting the thaumatic matrices, as she suddenly sensed a great influx of magic in the world.

The immense amount of mana just called her. It was perfect. The plan was going even better than expected.

Concentrating on her siphoning spell, Celestia found executing it quite easy, the dark might of the ancient artifact highly facilitating her task.

All of a sudden, a loud crack could be heard. The altar broke. But this wasn't even a setback. A humming noise filled the air, mana started manifesting itself, forming blueish crackles everywhere.

The Solar Princess sent all her newfound might towards the power-source she had just detected. Feasting avidly upon its thaumatic essence, she consumed its power with twisted pleasure. The feeling of satisfaction filled Celestia, surpassing all others within the confines of her mind. An impression of fullness and peace overtook her as she absorbed this being's magic. She felt new strength course through her. She felt its magic becoming hers. It was extremely satisfying.

But as the spell went on, the magic in this being —even abundant as it was— started to dry up. Soon, its corpse contained not even the slightest hint of thaumatic power. However, this didn't stop Celestia in her momentum. When no more magic remained, she went on with absorbing its vital essence.

As its life left the creature's frame, the Sun Princess drunk it with ruthless delight. The lively stream continued from some time, but as the energetic flow stopped, a bitter sentiment of regret crawled to the periphery of Celestia's mind. She had just killed someone. The realization was quite hard to take in, but it nothing but truth.

The mighty Princess of the Sun, leader of Equestria, protector of the innocent had just killed someone. Perhaps she wasn't that great of a leader after all. Perhaps the cultists were right. Perhaps she was wrong...

NO! It was the cost to pay! She had already gotten over this. There was no turning back. And besides, it just felt so good...

As regret left her once again, a new feeling added itself to the usual determination. She wanted more power. She needed more power. It was all that there was left to acquire in order to beat the Entity. It the final objective.





Refocusing on her task, Celestia prepared for a new —much more massive— spell. Even though they were much weaker than the one she had just absorbed, the Castle was surrounded by countless sources of magic and life essence. Numerous living beings —were they hypnotized servants, wild animals or even Princess Luna— remained, their might still waiting to be consumed.

Concentrating all of her newfound potency, the Celestial Princess called upon the surrounding mana. She concentrated all her will and sent innumerable magical surges in all directions, bending the mana to her whim. As the siphoning process started, the overflowing stream of purloined power washed over Celestia, overwhelming her senses completely. It was here, all this might. It was flowing through her, gorging every inch of her body.

But as the infinitely vast amount of mana converged towards the Sun Princess, her mortal frame came to an inevitable breaking point. As her whole skin covered up with cracks, violet and blue vapors of pure magic emanating from them, Celestia as a pony no longer was. She was now a creature of pure mana, a being with a power surpassing all others.

Sensing her now disembodied self elevate from the Castle floor she once stood on, the sentiment of concrete almightiness rose up in her psyche. She could see the world from above, she could feel the power to content any of her whims. She felt the might to defeat the Entity.

However, her plan was not completed yet. She knew quite well that there was no chance to beat the Entity now, but in the past...

If she returned to the moment the Entity had just entered their world, there was no doubt she would be able to confront it. No doubt of her victory.





During all her immensely long life, time travel seemed complex and difficult to execute. And yet, now that she had the power of a true god, it was easy as the most mundane task.

A tunnel-like portal appeared just in from of her gaze, spiraling vortexes escaping from its concave interior. Concentrating her will, the entity that was once called Celestia clustered all her immense amount of thaumatic might, plunging into the temporal gateway before her with cold determination. The last step of her plan could commence...





The Sun

The mighty star held itself proudly in the blue sky.

Clouds

White and pure, they slowly drifted through the air, their massive forms still obeying the whim of winds and pegasi.

This was a truly magnificent sight.

Then, it all vanished. A violet haze, of stars and smoke submerged this idyllic picture covering up the beautiful colors it once bore. And it all seemed to come from a strange portal, its form quickly covered by the very mist that emanated from it.





Celestia had arrived to this world. The world she tried to protect. The world that she once walked. The world she lived in just several days ago. It all felt so familiar and yet so different. It was the past. It was this cursed moment the being that destroyed her life came to invade this land. The true moment of no return.

And yet, there was no one else in the atmosphere. Celestia was sure she didn't sense any being powerful enough to be the Entity. None, except herself.

It at that moment that a painful memory emerged in her ethereal mind. A sentence she had never forgotten. A sentence that had driven her to do all this.

"YOU will be the cause of your subjects' doom."

Now that she saw her former self coming to the balcony of her Castle, observe her new self in shock and disbelief, these words took a whole new meaning that she would have never imagined...