Some are immortal. Some aren't. Friendship vanishes. Twilight doesn't.
In a far, far away future, Equestria isn't anything like it was once when the elements of harmony where still in existence. Instead, the always-burning twilight rules the land of ponies and magic - just as the rest of the world.
Few are still alive, fewer even have the will to live. But some can't die, no matter huch much they may yearn for it. Such is the fate of princess Twilight under the twilight.
There is no magic in this world anymore. There is no hope.
O u r f r i e n d s h i p s w e a v e t o g e t h e r s t r o n g e r
T he b o n d s g r o w d e e p e r , l a s t i n g l o n g e r
A n d t h e g r e a t e s t s p e l l y o u ' l l k n o w
I s h o w t h e M a g i c o f F r i e n d s h i p g r o w s
Twilight
Time heals all wounds, they said. But sometimes, it created new ones. It’s progression was not poetic, had no purpose, and could not convey any deeper meaning. In the endless void lost Time wasn't about giving, but all about taking what couldn't defy. Life, just a fleeting moment. Time did not care who or what fell victim to it, as long as it could continue to command over all that was.
There was no god. No higher order or an instance of fate. Only the time that passed and decayed, that did not call for anyone, that was high and deep, and that still never slept. Time represented transience. And transience lured death. Death was a promise of absolute justice, to which every living being, which had been given the unprecedented luck to 'be born', eventually had to submit one day. No matter the cost.
Equestria had once been the thriving center of a lively, almost unnatural and idyllic world, the meadows and forests buzzed with life, the blue skies cared for by wings. Rivers and lakes were home to the inhabitants of this distant paradise, as were numerous valleys and cities.
'No country as pure as Equestria, no folk like that of the ponies', they had once said. Under the fruitful and wise rule of the patron saint of the sun and the moon, three nations who found each other in the darkest hour grew within a few millennia to become the most loving community on earth, together with the teachings that connected them. Knowledge and feelings that eventually reached the other species. Yes, Equestria was a place of harmony and living together. An unique place of love and acceptance. But above all, a place of friendship.
Nothing was left of that. The ruins of Canterlot, illuminated by relentlessly scorching amber evening light, testified to this better than any other place in this dead world. An in every aspect of this time dominating, almost unbroken silence lay over the rambling piles of stones, decaying remains of long-forgotten buildings and buried mountain paths, which were once the pride of the unicorn folk. Merely crickets and similar small animals still did their daily work and interrupted the hostile silence of this lifeless city. Nothing else moved here, no breath of wind went, no bird flew. High, high up, where the royal palace may have been a long, long time ago, only collapsed remains of actually immortal structures remained now, silent and overgrown by weeds and moss alike, they were proof of the incontestable transience. Somewhere in one of the few remaining chambers of the shattered palace something stirred, a body looking for the comforting shade that had become rare these days. The long, thin legs of which the creature had four and the full mane as well as the tail made it easy to identify it as a pony. It only moved sluggishly, scratching its fur here and there, rolling around on the dusty stone floor or killing an insect hurrying past. It seemed to be in a state of paralysis and lethargy, which had also spread to her physical state: the once magnificent mane of the princess was gray and decayed, little more than matted remains. Her tail lay long and lifeless beneath her and stuck in the cracks of the rock, no waft and no color in it. Her purple fur was torn and dirty and sticky in countless places, large parts of the pony could no longer be recognized, even her wide wings seemed to be emaciated and dull. Cobwebs twisted around the long horn on her forehead, which, together with the rusted crown, was the only clue to the position of this Alicorn. Her fragile face and lavender eyes were as faded as the rest of the princess, there was no spark of magic or lust for life in the depths of her pupil. Was it a walking dead who succumbed to time here?
Twilight Sparkle knew she had to move. The stench of her own body and excrements maltreated her senses, almost making her choke, and she hadn't eaten for at least ... a long time. But then again she wouldn't die anyway, and no one else would smell her. So why muster the strength to get up and go out? Out into the light that never left? Out into the detailed painting of all tragedies and mistakes which would agonize her senses once more?
It did not matter. Hunger was a nuisance to her, and so was her stench. At some point she would move. She might as well do it now. Without any special effort, more out of a reflex, Twilight Sparkle lifted her tall Alicorn body and scuffled out of the demolished tower room, her legs led by a stumbling pace. The crumbled and rotting palace courtyard offered nothing to her, so she left it behind and climbed down into the ruins. Forced past thousands of decayed corpses from earlier buildings that had long ceased to house life beyond maggots and millipedes. From here she could still see the entire ruin valley. It was an amber-colored, static desert of chunks, skeletons, and rampant weeds that had retrieved what had once been so laboriously snatched from it.
There was no sound and no movement here as far as Twilight's senses went. The evening twilight behind her was her only companion as she descended the rough path she had cleared at some point and rarely turned her half-closed eyes from her hooves. She had already carefully studied everything there was to see and discover hundreds of times. In a world where nothing changed, curiosity died first.
Twilight reached one of the few remaining rivers, which, due to its position directly next to the mountains of Canterlot, was protected by many rocky ledges and some intact trees and climbed in dispassionately. One step forward, two steps back. The pale, lukewarm water only cleaned her superficially but sufficiently. Twilight lowered her head and drank the same liquid in which she was washing her body. No one was here to be surprised that Equestrias ruler bathed in a dirty mountain river. There was no one to interrupt her. And there was definitely no one who wanted to keep her company. It took ten minutes, but Twilight wasn't sure. She had lost her sense of time a long time ago. The time was still there, there was no doubt about it, it still commanded everything in its world, but it no longer had a shape.
Twilight Sparkle emerged from her river and dripped back into her home, the Sea of Ruins. There was a place she hadn't visited in a long time. Her quietly beating heart, which had lost all forms of excitement, commanded her. It was time to once again expose herself to the most harmful of all poisons in the twilight, that yet could make one forget for the shortest of moments: Memories. She knew all the paths within the stone heapes and destroyed structures very well, because nothing changed here by now. The times when a new ruin joined the sea from time to time or something fell apart were long gone. Her path to a split house that was once a boutique was quiet and uneventful. Twilight climbed over isolated skeletons and blindly walked past the floor covered with glass and scraps of fabric until she reached the far corner of the round structure, in which two inner walls had collapsed at each other. Only a small hole between them allowed Twilight to squeeze through like a rat and, completely in the dark, lock out the twilight. Her horn glimmered faintly in a gloomy pink, no light bright enough to illuminate a path, but enough for Twilight to find her treasures. A green scale, there it was between other rubbish which wouldn't look like anything to an outsider. The greyed Alicorn gripped it with both hooves and stared at it. For minutes. She had hoped a tear might leak, but her eyes stayed dry. She led the scale to her heart and left it there, warming it in a deep embrace as if it were alive. Her own weak breathing was Twilight's only assurance that the world still existed. That she was still alive. She put the scale aside and picked up a much larger object, which, through dust and darkness, turned out to be a book. A book that was eaten away by the teeth of time and was badly affected, the cover which was once oh so very noble. With a tired look and a weak hoof, Twilight scrolled hrough it, letting pictures and letters pass her eyes.
And no matter how much time goes by
The party will still be here with some fun new games to try
She remembered the girls she met in this special place. These strange ponies who should soon become her best friends. Yes, she had almost forgotten her faces again.
Big adventure's waiting obviously
Long as we're still here together
We'll be flying happily
Then there were the adventures they had experienced together. The tasks they mastered, the battles they won. Twilight wanted to remember what it was like to feel something. And how important it was not to feel it alone. She tried it. She struggled. But she just wouldn’t succeed. There was only emptiness.
And it's somethin’ true to pass on down
To generations yet to come
And we'll never stop believing in
The generosity of the friendships we've won
There were memories no one could take away from Twilight. In which they had achieved something as friends. They saved Equestria. They taught others about the incredible strength of real feelings. And they helped the next generation to find their way. Everything was always fine. As long as they would be together.
And because the love that I feel
For every single living creature is something that is real
Friendship happens so naturally
Twilight closed the book and buried her face in her hair. Everything was always fine. Everything was good. How could it have gotten this far? How could she have let it get this far? Why ... was she just so powerless on her own?
Twilight pushed back into the sunlit part of the ruin and felt what she was going through after each visit. Self-loathing and emptiness that left her usual apathy far behind. A dark, black void that outshone all sunlight and asked her only one question:
why do you live?
Why? Why am i living Why why why? Why am I still living? For what? Why? Why am I breathing? Why am i leaving Why am i sleeping Why am i eating Why am I? Tell me ... what should I do? May I ... not finally go?
Ending an Alicorn's life was surprisingly difficult. Even if the Alicorn wanted to end it herself. Twilight hadn't made it so far. But if she was honest with her friends eyes or the ones of a certain dragon, honest with the occasional voices behind, above, below, in her, she had never really tried. She was afraid. And maybe that was the only reason why she was still in the twilight. Fear. Cowardice as the last of her weaknesses. She didn't care because she knew the eyes weren't real. Not the voices and not the silhouettes. She was all alone. Nobody would care how cowardly she was. She could do whatever she wanted. Life was pointless. But perhaps, dying was too. Neither of them appealed to Twilight. But as an Alicorn, she didn't have to do anything to live. So living.
With her legs dragging, the Alicorn trotted beyond the crumbled houses of the Sea of Ruins, back to her refuge and her grave, away from the scorching twilight, away from terrible memories, into silent nothing. She got on what was once a main street when she stopped. Twilight Sparkle never stopped on her way, because nothing was different from the previous time. But this time there was something. In front of her, just a few meters away, behind skeletons and chunks, stood someone. Twilight widened her eyes and lifted her heavy head to look beyond the ground. When she realized who it was, visiting her here, she stumbled, took a step back and struggled to keep her balance. Heat and cold flowed through her body faster than they ever did as long as she could remember, and her forehead ached as did her racing heart. Twilight was too petrified and rusted over the years to really succumb to an emotional outbreak - there was hardly anything left in her. But she was sweating and narrowing her eyes as she staggered awkwardly back, and that alone made her fear. She no longer knew these events. New. Physical reactions. And she certainly didn't want to imagine this person, because that’s all she could be, an imagination, but even that was too much. She couldn't stand such excitement anymore, so Twilight put her face in the dirt, knelt on the ground, and covered her head with both hooves in the hope that the twilight might burn her mind away - as it always did.
Cozy Glow took quiet steps towards Twilight Sparkle. Her pale pink fur and light blue curls, like her tail, were largely preserved in contrast to the disastrous Twilight, thin, beige bands and a bandana held her hair together. Neither her horn nor her wings seemed particularly affected by the circumstances, but her body was emaciated like twilights, and the color had disappeared from her eyes too. When Cozy stood in front of the crouching and trembling Twilight, she looked down expressionlessly at the royal Alicorn, closed her eyes several times and paused until she let out a deep sigh and said "Get up" in a bored voice.
There was no visible reaction from Twilight, so Cozy Glow repeated herself. After a long moment, which was quiet except for Twilight's heavy breathing, Cozy knelt down to her. “I'm real, you fool. Now get up. ” She spat on Twilight's crown, the drop slowly ran down and touched Twilight's forehead. She let out a pitiful cry and flinched like a cornered animal. Cozy Glow rose and took another step towards her former arch enemy. "It's been some time, huh?", the Alicorn's meager tone resembled a dry whisper, yet in such an environment every word, no matter how quiet, could be heard clearly. Twilight rose to her hooves with all her strength and blinked at Cozy Glow two or three times. "You're alive ..."
"Yes ..." Cozy Glow nodded. Both mares stared at each other. Twilight didn't know what to say. It had been a long time since she had met another living being. At least, that's what she believed. After a few moments, Cozy looked out over the Sea of Ruins around her. "You weren't the only one who thought we'd gone out there with everyone else when it happened ...", Cozy's dispassionate look took on a trace of her old malice when she looked at Twilight, "... the end of the circle."
Twilight's body had calmed down by now, her heart had returned to its constant rhythm, and her interior had dismissed the facts as not overly special. Nothing that happened could upset her, as her soul dictated. But the bitterest of all memories, deeply sealed within her, and about to be freed by Cozy, still hurt noticeably, more than the light, more than the cold. “... Chrysalis, you and Tirek were here when it happened, after all. You were never seen again, everyone thought… ”
“ ... That Princess Cadance blew us, together with the sisters, Starswirl and half Canterlot into nirvana, yes. But we were careful, you know. Chrysalis and I weren't as stupid as Tirek to plunge right into action. We saw our chance and fled. And here we are now… ”
“ Alive as a false Alicorn. ” Breathed Twilight with a look that made her feel old hatred. Cozy's smile died and she approached Twilight, just as much weight in the eyes as Twilight knew it from her reflection. “Should I be ashamed? To be still alive? I know you don't envy me for that. ” She looked down at Twilight and lowered her eyebrows, but didn't grimace. Twilight approached her enemy close by. “No… you should be ashamed to be one of the reasons for all of this. YOU… ” It boiled up in Twilight's throat, but Cozy Glow raised a hoof and managed to cut her off. "Stop it. Not me, or Tirek, or Chrysalis or Discord, or anyone was to blame for the end of the circle. That your dear Cadance lost her marbles at such an epic scale is something you can condemn time for, and maybe the question of whether one should really bring together immortal beings with those who are simply not.” The cutting tone of Cozy's second half of the sentence did not fail to work and hurt Twilight deeply. Her doubts and thoughts, her memories, and her remorse agreed with Cozy. The pink Alicorn turned away from Twilight and looked without particular interest over the extensive ruins at the evening sun. “We weren't the reason, just the means to an end. Tirek, who was apparently immortal as an aging old man and I, the first living pony who had created an artificial Alicorn - me. It wasn't actually that stupid to put her cards on us, I have to give the princess that. Too bad she ended up blowing everything up. ”
Cozy wandered away, kept going through the streets of history, and Twilight had an inexplicable urge to follow her slowly. Together they walked in a direction that Twilight did not know, through unchanging light. "As if you disgusting criminals had ever helped her." The lavender Alicorn hissed with a long-gone fire. She hadn't forgotten who Cozy was back then. Cozy didn't turn around when she answered. “... 'Disgusting criminals', aha. The queen and mother who had her people and family stolen from you and was made an outcast. And the disturbed foal, that got even more disturbed in your blinded friendship school. Really, friendship princess, we were monsters. ”
An old feeling, that Twilight could not prevent. A scorching rage that made the rusty gears of her sleepy body rattle again. Twilight gritted her teeth and now Cozy turned to face her, a pristine, questioning look on her eyes.
“How can you excuse your actions after all this time? After everything that happened? Are you going to tell me that you were three innocent lambs?!”
“No,” Cozy shrugged, “I want to say that Chrysalis and I didn't do what we did for no reason. We thought we were right. ”
“And ... and what about Tirek?! If you think he was just a victim, I can tell you- ”
“ Nah, Tirek was just evil. No doubt." A cheerless smile covered Cozy's lips and also reached her freckles, the Alicorn stopped, stared at the remains of the castle above them, then looked at Twilight with her bronze eyes. There was no hatred, no madness or false friendliness. That wasn't the Cozy Glow that Twilight knew. “I think we deserved a chance to be understood. That's all. But isn't that something that one can expect as a faulty existence from the princess of friendship and the elements of harmony? Doesn't everyone deserve some sympathy? ”
Twilight's chest contracted and her mouth grew drier than usual, she stared into the dreary gravel in front of her and stared back into Cozy's eyes. "But instead", Cozy started and Twilight knew what she would say and she would have given anything not to have to hear it, "... you turned us into stone, with a smile. Damned us to remain motionless in absolute silence and isolation for years. No matter how loud I screamed, no matter how long I pleaded, my body remained stiff and my world black. ” Like a broken automaton, Cozy rattled down the words that were so far in the past and yet had to contain so much pain. The friendship princess avoided the eyes of her counterpart and scraped her hoof in the dust. Her mane covered her face, but her lips were unmistakably pressed together. Of course, Twilight also knew what role she had played in all of this. It was her constant stubbornness and insistence on principles that had brought about this greatest of all tragedies. In this regard, she was as guilty as anyone else. No, even more, because she was not petrified at that time. But a voice in the back of her head did not allow her to make concessions. Not towards her. “You had to be stopped. It was the right thing to do. We did the right thing.” Twilight repeated to reassure herself, knowing that there were doubts within her, that there always had been doubt within her. Cozy continued to walk through the remains of the city and Twilight followed, slowly moving away from the palace, away from the Sea of Ruins, to the wasteland plains beyond these mountains. “Many paths lead to the right thing. 'Friendship magic is more than rainbow lasers’, wasn't it?” The artificial Alicorn lightly climbed onto an overturned watchtower, which blocked the way, past smashed skeletons in rotten armors. Cozy stopped at the top and looked down at Twilight, who made no move to follow her. The princess was still sinking in her own shadow instead of keeping eye contact. “You could have been responsible for making your fucking school make me what I ended up being. Or for Chrysalis' treacherous children. But that would have meant admitting mistakes. Something in which you Alicorn types never really exceeded, not even when you got at each other's throats. Am I wrong?”
Twilight's hoof froze and she took a deep breath before looking at Cozy with a tired look in her eyes. "...mhm. I admit ... we ... I ... made mistakes. Serious mistakes. ”
"No shit." Cozy Glow commented dryly. Twilight was no more moved by it than Cozy by her lethargy. “... why are you here, Cozy? Why now after all this time? So that I ask your forgiveness? What would that bring ...? None of that matters anymore. ”
"Look around." Cozy Glow spread her grown-up wings and stretched her front legs to the side, pointing to the rampant nothing and the omnipotent evening sun around them. “There used to be very different ideas about what hell looks like. Some ponies thought it was Tartarus, others saw redemption in it, but most feared it as a place of eternal torment. Nobody knew, so there was uncertainty. This is long gone, because hell is here now. And all of a sudden everything went quiet.”
Twilight also looked into the twilight. Saw the red sky, saw the barren deserts. None of this was new to her. “Yes… but the only two souls who could have changed anything are no longer. We cannot do anything. And believe me, I've tried everything.” The bitterness of countless hours, days, weeks, months, years returned to Twilight's heart, the struggles and hopes, the growing despair in her and every other pony of Equestria. The suffering of having to watch one important friend disappear after the other from her side. Until she was all alone and just gave up. A giggle from Cozy. Twilight looked up in surprise. The vague hint of a grin spread across Cozy's dry lips as she tapped her forehead with her left hoof. “That’s the problem with you magic types ... you so reliant on all your special power, you forget to use your brains!”
Twilight immediately remembered the words Cozy Glow had spoken to her, Celestia, and Luna. It was one of her few sentences that Twilight had never really gotten out of her mind and which took on a whole new meaning after the ‘end of the circle’. But now, in a situation where nothing happened and nothing mattered anymore, it angered Twilight. “What are you going to say, Cozy? Why are you here? What do you want from me?!"
Cozy noisily pushed down from the crumbled tower, took a few pebbles with her, but landed gently in front of Twilight, who was now staring at her deadly grim.
“What you too should want, Twilight Sparkle - finally escaping hell. Ending the twilight.”
Twilight had known instinctively that Cozy Glow was headed for such silliness, but she shook her head in disbelief and narrowed her eyebrows admonishingly. “Impossible… The sun and moon haven't moved since they died, and since they couldn't teach me… like I said, I've tried everything. I had enough time to do so. I don't know what you've been doing for so long, but-” thumpedhers Cozy pushed her horn against Twilights and rammed her forehead against hers, anger burning in her bronze eyes. “Until recently I DID try everything Twilight, in contrast to you, who you stopped living a long time ago and are only rotting away lethargically and wallowing in self-pity because all your friends are dead, I went on. But it doesn't work alone. ”
"But-"
"The bewitching bell, fool!" Snarled Cozy and walked away from Twilight again to trot around the tower. Twilight followed, the image of that ominous bell in her head that had been used as a weapon against her long ago. "The bell ... I forgot it ... but it doesn't exist anymore, does it?"
“Of course it does. As you surely know, Discord brought it here to use it against the sisters and their entourage and to free us… it worked, but unfortunately not quite as he and Cadance had imagined."
Yes, Twilight went back. Discord and Cadence had used the bewitching bell to restore Tirek's strength as soon as they freed him from his stone prison. However, she knew nothing about the fact that he had successfully used it against Celestia or Luna. "Did he ..."
"Yes," nodded Cozy without turning around while walking, "he freed us, gave us our powers back and used the bewitching bell against the Sisters to deprive them of some of theirs. Only then did they transform into Nightmare Moon and Solar Flare, overwhelming Discord and Tirek, forcing Cadance to swell on to Eternal Amore. The rest ... well, you know about that.”
Nausea and terrible pictures irrevocably haunted Twilight, bursting buildings and burning bodies, a pink, atomic explosion, the screams of countless foals, the horrified looks of her friends and the guilt of not being there ... the Alicorn faltered and stumbled. Cozy Glow stopped and finally turned to wait for Twilight to compose herself. "Hah ... hah ...I'll be... alright...."
Cozy watched her with expressionless patience as Twilight locked out the horrors of the past and rose. “Does that mean… the bell still exists? With Celestia and Luna's magical signature within it? ”
A quick nod confirmed Twilight's greatest, yet most unlikely hope. That was what hadn't happened to her for oh so long. A little spark of hope. “Quite right, Chrysalis and I had grabbed it and were gone before the disaster peaked. We actually wanted to use the bell against you and Equestria, but we watched the situation for a while and realized that it hardly made any sense anymore.”
"Because Equestria already had put itself out of action..."
"When after a few years everything went down the drain, not only here but also everywhere else in the world, we decided that we had to solve this problem first before we could think of any plans. Well, it turned out that the twilight was more persistent than I assumed.” Cozy spat into the ground in front of her and opened her wings to fly down the rest of the mountain. Reluctantly, Twilight followed her, flying for the first time in ages. Below them, scant bushes and overly amounts of rock formations passed by. "But if Celestia's and Luna's magic is inside the bewitching bell … you should be able to move the sun just like the moon." At least the magical signatures of the patrons were the key to the twilight in Twilight's knowledge. But before Cozy could say anything, she realized that she really relied on magic too much. If it had been that easy, they would have done it long ago.
“No, unfortunately that is not enough to end the standstill. First of all you need two Alicorns, one for the sun, one for the moon. Additionally… immense amounts of properly channeled power, since the bewitching bell carries only a small fraction of the princesses signature. Tirek's power went with him, mine is not enough and you… are just a shadow of yourself. ” Cozy landed far from the foot of the Sea of Ruins in the plains around the mountains, which looked like a desert, here and there smaller animals moved back and forth between rare trees and bushes, in the distance something forest-like could be seen and hoof marks showed that before not too long ago other ponies had come through here - probably hunters, as Twilight thought. She couldn't deny Cozy's words. "But I'm an Alicorn." she replied in a firm voice. Cozy turned to her and nodded as she looked down at her miserable figure. "But you're an Alicorn."
"Why now? Why didn't you come to me earlier?”
“Chrysalis was reluctant to work with you, and frankly, I was too. From what we heard, you were among the persons who preferred our further captivity to averting the twilight, and so we stayed among ourselves, researching together how to use the bell.”
Twilight looked down with tremendous feelings of guilt. Yes, she too had denied Cadance and Discord and joined the princesses. Criminals were not allowed to be liberated, no matter the purpose. It was an uncompromising view of blind principles. A stubbornness that had cost everything and killed millions. Cozy ignored Twilight's pondering and went on. “Chrysalis has been studying the bell all this time, she can handle it and release the powers in it at will. Moon for me, sun for her. After many, many years of fruitless attempts to adequately control them and move the sun, her time in this world is coming to an end. So I was able to convince her that we are running out of time and that we need a second Alicorn. Searching for you was a priority and there was no question that ending this hell is more important than our differences. But you are not enough. ”
"What else do we need?" Twilight asked straightforwardly, now that she had retrieved her soul. Cozy Glow remained silent and continued to look at Twilight until she understood.
"You can't be serious ..."
"Of course I am, or do you know anyone else in this dead world who has enough power to put us both on the same level as Celestia and Luna?"
Twilight had no answer to that because it didn't exist. She bit her lip and closed her eyes at the thought of seeing him again. It seemed like the time had come to face all the horrors of her past.
"I know," Cozy whispered in a casual tone, "your last meeting was not particularly pleasant, all of Equestria noticed that, but if it consoles you, I don't dig a meeting too much either. But this is more important than our feelings. ”
She was right. The once so delusional, unpredictable, malignant foal was right. Twilight was still the ruler of Equestria. If there was a chance, no matter how small it was, to save her home ... no, to the whole world from the abyss again, she had to seize it. A thin, weary smile played over Twilight's cracked lips. “You are right, Cozy Glow. You have changed."
“We all have changed, Twilight. But not all of us are still alive. Now come, you know best where you have banished him to.”
"Yes ..." Twilight breathed and closed her eyes again. With a long movement she turned back to the Sea of Ruins, looked up at her dilapidated castle, searched the boutique in the midst of the endless stone ocean, thought of the scale and the book in it. A long, weak sigh escaped Twilight's chest. A trace of color, a breath of life, crawled over her face, drawn through a long, seemingly endless period of hopelessness and self-pity.
"I'll be off then."
She nodded towards Cozy Glow and together they took off, away from the Sea of Ruins, up into the twilight and south, to the place where Twilight hadn't been since that day.
They had been flying south for nearly forty minutes, the uncomfortable burning of the intense evening light in their backs. Their destination was not that far from the Sea of Ruins, but Cozy Glow and Twilight Sparkle made an effort not to fly too fast, to absolutely not attract a dragon or similar predator of the sky. When Twilight ignored her inner warnings here and there and looked at the world below, which passed her in shadowy images and shapes, she was depressed to find that nothing much had changed since her last, long ago excursion. The largest parts of Equestria still consisted of sand and stone deserts as far as the eye could see, in which there was hardly anything left and which were only occasionally interrupted by the ruins of former villages or towns. Of course, there were still forests, caves, overgrown valleys - if these were not ruled by wild beasts such as mutated timber wolves or starved ursas, they served hunters as hiding places. On open paths, Twilight saw a few ponies roaming, ponies who gave them stealthy looks. There was no doubt, Twilight thought, that a trip on the ground would not only have taken longer, but would have given them far more unpleasant encounters. In a world where only the law of the strongest prevailed, Twilight didn't want to put any hoof at all as long as possible - even if all of this was her responsibility.
"Morbid sight, isn't it?" Cozy called to her as she flew around some mountain peaks.
"I never liked the dragon desert or such barren landscapes and couldn't understand how to live in such a place, but now almost the whole world looks like that." She said more to herself than to anyone else, and Twilight had to agree with her.
"The end of the circle brought the end of all weather, after all..." murmured the princess and gave in to the useless attempt to suppress memories. The memory of the flowering Equestria, which had almost completely collapsed within a decade. The dissolving clouds and the descending Cloudsdale ... the starving ponies in burning cities ... the rotten harvests as far as the sun was shining ... none of this could have been averted with her oh so special spirit or magic. Her people had crumbled and she had stood by, unable to answer their pleading, failing to fulfill their hopes. And at some point it just went silent. Twilight catched up with Cozy Glow, now it was not far to the largest remaining forest area of Equestria.
"Are you feeling excited or nostalgic, princess?" Cozy asked with an unmistakable pinch of cynicism, but Twilight didn't respond, she was too isolated from this part of Equestria, too much had happened here. In a broken voice she brought a "Neither." out that Cozy may have heard or not.
Finally, her leisurely flight came to an end when both mares saw a green zone rare in the dirty gray of the landscapes, which was no less than the largest remaining forest including Equestria's meadow valleys: the Everfree Forest. Too much dark, ancient magic was at work here for the twilight bringing the local fauna to its knees, on the contrary, evident to every daring traveler, this forest was overgrown and even spread, there were no paths, ways or gaps in the structure of the black, vine-covered trees, they covered everything and formed a natural fortress that resisted the heat and the climate around them. Cozy landed on a withered grass hill and Twilight just behind her, a quick glance of the blue-haired mare to the Everfree Forest was enough for her.
“Everything that was even more deadly than hunger, thirst, and isolation fled into it back then, didn't it? I've made numerous trips here. ”
She started moving, down from the hill, away from the monstrous forest, to a darker place of earth.
"You have what?" Twilight wondered in irritation. "Why? Why would you voluntarily enter the forest in this condition?!” Many ponies had sought their salvation there, confrontated with wasteland. None had been heard of again. Cozy shrugged.
“Experiments. Ingredients. Such things. But frankly, just the unbearable sadness of everything else. ” The never-changing sight of the Sea of Ruins and the burning twilight above came to Twilights mind, the small, dirty mountain river and the voices that haunted her when the silence became too unbearable. So she didn't say anything else.
The omnipresent silence also found its way into this part of the land, but now and then a far away, monstrous cry, the soothing sound of a small animal or an unnatural sound of magical origin mixed with its drearly song. Unlike the rest of the world, the sky gradually turned into a dark blue here, trees, rocks, wooden houses and gigantic hamster plush toys circled over Twilights and Cozy's heads, the ground beneath their hooves seemed crooked and as if it were changing his direction every few seconds, small islands bumped into each other and crumbled down as deadly stone rain. Dolls - pony dolls, all the same, all with the same mane, the same fur and the same eyes were placed on every tree and every wall, they hung in the branches, crawled through the floors, fluttered through the air. But both Twilight and Cozy seemed completely unimpressed by this obscure spectacle, did not make a face and spoke no word as they crossed the surrealistic place and finally reached a cluster of buildings. A vast, widespread flood of decayed and overgrown buildings surrounded by withered grass and rampant moss, built around a river that had long since dried up and was full of skeletons. Those skeletons, as Twilight noticed again, were very numerous in their origin, most seemed to have belonged to ponies, but of course there were others. Cozy and Twilight strolled to the tallest building in the village, a round stone-buried house in the middle of all the ruins. A silent, almost imperceptible breath blew between the walls and trees of this place, which also wrapped around Cozy and Twilight. There was no magic here anymore.
"The Chaos Abyss, or rather... sweet, sweet Ponyville." Cozy commented with the usual dryness, but Twilight thought she heard a hint of bitterness. After all, it had once been her home too. The mares sidled wordlessly towards the darkest spot in the sky where a particular pony's house was buried. While Cozy wasn't looking around much, Twilight couldn't help but do just that, even though she knew it was wrong, that she would regret it. Her eyes looked for the bakery, which now consisted only of a few wood shavings on the floor, she looked for the boutique, which had long since been carried away as a heap of ash in all four directions, and of course the princess found in the distance the sad, still standing remains of a barn, which was intended as a refuge but became a death trap.
As much as Twilight wanted to avoid it and Cozy Glow wasn’t eager, it was inevitable that the two Alicorns passed the once vibrant, lively center of Ponyville. Unlike the rest of the place, which was more or less preserved after this indescribable period of time, there wasn't much left of the two buildings Twilight was most proud of. You could see what the devastated, wrecked and burned down structures had gone through and seen, now reduced to tiny, crumbled pieces. A school that should have been the place of unification and friendship between nations. And their castle, in which they had always been together ... in which they had lived, celebrated, laughed and cried ... the crystal castle, which was only a pile of rubble now. Twilight stopped at the faded crystals and caressed them. She watched the miserable remains of her school and closed her eyes for a moment. Let her senses return to a time before everything broke down. In a time of hope.
"When I started out, I was unsure ...
I thought I knew all that I needed, didn't know what to expect ..."
Cozy Glow turned around, her eyebrows lowered skeptically when she heard the whispering song of Twilight. She stepped up to see what the Alicorn was doing and, to her surprise, Twilight did nothing. She stood between the ruins of Ponyville, her lids lowered, and sang.
"... But when my walls came down, I saw the truth ...
All along something was missing ...
And I think you'll see it, too ..."
Twilight's lavender eyes opened and caressed the surrounding Ponyville, the pastel-colored buildings, the smiling ponies and above all ... the five friends at her side.
"This is where the magic happens ... this is where the magic lives"
She jumped and danced between them, hoof in hoof with Pinkie Pie, side by side with Rainbow Dash.
"Our friendships weave together stronger, the bonds grow deeper, lasting longer"
Applejack galloped ahead, challenged her to a race, and Rarity would scold her for not being allowed to defile herself as a princess like that. But Twilight just pulled Rarity with her. She laughed with her as she flew, the wind in her mane, free of fear.
“And the greatest spell you'll know…
Is how the Magic of Friendship grows”
She and Fluttershy threw themselves into the flower bed, which was without a doubt colored in at least three hundred different tones, and the rest of their friends joined them not long after. A light, carefree laugh ran through the six ponies, a feeling of warmth, a deep security. Then nothing more. She was cold. It was dead silent.
Twilight rose from the withered brown grass and picked up her rusted crown to sit on her head. Her eyes were sticky and her vision was blurry at best. Cozy Glow was standing some distance away from her and her gaze, which was defined by her strict eyebrows and twisted corners of her mouth, told her one thing above all: Don't go crazy.
"Are you done?" She asked to make sure, Twilight gave no answer, but hung her head. Without a word, she followed Cozy Glow, who luckily led her towards their goal without any comment on her behavior. First they searched within the school, now and then he was spending some time here, at least in the experience of the mares. As they walked through the perforated and collapsed corridors, it was Cozy who resumed the conversation.
“At first Chrysalis and I found the irony funny, frankly. That the place that you had intended as a symbolic union of all nations was transformed into the greatest theater of war of all time… ” she climbed over a fallen pillar and Twilight's head twitched reflexively in another direction. She knew who was underneath here. Who had pushed her friend away in tears only for her to fall victim to dragon flames moments later. She had been here, watching it with her own eyes. Could hear her voice again, smelled the burnt flesh. Remembered body parts impaled on horns, remembered countless mutilated students.
“Then we didn't laugh as loud anymore, when it began all over Equestria. Really, so much blind stupidity... panic and fear are diseases that spread so much faster than any manipulation that I could ever think of ... "
"They thought I could help them."
"But decided not to, yes." Cozy stopped and turned her expressionless face to Twilight, holding her gaze for a few seconds, and then revealed a small grin which reminded the princess of a time long gone. "Weeell… I have to admit…" Her voice was as artificial and sugar-sweet as that of a foal again, nothing like the hopelessness all around her, ”I couldn’t really blame them for thinking so, I mean, it’s you we’re talking about…”
Twilight lifted her head and looked at Cozy Glow through her mane with a look that made the artificial Alicorn's blood freeze, she swallowed hard and her smile died as she took a step back, metaphorically and physically. "Okay sorry, not helpful." She bowed her head as a sign of apology and Twilight looked somewhere else with grim lips, passed her and was now leading the pace. Cozy followed her carefully and it took a while before the icy mood between those two had calmed down. "... Later it were resources, I think ... I don't blame them." Twilight muttered and walked through a narrow, crumbling corridor that would lead them out of the building.
“Not even what she did to your loyal friend? That was ugly, even by my standards. And he trusted her.” The look that Twilight gave Cozy was expressed in astonishment and high skepsis about the fact that she pricked herself about a breach of trust. But when Twilight eyed her, Cozy seemed sincere to her. So she shook her head weakly. “Hate and anger have never brought us anything, you should know that better than I do. I was angry. I hated, killed and avenged. And did it help?”
Twilight pointed to their surroundings, to the crumbling halls full of decayed skeletons, to the devastated battlefields and deep mass graves. Cozy Glow's cynicism stuck in her throat, instead she shook her head and both mares left the friendship school. It was a small shed Twilight had never noticed before that made her stop again. Three full-grown, destroyed skeletons lay in front of it. Cozy Glow seemed to understand even before Twilight, so she pulled her hoof as Twilight was about to open the shed.
"Maybe you shouldn't." She spoke in a dead-serious tone that Twilight didn’t know of her until now. It sounded like an appeal. Twilight looked at the three full-grown skeletons that must have pressed together in front of the shed, stared into Cozy's bronze-colored, grim eyes, and pulled her hoof away. She choked the voices in her head and opened the wooden door.
When they finally left the school and Twilight's castle, Twilight had lost noticeably willpower. Her steps could hardly carry her body anymore, her eyelids vehemently wanted to take all light from her and everything in her screamed and pleaded to lie down, there in the Sea of Ruins, far from here, far from everything. Lie down and sleep. Forever. Unable to continue. No longer. No more ...
"Pull yourself together!" Cozy Glow shouted loudly, standing up in front of Twilight and reaching for her face.
“That was a long time ago, get it?! That is past. We have very different problems now, mainly the one up there!” She pointed to the evening sun, which burned weakly down to them through the dark blue sky.
“You couldn't do anything against all this shit here, not even with rainbow lasers, fine. But you can do something about it now, so stop hanging on the ropes like a pitiful changeling and do something for your country!”
Twilight blinked apathetic, but did not respond any further. She continued to stare at the moss below them. Cozy Glow took a deep breath, scratched her hooves through her mane, and slapped the princesses cheek so loud it echoed from the surrounding walls. A red swelling ran across Twilight's face, tears came from her eyes and she had never looked more miserable than she was now to Cozy Glow.
"Listen." She reached for Twilight's chin again and fixed her gaze on her. “I know it, all of this is hell, absolute hell for you. I understand it. But we'll be there soon, and then I need you to beat him out of his depression. Can you do that for me? Can you do that, Twilight? ” Cozy's bronze eyes pierced the gray lavender of Twilight, after a long eternity the Alicorn princess nodded imperceptibly. "I’m Sowy ..." she whispered, washing her face with her hoof. Cozy nodded, keeping a blank expression, and turned around. "It’s okay. Come on now."
Both continued on to the house closest to Everfree Forest, to the core of the dark abyss.
The identical pony dolls that filled the entire valley and village, hiding everywhere and grinning menacingly, who with their pink manes and blue eyes suggested a deceptive cuteness, obviously had their home here. Every branch, every leaf, every blade of grass was covered with a doll of the right size, the sky was black and the surroundings were so impenetrably dark that Twilight could barely see her own hooves. Bones, weapons, horns and teeth floated in the air and a strangely distorted music box-melody replaced the natural calm of a dead world and exchanged it with disturbing discomfort.
"There he is." Cozy Glow approached the entrance of the house without fear of contact, where a deformed figure sat and played with a small wind wheel. The tall, snake-like personality had its neck and head hanging, littered with deep scars and ugly swellings, almost all of its hair had fallen out or blackened and its eyes were colored in a deep, dead red. More than Twilight, Discord was no longer the one he might have been at some far away point.
Cozy looked at Twilight and the princess nodded at her, carefully approaching the chaos. "Discord."
The graying chimera didn't seem to hear the Alicorn, or didn't want to. Then he turned his finger on his windmill and made the little pony dolls dance around him. Twilight repeated her "Discord." louder, more insistent, to no avail. She closed her eyelids and counted to ten before pacing closer to his side. Now she was close enough. Close enough to hear the fragile, stifle and suffocated song.
"Hush now ... quiet now ... It's time to lay your sleepy head ... Hush now, quiet now ... It's time to go to bed ..." A crooked, wrong grin splintered across Discord's lips as he turned the wind wheel in his hand with the enthusiasm of a young foal. One of the pony dolls landed on his shoulder and cuddled against him with its soft fabric. Discord happily closed his eyes and rubbed his cheek back and forth. Twilight didn't have to turn to see Cozy take a disturbed step back. But she, for her part, found nothing here to be surprising. It was like looking into a mirror. With the necessary calmness, she moved her foreleg to Discord and took the wind wheel from his hand. She put it in front of him. Lifted his little companion off his shoulder. Put her in front of him. Lowered her head to his. "Discord."
The ancient being blinked and twitched as if it had just woken up, raised its head and looked for Twilight's eyes before looking at her intently. Twilight was not surprised to see the broken, expressionless scar face turn into a dismissive grimace of hatred and disgust within moments. "Your Hiiighness!" He hissed, still in a light, aged voice. Discord found the strength to get up and walk past her as if Twilight was air. "Oh look, and Cozy Glow is still alive too, who would have thought!" The chimera, whose extraordinary size was now noticeable again, stared down at the skeptical Cozy, shook its head, and left her behind. Twilight took a couple of quick steps.
“Wait, Discord! We are not here to fight today.”
He stopped without turning around. Cozy moved away from him without looking away and even Twilight felt the aggression that emanated from the lethargic figure. Discord wrinkled his nose audibly. “Hmpf, that’s a first. This surprises me when the princess of friendship is so excellent in it. Maybe she'd rather… go back to bed!” He turned to Twilight and summoned a pillow in his hand to throw at her, the Alicorn wanted to duck away, but it crumbled into a bunch of dead spiders just in front of her. Now her eyes took on a dismissive note. "I'm done sleeping."
"That so!" Discord's bloodshot eyes narrowed as did his lips. Cozy looked uneasily between the two, but decided not to intervene yet. Twilight nodded weakly. "That so. As you can see, she lives. And not just her - Chrysalis survived too.”
One snap, two plush toys. Chrysalis and Cozy, in a morbidly disfigured form. One snap. Two exploding plush toys. "Then just the right guys made it."
Twilight would not indulge in Discord's bitterness. She had felt it too long herself. She couldn't give in to it, not to him, not to herself, not to the voices. "They have a plan, and ... I'm working with them."
Everything fell to the ground, the plush dolls, the stones, the trees, every movement died and the silence was torn apart by the roaring laughter that escaped the bending chimera, a long, painfully loud, nasty cackle. Twilight and Cozy looked at each other, both expressions in dark folds, but neither did anything to stop the chaos demigod. They silently waited until his seizure subsided, but the end never came. With tears in his eyes, Discord wrapped around Twilight's skinny body, a wicked grin over his pointed teeth. “Sensatiooon, sensatiooon, notify the Canterlot Times! Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship and Queen of the Ashes, works with criminals!” He stood up in front of her with a growl, Twilight looked him unimpressed in the eyes, no spark of unrest in her.
“It makes one happy to hear, and it only took her imperceptibly longer for than everyone else around her, because the last time she was asked to do so, she persisted in her principles and sent ALL EQUESTRIA TO HELL!!” He roared at her, spittle landed on Twilight's face, but she didn't move and looked at him unchanged. That was her duty. Discord snorted and spread his arms, burning streamers shot out of his hands, Cozy Glow only barely managed to avoid them. "Don't save your own family, don't save your friends, let them all die, ignore your sister-in-law's miserable pleading, stand behind your blinded princesses and DON'T BE THERE IF IT HAS CONSEQUENCES!!" He yanked her up with both claws at her neck, immediately leaving bloody scratch marks, bringing her face up to his, Cozy wanted to say something and step in between, but she turned to stone in a split second. With a blank expression, Twilight returned Discords tearful, angry look, saw the deep purple scars on his face that she herself had inflicted on him.
"But you've already heard all of that, haven't you, you cowardly little pony?! The last time I accused you of not being able to save anyone, just watching and wallowing in your pathetic self-pity instead of doing something, I got this!” One of his fingers pointed at his face. "OR THIS!!" On his chest. "AND OF course THAT!" One of his legs was almost pulverized to the bone. “How many cities had kick the bucket because of our little quarrel? Remember, oh Twilight Sparkle, how many ponies you blew up as collateral damage and I'll give you a taste of how many there will be this time!!” Saliva and blood dripped from Discord's mouth as he yelled at Twilight, who still didn't want to give him a reaction, whose face remained tired. It seemed like she was just waiting for him to get all his anger and strength out on her. So he hit her in the face. Twilight fell to the floor and stayed there. Discord reached for her again and hit. He hit her face with all the strength he could muster. Again. Again. He did not conjure anything, did not work magic, but rammed his clawed fist into her face like a wild animal. Twilight didn’t move. Although her lips were split open, her cheeks swollen and her eyes closed, she remained motionless. She waited for Discord to finish. She knew all of that had to get out. And if she died in the process, that’s just how it was. Discord understood all of this when he grabbed her neck again and prepared the final blow. Twilight opened her eyelids a little and looked at him, no anger or fear in her eyes. Discord stopped. "What do you still want from me?!"
"... We end it ..."
Discord gasped and panted like he rarely did as the powerful being he was, his eyes twitched restlessly and he tried to understand, stared at the calm Twilight and finally lowered himself to ask as he was barely able to think in his anger. "WHAT do you end?"
Twilight did not answer him, either because she lacked the strength or did not want to further anger him. Instead, she lifted her chin up, far above her, Discord followed her gaze and looked through the gloomy cloud cover to the amber light in the sky. Twilight and Discord, Alicorn and demigod, stood in the twilight and looked up at the sun. His xpression fell apart. "Absurd!!" He dropped Twilight and turned away from her, a quick flick and Cozy Glow was freed, falling to the ground breathing heavily and coughing.
"There was a chance to do something once, Princess," Discord muttered as he walked away from them, "But that's over. There is no more change, and where there is standstill, there is no chaos. It's over." That was the end of the meeting for him, perhaps the last one of the two ancient beings at all. Cozy struggled to her hooves to stop him, looked at Twilight questioningly, but she only shook her head. A long moment passed as Discord moved away from them, he had already finished the day when something soft hit his head. Gritting his teeth, he turned, looked down at the floor behind his feet, and dug his claws into his hand. Twilight didn't say a word. That had to be enough, so she thought, and if this didn't convince Discord, nothing would.
He closed his eyes and growled, roared, raged inside, wanted to destroy the whole world and flood it with chaos, wanted to forget, didn't want to be anymore, wanted to sleep. Hush now, quiet now. It was time for bed. Or wasn’t it yet? With a heavy step he turned to face both Alicorns. Twilight took a step out of the shadows of the house, her face maltreated by his tantrum. “We can't get her back, no. But we can get all of that here back.” Her wings spread as Twilight looked at Discord intently. He didn't answer. "It is possible, Discord." The Princess of Friendship paused. A pause for Discord to finally decide. Then she put her head on the ground at his feet and took off the crown.
"Please forgive me."
The three had decided to rest on the edge of the chaos abyss for a few hours before heading to the distant mountain forests of the west, where Chrysalis lived. The darkness of the artificial night sky would give them the necessary calmness for some sleep, because if it hadn't been a long day so far, it had definitely been exhausting for everyone involved. Discord had flicked a campfire that was small enough not to attract unwanted guests, Twilight and Cozy Glow were sitting on a tree trunk, the latter carefully treating the princess' face with small sponges and patches that were laying around in 'Discords' house.
“I have to admit, I didn't come up with the idea of simply smashing your face in at that time. There’s something to that.” Carefully, Cozy Glow patted a bloody wound over Twilight’s eyebrow and disinfected it. Twilight flinched away with a painful hissing.
"Hold still." Cozy scolded her with professional calm, which surprised Twilight.
"You’re doing this so well..." she whispered, and Cozy smiled cheerlessly.
“I had a lot of time to learn a shit ton of great things. But I never thought that would be the one to become useful. ” She cackled dirtyly when she roughly put a patch over Twilight's eye and washed her face again with water.
“Well, it will hold. Do not touch it, do not play around with it, and there’ll be a lollipop for you.” She sighed weakly and dropped back onto the tree trunk. Twilight stepped to her side and bowed her head.
"Thank you, Cozy ..." Was Cozy Glow wrong or was that a smile that was shown on Twilight’s face? She didn't want to know, she turned her nose away from Twilight and buried her face in a pillow.
"Whatever, the sight of your swollen face got on my nerves!" Cozy didn't see it, but Twilight's smile stayed. After making sure that the artificial Alicorn had come to rest, she sat on another log across from Discord, who was staring grimly into the crackling fire. And so both of the two eons old creatures spent some moments of silence that they had really had enough from for a long time. Still, as both of them noticed in silent agreement, it felt very different when you weren't alone.
"Why didn't you petrify me?" Discord asked out of the blue without looking at Twilight. Although there was no context to his question and it was a long time ago, Twilight knew what he was referring to. She didn't answer yet, thinking about what had been going on inside her at the time. Discord looked for her eyes. “I begged you, didn't I? You had already disfigured me, so you could have taken the final step just as well. It is not a difficult one, I speak from experience. ”
“AND THANKS AGAIN FOR THE REMINDER, ASSHOLE!!” it yelled from the leave-pillow at their side. Neither Discord nor Twilight responded, instead they kept looking at each other. The Alicorn had searched through her mind and set herself back in the burning remains of Manhattan that day. The disfigured body of Discord in front of her, all the blood, his wailing roar and his insults. Her name. Her name over and over again. Then she raised her chin and blinked once or twice.
“I didn't manage to destroy my last friend. Banishing you ... was the only thing that would keep us from killing each other. So I did that. But I could not do that... I would be left alone."
It sounded like a confession, and Twilight, like Discord at the moment, realized that she had only now properly understood her decision. The chimera cocked his head. "What unsuspected selfishness ..."
She had nothing to add and nodded absentmindedly. "Yes."
So they both sat around the roaring fire, immersed in thoughts and memories that seemed long lost, that had no meaning for either of them. Cozy Glow didn't dare speaking in this situation, but her eyelids were lowered and an inner sigh left her.
What a terrible world this was.
Chrysalis' shelter, Cozy Glow told them, was hidden deep in the mountains of the West to protect him from all the dangers lurking for the weak these days. Of course, Cozy had always been with her to protect her, but beasts and hunter raids eventually became a nuisance for her too, so they both changed their hideout about every few years. The three again agreed on a slow flight that would wear them out on such a long trip, but was still the safer alternative given the increasing fauna of the dense mountain forests in front of them, and the creatures inside. Discord hadn't let Cozy convince him to give them a more comfortable way to travel, either because he wasn't ready to support the two Alicorns more than necessary or, as Twilight suspected, because he didn't know how anymore. He accepted her plan to end the twilight with resigned scorn rather than serious interest, but transferring his powers to Cozy Glow and Twilight would surely be something he was still able to do. Cozy stopped in the air in front of them, looked overher shoulder at them and there was caution in her eyes. She silently pointed her chin in a northwest direction to her right and changed the flight course to the southwest. Discord followed her without hesitation and when Twilight recognized the figures in the distance, she did the same. It was a huge, mutilated dragon, attacked by countless gryphons which were slowly eating him alive. It wasn't a situation they wanted to get into.
Twilight had plenty of time to think during the cloudless flight through the quiet evening sky. About Chrysalis and how she would react to her. About this plan and its risks. About the after. Was there an after? Would the world really be able to recover from an eternity in flames? Equestria and the rest of the world had died long ago. There was no doubt about that. The question would be whether it could come back to life. No, wanted to.
"We have to get down." Cozy called to them from the front and descended. They had reached the valley of uneven mountains and dark forests, which no longer allowed clear flight. They would have to walk the last few meters on the ground. Stumbling, Discord landed in the mud, and shortly afterwards Twilight, a little less bumpy. Cozy Glow looked around, let her horn shine, perhaps to check their surroundings. She closed her eyes for a moment and nodded. "Follow me."
The three dissimilar, immortal entities, which had once been mortal enemies, sneaked and fought their way through shrubs and decayed thickets, past other skeletons that provided small animals with a home, past craters and devastation left over from long gone battles. It was a tiring and long march for their tired, lethargic bodies, but Twilight and Discord didn't have the strength to drop - they were too dependent on the spark of hope that still existed in them. Twilight's untrained body had slept most of its existence. It burned and ached and didn't want to, so the Alicorn drove it all the more determined. The voices in her head began to fall silent and died of exhaustion. Twilight never wanted to hear them again, as addicted as she may have been. They had to leave.
When the two Alicorns and the scarred chimera had escaped the barren root forest and stood at the foot of a small silver mountain on which a cave entrance was clearly visible, Cozy Glow paused again, but this time so abruptly that Twilight ran into her. She looked at her questioningly and noticed the drops of sweat on her forehead. It wasn't exhaustion, as Twilight noted from her flickering eyes. Discord's back was against hers and she looked around.
"I'm sorry, about this. Didn't expect it and was careless." Cozy whispered to her, but Twilight shook her head gently. "That's fine. We stay calm.”
"So your usual strategy." Discord growled, Twilight forced herself to ignore him, instead she counted. It were perhaps two dozen hunters who had surrounded them - she rarely saw so many creatures in one spot these days. It had to be a larger group, and not all of them were present. They were dressed like typical hunters, dark glasses on their eyes, tattered fabrics and thick towels against the sun covered their faces and most of their bodies, but as Twilight could see on horns and legs, most of them were changelings. There was a griffin. A yak too. Many of them carried saws, knives and pieces of metal stuck with rust and old blood.
"Shall we burn your pretty, neat dresses away and melt the skin off your bones?" Cozy Glow whispered with a sadistic cold she had previously hidden from Twilight, but which the princess still remembered. "Cozy!" She hissed, the pink Alicorn shrugged, smiling. Discord let a black orb of flame appear in his hand. "Now don't be so shy princess, since when do you have anything against excessive violence?"
The hunters knew what they were getting into when they faced two well-known Alicorns and the Lord of Chaos, and yet they had risked it. They were ready for anything, no, they were desperate. Words wouldn't do any good here. They shouldered their weapons and got ready to jump, Cozy's horn began to glow red and Twilight could almost hear Discord grinning. She had to prevent that. She didn't want to do that. Didn’t want to see it. Without thinking, she stood between the two parties.
“What in twilights name are you DOING?!” Cozy snapped at her blankly, Twilight avoided her gaze and bit her lip, not really knowing it herself. Cozy jumped in her direction. "CAREFUL, BEHIN-"
The stinging pain in her back came first, Twilight fell to the ground, dizziness and nausea spinned the world around her, she heard the fighting, the screams of pain from strangers, with great difficulty she straightened her thin legs and whispered 'Stop ...!', Cozy had already massacred two of the hunters, Discord was about to turn three into dolls when a green lightning struck right in their middle and drove them apart. More than twenty pairs of eyes slid up the mountain to a black, hooded figure, shrouded in ominous light. “GET AWAY from here, thiff iff MY Ferrifforium. Anoffher fecond off your inffolenfe and I will ssssuck out fhe live effence of you for fhe nefft hundred yearf…! ”
The hunters looked at each other and, to Twilight's surprise, they retreated moments later, leaving their dead behind, pulling the wounded through the dirt. Cozy Glow breathed harder than Twilight would have expected, and stamped angrily at her.
"Cozy, I-" Cozy Glow pushed her aside, spread her wings and pulled something out of her back, Twilight cried out in pain, but found that it got better immediately, Cozy used a healing magic. It took barely a minute, then the Alicorn passed her without a single look and barked, "Don't die before we’re finished, idiot!" She stomped towards the mountain and Twilight, sighing deeply, nodded. "I won't." Discord and Twilight glanced at each other before they followed the hooded figure into the cave.
Various rotten tables and cupboards were set up inside the cavern, the extensive, round cave was sparsely lit by green fire and a variety of magical-looking liquids, everything was full of documents, glass jars, herbs and obscure artifacts. In the center of the hall was what Twilight thought was lost - the bell. There she floated, connected with the surrounding equipment and utensils via thin threads. The hooded figure who had just saved them went to the bell and dropped her mantle. Twilight followed her and so Chrysalis turned straight to her. As the changeling queen, she too had lived an almost unimaginable time, but certainly only with the help of Cozy's magic, and yet the fugacity had taken its toll. Chrysalis' once so tight, black body had shrunken and looked muddy-soft, she was only half the size of once and gray hair grew out of her holes. There were only short, gray streaks left of her shimmering, turquoise mane, her pointed teeth had fallen out and her left eye was missing, instead there was a large, misshaped hole as if from a bite wound. Whenever she saw her reflection in the water, Twilight had always felt she was a poor shadow of herself. She now understood how blind this was.
“Fho you brought fhe two pifs info fhe ftable…” Chrysalis hissed in a coughing voice that could have belonged to Granny Smith. There was nothing left of her splendor as a queen except her undisguised aggression. Cozy came to her side and supported Chrysalis with her shoulder.
"A little restraint wouldn’t hurt, but yes ... there they are." It wasn't restraint that Twilight saw in Chrysali's green, squinty eye. She recognized hatred and lust for murder more than in Discord's eyes.
“Faff waff YOUR idea Cofy, YOURF!!” She knocked the Alicorn away from her and spat Twilight in the face. How do I know fhe doefn’t pefrify uff again immefiadely, HUH?!” She limped around Twilight, repeatedly pushing her. "Or fakes you away ffrom me like fhe took my family away before leffing fhem die?!” Chrysalis slapped the quiet Twilight and the Alicorn fell to the floor while Discord stayed in the background, Cozy pulled her partner back to stop her.
"ENOUGH! That’s in the past and doesn't matter now, we have to-” Again the weak Chrysalis pushed Cozy away and stepped over Twilight, the glowing eye filled with sour tears.
“How could I ever worff togeffer with a whore who fust watffed how dragonf, friffins and all the other scum ffafed and flaughtered my fildren?! Do you know how it felt fo not be able fo go ffhere, not able fo do anyffing becaufe your own feople hafe you?! Again and again I haff fo think abouf fhem, fee ‘em in my ffreams you fucki- ” Before Cozy could pull Chrysalis away it was Twilight who kicked the old queen in the stomach and thew her to the ground. With both wings in the air Twilight got up and hieved Chrysalis to her hooves with bared teeth.
“I'm so TIRED of it!!" She yelled at Chrysalis that it echoed off the walls. "I am TIRED of listening to how much all of you suffered and what I’m to blame for!!” She pushed her against one of the tables and spat back. “So you suffered a lot - SO WHAT?! I had to go through a lot too, I could only watch too, and don't you think I would hate myself for it every day and want to kill myself with every breath?!” Twilight hadn't wanted to cry, but when it did happen she didn't even notice and didn't even care. "Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Spike, Luna, Celestia, Starlight, Trixie ..." Sobbing, Twilight kicked a rickety wooden table on her right in, which collapsed with a loud crack. “I could go on like this for hours! I LOST EVERYTHING TOO!!"
She roared into Chrysalis' face while her own snot ran down her nose. “We ALL lost EVERYTHING, every pitiable creature that had the damn bad luck in this fucking hell to live on and on without being allowed to die!" She stepped in front of Chrysalis and fell to the ground whimpering.
"Everything got out of control ... everything fell apart ... because I made wrong decisions ... because I was stupid ... because I couldn't save my friends and family ... I didn't want to ... I'm sorry ... I'm sorry ... I'm so sorry ... believe me ... I didn't want this ... I'm sorry ... I'm sorry ... I’m so sorry… please forgive me ... forgive me ... forgive me ... " Twilight cried and lamented into her own, sticky mane on the floor, Chrysalis was now again standing over the ruler of Equestria and looked down at her with a mixture that Cozy interpreted as frustration and understanding. Chrysalis knew what Twilight meant because she felt the same way. All of those in this room did. Probably the last survivors of that time. Discord stepped out of the shadows and knelt down to Twilight to slowly help her up. Her face was smeared and swollen with snot and tears, the chimera conjured up a handkerchief and pressed it to her nose. Panting, Twilight snorted until her face was reasonably clean again. Cozy avoided staring at her, but looked back and forth between Chrysalis and Twilight, who were silent. Finally she couldn't take it anymore and came out with a fragile smile.
"You know, I think ... we are all miserable here. We are broken, and lifeless, and smelly-dog-miserable. After all this time, none of us is still one of the good guys, let's face it - we're bad. So let's be bad together. There is a better way to be bad, and we found it.”
She pulled Chrysalis' s skinny hoof forward, just as Twilights. Discord's hand followed and Cozy completed the round herself. She looked at the other three and whispered. "Together. To the end of hell.”
A moment of silence that Cozy had expected. Then a look between Twilight and Chrysalis, which was softer than stone. A success. They agreed unanimously.
"To the end of hell."
They had taken a day to recover from the trip and their mutual feelings. The following day it was Chrysalis who called them all back to the central chamber. Twilight, Cozy and Discord were gathered on scratchy pillows around the bell in front of which the trembling chrysalis stood.
"Hopefully Cofy fidn't afk you yet becauffe I had forbidden her fo affk you." She gave Cozy a sharp look, the blue-curled Alicorn smiled like the sun itself. Twilight and Discord exchanged questioning looks.
"Good." Chrysalis growled. “I wanted fo fake care of fhat myfelff. Theref a big rifk about what we plan fo do.” No one answered, Chrysalis saw this a sign to continue.
“I will ffive you, Cofy Glow and Fwilight Fparkle, frough fhe bell fhe righf amounff of Celeftiaf and Lunaf ower fo move fhe fun and the moon. Difcord… ” a sharp look for the unmoved chimera, “providef you with fthe necefffary mafifal power. Then you have fo undo fhe end of the fircle and cauffe fhe fun and moon to move in fheir ffroper way again on fheir own, fompletely nafural.”
“I know that much. Now the problem.” Twilight demanded and Chrysalis nodded.
“I fon't know how about you, buf I haven’t done thif before, and Cofy Glow neifher. Raife Fun and Moon completely from fheir stafif, leading fhem fo fhe right frack, if fuppofedly, according fo my calfulationf, an unbelievably fenffitive work, and alfo difficult. FFery difficult. ” Her voice turned into a menacing whisper. Twilight thought back to the one and only time she was supposed to control the sun and moon. It had been a disaster, which luckily had had no dire consequences.
"Whaff I want to afk", Chrysalis poked the bell with her hoof, three glowing miniature balls came out of it, which she floated in front of the faces of her listeners. "If you do if right ..." Her horn shone and the little sun began to turn in the right direction together with the moon. Twilight's eyes sparkled at the chance to actually experience this again.
“If not…” Chrysalis breathed, the sun ball crashed into the much smaller earth and shredded it into hundreds of tiny pieces. Then there were only two balls left. They fell to the ground and Chrysalis watched wordlessly the reactions of their listeners. Discord closed his eyes, sighed and put his hand to his face, Twilight forbade herself to gulp with all her strength. But she couldn't prevent the sweat of fear on her forehead. She hadn't considered that. Of course not. But of course it was a realistic risk -
just a tiny mistake on her part and the world was gone. Really gone. The moon was one thing, but the sun was what came closest to God for all living things. If his anger hit the earth, it was over. And Twilight would be to blame. In the last moments of her existence, she would have to make peace knowing that she had the whole world on her conscience. Her head sagged, as much as she wanted to prevent it. Without thinking about what she was doing, Cozy Glow put her hoof on her shoulder and her head on Twilights. "We can do this. I know we can.”
Chrysalis sighed and also sat on the floor. “Fhe Frifk if enormouf. Buff perfonally, I prefer no world to being frapped in hell, or ... in my cafe ... fall afleep one laft time without having feen a ftarry night fky at leaft onfe more.” Chrysalis honest and shaking words shook Twilight awake, with wide eyes she stared at her nemesis, and all she saw was weariness. They all were tired. Tired of the evening light. Tired of silence. Tired of hell. There was no alternative. Just hope. Hope for a future.
"Fo," Chrysalis whispered in a scratchy voice as she grinned toothlessly at Twilight, "whaf if it gonna be?"
They had taken their time for a month. Time to practice. To train. To prepare for the end of the world. Or the beginning. There wasn’t, according to Chrysalis feeling and Cozy's estimation, much more time left for the changeling queen. It had to happen now.
On top of a lonely silver mountain stood four souls that had lasted forever. There, under burning evening light, caught in the twilight between day and night. Each of them had been forced to listen to the voices around them become quieter, the eyes dreary. How life vanished and the world died. Only one thing didn't go away, and those were memories. Images that gathered, images that combined the terrible and beautiful into a whirlpool of remorse and self-loathing that raged in their hearts. Time was above everything, and with it fugacity. Nothing that lived could defy it. But four people, after suffering from it for so long, decided to give it a try. They could not go back in time, would never really defeat it, but they could embrace her and give her a shape again. For everything that was born, lived and died.
A bell began to float, two lights inside, black and white, light and darkness. They connected with their new wielders, filled the emptiness inside. A chimera of discord lifted her arms, raised them both in the air, and gave them the strength to shine. Two horns closed around each other and started to glow. Both Discord and Chrysalis floated up to them and gave them hooves and hands. Four souls, at the beginning of the world, or the end of hell.
Chrysalis' eye was reflected in the all-shining light of the sun, in which she also saw her children. Her family. She saw in her the changeling foals that she had once hatched and raised with so much stolen love, that had gone hunting with her and that, contrary to her nature, had always given her a feeling of security. She would never have admitted it, but she had always felt a love for her fellows that could not be stolen. Did they still exist? Would they find her again? Would they take her back after all this time?
Would Chrysalis be called 'Mommy' again?
She closed her eyes.
Discord's thoughts were not with the sun, not with the moon, and not even with the sky. They were in the chaos abyss, no, Ponyville, and in the crumbled house of a pony that had taught him everything he now retrospectively perceived as 'life'. Sowing discord and destruction were pleasures he had always enjoyed, but they were short-lived, mindless pleasures. In his innermost depths he saw blue eyes and a small smile flash again and everything tightened. He wanted to ask her forgiveness for wanting to lock her up against her will in the chaos dimension in order to delay the inevitable. Wanted to apologize for his selfishness, which she had driven out of him so often. Wanted to hear again what was his greatest praise. When Discord clasped his chest and hoped to give the world a second chance in her remembrance, for everything she felt endless love for. Would she see it? Would she forgive him again and say
'I am so proud of you.'
He closed his eyes.
Cozy Glow wanted to live. She wanted to know what it meant to be 'normal'. She never had a chance. Her parents had given her away, she hated her orphanage and she had never understood the teachings of friendship. It was a complicated world, and before her little mind had the chance to understand it and regret it’s fallacies and wrongdoings, it was also a dead world. Was it ever too late for remorse? Was it ever too late for forgiveness? She had never missed her time among her friends. The Cutie Mark Crusaders, these six weird jerks, her teachers ... she hadn't missed them, didn't need any of them. Until she realized in the endless twilight that they were the only people who had ever given her actual, real acceptance. And so maybe not everything was wrong in the world as it had been. A world that Cozy Glow wanted back now. Could she find a place in it? Could she find someone in it? Would there be a voice that, despite everything, would tell her
"I’m happy you’re alive."
She closed her eyes and nestled closer to Twilight.
Twilight was not alone. Chrysalis was with her. Discord was with her. Cozy Glow was with her. Spike was with her. Rarity was with her. Applejack was with her. Rainbow Dash was with her. Fluttershy was with her. Pinkie Pie was with her. Shining Armor was with her. Cadance was with her. Celestia was with her. Luna was with her. Mom was with her. Dad was with her. Starlight was with her. Trixie was with her. Everyone she had forgotten was with her, right now, and nestled closer to her. She could hear their whispering, but no longer in her head, but in her ears. 'It'll be fine.' She cried, and smiled, and cried, and smiled. They were finally back. Finally she was no longer alone. She had never been. Would she be allowed to watch over Equestria again? Would everyone who still lived and hoped come back to her to rebuild together what they had lost? Could they save a dead world at all? Twilight wanted to believe that, and she knew they saw it that way too.
'You're not alone. You never were. '
She closed her eyes and leaned her head against Cozy.
The light from two horns combined into a blinding twilight. White. Black. In a few moments, the world took on every possible tone. A big, quiet world full of so much life. And a little spark of hope.